by Guy Antibes
The next thing he knew, someone jostled his leg, and he moaned.
“We’ve got you now,” a voice said.
Pol shook his head. “I won’t let you get past me.”
“This is Kelso. We wondered about you two, so Darrol and I took the ferryboat back to see what happened. You’re on the ferry now.”
Pol thought he understood Kelso’s words, but he wasn’t sure. He felt pressure on his leg and then a flash of pain. He yelled and sank back with relief.
“I’m sorry, Pol,” Darrol said. “There’s no good way to remove an arrow.”
Pol didn’t care to disagree at that point and nodded. He lay back. “How is Shro?”
“I’m alive,” she said. “That is more than I can say for you.”
With his strength depleted, Pol sat back and closed his eyes, not really listening to the conversation. He felt another jolt of pain when the ferry docked.
“Make sure you cut the cable,” Pol said.
Kelso laughed. “We’ve been removing it as we go, so don’t worry. Horker thinks we will be at least a day ahead of the army and at least half a day from any mounted pursuit.”
Horker hurried over and helped Shro off of the ferry. “You’re a woman!”
“Of course I am. Queen Isa saw through my mannerisms.”
Isa walked up to help Shro to the wagon. “Indeed. I am a perceptive woman.” She eyed Horker, challenging him to dispute her.
“We are all a little surprised. Pol didn’t even catch what we discussed on the way in. Poor Horker thought all along that Shro was a male, but he’ll get used to it. Won’t you, Horker? I like the new Shro better,” Darrol said.
Horker grumbled something as he tied Pol and Shro’s horses to the wagon.
“Shouldn’t we be leaving?” Pol asked.
“We will now. I’ll have you tucked in one corner and Shro in the other at the back of the wagon. Val, of course, slept through it all.” Pol could hear the pain in Darrol’s voice. He felt it along with his friend.
The wagon lurched into motion, bringing a bit of pain, but with his leg wrapped tightly, Pol just ground his teeth together and put up with the ache.
“I must thank you,” Queen Isa said. “You both put your lives on the line for me. Something that I’ll never forget.”
“All of our lives are on the line if we get caught,” Horker said. Pol looked up and saw him driving the wagon.
“I need some rest, and then I can finish up with Shro.” He looked over at her, but she was already asleep.
~
“Maybe Val might know how to grow hair, but I only know how to grow one hair at a time,” Pol said to Shro. “I always wanted to know, is Shro your real name?”
She rubbed the growing stubble on her scalp. “No, It is Shira, not quite pronounced the same way as Shiro. Male names are contracted more that female names.”
“Do you have a last name?” Queen Isa asked.
“Yes,” Shira said, but she didn’t volunteer it.
Horker stopped the wagon. “It’s time to rest the horses,” he said. “I’m hungry, too.”
“I’ll not complain,” Kelso Beastwell said.
“Good. I think I’m recovered enough to help Shro, uh, Shira’s shoulder,” Pol said.
He looked at Val and wished he had the courage to work on him again. For the next few days he would think about what he could do.
Kelso walked over. “Let’s clean that wound again,” he said. “You don’t want it to get infected. Who knows what had been in that water?” He unwrapped Pol’s leg and went silent.
“That doesn’t look good,” Shira said.
Pol leaned over to get a better look at the angry red streaks beginning to move up from the wound.
“Give me a lot of food,” Pol said. He’d seen wounds before, and his looked as bad as any he had seen. It took his breath away. “I think Val is my only hope.” He could hardly get the words out, as he put his hand to his head. “I’m getting a fever.”
Pol knew all about inflammation, and he could picture his body fighting the infection that had turned so ugly on his leg.
He ate as much as he could. “Wake me in an hour and then stop the wagon.”
~
Shro looked into his eyes while she gently shook Pol. “It’s been an hour.”
Pol struggled to awaken. He felt listless, but he looked over at Val. He sat up, and then crawled to the front of the wagon. Putting his hands on Val’s head, he reviewed the technique that he had thought of earlier in the day and closed his eyes.
The purple mass over Val’s brain hadn’t changed at all since the last time he looked. Pol took a deep breath and visualized a straight razor. He began to tweak the purple mass, by shaving a thin layer from the mass rather than trying to pluck it out.
He looked on as a mist of purple dissipated. Pol opened his eyes to see if Val had any physical reaction.
He looked up at Shira. “So far, so good. I am going to shave the coercion spell. Let me know if Val shivers or has any other kind of physical manifestation.”
She nodded to Pol. “You concentrate on what you are doing.”
Pol sighed and closed his eyes. Again and again, he ran the mental razor over the mass, carving it down. It became thinner and thinner, but Pol could feel his strength diminish. He knew he fought a battle that he couldn’t lose. He grit his teeth and continued until only a thin layer remained, but the tendrils still plunged into Val’s brain. They hadn’t shrunk at all.
He opened his eyes again and sat up. “I need some water and a bit more food. I don’t know if I can do this.”
“We are relying on you, Pol,” Darrol said. “Whatever we can do.”
Pol hadn’t even noticed that everyone had crowded around him looking on.
After another short nap, Pol rose and crawled over to Val’s body again. Did his Seeker mentor seem better? Pol’s perception could easily be a product of his imagination. He coughed, alarmed at the congestion in his lungs, and put his hands on Val’s head. The pattern looked the same. He had to do something to shrink the tendrils. He counted fifteen of them.
Pol shook his head to clear his mind. What if he tried to suck the spell from the core of each tendril, shrinking them? They might come out more easily if he did that. He tried it on one. He pictured a straw that a child might use to drink from a cup and plunged it into a tendril. It took a lot of strength to picture the core of the tendril. Then he tweaked the insides of the tendril to flow up though the straw.
At first nothing happened, but then the disappearing twinkling purplish mist erupted from the straw. When he had let it flow for a while, he tried to pluck the tendril, and it came out easily, like a limp noodle that quickly turned into the mist.
Pol had no idea how many of the tendrils he removed before he passed out.
~~~
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
~
“YOU’RE WAKING UP?” A FAMILIAR VOICE ASKED, tugging Pol from a deep, deep sleep.
Pol’s eyes opened to see Val’s face. “You’re alive.”
“And you are barely alive,” Val said, his lips pulled back into the grimace that he always used in place of a smile. “You will pull through. I don’t know healing as well as you obviously do, but enough to bring you back from near-death. Whatever you picked up in that river was nasty.”
Pol nodded. “Could I have some water?”
Val sat back. “Someone else fetch him something to drink. I’m still as weak as a kitten. I can’t say how weak Pol is.”
“I feel as limp as a dead fish,” Pol said, “but I’m alive.”
“Shira told me what you might have done. She’s an interesting addition to our group,” Val said. “Why don’t you tell me what you’ve done to me in your own words?”
Pol described what went wrong when he tried to pluck the spell out, and then went into how he succeeded by removing thin layers. “I wouldn’t have been able to muster the strength to do it any other way.”
V
al nodded. “I’m not sure others will see the pattern of the spell like you do, but I’ll make sure the word gets spread.”
“I have books…”
“They don’t mention how to eliminate coercion. I skimmed through them. They are going straight to the Emperor. I hope you don’t mind.”
Pol shook his head weakly. “I already have them memorized.” He looked around and didn’t recognize where they were. “How far have we gone?”
“It took half of a day for me to regain my senses, and then you were out, so we continued on. We’ve gone about fifty miles from where we had stopped. Horker and Shira are still out eliminating the wagon tracks as we go. Darrol is with them for protection.” Val looked past Pol in the direction they had traveled. “If they even know we are here, they aren’t within detectable range.”
“How did you get caught?” Pol asked.
Val’s face darkened. “In our sleep. I thought we were remote enough that we didn’t have to worry, and then we both ignored Demeron’s neighing. I can’t tell you anything after that. I don’t know if we fought or what happened. Neither Darrol or I can remember what happened when under compulsion.”
“You did nothing. I went to the camp. Demeron had left and wasn’t close enough to contact me. The camp didn’t show any signs of struggle. I had to get back to the army, so I couldn’t go looking for him with you two gone.” Pol shrugged, which wasn’t very effective in his position. “I think I can sit up now.”
Queen Isa helped him to a sitting position, leaning against the closed tailgate of the wagon. They began to move again.
After a while, Pol sat up straighter and looked out at the passing scenery, and then spied the back of Kelso’s head, driving the wagon.
“Horker knows this part of South Salvan well enough. He says we should cross the border by the end of tomorrow,” Val said. “Shira has filled me in on your adventures. You don’t disappoint, lad.”
Pol nodded. He looked at his hand and felt his forehead. The fever was gone. He didn’t care to ask Val for the technique he had used, but his leg just ached now. Pol wondered how close he had come to dying. He still didn’t know how much magic he had used to cure Val, but whatever he did had totally exhausted his body of physical and magical strength.
“What now?” he asked.
Val looked out the wagon. “First, check to make sure I’m free of that compulsion. I think Demeron is gone forever. I’m sorry about that, Pol. Darrol and I are going to head west towards Yastan. Hazett has already mustered an army, and by the time you entered Tesna, it should have been camping on Lord Grainell’s fallow fields. We already suspected that Onkar had started recruiting, but we needed more information about how he did it and where they were headed, and now we know.”
Pol put his hand on Val’s head and didn’t detect any of the purple compulsion threads. He nodded to Val. “When do we leave for Yastan?” Pol said.
“We?” Val shook his head. “You’re not coming with us. You need to go with Kelso. King Colvin might be controlled, as well as your brother and sisters. You are the only one who can remove the spells. Borstall needs to be warned, and any defense can’t be burdened by leaders under South Salvan control.”
Pol snorted. He had a hard time accepting Val’s words and really didn’t want to confront those in Borstall Castle again. How would he convince his stepfather to even meet with him?
“In addition, you and I are the highest level magicians friendly to King Colvin. I need to travel west, and as the leader of our little band of spies, I am giving you an order to protect your father. I am speaking in the Emperor’s behalf.”
Pol went silent, trying to control the anger that he wasn’t really strong enough to maintain for very long. He told himself that he could always leave the others and join Val later. What could Val do?
“The books will be devoured by the Emperor’s magicians.”
“I hope that’s a figurative statement,” Pol smiled, wondering how he could think of anything humorous with Val and Darrol deserting him. “Any mind-control can be removed from a short distance by a mid-level magician, I read,” Pol said, “but compulsion will take a high-level magician.”
“Hazett needs to know that,” Val said. “You have concurrent missions. Queen Isa should be escorted to Borstall, and you need to bring them word on what the Tesnans are doing. With Kelso and Horker, you should be able to handle any small patrols. You and Shira can deal with any magicians. You’ve already proven adept at that. Past that, do what you can to save your father’s kingdom.”
Pol saw the wisdom of Val’s instructions, but it was hard to be separated from his two friends now that they had reunited. Val and Darrol were capable of taking care of themselves. He had to admit that as much as he had shared experiences with Shira, Pol was the only one who could be trusted look into a King’s skull to detect compulsion or mind-control.
“What happens if Hazett’s army doesn’t show up in time?”
“You can always get on a boat and sail north to Tarida,” Val said.
Queen Isa giggled. “Can I come sail with you? As I have reflected on my hasty escape from Covial, I might not want to see my husband quite so soon.”
“The more the merrier,” Pol said. Maybe by going on to Borstall, he could make up a bit for putting Val in a comatose state in the first place. He ground his teeth in frustration. This mission was not ending the way he would like. “Maybe tomorrow I can ride.”
~
Riding presented no problems for Pol’s leg at the pace they traveled, but the wagon was slowing them up. He rode alongside to talk to Val, who drove.
“Shouldn’t we all ride? We can travel faster without the wagon,” Pol said.
Val looked behind him at Queen Isa, who had turned around, listening to their conversation. “This wagon carries some very important cargo,” Val said. He made a face at Pol to end the conversation.
Pol understood. “Perhaps we can increase the speed just a bit.”
Queen Isa smiled when Pol looked at her. “I know how to ride. It’s a little hard with this dress,” she said. “There is a border town up ahead. Perhaps Horker and Shira can find me some clothes. Actually she could use something a bit more suited to her figure, too.”
“How are we on money?” Val said. “The Tesna Guardian appropriated all of my weapons and other possessions. The ones the Tesnans issued to Darrol and me can hardly be classified as such,”
Isa lifted up a heavy bag. “I did some hunting before I left and killed a number of lions.” She winked at Val. “I can probably buy the town ahead and still have plenty left.” She was talking about South Salvan Lions, the famous cubes of gold that they used as their most valuable coin.
“Can you go with Horker, too? Maybe disguised as that old man?” Pol said.
“Carlon Winters?”
Pol nodded.
“I’ll have a talk with Carlon and see what he thinks,” Val said. That was as close to a joke as he ever had gotten from Val.
“I bought a case of throwing knives. They are in the back. You can take five or six.”
Val raised his eyebrows. “I’d be interested in looking them over.” He turned back to the Queen. “You have a long way to go, Queen Isa. Riding that far might bring some discomfort.”
“What I don’t want is my husband, King Astor, bringing discomfort. I’m tougher than I look,” she said. “I rode quite a bit when I was but a young lass.” She smiled with her eyes narrowed. Pol guessed she was teasing them or testing them. He lacked the experience with the woman to know which.
Horker, Darrol and Shira, rode up. Shira looked at Pol. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is. We are going to leave the wagon and ride the rest of the way to Borstall.”
Shira shrugged, Evidently she wasn’t satisfied with Pol’s answer and replied, “And you’re still upset that your two companions are going to leave you behind?”
Was he that transparent? Pol wondered. “I guess I must be, if it’s engrave
d on my face.” That sounded more petulant than Pol intended.
Shira made a face at him. “You’re trying to desert us because you don’t like me?”
Pol began to feel his face get hot. “I didn’t say that.”
“Or me?” Queen Isa said.
Now Pol felt surrounded, even though there were only two of them. “I didn’t say that, either. Do you think I want to see my stepfather again after what happened?”
“No one wants that, but we can’t always get what we want, can we?” Val said.
Pol had nothing to say. He pressed his lips together and knew he should be silent before he let his temper rise. He reminded himself that when they started north from Covial, Borstall was their destination. Pol took a deep breath.
“No, we can’t. I lost my special horse, I’ll be losing my Seeker companions, and I think I’ll lose my mind before I get to Borstall.”
“Better that than your head,” Darrol said. His friend had been mostly silent since they had left the quartermasters’ camp.
Pol thought the chances of losing his head were actually pretty high, but it looked like no one sympathized with him. He would have to change his attitude. A good Seeker couldn’t do the job feeling sorry for himself, and Pol wanted to become an excellent Seeker.
“Then let’s not focus on me and instead get ready to make a drive for Borstall,” Pol said.
“That’s better,” Horker said. “I was worried I followed the wrong person.”
“Followed?” Pol said.
“I’ve taken a big risk in your behalf. So has My Queen, if the truth be known. I have deserted from Tesna and the Guardians because I believe that you represent a better path.”
Pol shook his head. “Not me. I’m just a sixteen-year-old novice Seeker.”
“You won’t always be sixteen,” Queen Isa said. “You have gifts no other young man has, and that brings responsibility. It’s no different than being called to rule at an early age.”
“But I’m not ruling anywhere,” Pol said.