by B. T. Narro
“I’m sure the authorities at the capital will sort it out,” she said.
“Yeah,” Andar agreed. “So you might as well shut up, rich boy.”
“You shut up!” he retorted.
“Good one,” Andar said.
“Rude, filth.”
“Rude?” Andar jabbed his finger. “All you’ve done since we’ve met is insult us, and we’ve said nothing back until now. I’m not going to take it any longer.”
The boy scooted forward. “You want to fight, do you? All you poor know how to do is steal and fight. Then go ahead. Challenge me.” He was much bigger than Andar.
Leo was going to link the boy’s feet to each other, but he found that his brother had already done so. Leo went to link his hands instead but found that Andar had finished with them as well.
“Come here, then,” Andar stood and turned his cheek. “I’ll even let you get a free hit, you horse’s ass.”
The boy balled his fists but did not move.
“Skyfire and ash, you’re probably as weak as you are ugly,” Andar teased. “Come on. I won’t let you get a free hit for long, coward.”
“Sit down and keep quiet!” the driver was yelling, but it was too late.
The rich boy fumed as he stood up. But shock overtook him immediately. “Whoa!” He wobbled, then danced around a bit. He half fell onto the girl, who screamed and pushed him off. He spun the other way, jerking oddly as he bounced around the small open space in the middle of the wagon. He tried several times to reach out for balance, but every time he turned to grab the side of the wagon, he spun too far and missed it.
Leo was amazed at how long the boy stayed on his feet with all his limbs linked, although it was probably because there was no room to fall down. He kept bumping against everyone, yelling out in confusion. The driver screamed for him to sit down.
Eventually the boy stumbled hard against the side and toppled right over. The driver yelled for the horse to halt.
Leo laughed when he saw that the boy was able to sit up. He looked at his hands as if they had betrayed him. Then he glanced down at his feet.
Andar leaned over the edge. “Believe that we’re mages now?”
The boy’s mouth fell open. “That was you?”
“Yes,” Andar said.
“What did you do?” the girl asked Andar.
“I linked his shoes and hands to each other.”
The girl’s eyes widened in obvious shock. Leo wouldn’t have known that this would surprise even other mages in training. Perhaps he and Andar really were strong, and not just for their young age.
“Did he really link them?” she asked the boy as he came to the side.
He didn’t answer her as he shook the door, expecting it to open. But it was latched from the other side. Leo went to open it for him, but Andar reached over and put his hand on it.
“Can you answer her so we can be done with this, please?” Andar asked with irritation.
“Let me in! Driver, they—”
“Just answer her and I’ll let you in!” Andar interrupted.
“Driver!”
The driver turned around, but he didn’t look as if he wanted to get up. “I agree with Andar, there. Did he or did he not link your limbs together?”
“He did, all right! Now make them let me in.”
“So are we mages?” Andar asked. “Or do you need another demonstration?”
“Fine, you’re mages. Now let me in.”
Andar opened the latch. The boy pulled open the door and left it open as he climbed in. Leo closed and latched it. The boy looked off to the side, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze.
Leo and Andar smiled to each other. All were silent as their journey continued.
A few hours passed. Leo watched as the land changed. The dirt path their horse took seemed to go on for miles. He wondered if it reached all the way to the capital. Would they have to cross between mountains, perhaps a river, or maybe even another city? He wondered how long he would be riding. He hoped he wouldn’t have to sleep sitting up.
He didn’t worry about whatever test he would have to take. Instead, he worried about Rygen. Andar had convinced Leo that she could take care of herself, and Leo knew she could. If she ever did need help, their aunt should be there for her. But Leo still wished Ry was here with them. Everything would be better with her here.
Soon the driver was fetching something to eat from his bag, and the four of them decided to do the same. Andar broke the long silence.
“We are poor, you know,” he told the older boy and girl. They looked over at him. “But we can’t help that. We work hard every day, but the little bit of coin we earn goes toward our supper. We both started as farmers, but we proved ourselves to Gartel Lusitan, the guild master at the Bookbinding Guild. I’m not sure if either of you have heard of him, but we both worked there.”
Of course Andar had been banned for stealing, but they didn’t need to know that.
“That’s the truth?” asked the boy.
“It really is,” Andar said. “But even at the Bookbinding Guild, we couldn’t make enough to move out of the home provided by the Farmers’ Guild. I stopped working there eventually and started working for the commander of the army directly, as the one digger in the Tisary. I didn’t have a trainer, like the two of you did, so I had to train myself and then teach my brother what I found out.”
“So you were in the Tisary?” asked the girl with some amazement.
“For a while, yes, but I almost died there. My brother had to save me.”
“What happened?” she asked.
Andar told the story from beginning to end. He spoke of Leo like he was a hero, but Leo felt that his brother was exaggerating. He felt even stranger when he noticed the older boy and girl staring at him with what looked to be admiration.
“We decided to join the army after that,” Andar said. His gaze fell to his feet. “I saw the commander killed. He was a good man, but he was stabbed by one of his own men. I didn’t see who. Did you hear about any of this?”
The girl shook her head.
“I did,” the boy said. “I didn’t think it was true.”
“I wish it wasn’t,” Andar told the floor. He looked up. “I hate that whoever did it was not caught.”
“Me, too,” said the boy. “I hate when people are not caught for crimes, especially murder.”
Leo felt a spark of a connection between the two oldest boys.
Andar stood and offered his hand. “I’m Andar Litxer.”
The boy stood and shook Andar’s hand. “Edward Fola.” He looked uncomfortable as they finished, glancing around with one hand on the back of his head. “Andar.” He looked down into Andar’s eyes. “I’m sorry about earlier. I was wrong to judge you and your brother before I knew much about you. My family has had a lot of trouble with the poor, especially boys younger than me, so I think I have some anger in that regard. Nonetheless, what happened was my fault. I’m the oldest here, I think, at eighteen.” He gazed at the girl for a moment. She nodded. “I’m the oldest, so I shouldn’t have allowed such a disorderly situation to develop. My parents would not be proud of that. I’m terribly sorry. Will you and your brother forgive me?”
“Skyfire and ash,” Andar said. “You rich sure know how to apologize. Of course after that speech you’re forgiven.”
Everyone chuckled.
“And your name?” Edward asked Leo with his hand out.
“Leo.”
Edward gave Leo’s hand a firm shake, though his skin was strangely smooth. “Glad to meet you.”
“And you?” Andar asked the girl.
She stood and curtsied. “Jaimy Westlan.”
Andar and Leo bowed. They had been taught by their father to do so in front of all ladies, especially if she had already curtsied. Edward waited until she faced him, then he bowed to her. She curtsied and smiled bashfully as they sat beside each other again.
“How old are you, Jaimy?” Andar asked.
“Sixteen.”
“And how did the two of you come to be here?”
Jaimy looked over at Edward, but he gestured for her to go first.
“I don’t know what to say. I have no stories like you, Andar. I was just tutored every day.”
She paused as she looked to be having trouble for reasons Leo didn’t understand.
“What about magic?” Andar asked with intrigue.
“Oh, of course I would be happy to talk about that. Except…” She had a long face with drowsy eyes that made Leo think she was often sad or perhaps tired. Her hair was brown and fluffy, hanging not much past her shoulders. “I don’t have nearly the same skill as you, Andar. I’m probably closer to the level of your brother.”
Leo looked to his brother. It was up to Andar what he wanted to divulge.
“Actually, he’s just as good as I am.”
Jaimy put her hand over her mouth.
Edward laughed. “He jests.”
Andar lifted his eyebrows as he looked down at Leo, asking without words if Leo wanted to take over.
Leo was bored making easy links. He decided he would challenge himself here, as he felt a surge of strength and confidence at knowing he had an audience. He grabbed the Artistry around them and fastened it to the boy’s left shoe, shaping the Artistry into a cocoon around it until it stuck.
Leo could feel the Artistry calling for something similar to the boot. It wanted to be linked as much as Leo wanted to link it. He extended a thick ribbon of the Artistry over to the girl’s right shoe and began to wrap the Artistry around it.
“What’s he doing?” asked the girl, making Leo realize he was staring at their shoes with intense concentration.
“Wait, give him time,” Andar said.
But Leo was finished by then. He looked up and said, “Done.”
It took a considerable amount of his attention to maintain the link; the shoes were not that similar. The boy’s were bigger and black. The girl’s were smaller and green. Even the shape was different. The boy’s shoe was taller, going up close to his ankle, and had a thicker sole. But Leo held the Artistry in place as it tried to break itself up. Leo could almost hear it telling him, “Hey, these are not the same.”
“What’s linked?” asked Jaimy.
“Your shoes,” Leo grunted out. He felt as though he was holding a heavy rock with his mind.
She moved her other leg, the one that was not linked to anything. “No, it’s not.”
“No, the other.” Leo’s body was burning as if he was sprinting. The Artistry was screaming at him now, “These are not the same! Let go!”
The girl lifted her other foot, and the boy’s foot lifted from the ground.
“Hells of fury!” exclaimed Edward as he watched his leg extend.
“He really linked our legs?” Jaimy asked.
“Let me move mine,” Edward urged. “Relax so we don’t break the link by straining it too hard.”
They set down their legs, and again both lifted up. The girl threw her hand over her mouth once more.
Leo couldn’t keep the link together any longer even if he wanted to. He let it break with a huge breath and found himself to be panting.
His brother shook Leo’s shoulders in triumph.
“That is nothing short of incredible,” Edward marveled. “Isn’t it?” he asked the girl. “I don’t know as much about Artistry as I do Esitry, so I want to be sure.”
“It is,” she murmured, staring at Leo wide-eyed.
“You’re really a summoner?” Andar asked Edward.
“Not by any definition.” He chuckled. “All I can do is feel and move Esitry. My trainer confirmed it for the recruitment officer, who couldn’t tell. I have yet to bring a creature though to this realm, but I think I’m close. I just need to be close to a rift.”
“How come you didn’t use the rift back in Jatn?”
Edward laughed. “How rich do you think I am?”
Andar blinked for a while with a straight face.
“Are you not aware how much coin it costs to train at the rift?”
“I’m not,” Andar admitted.
“It’s ten gold coins an hour, and you have to pay for a minimum of four hours. That’s forty gold coins!”
Andar and Leo had three left between them after their father had left them eight. They’d spent one on supplies for this trip and left four with Rygen. Forty was a lot, but Leo was surprised even the rich boy would say so.
“Your family doesn’t have forty?” Andar asked.
“Well yes, of course we have more than forty, but my family isn’t rich enough to part with forty so easily. And for what purpose? I had already passed the summoner’s test with my trainer’s assistance. I wouldn’t waste my family’s coin by trying to bring through a creature. I’m sure they’ll teach me how to do that in the capital, and they’ll even pay me to train.”
“They’ll pay?” Andar asked, his voice laden with greed. Edward and Jaimy laughed.
“Yes, they pay very well so long as we are accepted,” Edward said.
“We will be,” Jaimy added.
Edward clicked his tongue. “I apologize, Jaimy. I never let you finish your tale.”
She waved her hand. “There isn’t much else to say. My parents allowed me to start lessons with a trainer when I turned fourteen, and I eventually felt Artistry. I haven’t made much progress. I can barely hold a link together between two stones. I do hope to be accepted.”
“I’m sure you will,” Edward encouraged.
Leo wasn’t so sure, but he hoped so. It felt good to have people he could think of as friends. He would hate to see them sent back to Jatn.
If only Rygen was here as well. Then all would be perfect. There wasn’t much room for another body, but he wouldn’t mind at all if she sat pressed against him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
It took ten days of riding to reach Halin. Leo was excited to arrive, not just to see the city—for he had never been outside Jatn—but for the reprieve from riding in the carriage. This was the town where Andar and their father were born.
The first few days during the trip had been full of chatting and laughter, but the long days had begun to wear on all of them after the third or fourth. Leo longed to bathe, as he was sure the others did, too. They had stopped beside a river halfway during the trip to Halin, but the water was so cold that Leo had only given his skin a cursory cleaning.
Halin looked a lot like the northern side of Jatn. The streets were busy, the people didn’t appear poor, and the buildings were mostly two stories tall. There were many more wells around the city than could be found around Jatn, and the water looked clear whenever Leo watched someone pull a bucket up.
The driver took them all the way through the city from south to north. Even though Halin wasn’t very large, it was a slow trip because of the narrow streets. Leo didn’t mind, for there was much to see.
Edward and Jaimy had not been to Halin, but still they knew much about the city. It was their tutors, they explained, who had told them about the other cities. Besides the capital, Halin had the most history. The whole city was surrounded by a wall, though gates were always open during the day, allowing in a plethora of traders. There was no Traders’ Guild anymore; it formerly had been run by the Quim family. It used to be the most powerful guild in the world, overseeing all goods brought in and out of Halin.
It was delightful to hear Edward tell the tale of the Quims’ battle against the king, especially when Leo’s grandfather, DFaren Quim, was the hero of the story.
They had asked the driver if he could show them the old Quim mansion, but it was too far out of the way. It had been taken over by some lord loyal to the king anyway. All of the Quim wealth had been usurped. It irked Leo to think that he could have been wealthy had the king not interfered after a rift was discovered just outside Halin. Leo’s grandfather had extended the city wall around the cavern opening. He’d prepared for the king to fight him, and he could’ve won if
it wasn’t for the Analytes’ betrayal.
According to Edward and Jaimy’s tutors, there were a couple theories as to why the Analyte king had betrayed the Quims, and why so many Analytes had gone along with his deceitful order. Most people believed it was because the Analytes needed farmers. They had too much land to cultivate with just their own people, and often small villages were subject to barbarian attacks. After the Analytes helped the human king, Mavrim Orello, all the human soldiers who had fought against them and Mavrim were forced to migrate to Analyte land and become farmers.
But others believed that something else was happening in Analyte land, something that required bodies. Edward’s tutor theorized that KRenn Trange was involved in something related to Artistry, Esitry, or possibly both, that resulted in a catastrophic event. There were tales about something in Analyte land that could one day destroy the entire human kingdom.
Leo and Andar knew what it was: a growing rift. Their father had told them about it. They didn’t say a word, though. They were two poor boys who were not supposed to know anything about this. It was shocking enough to Edward and Jaimy when Andar told them that he and his brother could read. Leo couldn’t imagine their reactions if Andar enlightened them about the growing rift.
The driver groaned as he climbed out from his seat and held his back. It was evening by then, and Leo was aching for a cooked meal and a warm bath.
The driver had said very little throughout the entire trip. He only told them what they needed to know, like how long he was stopping and for what purpose. He’d never spoken about himself, never even given his name.
“I usually take recruits to the Garnishvale Inn over here.” The driver gestured at one of the many two-story buildings, specifically the one with a sign that had the name of the establishment written too fancy for Leo to make out the letters. “It looks like it’ll put a bigger dent in your coin than it really will.” He eyed Andar and Leo. “But if you require a cheaper place, I know of one a little ways to the west. The beds and meals are not quite as good, but you should have a fine rest nonetheless.”
“Nonsense,” Edward said. “They’ll stay here with all of us. I’d be happy to pay for any accommodations the two of you require. I know you’ll pay me back after you make up the coin.”