He carried out his duties without incident that evening, and ate the plain and plentiful meal with the other members of the staff, answering or avoiding questions about how he had come to join the group in the empty lands outside Greenfalls.
“I went up into the mountains to try to find the lost city of Limber,” he told them, knowing that no one would believe him if he told what he had found. “Now I’m on my way back.” His words set off conversation about myths about Limber, and then myths about other treasures that were waiting to be found by treasure hunters and adventurers. The conversation carried on around a camp fire until sunset, when the staff members drifted off to sleep.
Theus slept near the wagon he had ridden on, and slept comfortably until awakened to stand his turn on guard duty. He was accompanied by two others, a man and a woman named Pat and Tirne.
“We don’t expect any problems; we haven’t seen any trouble on the whole trip from Waterspot,” Pat told Theus as the three of them strolled casually around the perimeter of the camp.
“No bandits? Not even around the bridge?” Theus asked.
“No, nothing anywhere. We had a horse break a leg in a gopher hole, and a wagon break an axle, and that’s about the worst we’ve had,” Tirne confirmed.
“Sshh,” Theus said suddenly, placing his free hand on Tirne’s arm.
“Don’t ‘sshh’ me,” she said indignantly.
“Did you hear something?” he asked.
“No,” Pat answered.
There was a scrabbling noise on pebbles nearby.
“What was that?” Tirne asked in a near whisper, suddenly alert to the sound.
Theus was considering something new. He had seen the black magicians create lights, and detach them from themselves. They had floated balls of light in the air overhead to illuminate the halls and rooms of the temple of Limber while they had invaded it. If Theus could disconnect his own white magic light from himself, he could explore the area in the vicinity of the caravan camp to check on possible robbers.
The magic would have to come from him, but not maintain its connection to him. He thought about the words in the spell that converted his energy into light. He could try to change the words, he told himself. The words would change the meaning of the spell and the outcome.
And the moment when he was on guard duty was the perfect time to try, he decided.
He grasped his power and thought through the altered words of the spell, ready to extend the light to a spot several yards away. And then he combined and engaged the power and the spell together, then released the results.
“What in the?” Pat exclaimed.
“Look at that! Mother Currense, help us!” Tirne shouted.
Theus had made himself glow throughout his entire body.
He shut the energy off. His two companions had backed away from him, and drawn swords.
“What are you?” Pat asked.
And then a squad of robbers sprung their attack. Theus saw Tirne go down first as a man stabbed her with his sword. Theus resumed his use of power to create light, lighting up only his hand and holding it high as he held his sword with his other hand and started to battle back against the attack.
“Robbers! Sound the alarm! Robbers!” Pat began to scream.
“Robbers!” Theus severed a part of his energy, and spun it off instinctively to a different use; he used ventriloquism to send the word off in all directions throughout the campsite and the nearby vicinity.
“Who was that? Who’s behind us?” one of the robbers shouted.
“Who cares? Why is that one glowing?” shouted another.
Theus swung his sword forcefully, while he considered what to do with his sword and his white magic, if there was anything he could do to make the caravan safe.
His thoughts and actions were occurring in the midst of the activity around him. He was reacting and relying on instinct.
His instinct told him he should be able to release his light from his body so that it would rise into the sky. He believed it was possible, even while he focused on swinging his sword.
He re-tweaked the light spell in his memory then recited it silently again, and the light correctly left his hand and floated up into the sky, lighting the land beneath, letting Theus see where the robbers were coming from and how they were infiltrating the camp site.
He was buoyed by the success, but he immediately swung his sword defensively, and stepped into a battle against two robbers, who challenged him for a pair of heartbeats, then looked up in fear at the glowing orb and ran from the contest.
Theus pivoted and ran to help Pat against another pair of robbers, defeating one by himself, then helping Pat take down the other. He then heard the animals in the corral sound alarmed, and he took a small step using his magical powers, to place himself on the other side of the camp, where three robbers were trying to empty out the corral.
“Stop!” he shouted, as his orb of light came floating behind him to illuminate the scene.
“What is that?” a robber asked.
“What do the robbers have in the sky?” he heard someone else ask.
“Get away from the animals!” he shouted, and he swung his sword at the closest of the thieves, forcing the man to step back.
“You’re surrounded. Drop to the ground lay down with your hands on your heads,” he pitched his voice with ventriloquism again, acting without thinking, so that it sounded as if ten men were in the vicinity of the corral.
The robbers fell immediately, with Theus standing over them. Within five minutes, the robbery attempt was over, the robbers vanquished or captive. Many men and women with lanterns hustled around the camp site, and Pat stood with the caravan leader, looking cautiously at Theus, as he remained guarding the prone corral rustlers with his light floating above him.
“What is that?” Pat asked.
“It is simply a light,” Theus began. He would have to explain something, in some way, he realized. “I am a white magician, a good magician,” he told the two caravan leaders, and the few others who gathered behind them observing.
“But I’m only an apprentice magician,” he added. It was a true characterization, he realized. Just as he had been an apprentice memory stone worker, so he was an apprentice at magic. The exception to his analogy was that he didn’t really have anyone teaching him how to be better at magic. He was just doing the few things he knew how to do, and starting to figure out new things.
“And you’re not here to rob us yourself?” Carswile the caravan leader asked cautiously.
“I was truly only passing from one place to another, on my way to Greenfalls, when we met. You are no concern of mine, except that I work for you,” Theus answered. The light of dawn was beginning to break on the eastern horizon, behind a mountain ridge, he noted.
“How is Tirne? Have you checked her?” he thought to ask.
“She’s gravely injured. We have no medic,” Pat answered.
“May I look at her?” Theus asked.
“Are you a surgeon too?” Carswile asked in response.
“No, but I know a few formulae that may help her recover. Let’s go look,” Theus answered.
They walked together to the other side of the caravan, when Tirne had been lifted onto boards that provided an impromptu examination table. Theus looked at the stab in her midsection. He didn’t know how to perform any surgery or procedures to heal the woman, but he could guess at which organs were wounded, and might be helped with remedies.
“Do you have pumice, graceleaf powder, turmeric, saffron, vinegar, asparagus root, stay leaf oil, and audiadelpha?” Theus asked.
“Maybe someone in the caravan does,” Carswile said doubtfully.
“Go find out; send people around looking for all the things I just mentioned,” Theus directed. Within an hour, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he had the ingredients he needed, and he carefully mixed four different cures for Tirne’s wounds, as the caravan prepared for departure on its final day of travel.
“I’ve treated her,” Theus reported. “I think she’ll be okay, at least to get to Greenfalls to see a real doctor.”
“You’ve been an amazing find on this trip,” Carswile got down off his horse to walk beside Theus and speak to him. “You’re frightening, but unbelievably helpful. We would have lost our herd of animals to those rustlers if you hadn’t been with us.
“If there’s something I can do to help return the favor, you just need to let me know,” the leader told Theus.
“I do need something,” Theus said bluntly, surprised by the offer of assistance, but willing to take it. “I need a caravan to take a load of food towards Waterspot for me.”
“A caravan? You mean a whole caravan?” Carswile asked, perplexed.
“Yes,” Theus confirmed. “I need lots of wagons full of food, and I need someone to take them east.”
“I’d like to help you, but I’m already committed to the western leg to Great Forks,” Carswile didn’t seem sincere in his apology to Theus
“Can you help me find a caravan? Is there someplace you can take me to find caravan drivers?” Theus asked. “What about Vanline? Could you help me find Vanline to see if he’d work for me?”
“If he’s in Greenfalls, I can connect you to him,” Carswile agreed. “But as I said, he should go north next, not east.
“Just out of curiosity,” he began after a pause, “how would you make the down payment on a caravan? Are you related to the governor or one of his cronies? That’ll take a lot of money.”
Theus swung his heavy backpack off his shoulder with a grunt, then opened the flap to reveal the metal coins inside. “Is this enough?” he asked.
“Great Bellance and Plever!” Carswile swore. “I’ve never seen that much money!
“Who in the world are you?” he asked Theus in astonishment.
“I’m an agent for someone else, someone powerful,” Theus couldn’t bring himself to try to describe an invisible voice that spoke in a lost city.
“That’s powerful,” Carswile agreed with a shake of his head. “You’d have every man in this caravan trying to knock you over the head to take that pack, if they hadn’t seen or heard about you in the battle this morning.
“I’ll find Vanline for you, or someone just as good,” he promised.
Theus wandered back to his wagon in the back after the conversation, and sat next to the recumbent Tirne. She seemed to have regained some of her color as she lay on the boards on the wagon. Theus gently took her hand in his and held it for comfort, then exclaimed in surprise as he felt her fingers lightly squeeze his hand.
“She woke up a little while ago and we talked a bit about what happened,” the wife on the buckboard turned to tell Theus.
“She’s a strong lady to be reviving so quickly,” he replied, and he felt Tirne give another light squeeze.
Theus sat silently and watched as the scenery they passed evolved from wilderness to sparsely settled lands to more densely built properties as they approached Greenfalls. He pondered the bits and pieces of history that he had heard, from the Voice and elsewhere, that Greenfalls had once been an independent nation, not ruled by Stoke. Had it gone to war with Limber, he wondered. Or could the two city-states have been allies?
“Theus, Carswile wants you up front,” a rider came back to fetch Theus when they passed through the gate in the city walls early in the afternoon.
Theus bid farewell to the driver of his wagon and the man’s wife.
“Theus,” he heard Tirne whisper his name; he bent over her.
“You take it easy and heal,” he told her softly.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and she opened her eyes briefly to look at him as she gave a brief smile.
“Here’s your payment,” Carswile dropped coins in Theus’s hand when they were rejoined at the head of the caravan. The group was pressing its way slowly through the traffic of the city streets, and there was no trouble for Theus to catch up with the leader.
“At the next cross street, Vanline’s base will be a hundred yards to the right. You can go there on your own when we pass, or you can wait until I get our arrangements made later tonight or tomorrow,” Carswile advised.
“I’ll look for him on my own,” Theus accepted the offer. He watched as the caravan neared the intersection, then said his farewells and broke away.
Chapter 18
Once Theus shouldered his way through the crowd on the main street, he reached a less congested area, and walked easily forward. It struck him for the first time in a meaningful way that he was about to potentially reunite with the group of people he had known on the first chapter of his adventures in leaving home in the Jewel Hills. What would the reunion be like, he wondered?
He’d see Vanline himself, presumably. Sooner or later there would be a discussion about swords, and the two of them might even end up in a match, practicing against one another. Theus wasn’t sure how that competition would turn out. He’d improved as a swordsman during his life in Great Forks, but since that time he’d had little practice.
There were no signs of caravans along the street, only storefronts and apartments. Theus examined the doors and windows, looking for some sign of Vanline as he slowly walked through the area. He went as far as he thought he should, then turned and came back even more slowly, re-examining the scenes along the way. Again, he found nothing.
Finally, he went to a small shop and entered, walking in among the barrels and containers of spices.
“I’m looking for a caravan leader named Vanline. Is he around here?” Theus asked the elderly woman who sat on a stool.
“All the caravan leaders are in the office two doors down. I don’t know any named Vanline,” the lady informed him. “They come and go so much there’s no telling one from the other.”
Theus thanked her and left the building, then entered the correct address. An attractive girl sat behind a counter, sorting papers among several piles.
“What do you need?” she asked without looking up.
“I’m looking for a caravan leader named Vanline,” Theus replied.
“He’s not here,” the girl said dismissively.
“Can I find him somewhere, or will he be back?” Theus asked.
“He’s a busy man. He’ll be here when he gets here,” the girl was pointedly not paying any real attention to Theus, and showed no interest in helping him.
“I want to challenge him to a sword fight,” Theus decided to at least get the girl’s attention.
She paused, a piece of paper in her hand held in the air above a pile. She didn’t drop it in place, but remained frozen for a moment, then looked up.
“He’s the best swordsman along the river,” her eyes finally looked at Theus.
“I used to work for him and practice with him. I’m better now,” Theus was pleased to have finally won the girl’s attention. “I’ll surprise him.”
“He’ll be here at closing time to pick up his shipment vouchers,” the girl patted one of the piles of paper she was sorting.
“I’ll be back to meet him. Tell him Theus is looking for him,” Theus said. “I’m going to the market to get something to eat. Can I get anything for you?” he offered.
She looked at him with a quizzical expression. “No, thanks,” she decided to answer.
Theus left the building, glad to know he had only a little time to wait until he would have a chance to see Vanline again. He wandered over to the closest market following directions from people on the street, and bought a skewer of roasted meats, then bought a small sweet cake to give to the girl at the counter. As he walked back to the storefront with the cake, and thought about the
girl, he suddenly realized he hadn’t thought about Coriae in days.
Perhaps, he told himself, he was slowly moving past the hurt he felt from the loss of his relationship with her. He felt a pang in his heart, and decided to hope that he was nonetheless moving past that irreversible disappointment. He continued on his way until he had returned to the shop of the caravan leader once again.
Theus walked through the door, carrying the small cake. The girl at the counter continued to focus on her papers, until Theus walked up and placed the small treat directly in front of her.
“What’s this?” her eyes shifted to the cake, then to Theus’s face, while her hands ceased their motions.
“I thought you looked like you needed something nice,” he told her.
“That’s the nicest thing anyone’s done for me this week! Thank you,” she gushed. She set her papers down and picked up the cake, inspecting it appreciatively, before she closed her eyes and took a bite from the baked good.
“Oh, um, very nice,” she said. She smiled as she chewed the bite of cake, and her eyes sparkled. She turned the cake and lifted it towards Theus. “Here you try a bite too,” she insisted.
Theus nodded his head, and she raised the cake up to his face, so that he had only to open his jaws and then take a bite.
It had an unexpected flavor, a berry taste that was a surprise and an enhancement of the cake’s texture and moistness.
The girl pulled the cake away and watched him, then giggled.
“You’ve got icing on your nose!” she informed him. One finger extended gingerly towards his face, and his eyes went crossed as he watched the tip of the digit gently swipe away a small spot of sugary goodness, then press itself between his lips.
“There, you got it all,” she murmured.
Theus felt a strange tingling, a feeling of weakness in his knees and a warmth in his cheeks, as he looked at the girl from their close range to one another. She was a pretty girl, a woman really, he noted, slightly older than he was.
“So this is the impostor who came to seduce my employee and challenge my reputation as a swordsman,” a voice suddenly spoke behind Theus. He felt something jab him in the back.
Unpredictable Fortunes (The Memory Stone Series Book 3) Page 17