Spellkeeper

by Courtney Privett

  “She won't remember me.”

  Iefyr pivoted forward. “She'll make new memories. And I think the old ones fade into feelings. My little sister Ieki told me she doesn't remember our parents, but she remembers feeling loved by them. She was barely two when they died.”

  “Orcs retain strong memories from early childhood. Elves and humans aren't so lucky.” Benny kicked a rock diagonally into the morass. It landed with a saturated plop and the drone of the frogs grew louder. “How is your sister?”

  “I have no idea. I haven't been back to Tidegarden in two years. She's seventeen now, a year older than I was when our family was slaughtered. Same age Shan was when he was turned into a Spellkeeper.”

  Benny shifted closer to take Iefyr's hand. “I was sixteen when she kidnapped me. Sixteen and seventeen seem to be a lousy age, and a time we can't help but relive.”

  Iefyr sniffed as he squeezed her hand. “Mordegan and Ragan looked everywhere for you. They never stopped searching even when the few clues they found led nowhere. We all helped, all the mercs. Mordegan's mercs were an odd sort of family, weren't they? Losing one of his kids was like losing one of our own.”

  “Do you have kids yet, Iefyr?”

  He eased his hand out of hers and adjusted the quiver on his back. The bow and quiver were Tessen's, not his. Tessen was the only one of the Spellkeeper-seeking quartet who had arrived with any gear, so he had to share it. Iefyr's hand settled on the end of the bow and he shook his head. “No. I don't think I'll ever be so fortunate.”

  “Why?” Benny asked.

  He closed his eyes but kept walking forward. “Half-orc men aren't really desirable mates, are they? My other half being elf makes me even less so. When I was a teenager, the girls of my father's clan teased me for it. I'm tiny and ugly and physically weak, and I carry around all of these awful memories of exactly what happens to half-bloods and their parents when the rest of the family can't tolerate deviance. Fortunately, my sister will have an easier life than I've had. Half-orc women have no problem finding orcan mates. They're considered pretty by the men, so they usually stay within the clans instead of venturing out to be called ugly by non-orcs. And Ieki is beautiful. She has hair and eyes like mine, but she's as tall and as strong as any orc. She'll have a line of young men asking my uncle for his blessing to court her before long.”

  “You're beautiful,” Benny whispered. She hoped her words were drowned by frog song, but the way Iefyr paused and dug his heels into the soft loam of the road told her he'd heard.

  He rubbed the side of his nose and looked down. “Please don't do this. Don't tease me. I know you're sincere because you look at me now the same way you did when you were a teenager, but you're married.”

  Benny wanted to touch his face and embrace him, but she kept her hands at her sides and looked forward. Radamar's sandy head bobbed between Mordegan and Kemi. She had no idea what the three of them could possibly be discussing, but they were so engaged in their conversation that they had nearly walked off the road more than once. “Radamar is . . . he might surprise you. He has certainly surprised me. I think the three of us should have a talk when we're allowed a private moment.”

  At the sound of his name, Radamar turned around. He smiled at Iefyr as he backtracked to approach them.

  “Shit. You were listening, weren't you?” Benny asked. She held out her hand so he could take it.

  Still smiling, Radamar shrugged. “Here and there. Iefyr, I think you...” His voice trailed off as his smile fell.

  Pale green wisps condensed and gathered on both sides of the road. An eerie, wooden giggle rattled through the trees.

  “That's not green witch light,” Iefyr whispered. He reached for his bow, then set an arrow against the string.

  A sound like glass shattering on ice joined the giggle.

  “What are they?” Benny asked. A shiver crossed her shoulders and traveled down her arms.

  More lights, more lights, rattles and mist. She could barely see her father ahead.

  “Quag imps. Weapons ready.” Iefyr nocked the arrow, but didn't aim it. He swallowed, then called, “Mordegan!”

  The mist thickened and the glowing lights released a collective guffaw. Somewhere in the fog, a horse squealed. Hooves clopped against the road.

  Benny held her hands up, palms facing each other, and drew the blue light from within. Imps. All imps were malicious. All required violence to escape.

  A flash of silver and Mordegan and Kemi emerged from the mist. Green wisps swarmed the elven girl's head, but they were brighter and darker of hue than the imps. Witch lights, not malevolent death.

  The pale green glow brightened the fog as a screaming horse silenced the frogs. Screaming, and screaming, and then a thump, and then the wet horror of jaws tearing apart flesh.

  Everywhere. They were everywhere, flying all around, chewing and giggling.

  Iefyr's dragon whimpered and pressed against Benny's leg as their circle grew smaller.

  “Green and blue magic make them stronger,” Mordegan whispered. “I've lost good mercs to these little shits. Benny, Kemi, don't you magic these things. They'll eat it right up.”

  “Shit.” Benny shook away her gathered light and drew her dagger. “How do we fight them?”

  Kemi nudged Iefyr.

  “I can't. I don't know where the horses are.” The light flashing in Iefyr's eyes was red, not a reflection of the light orbs or wisps.

  “Blades and burns,” Mordegan said. He swung his axe to the side. A scream accompanied a burst of green liquid as he sliced through an imp with a scaled face and alligator teeth. “Light it up, Sealash.”

  Close now. Too close. The choking mist was full of light and gnashing teeth.

  Iefyr released an arrow into the skull of the nearest imp, then slung the bow over his shoulder. He held up both hands and snapped. Flames rose above his fingers.

  “Iefyr, just like we practiced,” Kemi said, her dagger held ready. She snapped forward and cut a pair of imps out of the mist.

  Iefyr turned until his back pressed against Benny's. She felt the rhythm of his heavy breaths and racing heart through their tunics. The orange glow brightened and grew hot as the flames expanded into fireballs. “Watch your eyes and be ready to jump in the water if this goes wrong.”

  He pushed his hands forward, launching the fireballs into the mist. Screams and pained laughter embraced them as the fireballs looped irregular circles in opposite directions. The green light grew dimmer, but still the imps kept coming. So many, too many. Claws swiped and teeth gnashed, ignoring fire and blades in search of flesh.

  Benny lopped off three heads in a row and watched Radamar nearly swing his polearm into Kemi's chest as Mordegan's sword shaved the scales of Auna's flank. This space was too small. There were too many, and the giggles only grew louder. She plunged her dagger into yet another alligator-skinned body before elbowing Iefyr's side. “There are too many. Do you know how to do a flame burst?”

  “I . . . uh... ” Iefyr was breathless and trembling. Maintaining his fireballs was quickly draining his energy. “I've read about it.”

  Pain exploded in Benny's left hand. She raised her arm, dragging an imp's kicking talons up her leg. Knife-sharp teeth burrowed through muscle, through bone. No magic, can't use magic. Kill it. She flipped the dagger and stabbed the imp between the eyes. The imp dropped to the ground, but so did her little finger.

  “Sard!” she screamed, pulling her bleeding hand to her chest.

  Still swinging his axe, Mordegan yanked a handkerchief from his pocket and shoved it at Benny. “Stay with us, Benny-girl.”

  Vomit rose in Benny's throat. She turned to the side and let it loose on a cluster of imps. Ignore the pain, ignore it, gods-damnit. You've felt worse. She wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve and shouted, “Do the sarding flame burst. I'll shield us, but if they touch the shield they'll get stronger. Don't worry about the horses. If they're not being eaten, they've already run.”

 
“Energy into heat . . . yes, I can do this,” Iefyr muttered. “Shield on three.”

  Benny wrapped the bleeding stump of her finger in the handkerchief. “One . . . two . . . three!”

  Blue light and fire exploded in simultaneous radiance. A cacophony of sizzling pops and crashing trees surrounded them before Benny was left hearing nothing but a muffled ring. Ash and embers and charred branches rained upon the blue light shield, but she would not allow it to break. Ignore the pain, just a moment longer. Ignore it. Stay focused.

  She allowed the shield to collapse as Ectran landed on the smoldering road. Elsin descended and stepped around piles of charred bodies. His eyes grew wide as he surveyed the wreckage of the morass road. “What . . . what happened here? We saw green light, then flames.”

  “What were these things?” Juna asked. He appeared as ill as Benny felt.

  She lurched to the side to vomit what was left of her previous meal. Radamar approached her slowly, then took the dagger from her uninjured hand and tucked it back into its sheath. He raised her hand and pressed the handkerchief tighter to staunch the bleeding.

  “Quag imps,” Mordegan said. He stood behind Iefyr, who was now sitting with eyes half closed as Auna paced in front of him. Mordegan scowled and dug through the side pockets of his rucksack. “Coulda used a hand, Sylleth.”

  “We flew back as quickly as we could.” Elsin glanced toward a large body by a burning stump. “I see two horses. Where are the other two? Where's your dragon, Kembriana?”

  Kemi sniffled and turned just enough that Benny could see her face. A diagonal gash opened the left side of her face from below her earlobe nearly to the corner of her mouth. “I . . . I . . . Lenna is fine. I'd feel it if she wasn't. She was flying when they attacked.”

  “Sarding Lady of Light, girl. We need to clean and suture that.” Mordegan produced another handkerchief and held it to Kemi's bleeding face.

  “Is it . . . is it bad? It hurt, but now I barely feel it.” Kemi's voice was hollow and distant.

  “You're gonna have a scar.” Mordegan nodded toward Elsin. “Sylleth, you have any field medic training?”

  “A little,” Elsin replied, looking on with concern.

  “Just a little? What the sard are they teaching you Regiment folks?” Mordegan sighed and dropped his rucksack on the ground. “Iefyr's one of the best damned medics I've ever trained, but he's useless right now. I've taught Juna some, but he looks more likely to vomit on a wound than clean it. I need your help. Imp got Benny's finger. Get what's left cleaned out so I can suture it. I need to stitch up Kemi first.”

  The last of the mist and clouds burned away, revealing a nearly-full moon. Kemi's eyes flashed silver as she looked upward.

  “Benny? How are you doing?” Radamar asked, his voice calm and gentle.

  “Didn't really need that finger. Have plenty of others,” Benny said hoarsely. A new wave of pain overtook her and she clenched her jaw so tight she was afraid her teeth would crack. She was on her knees in the moss but had no memory of sinking into that position.

  Radamar pushed her hair away from her eyes and kissed her brow. “Try not to lose any more, okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Um, Mordegan?” Elsin paused from removing the cap from a bottle of alcohol to look from one weary face to the next. “Where is my nephew?”

  Mordegan's eyebrows knit. “Well, shit. He was behind us. I swear he was. Kept his distance, but I saw his dragon's tail behind us on the road sometimes.”

  “That was an imp scout, not Serida,” Kemi whispered, her eyes still reflecting moonlight. Blood streamed down her injured face to soak her shirt. “Tessen left us, at least an hour ago. He wants to be alone and I've known that for weeks. He's somewhere drier now, somewhere with small hills.”

  “How do you know?” Mordegan asked.

  “She's in a moonlight link,” Elsin said.

  “With Tessen?”

  “With Lenna,” Kemi said. She winced and her eyes returned to fully blue. “Lenna followed him. Serida and one of the horses are with him.” Tears mingled with the blood on her face. “Why didn't I notice he was gone? None of us noticed.”

  Eyes heavy, Iefyr slowly looked up at Kemi. “He didn't want us to notice. That's how he is. He's afraid of being an inconvenience, so he just says nothing. He's been distancing himself more and more, walking alone, wandering from camp... Before you brought us here, he was about to go camping in the dead of winter just to get away from everyone and their feelings.”

  “Well, we need to find him,” Elsin said.

  “No.” Kemi's voice was loud and firm. “I need you to continue on to Auberline. All of you. I need to go to him. Lenna is refusing to leave him and I'm going to start feeling the separation pains if I'm away from her for too long. I'll meet you in the city, but knowing him as I do, I can't guarantee he'll be with me.”

  Mordegan sputtered his lips and sighed. “Will you at least let me stitch you up first?”

  Kemi nodded.

  Mordegan clicked his tongue and threaded a suturing needle. “Juna, go see if you can find that last horse. If it's still alive and unharmed, I wanna put Kemi on it. We can acquire more in the next village we pass. Should be one coming up in a couple hours. Benny-girl . . . you still with me?”

  “Most of me, Dad,” Benny said with a smirk.

  “Good. Gimme a couple minutes and I'll fix you up.”

  Benny leaned against Radamar and sobbed as Elsin cleaned her wound. This shared journey of two nights was already splitting apart. Less than a week to Auberline and Radella, but she would have to survive that long first.

  19

  Tessen

  The sky cleared not long after Tessen left the swamp to ascend a rocky rise into a lush forest. The stagnant damp lingered, and thick moss and mushrooms covered every available surface, but at least the ground no longer sank underfoot.

  He felt awful about leaving the others behind without even a word, but they would have guilted him into staying if they knew. He felt even worse about taking the horse, but there wasn't a way of returning her without anyone suspecting what he was about to do. He supposed the brown and white spotted Agate horse was his now, and he felt compelled to give her a name.

  “Serida, what do you think her name is?” he asked as he ducked to avoid a leafy branch.

  “Grrrwawwwrlll,” Serida replied. She bounded alongside the horse as if leading it. She likely was. She seemed just as eager to escape into solitude as Tessen was.

  “Grawrl? No, I can't pronounce that,” Tessen said. He twisted slightly to watch the silver form of Lenna skulk through the bushes. “What about you, Lenna? Got any suggestions for horse names?”

  “Grrr.” Kemi's dragon was no longer making an effort to hide from him. He'd noticed her presence within minutes of leaving the others, but she had refused to return to Kemi. He assumed she would eventually leave when the tug of separation became too much. He also assumed Kemi would use the moonlight link to spy on him.

  He leaned forward and stroked the horse's marbled mane. “Abandon. Your name is Abandon. Sorry about that. Whatever your previous name was, it was probably better.”

  The horse snorted and continued clopping up the gentle slope.

  Tessen closed his eyes and listened. Within the music of the wetland night hid a welcome sound. Running water. A stream was nearby.

  He led Abandon toward the burble. A narrow, reed-lined creek ran down the hill. With the moon and Serida's tail lighting the way, it didn't take long to find the source. A small spring pond sat within a shallow grotto. The ground here was flat, and a cluster of rock slabs offered rudimentary shelter. He pushed aside the overhanging vines and ducked beneath the largest slab. The interior was dry, and spacious enough for Serida and him to lie down comfortably. He hadn't traveled more than an hour from the main road, but he felt no need to go further. This would be a good place to camp while he reset his internal rhythm from starlight to sunlight.

  He left his rucks
ack under the slab and ventured to the side of the pond. Colorful fish swam through the clear water. He somewhat regretted giving his bow to Iefyr, but the archer needed it more than he did. Serida could hunt for both of them and he could find a suitable stick with which to spear these fish.

  “Arrgaarrwlll.” Lenna perched on top of a rock slab and looked down at him. The look in her blue eyes was similar enough to a disapproving Kemi that he assumed that's what it was.

  “Go back to her. Or stay there. I don't care. I don't feel dragons like I feel people, so I don't really give a damn if you hang out and spy on me.” Tessen watched Serida and Abandon drink from the pond. Serida eyed the fish with interest. Her forked tongue flicked the air before she plunged her head into the water. She shook her tail as she pulled up a bright orange fish. The flapping creature held in her jaws, she tilted her head toward Tessen. He glanced up at the nearly-full moon, then hung his head. “It's all yours. I'm not hungry.”

  Serida threw back her head and swallowed the fish whole.

  Tessen took off his boots, rolled up his pant legs, and sat on a flat rock at the edge of the pool. He watched the shadow of a night heron cross the moon as he stuck his feet in the water. The spring was pleasantly cool, but not cold enough that he'd have to worry about hypothermia if he decided to sit in it.

  Make a fire first. Serida's thoughts danced around him.

  “No. It's warm enough. It's not safe to make a fire when I can't watch it. Why can I hear you now? I never could while awake before.”

  It's quiet for your mind here. Get out of the water. You don't need it.

  “Are you afraid I'll fall asleep and end up face-down in the pond?”

  Yes. Serida's long tail swung side to side as she ducked beneath the vines. She growled as she tugged the blanket rolls and winter coat free of the rucksack.

  “Oh, so you're making me a nest?” He joined her in the shelter. He spread out the blankets, then laid back and adjusted the coat under his head until his face was bathed in moonlight. Serida released her pouch belt, dropped it on the rucksack, and laid down against him. He embraced her and kissed her snout. “You know what we're doing, right?”