Red Jade: Book 1: Journeys In Kallisor

by Stephen Wolf

  “Tigroars, reptigons, and eaglons?” one of the rogues called out. “Juuuust great.”

  Five large, catlike beasts stalked in, blue-and-green stripes mingling down yellow-brown fur. These tigroars had overextended jaws that could easily fit around a man’s torso, as well as spikes along the outer facing of their limbs. They snarled with each step, and it was well known that the call of a tigroar could shake the ground and knock down an opponent. The secret was to be in the air just before the bellow.

  That was where the eaglons came in, with giant metallic talons like miniature swords. Their wings were thick with feathers, and their bite could cause a stiff paralysis that rendered their victims’ bodies useless for the time it took to disembowel them. It was worse than the numbing poison of the lupinoes’ tails.

  The added support of three reptigons made this a dirty fight. These lizard-like snakes had feet that carried them rapidly across the ground, and their wiry bodies, fringed with needles, could easily enwrap a foe, cutting deeply and causing severe bleeding. The serum in their fangs could put a grown man to sleep, but against a child, it was instant death.

  Kitalla’s dexterity and accuracy were unparalleled, and within the first few seconds of the attack, one eaglon died, dagger through its heart. The others swooped more effectively, however, dodging her other projectiles.

  Gabrion’s sword led the charge against a tigroar, the sheer force of it frightening the creature and causing it to veer away and attack from a different angle. The warrior adjusted quickly and turned his body, bringing the sword around and nipping into one of its paws. Unfazed, the tigroar leaped for him again, jaws bared until they crashed into the upturned shield. Gabrion rolled backward, following the feline’s descent and kicking up into its underbelly, winding it desperately. He pounced back onto his feet, pivoted, and drove his sword through its heart.

  One of the rogues fended off a tigroar’s initial attack, but he missed the reptigon’s charge. It didn’t take long for the two creatures to end his life.

  Two other rogues worked in tandem, hacking and slashing with daggers and a sword. One of them cut into an eaglon’s wing, causing it to spiral awkwardly to the ground, and the other followed up by cutting into its neck, killing it. They turned quickly toward a reptigon that was jumping toward them, batting it from the air and sending it in Kitalla’s direction. She luckily saw it coming and met it with a dagger thrust, though its flying carcass managed to slash up her hands with its spikes.

  The rogue leader and his second-in-command distracted a tigroar by throwing dust in its face, making it sneeze. The leader took a stick from the campfire and waved it into the monster’s amber eyes, further blinding it, while his companion plowed into the monster’s side, knocking it over. Not the wisest move, for the creature’s paws furiously kicked in the air, scoring some hits, but the rogue leader jumped in and cut a deep gash along the creature’s side, then struck again when he found that it wasn’t deep enough.

  The most difficult part of being a mage in a battle was the time it took to cast spells. Dariak pulled spell components from his pockets and put them to use, summoning a capture web similar to the one he had used in Kaison, though this one was generated from flour, which he moistened on his tongue. He had to spit it out at his target for it to work, but he was able to use it to take down an eaglon, after which his dagger did the rest. He then drew a rough rectangle in the dirt, bound it with magic to a grape, and waited for a tigroar to step within the border. It did, with a coordinated attempt from a reptigon. Dariak issued the final part of the spell and crushed the grape messily in his hand. The dirt within the rectangle became a swampy mire, dragging the two creatures in. They thrashed about and would have freed themselves if not for the help of Gabrion’s sword, which slashed in from the side and vanished to attack another foe.

  The warrior let his sword swing about from one creature to the next, knocking some of them down and slaying the rest. He yelled aloud at times, summoning an aggressive force from within that more than made up for his lack of experience. And with each swing, he learned a faster way to parry, a better way to twist, an easier way to dodge, and a keener way to stab. After a few quick kills, the creatures realized he was strong, and they went for the lesser foes.

  The rogues fought hard, but once they saw the destructive power of the other three, they realized that the woman had been right; they were no match for them. They all worked in tandem to bring down the last of the creatures, ending the battle.

  The leader grudgingly approached Kitalla after sheathing his sword. “Share our fire,” he offered. “Anythin’ you need, take it.”

  Kitalla paused long enough to catch her breath. “We intend to.”

  “You have a man down,” Gabrion interceded. “And we have injuries to tend to first.”

  Kitalla considered pressing the matter, but the slashes she had taken did need attention. “Fine, but you’ll talk once we’re done.”

  “Definitely,” the leader said, walking off with the other rogues to dig a grave for their fallen comrade.

  Gabrion spent some time hauling the animal carcasses away from the campsite, once Dariak had claimed two to prepare as dinner. Kitalla helped the mage, keeping her eyes on the rogues.

  Cleanup took about an hour, including patching their wounds, tethering the horses, and cooking the flanks of tigroar and eaglon, seasoned with some of Dariak’s herbs. The seven of them ate silently, eyeing one another suspiciously as if waiting for the other group to attack. They also listened for additional wildlife on the prowl, but the scent of the dead kept most of it away, except a few scavengers. The feral creatures preferred live kills, not carcasses left out to fester. So though the decay that had set in quickly was irritating, it also served as a mild barrier against intrusion.

  “So?” Kitalla asked, unable to wait any longer. “Where is it, if it isn’t with you?”

  The rogue leader frowned as if he regretted having to answer. Kitalla withdrew a dagger when he hesitated. “Okay, fine,” he placated her at last. “I said before you won’t get it. That’s because it’s in the Lair of Grenthar.” He considered, then shook his head. “You’ll never get it. We nabbed it once, but he knew it went missing and upped all the security by the time we returned it. No, you’ll never get it back.”

  “We could just send you back to fetch it.”

  “Ha!” the man scoffed. “We barely escaped as it is. Sorry, it isn’t going to happen. We have better chances elsewhere.”

  “Not with the bard,” Dariak interjected.

  “Yes, mage.” He didn’t like the look Dariak made in response. “Maybe he’s yer friend or something, but some things have to be taken care of, like it or not.”

  “What is he to you?” Gabrion asked the rogue leader.

  “He stole somethin’ from our father.” He signaled to his second-in-command. “Somethin’ he was entrusted to keep, and when it went missin’, our old man lost it. Ruined everything he’d built up for us all his life. It’s revenge we seek.”

  “With a five hundred thousand gold bounty?” Dariak sneered.

  “A rival of our father’s boss offered it as an incentive for us to return it to her instead,” said the leader’s brother, after which he received a painful shot in the arm.

  “Shut it!” the leader snapped. “It doesn’t matter anyway. We’re gettin’ it no matter what. It’s what we borrowed the other one for, to help us find him. Worked too, but if we didn’t give it back, our lives wouldn’t have mattered much at all.”

  “Grenthar must have owed you something big to let you even have it for that long and then to let you leave,” Kitalla commented.

  “You’ve heard of him?”

  “All thieves have. Best there is. It makes sense he’d have a shard.” She turned to her companions. “It won’t be easy getting it.”

  “We’ll manage,” Gabrion inserted, to Dariak’s surpri
se. He thought the warrior would declare the attempt fruitless.

  “Fine then,” Kitalla said casually. “I’m off to sleep. Dariak, Gabrion, do keep an eye on these idiots, won’t you? Tie them up if you think you need to.” She rose, stretched, and took off for the bedrolls, selecting the fluffiest one and falling into it quickly.

  “Boys,” the leader called to his men, “fall in, all of you. No sense in any of us losin’ sleep tonight. These folk won’t be killin’ us in our sleep.”

  “Are you so sure?” Kitalla called out.

  “Definitely. Because yer the one goin’ to sleep,” he explained, and then he and the others settled down, leaving Gabrion and Dariak alone by the fire.

  They sat quietly for a while, listening to the others as their breathing calmed and they fell asleep. Dariak pulled the pieces of jade from his pockets and held them, his face a mask of confusion.

  “What is it?” Gabrion asked.

  “I think they’re lying,” he whispered, looking over to the five huddled bedrolls. “These are both vibrating more than before. They have to have a shard among them.”

  “When we left Gerrish, you said the same thing. Are they vibrating more than that?”

  Dariak considered the question carefully, thinking it odd but also trying to remember. “No, it’s the same as then.”

  Gabrion reached into his own pocket with one hand, pressing his finger to his lips with the other. He withdrew the shard the elder had given him and showed it to the wide-eyed mage.

  “You! How?” Dariak struggled to keep his voice a whisper.

  Gabrion explained briefly, letting Dariak hold it for a few moments before taking it back. “I’m holding on to this one for now.” It wasn’t a request, and Dariak was too stunned to argue anyway.

  The mage looked at his shards and shook his head. “That explains that, then. But maybe they still have one?”

  “They don’t,” hissed Kitalla’s voice from behind them. “I checked. Come on, I would rather sleep with rats than these guys. Besides, you guys aren’t keeping a very close watch tonight.”

  Gabrion breathed a laugh and followed her to the horses. Once again, they were off, pressing their way to Pindington in the east, with another shard to find.

  Chapter 20

  Pindington

  The journey to Pindington was a busy one. The trio crossed paths with numerous groups of creatures. They took on several packs of gleese and reptigons, which were natural enemies but united in the face of new blood. A flock of eaglons was on the hunt for rodia, oversized, greenish mouselike creatures that mostly fed on rocks and, therefore, had powerfully strong jaws and teeth. When the companions went near the feeding zone, the avian fiends turned to what they thought was easier prey, only to find they didn’t have a chance. The only group of beasts that didn’t require a battle was a small pack of lupinoes that focused its energy on herding their cubs away from the humans.

  Kitalla commented that there was no way the rogue band had crossed so many attacks from the creatures, but Dariak believed it was partly a function of the three jade pieces they had in their possession. The resonances of the three pieces were strong in the beginning, as if they were excited to see one another, but he sensed the energy vibrations growing slightly less with each day they were together, like friends adjusting to day-to-day routines. Yet, still, the vibrations of the three together appeared to draw curious attention. They all wondered how frequent the encounters would become as they found other shards.

  During the smaller confrontations, Kitalla tried making use of Dariak’s training by pulling energies into her body before casting them outward during her dance moves. It wasn’t easy for her to channel the energies properly, but she did start seeing some effects. Because Dariak had such skill with his fire-dart spell, it was the first one he shared with Kitalla. She drew the energies into herself and focused her thoughts sharply on releasing the flames with her movements. Though her first efforts were unsuccessful, she did begin producing sparks with her hands and feet. It was launching them that challenged her the most.

  Gabrion worked hard during the battles, honing his fighting skills whenever possible. The warrior fared best when taking down larger beasts, such as a group of tigroars that attacked them one night. Swiping his long sword with all of his strength worked well for clobbering massive bodies, but the smaller creatures could slip through more easily. He took advice from Kitalla, who offered suggestions for improvement. He even went as far as exchanging his shield for a dagger to work on his accuracy, but after numerous attempts, he found that he earned more damage than he gave.

  When Dariak wasn’t setting up protection spells for his companions, he worked to commune with the water jade to unlock the secrets within. He used techniques his father had recorded in journals and was able to unlock some new spells. This was similar to his communion with the earth jade, which gave him access to his web-binding and dirt-binding spells, among others. While holding various spell components during his meditations, he could sense how some of their properties would react with the new energies around him. And so, when he was holding the water jade and a shard of glass, he found a protection spell similar to the one the earth jade had shown him, as well as a means of reducing the sharpness of an object.

  Using jades was, of course, not the only means for mages to learn new spells. It just facilitated the process by placing the activation words and motions directly into the mind. Dariak knew he still had a lot more to learn from both shards in his possession, but he hungered to know more about Gabrion’s jade.

  The warrior had not allowed him to hold it again but promised that he would in time. Gabrion did ask Dariak for advice in reaching out to the shard, and the mage assisted readily enough, hoping it would reduce the amount of time he would have to wait. When the two of them concentrated on their respective shards, Kitalla either practiced her moves or teasingly lamented that she wasn’t allowed one of her very own.

  Their progress to Pindington took much longer than it should have because of the beastly interruptions and their own attempts to strengthen themselves along the way. Kitalla warned them that they would be facing large odds against the likes of Grenthar and that it wasn’t likely they would all survive.

  During the trek, Gabrion felt remorse that they were taking their time, leaving Mira in the hands of the enemy. But he trusted the words of the elder of Gerrish that the energies were coming together for a reason. He believed that Mira would be waiting for him.

  Over a week passed during what should have been a three-day hard ride, but at last the skyline of Pindington appeared on the horizon. Even from a distance, they could see the town wall, with rooftops extending above it, as well as something that would have dwarfed even the castle of Kaison: the Prisoner’s Tower. It was several stories tall, deep gray, with an oval base and a somewhat pyramidal structure that just kept reaching up into the sky. Combined with the morning sun, the giant tower loomed over the town like an enormous sundial, its shadow extending beyond the town walls.

  Pindington was one of the few towns or cities in Kallisor that Kitalla knew only by reputation. Even the experienced thief found herself on new territory as they guided their horses through the main gates, seeking lodging for their duration. Gabrion noticed that she squirmed a little more than usual, but whether it was the surroundings or the prospect of their task here, he didn’t know. She had spoken words of caution when she talked of Grenthar, no wit or sass or frivolity.

  The city had no less than six proper inns to choose from, with lower-class options available as well. Kitalla chose a place close to the center of town that could house their steeds and had an active tavern downstairs. The best way of staying hidden and informed, she explained, was to stay in larger groups.

  As in Warringer, Dariak and Gabrion shared a room, while Kitalla took a separate space. She paid for their stay with money she had taken from the rogues who were hu
nting Randler. Once settled in, they each went their separate ways to explore the town, learn what they could, and obtain materials they would need for finding the jade.

  Dariak spent the first part of his day replenishing his herb stores, as he had used numerous herbs on the journey from Gerrish for either spells or cooking. He located one of the mystic shops and exchanged a few pieces of rose quartz he had taken from Kaison for citrine and amethyst. From there he browsed for a new set of mage robes, but none fit him properly. He also searched for a leather carry case specifically designed for sorting spell components. He languished at the shop for a long time, for it felt a bit like being at home, having access to proper equipment. Kallisor, on the whole, may disapprove of magic, but shops like this could still have mild success. The proprietor offered him some good deals, and Dariak delighted in negotiating him down to even lower prices still.

  Gabrion’s day was spent quite differently. Because the healer in Gerrish had refused his gold, accepting his labor as payment for services rendered, he still had his sixty-three gold pieces. He went to a jeweler and purchased a thick gold chain so he could wear Mira’s engagement ring around his neck, keeping her close to his heart. It was important, because with each day that whiled away, he felt her chances of survival were slimmer. But if he kept that ring near his heart, she would benefit from it somehow, and so she would still be with him in the end.

  He also visited the town sanctuary in order to receive treatment for a variety of wounds and bruises still left over from the incursions that had happened along the way. They were very official in their dealings with him, accepting a concise payment of thirty-four gold pieces for the injuries he had sustained. Three healers used magic to propagate the healing process of his lacerations while two others used pressure points to ease tension in his muscles, followed by a deep massage. He tried to pay attention to the healing used on him, and he surprised himself when he was able to sense the energies drawn from rose quartz, through the healers, and guided through his own body to match his circulation. Calm and relaxed, the young warrior returned to the tavern, unwilling to do more than enjoy the sensation.