by Guy Antibes
He walked wearily up to the deck. Shira and Loa stood talking to one another. He wanted to talk to Shira, but Loa had always been by her side during their voyage, so he joined Fadden at the helm.
“Paki and Kell have become proper sailors,” Fadden said, “once we had everything figured out.”
Pol smiled. “I’m glad we made it. Now it is time to rush out of here and head to Wailua.”
Fadden nodded. “Who knows if the Magicians Circle is ahead or behind?”
“I don’t suggest that we wait for them,” Pol said. “I’ll be glad to gain my strength back on the way to Wailua. Let’s just hope those plaques work.”
Fadden patted his shirt. “I have them right here. We can leave as soon as we buy supplies.”
The ship was as secure as their little group could make it, so they finally disembarked.
A Shardian ran up to them. “You can’t leave, we haven’t inspected your cargo.”
“We are the cargo,” Fadden said. “You can inspect us as we walk.
“But your ship.”
Fadden laughed. “It’s all yours.”
Pol’s group walked past the sputtering dock official and continued on into the small port. Despite Koakai’s betrayal, he had successfully led them all the way to the fortress, but they had lost their guide. Loa chatted with Shira up ahead. At least they still had a native Shardian with them, but Pol would rather Loa maintain a low profile.
She was still the Magician Circle’s Star, a person once fated for sacrifice to the magicians’ gods. They were all in danger, but perhaps the magicians would seek to recapture her most of all.
“Supplies,” Fadden said, breaking Pol from his thoughts.
Pol looked up and saw that it was market day in the town. “Supplies indeed. Should we split up so we can get out of here more quickly?”
Fadden nodded. Pol had expected Shira to join him, but she and Loa had already headed off. He felt a little deflated at the snub. Paki and Kell disappeared, leaving Pol with Fadden.
“What shall we buy?” Fadden said.
“Mounts. I’m tired from holding the ship together. We should also count on spending nights outside which means we’ll need tents, blankets and a packhorse or two.”
“Pack donkey,” Fadden said with a smirk on his face.
Pol shook his head. “The magicians had horses in the fortress. Let’s see what they have on the Big Island first.”
The pair of them made their way through the market, passing Loa and Shira looking at clothes. Certainly Loa needed a wardrobe of some kind. Pol detected the aroma of livestock, and soon they stood in front of a corral. Donkeys and horses milled around.
“Horses,” Pol said.
Fadden talked to one of the men standing in front of the gate. Fadden had finally picked up Shardian well enough to negotiate a price. Pol gazed around the market. He straightened up when he saw a magician’s hat.
“A moment,” Pol said as he turned away and changed his features.
“Pol?” Fadden said to a dark-haired stranger who looked like a younger version of Takai, the meat carter.
“Indeed. Magician spotted,” he said out of the side of his mouth. Pol instantly worried about Loa and Shira being detected.
“We can purchase our means of transportation,” Fadden said. “I have enough. Go look at tents or tarps and blankets while I do some negotiating.”
Pol walked in the direction of the magician, staying far enough away in case the magician was adept enough to detect disguises, but the man had disappeared after walking past a merchant selling travel goods.
“I need four tents and blankets for eight people,” Pol said.
“Anything else?”
“Do you have a cooking kit? We are traveling to our family’s home.”
“Oh, a memorial trip?”
Pol nodded, not knowing what a memorial trip was. “Do you have any used knives?”
The merchant showed him a box full of discolored kitchen knives of all sizes. He added a selection and waited for Fadden to come around.
Fadden bumped into Pol. “Pol?” he said, “It is you? I forgot what you looked like. I hired two donkeys, a wagon, and four horses. The other mounts were not good.”
“That will work. We can only go as fast as a donkey anyway if we have one with us. Let’s find Paki and Kell, so we can get our cart loaded.” Pol had Fadden negotiate for the goods.
Kell had dragged Paki into a gambling tent. Pol glared at the two and told them he needed their help. Fadden had settled with the tent merchant and showed them to their new wagon.
Pol let the ex-Seeker take Kell to buy food, not trusting the two women to return with anything other than new clothes. Paki guarded the wagon and groomed the mounts with a newly purchased brush while Pol made a few trips with their tents and blankets.
Fadden returned with Loa, Shira, and Kell. Their arms were filled with food and other packages.
“With me, Pol. There are more supplies to buy.”
Pol followed Fadden out into the market. “There are magicians looking for two women and a man.”
“So word of Loa’s escape followed us here.”
“And likely to dog us all the way to Wailua.”
“Shira can disguise herself. That way we will only have one woman with us,” Pol said.
Fadden looked around. “You are right. We need to get to Wailua as soon as we can.” He stopped at a shop selling casks of fruit drink, and they returned to their friends. Fadden told them about the magicians, and Loa’s knees buckled at the news.
“You’ll ride in the wagon. The rest of us will rotate. I’ll also color your hair a dark brown with some streaks of gray.”
She nodded.
“Do you have a weapon?” Pol asked.
Loa shook her head.
“You will shortly. I’ll make you one.”
They were soon heading along a road that could take them all the way to the Shardian capital.
Pol worked on Loa’s knife, using a large, wide kitchen knife of a style he had never seen before.
He changed the hilt with his magic to match her hand and provide better balance.
“Here,” he said, riding his horse next to Loa’s side of the wagon that Kell drove.
“It’s a knife,” she said.
“A long knife. If you were riding up there, a sword would be cumbersome. You’ll have to make a sheath for it. Perhaps Shira can help you.”
“Shira is your girlfriend?”
Pol shrugged. “I don’t exactly know what we are, but we have a good relationship.”
Loa nodded. “Thank you. Can you teach me how to use this?”
“I will,” Shira said, riding up along the other side, glaring at Pol.
She hadn’t talked to him once they left the little sea town, and now he got a glare. Pol let the wagon pull ahead. Shira talked to Kell and Loa, but Pol wasn’t really interested. He took Shira’s place next to Fadden.
“You don’t look particularly happy,” Fadden said.
“I don’t know if I am or not. I made a knife for Loa, and now Shira’s all upset.”
Fadden smiled. “Did you make anything for Shira?”
Pol wondered why he’d have to make something for her. “No.”
“It’s going to be an interesting trip all the way to Yastan,” Fadden said.
“Why?” Pol said, mystified by Fadden’s comment.
The ex-Seeker just laughed.
~
Fadden led them towards Wailua and picked his way through the Big Island, now knowing that it was filled with interconnecting roads. So far they hadn’t seen any more magicians, but the Circle might not be interested in five men and one woman traveling through the countryside.
Shira had taken to driving the cart with Loa. Pol often looked at them talking excitedly sometimes, and other times their heads were together in some serious conversation. Pol wondered how much more Shira could teach Loa, especially when the Shardian expressed a distaste abo
ut learning magic.
Loa, Paki, and Kell were out with Fadden buying supplies. They had set up camp, as they usually did, away from villages. Shira washed her clothes, so Pol joined her.
“You don’t want to see these,” she said.
Pol shook his head. “I’ve seen everything before. We’ve been together for months.”
Shira stopped her washing and looked at Pol. “What is on your mind? You couldn’t be less interested in me. Is it a charade? Am I to look like Loa’s boyfriend?” Her cheeks turned red as she talked.
“What?” Pol furrowed his brow. “What are you saying?”
“You don’t care for me like you used to. I know it’s not Loa. You’ve ignored her as well. We’ve both noticed.”
Pol put a hand to his forehead. “I’ve lost… No, not at all. You and Loa are shutting me out. We go into a village, and you two just head off without asking me to go with you. It’s been that way since we arrived on the Big Island.”
Shira folded her arms. “You’re jealous of Loa?”
Pol’s mind was filled with confusion. “How could I be? I…I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Hold me,” Shira said.
Pol took her into his arms and squeezed. She smelled the same, even though she wore Shro’s face again. She put her arms around him.
“That’s better. Do you feel less interested in me, now?”
“I never did.”
“I still feel the same. It’s just that now I have another woman to talk to. Being among men all the time has its limitations.”
“Can we go into the next village, just you and I?” Pol asked.
Shira looked up at him and nodded. She smiled, and that calmed Pol’s confusion. “I’d like that.”
“That is unseemly in The Shards,” a man’s voice said in the woods. A magician stepped out from behind a tree.
Pol wished he asked Loa what the hats signified. He nuzzled Shira. “Shields.” They stood apart.
“Could you be wearing disguises? I’ve heard of those before,” the magician said. “You are from Eastril?” He looked at Shira. “A Shinkyan? We never knew.”
“What do you want?” Pol asked.
The magician looked behind him and nodded. Two more magicians walked up. Pol cursed himself for not doing any locating for the past few days. He did now, but didn’t find anyone else around them.
“We want our Star.” He walked close to Shira.
“There are no stars here.” Pol pointed to the sky. “They are up there.” His eyes followed his fingers as he looked up into the clouds.
“Funny man, or are you the woman?” The magician shook his head. “You confuse me, so we will put an end to that.”
Pol felt pressure in his head, but his shield held. “That won’t work,” he said.
The magicians stood together. “Now,” the magician said.
The pressure built, but their combined spell couldn’t pierce Pol’s protection.
“Are you going to resort to fire, now?” Shira said.
“I hear that’s how you kill innocent people in The Shards.”
The magician’s face turned ugly. “You don’t tell us that. We rule, not you,” he pointed to Shira, “or you,” and he pointed to Pol.
Pol shook his head. “I am warning you. Leave us or die.”
All three of the magicians laughed. “You misunderstand who has the talent here.”
Pol spelled invisibility and stepped aside, grabbing Shira’s hands.
The three of them threw flames where they had just stood.
“My clothes,” Shira said, and then realized that they could hear her. She put her hand over her mouth just as Pol spelled the magicians to sleep.
“Either they don’t know about shields, or they were never challenged,” Pol said, standing over the magicians’ bodies.
“They burned yours, too,” Shira said.
Pol didn’t care about his things. He wished he knew how to erase memories since he didn’t want to kill, but he couldn’t let these men go.
“Are you thinking about killing them like Fadden did to Koakai?”
Pol nodded. He didn’t even want to talk about it, but his experience told him that the prudent act would be to make sure these men never talked. He remembered the soldier they had taken to Borstall Castle who had opened the gates for his father’s enemies.
The others walked into the camp.
“Magicians?” Loa said.
Pol nodded. “I don’t know what to do with them.”
Kell drew his sword. “I do.”
Fadden put his hand on Kell’s wrist. “No. Not yet.” The ex-Seeker took Pol aside. “You don’t want them to die?”
Pol nodded. “It’s a bad habit of mine.”
Fadden looked into Pol’s eyes. “Not bad, all the time. In this case we can’t let them go.”
“I know, and there are too many to take with us.”
Fadden nodded. “We need information, so I will interrogate one of them. Paki and Kell will do the killing away from Shira and Loa. You won’t get your hands wet with their blood.”
“It’s not that I can’t kill them,” Pol said.
Fadden put his hand on Pol’s shoulder. “Think of the innocents in that village that the Circle burned to the ground. Where do you think the villagers were?”
“Are there any innocent magicians at the fortress?” Pol asked.
Fadden looked at Loa. “Ask her.”
“I will,” Pol said. He walked over to Loa, who was busily putting away the supplies while Paki and Kell finished breaking camp.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Loa nodded as she stopped.
“Are those magicians worthy of our mercy?”
Loa snorted. “The Circle is a blight on The Shards. I never once met one who had the slightest sympathy for non-magicians.”
“And those three?”
Loa shook her head. Pol knew what that meant. Death.
He dragged two of the magicians into the forest and put slivers of metal skewers in their hearts. He took a deep breath and looked intently at each of the magicians, watching their last breaths. He wanted to ask their forgiveness, but he knew what their responses would be.
“I want the camp cleared. If the magician can’t see anybody but me, he won’t damage anything of ours.”
Fadden stood with Pol.
“I just shielded your mind,” Pol said. “Now I’m waking him up.”
The magician’s eyes blinked. “What did you do?”
Pol felt the familiar pressure in his mind as Fadden applied the truth spell. The pressure faded. The magician let them drag him to a tree.
“You are from the Magician Circle’s fortress?”
“I am and proud of it.”
“Who are you looking for?” Fadden asked.
“The Star and the man and woman who stole her from us.”
“What do you intend to do to them?”
“The Star is to be returned, and the others killed.”
“What if the Star resists?” Pol asked.
“Kill her, of course. We can find another Star.”
Pol noticed how casual the magician spoke. He didn’t resist the spell.
“How many magicians are looking for the Star?”
“Twenty, thirty. I don’t know for sure.”
Pol had heard all he needed. He held a short length of the skewer and teleported into the magician’s heart.
“You can’t kill me,” the magician said, disbelief in his failing voice as his eyes closed and his breathing stopped.
Pol dragged the dead man to where his compatriots lay and used his magic to dig a deep hole. He rolled all three of the men into their shared grave. He was about to cover them, when Shira walked up behind and put her arms around his waist.
“I know you didn’t want to do that,” she said.
“But I still killed them. I had to.” Pol sniffed as his eyes welled up. “I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t leave it to
anyone else.”
“It’s the position that we’re in. The people who chase us wouldn’t bat an eyelash when they burned us or did whatever the Pontifer’s Hounds do. You are a better man than they.”
Pol shuddered. “I’m no man. I’m only sixteen.”
“You’re a man,” Shira said. “A very young man, but a man, nevertheless.” She turned him around, and they faced each other. “And right now, you are my man.”
Pol hugged her and wiped his eyes on her shoulder. “Is this unseemly in The Shards?” he said.
Shira broke into laughter, and despite Pol’s pain, he did, too. Suddenly they couldn’t stop laughing. They just stood there for a few moments.
“I need to cover this properly,” Shira said. “Go help the others get ready.”
Pol took her hand and kissed it. He walked back with mixed feelings. He hated what he had had to do, but he realized that he didn’t hate himself for doing it. He felt wonderful that Shira and he were back together again after he thought she had been lost to him.
~~~
Chapter Nineteen
~
They decided to split into twos when they reached Wailua in order to throw off Circle magicians. Fadden took the cart and Loa with him. No one would be looking for an older man and his daughter. Paki and Kell went their own way, as usual, and Shira and Pol walked the streets of Wailua as two young warriors.
To Pol’s eyes, the Shardian capital city was the most exotic place he had ever been. Where Shardian villages had all looked the same, with concrete piers and a few concrete walls to give support to wooden siding and tile or thatched roofs, it now seemed like they walked in a different country.
Carved stone decorated every building. Loa had been to Wailua once and said that they formed concrete into shapes. Her description didn’t prepare Pol for columns that looked like thick twisted rope or covered with vines. He noted section breaks where a mold was used multiple times. The carved stone in the Empire, and even in South Parsimol and Botarra didn’t approach the density of decoration that the Shardians had put into their capital.
The fortress was stark and utilitarian, at least from the outside, and in the few spaces that Pol had seen. Rather than adopt the wide, low roofs of the Shinkyan style that he had seen in South Salvan, the Shardians had high gabled roofs with highly-decorated edges. Even the downspouts were carved or molded into interesting shapes.