Spiderhunter (Ages of Argainen Book 1)

by Robe

  As he searched, he grew more and more agitated. The airknot had to be near, but he could find no sign of the elusive plant as he scoured every inch of wet earth. A pond here, a creek there, but still, he found nothing. He thought of Joan, waiting helplessly as Reon struggled against the pain of the strange ailment. Kandon had grown quite fond of Reon, his stupid jokes, his easiness to be around, and how he was incessantly in a good mood.

  Kandon lowered himself to the ground to search under a shrub. The strange phenomenon that had occurred just before his companions fell ill was troubling to him, and yet, Joan did not seem surprised by the incident. He had always doubted that her group was really looking for a disturbed friend, but he didn’t mind. In his field, he was supposed to provide his service without asking questions, but as the abnormal light had blasted from the symbols in the ground to the man tied to the tree, the strangeness was altogether overbearing. Still, Kandon felt obligated to these people.

  He had grown up in Rathelstat, his father a trader of the wheat that came in from Lon Gairdas. It was an old family business his great grandfather had started shortly after Teridus Manulin conquered the anarchic people of the country. The Rathelstatians were ready to be dominated, his father had always said, and it was only then that Rathelstat had known peace, not only with Lon Gairdas and the Kingdom of Martin, but with itself as well. Teridus himself had ridden through the Western Barrier to demand a meeting with the Queen of Lon Gairdas at the time, marching all the way across Lon Gairdas to the Castle, with half the Forest Guard following him. When he met with her, they began negotiations that lasted for a full week. During the course of the discussion, the Queen and Teridus were barely seen, causing great uneasiness among the high families. Upon the end of their conference and their return to public view, Teridus and the Queen seemed to be good friends, and a treaty was signed; Rathelstat and Lon Gairdas were declared allies, and trade routes were opened through the Southern Ocean between the two nations. With no further purpose for them, the Forest Guard was disbanded.

  Stripping the long-existing warriors of the Western Barrier of their duty and lifestyle, the final agreement did not sit well with the Forest Guard. Many of them rose up in anger, eventually becoming bandits themselves. Others disappeared quietly into the shadows, and others still contained their pride and joined the knights of Lon Gairdas.

  Teridus Manulin ruled until he grew old and ill, and when he could no longer rule, he passed his responsibilities to his daughter, who in turn handed the scepter down to her daughter when the time came. Still, the blood of Teridus Manulin ran through the rulers of Rathelstat with the current King, Remmus Udelan.

  Hauling and unpacking wheat wasn’t Kandon’s calling though, and when he was sixteen, he broke away from his father’s business and set off to make a life of his own.

  “Aha!” Kandon exclaimed as his eyes fell upon a plant matching the description of airknot, and he pulled the stalk from the ground.

  Reon’s hand was clamped between Joan’s as he lay moaning in pain beside her. He was barely conscious, and Joan grew more worried by the second, Reon’s breathing becoming lighter, and his pulse fainter. In desperation, she had draped a damp cloth over his forehead, but it had little effect.

  “Hang in there, Reon, just a little longer,” she muttered to him and scanned the surrounding area again. Kandon had been gone so long, Joan wondered if he had abandoned her and her injured companions. She felt very exposed out in the open, especially with five helpless men lying around her. If Argain were to attack, she was sure they would all be killed.

  Another long while passed, and Joan was ready to give up on Kandon. She laid her face in her palms, thinking hard on what her next action should be. Reon was weaker still, his moaning stopped almost completely.

  When she lifted her head, she was surprised at how damp her hands had become. She had not been crying and was confused as to how the water had gotten there. Letting the water spill away through the gaps in her fingers, Joan tried to remove the distraction from her mind to focus wholly on how to improve her situation, but as she did, her hands grew damp again, completely occupying her attention. Suddenly suspicious, she closed her eyes and mimicked the attempt at focusing on Reon, and her hands once more produced water. She seized the feelings and held them: desire to help, desperation and maybe even anger. She isolated the mixture of emotions from her others and focused hard on it. When she opened her eyes, she was calm, and a beautiful orb of water floated above her palms. The water hovered there, transparent and perfectly round.

  Joan sighed, the crushing stress on her shoulders evaporating, and pushed the water away with her mind. It glided forward, and upon her mental command, it dropped, splattering the surrounding grass. With a new serenity possessing her, she turned back to Reon. Almost peacefully, he lay there unconscious, but the paleness in his face showed all was not well. His pulse was barely present anymore, and Joan laid her hand on his chest. His heartbeat was faint. Cupping his hand in hers again, she waited, deciding the best thing she could do for Reon now was be with him.

  Not far away lay Dalk and Ziem, and they too had been doing poorly since last time Joan checked. A rustling alerted Joan. She turned to see it was Kandon, a bunch of plants gripped in his hand.

  “Quickly!” Joan hissed, and he slid to the ground beside her.

  “Are these right?” he asked, his eyes wide. In less than a moment, Joan was snatching the airknot from Kandon’s hands and stripping the stems of their flowers. Carefully, she snapped the top of the plant off of each shoot and tossed them into her mortar. She removed a vial from her bag and dripped its contents into the mortar as well, curing the plant fibers.

  “How are they doing?” Kandon asked as Joan ground the airknot furiously.

  “Not well. Hold those vials for me,” she said, indicating the little bottles she had already prepared in anticipation of Kandon’s return.

  Kandon lifted two and held them steady while Joan poured a bit of powder into each one. “Are they going to make it?” he asked.

  “We can hope,” Joan replied briskly and thrust one of the vials toward him. “Take this one over to Ziem. Make sure you give him all of it.” Kandon nodded and rushed over to where the youngest member of the group was lying.

  Joan turned to Reon and opened his mouth before carefully spilling the antidote in. She turned and began to make another batch. Kandon had done well; there was an abundance of airknot, and when Kandon returned, she gave him another vial to administer to Dalk. She kept preparing the airknot solution, stripping the stems and then grinding them until all of the airknot was gone.

  “We’ve done it,” Kandon huffed, finally able to catch his breath.

  “Let’s wait and see,” Joan replied. She was very hopeful the medication would help her friends recover, but she was dabbling in things she knew little of, and to get overly optimistic seemed faulty.

  The pair sat together, exhausted from their panic, and above them, the sun reached three-quarters. Soon, it would set, and they would be in darkness. The air seemed colder already, and long shadows were stretching over them, made by the trees of the Western Barrier and the sunset.

  Kandon rose and began setting up camp. He properly unloaded his equipment and then set to work on a campfire. As he worked, Joan recreated the mental state she had been under while manipulating the ball of water, and to her satisfaction, water flowed upward from her fingertips into another perfect ball of liquid.

  Kandon called her over as the fire began to burn. Dispersing the water, she rose and made her way to him before deciding they had better move their unconscious companions closer to the flames, lest the night become bitter. Together, they carried each of them in range of the heat, and Joan checked their conditions. Auric and Veese were doing very well, Dalk was fair, but Ziem and Reon remained weak. Still, any change the lattest two had experienced could only be described as improvement. Finally, Joan sat beside Kandon in front of the small blaze and was relieved by how much heat was rad
iating off of it.

  “Thank you,” Joan said. “I don’t know what would have happened if you had not decided to help us.”

  “Are you going to tell me what this is all about?” Kandon asked.

  “What do you mean?” Joan replied innocently, and Kandon scoffed.

  “Don’t play coy with me, Joan,” Kandon said, and after he gave her a hardy stare, she gave in.

  “Alright,” she conceded, “but bear with me. You won’t believe the story at first. And when I begin, you may not ask questions until I have finished.”

  Kandon agreed, and Joan began to recite the tale of what had happened. She started by telling of why she was exploring the Cursed Forest and moved on to tell of how she met the others. At the introduction of the Raugen, Kandon raised his eyebrows but honored her wish of silence. She retold Veese’s story about the Evil God, and of their escape to Rode. Kandon’s face became skeptical when Joan mentioned the inexplicable powers that Ziem, Reon and Dalk had acquired. Further, she described how she herself had seen the destructiveness of the Evil God. As Joan recounted the battle with Argain, Kandon’s mouth slowly fell open as if mesmerized by her tale. She had little more to say after that, and he sat back to analyze all of the new information.

  “Before you start attacking the truth of my story, I have one more thing to show you,” Joan said, and she focused the same way she had before. Above her hand, a droplet of water appeared, and at Joan’s mental command, it grew into a fruit-sized orb.

  Kandon exclaimed and leaned in to examine the phenomenon.

  “I learned to do it as I looked after Reon,” Joan said. “I think Auric and Veese will discover they’re gifted too.”

  “That is incredible,” Kandon said. “So, Argain has done this to you? All of this?”

  “Yes,” Joan said, “and as he is the one we hunt, I wouldn’t blame you for leaving us. You have already helped more than I ever imagined you would. We can handle it from here... I hope.”

  Kandon raised his chin, considering this. He turned away, not answering, but instead offering her some of his personal provisions. She accepted them gratefully, and together they ate while they waited for the others to awaken.

  12

  “Ahh, my head!” Reon cried as he sat up.

  “You’ll feel better in a bit,” Joan said to Reon as she took a recently-used bowl from Veese. “Kandon, would you fill this up for him? The others said chewing helps.”

  As the night had stretched on, the conditions of the injured improved until Joan and Kandon felt safe to rest. They fell asleep almost immediately and awoke in the morning next to one another. It wasn’t long before Auric was up, admitting he felt as if his head had been hit with an axe. Kandon went out to hunt and returned with fresh game, which he prepared in a stew over the fire. One after the other, the injured stirred, and although none of them were fit to travel, they were alive.

  “Uh, I feel like I’m dying,” Reon complained. “What happened to me?”

  “You’ll feel better once you’ve eaten and been up a bit,” Kandon said, handing him a bowl of food.

  “You don’t remember anything that happened last night, Reon?” Joan asked as she took the bowl from him and began spooning the soup into his mouth.

  “There was a man… We tried to help him, but I can’t remember what happened next,” Reon replied.

  “Argain had set a trap for us,” Joan explained. “The man he used as bait did not survive. Kandon and I honored him with a proper burial and vigil.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Reon said, his eyes squeezed shut as he fought the pain from chewing, but his discomfort seemed to be somewhat alleviated by the time he swallowed. “Could you find anything on him that identified him?”

  “He was already stripped of his possesions, no doubt Argain’s doing,” Joan said.

  “We will find the killer,” Auric spoke quietly. “Do not fear. He has not escaped us yet.”

  “What you need to focus on is making a full recovery,” Joan said. “There’s no telling how you’ll be an hour from now. This magic works in strange ways.”

  “You guys feel as badly as I do?” Reon asked, looking around at his friends.

  Auric nodded. “You’ll start feeling better soon, but we all awoke with terrible headaches.” Beside him, Veese was sitting upright, having just finished his stew. He looked bored and unhappy. Not far away, Dalk was sitting cross legged with his eyes closed tightly and his hands were clenched together. He looked like he was trying to purge himself of the pain. Ziem, too, rested near the fire, his eyebrows creased and his face screwed up.

  “You have Joan and Kandon to thank. Without their determination, who knows where we’d be,” Auric said.

  “So, our mercenary is now our friend?” Reon queried, more to himself than anyone. “The others ought to accept you now, Kandon!” Reon tried to stand, but as he got upright, the world spun around him and he sat back down.

  “I should have warned you about the dizziness,” Auric said.

  “What is it?” Joan inquired as Reon looked around for something.

  “Thirsty. Have you a flask?” Reon asked.

  Joan gave a sidelong smile to Kandon and approached Reon. She took the empty bowl from him and waved a hand over it. Out of nowhere, sparkling, transparent water appeared in the dish, filling it to the brim.

  Reon’s eyes grew wide. “You have discovered something new about yourself, haven’t you?”

  Joan smiled and handed Reon a canteen of clean drinking water. “There’s nothing quite like it. I’ve been practicing the entire morning.”

  “You can say that again,” Kandon commented. “You could drown a horse in the amount of water you’ve spawned.”

  Laughing, Reon put his hand out in front of him, creating a small flare in his palm. Kandon stared in awe at the fire. “That’s amazing,” he said.

  “Wait ‘til you see Ziem’s,” Reon said, but he paused awkwardly as he remembered the newly learned information about the youngest member of their group.

  “Don’t worry,” Kandon said, noticing Reon’s discomfort. “I won’t try to kidnap your friend.”

  “That would be good,” Reon said. He winced, and his fire disappeared with a puff.

  “What’s wrong?” Joan asked.

  “Nothing,” Reon said. “I think I just overdid it with the fire.”

  “We have limits to it just like any other feat we perform,” Joan said. “It’s draining after a while. I think each of us has it, with the exception of Kandon, of course. Whatever hit us when we first met at the temple really must have given us these gifts.”

  The group relaxed and recovered for the next several hours until everyone felt well enough to travel. They progressed with a sluggish pace and many pauses for rest. Regardless, their advancement was undeniable, and by the time they had to stop and camp, Auric and Kandon agreed they could reach Rathelstat tomorrow.

  -

  The next day was without event, and the party followed Argain’s trail until they reached the outskirts of the Western Barrier. There it was: the village of Abelenst, the easternmost civilization of Rathelstat and a harbor town. It was much different from the simple layout of a Lon Gairdas civilization. Every rooftop was laid with black clay shingles, except for the occasional gray roof. The wood of the buildings was paler, and the houses were shaped very geometrically with square bases and sharp edges.

  “The trail ends. He no doubt entered the village of Abelenst,” Kandon said, gesturing to the society that lay before them.

  “It’s beautiful,” Joan said. “I was always taught that Rathelstat wasn’t a pretty place.”

  “It is what it is,” Auric said. “Our target will not blend in here. We must keep our eyes open.”

  “Surely he thinks we’re dead,” Joan said as they began walking toward Abelenst. “It was very lucky of us to have survived his trap.”

  “He is pompous. Perhaps he does think we fell,” Auric said. “Let’s find a tavern and see
what we can learn.”

  They strode into Abelenst, drawing interested gazes from the nearby citizens. It was very clean, and everyone was well-dressed and well-fed. There was no sign of poverty or meagerness in anything they saw. Instead of dirt roads like most of Lon Gairdas, the streets of Abelenst were paved with cobblestones. Along the middle of the roads were tall posts with lanterns on top, meant for lighting the way of travelers during night hours. A tavern named The Solid Coin came into view as they walked.

  “Here,” Auric said, pointing to the inn, and he led the way inside.

  Immediately upon entering, the sound of a happy crowd greeted them, along with the smell of pastries and wine. It was dark inside, as all taverns were, and people sat around crowded tables with mugs and flagons in hand. Although the patrons looked mostly like the people from Lon Gairdas, they were, for the most part, quite a bit heavier, and jolly along with it. The bartender was busy, but when he saw his new guests, he shouted, “Come in! Come in! You strangers are welcome ‘ere!”

  “Tols!” Auric exclaimed.

  “Auric!” the bartender cried back without hesitating, and he moseyed out from behind the bar to grip hands with Auric. He was a big, plump man, with a round, red nose and a toothy smile. What hair there was on his head was dark and circled around his scalp, leaving a shiny bald spot looking down at them. “Been ages, asn’t it?”

  “It has been a long time, my friend,” Auric said, grinning back.

  “Oh, you ‘ave brought company, than?” the bartender grinned at the other members of the party. Ziem turned away so that the bartender could only see the side of his hood as he scanned their faces. “That is a change, than. Oh! I remember you!” he said, pointing at Kandon. “You best not start trouble now, or I’ll throw you clean out into the streets!”

  “I’ll behave,” Kandon said, and the bartender gave a hearty chuckle.

  “Hey, we’re dying of thirst over here!” a cry came from the bar, and the bartender spun around to look over the heads of the crowded room for someone.