by Guy Antibes
“I haven’t learned to float around yet,” Tembul said. “But I’ll try it as soon as I get back to my room.”
Trak held up his grandfather’s book. “I never realized what an excellent theoretician my grandfather was. He came up with his workable version of poseless magic on his own.”
“What did Ben call you? An Innovator?” Tembul said.
Trak nodded. “My father was an Innovator and my mother’s father was an Innovator. I guess I can’t have a better pedigree than that.”
“You could have been a Prince?” Lia said, putting her lower lip into a pout. She broke down in laughter. “I’m only joking. You are a prince in my mind.” She walked over to Trak. Her face turned serious. “I wish I could go with you for protection,” she said.
Trak shook his head. “Better to do it by myself.”
“I know.”
~~~
Chapter Twenty-Three
~
Neel teleported into the rooms above The Looking Inn’s stable. He looked through the little peephole in the door, which was new. Not seeing anybody, he opened the door and walked down into the inn. He didn’t expect anyone to be up at this time of night and padded to Esmera’s room, which was right next to her office, and rapped quietly on the door.
“Who’s there?” Esmera called out.
“Neel.”
A bleary-eyed Esmera threw opened the door. “Neel!” she whispered and threw her arms around him. “I can’t believe it’s you. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” She looked behind him. “Where’s Able?”
“Darkpuddle,” Neel said. “I’ve just come from there.”
She blinked. “How did you get through the gates?”
Neel pushed Esmera in and closed the door.
“Don’t worry. Throw a robe on if you want,” Neel looked away from Esmera, wearing a thin nightgown.
“Sorry. I like to sleep cold,” she said. “There, better?”
Neel smiled. “Better. I just learned that Leaf Gougepenny left Pestledown.”
“Some months ago. Her husband came from Colcan and picked her up. What’s wrong?”
“We think she was replaced by one or more paired Colcanans.”
Esmera gave Neel a blank stare. “What is a paired Colcanan?”
Neel laughed. “You don’t know. The Colcanans have a pose that links two minds. It’s usually a husband and wife, since the thoughts can be rather intimate. Leaf was linked to her husband, Berin. They can communicate with each other over long distances. Honor, on the other hand, had quite a different mission than Leaf.”
She put her fists on her hips. “It’s a bit late to know that, isn’t it? I would have treated the woman differently. Does Valanna know?”
“She’s known Leaf was one of a pair since she traveled to Santasia. She thought that Colcanans withdrew from Pestle. That’s what Leaf told her.”
“Why not believe Leaf?”
Neel looked intently at Esmera. “You know better than that.” He wondered. “Worry,” he said.
Esmera fell to the floor.
Neel carried her to her bed and sat in a chair covered with her clothes until she woke up a few minutes later.
He shrunk back from her angry eyes. “What did you do?”
“Your mind has been tampered with,” Neel said. “No wonder they haven’t bothered you very much. I’ll bet a Vashtan or, more likely, a Colcanan has visited here and pulled information from you, and you didn’t even know it.”
“She did!” Esmera said, shaking her head. “I’ve been such a fool. Put me out of my misery with that sword at your waist.” She put her head in her hands and cursed under her breath.
“I knew there had to be Colcanans in Pestledown.” Neel said.
Esmera chewed on her lip as she thought. “I think there are at least three. I came across them once, and then Leaf came to visit.” Esmera clenched her fists. “That woman!”
“You said that she had spelled you after Leaf’s replacements came?”
Esmera nodded. “They must be allies. I’ve had visitors in my office. The Vashtan teleported. Both the Colcanans just walked in for a visit.”
Neel rubbed his chin in thought. “Pestle’s situation is much worse than I thought. Will you come with me to Darkpuddle?”
“Just wait outside while I dress. I’ll have to leave a note, as well.” She gave Neel an angry look.
~
Coffun had just arrived when all of them finished their breakfasts. Danson let the older man through the door to his office, while the orderly brought in a few more chairs. Ferikan, Derit, Henrig, Asem, Kulara, Neel, Esmera, and some of Danson’s officers joined them. Valanna sat at the foot of the table, and Danson took his place at the head.
“Do you need anything to eat, Coffun?” Danson said.
“If you have tea and perhaps a slice of bread?”
Danson nodded to the orderly and ordered him to shut the door.
“We have been compromised for months,” Neel said. “Esmera has been under Colcanan compulsion just before Leaf Gougepenny left. She was the culprit who left the location amulet at Honor’s studio.”
“It must have been a locator placed there for teleporting,” Henrig said.
Valanna had to agree and mentally thanked Coffun and Snively for getting them out of the studio.
Neel went on to voice his suspicions, and Esmera backed those up with descriptions of her regular encounters with two Colcanans and a Vashtan that she now remembered.
“That means we now have two targets to neutralize, the Colcanans and the Vashtans,” Asem said. “The Vashtans are in the palace, but who knows where the Colcanans are?”
Esmera raised her hand beside her face. “I think I do.”
All heads turned towards the innkeeper. “The compulsion spell didn’t rob me of my wits. I have my men follow suspicious parties when they visit. I don’t know about the Vashtans. I suspect they teleported to the stable yard or somewhere and left the same way, but I would imagine the Colcanans have been tracked. I just have to ask my men.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” Neel said.
Esmera lifted her chin and gave him a dirty look. “You woke me up in the middle of the night, and then used that spell on me. I barely had enough time to throw clothes on, and you used another spell to move me leagues away from Pestledown. I’m amazed that I am even sane.” She narrowed her eyes at Neel. “When did you start using magic again?”
Neel laughed. “In Santasia. I became more useful that way.”
“He did,” Valanna said.
Esmera nodded and looked at Valanna. “Now I remember you saying something about flying around.”
“So should we return?” Neel said.
“What else do we have to talk about, since I am here?”
The group went over the general plans for taking the castle, but since there were no specifics, Esmera’s briefing didn’t take very long.
Kulara and Neel stood with Esmera in Danson’s office.
“Be prudent, my dear wife,” Asem said. “Remember you are tagging along to give Neel a bit more power with his teleporting.” He looked at Kulara and sighed. “No one will recognize you dressed like that, either.”
Kulara stuck her tongue out at Asem, making Neel and Valanna laugh. “You wish to live long, my dearest?”
“I do. Farewell.”
Neel leaned over with Kulara and Esmera hanging on.
~
“Where are we?” Kulara said.
“A number of notable people have stayed in these modest rooms,” Neel said. “I am among them.”
Esmera grunted. “Suit yourself, you animal.”
“This is part of Esmera’s establishment,” Neel said. “If you look through that window, you will see The Looking Inn.”
“Oh. We stayed away from here, but it looks nice enough.”
“Nice enough,” Esmera said. “It is very nice, but I’m glad you didn’t spend a night here. Who knows what I would
have done? Now that you are here, let’s go to my office.”
They walked across to the inn and descended the outside stairs.
Kulara smiled. “I don’t even have to get my boots muddy.”
Esmera looked down. “Muddier. Make sure you use the boot scraper.”
After examining her boots, she agreed. “Do I look as dowdy as I feel?”
Neel shook his head. “Your exotic beauty shines through, barely.”
Kulara growled and stayed silent while Esmera spoke with one of the men polishing tables in the common room. Neel still didn’t understand why she even opened the room to drinking. There were few who dared drink the wretched alcohol that she served.
Esmera sat down behind her desk, looking as imperious as ever to Neel. He always felt the woman lived to lord it over others in her office.
A knock came at the door. Neel recognized the man who entered, but had never formally met him. He was one of Esmera’s people.
“Sit,” the innkeeper said. “Do you know where the Colcanans live?”
“I do,” he broke into a grin. “I’m relieved. I’ve been waiting for you to ask me for a long time.”
“She was spelled,” Neel said. “If you ever see suspicious behavior from Esmera again, make sure you notify me so I can remove the spells again.”
Esmera threw a box of pencils at him, and she turned red when Neel deftly caught it. “Do what he says,” she said to her man. “Now, where are they?”
~
Valanna, Asem, Kulara, and Neel looked across at the Colcanan house. Esmera stayed at her inn, but there were four of her men converging on the house from other sides, accompanied by a Blue Swan each.
“I counted four dark-haired people come and go this afternoon. As far as I can tell, three of them are back,” Esmera’s man said.
Valanna looked at the windows. Lanterns burned in one of the bedrooms, but the only other lights were on the main floor. “We can’t wait for the fourth,” she said. “Take my hand,” she said to Asem, who held a long knife.
“I will see you inside, my only one,” Kulara said, “Be careful!” She clenched her fist and hit Asem on the shoulder.
Valanna concentrated on the upstairs room and teleported.
When they appeared in the room, the bed shifted. Valanna hadn’t heard it make a sound, but it could have alerted all three of the Colcanans before Asem and she appeared.
Asem sighed and lowered his sword. “No one here,” Asem said quietly. He went to the window and pulled the curtain aside. Valanna and he crept outside the door as half of their team began to appear in pairs in the room. The others held positions to cover Colcanans escaping.
“They can’t help us if they are dead,” Valanna reminded them, “so put them to sleep if you can.”
They all nodded.
Valanna went to the railing and looked down at the floor below. She took a deep breath and nodded. Asem, Neel, and a Vashtan clung to Valanna as they teleported past the stairs to the floor below.
“What’s that?” a voice said from one of the rooms.
Neel and his partner ran into the room. Valanna didn’t hear anything, but Neel’s partner flew back into the wall opposite the door. Valanna put up a shield and inched her way forward into the room. The two Colcanans stood facing Neel and her. She could see the faint impression of a shield protecting Neel.
“There are two here,” Asem called up to those on the second floor who were hustling down the stairs.
Valanna knew that magician duels were fast affairs. She removed her cloak and assumed a wind pose behind Neel’s expanded shield.
“Now,” she said as she posed with wind and blew the men backwards, breaking their poses. She began her dance of poses, and in a moment two Colcanans lay on the floor. One appeared to have died in the exchange, but the other was just unconscious.
She heard more noises and the back door slam against its frame. Valanna ran out to see Kulara standing above another sleeping Colcan.
Once they checked the house thoroughly, they only found clothing and possessions for three. The fourth must have moved out. Asem turned out all of the lights after bundling everything up and went to the back garden of the house before they teleported the two sleeping Colcanans and the corpse to Darkpuddle.
~
“Definitely Colcan,” Neel said going through their possessions. “I have no idea how to tell if they are paired or not. If we use ‘worry’ on them, the Colcanans will know we are on to them.”
“What kept them from connecting to their partners in Colcan while we fought?” Asem said.
Neel smiled a bit sheepishly. “We don’t know, but you’re right.” He stood over one of the Colcanans. “Worry.”
Valanna concentrated on the other. “Worry,” she said. “I don’t recognize any of the three.” She looked at Neel.
He shrugged. “I haven’t been back to Colcan once I left the first time.”
Danson began to go through the Colcan’s papers. “Nothing much here. No orders, no papers.”
“Why do they need such a thing?” Valanna said. “Their partner can write what they send telepathically.”
“Right,” Danson said, looking at the two sleeping men. He re-examined the clothing. “What is this?”
“An amulet?” Asem said. “We’ll have to get rid of the thing.”
“Do you have a jail or some kind of cell where you keep people locked up?” Valanna said. “It will have to be secure.”
“I do,” Danson said.
Valanna took the amulet from his hand. “Show me the way. The cell will still have to be guarded, but Vashtans won’t be surprising us by appearing in our midst. They probably know all about Darkpuddle from Esmera, anyway.”
Danson briskly walked out of the infirmary, and then ran to a single building. “In here,” he said.
Valanna walked into the building. Three cells were against wall. Iron bars were on all four sides, making it impossible for a prisoner to break through a wooden wall. She tossed the amulet through the bars onto the floor.
“Stand back,” she said before making a pose and throwing concentrated fire against the lock on that cell. It glowed yellow and then white before she stopped. She could feel the energy leaving her and stopped it before she fainted from the exertion. “Try to open the cell.”
Danson shook the bars to the door, well above the lock. “Fused solid. Can’t they just teleport out?”
Valanna nodded. “They can, but I suggest you station a soldier in here with a bell or horn or something to alert other guards, mixed with a few Blue Swans camped outside.”
“You are my kind of princess,” Danson said. “I hope you don’t mind my saying so.”
Valanna grinned. “I don’t. Remember that I didn’t shirk to do my part for Pestle.”
“I won’t.
~
Morning came too soon for Valanna. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and did minimal washing up before teleporting with the rest of her group to just outside the infirmary at the camp.
“One of them awakened. A Blue Swan put a truth spell on him as soon as he opened his eyes,” Coffun said, yawning.
The Colcan looked up at Valanna. It didn’t take a truth spell to detect the anger in the man’s eyes.
“You are Valanna Almond?” he said. “What have you done to me?”
“I wouldn’t ‘worry’ about anything.”
The man turned away. “I thought so.”
“Are you disappointed you can’t communicate with Bitrium?”
“As a matter of fact, I am. Quite disappointed, but you will pay for your folly.”
Valanna couldn’t help but blink at the man’s boldness. “Folly? Taking back my country from the Vashtans? What is the folly in that?”
“Someone will come and save me.” The man’s eyes opened wide. “I, I didn’t mean what I said.”
“Yes, you did,” Snively said, slowly walking into the room. He had been listening at the door. He looked at Valanna and
at Danson. “Colcan and the Vashtans are allies. It’s quite apparent now that it is confirmed. We are at war with two nations of magicians, and King Marom’s prohibition on magic enabled the Vashtans and the Colcanans to make mischief in Pestle.”
“That’s not true,” the Colcanan said.
“Even part of it?” Valanna looked at the Colcan.
The man struggled with the answer.
“Colcan wants the whole continent of Pestle? Warish, Sesta, and Pestle? They do, don’t they?”
“They do,” the Colcan said as the words just came out of his mouth. He looked deflated. His attempt at misleading them didn’t work this time. Valanna had had enough of evasions under the truth spell.
“The Vashtans take over Pestle for you?”
The man nodded, looking miserable.
“Does a Colcan army come to Warish with the intent to take Balbaam?” Asem said, his face drained of color.
“Yes.” The words were bitter in the man’s lips.
Neel brought his fist up to his mouth and bit his knuckle. “Then Riotro was actually working for the Colcanans, and the Yellow Foxes aren’t leading the chaos in the world, it is Colcan. Is that right?”
The Colcanan didn’t respond.
“Is that right?”
He nodded again.
Asem looked at Valanna. “Then we must secure Pestle and take the Pestlan army to save Warish.”
Valanna narrowed her eyes. She thought furiously for a few moments as all eyes and ears were waiting on her reply. Her dream of ruling a peaceful Pestle and annulling her marriage to Marom might have just been dashed. She found herself unable to make a case to ignore her adopted country. The Colcanan threat was bigger than just a single country. She had to nod her head, just as the Colcanan had.
~~~
Chapter Twenty-Four
~
Trak bundled up in dark clothes. He took his trusty knit cap and jammed it on his head and wrapped a wool scarf around his neck and lower face. Trak had visions of a magician looking up and seeing his flows high in the air, so he shielded his magic flows.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t use a flyer?” Lia said. “Oh, how I wish we could do this together. I’m not far enough along, learning this new kind of magic.”