Andoran's Legacy

by M. Gregg Roe

  That was the polite thing to do. “Okay. I’ll help Gabriel.”

  After nodding once, he strode away. Audrey watched him for a while before offering to assist Gabriel. With both of them working, they soon had the tent erected. It was designed to hold two, but could probably hold three in a pinch. The canvas fabric was a green color that blended in well with vegetation.

  “I cannot help but feel that a fire would be inappropriate at this location,” he said stiffly, staring at the tent.

  Audrey hadn’t considered that, but he had a point. She glanced around and came to a decision. “We don’t have to camp exactly here. How about over there by those trees?” She used her right arm to point to where there were four large oaks in roughly a diamond pattern. “That’s outside of where the houses were.” It wasn’t far from where her family’s barn had once stood with its adjacent pigpen.

  The tent was sturdy enough that they were able to simply pick it up and carry it to the new spot. After helping Gabriel with the remaining gear, Audrey excused herself and went for a walk. She first walked the central area, finding it difficult at times to determine exactly where the houses had been due to all the vegetation now growing there. There were even saplings taller than she was. Nature was reclaiming Farmerton.

  Her next stop was the area along the shore where she had been attacked by a giant crocodile, nearly losing a leg in the process. Then she trudged up to the spot where Quentin had given his life in order to prevent the creature from finishing her off. That was something that she still had no memory of. But the village handyman, who had never been anything but kind to her, lived on in her memories.

  Audrey was suddenly aware that someone was standing nearby, a squat creature with ebon skin and a nightmarish face with large amber eyes. But the goblin didn’t exactly look threatening wearing a rust-colored dress and carrying a basket partly filled with nuts.

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” said the goblin in a more feminine voice than Audrey had expected. “You look troubled.”

  “I’m from Farmerton, but I moved away. The stone is nice.” It was all she could think to say.

  “Dwarves brought it here and erected it. We tend the surrounding area.”

  “Thank you.” Audrey managed a slight smile. “I’m Audrey.”

  “Umzaji,” returned the goblin, nodding her head. “Are you alone?”

  “No, I’m with two others. We’re going to camp here and then go to Fisherton tomorrow. I have relatives there.” That was technically true, but Audrey had never met any of them.

  After a long pause, Umzaji said, “Does it bother you that my kind now live near here?”

  Audrey shook her head. “It’s a nice area. People should live here.”

  “I like living here,” she said, taking a step closer. “And I like being at peace. There was too much fighting when I was growing up.”

  “Did any of your kind catch the disease?” Audrey had never heard anything about that.

  “Yes, but it was much less severe. No one died. I should get back. Will you walk with me?”

  “Of course.”

  It was hard to be certain, but Audrey suspected that the goblin was close to her own age. They continued to converse as they walked along the lake shore. And when they reached the camp, they found two more goblins there, clearly in the process of fixing a meal. Umzaji stayed as well, and it ended up being a pleasant evening.

  As he approached the temple complex, Hankin spied an unexpected rainbow, not in the sky but in the clear area in front of the temple. There were two people standing there, and judging from their hair color and stature, he felt certain that they were Siljan and Rosalind.

  Rosalind suddenly thrust out her right hand palm forward. Flame erupted, filling a wide arc and extending about three yards. Instead of the usual orange, the flame color varied smoothly from red on the left to violet on the right, making a perfect rainbow. It was pretty, but pointless in his opinion. He frowned as he continued his descent; the spell was persisting far longer than it was supposed to. Now that was interesting.

  The colorful flames vanished at the same time that Siljan suddenly turned and grinned up at him. Concentrating carefully, he brought himself to a gentle landing in front of her while maintaining a neutral expression.

  “That’s neat,” Rosalind said to him. “I hope I’ll be able to do that, eventually.”

  “If she does,” commented Siljan, “then she’ll probably leave a trail of blue smoke or something. What brings you here? Did you miss me?”

  Ignoring her irritating expression, Hankin raised his right arm straight up. “Adventure awaits.”

  “Where?” demanded Siljan, putting her hands on her hips.

  “Fog Lake,” he answered simply. “Can we go inside to talk? I could use something to drink.” He was also tired from flying for so long.

  Siljan turned to Rosalind. “That’s enough spell practice. You can go back to your room.”

  Rosalind looked about to protest, but she snapped her mouth shut and headed toward the front doors, one of which a guard promptly opened for her.

  Siljan led him to the large guest bedroom and then departed. After removing his armor, he cleaned up in the washroom and put on clean clothing. Then he went to Siljan’s room. She handed him a goblet of the temple’s excellent grape wine and gestured for him to seat himself on her bed. The room was surprisingly clean and tidy.

  Hankin had been the one to first bring the temple’s wine to Celebern’s attention, and it now earned both Novox and the temple a great deal of money. That had garnered him a bonus at the time, but he now wished that he had negotiated for a percentage of the profits.

  Leaning on her desk, Siljan’s face went through a number of expressions as he explained the nature of the adventure, finally ending with a look of amusement. “Just when I thought things couldn’t get even weirder,” she said, then laughed. “I’m definitely in. Maybe we’ll finally find where Andoran lived.”

  Hankin wasn’t so sure, but he decided not to say anything. “We just need to get to Fisherton by noon or so tomorrow.”

  Siljan shrugged. “As long as you’re willing to help row, we can just take a small boat. It’s an easy trip.”

  “We’re going to need a larger boat to go out into the lake.”

  “Well, we’re not taking one of ours,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “We can just buy one in Fisherton.”

  That probably was the best option. He nodded, then took another sip of wine, savoring the sweetness. After another larger sip, he decided there was something he had to ask. “How does Rosalind make that spell last so long?”

  “She just somehow wills it to happen,” Siljan said, waving her free arm in exasperation. “She can’t explain how she does it, and none of us can duplicate it. I’d love to be able to cast a fireball that just hung around for a while.”

  “That would require both concentration and additional magical energy,” he pointed out.

  “I know, but I’d still like to have the option.” Scowling, she added, “I need to go help fix dinner. You’ll probably smell it when it’s ready.”

  After finishing his wine, Hankin went back to his room and laid down. The flying really had worn him out. He dozed off, only waking when Julien came to tell him that dinner was ready.

  The only additional person at the meal was Isadora. Alessandra had gone off visiting towns accompanied by Bianca. Despite Siljan’s assistance, the meal was excellent.

  Following a short walk around the area to see what had changed, Hankin went to the temple’s large bath, finding it empty. But he had no sooner lowered himself into the warm water when Isadora strode in and simply nodded at him before she began to disrobe. A gentleman would have closed his eyes or at least looked away, but Hankin watched with interest, admiring her slim form and long dark red hair that hung halfway to her waist. He continued to observe as she climbed in.

  It quickly went from erotic to mundane as she asked him questions about his life, most
of which he answered truthfully. He found himself telling her all about Jessia. And afterward, he went to bed early.

  After reading the sheet of paper a second time, Draymund folded it in half and placed it on the sofa next to him. He knew that he needed to handle the matter delicately, but he had reached his limit. His wife needed to be reined in.

  “Where did you find this?” he asked, putting an edge in his voice.

  “In Audrey’s desk,” she snapped in response, narrowing her eyes.

  Draymund drew himself up, leaning forward slightly as he spit back his reply. “Which you had no right to be looking through. We may own that cottage, but it’s Audrey’s home. She has a right to privacy. And so does Saxloc and the girls.”

  Almera’s lips were pressed together tightly in anger, but he could read the guilt in her eyes. Her shoulders suddenly slumped as her breath sighed out. “I will put it back and apologize to Audrey when she returns. It’s just upsetting seeing something like that. And she hasn’t been herself lately.”

  The paper specified what was to be done with Audrey’s possessions should she not return. Violet, Cinda, Saxloc, Conrad, and Grasapa were all mentioned specifically. Her saved money, not that there was much of it, was to be given to the Temple of Arwon.

  “This is just Audrey showing her maturity,” he said with authority.

  “We don’t have anything like this.”

  “No, we don’t.” He pursed his lips briefly. “But we really should, especially now that our family is larger. Most people only write out instructions for the disposition of their assets when they are quite old, but you never know. Maybe a vengeful dragon will track me down here and reduce us both to ashes.”

  That made Almera smile. “Not if you see it first, dear. But you’re right. I’ll start working on something preliminary, and then we will discuss it. There is no hurry.”

  “I certainly hope not,” he joked. “Now can we talk about all the alerts you have set for the three girls? It’s becoming annoying.”

  Now seemingly at ease, Almera nodded. “I will cut them back to the bare minimum. And now, if you will excuse me, I have to begin planning for our untimely demise.”

  Draymund felt very relieved as his wife strode purposefully out of the parlor. He had actually won. It was a rare event, and he broke out some of their most expensive rice wine to celebrate.

  33

  ‡ Fog ‡

  Audrey felt uneasy as she glanced at her companions. She seemed to be the only one who had noticed that they were no longer headed directly at the towering mass of fog in the center of the lake. To her left, Siljan continued to glance straight ahead from time to time, oblivious to the fact that they were now well off course. Gabriel and Saxloc were still rowing steadily, while Hankin manned the rudder at the boat’s stern, obeying Siljan’s instructions without comment, but making faces at her when she wasn’t looking. That was typical.

  After one last look ahead, Audrey turned her head and yelled, “Stop rowing! We’re off course.” Saxloc and Gabriel promptly obeyed, pulling back their oars and glancing around. They probably thought that she had spotted something dangerous.

  Siljan glanced forward and then looked at Audrey incredulously. “No, we’re not.”

  “I agree,” said Gabriel. “We are still headed directly at the center of the shrouded area.”

  Audrey saw both Saxloc and Hankin nodding, but they were all wrong. “We are headed well to the left now. We’re going to miss it completely.”

  Siljan opened her mouth to reply, but then hesitated as she took in Audrey’s purposeful expression. After closing her mouth, she inclined her head forward and closed her eyes. “Kyran! She’s right. We’re being influenced by spirit magic. It’s subtle but incredibly powerful.”

  “I don’t sense any magic,” said Saxloc. “Apart from us, that is.”

  “Because that’s part of it,” said Siljan with her eyes still closed. “It’s hiding itself, making you think that there isn’t powerful magic at work.” She opened her eyes and looked forward. “I can sense it now, but I can’t resist it.”

  “Sequester,” said Hankin from the back of the boat. “It’s like that spell.”

  Siljan nodded. “Exactly. Cast it on the door to a room you’re hiding in and people looking for you will either not notice the door or be convinced that they’ve already searched there.” She looked directly at Audrey. “That brooch must be protecting you. You’re in charge of navigation from now on.”

  Saxloc spoke up. “If Audrey wasn’t here, I think that we would have just detoured around the center of the lake without even noticing that we’d done it. We would be convinced that there was nothing there but fog.”

  Audrey looked at each of them in turn. “Hankin, steer us slightly to the right until I tell you to stop. Back to rowing, you two,” she ordered, flashing a smile.

  Within a few minutes, Audrey had them back on course, headed directly at the heart of the fog. But just before they reached it, Siljan exclaimed, “There’s a big rock straight ahead!” She looked over at Audrey and frowned. “Or is there?”

  All Audrey could see were ripples in the lake’s surface and a few wisps of fog. “There’s nothing there. Keep going straight. Tell me what you see, Siljan.”

  “We’re headed right for it,” she said, her brow furrowing. “It’s bigger than I thought, maybe three yards across and two high. Rough surface. Amazing. I can see how it’s affecting the waves in the water. Now it looks like we’re veering slightly to the right. We’re going to miss it.” Siljan shook her head. “This spell is a work of art. I can even see bird droppings on the rock. And some moss. It’s directly to our left now.”

  “To our port,” corrected Gabriel. “It looks quite real.”

  “I don’t see a thing,” said Audrey. “We’re almost to the fog. Slow down.”

  Siljan pointed forward as the boat slowed. “I see fog now too. What if there are real rocks inside?”

  That had also been worrying Audrey. “We go slow. If the fog gets too thick, I can probe ahead with my staff.”

  “There could be other defenses,” said Saxloc, and Audrey turned her head to look at him. “Monsters. Or giant crocodiles.”

  Audrey laughed. “I’m not easy prey anymore. I’ll fend them off with my magical gauntlet, which may or may not be gradually turning me evil.” That brought a chorus of laughter.

  There was no conversation as the fog began to rapidly thicken and the sunlight dimmed. Audrey could feel the moisture on her skin, taste it on her lips. Visibility dropped steadily before leveling off at about five yards. It was tense.

  It couldn’t have been that long, but it felt like hours. They even stopped at one point to eat some of the food they had purchased in Fisherton. The food was damp. Everything was damp. The boat moved forward slowly, seemingly in its own little world, one bounded by fog. But it was just fog this time. She didn’t see menacing shapes or hear disturbing sounds.

  “Stop!” yelled Audrey, whose attention had been wandering. “Really stop! Now!” The water ahead was suddenly filled with sharp stones, protruding like arrowheads from the surface of the water. They looked identical, dark gray and rising only six inches or so. Their arrangement was clearly artificial. Audrey exhaled in relief as the boat came to a stop less than a yard short of them.

  “What is it?” asked Siljan, her eyes wide. “You look terrified.”

  “I am terrified.” She quickly described what she saw. “They look sharp, and they’re all aligned parallel to the way we’re heading.” She had no doubt that they would slice through the hull of any boat that struck them.

  “Do you see any way through them?”

  Audrey shook her head. “They’re too close together. One’s pretty close. I’m going to try to touch it with my staff. Maybe I’m the one seeing illusions now.”

  Hankin spoke up. “I doubt that. It sounds like an effective line of defense. I want to try something.” After briefly concentrating, he said, “Levitation!�
� Then he sighed. “The spell failed. I had a feeling that wouldn’t work here.”

  Audrey picked up her staff from where it was lying and began carefully scooting forward toward the narrow bow of the boat. But before she could do anything, the stone sank down beneath the surface of the murky water. She scooted backward and waited, but it didn’t reappear. “I think we’ve got a way through,” she told them, and then described what she had witnessed.

  Siljan didn’t look happy. “If we go too fast, we’ll probably hit one and sink. If we go too slow, then one might stab the bottom of the boat, and we’ll sink. On the other hand, I would swear that I can smell pine.”

  Audrey sniffed the damp air and smiled. “You’re right; we must be close to an island. Wait. The stone’s coming back up. I’ll move forward again. And there it goes back down. I’m moving away from it again. Start counting.”

  They repeated the experiment twice just to be sure. They had close to half a minute, more than enough time for their small boat. Audrey knelt in the very front of the boat as they began to move forward, with Gabriel and Saxloc keeping their oars close to the side of the boat to avoid hitting stones that they couldn’t see. The stones obediently retreated into the water, reemerging well after they had passed. After what Audrey estimated to be fifty yards, there were no more stones. And it was getting brighter.

  Out of the rapidly thinning fog appeared a circular island, broad and sloping upward steeply toward the interior. It was composed of dark soil, strewn with pine needles. The pine trees were old, tall, majestic. The smell of them was strong now, and Audrey found the aroma invigorating.

  “Okay,” said Siljan, turning back to look behind her. “Does everyone see an island with loads of pine trees?” After a chorus of yeses, Siljan nodded. “Let’s land and pull the boat way up on shore. And when we head inland, Audrey leads. I don’t want anyone falling into some deep pit or crevice that they can’t see.”