by M. Gregg Roe
Saxloc flew up from her right and landed gently. “It’s about three miles to Fisherton. We should go there and …” His forehead creased as he struggled to speak. “Stay the night,” he finished just as Hankin arrived from the opposite direction. His right cheek showed a square bruise. “Nothing of interest that way,” he said.
Gabriel placed his helmet carefully next to his shield. “Once we have rested and perhaps eaten something, we should proceed to Fisherton.”
“And I think we should all go to my temple tomorrow,” she said, then made a show of winking her right eye. “Temples help people.”
Hankin was clearly amused by her roundabout statement. After winking back at her, he said, “Yes, and even we need help sometimes.”
“Audrey,” said Saxloc suddenly, but he couldn’t finish whatever he was trying to say.
Gabriel stepped forward and patted Saxloc’s shoulder. “It is unfortunate that she became … separated from us, but I have confidence in her abilities.”
Saxloc nodded. “So do I, but I’m worried about her.”
Siljan felt for her friend. He and Audrey had a strong bond. On adventures, Saxloc seemed to regard himself as her protector, always trying to look out for her. He wouldn’t rest until they had found out what had happened to her.
They had no sooner begun to eat when it started to rain, making for a wet and miserable trip to Fisherton. But it did give Siljan plenty of time to think. There had to be some way to defeat the coercion they were now all under.
Alessandra had no sooner descended the stairs to the inn’s common room when she spotted Saxloc sitting alone at the long table. His attention was on the wooden tankard in front of him, so he didn’t notice her approach.
“Ale,” called out Alessandra to the barkeep before seating herself on the bench opposite him. “What brings you here, Saxloc?”
He looked at her in confusion. “That’s right. Siljan said you were away. We came here to …” His face scrunched up in concentration. “Audrey needed to come here,” he said slowly, then sighed.
Something was obviously wrong with the young man. Alessandra held out her left hand as she put forth her magical senses. The issue was so subtle that she nearly overlooked it. She waited for the barmaid to depart after delivering her drink, then said, “You are under a coercive enchantment, and a powerful one.”
“Yes,” he said, leaning forward. “Fisherton is in Andoran’s Realm.”
“I see.” Alessandra took a long drink of her ale. Saxloc was implying that the enchantment had something to do with Andoran, which certainly explained its sophistication. Removing it might well be impossible.
She continued questioning him, learning more than she had expected. The enchantment only prevented him from talking about what they had encountered out in the lake, not about what had led to their trip. It made her wonder if there were other women out there with one of those brooches. If so, they probably couldn’t tell anyone other than their own daughters about it.
“There you are!”
Alessandra saw that Siljan had just entered and was heading straight toward them. She seated herself to Saxloc’s right before saying, “Gabriel and I ran into Bianca while trying to arrange a boat for tomorrow. Hankin’s off skulking as usual.”
“I am aware of your coercion,” Alessandra told her.
Siljan turned toward the barkeep and held up a finger. “Can you fix us?” she asked. “I tried praying to Kyran, but no luck.”
“Kyran is not at our beck and call,” scolded Alessandra. “This is an inconvenience, not a matter of life and death.” Noticing Saxloc’s reaction, she added, “But the loss of Audrey is a serious matter.”
Saxloc pushed his tankard aside. “I know that we can’t just go search the lake, but there must be something we can do.”
“Like what?” asked Siljan. “Launch an invasion of … Crap! This is really annoying.”
Alessandra noted the look of amusement that briefly crossed Saxloc’s face. “We will all head back to the temple tomorrow. I will consult with Isadora. Perhaps together we can find a solution.”
Siljan put down her tankard and punched Saxloc lightly in the shoulder. “Stop worrying so much. Audrey’s like us. She’s an adventurer and a survivor. She’ll figure it out. And once she’s learned Andoran’s secrets, she’ll go to the Gray Forest and raise up a huge army of giant, unstoppable, mutant squirrels. And before you know it, we’ll all be worshipping her and referring to this area as Audrey’s Realm.”
Alessandra watched with amusement as Saxloc fought to control himself. Siljan had delivered her entire speech deadpan, even the silly parts. Saxloc suddenly burst out laughing, and they joined him.
By the time Alessandra finished her second tankard of ale, Gabriel had returned, bringing news that a suitable boat would take them all to the temple tomorrow morning. Alessandra soon excused herself and went up to her bed. She had already had enough to drink.
The truth of the matter was that they might not be able to do anything about the enchantment unless Kyran did intervene in some fashion. But it couldn’t hurt to try. She might even learn something in the process.
The wind was rising, and Hankin could see it affecting the surface of the lake. From the look of the cloud cover, he thought that there might even be a storm later. That was fine because he was in a stormy mood.
He wasn’t about to admit it, but his inability to tell anyone what had happened on the island—or that there even was an island within the fog—was driving him crazy. At the inn, he had even tried to write out what had happened, but that hadn’t worked either. He simply couldn’t write the words. His mind and body weren’t fully under his control, and that was intolerable.
It wasn’t the first time his mind had been suborned. In the underground laboratory in Zardis, he hadn’t even realized he was being controlled by the creature they were hunting. He had accepted without question that his friends were now enemies, first attacking Siljan and then Audrey. He had never apologized for that because it would be an admission of weakness. Siljan, surprisingly, had simply joked about it briefly. He had expected her to continue reminding him about it for the rest of his life. And Audrey had apologized to him for the injuries she had inflicted. It was typical of her to assume that she was somehow at fault.
And then there was the adventure that had involved a series of bizarre puzzles that led to an alternate version of their world. He now accepted that it had simply been a shared delusion, but it was still distressing how easily he had been fooled. With his training, he should have been the one to spot the discrepancies.
Now he found himself questioning everything. Had there really been a strange island? Audrey had seemed immune to the illusions that he and the others had been subjected to, but maybe that was just part of it. Maybe they had never even left the boat. But he really didn’t believe that. Audrey was missing, and the boat really had been badly damaged.
“Evening.”
Looking to his right, Hankin saw an old man approaching along the shoreline. Despite using a walking stick that had obviously been crafted from driftwood, he moved spryly. His short hair and beard were gone to gray, but youthful eyes looked out from his weathered face. He was almost certainly a retired fisherman.
“Good evening,” said Hankin, nodding his head.
The old man came to a stop next to him, then turned to look out at the water. “I noticed you came back without that boat you all bought yesterday. Snooping is a bad habit of mine,” he said, then chuckled. “Not much else to do these days.”
“It sank. We’re not very good with boats.” That was basically true.
“Did ya find anything in the fog?”
Hankin had hoped the man wouldn’t ask about that. “Just a lot of moisture. We got lost and hit a rock.” He stopped talking, surprised that he had been able to say that.
“I heard no end of stories about what’s in that fog. Big rocks. Rocks that move. Whirlpools. Monsters of every sort. My grandfather sw
ore up and down that he saw a huge castle just floating in the air. Said it was all gold and silver. Of course, none of us believed a word of it. He was always telling tales.”
There was an audible crack as the man tilted his head briefly. “I even tried myself,” he continued wistfully. “Went out alone in a rowboat. I was strong in those days, but not too smart. I was in the fog for hours, or at least that’s what it seemed like. Never saw a thing, but I heard things that scared me something fierce. I ain’t gone near the fog since.”
Hankin had no desire to return either. He suddenly shivered, not from fear but because of a cold gust of wind. It was definitely going to storm.
“What happened to that pretty brunette? I heard you came back without her.”
That particular question was a problem, but Hankin was a skilled liar. “We ended up south of here. She’s originally from Farmerton, so she decided to go visit where it used to be.”
“I heard about that. Terrible thing. You let her go by herself?”
It was evidence that his lie had been clumsy. “We offered, but she wanted to go alone. She said she would stay with the goblins nearby.”
“A group of them was here last month. Nasty looking. Scared some of the children. Probably some of the adults too. But I heard they was polite. Just wanted to talk trade.”
That was of definite interest to Hankin, and possibly to Novox. He ended up speaking to the old man until drops of cold rain began to fall. They never did exchange names.
Saxloc had no sooner emptied his backpack out onto one of the small beds when the door opened and Rosalind entered. She carefully closed the door, smiled broadly, and then launched herself at him. Saxloc caught her in his arms and hugged her gently. She was noticeably heavier than she had been, but that was a good thing.
“I missed you,” she said, still clinging to him. “There’s only one other half-elf here.”
Rosalind’s preference for her own race was obviously still strong. “I missed you too.” He finally managed to disengage himself from her embrace.
“One of the Novox caravan guards is a half-elf, but I really don’t like him.” She nodded at the bed. “Can we get together while you’re here?”
The look of desperation in her eyes worried him. He and Tabitha had agreed that they were allowed to date other people even though that never seemed to happen. And he and Rosalind had been lovers at one time. “Yes,” he said, smiling down at her. “Tonight?”
Rosalind’s face lit up with joy. “Whenever you want.” She pointed. “My room is right next door.”
After shooing Rosalind out, Saxloc shed his armor, donned clean clothing, and put everything away in the wardrobe. Then he went for a walk around the temple complex. There had been several changes, including the addition of livestock pens and several small houses that were under construction. It was well on its way to becoming a village.
He wasn’t really that bothered by his inability to talk about what had happened on the island. Instead, he found himself wondering if there was something more he could have done. Audrey had seemingly been invited, but he still worried about her.
The first part of his afternoon was spent being examined and questioned by Alessandra and Isadora. He did his best to cooperate, but it was frustrating. And there was no breakthrough as he had hoped.
Afterward he went to the temple’s bath and was annoyed to find Siljan there. “Isn’t this the men’s time?” he asked.
“We priestesses aren’t bound by silly rules,” she declared, waving at him dismissively. “Come on. It’s not like we haven’t seen each other naked.”
That had indeed happened sometimes during their adventures. They often took advantage of ponds and streams to bathe. “Fine.” He walked in and began to disrobe. To his surprise, Siljan actually turned her back to him.
The warm water felt even better than he remembered. For a long while he simply luxuriated in the sensation, leaning against the edge with his eyes closed. Being able to use the huge tub really was the best thing about visiting the temple.
“Pine trees,” said Siljan suddenly. “I like pine trees. They smell nice.”
Opening his eyes, he saw her staring at him. It was obvious what she was doing. “I like flowers,” he said, “but some of them have thorns.”
“An icosahedron has twenty sides,” was her reply.
“Dice are shaped like cubes. Some are made from stone.”
“We once found an island in Fog Lake,” said Siljan, staring intently. “But it may not have been real.”
It took a moment for him to realize that she was referring not to what had just happened, but to an earlier adventure, the one that had led to the cavern where Petra and others had been living. Despite appearing out of nowhere that island had seemed natural. But he now assumed that it had just been another illusion.
After some consideration, he said, “Andoran is rumored to have dwelled in the vicinity of Fog Lake.”
“Andoran is dead,” said Siljan.
“But his creations remain.”
They continued to talk around the issue, but there was no real progress. Any direct attempt to describe the island or what had happened once they entered the fog simply failed. The words just wouldn’t come out.
“I give up,” said Siljan as she moved toward the ladder on the opposite side, creating small waves with her motion.
Saxloc closed his eyes and relaxed as he heard Siljan climb out and begin to towel herself off. Maybe the effect was only temporary. Truthfully, he didn’t mind never being able to tell anyone as long as they got Audrey back.
Gabriel prepared himself. Alessandra wished to conduct an experiment, and he was happy to cooperate with anything that might rid him of the bothersome coercion.
“Dominate!” said Alessandra, looking directly at him as she made a complicated gesture with her right hand.
Gabriel was about to say that he felt no different when his left arm suddenly raised up and then back down, seemingly of its own accord. He was obviously under her control now, and it was unsettling.
“Relax,” said Alessandra, and he immediately felt calmer. “This spell is potent. I could order you to attack your own friends, or to jump off a cliff.” She smiled. “Or to make love to me.”
Not trusting himself to say anything, Gabriel simply nodded his understanding.
“Describe the last time you saw Audrey.”
The image was clear in his mind, but the words just wouldn’t come. Beads of sweat formed on his brow as he desperately strove to comply with her order, willing himself to speak. He thought about trying to use gestures, but that simply paralyzed his arms.
“Enough,” she said, and he exhaled deeply as he felt the compulsion vanish. “I am simply pitting my magical prowess against Andoran’s. But it had to be tried. I would suggest consulting High Priest Preston after you return home. Perhaps the LifeStaff may be of use.”
“That was also my thought. It is a powerful artifact.”
Alessandra clasped her hands together. “When I was a child, a woman in our village disappeared for several days, and it was right after her own mother had died from an illness. Everyone said that she had been overwhelmed with grief and gone off into the wilderness to be alone. Now I suspect that she had one of those brooches. And maybe one of her daughters has it now. The next time I travel to Maratana, I will make inquiries.”
“May I go?” he asked. The experience had left him feeling drained.
“Of course,” she said gently. “Get some rest, Gabriel. And thank you.”
He had no sooner laid down when Julien came to tell him that they had guests that he would want to see. It was Ariel, Dayne, and their baby. They had named their son Hovard after one of Dayne’s ancestors. The two new parents were practically glowing with pride, and he spoke with them for some time.
After they departed, Gabriel returned to his room, removed his boots, and laid down on the small bed. Not being able to speak about what had occurred was bothersome, but i
t wasn’t the end of the world. He soon drifted off and slept soundly.
36
‡ Teleportation ‡
The band of the simple ring was wide but flat. The metal looked like polished steel, but when she held it up to the light, there were glints of blue and green. That it was magic was evident from the way it had resized itself to perfectly fit her right index finger. And now, after being lectured all day about the dangers of teleportation, Audrey was terrified to use it.
“Just try to teleport to the other side of the room,” said Renata, gesturing with two of her legs. “Concentrate. Visualize where you want to be. Will it to happen.”
“Where I want to be is where there’s food,” countered Audrey. She had eaten the last of hers last night, and it hadn’t been nearly enough. Experimentally, she tugged at the ring. It resisted briefly, but then slid off.
“Put it back on. Do as I said.”
Renata certainly sounded like someone’s mother. Audrey put the ring back, then picked out a spot in front of one of the bookcases, none of which she had had time to investigate. She imagined herself standing on that spot, then willed the ring to take her there. Nothing happened, so she tried again. Then a third time. “It’s not working. Maybe it’s out of magic.”
Renata poked a leg at her. “The ring is not out of magic. It draws its power from the Realm itself. That is why it only works inside. Andoran crafted it himself.”
“Okay. I’ll keep trying, but I’m not a spell-caster. Maybe I’m not concentrating the right way.”
“It’s more likely that you are concentrating too hard. Didn’t you say you had been trained to remain relaxed while still remaining alert?”