by David Ekrut
“To eat this meal, we deny all others the sustaining energies needed to survive. Is this selfishness?”
Elwin frowned, irritated by the change in topic. “No. If I don’t eat, I die. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Others are dying of depravation of sustenance. Are their lives worth less than yours?”
“Well, no, but how can I help them? They are not here. If I could share my meal, I would.”
“Would you share every meal? Say there was only food enough to sustain one for a month. Would you still give half of yours away to save another?”
Elwin paused, taking a few more bites while considering the question. In time, both people would still die. But he knew his answer was the same. “Yes. I would share.”
“Why?”
“Because we would both live longer. Maybe we would survive long enough to get more food.”
“Alone, one of you could live the entire month. Sharing, you could both starve.”
“Yes,” Elwin said with irritation, “but I would not sit by and watch someone die when I might be able to prevent it. But you are changing the subject. Why do you not remain here, where it is safe?”
“You have answered your own question. Our burden is not a single shared meal, but a path of struggles and hardships. These perils may kill us both, but together we might face them and live.”
Elwin opened his mouth to refute him, but realized he couldn’t. His own argument had been used against him. Instead of replying, he forked a piece of meat and shoved it in his mouth. They ate the rest of their dinner in silence. Just as he was taking his final bite, the outer door opened.
Malekia entered with several of the warriors who had escorted him earlier. She carried a modest pack, made of animal skins. She handed it to Daki, who spoke a few words in his own tongue. One of the warriors handed Daki a pair of raqii dath, covered in runes.
“Do you still wish to leave?” Malekia asked.
He stood, gathering his pack. “I do.”
“Come then. We will escort you to the Stones of Seeking.”
“The Stones? Why there?”
“You must cross the Tranquil Sea. This is the easiest way.”
Once more he considered the night he’d spoken to Abaddon. The Seeker had known this would happen. He’d seen himself crossing the sea, reflected in Abaddon’s eyes. It did not matter. He still needed to go.
“Thank you,” he said. “How can I repay your kindness?”
“Succeed in your quest, and it is I who shall be indebted to you. It is time.”
She held her hands out. The warriors made a circle. Daki joined, leaving room for Elwin to complete the chain.
When he grasped their hands, Malekia said, “Listen closely to my words. You will need them sooner than you realize.”
He paid close attention to the syllables as she incanted the dimensional folding. It sounded exactly as he’d rehearsed these last couple tendays. He felt an energy build. Focusing, he realized it centered on Malekia. Suddenly, it vanished.
Cold flooded around him, followed by complete darkness. He was weightless, as if falling. Then he felt heat, just short of burning. He was no longer holding hands with Daki and Malekia. He did not remember letting go. It was still dark, but he could see trees in the distance. His feet felt heavy on the grass. He took a few steps on wobbly legs.
Daki reached a hand to steady him just as ever-torches sprung into existence around him. The warriors stood in a circle, keeping Malekia at their center.
The Stones of Seeking were on the other side of a moat. It was just as he remembered, made of black glass. Spherical stones, the size of a giant’s fist, rested around the edge of the platform. A few feet away, Taego sat on his haunches, head cocked sideways, giving a look Elwin recognized as impatience.
“We came no sooner or later than we should have,” Daki said. “Are you certain you do not wish to remain here? We travel far from our forest and will not return soon.”
Taego snorted and stood.
“Very well.”
Malekia extended her hand. A green glow surrounded her fingers. Vines rose from the edge of the pool, making an arcing walkway to the obsidian platform.
Before he could ask, she said, “These gifts come from the Lady. They are not for you. Come.”
She guided them to the center of the platform. The warriors did not follow. They stood guard at the base of the land-bridge.
“My skills in temporal folding are not great enough to take you across the sea, or I would,” she said. “There is a cost to using the Stones in this manner. Two months, eight days, and fourteen hours will pass, but you will arrive safely.”
“So long?”
“It cannot be helped,” She assured him. “You are welcome amongst our people, Elwin of Solsec. Fair thee well.”
Without further preamble, she moved to each of the spheres, activating a different symbol on each one. After finishing with the last stone, she hastened from the platform. The bridge receded as she walked across to join the warriors.
“This will feel very much like the dimensional folding,” Daki said.
Light surrounded him, and the forest faded from view. The cold and heat came again, along with the weightless feeling. It happened faster than before. Within a blink, he could feel a solid structure beneath his feet.
The obsidian spheres had been replaced with translucent boulders with an azure sheen. A strong and steady breeze whistled through large stones. Looking down, he could see clouds through the platform at his feet. Far below was a valley. The sun peeked over the horizon, and all around him were open skies with mountains in the distance.
There were no stairs leading up to this place or columns holding it up, as far as he could see.
“How is this possible?”
“These Stones were placed with an incantation of permanence by the Circle of Makers. They are transmuters, meaning they transform objects from one substance into another.”
“And they couldn’t make stairs?”
“All of the Stones are meant to be difficult to get to. This one most of all, as it is the only one which can take us to other worlds. Soon, you will—”
“Wait. Other worlds?”
“There is much you do not know. We can speak of them all now, or you can transport us down to the valley. Only you can do this.”
Taego grunted in a way that expressed doubt.
Elwin frowned at them both. Malekia had known he would need the dimensional folding to get down. Curse the woman for not telling him.
Despite being able to see through the platform, Elwin walked over to the edge and looked down. He could barely see the ground next to the river. The blue line snaked through rocks and trees. Far to the south, he could see a city hugging the edge of the mountain range.
Abaddon had seen this also. Curse it all, it meant nothing. He’d given Elwin enough truth to cast doubt. Nothing more. He pushed the Seeker from his thoughts, resolved not to think on him again.
Elwin took a few slow breaths and gathered his focus back to the river below.
“I can barely see the ground. How can I transport us there if I can’t get a clear picture of the place we are going?”
“The distance is not so great. Even at your current skill, you should be able to transport us there, but you must keep your desires of the ground firmly in your thoughts.”
Taego gave a low groan.
“We will not die,” Daki said. “It will be fine. Elwin can do this.”
Elwin frowned at the bear, but he feared Taego had the right of it.
“Alright. I’m ready. Just, get close to me.”
When Taego and Daki moved closer, Elwin took a deep breath and concentrated on where he’d felt the energy before. He placed all of his desire and thoughts into his center. He felt a tinge of fear and f
orced it there as well. It began as a spark and slowly grew. He imagined his feet on the ground by the river and willed the three of them there as he spoke the incantation. His confidence wavered toward the end. Fears of being suspended in mid-air flickered into his thoughts.
He spoke the final word, and the stones vanished beneath his feet. The world materialized around him once more. But he wasn’t on the ground. By his estimates, they were only half way there. Beside him, Taego roared.
Then they began to fall.
Chapter 15
Someone Else’s War
Partial Spending, Day 1 of experimentation.
My incantation of partial spending is a success. From a few tests, I have devised a measurement system for summing the power within an essence. The force of 1 Berat is equivalent to 3.14159265 times the pull of gravity times the mass of 100 stones. (Note: this quantification method will be more useful in the future, when we can remove the essence from the elementalist completely.) Subject 1 has an essence of modest size, which I estimate to hold 172 Berats. I have spent 10 Berats for the purpose of ascertaining the quantification method. Though Subject 1 appears to be in perfect health, the 10 Berats have not returned, even with ample sleep and a full tenday of resting. The incantation causes no apparent discomfort to the subject. Tomorrow, I will begin to use Subject 1’s essence as an energy source for transmutation.
~Ricaria Beratum, 2994 A.S.
~
Jesnia stepped onto the gangplank just as the sailor bridged the gap between the ship and the deck. She ignored the creative curses of the sailor as she bounded down the ramp toward the pier. Dodging the dockworkers, she all but ran to the gate.
There was a thumping queue.
She pushed ahead of a few carts, which were not quite lined up yet, and hurried past the rows of travelers as far as possible. If the reports she’d heard from the sailors were true, troops were mobilizing against Benridge. It was only a matter of hours before the gates were closed to travelers in preparation for Bain’s attack.
Coin was here, minting his counterfeits in the warehouse district. This information had come at great efforts on her part. She didn’t care for advanced interrogation, and that was what it had taken to get the knowledge she needed from Coin’s lieutenant in Weatherford. After all of that, she wasn’t about to let someone else’s cursed war waste her opportunity to catch her bounty. After the Lenders paid out for this job, maybe she’d go home to Norscelt for a while, where they had the sense not to call dragons down upon people or fight each other over pointless ideology, or land, or whatever-the-thump Bain was fighting Alcoa for.
“Hey,” a woman called, as she tried to pass. “We’re queued up here.”
Noting the burlap attire, Jesnia pulled out a silver. “For your troubles.”
Frowning, the woman took it and closed her mouth. The man in front of her saw the exchange and said, “I’ll take a silver to let you jump the queue.”
She gave a coin to him and the next man, paying her way up to a merchant who wanted a gold for his place. As he held his hand out for payment, Jesnia assessed the wait and judged less than an hour. Most of those ahead of her looked more well-off than those behind. At this rate, it would cost the entirety of her bounty just to get inside.
She gripped her sword hilt and said, “A silver.”
The merchant snorted and turned his back on her. Grumbling, she resigned herself to wait, which was longer than she’d estimated by at least ten minutes. The thumping merchant in front of her wanted to chat about the local taverns for an inordinate amount of time. She might pay one of those establishments a visit and lift the bastard’s purse. Normally, she would never resort to petty thievery, but she found taking a merchant’s purse to be more effective than physical punishment.
“Name and business.”
It took all her efforts not to snap at the guard. “I am Jesnia Lonblaude, and I am here to visit Mistress Therian.”
“What business do you have with the seamstress?”
She took a deep breath before giving the obvious answer to this dolt. “I wish to commission her to fashion me with some clothes.”
“Right,” he said, looking at the large coin purse on her belt. “You may enter.”
She’d started forward before he’d finished the first word and broke into a run just as soon as she moved out of view of the guards. Hoping she remembered the way correctly, she turned down the side street between Garth’s Bakery and Andrya’s Brewery. It had been a few years since she’d been to Benridge. The farther she tarried from the main road, the more rundown the homes became.
Those structures near the Benridge market were made of polished stone with tiled roofs, whereas most of these were crafted from wood and thatched.
When she stepped onto another wide street, she turned south. In the distance she could see a wall separating the road from tall warehouses. Normally, this area would be swarming with patrols, but the paths were conspicuously clear. Then again, Bain’s army was practically knocking at the gate. Now that she considered it, she was not too far from the southern border of the city. If she didn’t hurry, she might have to fight her way out of this cursed place.
Reaching the wall, she slowed to a walk, raising her hands behind her head as she strode along the road to catch her breath. Less than a dozen paces ahead, several children kicked a ball alongside the long stretch of yard beside the cobblestones. A few of the older kids sat atop the flat wall, watching the younger ones with lazy interest.
This was new. Last she’d been here, the guards would never have allowed these sort of shenanigans so close to where merchants stored their wares, but judging by the initials carved into the stones, this was their regular spot.
Noticing her approach, a few of the children perked up.
“Hey!” A small girl waved.
Jesnia gave her a pleasant smile. “Hello, little one.”
An older boy hopped down from the wall, rolling into the fall when his feet hit the ground. She hadn’t noticed the sword beneath his cloak until now. He also carried a bow and full quiver.
“Joslyn,” he said, stepping in front of the girl. “Come away from the road.”
Jesnia maintained her smile. “Hello, friend. May I ask where the guards are?”
“What guards?” he snorted. “They don’t come to these parts.”
“What of the warehouses? Are they no longer policed?”
“You must not be from here. The merchants have been moving their goods away from here for years. Most of the buildings are abandoned.”
Which would make this a prime location for Coin to set up his business.
“Most?” Jesnia asked.
“Yeah. There are a few that are still working.”
“Any of them guarded?”
“One,” the boy said, skeptically. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason.” She pulled a gold piece from her purse. “Tell me where it is and this is yours.”
A horn sounded in the distance. Every child’s head turned toward the south.
“Curse it all,” Jesnia muttered, then louder, “What do you say, boy?”
She proffered the coin to him, but he continued staring to the south. More horns had joined the first, and there was the sound of a loud crash, like that of a wall crumbling.
“What was that?” the little girl asked.
“Nothing,” the boy lied. “Get back to the house.”
“But it’s not dark,” she protested.
“Go,” he ordered, turning as if to leave. “The rest of you, too. Let’s go.”
The others jumped into motion as if accustomed to following the larger boy’s lead. Only the youngest of the group muttered complaints as they were led away.
“Wait,” Jesnia said, still holding out the coin toward the boy. “The warehouse, where is it?”
As thei
r gazes met, Jesnia saw deep understanding in his eyes. His calculating expression reminded her of herself at that age.
“Ten roses,” he said.
“Ridiculous. I could just find it on my own.”
“A gold’ll barely buy a loaf of bread these days. I have twenty-three mouths to feed, and by the sounds of those crashes, you don’t have any time. Fifteen roses, or I walk.”
“You said ten.”
“Now, it’s twenty.”
“Fine,” she said, digging into her purse. Despite being swindled, she felt begrudging respect for his accurate assessment of the situation. At this point, she would have paid twice as much for the information. “Where are their parents anyway?”
“Gone. Some in prison, but most are dead. I’m all they have now.”
She handed over the two platinum pieces. He promptly bit on them. Satisfied they were real, he shoved them into the pocket of his trousers.
“It’s this way.”
He ran up the wall and grabbed the top, more than ten feet up. As he pulled himself over, she noticed his weapons were fine quality. Probably stolen. He was young, but the boy had potential. So long as he didn’t end up becoming one of her bounties, he would do well for himself.
As she landed beside him on the other side, she asked. “How old are you, boy?”
“It’s Landryn,” he said, walking toward a narrow alley. “And I’m fifteen.”
“Large for a fifteen year old.”
“I eat well.”
“And you are fairly well-groomed for a street urchin.”
“I’m no urchin, lady. We have a home.”
She raised her hands. “I meant no offense. The opposite actually. The streets are difficult for anyone. I know. I was in your shoes once.”
He gave her a sidelong glance. “You haven’t done too bad for an urchin.”
Smirking, she said, “I had a strong mentor.”
“I did too. My father was a soldier and hunter.”
“He die in this war?”
“No. He was stabbed in the back while on patrol.”
“They get the bastard who stuck him?”