by Guy Antibes
The woman shrugged. “I’ve got more straw than I need, and we can always get some more if the price is right. What do you want to stuff into helmets, goose down pillows? They are what I use to stop my husband’s snoring from waking me up.”
Hemo grinned at Ricky.
All seven of them worked into the night. A local blacksmith bought ruined armor to fix and sell and had enough inventory to pound out enough helmets for the seven of them. Ricky noticed a stack of leather breastplates.
“Can we buy some of those?”
“Sure.”
The man charged more than they would have cost new, but his band now had helmets and breastplates stuffed with goose down. They had cut down mattresses and mounted them to boards to use as sound shields. Ricky didn’t think they had time to do more. King Leon’s search parties could soon be reaching the inn.
Ricky bought a slim iron poker to act as a wand, but one of Bocca’s sorcerers gave him one of Wedo’s and said, “I can use that well enough, and I’m sure you can make better use of this than I can. I never had a chance to get the knack of bringing out a blade.”
Zaria grabbed a poker for himself. “Might as well save my fingernails,” he said.
They rose into the air from just outside the blacksmith shop and headed out into the night.
~
They passed over riders going in the opposite direction from the barracks. That only meant fewer soldiers and, hopefully, fewer sorcerers.
They hovered above the grounds. Lumpy sacks filled with rocks hung down from Zaria’s arms and from one of Bocca’s sorcerers.
“I’m ready,” Zaria said.
Ricky could hardly hear him, and that was good. He linked with Bocca, Hemo, and Siria. The time had come.
A sorcerer walked into the torchlit yard, looking about. Ricky made eye contact with Zaria and pointed down.
The ex-prisoner hummed something that Ricky couldn’t hear and tossed a fist-sized rock. He used his iron wand to guide the stone. It hit the sorcerer on the shoulder, grazing his head. But another was soon on its way, hitting the man on the head.
A soldier looked up, but Siria had dipped down and used fire to burn the soldier. The scene quickly became an angry hornet’s nest.
Ricky flew down and quickly put the two men guarding the barracks gate to sleep and spelled the lock open. He stopped as he heard the sound of the resonance-killing spell, but he didn’t feel his power drain. He turned to see the sorcerer and three guards. Ricky sang a bolt of flame and let it coalesce in front of the group. The explosion threw them back.
He ran into the barracks where a few more guards held back the battle sorcerers. Ricky put the guards to sleep and shouted at the battle sorcerers.
“I am freeing you, but you will have to pass through an interrogation spell to make sure you won’t turn on us. If you are unwilling, you may stay here and have your magic drained three times a day.”
Zaria showed up. “He’s right, everyone. I’m for fighting against sorcerers who think they can order us to do whatever they want. These sorcerers put compulsion spells on those who won’t follow their ways. If you are up to it, let’s go.”
Most of the sorcerers followed Ricky and Zaria out into the barracks yard as more guards showed up. This time, the battle sorcerers didn’t need magic to eliminate them. They marched out the gate, following Ricky and Zaria while Hemo and the others flew above them.
Ricky took them north, a direction that wouldn’t be expected, and as dawn beckoned, stopped them in the middle of a wood.
Hemo and he interrogated all two hundred or so sorcerers and found seven that didn’t pass. Ricky put them to sleep before he began to teach the sorcerers how to fly.
Hemo and Zaria took some of the sorcerers to speed up practice time, and in two hours they took off towards the Southeast, veering away from Sealio. Ricky looked back at his flying force. Even if they only dropped directed rocks like Zaria, the battle sorcerers might change warfare.
~~~
Chapter Twenty-One
~
O nce night fell, it was clear they wouldn’t be traveling very quickly.
“Can you three take them to Samira?” Ricky asked Hemo, Zaria, and Siria. He turned to Bocca and his two sorcerers. “It’s time for you to head to Applia. Do you have a token I can use?”
Bocca gave Ricky a battered coin. “My first commission as a performance sorcerer on the streets of Applia,” he said.
Ricky impressed it with linking ability. “I can communicate with you through this. You can’t initiate a power-link, but I can with you. Guard it well.”
Bocca and his companions left them.
“Get them fed. I’m heading to find Mirano and Pira,” Ricky said.
“Princess Pira?” Zaria said.
Ricky looked at Zaria and realized he had not done everything he needed to. He sang the compulsion counterspell. Zaria staggered.
“I thought so.”
“What did you do?” Zaria said through eyes narrowed with pain.
“The sorcerers put a compulsion spell on you. You would have done anything they asked. They probably wanted more information from me, before I was killed,” Ricky said, “and put you in my cell, so I would talk more than I would if interrogated.”
“And I would have done it?”
Hemo nodded. “Now I have another task,” Hemo said. “But it will be for the better. I need to find food for our charges. You can leave, Ricky.”
Ricky patted Zaria on the shoulder. “One more spell.” He protected the battle sorcerer before he rose into the air.
Pira linked with him quickly.
You succeeded?
We now have an army of flying battle sorcerers, Ricky said.
How are you going to use those?
I’ll figure something out, or Nemo Mattia can. Where are you?
Pira gave him some instructions, but Ricky could tell the general direction from his link with Pira.
An hour later, Ricky walked the streets of a fishing village. He listened to the call of a few seabirds and walked towards the village’s only inn.
“I’m looking for Marino Bespa.”
“They told me to look out for you. The injured man is above the stables. You can get to it through that doorway.”
Ricky stepped up covered stairs to a wooden walk above the stable. He knocked on the door to the closest room.
Pira opened the door and gave him a big smile. “The lost sheep has found the flock.”
“Or something like that,” Mirano said. He sat next to a sleeping Duke Noacci. “He needed the rest.”
Ricky looked down at the bandages wrapping Noacci’s fingers. “Not very cordial, our King Leon.”
“No. The duke wouldn’t have lasted another day without treatment. He suffered broken ribs and internal bleeding, but his organs were in decent shape for that kind of beating. He reminded me of a young teenager I once worked on who was close to death after a beating at Doubli Academy. Dragging him out of the king’s palace didn’t do him any favors, however. We can likely take him to Samira late tomorrow. Now that you are here, I can tap into your power, so I can do more during this next treatment.”
“Anything to help,” Ricky said.
“Sit. Pira has offered to fetch some lunch,” Mirano said.
“It’s still only midday?”
“It is. Perhaps you should give us a stirring story before I get to fetching,” Pira said.
Ricky gave both a more detailed account of his travails at the battle sorcerer barracks.
“Bocca gave a good accounting of himself? I’m happy to hear that. I have worked on him more than a few times. He was always pushing for new and better effects. He will be an asset to Duke Noacci.”
Noacci’s eyes fluttered open. “I am right here, healer. I listened to young Valian’s account. I’m not surprised by your escape. I have confidence in you.” He raised a hand. “My fingers still hurt,” he said to Mirano.
“Yes, and they will conti
nue to hurt. If they didn’t, your fingers wouldn’t work. King Leon was especially vicious.”
“And it was King Leon who led a parade of people.” Noacci looked at Ricky through weary eyes. “Even Gobble Bangatelli had a go, as well. I should have heeded your advice.”
“Maybe you will in the future, but right now, you need more rest. We will be taking you to Samira to recuperate.”
Mirano put his hand over Noacci’s forehead. “I am putting you back to sleep.”
Pira left the room.
“You can put your palm on the back of my neck or on the duke’s arm,” Mirano said. He unwrapped Noacci’s hands. They were purpled with bruises, and it was obvious Mirano had more work to do.
Ricky could feel some of his power drain as Mirano applied power to his healing.
“I have more repair to do on the duke’s finger bones. Noacci has considerable arthritis in his hands. I can help with that.”
Mirano finished treatment for Noacci’s fingers and had them wrapped up again when Pira brought a cloth-covered tray.
“I hope you enjoy fish,” she said, with a little disdain.
Ricky imagined she wasn’t excited about the meal, but there were three bowls of fish stew and a bowl of steaming broth.
After eating, Ricky helped Mirano with another session. He placed his hand on the duke’s bare chest. Ricky could sense the reconstruction that Mirano applied to Noacci’s heart, kidneys, and spleen.
“We are done with those. The damage didn’t show up immediately. Another session with his fingers tonight and then rest before we move him. He will be feeling better overall with what we’ve done. I’ll wake him so Pira can feed him.”
“Me? Ricky is the heir,” she said, smiling.
“I’ll do it,” Ricky said. “I owe him a great deal.”
“He owes you a great deal,” Mirano said. “No one else would have gone to save him. You dragged us along, but it was you who saved him.”
“We all did our part,” Ricky said. He looked at Pira. “I don’t mean to be mean, but the Duke should take the ducal bedroom.”
“Really?” Pira said. “My clothes are strewn everywhere, even my underthings.”
“I’m sure Nania has cleaned up after you before.”
“Truth be told, she has. There are other rooms as nice. Nania can find something suitable for a visiting princess.”
“Good,” Ricky said.
He walked outside to get some fresh air, surprised to see the sun setting. Ricky remembered time losing its grasp on him at the hospital at the Rings. He felt tired and wondered if Mirano was more tired than he. Ricky walked back into the duke’s room.
“Are we done for today?”
Mirano dozed in the chair while Pira spoon-fed the broth to Duke Noacci.
“I said I would do that.”
Pira made a face at him. “I was joking. It’s been a long day for both of you. We are in the other room.”
“We?” Ricky said.
“They both have separate beds. Mirano is so tired he is asleep sitting up. You probably are as tired.”
“Go. I’ve had enough,” Duke Noacci said. “My hands are a bit better. I can’t keep my eyes open, anyway.”
Pira took Ricky’s hand and stood out on the balcony above the stable taking in the smells.
“I’ve slept in nicer-smelling places,” Pira said. “Here we get a mixture of the sea, rotting seaweed, and horses.”
“It’s better than sleeping in a cell where there is no light and no magic.”
“I suppose so.” She slipped her hand through Ricky’s arm.
“No alarming stares into each others’ eyes tonight?” Ricky asked.
“No alarming stares. I lent my meager power to Mirano before you came. I have been tired ever since.”
Ricky nodded. He kissed the princess, and they both went to their beds and fell asleep before they had a chance to say anything else.
~
Duke Noacci sat up in the bed that Princess Pira had formerly used. His eyes still looked droopy, but his hands were unwrapped and only bruised. Ricky remembered how mangled they had been. Mirano did outstanding work.
Noacci flexed his fingers. “Actually these things work better than they have for some years.”
“Mirano improved a few things while he made repairs,” Ricky said.
“Just like a blacksmith, eh?” Duke Noacci said. “What do we do now?”
“You are asking me?”
“You seem to have more answers and wisdom than I do,” Noacci said.
“That isn’t true,” Ricky said. “I have other answers. I can’t speak to wisdom, but I do have ideas.”
“You do at that.” Noacci looked around the bedroom. “I’m not waiting for you to inherit it all. I am going to give you Samira and the surrounding lands now. It appears you have already taken liberties with the place.”
“All in pursuing an advantage in the coming civil war.”
“That is what it is,” Noacci said. “I tried to avoid such a thing, but the Botoyan sorcerers have spoiled that strategy. Let’s have a talk with Nemo Mattia.”
Ricky called to Eddo, who hovered outside the doors to the ducal bedroom. Mattia soon knocked on the door and entered.
“Your assessment, Mattia?” Duke Noacci said.
Ricky was taken aback by the change in the duke’s demeanor as soon as Mattia entered. It was if a steel rod was instantly inserted down the duke’s spine.
“We need more time. I don’t know if King Leon will permit it, but the troops I’m training will only last so long before becoming overwhelmed in a real battle.”
“I suppose that is the case with Applia and Tossa?” the duke asked.
“If they are as far along as I am. I suppose they are.”
Noacci sat thinking. He folded his arms and looked across the room at the wall. “There is either quality or quantity in a conflict. Now that King Leon knows everything I told him, and I can’t recall every question I answered, but I was hurting very badly at the time, we can be more open.”
“A muster from the countryside?”
“That, and it is time for General Farlotti to call for the Order’s royal troops to leave their posts.”
“Ricky and his sorcerers can interrogate the soldiers who come to our side and remove compulsion just like he did to that battle sorcerer commander, Zaria,” Duke Noacci.
Mattia considered the duke’s words. “Let’s do that, then, and establish a perimeter around Sealio. It will be loose and large. Applia takes the land above the River Lironi, and Tossa and Naparra take the rest.”
“Two day’s travel?” the duke asked.
“Less than that, but more than a day to give us time to respond to whatever King Leon throws at us.”
Ricky had now seen the real leader of the Order of the Curled Fist in action.
~~~
Chapter Twenty-Two
~
W ith Duke Naparra in charge, Ricky had some time on his hands. Mirano looked him over and declared that all he needed was some regular meals after restoring a bit more integrity to his skull.
Hemo and Zaria were hard at work trying to duplicate the elusive sound spell that had disabled him at the sorcerers’ barracks. The other battle sorcerers worked with Siria and Mattia on improving their conventional weapons skills.
Duke Naparra called for a steward from his palace in Firali to take the day-to-day running of the castle at Samira from Pira. Mirano instructed the duke that he needed two weeks of recuperation before he should think about resuming his duties.
Bocca returned with the two performance sorcerers. Ricky taught Hemo how to charm an object to allow linking, so Ricky wasn’t needed to link with the three Order training centers.
He found Pira reading a book in the ducal library. “Anything interesting?” Ricky asked.
“Nothing extraordinary. I haven’t come across any books older than a century.”
Ricky had to agree. “Are you getting bored not
having to run the affairs of the castle?”
“More than I thought I would, but don’t tell anyone.”
“I thought you might want to travel to Duteria. I’d like to see Tobia, Minnie, and Pirie. It is time to see how bad things are getting.”
“A tour of Hessilian mayors, or whatever they call their heads of state?”
“Most cities are not run by kings, so yes. First to the Rings.”
Pira smiled and looked at the books. “When do we leave?”
“Sooner the better,” Ricky said. “Duke Noacci is assembling troops for a perimeter around Sealio. I think he is hesitant about invading the capital. If we are to go now, we can be back in a week. That will give the Order’s former royal troops more time to find their ways to Applia, Tossa, and Samira.”
“Then let Duke Noacci know. I’d like to see what my namesake looks like,” Pira said.
After stuffing some food in packs, Ricky sought out Mattia for a serviceable sword. His weapons, including his black wand, had been taken by King Leon. They took off and sped through the skies.
They spent the night in a village where Ricky had stayed before, close to Applia, before resuming their journey to Duteria. Towards the end of the afternoon, Ricky led her to the valley where the Rings of Duteria lay.
She flew closer to Ricky. “That is bigger than any one of the five towers,” she said pointing to the Rings.
“And the Rings aren’t small buildings,” Ricky said.
They landed in the late afternoon in the back garden of Tobia and Minnie’s house and walked in.
“Your missing partner has returned,” Ricky said from the kitchen.
Minnie shot up from her desk and ran into the room. “Ricky,” she hugged him and then noticed Pira standing to the side. She stood away from Ricky, straightening out her dress and giving a serviceable curtsey to Pira. “Princess, welcome to our home. I’m tired of the linking. Now you can tell us what has happened to you all this time. All that I wanted to know at the time was if you were alive. I’ve verified that, so now my curiosity can take over,” Minnie said. “I’ll get Pirie, and then we can talk in the sitting room.”