by B J Hanlon
Edin remembered the painting of her. “The mean looking lady?”
“Don’t call her that… it was tradition I suppose. We all hated it. My mother was happy, sweet, and kind… not like my grandmother. Evil bit… witch.”
“So, how’d your mother learn these skills? I assume she was a noble.”
“She was, not a magus though, and her family had… financial difficulties. It lowered their status to barely above commoner. Even merchants looked down on her family.”
It reminded him of his own position a bit. Though not that bad.
“The men in her family had tendencies toward drink and gambling. While they were out drinking and debauching, she apprenticed with a doctor who taught her mundane healing.”
“Ahh.” Edin said.
“Anyways, my father was traveling in Alestow when some accident happened, he was always mum on the details. Anyway, he went to the local doctor and met my mother. When he found out she was noble, he instantly asked her to be his wife. True love they said.”
“Now, nobles pick their children’s spouses,” Edin said, though he didn’t think that was the way with his own parents, his mother was of noble birth.
Uncle Rihkar, his father if his former companions were to be believed, was a mystery. He wondered where the man was now. Did his father even know of the attack? Did he even care.
“They did in my time as well. My father threatened to cede the crown to his younger brother should my grandfather not allow the marriage. Grandfather was a hard man to many, but to me, he was kind and gentle.” She smiled, “he had a huge bushy white beard and a belly from as he put it ‘the finest reason for living. Food and ale.’” She drank from the waterskin tilting it nearly completely above her head.
“I cannot argue that point.” Edin said.
“You think those are better than love commoner?” she shot back. “Never mind, anyway he relented and when I was born, he had a small throne made for me.” She was smiling and playing with a sprout of grass in her hands. “So I sat next to him during court.”
“Sounds great.”
“It was… then he died when I was twelve… almost a thousand years ago. I still cannot believe it.” She wiped her eyes. “My father tried to follow in his footsteps, tried to do the right thing…”
Edin reached out and took her hand. She looked up at him and smiled. It wasn’t a teasing grin. This was the smile a scared person hides behind. Edin wanted to kiss her and hold her. And not just now; while they slept and not just for warmth, but because they both wanted it.
This wasn’t the time; his mother would beat him for trying to take advantage of a distressed woman, especially given her circumstances.
She needed someone there for her. He pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her into him. She didn’t resist, she rested her head against his chest and sniffled.
Edin ran his filthy fingers, through her dirty hair and kissed the top of her head.
Arianne and Edin fell asleep as he wanted, holding her. Only one time during the night he heard her whimper. There were no visions of wicked men hiding in their fortresses that night, only dreams of the future maybe. One of them together. Hopes was more like it.
9
Blasted Pirates
She laughed a lot, smiled more over the next few days of travel through the bramble. They came across open patches where Edin pointed out tracks.
Arianne showed him different plants. For a princess, she seemed to know as much herbalism as Master Horston. Maybe more.
Bugs and gnats grew more and more frequent becoming thick clouds. Without the sleeves they kept over their mouths, it’d be impossible to breathe without swallowing a handful.
They found a small stream flowing through the jungle toward the southeast. It was a murky brown and was barely deep enough to reach the top of their boots. They washed as best as they could.
Arianne found a leaf that she smashed against a rock a few times turning it to a paste and had Edin rub it in her hair as well as massage her scalp.
The dirt stains faded from her blonde locks. After which, she washed his hair, though she splashed water in his face and laughed when he had to shoot it out of his nose.
The stream meandered and new wide-leafed trees with large brown seeds appeared.
“Palms…” Arianne said quietly.
“Huh?”
“We’re in south of Carrow.”
Edin looked back at her. “We couldn’t have… unless.”
“The cave took us beneath Jont’s Pass…” She paused and looked to the east. She kept worrying about being seen by ships.
Edin gripped his necklace. “We’ll have to see other humans eventually.”
Arianne nodded and just then, a thunderous crack like a giant tree falling sounded above them. Edin looked up and saw the rainclouds through the jungle maze.
“Storm,” Edin observed.
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Arianne said.
“You could just push it away.”
She shook her head. “It may be possible that someone notices… I’d like to think the Por Fen believe us dead and don’t want to give them any reason to doubt.”
Edin hadn’t told her about the weird connection to the Inquisitor. It would cause worry, and he was doing enough of that for the both of them. Luckily, Edin didn’t have any more visions.
They followed the stream for a while then Arianne called, “There.”
He looked back and saw her pointing toward some small rock angled like a tea saucer that crashed into the ground.
“I don’t want to be soaked again,” she said.
They grabbed firewood and crawled in to hunker down. Arianne rested her head against Edin’s shoulder as she read through the history book.
Edin tried reading it. He could make out a few words that looked similar to the common tongue, cognates, Arianne told him.
Horse was hors, wyrms were not worms but dragon like but with two legs. So that was confusing. Though they were said to be myth even in her time. Eventually, he stopped asking questions when her answers became too quick. Instead he stared at the drawings. Over the pages he saw colorful dragons, red, gold, blue, and black. Crillio cats. He touched the fang around his neck.
There were magi in grand clothes that seemed a little too weird for him. Bright colors, odd patterns of shapes, animals, and sometimes just lines. He couldn’t be sure if some of the robes depicted anything or if they were designed by a mentally ill child.
“If I saw a man wearing that, I’d probably want to attack him too,” Edin remarked at a drawing of a brown-haired mage wearing a yellow robe with ballooned patterns of purple flowers.
Arianne laughed. “That’s Quirat the Green. He revolutionized farming with the introduction of manure.”
Edin raised an eyebrow. “The poo mage.”
She laughed and closed the book. “I don’t think there will be any more hiking for the day.”
“Probably not.”
“Let’s get some rest then.”
Edin leaned back against his pack and she curled up next to him, resting her head against his chest.
Arianne took Edin’s hand in hers and brought it to her lips. He saw her open her mouth as if to say something but then she closed it and pursed her lips. They closed their eyes and let the weariness and the soft patter of the rain take them.
“What’s this?” A gruff voice said a little too loud. “Two lovers in a cave.”
“Think they’re running from their parents, Lief?”
Edin’s eyes popped open and he looked back over his shoulder at three men standing in front of their shelter. They were dirty and their clothes were mismatched and filthy. All of them had swords at their hips and one with an eyepatch was leering at Arianne.
“Nah, they look like criminals. We should kill ’em; take their money,” Lief said sounding like he smoked a pipe any chance he’d get.
“And the girl,” Eyepatch said standing off to one side.
Edin slowly went for his sword. It was stuck between the ground and his hip. He felt Arianne shift uneasily.
“Pirates,” Arianne whispered.
“I know,” Edin said.
“That’s a wicked term, wench. You’ll suffer for that… or maybe you’ll enjoy it. Captain may even make you his private wench,” A man with a bandana around his head said. “After we have our fun of course.”
Edin felt a burst of rage. They threatened Arianne, wanted to turn her into some whore…
That was not okay. He noticed the way they were relaxed, casually standing as one would to watch a dog chase its tail.
Why wouldn’t they be? Edin thought. Arianne and he were cornered under a small overhang, not tall enough to stand in. And they were kids. The pirates probably were figuring they could just stick him with their blades and walk away with a weak damsel. They were wrong.
“Where’s your ship?” Edin asked.
“You ain’t getting to see that,” Bandana said as he pulled his sword. It was a cutlass, he’d seen them in pictures of pirates. A moment later, Bandana tried to step but his foot hung there and a surprised look fell over his face.
“What the…”
It was all Edin needed. Edin rolled and drew his sword. In a moment, he kicked Lief in the shin. The man yelped like a surprised mutt.
A second later Edin was on one knee as if proposing but his offering was a slice up with his blade at Bandana’s exposed chest. The man leapt back.
Edin’s body wasn’t loose but he felt good enough. He dropped his hand down and felt a twinge in his wrist.
“Magi,” Eyepatch stuttered trying to draw his weapon.
Lief was to his feet first. He charged at Edin like a wild animal with his blade above his head. Edin parried the cut and rammed a knee into the man’s gut. The man was about to collapse when a jeweled knife tore into his side. He barely noticed Arianne holding it, a wide-eyed horror on her face.
The pirate’s was worse. His guts began to fall out like noodles being dished from a pan.
Eyepatch hopped toward him. He sliced the blade in a figure eight in front of Edin.
Edin watched the man and not the blade. Another hop, but Edin was ready, he slipped in just beyond a whoosh of the blade and slashed into his arm. The hand flew off and Eyepatch blinked for just a moment before Edin took off his head.
Edin turned, ready for another attack but the forest was empty. “Where’d he go?”
Arianne shook her head and staring down at her bloody hand. Her jaw quivered.
“I think we should go… he probably has friends,” Edin said.
“I killed him,” Arianne said.
Edin nodded and grabbed their packs. “I know, he’ll be back with more men,” Edin said. “We need to go now.”
She didn’t answer, Edin took her hand and they ran toward the thick underbrush. He sliced and cut until his body was sweaty and tired. Arianne stayed quiet. After a while, they paused, drinking some of the collected brown water. It had a very earthy taste, like instead of coffee, they brewed mud.
“I killed him…” Arianne cried behind him. “They insulted me, wanted to make me their whore. And I killed one.”
“I know. But he deserved it,” Edin said.
“We could kill them all…” she said, tears still in her eyes. “How many women have they kidnapped and turned into their whores?”
“Possibly. But we don’t know how many there are. We should keep going…” Edin was surprised at the words coming from his mouth… they were Grent’s words.
“We’re better than them, stronger... we’re magi.”
Edin frowned. “I’m guessing they followed that stream. There was a pretty clear path alongside it.”
“Are you saying you’d let them insult me?” Arianne said.
“We took two of them.”
“And they know one of us is a mage. What if they talk to the authorities, word could get back to the black cloaks. If they think we’re dead now, they will not when the pirates talk.”
“The Por Fen know we’re not dead,” Edin said.
“How can you be sure?”
Edin pushed off the tree he’d been leaning on. He felt a sticky sap on his hand and wiped it on his leg. They were standing close, barely a foot apart with a fence of bramble to one side and a patch of thorn bushes to the other. The trees were thin here.
Edin quickly recapped the vision, he didn’t know what else to call it.
She listened but didn’t say anything until he was done. “I wish you would have told me,” Arianne said. “We should not keep secrets.”
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
“I’m already worried, I am always worried. I do not know if I’ll ever not be worried. We are hunted as if we are not human. I was not sure I believed it… until they assaulted the keep. There were so many men. Terrins even.”
Edin turned and began slashing again.
“I’m scared you… we will not live.”
Edin stopped and lowered the blade. He turned to her and looked into her reddening eyes. “We will, I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”
“You cannot make that promise, Edin. I know you want to… maybe you believe you can. But you cannot.”
Edin took her hand in his. “I promise.”
Arianne swallowed and wiped her eyes leaving a smudge on her cheek. Edin rubbed it with his thumb. He began to lean toward her to kiss her and let her know he wasn’t lying.
Just then, as if sent by the god of terrible timing, a branch cracked somewhere to his right. “Down,” Edin whispered and pulled her next to him.
Her jaw quivered, then hardened. She slipped off her bow off and nocked an arrow.
They locked eyes. The gray in hers stood out at this point, a deep gray like the fog on a spring morning over the fields.
He looked away toward the sound. He could see nothing through the clutter. A few leaves rustled in front of them.
“I guess pirates don’t like to be punched in the nose,” Edin whispered.
“That has not changed in a thousand years.”
A glimpse of red appeared between a pair of trees. It stopped and Edin heard a whistle. More twigs snapped.
“Come on magi, show yourselves. We ain’t needing to kill you,” a man called. The voice was a strong one, a man used to command.
“They’re trying to get us to give away our position,” Edin whispered. “I’ve seen it with bandits before.”
Arianne nodded.
A man’s head popped into view above a bush twenty yards away. He spotted them, his mouth opened as an arrow ran through it.
Arianne nocked another arrow.
Edin scanned his surroundings. A wide tree with branches growing out from the trunk sat a few feet to their right. It would provide better cover than the bramble.
“Behind the tree,” Edin directed.
Arianne duckwalked toward it and he followed.
A few feet away, a man stood wearing a black bandana and what seemed to be dark brown makeup circling his eyes. He lifted his cutlass. “They’re here,” he shouted.
Edin summoned an ethereal throwing knife. It took the man in the chest leaving a large hole. His eyes bulged beyond their makeup.
A small object was lobbed toward them. Edin watched it start to fall, and with it, his connection to the talent faded.
“Wan stone,” Edin whispered and grabbed Arianne.
A man leapt from behind a bush and swung a short axe toward Edin. He ducked, slicing his sword clean through a leg. Edin followed it by bringing the blade in a circle and slashing the man’s back. Blood sprayed over him.
“Run,” Edin yelled. And that they did. They followed what looked to be a small game trail. Edin sliced through a web of bare branches and kept going.
Calls of “after them you gimp-brained slogs,” and “I’ll bleed you.” Came from behind.
The trail zigzagged and slowly, his connection to the talent returned.
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A lot of it. His body felt strong with power flowing through it. Ahead, a large web of what appeared to be white bramble cut them off. Edin slashed through and the vines parted like a crowd before a procession.
Open air appeared beyond them. He skidded to a stop as the ground dropped off before them. A sheer cliff stood before a large gorge about fifteen feet across. Their side was slightly lower than the other.
Below, a nearly white river raged through black boulders that still looked huge from a hundred feet up.
“We’re trapped.” Arianne said.
“Can you… throw us?” Edin said.
“You, but not me,” she said… “and I’m tired.”
Edin looked around. To both sides, the edge of the cliff disappeared beneath plants despite the river being nearly straight. Behind them, there was the crashing of people through the wood.
There was no bridge, no way past. They were trapped. He glanced up and saw a tall tree easily ten yards high. It hung over the river at a precarious angle.
If only he could… he might be able to. He remembered creating that ethereal axe all those months ago when he was testing his talent. Could it work?
He had to try. The shouts were getting closer.
“Edin…” Arianne whispered but he ignored her. He sheathed his bloody sword and summoned the axe. The great, pure white head hung in the air attached to a thick pole.
“What is…”
Edin sliced. It slashed through without any resistance and a moment later, the tree fell.
“Amaz…” her voice trailed off. The tree fell collapsing across to the other side with a thud. Branches and leaves flew like birds escaping a predator.
A bridge, Edin thought for just a moment.
Then, his mouth dropped. Their side began to roll. The trunk he’d cut moved slowly twisting like a string tied around a nail to get that perfect circle. With a sense of dread, he saw the base reaching the edge.
Then, it slipped off. The whole tree teetered for just a moment before it dropped dragging plants and hunks of stone from the far cliff over the side. It took a few seconds for it to hit the raging water below. There was a splash. The tree twisted and became wedged. The water slowed just beyond it like a dam letting out the sluiceway.