by B J Hanlon
Pharont just stared.
“I understand this has something to do with my father, but you see, I am not him.”
Pharont nodded. “Rihkar was a fool…”
“I met him maybe twice, you may be right but I doubt it. If you knew my mother, she suffered no fools.”
“What are you doing? Placisus said. “This is no time for get-to-know-yous.” Pharont looked away toward the open glass window, a conversation wasn’t exactly the plan. “What is this, a coup? Do you think that suddenly everyone will listen to this child? He’s not even from here.”
“It’s not a coup…” Edin said. “We need each other. The dematians are rising.”
Pharont turned his head and looked toward Placisus then Arianne. “You’re lying… they’re not real, fairy tales like actual fairies.”
“I’ve fought them, the elves call them cousins…”
“There are no elves anymore.”
“You have been stuck on this island for far too long.”
“Wait, what is this about elves…” Placisus said.
“Long story,” sighed Arianne.
“They’re coming, as are the Por Fen, Resholt, and Dunbilston… somehow, it is happening at once. It feels as if there’s a greater force at work…”
“What?” Placisus said. “They’re on their way now? Please tell me you’re having a laugh.”
“Lies,” Pharont said, “we’re planning on…” He paused as if just remembering something. “Let me out of here.”
“Can’t do that, not yet. We need to put our differences aside. Become friendly as it were.”
“The Ecta Mastrino wants to be friends with a man who tried to have him executed…”
“I’m not the Ecta Mastrino,” Edin shouted.
“Where is the Shimmer stone?” Arianne said.
Pharont ignored Edin and looked to Arianne. “It was intended to be a gift for you. For your wedding.”
“That doesn’t matter, what do you know?” Edin said. Was this why Arianne was here?
“It does matter boy!” Pharont said. “It matters much if you believe well… in your legend.” He shot a wary eye at Edin. “It’s in a book, The Zoriat Chronicles.”
“Placisus can you grab it,” Arianne said.
“We should be leaving…”
Something about how both Arianne and Pharont spoke about the stone made Edin think it may be important. “Grab it…” Edin said.
There was a bang on the door. The chair slid an inch with a wrenching holler.
This was getting out of sorts. He needed Pharont to agree, needed him to listen to reason.
“Do you know the Inquisitor de Demar? Diophin Grey?”
Bang. The chair rattled.
Pharont nodded.
Edin was quick, his words spewing out in flashes. “He summons me with a yellow stone, the callto stone, like the mage relay but I don’t have to be there.”
“They’ve rediscovered it? The summoning was thought to have been lost for hundreds of generations…”
“He said they know about the isle… They know about the mists? That we’re unprotected and they’re going to attack.”
“I can’t find it…” Placisus said.
Pharont shot a quick glance over at his bookshelf. He opened his mouth.
“Here it is.”
Edin recognized the look, one of shock, of understanding and of regret. “Wait…”
Placisus grabbed the book and slowly pulled it out. A moment later, half of the bookshelf rumbled in and Placisus was hit with a ball of water and stumbled back.
“Casitas, stop…” Pharont yelled.
With his sword pulled, Casitas leapt into the room about to gut Placisus.
Edin tried to summon the culrian, but he was too weak. He was only able to summon a single bright ball. An orb bright enough in the early light to blind them.
“Stop,” Pharont screamed.
Edin saw again, the world with a single white spot in the center like he’d just stared at the sun. He leapt away from the Premier and toward Casitas. He caught the downward slash that was too quick for the former guard captain. At least four more men were in the room now and he could feel the talent.
A window smashed open and the howl of air began to rush in. It was cold and damp.
Edin closed his eyes to pull the water from the air. He felt the resistance of someone else trying to control it as well. Edin was weak and someone had more power than he did.
Wind ripped past him, it turned and crashed into the guards. All but Casitas, who suddenly had a water shield around him, like the culrian.
“Come on…” Arianne yelled, she and Placisus were at the edge of the window. One of the guards had made it to the door and was unjamming the chair. Next he’d open the bar.
Edin turned as a pair of black stones was flung his way. He snatched one out of the sky. In a complete turn he switched it to his right hand and flung it at the man opening the door.
The guard moved and the door opened with a flourish. Another man appeared. He growled for just a moment… then took the stone in the face. He fell back into comrades.
“Cease this fighting…” Pharont yelled, his thick fingers unable to pick the knots.
“We’ll talk soon,” Edin said. He ran to the edge of the window where his companions had disappeared. Edin leapt, as he was about to hit the thin beam of the trellis, a soft wind buoyed his fall. A moment later he set his foot down, dropped between wooden slats and landed on the stone walk.
He only saw the tops of his companion’s heads descending the stairs to the east. Edin followed, his heart racing as fast as his feet could take him.
He could sense the shadow of the looming volcano behind him, a giant and beastly thing that could crumble and fall and smash all of them into a soft putty if it wished.
Edin reached a patio with fuzzy potted plants and a statue of Nelput, clean shaven and staff wielding. The boar, the great beast he had slain was nowhere in sight.
He turned down a switchback and continued. They were moving fast, but above him, he could hear men still following. Why didn’t Pharont make them cease? Was the fat man lying? Edin remembered his eyes… the shock.
They reached another level, about twenty yards above the back garden, though he didn’t know exactly where they’d come out from before.
Below, he could see the billowing capes and tunics of brosons… or were they just guards now. The same secret police that had always been around, only now, expanded. Edin noticed they all had weapons drawn and were looking up like sharks waiting for their chum.
Arianne stopped, her head swiveled and then ran toward a door. With a strong blast and ear-piercing crack, the door flew open as if flicked by the finger of a god. A moment later there was a long windowless hall lit by unending torches.
They followed her, Edin had no idea where they were going. Another door flew off its hinges and there was a shriek of surprise. Statues flanked them as they burst into a grand chamber with columns rising every few yards. It was tall and light came in from somewhere above him.
Wooden platforms rose around the chambers with workmen staring down at them as if they were watching a show in the theater.
They split a pair of columns and continued straight, deeper into the castle. Did she know where they were going?
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something flying toward him. Edin dropped to his knees, scraping them on the floor as a hammer whizzed over his head.
A loud crash echoed through the hall and he saw a stilt of one of the platforms blow out as if someone had taken an axe to it.
Someone cried as it began tilting toward him. He didn’t have time to stop, Arianne was blasting through another door. Edin dove forward and felt a gust as the whole platform crashed down behind him. He scrambled back to his feet and ducked through another door and they began heading down a staircase.
At the bottom Arianne, turned right and went in a door. When Edin entered, she slammed it shut.<
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“We’re at ground level,” Placisus said through huffing breaths. “To the garden is through there…” he pointed toward a door at the far end. “Or we go through here and head to the dungeons.”
“The…” then he remembered, Mersett and Dorset.
Edin dropped his hands to his knees and tried to steady his breathing. He was completely turned around and had to take the man’s word for it. “You two go to the garden, escape.” Edin said.
“Escape to where?” Arianne said. “We had one chance… maybe it worked… but by now our men are probably surrounded or dead…”
“Go to Belo’s if you can, I’m going after our friends.”
“I’m coming with you,” Arianne said. Placisus nodded.
“Fine,” Edin jogged toward the dungeons. His feet having difficulty rising off the floor.
There was no one in the next corridor as well, though it was very long and with many doors on either side.
He glanced through an open door and saw a serving woman changing. Unclothed with a towel around her head. She had an ample bosom and a rather nice figure. A smile crept over his face as they locked eyes. She shrieked.
“Sorry,” Edin called and looked forward. He could feel Arianne’s glare on his back.
They reached the door. Placisus used a key from his jangling chain to open it. He remembered these stairs.
Edin went first and nearly ran down the stairs. The tingling of the suppression came from below. He stopped.
“How many jailors are down here?” he whispered.
“Three, maybe more… let’s try not to kill them.”
“I feel the wan stones working the further we get, I want to try something,” Edin said.
“Hey, whose up there?” A guard called from below.
Edin heard the footsteps from below and summoned all the moisture into water droplets. Then into a large floating orb of bluish green water.
He felt Placisus beginning to help.
A guard appeared at the base of the steps. They released the ball and it slammed to the floor, rushing down like a flash flood.
A wind came up and threw it forward, turning it into a wave.
From below, there came gargled shocks of surprise and Edin ran down the remaining steps, his feet splashing in the remaining puddles. The first guard was spitting up a mouthful of water, while the second was trying to twist out of a chair.
Edin pulled the blade. “Prisoners, where are they?”
“Captain?” The first man said.
“Sargent.” Placisus said. “Put away your sword. These are my men.”
“Not all sir…” They heard a wildly painful sounding scream from somewhere deeper into the dungeons. “The broson extractor…”
“What’s he extracting?” Asked Edin, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Fingernails I believe…” The sergeant shook slightly. “It’s awful.”
“We should’ve killed Pharont…” Arianne said.
“Open it,” Edin said. The three wings of the dungeon were barred, Edin’s was familiar with the left but the screaming came from the far right.
“I’ll stay here,” Placisus said. “I need to watch them.”
Edin and Arianne ran toward the sound. Their footsteps were drowned out by the wails.
These were not barred cells. These were dungeons like that of the mountain keep… where he met the draugr.
There was another scream. They stopped outside of a door and looked in. Through the small window, they could only see the back of a thin man with straight black hair. He was bending over a person in a chair.
Edin grabbed the handle.
“Kill him,” Arianne whispered. “Time to become a man.”
Edin gritted his teeth. He saw Foristol’s dead eyes looking up to him. Then another scream, so loud and bloodcurdling, he felt chills running around his body.
Edin took the door knob and opened it.
“What?” The thin man said turning.
Edin stabbed his blade through the man’s stomach. His dull gray eyes snapped open as he tried to comprehend what was going on.
In the chair, a man was ragged and bloody. His hands looked like he’d dipped them in red paint. There were burn marks on his body and his clothes were in tatters.
The eyes looked up at Edin. “Le Fie?” He said.
“Wohhe…” the man croaked out.
“I can’t understand.”
“He wants water, I’ve heard enough of your delirious talk, I can speak it.” She moved to a bowl. Le Fie shook his head.
“That’s not the water…” Edin said.
“I can smell.”
He saw another one, a bucket. Edin picked it up, Arianne tilted Le Fie’s head back and Edin gently poured water down his throat.
“I thought you were dead,” Edin said.
“Don’t talk… we need to get him out of here.” The water began to spill down the sides of his mouth. “That’s enough…”
Edin cut the tight bindings around Le Fie’s ankles and wrists and they tried to help him stand. The man’s head was wobbling, and he couldn’t move on his own.
Edin pulled an arm over his shoulder, Arianne did the same. Flakes and liquid blood began to cover them.
“Before I met you Edin… I could wear a tunic more than one day without having to burn it,” Arianne said through gritted teeth.
At the end of the hall, the sergeant ran up, “my gods…”
“Help him, it’s Le Fie…”
“Le Fie…” Placisus pushed past the two men and took Arianne’s side.
“Where is Councilman Bolisona and his nephew?”
The sergeant nodded his head toward the opposite door. “Wanted to keep them as far from… that.”
“The chair,” Placisus said and one of the guards brought it over. They set him down. “Did you know it was the leader of the Darsol Rose?”
Arianne stood over Le Fie and began to cast a healing spell.
The two guards looked at each other. It was clear from their expressions they knew but said nothing.
“Let’s go,” Edin said drawing his blade and pointing to the two guards.
“You want us?”
“Yes.” He let the men go first. At the far end of the hall, in Edin’s dripping cell and exactly opposite from Le Fie was the two men. They were huddled in the corner like lumps of discarded trash. The sergeant opened the door.
“Come on, get out.” The sergeant said in a manner that almost seemed like he was the one making the decision.
“Get out of there men…” Said Edin. He didn’t want to go in there and let the guards at his back.
Then Dorset looked up. Hope ran in his weary, dark and sunken eyes.
A few moments later, Mersett was helped out by his grandnephew. They both looked exhausted, they moved like children with small, hesitant steps and seemed to not know what was happening.
Edin put a hand on his roommate’s shoulder as he walked past. “You two. Get in.” Edin said.
The guards offered confused expressions. “And give me the keys.” Edin commanded the guards, the tip of Mirage pointed at their chests.
“What? Why?”
“So, you two are not held liable for one,” Edin said. “And two, I don’t trust you not to raise the alarm.”
“Do you think you can kill both of us?” The guard started.
“Yes,” Edin said without embellishment.
The guard reached for his hilt but the sergeant rested his hand on the man’s arm. He dropped the keys to the ground and walked in. The guard held Edin’s stare as if he were trying to intimidate Edin.
“Come.” The sergeant said from inside. The guard finally made up his mind and followed his superior.
Edin slammed it shut and locked them in.
“Tell someone we’re down here,” the sergeant said.
Edin nodded and then returned to the axis.
“It sounds like they found us… do you think Pharont has got t
hem under control?” Placisus said.
A voice called down. It was rough. “Murderers. Come out without your weapons or we will kill you.”
“Or he had a change of heart.”
“We won’t make it to the sewers…” Arianne said. She was looking exhausted, sweat beading down her forehead. She blinked it away.
Mersett coughed. “The sewer... is behind that wall.” He said through deep breaths. “A foot or more.”
Edin looked at it. The stone was worn and old but strong.
“How will we get through? I can’t feel any connection to the talent…” Placisus said.
“I can,” Edin said. It was faint, very faint, but it was there. “It’s stronger up there…” He pointed toward the stairs.
“I can redirect your lightning,” Mersett coughed. “Like reflecting light from a mirror.”
“You don’t have the strength…” Dorset said, concern in his voice.
“I don’t have the strength to summon the power, but I do for this. Come now, we do not have much time.” At that moment, he looked older than ever, weaker too, like the days in the cell had aged him fifty years. He stared at Edin who didn’t move. He remembered seeing Mersett collapse under Pharont’s blast… would the same happen here?
“Hurry boy,” Mersett said and slapped him on the arm. It wasn’t hard but shocked him.
“Are you certain?”
Mersett nodded.
Edin ran almost halfway up the stairs. Above him, he heard clacking of wooden wheels or barrels rolling on stone cracks on the other side of the door.
He thought he’d gotten through to Pharont, thought that maybe they could join together. What is that fat arse egotist thinking? Edin wondered.
“Now!” Mersett yelled with a hoarse voice that Edin could barely make out over the rattle above.
Edin closed his eyes and concentrated. He didn’t want to hurt the old man, he tried to temper the amount of static in the air he was bringing in. Edin shot out an arm and a short bolt shot toward the old man. It struck his hand but then disappeared off to the left in a flash of brilliance.
“Are you a toddler? Why so weak boy?”
Edin tried adding more and let it out. As he did, hinges squeaked about him and a moment later, a crashing of liquid.
It did the same, Mersett sighed, his face angrier. “You are the son of Rihkar, not his grandmother’s grandmother. Do something worthy of the name Harlscot. I do not want anything weak again. Keep building!” The man’s voice trailed off.