Spells of the Curtain Volume One

by Tim Niederriter

  Kana's eyes widened. She lowered her gaze.

  "I see. So this is the end."

  "The end of something," said Chelka. "but I'm here to offer you a chance, mercenary."

  Kana's eyes remained fixed on the floor.

  "What kind of chance?"

  "A chance at a pardon, but on a condition."

  Kana sighed.

  "I don't have any options."

  "Your team is being kept entirely in this fortress," said Chelka. "I happen to know all your weapons and tools are here as well."

  "Something tells me you aren't planning to break us out."

  "Why bother with that? I told you, I'm here to offer you a pardon if you accept the terms I offer."

  Kana shook her head, unruly mane of dark waves shifting unevenly.

  "Just tell me what you want."

  "I want to hire six mercenaries to travel with my team to Elk Country. I could use people with knowledge of inland gathering. I looked into your past. You were exiled to the north from Palatan. Even going home to recruit your five friends was a risky move."

  "You learned all that in a month?"

  "Please, my good mercenary. I learned all this over the past week. Don't underestimate the reach of the Squid Tribe."

  Kana raised her eyes.

  "Suppose we go...you'll let us all out?"

  "I only have need of you, but I understand you've grown close with the people you lead. Consider their pardons your bonus."

  Kana set her jaw.

  "I won't ask for gold. A family is worth more than any coin, even if they're all commoners."

  "You're not related to them by blood."

  "Not by blood, Lady Benisar, through blood."

  "I understand." Chelka smiled.

  "I accept your terms," said Kana softly.

  Chelka nodded.

  "You will be released today. I've seen to it your belongings will be returned to you. I'll be waiting for you at the Whale King's docks at dawn tomorrow. If any of you aren't there, you will all soon find yourself back within these walls."

  Kana bowed her head but said nothing.

  Chelka turned to leave.

  "Thank you," said the woman in the cell.

  "Don't thank me," said Chelka, "because I haven't forgiven you."

  And if you knew where we were going in the north, you'd already know that, Chelka thought.

  "See you at dawn," said Kana.

  Chelka nodded to her escort. He led her outside. She passed the shift leader without a word and continued on her way into the city toward the house she and Edmath had rented for the last three weeks. She did not doubt Kana would be loyal enough to trust based on the auguries she had commissioned and what Edmath had told her.

  She couldn't feel too bad for former enemies, even if they would be joining her in a potentially dangerous mission.

  "Creator blessed," she whispered, "give me strength."

  For a moment she doubted the wisdom in her reasoning to visit the prison, to recruit the mercenaries who attacked Edmath a month ago were held. She brushed the thought away. Edmath agreed with her the six of them had only been interested in two things. The first was money. The second was protecting each other. That kind of loyalty could be useful on a journey such as this one. The northlands could be dangerous indeed, and none of her team were familiar with the territory.

  The area around the winter Saale college of Roene Park was forbidding, even in summer. Chelka let her prayer linger in her mind. She doubted the creator's beneficences most of the time, but even as a Saale she had no other higher power to whom she could make an appeal.

  Roshi prayed to their prophetess, but she had been mortal from what Chelka understood. Either way, when one crafted beasts into weapons of war, one needed to clear her conscience any way she could.

  She arrived at the house in the bright afternoon. Edmath was at the palace, instructing gardeners in how to care for his growing glade of Orpus trees. Even Ed, peaceable Ed had made his creations capable of great destruction.

  It did not seem to give him much pause. Chelka watched a flock of titanic sky levoths sailing over the sea in the distance. Diar offered such a hub of resources, but she would not miss the city much. Her family's palaces in Sizali were far more comfortable for her tosh, and there was less travel on foot or by air. Unfortunately, she doubted the north would be any easier to live in, even if only for a short while.

  At any rate, this voyage should be interesting as well as dangerous.

  The levoth's massive forelegs unfolded and touched bottom near shore, relieving Edmath of tension after nearly four days at sea. He thanked the titanic frog-whale hybrid in the frog language before walking to the flat ridge atop the levoth's head to join the other leaders of the expedition. In the water to his left, the orca protector Kyelin broke the surface and spouted water into the warm air of the afternoon.

  Edmath waved to the mighty ocean-going retainer of the Whale Tribe. Kyelin raised one flipper out of the water then breached with a long crooning reply of good luck. Brosk had insisted on the orca's accompanying them this far, but now his role complete the black and white whale and his partner turned southward to rejoin their pod leagues away.

  Brosk smiled at the wakes of the departing whales.

  "Looks like you made a friend, Ed. Not every ward gets that kind of acknowledgment from Kyelin."

  "It helped I could talk to him, I'm sure," said Edmath with a grin.

  He removed his glasses and cleaned wiped off traces of sea-spray. For the most part, he had stayed on the levoth's back for the voyage, sleeping under the stars, but it had left his and Chelka's clothes and hair encrusted with salt. Still, it was better than vomiting in the great creature's dry stomach where most of the others had slept.

  This mission was a joint venture, ordered by all three lower emperors, each one sending a Saale they could trust. That the three of them were also best friends since Lexine Park made everything a sweeter yet.

  Chelka motioned Edmath and Brosk to come to the top of the levoth's head where she stood with the controller. They wasted no more time. Captain Onserun was a veteran of two insurrections as well as the last war with Roshi and he bore the scars to prove it.

  He bowed low to Brosk.

  "My prince," he said, "welcome to Gathat."

  Brosk peered out at the collection of wooden buildings, mostly small except for a few modestly scaled structures along the shore. The pier beside the levoth where they would disembark looked rickety, standing on legs encrusted with weeds and clinging sea creatures. A crowd of villagers stood at the base of the dock, watching Edmath and the others on the frog-whale's head.

  "It's a fishing village, mostly Elk and Bear Tribe. Small too, as you've no doubt noticed," said Onserun.

  "Thank you, captain," said Brosk. "Please prepare your soldiers to go ashore with my fellow Saales and me."

  "Of course, my prince." He bowed again, then walked to the levoth's back and descended into the dry stomach to set his people in motion. Just after he vanished, a head of wavy hair emerged, followed by the rest of the Rooster Tribe mercenary leader, Kana.

  She waited to one side on the bony deck of the levoth's back as her five companions emerged. At first, Edmath had been unsure they could trust the mercenaries but over the last few days, he'd grown to appreciate them, especially the big spear-breaker, Obbin, who reminded him a little of a young Brosk. The hulking Rooster Tribe man nodded to Edmath as he joined Kana and the others of their team.

  All-in-all Edmath hoped this mission would not be as dangerous as Chelka guessed it might become. As Saales familiar with unexplained tears, he, Brosk, and Chelka were here to investigate a possible magic event in the wilderness west of Gathat.

  Edmath, Chelka, and Brosk finished surveying the village from above, then returned to the levoth's back. The creature lifted one armored amphibious leg and made a bridge to the pier for the human passengers. Ridges along the fin flared out to offer extra traction to keep them from slip
ping on their way down.

  Edmath stepped onto the pier with a greater sense of relief than before. He glanced back to find Rewebb, one of their mercenaries, helping steady another of them, Senei with her weak leg, as they descended. The other two Rooster Tribe commoners, Buna and Jekk brought up the rear.

  As the last two of the landing party reached the pier and the controller captain's Whale Tribe soldiers began to appear on deck, a commotion broke out among the villagers on the shore. A woman in a white cloak and dark tunic but no sash broke through the crowd and approached the pier. She started onto the creaking boards and marched straight toward Chelka, Brosk, Edmath, and the rest of their party.

  The woman wore her a plain metal clip to hold back her pale yellow hair. She carried no weapons except for a striker pouch at her wide belt. Her expression was intense and fixed on Chelka.

  "Finally, the empire sent someone," she said as she neared. "I judge you three are Saales, correct?" she indicated Edmath, Chelka, and Brosk.

  "Correct," said Edmath.

  "Indeed," said Chelka. "I'd judge you are too, given the tools you carry."

  Brosk nodded.

  "I gather that as well, though I don't know what you mean by ‘finally.’"

  The woman motioned to the villagers behind her.

  "I have been here for six weeks, a representative of Roene Park."

  "So you're a winter Saale?" said Edmath.

  "I have that honor. My name is Ninafi." She shook her head. "That's not the point. At the moment, I think you know this village is suffering from raids by the enemy."

  "The enemy?" Chelka frowned. "Roshi?"

  "I don't think so," said Ninafi. "My honorable Saales, we don't know who they are, only that they strike every night after darkness falls." She eyed Kana and the mercenaries, then glanced at the gathering soldiers on the levoth's back. "How many warriors did you bring with you?"

  "A score of Whale Tribe mariners," said Brosk. "But they're only here to protect the levoth while we move inland."

  "Whale tribe?" Ninafi's eyes widened as she met Brosk's gaze. "Forgive me, you are Brosk Naopaor, eldest son of King Ahenesrude."

  "Eldest living," said Brosk in a low voice, the closest he would come to a growl. "And it would seem my parentage is irrelevant here, beyond the resources I have been able to bring."

  Edmath nodded.

  "If the situation is as dire as it sounds, we should make a plan before nightfall."

  "Kana," said Chelka. "Take your team and go ashore and tell the crowd we can help them. Ask around for any royals and warriors training who can help us."

  Kana nodded, then led her people down the pier to meet the crowd.

  Chelka turned to Ninafi.

  "Well, Ninafi who wears no sash, tell us what you know. We did not know of your plight before this moment."

  Ninafi's posture deflated. She shuddered.

  "Then none of our messengers made it. Creator, bless their souls." She made a sign of grief, touching her forehead, then her lips.

  Brosk put a hand on Edmath's shoulder.

  "You and Chelka learn what you can of the situation. I will tell the captain to prepare his troops to help protect the village."

  "Good idea. From the sound of things matters are dire." He sighed. "I only wish word had reached us in Diar. We could have brought an army rather than one small escort."

  "Indeed, but nothing we can do now," said Brosk.

  Chelka nodded, then turned to Ninafi.

  "Please, tell us all you can about what's been happening here," she said. "And lead us ashore. I serve the War Empress, and will do my best to evaluate your defenses."

  "Yes. We must hurry."

  "Of course," said Edmath. "Let us go."

  The three of them went along the pier to shore. Only three days by sea from Diar and danger loomed, completely unknown in the capital. Edmath could not help a frown of worry from creeping over his face. What manner of raiders could cut off a village from contact so completely? He knew and hated they would soon find out.

  Edmath and Chelka followed Ninafi to the village hall just paces from the pier. Scratches and claw marks marred the polished ratam-grown pine wood of the doors. Inside, the building was dim as clouds moved outside the windows.

  A group of village elders waited around a long table, most sitting. Only one stood, a white-haired but still-sturdy-looking man wearing his elk tosh's antlers and a gray coat with a maroon scarf.

  "I take it these are the new arrivals?" the man asked as Ninafi approached the table with Chelka and Edmath.

  "We are two leaders of the expedition," said Chelka. She introduced the two of them by name. "But we came without knowing your plight."

  "Surely will help us, regardless?" said a woman sitting on the far side of the table.

  Chelka nodded.

  "Yes. We will. But we need to know the situation better if we are to be of much use."

  "The raiders come by night. They speak in some language none of us can understand, not even the royals." The man with the scarf put his hands on the table. "They keep to the dark, but haunt us each night from sunset to sunrise, trying to get inside."

  Edmath frowned.

  "What do they do if they get in?"

  "They kill whoever they reach with claws and teeth," said the elder woman who had spoken before. "Only children are spared."

  "They spare the children?" Chelka said. "Strange, but a blessing nonetheless."

  "Indeed," said the elder woman. "We are fewer every year as our youth leave for the south. That was so even before they appeared."

  "How long has this been going on?" asked Edmath, folding his hands to keep them from shivering in the drafty chill that entered the hall.

  "The first attack was the night of the mid-winter solstice," said the man with the scarf.

  Edmath shared a glance with Chelka, then turned to the elders.

  "Six months and they are still raiding. What do they want?"

  "Besides killing they steal food from our stores and kill our animals." The man with the scarf sighed. "We barely survived until spring thanks to their early attacks."

  "Have you slain any of them?" asked Chelka. "Can we see what they look like?"

  "They have become careful since I arrived," said Ninafi. "But we have three bodies that are yet to rot. They aren't human, at least not fully."

  Edmath scowled.

  "Human-animal hybrids? But even Roshi does not allow that kind of experimentation."

  "Perhaps they are not above it after all," said Chelka. "So little is below them, it would not be hard to believe."

  "Roshi or not," said Ninafi, "we need to bloody them enough that they retreat. They always come from the inland pathways."

  Edmath arched an eyebrow at her.

  She spread her hands.

  "I have used my spells to witness their routes of approach. I have no ability to augury. No one in the village does."

  Chelka folded her arms.

  "We should see these remains. But first, how many warriors do we have in this village not counting those who just arrived?"

  "Say, fifteen able young fighters," said the man with the scarf. "I have been leading them, but they are far from professional fighters."

  "With our Whale Tribe soldiers and the mercenaries that makes a bit over two-score warriors," said Edmath.

  "Yes." Chelka nodded to the man with the scarf. "Sir, we will need to know the locations of the storehouses and animal stays so as to deploy our forces."

  The man pointed to the map spread across the table.

  "That was the subject of our discussion before you arrived. We have consolidated our stores in the buildings around the pier, including this hall and the tavern. We gather the animals in pens on the north side of the village each night. Lately, I have taken five of our men each night to protect them with the other ten to protect the people and our goods in the buildings. They have yet to break through."

  "Wise," said Chelka. "I think your plan m
ust be working in that case."

  "For the moment," said the man.

  Edmath examined the map.

  "It appears you are ceding control of the rest of the village each night to protect your people.

  "It's the only way," said another elder.

  "Of course, I think your priorities make sense." Edmath's gaze moved across the gray lines marking out the buildings, the water's edge, and the tree lines to the west. "Do you investigate the rest of the village by daylight?"

  The man with the scarf nodded.

  "It's the first thing our warriors do at daybreak. The enemy does not remain after dawn."

  "The creator gives us small mercies," said Edmath with a frown. "Perhaps these attackers are only leftovers from an older time. It is possible they are not part of some Roshi offensive."

  "We can't rule out anything yet," said Chelka.

  "Especially not after the events of a month ago," said Edmath, shaking his head. "Let us see these remains, Lady Ninafi."

  "I will take you there," she said, then turned to the man with the scarf. "Elder Jatono, if you can meet with the Whale Prince you should. He has a troupe of whale warriors with him by the pier."

  The man with the scarf nodded.

  "I'll meet with him at once. We have but a few hours of daylight left."

  The three Saales went to a makeshift mortuary in the house nearest the hall. The building looked both abandoned by humans for the most part and ignored by their attackers as well. Edmath wondered if the enemy cared at all to find the remains of their fallen comrades. Perhaps they were truly monstrous and simply abandoned their dead? He posed the question to Ninafi as she unlocked the door to the house.

  She shook her head.

  "They drag away the bodies of anything they can, whether one of them or one of us. Jatono thinks they will even eat their own."

  Edmath shivered at the thought of these creatures being cannibalistic.

  "That frightens me, I will admit."

  Chelka put her arm around him.

  "Take care, Ed. We must keep calm no matter the nature of these foes."

  "Of course, my dear."

  Ninafi raised her eyebrows.

  "I had heard of two Saales marrying in Diar last year before the Worm King's rebellion. I take it that was you two?"