The fall of skullkeep, p.17
The Fall of Skullkeep, page 17
“Zaenos.” His voice cut off with an urrk as Jennifer’s invocation of a Word of Enchantment caused his neck muscles to spasm. She had never felt such rage swell within her, threatening to take control. It took all her willpower not to render Arne down to his component elements. “You need a time-out, you bastard.”
Then, she did the one thing she swore she’d never do. She invoked the Word of Transmutation her dad used on the FBI SWAT team. “Uhnrys.”
Arne froze, and Jennifer bit her lip to keep from laughing. Her invocation caught him with his neck mid-spasm. Then, she turned to the woman at her side. “Don’t you believe one word of what he said. Do you understand?”
The woman stared at the floor, as she had since Arne started talking. She didn’t respond or react to Jennifer’s words. Jennifer had seen girls like her back on Earth. While she wasn’t sure the same methods she had used to draw them out of their fear would work on Drakmoor, she didn’t have anything else to try. The downside was they took some time.
“Do you mind going to that table over there and having a seat? I need to call a friend to figure out what to do with this guy.”
The woman gave the barest hint of a nod before she trudged over to the indicated table and sat with her back to the corner booth.
Jennifer kept from sighing, but only just. She didn’t like her choices at this point, and she’d made such a resonance in the ambient magic already that her dad probably knew precisely where she was and what she was doing. No help for it, then. Besides, she always preferred to do something right the first time.
She formed a clear picture of her intent in her mind, focusing all her will on it, then invoked a Word of Divination. “Klaepos.”
A scrying sphere faded into existence in front of her and revealed that Declan was about to get involved in some activities he would prefer she didn’t interrupt. And that was fine. He hadn’t done anything yet, beyond help the nice blond-haired lady out of her dress, so it wasn’t like Jennifer would be interrupting… much.
“Paedryx-Thyphos.” Her invocation of a composite effect—her first, in fact—savaged her with a vicious pain, and it took all her willpower to keep from crying out. As the effect took hold, Declan vanished from the room with the blonde—appearing at her side—while a message wrote itself in cloudy white letters in the space he had just occupied:
Please, be patient. He’ll be right back. I only need to borrow him for a moment.
Declan sputtered his shock, until he focused on Jennifer. Then, he sighed and shook his head. “I should have known. Not even your father would have pulled something like that.”
Jennifer gave him her best insouciant smile. “Hi, Declan. I need your help.”
“Most people contact me by letter. They don’t abduct me.”
“A letter would’ve taken too long, and besides, I only have another two minutes or so.”
Declan frowned. “What? Why?”
Jennifer pointed at the frozen Arne. “I locked him into a frozen moment for about five minutes, give or take. I didn’t know what to do.”
Declan didn’t quite grimace at the sight of Arne, but she suspected it was a near thing. “How did you get mixed up with him of all people?”
“It’s a bit of a long story.” Relaying the tale took the most of her remaining time on the frozen moment, so she repeated the invocation to add another ten minutes or so.
A startled gasp escaped Declan’s control. “You really shouldn’t throw that Word around like it’s confetti. Your father said his mentor wrote in his journals that it was pretty much forbidden back before the Godswar.”
“Oh.” Jennifer’s expression fell, then turned inquisitive. “Did Marcus write why?”
“Not that your father ever told me, so you should take it up with him. Either way, how do you know you didn’t kill him?”
“Honestly… I don’t. And right this second, I’m not too worried about that. He turned into an ass all of a sudden, and I don’t understand why.”
Declan chuckled. “Well, I do. He went rogue. I don’t know what he was doing here, but I promise you it wasn’t…” He cast a furtive glance around before continuing. “…my associates’ business. No one has heard from him in something like half a year.”
“Shit. Maybe I should’ve killed him.”
“Oh, no. It’s very difficult to get information out of a corpse, and only a wizard could interrogate his spirit. Well… a wizard or an extremely proficient mage. I saw your father do it once.”
“So… what do we do with him?”
Declan sighed. “Well, I need to go break a very nice young lady’s heart—”
Jennifer snorted. “I’m sure it wasn’t her heart that you thought was nice. I used a scrying sphere to find you.”
“—and I would ask that you put him to sleep. We have items that can break a sleep effect, and I need to take him to a chapterhouse for a discussion.” If Declan worried over Jennifer seeing him and his friend through the scrying sphere, he certainly didn’t show it.
Jennifer formed her intention in her mind once more and focused her full will on it as she invoked another composite effect. “Rhosed-Thymnos.”
Arne snapped out of the frozen moment, and his head thunked against the tabletop as he fell forward… already in a deep sleep.
“That should do it, I’d say. Now, if you don’t mind sending me back? On second thought, I can arrange for the local chapterhouse to collect him, and I won’t need to disappoint Rose after all.”
Jennifer shook her head and invoked the Word of Transmutation once more. “Paedryx.”
Declan vanished as quickly as he’d appeared, reappearing back in the room with the blonde whose name was apparently Rose.
She pushed Arne out of her mind and walked over to the table where the woman sat with her shoulders slumped. She pulled out the chair opposite the woman and sat, crossing her legs under the table and leaning back against the chair. The key, she knew, was to get the woman to speak first. If the woman spoke first, it almost guaranteed at least some level of interaction, and Jennifer could work with that.
After several moments, the woman lifted her head fractionally and almost whispered, “What’s to become of me?”
Jennifer maintained her pose as she replied, “What do you want to become of you?”
“I… I don’t know. This is the first time since I was little that someone didn’t own me. Would you like to own me? I… I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do without that.”
Jennifer’s heart went out to the woman. She should’ve learned some life skills, but washing clothes and cleaning would only take someone so far. And she was pretty enough that Jennifer would fear for the woman’s safety even if she managed to place her with a house that needed someone to handle the laundry or cleaning.
“What about when Dad… I mean, my father… ended slavery? Didn’t that free you?”
“It should have, I guess. Hanskarr didn’t brand me, or he would’ve died. But that didn’t stop him from grabbing me, tying me to the bed until he could have the blacksmith make the collar and chain, and then lock me in it. Does that sound free to you?”
Good. She was starting to get some fire back. Some spine in her spirit. Maybe that vile so-and-so hadn’t broken her completely.
“Which brings us back to my original question. What do you want to happen next for you? For that matter, how old are you?”
The woman squared her shoulders, and she gave Jennifer an almost-challenging look. “I’m seventeen. Why? Is there a problem with that?”
Woman? Ha… more like child, but Jennifer wasn’t about to say anything of the sort. Okay. Maybe people matured faster in this world than Earth. Maybe they had to. But that didn’t change the fact that this girl was young and very obvious bait for predators.
“No. No problem. I’m just trying to understand where you should be in life versus where you are. It might help me help you. Do you have any skills or education?”
The girl’s fire vanished, and she shook her head as she broke eye contact. “No. Momma taught me a few sums before we were branded, but she never taught me any writing. Then, once I started filling out, it didn’t matter anymore.”
Well, damn.
“So, what’s your name?”
“Kellea. If I have a family name, I don’t know it.”
“Right, then, Kellea. What would you say to being my guide? I’m from the Refugee World, and I came here to explore a little bit of the world my dad… er, father… now calls home. The last person who I thought might grow into the job proved a total disappointment, and I could really use some local talent. I’ll pay you a silver a day and provide all meals and clothes and needed equipment. What do you say?”
“Mistress, you… you can’t. A whole silver? Each day? It’s too much. I’m not worth—”
“Stop right there. Yes, you are worth it. You have knowledge I need. I’ll be utterly lost without a guide.”
Kellea sat in silence for several heartbeats before she jerked a choppy nod. “Yes, Mistress. I’ll be your guide.”
“Excellent. Now, I need to find a moneychanger or a bank. I only have gold coins, and they weren’t minted in Tel.”
The Bank of Tel was only too happy to help Jennifer with her coinage problem. It took some fast talking on Jennifer’s part as to why she didn’t want to draw on the family’s accounts, but the manager let her leave after changing her gold coins for a selection of gold, silver, and copper coins minted in Tel. Now that she had an example to work from, she could make more of the coins at need. Sure… someone would probably argue doing that devalued the existing coinage, but it wasn’t like she was making the coins out of substandard materials. If anything, her coins would be more pure than what Tel minted. A tiny, persistent doubt in the back of her mind kept whispering that the authorities wouldn’t see it that way, so Jennifer resolved never to mention it to anyone.
After all, that was the simplest solution… right?
They stayed in Tel Roshan one more day, so Jennifer could be certain Kellea had everything she would need for the trail. Since the Wraiths who came to collect Arne didn’t say or do anything about the horse Arne had been riding, Jennifer saw no reason not to gift it to Kellea. Especially given how Arne had treated her. Kellea sputtered and stammered over the gift, but Jennifer ran roughshod over the young woman’s protests. After all, she would need a quality horse if she was to be Jennifer’s guide… was that not so? And wasn’t Arne’s horse a quality mount? Well, then… a perfect match!
In the end, Jennifer decided to stay in Tel Roshan yet another night, just because the bulk of their preparations took most of the second day, and she didn’t like the idea of leaving the comfort of their inn, only to make camp not even half a day outside the city. That made no sense at all, and what’s more, the inn had heated baths.
The morning sun warmed the right side of Jennifer’s face as she and Kellea rode out of Tel Roshan the next morning. If the gate guards knew who she was, they also had strict instructions to keep it to themselves, because they didn’t treat her any differently than they did the other travelers ahead of them. Jennifer hoped Carth kept his promise about keeping her presence to himself, but there was no way to know. After all, Wynn and her dad were good friends, and she couldn’t see one of her good friends keeping something like this from her. So, yeah… it was only a matter of time until her dad knew she was here.
“Where are we headed, Mistress?” Kellea asked once they’d put Tel Roshan behind them.
Jennifer frowned. “You know, I’m not really sure. Are you from this region of Tel?”
“No, Mistress. When I was little, Momma and I lived in Cothos Province. I know my way around the rest of the kingdom, but none of it is truly home. Not like my memories of Momma are.”
“Would you like for me to try to find her?”
Kellea shook her head. “No, but thank you. I know where she is. If we keep going this way, we’ll ride by her grave in about two days.”
Yep. The taste of her foot hadn’t changed all that much since the last time Jennifer put it in her mouth.
“I’m sorry, Kellea. I didn’t know.”
“No way for you to know, Mistress. They killed Momma shortly after… well… it was years ago. Way before your father made himself known in the world, even.”
Jennifer nodded her understanding, but she still felt rather awful. She knew what it was like to lose a parent, especially at a young age. The deep sense of loss and uncertainty. The hollow pit in the heart that will never be filled again. Oh, yes. She knew that feeling very well, and she wished she hadn’t brought it back to Kellea.
“Did anyone ever find…”
Now, Kellea broke into a smile. But it wasn’t a happy smile. It was a vicious, almost savage thing. “Oh, yes, Mistress. Even if they didn’t run afoul of someone worse than they were, there’s no telling how many people they branded for their own betterment. When your father ended slavery, they would’ve died screaming in the worst agony they’d ever known.”
Well, all right then. Maybe she needed to ask her dad just what he’d done to end slavery.
CHAPTER 19
Clouds darkened the sky to the west, threatening to bring in a storm from the sea. Kellea kept casting fearful glances that way, but the prospect didn’t bother Jennifer at all. Her dad had told her about making the camp wards on their way to Vushaar that first time, and she already had a set of wardstones in her saddlebag from the trip to Tel Roshan with Arne.
As he crossed her mind once again, she fought the urge to scoff and shake her head. The Wraiths really needed a system to recall their tattoos when someone goes rogue, but maybe it was a rare enough occurrence that no one cared. Or… Declan had lied to her, in that the Wraiths knew exactly where Arne was and waited to catch him in the act of advancing his plans. Either was possible, she supposed, and she wasn’t sure she cared enough to work through which option was the most probable.
On top of that, she still wrestled with the question of what to do with her life. She didn’t feel that her explorations thus far had granted her any meaningful insight, but was that because it wouldn’t or because she just hadn’t given it enough time? Yet again, the thought crossed her mind how much easier life would be if it came with a guide or instruction manual. The whole ‘make it up as she went along’ idea just wasn’t working.
But what was she supposed to do? With a Word, she could re-make reality to her will. After that, where could she find a meaningful challenge? She wasn’t sure she liked her dad’s choices. This world seemed nice enough, but she was still on the fence about whether it was nice enough to devote her life to shepherding. Admittedly, that wasn’t her dad’s choice… yet… but he certainly spent more time in this world than back home.
Before she thought to stop it, she exhaled her current breath as a heavy sigh.
“Something the matter, Mistress?”
Yes, but should she even discuss all this with Kellea? Would she have any insights, let alone meaningful insights?
“Sorry, Kellea. I’m just working through some thoughts in my head. I’m not sure my trip here will help me the way I wanted it to help me.”
“I understand that, Mistress, but are you sure you’re here for the reasons you think you’re here?”
Jennifer blinked. “Care to explain your thought there?”
“On the one side, it’s completely selfish. If you were not the person you are and if you had not been in that tavern when you were, you wouldn’t have been able to impact my life the way you have. From another side, Bellos chose your father to be Archmagister of Tel; is it really so difficult to believe that one or more gods might be nudging you as well?”
Whoa. That thought set Jennifer back a bit. Because… no… the thought had never once entered her mind that someone—or some extra-dimensional entity—might be affecting her thoughts or feelings. If that really was the case, was her trip to Drakmoor really her idea? How was she supposed to know?
“Well, shit…” Jennifer’s tone was… disgruntled… at best. “Do these gods of yours really do stuff like that?”
“I… I really don’t know, but if one god chooses who rules Tel, why can’t that same god or another nudge other people toward the paths they want?”
“That doesn’t help at all, Kellea. Dammit… I refuse to be led around like a dog on a leash. I lost too many years dancing to someone else’s tune, and I’m not about to go back to that. Not at all.”
Jennifer was not so wrapped up in her own situation that she failed to see Kellea’s flinch when she really kicked her unhappy tirade into high gear. Seeing the woman she’d saved from one of the worst situations imaginable flinch as if fearing that Jennifer herself would beat her or worse… well… that took the wind right out of Jennifer’s sails.
“Damn. I’m sorry, Kellea. I’m not going to hurt you, and I didn’t mean to scare you. Please, forgive me.”
They rounded a curve in the road that followed a valley through the rolling hills that seemed to make up that area of Roshan Province before Kellea could respond. A man sat astride a tan horse with black between its knees and hooves. He and his mount occupied the very center of the road. He was handsome enough with sandy hair and a Van Dyke beard, and he wore a brown robe over whatever other clothes he had.
As Jennifer and Kellea neared him, he lifted his hand in a wave of greetings as he smiled. “Good day to you, ladies. Would you mind an additional traveling companion? I’m on my way to visit family in Wygoth Province, and I find journeys always go better with pleasant company and conversation.”
Jennifer couldn’t keep her eyes from narrowing just a bit at the man’s words. From what she knew, Wygoth Province was north of Roshan, so why was he facing south? She glanced at the ground between them and around his horse, taking in as much of the road’s condition as she could. The dirt was largely undisturbed; it didn’t look like there was recent travel anywhere near his horse’s hooves.
