Life returned to a much more mundane pace after I returned to my talon. I was thankful that none of my comrades had died during the scouting of the ogrish army while Bran, Elle, Mira and I were off trying to get the help we needed. Our talon was one of many currently assigned the duty of protecting the men who were scavenging arms and armor from the battlefield. The militia had already been at it for four days, so the battlefield was already picked almost completely clean when we saw the prince and his guards march outside the walls midmorning the next day. It was Sixday, so we had a very wet, miserable day in front of us as the rain came down. I kept my eye on the closest stroks as the others watched to see what the prince would do. Prince Kimorel gave a command, and soldiers from his guard were dispatched to each group of militia. One of the prince’s soldiers trotted up to our new sergeant, a man named Desark Porter. When I returned to the unit and met him, I wondered briefly if he was any relation to Mira, but she didn’t seem to know him.
“Sergeant! You’re to take your unit back to the walls and take up station there,” the soldier said.
“Yes, sir,” Sergeant Porter said. “We’re done here,” he said to the men on scavenger duty. “Back inside, everyone. Talon Seven! Form up!”
The human scavengers got into their wagon under the watchful eyes of the not-so-human scavengers and carefully guided the horses around the edge of a crater to wind their way back inside the city walls. Our talon marched behind them the best we could on the uneven and shifting ground. Once inside, we took up positions on the wall and watched with interest as the scene unfolded. The last wagons rolled in and the soldiers guarding them took positions before the prince’s retinue just in case. I could see Prince Kimorel himself in the center, talking to Fajen, who was still dressed in his white surcoat with the golden dragon of Warsong Keep on the front. The prince was dressed in full plate armor, as anyone with both money and intelligence would be. He looked impressive in the armor with his broad arming sword and a purple cape flowing back over his pauldrons. Even in the rain the cape flowed with the wind a bit. Either way, I had to respect a ruler who would stand in ankle deep mud with the rest of us.
The prince took a step back from Fajen to give him some room. Fajen raised his arms a bit with his palms up and began to concentrate. I could feel some magic gathering. It wasn’t the raging torrent I usually channeled, but a very subtle and powerful magic that seemed to take hold of everything in this area. It took effect slowly but surely, and in almost unnoticeable ways at first. Very slowly, the craters around Fajen started to fill in with dirt and the ash and body parts started sinking into the ground like butter melting in a frying pan. Seeing that this was going to take a long time, the prince gave up after an hour or so and went back inside the city with his men, leaving the militia to protect Fajen as he worked.
As I stood watch, I thought about recent events, especially the revelations at Warsong Keep. The Geas was a big deal. It seemed to be anchored to my soul, and I was reminded once again that my life would not be an easy one. Because of my bloodline, I was meant for something more. Even though there was a Geas that commanded the dragons’ obedience to me, I had found myself helping them in ways no one else could, which had led to a much easier ongoing relationship. It was about mutual trust and respect and not about one person commanding another to do his will. I didn’t want to be that kind of person.
Finding out that my parents really were Mordon and Ismaera was quite a shock to me, too. They were legendary figures from the time of the Breaking, and never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I was descended from people like them. Though I’d been wanting some kind of news for some time now, actually hearing it from someone who knew my birth parents was sort of comforting. It made my world and my place in it seem more certain. With that knowledge, I could start from this point with a much clearer vision of where I was going. Speaking of visions, I made plans to use the Throne to find my parents sooner rather than later. I wasn’t certain it could be done, after all. But one thing I was sure of was that if Mordon knew what he was walking into, he wouldn’t have been ensnared by it. All in all, Lord Warsong gave me some good advice during my brief visit. I needed to find Mordon and Ismaera. I also needed to do something about Kromwell and whatever master he served, too, but that would take time. It would be a month or two until Kromwell even got back to his base of operations, wherever that was, and I intended to be watching.
Maybe I could follow up on Lord Warsong’s suggestion about trying to find a book explaining magic in a beginner’s context within the lord’s suites at Stonekeep. Defensive spells and such were surely to be found in a book like that. The Icosahedron, which I thought of as “the source” when I was channeling magic, was the center of everything. Lord Warsong had said that the High Magi were attuned to the Icosahedron, so maybe attunement to it was the path to getting enough power to find and then free Mordon.
Kromwell and his master wanted to control Stonekeep. The most valuable thing in Stonekeep was the castle, home of the fabled Adamantine Legion. No one could get deeper into the castle, though. There had to be something more to the invasion. Maybe Kromwell would risk everything in an all out attack for revenge, but surely King Karnas of Fellton wouldn’t. He must want something more. Was it control of the Legion, maybe? Surely, yes. But maybe something more. Maybe the Icosahedron was inside Stonekeep somewhere. Maybe not, though. Wouldn’t I have felt its presence more strongly when I was inside the castle if it was there? It wasn’t any easier to channel magic inside the castle or in the Sunset Islands. Maybe it was only accessed from inside Stonekeep from some forgotten portal or something. That must be it. There was probably a portal to it hidden somewhere in the keep.
There were a couple of portals in the main corridor that I hadn’t tried to explore yet, so maybe exploring them would show me more. I would have to re-explore some while wearing Mordon’s helm. That helm seemed to make plain the magical things that were hidden, and it also commanded the keep’s defenses. There were probably very powerful spells protecting something as important as the Icosahedron, so seeing them before setting them off would be a very good thing if I wanted to live for any length of time. Who knows? Maybe simply wearing the helm would allow me to bypass any magical traps that were laid the same way doors opened automatically.
Tomorrow was Sevenday, a day of rest for those conscripted into the Stonekeep militia, as we were, when we would be able to go home to our families and have a day off. It would be a good time to do some exploring.
-----
Sevenday began at the barracks in Stonekeep Castle as it always did. Well, as it did every day before Bran, Elle, Mira and I went on our journey to the Sunset Isles, anyway. I opened my eyes in my bunk and looked around the dimly lit room. There were no windows in the barracks, so I couldn’t really tell what time it was. The lantern was useless for that. I thought it was just before dawn, though. The snores and breathing of nineteen fellow soldiers surrounded me. I was on the bottom bunk with Bran sleeping above me, and our bunk was the second furthest one from the door to our barracks. The furthest bunk from the door was occupied by Mira and Bandit on the bottom and Elle on the top.
It was maddening. I was so close to the answers I needed, but I couldn’t reach out for them yet. Even though we were in Stonekeep Castle, no one but me could access the areas above the first floor where the barracks were as far as most occupants of the castle knew. The castle had a pair of adamantine doors that closed off access to a portal that led to the second floor. Those doors were impervious to anything our forebears could think of, and they were guarded by a pair of thirty-foot-tall adamantine golems as well. Even though I had the ability to teleport, that magic was somehow barred from working inside the keep itself. Stonekeep had some very powerful magical defenses.
I had to go through the motions of being in the militia as everyone else did even though this keep was part of my birthright. Mordon himself had built this place, and I was the only one I knew of that could command its portals. My childhood hero, the Pirate King, had told us the passwords needed to get into certain sensitive areas of the keep like the lord’s chambers, but I remained the only one who could fully utilize Stonekeep’s magic. I started to think of Stonekeep Castle as my home, and it was a bit galling that I had to pretend to squat here like everyone else.
Though there was still some time before the sergeants usually roused everyone for the day, my mind was too busy for me to fall back asleep, so I got up and walked into the bathroom in the corner of the barracks. I relieved myself, then stepped into one of the shower stalls, closing the door after me. Nowhere else in the city had indoor plumbing, toilets, and showers that could be used, and it was an innovation that I enjoyed greatly. As I washed up, I heard someone else come in. I heard the toilet seat go down, so I knew it was either one of the girls in talon eight or it was either Mira or Elle. They were the only two girls in talon seven. The mystery girl stepped into the stall next to mine.
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“Good morning, Jeron,” I heard Mira say as she turned on the flow of water.
“Good morning! Did you sleep all right?”
“Sure did,” I heard her say as she yawned.
I imagined briefly what she would look like in there, but I had to hold myself in check. Even though the bathroom was for both sexes, male and female soldiers were not allowed to shower in the same stall or even peek inside the doors. The punishment for this was flogging, and the sergeants usually kept a sharp eye on us when the girls were in the bathroom. Because of a certain prank that was played on Mira and Elle by Bandit while we were travelling, I knew exactly what she looked like right now. Mira and I were unofficially courting, but we were not allowed to get, shall we say, too familiar with each other right now. I couldn’t help but imagine, though. Mira had been my friend for ten years, and she was special to me.
Other people started wandering in and using the facilities, so I knew I couldn’t linger here without causing problems. I wanted to stay inconspicuous for obvious reasons. Finished with my shower, I got dressed and went back to my bunk to wait. Because it was Sevenday, the sergeants didn’t rouse everyone from slumber as they normally did. As I made my bed, I saw that Bran and Elle’s bunks were empty, so I assumed we would all be getting a real breakfast today. I went over the pieces of my plate armor and gambeson to make sure everything was clean and rust free, using my magic in small, unnoticeable ways just to save myself the effort. I did the same thing with Bran’s armor, then Elle’s. I was putting Elle’s armor back on her bunk when I was joined by Mira.
Mira’s short, brown hair was still damp from her shower. She smiled at me as I began inspecting and cleaning her armor, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Mira was learning to be a wizard herself, and she knew how to cast a little spell to clean an object, among other spells. In fact, it was Mira who taught me how to do it. I liked to make sure there were no buckles or straps that were wearing out, though. Mira didn’t know how to mend things with magic like I did, and I wanted to make sure her armor didn’t break at a bad time.
“Thanks,” Mira said as she poked at a big lump under her covers. “Any plans for today?”
“Well, I thought a hearty, Smith family breakfast was in order,” I said as I patted my empty stomach.
“Then what?” Mira asked as she continued to poke and prod at Bandit, who growled from under the covers.
Bandit finally got sick of being poked without being able to retaliate, so she poked her little bandit masked face out from under the blanket and fixed a deadly stare on Mira. Bandit was a raccoon that had become the unofficial mascot of our talon. From revelations made during our recent journey, I knew that Bandit was actually a pixie who was masquerading as a raccoon. She and Mira had begun quite a remarkable friendship a number of years ago, as they had very similar personalities. They were both very mischievous at heart and loved playing pranks on the poor, unsuspecting fools around them. Unfortunately for me, I was usually the poor, unsuspecting fool. I never complained though, because it was that impish sense of humor that I liked most about Mira.
“I can tell you more about it later, at breakfast,” I said evasively.
“As you wish, oh most mysterious one,” Mira said. She knew I’d tell all, and she trusted me enough to drop it for now. She knew me well enough that she probably already knew what I planned.
Elle and Bran walked back to their bunks and sat on my bed to put their socks and boots on. My face soured a bit. Sergeant Doornail used to demand that our bunks had sheets tight enough to bounce a copper coin on. I had just made my bed to that stipulation, and the act of sitting on it ruined it. Bran glanced at me with a grin. He did that on purpose, I realized, probably as punishment for waking him up with my movement. Brothers did that sort of thing, of course, and I immediately began plotting my revenge. Maybe I’d get a chance to eat the best part of the meal before Bran could get it.
We chatted a bit as we put our armor on the stands that were against the wall at the head of our bunks. Neither Mira nor Elle carried anything bigger than their belt knives, but Bran and I both had our weapons on us at all times. Bran’s sword was a holy relic, after all, and my mace was a potent magical weapon as well. I’d been attacked once before and didn’t have my armor or weapons with me. That had nearly cost me my life, so I wasn’t about to leave anything to chance. If only I could find a way to have my armor available at a moment’s notice. There had to be some sort of magic spell that I could find in the castle’s library that could help with that.
The five of us left the keep and walked to the Smith house. It was a nice, sunny day as Sevendays always were. The sun was still low in the sky, so we wouldn’t be late for breakfast. The smithy door was unlocked for us when we got there. I could hear the family’s activity as we went up the steps and into the living room of the house. Nora and Samira were in the kitchen setting out eggs, sausages and the pans they would need. Bethan was washing the potatoes and getting ready to grate them into hash browns. My stomach rumbled. Considering there were so many people living in this house now, it was amazing that everyone got along so well. My eldest brother Elric’s sons Jopenn and Dejen were taking turns on a little rocking horse, and even now Jopenn was trying to pull at Dejen’s arm to remind him he wanted a turn. Juleen was working with the Bakers two doors down, so she didn’t join us since she was already halfway through her day. We all greeted each other with hugs and handshakes as we waited the short time it took to make breakfast.
“How’s the rebuilding going at the docks, dad?” I asked around a mouthful of bacon.
“Well enough,” Dortham said. “There are five piers in use now, which gives us precious little room to offload cargo. There haven’t been many ships coming to the city yet anyway, though, so the cost of food has gone up quite a bit in the last week or so.” Dortham paused to chew a bit as he regarded Bran and me. “The prince made inquiries about your ship. I told him it belonged to Mira to keep things less complicated. I think he’ll be contacting you four to arrange the shipment of goods between Mithram and Stonekeep until a more normal flow of river traffic establishes itself. A lot of ships were burned recently, as you know.”
I had been expecting something like this. Apparently, Mira had, too.
“I’m surprised it’s taken this long for him to inquire,” Mira said. “Though it does make more sense for me to claim ownership of the Unseen Blade because of my family’s background in being porters and teamsters, I don’t claim to own the ship myself. It belongs to all four of us, I suppose.”
“We really hadn’t talked about it,” Bran said. “How do we want to work this out, anyway?”
“I mentioned to his highness that Mira is in his service in the militia as a trainee. I think he’ll ask Mira to transport goods for him, and he’ll probably see it as expedient to use your talon to protect the vessel on its journeys,” Dortham said. “We’ll see what he says tomorrow.”
“That could work out well,” Mira said. “The golems make the ship a lot safer than our usual duties. Maybe I could persuade him to pay for the service, too.” Mira got a crafty look in her eye as she handed Bandit another sausage link. “I think I should go to the prince today to work out terms. If we talk about it tomorrow, I’ll be just another trainee negotiating from a position of weakness.”
Mira was in her element. She almost rubbed her hands together in anticipation. My father saw it as well.
“Mira, you should be careful when speaking to the prince. He’s your liege lord, he’s the first in line to be the next King of Mithram, and he’s no dunce. He suspects many things about the demon cult and the destruction of the ogrish army. Thus far he’s done nothing, but he knows there’s a Mordonian lurking somewhere, even if that person hasn’t come out and taken this city away from him yet. People fear what they don’t know, and rulers are always fearful of losing their power. I’d venture to guess that he thinks either you, Bran, Elle, or Jeron is the sorcerer just based on the timing of the ship’s arrival and the ogres’ very spectacular defeat. The people of Stonekeep fear sorcerers greatly, and Prince Kimorel may also. Once again, be careful.”
Mira adopted a much more reserved attitude. “You’re right. I didn’t quite think that through, but I should’ve. I’ll be careful, Mr. Smith,” she said.
“You may be able to put him at ease if you adopt a posture of one who wants to help in these troubled times,” Nora suggested.
“That’s a good idea. What do you say, Jeron? You want to go with me?” Mira asked.
“I think I should stay out of sight for now. Besides, I learned a couple of things recently that I need to follow up on,” I said.
“Oh, really?” Mira asked. “Anything I’d find juicy?” There was that impish smile again.
“Oh, yeah. Totally awesome stuff. Earthshattering, in fact,” I said with a sly smile. “I’m just not going to tell you about it right now.”
“Seriously?” Mira punched me in the shoulder. It hardly even hurt. She must not have been trying very hard.
I laughed. “Consider this my revenge for eating my sandwich.”
“You never forget a slight, do you?” Mira asked.
“I remember when someone eats my lunch, you thief. You could punch me in the arm a hundred times, or put a tack in my chair, or ambush me by throwing stuff at me at random times for years, but eating my sandwich is where I draw the line.” I was really enjoying this because I knew how much she wanted to know everything. Mira’s curiosity was a big gap in her armor. Like Bandit (who was eyeing me balefully even now), Mira loved to stick her cute little nose in other people’s business.
“Well, I need to do some shopping, and a nice, long walk would do me some good,” Elle said. “Care to join me, Bran?”
“I think I could make time for that in my busy schedule,” Bran said with an almost straight face. There was nothing in the world he’d rather do, and we all knew it.
We all tried to hide our smiles. He’d been in love with her for almost ten years and it was obvious to everyone present. Elle had had a very tough childhood, and she didn’t trust easily. With her natural beauty, she had admirers all over town, but she never gave any of them a second glance. When men reached out to her, Elle’s first instinct was to flinch back and run away. Of course, that running she did through her youth was what gave her such a fit figure now. I guess there were some benefits to her introversion, but I was glad that Bran had finally started getting through her emotional armor. Elle was really starting to warm up to him in a more than friendly way, and I was happy for both of them.
My thoughts returned to what I might find in the keep. I could hardly wait to start exploring, and I nearly bolted from my chair as soon as it was polite to go.
What would I find?
