Chapter 6: The Price of Hunger     Chapter 8: The Cost of an Amethyst

Chapter 7: Siege of Castle Wrigley

Louise fretted slightly as she waited for her husband to call at his usual time. She would have paced if it were in her nature, but it was not, and Erk was in the next room over, studying his books, and she didn’t want to disturb him. She had already been for a ride and a session of archery, and she had tried reading, but gave up in exasperation as the pages seemed to carry her husband’s face instead of words.

It had been five days since he had called to say that he had found the stone. Since then, his communications had been brief; saying only that they had fought a pack of bandits, or that they had passed through such-and-such a village… He and his group were making excellent time back to Reglay with all speed. They had gotten back out the mountains and the snow on the second day. And every look he gave her spoke volumes of his concern and love for her. They had been apart too long, and Louise wanted him back dearly even if Lesil had never come to afflict her.

She had received a visit from an old friend, which had cheered her immensely, but the friend had only been able to stay one night before she left for Lycia. Still, she had made the best of it, the two of them exerting themselves happily and with vigour in the kitchen alongside the cook that evening and the next morning.

But now she was in her room in Castle Wrigley with Erk studying, and the servants busy, and Yens and his fellow guards, though helpful, respectful, and polite, rather intimidating as well. All except for Yens, who could talk a mile a minute when he got going, and his charming and humble humour helped her through a few dark hours; his memories of past quests or his stories of his wife and children were very engaging – for a short while. Yet she couldn’t help but feel as if something were hanging over her, ominously, in a way that had not been there when Pent first left on his quest. So all she could do was twist her hair and wriggle her toes in impatience, noble bearing be dratted. Continue reading →

Chapter 5: Secrets in the Storm     Chapter 7: Siege of Castle Wrigley

Chapter 6: The Price of Hunger

The other tunnel, in the caves under the mountain Pent and company had fled to during the snowstorm, was a lot wetter and rougher. They came across a small trickle of water disappearing into a crack in the floor, and followed it back into the darkness.

It led into a warren of tunnels, all leading into each other and absolutely confusing.

“Wait,” Caddie said suddenly. “What’s that noise?”

It was faint, somewhere in the back of the maze. It sounded like distant sobbing.

“Who’s there?” Pent called.

There was no answer.

“Let’s continue. We’ll see if we find anything.”

“Right, and let’s split up into three groups. George, Cavven, Lence, head left. Andy, Frank, Pent, stay centre. Caddie, Albert, Priscilla, Fiora, go right.” Ceniro himself followed Pent, keeping a close eye on his farseer.

They wound their way through the caves slowly, finding nothing at first. The sobbing grew louder for the men and women who had gone down the right-hand path, and they told Ceniro about it.

“Let me know if you find anyone, all right?”

“Right, we- ah!” Fiora broke off in the middle of her sentence with a cry of concern.

“What is it?”

“We found someone in a corner… a young man, blue hair, blue armour, horse. He’s huddled up in the dark, crying to himself. Priscilla is going to talk to him.”

“We’ll come as fast as we can. Stay there.” Continue reading →

Chapter 4: Sly Tongues Aplenty     Chapter 6: The Price of Hunger

Chapter 5: Secrets in the Storm

Pent sighed as he reviewed the latest news from Douglas the previous night in camp that morning, somewhere in the mountains. The clouds were thick overhead and the air was cool and moist. “Well, that’s not the best of news. Unless Rhost finds us, in which case we’ll be happy to have him along. And it’s important to know that Lorad is abroad as well.”

“At least he’ll stop bothering the girl General Douglas is taking care of,” Priscilla said hopefully in her soft voice. She was swathed in a heavier cloak than usual.

Pent smiled. “Yes, that’s true. Well! Let’s get going, shall we? We have a lot of ground to cover today. We’re going to search the next dozen mountains before dark!”

They searched three small mountains, the foot soldiers for caves, the magic users for traces of magic, and Fiora just for anything that looked odd, when they noticed something odd. But it wasn’t the landscape around them.

Fiora fluttered down near Pent and Caddie. “We’re being followed, sir.”

Pent looked up. “Are we? I thought they were other hunters of magic. Why do you think they’re following us?”

“Some of them have this insignia on their tunics or armour,” Fiora said, drawing it on the cliff with a finger.

Pent raised an eyebrow. “Duke Ocery, huh. That doesn’t change anything. Well. Perhaps it does. Ceniro!”

“Yes?” answered his tactician, appearing around a bend in the path beneath a large pine.

“If our people run into a soldier, we need to conceal ourselves or knock them out. They’re from our present rivals.”

“I understand.” Ceniro got out his farseer and spoke into it. Continue reading →

Chapter 3: Twisted Paths     Chapter 5: Secrets in the Storm

Chapter 4: Sly Tongues Aplenty

Pent’s company continued winding its way through the mountains between Etruria and Lycia, fighting off the occasional bandit attack. They hadn’t seen any soldiers since they had fought Lord Blier. Ceniro found the farseer extraordinarily useful and would hardly put it down, although he nearly learned the hard way not to rely on it wholly as a substitute for eyes when he himself was attacked by a bandit whom he had thought further away than he was. Other than that slight slip, his tasks were much easier and even more successful than they had been, though he attributed that in part to the fact that bandits were disorganized and stupid.

When Pent spoke to Castle Wrigley, Erk and Louise both told him they were fine. Erk was nearly finished reading his “General Compositional Theory of Anima Magic: Volume 3”, and was incorporating what he had learned into his Fire spell, and was looking forward to the discussion of Thunder in Volume 4. Louise did not say too much, but did show him a lopsided brown rabbit she had embroidered on a pillow.

Douglas was still in contact, though barely – the magic of the staff was wearing thin. He had disturbing news.

“I think there is another spider in this web, Pent. I don’t know who for certain, yet, but several people have been acting strangely.”

“Not on orders from Blier, Arcard, or Ocery?”

“No. Blier is gone, of course, but Arcard has been staying out of it and the signs are too subtle for Ocery. Aldash, though, has been sneaking around. My people have spotted him apparently making deals with Lord Eshan.”

“Eshan!?” Pent cried. “That’s very disconcerting.”

“He’s also been talking to Lesil, though that may be unconnected with this affair. Lesil does have business in Faria at present, the county next door to Reglay, where Aldash has relatives.”

Pent sighed. “The question – does this plot reach further than it appears on the surface, or are we dragging too many names into the mix?”

Douglas nodded. “I would personally suspect that we have not found out half of what is going on.” Continue reading →

Chapter 2: Prize or Artefact?          Chapter 4: Sly Tongues Aplenty

Chapter 3: Twisted Paths

Two days after they had faced Worelt and his mercenary company, Ceniro woke up in the tent he shared with Pent to find the sage sitting cross-legged on his bedroll, fiddling with tiny bits of metal and glass.

“What is that?” Ceniro asked after a moment. He had to ask three more times before Pent even looked up from what he was doing.

“This?” Pent replied at last, as if startled. “It’s a toy I’ve been working on for the past few days, actually. You always fall asleep so quickly you miss seeing it. It’s almost done, though. Just another hour or so and I can start messing with enchantments.”

“It’s a magic toy?”

Pent grinned. “If I told you what it was, you probably wouldn’t call it a toy. Be that as it may, it is indeed a magic toy. I brought the pieces with me; I hadn’t had time to finish it before we left Wrigley.”

“I see,” said Ceniro, though he didn’t. Pent reached out and patted his shoulder.

“No, you don’t, but that’s okay. You’ll see soon enough.” Continue reading →

Chapter 1: A Lord’s Quest     Chapter 3: Twisted Paths

Chapter 2: Prize or Artefact?

Pent and his party were not met by anyone for a few days as they left Reglay, travelling across the neighbouring county as they headed closer to the mountains on the Etrurian/Lycian border. Every other night Pent used his little staff to contact Castle Wrigley, and every night contacted General Douglas in the capital, Aquleia.

“Well, I haven’t been able to find out how they discovered it,” Douglas told them two days later, camped in a small forest on the edge of a broad belt of farmland, right by a river, “but it is definite that Duke Ocery and Lord Blier have discovered your mission, and there are hints that Lord Arcard and Duke Nord have wind of it as well.”

Pent frowned. “Arcard? He’s just slippery enough to be trouble, though nothing has ever been proved. Nord and Blier are useless; I won’t worry about them just yet. But Arcard could be dangerous.”

“Don’t forget Ocery, either. He has power and determination enough to be a serious distraction and even a substantial threat to the kingdom, if he gained the power of the jewel.”

“I know, I know,” Pent said, pacing with his staff. Ceniro wondered if General Douglas found that at all disconcerting. “Blier will just want it for the prestige; a pretty bauble with fame. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was him who hired those clumsy assassins we met a few days ago. Nord would want the power and to move up the rank ladder. Ocery… is a bit more of a mystery, especially since he’s usually so straightforward.”

“He would also gain power. Consider it a combination of both Blier and Nord’s ambitions, backed by the strength and sheer willpower to hold on to them. Rhost, my youngest knight, is from his county in Deis… I have asked his insight.”

“And Arcard? He will be more subtle. He’ll lie, cheat, steal, and murder to obtain it – more so than the others, and more deviously – and play the good little king’s servant for a few years…”

“…and then stage a coup.” Continue reading →