Mystic: A Book of Underrealm (10 page)

“If not that, then what would you suggest?” said Xain. “Do I let him run free? Would you, if it were your child? I find that hard to believe. Anyone, wizard or no, may do what they like with me. Threats and violence I have faced before and will face again.
But my son?
Do you know what it is like to have your boy living in the court with the man who tried to kill him and know you can do nothing?”

His voice grew almost pleading, and Loren felt herself waver. She could never see herself wishing the death of another nor imagine the mind of one who would kill a child. Especially not for such a petty motive as envy. Almost she could see Xain’s mind and felt herself growing close to agreement.

Gem blurted a curse from the window. “They have found us.”

“What?” said Loren. “Who?”
 

“Come see for yourself,” he said.
 

Loren was by his side in an instant. Xain came quickly to join her. Looking out into the growing night, she saw two dark-skinned men dressed in green, their eyes upon the inn’s front door.

twelve

“THOSE MEN ARE FROM MY family,” Annis said in a trembling voice.
 

“Are you sure?” said Loren.

“I would wager much on it. They wear our colors. That Mystic woman must have told Fortinbras about us after all.”

Loren saw something she had missed—a small girl standing beside the men. Wasted and thin with a large belly and giant eyes, she raised a finger to their window. Loren dropped to the ground a half second before Xain, Gem, and Annis did the same, but not before they saw the Yerrin men approaching the building.

Gem said, “Cursed beggar rat! Some children should learn when to keep their mouth shut.”

Loren avoided the obvious retort. “We have to leave, now.”
 

“Out the back,” said Xain. “We shall have to leave the horses.”

Annis gaped at the wizard. “I thought you meant to sell them to purchase supplies for our journey.”

“Would you like to stay behind and barter with your relatives? We must leave them or let ourselves be caught. Come!”

He rose to a crouch and slunk to the doorway. Loren hastened to follow, keeping Gem and Annis on either side. Together, they slipped through the door, feet squishing in the discarded food with a meaty
slurp.

“Is there a back staircase?” Loren asked. “The front will take us into the common room, and there they will find us.”

“There is,” said Xain. “I found it when fetching our dinner.”

Gem’s stomach rumbled at the word and kept on as they ran down the hallway behind Xain. Loren thought darkly of their missed meal. Poorly had they eaten upon the road, and their supplies had run low. She did not know how long the voyage to Wellmont might take and feared they would run out of food on the water.
 

Xain led them down the corridor, which turned left twice before ending in a steep staircase. Loren offered Annis a helping hand to keep her from tripping over her skirts as they descended to the kitchen’s stone floor. A cook and two servants barely looked up as they walked hastily to a back door.

Outside, Xain said, “We could run blind, but I think it would be wiser to spend a few moments discouraging our pursuers.” He turned to Gem. “Little master, can you repeat your earlier trick and abandon them in the alleys?”

“Of course. Only take care to keep up. I cannot lead effectively if I am looking behind me around every corner.”

Gem ran ahead, and they followed. The alley behind the inn was scarcely wide enough for two to walk abreast and did not split before reaching the street. Gem burst out into the wide open space and there ran straight into another man in a green waistcoat and trousers, who cried out in surprise. Gem stared up at the man in horror.

Loren took in the man’s clothes in an instant—surely another agent of Yerrin. She lunged forwards as he gawked in confusion. One foot darted behind the man’s heel, and she gave his chest a great heave with both hands. The man tripped over her leg and crashed to the ground with a shout. His head hit the cobblestones hard, and he rolled stunned onto his side. But his shouts had roused others, and Loren saw them emerge into the moonslight from side streets in every direction.

“Run!”
she screamed. Gem needed no further urging, and Loren seized Annis’s hand to yank her behind them. Gem found another gap between buildings, and they slipped inside.

“Does Yerrin pursue us with an army?” growled Xain. “Where did they all come from?”

“I knew we had a strong presence in Redbrook, but I did not think there were this many.” Annis’s voice came quick between deep gasps for air. “I would wager my cousin has hired more men to pursue us.”

Loren turned to Gem. “Why do we not take to the rooftops? Could we lose them more quickly from above?”

“Look at them!” he cried. “Thatch!”
 

Loren saw his point; Cabrus roofs were wood, shingle, tile, or stone. Some thatch might hold, but they might sink through others, and they could not know which would be safe.
 

“Then our only hope lies in reaching the docks,” said Loren. “Do not try to confuse them, Gem. If they know who we are, they know we visited Brimlad today. Get us there quickly.”

Gem swerved left without answer. From alley to street to narrow winding road to the gaps in wood fences, he ran with the scuttling pace of a mouse, never charging at full speed but never slowing. Then, sudden as a thunderclap, they reached a dead end in a long alley—a wooden fence, twelve feet high.

“Turn around!” Loren cried.
 

But it was too late.

Four men skidded to a stop at the alley’s mouth. Only one wore green and had Annis’s dark skin, but all carried naked broadswords that glittered in the moonslight.
 

Loren thrust Gem and Annis behind her.

“Stop!” said the man in green. “You are fugitives from the King’s justice and will come with us!”

Loren looked wildly around. They must have stopped near a brewery, for all around them stood tall stacks of empty wooden barrels with spigot holes punched in each.
 

“Xain, your fire!” Loren seized the bottom barrel of one stack and shoved. The stack wobbled but did not topple. Gem, seeing her intent, squeezed between the stack beside it, and together they heaved again.

Barrels crashed to the alley, some shattering and sending their staves to scatter across the ground. Xain saw her intention and bellowed a word. His eyes glowed, fire flashed from his hands, and the line of fallen barrels burst into flame before them. The Yerrin men cried out and shielded their eyes with their hands, backing away from the terrible heat.

“Up!” cried Loren. “Quickly!”

“I said the roofs are no good,” said Gem.

“We must risk them, or we are lost.”

“There is another way.” Again, Xain spoke words of magic, and his hands flashed with fire. A great ball of flame slammed into the fence with a crushing blow. Splinters flew from the bursting fence. The blast nearly threw Loren from her feet. Annis and Gem were cast to the ground. Xain seized Gem while Loren grabbed Annis. Together, they fled through the burning hole while the Yerrin men shouted and cursed behind them.

Loren heard a familiar murmur and looked ahead to see they were near the river’s edge. At the docks stood another four men in Yerrin colors, all armed, two with armor besides. The men looked up at their approach, and the air rang with the song of drawn steel.

“Looks like a fight.” Though her stomach twisted, Loren heard an odd calm in her voice. “Annis and Gem, stay back, and board Brimlad’s boat at first chance. If we are bested, sail away.”

“Spare us your paltry heroics, girl,” said Xain with a growl. For a third time, he spoke words Loren could not understand, but sparks did not blaze in his palms. Instead, he spread his arms, fingers splayed like a child stroking water on a riverboat.
 

For a moment, nothing happened, and Loren thought that Xain’s magic had failed him. Then they were met by a breeze, dust, and discarded straw now swirling around them. The bluster turned to a hard wind, and then to a gale. Loren pulled Gem and Annis to her side for fear they might blow away.

But though the wind buffeted her with terrible strength, the men on the docks got it worse. The wind slammed into their bodies like a battering ram, flinging them screaming into the water. Xain closed his fingers, and the glow died in his eyes. The wind faded to nothing.

Loren could feel herself shaking. Everything she had seen from Xain seemed like parlor tricks next to his gale, and yet he had called forth the power in moments. What else could the wizard do? Even as she watched, Xain tried to take a step forwards and nearly fell to his knees. Loren took her arms from Gem and Annis and went to support him, lifting the wizard by one arm and helping him stand.

“I am all right. A moment’s weakness only. Let us hurry, before they surface and find their way back to the docks.”

Together, they stumbled and staggered to the docks, where they saw a line of boats still swaying in the river’s swelling waters, stirred by Xain’s mighty storm. No sooner had they descended the steps and found Brimlad’s skiff than the captain himself emerged from belowdecks, cursing mightily and squinting at them all in the meager light of his candle.

“What in the nine lands was that?” he barked. “It felt like a sea gale come from nowhere. I thought I would capsize.”

“A little devilry for the demons trying to plague us, nothing more,” said Xain. “But I am afraid circumstances have changed. We must leave, Brimlad, and now. Certain parties seek an uncomfortable conversation we would rather avoid.”

Brimlad scowled, and Loren feared he might refuse them. But then the captain growled and ran to the boat’s rear.

“You! Boy! Are your arms as weak as they look?”

Gem started as he realized Brimlad was talking to him. His chest puffed up, and he stood straighter. “I am strong enough to be a warrior, even if my mind is sharp as any scholar’s.”

“Then run to the bow, and cast off the lines when I tell you to. You will find a pole there—use it to keep us from hitting the dock as we leave.”

Gem looked back and forth, taking a step in either direction. “I . . . er . . . where is the bow?”

“The front of the ship, you imbecile,”
roared Brimlad. “Scholar indeed. Girl, get yourself belowdecks. I have no use for one as slim as you.”

Loren threw her shoulders back. “I can help. I am as tall as Xain and mayhap stronger.”

“I meant the little one,” said Brimlad, pointing to Annis and burning Loren’s cheeks. “You I need. Join the boy at the bow, and use the oar to keep our nose pointed the way I told you. Have you ever rowed before?”

“No. We had no boats—”

“We have no time for a speech!” Brimlad bellowed. “Do as I say. You will learn the way of it soon, or we shall all be dead. Xain, can I count on your witchery?”

Loren saw the wizard sag. “I am weary but will do what I can.”

“We shan’t need much,” said Brimlad. “Just enough to get us free and clear in the open water. Blow when I tell you to.”

Xain nodded and went to stand beside the captain. Brimlad turned his sharp eyes back to Loren and growled, “What are you still doing here, girl? I sent you to the bow.”

Once she reached the front of the boat, Brimlad shouted for Gem to cast them off. Another breeze began to gather, and when Loren glanced back she could see the glow of Xain’s eyes in the night.

Behind them as they floated away from the dock, a party of men reached the stone wall that bordered the river. One slight, foolish man thought the distance not too great. He leapt at them but fell like a stone in the river.

“Girl!” cried Brimlad. “Steer us to port! That means row on the right side.”

Loren had forgotten about the oar. She quickly found it lying on the deck and seized it, thrusting it into the water on the boat’s right side with a splash. She pulled until her arms were on fire, and to her surprise found the skiff’s nose turning easily beneath her. She topped at Brimlad’s order, and the boat coasted gently upriver. When they drifted too near the dock and the other boats, Gem pushed them away with his pole. And as the Yerrin men’s shouting faded behind them, they slipped out upon the water, through Redbrook’s northern rivergates with hardly a sound.

A true wind rose as they slipped out in the darkness, and Xain ceased his magic with a relieved sigh. The wizard slumped, leaning against the railing that circled its rim. Brimlad lashed the tiller and went to unfurl another sail. Loren watched as the shore passed with gathering speed.
 

“You are done, girl. If I need your help steering now, I am no fit captain for a rusted barrel.”

Loren dropped the oar and went to sit beside the mast facing Xain. Annis poked her head out from belowdecks, and then emerged when she saw that the danger had passed.

“Well, I know now what we were worried for,” Loren said. “I have had closer calls than that.”

“Long miles of water stretch between us and Wellmont,” said Xain. “And closer calls we may yet have. Do not tempt fate, for she can be wily.”

Gem said, “Wily enough for a lifetime recently.”
 

“Yet we have been wilier still,” said Loren. “And will remain so.”

Xain snorted but said nothing.
 

thirteen

SO BEGAN THEIR VOYAGE TO Wellmont, which Loren swiftly decided was the most miserable time she had spent since leaving the Birchwood.

It began pleasantly enough. The river remained calm and peaceful, and a gentle wind remained ever at their backs. Brimlad traded his duty at the tiller with Xain, and the wizard took to the work with the ease of long familiarity. Loren wondered why he seemed so acquainted with boats and how he knew Brimlad. Yet she feared to delve too deeply into the wizard’s past—he had little temper for such things, and she did not wish to breach another sensitive topic as she had done with his son.

But the pleasant calm soon turned to monotony. And with little activity to occupy their attention, their thoughts turned to dark wondering about their pursuers. Little did Loren think that the family Yerrin would simply let them escape without incident. Surely, there would be ships in pursuit even now. Brimlad assured them that few vessels in Redbrook could catch his boat on the open water when he had Xain’s wind to help them. Still, Loren often found herself looking warily over her shoulder.