Neversfall (9 page)

It was a true citadel, a small city, there in the monster-filled wastes. It was a magnificent and frightening prospect at the same time. Neversfall was positioned perfectly to hold out against the beast scourge in Aerilpar, but the merchant bureaucrats of Durpar and Estagund would

be anxious to fill it with stands from which merchants would sell their goods to civilians living in and around the fortress. It would not take long for talk of colonization to come after that. Years, maybe decades, would be needed to clear the area of the monster tribes, if that were possible at all. Commerce couldn’t wait that long, so the bureaucrats would attempt to civilize this land before they tamed it. They always did. Adeenya wondered if it would even be a full year before the first traders came to the citadel with their silks and exotic spices to trade with merchants from the north.

“They are all similar to this one?” Jhoqo asked.

“Some less suited for soldiers, sir” she said, kicking one of the storage lockers.

Jhoqo grinned and gave a nod. “Civilians must sleep, too, or so they tell me, daughter.”

“Even snakes sleep, sir,” she said.

Jhoqo raised an eyebrow and watched her for a long moment. Adeenya chided herself for giving in to the desire to peck at the man, but she did not look away. To her relief, Jhoqo walked out into the courtyard, motioning for her to join him. They walked in silence for a few moments, passing another small building on their way to the towers.

“You found nothing on your sweep of the exterior?” he asked.

“Nothing, sir,” she said.

He held her gaze a bit longer before speaking, “I need to know that you and your people are with me,” he said without looking at her.

“Of course, Urir. We are with you.”

He nodded. “Together we can make this work. You know that, right?”

Adeenya gave her assent and smiled. While his eyes were

upon her, she saw in them warmth, but something else hid in his gaze. Something she had seen often in her father.

“Neversfall will be a bastion of mercantile wonders, Orir. We will usher into this wild land a new age of trade and success,” he said, his smile widening.

“Prosperity would be excellent, sir. The local people are having a rough time right now.”

“Exactly why this place, this citadel, is needed.”

“Yes, sir,” she said.

He stopped and looked hard at her. “Do you not see it? The daughter of the greatest of Durpari sellers does not see it?”

She arched an eyebrow and pursed her lips. “See what?”

“This will be the finest Southern achievement of the century. Look over there.” He pointed to an empty spot in the courtyard. “That’s where we’ll put a meeting hall for all the chakas represented in Neversfall.” He pointed to another vacant spot. “And there will be the best faukri you’ve ever tasted, served by some overlooked chef in Assur who will find his second chance here.”

The man’s enthusiasm was hard to resist. He practically shone with excitement as he described his vision of the place. However, her reservations were strong, and she doubted the transformation would be as easy as the man beside her made it sound.

“Then there is much work to do,” she said with a slight smile. “Many monsters to slay, if all of these people are to be safe.”

The smile slid from Jhoqo’s face, but he nodded. “Yes. To work, then. Please work with Loraica to sort out sleeping arrangements. Let’s mix the troops so they can come to know and rely upon one another even more.”

“I will use that building,” Jhoqo said, pointing to a

small structure near the center of the northern half of the housing area, “as my command office. Find me there when things are more settled.”

Adeenya saluted and took her leave of Jhoqo. She cast her gaze around the courtyard looking for Loraica. She was not surprised to see the massive woman already making use of the training yard at the back of the citadel. A handful of Maquar and Durpari gathered to watch the woman spar with two men.

Loraica held a wooden falchion in her right hand and a medium, square shield in her left. The Maquar she faced off against was a large man with a wooden practice halberd, while the Durpari man wielded two long wooden swords which he twirled in a showy display before moving to his left to attempt to flank the Maquar terir. Loraica did not move. Her arms were taut with preparedness and her face serene.

The Maquar soldier pitted against her nodded to his Durpari counterpart and, with a guttural bark, swung the halberd from his hip driving toward Loraica’s left side. The large woman moved her shield to intercept the blow as though it were coming at her from a league away. The head of the halberd rang off the metal of her shield with a loud thud, but Loraica did not flinch. She stepped toward the man while all the while keeping her eyes on her other opponent.

The Durpari launched a feint with one sword and a low stab with the other. Loraica knocked the lower attack away with her own blade while sidestepping the feint. The Maquar man pulled the haft of his weapon in close, adjusting his grip. He thrust the weapon toward Loraica as he took a small leap forward. With speed unimaginable for her size, Loraica deflected the stab with her shield and

spun her body to face him. She brought the blade edge of the falchion down across the wooden pole of his weapon with a thunderous crash. The man tugged hard, pulling back a stump of a weapon in time to watch the wooden bladed head fall to the ground in a puff of dust.

With her back to the Durpari, Adeenya thought Loraica doomed. Breaking the man’s halberd had been impressive, but that would be of little use if Loraica’s other opponent could simply step in and finish her off”. The Durpari saw the same opportunity and darted in toward Loraica’s back.

An experienced fighter and no fool, the mercenary stabbed with one blade while keeping the other in a defensive posture. It was well he did, for Loraica spun fast, sending her opponent’s thrust out wide with a stroke of her shield. Her falchion dived for the Durpari, but to no avail as his sword deflected the blow.

The Durpari was far from safe, though. Though he held against the monstrous swipe, he stumbled back from the raw force of the blow. That instant gave Loraica enough time to spin again and send the man flying with a smack of her shield into her opponent’s torso.

Loraica dropped her weapons and helped the man to his feet. She turned to face her Maquar opponent who laughed and held his hands up in surrender after dropping the remnants of his broken weapon. The small gathered crowd gave a cheer and Loraica smiled.

Adeenya thought perhaps she could come to like the Maquar third in command.

Curving stairs built into the walls wound upward into the darkness of Neversfall Tower. Taennen felt a surge of excited energy and sprinted up the steps two at a time like a child curious to explore a new hidden place. The lack of decorative flourishes inside the tower spoke to its utility. Taennen had peered into one of the smaller towers and noticed a few paintings hung on the wall and plain draperies adorned the windows. The smaller towers must have been intended for visiting dignitaries or honored travelers. Neversfall stood in the middle of nowhere, but it could be used as a resting point on long journeys to destinations north and west of the South.

At the top of the stairs, Taennen discovered a small door. He stopped and stared at the portal. It was like every other door he had seen in his life, but something at the back of his mind stayed his hand as he reached for the handle. He looked closely, seeing no inscriptions or obvious traps.

“You are wise to leave it,” came a voice from beside him.

Taennen spun to find the wizard Khatib hovering in midair next to him. Tight robes in shimmering shades of blue adorned the husky man. His narrow mustache and

scraggly beard belied his age, but his dark, lined face showed the strain of many years of hard study. A missing finger and burn-scarred arms indicated years of wielding his art in the field of war for the glory of the rajah. Unlike many practitioners, Khatib had always enjoyed being in the held, commanding magic instead of just studying it.

“I’ve finished my examination of the citadel,” the wizard said. “I detected no traces of magic, except for within this tower. And it’s heavily enchanted.”

“Surely we can get inside,” Taennen said.

Khatib chuckled and drifted forward to alight on the stone floor, calling his hovering spell to an end. “Of course, sir. You simply need to know the means of entry.”

Khatib closed his eyes and his fingers began a dance, weaving all about but never touching the door. He spoke soft words that Taennen could not understand. The wizard opened his eyes and examined the door for a few moments, his smile growing wider and wider. “If only you could see what I’m seeing, Taennen.”

Taennen remembered his father telling him that there were ways of seeing magical spells in places that normal people could not see them. He often spoke of the incredible light thrown off by waiting magic in the devices he crafted.

“The marvel of this is that it can be dismissed,” Khatib said.

“Dismissed?”

“Whoever built this door knew that not everyone who would need to use this tower would be a master of the art,” he said, turning a pedagogical eye on Taennen. “I can lock or unlock it with the proper words. That will allow you poor souls unschooled in the Art to pass when you have need to do so.”

“Your spell revealed the words to you?”

“No, no. My spell showed me what is there. I was given the words before we left.”

“When Jhoqo received the order to secure Neversfall?” Taennen asked. Khatib nodded.

Which meant Jhoqo hadn’t trusted Taennen with the passphrase. With his performance on the mission, Taennen wasn’t sure he could blame his commander. He wanted to share in everything with Jhoqo, all of the responsibilities. But Jhoqo had judged him unfit in this case, and he was right.

“Unlock it, wizard,” Taennen said.

Khatib uttered a string of words in some arcane tongue. To Taennen’s eyes there was no change, but Khatib stepped aside and waved an arm toward the portal, inviting Taennen to enter. Taennen trusted the wizard and reached for the handle, pushing the door inward. His heart pounded against his chest. He had no idea what to expect beyond the door, but he was unable to contain his excitement at seeing it firsthand.

As the door swung open, the brightness of the circular room shocked his eyes. Taennen blinked several times, dancing afterimages in whites and pinks filling his vision. In sharp contrast to the dim stairwell, the room atop the tower was open, airy, and filled with sunlight. Instead of solid walls, it had only corner supports, holding up the roof, leaving the space between empty. Taennen stepped toward one of the window openings and looked out. The vast expanse of land opened before him, and he could see across the top of the Aerilpar, or at least part of it, to the east.

Taennen was put in mind of his training from his youth. One of his instructors had used tiny wooden models of soldiers, siege engines, even flora and fauna the size of garnishes to demonstrate mock battles. The world

below him, the real world, was little more than that from his vantage point. He moved to the west window of the tower and looked down to see his fellow soldiers moving about the courtyard. He could barely make out details, their faces blurred by the distance to the ground. He moved back to the eastern window. The treetops of the Aerilpar became an ocean of green. He felt as though he were floating, lost amidst their waves.

Behind him, Khatib gasped. Taennen turned to see the man squinting as he stared at a stone table in front of one of the windows, identical to three other tables in front of the other windows. Taennen examined the table in front of him. Crystals, evenly spaced, seemed to grow from the stone tabletop. Some crystals were clusters of a dozen or more, others stood tall by themselves in a variety of shapes.

“They glow even to my eyes,” Taennen said. “What are they?” The crystals ranged in color from amber to red, green to chartreuse, blue to the dark of midnight.

“They control Neversfall,” Khatib said, kneeling before one of the tables. He ran his fingers along one of the crystals and giggled giddily. “Fascinating.”

“What do you mean?” Taennen asked.

The wizard moved to the table on the southern side and studied the crystals there for a few moments before grasping two of them and tracing patterns across their surfaces with his fingers.

“Would you like to see the Curnas?” Khatib asked, pointing toward the southern window.

“How do you mean?” Taennen said, turning to face where the man had indicated.

Taennen stepped backward when an image began to form before him where the southern window had been a moment before. The northern peaks of the Curna Mountains shone

before his eyes, like a reflection on water but clearer and more distinct. The rocks and trees waved in pulsing rhythm, like an image on a sheet blown by the wind. “How?” Taennen asked.

The view changed, moving even closer to the mountains. Taennen could see a bear scratching its flabby body on the trunk of a tree.

“That’s…” he said. “That’s over a hundred leagues away.”

Khatib nodded. “What better gift to grant a watch tower?”

“You can do that in every direction?” he asked, spinning his gaze around the room. “Yes.”

“Jhoqo will want to see this,” Taennen said.

“I’m sure he will,” Khatib said. “He was quite interested when they told us about it.”

Taennen eyed the man. “You knew of this too?”

Khatib shrugged but affirmed. “Just Jhoqo and myself. They felt we needed to know about the tools that would be at our disposal.”

Taennen thanked the man and started past him toward the stairs.

“Wait,” Khatib said. “It does so much more.”

Taennen turned to face the man. The wizard’s smile was contagious. His lined face shone with the merriment usually expressed by children showing off new toys.

“Like what?” Taennen asked.

Khatib waved him over to the northern window. The wizard’s hands darted among the crystals on the table, twisting some, pushing others. A low hum tickled Taennen’s ears as the crystals began to glow even more brightly.