The Callindra Chronicles Book One - First Quest (3 page)

“
If I knew exactly what I
was apologizing for it would help Ferin. Haven’t I been completely
courteous to you?” If it had been any other person besides the scum
who had driven Callindra into the path of that angry bear Glarian
might have let it go, but this time he couldn’t bring himself to
kowtow.

“
Yeh got a mouth on yeh ‘ol
man.” He drew his longsword and rested it on Glarian’s shoulder
with the blade touching his neck. Without thinking, Glarian reached
back and grabbed Sakar’s hilt, feeling arcane energies course into
his body. With his other hand, he brushed at Ferin’s blade as
though it were a gnat.

“
This is a fine blade, too
bad it has a flaw that will make it shatter.” At the last word his
fingertips came in contact with the sword and it exploded into
splinters. Glarian turned his attention to Shep, “How much do I owe
you friend?”

“
Nnno charge.” The man
stammered, staring in shock.

The Huntsmen were slowly moving apart, Ferin
was holding his hand which was seeping blood from a deep cut. One
of them had strung a bow, two others drew daggers.

“
I think it was fifteen
silver last spring.” Said Glarian, counting the silver and holding
it out.

“
You go now.” Lex was
standing behind Glarian and pointing at the other men. He carefully
set the cask of wine down on the hand cart with one hand and fixed
the Huntsmen with a baleful look. “No good, four with weapons and
one old man.” He carefully took Glarian’s coins and tucked them
into a belt pouch.

“
Yeh halfwit, orderin’ us
around aint a good idea.” One of the Huntsmen drawled and loosed an
arrow at Lex. Glarian was too fast for him; he drew Weave through
Sakar again and a blast of air rushed from the fingers of his right
hand knocking the arrow off course.

“
Gentlemen, I believe my
friend Lex is correct.” Glarian focused arcane energies once more,
amplifying his voice and causing shadows to move and shift in
unsettling patterns. “It is time for you to go.”

Whatever the other men saw or thought they
saw was enough to send them running down the street. It didn’t seem
to have any effect on Lex though, he was still glaring at their
retreating forms. “They bad men. Never pay, have big tab, start
fights.”

“
Thank you for your help
Lex, I’d better get moving before that storm hits.” Said Glarian,
eyeing the sky.

Chapter 3

A terrible gust of wind shook the house and
rattled a shutter, waking Callindra from fitful sleep. She leaned
over and opened the stove, setting a chunk of firewood on top of
the glowing bed of coals. Even that small bit of effort left her
white faced and panting in pain, but she also took a taper from the
table and lit a candle stub.

The candle flame flickered in the wind,
throwing shadows high on the walls and ceiling of her room. She
sent a silent prayer to whatever Gods were listening that the
shutters would stay closed; there was no way she would be able to
close them if one were to blow open. Judging by the amount of snow
that was filtering through the crack, she had been right about the
storm. Strange, she didn’t remember having any kind of weather
sense before.

A bright flash shortly followed by a loud
crackle of thunder made her start and she cried out in pain from
jostling her leg. Even through the pain, she had the presence of
mind to remember that lightning did not usually occur in snow
storms. The door to the house opened and she heard footsteps.

“
Glarian? Is that you?” Gods
above she wished her voice hadn’t quavered like a little
girl’s.

The footsteps came into the room and she saw
a tall figure, swathed from head to toe in black. Above his right
shoulder rose the haft of an axe and only the slightest dusting of
snow was on his head or the black leather armor he wore.

“
Glarian? No, I am not he.
I’m an acquaintance of his. Who might you be little one?” He moved
further into the room, Callindra could hardly breathe in his
presence. His hand touched the haft of his axe, “I said Who are
you?”

“
I am Callindra.” She
responded, before she could stop herself.

“
Very good, much better. So
Callindra, why are you here?”

“
A bear attacked me and
Glarian rescued me.” She said, the words tumbling out of her mouth.
This man was so wonderful, she wanted to tell him everything, “He’s
an old man, but I am forced to rely on him. You see the bear
shattered my leg and it will be months before I can walk
again.”

“
Ah, and the Power I’ve
recently been feeling here? Has he been training you?”

“
Training? No, he’s not much
of a nursemaid and his idea of teaching me how to read was to give
me books and let me figure it out for myself. What do you mean by
power?” Her brow furrowed in confusion, “What could he possibly
teach me?”

“
Never mind about that,
where is he now?”

“
He went into town to buy
supplies but he’s probably going to get caught in this storm and
I’m afraid I’ll freeze to death before he can get back, if he gets
back at all.” Callindra’s teeth chattered as her secret fear of
being abandoned and helpless bubbled to the surface. “He insisted
on going even though I told him –“

“
Ah. Well now, I suppose I
should go question a few of the townsfolk then. Thank you for your
cooperation Callindra, forget you ever saw me.” He turned and
stalked from the room while she stared blankly at the candle for a
few moments then shook herself out of her reverie.

“
I hope that foolish old man
gets back here soon.” She shivered, wincing in pain, knowing that
she was taking her anger out on him like a child but too tired and
sick to care. “I don’t think I can bear to stoke the fire again.”
Feeling too awful to sleep, she picked up her book and read by the
flickering candle light.

‘
In our action last night I
was forced to resort to using magic. I cannot abide by them
usually; I see magery as a refuge for those too weak in body or
tactics to get the job done themselves. In this case, however, I
was made aware that the enemy was deploying mages of their own and
had no recourse.

‘
I consulted with my
Lieutenants and we came to the conclusion that if we were going to
employ a magic user, we should use the most powerful and capable
person available to us. As a result, we contacted a group known as
The Order. Their style of magic is more comfortable to us, they
channel the Weave through their weapon which is a unique piece only
they can wield.

‘
The mage they sent told me
in no uncertain terms that he would strictly adhere to the laws of
combat, that he would take no part in underhanded tactics and would
end the conflict with as few casualties as possible. If I had a
problem with that, he said he would leave and if I tried to stop
him, he claimed he would best me in single combat without the use
of magic.

‘
He gave no name but “Master
of The North Wind” and his weapon of choice is a massive
broadsword, fully eight feet from pommel to point. Unlike many high
ranking individuals I have seen he brought no retinue and traveled
alone. Granted he arrived floating on the wind, not deigning to use
a horse when traveling to a battlefield. He uses that massive blade
for everything. I do not jest when I say he cut and pounded his
tent stakes with it. Perhaps I have more to learn of magic users
than I had first thought.’

Callindra paused; the candle stub she had lit
was burning low. The story was compelling; she wanted to know what
this so-called Master of The North Wind had employed to solve the
General’s problem. She dug through a drawer and found another
candle, lighting it from the first. Pinching out what was left of
the stub; she fixed the new candle in the holder on the bedside
table and picked up the book once more.

‘
The battle is over. We have
no need even to take the field; the Master of The North Wind will
dine in a place of honor at my right hand tonight. I have never
seen anything like it; the man walked alone into the center of the
would-be battlefield, the enemy forces arrayed before him and ours
behind and spoke. He did not raise his voice, yet every man, could
clearly hear his words.’

“
Hear me now. I am The
Master of The North Wind and I command you to quit this field of
slaughter. Failure to comply with my demand shall result in your
life ending in a swift and yet quite painful manner.”

‘
He swung that massive
weapon around his head as though it weighed nothing and slammed it
into the ground. The sky darkened, and thunder could be heard
rumbling above. To a man the enemy took an involuntary step
backward. All but one figure draped in black robes.

“
I am Dergeras puny
swordsman. Neither your threats, your steel or your mediocre magery
shall be sufficient to remove me from this place.”

‘
A deadly calm fell over the
field but a zephyr of wind tickled my ear and I could hear the
Master’s voice as though he stood next to me, “Sound an orderly
retreat. I would not have collateral damage.”

‘
What happened next I cannot
describe. The air around the two men came alive with Power. The
forces of the blasts leveled trees and laid waste the meadow where
our armies would have fought. Dergeras faced the Master, hammering
him with bolt after bolt of Power and the Master stood behind the
crosstrees of his sword still driven into the earth and stood his
ground. A whirlwind of dust and dirt obscured our sight of the two
men and the clouds above darkened.

‘
While our army had largely
retreated to a ridge our enemy had stayed closer, likely wishing to
have the tactical advantage once the mages had concluded their
combat. I know not which of them unleashed the storm, but it swept
the field. Coruscating bolts of lightning fell instead of rain, the
cacophony was literally deafening.

‘
Abruptly, it all ended. The
storm did not abate, it simply ceased to be. Before us we could see
the two mages. The Master had impaled Dergeras through the heart
with his greatsword, the blunted tip opening a terrible wound in
his chest and yet the man still lived.’

“
So you have taken unnatural
steps to preserve your miserable existence. Know that these things
will only serve to make you weak. Fear is a weakness; death comes
to us all and looking upon it with fear is foolish. I leave you
with these words to think on. Begone!”

‘
With that last word, the
form of Dergeras vanished from the blade of the sword, his face
still snarling in defiance. The meadow was littered with charred
corpses of the enemy force. The Master saw the destruction that had
been wrought and dropped to his knees, sword over his shoulder and
cried like a child.’

“
I tried to warn them. Why
didn’t they leave?”

“
Blademaster” I said, “You
are not to blame for the actions of others.”

“
Nay General, this has been
a test of my skills and I have come up short. There is always a way
to improve one’s self. To cease learning is to die.”

‘
At this point, I knew he
was an honorable soldier. An honorable comrade. A man I could
respect.’

Callindra’s eyes were getting heavy; she was
exhausted from being in constant pain. She set the book on the
bedside table and blew out the candle. Lying in the dark waiting
for sleep to come, she imagined she could hear the door open and
close.

“
Glarian? Is that you?” Gods
and demons she wished her voice hadn’t quavered like a little
girl’s, but she had been truly worried he wouldn’t return.
Callindra felt a strange sense of doing this before, but couldn’t
imagine why.

“
Yes child.” Glarian said,
“I just need to stow the hand cart in the lean-to before it gets
buried in snow.” He was standing in the doorway to her room holding
a lantern. Snow covered his brown cloak and heavy boots.

After some shuffling and some loud thumps he
returned, holding a small vial filled with white powder. “Here
lass, this will help the break heal.” He mixed a pinch of the
powder into a glass of water and held it out.

She drank it quickly, relieved it had no
flavor. Callindra was embarrassed by how comforting she found his
presence. “Thank you.” She said before sleep quickly claimed
her.

Chapter 4

Glarian sat next to the fireplace across
from Callindra, a chess board sat on the table between them. These
evening games were a good distraction for her and gave him a chance
to enjoy some silence. The girl had a quick wit and a sharp tongue,
honed to a razor’s edge by the discomfort of her healing leg. When
she was concentrating on the board, she used the former and
silenced the latter.

Since it was easier to only heat the main
room during the day, Glarian would carry her out to a comfortable
chair next to the fire in the morning and she usually spent the day
reading next to the fire. In the evenings, after dinner was
finished they would sit together. He would smoke and they would
play chess.

She moved a knight into position after some
consideration. It was a good move, but one he had anticipated.
Nodding in satisfaction he countered with a pawn; smiling at her
look of confusion.

“
Why do you use pawns so
often? They’re the weakest piece on the board.” Callindra said,
surprising him by taking the pawn with a bishop, threatening his
king.