The Missing Mage (15 page)

Quinton grabbed the flying blade before it could hit him in the chest. Once he had the blade in his hand, he took a couple practice swings. “Of course, I am part of the navy. My father was going to have me become a captain before we found out my magical skills far exceeded my sword and sailing skills.” Quinton turned to Sharon and gave her his best evil glare. “Prepare yourself, evil Lord Quinton is about to teach you how a true swordsman fights.”

Sharon smirked, she was only learning to fight, but she like her chances against Quinton. How good of a swordsman could a mage be?

When the training session was done, Sharon was bruised and exhausted. She had underestimated Quinton. He was rather good with a sword and even with Nathan teaching her the techniques to block and counter his attacks he still was much better than her. Sharon vowed to rectify this quickly.

Quinton laughed when Sharon mentioned her frustration about not being able to defeat him. “Honestly Sharon, you are doing great. I might not be a great swordsman but I did train with swords for three years before I stopped to spend more time learning magic. I had very good trainers and while not the best in my classes was never the worst. You are strong and quick; it won’t be long before you are beating me.”

Sharon smiled; she liked the sound of that.

Chapter nineteen

SEVERAL DAYS HAD PASSED since the disastrous ball. Everet was still working on playing the aggrieved merchant, going from pub to pub having drinks and discussing the distasteful events with the crowds that naturally seemed to form around him when he went into his story. The details and tone of his story changed ever so slightly depending on how the crowd reacted to the mention of the late Lord Howard. For the most part the audiences despised the man, but among a certain percentage of the people, he was still a royal family member slain by a foreigner so Everet danced carefully around the details, gaining sympathy as he went. Today he was skipping his tour of taverns to eat lunch with Severa.

To insure the story line stayed the way he planned, they only met in public. A budding romance was acceptable and a desired rumor. What Everet did not want was anyone saying he and Severa were in lovers in cahoots to besmirch the good name of the late Lord Howard. For now, they played it careful, meeting only in daylight in nice establishments. Everet was the perfect gentleman to the eyes of any watchers.

As they chatted about the weather patterns of Mithbea compared to Solotine, Plavan came up to their table. “Everet, it is good to see you again. Lady Severa, a pleasure to see you as well. Do you mind if I join you for a moment or two?”

“Please do.” Everet had not seen Plavan since the man suggested that he should drink at the Sauntering Soldier. Everet expected that this was not a chance encounter, and that Plavan was going to either explain things during this brief encounter or arrange another.

Severa adeptly started the conversation. “Plavan, I am glad to see you again under more pleasant circumstances. The last time we met was such a dreadfully unfortunate situation.”

P“Lady Severa, I was most aggrieved that we only got the one opportunity to dance. I hope that in the future we shall have another opportunity. It was surely a moment of insanity that caused Lord Howard to act so poorly. Rumor has it he was not himself lately. Regardless, it was a poor way to end an otherwise lovely evening. I will make sure that I send you both invites to the next ball.”

That Plavan spoke of another ball meant that he felt confident that Everet was going to survive long enough to try attempt integrating into royal society again. It was likely that Plavan and his mysterious associates had been able to present Everet as a victim of circumstances.

Plavan, after a brief conversation about marble, one of the commodities Everet was supposedly intent on attempting to trade in Meron, excused himself. After a formal bow to Lady Severa, Plavan shook Everet’s hand. During the parting handshake, he slipped a piece of paper into Everet’s hand.

Everet deftly placed his hand into his coat pocket, smoothly dropping the note in with a practiced motion. Only a veteran thief would have noticed the exchange. As Plavan left, Everet said his goodbyes to Lady Severa then walked out of the Inn.

Walking up the street, the hairs on the back of Everet’s neck started to tingle. Something was wrong. At the next street corner, he turned as if to walk across the road. He spotted the man following him despite the stranger’s attempts to avoid looking at Everet.

Everet smiled, grimly. He was back in his comfort zone. Officially, Everet might be a welcome guest of the king once more, but at least one person had decided that retribution for the death of Lord Howard was called for. This was the type of politics that Everet understood. Plavan might be a master of political intrigue but Everet was an expert in the shadowy world of hiring assassins and the subtle art form of making enemies disappear. Whoever had paid this man to follow Everet, had purchased an assassin who’s skills paled when compared to Everet’s.

Everet paused, then turned up a quieter road that he recognized as being one of the city’s main streets. It was a perfect road to walk up. It had several dead end alleys that were virtually invisible from the street. Everet confidently strode with purpose up the road then without looking back before turning up one of the alleys. He walked deep into the alley where the shadows from the adjacent building blocked out the sun. Standing in a nook between building, he instantly became invisible, just a dark spot in a darker corner.

Within seconds the stranger entered the alley. Noting the knife that had appeared in the man’s hand, it was obvious that he wasn’t just following Everet. He was here to either rob or kill him, likely both. As the man softly slunk past Everet, trying to find him in the shadows, Everet reached out grabbing the man by the upper arm and the wrist. He twisted hard on the man’s wrist, bringing his arm up behind his back, forcing the appendage up into an unnatural position. He pushed even harder, causing the man’s arm to break. When the knife dropped out of the man’s hand, Everet let go of the now useless wrist and firmly grabbed the man by the back of his head. In one swift, violent motion he slammed the man’s face into the brick wall of the adjacent building. Groggily the man fell to the ground. Everet calmly picked up the knife and sat on the man’s chest. Everet waited a moment for the man to regain his senses. As the man started to protest, Everet put the blade to his throat, and leaned closer to the man’s ear. “Shhh, whatever lie you were thinking of telling me, I would reevaluate. If you are honest you may live. Were you supposed to just rob me, or rob and kill me?”

The man started to talk then looked into Everet’s eyes. Seeing the cold, steely look in them, the man decided to hold whatever he was saying. He then hissed, “Both.”

“You are off to a good start, now who hired you?” asked Everet.

“Lord Henry.”

“Lord Henry? Some relative of the late Lord Howard I presume.”

The thug nodded and grunted in pain. “Brother.”

“Last question, how much did they pay you?”

“Five gold pieces,” answered the man.

“Five gold pieces? Life is cheap in Meron,” said Everet as he slit the would-be murderer’s throat.

…

The home was nice, nothing pretentious but the owners were obviously well off, the table they sat at was highly-polished bartail oak, the dark purple- and red-grained wood was well made and worth more than many people’s home. Everet looked around the room at the three men sitting at the table with him. Plavan sat across from him, while two other men were at the opposite corners of the table. The owner of the table and home it resided in, was a rotund fellow with a thick sandy head of hair that haphazardly fell over his shoulders. The fourth man at the table was a narrow-faced, scarecrow-looking individual so pale it made one would wonder when the man had last seen the sun.

As Everet pondered the different physical features of the powerful men in the room, Plavan spoke. “Everet, by bringing you into this meeting we are trusting you with our very lives. Everything said here today could be counted as treason; just being here qualifies you for a hangman’s noose.” Plavan paused, giving Everet the opportunity to speak. When no retort was forthcoming he continued. “We three represent the core of the opposition to the current king. For generations this king’s family has increased the powers and wealth of the crown at the expense of those around him. The majority of the city of Meron is populated with peasants treated worse than slaves, the middle class merchants and tradespeople have the most meager of existences and even the so-called upper class, such as us, have had our fortunes diminished at the hands of the king’s ambition. The king wishes to rule all of Mithbea, and has spent vast fortunes and countless armies trying unsuccessfully to invade and conquer the kingdom of Balta. If he is successful in conquering Balta, he will gain vast power and wealth that will solidify him and his family as rulers for generations if not more. The vast majority of Mithbea will suffer if this happens.”

Everet considered Plavan’s words. Everet was a man driven by opportunity, lately his desire for wealth and ambition for power had waned, but not to the point where he would sit idly by and let fate give a golden opportunity to someone else. “I take it killing the king is not an option at this time.”

Plavan shook his head. “While an ideal outcome, it’s not yet feasible. The king is protected by powerful mages and has relatives eager to step in and assume power. At this time, his death isn’t sufficient to trigger the changes in structure we need. What we need is for the king’s plans in Balta to fail. Unfortunately, our sources in the king’s court tell us he is as close to success as he had ever been. The king has recruited a spy of his own high up in the royal court of Balta. This spy has informed our king that a mage residing in the forests outside of Balta has found an extremely powerful mage’s writings, once thought lost. The spells contained in these works are the stuff of legend. The king’s mages, with these books in their possession, would be able to crush the defenses of Balta, giving the king control over the majority of the continent. Everyone else would succumb to the king once this happens. We need to get word to the king or someone in the royal family of Balta that can be trusted, but only the king knows who the spy is, so we have no one we can contact that can be trusted.”

Everet pondered the group’s dilemma, they needed to prevent the king from gaining the lost books but if they contacted the wrong person they would be exposed as traitors and tortured and killed, not necessarily in that order. They needed a way to contact a royal family member that was one hundred percent trustable. To their knowledge, they had no one that fit this requirement. Everet, on the other hand, had first-hand knowledge that such a person existed and was likely in Balta now. The boy warrior who Everet had wronged in so many ways (killing his parents, kidnapping his friends, attempting to murder him, etc.) had not grown up in Balta and could not be the spy. He was likely the only royal family member in Balta that could be trusted. The irony of the situation was almost amusing. The one person in the world who hated Everet the most was the one he needed.

“Gentlemen since all putting our cards on the table here, let me tell you a little story…”

When Everet was done telling them how he had bungled his attempts to clear Progoh of bandits, ultimately killing Nathan’s family and friends before kidnapping his girlfriend. Then how the boy ended up rescuing the girls while Everet slipped off into the desert, the men just stared at him. They considered themselves cold and pragmatic, but the devilish nature of their new ally astounded them.

Eventually Plavan found his voice. “So you are saying the one person in the world that we could trust, hates you with a passion and would likely kill you at the first opportunity.”

Everet nodded, that was a pretty accurate description of the situation. “Yes, but Plavan, there are two important details that matter in this situation. One: we know who to contact in Balta. Two: we know that if I send him a message it will surely get his attention. It’s not every day that your most hated enemy sends you mail.”

Plavan looked at Everet as if he was crazy. However, as unlikely as that seemed, he could not find fault with the logic Everet presented. The boy, Nathan, was the key to stopping the king of Morthon from conquering Mithbea.

Chapter twenty

NATHAN WAS EXCITED. For weeks now, he had been magically monitoring the progress of Thorn, his magnificent stallion, as it slowly sailed on a merchant ship from Venecia to Balta. The ship would made port this morning and he could finally get his horse and supplies. He looked forward to taking the horse for rides in the country but for today, he would simply bring the beast back to Avera’s small estate. Through his connection with Thorn, he could tell the horse did not like being at sea.

After breakfast he pulled Ava away from her studies, telling her they it was nice out and they should go for a walk through the city. Ava, having been reading
Mithbea: Flora, Fauna, and Fungi,
was more than ready for a break from the dry, yet informative textbook.

As they walked through the city they discussed the similarities and differences between Solotine and Mithbea. “You know, at first I thought Mithbea was so different, but there really are a lot of similarities,” said Ava.

Nathan was not so sure. “I think you are crazy. Mithbea is like a whole new world. Different plants, different animals, heck even the flowers are different.”

Ava was not perturbed, she knew what she was talking about. “Okay think of it this way, Hocton Forest is close to the woods around Elderwood, right ?”

Nathan could agree to that. “I guess, different trees and plants but kind of the same. But what about the jungle, or the badlands?”

“Okay, so the forest is almost the same, now think of the Great Swamp, there are many similarities between the swamp plants and those of the jungle. The jungle is bigger, wetter, and warmer than home but it’s still like the swamps.”