Guard, page 10
He glanced at Misty, sitting on his right. She nodded at something the male seated on her right said. She looked relaxed, and ate every last crumb from her plate while she smiled and laughed at whatever her friend said.
He glanced down the long table at Mage Stantworth and Nebar, deep in conversation, then along the opposite side of the table.
Men and women laughed and talked between each bite of food. They took their time to discuss different subjects while they eat. He wondered if every evening meal was as relaxing or if they put on a display for the mage’s visit.
For a village on the border between Mireland and the wastelands, they did not lack for food. Or water. Not if they had spare water for the grass covered high walls that surrounded the village.
Dallas finished the last few vegetables, and sliced fruit, and pushed his plate closer to the middle of the table.
He noticed the temperature in the room had risen, both from the many candles that lit every corner of the large room, and the body heat from the diners. Dallas ignored the heat to concentrate on listening to Nebar and the mage’s conversation over the noise of the different conversations around the long table.
Mage Stantworth and Nebar, seated at the opposite end to where he sat, kept their voices low until Nebar raised his voice to answer something Mage Stantworth said.
“Of course I know about the attack at Idion’s property. I am worried about my sister. Not a word since she arrived at Idion’s. It was only a few days later I first heard the wall hum.” Nebar finished his meal and pushed his chair back so he had enough room to stretch out his legs. He sipped wine and glanced around the table.
Mage Stantworth said something, but again it was too low for Dallas to hear.
Nebar nodded. “Already sent ten men down to investigate.”
So Nebar knew about the attack at Idion’s property, and his sister was there when Carl, Valda and Joy escaped.
Dallas guessed Nebar’s sister was already dead.
But a humming wall? He puzzled over what that meant. It had to be a spell of some kind. He guessed that was why Mage Stantworth needed Swift and Sweetie. They had to remove the ichur and locate the mage who set the spell.
Dallas turned to the male seated on his left, second from the end of the table. “Humming wall?”
“Yes. You will hear it later. Mage Stantworth thinks your tracker can stop the noise.”
The long haired male at the end of the table laughed. “I hope so. Haven’t had a full night’s sleep since the humming started.” He turned to the female seated next to him. “Saw Brennet soaking up the heat from the setting sun! Enormous beast!” He laughed again.
“Yes.” She sipped her wine. “If he chooses to allow Stantworth on his back, then I guess we can trust Stantworth.”
The long haired male nodded agreement with the female’s statement.
A lull in the conversations around the table allowed Dallas to hear Mage Stantworth talk about some dragon too old to ride.
Nebar nodded agreement. “Needs some of our horse liniment!” He leant forward and looked at the male seated the other side of Stantworth. “See Brennet gets a large jar of liniment to give to Farsight.”
Dallas knew all the stories of how the massive dragon, Farsight, flew one of the old mages away from the battle with Lealand in a desperate bid to sow more dragonbane seeds, hopefully to grow and replace all the burnt trees scattered across Leyland and the eastern side of Convane.
The old dragon was still alive!
He missed the next few words, but then Mage Stantworth changed the subject. “After we fix your problem, Bren and I have to fly to Hinton Island on mage business. Our path will take us over Idion’s property. I will see what I can do about locating Veda.”
Dallas did not know who Veda was, but assumed she was the missing sister of Nebar.
After another sip of his wine, Nebar nodded. “I heard rumours of a new god down on Hinton. All nonsense, of course.”
Mage Stantworth smiled.
“True then?” Nebar poured more wine into his wine cup.
“I won’t know until I get there. But, most likely lies, because it would take a lot of ichur to create a spell to fool all the citizens on Hinton.” The mage sipped his own wine. “Our watchers have not reported any large amounts of ichur usage.”
Dallas turned to the male on his left. “How is it your grass is so green in this dry area?”
“No water is wasted here. We all take turns carrying out waste water to feed our grassy banks.
“And cooking water.” The lady opposite added.
“There must be more than one rain barrel at each dwelling to catch every last drop of the spring rains to sustain such a large village for the rest of the year.”
The female smiled.
The male on Dallas’ left laughed, but did not comment.
“Time enough to bathe while your tracker rests, before she gets rid of the hum.” The male on his left stood.
The others surrounding Dallas and Misty stood, while he wondered what they meant by bathing. In dry areas most folk used the word washing, not bathing.
The elderly female opposite Dallas smiled. “I look forward to removing the hands from whoever cast the humming wall spell.”
“Why do you cut the hands and eyes from the dead?”
She hobbled around the end of the table and walked beside Dallas as they followed the rest out of the room. “Don’t kill witches because they help everyone, human and animal. Only kill untrained mages because they are selfish and take without giving back. Mutilate the bodies in case they have enough magic to resurrect themselves.”
Dallas refrained from commenting on how ridiculous her statement was. Everyone knew mages could not resurrect the dead.
He followed the others out of the hall and further into the building down the corridor.
The empty room he entered, lit with four candles on a small round table, only contained one other doorway. They led him through the smaller door into a corridor that sloped downwards. Both sides of the corridor were lit with candles evenly spaced along the walls.
Further down the sloping corridor the floor changed from wood to smooth rock, and curved to the right.
“Watch your step here,” the elderly female warned. “Tripped here many times, so ordered more lights before I broke a bone.”
Misty stumbled and grabbed Dallas’ arm while she regained her balance. “Get slaves to level the rock.”
“Child, we do not keep slaves.” The elderly female frowned. “What a thing to say.”
“Sorry.” Misty rested her hand on the top of her long knife, still hanging in its scabbard from her belt.
“Forgiven.” The old woman smiled. “I put a stop to that practice many years ago, but expect Nebar with allow slaves again after I pass.” She laughed.
“Nebar?” Dallas had a suspicion he knew who she was. “Your son?
“Yes.”
They continued down the sloping passage, still curving to the right. It finally opened out into a large cave, deep under the building.
Candle light reflected off a lake of water. The water disappeared into the darkness at the back of the cave.
The old woman stopped in front of a deep pool in the rocks large enough to fit everyone who ate the meal above. Water continuously tricked into the pool from the lake, and disappeared over the left edge near the cave wall
He sensed the spell that forced the used water over the left edge of the rocks holding the water in the pool. Whoever cast the spell, was good, because there was no silvery glow on the rocks or in the water.
He finally understood why the citizens of Hedgehill cut out the eyes and removed the hands to stop dead mages from manipulating ichur. Because they believed that mages had to see ichur, and some minor mages did wave their hands around to help concentrate while working of a spell.
So they removed the eyes and hands to stop the suspected dead mage from working a spell.
Old wives tales!
Imagine the amount of ichur required! The councillors would know about it the minute the mage drew the energy out of the ground.
Of course it would not work. He doubted it would work if the mage was still alive, because strong mages only used their mind to manipulate ichur, not their hands.
Like Dallas was taught.
Like his mother and father did.
He did not have to see ichur to know his staff was full. He sensed it.
While he puzzled out their false beliefs, everyone had removed their clothes and bathed in the pool.
He located Misty sitting at the edge of the pool on some sort of ledge next to Nebar’s mother. Only their heads were out of the water. Misty leant close and whispered something in the old woman’s ear. They both laughed.
He looked for Misty’s clothes and located them on the rocks behind her, out of reach of any splashing.
It was the first time he had seen her weapons out of arm’s reach, other than when they crossed the border and the guards removed them from Misty while she slept. She must have decided everyone in Hedgehill were trustworthy enough for her to do that.
He was not so trusting. He removed his clothes and placed them in a neat pile on the rocks next to Misty’s clothes and slipped into the warm water. Then he located the submerged ledge and settled on Misty’s left.
Once the shock of the warm water disappeared, he ignored the humid air and turned his mind to what spell could allow the cold water in the pool to heat before draining it up over the far side of the pool, before it disappeared. A spell that only used a small amount of ichur, too small to be noticed by the councillors. He gave up on that spell and turned his thoughts back to manipulating ichur while the warm water eased his aching muscles.
He always saw the silvery glow of ichur, but felt certain he could gather the energy and store it in his staff with his eyes closed.
Later, when he was back home he could test his theory. Or he could ask Swift.
Chapter 13
The clip clop of hoofs on the cobblestone echoed between the buildings when Dallas and Misty walked their rested trackers along the path from the stable to the front door of the three storey building.
There were no night bird calls. No insect sounds. And no candle light shining through the dwelling windows.
Not even moths fluttered around the almost burnt, oil soaked cloth torches, evenly spaced along the stone wall two feet above head height. The rancid smell of oil reminded Dallas of the city, except up there the wind was much stronger.
He realised that the earthen walls surrounding Hedgehill were not only a good defence to attacks, but they blocked the strong autumn winds. He glanced up past the torches to the top of the tall building. No doubt the wind would be stronger up there. He pitied the guards on roof duty during the winter nights.
Dallas felt relaxed from soaking in the warm water deep under Hedgehill, but he had still not come up with a spell to allow cold water to heat in the rock pool without drawing attention to the spell by the watchers in Dead City. One spell would work if ichur was used to heat the rock ledge the water flowed over, but the large amount of ichur used would draw the attention of the watchers. He had given up thinking about it when he dozed in the warm water.
Now he had a more immediate worry. If the spelled wall was too strong for Mage Stantworth to remove, what chance did Swift and Sweetie have. And if they did remove it, the councillors would be alerted to the true power of his trackers.
It was one thing for the council to learn the trackers could carry humans through the wall, but if the councillors learnt the trackers were stronger than Mage Stantworth, they could order him to take Swift throughout the land removing spells created by other mages.
He smiled at that thought. He wanted to become a judicator so he could travel throughout the land. But he did not want the councillors to notice Swift. Or Sweetie.
Misty moved close to Dallas and whispered. “Why wait until the middle of the night to show us some magic spell on a wall?”
“I expect they waited until everyone was asleep or too tired to notice what Swift and Sweetie need to do.”
Swift touched Dallas’ shoulder with her nose. He quickened his pace.
Misty almost jogged to keep up, then slowed and widened her stride to keep level. “What kind of spell would you place on a wall?”
“Hush. No one must know I can see and use ichur.”
“That is why I am asking now. Away from everyone.”
“Never discuss that anywhere except at home.” Dallas knew guards walked the grounds, and could be on the roof. Even the faintest whisper travelled on the breeze, especially in cold night air. He leant close and whispered, “I expect the spell is only around a door to stop anyone entering the room.”
“But why make a spell hum?” Misty stopped at the corner and glanced around the side of the building, while resting her right hand on the handle of her long knife. “I never heard a hum on any of Vince’s or Crompton’s spells.”
Dallas also looked into the darkness beyond the circles of flickering torch light on the three storey stone wall.
Nothing moved. He led the way along the front of the building and up the steps to the wide open front door.
He waited for both Swift and Sweetie to climb the low wide steps before he walked inside. “I guess we will soon find out.”
Candles, placed on small ledges on the corridor wall, only had an inch of fat to melt before the wicks flickered out, but the long corridor was still well lit.
Mage Stantworth and Nebar waited at the end of the corridor. Cooper hovered behind them.
“Through here.” Mage Stantworth walked into the corridor on the left.
Nebar waited until Dallas, Misty and both trackers entered the corridor before he followed.
Dallas pulled his staff out of the saddle holder and held it in ready position, upright and close to his left side. He wanted to be prepared to defend Swift and Sweetie from attacks, even if he had no idea where the attacks would come from.
Misty gripped the hilt of her long knife.
“Stay close to Sweetie if there is any hint of trouble.” He kept his voice low, but knew the two men overheard.
Misty nodded.
Mage Stantworth stopped at the corner of the corridor. “To the right.” He pointed down the next corridor.
It was as well lit as the rest of the building, except the candles had recently be lit, because every fat candle along the wall was six inches tall. The smell of melted wax filled the area.
When Dallas led the trackers around the corner he heard a faint hum. The further down the corridor, the louder the hum.
It irritated his ear drums. He wanted to scratch inside his ears. Instead he used the tip of his index finger to place pressure on the front of his right ear. It eased the itch. He did the same with his left ear.
He finally looked at the door at the end of the short, well lit corridor.
It glowed silver behind a heat haze.
So did the wall either side of the door.
His first thought was that the mage who placed the spell was not very experienced because he left ichur residue for anyone to see. But Dallas was stumped as to why the hum continued once the spell was cast and settled into the wall.
Or even what the hum had to do with the blocking spell.
Misty rubbed the palm of her left hand against her left ear. “Have you tried to open the door?”
Misty’s reaction told Dallas all he needed to know. If she could hear the hum so could everyone, mage or not. “Swift?”
Swift waited three yards back from the silver glowing, humming wall.
So did Sweetie. She tossed her head up and down.
Dallas guessed the humming sound irritated Sweetie as much as it irritated Misty and him.
Swift moved closer to Dallas and sniffed the air.
Dallas smiled at the image Swift sent of a small hot room full of manure. He interpreted that as meaning Swift didn’t need to enter the room because she already understood something bad was in there. “I guess the sooner we see what it is, the sooner we can fix it and head home.”
“Wait, Dallas!” Misty moved closer, but Sweetie stayed well back. “What is in the room? Normally?”
Nebar edged forward, but stayed close to the wall, well away from Swift’s hoofs. “These are Veda’s rooms. No one goes in, except her cleaner. When the cleaner told me the door would not open, I came to see, and heard the hum.” He looked at Mage Stantworth, waiting behind Sweetie. “I asked the mage to look into it when he last visited.”
“I did.” Mage Stantworth nodded. “As soon as I drained the spell, it rebuilt.” He hurried past Sweetie and stopped next to Nebar.
“Veda is the sister visiting down south?” Misty waited for Nebar to nod. “So the room is empty but you could not open the door?” Misty could not keep the look of surprise off her face as she looked at Mage Stantworth. “I will open the door.”
Dallas gripped her arm. “No.” He knew Misty could not see the silvery residue from whatever spell waited in the wall. Dallas pulled Misty to the side. “Swift?”
Swift walked forward and stopped, her nose almost touching the door. She turned her head back and looked at Sweetie.
Sweetie’s hoofs clomped on the wooden floor as she walked forward.
Dallas was impressed with both trackers. It only took ten seconds for both horses to remove the imbedded ichur by absorbing it into their bodies before they pushed it down through their legs into the floor.
He had time to heave a sigh of relief before the humming grew louder and the silver glow brightened.
Something was not right. The horses laid their ears flat and jerked their heads up, away from the wall. He wanted to order them to stop but knew the mage would realise he could see ichur if he did.
Thankfully, Mage Stantworth touched his arm. “Stop them!”
“Swift! Sweetie! Stop!” Dallas remembered not to comment on the brightening silver glow.
Both horses backed down the corridor. Swift sent an image of three strangers standing behind the door sending more ichur into the wall.
