WIZARD 16

“This is Hawk Hollow?” John hissed as he peered around the edge of the boulder. “There’s only two buildings down there.”

“Most of the people live in caves,” Aisley said. “The buildings are a tavern and a trading post.

“Why is the first building to be built is always a tavern?” Sadie muttered. “Are people so desperate to drink away their days?”

“I could use one,” Roxanne grumbled. “Nobody told us we’d be hiking straight uphill the entire time.”

“A tavern is a lot more than a place to drink,” John said. “It’s a gathering place. People can put aside their struggles for a while and enjoy themselves. Wine, ale, or something else… it doesn’t matter. People need that downtime.”

Sadie pressed her lips together, clearly not convinced.

Aisley caught Roxanne’s eyes and said, “It’s not as far to Hawk Hollow as it is Rock Haven, but there’s no easy way to it, that’s why it takes twice as long. We made really good time, you’re all in great shape… but we had to make our own path to avoid the… what did you call them, dragonkin?”

“That’s right,” John said.

“There’s bound to be a couple on the path that leads in. A couple more on the other path too. Then they’ll be a few in the town, lounging and keeping an eye on things. Some more on the trails up the mountainsides to the caves and then, at last, some in the mines. The entrance is over there, on the far mountain side.”

“Hold on a moment,” John said. “What other path? Where does that lead?”

“I’m not sure… They take whatever gold is smelted there. They’ve taken some people there, but one have come back. I don’t know of any village in that direction, just mountains and, I heard, a huge forest far, far below.”

“Below?” Jennaca asked.

Aisley turned to her. “Yes. I’ve never been there, but I heard there’s a cliff and no easy way down it. That’s why we live in caves and there are only the two buildings, it’s a long walk to find trees to make lumber from.”

“Very defensible,” Artesia observed. “Twenty good soldiers could hold this small valley for weeks. Fifty could hold it for years.”

“Fifty would be standing on top of each other,” Jennaca said. “Where do they get water from?”

“The caves,” Aisley said. “There are a few with ponds and streams in them.”

“All right, we need to get down in there then,” John said. “Talk to them and see what they know.”

Helleen put a friendly hand on their guide’s shoulder and smiled at her. “Aisley lives here, doesn’t she know everything that’s needed?”

Aisley smiled back. “I’m just a runner. I was chosen because I’m fast and have a good sense of direction. I hear rumors, but other than being told what to tell the people of Highpass, I don’t know much about what’s happening. You’d need to talk to Holden about that.”

“Holden?” John asked.

“He’s… well, he’s our mayor, I suppose. We had one before but the dragonkin killed him when they came. Holden promised we’d do what they asked if they spared us.”

Roxanne cursed under her breath.

“So they understand us well enough.”

“Oh, they do,” Aisley agreed. “There are some other types as well, They walk on two feet more often than four and carry giant axes with them. They stink to… saints, do they stink. I walked by one once and my eyes were watering and I felt like I’d held my face over a pile of smoking pit. Those big ones can speak too, after a fashion. Well enough once you get the knack of listening to them.”

John studied the small valley. “Do you recommend we hold up here and go down in the morning?”

“Another night on a mountainside and I won’t need a spear to fight with, I can stab my opponents eyes out with my nipples,” Roxanne said.

Even Artesia snickered at the complaint.

“I did warn you to dress warmer,” Jennaca said.

“Oh, and what of you? I see goose pimples on your arms and legs too,” Roxanne challenged.

Jennaca nodded, “The wind pulls the heat out of us all. I’d be grateful for a cloak.”

“I’d be grateful to be in the south,” Helleen said. “I’ve always wanted to head that way… aren’t you from the south, milord?”

John held up a hand. “This is not the time nor place. Aisley, what do you think?”

She frowned. “If it were me, I’d go now. I’m small and quiet, I can sneak in. Some of you aren’t so quiet.”

Roxanne and Helleen stiffened when Aisley turned her eye on them.

“We’re meant to be warriors, not scouts,” Artesia said.

“I can handle the sound if you can guide us so we won’t be seen,” John said.

“You can? How?”

“I have a spell I can hold, but we’ll need to stay together and we won’t be able to hear each other either, so pay close attention.”

Artesia’s eyes widened. She nodded. “I’ll bring up the rear.”

“Will Sasha be all right?” John asked.

Jennaca turned to her furry friend and rubbed the great cat’s neck. Sasha rumbled as softly as she could in her chest. “I think she’ll be fine,” Jennaca said.

“All right, Aisley, tell me when we need to be silent, I’ll cast the spell then.”

Aisley looked at him and nodded. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and then turned and began to pick her way down the mountainside using rocks, scraggly trees, and what brush she could find that grew out of the rocks. Jennaca and Sasha followed and then John and the rest of his crew stayed as close as they could.

A few tumbling rocks later Aisley paused and look back at John. He recoiled a little from her disapproving stare. He nodded though and cast the spell that spread a magical bubble around them that muffled noise and made them reach for the ears and try to yawn or pop them to bring the sound back. They failed.

Aisley’s eyes were the widest. A grin lifted her lips as she experienced her first magical spell. She opened her mouth and then laughed, though no one could hear it. She clamped her mouth shut and pressed her lips together, but couldn’t wipe her grin away.

Aisley turned and led them on, taking them down the mountainside and skirting away from a few caves that had been carved out of the rock. They crossed a few paths after she took care to make sure no one was on them and then brought them down at last to the valley floor and up behind the tavern.

John negated his spell as they neared the building. The last thing he wanted was for anyone in the tavern to suddenly wonder why they couldn’t hear or speak. They gathered in an empty half-shack the used a boulder as one wall and only had a slanted roof and two other walls. Some stray stalks of hay littered the floor.

“We kept goats here,” Aisley whispered. “The demons ate them.”

John frowned but didn’t correct her.

“Goats?” Jennaca asked.

“For milk and meat. We had a man, Tarik, that tended them and hoped to capture some of the large sheep we used to see around us and tame them so they could be used as pack animals. Tarik’s dead.”

Jennaca winced. “I’m sorry.”

Aisley shrugged. “A lot of people are dead. My ma and pa work the mines and any day might be their last.”

“What do you do when you’re not running?” Helleen asked.

“Hide. If they see too much of me they’ll wonder why I’m not in the mines too, then if I don’t show up one day, they’ll come looking.”

“This is no way to live,” John muttered.

“Every time I make the run my ma tells me to keep going and not come back,” Aisley admitted. She shrugged. “It’s not much, but at least I matter here, you know?”

“Aww,” Helleen said and reached out to put her hand on Aisley’s shoulder.

Aisley blushed and looked past them out the open front of the goat shelter. “It’s past time for the miners to change shifts. If they didn’t meet their count there’ll be one less person coming down that path.”

They followed her finger and saw the pathway that had been dug and cut into the mountainside. People were coming down the path as it switched back and forth down the steep incline. Torches flared to life at the cave entrance at the top of the path.

John looked at his crew and frowned. “I want to go into the tavern, but none of your are dressed like you belong here.”

“Neither are you, my lord,” Artesia said.

“That’s a fine robe,” Aislyn said. “But we’ve a few people that wear robes. Especially when they’re not in the mines.”

“I’ll go with you,” Sadie said.

John looked her up and down and nodded. She wore simple dress of muted brown with blue trim. She looked modest and plain. The only thing that stood out was the medallion that hung on a leather cord on her chest. “I welcome the company.”

Jennaca and Helleen shifted to stand in front of John and bar him from leaving the shelter. Sasha looked up from where she’d collapsed in the back on some tufts of hay that hadn’t blown out.

“What’s this?” John asked.

“No,” Helleen said.

“You’re not going, not without one of us,” Jennaca said. “Remember? One of us must always be with you.”

John frowned. “Sadie will be with me.”

“Sadie’s not bonded to you.”

Sadie’s eyes widened.

“Neither is Roxanne or Artesia, but you’d let them go.”

“Then take one of them,” Helleen said.

“None of you are dressed the part,” John said. “The alarm would be raised in an instant. I’ll take Sadie and if I run into any trouble, you’re hiding right behind the tavern. I will let you know.”

“How?” Roxanne asked.

John tapped the side of his head.

“He can tell us,” Helleen said.

The muscles in Artesia’s cheeks tightened and she looked away.

“All right,” Jennaca said. “We’ll be ready if you need us!”

“I have no doubt,” John said an offered her a smile.

Sadie gathered her dress and nodded. “I’m ready, we should get there before people start to file in.”

“Yes, we should,” John agreed. He looked at Helleen and Jennaca and the two women stepped apart to let him through.

John nodded at both of them and handed his spear to Jennaca before he slipped out of the shelter with Sadie at his side. They walked swiftly around the building and made their way to the door. John opened it and, after a brief moment of weighing chivalry with the threat they might be facing inside, he slipped through it and looked around. Sadie was right behind him and pulled the door shut.

The tavern was empty save for the two woman. One was behind the bar setting up tankards while a young barmaid was setting plates and silverware at the tables. Both of them stopped and stared.

John glanced around and raised a hand to wave. “Can we sit anywhere?”

The barkeep started and looked to the serving girl. They looked to be sisters from their matching freckles and red tinted blond hair.

“Um… yes, anywhere. Well, Holden and Becket take that table, but any of the others would be fine… more or less.”

“Is it more, or is it less?” John asked.

She blushed. “Perhaps at the bar?”

“Good idea,” John said and moved to pull out a bar stool for Sadie.

Sadie smiled a little as she moved into position and John adjusted the stool as she sat down, settling her in at the bar. He took the stool next to her and glanced at the lined up tankards. “I’d like some water, if you please. Sadie?”

Sadie nodded and then shook her head a little. “Yes, water also.”

“Thank the saints, we’ve run out of ale. Two waters, right away,” the woman said and grabbed two of the cups and lowered them behind a bar to where a bucket was filled with water. She used a ladle to fill them and then set them in front of them.

“My thanks,” John said as he took a drink. “My, these mountain winds leave me so parched!”

“And cold,” Sadie said while sipping from hers.

“Are you– did you– where did you come from?” the barkeep managed to ask.

“Oh, we’ve been around,” John said. “Most recently we came from down south, a little village called Highpass. Charming place and friendly people. Although this little stop along the way, I have to say, is a welcome sight! Beautiful scenery here in the mountains. Do you and your sister live here in the tavern?”

The barkeep nodded and then remembered to speak. “Yes… we do. We just opened for dinner. Our pa and the others will be in anytime.”

“Oh, good!” John said and lightly clapped the counter top with his hand. “I hoped– wait, you say there are miners? You’ve a mine around here? Where do people stay?”

“The caves,” she said. She kept glancing to her sister as she resumed setting places at the tables. “How… I’m sorry, you said Highpass? How did you make it here?”

The door to the inn opened to let in the first of several men. He stopped after walking in a few steps and noticing John and Sadie. The others stumbled into him and cursed him for it until they saw why. In no time, a crowd of men and women, all of them dirty and tired, were gathered in the tavern and staring at John and Sadie.

“Who are you then?” the man that had come in first asked.

“I’m John, this is Sadie,” he said. “We came from Highpass. Are you Holden?”

“How do you know his name?” Another man asked as he stepped forward.

“I am,” Holden answered. He nodded to the man beside him and said, “This is Becket.”

“They’re brothers,” the barkeep whispered behind John and Sadie.

John saw no resemblance between the two men. Separate mothers or fathers, perhaps. He filed it away in case it might matter later. “As I said, we came from Highpass. We spoke with them and helped them.”

“We helped Aisley too,” Sadie said. “Her companions… I couldn’t help them.”

A plate clattered to the table. The girl setting tables pushed through the adults and stared at Sadie, her eyes wide and shimmering. “Nash? Did you see him?”

Sadie shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry, no. Aisley almost made it to the village but she was near death. My lady’s blessings spared her life, but her companions didn’t make it. The d– they were taken.”

A sob slipped from the girl’s lips and then she sank to the floor.

“Soph!” the barkeep cried and hurried from behind the bar to go to her sister.

A man with curly red hair pushed through the others and reached her first. He towered over her and settled a hand on her shoulder. The barkeep knelt beside her and pulled her into a hug while the younger girl sobbed against her.

“See to your sister, Bretta, I’ll manage the bar.”

Bretta nodded and gathered the girl up. They stood and she guided her away through a doorway behind the bar.

The red-haired man walked around the bar, his eyes sticking to John and Sadie.

“You said you spared Aisley’s life?” Holden said.

“Not me, my Lady, Saint Eile. I am her servant,” Sadie said and brushed her hand reverently across her holy symbol.

“And you?” Holden asked.

“My name’s John,” John said again.

“Right, you said that already.”

“I was worried you might have forgotten what with all that’s happened,” John said. “It’s important you know who we are… and that we’re not a part of whatever it is that’s happening here.”

“Ha!” Becket snorted. “If you’re here, you are now. They won’t let you leave. You’ll be in the mines with us tomorrow. You and your lady both.”

“Priestess,” John said.

“What?” Holden and Becket both said. The glanced at each other and then back to John.

“I’m not a Lady, I’m a priestess,” Sadie clarified.

“You’re a miner now, priestess,” Holden said.

“No, actually, we’re hoping you could tell us a little more about these… things.”

“Demons,” Becket said.

John shook his head. “They’re not demons, they’re something else. Something not entirely natural, I grant you, but they’re far from demons.”

Becket made a rude noise.

“They can be killed,” Sadie said.

The grumbling and mumbling in the inn fell silent.

“What’s that?” Holden said. “You were fool enough to kill one?”

John nodded. “I did, with the aid of a friend. Then many more attacked Highpass that night. We killed them too.”

“Two of you did that?” Holden asked. He turned and raised his hands in victory. “Rejoice, friends, we’ve an avenging angel sent by the very saints that have ignored us these past weeks. We’ll be back to living normal lives in no time. Why, I bet they can bring back our dead too, make this all just a bad dream.”

“There’s no need to exaggerate,” John stated. “And no, it was not the two of us. In fact, I was wounded badly during the first battle. The people of Highpass and my friends defeated the others. We taught them how to fight together.”

The murmurs started anew.

“That’s enough!” Holden barked, bringing silence to the room. He turned on John and pointed a finger at him. “You don’t know what you’ve walked into, friend. We’ve got things stable here. Nobody gets hurt and we get what we need to get by. They provide for us, keep us fed and all that.”

“You’re out of ale,” John said. “I’m sure you’ve no wine or spirits either.”

The mutterings from the crowd confirmed John’s words.

“One slip up at the mines, from what I hear, and you lose another person,” John said. “You all look tired. Damn tired. How long until you fail to meet your quota? How long until someone else is taken? Taken or… worse?”

“None of your concern,” Holden snapped. “Becket, would you see if you can find one of them? Tell them we’ve got some new workers.”

“Don’t be a fool!” Sadie hissed. “We’re here to help you!”

“You can’t help us!” Holden shouted. “There’s two of you!”

“We have more,” John said in a calm and steady voice. “They’re waiting nearby.”

Holden shook his head. “You’re mad! Both of you. Becket!”

John closed his eyes and focused on his bonds. “Stop the man leaving the bar,” he sent.

The tavern’s door opened. Becket was half a dozen feet away from it.

John stared at the woman standing in the doorway. She was taller than he remembered. Taller and older by a few years. A few years that were important years. The kind that allowed her to fill out the bodice she wore. Her blond hair was almost dark from being drawn so tight into a braid that disappeared down her back.

“Arika?” Sadie and John said at the same time.

She stared at them in equal shock and then smiled. “Well well, that explains everything.”

“You were heading south,” Sadie said.

“Looks like she spent a few years down there,” John pointed out. “Unless you share your name with a younger sister?”

“That was me,” she said as she walked in. The door shut behind her and the latch slid across, locking it with no one there to touch it.

“Impressive,” John said.

“It’s been an eventful week,” Arika agreed. “Good to see you again, Lord John.”

“I’m not sure if I can return the sentiment,” John said. “What are you doing here and why do you look like that?”

“I left in the middle of the night. I was afraid, you see. Afraid of what all those big and handsome men would do to me… and a little worried about the women too. Two of them were so kind and beautiful and so nice. Too nice, if you know what I mean. Jennaca and Helleen, I believe?”

John kept his face blank as he watched her.

She shrugged, making her breasts flex and move in her black with gold trim corset. She wore a black flowing skirt that fell to her ankles and revealed low cut boots. Long black leather gloves rose to her elbows and a black cape with a golden clasp at her neck rested on her shoulders.

“So why are you here?” John asked her.

“To talk to the good people of Hawk Hollow. They struggle to appease our lord and until now, they’ve been hard pressed to understand the greatness that awaits them,” she said. “I wanted to make sure they understood before something terrible happened.”

“Something terrible?”

“Yes, misunderstandings can be wretched things. I’m sure the people of Highpass will soon agree with that… if any remain.”