Siege of Pailtar (16 page)

17

NATHAN FELT AVA’S PAIN as the initial shockwave attack hit. He could feel her confusion and then her fear as she realized the Darcarions were attacking.

Nathan dropped the hammer and sword blade he had been forging and grabbed his own weapons belt and ran out of the smith shop.

“Nathan, what is going on?” asked Breon, but Nathan just kept running.

Breon grabbed one of the freshly sharpened swords and yelled at his apprentices. “Everyone grab a weapon and follow Nathan. Something is amiss.” The three apprentices and Breon scrambled to follow Nathan.

Nathan ran as fast as he could towards Balthazar’s house. It was on the outskirts of the city. After Cyrnic had almost blown up Balta, it had been deemed that all mages must live away from the masses. As Nathan ran he tried to communicate with Ava. “Are you okay? What is going on?”

But Ava was too weak to reply. Her thoughts were jumbled and filled with fear. Nathan ran faster towards Balthazar's house. He could see four knights standing at the door of the house, trying to break it down, but a magical barrier was preventing their entry.

As Nathan reached the door, a powerful explosion knocked him and the knights back. Nathan watched in horror as the entire second floor of Balthazar’s house blew up.

Nathan suddenly felt a void in his being. Something was missing. Nathan feared the worse. He desperately tried to sense Ava to see if she had survived the blast, but he could sense nothing. Where he had been able to sense her fear and confusion seconds before, there was now a void. No emotion no nothing. Ava was gone.

Tears filled Nathan’s eyes as he watched the building burn. He was stunned.

“The king is in there!” yelled the knights as they tried to break down the door, but the flames were already working their way down the walls and entry into the building was impossible. No one could save the king, Balthazar, or Ava now.

More knights arrived along with Breon and his apprentices. Breon yelled at everyone. “Buckets of water, everyone grab buckets of water and someone fetch an elemental mage from the castle.”

One of the knights yelled, “I’ll get the mages, everyone else get some water.” The knight ran off to the castle while the rest of the crowd scrambled to get buckets of water.

Nathan just stood watching the building burn. He knew that Ava was gone and no amount of water would bring her back. Nathan could feel the intense heat of the fire on his face,but instead of backing up Nathan just let the heat hit him. The pain of the heat was nothing compared to the numb, abysmal void. Ava was gone. He forced himself out of his daze and calculated how to best help fight the fire.

Soldiers and citizens started bringing buckets of water and dumping them into an empty barrel one of the soldiers had grabbed. Nathan helped passing buckets of water. Tears continued to flow.

“Fill the barrel,” yelled the soldier as the bucket were brought to the fire.

Minutes later the first soldier returned with an elemental mage in tow. The mage wasted little time starting to cast his spell on the water in the barrel. The water rose and formed a tiny rain cloud over the burning house.

“Keep filling the barrel,” said the mage as he concentrated on his spell.

Nathan  stepped out of the bucket line. His thoughts became more coherent.  He walked purposefully to the mage. He grabbed the mage's shoulder and pushed his own magical energy into the mage. The mage used Nathan’s power to amplify his spell, increasing the size of the raincloud over the house. Soon a torrent of water rained down on the house, slowing the burning down. Thick black smoke bellowed as the fire hissed and crackled. As each bucket of water was added to the barrel more rain fell onto the burning house.

Nathan focused on pushing his own energies into the elemental mage. When he felt his own reserves start to deplete Nathan drew on reserves stored in the magical ring he was wearing, and then Nathan grabbed his dagger and drew upon its energy reserves. When all his own energies and those stored in his gems was gone, Nathan drew upon the very earth itself. Nathan started to shake as he strained to send more energy to the elemental mage.

Finally, someone grabbed Nathan and pulled him away from the mage. Nathan looked up. It was Aunt Avera.

“Stop, Nathan, you are using too much energy. You can’t save them.” Blood was dripping from Nathan’s nose, the strain pushing so much energy into the elemental mage had caused him to start bleeding.

“She’s gone, Avera. Ava’s gone.”

Avera hugged Nathan. Her own eyes filled with tears. “I know.”

“Let’s go home. I need to tell Rose, and then we need to start figuring out what happened.”

“Where is Verin?”

“He was on patrol in the forest. All rangers have been signaled home, he will be here in a few hours,” said Avera.

“Have him come to the house. The three of us need to talk. We can’t trust anyone else.” Nathan was going through his recent memories. Ava’s thoughts had been scattered during the attack, but he had seen and heard her thoughts, now he needed to put them together and figure out what happened. One thing was a given. Duke Evollan had been right. King Ganus was not stopping, and they needed to figure out who the spy was before anyone else died.

Avera, despite her own shock and grief, noticed the way Nathan spoke.  His words were  lacking emotion.  He was focusing his energy on finding out what happened. As much as they both needed to mourn the loss of Ava, Balthazar, and her brother King Verbon, there was no time.  Avera shook herself mentally, took a deep breath. They were facing an enemy who could kill their king and his most powerful mage right in Balta. Nathan was much too young to have to suffer so much adversity, but he was better equipped than most. He already survived the loss of his parents and survived the grief that followed. He was a smart boy, entering manhood with the experiences and maturity of someone much older.  Avera looked at Nathan with hope. While Soron and Velaina had raised him in a small village, they had raised him to be inquisitive and open minded, caring and loyal. They had obviously taught him about inner strength, and helped him build it. He would need every bit of that inner strength to survive this.

Ava gently nudged Nathan towards home. Even with the help Nathan had provided the elemental mage, the house had burned to the ground. Even without talking to Nathan about Ava’s thoughts, Avera knew strong magic had been involved in the explosion and ensuing fire. It was not like any natural fire she had ever witnessed. She shuddered.

…

When they arrived home, Rose knew something was wrong. She could see Nathan’s tear streaked soot covered face and the burn marks where sparks had hit his cotton shirt. “What happened to you, Nathan? Where is Ava?”

Avera grabbed Rose’s hands and kneeled down so she could look the young girl in the eyes. “Rose, there has been a fire. I’m afraid Ava was in the building that burned. She is not coming home.”

Rose started to sob. She had been with Avera when one of the knights told her about the attack. She had seen the way Avera’s face had turned white. She had not believed Avera when she told her that it was nothing. She could see the thick black smoke, and when Avera ran off, Rose knew something terrible had happened again. When Avera and Nathan came home, Rose took one look at Nathan’s face and knew it was Ava. Tears flowed as Rose held Aunt Avera tight. It wasn’t fair. Why did everyone she love have to die? First her parents and now Ava. Rose felt like she was cursed.

Nathan watched as Avera consoled Rose. He wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything would be okay, but he couldn’t. If he broke down now he might never get it back together. He had to be strong. He had to figure out what happened. He needed to be thinking of Ava’s last thoughts, not how he would feel without her around.

Leaving Rose and Avera, Nathan went to his room and sat on the bed. He stared up at the ceiling and replayed what happened. Ava had been helping out Balthazar when the shock wave slammed her against the wall. He had felt her pain, she had been dizzy and confused and her legs and arms weren’t working. A back injury or magic? There had been images of men in the room. Nathan focused on the images, her blurry vision made the memories confusing but she had recognized the tattoo’s of the Darcarions. They had been the men in the room after the shock wave. The next thing Ava had seen was Balthazar throwing something at the Darcarions. No, he had thrown it past them on to the table where the tomes had been. Ava had watched Balthazar burn the books. She had then seen the Darcarions stand together in the middle of the room and holding hands. She had seen the spark start as the four mages killed themselves to create a massive fireball. The Darcarion mages had killed themselves in order to kill Balthazar and King Verbon. When the fireball exploded, Ava had seen a blue light, and then nothing. Her memories, thoughts and feelings all stopped going to Nathan after the blue light. Had that been her dying? Wouldn’t she have felt a great deal of pain or had it happened quick? The blue light and the way he felt disturbed Nathan. But he put those feelings aside. He had learned what he needed to. Someone had snuck four Darcarions into Balta, they waited until the king went to see Balthazar and they attacked. When the tomes were destroyed, the Darcarions killed themselves and everyone else in the room. Nathan couldn’t help but wonder what drove the Darcarions. They had Balthazar wounded, and the king was likely dead already from sword wounds, why blow themselves up? Was the burning of the tomes what caused them to kill themselves? Whatever their reasons, the fact that four powerful mages had sacrificed their lives to hurt his friends was sobering. How many more mages did King Ganus have under his control?

“How are you holding up?”

Nathan looked up. Verin was standing at the door. “Not my best day.”

“Tell me about it. Today was a terrible day for Balta. Three wonderful people that we care about were killed, not a good day for anyone not named King Ganus.”

“Not a good day for him either. Balthazar destroyed the tomes. King Ganus did not get everything he wanted.”

“You could see Ava’s thoughts?”

Nathan nodded, “They are jumbled and confusing at times, but I know what happened. They attacked while the king was visiting Balthazar, they created some sort of shockwave that knocked everyone down, stunning them. I think they planned to kill everyone and steal the tomes, but Balthazar burned the tomes. After that the Darcarions stood together and created a massive fireball that destroyed the room. That is the last of her memories, after that she was just gone.”

“Death can be like that.”

“Yes, but I’m not entirely sure she is dead.”

“You said they blew the room up and she was gone. How could she survive that?”

“I don’t know. I just know the last thing she saw was a blue light and then I couldn’t feel her anymore. It didn’t feel like she died, but she is gone. It is confusing.”

“Okay, we’ll ask Helena Woods about that,” said Verin.

“Later. Dead or gone, Ava is not our most pressing problem. Our problem is that someone we know is spying for King Ganus. I got another note from Duke Evollan. King Ganus found out that the Duke sent me notes. That means someone we told about the first note is the spy.”

Verin frowned. “We only told a trusted few.”

“And two of them are now dead. The number of people who could be the spy is very small,” said Nathan.

“Let me handle the spy. No matter what it is going to hurt to find out who it is. Betrayal like this is beyond hurtful.”

“You know who it is?” asked Nathan.

“I’m not sure. I will know soon though, too late for our friends and loved ones, but maybe soon enough to help deal with King Ganus. Tomorrow, you go see Helena. Tell her about the blue light you saw and how you felt after the explosion. You and Ava had a special magical connection, it seems strange that you did not feel pain. But an explosion like that, who knows. You may just be in shock and the pain may come back later. Either way, see Helena she will be able to help.”

“What about you?” asked Nathan.

“I’m going to find my brother’s murderer. I’m going to find the one who snuck the mages into Balta.”
 

Everet in Pailtar

DARK AND DINGY, THE Barnyard pub reminded Everet of the bar in Meron where he had first met Bryant Bingham. Both were the kind of places that used sawdust on the floors, not to soak up the spilled drinks but to absorb the blood that would be sure to flow on a daily basis. Actually the Barnyard pub could be even more dangerous than that bar in Meron. Meron did not have a port to attract sailors. Lusty and rowdy heavy-drinking free-spending sailors were targets for all the dangerous criminals that called Pailtar home.

“This place is disgusting,” said Severa.

Everet smiled, “Yes, it reminds me of Meron as well. That bar you worked in was nearly as bad.”

“At least my old tavern didn’t smell of fish. Some of these sailors must never bathe.”

“You’ve been spending too much time pretending to be a lady. You forget how useful a place like this can be.”

Severa shook her pretty head. “I didn’t forget. I am just worried, and not sure what
we
are doing here? Who are we looking for?”

“We are waiting, and I don’t know who we are looking for. However, in a place like this it is best not to be asking for information. It’s best to let them come to you.”

“I know how you wait, Everet,” said Severa. “I heard about how you waited in Meron. You stabbed a man in the neck with a broken glass and then ordered another drink.”

“In Meron I needed to send a message. This time I have a beautiful woman to protect, I can’t go killing every man that approaches our table. I have to be more civilized.”

Severa looked around the bar. “You need to be civilized here?”

“Well, not too civilized,” said Everet with a grin.

“You know you look scary when you grin like that,” said Severa.

“Yes, I know,” said Everet. “But you are not the only one looking at me right now, and looking scary is better than looking like a mark.”