The Sword that Binds (Book of Worlds 1) (16 page)

“Might be able to convince someone to ferry you over,” he said while glancing at Uckey, “But there’s not many that can carry a horse like that across. Ferrying isn’t exactly a good business when there’s a perfectly good bridge to use. I suggest you make up your mind quickly instead of staying here though.” His eyes returned to watching the incoming travelers, signaling the end of the conversation.

Sarena pulled the hood of her cloak up as she passed by. She preferred to keep it lowered so that she had a wider field of view, but in a town of this size she felt it was better to try and attract less attention, especially after the welcome the guard had given her.

“How can a bunch of ogres scare the guards of a town this size into hiding behind their walls, Uckey? Shouldn’t an entire race capable of using magic be able to deal with that?” Sarena whispered when they were far enough away from the guard to not be overheard.

“Usually guards or mercenaries are metal users of some kind. They’re great for fighting most monsters off, but ogres are cut from a different cloth. You were barely able to beat that rock ogre, even with strength close to a Highmage. A regular ogre might not be anywhere near as tough, but their brute strength tends to counter most internal magic users as well as metal mages,” Uckey said.

“But what about all the other elements? I can fight with both wind and stone, surely there’s at least someone in this town who could fight them off,” she asked.

“Having a single element suitable for combat is already rare you know! The core you gained from Tyrus is already twice as strong as a normal shavren’s. It’s not enough for you because of the excess amount of power Tyrus was always filling you with. Just because you meet someone who can use wind like yourself doesn’t mean it is useful for fighting! They might only be able to make a breeze with it, or maybe they can fly,” Uckey explained. “It’s the same with stone. I’ve known stone mages that could turn themselves into an unbreakable rock, but be unable to move. Another could make stone harder or softer, but couldn’t move it or shape it at will like you can. Shavren magic is always the most unreliable of every race! They produce both the weakest as well as most powerful mages in the world!”

“Sounds like you were pretty lucky, Sarena. Both of your elements suit you perfectly,” Tyrus said with a chuckle.

Sarena scowled as they continued down the wide street. Even with her hood up, she was still getting glances from the people around her. It wasn’t exactly a cool day, and she could already feel sweat forming on her brow under the heavy hood. Uckey’s horns weren’t very inconspicuous either.

“Might as well check out the situation with the ogres first,” Sarena mumbled. “No point in wasting money on a ferry if there’s no need.”

Millstone had a fairly simple layout, with the main street going from the gate all the way to the bridge across the river. Sarena had been able to see it before she even entered, but the distance had masked just how massive it truly was. As they drew closer she could hear the sound of the river grow louder, while the arching stone bridge grew larger and larger in front of her. She stared at the marvel ahead of her.

The Teroban wasn’t the small river she had been expecting. Instead of a simple stone bridge spanning a river wide enough for a small boat to travel, she had found a raging half-mile wide force of nature. Arching gracefully across was the Millstone bridge. Wide enough for at least three wagons to stand next to each other, it was formed out of seemingly a single piece of smooth granite. It rose gently all the way to the midpoint before slowly coming back down to ground level at the other side, causing the center to be so high above the water that no ship had to be concerned about clipping a mast. Two massive support pillars lowered themselves into the water about a quarter of the way out from each end.

“What are you two just standing there staring at?” Tyrus asked, making Sarena realize her mouth was hanging open. Even Uckey had stopped moving at the incredible sight.

“It’s nothing,” Sarena said while shaking her head. Tyrus didn’t need to know what he was missing out on. Her short experience with seeing the world from his point of view made her feel pity for him. He would never be able to witness sights like this the way they were meant to be seen.

Uckey was strangely silent as they started moving again, stepping almost reverently onto the immense structure.

“Seven hells, Uckey. How did a river of this size just suddenly appear and disappear?” Sarena asked.

“I...I don’t know,” he said, sounding truly lost. “I just can’t understand it. There’s no magic that I know of that could create and destroy something like this. This bridge shouldn’t be possible. It’s one piece of stone! Not even the dwarves could make something like this with just one stone!”

It was the first time Sarena had heard Uckey not sounding completely confident in everything he said. She couldn’t help but wonder if the unshakable gnome was finally starting to doubt his knowledge. It would be quite the wake-up call for him to realize that not everything in the world conformed to his wishes. Her spirits couldn’t help but raise at the thought.

“The almighty Uckey has finally found his match in the form of a bridge? I never would have seen that coming,” she said.

“I have not met my match!” he shouted indignantly. “Theoretically creating the bridge and the river is possible, but the power it would require is so far beyond what any race is capable of!”

It didn’t take long for them to reach the other side. At the end of the bridge a tower rose up, with a portcullis and gate underneath it blocking the entrance. Obviously the tower wasn’t part of the initial construction, being of a different color of stone and much cruder. At the top of the tower stood a single soldier, who watched them approach before calling down to them.

“Gate’s closed! Turn back, you’ll have to wait until the new battlemage is here,” he yelled.

“Human!” a voice boomed from the other side of the gate. “We want cross! Why you not paid toll yet?”

“I told you the toll is on its way!” the guard shouted back to the ogre. “It won’t be here for a few more days. You’re asking for too much, it takes time to collect!”

“Oh. Why you not say so in first place! Trogbog tribe is patient! We wait!”

Turning back to them the guard yelled down in a much lower voice, “Bunch of idiots. They ask me that every hour. Bad timing for them to show up right when our battlemage is being replaced. If you want through you’ll need to find another way.”

Sarena sighed at his words. “Any ideas you two?” she asked. “I’m not sure I could take on an entire group of ogres. I doubt I could even convince the guard to open the gate for me to try.”

“Ask him who made this bridge!” Uckey demanded.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how was this bridge made? I’ve never seen such an incredible feat of craftsmanship,” Sarena called up.

The grey-haired guard smiled at her question. “It’s older than Millstone itself, and according to legend it was made by a Radiant thousands of years ago. Who else could have made it?”

Sarena had no idea what a Radiant was, but the way the guard pronounced it almost reverently made it sound like some kind of god. “Oh, of course. I thought that was the case, but I couldn’t help but ask anyways,” she said in an attempt to mask her lack of knowledge.

“Of course,” he said while continuing to smile. Obviously he didn’t believe Sarena at all.

“Get us out of here, Uckey,” she said quickly under her breath.

Uckey spun around and began to do a quick trot back to the other side of the bridge. Sarena could feel her face had turned red at the man’s words, and it wasn’t until they had reached the other end that it started to fade away.

“What in the world is a Radiant, Uckey? And why didn’t you mention it before?” Tyrus asked before Sarena could.

“I don’t know! If I had to guess, it’s a race that doesn’t exist in my time, but I’ve never heard of one so powerful in any of the histories I’ve read! And he said it has been thousands of years!” Uckey paused for a moment. “I didn’t think Ankaros had sent us so far from my time. I can only hope that the grimoire truly is still within Stewrix. We haven’t seen a single gnome during our travels, and my race has always been the most sociable of all the greater races - shavren excluded of course.”

“We haven’t seen anything
except
shavren yet, Uckey,” Sarena said.

“Yes, yes I know!” Uckey said. “Most of the races keep to themselves, but the lack of any other races at all is concerning I admit. And this Radiant creature...well we know nothing about it for now! We don’t have time to detour and find more information on it! We’ll just have to focus on our task! To the docks!”

Uckey abruptly turned, causing Sarena to have to pull on her wind element to maintain her balance. She found that both of her elements responded to her call far faster than before, but she could feel them draining the power held within the core inside of her now. Most likely she couldn’t hold the wind element at full strength for more than a minute. Clearly it would take some time before she had returned to the strength she had with Tyrus’ aid.

They continued along the edge of the river, heading to the east. Even the road along the water’s edge was paved, with a five foot drop directly into the water. Sarena knew that there was no way a normal town could afford that kind of luxury. Millstone probably relied on the river trade to make most of its wealth. Stone docks stretched out from the paved road for at least a mile, with dozens, if not hundreds of boats moored to them. Dock workers were everywhere, offloading and loading cargo, or standing around waiting for someone to hire them.

“What is drawing all these people here?” Tyrus asked. “There’s nothing out here except farms and tiny villages. How can this town have so many people in it?”

“Food,” Sarena answered. “Like you said, farms are everywhere around here, and I bet the capital has the best prices for them. Fastest way to the capital from anywhere around here is probably through Millstone, so that’s where everyone takes their goods to sell.”

Sarena kept an eye out for a boat that didn’t look busy, hoping to find one large enough to hold Uckey. They had traveled nearly half the length of the dock before she finally saw a small flat barge, empty of cargo and no sign of it being loaded either. A cabin stood at one end, with rails running around the sides. There was no mast, but paddles were lined up neatly by the edges. It looked perfect for what they needed, and Sarena could see a man had just walked out of the cabin. She pointed it out to Uckey and they walked up to the edge of dock next to it before calling out to the man.

“Five gold,” the man said before Sarena had a chance to open her mouth. He had deep blue eyes, but not a strand of hair on his tanned head.

“Excuse me?” Sarena asked.

“You want me to ferry you and that horse monster across. Five gold. I just got finished unloading everything and you’re asking me to head right back out,” he said.

Sarena scowled. The only money she had was what she had been paid by Ropal for the pelts, and after almost a week of travel she had spent less than a gold. He was blatantly trying to take advantage of her, either that or trying to scare her away. She didn’t want to waste any more time. After Uckey had said it had to be thousands of years past his own time, she was willing to spend any amount to cross. It didn’t mean she liked throwing so much money away though.

“Deal,” she said while reaching into a small pouch she had sewn into her cloak. Withdrawing five gold from it, she waved her hand at him with the coins easily visible. He showed no reaction at all except motioning them to come down the gangway onto the low barge.

Less than an hour later, Uckey was wading through the shallow waters on the other side of the river with Sarena standing on his back. She was using enough wind element to maintain her balance and avoid getting soaked, and made sure to look back at the taciturn man that had grudgingly ferried them to the opposite bank. He hadn’t even bothered with the paddles. The water around them had simple started flowing the direction they needed, guiding them to the other shore easily.

Instead of seeing a look of surprise on his face like she had expected, the man had already turned his barge around and was heading back to the docks.

“Stop trying to show off and get off of me! I know you can make the jump to dry ground from here!” Uckey shouted.

Sarena turned back to face forward before leaping off of Uckey’s back, putting a bit more force than needed into her jump. She had the joy of hearing his complaints intensify as he sunk lower into the water for a moment before she landed. The forest had been cut back for around fifty yards around the river’s edge, making it easy for them to climb the small bank up the shore. The ogres were situated around a mile to the west of them, and once they were on dry ground there was no need to worry about them attacking. There was no way they would be able to catch up with Uckey.

“Hurry up Uckey! We don’t have all day to wait for you!” Sarena called down the wet glow horse with a smirk on her face. “I want to get as far from here as we can before setting up camp!” She turned away and started walking to the north, with Uckey’s constant complaints chasing her.

S
arena leaned back against the wall, staring at the untouched bowl of stew in front of her. She wasn’t sure what was in it. It didn’t really matter to Sarena. Her mind was too focused on the events of the past three days to eat.

Three days. Three full days wasted in a village less than a mile from the Agraven. And no sign of that changing any time soon.

When they had passed through the small village on their way north Sarena hadn’t paid any mind to the fact that everyone looked at her suspiciously as she rode past. She was too preoccupied with crossing the Agraven and reaching the last leg of their journey.

They were utterly disappointed when they found what awaited them.

Instead of the famous bridge crossing into a lush forest, all they found were a few charred stone pillars stretching out of the water below. As it turned out, the elves and shavren had less than friendly relations ever since the king had taken the throne almost twenty years earlier. The elves had burned and dismantled the bridge in response to the raids that had been sent into their lands, and anyone that tried to cross would be met with an arrow through the throat.