The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1 (21 page)

“
New customers?” he said with a sinister looking, toothless
grin.

Natalie nudged
me to indicate that I was the one to do the talking.

“
Yes,” I nodded and slid my pack off my shoulders. Aaron and
Natalie did the same and we pulled the three short swords and bow
we had collected from the bandits and placed them on the table for
the old man to study. I motioned for Aaron and Natalie to leave and
the look in Natalie’s eye suggested that she was excited to see
what I would do to intimidate this merchant.

To be honest
, Cathy started. I am
too.

It’s not going
to be anything fancy.

While the
bandit picked up and studied the weapons, I found the door to his
mind wide open. I wasn’t going to do anything grand because of the
crowd of people around us. Just make myself seem more physically
intimidating.

I was starting
to understand why Mages that spent time outside the Tower could be
corrupted. All the power at your fingertips was hard enough to deal
with but by keeping your identity a secret, you could have power
over the thoughts, senses and feelings of the people around you
without them realizing it. The temptation could very easily become
too much.

There is nothing wrong with a LITTLE
corruption
, Cathy said.

A little, yes.
With our mission, we need to use whatever we can to overcome the
odds stacked against us. But I’m not in a hurry to go crazy with
power.

Cathy laughed.
You have nothing to
worry about there. You are far too nice a person to take advantage
of innocent people.

Wow...thanks
for the surprising compliment.

Now, scare this old man,
Cathy said
excited.

“
What do you think?” I asked with a menacing voice, planting
the seeds of my Illusion in his head.

The old man
cleared his throat and looked up at me for a second before turning
away back to the sword he was holding. “These are good pieces, not
great but not worthless either. I’ll give you 50 gold for the
lot.”

“
50?” I boomed. “I was thinking closer to 100.”

“
100?” he asked looking up at me but not enough to make eye
contact for longer then a second. “I’ll starve if I started paying
out that much.”

“
It’s not starvation that you need to worry about right now,”
I said as I put my hands on the table and leaned in closer to him.
“100 gold means I stay in this good mood I’m feeling. Anything less
I may become...unreasonable.”

I could see
the wheels turning in the old man’s head. He knew it would be the
smarter decision to just give me the 100 and get me away from
him.

And he didn’t
live to be this age by being an idiot.

The old man
reached under his table and pulled out a bag of coins and tossed it
to me. I caught and hefted it in one hand.

“
It’s all there,” the old man said trying to sound in control.
“I never cheat anyone.”

“
Good,” I said leaving the ‘or I’ll be back’
unsaid.

I turned and
walked away slowly, waiting until I was back with Aaron and Natalie
before dropping my hold on the old man’s mind.

“
How’d it go?” Natalie asked still in her ‘Nate’
voice.

I tossed her
the bag of coins. “It’s all there.”

“
Nice,” she said. “How’d you do it? It didn’t look like you
did anything.”

“
I didn’t,” I smiled.

“
Fine, be cryptic,” she chuckled. “I’ll figure out your
secrets one day.”

She led us
towards the main gate to the quarry. The area was pretty deserted
except for the gate guard and the archer in the tower. Over the
makeshift wall, the quarry stretched empty ahead of us with edge
wrapping around the whole line of sight. I could make out no path
to the top of the quarry from here but it had to be out there
somewhere.

“
Where do you think you three are going?” The gate guard
asked.

“
The quarry,” Natalie answered.

“
No, you’re not,” he replied. “Road Dogg said no one
leaves.”

“
Not even a paying customer?” Natalie asked tossing the bag of
coins to the guard.

The gate guard
grinned as he caught it. “Well, that’s an exception to the
rule.”

He pulled open
the gate and shouted up to the archer in the tower that we were
heading out. Out in the quarry the door was slammed behind us and
Aaron and I jogged after Natalie as she took off without
warning.

“
We have to be quick,” Natalie explained in her normal voice.
“As long as it is still dinner time patrols will be light.
Afterwards this place will be crawling with raiders from both
sides.”

“
I’ll keep us hidden,” I said. “Just get us out of here
quickly.

Jogging at a
comfortable pace, I focused on picking up any mental activity.
Drained from all the mental exertion of the day, my mind didn’t
have the same focus that it had earlier but I was still able to
pick up a couple of patrols and steer us clear of them.

We made it to
the old mining camp and used their lift to get to the top of the
quarry. At the top, I stopped to look back over the ground we had
covered. It was hard not to be impressed with the progress we had
made in just one day.

The sun was
low in the sky and the horizon was turning red, a symbol of the
blood that had been spilt and the blood still to be spilt before we
could call it quits for the day. Natalie removed her headdress and
scarf and Aaron and I removed our bandanas.

“
Not too far now,” Natalie said catching her breath. “How’s
everyone holding up?”

“
I could stop for dinner,” Aaron answered.

“
I could sleep for a few hundred years,” I added.

Natalie
laughed. “I’ll agree to dinner but we have to strike tonight.
Chester will know we are coming. I’d rather not be surprised by his
thugs in the middle of the night.”

“
This old mining camp must have a few hiding spots that would
keep us protected,” Aaron pitched.

Natalie shook
her head. “I’d rather not delay this.”

“
I agree,” I added. “If Chester is holding the Nesqian
Princess, the sooner we get to her the better our chances of a
successful rescue.”

“
Let’s see if a shove is working in one of these abandoned
crew quarters,” Natalie said. “We’ll leave at sunset.”

Chapter 18

With some food
in the stomach and a chance to rest the shoulders and back, I was
feeling more energized but the task of assaulting a bandit
stronghold was still too much to contemplate. Natalie said to take
it one person at a time but that was easier said then done. Natalie
was still the only one of us with real battle experience.

Shouldering
our packs once more we left the old mining camp as the last light
of the sun disappeared over the horizon. The dark blue hue of dusk
made visibility tough as we entered the mountainside forest that
led down to the city of Malkia. A rock formation slowly came into
view in the distance and Natalie warned us to keep our noise down
and for Aaron to ready his bow. I searched ahead with my mind but I
could only feel the faint humming of something I couldn’t identify.
Whatever it was, it wasn't alive and couldn’t hurt us.

“
There’s no one in the area,” I whispered ahead to Aaron and
Natalie. “But I can feel a weird energy disturbance.”

“
That’s comforting,” Natalie whispered back.

“
Weird how?” Aaron asked.

I struggled to
find the right word before just saying the only thing that came to
mind. “Unnatural.”

“
Oh, Chester,” Natalie sighed. “What did you do
now?”

“
I’ll scout up ahead and let you know if I see anything,”
Aaron whispered already moving forward.

You just said that there was nothing,
Cathy said
. What is he hoping to
find?

Something to
impress Natalie?

Quite possible,
Cathy
agreed
. He’s been all googly eyes since
meeting her.

How haven’t I
noticed that?

Because you don’t notice anything until I tell you?
Cathy asked jokingly.

I chuckled and
Natalie turned and gave me a weird look.

“
What’s funny?” she asked.

“
Your boyfriend is trying to impress you,” I
answered.

“
I’ve noticed,” she said turning back to watch Aaron
creep.

Oooo
, Cathy exclaimed excited. She
didn’t comment on the ‘boyfriend’ part.

“
And he’s not my boyfriend,” Natalie added.

HA! She waited too long to say that!
Cathy exclaimed.
I think there is a
love interest going on.

I just laughed
and shook my head.

The figure of
Aaron motioned to get our attention and we headed towards him
staying quiet. As we drew closer to the rock formation the humming
grew louder. I switched from searching with my mind to shielding it
from the power.

What the hell
is it?

Whatever it is, it is powerful,
Cathy answered.
Give me a
second.

“
Come on,” Aaron said when we were close enough. “There’s
something you need to see.”

Leading us
closer to the rock formation, I noticed that the entrance to the
mine was protected by a large wooden door and the entire area was
lit by a lantern on a post. Then I noticed the two mummified
corpses on their knees next to the door and immediately wished for
things to return to the blackness of night.

“
Chester’s redecorated since I’ve last been here,” Natalie
said failing to disguise her shock with humour.

“
Unnatural you said,” Aaron said looking at me.

“
That’s the word,” I replied scanning the door.

Anything?

Yes, I believe that the energy you’re reading is coming from
a magical barrier created by the life force of those two
mummies,
Cathy explained.
Hit it with a simple Dispel and let’s see how
strong it is.

I gathered
some energy into my hand and launched a Dispel at the door. The
area in front of the door glowed bright white as it absorbed the
spell before turning translucent again.

“
What was that?” Natalie asked.

“
A test,” I answered. “We’re dealing with a magical barrier
and a powerful one at that.”

“
So disable it,” she said.

“
It’s not quite that easy,” I said as I dropped my pack off my
shoulder and starting to dig around. “Just a second.”

I pulled out
my ritual book hoping I was smart enough to write something that
could disable the magical barrier. I quickly flipped through the
pages and found only one. I had added it because it looked like it
would be simple enough for me to cast. It called for only two
ingredients: Pine Needles and Red Jacket Wasp Honey.

“
Okay, good news, bad news,” I said without looking up. “I
have something that can help but we need to find a couple of
things.”

“
Ok,” Aaron said.

“
Pine Needles and Red Jacket Wasp Honey,” I said. “Pine
Needles are easy; they’re everywhere in this forest but for the
honey we will have to go to town.”

“
Not necessarily,” Natalie said reaching into a pouch on her
armour. “I keep a tin with me. It’s good for keeping stab wounds
from getting infected. How can something that heals help us
here?”

“
Um,” I said trying to remember. “Just a second, I have a
terrible memory.”

Can you find
it?

Two steps ahead of you
, Cathy
chuckled as the memory flashed through my head.

“
Ah yes,” I continued. “Red Jacket Wasps have magically
properties. They can be controlled to sap the magic out of Mages
and their honey when applied to a bond around a Mage's wrist
prevents the Mage from casting magic. I’m guessing in this
situation the honey disrupts the barriers magic and destroys
it.”

“
Are you telling me,” Natalie started as she held up the tin
of honey. “That if I had put this on your wrists while you slept,
you would be completely useless.”

“
Not completely useless,” I smiled. “I have a
sword.”

“
And what would happen if I poured it on your head?” she
asked.

“
We could style my hair into many crazy shapes?” I shrugged as
I turned to Aaron. “Grab me a bunch of pine needles still on the
branch.”

Aaron nodded
and headed back up the way we came as I continued to read the
ritual. It seemed simple enough, dip the needles in the honey,
magically light the honey needles and shoot it at the barrier.
Should be a piece of cake.

Last time you said that, you and I ended up bound
together,
Cathy pointed out.

Good
point.

I closed the
book and put it back into my pack as Aaron returned with a small
branch with a bunch of needles on it. I took the branch from him
and pulled the needles out quickly so they all rested in my hand.
Natalie unscrewed the top of the tin and held it out to me. I
levitated the needles out of hand and dipped them into the
honey.