The Troven (Kingdom of Denall Book 1) (26 page)

“Rathan, you are a dirty scoundrel and one day you will pay for it.”

Rathan walked slowly forward, gripping his heavy hammer. “I can overlook you interrupting my work, I can overlook your accusations, but that sounded a lot to me like a threat. Nobody comes into my shop and threatens me!” His sons fanned out to his sides. His oldest son was only seventeen, but they were all well built from blacksmith work, and they were armed with their hammers.

Noch took a step backward and raised his open hands. “I wasn’t making a threat,” he replied. “I was just saying that you need to watch how you do business, because one day you will need to answer for it.” With this said, Noch stepped out of the shop and turned back to his house.

“Dad, I really think we could have held our own against them. I’ve always wanted the chance to teach them a lesson.”

Shaking his head, Noch turned to his son slowly. “I’m sorry I got hot-headed back at our shop. Some lost iron is not worth getting killed over. You know better than anyone that I would never hurt a fly. I just wish there was a way we could prove that iron is ours. Now we owe the smelter for the iron, and we’re going to miss our deadline with Commander Pang.”

“Couldn’t we talk to the smelter and at least check if Rathan is telling the truth?”

“No point in doing that,” Noch replied. “I asked the smelter yesterday if he had any more, and he told me the last five bars were set aside for the Rathans.”

“That was way more than five bars in their shop,” Trae argued.

“I know, but there is no way for us to prove they stole them. I just wish there was some way to deal with that bully that wouldn’t end with me in the ground.”

“Well, at least we delivered what we finished each day, and that didn’t get stolen,” Trae said, trying to be optimistic about the situation. “Let’s go home and figure this out.”

The next morning, Trae was awake before sunrise. He ate some dried meat with some cheese and a thick slice of bread, dressed for a day of hard labor, and then went downstairs into the blacksmith shop. The entire previous day had been spent trying to find a solution to their predicament. In the end it was agreed that Trae would work mining ore for the smelter for three days. For his work he would be forgiven the debt for the stolen iron and given a significant discount on his next purchase. This deal was the best they could get at this point, and although it would leave them only one day to complete the order, it was the best chance they had. When he entered the workshop, he stopped short and stared in shock.

“Hi Trae,” came the familiar voice. “Glad you got up early. It’s time for us to go.”

Chapter 24

Trae didn’t think he would ever see Dune again after their last encounter, but it seemed he had survived and, as promised those years ago, he had returned.

“What are you doing here?” Trae asked as he walked across the room to his friend.

“I’m here on important business, and I need your help. You will need to come with me,” Dune answered, so matter-of-factly that Trae stopped half way across the room, rethinking his desire to embrace him.

“It’s wonderful to see you again, but now is a really bad time. I need to get going to the mines, then I’ll be at the anvil for two weeks getting caught up, and then I have to…”

Dune cut him off with a wave of his hand. Trae was completely silent, knowing that when a magician waved his hand there was no telling what might happen.

“It has been taken care of. Come with me.”

Dune walked outside and stood in front of the workshop. He turned to see that Trae was still standing in the shop. He motioned for Trae to follow him out into the dark, empty street. “You will meet me at the north gate in two hours. I will be there with all the supplies we need. Begin by walking down this road. When you…”

Trae cut him off, “Didn’t you hear me? I can’t go! My family is depending on me right now, and if I leave I could ruin our family’s reputation. People are counting on me.”

“I don’t have a great deal of time, Trae. What we are doing is more important than some lost wrought iron and a couple of arrowheads.”

“How did you know about that?”

“I told you everything is taken care of. I think that with all we’ve been through, you would have learned to trust me.” Waiting to see Trae nod, Dune continued, “As I was saying, at the end of this road you will see the smelter. Wave at him. Then you will take a detour past the mines. Wave at the head miner. Then make your way directly to the north gate. If you pass Commander Pang, be sure to wave at him as well. I have already packed your things, so there is no need to wait. You should begin walking now. We haven’t much time.” Without waiting for a reply, Dune vanished, leaving Trae alone in the road.

Trae looked around, completely shocked by what had just happened. He would have instantly dismissed the idea of following Dune, but because of his plans for working in the mines, he was already dressed in sturdy, comfortable clothing, and he was planning to go toward the mines. He decided to walk as far as the mines before determining what to do.

Trae walked down Smyth Street, passing the smelter’s shop just as a lantern was lit. Feeling awkward and foolish, he walked up to the shop door and pushed it open slightly. He looked in and then waved at the smelter.

“Oh Trae, so glad to see you before you left. Good luck on your travels, and thank you so much for the help.” The smelter then went back to work setting up shop for the day. Trae slowly closed the shop door and continued walking down the street, baffled by the strange turn of events.

Trae turned down a side street that would lead him to the mines. After walking about thirty paces, he saw three young men walking very slowly. When they came closer, Trae recognized the Rathan brothers. He wished that he had brought some kind of tool with him that he could use as a weapon. Finding these three in a dark side street was sure to end badly. Deciding to not delay the inevitable, Trae continued walking down the road, trying to look as confident as possible. He clenched his hand into a fist, flexing his biceps. If they wanted a fight, he wanted to be ready. When they came closer, he noticed that their clothing was covered in dust and dirt, they were walking hunched over, and the oldest was limping severely. The closer he came to them, the more he was certain they would not be in any shape to pick a fight.

“Are you all right?” Trae called out when they were ten paces away.

The three brothers jerked their heads up when they heard his voice. The oldest brother stood protectively in front of his younger siblings.

“Please,” he begged, “Just let us go home.” Then the boy began to sob uncontrollably. “Please! Please!”

Trae reached out to comfort his neighbor. He knew something was wrong if a Rathan used the word ‘please’. He was surprised the boy knew that word.

“Of course I’ll let you go home,” he replied. “Is everything okay?”

Ignoring his final question, the three boys ran down the street in the opposite direction and quickly turned right. Trae looked around suspiciously, not knowing if there was some kind of strange joke he did not know about. He searched up and down the street for anything that would give him some understanding of what was happening. Not finding any answers, he continued down the street and out of town. As he passed by the mines he waved to the head miner, and much to his surprise, the man waved enthusiastically back.

“Thank you Trae, and have a wonderful trip.”

“Thank you?” Trae replied tentatively. Then he stopped walking. “Can I ask you what it is that I did for you?”

The head miner furrowed his brow in confusion, “I don’t understand.”

“I just want to know why you thanked me. What is it that I did for you?”

The miner pointed at carts and barrels loaded full of ore. “You worked through the night and gave us all the ore we need to get caught up on our demands, just like it says in this note.” Stepping forward, Trae reached out expectantly and the man handed Trae the note. “Are you feeling all right?”

Head Miner Jomal,

I regret to inform you that I will be unable to help in the mines as I am traveling today. I hope this will help supply the smelter with what he needs. In the morning I will pass by to bid you farewell.

              The Blacksmith

“Thank you,” he said, ignoring the strange look from the head miner, and put the paper into his pocket. He decided that at the absolute least, he would meet with Dune and get some answers about what was going on. He continued his trip to the north side of Norwell.
I just hope I don’t pass Commander Pang. I don’t think I can handle any more mysteries today.

As he walked to the north side of the city, Trae could clearly see the large, northern gate. The gate had a steel reinforced drawbridge that crossed the dry moat. Two guards in shining armor stood watch, monitoring the people who came and went. Much to Trae’s surprise, Dune was casually speaking with one of the guards. He was dressed in travel clothing, with a shirt that came to his wrists; he clearly did not want anyone to know he was a magician. At the sight of Dune, Trae began walking briskly. He closed the distance between them and just as he was about to call out to the magician, Dune turned to face Trae and waved him to come closer.

“Come on, I’ve been waiting for you,” he called out. The guard and Dune stopped their conversation and looked expectantly toward Trae. Despite the desire to quickly run to the pair of men, Trae continued at a slow pace, forcing them to wait for him. It was a small victory, but for the first time this morning, he felt like he had some control over what was happening.

“This is the friend I was telling you about,” Dune said to the guard.

The guard smiled broadly. “He’s just as you described, walks slowly like you said too.”

“Well it was a pleasure talking with you, but we need to be off.” With this farewell, Dune mounted his tall, black stallion and handed the reins of a second animal to Trae. He waved to the guards, then kicked his horse into action and began a steady trot away from the city, leaving Trae standing next to his bay. Trae swung his leg over the horse and galloped to catch his friend, then matched his pace.

When he was down the road a distance so that he felt safe talking, Trae wheeled his horse in front of Dune’s.

“When are you going to tell me what is going on?” he demanded. “I’ve been living in a daze from the moment I woke up. My enemies are doing work for me, and my debtors are thanking me. I have no idea what my father is doing…”

Holding his hand up to stop Trae from saying anything else, Dune spoke softly. “I told you it’s been taken care of. Your father has been restored what was rightfully his, your pleasant neighbors will leave your family alone, and I left a note for your father so he will be expecting you back in about three seasons when we return.”

“Three seasons!” Trae repeated as he raked his hands through his thick hair. “Will you please tell me what we’re doing and why, in the name of the King, it will take three seasons?”

“Certainly, my friend,” Dune said casually as he urged his horse forward and Trae fell in beside him, “I thought you’d never ask.”

Trae exhaled in exasperation. “I don’t know where you think you got your sense of humor, but you are not funny.”

“I think I’m hilarious,” he countered, “and you would too if you saw the look on the faces of the Rathans when a terrible magician entered their sleeping chambers,” Dune smiled.

“Well that does explain a lot,” Trae admitted as he allowed himself to laugh lightly. “How did the old man react?”

“You know the rules, Trae. I never spook and tell.”

“Come on Dune, you can’t just leave it at that.” Trae looked longingly at Dune. “Don’t make me beg.”

“Let’s just put it this way, I think he will need to spend some of the day down at the stream doing some laundry.”

Trae laughed out loud. “That serves him right, dirty thief.”

“To set the record straight, he never stole from you,” Dune corrected, “I stole your iron.”

“What? Why would you do that?”

Dune slowly breathed out, “I needed to have the iron so that I could make the arrowheads for your father. He has probably already discovered the completed arrowheads, horseshoes, and armor in his storage room.”

“Can’t you just make arrow heads appear?”

Dune laughed, “I wish. Magic doesn’t work quite like that. I can’t create something out of nothing, nobody can.”

“I’ve seen you pull things from the air.”

“Yes, I can take dust from the air and make it into something more solid, but that takes a great deal of energy, and making dust as sturdy as iron is no easy task. Shaping a metal is much easier than creating something from scratch.”

“So, in one day you made as many arrowheads as two seasoned blacksmiths could make in three days?”

“Don’t be silly, I had some help, but that is neither here nor there. Do you want to know why you are here?” Startled by the change in conversation, but happy to finally learn what was really going on, Trae nodded his head. “Good. Follow me.” Dune increased pressure on the sides of his horse and galloped off the main road.

Chapter 25

Dune and Trae entered a small, abandoned, one room cabin off the main road. The door of the underwhelming wooden structure had long since rotted off its hinges, and Trae could see several patches of roof that were damaged or missing. The walls in the cabin were bare, and the floor was covered with a layer of dust and mouse droppings. It had a table that was covered in spider webs, and next to the table there were two chairs, one of which was turned over and lying on the floor.

“Wow, Dune,” Trae began, “this is a really nice place you’ve got here.”

Picking up the overturned chair, Dune sat at the table and motioned for Trae to join him. Trae stepped to the chair and dusted it off with his hand, then sat down carefully, not sure if the chair would sustain his weight. When Trae was seated, Dune looked across the table at him.

“I’m glad you like it.” The tone of Dune’s voice gave no indication that he noticed the sarcasm in Trae’s comment. “We need to get started quickly, so I will not have time to give you a full tour.” With that said, Dune let a smile cross his lips.

Trae laughed lightly and shook his head. “Seriously, what is this place?”

“It’s just an old hunting cabin I use to store my supplies.”

“Supplies?” Trae looked around the empty room, confused.

“We’ll get to that later. Right now I need you to focus with me.” Dune pulled out a small map and unrolled it onto the table. Trae reached to the floor and picked up some small stones. He placed a stone on each corner so that the map would lie flat. Dune rolled out his side of the map and ran his hands over the corners, smoothing it out flat on the table. Experimentally, Trae removed the stones and his side of the map rolled up. Replacing the stones, Trae looked up and saw that Dune was watching him impatiently.

“I can’t believe you used magic to hold down the sides of a map,” Trae said.

“I’m surprised that you picked up dried bear droppings to hold down that side.”

“Are you serious?” Trae asked, and then he rubbed his hands off on his shirt. “Why didn’t you tell me? Or you could have flattened the entire map.”

“This was much more fun.” With a wave of his hand, Trae felt a gush of air and the bear droppings fell to the floor while the map remained flat.

“So, what is this all about?” Trae asked as he pointed over the map.

“Let’s start with us. We are here,” Dune said, pointing to the map, “just north of Norwell.”

“And…”

“And I have been tracking some of Mordyar’s stone seekers since Eaton,” Dune said, indicating a small village in the Egtharnton Plains. “And now they are headed up to Lexingar.” He moved his finger north up the map to point to another unlabeled dot.

“That is an awfully long trip. What do you suppose they’re doing?” Trae asked.

Frustration creased Dune’s brow. “I’m not exactly sure. I do have a theory, though, and I will need to make a slight detour here,” he indicated a small fork in the road just south of Lexingar, “to make sure I am prepared in case my theory is correct.”

“Why can’t you just grab one of them and interrogate them?  Can’t magicians read minds?”

“You should know better than that after our previous… adventures.  Though it is a rumor that has widely circulated, and frankly has been encouraged by others like myself, none of us actually has that ability. As for other interrogation methods, even though I could have stopped the seekers I was tracking, or caught them multiple times, they all clam up when they’re in the dungeon. They are incredibly dedicated to their master, and most starve themselves to death when incarcerated. I’ve been following them, trying to learn their plans, find their leader, and stop them for good.”

“And now this group is heading to Lexingar?”

“Not just this group. There are more of them on the move, and they are
all
headed for Lexingar. I’ve been chasing Mordyar’s seekers for a long time, and I have never seen them take a road trip like this. Seekers seek. They blend in, earn people’s trust, then subtly ask around for unusual talents, or pose as collectors of magical items. They don’t trek most of the way across Denall, or compete for space.”

“Wait, we are going to a place where there will be
groups
of seekers gathered? Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?” Trae looked around the room exasperated. “Back in my blacksmith shop you could have said, ‘Trae, I think all of the stone seekers in Denall are headed to a party, want to come crash it with me?’ and I would have replied, ‘No Dune, I have to help take care of my family.’ Then we could have saved racing around the countryside.”

Dune nodded. “There is more to it than just that.”

“Okay, will you please tell me what this has to do with me? You can follow them to Lexingar, you can find out what is happening, and you can handle it with your super magic powers. Why did you bring
me
into this?”

In a very sincere tone Dune replied, “I need someone to watch my back. I need someone I can trust completely. My friend, you are the truest man I know.  Without your help, I could still be wasting away in that slave camp. I need your help to make sure that others will escape a similar fate.” For the first time since this trip had begun, Trae was sure that Dune was being serious with him.  He sighed deeply as he sat back in his chair and rubbed his face for a moment.

“Have you ever thought that this might be a trap? The seekers are looking for the stones we carry. If there are dozens of seekers all in one place at one time, that’s the place I don’t want to be. I’d rather go home, wouldn’t you? Let’s go home and just forget about Mordyar’s stone seekers.”

“You may think you can forget about them, but they will always seek you,” Dune said sadly. “I heard them talking one night when I was near Eaton. They spoke of a blacksmith who worked all night and didn’t seem tired. ”

“When did you hear that?” Trae asked.

“When I was leaving Eaton. I thought they were not interested in you, then the leader of their group peeled off and snuck into Norwell to watch you. I’ve been keeping watch on your shop since I got here, and I stole your iron so he couldn’t see you working all night.”

“Then you had the Rathan boys work all night in the mine,” Trae added, understanding dawning.

Dune nodded. “It seemed a good way to keep him from suspecting you. But now this seeker of ours has turned his course north again at a breakneck pace. There must be something earth-shattering happening there. You need to stay away from your father’s blacksmith shop, I need someone I trust, and the Stones of Power need to be protected.”

“I guess we don’t have much time to waste,” Trae conceded.

“That’s the spirit,” Dune said, standing up. He waved his hands, and the back wall of the cabin slid to one side, revealing a hidden closet filled with curious objects. Trae stared with wide eyes at the collection of armor, weapons, potions, salves, and clothing.

Dune changed into the formal black robes that were traditional for master magicians to wear, and pulled a staff from the closet. The staff looked like any normal short staff, but Trae knew better. Most magicians carried a wooden staff that was enchanted in some way. Dune also pulled a longbow from the closet with a quiver of matching arrows. After retrieving his equipment, he looked at Trae. “Do you want to take anything?”

Trae walked to the small closet and surveyed the weapons and tools. He first reached for a large broadsword.

“I wouldn’t use that one. It is cursed with a spell that will attack the user,” Dune advised.

Next, Trae reached for a long sword and Dune shook his head. He looked down at the small short sword and then, without reaching for it, he looked to Dune, who was still shaking his head.

“You told me to get a weapon, and now you’re telling me not to take any. Why don’t you just tell me what you want me to take?”

“That’s a great idea,” Dune said. He reached into the closet and pulled out a longbow with a quiver. He handed them to Trae, then reached out for a one-handed mace and shield that had matching patterns on them. “That will go very nicely with your armor.”

“What armor?”

Dune reached into the closet behind his robes and started pulling out pieces of armor. First the breastplate, then leggings, gauntlets and a helmet. Trae noticed immediately how skillfully the gleaming plate armor was crafted. He picked up a piece and also knew, by the weight, that it was magically enhanced.

“What is the enchantment on this armor?”

“It is stronger and harder than any natural metal, and it is light as a feather, you’ll barely feel it,” Dune replied. “Put it on and we’ll get moving.” As Dune left the small cabin, the map rolled up and disappeared, and the wall closed back over the closet.

In a short time, Trae emerged, fully clad in armor. He mounted his horse and hung his shield on the left side of his saddle. “Do you really think I need to wear this while we travel down the road? Won’t it attract attention?”

“Not at all,” Dune replied. “People will just think we are heading to Lexingar for the tournament. We’ll be hiding right out in the open. Besides, you’re traveling with a magician in a black robe.  How often these days do you see a magician announcing himself with this get-up? I don’t think many people will even notice you.” The pair moved through the woods back to the main road, then headed north for Lexingar.