Nuella and lifted his mug in a toast. “To youth…may you always refuse to die.”
Lenora took a sip, and whispered, “Does your quest have anything to do with the Jiserians?”
Talis edged closer to Lenora. “We share a common foe. Just last week, our city, Naru, was attacked by Jiserian sorcerers. But they haven’t defeated us yet…at least I hope not.”
“Do you have any idea how powerful the Jiserians are?” Rikar said, and squinted at Talis. “Without the most powerful of magic, we’ll be useless against them. You haven’t got a clue what is needed.” He drank the cider, and wiped the sides of his mouth.
“But we can stop them.” Mara glared at Rikar. “That’s why we’re on our quest. Turn things in our favor.”
Lenora looked doubtful. “Father is leading us to Khael. They say Khael and the lands to the north are free from the Jiserian’s grasp-”
“Father said they are allied yet protected,” Nuella said, her voice uncertain. According to Master Holoron, the city of Khael was an outlaw city, filled with pirates and brigands. If Khael was allied with the Jiserians, they probably wouldn’t be welcome. But they needed to go through Khael to find passage by sea to the island.
Just then a big man with sagging jowls and darting eyes came stomping over. He glowered at them and grabbed the mugs from the girls’ hands. “What are you doing? Why are you talking to these people. And why are you drinking this!” He set his eyes on Talis and looked him up and down, and huffed, the smell of garlic and liver wafting from his lips.
“I think you misunderstand, Father,” Lenora said, standing firm. “These travelers are from Naru, recently attacked by the Jiserians-”
“Naru? You’re from Naru? But why would the Jiserians dare attack your fair city?”
The big man relaxed his shoulders, studied Talis more closely, then finally sat next to his daughter. The bench groaned under his weight. He wrung his hands as if they were wet. “Don’t pay any mind to my gruffness… who can trust strangers?” He smiled, as if trying to assure them his suspicion was natural. “Tell me, has Naru fallen?”
“Nay.” Rikar put a whetstone to his dagger. “We repelled their aerial invasion. Unlike, it sounds, your village…”
“Not a village lad, a great city, Bechamel Downs, lain waste by hoards of Jiserian mongrels. Strange beasts, made of mud and sticks and twisted vines. They sieged our city for weeks, as if toying with us, sending us petitions for our surrender each night at dusk. Our foolish leaders refused each time-”
“I’ve never heard of your city.” Rikar twisted up his face. “Well it doesn’t surprise me, honestly, your leaders probably sold you out in exchange for titles in the new Jiserian Empire…people do that, you know. They did it at Onair and countless other cities along the western coast.”
“Who are you, boy?” Lenora’s father said. “You talk as if you’re a king-”
“Perhaps one day…mother says that’s a possibility.” Rikar looked at the beams, eyes blinking rapidly.
“The Lei Family line is in waiting for the throne,” Mara said, her voice terse.
“They’ll be waiting a long time if they’re dead. Enough of this talk.” Rikar stared at Lenora’s father. “Our party is in shambles…ruined by an attack from Jiserian necromancers in the desert. Your daughter here tells us you’re traveling to Khael. Yes? So, so, we also travel to the coast… Shall we, bind together, safety in numbers and all that?”
“I don’t see why not.” Lenora’s father shook his fat jowls left and right. “Yes, it’s decided. Travel with us to Khael, join me and my daughters, and our two servants. Together we’ll be nine.”
“We’ll need to talk it over…as a group.” Mara glanced at Talis.
“All this talk is making me hungry.” Nikulo jutted his chin at their table. The barkeep had just set down a huge bowl of stew filled with pork and cabbage and potatoes, and roasted bread, topped with what looked like garlic and butter. It smelled better than it looked.
“If I didn’t have the gift of sight,” Lenora said, “I wouldn’t say our paths are intertwined. Because they are. Somehow the way ahead is made clearer after meeting you…”
The way she spoke made Talis feel as if fate had spoken. If he resisted, the gods would be angered. For a brief moment, when she had voiced the words, it was as if time stilled, and her eyes were illuminated with some strange fire. He couldn’t resist even if he tried.
Mara elbowed him in the ribs. “Snap out of it.” She pulled his arm, leading him to the table.
Talis was about to grumble, then he thought the better of it. When Mara was determined like that it was impossible to say a thing. He filled his bowl and ate, thinking about Lenora. She might be a mystic, but from Mara’s expression of contempt, Lenora was a witch.
15. THE EDGE OF THE STORM
When Rikar and Nikulo and Talis all voted to travel with Lenora and her family, Mara was furious. She promised them no good would come from traveling with strangers. But Talis couldn’t help notice the edge of jealousy in her voice. After all, Lenora was beautiful and from an exotic kingdom, and he was curious to discover the secrets of the mystic school of magic.
Rikar and Talis had found enough gold in their purses to buy four horses, the last of which was a small, fat horse that seemed perfectly suited for Nikulo (despite his protests). Talis glanced up as a stable boy finished placing a saddle and bags onto his horse. He handed a small silver coin to the boy, and grinned as the boy’s eyes went wide staring at the coin.
A stiff wind sent the cypress trees swaying above. The horses whinnied, spurred by the unsettled air. Talis thought of Naru, vowing he’d never forgive himself if anything happened to his family.
As he mounted his horse, he gazed east, filled with a sense of foreboding. What was out there waiting for them? His thoughts were interrupted as Mara rode up alongside.
“I still don’t think this is a good idea.” Her horse circled around, as if anxious to begin the ride.
“We can always go off on our own if it doesn’t work out with them.”
She came in close, and whispered, “Have you seen those servants Lenora’s father was talking about? More like an evil-looking sorceress and a grim reaper with a scimitar… We carry the most valuable relic in the world, how can you trust them? When it was just innocent-looking Nuella, that witch Lenora, and her fat father, it seemed harmless.”
Talis chuckled, not imagining Mara could ever be so jealous. “She’s not nearly as pretty as you.”
Mara blushed, looking down. She was about to retort when Rikar and Nikulo rode up, followed by Lenora and her sister. Nikulo’s horse seemed to strain under the weight.
“And what joker thought it was funny to give me this horse?”
“Why you’re perfectly matched.” Mara tried to stifle a snicker.
Lenora’s father trotted up, flanked by the sorceress and the blademaster. “Enough talk, off we go.”
The sorceress stared at Talis as if searching for clues. He felt a heat prickle under his skin, recognizing her use of magic. He knew he had to stay guarded against her magical senses.
After they left the village, they took a spindly trail to a bridge suspended between two huge boulders. The river flowed hundreds of feet below. The horse's hooves clapped against the wood as they trotted ahead.
In the warming of late afternoon, the sky cleared and Talis lifted his eyes and his mouth fell open. Sheer granite cliffs towered over them, to the left and the right, rising to the zenith. The glow of the sun reflected off the cliffs, a wash of brilliant light. Sentinel pines a thousand feet tall stood guard at the entrance of a pass that knifed through the mountains. But the mountains dwarfed those pines, rising seven or eight times higher.
The next day they trekked inside the dark pass, torches in hand, curving up and around until they broke out of the corridor and reached twilight on the other side. They’d climbed several thousand feet and the air was cold and dry. Swept before them, mountain lakes and sheer, jutting granite spires dotted the carpet of spruce and redwood and cedar. Talis loved these mountains, the invigorating, fragrant smell of pine, wind racing through rocks and branches. The shade of trees providing sanctuary from the unyielding sun, and when thirsty, the taste of sweet water from mountain springs.
After two days winding through the forests, the once fair skies turned dark and the air chilled. The horses
