A Spell Misplaced, page 20
part #4 of Gags & Pepper: Protection Agents Series
“You’ll see,” the same guard replied.
They spent the night in a town on the way to the capital, but Gags had to sleep in the local jail. At least the collar was removed. After a breakfast of bread and water, Gags joined his companions, who stayed in an inn.
“Did you sleep well?” Gags asked.
“I was giving energy to insects,” Eno said with a scowl.
Lucian raised his eyebrows and frowned. Gags knew what his friend was thinking. One of the spells he learned training before he arrived on Atto repelled pests. He was surprised Eno didn’t know about it, being an Attoan and a wizard. But there were many strange things about Eno, and Gags wasn’t all that curious as long as the wizard didn’t impede their progress.
They stopped at a roadside eatery. Gags ate what the guards ordered, but Lucian brought better food when they left Gags tied to a table to tend to nature’s business.
“I want you to buy ingredients in Greystone for the potion. Do you have something to write with?” Gags asked.
“And on,” Lucian said, pulling out a small notebook.
“When did you start carrying one of those around?” Gags asked.
“Ever since I realized Ann was special. I write notes so I remember what she says so I can make her happy.”
“Write the recipe down so we can make Miria happy,” Gags said, feeling slightly irritable.
He tried not to feel sorry for himself but getting to Miria was more complicated than he imagined. They hadn’t yet gotten to the fief of Amering, where every stranger was an enemy. At least he had a taste for that during his stay in Oroia.
“Repeat it back to me,” Gags asked once the list was complete.
Lucian didn’t make a mistake.
“Good boy!” Gags said. “Can you get the others to help? We need to gather everything before we enter Castlewhit. From what Otto said, we may not have the time or the ability to buy anything once we cross the border.”
Gags spotted the guards emerging from the nearby woods. One of them tossed a bottle into a bush. He laughed. “Time for you to leave. The guards didn’t want to be seen drinking on the job.”
“Eat heartily,” Lucian said, patting Gags on the shoulder as he walked back to the others.
“Where did you get that?” the guard said, asking about the plate Lucian had brought.
“Leftovers. I’m the youngest of us and am still a growing boy,” Gags said.
The guards laughed. “You better not grow anymore, or you won’t find a house that fits you.”
Gags smiled as genuinely as he could, not seeing the humor as clearly as his inebriated guards did.
In a couple of hours, they arrived in Greystone, the capital of Dimple. The country wasn’t as large as the Karkle Cross Fief, even without Hardcastle. Gags looked at the gray walls and the gray buildings behind.
“Can you figure out where our beloved capital gets its name?”
“I don’t think I would ever be able to guess,” Gags said.
“Are you being sarcastic?” one of the guards asked.
“Yes,” Gags said with a grin.
They were waved through the city gate, and Gags looked around at the clean streets and scrubbed walls of every building. The cleanliness didn’t go more than ten feet up before the grime of city living appeared again.
The people seemed happy enough, and other than the border issue, Gags hadn’t detected any ill will on the part of the people. Their ruler had to be the one making the place seem repressive.
“Your friends will have to find their own way from this point on. As for you, we have a special place for challengers.”
“May I have a word with my fellow travelers before we part?”
The guard frowned. “A minute or two.”
Gags walked over to his friends, trailing the two ropes from his collar. He spoke to Lucian. “If something happens to me, promise that you’ll transform Miria. The communications dagger is in my saddlebag, and you have the formula for the transformation potion. You let it age for 24 hours and then just sprinkle it. It won’t take much. Have a blanket and some clothes because she will be naked when she returns to human form,” Gags said.
“You don’t have to remind me. Eno’s transformation is, unfortunately, etched in my memory,” Lucian said.
“Take her to Peria and let Ann comfort her.”
“Is there anyone who can defeat you?” Lucian asked.
“Yes,” Gags said without hesitation. “You know how honest the Oroians are. I don’t expect anything different here.”
“Time’s up,” a guard said, picking up one of the ropes and tugging on it.
Gags nodded to them and left. He mounted and was paraded through Greystone streets as if he were a serial murderer. Gags kept his eyes open as he observed as much as he could. The people still looked happy enough, and the market he passed was lively.
They passed the market square and turned into an alley before entering a gate built into a wall. Gags looked above him to see three stories of barred windows on all four sides of the courtyard. He had reached his special place, a cell amidst lots of others.
The collar was removed, and manacles were put around Gags’s wrists. He didn’t think the simple lock would represent any challenge to him, but escape wasn’t his intent. He wanted to get everyone inside Castlewhit and to Amering fief, where Miria was supposed to be.
The challenger’s cell, as the guards called it, wasn’t as bad as Gags feared. The bed was too short, but the wood wasn’t rotting. The walls were whitewashed, and there were two chairs and a table in the cell in the same condition as the bed. The mattress was stuffed with lumpy straw, but the filling didn’t have the stench of mold.
His manacles were removed, and a young pimply-faced guard retreated behind the door made with bars.
“Will I be fed, and when will I fight?” Gags asked.
“There is a hearing first. That will likely be tomorrow morning. Your challenge will take place later in the day,” the guard said.
“Is the challenger as good as the border guard said she is?” Gags asked.
“Probably better.” The young guard looked from side to side. “I will warn you, but it won’t help. She is a magician.”
Gags laughed. “I know how to fight magicians,” he said.
“You do?”
“I come from Peria, where magicians are common, unlike Oroia,” Gags said.
“Peria is a place of former glories,” the guard said.
Gags smiled, “That sounds like something you learned in school. It isn’t true. There are pockets of former glories like Fetishing in the south, but the rest of Peria is much like Oroia, except governments aren’t as hostile to visitors, like me,” Gags said.
“You mean travelers can go freely from one country to the next?”
Gags nodded. “And fief to fief. If a country sets up too many barriers, it will lose trade and find itself much poorer. I’m sure Dimple would be a richer country if it allowed people to come and go freely.”
“Only criminals and people running away from trouble are put up as challengers,” the young guard said. “You were on the list, most likely.”
“I was, and we tried to get through Whistlane without seeing anyone,” Gags said. When confronted at your border, I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
The young guard considered what Gags had to say. “People do win their challenges,” he said.
“Do I have to kill the woman to prevail?” Gags asked.
“Not that I know of, but I’ve never seen a challenge. Only the nobles do.”
Gags didn’t like knowing that he was fighting for entertainment. That meant he couldn’t rely on any sense of fairness tomorrow. If the guard didn’t think he was a magician, then Gags had an advantage, but he’d have to be careful not to become a captive champion.
He suspected the female champion wasn’t free, and Gags didn’t want to fight for the right to replace her.
Chapter Twenty-One
~
G ags didn’t expect the hearing to be fair, and his expectations were met. After a sparse breakfast, Gags was manacled both hands and feet and led downstairs, even though walking downstairs was a painful exercise.
The room the guards shuffled him into wasn’t much bigger than his cell, although the whitewash was fresh and the window letting in the morning sun was clean.
“Vingus Gags?” a man before a desk read before looking up.
“That’s me,” Gags said.
The judge looked up from his desk and kept looking farther up. “You are a tall one. The complaint said a tall brown-haired young man and that you are.”
“What is my complaint?” Gags asked.
“Refugee from Baxter. You kidnapped a noblewoman.”
“She came with us at her request.”
The judge looked at another sheet of paper. “With her fiancé, it says.”
“That’s right. The king betrothed me, but it was canceled because my intended wife was already in a relationship with another noble.”
“That would be Count Paul Browning?”
“Who made the complaint, if I may ask?” Gags said.
“Count Browning, it appears. The complaint came by a bird. There are those in the castle who know the seal.”
“He is a rival,” Gags said.
“For your intended’s hand?” the judge asked.
“For that and for the fact that….” Gags was going to say too much. “I’m a foreigner with a loftier title.”
“There is a loftier title than lord?” the judge said. “What is it?”
“I am a duke over three fiefs, Karkle Cross, Yearsend Vale, and Hardcastle, which is ruled by a liege lord.”
“And why is a duke traveling incognito through Oroia?” the judge asked.
“There is a kidnapped woman, and I seek her out. The latest reports have her in Amering,” Gags said.
The judge winced. “Good luck even getting to Amering,” the man said. “There is a little unfinished business. We can’t have a complaint go unanswered. You will have to fight our champion.”
“And what happens if I lose?”
“We will exile you to Castlewhit,” the judge said. “You will be manacled and let loose on the border.
“And if I win?”
“We will exile you to Castlewhit, but your passage will be simpler because you will have your possessions and weapons with you.”
“And I will be killed if I refuse to fight?”
The judge nodded. “And your body will be dumped in Castlewhit. I find you guilty of unauthorized flight from Baxter and the subject of a complaint of a known noble. Your title is of no consequence to the citizens of Dimple.”
“And my friends?” Gags asked.
“As accomplices, they will be exiled to Castlewhit, but with all their possessions.
Gags shook his head. “What if we wanted to be exiled to Whistlane?”
“We don’t have an agreement with Whistlane,” the judge said. He turned to the guards. “Take him to the challenge field.” The judge signed an order, already filled out, Gags noticed.
“Don’t worry, the field isn’t far,” the guard said.
Gags looked up at the cloudy sky when a peal of thunder shook the jail courtyard. A big drop hit him on his forehead.
The walk was longer than “not far,” and the fighting field was beginning to get saturated from the downpour that soaked Gags to the bone. The situation couldn’t get worse unless Gags refused to fight. He had fought women before and knew how to put aside the reluctance to treat a woman like any other fighter.
Gags was made to stand in the middle of the square fighting arena as the roofed-in spectator seats were filled. After an interminable length of time, the rain stopped, and a few rays of sunlight reached the challenge field. It was too wet for the sunlight and warming air to dry anything out.
“The High Chamberlain!” a uniformed old man called, making everyone stand as the High Chamberlain, who must have been the ruler of Dimple, sauntered underneath the wooden canopy and sat on the largest chair in the arena or whatever it was called.
The chamberlain put out his hand, and a rolled-up sheet of paper was placed in it. The chamberlain unrolled the document. “Vingus Gags has been found the subject of a complaint from Baxter, an ally of Dimple. He is sentenced to fight a challenge duel with the court’s champion, Darlia Westmount.” He looked at the old man who called the challenge to order. “Is this a fight to the death?”
“No, my lord. The local charge is trespassing.”
“Pity,” the High Chamberlain said before turning to Gags. “In any event, you will be exiled from Dimple and banished into Castlewhit. May whatever gods you worship have pity on you, for I certainly don’t.” The chamberlain raised his hand. “Call the champion.”
Another voice outside the circle of spectators repeated the call, and three people entered the fighting space.
Gags thought the name was familiar. He looked into the eyes of a woman that had fought with the scout team a few times.
“It is you,” Darlia said.
“I hate meeting you again after all this time in a place like this,” Gags said.
“We have to fight, you know.”
“I do, Darlia,” Gags said. “Does the chamberlain know I am a magician, too?”
She looked at the chamberlain, who was busy taking a large goblet of wine from a steward. “No, he doesn’t, and I suggest you don’t use magic. If you win, take me away with you.”
“That, I believe, is impossible,” Gags said. “I’m heading to Castlewhit no matter what happens.”
“I can help you there, but you’ll have to put me to sleep after you injure me. I must be injured.”
Another man entered the field and dumped Gags’s sword and staff on the muddy ground.
“No more talking or pleading for mercy,” the man said. “Hurry, the High Chamberlain has other things to do.”
“We can’t disappoint him,” Gags said, buckling up his sword and hefting his metal staff.
“Fight until one of you can’t fight anymore,” the man who carried Gags’s weapons said.
“Do you know what to do?” Darlia asked.
Gags nodded. “Unfortunately, I’ve probably had as much practice fighting as you have after leaving Atto.
“Fight!” the High Chamberlain said before draining his goblet.
Gags jumped back and let Darlia draw her sword. She started with a spear of lightning. It was so weak, Gags didn’t think it would pierce his wet shirt, but he blocked it with his staff, and the dampness shocked his hands.
He closed in and swung at Darlia, who ducked just in time. The fight was more like a dance. Darlia sliced Gags’s side, but it was only a scratch. He hit her with the staff several times but could restrain his force until she cast a flame at Gags. The fire spear was so slow that Gags rolled forward with his staff and hit her helmeted head. She put her hand up, but Gags hit her again on the neck and slid his hand down the shaft, putting her to sleep as he pushed her to the ground to make her fall harder.
The sparse crowd offered scattered applause, but most attendees weren’t excited about the results of the challenge.
“Vingus Gags has won the challenge,” the old, uniformed man declared.
“I was uninspired, Vingus Gags,” the High Chamberlain said as he rose. “Neither of you became particularly muddy.” He frowned. “What was your secret?”
“I have fought magicians before on Peria,” Gags said.
“But your match was so boring. I have tired of our current champion. I would replace her with you, but your fighting lacks spirit.”
“What will you do with the woman?” Gags said.
The High Chamberlain touched his chin as he thought. “What would you do with her in your fief?”
“I would banish her for disappointing me,” Gags said.
The chamberlain pursed his lips. “You will have a new companion tomorrow when we escort you and your friends to the border. You have the rest of today and half the morning to prepare yourselves,” he said before leaving without another word.
The man who brought Gags’s weapons stared at Gags. “If I didn’t see blood on both of you, I’d say you faked your fight. Remove her. If she revives, she can tell you where her possessions are.”
Gags threw Darlia over his shoulder and followed the same guard who escorted him to the field.
“I can take you to your friends. It’s a little far carrying the woman,” the guard said.
“Let me see if I can do something about that.”
Gags carried Darlia out of the challenge field. He propped her against a wall away from the field and invoked a spell to wake her up.
She took a few moments to respond, but her eyes fluttered open.
“You won. I didn’t think you’d win by hitting me in the head,” she said, taking off her helmet and rubbing her head.
“Where are your things?” Gags said. “You’ve been banished to Castlewhit along with us.”
“For losing my first match?” she said.
“The High Chamberlain said it was boring,” Gags said with a grin.
“You made it so! Do you know what happens in Castlewhit?”
Gags shook his head.
“You go directly to the mines to serve for at least a year. Then you get two weeks to leave Castlewhit. Most prisoners take two days to get out of Castlewhit, and you don’t want to come back here. Most of those who fought me were criminals from Castlewhit, and those were duels to the death.”
“We are lucky I wasn’t deemed a criminal. My major crime was trespassing.”
“There was a complaint from Baxter, I was told.”
“I left the country without saying goodbye,” Gags said. “We have tomorrow morning to leave. I want a good breakfast before I experience exile.”
“And so do I.”
Gags had the guard tell Darlia where the inn was. She had visited it before. Her life was restricted in Greystone, but not as much as Gags’s had been.
“Do you have a horse?” Gags asked.
She nodded. “I can get one. I’ll come at dawn. We’ll eat breakfast and leave right after.”
