A Spell Misplaced, page 22
part #4 of Gags & Pepper: Protection Agents Series
“You are used to indignities.” Gags said and winced inside as he thought of Miria doing the same. “Just cooperate, and you won’t have to do it again.”
“We strip search prisoners once a week,” Warden Fleahouse said. “It is Castlewhit policy. Inside and bring your weapons. I’ll have some men search your horses.”
They followed the warden to a good-sized room. Stools were stacked against the walls.
“Put your weapons on the table and keep yours separate,” Fleahouse said.
Gags pulled out his two boot knives, one of which was the communications dagger. He had a few bolts in his pocket and removed those before unbuckling his sword. The iron staff was tied to his horse.
“What about our horses and our belongings? Some of that stuff is food and will rot while we are here.”
“Don’t worry about your animals,” Fleahouse said, “unless we have a bad winter and need more protein.”
They were strip-searched in the same room but were allowed to dress in their own clothes. Gags had pictured them wearing prison outfits.
“Your supervisor will be here shortly for an evaluation and some training. You can sit on a stool.” The warden left them, and the guards entered the room to remove the weapons.
It was getting dark outside when a bald, skinny man walked in.
“I’m Bob Headpot,” the supervisor said. “What are your names?”
Gags was surprised the man asked, but as they said their names, Headpot gave them the plaques that Fleahouse had carried outside when they first arrived while an assistant made notes on a writing board.
“You are magicians except for Otto, so he says. Magicians are welcomed in the mines. We will put you to work making magic lights. They are better than candles, lanterns, and torches. We currently have two magicians, but the more, the merrier. Now a concise story from each of you.”
Headpot didn’t believe Eno was a unicorn, but Gags confirmed that Eno was transformed back into his human form by him and that Eno was a magician on Atto.
“Our other magicians are from Atto,” Headpot said.
Otto portrayed himself as the guide, and Headpot noted that.
Lucian was a soldier-friend of Gags, and they served in the magicians war.
“Excellent. The mines will allow you to work off some magic fat,” Headpot said. “Follow the rules and regulations, and you’ll get your two weeks in Castlewhit before you know it.”
“How long is ‘before you know it?’” Lucian asked.
Headpot shrugged. “A few months if you are outstanding. You could stay here for a year or more if you have issues. Outside Castlewhit, we encourage people to think you work a year in the mines if you are caught, and we do catch everyone. Any longer, and the consequences aren’t pretty.”
Knowing the ruthlessness of Oroians, Gags thought that a prisoner who didn’t follow the rules would end up dead. He almost choked at the mention of two months, but he would make sure they were model miners.
Headpot then gave them a description of the mines. There were three in the Sow’s Mine cluster. He described what tasks were done and made sure Eno would get a less physically taxing work assignment.
“Not me. I’m as tough as the others.”
“We accept requests, and your wishes are granted if there isn’t a good reason not to. I caution you to be prudent in your wishes, or you won’t be looked upon as a good miner.”
The lecture moved on, and Gags absorbed it all. He realized that this was a mining experience he would have missed in Yearsend Vale. Perhaps he could learn a thing or two he could use in Yearsend, even if it were how not to do something.
Chapter Twenty-Three
~
O tto became the three magicians’ assistant. The work wasn’t difficult since they walked through all the mines daily to ensure all the magic lights worked. The two Attoan magicians spent their days lighting up specific areas with more light to improve mining efficiency, mainly in the silver mine.
After their first week, Eno had them sit with the Attoan magicians for dinner.
“How much longer do you have to work in the mines?” Otto asked the Attoans.
“A few months, maybe more,” one of them said. “It’s hard to take orders from the common folk. We have not been as cooperative from time to time, but I think we’ve finally learned our lesson.”
The other Attoan nodded and asked, “How long are you planning on sticking around before you break out of here?”
Gags didn’t like the question. “Have you tried to leave?”
“Only once, about six months ago. We had been here for a month, but they have a couple of dogs that can smell you from here to the ocean,” an Attoan said.
“Escape is not on our minds. It will only make our lives more difficult,” Gags said.
“But you waste your power here. We thought we could come to Oroia and proclaim ourselves rulers,” an Attoan said.
“More or less,” said the other.
“What did you do in the magicians war?” Lucian asked.
“Why do you want to know?” one of the Attoans said.
“The war is long over, but I was curious. Were you sorcerers or magicians?”
“We’d never call ourselves sorcerers,” an Attoan said.
“Did you work for wizards?” Eno asked.
“Of course, we did. If you had magic on Atto, you got to choose which wizard. Everyone wanted to become an apprentice. What about you, old man?” an Attoan said. “Sorcerer or magician?” A sneer made its way to the man’s face.
“Neither,” Eno said. “I was a wizard. You never heard of Eno Banban?”
“He died during the war. You worked for him?”
Eno puffed himself up. Gags cringed as the wizard proclaimed. “That was an imposter. I’m the real Eno Banban.”
After putting both hands on the table, Eno lifted the table up and set it back down. Gags had never seen Eno do anything like that before and was impressed.
“Can you do that?” Eno said, baiting the Attoans.
They both shook their heads. “Who was killed?” one of them asked.
“My apprentice. She was able to change her appearance to look like me. I was transformed into a unicorn, and Gags spoke the truth. He was able to find the potion to turn me back in Baxter, a country to the northwest.”
“I can’t believe anyone could do such a thing!” an Attoan said.
“She did. I was able to see through her enchantment in Pilan,” Gags said. “Allies killed her not long after.”
“Do you want to work with us?” one of the Attoans asked Eno.
“Is it harder work?”
“Not as much walking,” an Attoan said. “We Attoans should stick together, anyway.”
“Perhaps we should,” Eno said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “I’ll talk to Headpot.”
Eno left them after the meal was over and then returned to their barracks. “I’ll be moving to join my countrymen,” Eno said. “They are leaving sooner than we will, and I’ll be better off returning to Atto.”
Eno didn’t take long to pack his things, and before they turned in, the wizard was gone.
“Not even a ‘thank you’ or a goodbye,” Otto said.
“That is how wizards are,” Lucian said.
Gags’s feelings on the matter were mixed. He could do without Eno’s complaining, but he felt Eno added strength to their group.
For the next three days, they didn’t see the wizard. Headpot stopped them in one of the mineral mines. “Do you three want to get out of here early?”
Gags nodded. “What do we have to do?”
“Bring back the Attoans, all three. They took off yesterday. For some reason, our dogs can’t sniff them.”
“Did they take food and horses?”
Bob Headpot shook his head. “No. I’ve never seen such arrogance before. It was as if once your Attoan joined them, their sense of duty disappeared.”
Gags wouldn’t call his staying at the mine a sense of duty, but he didn’t want Eno turning into a rogue wizard. Perhaps, he was always a rogue.
“We will do it,” Lucian said. “We will want our weapons and supplies.”
“Let’s talk to Warden Fleahouse,” Headpot said. “Don’t worry about the magician lights. A couple of magicians arrived, trying to sneak into Amering. You won’t know them since they are from Oroia. I don’t know if I’ll trust Attoans again.”
The warden looked more concerned than Headpot.
“I can’t let magicians run away. We prize our ability to control the borders. Did Bob tell you what happened?”
“Eno, our own Attoan, is a wizard. If you know anything about magic, they are more powerful than normal magicians.”
“Either of you two a wizard?”
Gags shook his head.
“Gags comes close. Otto knows how to track,” Lucian looked at Otto, who nodded. “We will need horses, weapons, and supplies.
“No, Otto,” Fleahouse said. “I won’t call Otto a hostage, but I can’t let all of your group leave the mines. It won’t look good on my report to Gettering, the capital.”
“Taking on three sorcerers is very dangerous,” Gags said. “What can we expect as a reward?”
“If you bring the three back or proof that you have killed them, I’ll give you your freedom,” Fleahouse said, “as soon as you return.”
“That’s early enough, isn’t it?” Bob Headpot asked.
“It is for me,” Lucian said.
~
“Is Otto good at tracking?” Gags asked as he kept his eyes glued to the ground.
Lucian shrugged. “No better than you or me,” he said. “I wanted a reason to bring Otto along in case the opportunity to leave Castlewhit presented itself.”
“And you’d leave Ann?”
Lucian raised his eyebrows. “I was being a bit selfish with that thought, wasn’t I,” he said.
“I suppose so,” Gags said. “I’m glad Eno knows how to evade sniffing dogs since the two magicians were caught escaping when they first arrived.”
A quarter of an hour later, Lucian raised his hand. “Three sets of footprints entered the road, heading north.”
“The quickest way out of Castlewhit without going through Dimple,” Gags said.
“I can think of a quicker way,” Lucian said, drawing his thumb across his throat.
“It may come to that,” Gags said. “The two Attoans spoke mostly sorcerous blather, so we must be careful with them, but the real problem is Eno.”
“Won’t he make a special case for us?” Lucian said sarcastically.
“Right. Eno is stronger at magic than I am,” Gags said.
“More experienced,” Lucian said. “I’m sure some of your tricks are better than his. I still can’t produce motes.”
“And I can’t make a wizard-worthy shield after all this time,” Gags said.
“No use arguing something we’ve talked about a million times.”
Gags grinned. “At least that.”
They followed at a good pace for the horses, but Gags didn’t expect to catch them before nightfall. They stopped to eat something and proceeded until they passed a cottage. A man, a woman, and a young girl lay sprawled in front. Scorch marks decorated the doorframe.
Gags frowned. “It didn’t take Eno long to show his true colors,” Gags said.
“Perhaps it was the sorcerers’ work.”
“Undoubtedly, but Eno could have stopped them from committing an atrocity,” Gags said as he dismounted in front of the cottage.
They took the bodies and laid them on the beds in the two-room dwelling.
“Look at the pantry,” Lucian said. “They stole food and killed the woodsman and his family.”
“Even the girl. Eno could have put them to sleep instead of what they did.”
Gags nodded. “I hope there is a village ahead with a guard.” He chuckled, but there was no humor. “Of course, there will be a guard there. This is Castlewhit. Everyone has to show their plaques to walk down the street. We can tell him what happened, but I won’t show any restraint if there is a fight, not after this. I hate wizards.”
“But you like Wisnian Orange in Glorius.”
“He’s not a real wizard,” Gags said. “The king had to give his magician friend a suitable title.”
They shut the door but didn’t attempt to lock it and continued. The tracks, which began to disappear in the lane’s increasing traffic only to reappear again, headed off the road when a village came within sight. Gags drew his sword and marked a tree with two cuts.
“We tell the guard first and then return. Got your plaque?” Gags asked.
“I do. I can see yours around your neck,” Lucian said as they spurred their horses forward and were quickly in the village.
They didn’t have to seek the guard. Three of them confronted them in the middle of the street.
“You aren’t from around here,” the leader said a woman.
“We came from the mines down the road,” Gags said, pulling the plaque from around his neck. “Three men, two younger and one older, escaped. They killed a woodsman and his family a way back. It’s the only cottage I saw on the road coming in.”
“Why did they do that?” the leader asked, restraining the other two guards from drawing their weapons.
Gags shrugged. “Their larder seemed to have been raided, so I imagine they robbed them for food. I have to warn you, the three of them are magicians, and the older one is very, very powerful.”
The lead guard examined Gags’s plaque and then Lucian’s. “They are who they say they are but search their bags to see if they have anything that looks like it came from John’s cottage.”
“Food. It probably came from the mine. John’s wife wouldn’t be cooking anything like that. There are some weapons, and that’s it. No other belongings.”
“What about the dogs?” another guard asked.
“Maybe the magicians can cover their scent,” the leader said. She looked up at them. “Are you magicians, too? Common folk don’t go looking for a fight with magic users.”
Gags nodded. “Both of us fought in the magicians war on Atto. We know how to deal with wizards, but it will be a challenge with only two of us.”
“I can send these two with you,” the leader said.
Lucian shook his head. “We can make magical shields, and you can’t. John, the woodsman, didn’t stand a chance against the sorcerers.”
“Then you best be on your way. I’ll send some villagers to retrieve the bodies,” the leader said, giving their plaques back. “If you’ve been lying to me, magician or not, I’ll destroy you.”
She sounded menacing, Gags thought, but she didn’t know who she was dealing with, the hunters or the hunted.
Lucian and Gags wheeled their horses and rode back to the flash Gags cut in the tree, and the pursuit was on.
The sorcerers didn’t make a competent attempt to hide their tracks once inside the trees, and a few hours before dusk, Lucian spotted them entering the woods on the opposite side of a large meadow.
“We will skirt the meadow,” Gags said.
“Yes, sir!” Lucian said, saluting Gags with a grin.
“Do you agree we should immediately attack?” Gags asked.
“I do, Duke Vingus,” Lucian said. “Shall we check our weapons?”
Gags nodded. He made sure he had crossbow bolts in his pockets, and Gags had Lucian fire a lightning spear at him to see if the enchanted tip still attracted magic, which it did.
“Shield up, Prince Rapper?” Gags asked.
Lucian nodded. “Shields up. Let’s get us three sorcerers.”
“Two sorcerers and a wizard,” Gags said.
“We fight for freedom!” Lucian said, but not too loudly.
Gags grinned, “Freedom, Ann, and Miria.”
“Not to mention Otto and Darlia,” Lucian said as he spurred his horse and began to trot through the trees.
They crossed a stream and approached where Eno and his sorcerers plunged into the woods. They spotted the trio fifty paces ahead and slowed up.
“Shall we proceed on foot?” Lucian asked.
“A little farther,” Gags said. “But I’d rather fight a magician on foot and leave the horse out of it.”
Soon they crept along the forest floor, eyes on their quarry. Every step brought them closer to Eno until they could hear their conversation.
“I’m not sure all the magicians soldiers left Atto,” one of the sorcerers said. “We were pursued by a group of farmers for looting.”
Eno sneered. “Commoners are like insects unless they have food to eat,” the wizard said. “When you’ve taken what you want, you crush them like we did along the road.”
The two sorcerers almost jumped for joy from what Gags could see. “Serving you will be so much fun!” one of them said.
“There is no one who can fight us on Oroia,” the other sorcerer said. “But what if they send your friends?”
“They are no friends of mine, just useful tools. If they come, it is of no consequence,” Eno said. “They talk big, but not against a real wizard.”
Gags had heard enough and called to Eno. “And how many wizards have you fought?”
“Gags? They did send you. As I said, you are of no consequence, especially now that I have new servants to take care of me.” Eno continued to walk with his back to Gags and Lucian.
Gags was stung by the rebuke. Eno regarded them as mere servants, and the wizard’s incessant complaining only proved the point had Gags been willing to see.
They were within bolt range, and Gags sent a bolt into one of the sorcerers. The man collapsed to the ground.
Eno stopped and turned around. “You did this from where you are standing? I didn’t think you were so adept, but not adept enough.”
The wizard raised his hand and shot a lightning bolt that dipped as it reached Gags and smashed into the staff. Gags looked down at the mangled tip.
Lucian stepped away from Gags. “I’ll take the other sorcerer, but I’ll leave Eno to you,” Lucian said quietly.
“Coward,” Gags said.
“I’m only being efficient,” Lucian said as he ran to his left while Eno stared at Gags.
