The Wizard's Chalice, page 26
part #2 of Gags & Pepper: Protection Agents Series
Gags stepped forward and gave the man his card. “Gags & Pepper. We are delivering what’s in the box wagon,” he said.
“Oh, you are guards.”
Gags nodded. “You can call us that.”
The owner pointed out a few spots that would work. Gags gave the man a good tip, and they were soon on their way.
Three hours later, they reached the first stop. “Shall we stop here?” Pepper asked.
“No,” Pophius said. “We will enter Fetishing tonight when it’s dark. Part of pursuing is never to do what you tell someone else and lay false trails when you can.”
“Oh,” Pepper said. “That is one of your tricks?”
“It is a standard procedure for what we were doing on Atto,” Pophius said. “I didn’t think I’d be traveling like this again, but wizards like Deliry can’t be tolerated.”
“Got it,” Pepper said.
Later, when it was dark, Pepper rode next to Gags with Soxus pairing up with Patricia. Pepper leaned over and said quietly, “I’m not as smart as you guys,” he admitted.
“You aren’t as experienced,” Gags said, patting Pepper’s shoulder. “You’ll get there if you stick with us.”
Pepper looked surprised by the remark.
“Did I say something wrong?” Gags said.
“Don’t assume that Patricia and I are going to Caless together,” Pepper said.
Gags smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. We will talk about it later.”
~
Fetishing was a black hulk as they approached the city in the twilight. One guard manned the northern gate and wasn’t wearing a sorcerer’s uniform. They continued to the palace without being attacked. Gag pulled an item of gold from the box wagon and showed the palace guards.
“I have a special shipment to Lord Quilius,” Gags said.
“I will summon his aide,” the guard said, motioning their party past the gate and closing it.
Pophius was with Gags. “I didn’t sense any tension,” Pophius said.
Gags had met the aide before. He took the man aside. “We were attacked at Go-Greva, but we managed to escape. I need to see Lord Quilius immediately.”
The aide narrowed his eyes. “What happened?”
Gags took the man to the box wagon and showed him Honian’s body. “I have a story to tell. You can give him this.” Gags said, giving the aide the gold trinket. “This will be enough to distract him from his sleep?”
The aide nodded. “Wait here.”
The wait seemed long, but Pophius said it had only been fifteen minutes when Lord Quilius rushed down the steps to the courtyard.
“Honian is dead?” Quilius asked. His face was florid and shiny with sweat.
“So is Mexius. Nestus Deliry sent his sorcerers, and we fought.”
“Who are these men?” Quilius said, looking at Pophius, He Bin, and Lucian.
“They are my employees,” Gags said. “I sent for them as soon as I knew I was heading for Fetishing.”
“You defeated Deliry’s people?”
Gags nodded to the lord. “Mexius was beaten to death by them. Honian died attacking the sorcerers to free Pepper and his niece.”
“You put me in an awkward position,” Lord Quilius said, looking back at the palace.
“Perhaps I can relieve some of the awkwardness,” Gags said as he took Quilius to the rear of the box wagon and opened the door.
“Honian’s body will help me?” Quilius said.
“No,” Gags pulled back the cloth that covered the booty. “This will. It is everything Pepper could remove from the treasure rooms.”
“And the children?” Quilius asked.
“They are on their own,” Pophius said. “They might be too exposed if they came with us.”
Quilius nodded, but he didn’t look pleased. However, he said, “That is a good thing. Deliry and the rest of his people are probably arriving at Go-Greva as we speak.” The lord furrowed his brow. “How did you miss them?”
Gags smiled. “We took an alternate route.”
“Smart. What are you going to do with the loot?” Quilius said, rubbing his hands.
“It is yours,” Gags said. “We each took a souvenir, of course.”
“Of course.” Quilius waved his hand. “That will cost me much less than what,” he looked at Patricia, “Mexius demanded.”
“I thought so,” Gags said. “Where do we unload this?”
“You know the entrance to the kitchen? Take your wagons there.” Quilius looked at his aide. “Get men to unload it and store it in the strongroom.” Quilius didn’t waste any time running back up the steps, disappearing through the doors to the palace.
Gags didn’t know where the strongroom was, and he didn’t care. He’d be on his way to Yearsend, hopefully in time to greet the children. He laughed. There was still more that could delay him.
They rolled the wagons where Gags directed them.
“I’ve been here before,” Lucian said. “I don’t know if these are better circumstances or not.”
A line of servants appeared and removed Honian’s body. Patricia made sure they treated her uncle’s remains with respect. The loot was soon gone, and the body returned to the box wagon.
The aide appeared. “I have taken the liberty of having the kitchen prepare supplies for your journey to Hosand, I understand.”
“You do understand,” Gags said.
The same men filled the wagon with food, drink, and waterskins with everyone looking on.
“Wizard Deliry can be vindictive,” the aide said. “I would leave Fetishing as soon as possible. The lord wishes you well.”
Gags sensed something was wrong, but he didn’t know the aide well enough to ask. They didn’t waste time, leaving the palace and headed back to the north gate. No one said anything; if they were like Gags, it felt like an attack was imminent.
“Something is definitely wrong,” He Bin said as they rode along the darkening streets.
Lucian nodded in agreement. “The lord looked nervous as if someone had a rope around his throat ready to yank hard if he said something wrong.”
“Let’s find an abandoned courtyard and figure out what to do,” Gags said.
“I agree. Where are abandoned courtyards?” Pepper said.
“All over the place,” Soxus said. “The farther away from the city center, the less populated.”
They turned down a street leading west and were soon in a neglected part of Fetishing. They turned northwest, and they clattered down a streetful of deserted buildings.
A large warehouse with gates hanging askew seemed a good place to stop, so they filed in.
“Time to eat?” Pepper asked Gags in a needling kind of voice.
“Eat?” Gags said. He stared at the wagon full of food. “Could the wizard be in the palace and the provisions poisoned? That might have been why they were so generous and kind, to lull us into trusting them.”
“Quilius doesn’t seem to be the type,” Pepper said.
“But Quilius wasn’t behaving like Quilius, was he?” Patricia said. “What should we do?”
“Check the supplies,” Pophius said. “Do any of you have a spell to detect poison?”
“Is there such a thing?” Soxus asked.
“Not in Basheer,” Patricia said.
“I know a few,” Lucian said. “They aren’t foolproof, and their poison might not be detectable. Royalty is very sensitive to being poisoned, you know.”
Gags knew that all too well since he was sure his stepmother poisoned his father.
“We won’t know until we try,” Pophius said. “Go ahead, Lucian.”
He Bin dropped the wagon tailgate and pulled out a selection of food.
Lucian worked his fingers and took a deep breath. He poured out the water on the tailgate and muttered a triggering phrase. The water began to glow.
“Poisoned,” Lucian said. “The brighter the glow, the more lethal, supposedly.”
Nothing happened when the spell was focused on a head of lettuce, but the breadbasket glowed enough to light up his face.
“I don’t trust any of it,” He Bin said.
“Then throw it out,” Pophius said. “We still have a few days’ supply left from the fort.
“What about the wine?” Pepper said.
Gags smiled and shook his head. Pepper was consistent, if nothing else.
Lucien poured a little wine out and tested it. It glowed as much as the bread.
“They probably poisoned the staples, the stuff that we would drink before sleeping, and the food we would eat for breakfast,” Lucian said.
He Bin stared at the poisoned food as the glowing began to fade. “That is an attack on us.”
“What are you getting at?” Pepper asked.
“We can fight if attacked,” Pophius said, “especially if the attack is a wizard or sorcerer.”
“We aren’t in Atto anymore,” He Bin said.
“No, but before I left the army, the council gave me an informal commission to fight evil wizards in Peria. I didn’t think to tell you since there weren’t any evil wizards I knew about.”
“That means Nestus Deliry knows you are prepared to hunt him down,” Pepper said.
“He is an evil wizard, but Quilius stands in our way,” Lucien said.
“Rescue Quilius and then go after Deliry?” Soxus said.
Pophius nodded. “The odds are greatly against us, but if we act quickly, before dawn, we stand a chance with a focused operation.”
“I’m in,” Gags said.
“You know Lucien, and I will do whatever you ask,” He Bin said.
Soxus stepped forward and looked back at Patricia, who nodded. “I have permission to fight at your sides,” Soxus said.
Pepper grunted. “I’m part of Gags & Pepper, so you’ll have to put up with me.”
Patricia stepped forward. “I’ll guard my uncle. Someone has to do it.”
Pepper and Soxus sighed simultaneously with relief that Patricia would be a little more out of harm’s way, prompting the two to glare at each other.
“A good choice,” Pophius said. “Now, we plan.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
~
H e Bin and Lucian took off to check out the sorcerer’s headquarters as the rest of the team moved toward the palace, uniting on the opposite side of the square. The market had closed since they dropped off the loot and tested the food.
Gags paced back and forth at the rear of the city library. The horses were tied at watering troughs, ready for a getaway.
Pophius’s plan relied on Gags more than anyone, but this time, Gags would take along Pepper as a messenger and a fighter. Pepper’s sword was still spelled to attract magic attacks, and Gags had strengthened both his sword and his staff. Their next step depended on the number of sorcerers at the building.
Lucian returned by himself. “Fifteen or twenty,” he said. “I don’t think they are the best sorcerers in the world.”
Pophius nodded. “Then we can proceed as planned. Soxus will join us while Gags and Pepper invade the palace and locate Nestus Deliry. If he isn’t there, the second objective will be to contact Quilius Oleander and tell them what we will do.”
“What if he balks having us fight in his city?” Pepper asked.
“Gags knows what to do,” Pophius said.
Gags and Pophius proceeded down alleys toward the palace. They reached the servant’s entrance.
“Is this where my Catia will come out of the palace?” Pepper said to the guard, making up a maid’s name.
“Only if she is a servant. If she is something else….” The guard leered, implying that Catia was a comfort girl.
Gags stepped forward mid-sentence and put the guard to sleep. Gags and Pepper propped the guard to look like his sleep was natural. They stepped inside the castle and walked to the kitchen door like everything was normal.
They slipped passed the few people working in the kitchen. A few workers were sleeping, waiting for calls from inhabitants of the palace. Gags found the door to the servant’s stairs and went up to the fifth floor. He was on the opposite side from where Pophius and the others had been rescued.
Pepper was at his side, saying nothing. Gags’ partner was almost as silent as Gag’s air walking. They began to check out the rooms and found one of them locked. Pepper stepped forward and unlocked the door as quickly as Gags would with his magic.
They had found the Go-Greva loot, but now it was stacked on dusty tables. Gags had no idea where the tables had come from, but there were rooms with furniture on the fourth floor. Since the booty was on the fifth floor, Gags was almost sure it was now under the control of Nestus Deliry. Quilius was the kind of person who would want the wealth close by to gaze upon the riches or locked securely in his strongroom if one really existed.
Gags checked the artifacts, and all four remaining chalices had been removed. Deliry now possessed five of the six.
They left the room, with Pepper locking the door behind them. They advanced to the other side where, in another room, this one with the door wide open, the wizard gave instructions to six sorcerers. These five men and a woman were older than other sorcerers. Could these be Deliry’s officers?
“You know what to do when the rest of our group has arrived. Quilius—”
That was all Gags had to hear. What else would they be doing but taking over Fetishing? He wished the rest of the team was already behind him. Gags had run out of crossbow bolts and had collected a sack of rocks half an inch to an inch in diameter.
“Be ready,” Gags whispered to Pepper.
Gags ignored Nestus Deliry’s instructions while he created another dust apparition and moved it in front of the door for a few moments before directing his spell into the room and making it explode.
“What the—” Deliry said as his directions were interrupted.
Gags made the dust figure explode, and in the darkness, he switched to night sight that essentially removed the dust from his view, and he began to use his rock supply. Pepper slipped past Gags and started harrying the sorcerers in the confusion.
Deliry pushed past Gags, who covered the door to the large room.
Gags hoped the confusion would be enough to keep his back safe as he ran toward the wizard. Deliry turned back and tossed lightning bolt after lightning bolt, which was quickly absorbed by Gags’ iron rod.
Gags grabbed a small stone and let it fly, hitting the bag Deliry was holding. He had aimed for the wizard’s head, but Gags’ opponent had a shield deflecting his attack. Gags tried repeatedly, but his rocks ended up hitting the sack. Gags heard every rock hit something metal, hoping they were the chalices. The wizard made it to the back gallery, framed by large windows that were like black holes to Gags’ night sight.
Deliry finally turned to confront Gags, but Pophius and the rest appeared.
“Give it up, Nestus Deliry,” Pophius yelled from across the gallery as the four men appeared, ready for action.
“Never!” Deliry said as he threw open a window and jumped.
Gags ran to the window and had to dodge a lightning bolt that singed the side of his head. He saw Deliry land on the ground, his descent slowed by a magic spell, and flee into a garden, soon lost to sight.
“Do we pursue him?” Pophius asked Gags.
“We help Pepper, first. Let’s go.”
They reached the conference room with Pepper fighting two sorcerers.
“Stop!” Pophius yelled, “and we will spare you.”
One of the sorcerers lifted back his sword, but Gags blew the man against the wall.
Pepper ran to the doorway. “I can’t handle that woman.”
Lucian laughed. “I can handle the woman.”
The two stood facing each other. Lucian generated a series of lightning pulses at the woman’s feet. His aim had improved since Gags had last seen Lucian use the technique on Atto.
The woman’s shield didn’t extend to the floor, and she began to dance.
As Lucian approached, she threw fire and lightning, but they were standard attacks. Lucian advanced toward her and shoved his sword through the woman’s shield, and touched her chest. “Give up?”
The woman glared at Lucian but finally slumped, defeated. “I do.”
The fight for the fifth floor was over, but the wizard was still on the loose.
“We took care of twelve sorcerers,” He Bin said. “Soxus needs some help. He fought well even for a magician as weak as he is.”
“I defeated more sorcerers than you!” Soxus said with a grin, walking up to them with a limp.
“Bind the woman’s hands, and let’s take her to Lord Quilius,” Pophius said.
He Bin looked at Pophius, who nodded. “I will stay behind to clean up,” He Bin said.
Gags’ power was about expended, but he led the group down to the second floor. They laid down their weapons when confronted by two guards.
“Take us to Lord Quilius,” Gags said. “Nestus Deliry had to flee the palace.”
One guard stayed behind while the other fetched Lord Quilius, who arrived in a dressing gown. “Who disrupted my sleep?” the lord said.
“We did,” Gags said. “Your wizard jumped out of the fifth-floor window and fled on foot. The sorcerers he brought into the palace are all dead, except for this one.”
The female sorcerer looked defeated but managed a single defiant look until Lucian grabbed her arm. “Show some respect,” Lucian said with a smile.
“Perhaps, we can talk in my study. It’s just down this corridor.”
They filed into Quilius’s room after the Lord of Fetishing shooed away his guards. “I think they are safer outside the study than in,” he said.
“You are right,” Pophius said. “You knew about the poisoned supplies?”
“Nestus’s idea. He is a magician, not a tactician. It was such an obvious move that I didn’t try to stop him,” Quilius said.
“It was,” Gags said. “Deliry thought he ruled the fifth floor, but he didn’t, in the end.”
“Is it the end?” Quilius asked. “He threatened me, and I capitulated when you arrived. He was going to usurp my position, and Nestus isn’t dead yet.”
“Your king would have supported something like that?”
