Techromancy Scrolls: Adept (27 page)

Celeste nodded once and then made a signal behind her and all the knights relaxed and Fredrick and Lucia stepped out of the coach. They made a beeline for us with big smiles on their faces. Lucia just stepped right up and hugged Mother saying, “Udele. It has been far too long.”

The gypsy leader smiled at her as they stepped apart to look each other over. “Lucy, Fred. It has hasn't it. I was thinking on carnival in Wexbury in a few seasons.” Then she smiled and waved her hands around at the feast. “But until then, please, may you and yours join us to celebrate Lord Samuel's passing and our friendship.”

The Duke bowed his head slightly to accept her hospitality. “You are too kind as always, Mother.” Then with a twitch of his fingers, our people started mingling and celebrating life with the Lupei family. Then he saddened and said, “We can see poor Samuel to the beyond at midnight.”

Then he looked at Celeste and then me and he gave a somber smile as he asked, “You are a durable little one aren't you Laney? Always so full of surprises.”

This seemed to be a cue for Udele as she looped her arms in Fredrick's and Lucia's as she dragged them off, saying, “You have no idea. We must talk.”

I looked up to Celeste, who was smiling down at me. I can't tell you how relieved and safe I felt with her there. I said shyly, “Hi.”

Her smile broadened and her eyes were twinkling and she led me off to the feast, shaking her head. “I am never, ever, letting you out of my sight again. I thought I had lost you and my heart could not take it. Bowyn saw you go over. How did you survive?”

I cuddled into her arm where I could feel her strength radiating to me. I shrugged. “It is a long story. But I honestly would be gone now if it were not for the Lupei family here.”

We joined in the bittersweet celebration and enjoyed the music and entertainment put on by our hosts. I was blushing and hid my face in Celeste's sleeve as Bowyn recounted the battle to the people gathered around the makeshift tables. “I myself would not be standing here today if not for the quick reactions of our Laney. She took the brunt magic assault herself, channeling it into the ground. I could smell her flesh burning.”

Then he looked around and put a hand forth and clasped it into a fist. “She did not hesitate to dive and grab Lord Samuel's hand as he went over the cliff after he made the shot of a lifetime as he flew through the air.”

He looked at me and his tone went soft as I could see things replaying in his eyes. “Laney does not know how to quit. Though his was dragging them both over the edge, she would not release Sam though he pleaded with her to do so. She struggled to hold them both, to save Samuel as I dispatched the rogue. Even in the end she would not release him as they slipped over the edge into oblivion.”

Everyone was silent, all eyes were on me. I swallowed hard. Then he showed me mercy and held his mug high. “Lord Samuel!” Everyone repeated and drank, then the music started up again and the spotlight was off me and pointed where it should be, on the brave man that gave all for his people.

Things wound down around midnight and the children were spirited off to bed, then the Lupei joined the people of Wexbury on a ridge, a stones throw away from the camp, as we all said goodbye to Samuel. Celeste took his bow and quiver and handed them to the Duke. Fredrick murmured, “I will be sure his family receives these.”

Then we stood under a black sky, the moons, and the stars blotted out by the thick clouds that were amassing, and Celeste lit the pyre. We sat and she just held me as we watched the fire burn brightly for the soul of a protector of the realm.

***

I awoke the next morning to the familiar warmth of Celeste behind me, and her arm wrapped protectively around me in Sylvia's wagon. Oh, how I had missed that. It is funny the things you get used to and find it hard to live without.

I grinned at the other sources of heat burrowed around us in the blankets. It was only fair we share Eli and Ingr's bed with them, instead of displacing them. I looked up and suppressed a giggle as Celeste was absently shooing away one of the tiny goats while she slept, as it tried desperately to lick her nostrils clean.

She finally awoke and pulled back at the sight of a goat in her face then she caught my eyes and my smile and grinned back. The entire camp seemed to be there to see us off after the Gypsies fed us a good morning maple porridge and bread.

Alexandru bowed and kissed my hand with a twinkle in my eye. “I hope we meet again little one.” Celeste cocked an eyebrow and I waved her off as I blushed. The children, dozens of them, mauled me to get hugs then Sylvia herself hugged me. “Thank you for blessing our camp with your smile Laney of Wexbury.”

I held her hand between both of mine. “No, thank you for taking me in and caring for me.” She just smiled and stepped back and then Mother Udele said her goodbye to me and added, “Follow your heart Laney and you cannot go wrong, young Femeie de Sabie of the Altii.”

After she had said her goodbyes to the Duke and Duchess, Celeste approached the leader of the Gypsies and she bowed low and said, “Mother, the House of Celeste is forever in your debt for returning Lady Laney to us. Our blade is yours should you ever call, our families bound.”

Udele paused and seemed to contemplate that, then asked, “A blood bond?”

Fredrick looked to be about to say something when Celeste said, “Yes.”

Then Mother Udele regarded us, smiled, and said, “Then it is done. Our families tied.” There was a murmuring in the crowd as she took Celeste's hand in between hers and said, “Stay safe child. Laney will need you in the coming days.”

Duke Fredrick pursed his lips as he watched then he disappeared back into the coach. Celeste mounted and I, to my eternal embarrassment, took three tries to mount Goliath to the chuckling of the gathered crowd. Then Celeste signaled for us to move forward and our caravan was once again on the way to Far Reach, through the mountain passes.

I looked back and waved at my new friends and chuckled at the children running after us for as long as their little legs could keep up. I reached out with my magics, I could see a thread of amber reach out to their barrel strap and had it dance a merry dance until it fell spinning on the ground to their giggling amusement.

I paused when I saw Celeste's eyes on me with a wistful smile on her lips. I blushed and urged Goliath to a trot, much to her amusement.

Before long, Verna and Celeste had me flanked at the front of the caravan, demanding to hear how I survived the fall. Verna seemed mad at me, but Celeste explained later that Verna had become quite fond of me and she was shattered by the news of my death. She was just angry because that was an enemy she couldn't fight, and that I had the audacity to be alive when I had caused her such emotional pain.

Later still Verna explained how she had never seen Celeste so angry in her life, so much so that she locked down all her emotions until Dru showed up with news of my survival. Verna tried explaining something that I don't think I quite understood, judging by her frustrated look. “Celeste is yours, you know that Laney?”

It was mid afternoon when the snow started falling. Celeste and I rode ahead a little so I could stand on a ridge to watch the valley below, coated in a veil of white as snow fell for as far as I could see. I had witnessed snow twice in Wexbury when I was young, but it paled to the majesty of the blanket of white I saw below. I had never imagined I would see such wonders back when I lived in Cheap Quarter.

I noticed I wasn't as cold as I thought I should be, usually I'd be shivering about then. I took a gauntlet off and the bitter cold bit into me. I smiled at the runes on the gauntlet as they glowed dimly as I put it back on. The Lupei had insulated my clothing.

As we continued on, Celeste subtly indicated the Mountain Gypsy lookouts that were shadowing us. I thought one I saw up on a trail of packed down snow on a peak, which had to have been made by mountain goats, looked like Dru. I couldn't be sure through the snow, but he had pointed ahead of us and Celeste asked to borrow my spyglass.

She cocked an eyebrow at the new pouch and when I located a side pouch with my now gleaming spyglass it, there were three other lenses that looked about the size of the end of the spyglass. I looked through the eyepiece and slid one on and the magnification doubled. Each of the lenses was more powerful. I handed the spyglass to her with the first lens attached. She grinned at it then said, “Looks like you made a few friends in that group.”

I smiled and nodded. “They were extremely hospitable and friendly. I felt embarrassed I couldn't reciprocate in kind.” She just nodded then looked to where the Gypsy had pointed. She looked back up and waved to the man, who faded back into the rocks as she handed me the spyglass.

She pointed as she said, “Our shadow is ghosting. Probably meeting up with whoever sent them now that his partner is dead.” I looked and didn't see anything until I caught some motion and saw a man on a horse moving rapidly down the valley, only about a mile and a half ahead of us and pulling away.

I asked as I put the tools away, “So they can't track us anymore?”

She shook her head and placed a hand on my arm then motioned her head back to our horses. Then said as we mounted up, “They know exactly where we are going now and where we will be. The only place we can reach from here is Treth. We'll go right past it on our way down to Far Reach.”

She added as we rejoined the caravan and relayed the information to the other knights. Tennison nodded. “Smart.” I gave him a questioning look and he clarified, “He'll go to whoever sent him and relay all he knows and then he will probably wait for another partner to pick us up at Treth Keep or maybe even the Monolith, and then shadow us from there, looking for any opportunity to slow our progress.”

I looked around as everyone in earshot nodded. Verna flanked me letting me know it was time for a rotation. I looked at her and Celeste and whispered while feeling uninformed, “Monolith?”

Verna smiled and said quietly, “A solid structure that stretches out of the earth and into the sky, made of some sort of mortar that does not crack under the immense weight of it. It is believed to have been a place of power or worship for the Wizards of the Before. It seems to serve no other purpose, it is just an immense slab stretching to the heavens, almost a half mile. The base is hundreds of yards across.”

Then Celeste added wistfully, “To have built such structures that defy our greatest architects and engineers.” She shook her head and said to me, “To have lived in a time of wonder such as that. One day, Sparo will rise to such heights.” I smiled at her surety, and could not fault her, when I have witnessed the modern marvels we were already capable of. It couldn't be that far a leap forward to accomplish what those who came before us had.

I nodded my thanks then signaled my chilly looking fellow Squires to do a rotation around the caravan. Celeste always looked anxious whenever I left her side now. I think she really meant that she never wanted to let me out of her sight again. She hadn't said as much, but I think she somehow believes what happened on that ridge with that Rogue was her fault.

By late afternoon, she sent Sir Randolph and Lady Beth ahead with Bex to find shelter for the night. The snow had finally stopped falling as we reached the valley floor and headed toward a gap between two peaks. To what Lord Peter called, the Pass of the Abyss. Because in mid-winter, it was impossible to travel through. All men who attempted over the centuries had given their very lives to the mountain and were never heard from again.

I believe he was just trying to scare us squires by the schooled, impassive looks on the rest of the faces in the caravan. I kept glancing at the imposing peaks, wondering if it were actually true, they did look formidable.

We caught up with Sir Randolph's group where the road passed under an overhang. It wasn't anything as grand as the one back at the Gypsy camp, but it would suffice. There was a small fissure in the cliff that formed a small cave where stones from above had fallen in ages gone by to wedge themselves into the crevice.

It was defensible and looked as if a wolf or wolverine had used it in the past. They could warm it and the Duke and Duchess could overnight in it. After a hearty soup made from dried vegetables and jerky, and some biscuits, Celeste took first watch.

I followed her and she gave me a warm smile and offered an outstretched arm to me, holding her riding cloak open. I shook my head and instead opened mine in the same way and laid it on her shoulder as I snuggled into her. She blinked and said quietly in surprise, “It's warm. Well, warmer. It is like having a couple blankets over us.”

I grinned up at her and said softly, keeping my voice low too, “The Lupei family spelled all of my things. Their magic is amazing, they can have them accomplish specific tasks, even long after the magic is cast.”

She shook her head with a grin and said, “Only you could convince the Mountain Gypsies to share their magic of the spirit with you. They rarely even let outsiders see it.”

I buried my head into her arm as I blushed. “I didn't convince anyone, they just did it for me when they repaired my gear,” I said.

She nodded and kissed the top of my head and repeated, “Only you...” Then she whispered almost so I couldn't hear, “I was so scared I had lost you.” I nodded and looked out into the night with her knowing I felt the same as I was falling, that I would never see her again, and that it would make her look bad that I was so careless.

We just sat in silence in each others company looking out into the snowy world that was dimly illuminated by the three sisters and the ocean of stars above in the then clear sky.

Sir Scot showed up to relieve us. He gave me a squeeze of the shoulder and a nod as we stood, conveying that he was glad I was back. I smiled and placed my hand on his to let him know I appreciated his concern, then Celeste led me through the snow to the camp. We laid on our bedroll and pulled the blankets up to our chins and stared at the stars together.

She whispered, “I remember, before uncle sold me to father and mother, he would take me out on hunts in the Whispering Forest. We were trappers. We would lay out under the stars and he would tell me the tales of the constellations. I fear I have forgotten much of my life prior to moving to the keep. I find it hard to picture Uncle's face. Contact is discouraged when one is sold into another family. And now it is just like before, with mother gone. Just father and I, always a small family for me.”

I nodded and found her hand under the blanket and hugged it to me and whispered back, “You have me now, I am of the house of Celeste, your family grows.” Then I smiled hugely at her and whispered, “Celeste Trapper.”

She paused and I couldn't feel her breathing, then she turned to her side and pulled me back into her and kissed the top of my head. “Go to sleep Laney, Treth awaits us on the morrow.”

I so missed her at my back like this. She made me feel so safe, and that I mattered. I whispered, “Goodnight Celeste.” I could feel the smile from her arm as she hugged me a little closer.

We awoke in the morning feeling chilly but well rested. Where my riding cloak was still over me under the covers, I was toasty warm but my face was positively frigid. I sneezed and squeaked, which just got smiles from all in earshot. To some chuckles I said, “Oh be quiet you lot,”

To my surprise, my nightmare hadn't come, that was two nights in a row, after Mother and the seeing. Even though she said I still had something unresolved, that I hadn't ignited yet.

Fredrick had come out to tell Celeste that a storm was coming, that we needed to get over the pass before midday or we would have to divert around the mountain and add a day to our travels.

Nobody questioned the Duke, we packed quickly and tended the horses as the porters made a hearty oatmeal with dried strawberries in it. That was a treat. I had asked Verna, and she said, “If our Lord says a storm is coming, then a storm is coming.”

We were on the road again as the first rays of Father Sol snuck over the peaks. It was slower going on the steep road through the pass at mid-morning. It was positively terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time. The road was cut into the steep peaks, with the only thing between us and a thousand-foot drop, was a low stone wall. I felt as though we were snaking our way between the teeth of some immense dragon.

Black clouds had blotted out the sky by then, and when we were half way back down the pass, the snow started up again, heavier and with driving winds. It cut viability to twenty or thirty yards. Shit. If we had been in the pass when this hit, we might well have been one of the stories told around campfires, of the Duke's Caravan that was lost to the Pass of the Abyss.

I stared at the Duke through the foggy glass window of the coach-door as I did a rotation. How had he known? I thought of the magic he and Lady Lucia hid from the keep, and Mother Udele's more in-depth explanation of how all magic was elemental magic. Was he in tune with the weather? A water or air elemental?

We caught up with Bex, Sir Scot, and Lord Peter, who were the forward scout. In a thick evergreen grove for midday meal, not much of the then moderate snow was getting through the dense canopy of pine needles. Bex, who had nothing but grins. Scot and Peter, who were each holding large snowshoe rabbits, as they threw them to the porters said, “Rabbit stew.” It took me a moment to realize why Bex was grinning. The others were carrying the prize which meant... I blurted, “Good on you Bex!”

Lord Peter was shaking his head. “It was the damnedest thing. He laid out a spool of copper on ceramic pins near the burrow and hooked it to a power vessel, then we hid over the rise. The rabbits hit the line and started convulsing. Then our Lord Bexinton here walked over and picked up the limp things and wound up his wire.” Everyone made appreciative sounds. The idea of fresh meat was making my mouth water.

I smiled when Bex moved to the front of the line for the meal, he had such a look on his face. Celeste bumped my hip and grinned down at me. I whispered, “What? I'm proud of him. He's starting to fit in.”

After a satisfying stew and cornbread, we were on the move again moving lower and lower out of the mountains and leaving the snow behind us.

After a bit I asked, “How much farther till we reach Treth?”

Bowyn chuckled behind me. “Like an impatient child on a wagon trip.”

I looked back and made a small fist at him and he mock shuddered. Then he said, “When we passed through the Abyss, we entered Treth.”

I exhaled and chuckled. “You are such an ass at times man.”

His eyebrows rose in mock surprise. “The rare curse from our Laney.”

Celeste chimed in, “You best not tease too much Bowyn, our Laney has teeth.” I squinted at her trying to figure out if she were teasing me too. I couldn't tell so I crinkled my nose at her, which she rewarded me with a glittering eyed smile.

Then the frustrating man behind us pointed and asked, “Do you see the end of that lake between the peaks to the southwest?” I nodded and he said, “Treth Lake.”

Ahhh, so the keep was there hidden by the peaks down in that valley. I nodded with a grin, we'd be there an hour or so before sunset. I noted the air temperature had risen considerably the farther down the mountains we traveled.

I was excited to see Treth, it would be the first Keep I had never laid eyes on and the third keep I had entered since I had finally been in Flatlash, thanks to this mission. I hear the Iron Walls of Treth were something to behold. Resources are at a premium in the inhabitable lands and waste is almost unheard of. Everything is recycled, re-purposed and reused. But the Iron Walls of Treth were constructed using almost a half million tons of iron produced from the great iron mines of their realm. Such wasteful opulence.