Read Online Sasharia En Garde by Sherwood Smith - Free Book Online
Authors: Sherwood Smith
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clutches
without them having to break a sweat. And while we’d managed to fight our way
free of yesterday’s guys, I wasn’t going to count on that twice. Especially
alone.
That left me with my companions. Should I ditch them? Good
thing: they had rescued me from capture in the courtyard. Bad thing: at least
two of them had been part of forcing me through the World Gate in the first
place. Therefore I did not owe them anything.
We paused once on a cliff, and I drew up beside Zathdar. He
slanted a questioning look at me. I said, “I assume the World Gate tower is
guarded.”
“You can’t go back. They’re watching for you to do that.”
I laid the reins along my horse’s neck. The animal
obligingly swung round and stopped, blocking the trail so the brother and
sister drew to a halt. “Before we go on, I wish you would tell me why you
forced me through that Gate.”
Devlaen sent a pleading look at his sister, but she studied
her saddlebag as though it held the One Ring.
“I told you.” Devlaen fiercely rubbed grit from his eyes.
“It was a promise made to your father. If he vanished we were to wait ten
years, then perform a specific spell. It brought us a letter he’d written,
telling us where you and your mother were. But the letter disappeared, and we
were afraid the king also got that information. We thought it best to get you
two safely back here, where we could guard you.” His face reddened. “I know
what that sounds like. But we were going to bring you only for your own good!”
I decided against a pithy opinion about what they could do
with their notions of ‘my own good.’ “Go on.”
“My mage tutor was certain they were ordered to offer you
anything you wanted if you would go back with them. They were not well
prepared. I don’t think anyone was surprised when they came back empty handed,
but rumor has it the king demanded that they cross over to that world before we
could. So when they returned without you or your mother, they had the World
Gate transfer magic to build all over again.”
My father had told me that transfer magic took weeks and
weeks to make. It was actually a complicated layer of spells put on those
transfer tokens. “The king’s mages being two older guys? One gray haired?” I
asked.
Devli grimaced. “Magisters Perran and Zhavic.”
“My mother mentioned them once or twice. It seems weird that
they knew my mother, yet came after me first. And tried to trick me! Truth,
honor, sinister castles, secrets—”
Devli shrugged. “All that is in the records. When your
mother first came, she said she liked such things. So the mages tried to lure
you with them, the fools.”
“Yes, but at least they tried truth and justice. They didn’t
pretend to be a lawyer!”
“Heh.” Devli’s shoulders now shrugged up around his ears,
which were as red as his face. He said with the air of a guy picking his way
over a minefield, “When your mother wouldn’t come with me, I had to find you.
It took some time, because you’d changed location. And, see, we’ve notes from
your father. About what he really saw on that world. So I had to find you, lay
a false trail for Perran and Zhavic, and put together a plan. And. Um.”
“Lied and tricked me. Yes. As I just said. What I’m trying
to get at is why.”
“I told you, they’re after you—”
Zathdar had been watching the sky, the fog-blurred treetops,
and the shadowy trail that vanished under the forest canopy. I couldn’t see or
hear anything amiss, but apparently he heard enough to cut in, “I think the
rest of the explanation should wait on more trustworthy surroundings.”
Without waiting for an answer, he urged his horse down the
trail, and we followed, Elva with many backward glances. Beyond the next bend
we found the white water of the river where our mountain stream poured in. The
bend after that revealed that the river had smoothed and widened. We rode along
its bank. I clutched my gear bag to my side,
without them having to break a sweat. And while we’d managed to fight our way
free of yesterday’s guys, I wasn’t going to count on that twice. Especially
alone.
That left me with my companions. Should I ditch them? Good
thing: they had rescued me from capture in the courtyard. Bad thing: at least
two of them had been part of forcing me through the World Gate in the first
place. Therefore I did not owe them anything.
We paused once on a cliff, and I drew up beside Zathdar. He
slanted a questioning look at me. I said, “I assume the World Gate tower is
guarded.”
“You can’t go back. They’re watching for you to do that.”
I laid the reins along my horse’s neck. The animal
obligingly swung round and stopped, blocking the trail so the brother and
sister drew to a halt. “Before we go on, I wish you would tell me why you
forced me through that Gate.”
Devlaen sent a pleading look at his sister, but she studied
her saddlebag as though it held the One Ring.
“I told you.” Devlaen fiercely rubbed grit from his eyes.
“It was a promise made to your father. If he vanished we were to wait ten
years, then perform a specific spell. It brought us a letter he’d written,
telling us where you and your mother were. But the letter disappeared, and we
were afraid the king also got that information. We thought it best to get you
two safely back here, where we could guard you.” His face reddened. “I know
what that sounds like. But we were going to bring you only for your own good!”
I decided against a pithy opinion about what they could do
with their notions of ‘my own good.’ “Go on.”
“My mage tutor was certain they were ordered to offer you
anything you wanted if you would go back with them. They were not well
prepared. I don’t think anyone was surprised when they came back empty handed,
but rumor has it the king demanded that they cross over to that world before we
could. So when they returned without you or your mother, they had the World
Gate transfer magic to build all over again.”
My father had told me that transfer magic took weeks and
weeks to make. It was actually a complicated layer of spells put on those
transfer tokens. “The king’s mages being two older guys? One gray haired?” I
asked.
Devli grimaced. “Magisters Perran and Zhavic.”
“My mother mentioned them once or twice. It seems weird that
they knew my mother, yet came after me first. And tried to trick me! Truth,
honor, sinister castles, secrets—”
Devli shrugged. “All that is in the records. When your
mother first came, she said she liked such things. So the mages tried to lure
you with them, the fools.”
“Yes, but at least they tried truth and justice. They didn’t
pretend to be a lawyer!”
“Heh.” Devli’s shoulders now shrugged up around his ears,
which were as red as his face. He said with the air of a guy picking his way
over a minefield, “When your mother wouldn’t come with me, I had to find you.
It took some time, because you’d changed location. And, see, we’ve notes from
your father. About what he really saw on that world. So I had to find you, lay
a false trail for Perran and Zhavic, and put together a plan. And. Um.”
“Lied and tricked me. Yes. As I just said. What I’m trying
to get at is why.”
“I told you, they’re after you—”
Zathdar had been watching the sky, the fog-blurred treetops,
and the shadowy trail that vanished under the forest canopy. I couldn’t see or
hear anything amiss, but apparently he heard enough to cut in, “I think the
rest of the explanation should wait on more trustworthy surroundings.”
Without waiting for an answer, he urged his horse down the
trail, and we followed, Elva with many backward glances. Beyond the next bend
we found the white water of the river where our mountain stream poured in. The
bend after that revealed that the river had smoothed and widened. We rode along
its bank. I clutched my gear bag to my side,
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