Spin Offs, Setta Vrith A
Setta
Setta and Mokha were heading east, having bypassed the Kaymere ruins. Willik’s Hold was a few days ahead of them, Darner’s Hold another eight-day or so further along. The sun was nearing its zenith.
As interesting as Janderton had been, Setta was very happy to be back on the road again. She had taught Jander a few years ago and, unlike his younger brother Parli, he had been an excellent student. Talented and enthusiastic about his studies, Jander had been uninterested in his status, family legacy or the politics of the city. His interests and studies had been diverse, his academic career had been excellent.
She had been disappointed that he had not been present, though from what she could tell that may have been for the best. She had left her duties with the Arcanium behind, then within a few eight-days had found herself dealing with a couple of dozen of GreensBridge’s mages. There had been the delegation from the guild, sent to convince, or force, Jander to return to the city. The other half of them had been there out of curiosity or hoping for a new start, away from the Arcanium. More distressing were the number of Kereshi present. They certainly had not been there doing community work and educating the underprivileged.
Setta had refused to become embroiled in the politics of Janderton and had instead delved into an investigation, for her own edification, as to what Jander had done while constructing his town. The phallic tower, as his home and the town’s tallest structure, had been unsurprising. Most young men were obsessed with such. Among the more interesting things she had gleaned from her investigation was the way the natural mana was shifting towards elemental magic, how the ley-line north of the town was shifting closer to Janderton and how he had incorporated a massive pentagram within the town’s layout. It was not powered, nor enchanted as an active defence, but Jander’s studies had been in other areas. Without the meta-knowledge of mana manipulation, she wondered how he had achieved these things.
During her visit she had been unable to discern how or where Jander had come across the earth magic he had learned. It had certainly not been in GreensBridge. Most of that lore had been lost to them during the last Elemental War, then more lost as a result of the Queen’s Bane. The little that was presently known was well guarded, not something taught to anyone, other than the most trusted and accomplished mages.
With Jander being away from his creation, a Baron Saivad and a druidess known simply as The Lady seemed to be the people in charge. Saivad was from the Principalities and he was popular among the locals, while the druidess was a local woman more feared than respected. The tavern, a living building made from apple and pear trees, was nothing more than a demonstration by the druidess that she too could make impressive buildings.
The tavern, called The Papple, was a popular spot. Run by the Baron’s man, Rux, who was also the marshal of Janderton, he had not been present either. The establishment had been packed each evening and was also fairly busy throughout the day. It was there that they had found Mokha’s friend, Shak.
Much to her surprise, one of Shak’s close associates had been Parli Probancruq. He had been way more surprised, and disconcerted, be her presence than she his. Both Parli and Shak were permanent fixtures in the Papple, good friends of Marshal Rux and well liked by the employees, who, oddly, had mostly been beautiful Tannican women.
Setta looked over at Mokha as they continued along the trail towards their destination. He appeared deep in thought, perhaps a bit melancholy. “Did you want to stop for a while? Eat and let the horses rest.”
He nodded, “Sure.”
They stopped, unpacked what they would need to make a quick meal and let the horses graze. They said little as they prepared the food, content with the simple task. When they settled down to eat, sitting beside each other, she asked, “How are you feeling? You have not said much the past few days.”
He shrugged, “Just thinking.”
“Still upset that Shak didn’t join us?”
“Well… I don’t think that I’m upset. He did seem to have things pretty good, there in Janderton.”
She did not say anything in response. Over the past month or so, Mokha had parted ways with Sefla, who they would be rejoining when they reached Darner’s Hold, Chance Delight, who was heading south to Maldorn and now Shak, after their short reunion.
“I understand why,” He continued, “He’s well situated; with well to do and influential associates, a wonderfully magical tavern with a nice room, steady work, all the opium he could ever want, not to mention plenty of beautiful women who speak his native tongue. Honestly, it was a tempting offer when he asked me to stay.”
“Well, we could always return, after we’ve seen to our obligation to Tipper.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure I want to… Adwin and I had been talking about going to High Fort together. Sefla needs to continue her training…” He paused, “And you seemed happy to leave Janderton and all the GreensBridge politics behind.”
“Still, we could get back before the winter settles in. I’m certainly not going to get caught up in Arcanium affairs and I think Adwin would find Janderton really interesting.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure we should be planning much of anything until we’ve dealt with the situation in Darner’s Hold.”
“Ah, there is that. You’re concerned about the confrontation with the drake?”
“Of course. You’re not?”
“It would be foolish not to be. That being said, it seems like the Darners are well prepared for this. Tipper did find the sword.”
“Will it make that much of a difference? A single sword?”
“That sword was enchanted to kill drakes and to protect its wielder from magic. Aside from that, the Darners are descendent of a Rover Hall, the blood of the Ellodrans is their heritage. The ancients were dedicated to protecting this realm from the drakes.”
“How did that work out for them?”
“Ah, yes. Good point. Perhaps I should reconsider some of my assumptions.”
“Hmm, you have a real talent for reassurances.”
She laughed, as did he. If there was a touch of mania in their merriment, she felt that was acceptable. Hunting a drake was a rather insane endeavour. “Shall we get back on the road?”
“Let’s.”
They packed up and were back in the saddle a few moments later. Not long after they came to a spot with a fork in the trail. One branch of the road went slightly northward, in the distance they could see an old lightning struck tree on a solitary hill. The other went somewhat southward, the tracks of the wagon they had been following since shortly after Kaymere continued along that branch.
Mokha pointed to the distant tree, “Predost is not far up that way.”
“Did you want to stop there?”
“Not really, no, we’ve half the day left. We could be twenty yat closer to Hadden’s Fort by nightfall, but if we go to Predost, we’ll likely lose a couple days visiting.”
They carried along what they hoped was the more direct route to Willik’s Hold. Further down the trail they came to the spot where the wagon’s owners had stopped for their midday break. The fire they had used to cook their meal was still putting up a bit of smoke. The two of them reined in.
Mokha dismounted, “That’s dangerous.” He waved his hand over the coals, the smoke dissipated. The breeze blew some of the ash into the air. Mokha looked around, making sure there was not anything smouldering in the nearby grass. “We’re good. Whoever these folks are, I don’t think they’re used to cross country trips.”
“It would appear to be the case. You still think there’s four or five of them?”
“I’m not a tracker, but that’s what I think. One on horseback, the others riding in the wagon. Unlikely there would be more than six.”
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Seems we’ll overtake them this afternoon.”
“Yeah.”
They continued on their way, around mid-afternoon clouds began to blow in from the north and the previously gentle breeze picked up, with gusts putting chaff and dust into the air. Setta adjusted her headscarf to protect her face more. Later they saw a distant herd of bleek deer, leisurely heading south.
Setta was enjoying being on the road again, away from GreensBridge and away from the Arcanium. She was glad they had not been caught up in Janderton. While she was very capable of masking her own abilities from other mages, one in five members of the Arcanium would recognize her on sight. She was well known within the guild, being part of a few handfuls of mages that were older than two hundred years. There were downsides to being long lived…
Setta’s spectacles flashed red. She reined in and said to Mokha, “Something is up.”
He slowed and glanced back at her, “Excuse me?”
She took a look around from atop her horse. The grass was tall and dry this late into the summer, if she had been standing it would have been close to the height of her chin. When she came around to face along the eastern stretch of the trail, her spectacles flashed again. “There’s danger ahead of us.”
Mokha stopped and also looked around, “Where?”
“Along the trail.”
Mokha looked in that direction, the narrow road was mostly screened by the grass, no obvious threats were in view. “We should proceed with caution, then.”
They did so, the horses could feel their tension. Both of them were shifting their ears, Mokha’s horse gave a snort.
Much of the afternoon had passed before they spotted two horses, one obviously along the road, facing east, the other one off to the side, in the grass, looked in their direction and gave a nicker.
As they continued to move forward, someone jumped up, onto what Setta assumed to be the wagon that had been ahead of them the last few days. The man spotted them, someone else said, “Red, get the fuck off that, we’re trying to replace the wheel.”
The man pointed at them with one hand, pushing a reddish floppy hat back from his eyes with the other, “It’s the guy, the Tannican!”
Mokha, clearly surprised, proclaimed, “Oh shit, it’s the Fingures.”
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