A Leaf and Pebble Read online

  Wide-eyed, he nodded in agreement. Neither of us spoke as we made our way back down the docks, shaken and confused. Once the wood planking turned to the cobbled stone of a road, Volant finally let out a soft curse. “Left hand of god.”

  I agreed, mind reeling. Not knowing what else to do, we started back towards the Stump. There wasn’t much time to contemplate our murdered fence as she was thrown out of mind when an unmistakable orange-red glow flickered in the distance.

  It was roughly where the Stump sat, more or less. There not being a lot of other structures in its vicinity, we broke into a run straight towards the growing flames. Even at a quick jog, it still took us a fair bit of time before we got there.

  The Stump was engulfed in fire. Smoke was spreading across Rootfloor’s low-hanging ceiling in every direction, and the burning smell of wood had a bitter undercurrent to it. By the time we arrived, an entire crowd surrounded the building, taking care of the blaze with ruthless proficiency. Everyone was staring except for a trio of bald men, wearing dark cloaks and sporting shaved heads. A flash of blue robe could be seen underneath as the shortest one turned and glared at us, eyes drinking in every detail.

  The hair on the back of my neck stood on end when I locked eyes with him. A long moment passed, and then they turned their backs on the fire and left while everyone else still scrambled around to try and put the flames out.

  A Learner from the school was there, along with two Naturals in Guard uniform. The trio worked efficiently. Each Natural was maintaining a high-pressure stream of water on the larger pockets of flame, while the Learner worked a few paces behind them, his hands grasping and shoving at the smaller flames, extinguishing each one he aimed at. Volant and I watched, completely dumbfounded. My focus was so fractured, I couldn’t even help in putting out the fires, though I doubtfully would have been much use even if I was on point.

  “Think they’re ok?” I asked quietly. My heart seemed to be beating too loud in contrast.

  “No,” Volant replied. His eyes brimmed with tears, though his voice was steady.

  “Think Bymm started it?” I asked even softer than before.

  “No,” he replied again. He pointed at a hand, neatly severed from the rest of its body. Flames didn’t do that.

  “Gods above,” I swore, softest yet. My eyes began to tear up as well.

  Once the fire was out, two more of the Guard showed up, Thumpers. Dressed in tightly fitting uniforms, they wielded heavy cudgels that had earned them the Thumper namesake, not to be mistaken for Elites, the more dangerous spear wielding Guard who’d earned their spears. The first was fat and balding, greasy hair combed over too much scalp. The second seemed to be a rather fresh recruit, and young.

  Neither seemed to care that our friends and everyone else inside could be dead. Property damage and who to blame were their only concerns. The tree stump sign hung from one chain somehow still attached to the charred wood plank. It swung slowly above the bald Thumper, like a palm reader’s hypnotic coin on a string. Smoke from the smoldering wreckage of the building twisted, in a dark spiral, to and fro. I stared at the sign, my eyes following the momentum of the log, as the men wrote down reports from the bystanders who were willing to talk.

  Someone in the crowd was carrying on about the Stained must have done it, and I saw Volant stiffen with anger at this. Something to do with Naturals and their mothers, but it was a new insult I’d not really heard much of.

  The heat and Thumpers had kept us far enough back that we didn’t see the bodies when we arrived. Once the crowd cleared though, they were painfully visible. Only the Learner was left now as Volant and I circled the building, seeing if we could tell one corpse from another. Seeing if we could tell which was Bymm, or his new fiancé Kyla, or anyone else from Jorcum’s. My eyes took it all in, but I couldn’t tell if any were our friends. The corpses were too badly burned. Many of them looked to have lost limbs. One body seemed to have mostly been cut in half.

  We had made a full circuit of the tavern before the Learner approached us. He had a fuzzy gray beard, and a deep weariness in his eyes. He nodded to us. “I think I’ve seen you two around the school. Is that correct?”

  “Nil,” I replied numbly. “We both attend, you’d be correct.”

  “I teach some there. I assume you were here before the fire began?” He looked concerned when he asked, as if he was scared to know our answer.

  Volant answered first. “We were, just a walk to the docks and back. Do you know if anyone escaped?”

  Ignoring Volant’s question, he looked us both over. “Boys, you shouldn’t be here,” he said in a carefully neutral tone. “Let me walk you back. It’s the least I can do.”

  Volant, who had been staring hard at one of the bodies, looked the man in the eyes. “We should have been in there. Our friends were in there. Bymm just proposed with a big toron stone fitted ring.”

  “What did you say?” the Learner asked, taking two steps forward with dark suspicion on his face. “There was a stone here after all?” he hissed to Volant.

  Turning to the portly fellow, I saw he was more fearful than angry. “What does the stone have to do with anything?”

  He stepped even closer to Volant, his face pale white. Beckoning me to an intimate distance, he glanced about the street. It was a few long moments until he was apparently satisfied. “That stone had everything to do with what happened here,” he whispered. “Someone is collecting them. Someone is doing so in utmost secret. That same someone is killing people for any toron stone they think they can, leaving no witnesses.” His voice dropped even lower. “It’s not just here, either. There have been thefts and deaths across all five realms.”

  Volant tried to interrupt, but the man threw up a hand, sharply cutting him off.

  “You need to run, boys. With utmost haste. Whoever it is has great reach and power, and will undoubtedly know both of you were here. These people are incredibly thorough.” He grimaced, but continued. “A few of us at the school are investigating the matter discreetly. We’ve lost a handful of our own personnel and stones. The thoroughness with which information has been contained has been our biggest indicator of their existence beyond simple crimes. We try to keep track of the bigger stones, and a pattern has emerged. The people in possession of toron stones keep dying under suspicious circumstances. Their stones go missing. There have been zero survivors and zero witnesses. We know next to nothing about who is behind the killings or why, except they are incredibly capable. It’s why I’m here now. This fire had the stink of what’s been going on everywhere else. However, it lacks the usual discretion. They’re getting bolder, which can’t be a good thing.”

  I blinked. “Did you say run?”

  He paused for a moment, looking at me as you would an incredibly dumb child. “Yes,” he replied. “And I mean immediately.”

  “No way, we haven’t even finished the semester. The school says if you leave, that’s it!” Volant whispered back fiercely. “You don’t know what it cost me to get here. Or Nil, for that matter.”

  A sad look crossed the man’s face. “Better failure than death, boy.”

  I almost laughed at his seriousness. I would have, if not for the loss of my murdered friends sinking home the longer we stood there. I looked over to Volant who had the angry look of someone with something to say.

  “You really trying to tell me they destroyed this entire place for a stone? I find that a little far-fetched,” Volant said. “I mean, everyone wouldn’t mind having them or that kind of wealth, but it’s not exactly something worth burning down a tavern and killing all of the occupants for.”

  “I know it doesn’t sound likely, but if I’m right, you both need to get away to somewhere safe, far from here,” he said in a pleading tone that took the edge off my skepticism. Whatever else could be said, this man certainly was sincere.

  Volant looked at me, a trace of fear in his eyes. “I think I counted nearly twenty bodies.” A shift occurred. The body count sank in, a
nd his suspicion bled out with it. A hollowness replaced everything and his fire sputtered out.

  Before I could respond, the old Learner spoke again. “Your friends are dead. You need to leave, please. And soon. Be careful who you trust.” With that, he turned and hurried away, pointedly not looking back.

  Numb, Volant dragged me behind him, down an innumerable amount of side streets and winding, backwards routes, and more stairs than seemed possible. Finally, the school’s meager lodgings loomed up and we were home. I looked at their shadowy outlines, filling in the gaps with memory.

  Both of Volant and I had come quite a way to attend Jorcum’s Higher Learning Academy. Volant from the airship city of Wydvis in the far west, and I from the hidden forest homes of Erset in the far east. Neither of us were strangers to packing for a long journey.

  “Nil, I’m scared,” Volant said once we’d managed to get back. “I’ve never even seen a dead body before. Especially one I knew.”

  I nodded in agreement. “Same. I feel like the world has been turned upside down. Even if I wanted to, I doubt I could go back to class.”

  “What if they are coming for us next?” He asked in a hoarse whisper. “First Cathy’s, then the Stump. That’s an awful lot of coincidence.

  “I don’t know. They might not be. But I’d rather be safe than dead.” I grabbed a pack. “Leaving’s a good idea for a while, whether or not anyone is after us.”

  Despite my trouble believing the man, we were both shaken up enough that we agreed to leave as long as we left a note of our sabbatical with the hopes they were lenient. We packed quickly and efficiently, only essentials and anything we could barter on the way wherever we ended up going.

  Neither of us had been able to persuade the other on whose homeland to go to. Splitting up was not an option. We needed some supplies and had agreed on something more drastic to fix that.

  Our packs only half full, we left for the opposite side of the enormous school towards the training ground where we would be putting to use the more questionable set of skills we’d developed on Kalaran’s streets while working for Cathy and her rich and amoral merchant clients.

  We approached a walled building with a large dusty courtyard. The abnormally high stone ceiling soared above us. Carved into the stone wall before us were the words “Training Ground” and just beneath that a set of solid wood doors chained together with what seemed altogether too much chain. Just in case the gods were taking an interest, I gave the chain a tug. It was good and tight, unfortunately

  “You sure about this?” Volant asked hesitantly.

  “I think we’re a bit past questions like that, friend,” I replied. “Picks or climb?”

  Volant sighed audibly. “Picks, I guess. It’s only the one lock.” I grinned as he pulled out his handmade set. Looking at the big padlock the mass of chains was bound with, he selected a wavy tipped pick, along with a nice, strong piece of metal bent at a ninety-degree angle. A few minutes of poking, prodding, raking, and a few choice words, and the lock clicked open. We pulled the chain away and dropped it to the ground. For the son of an airship captain, and a would be herbologist, he had exceptional talent at this.

  “Why do you think people always go so big on the chains, and not think twice about the lock?” I asked as we slipped inside.

  “Dunno, but it’s baffling,” his muffled voice replied.

  Inside it was dark. None of the brightly shining glow bulbs or flickering lamps that surrounded Kalaran. For whatever reason, you had to bring your own light when at the training hall.

  I shut the door with slow precision. Only the slightest rattle of chains was heard. My mind wandered as Volant went to lighting a candle he had handy. He was an exception at a school like this. Most Natural’s didn’t Chase higher learning. But especially at a school that mostly catered to Learners.

  A spark caught, and he used his Talent to fan the candle into a bright flame. Being a wind dancer, he wasn’t exactly able to make fire, but once there was a flame around him, there was a fair bit of influence he could bring upon it. Light reflected from a thousand different angles off the myriad of metal lining the walls. The place was a bit ostentatious. Massive weapons, the kind that had no place in actual combat, donned the walls higher than I could reach. Smaller, more usable steel and wood were at hand on ground level. I took in the smaller weapons. Battle axes larger than a man had no place with people looking to be incognito.

  “OK, we need survival supplies, any food hanging around, and weapons. Preferably something sharp, and a backup that can be used and passed off as a tool,” I said in an unnecessary whisper. A second flame sputtered to life as another candle was lit off the first. We split up and went about our business.

  I went straight to the back of the training floor, where the less glamorous, utilitarian tools were kept. A lot of the Elites were trained here for the long-term deployments they practiced, not that Balteris had seen a war in ages. Still, Elites needed somewhere to train, and the school liked to offer a well-rounded education to anyone who wanted it.

  A fire starter was first into my bag, along with the basics: whetstone, water skin, and a couple fistfuls of string like leather straps. One of these straps went to tying up a rolled blanket so thick it could function as both as thin protection against the ground and cover if folded around oneself. One side was sewn with leather, making it mostly weatherproof when rolled correctly. I’d always wanted one. If I was going to burglarize the school, I might as well go big.

  Finished with the nitty and gritty bits, I went to go find something sharp in case we ran into the killer of our friends. Volant had worked in reverse, giving me a wink as he came into the back room, already armed with a rapier, bow, quiver bursting with arrows, and a small double-sided axe. Luckily, it wasn’t one of the battle axes which hung from the wall. This one was conceivably a serious woodsman’s axe if you were of the right size, but more often than not, a weapon.

  “A bow and an axe?” I asked.

  “I like ‘em,” he replied, patting both fondly. “They’re the closest to what the crew carries on my mother’s ship.” He eyed the blanket I had over one shoulder. “Is that a traveler’s blanket?”

  I returned with a broad smile. “Sure is! Don’t worry, there’s a few more back there.”

  Despite the terrible day we’d had so far, he clapped his hands excitedly, the pile of weapons he wore jingling discordantly. “I’ve always wanted one of those,” he whispered.

  I dropped the blanket and bulging bag next to the door. On top of these, Volant coiled some rope in a loose pile. I rolled my eyes. “You don’t need rope.”

  “You always need rope,” Volant replied.

  I shrugged and we kept going. A table that held everything too small to hang properly on a rack or wall stood in a corner. There, a fairly simple short sword, a pair of worn daggers, and a hatchet that was meant for every form of violence including the kind performed on fire wood waited for me. I ignored the larger pieces partly for stealth, and partly out of any understanding what to do with them. Sheaths for the daggers and short sword were tough to find, but a few dusty pieces were hidden in a drawer down the way. With the comfort of steel secured to me, a tension I’d been holding since finding our fence murdered slightly bled away.

  “Hey, I’m going to hide the stone outside when you finish up.” A silent prayer to Locklentalis, my favorite of the gods, and I went back to the front door to wait for Volant.

  His candle approached shortly. The bag he carried was similarly bulging, and a blanket equal to mine was squeezed under one arm. One nod toward the door, and we both extinguished our candles, Volant taking the lead out the door.

  I attached the excessively large chain to its padlock, and we slipped through what shadows we could find until we got to a patch of distinctly rough wall. The spot was actually a fracture of some kind, easily climbed if one had the courage to. Far enough up that a fall would seriously hurt, there was a hidden cave that Volant and I had found and used w
henever a retreat from socializing or classes was needed. But the climb wasn’t for today.

  At the base of the jagged wall was a nearly invisible alcove, too small to do anything with. Except to store some ill-gotten goods for a short period of time. We pulled out a stash of coins we’d hidden from our last heist, and replaced it with the latest grab’s dull and oversized toron stone.

  Unfortunately, this was the easy part. Horses were going to be much harder to get away with. As casually as possible, the two of us made our way to the school’s stables.

  Three

  Horses were not very common in Kalaran, as they really couldn’t do much other than ferry people in and out of Rootfloor, and only in some areas. Any of the caverns that didn’t have a direct path outside were rather hard for horses to access considering the tight, twisting corridors that honeycombed the mountain. Jorcum’s Higher Learning Academy was one of the only establishments in Kalaran that stabled the creatures outside of the Travel Guild. Considering our resources though, the Travel Guild was far too expensive and time consuming.

  Once we passed the cathedral like learning hall, old dorms carved into the cave wall, and the huge sand covered training yard, we arrived at the almost laughably austere stable. One of the few wooden structures at the school, it looked straight out of a book. There were five horses stabled currently. We worked as quickly as we could, saddling two of the sturdiest looking beasts we could with rather little light. Being school raised horses, they were used to strangers on a regular basis so at least there was that to be thankful for.

  Considering our location, stealth was dropped in favor of getting out of there as fast as possible. Upsetting the school was only slightly safer than crossing the Travel Guild. We took the horses out at nearly a gallop from the stable, probably waking every person in the vicinity with the sound of fast hooves striking carved stone.

  Our gear was where we left it. No one seemed to be chasing us, so we sheepishly strapped everything down onto our freshly acquired horses and took them at a speed slightly under suspicious. We went east, receiving quite a bit of attention from those that were already getting up and about.