Inker and Crown

Chapter 17

17

Niko

Mud squelched up around Niko’s ankles, pouring over the sides of his boots. “It is rather rich that the sorcerers can mark a working compass on my arm, make a light that breaks even the thickest darkness, and give us scrolls that will draw maps from the thoughts in my mind, but boots that repel frigid mud are beyond their measure.”

“Come, Niko, it’s not that bad.” Jerick used his pole to batter the brush down, making them a path. “We could be in the frozen north. Then you’d have no toes.”

“Fair enough.” Niko paused, closing his eyes to listen past the rustling and thumping of the three men moving around him.

Birdcalls echoed through the dense trees of the forest. More to his right than his left. A faint bubbling sounded to his right as well.

“I think there’s a stream that way.” Niko spoke loudly enough for the men to hear.

“Cut over now?” Amec asked from his place thirty feet in front of Niko.

“No, keep heading down.” Niko looked up to the rise behind them. Through the small, new leaves on the trees, the jagged tops of the mountains were barely visible in the fading light. “We’ll come back up and plot the water tomorrow.”

“You know,” Amec said, “when I was assigned to this journey, I didn’t think I would be climbing the mountains every day.”

“Six days out of the city, and he already misses making endless circles around the palace,” Jerick said.

“It’s easier when the terrain isn’t covered in trees.” Niko stopped for a moment, examining a rock formation that rose strangely from the slope. “When the ground is bare, I can see it all at once and let my scroll do its work.” The boulder was ten feet tall, ending in a rounded peak. “With all these trees, it’s impossible to know if I’ve found something of interest until I’m right on top of it.”

The tingle of magic itched in the back of Niko’s mind, though the leather tube at his right hip gave no outward sign that the sorcerer-made scroll was adding the dark stone to his map.

“Is it something of interest, Niko?” Jerick cut back up the path to stand next to the boulder.

Niko took a deep breath, pressing down his flicker of frustration.

Don’t blame them for not recognizing the world for being what it is. It would only make your job harder if they did.

“It’s a good landmark if nothing else.” Niko walked to the boulder, carefully sizing it against the trees. He placed a hand on the boulder’s smooth surface. “Fascinating.”

Niko circled the stone, letting his fingers enjoy the delicate texture. Time hadn’t cracked the stone, and even the moss so common in the dense forest had left its face untouched.

“What’s fascinating, Niko?” Amec asked, feeling the stone as Niko had.

“The stone doesn’t match the forest around it.” Niko peered through the trees, searching for something, though he didn’t know what.

“Then how did it get here?” Amec said. “Did someone haul it up the mountainside?”

“I doubt it.” Niko patted the stone. “My best guess is the land herself carried it here far before the Guilds claimed Ilbrea. Come on, I don’t fancy tramping back to camp in the dark.” Niko started down the slope. They would have to wake before sunrise to do another climb back up and down the mountain.

It had always seemed strange to him that the peaks of the eastern mountains had never been named. Hundreds of map makers had walked the valleys far below, plotting the jagged lines of the mountains on the horizon. But in all the time of Ilbrea and Wyrain, they’d been so busy keeping out of the mountains―to avoid the very real threat of war between the countries and the mythical threat of ghosts and bandits lurking in the woods―no one had dared claim the peaks by naming them.

Wyrain needed Ilbrea’s magic. Ilbrea needed goods Wyrain could bring them from the Golden Sea to the east of Wyrain’s coast. But if a truce were solidified through the Princess’s marriage, perhaps the time to name the mountains would soon be upon them.

Allora’s Peak.

Niko smiled at the same moment a voice behind him screamed in terror.

“Amec!” Jerick shouted a moment later.

Niko spun, searching for the young man, but he was nowhere in sight.

“Amec.” Tarrum dove to the ground, reaching into a hole that hadn’t been there a moment before.

“I’m―I’m all right.” Amec’s voice carried out of the hole as Niko ran to the others.

“What happened?” Niko knelt beside the gap in the earth. A hole four feet around and ten feet deep had swallowed Amec.

“I was walking, and the ground split,” Amec said, only a touch of fear sounding in his voice.

“What do you see down there?” Niko asked.

“What does he see?” Jerick looked to the sky. “The boy fell into the earth, and you ask what he sees?”

“Well, I can already tell he’s breathing and standing.” Niko pulled his criolas from the thick leather pouch on his belt. The sorcerer-made orb glowed brightly, a pale bluish tint glimmering from deep within. Niko held the light as far down in the pit as he could reach.

“Seems like a bit of a cave maybe?” Amec said. “A bunch of damp rock.”

“Probably a spring.” Niko twisted his legs over the edge of the hole.

“What do you think you’re doing, Niko?” Jerick caught hold of Niko’s arm.

“I’m hopping down to see if there’s anything of interest.” Niko inched closer to the edge of the hole.

“Amec’s just said there’s nothing down there but dirt and rock,” Jerick said.

“And it’s my job as a map maker to make sure the dirt and rock aren’t anything interesting.” Niko pulled his arm free from Jerick’s grip, trying not to be angry over the bruise to come.

“Well, we’re soldiers, and it’s our job to protect the map makers.” Jerick sat next to Niko. “So I’ll go down and―”

Niko pushed himself forward and dropped into the pit, stumbling as he landed.

At least you stayed on your feet.

“You’re a slitch, Niko.” Jerick didn’t sound amused.

“Don’t worry. You can be nice and helpful when you haul me out of here in a moment.” Niko held his light up to the stone walls. They were smooth, undamaged by Amec’s fall.

“If you’re not careful, I’ll haul Amec up and leave you down there,” Jerick said.

“And what would the King think of that?” Niko moved to the eastern end of the pit. The ground under his feet gave slightly as though he had, in fact, fallen into an underground spring. But the passage leading east was tall enough for him to stand in.

“What is it?” Amec asked, leaning over Niko’s shoulder.

“Not a trade route to Wyrain.” Niko pressed one hand to the thin sheath on his left hip, holding up his criolas in the other.

Flat stone walls stretched into the blackness beyond the reach of his pale blue light.

“Strange looking for a spring, though.”

Why did the observant soldier have to fall through the earth? Niko silently asked Aximander as he walked to the west side of the pit. Here, the ground sloped up, and the passage grew too short for a man to stand upright.

But the walls were still smooth. Too perfect to have been buried by nature.

“Find a passageway to a fairyland?” Tarrum called down. “If you have, ask the fairy princess for dry weather and a barrel of frie.”

“I don’t think there’s any frie down here.” Niko stepped into the stream of evening light that pierced the earth.

“Are we all going to have to jump down after you and trek along, hoping not to be squished by massive stones?” Tarrum asked.

“No. I’ll mark it on the map in case we ever need to go chasing underground springs, but it’s nothing to do with the journey the King ordered,” Niko said. “Haul Amec up first. I’d hate to leave him down here when he’s only recovered from the fright of falling.”

“I wasn’t afraid.” Amec boldly waved a hand through the air in a way that made Niko quite certain the soldier had been terrified. “And shouldn’t we follow the passage east and see how far it goes?”

Be quiet, fool.

“Passage?” Tarrum laughed. “Like a fairy princess dug it?”

“Shut it, Tarrum!” Amec shouted up.

“A spring like this could lead for miles,” Niko spoke loudly as Tarrum opened his mouth to mock Amec again. “We haven’t the time to trace it, and it isn’t what the King’s searching for besides. I’ll submit the spring to Lord Karron when we finish our journey. If he thinks it’s of interest, he’ll send a map maker out to follow the path.”

“As you say, map maker.” Amec reached up and seized Tarrum’s and Jerick’s hands. “Though it does seem a pity not to at least see where it goes after the earth let us find it.”

“There are too many things in these mountains to explore them all at once,” Niko said as Amec’s feet disappeared aboveground.

He desperately longed to walk into the darkness, to see where the smooth stone led. Someone had made this place. Perhaps an expert hand had carved it when Ilbrea was still new. A way to easily access pure water underground.

But if the softness under Niko’s feet wasn’t the remnants of a spring past its prime. If there was some other reason a person had smoothed out the walls…

The sorcerers would erase it from your map as soon as you reached Ilara.

Niko clutched the sheath on his left hip and closed his eyes, willing the parchment hidden inside to form the rock on the mountainside and the passage sweeping east toward mysteries that were not in his power to solve.

“Have you decided to sleep underground for the night, Niko?” Jerick asked. “Because I prefer my tent if you wouldn’t mind coming up so we can get back to a hot bowl of stew.”

“Will it really be hot?” Niko clasped the hands that reached down for him, letting the soldiers haul him out of the pit. “Or will it be bland and mildly warm as I’m fast becoming accustomed to?”

“I think they spoil the map makers.” With one jerk of the arm, Tarrum yanked Niko to his feet. “Demanding three meals a day and a tent to sleep in? What would the southern folk say if they knew?”

Niko knocked the stocky man on the shoulder. “Careful there, soldier. If the southern folk hear you, they might hang you by that pretty black hair of yours.”

The whole crew laughed as Tarrum carefully patted his hair back into place.

“The raven preens.” Amec elbowed Niko in the ribs, proud of his jibe.

“Be careful talking of ravens,” Jerick warned. “We may be tramping up and down the same mountain day after day, but we’re still outside the safety of Ilbrea. If the woods hear you talking of ravens, they just might send one of their birds to answer.”

“Old man Jerick worries about the whisperings of trees,” Tarrum said with a laugh like a bark.

“Old man?” Jerick said. “Old man? Last I counted, you were on track with me for how many Winter’s Ends you’ve drunk away.”

The two kept bickering as they moved down the hill, sounding more like old men with gout than Guilded soldiers.

Every so often, Niko would stop and examine a landmark to add to the ever-growing map on his right hip, all the while trying to ignore the sting in his gut.

He was an explorer. His first duty was to discover new things.

But the passage might only be a spring.

The sun crept down in the sky. Soon, it would disappear, leaving the party in darkness.

But you’ve seen enough to know strangeness is rarely random.

Sounds of horses sighing and pots being stirred over fires carried through the brush below them.

But if it is something, really truly something, the worst thing would be for a pack of soldiers to go fumbling through the dark after you as you tried to figure out what you’ve found. The soldiers can’t be a part of mapping the true Ilbrea.

Making the King’s maps and mapping the true Ilbrea were two entirely different endeavors. Splitting himself between the two pursuits often felt like he was straddling an ever-growing chasm. His fall was inevitable as long as he tried to keep a foot on each side.

Would those you journey with hang you themselves if they knew your secret?

Resentment rose like bile in Niko’s mouth as the camp came into view.

Rollands was already sitting, boots off, by the fire. His pack of soldiers sat near him, eating and drinking as the night faded to gray.

“Late coming in, Niko?” Rollands said as Niko sank down by the fire.

“Amec fell into a spring.” Niko clasped his hands firmly under his chin, resisting the urge to reach for the sheath that held the true map. How wonderful it would be to follow the darkness and see where it led. “It took us a bit to fish him out.”

“You know”―Rollands glanced over his shoulder before continuing―“I’ve never understood why they let the young soldiers come out with journeys. The soldiers are the most plentiful among the Guilds. There are thousands of them. How hard could it be to find a few older ones who want to trade in fighting for mud and trekking?”

“Amec’s a fine soldier,” Niko said. “The ground just decided to eat him is all.”

“Niko,” Inger called, waving something over his head. “A letter’s come for you.”

“A letter?” Niko rolled the words around in his mouth, as though they came from a long lost language.

“A messenger came from Ilara to be sure all of us were all right after the rotta scum tried to blow us up.” Inger pressed the letter into Niko’s hand. “They came while I was watching the camp today. I told him everyone was just fine when I’d seen them right after dawn, and then he gave me this to give to you.”

Perfect handwriting worthy of a scribe’s robes marked the outside of the envelope.

Nikolas Endur. Map Maker. Eastern Mountains Journey.

“Is it news of the city?” Amec asked.

“I doubt it.” Niko stood and stepped outside the circle of travelers before slipping his finger into the folds of the envelope.

What would Allora have to say that warranted chasing him on the journey?

That she hates you for leaving her, and that if you ever had a fleeting hope of winning her, it’s disappeared forever.

“But if it’s not news of Ilara―”

“Leave him,” Jerick cut Amec off. “Don’t you have food to be making anyway?”

“Yes, sir.” Head hung low, Amec made his way to the cook fire.

Niko almost felt sorry for him. The youngest soldier on the journey, given all the tasks no one else wanted, and he’d fallen into a hole to boot.

“Are you going to read your letter or just keep clutching it?” Jerick thumped Niko on the back. “Waiting to read it won’t change its words.”

Niko nodded and cut through the trees, not stopping until he was beyond the farthest of the tents.

“Amec fell down a well!” A laugh split the twilight as Niko tore open the letter.

Niko,

The perfect script tore Niko’s breath away. He scrunched his eyes up tight, trying to sear the image of that word into his memory.

Niko,

I’m not sure if this letter will find you or, if it does, how long it might take. For me, the explosion was only this morning, though I suppose for you it’s now weeks away.

I wasn’t hurt. My dress was barely marked by the flames. I didn’t even know what had happened when the soldier lifted me over his shoulder and ran me to the Princess’s carriage. I nearly shouted at him for treating me in such an awful way. But then I saw the flames, and my ears recognized the noise as screams.

I caught a glimpse of you on your horse. You were staring back at me. I could see it on your face, the urge to run back and rescue me. But the soldier beside you forced your horse to run, and I’m glad he did. I don’t think whoever made the street explode wanted to hurt the Princess. I think it was the journey.

The Princess could be attacked in a hundred different ways, each of them more dramatic than what happened this morning. And if it was the journey they wanted to hurt, then you would have been the one to strike. I don’t think I could survive seeing you burned and b****y, Niko. I know I am stronger than Ilbrea will ever give me credit for, but I am not strong enough for that.

The Princess is safe. The Queen collapsed when she heard the news. Our sweet Adrial has been locked in the Sorcerers Tower to be healed, but the King himself has promised me Adrial will be well by morning. Mara and Tham left the city before news of the attack had even spread to their ears.

I know you, Niko. As well as I know any heart. I know you must be furious with yourself for riding to safety. You aren’t sleeping for fear that those you left behind hate you for going.

You’re wrong. I’m not angry. You did what duty demanded, and I am safe.

But promise me you will be safe as well. If I am right, if it was the journey they attacked, then the darkness might seek you again. And I will not be there to know if you’re safe. Promise to come home to me, and every time you have ridden away will be forgiven.

I cannot bear that look of terror being the last time I see your face.

I will wait for you,

Allora

Tears stung the corners of Niko’s eyes as he pressed the letter to his chest. They were safe. All of his family, safe.

And Allora…

A smile that ached his cheeks spread across Niko’s face.

“Is the messenger gone?” Niko called as he sprinted back into the circle of tents. “Inger, is the messenger gone?”

“Left right after he dropped the letter.” Inger nodded. “Truth be told, I was shocked he managed to find us in the woods. Can’t blame him for wanting to get back to the road and on his way.”

“That’s fine.” Niko folded the letter, tucking it safely into the sheath at his hip.

Allora will wait.