A third series of sensations told me there was a sense of anticipation in the air. If an attacker leaped from the shadows and charged, he would be dead before reaching the first of us. The posture of everyone, the quick movements, the darting eyes that roamed the desert searching for trouble, all warned me.
I said to nobody in particular, “Anything happening?”
A few shook their heads. I took a jar of water and a proffered slice of cooked meat, probably rabbit, at least, I preferred to think of it as rabbit, and moved to sit beside Kendra. She had her knees pulled to her chin, her eyes nearly vacant. Princess Elizabeth came and sat before us. She was our queen, and we were her subjects. That image was not far from the truth.
She said quietly, “We need a plan.”
Kendra said, “Then invite the Slave-Master to join us. He’s good at them.”
Elizabeth said, “He is engaged in a detestable occupation, he’s rude, and he smells.”
My sister didn’t back down, and her posture didn’t change. Only her voice held a brittle edge as she said, “He’s also the reason why all of us are alive.”
“You have feelings for that man?” Elizabeth asked the question I didn’t have the nerve to even think about.
“Perhaps. Not romantic, but there is definitely a connection. I respect him. He is smart, both in conceptual and practical matters. Despite his occupation, I find myself drawn to him, trusting him.”
Elizabeth snapped, “Probably the same thoughts others had just before he took them prisoner and made slaves of them.”
Kendra leaned closer to the princess and said softly, “No, not that at all. With those people, he crushed them mercilessly. Took them without concern for their pain or suffering, caring only that they were not physically damaged, so that they would bring a better price at auction. The actions of a businessman.”
The air sizzled between them. I said, “All that aside, we need a plan. If not, the Young Mage will come after us in one manner or another. There may only be one opportunity and we should make it count.”
A silence followed that I wasn’t man enough to break. Eyes shifted to others, either asking silently for support or to avoid making their feelings known. Finally, after several deep breaths, Elizabeth turned to me and said, “Okay, call him over.”
At Kendra’s invitation, he waddled our way. He sat beside us, not talking or anticipating our conversation. He was at ease.
Elizabeth motioned for Avery to also join us. He sat opposite the Slave-Master, so we formed a small circle in the soft sand. She drew a breath and said, “I believe we escaped the Young Mage for now, and after thinking about it, he did want us to rush headlong into Kaon and attack where he undoubtedly had massive defenses waiting. I must thank the Slave-Master for helping us see the danger. The real question is, what do we do now?”
All eyes turned to the Slave-Master, which upset Elizabeth. Others may not have noticed. He said, “Think like a general in an army. There are three locations where wars are currently being fought. Four, if you count Kaon. The first is easy, which is Dire. The Young Mage now has little or no control over it. Vin and Trager are considered as tiny kingdoms for our purposes, and Prince Angle has revolted in Vin and is marching on Trager with revenge in his eye. So, we can consider them as temporarily free of his control. Lastly, there is Dagger, the capital of Kondor.”
Avery said, “So, in effect, the Young Mage controls two kingdoms, and we control two.”
The Slave-Master smiled. “And he hides in Kaon, afraid or reluctant to leave, while we have no boundaries if you take my meaning.”
Princess Elizabeth equaled his smile. “From a strategy point of view, he wants us to fight him on his own ground in Kaon, to do battle where he is prepared to win, but you’re saying we should go to Dagger instead and take all of Kondor from his control, leaving him bottled up in his Kaon stronghold.”
“Where can he go from Kaon to escape if we do that?” Kendra asked. “He cannot go east to Dire because of the impassable mountains that separate the two kingdoms. What lies to the north and to the west of Kaon?”
The Slave-Master waited, but when nobody answered, he cleared his throat. “North is the empty Whitelands. Endless ice and snow. Nothing but death by freezing to any who try to cross them. To the west of Kaon are Brownlands, a vast stretch of rock and sand I’ve never heard of anyone traversing.”
Kendra said, “Then, why not put my dragon at the south of Kaon and prevent anyone from leaving? Keep him there? He’ll be trapped.”
“You and I are going to play a game of blocks for high stakes one day,” the Slave-Master chuckled. “Your impulsiveness shows me how easy it will be to defeat you.”
“Your arrogance shows me how to defeat you,” she quipped. “So, we’re even.”
“Enough,” Elizabeth barked. She turned to the Slave-Master and said, “Why won’t Kendra’s plan work?”
“Waystones,” he said with a flick of his hand to dismiss the idea.
For me, the concept of traveling from one place to another by entering a boulder called a Waystone didn’t sit well. Logic said it couldn’t be done. Nothing suggested the Young Mage had ever made use of Waystones, or that he had not. Other, far less powerful mages used them. It only made sense that if they could, he could. And perhaps he had. The Slave-Master had shown the flaw in Kendra’s plan.
The session had drifted into that area of magic most failed to see. The normal laws of nature didn’t apply—or if they did, the applications are unknown. When I used my small-magic, it somehow drew the energy we called essence which emanated from a dragon or Wyvern. Mages were in effect people that had the ability to draw on that essence and put it to use. The existence of Waystones extended that power to what we believed were the eggs of the dragon. Using them, mages could travel within Waystones from place to place, avoiding wagons, roads, or ships.
They could apparently do it instantly. In doing that, they also carried information with them. If there was a Waystone in Dagger, and there probably was since they seemed to be located in all populated areas, the Young Mage could send one of his mages ahead of us to reach Dagger first. There, he could notify the local authorities to assemble their army and wait for us to appear.
I glanced up to find the hooded eyes of the Slave-Master watching me. He was not looking at any of the others, just me as if he was watching my mind at work. Then he smiled again. He’d seen something.
It was not an evil smile, but one that told me I was on the right track with my thinking. The right track of heading directly to Dagger didn’t offer the final solutions. I watched his smile increase.
Perhaps the answer was within my grasp and he knew it. We couldn’t attack Kaon or Dagger. Or could we? Not Kaon, but Dagger was perhaps vulnerable in another way. It could defend against our small band, but there were other options. The first that came to mind was that we could enlist help.
I allowed a smile of my own to greet his. Kendra was talking softly with Avery, Elizabeth split her time between that and watching the Slave-Master, all but ignoring me. I called for attention, but Elizabeth continued ignoring me.
A dribble of water swirled in the bottom of my jar and I used a drop of magic from the nearby dragon to reform it into a small drop above Elizabeth’s head. With each additional swirl of the water, I pulled more from the cup and added it until the drop became a blob the size of my thumb that was unwieldy to maintain.