Sapphire of the Fairies soh-1 Read online

  Sapphire of the Fairies

  ( Sword of Heavens - 1 )

  Richard S. Tuttle

  Richard S. Tuttle

  Sapphire of the Fairies

  Chapter 1

  Lorgo

  The woman’s scream echoed through theFisherman’s Inn in Lorgo. Lorgo was once part of Sordoa before theCollapse of the Universes a generation ago. Now, Lorgo is in one ofthe many unclaimed areas of the continent, which hasn’t receivedthe attention of any of the marauding armies yet. Esta Tern, theinnkeeper, told the young boy selling rabbits to wait and hurriedhis bulky frame up the stairs and along the corridor to the room atthe end of the hall. Esta knew which room the scream must have comefrom because he had only one female customer this morning and hedidn’t stand for unregistered guests in his rooms. Esta bangedloudly on the door. “Innkeeper! What’s the problem in there? Openthe door.”

  The door opened and the femaletraveler, dressed in a fine white robe, pointed towards thewindow.

  “Somebody was trying to comein through the window,” she shrieked. “What kind of an inn are yourunning when decent people don’t even have privacy in theirroom?”

  Esta trudged over and leaned out thewindow, looking in both directions. Only a skinny strip of wood ranalong this side of the building and a bandit would have to be crazyto attempt moving along it, the fall could kill him. Down below inthe street nobody was moving. The only movement visible was down inthe harbor area where the last of the fishermen were putting out tosea. Esta watched the small, drab boats heading seaward under thedim light of morning before closing the shutters and turning to thewoman.

  “I don’t see anything outthere,” he stated. “Don’t think anyone could walk on the littlestrip of wood out there and there aren’t any ladders insight.”

  “Are you calling me a liar?”she demanded. “I tell you, someone was out there and I shouldn’thave to pay for a room that’s not private.”

  Esta made a motion to smooth hair onthe top of his head, hair that had disappeared years ago. He hadlong demanded that rooms be paid for in advance and occasionallyran into customers who would find fault with rooms just to gettheir money back. Placing his fists on his hips, he scowled at thewoman.

  “Look,” he stated, “this is aprivate room, just what you paid for. Your door locks and thewindows have shutters. You want to go parading yourself around infront of an open window, that’s your business, but if yourscreaming wakes any of my late sleepers, I’ll have to kick youout.”

  Esta stormed off, leaving the womancomplaining as he left. Everyone looked towards Esta as he reachedthe ground floor and the innkeeper just waved them off to indicatethat there was nothing to worry about. Back in the kitchen, hereturned his attention to the young boy who was selling rabbits tothe inn.

  “Sorry, Arik,” he sighed.“That’s one crazy woman. First she travels around without a decentbodyguard, or as part of a caravan, and now she tries to sleep forfree. She wouldn’t even get to keep her coins if I did refund herroom price. The bandits would get her for sure. How many rabbits doyou have this morning, Arik?”

  “Six good-sized ones thismorning, sir,” Arik replied. “What was the screamingabout?”

  Esta looked up at Arik and rubbed hischin. “Nothing, I suppose. Where is your friend, Tedi, thismorning? Have you seen him?”

  “No, sir,” the boy answered.“I suppose he’s sleeping late today. I should hurry along, though,if I’m going to fish with my father today.”

  “Sorry, Arik,” the innkeeperapologized. “I saw him leaving while I was upstairs. I shouldn’thave kept you so long.”

  “It’s okay, Master Tern,” Ariksaid. “He doesn’t really need my help anymore. The fish keepgetting smaller and less plentiful each season. Pretty soon, someof the fishermen are going to have to find other work.”

  “Well, it’s a good thingyou’ve decided to branch out then,” chuckled Esta. “This is a finemorning’s work, Arik, the best batch of rabbits you’ve brought inthis month.”

  “Thank you, sir,” beamed Arikas Esta counted out the coins for the young hunter. “Do you thinkthe bandits will attack Lorgo again?”

  Esta leaned his bulky frame against thelong wooden table that was the centerpiece of the kitchen. “Isuppose they will,” he answered. “Ever since the Collapse, theworld has been a very unsafe place. The bandits will keep attackingand raiding until one of the great armies wipes themout.”

  “Do you think we could send amessage to one of these great armies and get them to come help us?”quizzed Arik.

  Esta laughed and scowled at the sametime. “Lad, the only difference between the bandits and the greatarmies is that the armies are bigger. They’ll loot and plunder usas sure as the bandits. The only reason that they will kill thebandits is to get rid of the competition.” The innkeeper’s browknotted with concern. “Sooner or later some of them are going tocome, though.”

  Arik gazed at the innkeeper trying togauge his mood. For once Master Tern seemed to be talkative, butnone of the townspeople seemed to want to talk about the daysbefore the Collapse. Hesitantly, Arik broached the unspeakabletopic. “What was it like before the Collapse? Could you really seethe sun? Were there bandits then also?”

  Esta jolted upright and hurriedlyglanced around the room before turning a frosty glare at Arik. Hisfists were clenched and he appeared to be struggling with himselfto avoid striking the boy. Arik stood toe-to-toe with the innkeeperand didn’t flinch. Although he was considered a boy in the town,Arik was already a year past Forgeno, the age when young menstarted their apprenticeships. Forgeno didn’t hold much meaning inLorgo anymore, as trade with other cities was limited to anoccasional merchant or caravan because of the bandits. Mostmerchants refused to travel except with the rare caravans. As aresult, most trades in Lorgo were of a similar nature to a smallvillage instead of the bustling seaport town it used to be and mostyoung men became fishermen.

  Esta’s composure softened and the largeman relaxed his tense stand. “You should know better than to talkof times before the Collapse,” he admonished. “It is said that towish for the old times out loud is to bring down the wrath of theDark One on you and your kin.”

  “But you don’t believe that,do you?” pressured Arik.

  “Of course not,” blustered theinnkeeper. “Still, if anyone heard me talking, the town wouldboycott my inn. There aren’t enough travelers to survive on. Idepend on the townspeople coming in and eating and drinking. Ican’t afford to alienate anyone.”

  “I won’t tell a soul,”promised Arik.

  “Well, truth be told, you areof the age to be making up your own mind now and soon you’ll betaking a wife,” whispered Esta. “I suppose you have the right toknow the truth for what it’s worth.”

  “I reckon I do,” smiled Arik,“but I’m not making promises to any girls.”

  “A smart lad,” laughed Estawhile glancing around to make sure that they were still alone.“It’s true enough, it is. When I was a younger man, Lorgo was afine town, almost a city. It was a town in the great nation ofSordoa, which was so large that it would take a month on a fasthorse to go from border to border and everywhere that rider went,the sun would shine all day long. At night you could look up andsee the heavens, a thousand twinkling lights dancing around theblack sky. When the moon was full, you could read a book by itslight and it used to cast a long swath of golden light over thesea, calling lovers down to the beaches to marvel at itsreflection.”

  “I’ve read about the moon, butit’s hard to imagine the sight you describe,” sighed Arik. “Werethere bandits back then, too?”

  “No,” reflected Esta, “banditsdidn’t last very long back then. The army would hang them and thearmy was a friend of
the people in Sordoa, not like the armies oftoday. People call them great armies, but they’re just a large bandof ruffians. The Sordoan Army was a real army with uniforms anddiscipline. It was the most feared army in the world, but thecitizens of Sordoa didn’t have to fear them. The merchants used tokill bandits, too. Some young boy from Targa, probably not mucholder than you, made a name for himself and a fortune by becomingthe first merchant with his own army of bandit-killers. It got so abandit would only attack a lone stranger in the woods.”

  “Wouldn’t all that sun burnall the crops?” asked Arik.

  “Glory, no,” chuckled theinnkeeper. “The plants need the sun. The dark sky is why the cropsget smaller and fewer every year. The animals also suffer withoutenough food to survive on. No, lad, sunshine is a wonderful thing.What I’d give to see another sunny day.”

  Arik sensed the innkeeper’s despair andknew his questioning would soon be over. “What caused the changeand when will it change back?” he asked.

  Esta frowned and chewed on his lowerlip as he answered. “Some say that a great demon escaped hisimprisonment and collapsed the universes. A god came along andimprisoned the demon again, but not before the demon found theworld’s greatest magician and made him the Dark One and commandedhim to rule over the world for a thousand years. It is said thatthe Dark One abhors the sun and ordered it to remain hidden andnever show its face again.”

  “You mean that I’ll never getto see the sun?” exclaimed Arik.

  Approaching footsteps warned theinnkeeper of the pending interruption and he rounded on the younghunter. “You won’t get to see tomorrow if you don’t get about yourbusiness and leave me to mine.”

  Arik walked out the back door of theinn, jiggling the coins in his purse, pondering a world withoutbandits and an inky black sky. As he turned the corner of the inn,a hand reached out and grabbed him.

  “Tedi!” Arikexclaimed.

  “Shhh,” whispered Tedi. “Idon’t want old man Esta to hear you.”

  “So it was you,” chuckledArik. “What did you do to make the woman scream?”

  Tedi pulled his friend down the dustyalley and away from the inn. “I was just making rounds of the emptyrooms to see if anybody left something behind. How was I supposedto know that some woman would be getting dressed?”

  Arik shook his head. “I don’t knowwhat’s going to kill you first, falling off a roof or getting beatto death by your father when you get caught.”

  Tedi frowned at the mention of hisfather. “If he beats me again, it will be the last time that hedoes. He nearly broke three of my ribs last time. I’m not goingthrough that again. I’d rather take my chances in the woods withthe bandits.”

  Arik remembered the last time that Tediwas beaten. Arik was concerned that Alan Markel might kill his sonone day. He knew it wouldn’t be on purpose, but Tedi’s father wasdrunk most of the time and Arik suspected the fisherman didn’trealize how strong he was or how hard he could hit. Alan neverrecovered from the loss of his wife and had spent the last threeyears going from bottle to bottle. Arik’s father, Konic Clava, andAlan used to be best friends and used to take their boats outtogether. Tedi and Arik used to go along and help. Three years ago,bandits raided the town and both of the boys’ mothers had beentaken. When the two fishermen and their sons returned from the seathat day, Alan started drinking. He hasn’t been sober a daysince.

  “Why do you do it?” Arikasked. “Why don’t you take your father’s boat out and fish or comehunting with me? There are lots of ways to make money withoutstealing it. I just sold six rabbits to Esta and he’ll take a lotmore if I can get them.”

  Tedi kicked a stone down the dustyalley. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I never was much good atfishing and there aren’t that many fish left, anyway. I guess Ilike the adventure, the chance of getting caught and the thrill ofgetting away with something. I was never as good a shot with a bowas you, anyway.”

  “We could go huntingtogether,” offered Arik. “We’ll split everything we get no matterwho bags it.”

  “Your father needs the moneyas much as mine does,” submitted Tedi. “He’s always having to buythings to fix his boat and nets. He’s hardly making enough to liveon as it is.”

  “That doesn’t matter,”declared Arik. “My father and your father have been friends a longtime. I’m sure that he would give whatever he could to help yourdad.”

  “Your dad is the only friendmy father has,” admitted Tedi, “and my father doesn’t even realizeit. Besides, anything my father gets is going towards the nextbottle. No, I’ll try hunting with you, but I’ll only keep what Iactually get myself.”

  “You’re a good enough shot tobring in plenty of game,” cheered Arik. “Let’s go by my place andI’ll show you the animal trap I made. I’m hoping that I can catchsomething really big with it.”

  The smell of fish and salt airincreased as the boys sauntered down the alley towards the dockarea where both of the boys lived. Arik laid his bow and quiver onthe stoop of his house and led Tedi around to the back yard.Proudly, Arik picked up his homemade trap and presented it toTedi.

  “It looks like a metal jaw,”commented Tedi. “How does it work?”

  “Well, it doesn’t really workyet,” conceded Arik. “I used oarlocks for the jaws and filed theminto teeth. They’ll hold tight whatever gets between them, but Ineed to find a couple of stiff springs to put some pressure onthem. I’ve looked everywhere that I can think of, but I can’t findany. See, the springs will go in right here.”

  Tedi was impressed. “I’ll check aroundand see what I can find,” he offered.

  “Well, if you find anything,let me know,” smiled Arik. “And don’t steal them. I’ve got enoughmoney to pay for them.”

  “I don’t steal,” replied Tediangrily. “Taking stuff that people leave behind before theinnkeeper gets it and keeps it for himself is notstealing.”

  “Alright,” conceded Arik, “Ijust don’t want you getting beat again.” Arik wanted to believe inTedi’s honesty, but still he wondered how Tedi could find all ofthe things he had claimed to find. It was mostly the things thatTedi found that kept some food on his father’s table and drink inhis father’s cup. What amazed Arik the most, was the gold necklacethat Tedi wore all of the time. It certainly was a very expensivepiece of jewelry with six strands of delicate gold woven in anintertwining fashion that culminated in a small golden heart.Certainly, no goldsmith in Lorgo had the skill to create such apiece and the thought of some traveler leaving it in a room at theinn was preposterous. The necklace was probably valuable enough tobuy a new home, but Tedi never gave any inclination to part with iteven when he and his father had no food to eat. In any event, Tedistormed off angrily whenever Arik mentioned thenecklace.

  “Why don’t we go out to thewoods and try getting some game,” offered Arik.

  “Later in the day would bebetter,” Tedi replied quickly. “There are bandits just outside oftown and the way they were carrying on last night, they won’t begetting up early.”

  “How do you know about thebandits?” asked Arik.

  “I overheard Esta talking to atraveler yesterday,” responded Tedi. “They were talking about amerchant coming down from the North. I was hoping to find theircampsite and hear tales of the outside before the townspeople allcrowded around. You know how nobody will talk about the old timesand I figured if I shared a campfire with him, he would feel betterabout talking. The only thing I found were a group of bandits,though. I don’t suppose a lone merchant will survive to even gethere now.”

  “You’re crazy going out in thewoods at night,” exclaimed Arik. He wanted to add in a statementabout what they would do to get their hands on Tedi’s necklace anddecided not to let Tedi end the discussion and storm off. “What ifthe bandits saw you? Nobody would even know what happened to you?You would just end up dead and rotting in the forest.”

  Tedi looked down sheepishly andshuffled his feet like a small boy being scolded by his mother.Slowly, though, his shame turned to anger a
nd he thrust his chin upand his lips tightened with determination. “I am not a little boyanymore, Arik,” he shouted. “I know how to take care of myself. Infact, they did see me and they did try to kill me and they didn’tsucceed.”

  “What happened?” Arik askedcalmly. “How did you get away?”

  Tedi stood silently for a moment andcalmed himself. He reached into his pouch and brought out a smallmetal disk painted black with sharp points on it like an artist’sdrawing of a sunburst. “One of them threw this at me. I never evensaw it coming, but it missed and struck a tree. I grabbed it andtook off.”

  Arik reached over and took the smalldisk, feeling the sharp points. Murmuring to himself Arik said, “Iwonder if they are planning to attack the town again. Maybe weshould alert somebody. How many bandits were there?”

  His anger dissipated, Tedi repliedsoftly. “I didn’t get a chance to find out. I wanted to sneak backafter they chased me, but I couldn’t chance it. I don’t know howthat one bandit knew I was there. I pride myself on being able tosneak up on people, but I didn’t even get close before he hurledthat thing at me. I guess I’m not as courageous as I like topretend.”

  “Not courageous!” Arikexclaimed. “Nobody I know would intentionally sneak up on a groupof bandits. What were you trying to . . . ”, Arik stopped. Itsuddenly dawned on him why Tedi was sneaking up on bandits. Tedi’swhole life had fallen apart the day their mothers were taken fromthem by bandits. He wondered how long Tedi had been sneaking intothe forest at night in an attempt to find his mother again. Ariktalked admiringly as he gave the small weapon back to Tedi. “Youhave more courage than any ten men in this town, Tedi. Only a foolwould have attempted that camp twice. You’re pretty quiet when youwant to be, but that bandit must have pretty good hearing. You’reused to sneaking around people, not animals. I’ve learned a fewtricks about being quiet in the woods from old man Grein, thetrapper. I could show them to you if you want.”