A tale of magicians, magick and a lost boy. By saying this is a fantasy I don't really need to stress that it is a work of fiction. Set in a nameless land, maybe even a nameless world, our rules and conventions do not apply here.
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Having been forced to act earlier than he had planned, his worries for the children in the private club had overridden all else, Jacob now found himself heading to the trading house each day to see if word had come back from Jard or the Alver brothers. He did not want the voices of anger and resentment to die away, and the arrests to have no consequences. But more damage would be done if the anger peaked before all the pieces were on the board. A great amount of innocent blood would be shed if the military forces of the Grand Duke were turned on to the citizens. He visited the children's home daily with the two boys, they being off as soon as possible to ride the two horses brought back by Zachary and Jamil. A paddock having been fenced off by workmen in the days they were travelling to collect them. Tancred had been asked by Jacob to assess which of the two beasts would be best suited to the long hard ride carry him to his meetings, and had also made ready his travelling pack in Zachary's rooms over the extended carriage house. Included within it this time was a lady's travelling bag for him to carry while showing her to people of the town. After what seemed to be an interminable wait word eventually came that Captain Jard agreed to meet with the lady again in the same inn two days hence. Jacob could only hope that during the time he was back in the small town the two brothers would also arrive, or he would be forced to make two separate journeys. He had no alternative but to leave the next morning, so arranged with Zachary for him to come and stay in the city house while he was away. Before leaving Zachary that day they made a final choice which of the horses would be used for the long hard trip.
That evening he told the others in the house of his need to take an unexpected business trip the following day and expected to be away for two nights. After the children were abed, he wandered around the house setting all manners of protections to keep them safe, returning time and time again when he thought of something else that might occur. Rising early he broke his fast before anyone else was out of their beds. As soon as Zachary arrived he asked him to take him to the trading house, in the hope of a message arriving on the dawn tide from the Alvers, and was then carried, in the same manner as the previous time, to the children's home. Before leaving Zachary he instructed him to ensure none went into the city unless accompanied by one of the men at the house.
The journey that day would have broke any ordinary mount, but spelled by Jacob he and animal flew the route as if it were winged. Slowing progress only when he spied travellers in the distance, once past them the pace stepped up again. This was another time he wished he had been given the power of flight by those great mages of the past. But they had only enhanced abilities, not created new. Arriving in the town late in the afternoon he made his way to the livery stables to rest the house that had performed so magnificently for him. It seemed that only a few seconds passed between the dusty traveller leaving before a sharp rap came on the livery door, looking up the stable man saw the well dressed lady stood before him. Calling for a buggy, she instructed the man to carry her into the town and take her to the inn where Jard had met with her the last time. The meeting was set for noon on the day following, Jacob decided he would stay overnight at that inn instead of taking another room, it would be a move that threw Jard off his plan of watching for her arrival if he took up residence that day as the lady. Jacob was playing games again, sometimes he couldn't stop himself. The general hubbub of the inn quieted as the lady stepped in from the street and made for the bar.
Knocking sharply on the counter she said "I'll take a room, and your best room For two nights and possibly a third"
"Sorry ma'am there's someone in it" replied the innkeeper.
"Turn them out. New bed covers as well. And I mean new, not washed, if you don't have new send the boy for them. I'll return in one hour" With that she placed two large gold pieces on the counter, turned around and left the inn.
Looking across to the docks from the main street of the town she could see that one of Captain Jard's ships was tied to the dock wall. If she had found that the Alver brothers had arrived she would have been likely to stride down and go aboard now, have the meeting with the brothers late that night and return home the day after. But it was not to be. Once the high tide had peaked she made her way back to the inn. The next morning no signs of the brothers materialised so she took up residence in the inn's private room and sat awaiting Jard. Upon his early appearance she pointed to the other chair, with the air of someone in complete control of the circumstances of their meeting.
"There is more work for you, if you have committments for the remainder of the summer you will need to break them. This contract will be for your complete force until the first day of winter, and an option for longer should it be necessary" As she was saying this she pushed into his recollections of the sinking of the slave ships and knew all.
"Jard replied "That will mighty expensive Madam, I have a large force and the expense of maintaining it does not come lightly"
"You have 327 active men Captain, the details of your force are well known to us. You will be required to keep a peace and protect civilians, and also to hold a sizeable group of people. Few of your men will likely be engaged in fighting with trained military men "
There was no question of Jard not complying with the lady, his choices in this were made by the spelling that was now in control of him. Naming the city she then set out the full scope of the job to be done.
"Some of your men will make their way overland in small groups to the city, furnished with enough funds to sustain them as they live as ordinary men. The rest you will hold offshore on your ships until the evening tide of the day in question. On that high tide, make way into the harbour and deposit your men. Your men in the city will meet up with you and carry out the tasks set, they will carry full details to you on that night. By the time the city rises in the morning all the people named on lists and maps provided will be in your custody. Your men will show a strong presence in the city to keep order as the news is announced" Surprise will be complete, most of the men you will be tasked to hold will be found drugged with a strong sleeping potion, they will not fight"
This was of course a very basic outline, for as time went on refinements would be continual, and Jacob expected to spend nearly all of his time sitting with the trade master to finalise plans for the coup they intended to mount.
After Jard and the lady had spent some considerable time answering all the questions he had thought of she asked "What will be your fee for this work?"
It took some time before he replied "I will require One Thousand gold pieces for each month from today, for this part month you will pay the full amount"
Her reply came instantly "Agreed" It was, after all, Sir Samuels' gold she was spending.
Seeing that speedy answer Jard made the comment "I should have set Two Thousand pieces as the price, I let you off lightly"
As with the last meeting she left him without words at her closing remark. "I would have paid up to Three Thousand Captain"
As she pulled back the curtain to leave the room she turned to him and said "All your men are to be furnished with a coat of the same bright colour so they be clearly identified as the keepers of order. You will have no trouble providing that from the large profit from the sale of the wine carried from the ship on your last business. Send your man, that you designate leader of the shore party, to me today. I will have instructions for his place of lodgings. If I am not here, he is to wait and to stay sober. "With that she left Jard to his sorrow over the coin he could have been counting, and her knowledge of his good fortune found on the slave ship that bloody night on the open seas.
Back in the room upstairs at the inn Jacob lay on the bed reflecting on the steps taken, and the steps yet to to take. If this next meeting went to plan then all the moves ahead of him would be made much easier. While it was so that he could make the right circumstances come about with his spelling, he much preferred that a man was not made to do the things he would never ordinarily carry out. It lay easier on his conscience that a man first had the will within him to do the right thing for his fellow man. Closing his eyes he rested until near the time of the evening tide. When he rose he slipped quietly down the stairs and, finding the inn busy and with no eye turned toward him, slipped out the back door as Jacob, then walked down to the harbour. A sailing schooner was in the process of making fast, having arrived on the tide, he paced the dock impatiently as he awaited any passengers that may disembark. He cursed his shortsightedness in not seeing the need for the Alver brothers earlier. After the few passengers had left he enquired of the schooner's mate of their route, and was rewarded by being told the vessel had indeed called at the island port where the Alvers lived. He learnt also from him that over the next few tides there would likely be another two vessels making a stop at the town. Returning to the inn he went in and took food and ale at the bar counter. After a time spent in conversation with some of the other men in there he bade them goodnight and left the inn, quickly going around to the back door and making up the stairs to his room.
As dawn broke the next day Jacob was already pacing the dockside. The wait as the ships came in, and were made fast, seemed to be taking twice the time for many of the many tasks to be done. As had sometimes been remarked in the past, the eternal man most surely didn't have eternal patience. Eventually his agonised waits of the last days were rewarded as he recognised the figure of Thomas Alver emerged from a doorway and look out on to the town. Following him was another man who he assumed was Simon. Hailing Thomas from the dockside Jacob went to meet them at the foot of the gangplank. After Thomas had introduced Simon and Jacob to each other He walked with them into the town, to the inn where they had booked rooms. Fortunately not the same inn he stayed at as the lady. When they had made themselves comfortable in one of the rooms Jacob warded the room to prevent anyone outside hearing them speak, and then brought them up to date on the progress on their former home. Turning to the city he told of the things that had happened since Thomas's last visit, leaving until last the night of the raid and the events of the days since. Hearing the torments that the poor children had been forced to endure Thomas held his hands over his eyes and wept. Simon's reaction was to fly into a rage, and Jacob was glad he had placed the wards. With the force of the man's anger he felt sure that the innkeeper would be banging on the door fearing someone being murdered if he hadn't. It was clear that of the two Simon was the firebrand.
When Thomas had recovered sufficiently enough to speak he said through his closed hands "Our Father did these things to both of us. He raped us night after night for all the years we lived with him"
It tore Jacob that he could not spell the two in a way that would make the admission bearable, but he needed them with the anger and hurt raging inside for the questions he would soon ask.
Continuing he told the brothers "It is very clear from the documents found that your father was a leading member of that club, and owned a sizeable stake in the building itself"
It took some time for the meeting could continue after that news. After a time to allow the brothers to regain a part of their composure he made a statement to them "This evil cannot be allowed to go on, these men, from the Grand Duke down, must be pulled from power. And there are men who are prepared to do it"
As the meaning of his words sunk in they silently waited his next words, which were not what they were expecting. "In the weeks since we met last I've heard many stories about the love the people of the city still hold for your mother. That same love is in their heart for you Thomas, and you Simon. Can you put aside your vow never to return, and join us in removing them?"
Jacob sat in front of them, waiting to see which of the two would speak first. Sensing inside Simon a burning rage and visions of a mob dragging the Grand Duke and his cohort through the streets. In Thomas's mind were doubts of himself, unsure he had the inner strength to be a part of any such revolution. He did not acknowledge Simon's whispered Yes the first time it was given. He pushed that thought to reinforce itself in the young man's mind.
It was repeated firmly "Yes ... Yes I will, and so shall you Thomas"
"But so many will die or be hurt Simon, the soldiers will be turned on them at the first signs of rising. We've seen that before, the carts drawn through the streets with blood running from them to show example of the fate of those who cross the palace" replied Thomas to his brother.
Jacob was quick to counter that thought. "Our plan involves no citizen bearing arms, there is already a great force who will take the palace, and the homes of the high born. The people will rouse from sleep with men patrolling the streets keeping order that morning. The military locked in their barracks with the armouries secured against them. Not a man of the city will perish, not a child orphaned, nor will a wife be widowed"
He went on. "There will be a group of people who will take charge only until the people themselves decide who will lead. And, following an election of any named, a council will sit who will forge a place for all to live in peace with their neighbours, and also in peace with other lands. No more rape and murder. No more will people live in poverty. And no more will the city be at war with other lands"
Jacob had described the island home of the two brothers to them, a place they had come to love over the years since they fled the city with little but their lives. They had worked steadily in the time since, with Thomas becoming a lawyer and making a comfortable living. If he saw the parallels between the two places he did not say as the idea sunk into him further. But slowly Jacob answered all the questions of the two men over the next hours in that room, with a little help from his gentle spelling he brought them to firmly believe in the idea of bringing about this change. It was late in the afternoon before they broke from that fateful meeting, the men hungry and thirsty, they made their way down to the main room of the inn and called for food and ale. It had been decided that Thomas would return to their island home and put matters of business in order to allow both brothers to be absent. While Simon would travel quietly from here to the city, and take up residence in Jacob's house with him and the children. In due course Thomas would sail openly to the city and rejoin his brother. At no time did Jacob want either man to be seen as an instigator of revolt by the city authorities.
The lady had not been seen in the inn since leaving early that morning to greet the dawn tide. Jacob smiled at the mystery that would be pondered on if she never appeared there again, her travelling bag left, and found empty when eventually opened to search within. Looking at the sun, now sinking to the rooftops, through the glass of the inn's windows he thought of the enjoyment of a ride through the night, arriving home and being able to sit to break fast with the children. His horse in the livery was well fed and rested, he needed no light to guide him or mount on that ride, he would ride now he decided. Furnishing Simon with ample coin to buy horse, and buggy if he wished, he bade him wait until his brother left for home before he started his on his way to the city. The three made their way to the livery stables and said their conspiritorial goodbyes.
Jacob sat at table that next morning enjoying the joy of the children, when they woke up to find him sat there, looking no different than he would had he only travelled the steps down from his bedchamber. His mount grazing peaceably in it's paddock above the city at the new children's home.