Lawrence Watt-Evans - Relics of War

For a moment no one spoke; then Lady Shasha said, “Perhaps accommodations could be made. There is an area in Ethshar known as the Wall Street Field…”

Tesk shook his head. “No,” he said. “I would be too exposed in an open field, and too enclosed by the city walls. Besides, you ask for my magic. That cannot work to your satisfaction.”

“I don’t…” Velnira began.

“I will show you,” Tesk said, reaching up and pulling a long black wand from the pack on his back.

Garander heard several people gasp, and saw several, including Velnira and Lord Dakkar, step back, away from the shatra . For himself, he stared at the black rod, trying to decide whether it was the same one Tesk had demonstrated to Ishta and him in the forest months ago.

Then Tesk pointed the wand at one of the tents the baron’s men had set up. “See where I press my thumb,” he said, and Garander watched as he set his thumb into a flattened oval on the side of the wand.

The tent exploded into flame, much as that stump had in the s hatra ’s previous demonstration; bits of burning fabric scattered in all directions, and there was a moment of chaos as some people fled in terror from the explosion and debris while others ran to stamp out the flames.

When the shouting had subsided, and the fires had all been extinguished, Tesk tossed the rod to Lord Dakkar.

“Here,” he said. “You try it.”

Lord Dakkar caught the wand, but then stood, shoulders hunched, staring at the shatra , the black weapon seemingly forgotten.

“Try it,” Tesk repeated. “You wished to use my magic.”

The baron’s brows lowered and his mouth turned down. He turned and held the rod out to the leader of the band of soldiers behind him. “Try it,” he said.

Startled, the soldier hesitated, but Lord Dakkar thrust the wand at him. “Take it!”

The man took it, then looked questioningly first at his lord and master, and then at the shatra .

“Point it at your target,” Tesk said. “Then set your thumb on that oval.” He indicated the relevant spot. “When you feel a faint warmth, press.”

“I don’t…my lord, where should I aim it?”

Lord Dakkar looked around, then pointed. “That fence.”

“Wait…” Grondar began, but several hands flew up to warn him away, and he did not finish his protest.

The soldier aimed the wand as he had been directed, then hesitated. “Like this?”

“Yes!” Lord Dakkar snapped.

“Your thumb on the oval,” Tesk said. “You should feel a faint warmth almost immediately.”

“I don’t feel anything,” the soldier answered. “It just feels like a stick.”

“Press anyway,” Lord Dakkar growled.

The soldier jammed his thumb down on the oval, but nothing happened. He repeated the gesture, jabbing futilely, then turned, eyes wide and worried, to the baron. “It’s not working, my lord.”

“Should I try?” one of the other soldiers asked, stepping forward, and Garander recognized Burz.

“There’s no point,” Lord Dakkar said, waving the offer away. “It won’t work, will it?” He glared at Tesk.

“It will not work,” Tesk agreed. “None of my magic will work. Ask Grondar and his son about my shelter cloth.”

Lord Dakkar looked at Grondar, and again dismissed the suggestion with a wave.

“ I would like to hear about this shelter cloth,” Lady Shasha said.

“It’s…it’s a piece of cloth that Tesk put in a tree over his head when it was snowing,” Garander said. “It was warm and stayed dry no matter how much snow fell. It clung to the tree branches. When my father and I tried to move it, we couldn’t. We didn’t see any nails or anything holding it in place, and it just looked like ordinary cloth, but we couldn’t pull it loose no matter what we did.”

“But the shatra could?”

Garander nodded, and Tesk said, “It was created for my use, and no other person’s. All my tools and weapons were. Even the talisman I dropped for Ishta to find, the one that Lord Dakkar claimed-it will not work properly for anyone but me.”

“But it glowed,” the baron said. “And showed us glyphs.”

Tesk nodded. “Those say that it is the property of the Empire and should be returned to the nearest military people immediately. That is all it will do until it is in my hand again.”

“You said it wasn’t any use anymore!” Garander said.

“It is not. But if I hold it, the glyphs will say that I have no new orders.”

“None of us read Shaslan,” Lord Dakkar said. “It could be saying anything.”

“You saw three sets of glyphs, no more,” Tesk said. “Those are the three lines of the message asking the finder to return it to the military.”

“So you say,” Lord Dakkar growled, but Garander did not really think he disbelieved the shatra .

“Yes,” Tesk answered.

“Perhaps you could tell us how to bypass these restrictions, or create new devices that don’t include them,” Lady Shasha suggested.

Garander tried to judge Tesk’s reaction from his expression, but the shatra ’s face had never been easy to read. He seemed more puzzled than anything else. “I am not a sorcerer,” he said.

“But you have all these weapons!” Velnira protested.

Tesk pointed at the soldier who still held the black wand. “He has a sword,” he said. “Does that mean he is a smith?”

“It’s not…” Velnira stopped in mid-sentence, looking from Tesk to Lord Dakkar and back.

“I am not a sorcerer,” Tesk repeated. “I know how to use my tools and weapons. I know nothing of how they are made or why they work.”

“Weren’t you taught to repair them if they were damaged?” Lady Shasha asked.

Tesk shook his head. “The demon portion of me could make certain small repairs, and I have a device that would summon a fil drepessis , a…a thing that would fix damaged talismans. I could not make any repairs without the help of either the demon or a fil drepessis .”

“You still have the demon.”

“The demon is asleep. You do not want it to wake.”

Garander certainly agreed with that, but from what he saw on certain faces he did not think everyone else present did.

“Perhaps a demonologist could be useful in that,” Lady Shasha suggested.

“Oh, blast the demon,” Lord Dakkar said. “Just let a sorcerer at your talismans! He should be able to figure them out.”

“I do not think so,” Tesk said.

“And what if we try?” Lord Dakkar said.

“I would advise against it,” Tesk said. “It has protections. If nothing else will convince you, though, I will not stop you.”

Lord Dakkar stared at him for a moment, then turned to the soldier with the wand and said, “Take that thing to Sammel. See what he can do with it.”

“This is not safe,” Tesk said.

“Your lordship,” Garander said, surprised at his own courage in addressing the baron directly, “Northern sorcery is dangerous! Someone could get hurt.”

“Sammel knows something about Northern sorcery, boy.”

“I know!” Garander said, a trifle desperately. “He’s the one who told me how dangerous it is!”

“Then trust him to know how to handle it safely!” Lord Dakkar turned away. “Velnira,” he called back, “ you talk to him! See if we can’t make some arrangement.”

“Excuse me, Tesk,” Lady Shasha said, before Velnira could react. “What will happen when this sorcerer tampers with your wand?”

“One of two things,” Tesk replied. “Either nothing at all, if he cannot penetrate its protective magic, or it will kill him.”