143 – Caspian and Karen sort things out

  “Yes. Rox and Diana needed to be able to dispel the magic connection, thus the silver and fire. I hope I have not unduly damaged Diana by the awakened magic skills in her. Once the connection the daemon is gone, either of them should be able to stand up to and defeat the queen. Alex mainly needed to get over his childish innocence and inexperience at killing. It was easier to simply program him, rather than train him; I don’t know how much he will be aware of or remember once that starts. Steven just needs to be able to hold his own and get Alex close enough to do the job.  From the makeup of the company that took them, I figured the Viceroy arranged to get the Caplan’s as close as he could to the king and queen.

  “Now, I surmise that because all four signals on your trackers are still active in Skarg, they have, or are in process of fulfilling that destiny. By the time we get to the city, the Viceroy will be on the throne. I fully expect that if things go as planned the Viceroy will quickly and quietly get the Caplan’s out of the city, rather than kill them. On that same hand, I should probably keep myself scarce until he has secured his power.”

  Caspian nodded on this one. “First Rule of Assassination: Kill the Assassin. In this case, the Caplan’s are only the tool; you are the one wielding it, at request of the Viceroy. I can see that. So, are you telling me this as a way of asking to come back to Shalaia with us?”

  Karen looked as Caspian gestured with his right hand, still holding her left hand. She had not realized she was still holding on as he walked; she let go, stepping slightly to the side to put a little lateral distance between them. “If you don’t mind. I’ve never traveled that far away. Might be nice to see some new places.”

  Caspian noticed that Karen had a slight bit more blush to her cheeks and face than just the cold could account for. It complimented her straight brown hair. Cyrril chirped and pushed off to stretch his wings.

  “I don’t mind. I don’t seem to be in charge anymore, so . . .” Caspian let the conversation go.

  They walked for a while quietly.

  Caspian started again. “When you first joined us, I though it was a mistake to let you along.”

  “And now?”

  “I’m still deciding. It would have been a lot harder to get the kids out without your information.”

  Karen sensed he was trying to decide if, what and how to say, so she met him at the mark. “Is this the start to an apology?”

  “Maybe. I’m still thinking over what you did and why. You submitting to my spell and questioning that day. That was reassuring.”

  “That was Steven’s idea, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah. It did help my concerns about you. Probably why I was so off my guard when things did go down.”

  Karen had to pause to think about how to answer this. “Well, your being off guard helped me with that bit of theater. And for what it is worth, I’m sorry I had to attack you, but glad it worked out for the best.”

  “Well, so far.”

  “If I had told you then what I have been telling you since, would you have gone along with it?”

  Caspian had to think about this. “I expect Rox might have, and Steven not, for the reasons they expressed when we last talked about this. Me? I need a little time to think about it before answering.”

  Karen sensed his confusion of the issue, and let the answer wait.

  The conversation drifted to other things as they went. Caspian’s mouth went on about some of the plants he saw and their magical use. Karen added her own limited scope and great depth to the topic. And thus they went: two people with nothing more to do than get to know each other better.

  Caspian was quite tired when they stopped a little while after dark this second day of the two of them traveling together. After he set up his usual and wards and spells, he dozed against the base of a tree. Karen took care of the rest of the set up and dinner. Once he ate, he curled up to sleep under a tree, and she curled up in her own blankets next to him to keep each other warm.

  The afternoon of their third day the trackers started moving in a manor indicating large scale movement again. It took Caspian a few moments to understand the direction of travel. Karen looked at which way the indicators were moving and comparing that to her memory of the roads and terrain. She then led out at a slightly faster pace. Caspian did his best to keep up, mostly. He did find he liked watching her walking and moving ahead of him.

  At the next crossroad Karen turned north, to go to another of the highways out of Skarg. It took Caspian a moment to understand why. When she let him catch his breath to ask, she only had to start to explain before he confirmed what he had already figured. The Caplan’s were leaving Skarg on a different highway.

  Karen walked Caspian into the ground this day and again the forth as they traveled through the forest. The weather was clear and cool, the cold of winter had broken. Caspian was gamely trying to keep up with Karen, and realized that he was getting his mental stamina and his physical stamina back together. It took him a while to realize that Karen was deliberately wearing him out. Once he realized this, his ego kicked in and started putting up the front that he was not going to let her win.

  On Karen’s part, she was simply pushing Caspian to physical exhaustion, to reset his mind and body into synchronization with each other. She did not think to tell him this was what she was doing, because in her circles this was common knowledge.

  During the morning of the fifth day on the road Caspian and Karen reached the next highway north, and found a place to rest. This was a most commonly traveled highway into Skarg from the north, as it was the first one from the main north south highway that ran along the foot hills of the mountains to turn to Skarg. Most of this highway was fronted by farm or fenced range land, so the forest was cleared back beyond these fields. A river wandered the valley this highway traveled to Skarg, before turning south to join the Krogg River at the last port town on the waterways that ocean going vessels could access. As such the highway had long stretches of straight easy travel, punctuated by a few turns through intervening hills from the edges.

  Caspian figured and voiced the opinion that if the Caplan’s are coming this way, there is no sense going toward them to backtrack. He then started to wind down. To Karen’s surprise he then got up and started going toward Skarg and the advancing Caplan family anyway, to stay energized. She let him, catching up to him and taking his hand.

  As they walked, she took a moment to read him. He was tired but not about to tell her. So she began an exercise, and trickled a little of her own energy into him to keep him going. On Caspian’s side of this, he simply felt a little bit energized by holding her hand. He looked a little for some little flower or plant sprig to give Karen. But quickly his attention went to keeping going forward; there was nothing to find and traffic to dodge as they went. Cyrril just explored and flew near by, leaving Caspian to walk without Cyrril’s weight to off balance Caspian. He could have done for Caspian what Karen was doing, but sensing Karen doing it, went about his own business. Thus they traveled, eating lunch as they walked.

  Journal of Steven Caplan: Day 164

  Two days out of Skarg. We unexpectedly met some familiar faces. Cyrril swooped in first and landed on Rox’s shoulders. Diana was particularly leery of Karen once she spotted her.

  It was an anticlimactic surprise to see Caspian. He briefly looked to be a bit under the weather, and almost grateful to have an excuse to stop. I think he might have been trying to show Karen how strong he is, but she didn’t seem to be buying it. Both were on foot. We all stopped where we met up. Caspian and Karen then spent the rest of the afternoon telling us what had happened between them. Rox and I then began grilling Karen on all she had actually done.

  Because of his link to Cyrril, Caspian alerted to the Caplan’s before Karen. Had she been paying attention to her extra senses she would have noticed the Caplan’s for some time before ever seeing them. But with her attention on Caspian, she did not.

  “Here they are.” Caspian paused as the family walked into close sight from the other direction.

  Karen had been thinking about other things when Caspian suddenly stopped, and pulled her to a stop as she took one more step, their hands still together.

  Upon seeing and recognizing them, Karen’s senses passed briefly over the family. Steven was determined to get his family as far as he could as quickly as he could. Rox was relived of anxiety she had previously had, and otherwise shared her husband’s mindset. Diana was as normal as she had ever been, pointing out that Caspian and Karen were again holding hands, while riding on one of the cart ponies. Alex was walking between his parents, holding the lead for the ponies. He seemed a bit subdued from normal.

  All the Caplan’s wore arms of some sort openly.

  The Mage and the Assassin stood and waited as the family and cart came in the other direction, and then fell into step as they passed.

  “Hello,” Caspian greeted.

  Karen felt a surge of relief flow out of Caspian at seeing the safety and health of the Caplan’s.

  Steven greeted the couple for the family. “Hello Caspian, Karen. We need to talk.”

  Rox smiled. Alex waved, and smiled a little. Diana looked a bit pouty.

  Karen, her senses refocused on those around her, picked up on Steven’s mood and slight annoyance at her.

  “Not surprised to see me alive,” Caspian asked.

  “Maybe a little,” Steven responded, without stopping.

  They were at a gentle curve of the road as it traveled around a hill on the south side of the valley. Farm lands were to the north, down hill from them. Uphill was some cleared area that was not fenced.

  Sizing up Caspian’s movement, Steven led them off the road and up into the scrub.

  “We will stop here for now,” he announced. “Depending on things, we may camp here tonight.”

  Steven saw to the cart being unhitched from the ponies, and the ponies turned out to graze across the hill. Cyrril landed on the back of the pony he had come to prefer and curled up on its withers. After a few flicks with its tail it left the dragon alone.

  Taking a shovel from the cart, Diana and Alex selected a latrine site and used it in turn. Rox and Karen cleared an area for a small fire. Caspian put his usual wards up. Nobody made any move to set more of camp up yet. Diana kept one of her parents always next to her or between her and Karen. Steven got the wood ax from the tools attached to the cart, then seeing no dead trees in proximity, put it back away. Without any usable logs or stumps near by, they all just settled to the ground.

144 – Karen retells the story to this point

  Karen knelt beside Caspian to his right. Rox sat around the circle to his left with Diana next to her. Alex was on his back opposite Caspian, and Steven was last facing Karen.

  “Do you want to start, Karen, or shall we?”

  She surveyed the family. “Do I need to apologize?”

  None answered her, and all were genuine in their presented selves. Rox was mildly expectant, Diana a bit hostile. Alex was not paying attention. Steven was neutral as he finally broke the silence. “Maybe; you might have told us the plan where we could have actively been aware of it. Though I can see why you wouldn’t, to keep us from spilling it accidently or under any possible interrogation. So, why don’t you start from the beginning?”

  “Which beginning,” Karen asked. “Why you are here in the first place, or when I first got involved?”

  “Why we are here in the first place might be a good place, in order to keep it all in order,” Rox answered. “We know some of that from the elves, and have been holding off from going into to much detail over that with the kids, until we get back to Shalaia just to be sure we can keep it all straight ourselves.”

  Diana looked at her mother in some annoyance. Alex was starting to doze, and not paying attention.

  So Karen began to rehearse to the Caplan’s what she and Caspian had discussed at length and in passing over the last days; about Skarg politics and history, and the local King and Queen’s history. This brought her to the Chaos Bringer, and its harbingers. Diana perked up at this. Alex was apparently less interested, but Karen’s senses told her he was listening hard to her. Steven and Rox were evidently somewhat familiar and had most of these pieces put together already. Karen finished this chapter with the caravan being sent for Diana and Alex and returning. She was not aware of its departure, but had seen its triumphal return.

  Then Karen broke Guild policy, and told of her being hired, by whom, and why.

  “We met him.” Steven interrupted at the right moment as Karen spoke of being counter-hired by the Viceroy.

  “From what I know of him, he should make a good King,” Karen editorialized. Then she continued her story of her investigations.

  Alex perked up at her brief telling of her adventure into the palace.

  She continued with a brief account of her scouring the city for them, having expected them to come in by boat.

  Rox took the conversation, shortening Karen’s story. “Fine, then we met up and had our adventures and left the city. So what all did you put into our heads? In all seriousness, is there anything we need to worry about?”

  Karen looked over the family. “The only worry I have had is whether I awakened Diana’s magic abilities too young. Magic and psionics both usually manifest in a person at a young age, but also usually sit static and dormant until puberty. I have had some concern that I might have pushed Diana to do something beyond her ability at her age.”

  Rox looked at her daughter, who was glaring daggers at Karen. “She surprised me with what she did. But since then has not tried anything, and appears as normal as I presume she should be.”

  “The Urnvtai woman taught me a bunch of basic stuff,” Diana added to the conversation. “But I could not do much of their magic. Since then I am able to tell when he does some magic,” she pointed at Caspian. “What you had me do in the Queen’s place was strange, but made sense. The last bit I did was  . . . not really magic, was it?”

  Rox put her hand to Diana’s arm and squeezed her close. “Yeah, it was. Even if you reverted to a cartoon pattern to do it. Not the best way, but it worked.”

  Caspian perked up. “What’s this?”

  “The short version is Diana does magic the way I do. We will tell more later when we tell our story.” Rox deflected. “First we want to finish hearing your side.”

  Caspian looked a little worried at this, but put the subject aside.

  Karen took back the center and continued telling what she had psionically implanted into each person’s heads, and when.

  Starting with Steven, she explained that the first time she had put information in his mind it was information about the path to the village Alex was in. The same night she had given Rox the information about the way to the village Diana was in. That was why she had then verbally given them the same information the next day. This information was of no further use, unless they wanted to go back into the tunnels.

  The next time was to give them some of her knowledge of local fighting styles. This so they would have an easier time defending themselves if they got in a fight, and also looking forward to when they would be confronting the king and queen. She was pleased to learn how much they already knew. And had been a little surprised that Rox had acquitted herself at the ball, and then kept up as well as she had. Both kids perked up at this, but Rox put it off to later.

  When she had sparred with them, she had been pleased with their abilities, and adaptability. The brief fight with the bandits had solidified her opinions of their competence.

  Just before the caves, she had reinforced and refreshed all that she had already put in. She had also taken the opportunity to put in some of what she had learned about the king and queen.

  Karen explained in short repeat about the silvered rope. Then she talked about the next time she had put information into the kids. She had first evaluated their abilities, then began instruction on things she knew.  The night of the storm she had put some of her own fighting ability into them. This was for their own protection, and to use against the king and queen.

  “Used it,” Alex interrupted.

  “Of course you did. You are here and he’s not.” Karen continued.

  Moving on Karen told how in the town she had arranged for their capture at that time.

  Rox and Steven were not at all surprised by this. Caspian had already been told. Diana had a look that told Karen she was a vile villain. Alex did not react.

  “You all remember what I did that night in the bunk house. But I did a bit more than you were told. Alex, I had to put some specific commands into you, for you to do what you had to. I’m sorry that it may not have been what you wanted to do, but it was what you were needed to do.”

  “It’s okay. He was bad, and the hero has to kill the bad guy, to be sure he doesn’t escape and come back.”

  Karen turned to Rox and Diana. “I also did more with you. I was not sure how the fight with the queen would ultimately go, so I copied your memories of the spells you did and we discussed, and put them into Diana. I am concerned that this may be more advanced and powerful magic than is healthy for her at her age.”

  Mother and daughter looked at each other, for a moment, then back at Karen. Rox answered. “That’s okay. Asking permission would have been better, but now that things have happened, there is nothing to done for it. I will keep and eye on Diana.”

  Karen turned to Steven. “Last was you. I figured that all you had to do was get Alex close enough to the king, and hold your own until Alex could do his part. I gave you all I had learned about the king, and a bit more about fighting. But for the most part you were already as prepared as you needed to be.”

  Caspian spoke to let Karen recollect her thoughts. “That brings us to the capture and what happened there. For my part, I remember casting a barrier that stopped an initial charge, then sent a bolt of lightening through another bunch of men. Then everything goes dark.

  “Some time while I was out, Cyrril bit Karen. I eventually awoke in bed in a house, with Cyrril crouched on my chest. Not long after Karen came into the room, and threatened to put Cyrril into a cage if he did not stop trying to attack her. I told him to settle down and stop being offensively hostile to her, and he did. I then spent the next two and a half days being babied and nursed by Karen. She helped me to begin recovering. I haven’t been nursed that way since I could bathe myself. Problem was I couldn’t. Cyrril scolded her the whole time.”

  “Which you wanted to do,” Karen interjected. “But until your voice returned, you had to use his.”

  Caspian continued as he lightly rubbed Karen’s shoulders and back. “This continued as I got my mind and body back in order with each other. Since then I have been regaining my strength and getting everything straightened out between my mind and body. We spent the last four days hiking to come meet you.”

  Karen interrupted Caspian. “What he is not telling you is he was initially determined to save you from any encounter with the king and queen. Because of what I did to him, he would not have had the strength to help.”

  Rox and Steven shared a look as the couple squabbled. Diana tried to politely follow it, but couldn’t. Alex let his attention drift away. Rox having had some personal experience of Karen’s domesticity at close range understood a little of what Caspian complained about.

  Karen complained that Caspian was a miserable patient. Caspian replied that she was a patient nurse. However she was a terrible mother hen. She fired back that he needed a little mothering. After a little while of back and forth about how each had behaved and some specifics about what had been done over the last days, occasionally telling too much detail, Rox broke in.

  “Back to the attack: what did you do to him? Diana said you stunned him somehow.”

  “I turned his mind off for a short time. To outside appearance he was dead. Once I turned it back on, it took about the same as two full nights sleep to wake up. In that time I took him back to the town we had been in and a house there. He is still getting all the connections sorted out, and his mental stamina back. He is doing about as well as I did when it was done to me, when I was in school. He still needs a final collapse and nights sleep to get everything back in order. When Caspian decided to finally come after you, I came with: both to help him, and because I owed you all this explanation, and what ever apology I can give that will be sincerely accepted.”

  Caspian looked at Karen in annoyance and puzzlement over her last comment about him. Rox was nodding, as puzzle pieces slotted into place in her mind. Diana thought that she now had a clear reason to not like Karen; instead of an unclear one should she decide to really not like her. Alex was busy watching the few clouds roll by high over head, and looking at the moons in visible site. Steven was nodding, having finally gotten from Karen what he had wanted from the start, for her to tell all in clarity and honesty.

  “So, why did you attack him, and us?” Diana almost spat this at Karen.

  Karen kept her tone neutral, rather than responding to the girl’s attack. “Some of the men in that company were in on the plan. I was supposed to kill Caspian, but put him to sleep to convince them that he was dead. As you can see, he is very much alive. What I did do was a much stronger version of what I did to the two of you. He is still recovering from it.”

  Steven gave Karen a brief break as she took a drink. “We then went to Skarg and killed a king and queen.”

  “So when do you move in together,” Rox interjected. She could not have stopped things colder with a bucket of ice water.

  Caspian was the less embarrassed of the two locals. “We have tried that. We will see later on our own time whether a second round happens. As it is, Karen is coming with us back to Shalaia.”

  The Caplan’s were nonplused by this.