Blade's Fall Chapter Four

Loflan dismounted Glydenhall as they approached town. Middleton was a good sized town but the avenues and lanes are narrow. It is easier to lead Glydenhall through than to ride him. Glydenhall was also towing a small cart which made negotiating the streets even more tricky.
The first stop on his list was the chandler shop. Considering it would be a while before they broke the news of their magic user status to their ward have lights floating around the house was out of the question. Loflan did have some candles that he used when he needed light and all of his concentration at the same time but it was not nearly enough for winter.
The chandler’s shop was a well kept timber building on the outskirts of town. The family who owned, worked and lived in the shop also kept cattle and various other livestock for slaughter. The matron of the shop, Charla, stood behind the counter and greeted him kindly as he entered. That may be a typical greeting for anybody else to receive but it always touched Loflan as he did not get an excess of friendly salutaions. Soon he was loading up his cart with a winter’s worth of oils and wax. He also ordered one sow and six chickens for slaughter that he would pick up on his way home. His next stop was to one of the town’s two taverns. This tavern’s outside was completely nondescript. A long rectangular box shaped building with heavily draped window. A swinging wooden sign proclaiming it to be The Darden in weatherbeaten black paint. The inside was a different story entirely. The Darden was a room of reflections. All of it’s surfaces whether it be wooden, glass or stone was polished to a highly reflective sheen. It smelled of sweet tasting cigars and exspensive bourbon. The soft lantern glow and flickering of candle flames gave the whole space a feeling of relaxing after a hard days work. You didn’t hear raukus laughter or shouts in the Darden. Patrons were typically well to do land or business owners and wealthy travellers or traders so talk was a low resonant sound that was almost a deep hum and buzz. Loflan was not a drinker but he loved it here. It was nice to talk to other human men and learn the latest news after being cooped up in Sorsen mountain for a while. Another feature that kept the drunk population down and Loflan loved was there were no seats at the Darden. Only tall tables and a long bar that ran the whole length of the rectangular space. When patrons started to get weak kneed it was about time to go anyway. There were also pillars of polished timbers dotted here and there throughout the room serving a dual purpose, one to break up the room and the other to hold the roof up. Leaning against one of these was Loflan’s favorte place to rest. People usually came up to him to talk or gossip and not the other way around. If there was any news to be heard he would hear it there. It was not long before a glass of amber liquid was in his hand and several patrons had breezed by him exchanging greetings and juicy bits of news. The people here were friendly with him because they knew him. Many were clients of his needing his services for their lands or as protection for their goods or bodies. While they did their best not to show it, to only show respect, he still caught glimpses of fear in their eyes. Loflan’s power of banishing was so unknown and foreign to modern magic users that it brought fear to the upper and middle classes and terror and loathing to the rest. Though he would like to not be so feared and misunderstood he wouldn’t trade his skill for anything. He was chosen to bear this burden and he bore it well.
Nothing of much interest was passing as it was early and not very crowded so he decided to make a circuit around the room. His ears caught the words “She just vanished into thin air.” in the unmistakable high pitch of a dwarf so he sidled up closer so he could over hear. There were four dwarves at the low table. The Darden had three such dwarf sized tables for the little traders. All dwarves are of noble blood with deep pockets and an even deeper burbon tolerance so to cater to dwarves was a very smart move. Dwarves were curious creatures. The majority of their kind were to content to live underground in large cities, mining metals and precious stones, while some preferred to live alone or in small settlements above ground trading what was mined for food, cloth and all the other things dwarves can not make themselves.

“Just vanished you say?” asked the dwarf across from the one who had first spoken.

“Yes, right out of the field. One minute she was picking apples and the next she was gone.” the first dwarf repeated. He lowered his nasally voice to a high pitched conspiratorial whisper “And that wasn’t the only one to disappear from that very same town either.”

“No?” The second dwarf gasped. “How many?”

“Three. Three have gone missing in that town alone. Silmilar stories have been spreading through other towns on the west side. People are just disappearing.. Pop,” the dwarf snapped his chubby fingers for emphasis “and their gone.”

A hush fell between them for a moment then the second dwarf asked “What about this town? Any disappearances from here?”

“Not that I have heard. We are too far east anyway. This is your territory. It seems whatever it is hasn‘t gotten this far…yet. I doubt it will be able to do anything in this part of the world anyway.”

“How so?”

“Old Sorsen, of course.“

The other Dwarf raised his bushy eyebrows , clearly not comprehending.

“He was the most powerful user there ever was you know.” the dwarf looked at his companion with a look that suggested maybe he thought his arrow didn’t fly too far from his bow. “He died here though no one actually saw his body. It is said his body is somewhere deep inside Sorsen Mountian. He lived in the mountain for hundereds of years and put all sorts of wardings and castings about the place. That kind of deep magic doesn’t go away. Plus the new Banisher lives up at the mountain now too. From what I hear he isn’t near as strong a user as Sorsen but he’s no pushover either. That sword of his cuts through baddies like they were made of butter.”

Loflan smiled. They had no idea the man next to them was the very Banisher they spoke of.

“What do you think is taking the people and what for? Asked the second dwarf.

“No idea. Some say a powerful user is gathering people and binding them somehow to build an army against all the free people.”

“Do you think it could be the Banisher?” the second dwarf squeaked.

“No, no that goes against his nature. His nature is to banish evil and its minions. The sword does not choose a man with a black heart.”

The second dwarf nodded.

Loflan moved away. There were not talking about his missing girl but their news did trouble him. There was only two ways to bind one human to another, by parenting or marrying. You can not marry more than one person so it could not be that sort of binding. A user finding a way to bind people to himself with wicked intent was unsettling. Whatever was going on he knew he would be called to sort it out sooner or later. He just hoped it was later to give the woman time to recover.

After a few more rounds he was certain he had learned all the worthwhile news to learn in the Darden so he went back to Gly and lead her to the grocery. No friendly reception here. Loflan bought what he needed and left without the clerk so much as looking at him. The apothecary was much the same except the shop owner and Loflan traded. Loflan traded his ready mixed salves and tinctures for the apothecary’s raw imported ingredients Loflan couldn’t grow or get himself. The apothecary tried to act as though he didn’t desperately want Loflan’s wares because they were far superior to his own and Loflan tried not to let the apothecary know he knew.

After this he led Gly to the Broken Bottle. An aptly named bar known for it’s rough housers. The opposite of the Darden, the Broken Bottle was covered in grime and filth. The beer was cheap and more likely than not to give you stomach problems the next day. The whole room fell silent as Loflan came in. Every rough and tumble eye looked towards him with open hostility. These men prided themselves on being the meanest and toughest so when Loflan walked in and ordered a whiskey they felt their status threatened. Talk gradually resumed but Loflan knew it was a mistake going there. They did not trust him and so wouldn’t tell him anything. Loflan surveyed the crowd and knew he would not leave unchallenged. These men had something to prove and there was no better man to prove it against than the mighty Banisher. They thought Loflan was arrogant and flippant about his power when in reality they were dissatisfied with themselves and blamed Loflan for their own shortcomings. They were jealous of his power but they didn’t even understand it. They saw him seemingly murder family and friends instead of seeing him destroy family and friends being ridden by dark spirits. It wasn’t Loflan’s fault and it wasn’t even the spirt’s fault, they were just doing what came natural to them. It was the people who were so power hungry they called the spirits to them that were ultimately to blame.

After Loflan finished his whiskey he set a coin on the table and turned to leave. A burly red faced man stood in front of the open doorway.

“Where do you think your going, pretty boy. Lets see just how tough you are without using that sword of yours.” He snickered and a few other patrons sniggered with him.

Without breaking his stride Loflan called the wind to him and concentrated it in his right hand. The air around him shimmered as if heat were radiating from his body. As he drew near the man he spoke, “Move or I will move you sir.”

The man chuckled again. “You and what army?”

Loflan lifted is hand in a sweeping, dismissive motion and the man flew back as if punched in the gut. He flew through the door and landed several feet away.


Having only one possible place left to try Loflan and Gly made their way to Middleton Inn. The only actual Inn in town, some had rooms in their houses or businesses to let, Middleton Inn was usually a weath of information. It had a small returant and bar and since it was where most travellers stayed it was an obvious choice for the gathering of information.

The Innkeeper, Dale, waved at Loflan when he walked in. A small and frail old man with white hair and a heavily lined face, he sat on a high stool at the check in desk. The desk was almost completely covered with papers and ledger books. “Surprised to see you here this time of year,” the old man observed. “hope it is not business that brings you.”

“No, not official business anyway.”

Dale leaned to the side so he could see out the window behind Loflan. “You sure have a lot of supplies in that wagon for it not to be business somewhere.” He observed.

“Maude has come.” The old man’s face seemed to wither slightly. Loflan chuckled. “No need to fear, she is staying with me this time.”

Dale placed a wrinkled hand over his heart. “Bless your soul. I hope you don’t kill her before it’s over. I know I would.”

Loflan laughed again. “You’d try to but I am not sure how successful you would be.”

“Too right, she would probably blast me to the moons. Naw, she really isn’t all that bad. She just gets under my skin, always trying to tell me how to run my place and cleaning things and moving things around. I imagine she means well. Does she do that at your place?”

Loflan nodded.

“I hate it for you son but I am mighty glad she has decided to stay with you this time.”

“It is going to be a long winter.” Loflan agreed.

“So what can I do for you today? What brings you here?” The little man asked.

“I am looking for some Southlanders that might have recently come to town. See any of that sort?”

The Innkeeper’s face darkened. “Indeed I have. A group of three of them. They came in last night and plan to leave today. They look like a roudy bunch too. Can’t say as I care for them.”

“Are they here now?” Loflan asked hopefully.

“Naw. They left an hour or so ago. Not sure where to. Didn’t ask. I would ask what you need them for but by the look on your face I can pretty well guess. Just don’t damage my place and I will help you bury the bodies.”

Loflan grinned. “Thanks Dale. I will keep that in mind.”

Dale winked and went back to his paperwork.

Since he had the answers he sought there was no need to visit the bar. When Loflan walked outside the saw three figures in the distance moving toward the Inn. He heard the odd Laughter of the driver of the cart carry to his ears. He unsheathed Banisher. The suns rays danced along the blade. It was a massive sword. With a thirty six inch blade it looked too heavy to lift but that was one of the many misconception surrounding the blade. It was in fact startlingly light. I child could lift it. It’s tip was not sharpened to a point but rounded and so sharp it could pierce thick hide without even trying. As the men approached Loflan twisted the sword in his hand, making it do a full rotation. It made not a sound as it sliced through the air. Loflan drew the sword partly for intimitation but mainly to see what Banisher had to say about the men. It appeared that they were normal, non user humans as the blade did not illuminate, ignite or drip molten fire.


“Hello.” Loflan called to the three men he had sworn to kill. He smiled menacingly at them. “What brings a few Southanders to our little town?”

“Do not fear sword master we come on official business in the name of our Queen in Palisade. We come for information of a runaway theif who stole some precious information from our Queen. We fear she may have fled here. Have you seen any such newcomer here in town or in the land surrounding?” Asked one of the twins.


“Aye, indeed I have.” Loflan confirmed. “I found a young woman dying on the side of the main road. I tried to heal her but was unsuccessful. I could tell by her ripped and torn clothes she was a Southlander. Is this the theif you speak of?”

The men exchanged a relieved look. “It would seem so. Our orders were to kill her on site so it is fortunate that we did not have to get involved in the matter. Could we be taken to her body so that we may be certain it was the same lady.”

Loflan ground his teeth. How dare they call her a lady now after what they had done to her. “You are from the Southlands and so may not be aware of our customs here. We burn our dead here. All that is left of your….lady…is ashes, bourne on the wind.”

“Well in that case we will be on our way in a few hours now that we have a favorable report for our Queen.” The driver of the cart said. He glanced nervously at Banisher. “We thank you for your assistance.” He bowed respectfully and ushered his younger companions towards the door. They moved reluctantly and Loflan heard the man whisper urgently to them as he walked towards Gly. “Do you know who that man is?” The cart driver asked.

The twins grumbled. “No, who?” Said one. “A prick with a stick?” Said the other. They laughed.

“The Banisher.” The twins stopped laughing and looked back at Loflan, who was untying Glydenhall from the hitching post. Loflan grinned malevolently at them. They needed no more persuading and hurried into the Inn.

Town was not the best place for a brawl so Loflan decided to pick up his meat and head home to drop the cart then wait for them to take the southern road home and ambush them. A couple of hours was plenty of time.


Once Loflan had unharnessed Glydenhall and thrown some hay into his stall an hour and a half had passed. He had stored the supplies in one of the many caves on his property and had hung up the meat for drying. He planned to grab some bread and cheese to take with him and a canteen of water when his ears picked up a noise a few yards from his door. Loud moaning. A woman moaning. Loflan sprinted to the door which swung open seconds before he rushed through it. Maude was bent over the woman, wiping her forehead with a sponge.

“Come to me dear boy, her fever is spiking. It is dangerously high and will not break. It if does not break soon, she will die.”

Loflan looked at her in worried shock. “What about the future? Do you see her thread?”

Maude shook her head sadly. “I see nothing.”

Quake Chapter Four

“I can either hum or think. I can’t do both.” Dirk said as we were driving through town to Rivera’s. “I guess he will just have to read my mind.”

“Well you never could walk and chew gum at the same time so I am not surprised.” I jokingly told him.

He shrugged. “I have nothing to hide anyway. I don’t have the hots for him.”

I punched him in arm.

“Don’t you be thinking that around him either. I will hurt you.” I threatened. “I can’t help but find him attractive but it doesn’t mean I will like him as a person. He is most likely arrogant and conceded. How could he not be? Anyway, who wants a man women constantly drool over? Not me. I am through with attractive men. I am going to find me an ugly guy who will treat me like I ought to be treated.”

“Like a spoiled brat?” Dirk asked.

I gave him the evil eye. “Your one to talk.”

We pulled into a parking space and before I could evoke an aura of calm I saw Simon standing outside waiting for us. He had changed into khakis and a navy polo. His hair was brushed into his face instead of tucked behind his ears like he wore it at the deli. It made him look even more……. ugh. I was seriously going to have to get over this.

I got out of the car and he smiled at me. I was more prepared by that time and smiled back placidly. Robin blushed when Dirk’s sleek frame slid out of his sleek black BMW. She wore a pale green summer dress and a pink blush on her pale skin. She had swept most of her dark brown hair back into a clip but some strands slipped out and fell prettily around her face. Poor Dirk didn’t have a chance. He would be in love by dessert.

“We put our name on the list.” Simon said. “They said it would not be long.”

He opened the door for me and we went inside to sit in the waiting chairs. Dirk started chatting up Robin instantly.

Simon leaned towards me. “No humming?” He asked.

“Nope. It is a pain to keep up with.” I told him.

I wasn’t looking at him but I am pretty sure he smiled. I refused to be moved by it and distracted myself by looking around the room. It had changed very little since I was here last. A large flowing room with white linen tablecloths and bright red roses in glass vases on the tables. Landscape paintings and flickering candles in wrought iron wall sconces decorated the walls. Being that it was a popular date spot I had only been here on actual dates. Three dates to be exact. Bits and pieces of memories from the dates floated to my mind as I watched the crowd of couples eating and flirting.

“If I would have known that I would have picked a different place.” Simon said.

I turned a questioning look to him.

“I wasn’t aware this was your date spot.” He said.

“It doesn’t matter. They were all terrible dates anyway. I was born and raised here. You would be hard pressed to find a place that didn’t have a memory attached to it.”

“I will do my best to make this date more enjoyable for you.” He said and smiled slyly at me.

I was about to point out that this was not an actual date and so didn’t count when the hostess called “Tracy party of four.” and Simon got up.

I wondered if Tracy was his last name or hers, or both.

We were shown to our seat and ordered drinks. None of us spoke much as we decided what to eat. When the waitress returned, a pretty young redhead, she sat Simon’s drink down last and smiled sweetly at him. Simon acted as though he hadn’t noticed though he could certainly read her intent in her mind as well as he could read the daily special on the menu. We promptly ordered. Robin ordered pasta while Simon and I ordered steak. Dirk ordered a burger and fries.

“So.” I said. “Let’s get down to business. How do you know us? How do you know about what Dirk can do?”

Dirk had been very surprised and excited when I had told him the story about Robin and Simon knowing about us. I did omit the embarrassing parts and hoped I would get away with it but alas that was not be.

“You were never supposed to know.” Robin explained. “We are assigned to watch you. When you lived separately you each had someone keeping an eye out for you.” she looked at me “We were told would be moving home sometime soon and it would probably be for some time and for us to take up posts at a closed down tourist trap and turn it into a deli.” I tried not to be horrified that someone knew my relationship was coming to a close at least three weeks before I did. “Simon loves to bake so he added on the bakery side.” She continued. “We knew things were starting to go bad when you” she looked at Dirk and blushed a little “started coming in almost everyday. We called and tried to get them to move us out or somewhere else in town but we were told to stay. Then you come in” she looked at me again “and make the king of control, lose control and laugh our cover out the window.” She gave Simon a disparaging look.

Simon smiled ruefully no doubt remembering the spectacle.

Dirk narrowed his eyes at me. “You caused them to blow their cover?”

“I will tell you about it later.” I said out of the corner of my mouth.

He looked back at me like he would not forget about it either.

“Back to more important matters.” I said. “Why on earth are you spying on us?”

“We don’t know.” Simon said. “We just follow orders.”

“What are your orders exactly? Who is giving you these orders?”

“Our orders are to keep tabs on you. To make sure you don’t fall into any trouble of any kind and to look for signs of loss of control from Dirk and for any signs of special ability from you.” I started humming to myself to mask any stray thoughts of my ability. I prayed Dirk remembered to do the same. Simon continued “I am not sure I can tell you who sent us.” He looked at Robin. “What do you think?” He asked her.

She looked at me for a long moment then spoke. “We are members of SID, the Special Intelligence Division. We are not affiliated with the government but we are hired out to work with the military on special ops missions. The payment for these operations keep our organization well funded.”

“So do all of you have special abilities in SID?” Dirk asked.

“Not all but most do.” She replied.

“Why have we not been told about this?” I asked.

“I am not sure. It doesn’t make sense to us either. Normally we have people who scour the papers for unusual activity so we can recruit new members. Special abilities often run in families so we always test family members. There are a lot of members of SID that are related. Usually we ask every person with an ability to join at some point in their life. I am not sure why you two are being kept out of the loop.”

“How many times have you been assigned to spy on us?” Dirk asked.

“This is our first time being assigned together but I have watched Shia for six months in Anaheim and Simon has watched Dirk for six months in Atlanta. We usually do a six month rotation. Only like genders are assigned to eliminate the possibility of a romance.” She looked at Dirk and he grinned at her.

“I think that was a good call.” He told her.

“How much trouble are you going to be in for telling us this?” I asked.

“I have no idea.” Simon said looking grim. “As long as we do not get dismissed from SID I can deal with whatever punishment they give me. Robin has nothing to fear. It was my loss of control that caused this.”

Robin shook her head. “No way big man. I could have let her think she had said it out loud but instead I chose to lessen her embarrassment and tell her the truth. We are equally to blame.”

Simon looked like he was about to argue but just then the waitress came up with a huge tray and placed our food on the table. After she had set out the plates of food she asked Simon if he needed anything else. He told her that he had everything and then gave her a thin lipped smile that was almost a grimace. Oh how hard it must be to have women fawning over him all the time.

“You have no idea.” Simon said flatly.

I started humming again.

“Do you think they will let us join?” Dirk asked.

Robin shrugged. “I don’t know. Now that you know about us I am not sure what the next step will be. We will just have to leave it up to our superiors to tell us what happens next. We check in every Monday and Friday so Monday we will have to explain what happened and wait for new orders.”

At that moment a phone bleeped in Robin’s pocket. She pulled it out of a tiny gold clutch and stared at the screen. She swallowed.

“You had better go ahead and answer it. He must know already if he is calling.” Simon told her.

“How does he know? Does he have people watching his people?” She asked.

“Only one way to find out.” He said.

She pressed the on button and reluctantly placed the phone to her ear. The person on the other end began to speak before she had a chance to say hello. Simon and Robin’s faces made almost identical expressions as they reacted to whatever the caller was saying. After a minute Robin said “We kind of already have.” There seemed to be a long silence after that and Robin and Simon exchanged a look. A few seconds later she hung up the phone without saying goodbye.

“How bad is it?” I asked her.

“Well it seems your Mother has a tail and she is outside right now watching us. The tail recognized us and called in our location. Our direct superior, we call him Noodle, called to request a full report on why we are here and to warn us to keep our cover. I then informed him it was too late for that.” Robin looked a little green.

“A SID representative will be meeting us tomorrow at three for a debriefing. He would like you both present. Can you make it?” Simon asked.

“Sure.” Dirk said. “The Pelican is closed tomorrow and three is well after church lets out. I don’t have any plans.”


“I just got to town. I have been here long enough to have plans.” I said.

“You do now, with the head of the Special Intelligence Division.” Simon told her grimly.

Well that was scary.