Chapter 5

Despite the promises of the Royal Canal Administration, we got stuck five days later in the middle of nowhere. Not because of the thin layer of ice in the canal, but because two of the canal operators were missing. Either they had quit for the winter or something had happened to them. The reason didn’t really matter since, for us, it meant that we would be stuck here an indeterminate amount of time. The last operator had been sorry and he had promised to make a report to his superiors. Which would probably take several days at a minimum, most likely some weeks.

A good reminder to me that I shouldn’t trust everything I read. At least not if it was a praise about around the year working Royal Canal System that connected the bigger towns and major rivers in the South-East part of the Kingdom.

Something in the way the man had reacted to this told me that this was something that was supposed to happen here this time of the year. Nobody should try to get a barge through these canals in the middle of winter and I was a total idiot because I had even tried. The truth was that I had been aware of this risk and I considered it quite minimal when compared to a longer stay in Aston or traveling in a boat with all these barrels filled with stolen books. At least there was nobody nearby to whom Kara would now be able to tell her tale.

Kara. Yes, once more she had tried to tell her story to the canal operator’s wife. Once more Hanna had gone there beforehand and told the sad tale about a young fiancée whose mind had shattered while living in Aston. Just to make the story even more believable, both Kara and I were now wearing rings that declared us to be engaged. She had been shocked when I asked her to wear that ring - and her eyes had briefly shown her anger when she had understood our ploy afterwards. However, she didn’t throw that ring to the canal - I was sure that she had planned to sell it and use the money when she would manage to escape.

“What are we going to do now? There are no horses available.”

Because of the wind, Hanna was wearing clothes over clothes and she looked like ... well, like something I had never seen before in my life. The mismatch of colors would have declared her as somebody with some issues about her mental health had we still been in Aston, but here it was just practical to stay warm. I was just getting used to this myself and a certain part of me enjoyed infinitely the fact that here there was no need to limit my sensing.

I had just finished checking the thin ice cover with the boat hook. There was ice on the canal, but it would break quite easily. Most importantly, it would not harm the sturdy barge.

“I could try pulling the barge. Either I can move it or I can’t. Kara and I could walk the path if you Hanna can steer the barge. Most likely we will not get as far as we could get with a horse, but it would be better than waiting.”

The idea of Hanna spending the whole day outside wasn’t something I was really happy about, but this canal was almost straight here and Hanna would be able to sit in warm clothes in a chair covered with sheepskins, of which we now had plenty. I had made sure that we had enough warm clothes when we left the last bigger city, Humford. It was also clear that Kara was well over her initial shock of being now a natural Mage and there had been no more crying after that one - that had seemed genuine back then when I had challenged her. If there was any more distress, she hid that very well and now she behaved quite nicely towards Hanna and me. Damn, she was even helpful most of the time. I was sure that she had probably decided that if her grandfather was able to be both natural Mage and a Magician, so could she.

I made sure that my sensing skills were always at full alert when she was somewhere behind my back.

To my own surprise, I was able to pull the barge forward even if there was that thin layer of ice in the canal. I knew that I would feel the strain by the end of the day, but a part of me was happy for that exercise. Even though I had been training in Aston, I knew that my stamina was not in the same level as it had been. Once I got used to the resistance caused by the pull, I adjusted my speed so that I would not exhaust myself during this first day. Besides, I wanted to be able to talk to Kara.

“Do you understand, Kara, that your life span just got extended quite a lot. Unless you decide to start using the stuff the Magicians use.”

Kara didn’t respond to that in any way. We had not spoken about these things while we had been in the barge with Hanna. Well, with Hanna, you didn’t really need to worry about the topics of the discussions since Hanna was able to talk about almost everything and all the time. Which she often did. Had I been able to find out in which barrel I had those plays she had talked about, I might have been tempted to get some of those for her to read. Just to make her silent for a moment.

“Why do you hate Magicians so much, Stian - oh, sorry, I mean Arne.”

She wasn’t at all sorry for messing with my name, even if she almost managed to sound like it. Almost. Those few years with the Elves and being a lone student at the University - not forgetting the teachings from Elise - had given me quite a lesson in evaluating the actual meanings behind the words that were said. Someone like Kara didn’t make a mistake like that, unless she wanted to. Now she had done it because she was annoyed I had reminded her that she had changed.

“I don’t really hate Magicians as people, even if I might hate the things they do and support.”

“They are fighting and keeping the Kingdom safe from monsters and our enemies!”

I couldn’t help laughing.

“Yes, just like the Guardians keep order outside Aston and protect people. Only, the Guardians have done a much better job when it comes to telling their story to the public. Maybe that’s because they don’t get those monsters here, some of them just clean up the messes some of the Magicians created.”

“But our kingdom needs those resources, metals and other stuff. Magicians try to find them for us.”

“Try, and usually fail - or could it be that they are really trying to find something else, other than those metals?”

“Okay, what bad have the Magicians done to you, personally?”

I should have been prepared to that. Kara wasn’t a stupid girl and she probably knew quite well that I was poking her purposefully, trying to make some holes in the mental armor she was wearing in order to protect things she had been believing. If she understood what I was trying, why shouldn’t she try the same? I took a deep breath.

“Personally ... I guess that means that I should forget things done to my mother and to my aunt. Which only leaves the reason that I had to abandon my childhood home, the fact that two of my friends were brutally killed and one raped by the Trolls. Not forgetting the fact that Rudolf was killed.”

I made sure to keep my voice neutral, but I added some Magic to my Anglon so that I really made my point. Once back in the valley, I would need to ask about that of some other Mages. I was sure that I would need to know if I could use that skill or not.

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

I would have shrugged if the self-made harness I used while pulling would have allowed me to do that.

“Right now, I don’t really care if you believe me or not, Kara. If everything goes well, you’ll be able to talk directly to those people who experienced those things.”

Kara didn’t respond to that immediately.

“So, you intend to keep me as a prisoner, then.”

“Kara, I’m sorry if you feel that way. Would it help if I told you that I’m quite willing to release you, totally unharmed as soon as it is safe for me and my friends to do so?”

“And I should believe that?”

“I could say that to you with the Old Language, but unfortunately you don’t understand it.”

“Why would that make any difference?”

“Easy. In the Old Language you cannot lie, if you are a natural Mage - like you are now. Didn’t they teach even that to Magical students?”

From the corner of my eye I was able to notice that this little piece of information shocked her more than she had wanted to admit. In a way, that was a good thing, since now she didn’t ask me when it might be safe to release her. Because that could take a decade, or even longer.

Five days - and one more empty administration base - later we were on a turning point or at the highest point of this particular canal system. Twice I had been afraid that our barge was stuck but finally we had been able to get onward - but not before I had gotten myself wet in freezing cold water. Now there was a treeless bog next to us on the other side of the canal, but that wasn’t the thing that got my attention. No, it was the weir that regulated the water income from the bog to the canal system - and that weir was closed with only a small amount of water escaping between the gates. No wonder we had almost got stuck to the bottom, twice!

The only problem was that the weir was on the other side of the canal and I wasn’t sure if I could move the barge to the other side without getting it stuck. Not only that, there was one thing our barge was missing that should have been there - a small rowboat or a skiff. There was even a place to keep it. I wanted to curse, since now it seemed that my haste to get us moving again would cause us real issues here. I really didn’t look forward to breaking the thin ice in front of me while swimming to the other side.

Suddenly I felt stupid. Of course there had to be a boat! The path for pulling the barges was here on the left side of the canal while the weir was on the right side. If the operator came with a horse, he had to have a way to cross the canal. After understanding that there had to be a boat somewhere, finding it was quite easy. Now I only needed to get that boat in the water and open the gates in order to fill the canal a bit more.

In a way, the situation was quite understandable. This time of the year there usually wasn’t any traffic in this remote canal and the canal operators needed to do other things in order to support their families. A part of me would have liked to fully open the gates blocking the water entering the canal, but I decided against it. If I wanted or needed to continue this trade, it would be important to stay on good terms with the canal operators. No, this would be as good place to rest a bit as any. At least there would be no mosquitoes here this time of the year. When I looked around the area, I was able to see the treeless bog on the other side and the pines on the other side of the canal. Pines that would never provide any high-quality logs for builders, but that would be perfect for places where hard, thick wood would be needed.