Chapter 12

Dev slowed down from a trot to a walk, after the first time his horse slipped on the road. He certainly had no intention of putting himself or his horse in danger of an accident. Still, his horse had a fast walking gate, and the cold air seemed to make the horse want to move briskly.

Dev was bundled up against the cold as well as he could, and still be safe from possible ambushes. He not only had to worry about road agents, but also the mage's guild, now. That was why he had left so early, to try to get a jump on any potential mage ambush.

Of course, he had taken the precaution of casting the spell to detect those around him for some distance, and so far it was all clear. He had a knit cap pulled down over his ears to protect them from the cold, and wore a pair of gloves. His cloak was pulled tight against the cold.

Still, his nose was cold, his fingertips were cold, his toes were cold. He would be glad when he got to the inn later in the day, he was going to sit by the fireplace and soak in heat!

By the time he got to the inn that afternoon, he was glad for the stop. Making a trip during the winter seemed even more foolish to him, now. He had met no one at all on the road that day.

The innkeeper was surprised to get someone coming from Taslon at all. His place did have a few local farmers, but travelers on the road were very rare during the winter months.

Dev was greeted with surprise, but welcome. Dev asked what the innkeeper had for dinner that evening, and was told he had rabbit and cabbage. Not exactly what he had become used to, but it would do.

Dev paid the innkeeper a little extra for grain for his horse and corn. He wanted to make sure his horse had the strength and stamina to make the trip in this cold. He still had weeks of travel to go.

For two weeks Dev traveled at a fairly brisk pace, sometimes pushing his horse along. He arrived at a King's inn and turned his horse over to the stable boy. He instructed the boy to feed and groom the horse well and to double the usual feed. He tipped the boy two copper pennies and went into the inn.

He pulled his amulet out and walked up to the innkeeper.

"I would like a room for the night and a good meal," Dev said, lightly touching his amulet.

The innkeeper looked at it then licked his lips nervously.

"A room and a meal will be six coppers," Dev was informed.

Dev was astonished. He knew that the innkeeper had recognized the amulet, yet he was trying to charge him. Dev looked at the man, then reached into his cloak pocket for his personal pouch. He pulled out six coppers and paid the man.

Dev put the amulet under his shirt and moved away from the innkeeper and walked over to a table by the back wall. He looked around the inn and noticed that there were four customers present.

He was about to dismiss them when he noticed something. All four were better dressed than the usual farmer. Another thing he noticed was that three of the four were armed with swords, which most farmers did not own or if they did, they left at home.

A cold chill raced down his spine as he realized that something was not right here. But if they were waiting for him, how did they get here before he did? Then it came to him. Carrier pigeons.

They could have been sent out from next large town to the west, letting these men wait for him here. Dev reviewed the spells he had memorized and felt ready if they tried anything. One of the men got up and got a refill of his ale, and moved to a slightly different location. They were definitely closing in on him.

Dev decided to put a stop to this. He readied his shield spell and stood and cast it at the same time.

"I don't like being bracketed. Obviously you people are here waiting for someone, and I can only assume that someone is me. Leave now, or I will take action to make you regret staying, if you live," Dev told the four men in a cold tone of voice.

"You can't threaten me..." one of the armed men started when the unarmed man threw a spell at Dev.

The spell shattered on Dev's shield and that seemed to motivate the other three men. They drew their swords and moved to towards Dev, keeping out of the way of the guy who had thrown the spell.

This told Dev that this had been a set up. They moved like a team who had done this before. Dev cast a smashing spell at the magic user and watched as he was forced backward and off his feet, but the guy was not out of it.

Even as the guy fell, he cast a spell that caused Dev's shield to flare brilliantly for a moment. Unfortunately for the attackers who had expected Dev's shield to go down, it hadn't. Dev had cast his rotating shield and the spell had settled evenly over the shield instead of bringing it down as planned.

Dev cast a spell of numbness at the closest armed guy and watched as the man dropped, unable to control his limbs. That left three men remaining. He cast a lighting bolt at another armed man and watched as he fell to the floor, dead. By this time the magic user was back on his feet and gestured at Dev.

Dev's shield shivered and seemed to crack. Dev cast another smashing spell at the magic user, and this time the man's shield failed. Dev watched as the magic user was thrown back, blood spurting from his mouth.

Dev turned to face the last man on his feet. The man looked a little wild around his eyes and slowly backed away.

"Stop and drop your sword," Dev commanded.

The man did as instructed.

"Who were these people and who are you?" Dev asked the terrified man.

What followed was an admission that they had been hired by the magic user to detain Dev either at the inn, or somewhere between the inn and Harghan, the town they were hired in.

"Was I to be killed?" Dev asked.

"No, just detained. The magic user, Pestry, told us to make sure you were secured. We were to guard you after he took care of you. He was sure he would be able to take you," the man stated, the terror on his face plain to see.

"Where were you supposed to take me after I was subdued?" Dev asked intently.

"To the guild hall in Harghan. After that, we would get the rest of our pay," the man responded.

"Well, you and your friend there are the only ones left alive. I suggest you wait till the spell wears off of your friend. Meanwhile, you can take the bodies out of the good innkeepers inn. A word of warning, if I see you or your friend again, I will kill you. DO YOU UNDER STAND?" Dev asked the man in a deadly voice.

Dev watched as the man took the bodies outside and then came to get his friend, who was still suffering from the effects of the numbing spell that Dev had used on him. The man looked fearfully at Dev, and then helped his friend out the door.

Dev turned to the innkeeper and asked him how much he knew about what was going to happen.