The Well of Mimir

“We have a problem.”

“What’s that?”

“Ossun’s gone missing.”

I lifted my head slightly to look out at the span of orange-twilight sky beyond the tent flap, and squinted at the painful light. I was spending too much time sleeping in the tent. It was the damn savanna heat. “What do you mean? Eaten by a lion? What?”

“If he’d been eaten by a lion, I would have said so.”

“Quit being cryptic, you’re getting as bad as the damn wizards.”

“Sorry,” the kid grimaced and had the thoughtfulness to look apologetic.

I waited. He waited. I raised my eyebrows and frowned.

“Oh, sorry–”

“–Quit apologizing and just tell me what the fuck is going on,” I snapped, not feeling particularly chummy right now.

“Fuck. I’m getting to it you old fart, if you’d let me talk.”

I raised an eyebrow. The kid wouldn’t swear at me unless he had good reason, not unless he wanted latrine duty, so I shut my trap and turned off my grump…and “old”? Well, not that old. Maybe I would give him latrine duty anyways…realized I must be getting old, since I was worried about the damn “old” comment…Self? Yes? Shutup!

I acted like I’d heard everything I hadn’t.

“…turns out he’s been asking the ’sniffer a lot of questions about the barrow we passed. Getting really chummy with Cricket and such.”

The next words were like pushing molten metal through my teeth, meaning I’d rather have been screaming than trying to talk, “The wizard’s barrow? The one Dragonfly freaked out about?” It wasn’t a subject I wanted to talk about.

He just nodded, arms folded over his chest protectively, not looking particularly pleased. I could see why he hadn’t wanted to bring it up.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “Shit,” I stated unnecessarily.

“Shit,” he agreed.

I sat quietly and stared at the floor, “We’re sure he wasn’t eaten by a lion?”

“Reasonably, yes.”

“Fucking slanty-eyed little bastard.”

He shifted uncomfortably and gave me an eye that said he wasn’t comfortable with my racism. I ignored it, he was on latrine duty this week for his own language, but he asked, “Cricket or Ossun?”

“Either. Both. Oh fuck the lot of them,” I kicked a clot of earth out of the ground

“Shit,” I swore again, for no other reason than I was really fond of the word today, “Anyone go with him?”

“Ossun?”

“Yep.”

“Nope.”

Well, that was either good or bad. I guessed I’d find out soon enough, “Let’s go find Dragonfly. In his tent?”

He nodded, and I hauled my too-tired ass out into camp. When we reached the reeking hide-bound dome that was Dragonfly’s tent, I kicked it, knowing one of these days I would upset some wizardly experiment and blow half the camp into the sky, including myself. It didn’t sound like too bad an idea right now.

Dragonfly came out cursing at me and piling on the threats. I ignored him. “What happens if you bungle a wake?” I demanded. He gave me a raised eyebrow in response and then snapped his open mouth shut.

“Does Ossun even know how to do a wake?” the kid asked from behind me.

“What the hell are we talking about?” the old wizard grumped, but I could see in his narrowed eyes that he was guessing right already.

I noticed the ’sniffer clamber out of the tent behind Dragonfly and eyed him. Consorting with wizards. Great. But I’d have to ask about it later.

“Ossun’s missing — ”

“Eaten by a lion,” Dragonfly snorted haughtily, trying to convince himself I suppose, “I suppose you’ll want me to find what’s left of him?”

“Not by a lion. He’s gone to wake the dead.”

There was a pause, then Dragonfly looked ready to jump out of his skin, or at least ready to break his contract and go back to being dead for another thousand years. Same thing, on reflection.

“Yeah,” I nodded in confirmation of the thoughts buzzing around behind the old wizard’s eyes, “So. Where the hell is Cricket?”

He just stared. I turned to the kid, “I thought you said no one else was missing.”

He shrugged and grimaced, “Well…no one else you ordered me to keep an eye on.”

I dragged my fingertips through my hair, killing a rising itch.

“Anybody else missing?” the wizard asked, lips pursed.

“Not that we know of,” I answered, throwing an evil eye towards the kid.

“We’re sure Ossun didn’t defect? We’ve always suspected him of trying to stir up the recruits and go it alone.”

It was a good question. I didn’t have an answer. Neither Dragonfly nor I wanted to speak what the next thought was, but the kid saved us the trouble, “Having a wizard on his side would give him the the prestige to make a good go of contracting out his own work.”

“Fucking idiot,” Dragonfly mumbled, though he sounded more terrified than haughty.

“Alright, you: count heads. I want to know if he’s gone solo, or taken a rogue group along for the ride. You: get a dozen of the long-timers together and meet me at the south edge of camp. Or…fuck. Dragonfly, we’re going back to the barrow. You meet us there with the men when you can. And somebody find Cricket.”

The kid and the ’sniffer bolted in different directions. Dragonfly stood, arms crossed, glowering and looking like he’d rather be eaten by a lion. I was trying to figure out a way to get us both on that plate.

Twilight wasn’t even a memory by the time Dragonfly and I reached the barrow; the temperature had plummeted to that typical of for the chill nights of the savanna, stars glittered like frost in the deep navy heavens. We missed the hill on the first pass, and had to swing back around.

“You’re sure that’s it?”

“What, you can’t see in the dark?” Dragonfly’s eyes glittered with a dim, animal light and he smiled at me. I shuddered and turned to look elsewhere, glad his magics were keeping dangerous predators at bay.

“Do you see anyone?”

“Not a damned soul.” Clever.

We were crouched in the low-lying grass just off the new path the company had stomped into existence earlier. Cold and dust filled my nose, the dry smell of the grass itching my throat. Somewhere distant, a hyena cackled at our situation.

“So, hopefully Ossun got as lost as we did and was eaten by a lion.” It was a plea to whatever divine forces were watching. Leave it to Dragonfly to kill my buzz with reality.

“Or we missed him.”

“If he’d woken her, wouldn’t there be earthquakes, fires, plagues of locusts and frogs, that sort of thing?”

Dragonfly grunted, not appreciably improving my mood. I stood up, futilely slapping the gathered dust off my trousers, “Nothing to do but check on her bones. Come on, wizard. And before you even begin to protest, I don’t care HOW much that dead bitch scares you, you’re coming.”

He snapped his mouth shut and glowered unhappily, but got his unspoken wish anyways. As quickly as I’d risen, I dropped back to the ground, dragging him back down with me and hissing for silence. Someone was coming up over the hill, the harsh yellow flame of their torch blocking my view of their face.

Dragonfly was experienced enough to turn his face away without prompting, not wanting his eyes to catch the light and draw attention and concern. Maybe a half-dozen other figures joined the torch-bearer and I swore under my breath, quietly but forcefully, because I could tell they weren’t the men the kid would have brought.

Their voices carried.

“I told you we’d find it.”

“You’re sure?”

One of the men leaned down and lifted up one of the skull-topped poles that had toppled over, waved it around a bit before dropping it again, “You see any other hills around here with these welcome signs?”

I heard Ossun’s voice next as he came over the top of the hill, carrying another torch, “This is it. You, you, guard the perimeter. There and there. You, with me. The rest of you, eyes open. If it moves, kill it.”

Ossun and one of his men ducked down and slipped into the dark opening in the hillside, the orange glow making it look like a mouth leading down into hell. Exactly what it was, if Ossun knew how to wake that dead wizard up.

The animal glimmer had faded from Dragonfly’s eyes, and he glanced at me, “We have to stop this, now.”

“We’re outnumbered, and this isn’t some Rieinsian romance where the dashing hero–that’s me–can defeat six armed men alone.”

“You’ve forgotten you have a wizard on your side,” Dragonfly answered smugly.

“And you’ve forgotten that boy perched right over the mouth-to-hell is carrying a loaded crossbow,” I pointed, “He’ll put a bolt between your eyes the minute you stand up and start chanting funny words. Unless you can hurl fire from your hands, we’re not going anywhere.”

“Don’t be stupid, that’s nonsense.”

“We need a distraction,” I looked at Dragonfly hopefully.

He frowned, then grinned wickedly, “Come on, I have just the thing.” He slipped through the dry grasses, hunched over, heading away from the barrow and into the night-dark plains. I followed, quiet and low, casting sparse glances over my shoulder.

“Hey, there’s something out there!” The call drifted through the night to us; someone had spotted us.

I informed Dragonfly, and insisted we hurry, even though I had no clue what it is we were doing. Sometimes, you just don’t have time to listen to the plan and have to give your wizard the reins. Unfortunately, you get what you get.

Now would be a really good time for the kid to show up with the cavalry.

Copyright (c)2008-2009 Raven Daegmorgan