They were making good time and would reach Lowhaven, the following day and night had passed without incident, River and Balthazaar once again exchanging watches; Celine once again keeping River company for some of his. It would not be long before they were too close to the city to risk an attack, the st possible ambush site was a couple of hours ahead, a bridge crossing on the main road, a risky choice for an ambush as with all the military activity in the area, there was a fair chance of assistance being nearby but then again the bridge was quite long and once on there, there would be no way off.
River expressed his concerns to Balthazaar.
“Honestly my boy, I’m grateful to see you are discharging your duty so seriously, but I feel we are probably out of the woods. I imagine they have scouted us, seen you and thought better of it! Money well spent I think.”
“Maybe, but please make sure your early warning spells are in pce just in case.”
“Already in pce” Balthazaar said with a smile.
Sure enough after a couple of hours of travel the bridge came into site, the main bridge to a major city it was stone built and well maintained although both sides of the bank had long brush and grass that grown quickly over the summer. River stared hard at the grass as they approached the bridge. For a moment he thought he saw movement.
“Just the wind my boy, at this distance my spell would pick up anyone hiding there.”
River nodded reluctantly but loosened his sword and pulled his spear from his saddle just in case. The area around Lowhaven was an eclectic mix of woods, fields and meadows but in this area directly on the main road, the grass was not normally so long, River could not believe the city council would neglect the area so much or that the grass could even grow this long. Again, River tried to reason with Balthazaar.
“Please humour me, the grass here should not be this long, once we are on that bridge, we are committed.”
Balthazaar hesitated but before he could reply Cassandra chose that moment to regain some of her former haughtiness.
“Ah, here we see the true face of the vaunted Adventurer courage. Don’t fear little sellsword, my father and I will keep you safe from the scary long grass!” With that she extended her hand dramatically and muttered an incantation; tiny little fireballs shot into the grass on both sides of the bridge, burning much of it away and revealing nothing more. “That better? I can’t believe bandits or even mercenaries would hold their post in the face of that. So, can we be under way now? I have no desire to stay in your company longer than absolutely necessary.”
Not waiting for a reply, she kicked her horse forward, onto the bridge, forcing the rest of the group to rush to catch up. As the horses came onto the bridge, River felt the hair on the back of his neck rise, his instincts screaming that something was wrong. He looked back again at the grass although it was now still. They just about made the centre of the bridge when a cry went up. On both side of the bridge armed men emerged, ten in all, five on each side, making their way onto the bridge.
“Impossible!” Balthazaar muttered. “How could they evade my spe- wait! Martin?!”
River didn’t wait for Balthazaar to expin further, instead shouted out to the men.
“That’s close enough! State your business and then get out of our way!”
The men did stop but one man walked a little further forward.
“Balthazaar my old friend, how good to see you!”
“Martin, what is the meaning of this? Caliban might be fool enough to commission these men, but I never thought a mage would be stupid enough to dive into this as well”
“Not ‘a’ mage Balthazaar”
River looked back and forth and realised four of the men including Martin were not armed, at least not in an obvious way.”
“You won’t get away with this Martin!”
“With Caliban looking out for me, yes, I will. He wants your research and to ensure you hand it over and help him, I want your daughter. That one!” He pointed at Celine.
“Father I can- “
“No girl! I’ll not hand you over to scum like this!”
“If you won’t hand her over, I will take her, kill the other and then you will help me. Enough of this everyone att-“
River didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence he had marked one of the probable magic users early and hurled his spear at the man. The idiot hadn’t bothered to put any defences in pce and the spear bust through his chest. River jumped from the saddle and smacked his horse to send it charging at the four remaining men, he ran behind hit, using their confusion to draw his sword mid charge and cut two bandits down before they could recover. He risked a look over his shoulder. Balthazaar and Cassandra both had their arms raised forward, a viridian wall stretched across their side of the bridge. Martin and another mage throwing a variety of magical attacks at it, Celine keeping close behind Cassandra. The distraction cost him, the second mage on his side of the bridge extended his hand and small arcs of lightning shot from his fingertips to hit River in chest. The enchantment if his armour saved his life but he was still flung on his back. The remaining bandit tried to capitalise and ran over with a mace swinging down at River’s head. Instinct more than awareness made him roll away, he staggered to his feet and took a blow from the mace to his side. The pain brought him back to his senses and blocked a follow up strike keeping the bandit between himself and the mage, a short exchange found River’s sword plunging into the bandit’s unarmoured chest. Keeping his sword where it was, he lifted the body, using it as a shield he rushed at the mage who hastily out up a barrier much like Balthazaar’s. River dropped the body, sword and all but kept running; the mage’s expression switching from satisfaction to confusion to arm. Trusting again to his armour, River flung himself at the barrier and burst through. His momentum carried him straight into the chest of the mage. They both crashed to the ground with River on top. Not giving the mage time to get any spells active, River smashed his fists into the man’s face repeatedly, once the man was sufficiently stunned, River grasped his head and smashed it repeatedly into the hard stone below until red began to pool from the man’s ears and a crack in his skull. River left him there reasoning a prisoner may be useful ter and turned back to the conflict on the other side of the bridge. It was not going well, Bathazaar was opening gaps in his barrier to shoot fireballs of his own at his attackers, but these were picked off, seemingly at ease. Cassandra was clearly struggling, her breathing looked boured, mages typically got stronger with age, and it was clear she was not yet at the level of the two opposite her leaving Balthazzar with a severe handicap. The moment River ran to help is when Cassandra’s strength gave out, her barrier fell, and she dropped to her knees just as Martin shot what looked to be ball of concentrated air at her. The attack passed over head and struck Celine in the throat, she crashed to the ground unmoving.
“NO!” Balthazaar and River cried together, Cassandra turning in horror let out a scream Balthazaar’s own shield wavered as he moved back toward Celine’s body that Cassandra was now cradling. Martin now with more time began a circling motion with his hands, amber energy danced and expanded, until he was nearly lost from site, the second mage send another barrage of attacks and Balthazaar’s waning shield fell. Martin let loose the ball of energy, without thinking River, who had now closed the distance jumped in front of it. His armour held out for a moment, turning the worst of the spell into the sky but finally, the protection failed, and the remainder of the spell melted armour away to nothing. Pain, blinding pain, pain that he had never felt before suffused River. Through squinted, tear-filled eyes, he saw Balthazaar rise to feet, his body suffused in fury, raised an arm and the other mage next to Martin seemingly ceased to exist. He exchanged words with Martin that River could not hear through ringing ears, the st thing he saw before he closed his eyes was Martin turning and running away. He was dying, he knew this as surety, the magic eating away his body, it felt as though he was turning inside out, folding in on himself. Those final moments brought a crity and even through the pain, a release. He could still not open his eyes but the ringing in his ears had stopped, and he could make out a conversation between Balthazaar and Cassandra or rather an argument.
“She’s gone Cassandra! But he still lives.”
“You can’t do this! I won’t allow it, it’s not right!”
“He gave his life for us; without him we would be dead or worse!”
“This isn’t about him and you know it! Just another chance to experiment, another to use my sister as nothing more than a- “
“ENOUGH! HOW DARE YOU?! SHE WAS MY DAUGHTER AND I LOVED HER WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING!”
“Then let her rest! This is not bringing her back; IT WON’T BE HER!... … … it won’t be her”
Balthazaar sighed and it was unlike any of the others that River had heard. He wasn’t sure what was going on, the only thing he was sure of was that he was fading and not much longer for the world.
“I’m sorry Cassandra but the choice will be his; River if you can still hear me, I can give keep you alive. I can let you have your years although it will not be a life you know, there will be a cost, a price. Are you willing to pay it?”
River did not really understand, but at that moment he wanted to live. More than anything he wanted to live. With the st of his strength, he nodded. Then the st of his perception faded.
River emerged from nothingness to darkness, the ringing was back in his ears but the pain was gone although he was struggling to breath, as if he was being strangled. He felt a new sense of panic, gasping feebly for breath until at st the pressure seemed to ease. The ringing faded, River drew a deep breath and then another. He was still on his back, he felt the rough stone of the bridge, the darkness in his vision was eased, the sunlight overhead filtering though his eyelids. After what felt an eternity River slowly opened his eyes into a squint to find Balthazaar and Cassandra looking down at him; Cassandra looked furious, Balthazaar simply looked sad.
“You’re awake, how do you feel?” Balthazaar asked in a soft voice.
River slowly sat up and let out a sigh. It sounded off for some reason. River closed his eyes again for a moment, to try and get a read on his body. The pain was gone yet everything felt a little off, sounds seemed a clearer, he felt the breeze a little more and there seemed to be a slight weight on his chest. Opening his eyes again he noted how much brighter everything seemed, the colours of Balthazaar’s clothing standing out.
River let out a ugh, he was alive!
“Hahahaha I feel-“
Was that his voice, slowly his lifted his hands in front his face but in pce of the rge, sword calloused fingers were soft gentle digits. He looked down to see the weight on his chest, standing out from his chest was unmistakably a pair of breasts.
“No, no, no, no, no – what-what have you done?!” River looked to Balthazaar who quickly looked away. It was Cassandra that answered.
“He has stolen my sister’s body is what he has done. All to save your worthless life!”
“CASSANDRA!”
“No Father, the magic was supposed to be theoretical, moving of energies opening new doors. It was never meant for something like this! Or was it?!”
“That’s not fair Cassandra, River here- “
“River died father! Or at least should be dead, he is simply hijacking my sister’s body.”
“Hey! I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t know!”
“I told you that there would be a price my boy- “The phrase seemed to stop Balthazaar from saying more.
“You failed us, River. You failed us and now my sister is not only dead but being jerked about like a marionette, it’s sick!” Although River’s world was turned upside down, he was struggling to make sense of what exactly happened he still felt Cassandra’s pain. Under the anger was grief and, looking closer, guilt.
“The fault was mine Cassandra, I was arrogant, I never dreamed Caliban would send magic users, never imagined any mage would agree to something like this. Even with his armour River was ill matched, yet still defeated two magic caster- “
“Whilst I dropped my shield!” Cassandra let out with a sob.
“No, no that’s not what I meant.” Balthazaar wrapped his arms gently around Cassandra. “You held out longer than you had any right to, Martin and Joseph are both powerful mages with decades of experience. But- “and he moved Cassandra out to arm’s length. “I owed River his life, my short sightedness is why this happened, I was able to save him, or at least the core essence of his life force.” Cassandra’s face switched once again to anger and she stormed back over to her horse, making a show of looking through her bags.
River had climbed to his feet, or rather, climbed to her feet. She did not yet attempt to walk and stood trying to adjust to a new height and equilibrium.
“I owe you an expnation River. Your body was hit by what we call a magnus curse, a corrosive spell that eats away at the body and can only be dispelled by the caster. I believe Martin was going to use this as a means of forcing my co-operation. Sadly, I could not save your body however my own field of expertise, the one that Caliban and Martin are trying to get their hands on, allows me to transfer life force. As Celine’s body was nearly completely unharmed I… I moved your life force to her body and then repaired the damage to her… your throat.”
“So… what happens now?”
“I… don’t know River. Truthfully, I at first thought I could have you simply pose as my daughter but… well that might not be a life you want, and I now think that may be too painful of a reminder for me and Cassandra. I do not regret helping you River but, I don’t think I can stand to be near you. We will continue to Lowhaven and then go our separate ways; I will leave your payment with the guild per our contract.”
“No, I can’t accept payment.” Balthazaar made to object, but River raised her hand to stop him. “I failed, whatever the circumstances I did not fulfil the contract. Please report my failure to the guild, it will link to my amulet and should also allow you to process anything you need to with Celine’s death. And I am truly sorry for your loss.”
“That’s gracious of you River, I hope this does not sound crass, but you may want to check your body for any possessions you may need.”
River simply nodded and turned to where her former body was lying and was shocked by the state of it. The armour and most of the clothes were melted away. Much of the torso and limbs were bent and misshapen, the face was already swollen and purple. It felt like a viotion, but River needed to be practical and quickly pulled what she could from her former body before she could think too much about what she was doing. Her money pouch had fortunately survived, a small dagger and the guild amulet which was protected by a magic of its own. She then went and retrieved her sword and spear; her horse was well trained and had returned to the bridge. With the help of Balthazaar’s magic, they were able to bury the bodies, River pcing a small stone where her own was buried but held off writing a message.
With that, they three of them continued on their way in silence. Normally, River would bask in the rolling hills and fields, call our greetings to field hands or look for what birds may be flying to and from the woods in the distance. As they approached the city, other travellers passed them by but picked up the sombre tone of the group and let them be. The entered the city without a fuss, the guards waving them through at the city entrance as Balthazaar showed his mage guild credentials.
“We will part with you here River. If you find yourself struggling to adapt, if you notice anything that you feel may be a magical side effect, if you need help, the Mage’s Guild is not so far from Lowhaven, I-“
“You have done enough Balthazaar. More than anyone else I can think of would do. If you or Cassandra ever need me, you should be able to track me down through the adventurer’s guild. And given what has happened and where your enemies are, it is probably best if we avoid contact if we can help it” With that they parted ways into different sections of the city, neither group looking back.
