9 Tales Told in the Dark 7 by 9 Tales Told in the Dark

Author:9 Tales Told in the Dark [Dark, 9 Tales Told in the]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bride of Chaos
Published: 2015-11-22T23:00:00+00:00

THE END.

THE INCUS by Jim Lee

Ton Trong Duc emerged from yet another less-than-satisfying meeting with the Highland Province’s Lord Governor. Still, the scroll in his hand represented one tiny concession. Ton knew this should count as progress, no matter how slight. Yet he could not summon anything resembling a positive outlook. Nor could he explain why the nagging pessimism he felt had grown still more acute as he quit Kumar’s offices for the tile-roofed veranda.

Ton sighed and guided a leg forward then down. His boot hardly touched the first of the three broad wooden steps before an uncharacteristic frown settled on his round face. The expression deepened with each slow, deliberate descent and looked to be frozen in place, a sheer grimace of foreboding, by the time he came level with the Government Compound’s expansive courtyard.

Staring straight ahead, yet seeing little even in that circumscribed manner, managed five steps before a familiar voice broke his near-trance-like preoccupation.

“Lord Justice?”

Ton halted. He blinked and turned his head. The silk tassels of his flat-topped cap swayed as Demon Fighter swung into place immediately adjacent to Ton’s right elbow.

The foreign-born Wizard, whose name was also his title and even, so it seemed, his primary reason to exist, peered intently into his nominal superior’s face.

“So the meeting went as expected?” Demon Fighter said. A wry grin deformed his weathered lips.

The Lord Justice looked hard into the wizard’s smooth face. The man was far more than twice his age—older even than the stiff-necked Lord Governor, in fact. Yet, except for those wind- and sun-battered lips, the old Annamite tribesman’s countenance remained unchanged from what Ton remembered from his boyhood.

And why had it taken Ton so long to notice that?

“Yes,” the Provincial Lord Justice finally answered and shook his head. “Kumar refuses to loan us horses for your mission, even for a single day.”

Demon Fighter shrugged. “It’s only the next valley over. One and one-half hours’ walk each way, two at the worst.”

“You’re still welcome to take my personal mount,” Ton reminded.

“Do you insist I have an armed escort?”

Ton nodded.

“So you expect me to ride in comfort, while two guardsmen struggle along on foot in full travel armor? No, Trong Duc—that won’t do. Either we all ride, or I muddle along beside my unnecessary protectors.”

“You realize I can’t safely reduce the mounted contingent with Investigator Nguyen. That Visha and his group are no ordinary bandits. And I won’t send an undermanned unit out to be slaughtered as the previous Lord Justice did, not two years’ hence!”

“No one has asked to you,” the wizard replied mildly.

“And I can’t put off either his mission or yours!”

“Again, no one asked—”

“As for your escort being unnecessary—” Ton snarled, only to stop in mid-growl at the sight of a full-blown smirk. “Something amuses you, old man?”

“Well, Trong Duc, if I cannot enjoy your normally pleasant demeanor, your misdirected outrage is at least more interesting than the air of mindless despair you were projecting moments ago.”

The Lord Justice wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that comment.

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