30. THE SPY

  We met up an hour later in the backroom of an old store on the outskirts of the city. On my solitary walk to join the others at the store, I mulled over the events of the days since Uof showed himself to Vale.

  Every day of the last two weeks, we’d trained together—Greer, Bend, Shade, Briar, and I—and they each grew, becoming better and stronger with their conjuring. As the freed mages began to wake up, and respond to treatment, some of them joined us in training as well, and our numbers grew. Willow was still confined to her bed, recovering from the explosion on the rooftop, though we hoped she'd return soon. Ehren had finally woken up three days after Uof reappeared. He now wore a jagged looking scar on his left cheek where Uof punched him with his metallic fist.

  I walked around a small group of men in the outer city of Vale, whispering to each other conspiratorially.

  As Ehren began training again, he first trained with Dirk’s resistance fighters, doggedly trying to get into better fighting shape and learning to use a sword.

  But he had changed in the short time he'd been a prisoner. Now, he trained angry as if Uof’s public humiliation was right there in his mind every moment of every day. Perhaps it was. He started trained with the mages as well and progressed quickly in both swordplay and spellcraft, his rage seeming to fuel him.

  One afternoon, in our training circle, Ehren fearlessly sparred with an older and more adept swordsman, but it wasn’t going well. The swordsman knocked Ehren down hard twice, and more than once Ehren had taken a wooden sword to the shoulder, or a strike to the gut. He found himself sprawled in the dirt over and over. But he kept getting back up like he didn’t feel a thing. Again, and again, and even then, again.

  After hours of this, during which I thought the bout was over several times, unbelievably, the older swordsman eventually began to tire. Ehren kept coming at him, hard-charging like a bull, attack after attack, his eyes seething despite the dust on his face and bruises and cuts all over his body. Slowly, the fight started to turn.

  Ehren began to fall less, his strikes found their mark more often, and eventually, he started pushing the older swordsman back as he sought to defend against Ehren’s furious attacks. By the end of their sparring contest, both men were drenched in sweat, and the veteran swordsman grinned with relief, tired as he was, shaking a few hands.

  Ehren didn’t smile, and didn’t shake any hands. Soaked with sweat, bleeding from multiple cuts, he immediately stepped into the ring with another man starting to spar all over again. Others in the resistance noticed, and while some avoided Ehren as a result, others did the opposite.

  One of the young, teenage fighters watching this display and took out a piece of charcoal and drew a mark across his left cheek in the shape of Ehren’s scar. Ehren didn’t seem to see it or pay the teenager any attention.

  After several of his furious bouts began to impress everyone, including me, Dirk, and some of the veteran fighters among us, the mark on the left cheek started to appear on the faces of other fighters, and within a week, at least half of our men wore it. Ehren's determination and ferocity had become an inspiration.

  I kept walking toward the old store, keeping my head down as my old cloak covered my graying hair, which I had pulled back. I was more recognizable now after my very public incident with Uof.

  Today was the fourth time we'd shared the story of the spell in a public setting, though in addition to these speeches, other rebels shared it with individuals, spreading the story person-to-person, and each time we’d met with a similar response. At least one person always left soon after we’d begun, seeking out soldiers of Vale, while there seemed to be genuine curiosity from regular citizens.

  This time, we all saw a couple of men immediately leave the pub following Bend’s exit and tear off running down the street—it was hard to blame them because who didn’t want an estate with a water well? We had each of them followed just to see where they went, and to whom they would report.

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  When I saw him afterwards, as I stepped inside the old store, Bend's face looked grim.

  “The reaction wasn’t positive,” he said.

  “You did well, Bend,” I replied. “The story will spread, and people will want to join us, or perhaps they won’t actively oppose us."

  "It was a good speech, son," Greer said, stepping into the store and clapping a hand on Bend's shoulder.

  "If only I had known this years ago, when I passed through other towns and villages," I said, shaking head, thinking of all the years I could have been destroying tools and weapons. “I could have helped slow the tide earlier. I could have told others about this before they fought, and died — "

  Shade stopped me. “How could you have known Mage? No one knew what the Motorized were doing. Now, we can make up for lost time.”

  “This is a beginning my friends," Greer growled with a smile. And Bend, it was a sight better than any speech I ever gave."

  “That’s not saying much you old burly,” Shade replied.

  Bend laughed.

  There was a knock on the door.

  Greer cracked open the door, a looked through the crack. After whispering to whoever was on the other side, he nodded and opened the door wider.

  A mousy young boy with sandy brown hair stepped carefully into the room, a curious look on his dirtied face.

  “Ah, there he is!” Bend said, excited. “My friends, this is Percy.”

  If Bend hadn’t introduced him, I would have mistaken him for one of the many homeless young teenagers already running about the city.

  Bend drew him further into the room and Greer closed the door behind him.

  “Percy, tell them what you told me a few days ago,” Bend said.

  “Okay,” the boy said, his face lighting up as he looked around the room. His eyes landed on me and noticeably widened. He took a deep breath, nervous. “I’ve been watching Uof for a couple of days. I found a hidden place to watch the valley—the valley with The Factory, you know? A couple of days in a row, in the mornings, I saw Uof leave his keep, the big castle at the top of the valley, and head down into The Factory building you all found.”

  “How did you find this place to watch the valley?” I asked the young man. “Did anyone see you?”

  “No, I am like a ghost,” Percy replied with a smirk. “I went to the gates, which are well guarded, and made myself invisible. I walked the perimeter of the gates all around the city. But I had to go outside the city to find this place. It is a hidden place along a cliff wall in the valley of The Factory where I can see everything that happens there.”

  Bend nodded. "Good, what else did you see?"

  "Yesterday, I saw Uof scolding one of his men near The Factory. He was not happy. I thought he would be slow, but his body makes him very strong and very fast. And he always has his men with him. His Valeguard. At least ten soldiers heavily armored with weapons.”

  “Have you seen anyone else like him? Mechanized?” I asked.

  “No, not like him, but there is one other man,” Percy’s eyes suddenly looked worried, haunted. “This one follows near Uof, but always stays in the shadows, hovering at the edges so you won’t notice him. That one is scary, always watching closely, and always carrying a weapon.”

  “I’ve heard rumors of such a man,” Shade said evenly. “He is said to be the greatest warrior in all of Vale, Uof’s bodyguard. Goes with him everywhere.”

  “I am told that his name is Ruath and they call him The Grinder,” Bend said. “He was the best swordsmen in Vale some fifteen or twenty years ago, and I heard they gave him that name because he never stopped, he would grind down his enemies in battle, one after another.”

  “Good work Percy,” I said, stepping forward and shaking his little hand. “Do you think you can show others how to find this secret spot to watch the valley so we can watch it at all hours of day and night?”

  Percy nodded, his eyes seemed unsure of me. “Yes, Mage."

  “Bend, we’ll need regular shifts of two men watching the valley at all times,” Dirk said, leaning in. “A watcher and a runner. We need to know Uof’s comings and goings. How many men are in their force? What are their weaknesses? And soon, we’re going to need to get into the valley again. Can you get a rotation going?”

  Bend nodded, “We’ll get the others watching in regular shifts.”

  “There’s one other thing,” Percy said, a serious look in his eyes. “Sometimes, like today, Uof heads North and West—out of the valley and further up into the mountains—beyond where I can see him. Today, he was there for hours. What he does there, I have no idea.”

  “We’ll need to find a way to follow him deeper into the valley,” Bend said thoughtfully.

  I nodded.

  “One thing at a time,” I replied.