Kait allowed the streamwater to twist and twirl around her hand. She channeled the fluidity and flexible nature of the stream and allowed herself to empathize with it. Her shoulders rounded. Her muscles loosened. She had not realized how tight her body was from the days of walking and she welcomed the calming cool of the stream.
“There you are!” Sarah’s voice came softly from the brush on the bank of the river. The tomboyish woman was wearing a loose fitting button down shirt that looked far too big for her along with a billowing pair of cotton shorts. Though the shorts fell to her knees, the shirt almost hid them.
“Is that Benji’s shirt?” Kait asked chuckling.
Sarah sighed. “It is. None of my other things are clean,” she said, holding up a wicker basket of soiled clothing. “Where did you get those clothes? I’m very jealous.”
Kait looked down. Her top was actually just a long loop of fabric that she intricately wrapped around her body, and her pants were wide-bottomed, loose fitting silk trousers. “I made them myself, actually. Do you want to know how?”
“I’ve got the finger dexterity of a snail, but I will try anything.” Sarah tossed the basket down next to Kait’s own container of laundry. “I’m glad I finally got you by yourself. I wanted to know how you were doing.”
“What do you mean?” Kait asked, looking back down into the water, dipping the tips of her fingers.
“That night we met? You were pretty upset with Matt back at the Broken Bough.”
Kait smiled. “I reacted. Felt more than thought, you know? I’m doing much better, thank you for asking.”
“I just don’t want you thinking we’re bad people,” Sarah muttered as she began poking through the laundry.
“I mean, you’re thieves,” Kait said, looking at Sarah over her shoulder. There was a moment of tension before she winked playfully. “I talked it over with Matt. A lot, actually. It was wrong of me to judge you all so quickly. He explained just what kind of trouble his father had gotten us into and he said that you all had trouble of your own.”
“He isn’t lying about that. Did he tell you our story?”
“No, no details,” Kait said breezily as she cupped her hand and drew up some of the water. She let it slide between her fingers and it seemed to run slower than natural, until it finally stopped.
“Well, I’ll give you details on the Crew’s mysterious past if you tell me how you do that stuff.”
Kait laughed. “A fair trade, I suppose. Did you not learn about magic in school?”
“Well, I only made it to my second year before I was too poor.”
“Too poor?” Kaitlyn looked shocked and confused.
“Hey! You first. No questions until you explain that,” Sarah gestured to the unmoving cylinder of water as she sat beside Kait and dipped her toes into the stream.
Kait’s face scrunched up and she looked back at the stream’s water. “So, you know the four branches of the mind, right? Emotion, logic, faith, and will?”
“Right, and each one is bound to a magic. You do red magic, so you use emotion, right?”
“That’s right. Red magic is all about empathy. We learn from a young age how to meditate and reach a state of natural empathy. It’s sort of like asking how the world around you is feeling.”
“Can you do that with people?”
Kait shrugged. “People are difficult.” She paused, then corrected herself. “Well, living things are difficult. They have logic to complicate the way they feel. Emotion is easier to understand and manipulate when there is no logic involved.” Kait frowned slightly at the dourness of her own words, but that made them no less true.
“So you empathize with the non-living stuff around us?” Sarah pointed at the water Kait was manipulating in her fingers. “What is the water feeling?”
“Well, water of all types has one thing in common, openness and receptiveness. But it can build confidence in larger volumes. Oceans are brave, tricky, and will usually disregard anything smaller.
“Streams, on the other hand,” Kait said as she doubled the volume of the hovering liquid effortlessly. “They are much more flexible, and much easier to influence. All I have to do is introduce myself and empathize with the emotion of the stream, develop some trust, and,” she gave the cylinder a tug, and suddenly, the base disconnected itself from the stream. A churning orb of water was floating around her open hand. “I can give the water suggestions and instructions, and it will listen. It’s all about trust and respect.”
“And you can do that with anything?” Sarah asked, amazed. She had seen red magic used, often by street performers or beggars, but had never heard it explained.
“Anything non-living. Does that satisfy my end of the deal?”
Sarah chuckled. “I suppose it does! So, I suppose I should tell you some story about my past?”
“And don’t forget Jack and Benji!”
“And Jack and Benji. Do you know where Matt is from originally?” Sarah asked, splashing lightly in the stream.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Well, we met in Elmsmith.”
“Our families’ friendships go back generations. We are all originally from Berkley. Originally meaning our grandparents.”
Kait was flabbergasted. “Really? Berkley? One of the Scorched Cities?”
“The very same! Benji’s and my grandparents were scholars, and Jack’s grandmother was the Justicar at the abbey there.”
“Wow, I did not know I was among such royalty,” Kait teased.
“Do not worry! A crown is useless when your throne is burned to ash. Jack’s family, as you can well imagine, did not survive Dorvan’s original takeover, and the rest of us fled to the Elmsmith area.”
“What about Matt’s family?”
“Well, they were carpenter’s then, too. Skilled as anyone. The Grandfather Carpenter and Matt’s father were commissioned to build the pews for the abbey.”
“I never knew that,” Kait mused.
“They were always a modest bunch. It made it easier to hide their tempers,” Sarah muttered. “Anyway, in the Elmsmith area, our families all did their best to find their footing, but only the Carpenters took root well. As it turns out, when all you can do is read and teach, there’s not much work to be found in a farm town populated by refugees. Though I’m sure if we had been able to tough it out a bit longer, there would have been use for a school or two. But, eventually, amidst all the despair and sorrow, the four of us, one by one, were born. Growing up with no heritage, no extended family, and a bunch of depressed parents, we had to make our own fun.”
“Is this when the Crew started?”
“Sure is. We never did anything too bad when we were younger. But we would meet in the middle of the night. We all knew each other from our parents’ friendship, and while the adults despaired, we drew up these grand schemes that culminated in a dirty word painted on a door or a smashed window.” Sarah laughed at her memories. “It did not get too bad until Matt’s dad’s habits got out of hand.”
Kaitlyn looked up suddenly, and the orb lost its stability. “Habits?”
“He was a gambler, you know?”
“I hadn’t heard.” Kaitlyn was beginning to look worried.
Sarah felt sick to her stomach, and she looked for a long moment for the right words before she finally opted for the truth. “Well, he was avid. Far beyond his means, though. Mrs. Carpenter was a sickly little lady, and she was too ill to work. There came a point where his bets surpassed the family’s capacity for commission, and he was gambling more often that he was whittling.”
“So Matt had to steal to pay the debts.”
“And feed his family,” Sarah said softly. She looked up, relieved to see the orb was water was back under her control.
“What about you, Jack, and Benji?”
“We were in it for the fun. And the rebellion. We saw our parents get nearly destroyed by this wonderful little town, and we hated it. And of course, that little town was the lense we observed the world through. But as we got better at it, it became more about the sport.”
“So this heist against the Church?”
“It’s nothing against The Dreamer or The Throne. It’s just the challenge that has us attracted. That and you and Matty. Especially after what the Tarley’s did to his poor mother.”
Kaitlyn looked confused again, and Sarah soured. “What do you mean? Matt told me his mother came down ill.”
“He was probably embarrassed for his father. The Tarley’s went to shake his dad on unsettled debts, but there was a convenient out of town commission. Matt tried to hide it from his father so he could go alone, do the job, and make the money, but somehow, his dad learned and invited himself.
“Neither of the boys were home when the Tarley’s came knocking. No one knows exactly what happened. We barely recognized the body when we found Mrs. Carpenter the next morning.”
“Kraag,” Kaitlyn muttered as the orb swole with her sorrow.
“So,” Sarah said, reaching for her dirty laundry. “I guess this is sort of two-fold for you. Now you know where we come from, and you know why it is so important we get the Tarley’s off your family.”
“I understand,” Kaitlyn said with a nod. “I do not want to raise my child in the shadow of Matt’s father’s wrongdoing.”
“Child?” Sarah asked, looking down to Kait’s belly.
Kait giggled. “No, no. Not yet. But we have been trying. Since we met up with you all, actually. Matt has been in a very good mood. I wanted to thank you again, by the way. He keeps telling me that I’m the most important part of the plan now. He said he needed me. He had never said that before.”
Suddenly, Sarah stood. “Dammit, I forgot my soap back at the camp. I’ll be right back, Kait.”
“Oh! You can use mine.” Kaitlyn held up a pearly white piece of laundry soap.
“Uh,” Sarah looked down, thinking as quickly as she could. “I am sensitive to fragrances, you know? So I have my own special kind. I’ll be right back.” Before Kait could say anything more, Sarah was gone.
At the camp, Jack walked to the small, portable table where Benji and Matt were sitting with a thick cloth bag. “Good news, and bad news, boys!” He smiled with his sharp teeth as he tossed the satchel onto the table. The contents of parchment and papers spilled across.
“Bad news first,” Benji said flatly.
“Nah, good news first!” Jack retorted. “The Halcyon Band is confirmed right where I thought it was. It’s tucked away in a crypt under the Happfield Chapel. Our plans can stick!”
“Fantastic,” Matt said with a smile. “Nicely done, Jack.”
“Not so fast,” Benji added. “Bad news, now.”
“The crypt has been locked for around 250 years. Never entered. Never even unlocked. And no one knows where the key is. Seems like they magicked the damn Halcyon Band in without opening it up.”
“So we pick the look?” Matt offered.
“Enchanted,” Jack said, wagging his finger.
“Then what do we-” Benji started to ask before Sarah’s shouting interrupted them.
“What in Chael’s shitty fields do you think you’re doing, Matthew Carpenter?” she spat with rage. Her walk from the stream had allowed her anger to become an avalanche of rage.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked, shocked at the fury.
“This bastard is playing his poor wife, and hard.”
Benji looked concerned. “What is he doing to Kait?”
“She didn’t want to help us. You all know. So what does Matthew do? Tells her they’re going to have a baby. Tells her how important she is.”
“Well, we need her to fight any paladin that’s at the chapel,” Jack said, trying to retain the civility. “So she is pretty important.”
“Oh, shove off,” Sarah barked at Jack. “The girl doesn’t want to be a criminal and he’s playing her just like his dad played his mom.” Sarah looked down at Matt, who was glowering at her with a disdain none of them had seen.
“Sarah,” he said, calmly and cooly. “I am not doing anything to keep Kaitlyn here. In fact, she likes the Crew. That is why she stays. And the way you two talk about each other? You have me worried about the security of my marriage.”
Sarah’s two hands smacked against Matt’s collarbone and she shoved him to the ground. Benji was quickly on his feet and gripping Sarah in a tight hug from behind.
Jack stared in shock at Sarah as Matt, laughing, pulled himself to a seated position. A bruise was already appearing at the corner of his mouth. “Just like old times, huh? Just can’t keep your hands off.”
Not bothering to struggle against Benji’s muscular grip, Sarah spat at Matt. Jack shook his head as he gathered the materials back into the bag and moved toward his tent.
“Let me go, Benji,” Sarah muttered. “I gotta finish my laundry.”