Daxton - Episode 39
The 5th Compass | Tales of Stonehaven [2,260 words]
Daxton is the first book in the 6-book series, The 5th Compass, which takes place in Stonehaven. Released in serial form, two episodes each week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The audio version is coming in the future for paid subscribers only. Visit the table of contents for a list of previously published and upcoming episodes.
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The boys ran around the circumference of Reapers Walk without stopping once to catch their breath. After they reached their destination at the market, they collapsed into an empty table nearby.
“That…was…scary…” Barton managed to say through his labored breathing. Daxton was even more out of breath than his friend and could only muster up enough strength to nod in agreement. They sat on the table with their backs against each other for several minutes while they caught their breath. The sound of an owl hooting in the distance made them realize they were alone, in the middle of nowhere, in a village they were unfamiliar with.
“Do you remember where Wendynn said they were going?” Daxton asked.
“No, I just remember him saying the name, Magenta.” He looked around where they sat and saw it was deserted. “Doesn’t look like there’s anyone around to ask where we might find Magenta.”
In the distance, the sound of a match being lit could be heard by them and they instantly became alert. “Who is there?” Daxton questioned, looking around. He squinted his eyes and noticed a flame slowly going in and out as a person lit their pipe.
“I heard someone mention Magenta. Might you be looking for her?” Out of the shadows appeared a man of average height who was rather large around the middle, balding up top, and had visible sweat stains they could smell on him from several feet away.
“We are actually. A couple of our friends told us they were headed there tonight but we do not remember where it is. Could you give us directions?” Daxton asked the man but as he drew nearer it was evident, he was completely drunk. Any answers he gave them might not be as accurate as they’d like.
“I can do you one better. I’m headed there now. You are welcome to accompany me on the journey.” He took two stumbling steps, nearly losing his balance, before finding his footing and walking with purpose out of the market. Not seeing an alternative presenting itself, they followed him.
“What’s your name?” Barton asked, trying to make conversation.
“You’ll soon learn, young man, that a name is just about the only thing left a free man has any control over. Who he tells it to, is as important as who he doesn’t. I don’t know you well enough to tell you my name, nor do I much care to learn yours.”
Daxton and Barton raised their eyebrows at each other and shrugged their shoulders as they continued to follow him down a winding path. Soon, they smelled the scent of sweet perfumes in the air.
“What is that?” Barton asked, breathing in deeply the more they walked onwards.
“That, young man, is The Garden. It is filled with the most luscious flowers you’ll ever smelled. And if you think your nose is pleased, just wait till you feast your eyes upon it.” He winked at them before turning a corner to reveal a garden unlike anything they’d ever seen before.
As they continued to walk up the path, they couldn’t take their eyes off the flowers and how colorful they were even just by the light of the quarter moon in the sky. They bumped into the man who stopped just outside of a gate guarded by two large men. Beyond them was a house surrounded by even more flowers and plants.
“Wait here.” One of the guards stood up from his stool to seem more imposing and it worked as they all took a step back. The other guard looked up towards the window as usual, but Magenta was not there.
“Are you going to let us in or what?” The man with them grew impatient waiting for the two guards to decide how to handle this situation they couldn’t ever remember being left with.
“I do not think Nelle would come here. Look at this place. I think those women are—.”
“Let them through.” The guards both turned to find Magenta standing in the doorway of the house. She hardly raised her voice, but it seemed to carry on the wind in their direction and the guards heard her clearly. They opened the gate for Barton and Daxton to walk through. “Not him. We do not do charity here.” One guard held his large arm up and caught the man who brought them there in the throat, shoving him back so hard he fell to the ground.
“Oh, come on Magenta. You know I am good for it.”
“Get a job. Pay me what you owe me. Then we’ll see.” She winked at the two guards who winked back at her as she stepped aside to let the two boys in. “Wait,” she said, stopping Barton to get a better look at him in the light. “I have seen you someplace before.” Her eyes grew wide with recognition. “No, it was not you I saw, it was your father.”
She squeezed Barton’s arm tighter as she pulled him the rest of the way inside the house and slammed the door behind them. Two women sauntered towards them from a side door, but she stopped them, and they turned around immediately closing the door to the room they were in where the sound of happy men and music could be heard.
“Wait, my father? He was here?” Barton asked, scared that she might be taking them both right to him. She spoke no words, just continued to dig her sharp nails into his arm as she dragged him up the stairs. He was powerless to stop her. Like Magenta recognized something in Barton, Daxton recognized a look about her, like he’d seen her someplace before. There was something about her that made him feel he did not need to rescue his friend from her clutches. In fact, he was curious to discover where she was taking him and followed along to make sure no actual harm would come to him.
At the landing on the second floor she dragged him, still kicking and screaming, down another hallway towards yet another set of stairs. One of the doors they passed opened and Wendynn’s head popped out of it. He wore no clothing from the waist up, his hair was a complete mess, and his eyes were glazed over from sleep. “What is all the racket? This is supposed to be the quiet—.” He stopped talking when he saw Daxton and then Barton being held tightly by Magenta. “Carry on gentlemen.” He winked in their general direction and went back into the room he emerged from, closing the door behind him.
Magenta started to climb the steps and at the top banged loudly on the door before swinging it open with a force that nearly took it off its hinges.
“Do these belong to you?” Nelle had just managed to sit up in bed groggily as she looked over at her mother in confusion. Magenta shoved Barton forwards, finally releasing his arm which he nursed, checking it for any permanent damage.
“What are you two doing here? you are supposed to be with the blacksmith.”
“Turns out his daughter is just as crazy. She drugged her own father to give us time to escape then tried to kill us both when she actually believed we were spies for the king. You believe that?” Barton asked, turning towards Magenta who had her arms folded and her eyes like daggers staring at him. He backed away from her and went to stand near Nelle who he fully expected to protect him.
“Why did not you tell us your mother was here as well?” Daxton asked. Everyone in the room looked at him in shock.
“How do you know she’s Nelle’s mother? She doesn’t look a thing like that hag. Or, is she your mother?” He looked at Nelle who did not answer and that told him all he needed to know. He quickly realized there was a possibility he was standing between two witches and decided to move yet again in the room. This time he stood next to Daxton.
“My mother is of no importance right now. Did you find out where the compass came from so we can get out of here?” Nelle asked, trying to avoid her mother’s hurt look on her face.
“Unfortunately, Adelaide went crazy on us and her father was waking up, so we had to leave. I say we just break into the shop tonight, steal the compass, and try to find answers someplace else.”
“No! We made it this far. I must know where they got it from. Stealing it won’t give us any answers we can use. But I think I know what will. Where is Adelaide?”
“Who is Adelaide? What have you gotten yourself into, Nelle? I demand answers or I am going to have to ask you to leave. I cannot go on protecting you under my roof if you cannot answer some simple questions.”
Daxton and Barton felt out of place as mother and daughter stared daggers at each other. It seemed as if neither one was willing to give in to the other and it did not matter that outsiders were watching.
“That’s just it mother, your questions are not simple ones. I have told you too much already and I am grateful to you for saving my life but if staying here means sharing secrets with you that may result in your death, that I will not do.” A sign that her daughter cared for her was enough to form tears in Magenta’s eyes, but she held them back.
Daxton looked around the room for the sword, leaving Magenta and Nelle to continue their stand-off. Near the window he saw it, Adelaide, propped up in the corner. He picked it up and brought it to Nelle.
“I hate to interrupt but I think this may actually belong to Adelaide, the blacksmith’s daughter. And if it doesn’t belong to her then at least she might know where it came from and be willing, perhaps, to do a trade. The compass for the sword.”
“It’ll never work.”
Before Daxton could argue with his friend over how, in fact, his plan would work the door burst open with Wendynn stumbling through it, fastening his sword around his waist. He tossed Barton his sword and the remaining one he handed to Nelle when he saw she was the only one who was empty handed.
“We need to leave. If you look outside it appears we have company and not the friendly kind.” Magenta pushed past Barton and looked out her window towards the front gate. There she saw the two guards laying lifeless on the ground and the gate nearly fallen off its hinges as it hung open. Through it walked dozens of royal army men, marching in a unified formation. Bringing up the rear were General Corwinn and the Paragon who both looked up at her standing in her window.
“He’s right,” she said, trying not to move her mouth as she maintained eye contact with the two men down below. “Get Dahlia. She’ll show you the secret passage under the house. But move quickly, they’ll be surrounding the house and combing through every inch of it.” As General Corwinn and the Paragon passed out of sight she turned to look at her daughter as if it would be their last time. “Go!”
Wendynn led the pack first, knocking on the door of Dahlia’s room rousing her. “The way out, girl, quickly.” Dahlia looked over his shoulder to see Magenta nod as she walked past them quickly to try and slow down the army’s intrusion on her property.
Dahlia did not bother to put on something more suitable as she led them two doors down and barged into a room that was occupied by a rather large man and two women. They were all asleep and naked but neither of them stirred as everyone entered the room. Dahlia kicked back a large rug that was oddly placed on the floor and put a finger up to her mouth to silence them and she grabbed a metal handle and lifted a hatch that was hidden in the floor.
Under the opening was a ladder. Dahlia climbed down first, quickly followed by Wendynn. As she found a torch at the bottom of the ladder, sticking out from a wall, Nelle climbed down last, closing the hatch behind her. Dahlia then took the lit torch and led them down a walkway that was so narrow they had to walk sideways to fit. No one uttered a word as the sounds of the army marching all around them helped to maintain their silence. She stopped at a drop off and put the torch sideway between her teeth as she reached out in front of her to grab onto another ladder to climb down.
Once they reached the bottom, they realized they were in a cavern beneath the house. “I am afraid I cannot take you any further than this. If you follow this stream of water, it will lead you to a lake.”
“Which lake?” Daxton asked, afraid he already knew the answer to his question.
Dahlia did not wait to answer him and Wendynn, now in charge of holding the torch did not care to hear the answer. He led them down the tunnel, using long strides as he walked. All Daxton, Barton, and Nelle could do was follow behind him, hopefully to safety.