Stonecutter's Shadow: A young mage's fight through a fantasy kingdom full of treachery Read online

  Stonecutter’s

  Shadow

  By: James A. Haddock III

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  Copyright © 2021 all rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  A coup has thrown the kingdom of Farshores into turmoil, and one of the Pretender’s first moves was to order mercenaries to invade the Mage District and put all its inhabitants, men, women, and children, to the sword. There is one survivor, Horace Stonecutter, the youngest son of the Stonecutter family. Though a member of a stone cutting mage family, his stone cutting gift had yet to manifest itself. Instead, he had a talent he first used playing hide and seek with other children. He discovered could hide “inside” shadows, and the other kids nicknamed him “Hyder”, because no one could spot him once he hid. Embarrassed to tell his family about this seemingly useless talent, he kept it to himself.

  But his ability to hide saved his life when the soldiers came to kill his family. Though there was no love lost between him and his five elder brothers, he dearly loved his mother and the mercs killed her. That night vengeance — in the form of an enraged Horace — moved from shadow to shadow killing the attackers without mercy. After all, it takes no arms training to bury an axe in the back of an enemy’s head when attacking from deep shadow. Consumed with anger and a hunger for retribution, he journeys out to find who ordered the murder of his family. He owes someone a blood debt, and he wants to collect.

  Along his bloody journey, he meets kings, princes, princesses, noblemen — and not so noble men. He learns that in troubled times few are to be trusted. Join him as he becomes a fully developed Shadow Mage and follow as his abilities and powers grow while he seeks to collect the blood debt he is owed. May God have mercy on his enemies — because he won’t.

  Chapter 1

  “We are but dust and shadow.”

  — Horace

  My name is Horace, a name that I hate... Horace Mason Stonecutter to be precise. The only name that would have been worse than Horace would have been to name me after my father, Percival. My friends, the few I had, called me Hyder. I don't remember who started calling me that, but we always played hide and seek; and I think it started when one of the kids said I was a good hider. The name stuck.

  Almost anything was better than Horace.

  I'm the youngest of five brothers, youngest by five years. All my brothers hate me, and I hate them back. Maybe it's because I'm the baby of the bunch. Mom calls me her baby boy, but my brothers call me “Mama's boy”. They think I'm useless because my mage powers have not developed yet.

  Well, that's not exactly true. I have some powers, just not the family's kind.

  I thought the best thing about our family name — Stonecutter — was our family’s crest. It was a stone shield, with a sword cleaving a stone in two embossed on it.

  We own a rock quarry where we cut stones to sell. Every member of our family are earth mages, who can manipulate earth and stone. Well, except me — I'm not an earth mage. Not yet anyway. I really don't know what kind of mage I am, although I have powers. But I'm keeping my powers a secret. My power is the reason I'm such a good hider. You see, I can hide in shadows.

  I found out I could hide in shadows while playing hide and seek as a child. I was hiding behind a bush, in its shadow. It was a good hiding place. The shadow seemed deeper, or darker than I had ever noticed. As I stared at it, it seemed to draw me in. It was like stepping into a deeper shadow. When I did the darkness was all around me. But I could see out, like looking out a window.

  I wasn't scared, but I was startled when one of the kids walked right past me. I stayed still, waiting, while he continued. I stepped out of the shadow into the light, then back into the shadow to see if I could do it again, and found I could. That was the first time I hid inside a shadow.

  Anyway, I've told no one, especially not my family. It would only prove to them that I was useless. What use is hiding in a shadow to a stone cutter?

  “Horace.”

  Startled out of my ruminations, I looked up from my breakfast plate to my father who sat at the head of our large dining table, “Yes, Father?”

  “After lunch you will come to the quarry. You start working there this afternoon, and every afternoon from now on. Maybe working with stone will draw the gift out of you. Either way it's time you started pulling your weight. Mornings are still for your tutor.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  I spent the morning with my tutor as always. I especially enjoyed learning about all the places I hoped to go one day. Any place had to be better than here. After lunch I went to the quarry to work. I imagine someone, probably one of my brothers, thought manual labor would be good for me.

  “Boy,” Eldest called to me. “You work for the wagon-man today,” he said laughing.

  “Yes, Eldest,” I answered.

  Working for a mundane was supposed to insult me. I didn't care, as long as I was away from my brothers. Believe it or not, I liked the work. No one bothered me, and it was peaceful. I moved and stacked the stone that we sold. The foreman would tell us what to load, and we put it on the wagons. I didn't complain about the work, or try to get out of it, although I must admit the first day was rough. By quitting time, I was bone tired, and raw handed.

  At dinner, Mother saw my hands, but said nothing. Later she found me and rubbed healing cream into the raw places. “Keep your hands clean, the cream will help heal them.”

  “Yes, Mother.” She kissed me on my forehead and left my room.

  My life became a wheel. The same thing day after day. My hands became tough, and I was not as sore at day’s end. I began eating more, as my body's growth demanded more.

  After three years of working in the quarry, my muscles were hard and corded. My hands tough, and my grip strong, but still no stone cutting gift had appeared. As far as the family was concerned, my only use was as a laborer they didn't have to pay. To be honest, I was becoming frustrated with myself. I decided I was never going to be a stone cutter, but I was not going to be a laborer for my brothers either.

  I searched the mage books for clues about my gift. I finally found it in an obscure book that belong to my great-great grandfather Mason, which is where I got my middle name. He was not a stone cutter either.

  The gift or talent is called Shadow Meld. The book explained that someone possessing this talent could hide within a shadow. There were other aspects of the talent listed. I took the book to my room to study. I needed to learn all I could about Shadow Melding — not only reading about it but practicing it as well.

  Every night after work I would study the book of magic and practice Shadow Melding. The family rarely associated with me, so I could do as I pleased. I started melding in and out of shadows throughout the house. At night, the house was pretty much all shadows, so I could move anywhere in the house and not be seen or heard.

  If a shadow went under a closed door, I could go under the door too. If the shadow went up a wall, I could too. If there was a shadow on the other side of a window glass, I could go through the glass inside to the shadow.

  I began spying on
my brothers, using them to test myself. I heard them in the den laughing. I melded with a shadow and went under the door. They sat around the table playing cards.

  “She's not much to look at I'll grant you,” Eldest was saying. “But she has strong magic talents. She should give me strong children. Her family's standing is not to much higher than ours, and they need an alliance. I think they will consider an offer of marriage.”

  “What does father think?” The third brother asked.

  Eldest shrugged, “I haven't spoken to him about it. I'm still testing the waters with her.”

  “She's so plain if you show her any attention at all she’ll fall for you,” second said. The others chuckled.

  I moved around the room from shadow to shadow where they overlapped.

  “Who was father talking to this morning?” Third asked.

  “The short fat man?” Eldest asked. Third nodded. “That was Lord Bodes' man. He was here to hire one or two of us to go to his estate to repair his walls. That should bring us a good bit of coin.”

  “Does he have a daughter?” Third asked smiling. They laughed. Their card playing continued, and their conversation was less than stimulating. I left by the same shadow I came in on.

  Back in my room, I stepped out on the balcony. The evening breeze felt nice. I looked out over the lower parts of the city. The area I could see was where the lower middle class had their homes and shops. Just down from there was another wall. On the other side of that were the docks, warehouses, and taverns.

  The catalyst of every young man's trouble was with me — boredom. There was a shadow on the wall that ran all the way to the ground. I took it, and off I went. Down one wall, and over another. I went from shadow to shadow toward the taverns. Why I went there I couldn't say. I didn't drink, not really. I had watered-down wine at meals but that was all.

  I stopped at a place called the ‘Broken Anchor’. There seemed to be a party going on, with many people going in. I walked the shadows around the room, watching the people. The place smelled of unbathed bodies and stale beer. I'd stop here and there to listen to a tale being told. Most seemed to be trying to out lie each other.

  I spied a coin that had dropped under a table. I Shadow Flowed over to it and picked it up. While I was low, I looked for other homeless coins. No others were to be found. I swiped a piece of bread and meat from one table, and a cup of drink from another. I was enjoying myself, secretly watching everyone and listening to the stories.

  It was getting late, so I headed for home. This was a useful talent, I thought. I could go anywhere I wanted, with no one the wiser. When I got home, I went up the shadow on the wall and into my room. I was tired and fell on my bed and went straight to sleep.

  Father did send one of my four brothers to work at the Bodes' estate. I kept up my work, studies, and my nights out. I was finally having some fun with my life. I was also making some coin along the way. Any coin dropped close to me became mine. When a fight broke out in a gambling den, the money was fair game. I even helped start a few of the fights… it’s amazing what a jostled beer can cause.

  * * *

  My brothers had cut a wall's worth of stone from the quarry face and moved on to the next work site. I was working with the mundanes moving, stacking, and loading the cut stone. I sat down for a break as the crew moved the loaded wagon away to bring in the next wagon.

  It was a hot day; I used my shirt to wipe sweat from my face and eyes. The slight breeze brought a sweet-tangy smell to my nose that I recognized as reptilian. I looked around for snakes… we didn't find them often in the quarry, but I didn't want to get surprised. A few yards from me I noticed a crack in the cliff face. I moved to look at it, and found its opening bigger than it first appeared. I leaned in to see how far the crack went back. This was where the smell was coming from, but the crack was just a crack and didn't go back far.

  “Boy!” I heard eldest shout.

  “Yes, Eldest?” I shouted back.

  “Quit messing about and get back to work, we don't pay you to look into every crack in the quarry.”

  “Yes Eldest.” I said. “You don't pay me at all,” I thought. The next wagon was pulling up, so I went back to loading stone. Eldest kept a close watch on me the rest of the day, making my life miserable, or trying to. This treatment was nothing new, just another day in paradise. I was completely worn out by the end of the workday. When we got home, I bathed, ate, and went to bed. Tomorrow would come early.

  ***

  I was startled awake when my door was kicked in. Before I could get up, two soldiers grabbed me and dragged me from my bed. “Come here, you!” one said, and threw me out of my bedroom. I stumbled and started tumbling down the stairs. without thinking I went into a shadow and slid to a halt.

  I righted myself, not realizing I was in a shadow and readied myself for the next attack. The two soldiers were looking around for me. “Did he go over the railing?” one asked. They both ran past me down the stairs. looking downstairs I saw there were more soldiers in our house. I heard shouts, and things breaking. I heard my mother scream, I Flowed through the Shadows toward her. There was fighting going on.

  I found a soldier standing over my mother. She was dead. The soldier had run her through, and his sword was still in her.

  I stepped into his Shadow, took his belt knife, and stabbed him repeatedly in his lower back. He fell to the floor, unconscious, and bleeding out. I knelt and quickly cut his throat. I saw my father lying across the room, also dead. I quit thinking, I just acted. I Flowed from room to room, from Shadow to Shadow.

  I hamstrung the next soldier, and when he fell to his knees, I sliced his throat. I pushed him down watching his blood ruin mother’s expensive rugs. I picked up his hand axe and moved on. I buried the axe in the head of the next soldier I came to. It made an odd cracking sound when his head split. He fell like a tree in the forest and did not move.

  I took his sword and moved on. I went through every room in the house, killing soldiers when I found them. I also found my brothers, all of them dead.

  I don't know how long the killing lasted. I went to our front door and looked out. Our house was not the only one being attacked. Everywhere I looked the same thing was happening. Soldiers were pulling people from their homes and killing them.

  I was too stunned to process the disaster, so I just stood there in the Shadows watching, my anger and grief smoldering. They had killed my mother, possible the only person that loved me. A soldier walked by, bring me out of my daze, I drove my sword through his back, killing him. I Flowed along the Shadows outside our house, and when I came to a soldier, I killed him.

  I went back inside our house and closed the door. I went to the den, where my brothers had been playing cards. I set a chair back up and sat down. I stared down at the bloody sword in my hand and let my silent tears fall. I don't know how long I sat there in the quiet, the quiet of death.

  I got up and walked to the kitchen, I was thirsty. I drank my fill of water and poured water over my head. I walked back toward the front door, looking at the dead soldiers. There was something odd about them. Some were regular soldiers of the kingdom but others were not.

  “Mercenaries,” I said. My mind was beginning to work again. My family was dead. Someone's troops were killing mage families. Someone would be coming back, to ensure the job was done. I needed to leave before that happened.

  I would need supplies, most importantly money. Father did not keep much money in the house, most he kept on account at the bank. I went to his office, to the locked strong box. I knew where he kept the key. There was a purse of coins, and father's journal, I took both. I started back through each room, searching each soldier's body, taking whatever coin or bauble I found.

  One man was roughly the same size as I, maybe a little bigger. I would need armor, so I took his. I took what I thought was the best sword and knives I could find from the dead.

  I saw Eldest lying in the hall. There was no love lost between us, but it
didn't seem right to leave him there. I dragged his body to his room and laid him on his bed, covering him with a blanket. I did the same for the rest of the family. That was the best I could do for a burial. I took the signet ring from my father's finger and put it away.

  I made my way back to my room. I got my shoulder bag and put my few belongings in it, along with my book of magic. I turned toward the balcony but stopped, I looked at my empty bed shaking my head. I went and got the man that I took the armor from and put him in my bed. That might not fool anyone, but I thought it worth the effort.

  I heard more men coming in downstairs. “Time to go,” I said. I looked at the floor and concentrated, *fire!* A flame leapt from the wooden floor and began to burn intensely. I stepped out onto the balcony and into the Shadow on the wall. When I reached the outer wall, I looked back seeing my room engulfed in flames. I watched as the whole house was consumed in the flames.

  I moved around the wall staying inside the Shadows. When I reached the front corner of the wall I stopped. Soldiers were gathering outside homes. I saw no prisoners so they must be killing everyone. Why would they do that?

  Soldiers were gathering near me. An officer rode up. “Who set that fire?” No one spoke, “the orders were, no property damage.”

  “The squad that took that house never came out, sir. Then the fire started. Don't look like no survivors,” one of the soldiers said.

  “Saves me the trouble of executing them,” the officer replied. “Everyone back to the southern gate. We'll meet the other units there.” They all headed south, and I silently followed.

  Doors stood open at each house we passed. I went inside the first one. It was the same as ours. All dead. I continued following the soldiers. As we got closer to the southern gate the number of soldiers increased. This was no small raiding party, there must have been four or five hundred troops here.

  To one side, several officers gathered. I made my way to them. They were giving reports to the leader. “Mission complete, sir. All mage insurrectionists have been eliminated.”