The Exile
Introduction
Genre: High Fantasy Word Count: 3700 Words
Banished and betrayed by his homeland, the Exile searches for redemption in the wreckage of a world he failed to save.
The Exile was first published in December 2024. This story is set in the world of Crystal Empire.
The Exile
Turquoise, Reign of the Second 994th God Emperor
The gentle rocking of the little wooden rowboat in the lake along with the soft splashing of oars in the water that evening was almost relaxing. It had been two months since escaping the Labyrinth, and tonight was normally the night of the Turning. Nobody was quite sure what to expect this evening, and Mal was just as ignorant as everyone else on this side of the Wall. He rested in between the boat’s first two benches, back against the hull, watching the stars and listening to the lapping of the water. Once, he would have gleefully dozed off in a boat like this, but sleep did not come easy lately.
“If yer not gonna sleep get up and row,” his guide grumbled from the back bench of the boat. “We’ll get there faster.”
Mal shifted into a sitting position. Had it not been for the fires lit at places across its top, he would not have seen the pale walls of Thal’Ranir rising up out of the reedy lakeshore. They were distant, probably another hour’s rowing across the Long Lake. Any other night it might not have mattered, but they were only a few hours away from when the Turning was supposed to be, and they were both anxious to be inside the city’s walls before then. Of course, crossing the Long Lake was far faster than going around it in either direction.
The boat rocked as Mal stood, grabbing into the side of the little wooden boat to keep himself from falling in. He looked to the boatsman, who seemed just as concerned as Mal felt. Mal reached for the pebble of green and golden crystal that hung from his belt with his will.
The pop the crystal made as it shattered rocked the boat again setting both men to swearing. Mal reached for his pack and pulled out another one, small and blue and decently clear. He couldn’t believe how hard finding a good crystal was out here. There were only three more in his stock. He could replenish those, and all the other supplies he was going to need for the next part of his hunt for Selia in Thal’Ranir.
This time they were certain when something knocked against the bottom of the boat. Mal and the boatsman both reached for their spears when they saw a ridge in the water of something just under the surface.
“Do you still want me to row?” Mal asked.
The boatsman glared at him and Mal just smiled while his eyes tracked whatever it was in the water. It was hard to do in the lake at night, but Mal was certain it had turned around. Readying his spear, Mal held his breath and threw. His aim was true, and the spear stuck into whatever was coming toward them in the water. It disappeared under the water, along with Mal’s spear, in a splash.
“Row man!” Mal bellowed.
For a moment, he feared the earth had been cracked open beneath the water. A deep red illuminated the lakebed, and Mal could see the shadows of the plants and fish and wrecked boats below. Then everything went dark, and a column of water wider than their boat sprayed up just ahead of them, threatening to lift their prow. Mal couldn’t believe his luck. Had to be a pretty good crystal for a fish to pull off something like that.
Grinning like a lovestruck idiot, he threw off his shirt into the bottom of the boat and sat to undo his boots.
“What are you doing?” the boatsman cried at him.
“Oh, you’re right,” Mal said. He stopped messing with the knot on his boot and stood. Making sure the crystal was secure on its chain, Mal drew a dagger from its spot under a seat, shoved its naked blade into his belt. He took a deep breath, and dove off the side of the boat into the water.
The small blue crystal neither cracked nor strained when he drew light into it. That let him see just enough through the murk of the lake to make out the shadows of things in the water. One of those shadows was larger and moved much faster than the others, right toward him.
The pike was nearly twelve feet long and as thick as his torso. A length of crystal the size of his arm poked out from the thin flesh at the back of its gaping jaw. Mal spun in the water just as the giant fish snapped its jaws, narrowly avoiding losing his feet while driving his dagger into the flesh just ahead of the crystal. The fish’s momentum carried him backward, cutting a wide enough space for the crystal to be able to slide free. He would have cheered if he didn’t need to get that crystal so he could blast himself back to the surface before he blacked out.
The forearm length piece of red crystal thrummed at his touch. Oh he could work with this. Mal carefully drew in light as he kicked toward the surface, and in the red saw that the pike had circled back for another chance at him. Light became force before him in the water, and Mal unleashed it just as the fish came just too close for comfort. The giant pike was slammed back into the water and Mal was launched out of it several feet.
He gasped at the air greedily, and managed to find the boat a hundred feet ahead of him before he hit the water again. With the new crystal, he created a jet in the water and was able to catch up to the boat in moments.
“Hold on,” he said as he pulled himself up to the shoulders over the side of the boat, his body still hanging in the water. “I’m going to push.”
The boatsman looked at him like he was insane, but pulled the oars in and held on to both sides of the boat. “Did you kill that thing?”
“Probably not,” Mal said. “But it won’t be so feisty without this.”
He began pulling red light from the Flow and cycling it through his new crystal, feeling its few flaws and strains. He could definitely work with this one. The boat lurched forward as Mal pushed some of that energy into a jet through his feet.
He had them at the white marble docks of Thal’Ranir in fifteen minutes.
Finding a place to stay in the city on the night of the Turning was harder than Mal had expected, especially when he could not be Malcon the Wallguard. Before that night, he had never truly appreciated how far imperial cash spent in a place like this. Just another hitch in his plan.
He did manage to trade one of his small crystal chips for a few of the local coins. Not enough to afford a room at one of the city’s least reputable inns, a wide two story building downstream of the docks from which the sounds of music and men shouting could be heard all through the night, but plenty to buy him a few drinks and still leave something in his pocket.
“That’s some crystal you’ve got there,” the barmaid said, leaning over the bar as she chatted with him over the din of the crowded tavern, giving him a view down her red and black dress between her breasts. She had dark hair that hung down past her chin, and a pretty smile that reached all the way to her pale blue eyes.
It was hard not to smile back. “Thanks, it’s new.”
“Oh?” she said, eyebrow raising, her lips pursed. “Where’d you get something like that?”
Mal smirked and lifted his drink. “I fought a fish for it,” he said before taking a sip.
She laughed and reached across the bar to push his arm. “A fish? You did not.”
“Would I lie to you Kat?” Mal asked innocently.
The girl gave him a sly look. Another patron tapped on the bar wanting to order another drink. “Of course you wouldn’t, Leo,” she teased as she moved off to help the other customer. After pouring half a dozen pints of beer she returned with an extra one for him. “You have a room upstairs?”
“Thanks,” Mal said, nodding appreciatively for the beer. “Nope, couldn’t get one.”
Kat pursed her lips in a practiced, playful pout, folding her arms across her chest in a way that framed it, rather than hid it. “That’s too bad,” she said, shaking her head.
“Oh? I was hoping to see more of you, too.” The girl covered her mouth in mocked shock, and he gave her his most charming smile. Mal wasn’t proud of himself, but he would have rather slept in a stranger’s bed than on the cold ground. Especially on a Turning. You never knew what the weather would be like when you woke up. “How late are you working?”
Not much later, she led him by hand through the brick-lined streets, past buildings of white plaster or chiseled limestone, weaving around crowds of partiers drinking and dancing and making all kinds of wild displays of light and noise with their crystals. One crowd was so large it blocked their way through a thoroughfare he recognized from memory of a trip here with Selia, only to be parted when Mal forged a twelve foot pike out of light and swooped it over the peoples’ heads before it burst into a hundred thousand tiny sparkles. The crowd turned in time to see Kat press herself against him. In his arms she felt small and soft and warm and even though her eyes weren’t quite that right shade of blue.
“I want to kiss you,” Mal said.
“You should,” she answered.
Mal slid an arm to scoop her bottom and lifted her up to press his lips to hers. The partiers cheered as they made way for the two of them.
They reached the small apartment she said shared with her friend, who was out in the big throngs of people celebrating. The lock gave her trouble, so Mal broke it open with his crystal for her. After that, things became a blur. Mal missed the purpling of the sky and the brilliant flash sweeping across the land. He didn’t even notice the world had changed until well after he awoke in a stranger’s bed late the next morning to that stranger screaming, Kat, and his new crystal, nowhere in sight.
Mal kicked himself for losing the fish’s crystal, and all his money, so quickly. He had only the blue chip after being forced to trade the other two he had left for coin to settle with the apartment owner and bribe the local watch. Poor and practically crystal-less, he ambled through the north market looking for someone he knew hoped to never see him again.
Even though he hadn’t shaved in weeks, his beard long and scruffy and his hair starting to hang down over his eyes, Mal still kept himself hunched and his eyes to the ground as much as he could, lest he attract the attention of one of the city’s guards. Though Thal’Ranir was outside the empire, plenty of Imperial business ran through here. So did a lot of contraband, and certain ministers and members of the city watch might recognize Malcon the Wallguard. But it was a wonder what a beard and a change of clothes could do in a place that couldn’t put your face on every window in every home.
“Hello Ronet,” Mal greeted the dirty, scrawny man who stood atop a bucket outside a modest looking pale brick shop, hands manacled to a sign that hung from his neck reading ‘thief’. He looked rather like one of the waterbirds that waded the lakeside marshes outside of town. “Caught stealing again?”
Ronet squinted at him, then scowled. Once, years ago now, Mal had caught this formerly-well-to-do citizen of Thal’Ranir distributing a high grade imperial narcotic throughout the city, and worked with the city guard to put a stop to it. He had never found his way back to the straight and narrow since.
“What are you doing here?” Ronet snarled.
Mal rolled his eyes. “I need your help.”
The man looked at him incredulous while shaking his sign and rattling his chains.
“Sort of busy Mal.”
Mal shrugged and reached for his bag and the last few coins inside. “If that’s how you feel about it.” He held up two copper pieces. “I guess I’ll find someone else who wants these coins and knows where I can find some Imperial contraband.”
Ronet looked at Mal sideways. “You know I can’t help you with that. It’s your fault even.”
“Sure,” Mal said. “You’re out of the game. But you still pay attention to who is playing, right?”
The scrawny man sucked in a breath as a crowd of people passed by.
“I don’t know where Selia is,” he said in a low voice.
“Damn,” Mal said, smiling. “That would have been convenient. Who might?”
Ronet chuckled. “You’re finally going after her?”
Mal clinked the coins together.
“Got a name for me, Ronet?”
The scrawny stick of a man looked between Mal and the coins, then looked around.
“Fine,” Ronet said, unfolding one hand and holding it out. “There’s an apothecary near the Exchange with a silver crane on its sign. Ask for Sam.”
Mal patted his shoulder and turned to go. “Thanks Ron, see you around.”
“Don’t you say I sent you,” Ronet called after him as he stepped into the market’s crowds.
The exchange was something unique to Thal’Ranir he had not seen elsewhere beyond the Wall, a place where merchants sold not goods, but commodities. Travelers and traders from all across this part of the Fringe met here to buy and sell the grains they would grow, the lumber they would harvest, the number of textiles they would weave, the quantities of dye they would produce that season. It was all very Imperial.
This part of town was east, no riseward, of the cathedral and was where the high and mighty of Thal’Ranir mixed and mingled. That made Mal nervous as he crept along the wide avenue before the white marble entrance to the massive stone circle that was the Exchange. He tried not to dwell on the time he had walked arm and arm with Selia through the complex’s upper levels, a guide from the city explaining the significance of the stone work and its supposed ancient function while she marveled at views of the city past the marble columns and he marveled at how blue her eyes were. Eyes he looked for in every face he passed. Eyes he hoped to see again soon.
The apothecary was on a quiet side street from the main thoroughfare heading toward the city’s northeast gate. A couple of young women left the store just ahead of his arrival, chattering excitedly, and the bearded man behind the wooden counter did not notice Mal for nearly a minute, scribbling as he was in his ledger. The place was clean, with a pair chairs by the big window and a small door on the opposite wall. Everything was warm natural woods and fabrics, which was a nice contrast from the stark white stone common through the city.
“Oh pardon me,” the apothecary said as he marked his page and folded his book shut while giving Mal a practiced service smile. “How can I help you sir?”
The two of them were alone, but Mal still leaned in and spoke softly. “I’m here to see Sam.”
The apothecary rolled his eyes.
“A bit early,” he chided. “Your kind aren’t supposed to come around here before sundown.”
“Oh,” was all that came to Mal’s mind to say before the other man turned around and disappeared behind his counter.
A moment later, there was a clunk and the apothecary appeared at the inner door, waving to him.
“This way,” the man said. “Let’s go.”
Mal followed. This side of the wall was a lot less clean. Shelves lined with jars and bottles crowded the walls, leaving only a narrow space for them to walk. An oil lamp burned at the end of one shelf where the sunlight couldn’t reach. He wished he had a bigger crystal than the little blue chip.
The apothecary gestured to a hatch set into the floor of a small alcove below the lantern.
“Down there,” he said. “After that you can’t miss it.”
Mal lifted the heavy wooden hatch, a bright green light shining up to meet him. Though there were handholds in the brickwork, the drop was only a few inches taller than Mal was, and he had to crouch his way through the low doorway into a much larger chamber, bigger than he would have expected in a city this close to the lake. Nor did he expect to find a restaurant. Three rows of lantern-lit tables divided the room into two lanes leading back towards a well-stocked bar.
A mustached man in a smart looking vest was drying glasses at the bar and almost dropped a glass when he heard Mal slap his last penny on the counter.
“Whiskey,” Mal said.
Mustache looked at the single copper and shook his head. “I don’t serve anything that cheap.”
Mal swiped the coin off the bar and sighed, slumping onto one of the stools.
“Fair,” he said. “You Sam?”
The man frowned and shook his head again. “Second miss.” Then he set two cups on the bar, poured a bit of clear liquor into them, and handed one to Mal. “Looking for work?”
Mal accepted the drink and nodded. “You could say that.”
“Sure,” Mustache said with a wry look. “Let me get the boss.”
He disappeared into a wide opening that clearly led to the kitchens, leaving Mal alone in the dining room to enjoy his drink. Looking over the collection of bottles behind the bar and recognizing nearly all of the labels it dawned on him why they’d go through these lengths to build this place underground. Mal was sure if he went looking in the kitchen, he’d find even more Imperial contraband. It felt weird for that to be a good sign.
Mal was surprised at the person who followed Mustache out from the kitchen a moment later. She was nearly his height, wearing black trousers, a button-up shirt, and suspenders that wouldn’t have looked out of place in any of the guilds of Manhira, with wavy red hair down past her shoulders. The hard look in her hazel eyes gave him the impression of someone in their forties.
“What’s your name?” the woman asked.
“Leo,” Mal said, more naturally than he had the night before at the bar.
“Well, Leo,” she said as she swept a leg over the barstool next to her. There was a rod of deep green crystal looped to the suspenders on her back.. “I’m Sam. What can I do for you?”
Mal arched an eyebrow.
“Expecting a man?” Sam asked, her voice pitching subtly upward in frustration. It seems he touched a nerve.
“Call it a pleasant surprise,” Mal said, holding up a hand defensively. “I’m looking for work, and I figure someone like you could always use muscle.”
Green light flashed at her back and Mal caught her hand an instant before it smacked into his face. Sam smiled.
“Damn,” she said. “I’d have been happy if you’d picked yourself up off the floor. And you don’t even have a crystal? Can you use one?”
Mal considered how to answer that question. He chose the simplest. “Yes.”
“Well then you’re hired, Leo,” Sam said, offering a hand to him.
Mal shook it, returning her excited smile.
“Come back in a couple hours,” she said, “I’ll introduce you to who you’ll be working with. But follow me, I want to get you something so they won’t give you trouble when you come back.”
She led him through a kitchen outfitted with crystal-powered appliances like he had seen in countless places back home. How had they gotten those? On the other side was a small office, done up to be as cozy as it could be for a tiny room in the back of a basement, a small desk, a comfy chair, a wall of shelves with a red crystal the length of his forearm resting upon one of them.
“Where did you get that?” Mal asked before he had a chance to consider etiquette or subtlety.
Sam watched him through suspicious eyes. More slips like that and she would figure him out before the night was through.
“A young woman told me it was the price of a night with her,” she said. “I paid her a hundred silver pieces for it and she took the first boat out of town. Was she worth it?” Another question that was hard to answer. He couldn’t say yes, but he didn’t want to say no either. Sam smirked. “Good answer.”
Mal swallowed a lump in his throat. “What do you want for it?”
Sam reached for the ruby red crystal and held it delicately between two fingers. She looked between it, and then Mal.
“Let’s call it a performance incentive,” she said. “If you exceed my expectations in three months, the crystal is yours.”
She put the crystal back and grabbed a small wooden token off another shelf instead, handing that to him.
“Show that when you come back tonight,” she said. “The restaurant staff won’t bother you then.”
A few moments later, Mal was out on the streets of Thal’Ranir once again, reassuring himself that joining a gang was everything going according to plan.
Thank you for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed! If you have any comments, questions, feedback or concerns, hit me up on BlueSky! Stay tuned for more of Mal’s adventure’s through the Fringe.