Trapped in a Curse

By Johnson

Talida is a mercenary. She had a sword but she needed armor, and her nice new armor is proving to be a real problem. Not only can she not get out of it, she is also finding it extremely embarrassing. So she is heading out on a quest to get free of it. Along the way she'll run into thugs, wizards, and even Minotaurs, but will she get free of the cursed armor.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Sep 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9780228816027

Johnson

Being a dyslexic, Dale Johnson had real difficulty learning to read, but from the time he learned he loved to read science fiction and fantasy. He tried a number of times to write his own but always ran into a problem of not being able to spell. Fortunately for him modern speech to text software allowed him to finally write.

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Trapped in a Curse

Dale Johnson

Trapped in a Curse

Copyright © 2019 by Dale Johnson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-1601-0 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-1600-3 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-1602-7 (eBook)

Table of Contents

1. Norwitch

2. Shell

3. Goblins

4. Avocet

5. The Herb Witch

6. Somerton

7. The Den

8. The Trial

9. The Salt Flats

10. Wizard

11. Trouble

12. Prophecy

13. Interlude

14. Minotaur

15. Labyrinth

16. Kelton

17. The Valley

Epilogue

Extra Oren and the Bandits

1. Norwitch

Talida was searching for armour. Actually, she had spent the entire morning searching the city of Norwitch for armour. She had hoped to find some armour she could afford but, having only eleven gold hadn’t found a thing. She had one more place to check. A place called Orin’s Emporium which claimed to have goods from all over Requada. She didn’t have much hope because of her build—a slim girl of seventeen summers, she stood six feet tall, so she didn’t expect to find any used armour that would fit her. She felt she needed armour because, as a mercenary, she looked more like a farm girl, than a warrior, which had resulted in her rather predictable nickname: farm girl. Her last job had been a guard for a caravan, and she had been praised by the caravan master for doing excellent job. Although all that had meant was that she had looked intimidating, mostly because she was tall, carried a sword, and was scowling most of the time because she had sore feet.

The caravan had only been going as far as Norwitch, so she had been paid that very morning, which was why she had little over eleven gold (ten gold and handful of lesser coins). Her pay had been a surprise. She had received a substantial bonus, although not as much as the other guards since she had only joined the caravan three months earlier. Actually, the coins weren’t even made of gold. They were just called gold by travellers because they were made of a yellow metal usually brass, and virtually every kingdom issued similar currency.

She wasn’t looking for a new job instead she planned on seeing some of the countryside, maybe going south in seeing what the ocean looked like, but sooner or later she would need a new job and she doubted wearing a pale blue dress with a sword would encourage people to hire her as a guard. Her sword didn’t help her image as a mercenary either; it was far too ornate. It had been a gift from her grandfather, a family heirloom. It even had a name, Quicksilver. It was a longsword, and its hilt was very ornate. It was wrapped in black leather with silver wire wrapped around it. The pommel stone was a large yellow diamond and there were some smaller gemstones embedded in the hilt. The scabbard was also made of black leather edged with silver. It had similar gemstones embedded in the leather. Since it never needed to be sharpened and was too dangerous for sparing, she had not drawn it since joining the caravan.

The other caravan guards tended to joke about her sword. They didn’t think it looked like a useful sword but considered it to be a decorative sword, a pretty ornament. The jokes got even worst when they found out that her mother’s name was Peace. After that they teased her about being the daughter of Peace, who carried a toy sword. She didn’t really have any major problems with the sword, that was until a few hours ago. She’d been grabbed by from behind by someone who demanded that she return his sword.

She had pulled from his grip and as he had started to yell, Thief! and turned to face him. He was a heavy-set man, wearing leather armour, and he had a drawn sword in his hand. When he realized, she wasn’t going to run away, he moved to attack, swinging his sword toward her. She reacted automatically, batting his sword away with her left hand while drawing hers with her right.

Having four older brothers, she had been in many fights. She had beat up her oldest brother when she was only six; he was twelve at the time. By the time she was eleven, she was training with the town militia. By the time she had hired on as a guard for the caravan at seventeen, the only people in Brem who could face her in a sparring match were the trained guards. This was the first time she’d been in anything more than a sparring match. As such she made a wild swing at the man as he dodged. He started to smile, but she swiftly wiped the smile off his face with a powerful left hook. He recovered quickly, and she was forced to dodge as he swung his sword at her. Then taking advantage of Quicksilver’s longer reach, she made a smooth swing into his shoulder. It would’ve taken his arm off if he hadn’t been wearing leather armour, as it was, it cut deep into his shoulder. He fell to his knees and dropped his sword, as he placed his hands on his head.

Talida placed the tip of her blade against his chest. "Whose sword is it?"

He replied in a shaky voice. Yours.

Then why did you claim it is yours? She demanded loudly. He remained silent, so she snarled at him. I asked you a question.

He replied in a shuddering whisper. I was mistaken.

What? I can’t hear you, she growled as she pushed Quicksilver harder against his chest.

He swallowed and repeated. I was mistaken. I’ve never seen that sword before. He was shuddering although he did speak louder this time.

Fine, she snarled, then get out of here.

He backed up and looked at his sword then whimpered, My sword.

Take it, but if you try anything, I’ll cut your head off. She kept her blade pointed at him.

He grabbed his sword and fled. She watched him go, and then smiled. Captain Barat had been right; as long as you snarled a bit and kept them scared, thugs tended to do what you wanted. She then turned a walked away.

Orin’s Emporium proved to be a large warehouse. As she entered, a gentleman greeted her and asked if she was looking for anything in particular.

Armour, she replied looking around.

It’s at the back, on the left.

As she followed his instructions, she took a better look at the building. It was three storeys high with an opening in the middle that went clear to the roof where there were skylights to let light in, and to her surprise there were also electric lights. She wasn’t sure what electric lights were, but since Norwitch was known as the city of magic, she assumed they must be some form of magic. The streets had also been lit by electric lights. Although the other guards in the caravan had told her that they were not magic, she was sure they were. It was the only magic that she had seen since she had arrived in the city, leaving her a little disappointed.

She found the armour section with no problem. The plate mail on the display stand was very eye-catching, and since it was at the start of the armour section, anyone looking for armour would have never missed the section. It was way out of her price range, not to mention way too small. There were number of other suits of armour on display, which were also way out of her price range. She finally found armour that was in her price range; it was located in boxes on the floor.

The first suit of armour that she thought would work for her was a suit of leather armour. It looked large enough for her, but when she pulled it out as it proved to have a round hole in the chest. It looked like somebody had driven a fence post through it, so she put it away and continued to search. Just as she was beginning to think that it was the best suit of armour there, she spotted a box well hidden in the back. She pulled it out and found that it appeared to contain a pile of black tarnish, but she examined it more closely, she realized it contained a heavily tarnished suit of chainmail. She scratched some of the tarnish off and found the armour underneath looked solid. So she carefully lifted the hauberk out at the box.

To her surprise, the shirt was designed for a woman and appeared to be the right size for her. She gave a light pull on it to test for strength and, when it didn’t give way, tried a stronger pull. She continued to pull harder on it until she was pulling on it with all her strength, and it still wouldn’t rip. Then she pulled all the pieces out of the box and determined that it was a complete set of chainmail. It even had the padding that went underneath and surprising enough, although the chainmail was heavily tarnished, the padding seemed fully intact and not even slightly moldy. Since the box was labelled five wizards (golds) it was well within her price range.

Having found suitable armour, she then decided to do some shopping and gather all the things she might need while travelling. Orin’s was huge, and it took some time to gather everything she thought she might need. She was careful in her shopping to make sure she picked what was cheap but still of the best quality that she could afford. She finally made her way to the checkout, where she picked the shortest lineup. There were three tellers who were dealing with customers.

The teller for the line which she had picked was a nonhuman. She had never met a nonhuman before. Nonhumans didn’t visit Brem where she had grown up. And although the man behind the counter looked relatively human, his skin was somewhat reddish, and he had two very large horns on his head. His eyes were somewhat grayish and were slitted like a cat’s. His gray hair made him also look somewhat elderly, and with his thin moustache and goatee it gave him a sophisticated look although somewhat sinister, but his smile was friendly. Talida had heard of elves, dwarfs, and orcs, but she had no idea what he might be. Requada, as her grandfather often told her, was a world that held no end of wonder and mystery.

She put her box on the counter.

Did you find everything you’re looking for? His voice was smooth and soft.

She nodded.

He started to remove items from the box and write them down on a piece a paper with the prices.

Look like you’re planning on doing some adventuring. If you are thinking of trading that sword, I’m sure we can make you a good deal on a better sword if you—

I’m not trading Quicksilver! she said.

Quicksilver, he whispered then he repeated louder. Quicksilver… he stared at the sword for a second, then took a sharper look at her. Are you related to Jake?

It took her a couple of seconds to realize who he was referring to. Yes. He’s my grandfather.

I should’ve realized with that red hair you had to be related. Nobody else could have hair that colour red. I’m Orin by the way. I wouldn’t be here if weren’t for Jake. When I was just starting out, he gave me a hand. I was just a tinker who was travelling from town to town. When I was set upon by bandits, he showed up and drove them off. Although I remember Quicksilver being a much larger sword, I must’ve made it bigger in my mind—you know how an old man’s memory can be.

He continued to tally up her purchases as he was speaking. When he came to the armour he stopped and stared at it.

This is terrible. I don’t remember this armour ever being this bad. You sure there wasn’t something better back there. I’d hate to think that I gave Jake’s granddaughter a bad deal.

This looked like it would fit, and it seems solid, she replied. There isn’t much that would fit me.

Well, this is terrible, although you’re right, it does look like it’s the right size to fit you. He said as he looked her over and gave the armour few solid pulls. I have an idea. Wait here.

And with that he slipped from behind the counter and disappeared into the store. He returned in a few minutes, carrying a jar and a brush. The jar was a small metal jar that was tightly sealed. The brush was a wire brush but not very large.

This should make it easier for you to that clean the armour, Silver polish and wire brush. I’ll throw them in on the house, since the armour is so bad. By the way, I didn’t catch your name.

Talida, she replied. Sorry, I hadn’t mentioned it.

It’s nice to meet you, Talida. He grinned and held out his hand. After they shook hands, he finished tallying up the price of the goods she had purchased.

She pulled out her coins. I don’t think any of these are wizards.

Oh, that’s fine, he replied. I accept all kinds of coins. I pretty much have to since not only does Norwitch issue coins, a couple of the schools of magic also issued their own coin. So does The Coin, an inn on the south side of the city. Now then, will that be everything?

Yes. I was also thinking of buying some trail food, but you don’t appear to carry any. You wouldn’t know a good place to buy that, would you?

He thought for a moment. I would suggest Eastern Bakery. It’s located on the west side of Norwitch. Here, hang on. He then pulled a piece of paper off his pad and quickly drew a map, as he explained how to find the bakery.

My thanks, she said as she started to gather her purchases.

Here let me do that. I’ll just pack your purchases into your pack here for you.

He proceeded to swiftly load her pack for her. He also wrapped the armour in burlap, so it would mess up the other things in her pack. He was very efficient at packing, and soon had everything well-placed within the pack. The pack was also one of her purchases. Once it was full, she hoisted it to her shoulders, finding that it was very well balanced. Then she said goodbye, and he promised that she would get his best prices whenever she came to his Emporium or one of his wagons, which he told her he always kept on the road.

With the map she had no problem finding the bakery, and after purchasing a small bag of honey cakes and a month’s supply of trail bread, she headed out of Norwitch. It was evening, so the desert around the city was cooling. She stopped at a well just before leaving Norwitch to fill her canteens and get a short rest since the pack was rather heavier than she had expected, then she headed out across the desert. Fortunately, Norwitch was located on an oasis near the western edge of the Shadow desert. If she walked fast, she was sure that she would be clear across the desert by about midnight and into the grasslands, where she could camp safely and be near water.

2. Shell

It had taken her three weeks of travel to get here as she had meandered from Norwitch, slowly wandering somewhat south and then somewhat west. She didn’t travel far each day, and in the evening, if she was near a river, she tried fishing for her supper. Then she would polish the chainmail, scraping the tarnish off with the wire brush and then polishing it with the silver polish. It proved to have very fine links. They were clearly made of a silver alloy, since the polish worked very well on it.

Talida stared out over the ocean. She had never seen a body of water this large. Unlike the rivers and lakes she had seen, she couldn’t see the far side. There were a few fishing boats out on the water, probably from the town behind her, a fishing settlement called Shell. It seemed an odd settlement to her since there were no children playing in the street.

She had decided to stay in the local inn, assuming she could afford it. She figured they would be able to make a very good fish dinner. As she stared out over the ocean, she considered what she would do next. She was beginning to run out of trail bread and didn’t have much money left, so she was soon going to need a job. Having grown up on a farm, she could of course do farm work, but she would definitely prefer to take a job as a mercenary, which would require going to the larger town.

She was still considering this as she entered The Inn, at least that was the sign above the door said. It wasn’t a very big inn, but it had a large open room with nice tables and chairs. There was also a cheery fire in the fire place—even though it was a warm day and the fire wasn’t needed. She was greeted by a cheerful, rotund man, who welcomed her to his inn and introduced himself as Evan. He then asked her what she would like. She explained was looking for a room, supper and breakfast. Of course, he promptly named an outrageous price, which she countered with a ridiculously low price. Grinning, he then offered her the room with meals at slightly less outrageous price. She countered, and they began to haggle. When they had finally agreed on a price, he showed Talida to her room. It had taken all her money, so now she really needed a job. After she had stowed her gear in the room—and checked to make sure the windows were closed—she proceeded down to the common room for her supper. She chose a table that wasn’t too close to the fire, and innkeeper promptly delivered her a mug of ale. She took a sip and found it to be a watery and somewhat vinegary brew.

She wasn’t expecting supper to be all that good, since the ale had been such poor quality; therefore, she was pleasantly surprised when it proved to be very good. It was broiled fish and was served with slices of a yellow fruit. She never seen this kind fruit before and was told that it was called a lemon. Evan also suggested that she squeeze the juice onto the fish. They also served her warm crusty rolls. They were very fluffy and equally good, especially once they were topped with the fresh butter.

By the time she had finished her supper, a number of fishermen had come in. They were singing and playing music on the various handheld instruments they brought with them, and she quite enjoyed her evening as a result. Although she did notice that they seem to drink an awful lot of the vinegary ale.

As she was preparing to call it a night, she noticed the bulletin board. There were a number of notices on the bulletin board of the usual sort: Tom would repair nets, and the widow Jensen had cheese for sale. There was one noticed that caught her eye. Its print was large and bold.

–REWARD 1,000 GOLD–

A thousand gold was an awful lot of money. In fact, it was more money than she ever seen. Of course, the most money she ever seen was eleven gold. A couple of coppers could buy a good meal, and since there were usually a hundred coppers in a gold, one gold was lot of money. With a thousand gold, she wouldn’t have to work for a long time. She could explore as much as she wanted, which is why she had become a mercenary in the first place. The town guard of Brem had offered her a position that paid considerably better than working for the caravan. They made the offer when they had found out that she had agreed to be one of the caravan guards, but she had wanted to see the world, and thus had taken the lower paying job.

Of course, first she would have to earn the reward, so she studied the notice more carefully. The reward was being offered by the town of Shell, and it was for getting rid of the goblins that were raiding the town. She glanced around. There were no mercenaries in the inn, making it obviously that nobody had heard of the reward. If anybody had, the inn would be full of mercenaries. She was somewhat surprised that the fishermen weren’t out looking for the goblins. A reward this big should have been attracting virtually anyone around to try and collect it. The fact that it wasn’t, suggested that it was a strong goblin horde raiding Shell.

As she studied the notice for more details, found out that the goblins had been stealing children, and she noted that it offered an additional reward of two hundred gold, for each of the children that were recovered. There were five children listed: Tommy, Merry, Andy, Lark, and Johnny. The bottom was signed by Dongle Hovant the mayor of Shell. It gave no details on what was required to prove that goblins had been dealt with. She pulled the notice off the bulletin board and discovered an identical notice underneath it, but this one only offered five hundred gold and listed four children missing. She pulled that one down and found yet another one underneath, this one only offered two hundred gold and only listed three children missing.

She took that one as well.

She made her way upstairs to her room, where she spent some time polishing her armour, as she considered the reward being offered. She had the advantage here, since it appeared that no one else knew about the reward. Unfortunately, at the same time, it sounded like it was a fairly large horde of goblins. She wasn’t sure she could handle a large horde of goblins, but as she polished her armour, she decided she was a warrior; therefore, she should take a look, perhaps the goblins were something she could deal with. Besides which, it was a lot of money.

As usual, every time she polished her armour, she came to the conclusion that it must be magical. It was a silly idea, but always seemed haunt her as she polished the armour. She had even concluded that the command word to activate it would be invisible. Although the few times she said it, nothing had happened. Once again, she whispered the command word invisible, but as usual, nothing happened. Then being satisfied that it was now finely free of tarnish, she went to bed.

—

In the morning, she put on the armour for the first time, and it proved to be a perfect fit. It gleamed silver in the morning light. Now she felt like a real warrior. Then she made her way down to the common room for breakfast. It seemed that some of the fishermen had stayed the night in the common room of the inn. They were sleeping at one of the tables.

She hoped that it would be as good as supper had been the previous night. It wasn’t. Breakfast consisted of oily scrambled eggs, small oily fishes, and oily fried potatoes. It was served with more of the vinegary ale. She felt a little sick after eating it, but since she was going after the goblins, she definitely needed to eat something before she went. She cleaned her plate.

After she had her breakfast she approached Evan.

What do you know about the goblins?

Not much, he replied. They started raiding Shell about a month ago. They raid primarily on the eastern side of the town. The widow Jensen would know more. Her farm has been the primary location where they have been raiding. If you want to talk to her, she lives in the white house with the blue trim. You would’ve seen it as you came into town.

She had. Yes, thank you.

You’re not thinking of going after those goblins, he said. After all you’re just a girl, even if you have armour and a sword. Three men have already gone after them and not come back. That was a couple weeks back, so it must be extremely dangerous. I can tell you I certainly wouldn’t go after them. That’s just a quick way of getting yourself killed.

She’d heard enough and so moved to the door.

When Evan realized that she was leaving, he called after her. Please come again!

—

At the docks there were a couple of fishing boats preparing to head out, and there were number of people out on the street. She headed up the street, swiftly spotting the house that she been told about. It looked like it was in need of a paint job and was set somewhat back from the street. As she approached the house, an elderly woman stepped out holding a very large crossbow, which she pointed at Talida.

"I got nothing to hand out, so you might as