The mage from nowhere, p.30
The Mage From Nowhere, page 30
“Help!” Aliana shouted from high above.
Tarak did not think, taking off toward the sound. Leon and Michael passed him in the air, however, reaching through the treetops before Tarak could hope to navigate past the branches, which continued to pull toward him because of his spell.
He became entangled on them and soon lost sight of Leon and Michael. Aliana screamed only once more, then no sound was made.
Tarak had his arms around a tree branch, his chin barely over it. “What is happening up there!” he yelled.
There was no response.
“Hey!”
Michael broke through the treetops. “A flying mage was hovering toward Aliana,” he explained. “We scared him off, though.”
Leon came down nearby, Aliana on his back. He landed with a hard bounce, and he and Aliana came apart and rolled away from each other.
“Fuck, these landings will do me in one day,” Leon groaned as he held his back.
Tarak let himself drop, slowing his fall in the same way as before and landing safely. Aliana whistled for her horse as she went looking for her bow. Tarak glanced around to find Dagaric watching from around a distant tree with his head lowered as if hoping to hide.
“It is over, you scared moose!” Tarak yelled.
Dagaric trotted over to him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
After Michael and Leon fetched their horses, which had run off during the battle, Aliana explained what she and Tarak had uncovered. “There is a rift in a cavern underneath where Illia portaled in, and it’s causing something strange to the surrounding terrain. There seems to be a connection that holds it all together. The dirt was nearly impossible to break through, and there was a small rock that even Tarak could not pick up because it was connected to so many other rocks.”
“I could pick it up,” Tarak corrected. “But I decided not to when the cavern began to shake.”
“Do you want us to show you the location, Leon?” Aliana asked, ignoring Tarak. “Keep in mind that it is very difficult to get in and out of the cavern, especially with night approaching.”
“No, I will see it tomorrow in the light. Your safety is my highest concern right now. We are going back to the castle, where I will send out a team to secure the corpses we made and begin construction around the crater. I’m also tempted to lock you in the keep like a princess.”
They rode eastward. Tarak could already see the edge of the forest. They had been so close when Aliana had been dismounted.
“Are you angry?” Aliana asked Leon.
“Damn right I’m angry. We spoke about this after the last incident, and you promised me you would not let yourself be in that kind of danger again. How could you be ambushed by so many people? Didn’t you sense them?”
“They had already surrounded us by the time I sensed them. Someone was able to predict where we would be.”
“What do you mean? Like how Caarda can predict?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Aliana stated. “Not only did they know where we would be, the Ancient also knew. He constructed something out of mana he knew I would sense. There was a note there that I still have in my pocket. It is addressed to the ranger and the son of Caarda, as if he doesn’t know our names but does know who we are. We figured that whoever organized the attack against us also saw us going to that place through a glimpse into the future. They came from every direction. The only other explanation, one I seriously doubt, was that they were out in the forest all this time waiting for their ranger to sense me, and even then, I doubt another ranger could’ve sensed me before I felt the dozen of them. It has to be a spell of time.”
“Well, fuck,” Michael said. “So there’s someone who wants Aliana dead, and he can glimpse into the future?”
“It’s probably the other way,” Leon responded. “There is someone who can glimpse into the future, so he wants Aliana dead. That might be a clue as to who it is. There’s this real evil-looking fucker I’ve had my eye on.”
“Who?” Aliana asked.
“At least wait until I have more than a hunch before I start tossing around life-altering accusations. What else can you tell me about these attackers?”
She held his gaze and huffed, but then answered. “One is another bastard of my father. His first name is Wolf. I don’t know his last. Like my father’s other bastards and myself, he probably has his mother’s name. I bet the king could find out. I have only met him in passing. We shared an instructor years ago, but we never had a class of sorcery at the same time. I would only see him coming out of the instructor’s chambers. We would speak briefly on occasion. That was it.”
Leon had a vacant stare. “If your father is involved in this, it means heaps of trouble.”
“I can’t imagine he has anything to do with it,” Aliana responded. “He proved himself during the war and has behaved fatherly since then. He has no reason to have me killed.”
“We will figure it out before I send you out again.”
“I want to be a part of figuring it out.”
“Of course you will be,” Leon said. “You already are.”
Aliana nodded as if satisfied. For someone whose life had almost been taken twice now, she did not seem very afraid.
Michael interjected, “I have to ask, Ali. How the hell did you end up in the treetops?”
“That was Tarak saving my life with his gravity spell,” she said with a thankful nod toward him. “He also made an illusion before that.”
“An illusion?” Leon asked Tarak.
“It was,” Tarak said.
“Are you sure?” Leon asked.
“Yes. I could feel light bending to my will.”
“For all that’s holy, now that is something!” Leon gave a laugh and slapped his leg. “So that’s where illusions went, to the divination tree. Or I should say that’s where they originated from before Nijja mucked everything up and made them enchantments. We were wondering why illusions all fail now. Light bending to your will?” He laughed again. “You have no idea what this means, do you? Of course not, look at you, you big oaf, staring at me like I just told you there’s a spell that turns your shit to gold.” Leon laughed louder. “Illusions, Tarak. Don’t you see?” He didn’t seem to get what he wanted from Tarak’s expression, batting a hand in his direction. “Ah. Never mind. What did you make?”
Aliana answered, as Tarak was still plagued by confusion. “It was just a black circular wall around us, but it confused all of them enough to stop them from shooting me. It gave Tarak time to break the root spell that had me bound and get me out of the fray. I really cannot thank you enough, Tarak.” She smiled and then gave him a serious look. “I owe you for that and for your help in reaching the rift.”
“You owe me nothing.”
“No, I do. I’m pretty sure I would be dead had you not made that illusion. I have been wanting to ask you, how did you know how to do that?”
“It was the letter from the Deviant. He seemed certain at least one of us would die. I figured he had seen every possible outcome of the future. Then, when Wolf entrapped you, no spell of gravity could help you in time. The only way you might survive had to be with something I would never think to do otherwise.”
“I remember now, you brought that up as we were fleeing. Did you know then to use light?”
“I was not sure until the moment before I cast. I had no idea I was capable of doing what I did, but it was not very difficult, only exhausting.”
Michael asked, “What does the letter from the Deviant say exactly?”
She took it out of her pocket and handed it to him across their moving mounts. He read it for a moment, then shivered.
He handed it back to her. “Get it away from me.”
“Pass it here,” Leon said, then gave it a read. “Fuck,” he muttered. “The king definitely needs to hear about this. At least there is little doubt now that this Ancient means well.”
“Ancient, not Deviant?” Aliana asked. “You’re certain?”
“Yes.” Leon gestured with the note. “This proves it.”
“I’m not convinced we can rely on them,” Michael said.
“I’m not saying we rely on them. Doesn’t matter. No point in debating something we cannot prove. We wait for more evidence. Until then, we have worse things to worry about right now.”
“Like supper,” Tarak commented.
“No, that is one thing you will not have to worry about. The chef will cook up something for you and Aliana as soon as we return.”
“I would like a bath as well.”
“I hope you don’t mind a cold one,” Leon replied. “There are no fire mages to heat one for you.”
“Are you not a fire mage?”
Michael and Aliana snickered, and Tarak did not know why. Leon looked to be holding in anger.
“I heat the baths every day, in the morning, and I have made it very clear that I will not be heating baths for people throughout the day.” He glanced at Tarak. “But for you this one time I will make an exception, seeing as how you are very bloody and you seemed to have saved Aliana’s life.”
Michael said, “You didn’t make an exception for me when I carried Aliana back to the castle on my horse. I got all bloody, too!”
“I was a little busy making sure Aliana would not die, Michael.”
“I asked you long after she was stable, but no, you wouldn’t leave her side for even a moment. I had to heat the water and transport it myself. It took ages. You could’ve stuck your hand into the bath and done it in seconds.”
“That’s enough about that,” Leon said.
Aliana seemed surprised as she glanced at Leon. “Are you that worried about me because of your involvement with my mother?” she asked almost too quietly to be heard, as if scared of the answer.
“That may be your concern, but it’s not the concern of anyone else here,” Leon said.
“Did she tell you something?” Aliana’s voice became louder. “Did she force you to give me special treatment?”
“Of course not.”
“So you are doing it just because of your feelings toward her?”
“No!” Leon replied.
“Then why?”
“I may be crass, Aliana, but I have always protected my sorcerers. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, and that has nothing to do with my love for your mother. I would behave the same toward anyone here, even Tarak now, after what he did today.”
They were silent for a long while.
Michael commented, “Hearing the word ‘love’ come out of Leon’s mouth is like walking in on an elderly couple going at it.”
Aliana shuddered. “Yeah, I regret bringing it up.”
*****
Tarak rinsed off the blood as best he could in a water basin, then had a quick bath. He was too hungry to enjoy it. By the time he made it to the dining hall for his late dinner, he found Aliana already leaving. She put her hand on his shoulder as she was passing. “I was going to wait for you, but I’m too tired. I ate and now I’m off to bed.”
“Hey,” he said to turn her around. “Thank you for catching me that day in the woods. I would not want to be anywhere else but here.”
She grinned. “Good night, Tarak.”
“Good night.”
He found his plate covered with a cloth at the nearest table. Taking off the cloth, he unveiled a meat pie that might be the most delicious thing he would eat in this dining hall, probably because of how hungry he was.
Unlike Aliana, he was not so tired by the time he headed to his room. With the events of the day fresh in his mind, he felt as though he could do with some company. He thought about knocking on the door to Illia’s room as he passed by, but the hour was late. Probably everyone was asleep by now, even the analyte girl who had taken a nap during most of the day.
Or was he wrong? As Tarak was about to enter his room, someone started walking down the hall behind him. He looked back. The figure held a lamp in front, and he could not see past its glow.
“Illia?” he asked.
“Tarak.” Her voice held a smile.
She approached as he waited outside his door. He still could not see her past the lamp, and yet there was the attraction again. He was certain now that sorcery had to be involved. The only question that remained was, did he care?
Maybe. Time would tell. For now…no. He did not.
He opened the door to his room and gestured for her to enter. “Would you like to come in?”
“Thank you,” she said in common tongue and handed him the lamp as she crossed by.
With her now in front of him as he entered behind her, he could see her violet pink hair hanging down to the middle of her back. She had on a robe that swayed at the bottom with each step.
“You understood me?” he asked as he shut the door behind him.
She turned around and showed him a confused expression. It must’ve been the gesture from before that she understood.
“I, emm,” she began, and seemed to be thinking. “I hear…” She touched her ears, then pointed at him. “You…emm…make? You make?” She put her hands together in a sphere and made a whooshing sound, then pushed her arms toward where the sphere used to be.
“Gravity,” Tarak said.
“Yes. You make gravity?”
He nodded.
“You, emm. You now…? For me…?” She made the same gesture.
“You want me to make gravity for you?”
“Emm, yes.” She didn’t seem too sure, but her face glowed with a smile when he made a small sphere of it close enough to pull her hair toward it.
“Coila!” she said, then tested it with her hand. She giggled as it pulled her a step toward it.
He let the spell come to an end. She smiled at him. He always felt that there was something behind her bowlike lips and the way she longingly stared at him, as if wanting to say something she couldn’t quite translate.
“You, emm. I hear, emm, you…you help girl?”
“Your common tongue has gotten so much better.”
But she didn’t seem to understand.
He pointed at her mouth and gestured as if speaking. Then he put up his thumbs. “Good.”
“Thank you. I smart.” She poked her head.
He gave a chuckle, and she laughed with him. “You must be,” he said. “Yes, I helped Aliana. I helped the girl,” he added when she seemed confused. “Where did you hear that?”
“Zarin. I, emm…” She gestured around her mouth.
“Spoke?”
“Yes. I spoke Zarin, king. King spoke me, Zarin. Questions.” She paused as if searching for the right word. “Questions, questions, questions.”
“You spoke to the king through Zarin?” Tarak asked. “He had many questions for you about the rift we found underneath your portal location.”
She looked confused. Of course she was; it was far too many words.
She suddenly fluffed her hair and shook her head, puffing out her already thick locks.
Tarak imitated her with a flash and twirl of his own hair, though it was only long enough to fall over his forehead. He moved it aside and presented his most charming smile.
She laughed, then grinned at him devilishly and raised her eyebrows two times.
He raised his two times.
They laughed again.
“How about this?” He licked his lips.
She did the same.
He kicked off his shoes.
She tried to kick hers off, but they were too tight. She strained and eventually got one off, but it went flying across the room. She laughed with Tarak as she bent to untie the other.
He went and sat on his bed. She followed and sat next to him.
He pretended to yawn, then lay down.
She did the same, flopping next to him.
Tarak stretched his shirt down over his shoulder, exposing it.
She pulled her robe down to expose hers.
Tarak felt his smile flatten as he saw some of her bosom peeking out of the robe. She looked down and seemed to notice it.
Illia lightly slapped his cheek, bringing his gaze back up to her face. She wagged her finger at him and clicked her tongue a few times, though her smile belied her.
She lost her smile, though, when Tarak put his hand under her chin and studied her eyes. They were blue, verging on purple. He felt that they were telling him everything he needed to know, even without words. She perused his face, studying his hair before running her fingers through it as if exploring.
She focused on his gaze. She no longer held a smile. She wanted something. He could feel it in the energy between them, and he was pretty sure it was the same thing he wanted.
He put his hand on her cheek. He could hear her swallow as he moved toward her lips.
Tarak gave her one long, soft kiss. She had her eyes shut as he pulled away.
Her eyes popped open. She grew a smile. He kissed her again, but there was a shift halfway through. He could feel passion roiling that he had no hope of controlling. She must’ve felt the same as she feverishly kissed him. Or did he only feel this way because of her sorcery? She rolled on top of him.
She leaned down and kissed him. He felt control slipping away as his hands explored her body through her robe, starting with her sides and working his way down past her waist to her rear.
She moaned and rubbed her entire body against his. He knew this was too much too fast. They should not be this comfortable with each other, but the thrill only ignited him. He knew for sure that sorcery was involved. It was stronger than her intoxicating scent, more powerful than the contours of her body. He wondered if he should give in or force himself to stop now.
That choice was taken away from him when Illia threw open her robe.
“Holy…”
She fell against his chest as she kissed and bit his neck like an animal in heat. He nearly ripped off his shirt as she helped him free it from underneath his body and yank it over his head.
Illia ran her hands up his naked torso and nearly fell on his lips.
“Uni ashi ya zey,” she spoke with heated breath. “Uni ashi ya zey,” she repeated, looking into his eyes this time.
