Mages path 3, p.8
Mage's Path 3, page 8
“What kind of interest?” Jack said. He was suspicious of the stranger, not just because of the information the magic had given him. “Who are you?”
“Oh, only a humble forester,” the man replied as he stepped forward into the light.
Jack did not believe him. He had never seen a person who looked less like a forester. The newcomer was tall and well-built, it was true, but that was the only possible resemblance. The foresters of the northern Noonlands were a class of their own, brawny, proud men who made a living managing the trees that covered so much of the northern regions. They created the timber that went into construction projects, and were responsible for a great deal of charcoal burning and firewood production for the smaller towns and villages.
But this person did not look as if he’d ever worked an honest day in his life. His skin was deathly pale, and his dark, clever eyes darted around here and there, never resting anywhere for more than a second or two at most. He had long, sleek, jet-black hair that gleamed as if it were oiled and was tied severely back around his high, pointed ears.
An elf! Jack thought, with a sudden rush of apprehension. What is an elf doing this far north? He can’t be one of the regular elven folk—he must be an outcast of some kind.
Aloud, he said, “Well, we’re just two travelers heading west on the roads. We will not leave any trace of our presence to worry a woodsman, so you needn’t be concerned about that.”
“Hm, ah, yes…” the strange fellow said. His dark, quick eyes were glancing everywhere but their faces, taking in every detail of their garments, their gear, and their camp.
He’s seeing more than what’s on the surface, that much is clear, Jack thought. But who is he really? And what does he want?
“Well, I will give you my apologies for disturbing you, and I’ll be on my way,” the elf said abruptly. He bowed stiffly. “Best of luck on the road ahead!” he said, then turned on his heel and marched away down the hill.
Melinda took a step forward, but Jack put his hand on her arm and held her back. He shook his head and held one finger to his lips.
Once the dark figure of the elf had disappeared into the tree line, Jack counted to twenty. Melinda’s woven watching spell no longer indicated a nearby presence.
Jack drew a breath, but Melinda spoke first. “What do you want to do?” she hissed. “I’m not ready to just let this go. Whoever he was, he was up to something.”
“I agree,” Jack muttered. “I think we should investigate further.”
He glanced up at the sky. “It’s an hour, perhaps, before full light. Let’s pack up our gear and use our spells to follow him to his lair.”
“Very well,” Melinda said with a nod.
Moving quickly, they worked to break camp. They rolled their blankets and stowed them in their packs and, true to their promise to the unlikely forester, Jack kicked dirt over the remains of the fire and laid a thick slab of turf over it to hide that it had ever been there.
“Guiding Light,” Jack muttered, as Melinda said, “Darklight.” The spells were roughly equivalent. Both allowed the mage to see the path to a simple objective, and also gave the mage the ability to see in the dark. But each spell worked by different means.
Jack’s spell manifested as an actual light, illuminating darkness around him. Melinda’s spell manifested as a patch of deep shadow around her hand, but when she held it up and looked through it, she could see the surrounding area clearly, even in the dark. So, Melinda’s was better for stealth and trickery, whereas Jack’s was a little more versatile, being able to illuminate the area for others as well as for himself.
“Where did that elf go?” Jack and Melinda both asked. Their spells agreed, indicating a straight line off to the left of where the elf had disappeared.
“Let’s use yours,” Jack said, pulling the mana back from his Guiding Light spell. “We’ll be better able to hide ourselves and take advantage of the shadows that way.”
“All right,” Melinda agreed, “but you be ready with that spear of yours in case we encounter any resistance.”
Their packs on their backs, they made their way down the hill. Melinda took the lead and Jack followed behind her. He summoned his spear and held it low in his left hand. In his right, a spot of bright mana gleamed, ready to be released into the form of a powerful dungeon monster at the least threat.
The moon had sunk and the first light of dawn was only a suggestion in the sky. Under the trees it was still very dark. Melinda used her Darklight spell to see, but Jack relied on letting his magical awareness take over. This way, he could sense the world around him in a way that did not rely on sight or touch. Magic extended out from his pool and he sank into it, letting his dungeon instinct guide his feet as he followed Melinda through the darkness.
They moved carefully through the woods in this way for a quarter of an hour, always moving further away from the road and from the hill where they’d camped. Then, the ground dropped away abruptly and they found themselves on the edge of a narrow gorge running through the middle of the wood.
“Stop!” Jack hissed, reaching out and tapping Melinda’s shoulder.
She pulled up straightaway. “What is it?”
With his magical senses, he could see what she could not. In the darkness, it was invisible to the naked eye, but Jack’s magical senses showed him a cave down in the gorge, shielded both by a thick hanging curtain of ivy and ferns, and by a well-laid misdirection spell.
They were only fifty yards from it.
“Point your Darklight spell down there,” he whispered in her ear, pointing with his spear.
She raised her spell, scanned the area for a moment, then gasped.
“My spell says that he’s off on the other side of this gully, and I think he’s moving away from us at a steady pace,” she said. “But this must be his base. I think we should investigate this before we do anything else, don’t you?”
“I agree,” Jack said. “Come on—you take the lead, I’ll have your back.”
They went as stealthily as they could down the overgrown slope, but they could not avoid making some noise. Suddenly, Jack stopped.
“I’m sensing life in the cave, and not animals or monsters. There are people in there, not animals,” he said in a low voice.
She was about to speak when there came a voice from inside the cave. “Hey!” it cried. “Who’s out there? Help us!”
They were close now, close enough that they could see the outline of the entrance behind the screen of ivy. Jack and Melinda glanced at each other.
“Help!” the voice shouted again.
There was nothing for it. All hope for stealth was gone. With their shouting, the person in the cave would rouse any enemies who were nearby. If the mysterious elf were near and listening, he would be alerted immediately.
“No time to waste,” Jack said. He stepped forward and used a strong sweep of his spear to clear away the hanging ivy from the cave entrance.
They both gasped at what they saw inside.
Huddled against the back of the cave were two men, tied with thick ropes around their hands and feet. They had clearly tried to escape from their bonds, but had not been able to.
Jack took in the scene at a glance.
The men were in their thirties, heavyset and with the grizzled, weatherworn countenances of hardened warriors. They were dressed in light leather armor, but there was no sign of any weapons in the cave. Both men looked in good physical condition; Jack guessed they had not been captive long.
“Get us out of here!” one of the men shouted to Jack.
“Untie these ropes!” the other said, struggling against his bonds.
“Quiet,” Melinda hissed. “The elf is nearby. He will return if he hears this commotion.”
The men looked at each other and immediately fell silent as Jack darted forward, drawing his belt-knife and looking at the ropes.
Why have these men not been able to break their bonds? he wondered. They’re both strong, capable warriors, and the ropes are not particularly well-tied.
He dropped to one knee beside the nearest of the two men and placed his belt knife on the thick cord. The blade jumped back like an animal from a flame.
Ah, Jack thought, that’s why.
“The ropes are enchanted,” he said to Melinda, who was watching out of the cave entrance. “It will need more than a knife to break them.”
He tried a fire spell on the ropes, but the magic just moved around the rope and did not break it. Then he tried his Resist Magic spell, and that didn’t work either.
“Can you not free us?” the man asked miserably.
“Just hold on a minute,” Jack said. “Let me think!”
He sat back, forcing himself to ignore the impending danger that the elf—clearly an enchanter of some kind—would return at any moment. He forced his mind to concentrate on the problem at hand.
He looked at the knife in his hand, and had an idea. Would it work? he thought. In theory…
“Jack,” Melinda said urgently, “I think the elf is coming back. I can sense him approaching…”
Well, no time like a crisis for experimentation, Jack thought. He brought his Resist Magic spell to the front of his attention, then focused on the knife in his hand. Letting awareness of the different parts of the knife flow through into him, Jack pushed the Resist Magic spell down his arm, through his hand, and into the knife. The spell flowed around the wood, metal, and leather that made up the humble, workaday belt knife, enhancing it with the spell and turning it into a more powerful version of itself.
This time, when Jack put the blade to the ropes, the edge sheared through the invisible magic barrier that held the threads together. The magic worked to disperse the spell and then in a moment the clean edge of the knife cut into the bindings.
Jack kept his knife sharp, and now that the spell was broken the blade cut through the rope with ease. In moments the first man was free, then the second. Ropes fell to the ground as the two warriors stood, rubbing their wrists to get the blood moving again and thanking Melinda and Jack profusely for rescuing them.
Jack smiled at them and said he was happy to have helped, but Melinda was staring out of the cave mouth, distracted.
“Jack,” she said suddenly. “He’s here.”
Flanked by the two men, Jack strode to the mouth of the cave. On the edge of the gully, glaring with furious eyes down at their group, stood the elf.
“You will regret this, you meddling fool,” he cursed. “You will regret the day you crossed me. You have no idea who you’re dealing with…” He raised a hand and magic flickered in his palm.
Chapter 6
“Funny,” Jack said with a grin. “I was about to say the same to you!”
Doubt flashed across the elf’s face. His dark eyebrows rose a little as he saw the flash of light appear in Jack’s palm that heralded the approach of magic.
I’ll not use dungeon summoning powers just yet, Jack thought. I want to see what this elf has to offer first.
Jack reached through his mana pool and drew on his elemental powers—fire, water, ice, and air. In the Noonlands, mages who could manipulate these simple powers were not uncommon. There were enough of them scattered throughout the land that this elf would not think anything unusual of meeting one, though they generally were found in guilds rather than on the open road.
The elf raised his hands to cast a spell, but Jack got his in first. A flash of blue flame arced like lightning up the slope toward the elf from Jack’s hand. It struck the ground at his feet and curved out around him, flinging earth up in its wake. The elf jumped back with a curse.
Jack was pleased with his ability to manipulate the summoned fire. He had a tight grip on it. At will, he could move it around the elf’s feet. He was not going to destroy the elf, however, not unless he was left with no other choice.
“We want to trap him, not kill him, all right?” he said to Melinda.
She nodded once. “You keep him busy,” she said. “I’m going to try to get onto his blind side.”
Then she turned to the two freed warriors. “You two,” she said, in a tone that brooked no argument, “with me.”
With that, Melinda stepped away from Jack, and the warriors followed her. Magic flowed out from her like water. She was using an illusion spell—it was not invisibility exactly, but it was a powerful distraction spell, making anyone who looked at her and at her companions think that they were not really there.
It’s so strong it’s almost making me feel like they’re not there! Jack thought with a grin, before turning his attention back to his opponent.
Up on the ridge, the fire still moved around the elf’s feet at Jack’s command, but at that moment the elf counterattacked with a jet of water from his palm that flashed and sparkled as if it was lit from within. It soaked the ground around his feet, dulling and repelling Jack’s fire.
Jack contemplated using ice to freeze the elf’s water spell, or fire to double down on his original attack—but the elf got his attack in first! A rain of ice shards flew down the hill at Jack, each one broad and sharp as a knife blade.
With a sweep of his hand, Jack flung up a wall of earth and stones a foot thick in front of him. Not the most stable barrier, he thought, but not bad for a quick solution!
The ice knives shattered or jammed in the wall of earth, and Jack heard tinkling and thuds as they did so.
“Now, my fine friend,” Jack muttered. “Let’s see how you deal with this.”
He gathered the element of air through his mana pool and summoned a wall of wind. His earthen barrier held just long enough for him to shove it hard with the wind spell, sending it flying up the hill to hit the elf with a shower of earth, rocks, and the elf’s own ice daggers.
That was when the elf showed up with something new. There was a crackling sound like fire rushing through dry fuel, and a semi-transparent dome appeared around the elf. It was a Ward spell, and the rocks and earth bounced and slipped off it as if the elf were enclosed in a dome of thick glass.
“Hah!” he shouted, sounding a bit out of breath. “You’ll have to do more than that, weakling!”
I could do a lot more, Jack thought, but I’m not showing my hand just yet. I want to see more of your magic first. He had never battled a Noonlands mage one-on-one like this before, and he was curious to see his best game.
The Ward spell was interesting. I could use that, he thought. If I can only force him to keep it up for a few moments more…
With a considerable effort, Jack drew mana through two elements at the same time for a double attack. He stretched out both hands and fired the dual spells. Earth and small stones blasted from his left hand, and water blasted from his right. The elf had seemed about to drop his Ward spell, but he raised his hands again and grunted with effort as his magic took the strain of this new onslaught.
Jack gritted his teeth with the effort as well. He was struggling for a moment when he felt the fine thread of Melinda’s magic joining with his. She was combining her mana with his, as they had discussed back in the tower!
But where was she?
Boosted by the new combined power, he began to walk slowly up the slope, hands extended, hammering the elf’s Ward with a focused barrage of elemental summoning. As he did so, he extended his magical awareness toward the elf.
Immediately, he became aware of Melinda and the warriors. Her cloaking magic had worked so well that Jack had almost forgotten about them until he’d felt her contribution to his magic. Now he saw that they had crept along the gully a little way then gained the higher ground. They were approaching the elven mage from behind. The warriors were in the lead, and Melinda was working hard to maintain the cloaking spell across all three of them.
I’ve only got a moment, Jack thought. He reached out toward the elf’s Ward spell. For a moment, his awareness slipped over its surface, failing to get a grip on it. It was strange—a kind of magic he had not felt before. He’d seen Lachlan do a version of Ward spells before, but this elf’s magic had a unique flavor to it.
Then, finally, Jack’s magical reach found some purchase. Like fingers sinking into cloth, he took a firm hold on the spell and pulled. He absorbed the spell, in the same way that he absorbed elements and monsters to add them to his summoning pool.
“Aargh!” the elf croaked. “What is this? How can this be?”
The shield cast by the Ward spell was whipped away from him, and at the same time Jack stopped flinging earth and stones and increased the pressure of the water he was blasting. He had almost gained the top of the ridge by now.
Suddenly, he felt himself flooded with the energy that had been expended in the fight by the elf. This was an element of his abilities as a dungeon that he had not explored much yet—in a fight, he could absorb the expended energy in the environment around him and use it for a boost to his mana and his strength.
The raw environmental energy flooded into him and his strength waxed like a fire in a newly arrived breeze. He flared up, feeling like a new man all of a sudden. As the elf’s spell was absorbed into Jack’s pool, he pushed more mana into his own attack.
The increased force of the renewed water blast hit the elf full in the face, breaking his focus and sending him lurching backwards, his hands raised. He staggered and fell… right into the arms of the freed prisoners.
“Got you!” the taller of the two men grunted with satisfaction as he flipped the elf onto his front and expertly twisted his arms up behind his back. “Get the rope, Jed!”
His companion, the one called Jed, stepped up quickly with a length of the same rope he had been tied with less than an hour earlier. “My pleasure, Rog,” he growled, kneeling swiftly and flinging the rope around the elf to secure his upper arms. Then he tied his wrists and ankles.
Jack stepped up, feeling out with his own magic toward the ropes. “These will need a little Enhancement,” he said, and extended a hand to them. He used Resist Magic and spent a few moments pushing the spell into the fabric of the ropes. When he felt the spell slotting into place, he stood with a sigh of satisfaction.
