The fallen, p.21
The Fallen, page 21
part #1 of Heroes of Gylinnar Series
“What are you looking for that magician for anyway?” Jereg asked.
“I have a question about magic I need answered before I go ‘save the world’,” Alexian replied. He’d intended to say it sarcastically, but instead it just came out biting and foul.
“Hmm,” Jereg groaned, his eyes dropping slightly. “Well I wouldn’t know anything about magic, so I can’t help you there. However, I do know that most of the magicians are stationed at the walls right now. You may be able to find her there if you don’t find her here.”
“Thanks Jereg. I better go find her before dinner ends,” Alexian said standing up.
“Alexian,” Jereg said, reached up and grabbing him by the arm.
Alexian turned, and met Jereg’s eyes for the first time. His eyes were focussed on Alexian. Inside them was not the pity Alexian had thought he would see, instead his eyes were serious, and holding an intensity in them, along with a profound understanding.
“Anger and a desire for revenge can drive a man to accomplish things that originally would have seemed impossible, both good and bad, but if you let that anger and vengeance decide every action you take, it will destroy you. Use your anger and desire, but don’t let it control you. Think about what it is you’re getting revenge for. If you don’t control it, you’ll lose everything it is you’re fighting for.”
He let go of Alexian, and returned to eating his half finished steak. “Now go get something to eat.”
Alexian stood dumbstruck for a minute. Jereg’s words hit so close to home that it seemed as if he knew exactly what Alexian had been going through in the past two days.
Because he does. He lost his whole team. He’d said he didn’t let himself think about their deaths before, when there was a mission to finish, but now...
Alexian knew Jereg was right. He’d been hurting himself with his relentless pursuit of victory. He hadn’t eaten anything for almost two days, and he was starting to feel the effects.
Without a word, Alexian walked away from Jereg’s table, and stood in line for dinner.
~~~
After finally eating a standard dinner ration of cooked meat, bread, and water, Alexian returned to his search for Gweneven. Since he was one of the last to enter the line for dinner, most of the others, including Jereg, had finished their meals and left before he had even sat down, so he didn’t have any more chance of finding her there. He decided to take Jereg’s advice, and search the patrols walking the top of the walls.
It took him some time to find the way up: a set of stairs protruding from the wall behind the former barracks. He didn’t know what pattern the patrols followed, so he decided to go left, where more wall and more patrols were visible, and began walking.
It was starting to get late. From inside the wall the sun had already gone down lower than it could be seen, but standing on top of it Alexian could see that the sun was only just beginning to set. The fog became a golden shroud in the area where the sun should have been on the horizon. It was just large enough for him to make out the silhouette of rolling mounds of land in the distance, their shadows letting the fog return to it’s normal misty white color in those places. It had been weeks since Alexian had last seen a sunset, on the hill with Annaliese, but from Alexian’s perspective, it had only been a few days.
So much time has passed, and I barely even experienced any of it.
Alexian stopped walking, and watched as the sun sank lower and lower into the fog.
My life is like a fuse that was lit somewhere in the middle, the moment I woke up in that house outside of Wiltshire. It’s slowly burning away the longer it stays lit. It’s turning and bending as it goes, but the destination is already set, and all the bending has done is make the fuse overlap itself, causing whole sections to be skipped when the sparks reached it. I’m coming to what may be the end of my fuse soon, and I’m only bringing a few week’s worth of living with me.
Alexian felt something small and wet roll down his cheek. He realized with a start that he was crying, and quickly wiped the tear off his face, letting out a pained breath as he did. Then sucking in sharply to prevent any more from appearing, he turned away from the sunset, and went back to the task he’d initially set out for. He started walking, just as the sun dipped past the horizon and the fog fully returned to white.
My life may be burning away like a fuse, but at least if it does reach its end soon, I know it’s going to end with a bang.
Alexian smiled with a grim acquiescence.
~~~
Ten minutes and two patrols later, Alexian found who he was looking for. He spotted Gweneven in the middle of the next patrol coming towards him. The patrols each seemed comprised of one leader, one magician, and five archers. Alexian could have asked one of the previous two patrols’ wizards his questions, but part of him wanted to confide in as few different people as possible. Gweneven was there when Fenric had taken Annaliese, she would already know why he needed the answers he was looking for.
A tension in Alexian’s muscles relaxed when he finally spotted her. He’d been getting worried that he would have to confide in another magician for the answers he needed after all.
When she was within ear shot, Alexian politely said, “Gweneven, I was hoping I could talk to you for a bit. I have some questions I need answered, and I was hoping you could answer them.”
Gweneven, as well as the rest of the patrol, were startled when Alexian spoke. Their attention had been focussed out into the fog, and they hadn’t noticed him approaching until now. The irony wasn’t lost on Alexian.
After recovering, Gweneven looked to the patrol leader questioningly.
The leader replied directly to Alexian. “Of course, Alexian, anything we can do to help. But please don’t take her for too long, we will need her if we spot anything approaching.”
“I’ll take as little time as possible. Thank you,” Alexian returned, nodding in appreciation.
The leader nodded back. “You’re very welcome.” Then he returned to marching down the wall, apparently expecting the rest of the patrol to follow without command. They did, with a few curious looks back at Alexian and Gweneven. Eventually, they were too far away to see or hear anything interesting, and fully returned to watching the unchanging fog.
“So, what did you want to ask me?” Gweneven asked, nervously shuffling her feet and twisting her hands around each other.
“I have a question about magic I was hoping you could answer,” he replied casually, hoping to alleviate her nervousness.
“A question about magic? And you came to me? Why me, and not some other magician?”
It seemed Alexian’s hopes were not met; Gweneven didn’t appear to have any of the confidence or collection she had when he first met her in the heat of the conflict with Fenric.
He continued his attempt in the same tone when he answered, “A few reasons. I don’t know any other magicians, I don’t know if it’s a question that any magician knows the answer to, and you already know what happened in those mines with Fenric. You saw what he did.”
Gweneven swallowed hard at the mention of Fenric.
“Ok,” was all she said.
“The question I have is: does magic have any weakness?”
Gweneven just stared at him with a furrowed brow after the question, so he tried asking again. “Does it have a weakness? Is it weak against anything? Are magicians more easily killed by something in particular?”
Gweneven opened her mouth as if about to speak, but closed it again, and stared into the fog with uncertainty instead.
Is it some kind of magicians’ secret? Is she unsure if she should tell me for some reason?
Alexian hazarded a guess, “If it’s some kind of secret, I need to know it to have the best chance against Fenric. If it’s a secret that he knows, and I don’t, he might be able to use it against—”
“No, it is not a secret,” she hurriedly interrupted. “Well, if it is, I do not know it.”
“You don’t know if it’s secret?”
“No, I mean I do not know if magic has a specific weakness.”
“Nothing?”
“Not that I know of. I definitely do not know everything about magic, but I know as much as any respectable magician, and I have never heard of magic being weak to anything.”
“Then how is it possible that a magician can be killed?” Alexian asked aghast. “Couldn’t you just make a magic necklace or ring that protected you from any attacks?”
Gweneven was shaking her head in alarm. “No. No. That is not how magic works. The natural rules of magic prevent magician’s from doing things like that. If there were anything I would consider a weakness of magic, it would be those rules.” She said it optimistically, as if hoping it would please Alexian.
“Ok,” Alexian sighed. “What are the rules of magic?”
Gweneven didn’t answer but instead looked strangely at Alexian.
“What?” Alexian asked worried.
“Is this some kind of test?” she replied in an accusing tone.
“What? No, it’s not a test. I don’t know what the rules of magic are.”
“But you are an Aleysian. You come from the world of magic. I would have thought you, more than anyone, would already know them.”
“I forgot everything when when I came here.”
“But I thought you remembered how to use a crossbow, did you not?”
“Yes, I did.” Alexian was starting to get a sour taste in his mouth.
“But not magic.” It wasn’t quite a question.
“Not magic.”
And I wish I knew why.
They stood in awkward silence for nearly ten seconds, then Gweneven started talking again.
“So you need to know the rules of magic.” It still wasn’t quite a question.
“Yes. Can you please tell me them?”
Gweneven let out a sigh, Alexian couldn’t tell what kind, then said, “Very well. The basics of magic are this:
“Magic is a direct effect of the words of power spoken. There cannot be any kind of magic without there also being words spoken to make it; so while you can affect objects with magic, it is impossible to make an object that has a magical effect.
“You cannot use a spell to make a continuous effect, otherwise it would continually drain you of energy; so it is impossible to have a permanent shield, or permanently affect something. This means that the best way to kill any magician is to take them by surprise.
“Every word of power used takes energy to say; so a magic user should try to use as few words as possible when using magic. Otherwise, they would become defenseless when they run out of energy. Also another way to kill a magician by surprise: a completely shielding spell would take a large amount of words, and drain the caster faster, so they usually try to use a shield spell just to stop a specific kind of attack; so if you make a magician think you are attacking with fire, and he shields himself from fire, then you actually attack with lightning, you will kill them.”
Alexian was taking careful mental note of her words.
“Magic can only affect things physically. You can not affect something if it does not have any substance, and the things that do have substance have to be directly affected; so it is impossible to do abstract things such as control time, read or affect someone’s thoughts, reveal hidden things, or make illusions, no matter what words of power are used. There are other examples, but those are the most encompassing.
“There you go. Those are the rules of magic, as far as we know them.” Gweneven’s expression darkened as she finished, “The only exception I can think of are the spells Fenric used in the mine.”
Annaliese’s amulet uses healing magic without words of power. Rewline wanted her to keep it secret.
Thinking of it, Alexian almost reached for the amulet instinctively, but he stopped himself before he did.
Gweneven looked off to the side, over the wall, and said, “Unless you count Annaliese’s Amulet.”
Alexian jumped from the shock, this time he did put his hand up and touch the amulet through the fabric of his shirt. He hurriedly put his hand back down, but Gweneven had already noticed.
However, she must have misunderstood why he did it, because she said, “Oh, no, not your Annaliese. I meant Annaliese, the first healer.”
“Oh,” was all Alexian dared to say.
“There are legends about an amulet that Annaliese owned. Supposedly, somehow it was imbued with pure healing magic. Some say she made the amulet, others say it came from Aleysia, like the fallen, and retained its magic. Regardless, the magic it possesses is so powerful they say it can cure incurable disease, make the blind see, and free a mind from insanity. But, it is just a hopeful legend told to children. Nobody really believes it actually exists.”
Well it does, and I’m wearing it right now.
“Well, that is all I know. Sorry I could not be more helpful. The only sure way to kill a magician is with deceit and misdirection.”
“Thank you anyway,” said Alexian, he meant it. “You did help a lot.”
“I should get back to my patrol now if you do not have any other questions for me.”
“No, I don’t. Thank you again.”
“You are very welcome Alexian,” Gweneven said nodding her head politely, then she hurried away in the direction her patrol had gone.
“Oh, wait!” Alexian called, having an old idea return.
Gweneven turned around to face him.
“Do you know if magic can return memories?”
Gweneven shook her head. “Memories aren’t physical, magic can’t affect them.”
“Right. Of course,” Alexian recalled. He thought it was worth a shot. “Thank you.” He waved a farewell to Gweneven as she once again hurried back to her patrol.
Alexian stayed in the same spot a little longer, looking down at the Resistance camp sprawled out in the courtyard, and thinking to himself.
Between Fenric’s illusions and Annaliese’s Amulet, it doesn’t seem like any of the rules of magic are actual rules. What am I going to do if Fenric actually does have a shielding spell that permanently protects him from all attacks?
Nothing. There won’t be anything I could do if that’s the case. All I can do is hope that it isn’t. But if it isn’t, then my suspicions were correct, and my explosive bolts should take him by surprise.
Alexian’s thoughts were interrupted as he heard booted footsteps hurriedly approaching from the direction Gweneven had gone. He turned, expecting it to be her, returning to tell him something, but was surprised to see that it was Salina.
She wore a heavy brow on her downcast face as she quickly walked toward him. When she was beside him, she stopped abruptly, and turned to look out to the horizon, the same way he had earlier.
She began to speak with a broken voice that betrayed the sorrow she held. “One of the patrols said I might find you here. I was hoping you would be willing to talk with me about… Garoth.”
Alexian said nothing, but he nodded to let her know he was. He imagined that Salina needed to get her feelings off of her chest, the same way he had needed to do with Jereg.
“The search parties just came back with his body.” Salina stopped and gave a shuddering sigh before continuing. “He was the only family I had left, after our father died.”
Again, Alexian maintained his silence.
“He was always the one with the confidence. Usually it was him, with his words or just his presence, that assured me I was doing the right thing. Without him… I’m not sure of anything anymore.” She stopped again, wiping tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry, you don’t need to hear all of this; you have your own worries. It’s just… normally Garoth is the one I would talk to about this kind of stuff.”
Finally, Alexian spoke softly. “He always believed in you. Even after we left for the mine, he told me that he knew you would come to your senses about the prophecy. He didn’t lose faith in you for a moment.”
Salina put her head in her hands, and breathed out all her sorrow. When she looked up, she said, “you know what he told me he wanted to do, when this war was all over?”
“What?” asked Alexian, genuinely interested in learning more about the friend he’d only had for a little while.
“It was his big dream,” Salina said, smiling at the memory of him. “He wanted to be the one that found where Mellina, the first Aleysian, went after her disappearance.”
Alexian remembered all the times that Garoth had seemed to become more eagerly interested in things involving Mellina.
“After you said that that... ‘dragon’ mentioned a kingdom made by Mellina, and after you went unconscious, it was the happiest I had ever seen him since our father died. He was planning on coming back here, after the war, to search for it.”
Alexian took in this new information about Garoth. It made him feel better too, to hear about the things Garoth had enjoyed in life.
“Maybe when this is all over,” Alexian began, “You, me, and Annaliese can come back here, and find it ourselves. I’m sure she would be just as eager to find it. For Garoth.”
Salina smiled, and wiped more tears from her eyes. “No. If anything, I should find it for him on my own. You and Annaliese will have plenty to do once this is over, I’m sure.”
Alexian smiled too. They both stood on the wall in silence for another minute.
After the minute, Alexian remembered that Garoth wasn’t the only close person Salina had lost in the mine. He decided to say, “Before we went into the mines, Garoth told me about how you and… Zahmil were—”
“Don’t!” Salina cut him off. “Don’t say it. She was not my friend.”
“Sorry,” Alexian apologized, feeling like he had screwed up cheering her.
“Don’t be,” Salina said, calm again. “I’m past it.”
Salina looked at him for the first time since she had arrived on the wall. “Thank you Alexian. For this, and for everything else.”
“You’re welcome,” Alexian replied. “And thank you too.”
Salina wiped away the last of her tears, stood up straight, and bowed to Alexian modestly before turning around and walking back the way she came.
