by Rain Oxford
And if Kalyn wanted to join us more often, I wasn’t opposed to that at all.
I glanced at Merlin and was surprised to see the sorrow in his eyes. “It’ll work out,” I said. “Nimue loves you. She won’t stay gone forever.”
“It is not her I was thinking about.”
“Then why are you upset?”
“I have been in this position before, and it always turns out poorly for me.”
“What position?”
“The reason I began teaching wizards was not just that I felt I had knowledge to share. I have seen incredible, indescribable, and spectacular things in my long life. I have seen acts of beauty beyond compare. I have seen events that have only happened once and will never occur again. I have seen acts of nature that could humble the strongest man and only afterwards did I recognize its beauty. Things like this changed me forever.” He sighed. “But every time I witness the most wondrous moments that can never be repeated, I turn to see that I am alone. No one would ever understand. Those moments will die with me. I took apprentices to share those moments with, but they all lose interest in the end, or they find what they have always wanted. Either way, I end up in the same place I started.”
“That isn’t going to happen with us. I was just thinking about it. I want to see all of that with you.”
“You will change your mind. That is the way it should be. You will have a family someday.”
“Family isn’t always the people you share blood with. You’re my family. My father might never have tried to kill me, but he wouldn’t shed a tear if I died. The most I could hope from him is mild annoyance, and it would probably be directed at me for dying.”
He smirked and it was quiet for a while. “The saddest part is that I spent my immortal life wishing for something different. Now that I found it… found someone who needs me… I have lost my immortality. Now that there is an end in sight… I am afraid of it.”
“Did you have a vision of you dying?” I asked. He shook his head. “You’re not going to die. I haven’t given up on breaking your curse.”
He didn’t seem to have anything else to say and we had a long ride ahead of us, so we went below deck to find Kalyn. There was a main hallway with three perpendicular hallways branching off. Each of the hallways had many doors. Merlin sniffed her out easily. She was in the middle hallway, two doors down to the right.
The room was tiny. It had no window and four beds. Two of the beds were suspended over the others with wooden beams. Between the beds, there was barely enough room to walk, and there was no room at all around them. There was a lamp beside the door.
“Weren’t there any larger rooms?” I asked.
“The rooms with windows are larger, but they’re six-person rooms. There is a level below us with nicer chambers, but we’re not supposed to go there because they’re for the crew. Then the bottom level is for cargo, but we have nothing big to store down there.”
We passed the time by talking about Kalyn’s family. She was excited to see how much her older sisters had grown. I had a very hard time focusing on it for long, but her enthusiasm was contagious.
* * *
There were a few stops that we ignored until shortly before sunset, when we went up to the deck. We could already see a little of the island in the distance. The captain greeted us. “We are about to have dinner, but since I can’t stop the ship this close to the island and wait, I have brought you some for your journey,” he said, holding out a loaf of bread and some roasted meat in a cloth.
“Thank you,” I said, taking it.
“Good luck to you three. That is a dangerous path ahead of you.” He left.
Kalyn and I ate the bread and gave the meat to Merlin as we sailed closer to the island. It kept getting creepier the closer we got. It wasn’t that the island looked unusual, it was just a bad feeling I got. It was primarily forest with some rocky mountains and a small beach lining it. The light of the moons didn’t seem to penetrate the trees of the forest.
When we were as close as we were going to get, the ship slowed slightly. I waved my staff and willed it to send us to the island. My magic surrounded us and I closed my eyes. When I opened them, we were on the beach before the forest. The trees looked much larger up close.
“We need to be careful,” Merlin said.
“I will disguise us,” Kalyn said. “What do you want to look like?”
“How about a troll?”
“That would be suspicious because they don’t live around here.”
“A bear?”
“We might be hunted. Rabbits should work.”
“That would certainly scare everyone away.”
“I will never understand your people’s fear of rabbits,” Merlin said. “You act like they are venomous snakes.”
“No, snakes aren’t scary like rabbits,” I argued. Rabbits were vicious pests that attacked farm animals and could be difficult to get rid of.
Kalyn nodded her agreement. She motioned with her hands and the air became warmer suddenly. “That should do it.”
“We didn’t change, though.”
“We can’t see it because I didn’t want it distracting us.”
“So I now look like dinner?” Merlin asked.
“What?” Kalyn asked.
“Merlin eats rabbits. On his world, rabbits are vegetarians.”
“Wow. That’s so strange. They don’t eat people?”
“No, and they don’t sneak into houses at night and take babies,” I said.
“I am not convinced they do that on Caldaca,” Merlin groused.
“Maybe wolves are their only natural predator,” Kalyn suggested.
“People may buy that we are rabbits, but not if we keep talking,” Merlin warned.
We fell silent. After a while, we stopped outside a village of thieves. There were five small houses and three men gathered around a fire pit in the center. We decided to avoid them.
“Which way do we go?” I asked. She pointed to the west. Merlin, however, didn’t move. “What’s wrong?”
“I smell someone familiar.”
“An enemy? It can’t be Gmork.”
“No. A friend, I believe. I do not smell fear, though. Are we friends with any thieves?”
“Not that I know of.”
We started walking away and he followed. The weather was nice, but I wished we had some water. “How long can you keep up your disguise?” I asked Kalyn.
“This isn’t very strenuous, so most of the night at least.”
“Not so fast,” said a man from behind us. We stopped and turned. He was a tall, muscular man with raggedy clothes.
“How can you see through my disguise?” Kalyn asked.
“I can smell you, magician.”
“Werewolf,” Merlin growled.
“How come you couldn’t smell him before?”
“He is downwind from us.”
“Well, you’re one person and we outnumber you,” I said. Kalyn dropped the disguise.
“What is the mortal enemy of the wolf?” she asked.
“Man,” Merlin answered.
“What?”
“A wolf with a pack is a fierce and powerful force, but a lone wolf is vulnerable to mountain lions, tigers, bears, bison, and other large predators.”
“I make an excellent bear,” Kalyn said. Brown fur sprouted across her arms and her hair shortened. Then her body started to grow and reshape to become an intimidating bear.
The werewolf didn’t wait idly by, though. He grew dark brown fur and his body reshaped, but not to resemble Merlin or Gmork. His snout was shorter and his fur was sparser than Merlin’s, and his front legs were shorter than his hind legs. Nevertheless, he had the same sharp claws and fangs that Merlin did.
The werewolf and Kalyn fought, but although Kalyn had an advantage in size, the wolf was better at fighting. He’d obviously had a lot more practice with it. When Merlin lunged at the werewolf and Kalyn got in the way, he barely avoided landing on her. “Stop
!” I said. All three of them broke apart. “I’m a Rynorm, Werewolf. You should know better than to challenge a sorcerer.”
Kalyn and the werewolf shifted back. “A blond sorcerer? A warlock is more likely. Warlocks and wizards should stay clear of this land.”
I aimed my staff at him and the crystal pulsed threateningly with a red glow. He cowered. “I didn’t realize you were still in disguise. Sorcerers are welcome here. Can I help you on your quest?”
“We don’t need any help,” Kalyn said.
“Clearly. In that case, I will leave you to it.”
When he left, the silence was awkward. “That was easy. I think I wasted our time fighting him.”
“There are places where being a sorcerer is an advantage, and places where being a wizard is better. You’re not hurt, are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“Merlin?”
“I am unharmed.”
Kalyn used a disguise again, but this time, she disguised me as a sorcerer. She kept herself and Merlin undisguised.
* * *
We eventually came upon an abandoned village that consisted of ten colorful cabins. While it was completely deserted, we found no damage except for age. It was as if everyone just left without packing anything. “This is creepy,” I said.
“Where is everyone?” Kalyn asked.
“The last time I encountered such a state, it was because everyone fell victim to the plague,” Merlin said. He sniffed the dirt and air. “I smell no death or sickness, though.”
“That’s good. Perhaps there weren’t enough resources, so people moved on.”
“People build villages around their resources. Then again, resources can be depleted.”
“Well, this isn’t Shimmering Valley, so let’s get out of here fast,” I suggested.
“No argument here,” Kalyn said. When she took my hand, I figured it had more to do with friendship than fear. I hadn’t thought she was very tough when I first met her, but once my mother’s curse over her was broken I learned she was actually pretty brave.
“Not so fast,” a man said, stepping out from beside one of the cabins. I rolled my eyes. He was hidden in the shadows, but I could tell that he wasn’t a huge man.
“We don’t have time to deal with this,” I said.
Merlin turned to growl at something behind us. Kalyn pressed her back against mine. “Do you want me to make us invisible?” she asked.
“Wait. Save it until we need it. It would make a good distraction.” I aimed my staff upward and focused on creating a protective bubble around us. “Shield.” I felt the shield form around us.
“This is a very dangerous land for you to be alone, Sorcerer.”
I looked at Kalyn. She shrugged. “You can see that I’m not alone, right?”
“Why are you attacking us?” I asked.
“I’m a thief; that’s what we do.”
“That makes sense. But I’m a sorcerer, so I can curse you.”
The man stepped out of the darkness. From his black hair and maroon eyes and the aura of dark power around him, I recognized him for what he was instantly; he was a sorcerer. He aimed a wand at me, but didn’t unleash his magic. I thought he was waiting for my move until he asked, “Are you a Rynorm?”
I hesitated. “Yes.”
He lowered his wand. “I’m Hongo Maramonte.”
I lowered my staff. Being a member of the Rynorm family meant that I had to abide by their alliances and fight their enemies. Maramonte were allies of Rynorm.
“This place is rather anticlimactic,” Merlin commented.
“Does that mean we’re not going to steal anything?” a younger man said from behind us.
I recognized the voice. “Jevwen?”
After a moment, a teenager stepped out from between two houses. He was the son of the first pirate captain I had ever met. He was a heavy reader, like me, though, and took the opportunity to live a scholarly life when his father gave it to him. His father was happy as long as Jevwen was.
“Do I know you?” he asked.
“I’m Ayden.”
“Oh. You look different.”
“I’ll explain later. Right now, we need to go. We need to find Shimmering Valley as soon as possible.”
“Pelo, get Dreah and Methos.”
A second man stepped out from behind Jevwen. Pelo was a huge man with a sword at his hip, so I figured he was a warrior. “Why are we helping them?” Pelo asked.
“He’s a Rynorm,” Hongo said. “I will not betray them. My fiancée is a Rynorm.”
“That doesn’t mean we have to help them,” Pelo said.
“Just get them!”
With a sigh, Pelo left. “We don’t need help,” Kalyn said. “We can find our way.”
“It never hurts to have an extra few allies,” Palo said.
“He’s right,” I agreed. “If we get attacked, having a few sorcerers on our side would be a good idea.”
“I’m not a sorcerer,” Jevwen reminded me. “Pelo is a warrior, though.”
“That’s even better. What about the other two?”
“Dreah is a mage. Methos is a magician.”
“Well, we don’t need another magician,” Kalyn said.
“Maybe not, but we still shouldn’t turn down help.”
When Pelo, Dreah, and Methos arrived, I explained the situation with Gmork and the magic jar. Of course, I didn’t reveal everything. Ally or not, I didn’t trust them not to be tempted by the power of the amulet. I especially didn’t trust Methos, who wasn’t a Rynorm ally and seemed to be just as dark-natured as Hongo. Magicians weren’t restricted to dark or light magic like sorcerers and wizards were, as their illusion magic could be used to help or hurt people.
Instead of explaining the fact that I was a Sjau, Kalyn dropped my disguise and said she was disguising me as a wizard to make me appear harmless. “I don’t know how you can stand to look like one of them,” Hongo said with a sneer.
“Wizards aren’t that bad,” I argued. “I live with several of them. It’s nice not having to watch my back every day.” Kalyn kept her mouth closed.
“Watching your back keeps you strong and quick,” Hongo said. “That’s why wizards are lazy and slow.”
Pelo nodded. “That’s why I refuse to work with them.”
“Stop being so hard on them,” Methos said. “Wizards are the easiest people to take advantage of; you can betray them and lie to them all you want and they’ll still invite you into their home for a warm meal.”
Since most of Mason’s family members were both wizards and warriors, I didn’t know if that was true of general wizards or not. Most of my knowledge of them came from books and my mother. Ilvera Dracre believed wizards were the weakest class of people, and wizards rarely went on adventures in the books I read.
I fell silent. I didn’t want to think negatively about people. No matter what was generally true of wizards, they were still people and deserved respect.
“We’ll be happy to help you,” Dreah said.
“Hopefully, we aren’t far from our destination. We’re looking for Shimmering Valley.”
“It’s not far,” Hongo said, pointing north. Anything out of this colorful, abandoned village sounded good by me, so we started walking.
We just passed the last house when lightning lit the sky… except it was green. Magic crackled through the air. A glowing shield spread from the center of the sky all around us until it touched the ground and closed us in. The glow quickly faded, but the magic was still there. We were trapped.
Green fire erupted in front of us and out of it, Gmork emerged. That was really neat and something I would have loved to have learned under different circumstances. “How did you get so much magic?” I asked. Merlin was still struggling to do magic through me and when I was in the wolf form, I couldn’t do it even with my wand or staff.
“I am all-powerful,” he boasted.
“How?”
“This is Gmork?” Hongo asked.
/> “He’s a lot more of a challenge than you made him out to be,” Pelo said.
“Hand over the amulet,” Gmork demanded.
“There are a lot more of us than there are of you.”
“Yet I can easily defeat all of you.”
“How did you get your magic back?”
“It was easy to overcome your little curse.”
“But you’re still a wolf.”
“The better to rip out your heart.”
I rolled my eyes. “Like you’re the first person to try. My own mother failed and I lived under the same roof.” That made Gmork pause, which was my intention for goading him. Kalyn had made herself invisible while Pelo and Hongo kept up behind him. Hongo drew his sword, and although I couldn’t hear it, Gmork did.
Gmork snapped at Hongo as quick as lightning, but Pelo blasted him in the face with a curse. Gmork was blinded by black slime that clung to his fur and eyes. “Turn Gmork to stone!” I said to my staff. Once again, red energy flowed out of it and struck him. I knew he could fight it off, but it would give me time to strike with something else.
His front paws changed to stone and he collapsed.
Jevwen, Dreah, and Methos wisely stayed out of the way. I aimed my staff and focused on fury. I wasn’t an angry person by nature, but I needed it at this moment. Dragon magic was emotional. I wanted him to hurt because he made Merlin suffer. He betrayed Merlin. As the anger welled inside me, I felt the power of the galaxy stone react to it. I just needed the word to wield it.
“Ofugr!” Gmork said.
A blast of energy struck all of us, throwing us far away from him. I landed on the porch of the sky-blue house. Palo actually went through a ceiling. The world spun as I tried to figure out if I was bleeding out or just broken on the inside. I managed to roll over on my side to see Merlin unconscious on the road. He was definitely wounded, judging by the blood pooling on the ground around him, but I couldn’t tell if he was breathing.
Gmork was running at him. Although he had shed the stone curse, the black slime still covered his eyes. He didn’t need his eyes to find Merlin, though. I reached around for my staff or wand, but they had landed somewhere out of reach.
