Kanos said, “In what way?”
Elrock said, “Some have round energy bodies; some have features like central poles. You, though, don’t look like you have an energy body. You have several small spheres of energy suspended all over. One on each hand, one on each shoulder, one on your feet. One on your head.” Elrock reached up with his pointer finger and tapped Kanos right on the forehead.
Kanos felt his balance shift, and he almost fell to the ground. As he corrected himself, Elrock exclaimed, “Really! Those spheres are moving around. They keep you in line.”
Elrock eyed the blade by Kanos’ side. “I bet you can wreak havoc with thing… hold on. Let me get a swordsman. Will you show us your power?”
Elrock stuck two fingers into his own mouth and sent out a screeching whistle. “I need a swordsman. Do we have any left?”
A man was finally roused from the other side of the camp. The man wore a rather intense expression — his long black hair was tied into a long ponytail, and he wore a black headband that looked quite fierce.
Elrock said, “No blood boys. Kanos, please show us what you have.”
The swordsman approached Kanos and moved with great intention. Two long swords came out from his side. They moved like cutting razors, impervious to stoppage.
Kanos remained firm and upright as the swordsman ran forward with an unbelievable display of skill, far beyond anything Kanos ever saw. Kanos leaned left and right with solid timing but found himself outmatched in speed and reflex. The gap was closing.
The swordsman stopped and smiled, but Kanos did not relinquish, so again the swordsman began to swing his blades with sickening precision.
Kanos drew the blade of Anoak and swung it in front of him one single time. The swordsman’s left sword was knocked into the air. Kanos immediately used his blade to deflect the handle of the flying sword into his own fist. Kanos wielded both blades in a constant swinging motion and swept away the other sword as well.
He nodded to the disarmed swordsman and turned to the left and threw the long sword into the air with great speed. The sword spun and flew across 60 feet of land and sliced a small dead tree vertically in half.
Elrock hollered, “What do we have here!!!” He walked straight to Kanos who replied, “A battlemage, I’ve heard.”
Elrock said, “Hell yes, you are.”
Over the next two days, Kanos agreed to let Elrock observe and test his powers, and he was amazed at every turn. “A swordsman of the greatest skill could not contend with this magic. The energy has enhanced you in the physical arts.” Kanos decided to show him how well he climbs.
Elrock watched as Kanos moved like a clockwork machine straight up sheer walls of rock. Elrock couldn’t believe what he saw. He exclaimed, “Always learning something new. We have a human insect here.”
When Kanos landed back on the ground, the two men settled down for a plate of slow-roasted chancelot meat on a nearby bench, where Elrock described to Kanos how the camp works, running missions to free the oppressed — to “take down the walls of darkness that are coming with the ascendance of magic.”
Elrock said, “I’d test you further, but we just had a mage named Elias come through a couple months ago. He had so much power it could kill anyone, including me. The energy in Avios has grown too strong. I have decided to observe more scientifically now. Elias just passed through again last week. He slayed giants up North, all by himself. I don’t recommend trying that, though.”
“Giants?” asked Kanos.
Elrock nodded. “They called them Sky Giants in Brakkish lore, the Moyomay. Their heads scrape the skies, Elias said.”
Kanos felt the gravity of Elrock’s words. He could neither fully believe or disbelieve. His path led him to trust no one fully, but he felt a lack of alliance would be his end. He decided to tell Elrock about the decimation of his village and recounted the tales of the summoner and illusionist. He asked Elrock about the band of sorcerers he felt he was pursuing, and how to find them.
Elrock said, “I think you can find them better than I can. I see that web around you. It activates differently than these other mages. More like a tracker or a healer. But, if I was betting gold, I’d scour the Provang Province. I think you are dealing with a spellbinder, and spellbinding is the obsession in Provang. Your man is likely the kingpin of some spellbinding cult, which means a run-in with Gotura is inevitable.”
Kanos felt so grateful to find a lead. He said, “I have taken down some beasts, but I have to face the truth. The last thing I fought was far beyond a simple beast….”
“What did you see?” urged Elrock.
“It looked like a man at first then like a giant demon. Then… like a giant worm. I slashed it open and the very wound I cut open tried to… eat me. I don’t know how to fight a cult, and I don’t know what beasts lie ahead. I don’t want to die before the spell is broken and my vengeance is met.”
Elrock said, “That’s probably why Farin sent you here — to pick up some help. And we’re going to do that. I’m sending… a fire mage and… this new guy, he works a newer magic — he smashes people with crystals. He put up a good fight against Elias, well, before Elias… evolved.”
Kanos looked a little puzzled. Elrock said, “You’ll get it when you see it.”
Elrock introduced the two mages to Kanos. Eravan the fire mage was older, friendly, but with stoic, serious eyes. He was honored to be chosen and looked eye to eye with Kanos. Kanos could see they shared a pain deep inside — he could sense a man driven by suffering, as he was.
The other mage was named Beo. He was a sharp young man with very short hair and a slim, square jaw. Beo looked on fire with the air of youth, driven to the edge — his eyes showed extreme focus, yet he maintained a casual demeanor.
The four men sat at a gathering bench, ate stew, and later they slowly sipped mead by the fire. They discussed the flaws of charging into the Provang Province looking like irate mages hunting for blood.
“Swift and determined won’t do in Provang,” said Elrock. “You must look like commoners, merchants maybe. Vagabonds will never do.”
Elrock unrolled a paper and quill, and he produced a writ of travel. It staged the men as those who worked for nobles in the antiquated kingdom of Azhiahr, in the deep southeast forestlands. The writ described a need to hire spellbinders to subdue the wild people that surround their odd plateau.
Elrock called on a scholar mage, who arrived with a large flat disk of red wax. The mage placed the wax on the paper scroll and held his hand over the disk, while his hand began to light. The wax began to heat. When the mage removed his hand, there was impressed a symbolic stamp. “It is the stamp of Azhiahr. No one will doubt it.”
As the fire-lit evening faded away, the mages calmed themselves and allowed deep rest. They fell asleep wrapped around the fire.
Soon after, the morning dew provoked a surge of energy within them all. Kanos rose quite readily with his new friends matched in task. They were packed and ready to trek just a few moments after they awoke.
17.
The three men were granted three horses for the mission, something Kanos was eternally grateful for, having walked for ages. “You have impressed Elrock as a true friend,” said Beo.
The three mages made great headway up the gravely eastern shore of the Boklak Lake, the lake that wrapped around what Elrock called the Central Guild of Mages.
The view ran far into the Gabernine Mountains, which should not be crossed, as Elrock said, “Go due southwest into the tall green forests, and then across the Madion Creek system. The creeks would be too hard for horseback, so set them free. They know the way back. They are beyond mere horses.”
Kanos wondered what that meant, and he rode the horse gently, as though it was an intelligent creature.
The three mages made great progress. They were beyond the lake’s far horizon and into the tall green forests rapidly. The horses kept full gallop easily. Kanos felt the engine of change accelerating. The hard gallop
on the gravel pass was invigorating. The tall forests offered a massive gateway across a deep, soft forest bed.
The horses were quite agile in the soft terrain. The men made progress up many hills and valleys. Their progress did not slow until late the next day.
“The horses have a way of keeping you vigilant in travel,” yelled Eravan. Beo was deadlocked on forward movement. The men moved forward voraciously, and the Madion Creeks arrived sooner than expected.
The men dismounted, watered the horses, and reluctantly set the horses free into the wild.
The men began a more troublesome journey on foot, and Kanos was forced to travel much slower than normal, since the other men did not have his trekking skills.
When the sun began to fade, and the forest canopy grew quite dark, Eravan set loose one bloom of fire after the next fifteen feet into the air. Kanos was amazed at such a large display of light and heat. He gazed at the plumes of fire as they bloomed and faded 30 feet above.
Eravan let out a great low laugh. “I never get tired of the amazement.” He pulled up two large sticks and set a sparkling spell that turned the sticks to torches. The end of Eravan’s own staff was set afire, and Kanos noticed the staff itself never burn at all. “It’s magic of course, the wood,” said Eravan. “It will never burn away. The staff is mire wood infused with my own spell of everlasting ember. He rapped the tip against a rock. “See, its practically petrified, yet it will never shatter either!”
Beo said, “Well, I’m glad to have a torch of magic. I hate wrapping up torches every couple hours.”
Kanos asked, “So not all mages make the light?”
Beo said, “Nope. I make crystals out of thin air. The magic lets me build structures of energy quite rapidly.”
Beo raised his hand and uttered several phrases, “ Makto Abilo Mioren.” His arm sent loose a thin spiral of energy that seemed to push out quickly, sending out visible crystals of energy that evolved into a stream. The stream of energy raced out and hit the side of the next small hill, and the rocks themselves shattered on impact. Beo said, “Everything is kind of like a crystal. It all has structure and impact weaknesses.”
Beo raised his other hand and began to conjure a small floating white light. The light struggled into existence and flickered rapidly; it faded and lapsed quite poorly. “See, not everyone gets the light.”
Kanos appreciated the display and the lesson. He said, “I am not well learned in magic.”
Eravan and Beo smiled. Eravan said, “Well, that’s not what I saw the other day!”
Kanos conceded with a slow nod, and they continued walking forward into the night. The men were following Kanos, who seemed to track the path in a perfect line.
Late that evening, Beo said to Kanos, “You are a master tracker. I’ve been lost since we hit the forest.” Kanos gazed into the forest depth and finally said, “Well… I suppose I am.” Beo asked him how it worked. Kanos said, “I feel the map inside automatically unfolding, and I also feel those evil spirits everywhere I go.”
Eravan and Beo understood, and as they all walked in silence, the two mages wondered what it was like to be so perpetually driven.
The men trekked through the entire creek way, and as they sat aside, their wet boots were quickly dried with the help of Eravan’s staff. The tip of mire wood shot out a warming wind with great pressure.
Kanos said, “That’s the one thing I hate the most.”
“Wet feet?” said Beo.
“Yeah, Beo, wet feet, most of all.”
The men smiled, and they pushed across the open field outside of the Madion Creeks. The huge pale blue moon, Miaban, shined full. The small orange moon, Ciro, was bright as ever in the cool expanse of sky. The pale galactic arm stretched long, and its distant light invigorated the travelers. The gases of space were made brighter that time of year of the celestial season, called Vaazenay.
Kanos said to the men, “So, the Brakkish tales spoke of Sky Giants…”
Eravan said, “I remember those stories as a child and thought they were hysterical.” He looked Kanos in the eye. “Now I fear every single word I read, so long ago.”
Beo said, “I can’t wait to drill crystals into the big toe of such a beast.”
The men laughed and walked on, enshrouded by the night, mystified by the force of wisdom that underlay their new lives.
18.
Kanos was prepared to head directly into Provang, to follow the trail that guided him, to sheer quickly through what conversations he must. His angst began to writhe as he walked down the street and saw the great buildings that displayed such wealth compared to his small village. The elaborate wooden city of Provang held many crooked minds, and Kanos could sense it.
Eravan was quite experienced with such places, having lived among cities most of his life. He agreed to move on as the lead of the group, as he was quite able to shift his accent. He said to the men, “My lowland breeding can offend the palate of more judgmental people.”
The men traveled slowly and looked to be guests or tourists of purpose. They soaked up the scenes and went into shops to peruse. As Eravan said, “A city this compacted has eyes and ears everywhere, especially when it comes to cults of magic. They offend many, so they always stay on guard.”
Kanos sensed a bit of reluctance and believed that Eravan had not been put to such a task before. Deception can be a hard game for a good many to play.
The men went to a tavern and had a single ale each. Slowly, they migrated to the town’s best shop for noodles and anno dumplings, as the barkeep suggested.
The men moved slowly through the wooden city, and as Eravan noted, “The whole city seems covered in protection spells, so the wood will not burn endlessly. It’s even more necessary now — I could burn the whole city to the ground in a single afternoon.”
Kanos asked, “Can all types of magic be defended by spells?”
Eravan replied, “No one truly knows. The energy evolves. Yesterday, we had spells that could not be stopped, then today we have defenses. What tomorrow brings, in this age, is just unknown.”
The three men sat at the Noyang café. They sipped their noodles slowly and had strange tingly drinks of luxurious fruit flavors. They began to relax and found the place quite welcoming until many people began to shift, and the doors around them began to close.
“All is not well,” said Eravan
The table below them began to shimmy. Then it began to rattle.
The floorboards beneath their feet shook slightly.
A double door at the top of a staircase opened. A wide man with limbs of strangely wide girth pushed through the doorway. Eravan whispered with a modest smile, “It is the beast, Gotura.” The man’s brow was incredibly thick, and his jaw was unbelievably large.
Beside the man was a beautiful woman with silky black hair. She wore stylish tight clothes with a black cape and hood. She also clutched a staff of shiny black material that Kanos had not seen before in a staff.
Eravan quietly said to Kanos and Beo, “They know we are mages. We were sent here by the barkeep, who knew as well. Look kind, as though you have no worries. Look official; we are here on business.”
The large man and the beautiful woman proceeded down the staircase slowly. The woman never made eye contact. The large man stared at Eravan eye to eye with every single step. Eravan’s brows were raised with congeniality. The workers of the café slinked away into the back room, as though this type of event happened often.
The large man approached the table, and with a voice as loud and deep as two men, he spoke, “You are here on business or to be put to business by myself?”
Eravan said, “I am here to seek services on behalf of the King of Azhiahr himself.”
The large man never broke stare with Eravan, and after a pause, Eravan simply produced the writ of passage.
The woman looked up and reached out for the scroll. She did not have to reach far, as the scroll slid from Eravan’s hand and was pulled through the air itse
lf and glided toward her hand.
Kanos watched as the woman unrolled the scroll with a single touch. She seemed to read it, yet her eyes were not aimed at the scroll at all.
She leaned over to the large man and whispered.
The large man nodded and with his booming voice said, “Spellbinders are in high demand, and the services of Provang cannot be compared.”
The large man said, “Have you come to my city looking for spellbinders without a recommendation or a contact? You just planned to ask around?”
The woman let loose a slow mechanical cackle that had a strange echo in the air.
The large man loomed.
The three mages grew tight in posture.
The large man took a step to the side and gazed into the open café forum. He turned back to the men and said, “I do not think the King of Azhiahr so candid. Prove me wrong; show me the gold.”
Kanos reached slowly into his pocket and produced some coins, some of which were gold.
The large man said, “Do you wish to bind wild people or to bind a small flock of birds?”
The three mages were puzzled with what to say next.
The large man said, “I am just one of many protectorates of Provang. I disbelieve your inquiry.” The man clenched his fists and said, “I am prepared to rip your bones out from your skin.”
The large man held out his arms, which were unbelievably wide. He stared at the three mages fearlessly. The man flexed his arms, and the flesh began to turn into a compilation of flesh and stone.
He said aloud, “Your fire can only burn my clothes.”
The man’s fists projected a round burst of energy that shredded the wooden table and sent all three mages flying.
The beautiful woman’s strange laugh could be heard again. She swirled the tip of her staff, and a dim yellow energy reached out and easily pinned the throats of all three men.
Mages of Avios 2. Battlemage Page 5
