Hunted

by Paul Eslinger

  Not waiting to see what had happened to the assailants, I shouted, “Let’s go, Trey,” and started backing away. A couple of steps later, I bumped into Ara.

  “There’s someone behind us,” Ara screeched in my ear.

  Visions of the magical fight we had witnessed raced through my mind faster than conscious thought and I modified the magical shield to guard us against everything used in that fight.

  A man holding up one hand was standing about two dozen paces from us. He was holding something in his other hand that glowed so brightly I could see it through the flesh. A flash of blue appeared in his upraised hand and then he threw a ball of blue fire at us.

  Water puts out fire, but ordinary water wouldn’t work against magical fire. Without stopping to think, I gathered water in much the same way I had gathered it from the muddy creek a few mornings previously. Only, this time, it was pure magical water that could snuff out all fire. The cloud of water and the ball of fire met halfway between us. There was a great hissing sound and the blue fire died away.

  The man stood motionless for a few moments as if surprised at the failure of his attack. He drew his hand back again.

  Rather than wait for another attack, I threw a lance of blue magical fire at him, just as Talindra had thrown one at the Vassago. In the same motion, I sliced through the trunk of another tree, aiming it to fall towards the man.

  The man raised his glowing hand as the blue lance sped toward him. At the last moment, the fire changed course just enough to miss his form. He staggered and shook his head and then looked up as the tree fell in his direction. He threw another ball of fire, this time at the tree. The part of the tree closest to him burst into flames and ash spread in every direction when the rest of the tree smashed into the ground.

  The wind blew the black cloud of ash away to reveal the man still on his feet. However, the glow in his closed hand was dimmer than before. He started to back away rather than attacking again.

  “Check the other side,” I growled at Trey as the man turned and ran. Even though the Hunter had run faster than anyone I had ever seen, this man moved even faster. He was gone so quickly he must have been using magic to help him run. I had used magic to increase my speed while running to save Trey from the Hunter, but I hadn’t practiced magically-enhanced running since then.

  “There’s two more,” Trey shouted.

  I spun back around and immediately spotted the two men. They were both standing on a jagged log near where their magical shield had been. Each man was also holding a glowing object in one hand.

  Trey used the moment of indecision to shoot another arrow. I decided to help by throwing another lance of blue flame at the other man.

  Both the arrow and the lance of fire bounced off without hitting the man, but both of them wavered on their feet. One of them braced his feet, clenched his glowing fist to his chest, and raised his other hand, almost as if he were holding an axe.

  To my surprise, a blast of yellow flame with overtones of blue came from above and one side of the two men. I spun and looked towards the source, and my knees felt weak with relief when I saw Sorcha hovering in the sky with flame issuing from her hands.

  Emboldened by the help, I turned back toward the two assassins and pushed on them as I had tried to push on the falling tree. Neither one budged, but the glow in their clenched fists grew dimmer. Sorcha threw more fire at them. The pile of brush around them burst into flame, but the flames didn’t reach either man.

  I stepped forward to give another magical push and my foot turned on a broken limb. My aim was off and the push hit an outcrop of rocks to one side of the men. To my surprise, the rocks and the dirt below them started sliding down the hill toward us. “Watch out,” I yelped.

  Trey whirled and started running, and I was only a step behind him. Ara joined us in the retreat as the growing rock slide slammed into the tree trunk we had been standing behind. Suddenly, there was no more room between the tree trunk and the river bank. I grabbed a bush with both hands as the bank caved down into the water. Ara screeched as she slid down the bank and splashed into the swiftly flowing water.

  “Ara,” I screamed, and reached for her like I had reached when I pulled Trey out of the river earlier. I slipped on the steep bank and missed. I grabbed the bush more tightly and raised my other hand again, but held back when Sorcha’s flying form dipped low to the water. Moments later, she grabbed Ara and beat her wings rapidly. She didn’t have enough strength to raise Ara out of the water, but she easily dragged her to the shore.

  By this time, Trey was standing on the bank looking back where the two assailants had been. “They’re running like the other one,” he yelled. “They’re already out of arrow range.”

  I scrambled up on the level ground and hurried to where Ara was now standing. My heart was pounding as I asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Just wet,” she squeaked. Water ran down her arms and dripped from her clothes as she pushed back her hair.

  Sorcha landed nearby and then turned her back towards us. Moments later, she stood there in the form of a naked woman and then pulled the cloak from the pack she had dropped. She wrapped the cloak around her body before turning around. Her face looked both tired and triumphant. “Is everyone okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” I muttered and then spoke more loudly as relief coursed through me. “Thank you for your help. We were in a tight spot.”

  I glanced at Trey and Ara. Trey’s face was pale, but Ara was as white as a pile of snow. I touched her arm, “Are you okay?”

  “I- I- I’m not hurt,” she stuttered and then her voice grew smoother and stronger. “Things just slowed down enough I could start thinking. Who were these people?”

  Sorcha pointed at Trey without answering Ara’s question. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine,” he muttered. “Reuben protected us. There wasn’t anything I could do to help.”

  I stepped close and put my arm around his shoulders. “You did a lot to help. You made me practice, and more importantly, you made me believe I could do things with magic.”

  Sorcha gestured at the fallen trees and the dirt slide. “You put up an impressive fight. I don’t know of any other person who could have survived an ambush from three people equipped with imperium pila.”

  Ara’s eyebrows bunched together under her bedraggled hair. Her face was a more normal color. “What is that?” she asked.

  “Almedha, Chamylla, and Lythienne must have learned that Talindra is dead and someone has her sapphire.” Sorcha shook her head and continued speaking, even though she looked very tired. “Although only the four original sapphires permanently store magic, there are a few other sapphires that can store it temporarily. They can move magical power into the other sapphires and then send people out with them to do their bidding.”

  “Those men were magicians?” I asked.

  Sorcha glanced at the hillside where the small fire was growing larger. “I’ll answer in a minute, but first, Reuben, can you do something about the fire?”

  “Do something?” My mind seemed sluggish after the fight. It wasn’t that I was tired, but logical thought seemed slow after reacting without thinking. “Oh, yes.”

  I focused for a few moments and then glanced down at the river. I could pull water up and spread it on the fire, just like I put water in the pan, but I didn’t need to make it pure or magical. I reached one hand toward the river and pointed at the fire with the other one. Nothing happened for long moments and then a tube of water rose from the river and poured on the fire. I raised the end of the water tube a little higher and moved it back and forth. Before long, only steam rose from the hillside. I released the magic and the water stopped falling.

  “Thank you,” Sorcha said with a weary smile. She seemed unsteady on her feet.

  Trey stepped closer and held out his arm. “Lean on me.”

  “Tha
t’s nice of you,” she responded and accepted the offer.

  “I can help, too,” I said and stepped close enough to rest my hand on hers. I instinctively reached for the healing magic.

  “You would try to heal me?” she asked in surprise. “The Vassago have spent ages perfecting the exceedingly complex evil magic they use.”

  “I don’t know much about complex or evil magic, but please let me try.”

  “Go ahead,” she said. The words were inviting but her look indicated her disbelief that I could help.

  I left my hand on hers when I reached for more magic. I had examined Ara’s leg after a log floating in the river damaged it. A day later, one spot had refused to start healing, and the flesh had started to die, just as I had seen sores grow on animals. I ran exploring tendrils of magic over Sorcha’s body, looking for damage or sickness. To my surprise, her entire body was failing just like that small spot on Ara’s leg. I looked at her, almost speechless in shock. “You’re sick. Everywhere.”

  “Your diagnosis matches that of other healers,” she said. “They slowed the spread but they can’t fix it.”

  “I’ll try,” I muttered and then closed my eyes in concentration. I reached for magic through my opal, and then deciding that wasn’t enough, I reached for magic from the sapphire, delighted that I couldn’t even tell I had used power from it during the fight.

  Father had said that life was in the heart, so I focused on Sorcha’s heart. She had helped us, so I wanted to help her. Magic began to flow in that way I now associated with healing. For long moments, nothing changed, and I increased the amount of power I was using. Finally, one small section of her heart started to change, to feel “right.” I poured in more power and the healing spread. I soon realized I didn’t have enough power to complete the same kind of thing throughout her body and stopped after healing her heart.

  I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. “I helped a little, but that’s all I can do now.”

  She patted her chest. “I have less pain than before. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. You helped us, I had to do something in return.”

  “Were those men using magic?” Ara asked when I stood stiffly without saying anything else.

  “Yes, and no,” Sorcha said. “They carried the imperium pila and the magic they contained. However, Almedha, Chamylla, and Lythienne remotely control the use of the magic. They won’t let others learn to use magic, as you already know from personal experience.”

  I cocked my head, trying to figure out what Sorcha was telling us. I pointed to the hillside where the two men had hidden. “Were those two men merely puppets?”

  “Willing puppets, to use your words.”

  The logic of the fight still didn’t make sense. “Why did the first one run even before you joined the fight?”

  Sorcha shook her head. “I don’t know Almedha, Chamylla, and Lythienne well enough to answer that question. However, you resisted much more effectively than they expected. It would seem that one of them, possibly all, wanted to keep their puppets alive for other tasks.”

  Ara tapped one finger on her lips before asking the next question. “Then, if those three evil witches could see us well enough to direct the use of magic, they could probably see us well enough to know what we look like.”

  Sorcha pointed in Ara’s direction. “I like the way you think, young lady. Yes, they now know what you look like.”

  Trey looked up at his great-grandmother. “Then, we won’t be going to Falkirk, assuming that is where they live.”

  “That’s a good choice,” Sorcha said. She pointed at the hill behind them. “One of the game trails crosses this hill and leads down into the Danzig River valley. I suggest you go that way.”

  “We’ll get lost,” I said.

  “No, you won’t,” she replied. “I’ll fly over the trail a couple of times while you are climbing. Go down the other side and then upriver. You should reach a large grove of immense cedar trees within a day. There will be a boat tied up to a small dock on the shore. I will meet you there and pull you across the river in the boat.”

  My muddled thoughts about the ambush started to make more sense. I looked at Sorcha, and expecting her to leave quickly, brought up a different issue, “How did the magicians, and their puppets, know how to target the three of us? We walked long hours every day to stay ahead of the Hunter.”

  Sorcha gave a wan smile and her words sounded like a compliment. “You walked long hours and you stayed ahead of the Hunter. However, there are many ways to send messages over long distances. In this case, the Hunter left a messenger bird in Torwood while traveling towards Glendale. He sent a message back with the bird, which can fly from Torwood to Falkirk in less than half a day.”

  “Oh,” I said, thinking over the new information.

  “I must be going,” Sorcha said and started moving towards her pack. We turned around to give her privacy making the shape change.

  A few moments later, we watched Sorcha fly up the hill and over the ridgeline. Ara looked up at the golden dragon. “She gives us a few more puzzle pieces every time we talk. We still don’t know enough to put the story together.”

  Chapter 31 – Magical Moccasins

  Ara continued to study the hillside while Trey and I unstrung our bows and put away the arrows. Trey motioned at the region blackened by the fire with the tip of his bow. “The arrows we shot are ruined. We could look all day without finding the metal points.”

  “You’re right,” I agreed as I tied the cover in place around my bow and reached for my pack. “Let’s get going. There are several travelers coming upriver that were probably close enough to see the smoke.”

  “Wait,” Trey barked. “You’re able to pick those little metal balls using magic. Can’t you just pick up the arrow points and float them back over here?”

  I frowned and looked at the burned trees and shrubs. “I can’t see them. How can I pick them up?”

  Trey snorted and waved both hands back and forth. “What difference does that make? You pushed your arrow on the way over. Just pull it back.”

  I didn’t think it would work but glanced at Ara before telling Trey it was impossible. She looked intent and her pink tongue moistened her lips as she nodded in support of Trey. I spun around to look up the hillside, raised one hand in a beckoning motion and tried to imagine the arrowheads floating toward us.

  Moments later, Ara gave a little gasp. I cracked one eye open and peeked at the hill. The magic summons had worked! Three arrows floated toward us. One was intact, one was broken in two, and the other was just a metal tip on a blackened stub.

  “I knew you could do it,” Trey chortled as the arrows dropped by our feet. He scooped them up and put the pieces in my quiver. “We can make new shafts later.”

  “Impressive,” Ara said and patted my shoulder. “We need to get moving.”

  “Give me a minute to dry your clothes,” I said.

  “Thanks,” Ara said with a bright smile as she ran her hands down her warm dry clothing after I finished. “It would have been miserable walking in wet clothes.”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied with satisfaction.

  We started towards the game trail that Sorcha had pointed out as she departed. The trail curved to the left soon after leaving the road and passed close to the pile of tangled and blackened trees. One of the smaller limbs had snapped free when the trees collided and ended up on the trail. On a whim, I picked it up. It was much heavier than I expected and the grain had a unique pattern similar to oak. The foliage looked more like snake grass than the leaves on other trees.

  At that moment, the gentle breeze shifted direction and brought a strong smell of charred wood. I held my breath and hurried along the trail, knowing I would remember this day for a long time.

  Ara stopped beside me, but she looked toward the southern horizon rather tha
n down the hill that we had just climbed. She seemed more subdued than I could remember, except when she was sick. “Thank you for protecting us. I had no idea what was coming when I decided to travel with you.”

  I had never fought anyone, let alone fought with the intent to kill, and I didn’t like the feeling. “I didn’t either.”

  She put one hand on my arm, rose up on her tiptoes and looked into the distance toward the south. Her voice sounded normal, “You can see Falkirk from here.”

  “Smoke from there, at least,” Trey commented as he shaded his eyes from the sunlight with one hand. He turned and pointed toward the west. “That must be the Danzig River.”

  Ara patted my arm with her hand and pulled away with a mischievous grin. “See? We didn’t get lost.”

  I looked the direction Trey pointed and clonked myself with the piece of wood when I raised my hand to shade my eyes from the afternoon sun. My thoughts had been so chaotic on the way up the hill I had forgotten I was still carrying it.

  The grain pattern on the wood was interesting enough that I pulled my knife from the sheath and trimmed off the few remaining twigs and leaves rather than throwing it aside. It was small enough to fit in my pack. Hunger clamored for attention as I tucked the wood out of sight. I grabbed a handful of dried meat for myself and held out the bag. “Anyone else hungry?”

  “Not now,” Ara said with a troubled look over her shoulder.

  “I am,” Trey announced as he took several small pieces.

  I cut off a small piece of meat rather than bite it off, raised it to my lips and pushed it over in my cheek with my tongue. It needed to soak for a while before I could chew it. “Let’s go,” I muttered around the meat.

  The trees grew taller when we left the ridgeline and headed downslope to the west. The trees were so thick and the underbrush so vigorous that we would have made very slow progress without following the game trail. Even so, most of an hour passed before we reached enough of an open space to see the river.