Plus Ultimate

by Simon Archer

  “I’ll get right on it,” I assured him, looking around at my surroundings, in search of a good spot to get to work. “I’m going to go look around and find a place to work on it. You guys can set up camp without me?”

  “Of course,” Nadeine said, nodding. “I will cast the spell.”

  “Cool,” I said, waving to my companions. “I’ll see you guys soon. Maybe get some of your own practice in while I’m gone like you suggested, Marinka.”

  “Very well,” Marinka said, bowing her head to me. “We shall do that once we have set up camp. Good luck, Leo.”

  “You, too,” I called back, turning my attention to the shoreline in front of me now. The shore was lined with small rocks. I picked one particularly thin one up and flicked it across the lake. It hopped several times before settling beneath the surface. Perfect rocks for skipping, almost as good as the wazo pieces the kingdom elves used for their favorite bar game.

  I settled amidst the small rocks about a half mile down the shore from my companions. This way, we wouldn’t distract each other with our magic. I sat crossed legged on the rocks, they were more comfortable than one would expect, and pulled a blank scroll and some ink out of the small pack at my side. I closed my eyes, breathing in the fresh, salty air, enjoying the moment of silence and relaxation. The lake must have been made of saltwater.

  After a few moments of rest, I reopened my eyes and thought about what I should do to help the horses be better able to traverse the mountains’ unfamiliar terrain. I could create some kind of device to help them travel better or make a spell to change the terrain itself somehow, but both of those options seemed pretty labor-intensive in the moment. I would have to keep my attention on the device to keep it working, diverting my attention from any other obstacles that may come our way, and with the second option I would have to recast the spell over and over again to keep up with our pace. I thought hard, trying to come up with a third option.

  Then, my memory drifted back to my conversation with Marinka about the stina root and other stimulants, and I figured it out. I could create some kind of rejuvenation spell, something to make the horses stronger and more able to keep up with the workload. And, if it worked, I could even use it on myself since I hated the kingdom elves’ stina root. Hurriedly, I began to write the spell’s purpose on the scroll, thinking as I did about what kind of music would make the most sense for this spell. I ended up going with an upbeat, fast melody, repeated three times in slightly different ways. It was in D major, a happy, fun key signature.

  When I was finished writing, I got up and looked around at the ground. A mage’s circle would be difficult to create on the rocks. I could go up and find some dirt between the trees further away from the lake, but I kind of liked where I was. It was soothing. In a sudden burst of inspiration, I gathered up a bunch of the rocks and placed them on top of each other in a circle around me, creating a physical mage’s circle instead of just a drawing. When I was finished, I stood in the center and held out my arms, basking in the power and energy it provided me even before performing any magic. It was even better than the regular mage’s circles.

  My cello appeared, and I sat down, placing my bow to my strings. I was so close to the water that I could feel specks of it hitting my face, the waves lapping up not far from the circle’s edge. It was perfect. I began to play, and the bright, spritely music was fitting for the setting, matching my mood. When the large orb of golden light appeared in front of me, by a trick of the light it seemed to be sitting in the middle of the lake. I grinned and laughed under my breath, without breaking my concentration on my spell.

  I focused intently on the circle then, imagining the horses themselves again and bursting with energy and strength. I then imagined myself and the kingdom elves that way, rejuvenated and without a hint of fatigue or achiness in our bones. I made sure to imagine all of these things without the more negative effects of the stina root, or the equivalent of several cups of coffee. This way, we would get the strength and rejuvenation of a stimulant without the accompanying anxiety or restlessness.

  In response to my thoughts, the ball of light shifted and took the form of a horse, then a person. I was surprised at this, but it kind of made sense. I hadn’t been sure what form I wanted the light to take, and so I hadn’t selected one myself, letting the magic decide for itself. I imagined that perhaps, the light would wrap itself around whoever the spell was directed at, and rejuvenate him or her that way.

  When I was finished, I took one last look at the lake, with its lapping waves, and gathered up my things into the pack and headed back in the direction of my companions. As I grew closer, the outline of their combat spells appeared on the horizon of my vision, and I smiled to see that Godfried was doing well. He hadn’t practiced or cast any spells at all since the incident in the cave that first day in the mountains, so it was good to see his long golden broadsword dancing over the waves, perfectly formed and doing exactly what it was supposed to do.

  “How’s it going?” I asked Freyja and Ishida when I came up to them. They were standing off to the side by the campsite, as they always did, far away from the spells.

  “Oh,” Ishida jumped, not having seen me come up to them. “You scared me, Leo Hayden, I didn’t see you there.”

  “Sorry,” I grinned, running a hand through my hair.

  “They seem to be doing better,” Freyja said, shooting me a lopsided grin and rolling her eyes at Ishida’s reaction. “The kid is doing something, at least.” I looked over at Godfried again. He had a slight smile on his face as his broadsword shifted into a mace, its spikes tumbling down on the waves.

  “Hey wait,” I called out to the kingdom elves when I noticed that they were practicing with very lopsided mage’s circles etched into the rocks in some kind of chalk. “Stop.” I waved up my hands so that they could see.

  “Oh, Leo,” Nadeine said, dropping her spell and turning to me. “I did not see you approach.”

  “Yeah, I just got here,” I said. All the spells were gone by now. “Here, I figured out a better way to make the mage’s circles in the rocks.” I piled up the rocks around Nadeine the same way I had in my own practice, creating a better circle.

  “Ah, this appears much more balanced,” Nadeine said when she realized what I was doing. “We did not wish to use the dirt above for fear of harming our camping equipment.”

  “Yeah, I used the rocks, too,” I said, ushering the rest of the kingdom elves to do the same with their mage’s circles. They rushed to do so. “It’s just kind of cool to watch the magic over the lake, though you’re even closer to it than I was. Plus, I wasn’t doing the cool combat spells like you.”

  “Did you make progress on a spell to help the horses?” Nadeine asked, glancing over at the horses with concern. They were piled up between the tents, fast asleep.

  “Oh yeah,” I said, excited to share the spell I’d made. “I ended up making a spell to make them stronger and less tired, since the other options would just be too complicated, though we could revisit them if this doesn’t work.”

  “This sounds like a helpful spell,” Nadeine said, raising her eyebrows with interest.

  “Like a stina root for the horses,” Bernsten boomed, having completed his own new mage’s circle.

  “Exactly,” I said. “That’s where I got the idea, actually.”

  “Should we attempt it now?” Marinka asked.

  “No, I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head. “It might just make them not able to sleep. We can try it tomorrow. And if it works, we can use it on ourselves, too.”

  “But we have the stina root,” Bernsten said, his expression completely serious.

  “Yeah, but that stuff is nuts,” I laughed, remembering the one time I had taken it and ended up with my entire body shaking.

  “To each their own, I suppose,” Bernsten shrugged.

  “I suppose,” I laughed, rolling my eyes. “Okay, get going again,” I urged when the kingdom elves just stared at me in r
esponse.

  They resumed their spells, and they were even brighter and more exciting now, enhanced by the better mage’s circles. Godfried’s, just like before, shone brightest of all, and he grinned, some of his confidence returned. I walked back to rejoin Ishida and Freyja as the others practiced and we settled down by the campfire, laughing together and enjoying the show. The sound of the kingdom elves’ voices blended together, creating a similar chorus to the one we had made when we muted the light of our enemy’s spell. The music joined together with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore and birds singing in the distance.

  26

  The next morning, I awoke better rested than I had been since we left the training grounds, having gotten a full night’s uninterrupted sleep. I’d also slept deeper than I had in weeks, lulled into a dreamless sleep by the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. I’d even woken up on my own, instead of having whoever was standing watch waking me. Stretching and yawning, I enjoyed the moment. I pulled on my freshly cleaned mage’s robes from the night before and crawled out of the tent where I found Godfried standing watch by the campfire.

  “How’s it going?” I asked him. “Easy watch? Did you sleep well?”

  The kid gave me a small smile. “Yes, Leo Hayden. I had a much better night than I have of late. I must confess I have been troubled by bad dreams since embarking on this quest.”

  “Oh?” The revelation surprised me. I hadn’t noticed that this had been a problem, despite sleeping next to Godfried in the tent we shared with Bernsten every night since we entered the forest. “I’m sorry. I’m glad it was better than last night, though.”

  “It is not your fault.” Godfried sighed as he picked up a stick and prodded the remnants of the previous night’s campfire with it, a bit of ash poofing up into the air. “As I am certain you all have noticed, what happened in that cave disturbed my mind.”

  “What did happen, exactly?” I jumped at the opportunity to discuss it since the young elf had been so quiet lately. “I mean, what do you think happened back there?”

  “I do not know.” Godfried sighed, shaking his head as he continued to prod at the ashen logs. “I froze, which is obvious, of course, but I do not know why. I suppose I have spent so long preparing for this quest, that I imagined it would be easy for me. That I would overcome any obstacles that arose easily and on my own. Now, I realize how truly foolish that assumption was.”

  “Right, everything has to be done as a team,” I said simply, “especially on a quest like this where the stakes are so high.” I placed a hand on his shoulder and settled down next to him. “Just don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve done really well, and you’re a very talented kid. I just think that, maybe, you let it go to your head sometimes.” He glanced at me sidelong as he listened to my words. “Then, when you don’t live up to your own expectations for yourself, you freeze. It’s happened a couple of times.”

  “I know,” Godfried slumped his shoulders, “and I am sorry.”

  “No, that’s not what I mean,” I rushed to say, keeping my hand on his shoulder. “I mean that you’ll be fine if you get out of your own head. You were right when you convinced Marinka to let you come. We need you. We’re better because of you. Don’t worry about it. Just don’t let it happen again. Lean on us. It’s what we’re here for.”

  “Of course, thank you, Leo Hayden.” Godfried nodded to me and looked at me full-on for the first time. “I will keep this in mind, and I am feeling better now.”

  “Cool,” I said happily. “Now, let’s get some breakfast going here.”

  I reached over to dig through Bernsten’s food pack and pulled out two smaller packs, wrapped pieces of ham. I hummed a spell under my breath, and golden light appeared around both packs to heat the meat. I handed one to Godfried and unwrapped the other myself.

  “Excellent,” I said after I had finished my first bite. “Nothing like actual breakfast food for breakfast.”

  “Indeed,” Godfried agreed, closing his eyes and relishing his own meal. “Yesterday’s fish for breakfast was quite odd, though understandable. This is much more suitable for this meal.”

  At that moment, the women came out of their tent. I could still hear Bernsten snoring in ours, fast asleep.

  “Morning,” Freyja muttered, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. The other ladies were a bit more chipper. Marinka looked quite happy, Nadeine had her sword held loosely with a whetstone and polishing cloth in the other, while Ishida came right over to the fire.

  “Morning,” I said brightly, smiling at the fox-elf and heating up several more slices of ham to hand over with a quickly hummed spell. The others huddled around the fire with us, and Ishida prodded the logs to reignite it.

  “Thank you,” Godfried said, nodding to her. “It was getting cold with the breeze.”

  He was right. A refreshingly cool breeze was emanating off of the lake, but it was a bit chilly.

  “How’d everyone sleep?” I asked through a mouthful of ham.

  “Surprisingly well,” Marinka said, unwrapping her own ham. “It is very calming here.” Nadeine nodded in agreement as she set to work maintaining her blade, whistling as she worked.

  “Yeah, it is,” I said, reaching for my canteen. “It’d be a great place to live.”

  That’s when Bernsten awoke and clambered out of our tent, running a hand through his long, tousled hair.

  “Good morning, my friends,” he boomed, stretching out his arms. “Are you ready to attempt this new spell, Leo Hayden? I would like to see it.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I said, taking a swig from the canteen and hopping up to walk over to the horses, who were just now coming to at the loud sound of Bernsten’s voice.

  I drew a mage’s circle in front of them and held out my hands. When my cello appeared, I sat down and played the upbeat spellsong. My companions hopped up themselves at the sound and danced along playfully to the bright music. A golden light appeared, wrapping itself around the horses just as I had expected. When it fell away at the end of the short musical piece, they looked much better rested and ready to face the day. Bill even jumped up on his feet and walked over to me, nudging me playfully with more force than he had displayed in days.

  “Feeling better, boy?” I asked, laughing and nuzzling him back.

  “Wow!” Freyja said, raising her eyebrows. “That was pretty cool.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I smiled at the results myself. “Too bad we all slept well, or we could try it out on ourselves.”

  “I am afraid we will have ample opportunities for that,” Marinka said.

  “That’s probably true,” I laughed.

  “Ready to go?” Freyja asked, approaching Bill and me.

  “Sure, let’s get going,” I said. I looked off into the distance, searching for the faint remnants of the cylindrical light from our enemy’s spell that we had quashed with one of our own. There it was, glistening in the sunlight, to our right over the distant mountaintops. “That way.”

  I pointed in its direction, and my companions followed my gaze.

  “Very well,” Marinka said. “Let us continue.”

  Freyja and I mounted Bill, and as usual, we took the lead, trotting off in the direction of the light and our enemy. I noticed a great change in Bill that day. He had a spring in his step that he had lost when we last entered the forest and found the death and decay waiting for us there. I was happy to have my good-natured, strong horse back. The other miniature horses also seemed better off, and while Bernsten and Ishida’s horse rounded out our group as per usual, it was no longer trailing and struggling from the fatigue.

  I smiled, glad to know my spell had worked. Part of me actually wanted to be tired so that I could try it out on myself and see how it felt. Marinka was right, though. It probably wouldn’t be long until that opportunity arose.

  We were pretty deep into the mountains at that point, but it was difficult to know how deep. I had started out counting the mountains as we climbed them, bu
t I had lost count around five. It was difficult to know what the count was when we only partially traversed some of them, opting instead to head off in a different direction as we chased down the column of light.

  There were some more brief stretches of rolling hills between some of the mountains, a lot like what we had seen between the edge of the forest and the first mountain, but we rarely made it down that far. In fact, we skipped a lot of them, hopping from mountain to mountain to make our journey faster. We had yet to run into any more specters or other traps left by our enemy, or even remnants of mountain elf civilization. Just as I was mulling over this thought, Marinka cried out in surprise and excitement.

  “Look!” she said, pointing in front of us towards the right. “There! I believe I see elven-made structures.”

  “What?” I asked, snapping my head up quickly in attention. I looked around wildly, trying to see what she was talking about. “I don’t see it. Where?”

  “I do not see it either,” Nadine said uncertainly.

  “Over there!” Marinka pressed, continuing to point vigorously in the same direction. “Trust me! It will come into better view as we round the corner.”

  I squinted as we rode forward, trying to see what she was looking at. At first, I continued to see nothing but the charcoal color of the mountain to that side of me. Then, I realized that the mountainside wasn’t quite what I had originally thought it was. It blended in well with the landscape, but there was something distinct carved into the rock. Something, like Marinka said, that was elven-made.

  “It’s like Mount Rushmore,” I said, staring at it with wonder.

  “It is like what?” Marinka asked, her brows furrowed together in confusion.

  “Mount Rushmore,” I repeated. “It’s this mountain on my world with the faces of presidents carved in it.” When the others looked at me, I searched for the right word. “Kings and queens are called presidents where I come from.” Eh, that was close enough. “We went there on a family vacation once. This is like that, except it’s just the one face, at least that I can see.”