The Sorcerer's Vengeance (The Sorcerer's Path)

by Brock Deskins

  Rusty’s face burned as red as his hair at being part of the two older people’s verbal sparring.

  “By the gods, Aggie, it is you! I thought you were dead by now!” Allister exclaimed as he hurried down the stairs.

  Aggie raised her hands above her head and shook her hips. “Far from it tall, grey, and handsome.”

  “Uh, you two know each other?” Rusty asked nervously as the old mage embraced the woman.

  Allister turned toward Rusty and Colleen, keeping one arm wrapped around Aggie’s trim waist.

  “Oh Aggie and I go way back,” Allister replied, smiling broadly.

  “Don’t tell them how far, Al, a girl has her pride,” Aggie told him with a soft elbow in his side.

  “So is she a wizard as well?” Colleen asked.

  “One of the best; I taught her everything I know,” Allister answered with a wink.

  “And then we made out for the rest of the afternoon. He certainly had nothing to teach me there,” Aggie responded getting a hard laugh from Colleen and sending Rusty’s face back to red.

  Allister gave the wizard a fake look of irritation. “Despite her low morals and crass personality, she is nearly equal to me when it comes to mage craft.”

  It was Aggie’s turn to look at Allister with a scowl. “I seem to remember being the one that put you out after you set your own robes on fire in class! I would have to have a stroke to be almost your equal, you old windbag.”

  “Were you two students at The Academy together?” Rusty asked.

  “Hardly, I was his applied magic teacher when he almost burnt down the school trying to impress me,” Aggie told them, this time setting Allister’s ears glowing.

  “So other than humiliating me, what brings you here?” Allister asked.

  Aggie became more serious as she explained. “I have a number of my more decent children, the ones that were not hopelessly corrupted by those Black Tower fools, coming in on a ship and I wanted to make sure they would be treated right this time. I couldn’t do much for them at the tower but I’ll be damned if I’ll watch it happen again! Seeing this old windbag here makes me feel a little better about my decision. Seeing the place geared for war had me concerned.”

  “I will explain all that later,” Allister said. “So what happened? I take it you broke away from the Black Tower.”

  “More like the tower broke away from me, and everybody else for that matter,” Aggie laughed.

  She explained when Allister gave her a quizzical look. “A polite young man came in and cleaned house before demolishing the entire thing. He told most of the students to get to North Haven and check in here. I suspect they will be here in a day or two on a ship I think I heard belonged to the young man that started this place.”

  “You saw Azerick? Was he all right? What happened?” they all exclaimed at once.

  Aggie lost her humorous smile at that point. “He created quite a stir and some of the archmages got a hold of him, but he got free and let them know in no uncertain terms how he felt about that. He sent the whole tower crashing to the ground, last I saw of him. I am sure he is alive, but is he all right is the real question and that will only be answered in time.”

  “Why, what happened to him?” Rusty asked.

  “I think that is best left to him to talk about in his own time, young man. I imagine he will be back here soon enough and will need your love and support to keep his spirit bright,” Aggie sincerely told them all.

  “He has had a difficult past. We understand he falls into episodes of gloom and bitterness at times if that is what you are speaking of,” Allister told the wizard.

  “I am sure he will be fine with friends like this. Someone said something about lunch. Do you have any salami and onions?”

  “We need to find you a place to stay,” Colleen said abruptly, not sure where to house the esteemed wizard.

  Aggie waved the thought away. “Don’t trouble yourself, sweetheart. I figured I would just shack up with this old goat again, if he thinks he can handle it.”

  Allister turned beet red and tried to sputter a reply but failed to form a coherent sentence. Everyone laughed at the archmage’s discomfiture as they all made their way to the kitchens.

  CHAPTER 17

  Azerick watched the still pouting sand dragon sitting across from him on the other side of the small fire he made from the dry, scrubby plants that often blew across the desert, driven along by the winds like a herd of antelope.

  Sandy had not spoken to him since their disagreement earlier that day, preferring to trot alongside or just ahead of Azerick and Horse. The sorcerer was astounded at the little dragon’s stamina. Despite her awkward gait, she never asked to stop and rest and never lagged behind Horse, even at a trot.

  “Sandy, I have been thinking about what you said, about your instincts, and I think you may be right. It was unfair of me to judge you so harshly knowing that you are descended of the mightiest predators in the land,” Azerick conceded. “However, you must overcome those instincts at times for the sake of safety and discretion.”

  Sandy looked at Azerick through the bright orange flames. “Does that mean you apologize?”

  “Yes,” Azerick replied after a short pause.

  “Does that mean I can have a sugar cube?”

  “I suppose,” Azerick allowed with a grin.

  Sandy drew herself up haughtily. “Very well, even though we sand dragons are the fiercest of our kind and implacable enemies, momma always said that we must be forgiving when someone realizes the errors of his ways and confesses his fault. You may give me a sugar cube now as a token of reparation.”

  Azerick was unable to contain his laughter at the little dragon’s hauteur. Great bellows of laughter escaped unimpeded from deep within his belly as he rolled over onto his side holding his stomach.

  “Why are you laughing? I am quite serious!” Sandy insisted indignantly. “This is a standard gift for admission of guilt among my kind and you are mocking it! If you do not stop laughing at me, it is going to cost you two sugar cubes and the price of forgiveness goes up from there!”

  Sandy’s outrage only caused Azerick to laugh even harder. Sandy stood up and swung her heavy tail into the sand in pique, sending a large spray of sand to wash over the prone sorcerer and nearly extinguished their fire.

  Azerick finally got his laughter somewhat under control and pulled out a pair of sugar cubes. He sidled around the dying fire, still chuckling, and gave them to the irritated dragon. Azerick fell asleep chuckling to himself under Sandy’s green-eyed glare.

  It took several days of travel before they left the dry desert behind and began approaching Southport from the southeast. The pair avoided roads and traffic as much as possible, but as the terrain began changing the further north they traveled it became more difficult for them to avoid the more heavily traveled roads.

  By the time they were within two days ride of Southport, traveling by anything other than the roads was nearly impossible. The land and hills were too thickly wooded and overgrown to try to ride through without tripling their travel time on their way to North Haven.

  Fortunately, Sandy found that she was able to burrow into the denser dirt of the northern terrain much like she did the sands she was more accustomed to, albeit with more difficulty. Instead of being able to dive below the earth almost as if it were water as she could do in sand, it took several seconds for her to completely submerge herself beneath the damp soil. Sandy complained bitterly at the slow pace it took to tunnel through the dark earth.

  “Ugh, what is this horrible substance,” Sandy complained bitterly the first time she had to hide from an approaching traveler.

  “It is called dirt, Sandy.”

  “Dirt. The name is as disgusting as its substance.”

  Azerick found that Sandy’s amazing burrowing ability lay far beyond just her sharp claws and muscular body. When asked, Sandy replied that she simply makes the dirt or sand move out of the way as she propels herself along wi
th her powerful legs and hard talons. She complained that the dirt was more stubborn and refused to move as quickly as the sand did and was sure it was simply being rude to her.

  The pair met a large contingent of the king’s soldiers a little over a day from Southport. The military force was not moving swiftly and Sandy had plenty of time to hide herself.

  Azerick and Horse stood patiently off the road as the approaching force drew near. He hoped that they would continue past without bothering him but those hopes were quickly dashed as three men brought their warhorses to a trot and rode up next to him.

  “Good day to you, traveler,” one of the men greeted him as they drew near.

  Azerick marked him as an officer by his red cape and plumed helmet.

  “I am Captain Cooper, an officer under King Jarvin’s standard.”

  Azerick inclined his head in greeting. “Good day to you, Captain. You and your men are a little far from home are you not?”

  The captain furrowed his brow in a sign of frustration. “Aye, we have been patrolling the roads around Argoth, but Duchess Paullina has enough men-at-arms to deal with most any incursion being so close to the border of Sumara. Word reached me that there were still sporadic raids happening along this route so I took my men this way to secure the roads. Apparently something has happened to cause Duke Ulric’s vigilance to lapse,” Captain Cooper intoned almost under his breath. “Have you perchance seen or heard anything during your travels? Seen any large groups of men or raided towns or farms?”

  Azerick shook his head. “Sorry, Captain, I rode from out of the desert and avoided the roads much for that very reason. The only people I have seen are a few travelers and merchant trains. A few of them spoke of depredations but nowhere near the scale of earlier this year.”

  Strike him down and destroy his men. He suspects you of something, the demon urged from deep within his mind. They want to chain you, make you a prisoner once more. They are weak. Destroy them!

  Shut up, demon, and get back in your cage, Azerick replied scornfully and mentally shoved the demon lord further into the recesses of his mind.

  Captain Cooper sighed in frustration. “If I could just find where they are hiding and get within striking range! I haven’t enough cavalry for a decisive victory and I cannot catch them dragging along my infantry.” The captain shook his head. “Well, I’ll catch them eventually. Good travels to you, sir.”

  “Good hunting to you, Captain,” Azerick returned with another nod of his head.

  Azerick stood by the side of the road until the army was well past before calling for Sandy to come out of hiding. Twenty feet from the roadside, a mound of earth rose up like a giant, breaching molehill. Sandy pulled herself out of the ground and shook vigorously, sending a spray of dirt and globs of mud in every direction.

  “This stupid dirt is ruining my scales!” she complained bitterly. “Sand has the decency to stay on the ground where it belongs and even helps shine my scales. This stuff is like a parasite!”

  “You will clean up soon enough. It looks like rain before the day is out,” Azerick told her as she rolled in the long wild grass in an effort to remove the contaminant.

  Azerick quickly learned that Sandy was fastidiously clean and could not bear anything that dulled her brilliant scales.

  The sorcerer was correct, it started raining less than two hours later, and even though it did wash away the dirt, Sandy simply found another thing to complain about. It was late winter bordering on spring and the rain was still cold and bitter.

  The sorcerer had hoped to enter Southport for at least a few hours to see if he could learn anything of what was transpiring in the land, but he found the gates of the great city locked to nearly all non-residents. A long line of angry merchants, caravans, and travelers shouted at the guards and demanded entrance so that they could sell and trade their wares and return home before the summer runs, but their shouts and pleadings were met with only stony stares and threats by the city guard.

  Many of the merchants swore to take their goods to North Haven even though it meant risking late snows and getting stranded in the northern city instead of returning from whence they came. Better to sell their goods in North Haven and spend an extra couple of weeks there than return home with wagonloads of useless goods and no coin.

  Azerick and Sandy kept a brisk pace as they rode toward home. Although she never complained of fatigue, her nonstop griping about the cold and dampness of the north was beginning to grate on the sorcerer’s nerves.

  A few days out of North Haven, Azerick finally relented to renting a room at the same small town that he had stayed in with Lady Miranda and her remaining entourage after the bandit attack. It had an outside stairway so Azerick was able to sneak Sandy into the room after dark where they enjoyed a fresh meal and a blazing fire. Sandy lay so close to the fireplace that Azerick was afraid she might be burned, but it apparently had no ill effect on her as she rested contentedly on a pile of blankets.

  They had to leave early the next morning before the townsfolk began stirring so no one would see the small dragon and make a fuss, but Azerick was becoming less concerned with discovery the closer they got to home.

  An unusually late snow began falling later that afternoon. Sandy was initially curious and stared at the gently descending flakes in wonder, licking them off her snout as they settled onto her scales. She was not unfamiliar with the cold. Deserts got extremely frigid in the winter months but the air was so dry that it almost never snowed. However, the snow soon lost its initial appeal and simply gave her another thing to carp about.

  Sandy’s complaining paled in comparison to the demon’s near-constant whisperings, urgings, and nagging. Every traveler they passed the demon urged him to kill. Klaraxis would say that he was a spy or another assassin sent to kill him. He told Azerick that he could see into the stranger’s heart and knew the evil within and that the man or woman would kill others if Azerick did not stop him.

  Once, the demon caught Azerick inattentive and projected an image of the Rook’s face onto a passing traveler. He then gently prodded Azerick into action. The sorcerer bit his spell off mid casting, realizing what was happening just a split second before he incinerated an innocent man.

  Azerick mentally lashed the demon, used his soulname to inflict pain, and banished him to the point of almost non-existence. Even then, Klaraxis’s laughter echoed in his mind for several seconds. Azerick knew he could not rid himself of the demon and had serious doubts whether anyone else could either. The demon was part of him now, their souls deeply intertwined.

  Two days later, they crested the hill that gave them a spectacular view of North Haven, the valley, and sea far in the distance. Sandy gasped in wonderment at the sight that spread out before them for miles in every direction. Even Azerick could not help but smile in appreciation of the spectacular view.

  As the late morning ground inexorably into early afternoon, Azerick and Sandy took a leisurely pace up the newly cobbled road that led to the keep despite Azerick’s anxiousness to be home again. Home, even now it felt so strange to feel so comfortable here.

  “Azerick!” Wolf’s shrill call suddenly broke the tranquility of the moment. “You’re back! What is that?” Wolf asked in astonishment as he and Ghost broke out of the nearby wood line to the travelers’ right.

  “This is Sandy. She is a sand dragon,” Azerick answered.

  “Wow, a dragon! Does it talk?” Wolf asked.

  Sandy took an exaggerated sniff at Wolf. “Does it bathe?”

  Wolf held his belly as he doubled over in laughter. “I like her, she reminds me of Ellyssa.”

  “I must really meet this human girl that everyone finds so beautiful,” Sandy responded, mistaking Wolf’s meaning.

  Wolf badgered Azerick with a slew of unending questions until Sandy became the focal point of the half-elf’s inquiries.

  As they drew nearer the keep, Azerick was astounded at the changes that had been wrought while he had been gone. The t
owering church with its magnificent stained glass immediately drew his eye. The peaks of other wooden buildings poked up over the surrounding walls as well. What their purpose was, Azerick could only hazard a guess. Most likely more living quarters if he were to render an assumption.

  The gates were open to allow the seasons’ few remaining workmen to come and go unimpeded, but were under the watchful eye of several young men and a few older ones manning the walls. To the east, he spied worked parcels of land just waiting for the snows to stop so they could be planted and a couple of small log homes, their chimneys sending white plumes of wood smoke into the crisp air.

  Several calls of greeting rang out as he, Sandy, Wolf, and Ghost entered the gates. The students that were not in school rushed to see him, especially when word got around about what looked like a small dragon accompanying him.

  Sensing Sandy’s unease, Azerick slid off Horse’s back and laid a reassuring hand on her back as they walked amongst the astonished crowd. Ellyssa, Roger, and a few of their closest friends broke through the throng of people. Ellyssa surprised Azerick by rushing forward and wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.

  “Azerick, is that a dragon?” his apprentice asked excitedly.

  He guessed Ellyssa was technically his former apprentice since her magical talent likely exceeded his ability to teach her much within the bounds of her own type of spell casting.

  “Her name is Sandy and she is a sand dragon. She will be staying with us for a while.”

  Ellyssa smiled broadly and moved closer to the young dragon. “Hi, Sandy, I’m Ellyssa.

  “Hello, Ellyssa, nice to meet you,” Sandy responded politely then looked over at Azerick. “I suppose she is cute for a human, but she lacks the brilliancy of my scales to compare the two of us. It is like comparing a lovely candle to the glory of the sun.”

  Azerick only smiled and shook his head at Ellyssa’s questioning look.

  Rusty, Allister, and Colleen came out of their classrooms to greet him, releasing their students for the rest of the day. Azerick avoided their many questions until he could get safely inside.