Path of the Magi (Tales of Tiberius)

by Stuart, Richard J

  One night in a tavern, Tiberus had a chance to talk over the patrols with El Gato.

  “We haven’t seen much action of late,” Tiberius noted.

  “Not a bad thing. Our goal is to keep the roads clear. The roads are clear,” Gato said.

  “But still not so safe as we’d like,” Tiberius answered.

  “You have something in mind?” El Gato said.

  “Most of the creatures that cause us trouble are nocturnal. We’re patrolling in daylight.”

  “It’s hard to see in the dark,” El Gato said. “The full moon won’t be for awhile.”

  “I might manage something,” Tiberius said in a whisper. “Do you trust the staff here?” he said with a glance at the waitress.

  El Gato leaned closer and whispered, “Not entirely.”

  Tiberius answered in a lowered voice. “The Burns’ farm had a lot of trouble with rustlers. Sheep disappear in the night, or are found the next morning hacked apart. What do you say we take a little stroll in the dark. I’d leave a quarter of your men here. They should try and drink for four.”

  “That won’t be a problem. The horses would be missed though.”

  “We’ll go on foot. Quieter that way,” Tiberius said.

  “I like your thinking. All right, I’ll talk to my men. We’ll go out in small groups. Out windows where possible. We meet at the elm tree south of town at midnight. After that we rely on you.”

  Tiberius nodded. He finished his dinner and then went to his room. He then teleported out of the room into the darkness. Walking silently and invisibly he made his way to the elm.

  The night was cool and the air was crisp. There wasn’t much light. Whispers of moonlight came though broken clouds. Just right for goblin raiding. There was not so much light that humans would see, but plenty for the nocturnal goblins and other creatures of the night.

  By midnight El Gato and a dozen Rangers were at the elm tree.

  “I can’t do all of you, but I can do three men. That should be enough. The rest of you, stay with your guide. I need three men who are willing to risk a bit of magic.”

  El Gato and two others stepped forwards.

  Tiberius touched the lid of their eyes. “This is a night vision spell. You should be able to see well enough to travel.”

  El Gato blinked. It was remarkably lighter now. He could move without difficulty.

  “What if we have to fight? What about the rest of the men?” El Gato asked.

  “I’ll try something different if there is a battle. I don’t expect trouble till the farm though,” Tiberius said.

  In small groups they moved along the road. The Burns farm wasn’t that far. By keeping a good pace they were there by one o’clock in the morning. Slowly and silently, they moved along to the outer pens.

  In the dark shadows of the night other figures were moving: dark figures, half man-half animal. They were called bogies and they were numbered among the fairy folk, though there was little magic about them. There was a score of them creeping though the night, silent as shadows. They were making their way towards the sheep pens.

  “Ho there!” a voice called.

  The bogies halted, sniffing the air. A trio of manlike forms stepped from the darkness. These had a more civilized appearance, though no more civilized manner. These were goblins. They saw well in the darkness; their yellow eyes had catlike pupils. Their skin color ranged from green to brown. The bogies met them with outstretched claws, but the goblins were not alarmed at this meeting.

  “Fine night for a bit of sheep stealing, eh me lads? No worries, plenty for all.” The goblin gave a gold toothed smile.

  The bogey leader scowled as he replied in broken English. “Queen’s men are near. We take too many, we make men angry.”

  “With you and us working together, who’s to stop us, eh? We can have some real fun. We can take all the sheep. Maybe we can help ourselves to the farmer’s daughter, eh?”

  The bogey’s companions looked at one another, then nodded agreement. These were the sort of evil plans they enjoyed. It was true, working together they could raid more sheep than just the bogies could manage. The leader still looked warily at the goblin captain. “We take best sheep. You can have worthless daughter. We ...”

  Whatever else he was going to say was interrupted by a burst of lights overhead.

  Goblin and bogey alike froze and looked up at the sky. What fool was lighting up the sky, the goblin chief wondered. These looked like fairy lights; were elves here? There couldn’t be a wizard stealing sheep, too. Dwarves? He had a very bad feeling about this. His pessimistic appraisal of the situation was affirmed when his companion and one of the bogey’s suddenly fell over dead with arrows sticking out of them.

  “God and country, Rangers!” came a cry from the darkness. The goblin captain had enough sense to run from unexpected dangers. The bogies had more courage or less sense. Their troop charged forward. With numbers on their side they had cause for optimism. The bogey chief had brought many of his clan to carry off the farmer’s tasty sheep. Out of the darkness they charged forward. There was too much light, though. The nasty arrows of the Rangers fired with speed and precision, dropping a number of their band and wounding others.

  A couple of the Rangers stepped to the front. Captain Gato was there with a drawn sword and main gauche. The first to reach him was dead in an instant, speared though the heart with an expert thrust. A second faired no better; his arm was slashed and then the bogey finished off with a dagger thrust to the heart.

  The bogies scowled at Captain Gato. The bogey leader circled around looking for an opening. The sword and dagger the Ranger carried were too deadly for a frontal assault. If they could flank him, they might yet kill him and have a bit of manflesh to go with the sheep. Just the hooded man with the staff was in their way.

  The bogey chief stopped a moment, studying this strange man. This was something new. He didn’t look like a Ranger. He didn’t smell like a Ranger. Something about him stunk of elves and churches. An instant later those smells didn’t matter. Fire ripped from the man’s staff. Two of his best men burst into flames. His men were no cowards or fools though. Four of them at once rushed the strange man. They clawed only empty air. Somehow he vanished and appeared behind them. Another fell dead as the church-elf-thing cracked the staff over the skull of another bogey. The chief lost track of the battle then. A mound of earth suddenly exploded in front of him. The bogey had just time to recognize it as an earth elemental before he stopped recognizing anything.

  El Gato squared off against another of the bogies. They were strong and clever, but steel was keeping them at bay. He had to be careful though. He dared not let those deadly claws come to grips with him. Suddenly, a short wall of flames burst from under the feet of the bogey. It screamed and leapt up as the fire burned his fur. In doing so, he forgot about El Gato’s blade, which then quickly ran him though. He then took a moment to salute Tiberius, who had given him the assist.

  The goblin captain had run from the battle as fast as he could when the first arrows hit. He ran not entirely from fear. Unlike the bogies, his men were mostly still in the woods and he’d run back not only to find safety in numbers but also to rally his men to his side. He hadn’t been joking before; together the goblins and bogies could finish off a patrol of Rangers and help themselves to whatever they liked in the farmhouse.

  He waved his sword and his men came running up beside him. Then he turned to face the Rangers and froze.

  He should have been seeing a whirling melee with Rangers and bogies locked toe to toe in mortal combat. What he saw instead was mostly dead bogies. Shock stunned his thoughts for an instant. How could so many be dead already?! Then he saw it. Lit by flickering fire lights and flares was an eight foot tall earth elemental. Next to it was a shadowy figure that vanished and reappeared behind one of the few surviving bogies and struck it dead with … something. That was a wizard, a powerful wizard, and fighting for the wrong side. Did even the great queen cas
ually summon up earth elementals?

  “Do we attack?” his companion asked.

  “Are you out of your f’ing mind?!” The goblin leader hadn’t made captain by being stupid. “Run for your lives, you idiots! They’ve got some powerful wizard helping them!”

  “Wizard? Rangers don’t use wizards?!” he said, just before the fireball hit him. The rest of them needed no further encouragement. One or two dropped from arrows before the rest of them made it to the relative safety of the woods.

  “Hold up!” El Gato called. His men stopped at his order. “Too dangerous, going on foot into the woods. Anyway, better to leave a few alive to tell the tale. They won’t be back this way soon.”

  The farmer came out, hearing the noise. His family could be seen peeking out the windows.

  “Rangers! Thank God! You got the thieving lot that’s been stealing my sheep!” he said.

  “We had a little help,” Tiberius said in a loud voice. “Amazing how a little gold can turn the betrayer against his old friends,” he said with a wink. The farmer chuckled in turn.

  El Gato came up beside him and whispered, “No one sold anyone out.”

  “No, but if the word gets out someone double crossed the goblins, they’ll kill him for us, won’t they?” Tiberius said.

  “You have a devious and deceitful mind. I admire that in a person,” El Gato said.

  Tiberius felt sick and tired. Conjuring the elemental had been a mistake, too much power for too little result. A simple illusion would have done as well. Better to be more economical with his magic. Still, it hadn’t gone badly. They had broken up a major raid and he was growing in strength. He’d need endurance with his magic when he fought the dragon. This was a good step forward.

  ∴

  On the north road a few days later, Captain Darras Walker was making his own raid. His men had spotted the goblin camp and now his riders charged in at dawn. Darras demonstrated his skill with the lance was no fluke or mere sportcraft, as he skewered the goblin leader. Then, drawing his sword, he rode down the next goblin. His sword flashed, and the goblin fell down dead. Then Darras gave a curse. His sword had snapped cleanly in two on the goblin's neck. He threw the worthless steel aside and ducked down to grab a goblin spear as he rode past. It would do for a weapon for now.

  He looked up, though, and saw there was no need. The enemy was all dead or fled. His second came up beside him.

  “That was a little too easy,” Darras said.

  “What do you suppose has got into them, sir? Finally figured out who you are?”

  “I don’t think that could be it,” Darras said. “They’ve never shown any hesitation about killing Rangers before.”

  “Something’s got them spooked. Soon as they saw we were Rangers they practically fell over themselves running. Didn’t even try to fight.”

  “I don’t know what it is, but we take advantage of it. We’ll split into two squadrons. It they’re going to run from the mere sight of a Ranger, we’ll accommodate them. Try to find me a sword in their loot.”

  “Don’t tell me you broke another one, Captain?”

  Darras just shrugged. It was getting annoying the way he went through swords.

  ∴

  Later that month, Darras met El Gato in the fort. He saw a huge pile of contraband being accounted for.

  “You had a successful patrol,” he noted.

  “We had the magi with us. He helped us ambush a few bands of goblins and bogies.”

  “Who?” Darras said.

  “The magi, don’t you remember? The occult expert they sent us. He came right before we left.”

  “Did he actually do anything useful?” Darras asked, astonished.

  “He’s worth a hundred men at least,” El Gato said.

  Darras looked at him like he’d lost his mind. El Gato had his faults, but they weren’t on the battlefield. Nor was he prone to exaggeration. Darras sort of vaguely remembered the young man that had frightened off the sorcerer. Was he missing something? A wizard wasn’t likely to be any help to the work he was doing. Or was he? Merlin had helped Arthur after all. More likely a wizard was in league with the enemy somehow. Still, it was odd the way the goblins had started reacting. He'd heard of Dallen, but he'd never given the more fantastic tales much credence. This would bear watching.

  ∴

  Back at the castle one evening, Tiberius heard an alarm bell ring. It sounded like the old fire alarm in Sherwood City. He went to the walls and saw there was indeed a fire burning.

  With some of the troops he jogged down to the village, looking at the fire.

  Reverend McNair came up beside him.

  “Don’t just stand there; do something!” McNair said.

  “I’ll get a bucket,” Tiberius said.

  The reverend grabbed his arm. “Are you mad? What are you waiting for? Put out the fire! Use your magic.”

  Tiberius looked back at the pastor, clearly torn. “There’s no black magic at work, here, Padre. It’s just a fire. What right do I have to use magic to stop this?”

  A flash of understanding lit in the padre’s eyes. “What right do you have to stand by when people need your help? Have you forgotten that it’s Sunday? It is written that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. These are people every bit as much in danger as if an army of goblins had swept though the village. We can discuss the fine points of theology later, but for now do some good and put out this fire!”

  Tiberius hesitated only a moment longer.

  “All right,” he said to the padre. “Stand back!” he shouted suddenly. “Forma akvo virina bonveno Murgen!”

  In answer to his words a water elemental climbed out of the river. It was shaped like a mermaid only made of water. It slithered quickly to the scene of the fire and it and Tiberius worked on sending jets of water into the flames. The padre heard him shout "Akva jetu" as he sent each blast of water into the fire. The flames were out in no time. The elemental gracefully bowed to Tiberius and then dissipated into a pool of water. A moment later there was some cheering. Tiberius stood watching the remnants of the flames. Padre McNair put a hand on his shoulder.

  “You did the right thing. Any time you even think about going against the word of God, it’s wise to stop and think again. But there is a big difference between trafficking with demons and developing your own mind so that you’re more in tune with God’s creative powers.”

  “Is there really? I wonder some times,” Tiberius said.

  “Well, I’ve known Jesus pretty well over the years,” McNair said. “He was never one to care about the little rules when the big rules were at stake. He was willing to work to help others on the Sabbath. You won’t do wrong to follow his example. I don’t recall any demons in his day putting out fires, healing the sick, or defending the innocent.”

  “No. No, I can’t believe what he meant by staying away from witches was to let your neighbors’ buildings burn down. Maybe I’m wrong. I can’t help that. All I can do is put what knowledge and abilities I have in the service of my neighbors,” Tiberius said.

  “Loving God and treating your neighbor as you would yourself are the most important laws. Remember that, Tiberius, and you won’t go far wrong. God doesn’t expect you to be perfect. He paid the price for your sins.”

  “Maybe so, but I don’t like running the bill up any higher than necessary. I’d better check on that fire. I’m not entirely sure one water elemental was enough; that was a heck of a fire.”

  ∴

  At the end of the month, Tiberius walked down to the paymaster’s office to collect his month’s earnings. The paymaster put down a sack of coins and then pushed a quill towards Tiberius to sign the receipt.

  “Hang on, this is too much,” Tiberius protested.

  The paymaster just glared at him. He quickly counted the gold coins out, checked the figures, and then pushed the sack back towards him.

  “No. That’s correct,” he said, bored.

  “But my salary…”

>   “You’ve got salvage and prize money too,” he said. “See, it’s right here,” he said pointing to the paperwork in his log book.

  “But this can’t be my share…”

  “Some of it's voted, you know. Seeing as you saved the lieutenant’s arse back there, he didn’t exactly figure on cutting you out. The lads voted you a few extra shares.”

  “But ...”

  “Look, take the money will you? You aren’t going to win any friends trying to muck up the prize shares, are you? The lads depend on that you know.”

  “Oh, yes,” he muttered. Tiberius still felt a little uncomfortable, as if somehow he hadn’t really earned all that money. But he saw there was no point in arguing about it.

  “Be a good man and go drink it off like the rest of the lads,” the paymaster advised.

  “I can’t drink,” Tiberius replied.

  “We’ll, there’s always whoring. Look, spending it’s your problem. I’ve got other people to pay.”

  Resigned, Tiberius pocketed the money and walked away. He’d put the money in his travel fund for now. If it kept up, he could always send some to his brother and sister.

  ∴

  Lord Brandon gathered El Gato, Darras, and Tiberius around a large map in the great hall.

  “Darras, I want you to sweep the coast road to the northeast again. This time, swing though some of the back trails and make sure the smaller villages are safe. The dark folk will turn there now that they know the heat’s on. Gato, you take the coast road towards Walsingham. Units from the Third Cavalry should meet you part way. Tiberius, I want you with Darras.”

  Captain Walker gave a discrete cough. “I don’t think that will be necessary, sir. The Reverend McNair…”

  “Isn’t available at the moment,” Lord Brandon said, sharply. “Gato should have a pretty clear run along the coast and most of all I don’t want the enemy to know where our magus is all the time. The enemy has the idea he’s anywhere they see a Ranger and that is an idea I want to cement into their mind. Anyway, I think you’ll find him useful.”