Wizard's Blood [Part One]

by Bob Blink

  For the most part his return had been a solitary adventure, unlike the happy trip they’d had on the way out of Trailways. Sometimes he’d encounter a merchant and family headed this way and be invited to join the group for dinner, and to spread his blanket around their fire. Often he refused the offer outright, but sometimes something would remind him of Morin’s little group, and he’d accept. But he hadn’t been good company this trip, and was seldom invited to stay a second night. Besides, he could move faster than the merchant’s wagons, and had always pulled on ahead the following morning even if the chance for staying was offered.

  As he rode into the edge of the village Asari sensed for the first time how small and rough the little place was. It felt like betrayal to have such thoughts, but after the months in civilization his perceptions of these things had changed, and the place he’d called home looked small and sad. The wagons he could see moving back and forth ahead were old, worn, and unpainted as compared to the brightly colored and mostly new carriages he’d come to expect in Cobalo. Instead of the many well-built and prosperous buildings offering every conceivable product, there were only the few shabby and weathered buildings that made up the little village. Crikel’s mercantile store looked pretty crude now, whereas a few month’s back it had seemed bright and full of items he couldn’t hope to ever purchase. As he rode past, Asari could sense the weight of the ten golds he’d brought with him, a virtual fortune out here. He could buy anything the little town offered. He’d needed less than a gold for expenses to cover his entire journey.

  “Asari! Wait up. Asari!”

  The voice came from behind him. Asari stopped and turned and saw his friend Dinal hurrying across the street to greet him.

  “By the Dragons,” Dinal said as he approached. “It is you. I couldn’t believe it when I saw you ride past.”

  Dinal looked him over carefully. Asari wondered how he looked. He knew he had grown, physically as well as emotionally over the past half year.

  “Been a hard trip lad?” Dinal asked after completing his examination. “You look worn down.”

  Asari nodded slowly.

  “Did you make it then? Did you and Jolan make it all the way to Cobalo?”

  Asari felt the familiar clutch in his chest and felt his eyes want to water at the mention of Jolan’s name. He fought the feeling back harshly.

  “It took some time, but we made it all the way. He’s now with the College there. Told his story to the Council of Mages like he wanted. Even told it to the King. We got to rub shoulders with the nobility. He’s becoming a real mage himself.”

  “He’s staying there then?”

  “Seems like,” Asari answered.

  “But you decided to come back?”

  “This is my home. Besides, there’s still something I need to do here.”

  “Well, for one, I’m glad to see you. I wondered many a day how things went and whether you two made it. For a while there was a lot of talk about you and the gold you two were carrying. He paid you fair didn’t he?”

  Asari nodded. “He paid me fair.”

  “You do look tired. Come see me and tell me the whole tale once you get settled in. Come for dinner tonight if you’ve got the energy. If not, I’ll understand. Bet you really want nothing more than to crawl into your own bed again.”

  Dinal stepped back and gave his horse a small slap to encourage the animal to start walking again. “Different animal it seems. What happened to the horse you left on?”

  “Had to trade him off along the way. I’ll tell you later.”

  Asari waved and continued on his way. He almost felt he was lying to his old friend, but for now he couldn’t decide how much he wanted to tell. Perhaps after he became settled in and the old ways returned he’d tell Dinal the whole truth, perhaps not.

  A bit later he reached his own house which looked small and deserted. The weeds had taken over the dirt walkway up to the door, and it was obvious no one had entered the place in months. He went through his opening up routine, and stood in the small living room when he had the windows opened to air the place out. It still contained the musty smell lingering from the winter months. Like the village itself, the room looked cramped and barren.

  Despite being tired, he dropped his bags and made his way back to the little secret room to see if there was any activity on the trail to Ale’ald. He was surprised to find the monitor lit up, indicating someone was on the trail. Perhaps he’d arrived just in time, and felt a bit of a surge in energy, a sense of purpose returning. It only took a few minutes to see that the group on the trail was small, and headed toward Ale’ald, not this way. Asari almost let the matter rest, then decided to be thorough, and scanned the group in detail. He realized he recognized the men. They usually traveled with Cheurt, but this time the wizard wasn’t present. Did that mean he’d made another trip to Earth? But where were the rest of the men, and how long would it be before they returned? Something had changed. They had never traveled in a small group like this before, and they had never been without Cheurt. They always waited at the Nexus until he returned. Asari needed to be ready for the next opportunity. There was something happening that he needed to understand.

  Morning found him sitting outside working on his bow. He’d already replaced the string, and was now going through his arrows one-by-one. He’d neglected the bow during the past months, and many of the arrows showed damage to the fletchings, and a few were noticeably warped. He would have to make more, and put in some practice time. What had once been instinctual, now took some conscious thought. He needed to regain his edge.

  He’d dropped his horse with Stablemaster Lorem the previous afternoon, and had spent a little while in conversation with the man. Asari hadn’t decided whether to sell the animal, which he didn’t have a use for here, and which would cost him money to stable, or to keep him for a while. Something inside made him sense a need might arise, but he couldn’t imagine what it might be. It would be months at least before he might consider going to Seret. Probably not before the next winter was over.

  Lorem had hoped that Asari had more cuprum to trade, so Asari assumed he’d made a tidy profit on the last exchange. Asari was a bit bothered to learn that someone had passed through some months before asking about Jolan. Lorem swore he hadn’t told the man anything, but suspected that those at the inn had told him everything that had happened back then.

  As Asari rolled the last of his arrows back and forth, checking for the straightness required for accurate flight, he thought about his conversation with Lorem. He could only think of one group who could have an interest in Jolan, and Lorem had even said he thought the man might be from Ale’ald. And now they knew about him as well. That meant he needed to be more careful than usual. He wondered how he could let Jolan know that someone was seeking him, then shook his head angrily.

  “It’s not my problem anymore. Jolan can take care of himself now,” he muttered under his breath.

  Why did he still feel such a dull ache each time he thought of Jolan? He couldn’t help but feel a sense of betrayal and loss each time his friend’s name came to mind. What had happened? It had seemed they were of a like mind, and that after they finished up in Cobalo they would go on together and finish the matter of the wizards. But then when Jolan had showed up with that woman, he’d know what he feared was real. Jolan wasn’t coming back up here. He had a new life, and was comfortable. It had been different when they were in Seret. For one thing he’d been with Ashreye, and he’d known all along that Jolan wasn’t serious about Sindra, although he liked her a lot. But one look at the way Jolan had acted around the woman in Cobalo and Asari had known Jolan had real feelings for her. That’s when Asari had known for certain he’d lost his friend.

  Now he was alone again. Well, he’d been through it before. Now it was time to finally finish this. He’d kill Cheurt and then he’d go find out if joining Morin and his family was still an option.

  Chapter 65

  The summer months in Cobal
o passed slowly, the days warm and sometimes hot, with little to mark the passing weeks. There were no more threats, no events that stood out as significant, and Jolan was free to concentrate on his studies. He grew stronger, but advancement to level five continued to elude him. He learned new abilities, although nothing of particular significance, but gained in confidence and perception with those skills he possessed. He had experimented with his shields, and knew how to use the old familiar shield much more effectively than before, and had spent many hours in private experimenting with his own development. So far, he’d kept his pledge to keep the new discovery to himself.

  His circle of friends had grown considerably in the last weeks, although the core of his social community remained the same group of five he’d known for most of his time here at the College. His relations varied with the members of the staff, but he had ardent supporters in the form of Buris, Ward, Dibon, and of course Chancelllor Vaen. While some complained he was receiving preferential treatment, and Jolan agreed he might be, others were anxious to help him in any way they could.

  Realizing they couldn’t become prisoners of their fears, an occasional night out became more common, and he even was able to see the play that had been missed after the attack. Of course, it had been himself, Shyar, Rifol, and Nerila, but he still enjoyed the evening. They had been strongly encouraged to go off the campus only in groups, especially Jolan who was seen as the primary target.

  Word had finally come back earlier this week on Asari, and as Jolan had guessed his old friend had returned to Trailways. The courier that passed through had actually talked with him, passing along word of the attack and warning Asari that he might be a target as well. The courier said that Asari had already been alerted, since his friends there had told him that someone from Ale’ald had been asking about the two of them.

  Jolan had mixed feelings about Asari being in Trailways. On the one hand it was his home, such as he had, and he knew his way around. It would be difficult to surprise him there, so in a way he was safer than he might be in the city. The other side of the coin warned Jolan that Asari went back there because he felt his business with Cheurt was not yet finished. Jolan worried that Asari might get himself hurt taking action that was not wise. There was little he could do about it. Even if he took the time to travel there, he knew Asari would not be willing to listen to him. There had to be a way to mend the rift that had formed between them, but for the moment he didn’t have any idea how to accomplish it.

  “You’re sure that it has stopped? Maybe this is just a pause as your mind assimilates the information it has uncovered.”

  Jolan looked at Ward and shook his head. “It’s been more than two weeks, and somehow I “knew” as soon as it happened. I kept waiting and hoping, but I knew I was kidding myself. Whatever process my mind was going through with the block of knowledge I extracted from Cheurt, it has reached the end of the line. There is nothing more there.”

  “You’re convinced that you didn’t get everything that was in his mind?”

  “Absolutely. There’s one spell I have been hoping for, and that’s not among the abilities I have inherited.”

  “You mean the Nexus spell,” Ward said coming straight to the point.

  Jolan nodded unhappily. “The one I hoped for the most. It’s simply not there. I can sense an incompleteness in what I have inside my head, and I know there is a great deal more that I didn’t get.”

  One thing that Jolan had hoped, in addition to getting the spell that would allow him, or hopefully many of the others to transfer through the Nexus, was an understanding of all of Cheurt’s abilities, and perhaps a deeper look into what he had planned. Now he knew that simply wasn’t going to happen.

  The mental processing had provided him with a number of small capabilities, and filled in gaps in his talents. He also had a number of spells sort of sitting in holding bins, waiting until he advanced to a level where he would be able to actually use them. Many were destructive in nature, or intrusive on a personal level. Cheurt clearly liked to abuse and degrade those around him. He could sense the ability that Cheurt used to probe into minds slinking around in the background. He wondered if there was a way to extract spells from one’s mind. There were some things in there now he’d rather not know how to do. Methods of killing were a common theme in the input he’d processed from the wizard, along with a few odd bits that suggested the wizard had tried to learn how to control the magical beasts that Asari had warned him about in the Land of Giants. It was too bad he didn’t have the memories to tell him what success Cheurt had had with the spells.

  He also had minor memories from the man. He could see his residence, the Academy in Ale’ald, and a small group of people, some whom he could identify, but most of whom he could not.

  “So, what do you do now?”

  Ward knew as did several others what he had hoped for. His dream of going home and coming back better prepared to tackle Cheurt was now effectively dead.

  “Continue as I have been. There doesn’t seem to be any other option. I’m certainly not powerful enough to go after Cheurt as I am, so the best I can do is help get the kingdom ready for the war that my mind tells me he is planning.”

  “I’m told you’re starting to teach a class of your own this week to some of the King’s soldiers.”

  “We have the first run of the rifles from the factory. They’ve been given a checkout and passed easily, and now we need to start training a core group that can in turn train the men who will be assigned to the rifle brigades. As the only person who has ever fired a rifle before, I’m sort of elected.”

  For the next two weeks Jolan spent every afternoon at the palace in the area set aside for the training. It was well away from all other activities, and in an area that served also to muffle the sounds so that people wouldn’t start to take notice. They wanted the rifles to come as a surprise to Cheurt. Unfortunately for the training they were using the percussion guns, since some issues with the cartridge versions were still unresolved. If Buris couldn’t work through the details by the end of the month they would probably have to start production runs of the percussion guns to have enough in time to ship to Kimlelm before the winter months. Still, much of the skill set involved how to shoot, and that wouldn’t be wasted if the more advanced weapons became available.

  That evening he was sitting in Buris’ lab working on his weekly report to the King on the status of the training, his mind far away lost in thought as he considered what exactly to say. About a third of the men didn’t adapt well to the firearms for reasons he didn’t understand. Shyar’s voice brought him abruptly back to the present, and as he turned his head to respond, he found her face mere inches from his own. Once again he felt himself drawn to those incredible eyes, the lovely face, and the desirable lips. Unplanned, he suddenly moved his head toward hers, and planted a brief kiss upon Shyar’s lips, only realizing after he had done so that he had unwittingly crossed a boundary that he’d long known was forbidden territory.

  He watched as her eyes widened suddenly in surprise, and waited for the avalanche to fall.

  “Please don’t….” What to say. He’d be damned if he would apologize. He meant the kiss and all it implied. But he couldn’t bear it if she left because of it. “I couldn’t keep it inside any longer,” he finally admitted lamely.

  Jolan watched as storms built in her eyes. Her lips pinched together as she considered how to respond. Jolan closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. Ready for the worst, he opened his eyes, and found hers very close. After a second she leaned quickly forward and placed a firm, but very soft lingering kiss of her own on his lips. Pulling back, she looked directly into his eyes for a few moments, then with her characteristic quick smile, said, “Telegraph test tomorrow morning. Everything’s set.”

  With another impulsive smile she turned and hurried away.

  Jolan was still sitting there with a stupid grin on his face unable to concentrate on what he needed to write when Buris came
in and asked, “Something happen?”

  He was a bit uncertain how to act when he met Shyar and Buris in the telegraph room the next morning, but she acted as if nothing had happened. Even though they had a cadre of trained operators standing by, Shyar would do the honors at this end. The student who graduated with the highest proficiency level was now in Seret, and would be the lead operator once service started at that end. The King and both his children were present for the test, along with all of his senior advisors.

  “How do we start?” asked Buris, who had been too busy with other things to be involved in the test planning.

  “We sent word by ship last week that today at mid morning we would send the first message. They are to be ready to respond with whomever the King elects to have present at that end. We made a point of requesting secrecy, so it should be a small group.”

  The initial exchange had been written out in advance, so at the proper time Shyar slid into position and began to transmit.

  “Greetings to King Simor of Seret from his Royal Highness King Otar of Angon.”

  Then she leaned back and waited. Nothing happened. One minute; then two. Something must have gone wrong Jolan was thinking when suddenly the telegraph began to clatter.

  “Greetings in return from King Simor to King Otar.”

  A moment of silence then the telegraph began to clatter again.

  “We are sorry for the delay. There was a great deal of surprise and amazement here, and everyone was talking until the King ordered us to proceed.”

  For the next ten minutes happy greetings were passed back and forth, the formal script abandoned after the first exchange. Finally when things began to settle down and it seemed about time to terminate the test, the telegraph began to clatter once again with a message from Seret.

  “Is Jolan present?” Shyar read the message aloud. Then she responded in the affirmative.