by Bob Blink
After the events in Cobalo that had resulted in their being asked to leave, the group had discussed the possibility that they might be followed. Jolan and Asari were targets actively being sought by the wizard Cheurt, and it wouldn’t have been too hard to observe them leaving and to stay on their trail. For the last weeks there had been enough traffic on the trail that it was impossible to see if anyone stood out. Anyone following them would have had an easy time staying hidden among the many travelers heading in the same direction. Jolan’s group became familiar with several parties headed the same way at about the same pace, passing or being passed from day to day.
“We need to check them out,” Jolan said. “I wonder if they are using a variation of the concealment spell I learned in Seret. They are too far away to detect if they are using the power, but if they are, that means they are probably wizards and therefore trouble.”
“How can we do that? If we get close enough to tell, we better be ready for a fight. There are five of them near as I can tell. That means they have as many with the power as we do, and I’ll bet they are all fighters.”
Jolan had been wondering the same thing. He didn’t want to attack some innocent travelers, but the odds against someone else headed this way just now were slim.
“How about we make a sharp turn north at the river up ahead. If they follow, then we know we have trouble and we can look for a place to deal with them. You watch, and I’ll pass the word and lead us off to the side.
Jolan had broken his promise to Chancellor Vaen less than a day out of Cobalo. Now that they were on their own, with every likelihood of being attacked at some point, he felt they needed every advantage they could get. He’d shown the others the shield-pair spell, and explained how it worked. Now they would be better protected and all of them could bring up shields and remain undetected.
They’d also reviewed their fighting potential and discovered they weren’t much of a force. Jolan and Luzoke had powerful fighting spells, especially Jolan with the staff. Asari could shoot, and had ammunition for the two guns and his bow that could take down a wizard. Asari liked the bow in some ways because it was quiet. He also expected to use it for the more mundane task of hunting now that they had left the populated areas and they’d need to forage for food. When silence wasn’t an issue, the rifle with the special rounds he and Buris had made would be the weapon of choice.
Asari’s problem was he had no shield capability, and was therefore exposed in any kind of battle. Ronoran, Rifod, and Nerila simply had no spells that could be considered weapons. Ronoran could crack just about any opposing wizard’s shield with his highly developed version of shield-breaker , but like the other two his shields were marginal as well. The approach they’d developed was for Ronoran, Rifod, and Nerila to combine shields that protected not only themselves, but Asari as well. They would stay down and out of sight as much as possible, and let Luzoke and Jolan handle whatever fighting became necessary.
Asari came riding up to Jolan who was now leading the group. “They turned at the river and are still following us,” he reported.
That made it pretty certain they were being followed, and the only people that would follow them would have one thing on their minds. Jolan hadn’t forgotten how close he and Rifod had come to be killed in the last attack. He had no intentions of letting this situation develop nearly as far.
“It seems like they are moving faster. I think they might know we have spotted them and are trying to close the distance so they can finish this now.”
“Okay. I’ll tell the others. Ride ahead and see if you can spot a place for us to set up. I’d like to be able to surprise them. Maybe we can arrange a bit of cross fire and take them down before they’re ready.”
Asari nodded and started off immediately. Jolan stopped and talked with the others when they clustered around him. They’d all been warned that the trip was likely to be dangerous. Now it was time to see how the group reacted under fire.
Asari found a reasonable spot another half mile up the trail. The land was rippled with little mounds along the edge of the river. Large clusters of rocks cluttered the hillside, with a sprinkling of trees along the slopes and near the water. The grasses were long with their spring growth and covered the ground, hiding the hoof prints from their horses. Jolan could see where Asari had tied his horse out of sight from the trail just on the other side of one of the gullies. He and the others did the same. Jolan and Luzoke took positions behind two large rocks along the trail. It would have been nice to be on either side of the path, but with the stream on one side there wasn’t a good place to hide. Asari and the others scurried up the hill and hid behind a batch of rocks fifty yards up the hillside. Nerila and Rifod hid around back, while Ronoran and Asari laid down prone behind two of the rocks so they could see, but were still protected. Asari had asked them to hold off on the shields until he fired his first shot. After that he knew they would clamp the shields down tight and not let them go until everything was over. His only shot would have to count.
Their pursuers came into view ten minutes later, and as they approached Jolan could detect the faint traces of power being used by four of the men. The fifth, he realized, wasn’t a wizard at all. That would help, and reduced their effective enemies by twenty percent. The group stopped momentarily on the small flat thirty yards short of the rocks where Jolan and Luzoke hid. The five men gathered together, and Jolan knew they were being cautious now that the terrain had become hilly and they couldn’t simply see their prey ahead.
They had agreed that Asari would take the first shot. The wizards had been approaching without shields to mask their approach. If the wizards had shields when the time came to attack, Ronoran would use shield-breaker to bring the shield down on Asari’s target, then he would shoot. At the sound of the shot, Jolan and Luzoke would each take down one, then focus together on the remaining two. Since one wasn’t a wizard, that would make it two against one for the final encounter. They had agreed that Jolan would take the one on their right just to ensure they didn’t target the same wizard.
It’s great when a plan comes together, Jolan thought hearing Asari’s shot and the “thock” as the bullet struck home. As he and Luzoke stepped around enough to see their targets and release their spells he could see the man crumpling from his saddle, a large red stain on the center of his chest. He’d already sensed the shields pop up on the three remaining wizards, and could hear the hoof beats of a single horse as the rider headed away. He heard another shot and a horse whiney as it collapsed to the ground, ending the man’s rush for safety.
That wasn’t supposed to happen, Jolan thought as he used his favorite fire-wrap spell on his designated target. Asari was supposed to be behind shields by now. He saw the bluish-white energy-beam that Luzoke released strike another of the wizards and smash through the man’s shield. His own target was down as well, and he was just turning to unleash another blast when the air around them suddenly became rigid and difficult to see through. The light was still passing through, but the world was far less bright and the view of his surroundings was badly distorted. He couldn’t see the wizard he was supposed to target, and didn’t know what had happened to him.
Precious moments passed while he was trying to figure out how to proceed. He couldn’t spell against someone he couldn’t see, and was afraid he and Luzoke were at some risk exposed as they were. He couldn’t sense the man’s shield, so he must have dropped it. It’s too bad Asari couldn’t sense that. Jolan could still sense a bit of power draw, but it was small and the direction wasn’t very specific. He was getting more of a general feeling it was off to his left.
Finally it dawned on him what must have happened. He was encased in ice. Somehow the wizard had pulled a large mass of water from the river, flung it over them, and used some kind of freezing spell to instantly turn the water into a solid mass of ice that surrounded the two of them. Since their adversary couldn’t sense their shields, he must have thought it a quick way to take out both
of them, and at worst, if they were able to survive the ice, buy himself a bit of time. Quickly Jolan reached out and enveloped the ice in a spell of his own, changing the state of the water back from solid to liquid, and was relieved to see the view of his surroundings return as the water slid away to the ground.
Now to find the remaining wizard. Jolan looked and could see the three wizards they had killed and the fallen horse. He couldn’t see either the fifth man or the wizard that had been in front of them only moments before. He could still sense the faint draw of power off to his side and was about to blast the whole area with a sweeping energy-beam when another shot range out. Once again the shot was followed by the distinctive sound of a bullet impacting flesh.
Asari was a natural, Jolan couldn’t help thinking. He turned in the direction of the sound, and now he could see the remaining wizard as he collapsed into the water of the stream. The man had been trying to cross the small river to the far side when Asari had shot him.
“Jolan!” Asari yelled to get his attention.
Jolan looked up at his friend who was pointing down the road back the way they had come. Of course. From up where he was sitting, he could see the last man who was trying to get away. Jolan quickly ran down into the gully and jumped on his horse. Luzoke wasn’t far behind. They rode back down the trail, and as they approached the man who was running as fast as he could, they slowed as they came up behind him. Knowing it was no use, the man stopped, turned, and surrendered.
“How did you see him?” Jolan asked Asari after they’d returned with their captive.
“After he wrapped you two in ice, he seemed to disappear. I couldn’t see him for a while, but then he slipped into the river and I could see the water swirling around his legs.”
“You were supposed to be shielded.”
“I was. Rifod and Nerila wouldn’t let the shields down, but I loaded one of the copper bullets thinking it would go through our shields and those of the wizard as well. It worked,” he said proudly.
It certainly had. Asari had accounted for half of the men we’d taken down. The question now remained as to what to do with the prisoner.
“We can’t let him go,” said Luzoke. “He knows too much about where we are headed. He’ll only bring back more wizards.”
“Kill him,” insisted Ronoran.
Jolan didn’t like the idea of killing an unarmed man, although that seemed like stupid morality that he was carrying with him from home. They certainly couldn’t haul the man with them and have to constantly worry what he might be up to. Letting him go was also not reasonable for the reasons Luzoke had stated. Well, if it had to be done, he should be the one. There were several ways to easily kill a person who was without magical protection.
“Wait,” insisted Nerila. “Let me try something. Hold him for me.”
As Rifod and Ronoran held the man’s arms, and Asari held his head so she could look into his eyes, Nerila spent a long minute in front of the man. Finally he shuddered and stepped away. Quickly she walked a few feet away and vomited.
“What did you do?” asked Jolan.
“Compulsion,” she replied. “I used a compulsion spell on him. How absolutely vile. I’ll never do that again. You can release him. He’ll go nowhere but back to Cobalo and report to the guards that he wants to talk to Mage Dibon. He’ll tell them everything they ask if he knows it. I don’t know what questions to ask or what we would do with the information. He knows about the attacks, so he might know something about the other wizards still in Cobalo. If anyone tries to remove the compulsion he will die. I’ve cleansed his mind about everything he knows of our travels. Once he gets back to Cobalo he’ll only recall that we headed out of town.”
Chapter 83
After the battle there remained a bit of cleanup to do. The bodies of the two wizards that Jolan and Luzoke had killed with the fighting spells had been consumed along with the horses on which they had ridden. There were darkened patches on the ground to mark where they had died, but nothing else was left to mark their passing. Jolan looked carefully where they had fallen since some items of magic might survive the intense fires that had been used, but he found nothing more than some melted bits of gold and silver that had probably been coins sometime earlier.
“Here’s a staff of some sort,” remarked Asari who was walking back with the one remaining horse out of the five that had belonged to the team that had attacked them.
They had given the other surviving horse to the man they’d turned loose after searching the bags on the animal for anything important, and he was now out of sight on his return journey to Cobalo. All they had found was a bit of food and one set of spare clothing. The man hadn’t even stopped before riding off to pick up his own belongings from the horse that Asari had shot during the battle. Jolan still wondered if they were doing the right thing to let him go, feeling a bit the same as Ronoran that they should kill him and be certain. Well, Nerila had been certain what she had done would work, and he couldn’t second guess his people if he expected them to follow him.
“What kind of staff?” he asked as he walked over to meet his friend.
Asari handed it over, and Jolan looked at the simple length of black wood. He didn’t sense anything when he held it, and his own staff didn’t object to the other staff’s presence. He handed it to Ronoran, who also shook his head when he held it.
“Doesn’t do anything for me,” he said.
Each of the team held it in turn, but no one got any sense that there was power associated with the object.
“Maybe it’s simply a walking staff,” suggested Luzoke as he passed the staff to Rifod.
“It was being carried in a special sleeve on the horse which makes it seem like someone thought it was special,” Asari remarked. “I think it has some function.”
“I’ll carry it with me,” Rifod said at last. “Maybe something with come up to identify why the man was carrying it. If nothing else, it will make a nice walking stick for later.”
“The only other things I found were these,” Asari said, handing over a bag that contained eight small yellow crystals. He pulled one out and showed it to them. Nerila reached out a hand to take the crystal from Asari.
“Those look like small versions of the power crystals Cheurt used to bring to Earth,” Jolan observed. “These are dull though. The ones he had were always glowing.”
“That’s because these are discharged,” Nerila explained. “These are pairing-crystals. They are mostly used to transfer knowledge between mages and wizards.”
Jolan remembered hearing about them back at the College, but he’d never had an occasion to see one first hand. “Why would they have a sack full of unused pairing-crystals?” Ronoran asked.
“They may have already been used,” Nerila suggested. “If someone wanted to transfer some knowledge to members of his team, this might be a way to do so. The crystals are rare, so they wouldn’t just throw them away after use. The man might be simply holding on to them until they could be returned to where they came from.”
No one had a better idea, and they added the pack to their stores. Jolan walked over to the wizard Asari had killed with his first shot. The man was lying on his back, sightless eyes staring at the sky. It took only a moment to verify he had no jewelry on him, nor anything else that might give them any more clues as to his origin. As Jolan turned away, Luzoke shouted from out in the stream.
Luzoke had waded out into the foot deep water of the stream and crossed to where the last of the dead wizards lay. He’d examined the dead wizard, and when he turned him over he found something that caught his attention. Luzoke grabbed the dead wizard by the back of his shirt and dragged him back to shore. Dropping him on the grass near the edge, he reached down and pulled something from around his neck that he then brought over and handed to Jolan.
It appeared to be an overly large pendant of some kind, although the gold necklace that supported it looked to be of a far inferior workmanship to the pendant itself. The obj
ect filled the whole palm of his hand, and seemed too large to be a necklace even though the man had been wearing it as one.
“You ever seen anything like this before?” he asked the others as he looked at the object.
Everyone shook their heads. The pendant was circular with a gold backing intricately carved with swirling lines and some very small characters he couldn’t make out with his unaided eyes. For all the sense of age he felt when he held the object, Jolan couldn’t see any signs of wear in the gold, which surprised him. The front face had a smooth black facing, with a large yellow stone in the center that blazed with inner fire from the light it gathered from the sun. He’d never seen a similar stone, either here or back on Earth. Around the outer edge was a thin white line that made a circle on the black just inside the outer edge. Equally spaced around the circumference were three green stones situated on the white line. These stones didn’t glow, but each was sharp and beautiful in its own way. Looking closely Jolan could see that the stones were ever so slightly different in size. He wondered if that had been intended or whether it was the result of what stones had been available when the object was made. Somehow, given the care which seemed to have been used in the construction of the object, he felt it had been intentional. Once again Jolan passed the object around so everyone could have a closer look.
“It doesn’t resemble anything I’ve ever read about the old objects of power that were made before the wars,” Rifod said.
Nerila nodded in agreement. “This is something else, but it seems to be very old. I get no sense of the power from it either.”
