Trail of the Gods ms-4

by Brian S. Pratt

  Sighing, he knows he should go back out to his workshop and try to figure this out. As he passes through to the back door, he finds Ezra there in the kitchen baking bread for the evening meal. The aroma smells good.

  Arkie is sitting in a highchair he bought for him. He’s got a piece of bread in one hand that he’s happily gnawing on. His cup is resting on its side on the floor, the milk within it spreading in a pool.

  He gives Ezra a nod and pats Arkie on the head as he leaves through the back door. The sound of wood being chopped reaches him from over where Roland is splitting them into the proper size. He can see he’s already accumulated quite a pile since he left for town.

  Tersa is out in the garden they planted when they first arrived. He can see many shoots coming up out of the ground. He was worried that planting so late in the season wouldn’t yield much, but he left it to their judgment. Ever since pulling the new shoots out of his aunt’s garden when he thought he was successfully weeding it, he’s known he has no clue about gardening.

  Back in his workshop, he reaches into the sack of crystals and pulls out several, setting them in front of him on the workbench. C’mon guys, what am I doing wrong?

  He thinks about the last time. What he’s been trying to do is create a spell in which the crystal will draw and store power from the world around it. Taking only minute quantities from each individual living thing within its radius at a time, they would store it within themselves. They would also use the stored power to keep the ‘leeching’ spell active, always maintaining the maximum amount. Sort of like a continuously recharging battery, a magic battery you could say.

  But the problem he’s been encountering is that at some point, it explodes. That’s what he has to figure out, a way to keep it intact. There has to be a way to have it ‘charge’ to a certain point and then stop.

  Perhaps along with a spell that leeches magic from its environment, there should be one that checks for internal integrity. One which ensures the crystal never reaches the point where it shatters by shutting down the other spell which is drawing in the power. Then allowing it to resume drawing in power once the amount of stored power has dropped below the maximum capacity.

  Might work, he thinks as he carries the largest of the crystals over to the table where the previous experiments have been. Brushing aside the shattered remnants of earlier experiments, he sets the crystal down and then moves back to a safer distance.

  After a moment’s contemplation to work out the spell needed, he concentrates on the crystal and slowly lets out the power. This time when he’s completed the spell, he holds his breath as once more, it begins to glow red with the power being drawn from him. When the crystal has begun to glow a deep crimson color, he senses a gradual diminution in the power being leeched from him until it all but disappears.

  Using his magic, he examines the crystal down to the micro level. A smile breaks across his face as he realizes that it’s working. It’s still drawing power, but it’s such a slight amount that he can barely feel it.”

  “Excuse me,” a voice says as a hand taps him on the shoulder.

  Abruptly breaking his concentration, he inadvertently sends a wave of energy toward the crystal, causing it to shatter into a hundred tiny fragments. His head begins hurting and he feels almost as if he’s about ready to pass out.

  Turning on the intruder, he comes to a stop when he sees it’s a stranger standing there. Something in his eyes must’ve given the man pause, for he takes three quick steps backward and backs out the door

  “What!” James yells at the man as he follows him outside.

  Jiron must’ve heard him all the way from the house and he sticks his head out of a window to see what’s going on. When he sees James standing there in anger in front of a stranger, he quickly rushes to his side.

  “Uh,” the man stammers, his voice failing him. Clearing his throat, he glances backward as he hears Jiron coming and then turns his attention back to James. “Are you James, the wizard?”

  “What?” James asks him again, not exactly understanding what he just said.

  “You okay?” Jiron asks as he arrives, one hand on a knife hilt.

  Indicating the man, he replies, “This idiot interrupted me, almost got me killed.”

  Taking the man’s arm, Jiron says, “You better leave.”

  Wrenching his arm out of Jiron’s grasp he says, “But I need your help! And I’m willing to pay!” He glances from one to the other and back again as they take in what he said.

  To Jiron, James says, “Take him to the house, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  The man says, “Thank you,” as Jiron leads him over to the house.

  He returns back inside to the shattered crystal, angry that it was destroyed. But at least he’s on the right track, it didn’t explode until that idiot disturbed him. It had been working!

  Chapter Two

  He finds Jiron and the stranger sitting in the front room, Ezra having already given the man a small bite to eat and something to drink.

  “…only hope he can help me,” the man says. When he sees James enter the room he quickly comes to his feet, almost causing the cup holding his ale to tip over.

  Jiron catches James’ eye and rolls his eyes as he gives a sidelong nod at their guest.

  “Thank you for taking the time to listen to my dilemma,” the man says to him.

  “I am very busy,” replies James, as he sits down in one of the chairs. “Say what you came here to say.”

  Sitting back down, the man begins, “I shall be brief then.” Glancing to Jiron, he continues, “I was telling your friend here somewhat of my problem and am hoping you might be of a mind to help me.”

  James glances to Jiron and then asks, “What sort of problem?” Jiron gives him a brief, amused smile.

  “Well, it’s like this,” he explains. “I own a small business in Osgrin.” When James doesn’t respond to the name, he adds, “It’s a town just a little south of here.”

  “Oh,” says James.

  “Anyway, I’m a dye merchant,” he continues when no further comment is forthcoming. “And recently a competitor has set up another shop close to mine.”

  “And?” prompts James.

  “And, he’s hurting my business,” says the man. “He’s selling his dyes far cheaper than I’m able to. How, I don’t know. If something isn’t done, he’ll ruin me!”

  “And you want me to do what?” he asks.

  “Why, cast a spell on him or something that will make his dyes be of lesser quality,” he explains. “Exactly what, I’d leave to your judgment.”

  Where Jiron is amused, James is anything but. “Let me get this straight,” he says, coming to his feet. “You want me to ruin a man’s business because he’s cutting into your profits?”

  “Yes,” replies the man in all sincerity. “I’d pay you for your troubles.”

  Eyes smoldering, he says to Jiron, “Get this fool from my sight!”

  “You better go,” Jiron says as he brings the man to his feet.

  “But,” the man says as Jiron begins to lead him to the door, “I’ll give you a hundred gold!”

  “Get out!” yells James. The frustration he had felt before when this idiot disturbed his experiments blossoms into full fledged anger. “I’ll not take a million for such a deed. How dare you even ask me!”

  Struggling against Jiron as he’s being pulled from the house, he cries out, “But you’re a mage! You’re supposed to do things like this!”

  Ezra pokes her head in from the kitchen to see what’s going on.

  Roland appears at the door, axe in hand. James glances at him and says, “Assist Jiron in getting this man off my property.” To the man he adds, “Don’t you ever come back here again!”

  Setting his axe on the floor, Roland takes one arm while Jiron takes the other and they drag the dye merchant out of the house. James watches from the window as they take him to the end of the lane.

  “He doesn’t underst
and,” he hears Ezra say from behind him.

  Turning around, he sees her framed in the doorway to the kitchen, “Understand what?”

  “You,” she says. “You are not like other mages we hear about. You are kind and considerate, no one expects that from one such as you.”

  His anger slowly subsides until he’s simply frustrated. “I suppose,” he says.

  “All our lives, the stories we hear of those with the power are ones of terror and pain,” she explains. “People just can’t believe that a mage, wizard, or whatever can be anything but bad.”

  Sighing, he nods his head, “I know. Whenever anyone has found out I’m a mage, their first reaction is usually one of fear or trepidation. Only by getting to know me do their opinions change.”

  “That is true,” she agrees. “Sorry to have intruded, but I thought you should know.”

  “Thank you, Ezra,” he says. “I do appreciate it.”

  She then returns to the kitchen to resume whatever it was she had been doing.

  Turning back to the window, he sees Jiron and Roland returning, the dye merchant stands at the end of the lane for a moment. It almost seems like the man still hasn’t grasped the idea James isn’t going to be helping him. Jiron turns around and yells something at him. When the man still doesn’t leave, he draws one of his knives and advances on him.

  Seeing the drawn knife, he finally gets the idea and starts running down the road toward town.

  Jiron replaces his knife and catches up with Roland as they walk back to the house. James moves to the doorway as they walk up, “He wouldn’t leave?”

  Shaking his head, Jiron says, “That guy simply would not listen. It wouldn’t sink in that no amount of money could sway you.” Cracking a grin, he adds, “So I finally had to chase him off.”

  Returning the grin, James says, “Yeah, I saw that.”

  “The problem is,” explains Roland, “is that word about you is getting around. People are talking I’m afraid.”

  “Oh?” he asks. “And just what are they saying?”

  “Mainly that you’re a mage and that you’ve helped some people out,” answers Roland.

  “Great, notoriety,” sighs James. “That’s just what I wanted.” Glancing at Jiron, he continues, “Would you mind going into town tonight and find out just what they’re saying? I’d like to know.”

  “Sure,” he says. “I can take a couple of the guys and down a few at the Squawking Goose.” Then he smiles and a short laugh escapes him.

  “What?” James asks.

  “Did you ever hear why the place is called the Squawking Goose?” he asks.

  He sees Roland start to grin as he shakes his head and says, “No.”

  “Well, it’s rumored that the owner’s wife never shuts up, and, well that’s it,” he replies.

  “He named it after his wife?” James asks incredulously. “Doesn’t she get mad?”

  “This is the funny part,” says Roland. “The wife doesn’t know, she thinks it’s because they serve goose a lot. But she does talk more than most.”

  All three start to laugh. Roland grabs his axe from where he’d set it down and heads back to the wood pile. They can hear his laughter as he walks away.

  “Going back to the crystals?” Jiron asks.

  “I think so,” he replies. “I might have had it, if it wasn’t for that pest.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out and make sure you’re not disturbed again,” he assures him.

  “I’d appreciate that,” James says. He turns to go through the house and out the kitchen door as Jiron exits through the front door. Giving Ezra and Arkie a quick nod, he leaves the house and makes for his workshop.

  Once inside, he closes the door and relishes the peace and quiet of it. Before resuming his tests, he sits at the workbench and tries to calm himself and to get his mind to stop churning about the interruption.

  Picking up another of the crystals that lay on his workbench, he rolls it between his fingers absentmindedly as he recalls the spell he used the last time. When he thinks he’s remembered it exactly and his mind is better able to focus, he takes the crystal and places it on the table after clearing a spot for it among the shattered remains of his previous experiments.

  He moves back to where he was before and then concentrates only briefly before letting the magic flow. This time he lets it go quickly and braces himself for the crystal to shatter, but it remains intact.

  The leeching of magic from him begins and the reddish glow can be seen growing within it as it holds more power. When it darkens to a deep crimson, he backs a few more steps away nervously, just in case. But, as before, the crystal reaches a certain point and the leeching diminishes until it’s almost imperceptible.

  He watches it for several minutes, giving it time to explode if it was going to and then starts toward the table where he picks up the crystal. The deep crimson color isn’t a light, it’s simply a part of the crystal. The leeching of power suddenly stops altogether. Must’ve reached its limit so it shut down.

  Satisfied, he sets the crystal down on the workbench. He picks up another of the crystals and takes it over to the test table to see if he can duplicate the results. Setting it down, he moves away from it and casts the spell again.

  This time, the leeching of power is much less. Odd, he thinks to himself. I would’ve thought it would be the same.

  He watches the crystal and the reddish glow begins to form within, just as the previous one. As it reaches the deep crimson color, it begins subsiding again as if it’s losing power.

  The leeching abruptly stops and he watches as the red glow within the crystal begins pulsating from light to dark. Gradually, almost imperceptible, he starts feeling a vibration in the air.

  Taking a few steps back from the crystal, he looks around the room for the source of the vibration. Suddenly, his eyes fall upon the first crystal that’s lying on his workbench. It too is going from light to dark and back again. They’re leeching each other!

  The vibration in the air begins to get worse and he can see the two crystals begin to vibrate where they sit. Casting out his magic, he tries to stop each of the crystal’s active spells. But instead, his magic is sucked into them, each taking half and almost seems to be fighting for what the other had taken.

  Cutting off his magic, he looks to the crystals and now both are a deep crimson after having taken more of his magic. The vibration increases and a high pitched tone can be heard.

  Realizing he may not have much time, he dives for the door and hits the ground outside just as both crystals explode at the same time. The resultant explosion is by far the worse yet of any failed experiment and actually cracks one of the walls of his workshop.

  As he gets up off the ground, he sees the girls coming out of the kitchen door and Jiron and Roland running around the side of the house. Roland has his axe ready and Jiron’s knives are out as he looks for attackers.

  James holds up his hands and says, “It’s okay, I’m alright.”

  “What happened?” Tersa asks as she comes to his side.

  “Just another experiment that didn’t go quite the way I planned,” he explains.

  Replacing his knives, Jiron says, “You need to be more careful.”

  “I know, but there’s no one to teach me about this stuff,” he tells them. “I try to be, but magic isn’t exactly the easiest thing to work with.”

  “Probably why there’re darn few mages in the world,” Roland adds.

  Nodding his head, James replies, “Most likely.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Ezra asks. When she gets an affirmative from him, she says, “Alright then, just don’t do it again.” Then she turns and with Tersa in tow, returns to the house.

  “Let’s see what happened,” Jiron says as he moves toward the workshop.

  The interior of the workshop is a shambles. His desk now has a large hole in it and the test table has completely disintegrated, shards and pieces of wood coat every surface of the wor
kshop. The other crystals that had been lying on the workbench are gone, most likely are part of the crystal shards scattered all over. He checks the sack of crystals on the floor and finds them unscathed, much to his relief.

  “Man, what a mess,” exclaims Roland as he enters the ruined workshop. Shaking his head, he picks up a broom in a corner and begins to sweep up the debris.

  “Here,” Jiron says to James as he takes one end of the ruined workbench, “let’s take this out.”

  Taking the other side, James lifts it up and they carry it out where they set it down along the side of the building. When they come back in, Roland pauses in his sweeping and says to James, “You go on in the house while I clean this up. You look like you could use a rest.”

  Suddenly feeling how tired he really is, he replies, “Thanks, I think I’ll do just that.”

  “We’ll get this place cleaned up and you can start again tomorrow,” Jiron assures him.

  “Alright,” he says and then leaves them to finish cleaning up the mess. Returning to the house, he’s greeted by Ezra in the kitchen with a cup of ale. Taking it, he says, “Thank you.” He then moves on out to the front room where he sits in a chair by the window and stares out while he sips his ale.

  The spells had taken more out of him than he realized, must’ve been concentrating too much on the effects of the spells and less on the effects they were having on him. He sits back and relaxes as he thinks of what went wrong.

  When the second one began to leech from its surroundings, of course it would take magic from the other one. Then when the first began to drop in power, it started leeching from the second, and so forth.

  The strain of working against each other must’ve been what caused them to begin vibrating and ultimately explode. Going to have to find a way around that.

  He must’ve dozed off for a while, for when he comes awake, it’s near dusk and he sees Illan coming back with the hunters. They have several large game animals and Miko seems very happy with himself. Getting out of the chair, he opens the door and goes outside.