Warded Mage (Reawakening Saga)

by Jackson, D. W.

  CHAPTER XVIII

  Thad slowly opened his eyes. He wasn’t sure where he was but the fact that every part of his body seemed to scream out in pain let him know he was alive. Slowly his senses began to clear, and he could hear the faint sound of Crusher snoring off in the distance. Looking up Thad could see the light clouds floating above him. From the looks of the sky, it was still early morning, meaning he had slept for a good amount of time.

  Thad slid his hands to his side and pushed himself into a sitting position. Sharp pains ran though his right arm, head, and chest with each movement. Thad slowly ran his left hand over where the pain was coming from and found that he had many bandages covering his body. “Ya looked quite the mess when we found ya. If it weren’t for that mutt of yers you’d have been worm food.” Thad turned his head slowly, his eyes squinting in response to the pain that ripped from the small movement. Brianna stood to his left carrying a small bowl in her hands. Her right shoulder and left leg were heavily bandaged but other than that, she looked as if she had fared well in her own fight.

  “How is everyone?” Thad asked his voice sounding weak even to his own ears.

  Brianna sat down beside him and placed the bowl on his lap. Gruel, not his favorite meal but it was better than nothing. “Yer mutt took a few nasty blows and Arianna has been fussin over her all night. Crusher took a couple hits here and there and a fierce blow ta tha head but thankfully he’s got boulders fer brains.” Brianna said laughing at her own jest.

  It was good that everyone had made it out of the battle alive, but Thad knew that it was due to luck as much as it was skill. Thad had to figure out a way to fight against the Brotherhood and their white swords otherwise eventually he knew their luck would run dry. His first thought was of the glass orbs that he had used back at Southpass Fort. While the white swords could absorb the magic the force behind the blast should still be able to take out the ones unprotected and even those with swords should take a fair amount of damage, but there was also a large possibility of hurting his in the process. There had to be something he could do, the problem was he had too little experience with fighting against the Brotherhood and their swords. “Did we get all of the Brotherhood?”

  “A few were able ta scamper off but I don’t think they will be coming back anytime soon.” Brianna replied her voice showing her displeasure.

  “Can you bring me some of the white swords the Brotherhood uses? Even if we can’t find a use for them, getting as many away from them as we can, has to be a good thing.” Thad said despondently, as his mind began to sort through different things that might work against the swords.

  “Brianna simply nodded her head and walked away from him. Thad didn’t bother to follow her with his eyes, he knew she would do as he asked. That was one of the good things about Brianna, she seemed to know what he was thinking when it was important. I don’t like the idea of having those cursed swords around, they make me feel uneasy. Thad looked to his side where his staff rested against a tree. “We need to find a way to fight against them otherwise we won’t last long.” I can understand that but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Thad laughed silently; though he had to agree with his staff, having the white swords around wouldn’t be pleasant.

  A short time later, Brianna returned carrying four white swords. He was sure there had been more than that but four was more than enough for him to start experimenting. Remember what you were told, it’s dangerous to play around with those swords. Sae-Thae’s story quickly came to the forefront of his mind. He had completely forgotten about it before now. He would have to be careful but he still had to find a way to counter the white swords. Painfully, Thad scooted toward his pack and began rummaging through its contents until he pulled out a bundle of parchment and quills. The first step to anything should be planning. Thad had already learned firsthand the dangers of rushing ahead, where magic was concerned.

  Thad closed his eyes and tried to remember his few encounters with the white swords. His first encounter was the only time he had really tried to use magic against the wielder. None of his direct attacks or defensive spells had worked then, but he had been able to suck the man into the stone below his feet. Thad couldn’t remember how he had performed the magic exactly, but he was sure he could reproduce the effect though affecting a large area would be extremely draining. If he could think of other ways to use his magic to indirectly attack the wielder he wouldn’t be as limited during the battles. Thad quickly began to write down any ideas that came to his mind that might work but he quickly found himself staring at the page with nothing more coming to mind. How about shooting things forward with your magic?” His staff interjected after a few moments.

  Thad was shocked at the simplicity of the idea. Thad quickly picked up a stone that lay beside him and launched the stone forward with a blast of energy. The stone flew straight and imbedded itself in a tree more than fifty yards away. It looked like the basic idea would work but that didn’t mean that it would work against the white swords. Painfully Thad pulled himself to his feet, picked up one of the white swords, and stuck it in the ground in front of the tree he had hit with the rock earlier.

  Once the sword was in place Thad began to gather up stones until he had a nice sized pile stacked out in front of him. Thad closed his eyes and examined the white sword. There was a foot on either side of the sword’s blade that absorbed the magical energy. As long as his rocks were able to pass that area and still maintain enough force to do damage, then his test would be a success.

  First Thad picked up a single stone and launched it directly at the blade. The stone rushed forward faster than a bolt from a crossbow, when it struck the air was filled with the ringing of metal, that told the sword had been solidly struck. So far, everything was going well, the stone had struck the sword hard enough to pull it from its place in the ground, and it now lay on the ground near the tree. Thad replaced the sword in its originally place and retook his place in front of the pile of stones. This time he tried to fire as many stones at once as he could manage. Fifteen stones flew forward with eerie speed and accuracy striking the area around the sword without touching its blade. The wood of the tree splintered and burst flying in all directions. Thad had gotten plenty of practice with using projectiles during his time in the Underearth but Thad had never considered using them against the Brotherhood.

  Reaching into his pack, Thad pulled out of his pouches of magical stones out. It had been a while since he had used them but they felt comfortable in his hand as he rolled them through his fingers. Thad launched one of the magical orbs at the sword and listened to the sound of the metal reverberating as the sword was lifted once again this time throwing it hard against the tree behind it.

  Thad slipped on the ring that went with the stones and tried to recall the one he had shot but nothing happened. Thad slowly began his search and after a half hour, he found where the magical orb had found its resting spot. It was still in one piece but Thad could no longer feel any of his magic within it. Therefore, while it had struck the sword, it had been stripped of all its enchantments. That would make using them a waste, when a regular metal orb would do the same amount of damage. Just for good measure, Thad strapped the pouch of magical orbs to his belt and left the ring on. While they couldn’t be used against the Brotherhood they were still a useful weapon.

  “What are ya doing playing with those stones?” Brianna asked as she pressed her body up against his.

  Thad looked down at the pile of stones at his feet. “I am trying to find a way to fight against the Brotherhood with my magic. As long as the end result of the attack doesn’t carry any magic then it can still work. That is why I was testing to see if projectiles fired, using magical energy would work. It seems they will, but rocks won’t do much damage against strong armor and I don’t want to use up my enchanted metal orbs. It would be nice if we had some spare metal to make some more but unless there is a vein close by it looks like I am out of luck.” Thad said his brow furrowed deep in tho
ught.

  Brianna tilted her head slightly, the way she did whenever she was thinking. Thad found the slight twitching of her mouth as she chewed on her bottom lip was cute. “I’ll be right back.” Brianna said as she jumped up and rushed off. This time Thad turned his head and watched her as she disappeared. Even injured she moved effortlessly, either she had a body made of stone or she had too much energy, especially for a dwarf.

  Still he had a few ideas to try out against the white sword. Thad was in no rush. His body was still in pain and he knew that pushing himself would only reduce his healing time. Looking around he located both Crusher and Avalanche who were nearby. Crusher was awake now and was grumbling to himself. He was always like this after a battle. Not wanting to deal with the grumpy dwarf, Thad decided to check on Avalanche.

  Arianna was curled up with Avalanche. It was the first time Thad had seen the Nadirie wearing anything but a smile. She looked anxious, making Thad slightly worried that Avalanche’s wounds might have been worse than Brianna had surmised. Kneeling down Thad closed his eyes and examined Avalanche with his magical sight. She had a number of small nicks and one rather large cut near her midriff. The magic flowing to each damaged area felt slightly off. Thad sent his own magic into Avalanche while he reached into the earth. The areas that were cut away from her slowly filled but the magical flow to those areas was still weak. Thad had no idea of how to fix the flow, he could only wait to see if it strengthened over time.

  As soon as he was finished, Avalanche slightly raised her head from where it rested and looked at him with her large gleaming eyes. “Thank you for helping me out.” Thad whispered lightly. Avalanche simply stared at him for a few moments before laying her head back down. For a moment, Thad wished he could talk to Avalanche the same way he could his staff but quickly changed his mind. With his luck, Avalanche would be more annoying than his staff. Sometimes it was best just to enjoy a silent relationship.

  Annoying, so it that how you view me? Thad stopped his musings and looked around as if searching for the speaker. “Having something that can read your thoughts whenever it pleases tends to fall in that area.” Thad retorted, smiling to himself. His staff remained silent giving Thad the feeling that it was brooding over something. Ever since his time in the Underearth, Thad had known, his staff had a temperamental nature, though he was just starting to learn how temperamental it was. In a lot of ways, his staff acted like a child, in others it seemed more mature than him. In a way it reflected his own nature, though that thought wasn’t one that made him feel good.

  A rattling noise from behind him caught his attention. Turning around, Thad saw Brianna who carried three large bags, but the noise was coming from the numerous armor and weapons that were strung together with ropes that trailed behind her. “What are you doing?” Thad yelled his voice cracking slightly from the laughter that threatened to boil over.

  Brianna huffing hard stopped in front of Thad, letting the bags in her arms drop to the ground. “Ya said ya need some meta,l so I figured that using the leftovers from tha battle couldn’t hurt anything, not like tha dead need’em anymore.” Thad bent down and opened one of the bags to find it filled with small metal objects that ranged from small knives to small bags of coins. The tempered metal would be harder to mold but they would be harder once they were formed into pellets.

  Thad quickly looked in the bags noticing that one was filled with water skins and a small amount of warriors’ rations, mostly hard tack and dried meat. “Thanks this will work fine?” Thad said giving Brianna a bright smile. Brianna blushed slightly, making Thad laugh. She was a bawdy woman who wouldn’t blush even if she was stripped and forced to run through the tunnels nude, but whenever she was thanked for something, she would light up like the morning sky.

  Thad quickly sorted through the bags and placed the items into three piles. One was for coins and other items that were worth keeping. The other two piles were that of small daggers that Thad wanted to try placing different enchantments on. The last pile was that of weapons and other metal items that were more of a burden to carry and he could use to make metal pellets. Thad felt a strong hand rest on his soldier, turning his head slightly he found Crusher staring at him hard. “I don’t like staying so close ta the area where we fought. Don’t ya think we should try making it ta town as quickly as possible? Never know when tha Brotherhood will send more of their lackeys after us.”

  Crusher was right it wasn’t a good idea to stay so close to the battleground, but they also had little choice. “I know you’re in a hurry to get moving but there is little we can do. None of us are really in any condition to be moving around too much. It would be better for us to rest for a few days. There is no reason to rush, if the Brotherhood had more soldiers in the area they would have come with the last group.”

  Crusher rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a few moments, his face wrinkled in thought. “I guess that’s true, but never know when tha next batch of them will come crawling out of tha ground.”

  Crusher was right more soldiers could be headed in their direction now, but Thad didn’t think that was the case. Most likely, they thought the force they had detached was enough to take care of them, otherwise they would have waited to attack until they were certain of victory. That didn’t mean their weren’t more enemies in the area, it just meant that next time they would send more, making it even more important that he find ways to counter their white swords. “Just give me a few days before we continue. I think we can all use the rest.”

  Crusher grunted and walked off. Thad knew that Crusher understood what he was saying, but the dwarf was stubborn and even if he understood, he would act as if he still wanted to keep moving. It was mostly an act but sometimes it was hard to tell the difference. Forgetting about Crusher and his moody nature, Thad turned his attention back to the items gathered in front of him. Now he was faced with the decision to work on the other ideas he had first or to make metal pellets to use. He only had a few ideas that might or might not work. The metal pellets were guaranteed to work but he would need more than that if he wanted to survive. Thad still had a few ideas but that didn’t seem like enough. There had to be more that he could do but nothing was coming to mind.

  Thad picked up a sword and flipped it over in his hands. It was made of good metal though it didn’t have any distinguishing marks. With the sword alone, he could make nearly thirty metal pellets. Right now he could fire about fifteen pellets at one time accurately. With tightly packed opponents they wouldn’t be able to dodge them very effectively, and the pellets would still be extremely effective with his opposition spread out, if he was able to make the pellets fast enough even a skilled warrior would have a hard time dodging. Their main weakness was that in close quarters they were useless, using them would expose him to unneeded danger.

  Sitting the sword aside Thad picked up one of the smaller daggers and flipped it up in the air letting it fall blade first into the ground. The dagger wasn’t very balanced, with a very heavy blade, but that meant that it would usually fall with its blade into the ground, the handle was light meaning there was less chance of its weight causing trouble later on. In a fight, he would hate to rely on such a weapon but it was perfect for what he was needing. Smiling to himself, Thad pulled the dagger out of the ground, flipped it higher into the air, and watched as it once again lodged itself in the dirt.

  You always seem happy when you’re playing around with your toys. “That’s because it’s fun to see what all I can do.” Thad replied as he pulled out the parchment and began writing out what he planned to do with the dagger. He would need one of the smaller gems in his pack but he had plenty to spare.

  Thad pulled a small garnet about the size of an acorn out of his pouch and placed it against where the blade and hilt met. Focusing he made the metal part like water and let the gem slid into it. Once the gem was firmly affixed to the dagger, Thad began the next stage of the enchantment. He knew that to make a lasting enchantment he should use more gems and balan
ce out their duties but he decided that wasn’t needed. One strike from one of the white swords would destroy the enchantments placed on the weapon, unless he designed it like his staff, and that would take weeks of tedious work.

  Thad’s hands stopped moving as a thought occurred to him. “Why didn’t his staff’s magical enchantments stop working when it was hit by one of the white swords?” the question bothered him. At first, he hadn’t given it much thought but after seeing how the magical pellets were affect the question began to nag at him. I don’t know either but I know each time one of those cursed blades touched me it was as if I had to fight just to stay aware. His sword hadn’t been affected either, Thad could still feel the magical energies gathering within it. Maybe it had to do with the strength of the enchantment. Thad ran his hand over his head pulling at his hair slightly. Why hadn’t the enchantments been destroyed like the others? It was an important question but one he didn’t have an answer to, there were just too many unknown elements. The only way to start to understand the way the swords effected enchantments was to use the sword against them. It was a good plan but one that would take a lot of time and in the end might destroy anything he made. Right now, it just wasn’t a viable option.

  After a few moments, Thad slammed his fist hard into the ground. It was frustrating, but for now he didn’t have the luxury of worrying about how the white swords worked. It was more important to focus on a way to get around them and attack the wielder. In the future, when he had time, he would have to examine the white swords more in depth but right now it just wasn’t possible. Thad forcibly had to set aside his worries, leaving a tight feeling in his stomach. After taking a deep breath, Thad picked up one of the regular swords and started his work. Right now, he only needed to do what he could and leave the rest for later.