Even in the scant light from the stars above, the crescent shaped patch around its left eye was unmistakable. It was the same as had come in Uncle Miko’s temple.
Jira kept still as the Little Brother ate the apple slice. When the sound of its chewing ceased, she cut another. This time, she held it out upon her upturned palm. Would it take it? Resuming the soothing melody, she waited.
By small, hesitant steps it drew nearer.
Her arm grew cramped from been extended for such a prolonged period of time, but she feared that shifting to a more comfortable position would ruin what she hoped to accomplish. Come on, Little Brother. It’s okay.
When it snatched the apple slice out of her hand, she fought the squeal of delight that threatened to burst forth. Though only a barely-heard gurgle escaped, it was enough to startle the earth spirit and she was once again alone in the dark.
Inside she was jumping up and down with joy. Removing another slice from the apple, she laid it upon her palm, extended her arm, and waited.
Chapter Fifteen
Moving about in daylight was risky to say the least. At the slightest indication they might encounter someone, be it a farmer or patrol, they would press farther into the scrub-brushed landscape.
There were few farms that needed navigating around. In some, farmers toiled in their fields while others remained vacant. It was while they skirted an abandoned-looking building set off in the distance amidst a sparse collection of scraggly looking trees that James brought his horse to a sudden stop.
“Magic.”
“Where?” Jiron came next to him while scanning the surrounding countryside.
The rest converged on them as they, too, sought the source of what James felt.
He pointed toward the lone building. “I’m not entirely sure, but I think over there.”
After a moment’s scrutiny, Jiron said, “I don’t see anything.”
“Neither do I,” added Potbelly.
“Irregardless, there is magic coming from over there.” James glanced to Miko for confirmation and received a nod.
“I feel it too. It is only present for a moment before disappearing, only to reappear again.”
While keeping his gaze pinioned on the building, Scar asked, “Should we investigate?”
“My first impulse is to say no. But then I think about what we had to deal with back at the mine.”
“It’s another stupid mage?” By stupid, of course, Jira referred to a mage who didn’t know what he was doing.
James glanced to her and chuckled. “Stupid or otherwise, it’s definitely a mage.”
The intermittent pricklings continued and grew annoying. Then when a sustained one struck, he turned to Jiron. “Let’s check it out.”
“All of us?” Scar asked.
“Yes, but let Miko and me lead the way.”
The Pit Master gave a nod. “Not a problem.”
“What’s the matter, Scar?” Potbelly asked. “You’ve got that protective medallion.”
As more than one took humor at Scar’s expense, he took a swing at Potbelly only to miss by a solid foot; which only fueled their laughter.
James eyed the pair. “Enough.” Nudging his horse into motion, he turned it toward the building and broke into a canter. Miko fell in beside him.
The building turned out to be the remnants of a barn; most of it having collapsed some time ago. Of the farmhouse, there was nothing. No chimney, nor any other evidence that would indicate where it had been.
As James approached, he heard Miko say, “Odd.” Motioning for him to remain silent, James nodded to the barn and mouthed, In there.
The side facing them spanned fifteen feet, hardly more than a fourth of its original size. James reached the side, and as he moved to look through a gap, heard the unmistakable mooing of a cow.
Surprised, but not deterred, he peered through and saw a brown and white bull with an impressive pair of horns staring back. The micro pulses of prickling resumed once again, indicating magic was still being performed nearby.
A quick scan failed to reveal the source of the magic. Moving along the side of the barn, he reached where it had collapsed and peered around to the inside. Again, all he found was the cow. His attention then went to the opposite side of the barn. Less than ten feet of it remained intact, but it was of sufficient size to conceal the presence of a mage.
James pantomimed for Miko to go around the other side while he crossed the interior so they could come at it from either side. When Miko nodded and headed off in a quick, but silent pace, James eyed the bull warily.
It stood between him and where the mage had to be hiding. Hoping that the bull would not take exception to being disturbed, James eased past the edge of the wall and entered the barn’s interior. Other than eyeing him curiously, the bull failed to react.
“Easy, boy,” he said ever so quietly.
Taking each step so as not to startle the bull, he crossed to the far side. By the time he arrived, the bull had resumed eating the short grass that had sprouted at this end of the barn. Figuring Miko to have already gone around the barn and would be at the other end by now, he made ready to summon the magic at the merest hint of attack and then peered around the corner. The space was empty. There was no mage, yet the intermittent prickling persisted.
Miko peered around the far side of the barn and upon seeing James, came forward. Keeping his voice low, he asked, “Where is the mage?”
James shrugged. “I don’t know.”
With little in the way of trees or large areas of standing brush to hide behind, any mage in the vicinity should have been readily detected. And other than the continued micro-pulses of tickling, James would be hard pressed to believe that anyone, let alone a mage, was even in the area.
Invisible?
He gave such a thought little credence. For one thing, if a mage were using magic to cloak his whereabouts, the prickling would remain constant. The fact that the pulses were intermittent seemed to indicate the magic was not continual. Therefore, no invisible mage. So where was it coming from?
A barely heard zapping reminiscent of static electricity intruded upon James’ inner contemplation. Glancing around, he asked, “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“Something…”
Zap!
“There!”
Miko nodded. “I heard it too. I think,” he said as he turned toward the barn, “it came from within the barn.”
James stepped back within what remained of the interior and was greeted with a curious, bovine stare.
“There’s nothing…”
Before the statement could be finished, a spark ignited upon the upper rear portion of the bull, not far from the tail. With his senses no longer concentrating on locating a mage, he caught a whiff of char in the air.
“No way.”
James stared with complete disbelief. From tail to ears, the bulls hide showed an array of diminutive, charred sections of burnt hair.
Miko followed his gaze just as a fly landed.
Zap!
A spark and the fly were no more.
Turning an incredulous look upon James, Miko asked, “Are you telling me that the cow is the mage?”
Not answering right away, James gathered the magic to him and sent his senses forward to investigate. Everything about the bull appeared normal, until another circling fly landed on its shoulder.
Zap!
“It’s the cow.”
“But how?”
James shrugged. “Magic is in everything. Somehow, the limited intelligence this cow possesses has managed to work it.” A thoughtful look came over him. “Unless, it was not always as it is now.”
“You mean this cow could once have been a mage?”
“After what we encountered at the mine…?”
Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned to see Jiron with knife in hand step into the barn.
“Any sign of the mage?”
Miko grinned as James nodded an
d pointed to the cow. “There he is.”
Jiron laughed, then realized the pair was serious. “The cow?”
“Apparently,” James replied.
“It has been zapping flies,” Miko explained.
Still unsure as to whether or not he continued being the butt of a joke, Jiron stared skeptically at the bull. “That’s a mage, huh?” Seconds ticked by and he was about to call them on their joke when a flash ended the life of yet another annoying insect.
“If I hadn’t seen it, I would never have believed it.”
Seemingly unconcerned with the nearby trio of humans, the bull resumed his meal of grass.
James indicated with a nod for them to leave the barn. “Have you ever heard of an animal that could do magic?”
Miko shook his head while Jiron replied, “Never.”
Coming from the barn, James waved for the others to approach and filled them in on what had been found.
Scar got a gleam in his eye, looked within the barn then turned to James. “What are you planning to do?”
“Do?”
He jerked his head toward the barn. “About the bull.”
“Going to kill it?” Potbelly asked. The sidelong glance he cast to Scar said he hoped that the bull would be spared.
To Miko. James asked, “What do you think?”
“I see no reason why the bull must be destroyed. It is benign and unlikely to progress any further with its magical abilities.”
“Do we know that for sure?”
Miko shook his head. “No.”
Jira stepped forward. “You can’t kill it!”
“It’s an aberration,” Tinok interjected. “What if other animals learned from it? Things could get dicey.”
Father Keller laughed. “It’s a cow,” he stated as if such a thought was utter idiocy.
“Bull, actually,” Miko corrected.
Tinok scowled at the priest. “Think on this. It destroys the flies because they annoy it. What happens if an unwitting farmer, or child, annoys it? Will it be able to make the distinction between a human and a fly? Or will it do the same to whatever bothers it?”
Jiron glanced to James. “He does have a point.”
“Yes. I hadn’t considered that.” Sighing, he turned toward the barn. “Let us see what it does when it gets bothered.” As he stepped forward, he said to the others, “Better stay back.”
He re-entered the barn. The bull lifted its head from where it had been grazing. Their eyes locked.
The shimmering of his shield sprang into being as he moved toward the beast. Actually, he felt rather silly worrying about the possibility of a magical contest with a bull. After all, like Father Keller had said, it was just a cow. The shield was in place more for the likelihood of the bull charging than anything else.
“Hey, boy,” he said in a calm voice as he drew nearer.
The bull’s head lowered and his right front hoof dug into the dirt.
James paused to see if it would charge, then angled to move around the bull and come at its hindquarters.
A snort, another pawing, but the bull remained stoic. Its head followed his movements.
Now within reach, James raised his arm then brought the flat of his hand down hard…
Zap!
Though he was prepared, the blast of magic from the bull was far stronger than anticipated. The smell of ozone filled the air and he knew that had his shield not been in place, he would be one toasty critter.
“Tinok was right,” he muttered at the bovine countenance, “we can’t leave you alive.” Sadness came over him as he knew what he had to do.
Bending over, he picked a stone from off the ground…
James glanced sadly at Jiron as he exited the barn.
“Is it over?”
“Yes.” Then his eyes went to Jira and he felt even worse for she knew the truth.
Potbelly went to the side of the barn and glanced within. There he saw the aftereffects of one of James’ magically-propelled stones and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the cow no longer lived.
“Pity.”
“It is,” James agreed.
“How could such a thing come about?” Father Vickor questioned.
“Magic is in everything around us. All it takes is a focused mind and the strength to bend it to your will for anyone to make magic work.”
Father Vickor failed to look convinced.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t have thought a cow had sufficient intelligence to work magic.”
“Apparently, they do.”
James glanced to Jiron and nodded. “Apparently so. Though its magic was rudimentary and raw, it was still effective for what it wanted to do.”
“Such as zapping flies?” Scar asked.
“If I was a cow, that’s how I would use magic,” replied Potbelly.
His friend turned to him and grinned. “Flies do like to hang around you.”
As chuckles sprang forth from more than one source, Jiron asked, “Think there could be others?”
“I doubt it,” James replied. “Since no one has ever heard of this before…” his gaze went from one to another, each time receiving a shake of the head or a “no.”
“Then I think this was a one in a million occurrence.”
When his gaze settled upon Scar, he noticed that the Pit Master’s expression had turned thoughtful.
“Do you think a cow could be taught to do magic?”
“I don’t think that’s...,” began James
“People would come from all around to see a cow that could do magic,” Potbelly added. The gleam in his eye matched that of his partner.
“That would be incredibly dangerous and foolish,” Miko warned.
“Not for us,” Potbelly assured. “We’d hire someone to take care of it.”
“Might have to build a separate Pit just for the cow.”
Potbelly nodded. “Why should we limit ourselves to just a cow? Surely there must be other, more intelligent animals that could be taught to wield magic.”
“No!”
Every eye turned to James. “I absolutely forbid it. You’d be opening a Pandora’s Box that might never be closed.”
“But, we’d be careful,” Scar argued.
“I’ll lay waste to the Pits before I allow such a venture to prosper.”
Such was the conviction filling James’ voice that the Pit Master was taken aback. He’d known The Dark Mage for many a year and had rarely heard that tone in his voice. But when he had, James meant business.
“It was but a thought,” Potbelly replied.
James eyed the pair with all the authority he could muster. “See that it remains so.” Then to Jiron he said, “Let’s get out of here.”
As they mounted and prepared to continue their journey, a small voice asked, “Who’s Pandora?”
They managed to avoid detection for two days. On the third, they spied riders off to the west and despite their best efforts, were unable to escape undetected. When it became clear that the patrol meant to intercept, they came to a halt.
“Should we make a run for it?” Scar asked.
James eyed the approaching riders and counted twenty in all. He then cast his glance about the desolate and barren countryside. “No. We’ll deal with this here.” Seeing the gleam in more eyes than that of Tinok, he announced, “We are not attacking.”
Tinok’s expression turned sour. “Why not?”
“That is not why we are here. If we can get through this without killing them, we will.”
Jiron nodded. “No point in drawing more attention to ourselves than we must. A lost patrol would not go unnoticed.”
“But what if they attack?” Shorty asked.
James eyed the advancing patrol once more and sighed. Such an outcome was assuredly possible. “That would prove unfortunate…for them.” He then turned to Scar. “Say and do nothing to provoke them.”
“Who, me?” Scar was innocence personified.
“Don’t worry,” P
otbelly said, “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
A derisive snort was immediately followed by Father Keller mumbling, “That’ll be the day.”
As the thundering of the riders grew in volume, James said, “We are on our way to investigate trade possibilities with merchants in various cities beginning with Korazan, nothing more. Short of being taken prisoner or being forced to endure an escort, go along with whatever they say.”
Scar nodded. “As you wish.”
With Potbelly at his side, he moved several feet forward to wait for the riders. Over half had crossbows slung across their backs, the rest bore swords. The insignia emblazoned upon their left breasts was that of twin swords crossed within a red circle.
“They’re Kazan’s men,” Miko announced.
Warlord Kazan holds all lands north of the Tears of the Empress, west to the mountains and east to the Kirkens. His raiding parties are made up of cutthroats, murderers; basically the dregs of society. Unfortunately, he’s recruited enough of them to hold off the other Warlords, so far.
Illan’s words replayed through James’ mind as Jiron said, “We’re not going to avoid bloodshed.”
“We may yet.”
James didn’t believe the words even as he uttered them. Intelligence reports indicated that Kazan’s men preyed as much upon their own people as they did those of the other Warlords abutting their territory. Caravans were about the only ones free from molestation. Without them, Kazan’s economy would utterly fail.
Tinok dismounted and came to stand where Scar and Potbelly waited. Scar glanced down to him, nodded, then returned his attention back to the approaching riders. He laid a hand upon his sword hilt.
As the riders approached, four moved toward Scar, Potbelly and Tinok while the others fanned out into a semi-circle. Three of the four wore uniforms similar to the others, the fourth sported a dark helm with a silver plume; a rare affectation among Empire soldiery. This had to be the leader. The leader and his escort stopped within speaking distance.
“Have you lost your way, travelers?”
“No,” Scar replied. “Merely avoiding the hustle and bustle of the main road.”
Tides of Faith: Travail of The Dark Mage Book Two Page 20
