Beginning of a Hero (Legends of Windemere)

by Charles E Yallowitz

  “Luke!” Nimby yells as the remaining flames die down. He looks out from behind a pile of gold to see the warrior lying on his back. The half-elf’s blonde hair is singed at the edges and smoke rises off his clothing, but he looks otherwise untouched by the inferno.

  “How in all of Windemere did you survive that?” Fritz asks. He scrambles over to Luke who is getting to his feet and patting himself down to make sure nothing is on fire. “There is no way an unprotected body could withstand a fireball of that magnitude. Don’t get me wrong. It is good to see you’re alright, boy, but I just don’t get it. Your survival does not have any support from nature and you lack the magical ability to protect yourself.”

  “I don’t know, Fritz. I closed my eyes and it felt like the fire got pushed away by something,” Luke answers, drawing his swords again. The look on Fritz’s face begs him for a better explanation. “It was like some kind of . . . bridge carried the fire over me. I could have sworn I was going to die, but I’m fine now. So, let’s finish what we came here to do.”

  “Maybe he’s immortal,” Nimby whispers into Fritz’s ear.

  “Then, why does he keep ending up in the infirmary?” Fritz counters with a wry smile. “I think he’s just lucky. He probably managed to fall where a strong air current was set up to protect the person who owns this place. Even an owner needs a failsafe in case they set off their own traps. I do hope that trap is the worst of what we have to deal with. My old nerves can’t take too much more.” Fritz begins sifting through gems and gold with extra attention given to any rings or necklaces buried within the piles.

  Aedyn quietly chants a spell as the others blindly search around the room. They see that his eyes are glowing gold as he purposely makes his way to a suit of armor. He continues wandering around the room, checking specific items while the others sit back and watch. Aedyn turns to the others and freezes when he catches Luke’s eye. The priest shakes his head, making a sharp hand gesture to end the spell. He rubs at his eyes before facing his friends with a look of disappointment.

  “Most of the weapons are minor magic items with either. They are either enhanced durability or a small elemental charge. A few protection rings and healing items are scattered about the piles. They are nothing to get excited about,” Aedyn reports. Out of mild curiosity, he picks up a few coins and drops them into the pile at his feet. “I find myself wondering why this cavern is here. This room has enough gear for a small army. All of these weapons have been made in the last twenty years, so it is not an ancient stash. It also means the magic in these items is new and not as potent as older weapons would be.”

  “Could they help us?” Nimby asks.

  “The magic is too weak to handle a Hellfire Elf or a Lich,” Aedyn replies with a sigh.

  Luke gently bangs his saber against a suit of platemail. “Not to mention that all of the gear is unsuitable for us. For armor, this place only has heavy armor and a few scraps of chainmail. If any of us tried to wear this armor, we would be slowed down to the point of uselessness or end up being too loud. The swords are two-handers, rapiers, and longswords. I prefer my sabers to these. Everything else is either an axe or a polearm, which none of us are trained to use. This gear is better suited for soldiers than us, so I guess this was a wasted trip. At least we made it here in one piece.”

  “And it showed that we can work as a team too. That’s a plus,” Nimby adds, tucking a few coins into his pockets.

  “Couldn’t we have just played a sport instead of doing this? It would be healthier and not give me nightmares about becoming roasted meat,” Fritz says before a loud rumbling from his stomach fills the air. “Now that’s something I could go for. Beats the healthy slop we get three times a day. I should talk to Selenia about having a meal like that once a day for the staff. The special weekend meals are simply not enough.”

  “I always wondered what roasted gnome would taste like. Guess after you ask her, I’ll get to find out,” Nimby jokes.

  Aedyn hits the floor with his staff for everyone’s attention. “Can we please stop with this disgusting topic and get out of here? There might be more dangers that our constant talking will awaken. We should go before more trouble finds us.”

  They start to search the wall for a switch to open the door when a suit of armor rattles off to their left. Luke barely hears the sound of something moving among the coins to his right. He looks in time to see a slender shadow disappear behind a small pile of gems. A third noise comes from the back of the chamber when a tower shield falls over. Everyone draws their weapons as the chamber goes eerily silent.

  “There are three things are moving around us,” Luke whispers as he scans the room. “I’d probably say at least one is waiting for the attack before it makes a sound. That would mean at least four threats. The shadow I saw was low to the ground and I didn’t see any legs. It must be some kind of snake or worm creature.”

  As if on cue, the creature that was lurking on his right blasts through a pile of gems and tackles Luke. Its long and muscular body wraps around him as the humanoid face starts to dislocate its lower jaw. Luke can see spines dripping with poison, rise out of the monster’s back before feeling a sharp pain in the fleshy part of his neck. Its spiked tail has stabbed him and Luke can feel a slow poison start to work its way through his system.

  “Snake fiends!” Nimby shouts, leaping onto the monster’s head and stabbing into its body. He slides down its side to avoid the spines, letting his dagger rip a long, deep gash into the flesh. Green blood spurts everywhere when the halfling’s dagger tears through two of the monster’s five hearts. It lets go of Luke as it collapses to the ground. The snake fiend lets out a bellowing hiss and four more jump out from their hiding places. Nimby is about to stab the injured one in the face, but he has to roll away from the charge of another. The injured snake fiend quickly slithers into a hole in the wall.

  “Watch my back, Fritz!” Aedyn yells before he begins muttering a spell.

  Fritz mutters his own spell and there are suddenly multiple Aedyn’s running around the room and chanting. Two of the snake fiends lunge at one of the illusions and collide with each other. Another one lunges at Fritz who stumbles away from the spiked tail that bounces off the stone floor. The gnome quickly stomps on the tail and has all the Aedyns converge on the single snake fiend. One of the other beasts attacks the swarm of fake Aedyns, its tail stabbing through the throat of the surrounded creature.

  “Don’t mess with gnomes. We’re smarter than you,” Fritz declares as he casts a spark of light in the eyes of the nearest snake fiend. It screeches in surprise, falling back against a suit of armor that crashes on top of it.

  Meanwhile, Nimby dives into a large pile of coins, burrowing through it as a snake fiend follows him to the other side. The halfling weaves in and out of a weapons rack and knocks it over before the hungry snake fiend can finish following his movements. Nimby is about to stab it in the head when it releases a poisonous mist from its pores. Holding his breath, the halfling races to where Luke is lying. He gets there just in time to block one of the snake fiend’s tails from stabbing the poisoned warrior. Nimby finds himself pushing against the tail, his legs starting to give.

  “I’m not strong enough to hold it off for long. Cast your spell, Aedyn,” Nimby mutters as the priest finishes chanting. A dull green light passes from Aedyn’s mouth to the wound on the side of Luke’s neck. The black blotches around the wound disappear and the skin begins to knit itself together. The puncture wound is not fully healed by the time Luke is on his feet, swinging at the snake fiend that is trying to swallow Nimby. He sends its head tumbling across the chamber with a single slice before roaring and bounding after the other monsters.

  “I think he’s angry,” Aedyn says with a grin. The priest turns around and feels a fist hit him from the shadows. He lands hard against a tower shield and slumps to the ground. Nimby looks toward the noise just as a rough rope wraps around his neck and yanks him into a pile of gems.

  “He
y! Luke!” Nimby yells before he gets kicked in the face and falls to his knees holding his aching jaw.

  Luke is unaware of the new danger as the two remaining snake fiends converge on him. One of the monsters barely misses Luke as the forest tracker launches himself into the air, landing blade first on its hooded head. To make sure the creature is dead, Luke spins off of it, letting his sword cut half of the snake fiend’s face off. The last monster shies away from the half-elf and slithers back into the shadows.

  “Too bad those weren’t the real threat,” states a familiar female voice. Luke whirls around in time to deflect a punch and retaliate with a kick to his assailant’s gut. Next thing he knows, his leg is locked in the crook of his enemy’s arm and he is flung to the floor. With a growl, Luke tries to get to his feet until a savage kick hits him in the side, sending him flipping onto a pile of sheathed swords. He looks up to see Selenia standing over him with her foot pressed against his throat.

  She reaches down and yanks him to his feet. Another punch to his face knocks him back as she says, “You four are visiting to my office. Now!”

  10

  Selenia’s office is the only room in the academy that neither student nor teacher is allowed enter without being summoned. The room is considered academy legend, but most students believe that it must exist. The office is rumored to be hidden by secret passages and illusion spells that cannot be found anywhere else on Windemere. These rumors are nowhere near the truth. In actuality, the office can only be accessed through trapdoors located in the ceiling of the administrative building’s second floor. Kept closed by magical seals, the odd squares are explained away as entrances to a third floor that Selenia removed from the building plans at the last minute. This explanation is further supported by the lack of handles on the doors. None of the students know that the hidden office of Selenia, which has been dubbed the Silent Void, is several yards above their heads while they sit in class.

  Smooth stone walls and magic lighting give the office a cozy atmosphere. Circular windows, magically hidden from outside view, give Selenia a view of the entire academy. Visitors would be very comfortable, if not for the twenty-foot wide, thirty-foot tall head of a Sword Dragon. The monstrous trophy takes up most of the wall behind the large desk, the beast’s face forever trapped in a hideous snarl. Its metallic skin still shines as it did when it was killing people in the countryside. On the other side of the desk from this trophy sits Luke, patiently waiting on a wooden stool instead of one of the plush chairs that are scattered about the room.

  “Those snake fiends took me years to catch and tame,” Selenia tells Luke as she calmly circles him. “Now, I have lost three of them to you and your friends. Maybe four if the one that poisoned you doesn’t pull through. I must admit that I am slightly proud that a small group of my employees and students were able to get through my security measures. That still doesn’t get your asses out of the fire. I want to know exactly why you were down there and not doing the investigation that I sent you into Visindor for.”

  “What’s the point of telling you? You’re still going to be angry and I’m still going to get in trouble,” Luke retorts, getting to his feet. “Let’s just cut to my punishment, so I can get to class.” Selenia kicks him in the back of the knee, forcing him back onto the stool.

  “Don’t start, boy. I could easily make you tell me, especially since your friends are not here to help you,” Selenia says, still circling Luke like a hungry shark. “Keep in mind that you were sent to me by a sponsor, not by your family, so I don’t have to play nice with you. Sponsors rarely complain if I’m too rough with their investment. Now, tell me what you were up to or you will be in the infirmary for a week after I’m done with you.”

  Luke avoids her gaze and starts tapping his fingers on his leg. Sweat forms on his forehead and he doesn’t try to hide the fact that he is annoyed. Selenia stops behind him, patiently waiting as Luke continues to sit silently. A few noises from outside can be heard, but neither of the half-elves turn to the window.

  Luke realizes that he has to be careful if he is to keep his mission a secret. Not for the first time, he regrets taking a job where he has to watch his words. Selenia would be a powerful ally, but his orders required that she stay in the dark. On the other hand, she could be serious about putting him in the infirmary. With the Lich being seen in Visindor, Luke knows that he cannot risk being put out of action. He finds his thoughts wandering to the possible identity of the heir until Selenia coughs angrily. Luke stares at the Sword Dragon trophy and regrettably decides that it is time to lie again. He is about to say something when Kevin opens one of the trapdoors, awkwardly pulling himself into the office. Luke turns to see Aedyn trailing behind Kevin, the old warrior helping the priest through the trapdoor.

  “I hate these blasted things. A pain in the ass to get through and you can’t always rely on the illusion net to hide people leaving here. Put in a teleportation rune for my sake, woman. Ah, what’s the point of arguing with you?” Kevin rants, taking a seat behind the desk. He reaches out and strikes a spark off the Sword Dragon to light his pipe. “Aedyn is willing to back up Luke’s story and add in anything that occurred while the kid was poisoned. I also believe Aedyn might be needed in case you can’t keep your temper in check. Get anything out of him yet?”

  Selenia goes to buff the scratch out of her trophy. “Nothing out of him yet, but I think he is willing to talk. Be quiet unless we need you, Aedyn. I don’t want to have to deal with a priest right now.”

  Luke finally stands up and goes to the window. He traces a few random marks on the windowsill before explaining, “Fizzle told us that there was a Lich and a Hellfire Elf in the forest. I did not believe that we had the equipment to deal with such creatures. So Fizzle told us about a cave with magical weapons inside it, so we went to get them. We had no idea that it was your weapon stash that we were breaking into. After thinking about it, I still would have done it even if I knew it was your stash. I did not want my friends and me to walk into a death trap without trying to find something that could help us. Maybe if you had told us about the dangers in the forest, we would have asked for the gear instead of trying to steal it.”

  Kevin bellows with laughter, his pipe falling on the desk. “The boy’s got you there. I think I’m starting to like him.”

  “You would. He reminds me too much of you and Daniel, old man,” Selenia declares, her eyebrow twitching. “I suppose you expect me to apologize and admit that I made a mistake. Well, that isn’t going to happen in this office. You acted entirely on impulse and ignored my orders. For that, I should . . .”

  Luke gets in Selenia’s face before she can finish. “You should what? I’m not a soldier or a member of your mercenary gang. I am one of your students and I did what I was trained to do. You are the one who tried to teach me teamwork by putting me in charge of a team and I acted like a leader. So, what do you plan on doing now that I failed you even though I went by my training?”

  Selenia clenches her fist and is about to hit Luke when Aedyn pulls the forest tracker back to the wooden stool. A quick spell calms Luke down and Aedyn makes sure to stay between the two warriors. Kevin lights his pipe with the trophy again, which causes Selenia to give the grizzled warrior an angry stare. She receives a middle finger and a wide grin from Kevin as he contently puffs on his pipe.

  “I am sorry, Ms. Hamilton,” Aedyn softly says, hoping to calm Selenia. “Luke is still angered by nearly dying twice in that cave. He is lucky to be alive and have so much energy considering how badly he was injured. I agree with his statements that he was only doing what he thought was right. I believe you would have done the same in his position, but you would never admit that in front of him. I ask that both of you put your egos and pride away for now. We have a Lich and a demon to worry about.”

  “We don’t have a Lich and a demon to worry about. I have them to worry about,” Selenia bluntly states. “You two and your pint-sized mascots will be confined to the academy for the
next four days. You will only be allowed to leave for the morning run or if your class is in the killing field for the day. That Lich is no longer your concern.”

  “Over my dead body!” Luke shouts, breaking Aedyn’s spell and jumping to his feet. Aedyn puts a hand on his friend’s shoulder, but it is shrugged off. “That thing is my responsibility and I’m not going to let you take him from me!”

  Kevin puffs on his pipe and suspiciously examines Luke’s flushed face. “The job we gave you wasn’t important enough to make a personal quest out of. Selenia and I have been dealing with this Lich longer than you’ve been breathing. Mind explaining yourself, boy?”

  “Do not do it, Luke,” Aedyn whispers.

  “Sorry, Aedyn, but this will happen whether I talk or not,” Luke says, his voice sounding confident and relieved. He turns to Selenia and takes a deep breath. “I didn’t win a tournament to get sponsored for a semester. I was sent here by a messenger of Duke Solomon to protect his heir from this Lich. The plan was for me to pretend to be a student in order to watch the heir. It was supposed to be a secret from everyone, but the messenger lost the scrolls that would tell me who I was protecting. So, I asked Nimby, Fritz, and Aedyn to help me, but I still don’t know who the heir is. The reason I didn’t go to either of you was because it might have tipped off the Lich that I was here to stop him. Any change in the academy structure could have given me away and put the heir in danger. So, I kept my mouth shut and spent my free time trying to find the heir. That is why I was found in the shed with Kira who I thought was the assassin. I still swear that I didn’t do anything to her. I mean with her. I didn’t even make a pass at her. Not that I would, but I didn’t even want to be in the shed.”