The Sorcerer's Return (The Sorcerer's Path)

by Brock Deskins

  Following the sorcerer proved to be a simple matter. He had used a magical gate to flee the city that left a magical signature so strong even a blind charlatan could find it. The distance he was able to travel using the gates astounded him and his companions, making him wish for Fennrick’s mages every time he found the residual energy left behind.

  Lord Giles was able to conjure enough of the portals to make catching up to him a chore. It did not appear he and his apprentice had horses as of yet, and was the only reason he was able to gain on them. Once he realized the sorcerer was headed straight for Sandusk, it became much easier to close the distance. It allowed him and his people to use the way stations to trade their horses for fresh mounts.

  They had discovered a third set of footprints, small like a child’s. None of them could fathom to whom they might belong. If the sorcerer was foolish enough to bring a child with him, it could make this task distasteful, but it would not stop him from doing his duty. This was their third day out, which put the sorcerer and his apprentice two days ahead of them. Tomorrow would cut the distance in half, and they should be able to strike in the next two or three days, assuming they maintained a similar pace.

  The large party of wizards drew curious and frightful stares from Sandusk’s citizens when they rode through the middle of town midway through the next day. Inquisitor Harrison could tell by his previous scrying of the now familiar energy signature that the sorcerer had already fled town.

  Harrison took four of his fellow Inquisitors with him to ask some questions while the others watered and fed the horses. The best place to find information about a traveler was the inn. Sandusk had only one, so his inquiries should be blessedly short. He and his associates captured the attention of the room when they entered, as expected. Harrison ignored the stares and whispers and approached the bar.

  “I am looking for a man,” Inquisitor Harrison told the innkeeper.

  “Funny, most folks around here are looking for a woman,” Louis replied with a nervous smile.

  “I am Inquisitor Harrison. I am looking for a very dangerous man, and I am not in the mood for jocularity. He is on foot, traveling with a young woman. There may also be a third person with them. Someone small, perhaps a child.”

  Louis grunted. “Didn’t see no woman or child, but I know the man you’re asking about. He came in three days ago and left just yesterday. He stayed over at the boarding house, so if someone else was with him they must have stayed there as well.”

  “Did you note their direction of travel?”

  “Not personally, but I heard someone mention they saw him headed northwest,” Louis replied reluctantly.

  “Excellent. I imagine my people will want to wash down some the trail dust before we leave.” Harrison set a stack of silver coins on the counter. “This should cover their expenses.”

  It did not take long for him to find the boarding house. The woman sitting behind the counter gave him an unfriendly look as he and his entourage entered.

  “Good day, madam. I am looking for a man who was traveling with a young woman and perhaps a child. I understand they stayed here,” Inquisitor Harrison said courteously.

  “They did, against my wishes,” Wilma snapped. “Useless town watch wouldn’t even throw them out! Well, they’re gone now and good riddance to them. The last time that man stayed here he killed his twin and left an ungodly mess!”

  “Killed his twin, you say?”

  “Was a spitting image of him; what was left of him.”

  One of the Inquisitors offered, “It could have been a changeling or someone under a transmogrification spell.”

  Harrison nodded his agreement. “Tell me of the others who were with him. Did you see them?”

  “I did. A young woman and a child. The girl looked too young to be the mother, but anything is possible. I can’t really say how old the child was or even if it was a boy or a girl. They had it wrapped head to foot and it kept behind the girl. Could have been a goblin for all I know,” Wilma replied grumpily.

  “I see. And they left yesterday?”

  “That’s right, first thing in the morning.”

  “Thank you.” He turned to one of his men. “Round up the others. We will not be able to use the way stations, and I do not want them to get too much of a lead. Meet me on the road at the west end of town. I will try and find the sorcerer’s most recent gates.”

  Ten minutes later, the contingent rode up behind Harrison. “He tore open a portal about two miles northwest of here. Given his previous rate of travel, I expect to catch him in a little over a day if we ride swiftly.”

  It was a mixed set of emotions for the party as they rode across the rough land. It was already late in the day and few were eager to continue traveling. However, all of them desired a swift end to this hunt, so they rode dutifully onward well after the sun had set.

  Inquisitor Harrison called them to a halt late the following night. They had pushed on, getting only the minimal amount of rest to ensure they were prepared to face two formidable foes. Just two miles from where he was able to scry out their target’s location, he ordered his people to dismount. They would walk from here, using their magic to hide their approach.

  Tensions were high as they stalked toward their prey. Inquisitor Harrison and over a dozen others were present when the sorcerer came to the Hall. His power was unlike anything any of them had experienced before. No one knew the full potential of his power or his limits, so surprise with overwhelming force was vital.

  The faint glow of small fire cast just enough light to pinpoint the sorcerer and the girl’s location. They camped in a deep gulley perhaps a hundred yards wide. The trio was easily visible from Harrison’s position, perhaps a hundred-fifty feet distant and fifty feet above them. The sorcerer appeared to be conversing with a child while the girl read from a large book near the fire. The Inquisitor had to assume it was the Codex Arcana.

  He considered surrounding them but discarded the idea. More movement this close could result in detection and take too much time. He also needed his people near enough to assist each other should their opening strikes fail to kill the sorcerer. They would concentrate their attack on Lord Giles. The girl was little danger by herself, and they could not risk damaging the Codex. They would execute the girl after getting the book. The child would likely be collateral damage.

  Harrison gave a silent signal with his hand and all forty wizards unleashed more concentrated arcane power in that moment than in any single engagement in their decades long war with Sumara. Brilliant beams of intense light and power lanced out and lit up the gulley more brightly than the noonday sun. Massive waves of thunder echoed across the land, as the eldritch power exploded the air with intense heat.

  Twenty-five Inquisitors struck the sorcerer while the remaining wizards weaved chains of magic to pin the sorcerer in place. Azerick’s wards flared as brightly as the powerful rays striking them as he writhed beneath the onslaught. His body contorted as the intense struggle and pain forced him to shift into Klaraxis’ form. Seeing the terrifying image, the Inquisitors unleashed a second salvo.

  “Raijaun, run!” Ellyssa shrieked.

  Raijaun rolled away from the attack, the power of it blistering his skin despite his quickness, and fled into the night. Ellyssa darted in the opposite direction, raised a protective ward around her, and prepared to strike back, but the Inquisitors’ second attack broke through Azerick’s defenses. The contest between the two powerful magical forces created a deafening explosion that hurled Ellyssa several yards and left her stunned. Only her wards prevented the detonation from blasting her to pieces.

  Ellyssa struggled to get to her feet and fell back when she looked at Azerick’s destroyed body. Once the rays penetrated his wards, they had cut through his body and left him riddled with gaping, charred holes.

  “Azerick, no!” Ellyssa shouted hysterically.

  The assault was as brief as it was furious. Inquisitor Harrison looked down at the destruction belo
w. He shuddered upon seeing the ruined demonic body. The ground around the demon glittered from the glass created by the intense beams that melted the sand and rock. Smoke curled lazily into the air from the charred corpse.

  “Half of you follow me. The rest of you watch for any sign of treachery. Destroy the girl if she so much as moves,” Harrison ordered.

  The Inquisitors made a sliding descent to the base of the gulley, keeping a wary eye on the hideous form still lying unmoving a short distance away. The girl barely acknowledged their approach as she sat on the ground weeping. Ellyssa’s eyes darted to the Codex lying a few feet away as the Inquisitor stalked closer.

  “Do not do anything foolish, child,” Harrison warned, “I will have what I came for.”

  Her tears vanished and a smile spread across her face. “Then you must have come for your death, for you will not get what you want, only what you deserve.”

  The young woman and Codex crumbled into the same rough sand and grit of the surrounding terrain. Inquisitor Harrison spun and watched the demon’s corpse likewise change into a pile of dirt and gravel.

  “Dear gods above,” the Inquisitor managed to whisper before his world was literally torn apart.

  Six runes the size of bar tables briefly flared around the camp before sending massive beams shooting into the night sky as if to stab out the stars themselves. The intensity dwarfed that of the wizards’ assault, leaving them all blinded and desperately trying to blink away the miniature suns now floating across their vision.

  The world shrieked in protested agony as Azerick ripped open a huge wound in their reality. High above the gulley, a great black gash opened in the night sky, sucking up everything below it in a powerful vortex. Wizards cried out as they flew upward into the black maw, along with tons of dirt, sand, and stone. The gulley was scoured clean all the way down to the bedrock. The rift slammed closed seconds later and instantly cast the area into a dark and eerie silence.

  The closing of the rift did not signal an end to the fight, but was just the opening gambit of a battle no one could have expected. The remaining Inquisitors were already raising wards and hastily backing away from the edge of the gulch when a massive wave of force struck them on their left flank, sending them flying dozens of feet and tumbling a score more. Numerous arms made of sand and rock rose from the ground and began pummeling the wizards with fists of stone the size of wagon wheels.

  The Inquisitors were experts in magical combat and recovered quickly. Several erected wards, while most lashed out against the earthen fists, trusting their brothers and sisters in magic to shield them. Lightning and searing rays of arcane power lashed out and destroyed the constructs. The wizards spotted their foes in the flashing illuminations of their spells and turned their power onto the sorcerer and his apprentice.

  His trap sprung and the element of surprise over, Azerick and Ellyssa joined the Inquisitors in direct combat. Although their odds were greatly improved by the removal of half their enemy, the rift trap was magic beyond the capability of even the most powerful human wizard, and it left Azerick significantly fatigued. This fatigue and the amount of power it took to withstand the Inquisitors’ magic severely limited his ability to fight back. To draw more arcane energy meant drawing from even more powerful emotions, both of which would empower Klaraxis. Too much, and the demon could take control.

  As the two sides hurled earth-shattering magic at each other, Azerick felt himself faltering. He had to put more power into shielding himself and Ellyssa and was soon on the defensive. Her wards next to useless, Ellyssa let Azerick protect her from the wizards while she put all her strength into offensive spells. One scarlet beam shattered the ward of an Inquisitor, striking her in the chest and throwing her back. She did not rise again.

  With few of her spells powerful enough to pierce the Inquisitors’ magical shields, she used subtler magic on the ground around them, opening deep crevasses and raising pillars of stone to either swallow or hurl wizards skyward, as such spells made their wards far less effective. Ellyssa noticed Azerick’s strength failing and the slow retreat they were making. If something did not happen soon, they would need to make some kind of escape.

  As if reading her thoughts, she heard Azerick mumble, “I need your help.”

  Ellyssa spared Azerick a brief look. “I’m sorry. I’m doing everything I can.”

  Azerick’s lip twitched in a grin. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

  Blackness filled the sky, and a huge swathe of bright stars vanished. Ellyssa could feel a wind picking up at her back and growing stronger. A sound like someone shaking out a rug, only a thousand times more intense, echoed out over the sounds of battle. Ellyssa’s eyes followed those of the Inquisitors as they stared in terrified amazement at the dragon dropping from the sky.

  As big as a castle, Sandy struck the ground with enough force to create a tremor so powerful it knocked several wizards from their feet. She let out a deafening roar that made bones tremor and bowels loosen. Sandy inhaled deeply before blanketing a massive swath of land in hellish fire. Every shrub and scrawny, dry tree dotting the land burst into flames. Sand melted into glass, and rock cracked and turned to slag under her inferno. Hissing out in the ancient language of the dragons, she reared up and crashed her forelegs onto the ground. The earth buckled and sent a rolling wave hundreds of yards wide undulating out toward the Inquisitors.

  Wizards not incinerated by her fiery breath uselessly poured magic into their wards. When the wave rolled beneath their feet, the ground turned no more solid than mud. They sank into the ground, some up to their necks, before the rock resolidified and trapped them in its tight grip. A few wizards, their hands free enough to resist, tried to turn their magic against the rock, but Azerick slammed them senseless with invisible strikes of force.

  “If any of you wish to live beyond the next few moments, I suggest you cease resisting and surrender,” Azerick called out as he stalked forward. He gave Sandy a pat on her house-sized flank as he passed.

  “What will you do with us, demon?” a wizard demanded to know.

  “I will leave you here with a warning for your hall, your Duchess, and The Academy. The Codex is mine. I retrieved it from creatures of unparalleled evil. I fought a dragon for it when I was little more than a journeyman. It speaks to me, and it speaks to my apprentice. Never in our recorded history has it spoken to more than one person at one time. It is a tool created by our gods to aid in a battle against a common enemy more terrifying than you can imagine. Tell your Duchess and your Academy, I do not want to fight you. Our world will need everyone, especially wizards, to fight these creatures who strike fear into the hearts of our gods. But if you fight against me, you are worse than useless; you are a detriment, and I will end you,” Azerick promised.

  “You killed several of us here tonight!” the Inquisitor accused.

  “You forced this battle.”

  The speaker looked at his trapped and fallen fellows and shifted his eyes to the sorcerer and the awe-inspiring dragon. Such a thing was a creature of legend and nightmare. How this man came to befriend one, he could not fathom. What he did know was that he was beaten.

  “Where are the others, the ones lost to the rift?”

  Azerick shrugged. “Somewhere in Sumara. Transdimensional magic is not my specialty. Most of them should have survived their journey, assuming it took them where I intended. Fight me again, and I will rip open a gate straight to the deepest pits if the abyss and throw you all in where my demons will devour your flesh and drink your souls.”

  Azerick turned and walked briskly away. Ellyssa and Sandy followed him into the darkness. Behind another rise, Raijaun hid in deep cleft between boulders, using his demonic magic to wrap himself in impenetrable darkness. He rushed out of his hiding spot and hugged Azerick tightly.

  Out of earshot of the Inquisitors, Ellyssa finally spoke the question she had been dying to ask since Sandy appeared. “Sandy, how did you get here, and when did you get so damned big?” she ex
claimed.

  Sandy’s scaly face could not hide her grin as Azerick spoke a word and made a gesture. Her image wavered and shrank before their eyes until she was her normal, but still formidable size.

  “It was all an illusion?”

  “Like I said, sometimes a bluff is better than a good hand,” Azerick responded with a smirk.

  “But her roar and the fire and the shaking ground?”

  “All augmented by me. When her appearance caused the Inquisitors to balk their attack on me, I was able to lend my power to her breath and the effects of her magic.”

  “But how did she find us?” Ellyssa asked.

  “I was able to contact her when we were in Sandusk.”

  Sandy said, “Imagine my surprise when I went to get a drink from my spring and saw Azerick’s face staring at me from the water!” She craned her neck down and studied Azerick. “So it really is you. You smell funny.”

  “I’m not quite myself,” Azerick replied. “Come, we need to put some distance between us and these idiots in case they get free and suddenly develop another acute case of stupidity. Sandy, you know where to meet us?”

  The young dragon nodded, trotted a short ways away, and took to the air. Ellyssa shielded her eyes as the wind from Sandy’s beating wings kicked up dust, sand, and gravel. Once free of the ground, Sandy quickly vanished into the darkness of the night.

  Azerick slashed at the air with his staff and portal opened in the space before him. Ellyssa watched him pause to steady himself, giving evidence to his exhaustion and the strain of the night’s battle. Azerick spied the look of concern on his apprentice’s face, smiled, and nodded at the portal.

  Ellyssa took Raijaun by the hand and stepped through, reeling and stumbling as she exited more than a mile from where Azerick stood on the other side. Azerick crossed over a moment later, and Ellyssa watched him stagger just a bit. This was the first time Azerick had shown how exhausted he was. She was concerned to see he was reaching his limitations, but at the same time relieved to know he had them.