by Gene Rager
“No.” was all she said as Nate hit the ground sliding into the underbrush.
Chapter 13
Nate saw the brush and the thorns it contained; maybe it would buy him some time. Nate dove like an Olympic swimmer hitting the pool. His momentum slid him into the bramble patch. The howlers slowed to a trot. Nate crawled through the patch that tore at his exposed flesh mercilessly. Nate emerged in the forest and began to run. The pack began tracking the fresh smell of blood. Nate began trying to find a tree to climb up. All the branches were too high for him to reach. Nate stopped only for a moment when he heard the first growl.
Nate turned just in time to catch the howling monster’s throat with both hands, keeping the snapping jaws inches from his face.
The howler pushed forward on its back paws causing Nate to stumble backwards. Nate fell, but refused to let go of his would be killer’s throat. The beast began snapping its jaws viciously trying to wrench free enough to claim Nate’s face as its meal. With all his strength Nate held the monster at bay. The snapping twigs caused Nate to look to the side the rest of the pack that had followed him where closing in. If he didn’t think of something fast they would tear him apart in a matter of seconds.
Nate Twisted trying to find the hunting knife, but it was gone! Dammit! The knife must have fell off when he slid into the brush!
Despair grew in Nate, if he had magic he could defend himself. If he had been a mage he could have protected Lela who was probably dead by now. The despair grew to frustration, the frustration grew to anger. The beast snapped its jaws again. They were closer now it would soon be over for him. This last thought pushed Nate over the edge. Sanity was replaced with rage, this is not fair. The rage began to build and with it a new feeling, something dark, cold and powerful. Without any thought of what would happen, Nate released one hand from the neck of the beast and raised it to the sky. The sky clouded over the rain that had slacked off stopped as if it were waiting for something. The power coursed through his body, it burned. The power burned with his fury. Nate hit the howler in the side of the head sending sparks into the creature’s skull as it flew off him and into the nearby tree trunk. Nate stood up slowly. The pack halted looking at the new threat their prey had become.
“You mangy curs, how dare you think of attacking me!”
The voice didn’t sound like his, but Nate no longer cared, drunk on power he leveled his rage at the remaining three howlers. Screaming like a man possessed Nate shoved the power out from his hands fire filled the air around the howlers. Their howls of agony were silenced in one last burst of power, the smell of burnt fur and meat filled the air.
The power still pulsed within Nate, Lela; he had to find her no matter what they had done to her. He wouldn’t leave her to be savaged by every scavenger in the cursed forest. Nate began retracing his steps to the clearing.
Lela stood panting, every breath tortured from the running and dodging. This lethal cat and mouse game was drawing to an end. She had no more arrows, and the howlers darted in snapped and darted out with every swing of her sword. She knew they were wearing her down for an easier kill. Three left and she was nearly exhausted. The rain had stopped and been replaced by air that was thick and hard to breath, dampening her spirits even more, she had heard Nate scream, he was dead or mortally wounded and soon she would be too.
The howler jumped forward dug its claws into the wet ground and bounced backward just as Lela’s sword swung down. The ground was soaked with water. Lela backed up more finding a small mound of earth to make her final stand. She was too far to make a run for the trees, but at least her boots were not still submerged in the mud.
Nate broke through the tree line. “Lela!”
She saw him running her way. “No Nate, stay back.” It was barely a whisper as exhaustion took root in her body. Two of the howlers broke away and ran towards Nate. A wry grin slid over Nate’s mouth. The beasts ran at Nate with the speed that is born of hunger and insanity. Both howlers leaped in unison, desperate to claim Nate as a meal. Nate raised his hands and pushed forward, a wall of green flame sprouted from the ground and sped forward to meet the two air born howlers. The burnt bodies of the once mighty beasts hit the wet ground with a hissing noise. Nate began walking towards the last of the furry attackers. The beast seemed to know he was approaching because it turned and started a fast paced charge threatening to at least topple Nate if not break a bone for the effort. The mighty howler jumped, victory seemed within the animal’s grasp. Nate caught the beast by the neck, and whispered in its ear. “Good doggie, now play dead!” The fire ripped through the howler with the ferocity of a grizzly bear the thing hung in mid-air for what seemed an eternity, the smell of burnt flesh and fur filled the air. Everything that had gone wrong in Nate’s life now intertwined with his pent up anger poured into the animal burning muscle from smoking bone. Nate finally released the howler’s charred remains and laughed a dark laughter that was born of the insanity the power had given him.
Lela stared at the now insane mage. She began to wonder if this was still the same mage that she had left with. The rain started as a gentle mist, turning into a pounding down pour. The water turned to steam as it hit Nathan. The rain finally overtook the power and Nate passed out.
Chapter 14
The Dark Queen rose out of her bed with a shriek, the mage has been found!
More death and destruction will follow, she had been lucky up until now. No one ever counted the orcs when they went into a village or when they came out. The whole no prisoners thing was her late husband’s mantra not hers. She was as much a prisoner of her title as the lands she held, but with the mages came the invasions.
The Dark Queen became troubled. Her hands clenched the furs on her bed tightly.
“Chama!” The queen bellowed.
“Yes my lady.”
“Summon Mordock at once; there is another mage in Orlon who means my destruction!”
“Yes, my lady.” Chama replied.
A few moments later Mordock stepped out of the shadows.
“Mordock, there is a new mage! Go about your work, gather his soul so I may use him like the others!” She ordered.
“As you wish, my queen.” Without another word Mordock vanished into the shadows.
So now there is a new threat. I felt his power only moments ago, he wielded fire as if it was his personal property. He is more powerful than the others. So he will be the next to join my collection of mages. Tirana thought ruefully.
So far, all the mages she had faced where in her dungeon working to reverse the curse on her. The mage slayer was a fierce weapon, but no one knew that it was actually a tool to capture, not kill the mages. That is except for Zorn, something had interfered with the arrow. It should have drained his life force, and returned to Mordock. The arrow did not return immediately, it took until morning to return. They had unburied Zorn’s lifeless body, but when the arrow was plunged back into the body instead of bringing Zorn back to life it did nothing. The Queen had checked the arrow three times after it had failed, because Zorn was the key to lifting the curse on her. She found nothing wrong with the mage slayer, so her key mage was denied her and the curse would plague her for the rest of her life or so it would seem.
A thought occurred to Tirana, if she could get the newest mage to join her, maybe he could break the spell! A thin grin fell upon Tirana’s face, she had to have him!
Chapter 15
“Nate, Nate, wake up Nate, your task is not through yet.” The voice was so beautiful, so serene; surely to wake from this place would be a crime. The slap came fast and hard rattling Nate’s teeth in his head.
“Ouch, what the hell Lela!”
“Sorry, but you have been unconscious for some time. I was afraid you were not coming out of it. Nate what did you do?”
“What do you mean Lela?”
“Do not play coy with me Nate you killed a pack of howlers using fire. Did you invoke a charm, chant a spell, what did you do to have that k
ind of power?”
“I don’t know how I did it.”
“Nate do not lie to me, that is powerful magic, Zorn could not wield fire like you did, and he was powerful by mage standards. Did Crolin put some enchanted item in your pack?”
“No, Lela I don’t know how I did it. I’m not even sure I could do it again, but it scared me. It was like I wasn’t me. I felt cold, full of hate and rage. I should have cared what I did to those animals, but honestly the howlers could have been people and I don’t think I would have done anything different. Lela I’m scared.”
The tone of Nate’s voice convinced Lela that he was telling the truth. He was all powerful when he killed the howlers, but then he passed out, what a strange human.
The night passed by slowly, but quietly, the forest seemed to be regrouping for another attack. Lela stayed up keeping watch and went over the day’s events.
Nate had come back for her, but he was dripping power. The energy had flooded the clearing. Lela could actually taste it in the air it was so thick. Nate was scared of the power, and could not recall how he had gained magic that even the most powerful mages were unable to do. The strange thing was it was like the final attack on the last howler had drained him of all his power, or had it? He was not lying he was scared of what the power did to him. That was probably a good thing, if he had the ability to learn advanced magic he might be a bigger threat to the elves than the Dark Queen herself!
The morning was bright with the hope of a new day. The adventure that yesterday had held was more than Lela or Nate had wanted.
“Lela, do you think that the howlers were the only thing roaming this forest that could hurt us?”
“I do not know Nate. Honestly most people do not make it this far, except for Lex.”
“When we get to Lex’s house, we need to find out how he does that.”
The sound of the brook was close; it babbled and splashed with the promise of water to slack the most powerful thirst. The brook was clear and beautiful. It cascaded over a small hill making a miniature rainbow.
“Lela, let’s stop and get a drink, I am so thirsty.”
“Wait Nate, I need to see if the water is enchanted or not, it would prove foolish of us to survive a pack of howlers only to be poisoned by a creek.”
Lela produced a clear jar and scooped up some water being careful not to touch it. She dumped in one tube of red liquid and one tube of blue liquid. The water and colors swirled in the jar going from red and blue streaked to black then light blue.
“The water is safe to drink Nate”
“Thank goodness, I don’t think I could wait any longer.”
Nate dipped his empty water skin into the clear water. The water turned black, with two golden eyes staring back at him. Nate fell backwards, at the same time the nymph leapt from the water. Her golden eyes never wavered from Nate’s, she had green hair the color of Spanish moss. The knife was placed at Nate’s throat as a grin split the water nymph’s face.
“I should kill you for stealing my water. You should be careful whose home you place your hand in; you never know if they want might want to keep that hand as a trophy.”
The sword rang as it was pulled from its sheath. The nymph cocked her head and smiled evilly at the princess who was holding her sword.
“Careful, if you take one step towards me he dies. I have had plenty of practice, the right nick in the right place and he bleeds out quicker than any magic can heal.”
“What do you want vile creature!” Lela snapped.
The nymph’s eyes turned back to Nate’s face, the irises were a pale yellow with a hint of cruelty in them.
“Your girlfriend seems to care a great deal about you. How about I relieve you of your packs and coin, and I give you your boyfriend back unharmed.”
“A thief! You want our valuables, for what? You live in a brook in the middle of the forest. What possible use could you have for valuables?”
“That is my business! So do we have a deal or do you get to hold the corpse of your lover because you would not part with a few trinkets?”
The packs were thrown barely out of her reach, the nymph stretched out to grab the packs, but now her attention was not on Nate. Nate grabbed the hand with the knife and twisted with everything he had. The nymph screamed in furry and pain. She drove her knee into Nate’s ribs trying to get him to release her wrist. Instead Nate twisted and wrenched her arm up nearly dislocating her shoulder. The knife fell from her hand at the same time her foot came off the ground connecting fully with Nate’s jaw. The nymph had the knife in the other hand, when the sword slid under her chin.
“Okay maybe a new deal is in order.” The nymph said through a painful grimace.
Lela stood with a sneer on her face “How about I just cut your head off and call it a day?”
“That is one way you could go, or I could help you in return for sparing my life.”
“You will just escape, and probably after you have killed us.”
“No, I will behave, I promise.”
The look on Nate’s face looked like he was actually considering this. Lela glared at Nate.
“You are not even thinking about letting her go, are you? We are in Cravenwood, remember? Everything here is trying to kill us. She will lead us into a trap and leave us for dead!” Lela snapped.
“Your right Lela, she will betray us the second she gets the chance. So if betrayal is what she wants, let us play a game.”
Nate tied the nymph’s wrists and hoisted her up against a tree.
“The game is simple, only one rule.” Nate said with a grin.
The nymph looked around it did not look good for her plan on escaping.
“What is the one rule?”
“Survive.”
Terror seized the nymph, this was the cursed forest and she was a water nymph. Out of the water too long and she would die, that is if something didn’t come along and tear her apart before that.
“I can help you really! Please, don’t leave me here! If you want to kill me, let your girlfriend do it. She looks like she can handle a blade. Please, give me a warrior’s death!”
Lela and Nate stopped. Lela spun around and threw the knife the nymph had held at Nate’s throat. The knife hit the rope above the nymph’s hands dropping her to the ground in a heap.
“Go, and never approach us again, if you do, we will leave you for the forest to kill.” Lela hissed through the cool air.
“I can’t leave without trading you something. I wronged you, and you were within your rights to leave me for dead, but you are letting me go. It doesn’t make sense. You could command me to be your slave until I paid back the debt I owe you, but you are just letting me go. I have something that would be useful to you, please take it.”
The nymph produced a small pouch and placed it on the ground. As she backed away from the pouch she turned and started for the water. She called over her shoulder, “It’s sleep powder, just toss it on whoever you need to and they fall asleep for three hours.”
As Lela approached the pouch she stopped, eyeing the parting gift suspiciously, “Why didn’t you use this on us in the beginning? You could have won the fight, killed us both, and had our property.”
“There is only enough for one person in that pouch, yes I could have put one of you asleep, but the other one would have finished me off while I was dosing the other. And where is the fun in that?” With a quick jump the nymph disappeared into the brook.
Lela picked up the pouch and returned to Nate. Nate looked at Lela.
“There are some strange people in this realm.”
“Tell me Nate, would you have left her there?”
“No, I just wanted scare her enough not to try something else.”
Chapter 16
Nate and Lela walked the rest of the day, until finally fatigue and nightfall forced them to make camp. As they were sitting around the campfire Lela decided to warn Nate of the obstacle in their way.
“Nate, we have to
cross through the lost village of Santrose.”
“Okay, why do I have a feeling there is a reason you are telling me this?”
“There are rumors of an archer that haunts the village.”
“A ghost archer, terrific. So what is the story behind this little snag in our plans to get to Lex?”
With a deep sigh Lela began Santrose’s ill-fated history.
“Santrose was a very prosperous village before the Dark Queen tried to take it over. Santrose was a market town, anything a person could ever want this village could make it or get it. People from all around came to this town for special herbs, hard to find items anything that they could not get in their own village they could get at Santrose.”
“The Dark Queen’s forces began to lay siege to this magnificent village, but having access to hard to get items meant the village also contained really strong magic. As it turns out the village was built on a stock pile of magical energy. This was why the village could get all those hard to get items, they made them.”
“The siege went on for weeks; it was deemed that if Santrose fell to the dark forces it would gain all the magic of the village. So the elders where dispatched to defend the village.”
“Even with all the magic and warriors they had the queen’s army fought on, when it seemed that Santrose would fall to the Dark Queen, the elder’s gathered as much of the magic as they could and cast one final spell, the result was Cravenwood.”
“All the animals, trees, everything attacked the dark army, tearing them to shreds, but this kind of magic is wild and unpredictable. The forest turned on the villagers as well driving them out of their beloved village. It was the first and last time the elves intervened in the lives of humans, our greatest shame.”
Lela fell silent; a single tear fell from her eye. The tragedy still caused such emotions that were uncontrollable. Nate moved closer to the princess and put his arm around her shoulders. Lela wanted to pull away, but in that moment the need to be close to someone was too overwhelming. Lela snuggled into the crook of Nate’s chest.
