by Gene Rager
Nathan had pinned the girl to the ground and was tickling her. She laughed that much more loudly. Finally the woman called to them “Nathanial James Kincaid, stop tickling your sister!”
“Oh mom, Maddy started it!” Nathan called back.
“Both of you get ready to eat!” The woman replied.
The family sat down and began to talk of things to come, Nathan’s senior prom, when Maddy should start kindergarten, where to go on vacation next year.
Nathan noticed the low battery light flashing and within a few seconds the tablet went dark along with most of his hopes of ever seeing his family again, the homesickness reared its ugly head once again. Nathan remembered how he had felt when he first arrived in this strange new land, strange that until the tablet lost power he had not missed home as much as he did now.
Lela blinked at the sudden darkness and when it seemed like no one else was going to speak she asked the only question she could think of.
“How were you in two places at once Nathan?” Lela’s perplexed look could be seen even in the darkness.
Nathan smiled, “I wasn’t in two places at once. That was a video of last summer’s fourth of July picnic my family had.”
Lela looked at the tablet again in amazement. This little device had shown her a glimpse of Nathan’s past. Maybe it would show her a glimpse of her past as well! It was powerful magic that Nathan held, so would he let her see into her past again?
“Can your tablet show me my past Nathan?” Lela asked cautiously.
“I am sorry Lela, but the tablet isn’t a portal into the past, the pictures you saw were recorded by the tablet when they happened.”
“I see, it is okay.” Lela said with sadness. Then another though occurred to her.
“Can we watch the pictures again?” Lela asked hopefully.
“We can’t Lela, the battery is drained. There is no way to charge it in this world.” Nathan said, a tight bit of sadness gripped his throat.
Ileana lifted her head, it had been beautiful! The sounds of a happy family at ease with each other. The tears came quietly, she hadn’t meant to cry, and yet here they fell.
Nathan noticed Ileana’s unusual quietness, and when he touched her he felt the dampness the tears had left behind and the slight trembling.
“Ileana why are you crying?” Nathan asked.
“It’s just been so long since I had heard a family being together, and the sounds of children at play it reminded me of the village I grew up in and my father. I miss him so much and all the things he used to do with me. I had so much and now it is all a faded memory!”
Ileana leaned against Nathan, when his arms slid around her, he could still feel her hiccupping with quiet sobs.
The mighty demon archer scourge of Santrose was crying in the arms of someone that had nearly taken her life. It was pathetic, but it still felt good to be held by someone. Ileana thought.
Lela remained still she didn’t know how to react or what to do. Ileana had all of Nathan’s attention just like she had planned, but now she felt a twinge of jealousy. It was unexpected, she didn’t love Nathan and yet she was starting to crave Nathan’s attention. She was so confused, and still at that very moment she envied Ileana with every ounce of her being.
Chapter 24
The morning started with a bang, quite literally two pans banging together. The sound of metal clanging together brought both women up in defensive postures ready to do battle; Nathan looked around with the dull gaze of being sleep deprived.
Kira stood in the doorway with a cocked eyebrow and a pan in each hand. A smile spilled across her face at the reaction the two women had. Still brandishing her smile Kira decided to make her unwanted guests feel a little more unwelcome.
With a sarcastic tone Kira quipped, “I suppose getting up early in the morning is more than what land dwellers can handle.”
Lela began to unleash an onslaught of curses and insults. They had slept on the floor, made next to no noise with the exception of Nathan’s tablet, they had even ate rations instead of imposing on Lex’s household to feed them, and for what? So they could be waked from their slumber by this pan clanging harpy that could not fight any better than the greenest combatant! Before Lela could begin her verbal assault on Kira, Nathan spoke up.
“It’s just that you have been such a gracious host, that we lost track of the time. Is Lex finished with the spell book?” Nathan asked. The compliment did not reach Nathan’s eyes telling Lela that he did not mean the pretty words he had just spoken.
“Yes, so when you get your precious book back I will lead you to a…safer path that will take you back to the elven castle.” Kira purred.
Lela had not liked the way that Kira had said the comment, she was up to something Lela knew it, but what it could be she had no idea. Maybe they could just try to refuse the other path and go back through Cravenwood. They could drop Ileana back at Santrose and Lela could be alone with Nathan! As soon as she thought of being alone with Nathan she blinked in shock! Why would she want to be alone with him? It made no sense. When they returned to the castle she would have to talk to Ezra, she had only spoken to her friend for a few moments before they left for Cravenwood, but maybe Ezra would know what was going on with Lela. Whenever Lela’s emotions made no sense to her Ezra would always know what was going on. It was like Ezra was a tuned to her emotions, even the deep emotions that Lela hid from herself.
The three followed Kira into a spacious room that had been set aside as the kitchen slash dining room. The room held a sturdy table that had seen a fair amount of use, four chairs completely devoid of any ornamental carvings, a cooking hearth with a small fire a small pot hung over the minute blaze the sounds of something boiling filled the quiet.
At the table with his head in his hands was Lex, his shoulders were hunched, and he appeared to be concentrating on the spell book. Kira quietly crept up beside Lex and whispered in his ear. Lex raised his head and stared at Nathan, Lela and Ileana as if seeing them for the first time. The bags under his eyes showed he had not slept the night before.
Nathan did not like the look on Lex’s face, Lex’s eyes refused to hold eye contact for more than a few seconds, and his shoulders never relaxed. The book must have been difficult to salvage.
With a note of sadness in his tired voice Lex spoke, “I am sorry the book was too badly damaged. I tried everything I could think of to restore it. When it became apparent I could not save the book I tried for individual spells, pictures, phrases, even page numbers! Finally I tried to use the restoration magic reserved as a last resort. Usually it will save at least part of the text, but nothing even traced to the new book, it was as if the spell book was erased form existence. This was possibly the mightiest spell book in the entire realm and it was destroyed in a few seconds and the magic washed clean from its pages, which is impossible, and yet there is nothing left to save. Once again, I am sorry. I have failed you princess, I have failed you all.”
The last part seemed to weigh Lex down even more. He was a restorer of rare books, how could he have failed so completely? He kept circling the problems he encountered working on the text. Nothing worked on it, why had nothing worked on it? The book was completely wiped clean of all magic and print, nothing burns so quickly or could erase magic so easily, unless… with a burst of realization his eyes opened wide. He knew why the text could not be restored!
“Nathan you said the book was set on fire when you used a candle lighting spell to lite the candles in the room, yes!”
Sensing Lex’s epiphany Nathan quickly got caught up in Lex’s excitement, “Yes, it was the first time I ever used the spell!”
Lex licked his lips in anticipation he had to be right it made to much sense! “Nathan you came from a different land entirely is that correct?”
With a sinking feeling Nathan answered, “Yes.”
With a wide grin Lex let out a joyous yell causing the others to jump. “Sorry about the outburst, but I have been looking at the
problem all wrong!”
The emotional roller-coaster was starting to make Nathan nauseous, or it could be the lack of breakfast, at this point it was getting hard to tell. Unable to withstand the anticipation any longer Nathan ventured forth with the question that had brought them out here in the first place.
“So can you restore the book or not Lex?” Nathan asked.
“No. There is no force on this or any other plane of existence that can restore the spell book!” Lex beamed.
“I don’t understand Lex, why are you so happy?” Lela asked.
“Because Lela, not only does it mean I did not fail, but we have a phoenix mage on our hands not a regular mage!” Lex nearly exploded in his happiness.
Lela’s mouth dropped open, and Nathan’s stomach flopped, this was probably going to be worse than being a regular mage. Nathan had no idea how this was going to affect him. After all of seven seconds of thought Nathan decided to remind everyone he didn’t come from here.
“What’s the difference?” Nathan stammered.
The room went entirely quiet as everyone realized that Nathan had no idea of what this meant for him, the kingdom, or the Dark Queen. Quickly Lela grabbed Nathan by the arm and dragged him to the other room. As the two passed Ileana, Lela leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Stay here, I have to explain some things to Nathan.” Ileana began to protest, but they were already gone.
Chapter 25
Lela pulled Nathan through to the front of the house, finally Nathan stopped. Lela pulled harder on his arm nearly pulling his shoulder from the socket.
“Ouch Lela, what is it?” Nathan asked while rubbing his newly injured shoulder. Lela turned around with fear in her eyes. It was as if she had seen into the future and it scared the hell out of her. This was not the Lela he had seen since he got here, she was brave, strong, and quick tempered, but honestly he had not seen this kind of fear in her, and now he was starting to feel it too.
“Out with it Lela! Why are you so scared?” Nathan demanded. His stomach churned once again, Jeez when where they going to eat? The look in Lela’s eyes unnerved Nathan worse than when she had shot him with the bow. Why was this so different than him being a regular mage? It just looked like another title to Nathan. He was just about to prompt Lela again when she began to speak.
“Nathan, I do not know how to tell you this, but being a phoenix mage means so many different things.” Lela began.
“Why does this sound like I am not going to like this?” Nathan said quietly.
“You will be able to use other spells, but fire will be more easily learned.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“The problem is phoenix mages usually become so engrossed in their fire spells that eventually they… they burn themselves out of existence. This is not the only problem; once the Dark Queen finds out that you are a phoenix mage she will stop at nothing to kill you. Phoenix mages have the ability to destroy all magic by burning it, which is why the spell book can never be restored. Nathan you literally burned the words and the magic out of existence.”
The full weight of this revelation hit Nathan; he ran to the front door and made it outside as he vomited. This new revelation would mean the Dark Queen would never stop hunting him. He was doomed, and why? He had been brought to a world where magic prevailed, and it was against his will! The second wave of nausea only brought Nathan to his knees for a series of dry heaves.
After the last bout of dry heaving Nathan looked at Lela through blurry eyes. He had to either find a way home before that psycho queen learned of his new abilities, or fight her and her entire army. Going home seemed to be the best option; after all there was no magic in his world. Unfortunately leaving meant leaving Lela and Ileana behind to face the Dark Queen alone. The argument raged back and forth as Nathan tried to figure out what to do. Lela saw the anguish in Nathan’s eyes and decided that she had to help him in any way she could.
“Nathan, the elves could hide you from the Dark Queen for some time before she would find you, together we might even find a way to send you back home!” The thought of sending Nathan home nearly brought her to tears, but he would be alive that was all that mattered.
“No, Lela. I can’t run and hide from this Dark Queen. If she finds out that the elves are hiding me she will use her army to attack the elves and possibly wipe them out! My mind is made up, I will fight her.” Nathan saw the shock on Lela’s face; it mirrored his own shock at saying those brave words. Nathan knew that it was the only way to ensure the elves safety and possibly his own. Now came the hard part figuring out a plan to keep him and the others alive.
The two went back into Lex’s house to find Kira and Ileana fighting. Though they were only a few rooms away the heated argument filled the house with curses and the sounds of dishes breaking. The two entered the room in time to see Ileana knocking an arrow and Kira aiming her trident at Ileana.
“What in the seven winds is going on here?” Lela exclaimed.
“This sea cow was going to contact the Dark Queen and tell her about Nathan being a phoenix mage!” Ileana cried, “I won’t have it!” The arrow flew from her bow as the trident swooped over to stop the deadly projectile from striking its target.
“I only offered it as a suggestion, to appease the Dark Queen and be spared her wrath!” Kira said as she threw the staff at Ileana who rolled and stood back up in a smooth motion, the trident striking the wall where Ileana had been standing only seconds before.
Lex was on the floor unconscious. He had a lump on his head that was only slightly bleeding. Nathan rushed between the two warriors to kneel beside Lex’s unmoving body. When Nathan’s hand touched Lex he saw what happened as if he had been there. The comment was made Ileana fired an arrow, the pans rose up to deflect the arrow, but the arrow hit the pan in Kira’s left hand causing her to accidentally hit Lex. The scene changed to a red landscape, Nathan looked around and found what looked like two hoses spilling a red liquid onto the ground. Nathan quickly sensed that he was looking at Lex’s wound, a feeling arose in Nathan. He could repair this; slowly he focused on the two hoses, and willed them to stop. The flow slowed to a slight drip. Nathan concentrated on the two hose like parts of the vein and commanded them to join back together. The ends obeyed by snaking towards each other and joining at the openings. The blood that had leaked out was next; Nathan ordered the red substance to return to its home. The blood rippled back into the opening where a bright orange light sealed the two ends of the vein leaving no scar.
Nathan was over joyed he could heal! Now that he had performed it he was certain he could do it again! Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all. He had managed to use magic and not destroy what he was using it on!
Then the nausea returned, Nathan doubled over and was staring at the floor in the kitchen now. He didn’t feel good, the pain increased until it felt like he had broken glass in his stomach. The pain became unbearable until Nathan passed out.
“Is he dead?” The female voice asked.
“No he over exerted himself.” It was a different female voice.
Nathan sank deeper into the darkness. It was comforting here. The darkness didn’t care what he was called, it just accepted him. The voices were growing distant. They hardly mattered anymore, only the darkness remained. Was he dying? Did it matter? Who were the voices? Nathan was at ease nothing could hurt him in the darkness, he only wished he wasn’t so cold. The voices had stopped, everything seemed quiet. That was when he noticed the light.
Nathan walked towards the light, only to find an old man sitting on a chair. The darkness surrounded him, but the light came from the old man. The darkness seemed afraid of the light, but Nathan walked towards the old man anyway. The old man had a staff with a claw on top of it, the claw held a sapphire.
“Nathan, my boy do you know who I am?” The old man asked.
Nathan looked at the old man; he was a mage, but not the one from his nightmares.
“No sir, I know you are a mage,
but you are not Zorn. Who are you?”
The old man smiled, this one showed promise. Maybe he was the one to restore harmony to Orlon. He was definitely inexperienced where magic was concerned, but barring that he would be a fine mage.
“I am known as Shinto, the first mage of Orlon, and creator of the spell book of the mages and the candle of resurrection. How is my fair spell book? It is meant to chronicle all the new spells in the lands, have you added to its vast spells yet?”
Nathan’s mouth went dry, how could he tell the originator of this grand book of spells that he accidentally burned it beyond saving? He tried to speak, but his mouth refused to cooperate. Finally he managed to blurt out what he was trying to say.
“I burned it, it is destroyed beyond saving. I am sorry.” Even to Nathan’s ears the apology sounded weak, but he had never expected to talk to the person who made the spell book.
The old man sat quietly, not even his chest seemed to move. In one flourished movement the old man stood. Nathan didn’t like what he was seeing. The old man was changing, no that wasn’t right, he was getting younger. It occurred to Nathan that the staff the other man carried was made of metal, and he didn’t even have a weapon to defend himself with!
“It’s okay Nathan, the book though it is a loss was always meant to be destroyed.” Shinto said. “You see the book itself was a test, who ever could destroy it would more than likely be strong enough to turn back the evil that is Tirana the Dark Queen and her minions.”
Relief flooded through Nathan, but then another thought worried him.
“Shinto, how are we having this conversation?”
“Why you silly boy, you died!”
“I I’m dead?”
“You look surprised Nathan, of course you did. I have been dead for several hundred years. Do you think you can just talk to ghosts whenever you want and without any cost?”
Nathan thought about it for a few minutes. The darkness, had felt cold, oh God! He healed Lex and must have done some sort of damage to himself! The realization slid into his eyes. He had died saving Lex! The voices that became muffled where the girl’s voices, but Lela’s voice had said he just passed out. How had he died? Looking lost he turned to Shinto.
