“I saw,” said Ghorza. “Still, most mages aren’t able to cast the cantrip more than once their first time, and only a very few can do it three times. You have a larger mana pool than most mages.”
“What is a mana pool?”
“That is the spell casting potential that a mage has, and every mage’s pool is different. Yours is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen, although it is not unheard of for a new mage to cast three cantrips. That’s how many I cast, by the way. As mages progress upward in level, their mana pools will grow, allowing them to cast more spells. Of course, as you move up, each new level of spell costs more mana to cast than the preceding level’s spells did, so it is kind of a matter of diminishing returns.”
“Can I try one of the other cantrips?” asked John.
“Not right now. Not only are you out of mana, which will replenish itself slowly over time, but it is also exceedingly unlikely that you will be able to cast any of the other cantrips. Only about one mage in ten thousand is able to cast a second element’s spells, and no one can do three.”
“Why not?”
“Just like the gods of good and evil are opposites, the elements have opposites, too. If you are a fire mage, you cannot cast water-based spells, and vice versa. Similarly, if you are an air mage, you cannot cast earth-based spells.”
“Can I try one of those others in the morning?” John asked.
“You can,” said Ghorza, “but you shouldn’t hold your breath that it is going to work.”
Chapter 16
Dantes looked at the bubbling lava far below him and finally came to a decision. It was time to leave Norlon. He didn’t know where he was going to go, but he had enjoyed traveling through Tasidar when he was looking for the land where the Spectre lived. He would journey to Harbortown and take the next ship to wherever it was headed, as long as it wasn’t to Northshire. Although the halflings might like the weather there, it was too cold for his taste.
Maybe he would renew his search for the Spectre. Maybe he would just travel, looking for a place to fit in. If he was really lucky, he would find a small border war that needed his magical talents. That would probably be the most satisfying. If he couldn’t find that, maybe he would look into freelance bounty hunting, as long as it was somewhere far away from Norlon. He laughed. Maybe he’d go to Salidar and start his own kingdom. There were always warlords starting new kingdoms there. Although physically smaller than most of the evil races that lived there, he knew he was much smarter than most of them, too, which would allow him to move up through the ranks quickly...as long as he stayed alive. His talents would be in demand wherever he went, especially his ability to work fire magic, and he was hard to kill. Going to Salidar might mean becoming evil...but thanks to his father, he knew he had it in him.
As he walked back to his tent, Dantes glanced down the mountain and saw a small flickering light at its base where someone was camping. He didn’t feel like putting up with mountain climbers, so he decided to get up early and go down the other side of the mountain. Having spent three months by himself, he found that he was starting to enjoy his own company. Dantes went to sleep early, but dreams of uncontrolled fires haunted his sleep.
Chapter 17
“Ghorza, the sun is up.”
The half-orc rolled away from John. She wasn’t ready to get up yet, and the sun was not up. In fact, the sky was only just starting to gray. “I don’t know why you’re in such a hurry,” she grumbled. “You do realize that Dantes will probably try to kill you when he sees you, right?”
“What? What do you mean?” John shrieked. “You never said anything about him trying to kill me!”
Ghorza’s thick lips curled upward around her tusks in a grin. That will teach him to wake me up early, she thought. Realizing that was her mother’s blood talking, she took pity on him. “Well, there’s no doubt that he will be angry to see you, just like I was. That can’t be helped. Until we explain everything to him, he’s probably going to be pretty mad at you. After that, he’ll just be angry in general, which won’t be much better.” She paused and then added, “Don’t worry about it, though. I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ll have a couple of spells ready that we can use to control him long enough to tell him what really happened.”
“Umm, OK...” replied John, still sounding unsure. “Maybe it would be better if I just stayed down here, and you went up to tell him.”
“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” said Ghorza. “It’ll be fine.” She stretched. “Well, I’m up now. Might as well get going. The Spectre isn’t getting any closer.” She started rolling her blankets.
“Before we go off to my doom,” John said, “can I try one of the other cantrips? I’m dying to know if I can do it.”
“That isn’t the word I would have chosen to describe it,” replied Ghorza. “People have died in the past trying to do too much magic too quickly. It doesn’t happen often, but still...” Her voice trailed off.
That wasn’t something that had ever been mentioned to John, but he was really curious to find out if he could do it. “I’d still like to try.”
Ghorza shrugged. “It’s your funeral,” she said with a smile. John wasn’t sure if she was just kidding with him or being serious, but he also wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
The half-orc moved to stand next to John. “This is the air cantrip,” she said. “It is a gust of wind.”
“What does it do?” asked John.
“It is a gust strong enough to float on,” Ghorza said. “It can be used to cushion a fall or keep you from breaking a dish if you drop one.” She pointed her finger at him from about a foot away. “Natate!” she commanded. John could feel himself gently but firmly pushed away.
“That’s cool!” he exclaimed.
“Well, it may not be a wall of flames, but it does have its uses.”
John picked up his blanket and threw it up in the air. Just before it hit the ground, he pointed and said, “Natate!” The blanket came to rest about six inches above the ground, spreading out to lie flat on the cushion of air. “That. Is. Awesome!” he shouted.
Having fun, he cast the cantrip again and watched his blanket rise up into the air. He didn’t see her jaw fall open in amazement. No one learned how to do two different types of spells that fast, she thought. No one. And no one was able to do it that well. The only spell that fizzled was the one he said wrong. It was impossible. It was...unnatural. It just didn’t happen.
He cast the spell a third time and then turned around, grinning from ear to ear. “What’s next, master?” he asked. “Can I try one of the other two?”
“Not now.”
“Why not?”
“Well, you don’t have any mana left, I’m sure,” she said. “And besides, it’s just not possible to do any of the other types. No matter which one you try, it is the opposite of one of the ones you already cast. You can’t cast both fire and water spells. It can’t be done.”
“You sound like I just said that the sun would rise in the opposite direction,” John said with a laugh. “Like I was going to break one of the laws of nature or something.”
“If you knew anything about magic,” said Ghorza, “which you obviously don’t, you would know that casting one of the other spells would violate one of the laws of magic. Fire and water are in opposition, just like air and earth are. You can’t do both. They are opposites. Being able to cast one of them means that you are physically unable to do the other. You can’t do both.”
“Well it won’t kill me to try, will it?”
“Maybe,” replied Ghorza. “You are far too incautious. It might kill you. That is what I’m trying to tell you. They are opposites; maybe you will blow up if you do both. I don’t know!”
“Opposites that blow up when put together?” asked John. “You mean like matter and antimatter?”
“I don’t know what you just said,” she replied. “The necklace only made a beeping noise for those two words. But if they are two things that blow up catastr
ophically when you put them next to each other, yes, just like that.”
“Well, it can’t be as bad as matter and antimatter,” replied John. “Besides, they’re just cantrips. How bad could it be?” He paused. “Tell you what, why don’t I do the water spell. Maybe that will at least put out any fires that I start. It feels like I have enough mana for one more cantrip. I think.”
“I will let you try it, outlander, but I am going to move a long way away. That way, if it goes wrong, you will only kill yourself.”
“Fine,” he agreed. “What’s the word for the water cantrip?”
“Aqua!” Ghorza said.
“Really?” he asked. “That ought to be easy.” He rubbed his hands together, and then he pointed at the embers of the campfire. “Aqua!” he ordered. A drizzle of water appeared where he pointed and fell into the fire, turning to steam. The hissing of the steam was drowned out by a loud crash from behind him. “Now I’m out of mana,” John said, turning back around. Ghorza stood still, staring at the fire as if she had seen a ghost. All of her equipment lay at her feet where it had fallen. She shook her head, trying to clear it.
“I don’t know what all of this means,” she said, when she was able to speak again, “but I know we need to get back and talk to the Magistra. Let’s get our stuff and get going.”
She gathered her gear a second time and turned to look up the mountain. The peak was now in sunshine, although the mountaintop was too far to see clearly. “Focus!” she said, causing the light to bend and the distant peak to spring closer and into focus.
“Damn,” she said. “We’re too late.”
“What do you mean?” asked John.
“He’s gone.”
Chapter 18
The smoke rising from the city several miles away was coming from too many places and was far too thick to be cooking fires. The smoke didn’t smell like cooking fires, either. The closer they got to the city, the more Ghorza found it impossible to deny. Parts of the city were burning. The attack they had been worrying about had taken place while they were gone.
“What’s all that smoke?” asked John. “Is there some sort of festival today?”
“I’m afraid not,” Ghorza said, whose half-orc nature gave her a better sense of smell. “The outskirts of the city are on fire. I think that the forces of Salidar have attacked Norlon.”
“What are we going to do?” asked John. “Where are we going to go?”
Ghorza paused, estimating the fires. “I don’t think they’ve made it up to the Magisterium yet,” she said. “If we hurry, we can still make it there before they do.”
“What?” asked John. “You want to go into the fighting? Are you crazy?”
“I am a trained member of the Magisterium, although a junior one,” Ghorza answered. “That is where my place is. I need to go and see if I can help.” She turned from the smoke to gaze down at John. “You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to; however, if Norlon is no longer safe, it won’t be long before all of Tasidar is under their boots.”
“I’ll go,” replied John. “I don’t know what help I’ll be, but I’ll go.”
“Well, then, let’s go with haste. I don’t know how much longer we have.”
Chapter 19
Rubic found Solim at the command tent that had been erected just outside the walls of the suburbs. A squad of trolls was at the city wall, pulling it apart with their bare hands so that the command group could advance into the city. The trolls would jab their spade-like hands into the mortar of a joint, grab hold of a brick and rip it out. Periodically, sections of the wall would fall as they were undermined, and a squad of hill giants would move forward to pull the fallen sections out of the way.
The command tent was a bustle of activity, with messengers and leaders of all of the host’s races coming and going. Finding a three-foot tall halfling among all of the giants, trolls and ogres might have been difficult at another time; today Rubic just followed a messenger to where things were the busiest, and there he found Solim.
Rubic could barely hear himself think among the ruckus; at least eight different languages were being spoken, and the hill giants were trying to out-shout the ogres. As bad as the noise level was, it didn’t begin to compare to the smell in the tent. Rubic found himself barely able to breathe, and gagged when he tried to speak.
“You’ll get used to it after a while,” said Solim. “What news do you bring of the foreigner and his friends? Are they dead?”
“They did not come back together,” Rubic said. “When the orc and the boy reached the mountain, the devil had already left. I didn’t know if I should attack the two of them and risk alerting the demon that we were coming for him.”
“Are you sure you didn’t attack them because you were afraid of them?” asked Solim.
“No,” replied Rubic. “I didn’t have a chance to kill them all, so I came back to see what you wanted me to do. I trailed the orc and the boy back to the city; they’re on their way to the Magisterium. You ought to be able to catch them there.”
“I’ve already sent out several groups to find them and kill them if they could,” Solim said, “but I think this may call for more drastic actions.” He turned to the troll standing next to him. “Send a contingent to the Magisterium,” he said, concentrating on focusing his words through the crown on his head. “Have them kill everyone they find there.”
The troll’s eyes glazed slightly as the magic worked through him. “Yes, master,” he replied, looking at the halfling, who was less than half his size. “It shall be done as you order.”
“As for you,” Solim said, turning back to his brother, “I want you to go quickly to the Magisterium and see if you can find out what their plans are.”
“Okay,” Rubic said. He turned to go.
“One more thing,” Solim said from behind him.
“Yes?” asked Rubic over his shoulder.
“You’d better hurry. I wouldn’t want you to be there when the trolls get there.”
Chapter 20
Ghorza opened the tunnel door a crack and looked around. A member of the Magisterium, she knew the locations of several tunnels that could be used to sneak in and out of the city. All were booby-trapped in case the enemy found them, but the one she led John through was still clear. So far.
Seeing no one around, she pushed up the trap door, which led into a small shed. Disguised by some of the best illusionists in Norlon, the shed appeared old, decrepit and unworthy of a second glance from the outside. The building was empty, although the smell of smoke was much stronger now that they were closer to the fighting. They could feel the pounding of siege machines trying to tear down the city’s inner walls not far away. Ghorza didn’t think that it would be long before the enemy forces were upon them, if they weren’t here already.
She cracked open the door that led out of the shed and looked around to see what was outside. Satisfied no one was watching, she opened it the rest of the way and whispered, “Come on!” before running across a small lawn to a house. John followed close behind.
“Stay here,” she ordered when they reached the cover of the building. “The owner of this house is a member of the Magisterium. I will see if he is home and can give us any information.” John nodded, and she slipped through the back door of the house.
While he was waiting, John heard a commotion coming from in front of the house and went to look around the corner. The building next to the house was a small cafe. The restaurant was vacant, except for one table in front that was occupied. He was in luck! The devil they had been looking for was at the table, along with three of the largest creatures he had ever seen. John didn’t know what they were, but they had to be at least nine feet tall, maybe taller, and weighed many hundreds of pounds. They almost looked comical, dressed in tattered furs and sitting on benches that were too small for them. All of them seemed oblivious to the events going on around them.
“Hey—” John started to call out, but a strong hand clamped o
ver his mouth, lifting him from his feet and pulling him back around the corner of the building.
“Quiet!” whispered a gruff voice that smelled of sulfur. The voice pulled him back further and slammed him backward into the wall. His head snapped back against the building’s bricks, causing him to see stars. As they cleared, he found himself looking into the face of the real teufling. John didn’t have to be experienced with demonic facial expressions to tell the half-devil was angry. His tail flicked back and forth at the edge of John’s vision; John knew it could strike him, and he would never see it coming.
“Come to gloat with the rest of your evil creatures now that you’ve taken the city?” the teufling asked. “If there’s one thing in this life that I am sure of, it’s that you won’t last long enough to get that drink with your friends out there!”
“It’s not like that at all!” John whispered back. “I’m here with Ghorza. We were looking for you. We went to find you at the mountain, but you were gone. We came back to the city, but it was already in flames.”
“A likely story,” Dantes said. “And you just happened to be going to meet that group out there?”
“I thought the teufling was you,” said John. “I’m looking for you. I came here to tell you that you’ve all been tricked. The real Spectre is still on the loose!”
“The real Spectre?”
“Yes, the real Spectre. He used me to trick you. He got away and came back here...probably to take part in the destruction of this city.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that?”
“It’s true,” said Ghorza’s voice from behind him. “We’ve been looking for you, and if you would let him go, we can tell you all about it.”
Her voice soothed his anger. Dantes let go of John and turned to find Ghorza looking down at him. Dantes gave an embarrassed smiled. “It’s good to see you,” he said.
Can't Look Back (War for Dominance Book 1) Page 7
