Magium

by Chris Michael Wilson

  “Hold on a minute, there,” Daren says. “Who exactly is this Fyron, and why are you both acting like you’ve met him before?”

  “Fyron is the general of the free goblins of Varathia,” Illuna says.

  “Okay, and how do you guys know him?” Daren says.

  “Illuna has known him since before she met us, I think,” I say. “I met him while I was walking around the underground tunnels of the arena with Leila, trying to sabotage the event.”

  “You were trying to sabotage the—” Daren says, shocked, but he stops mid-sentence, and he shakes his head. “Oh, boy… Nothing is ever simple with you, is it, Barry?”

  “So…” Hadrik says. “I don’t mean to interrupt your discussion or anything, but shouldn’t we be getting a little worried about these well-trained groups of monsters going after our heads? I mean, even I was having trouble with those ogres, and from what I’ve seen, our elementalists had almost no effect on the orcs that were wearing anti-magic armor. Maybe we need to rethink our strategies, a bit?”

  “Well,” Kate says, “maybe the battle would have gone better if a certain member of the group didn’t ignore the fight completely…”

  “Drop it, Kate,” Daren says. “This discussion won’t get us anywhere. And besides, Melindra won’t be part of our group forever. Hadrik is right. We need new plans. I was way too focused on my fight with the orc captain to be able to pay attention to my surroundings, so I can’t say for certain, but I think that one of the main problems in the way we organized ourselves was the fact that Leila jumped in to attack all those orcs by herself, which forced all of our elementalists to concentrate only on the orcs that were fighting her, instead of say… dealing with the ogres, who did not appear to be wearing anti-magic armor, and who would have been easier targets for them.”

  “Sorry…” Leila writes.

  “Oh, there’s no need for you to apologize!” Daren says. “I know that you were trying to act as a decoy, in order to keep the attention off our elementalists, and that’s a great tactic, but it just didn’t work well for this situation. That’s why we’re having this discussion, in order to learn from our mistakes, and to improve our tactics for later battles. For example, maybe the next time you want to act as a decoy, you could try to keep your distance from your enemies, instead of actually engaging them in battle, so that you wouldn’t put yourself into any immediate danger, which would allow our elementalists to also pay attention to the rest of the battlefield, without feeling obligated to jump to your aid.”

  “Okay, I’ll try…” Leila writes.

  “Also,” Daren says, “the next time Hadrik says he’ll ‘handle the ogres’, it doesn’t mean that you need to let him handle them all by himself. He may be strong enough to not get himself killed, but if either one of you helped him kill those ogres, he could have made mincemeat out of the orcs, without breaking a sweat. And when I say either one of you, I’m talking especially about you, Kate. A few well-placed ice cones should have been enough to finish off those ogres, given how busy they were with fighting Hadrik. I know that Leila is your friend, but you can’t just completely ignore your surroundings every time she is in danger. If we’re going to fight as a team from now on, you’re going to need to put a little more faith in her fighting capabilities.”

  “I understand…” Kate says.

  “Hmm?…” Melindra says, as she turns around, suddenly appearing to gain an interest in our conversation. “That is some very good advice coming from someone who hasn’t been paying attention to his surroundings. Maybe I’ve been underestimating you a little bit…”

  “Of course it’s good advice,” Daren says. “I haven’t spent the last twenty years fighting monsters for nothing. Also, didn’t you say earlier that we wouldn’t hear another word from you? Why are you talking to us all of a sudden?”

  “Hmph!” Melindra says, as she turns around. “I wasn’t talking to you. I was just thinking out loud. There’s no reason for me to talk to any of you people.”

  “Does this mean that you won’t show me your rock collection anymore?” Flower says, with a disappointed tone in her voice.

  “Well…” Melindra says. “I suppose I could make an exception. Just this once. Come here, and we’ll pick up from where we left off.”

  As Flower rushes again to Melindra’s side, we all continue our journey through the forest, and for the next few hours, we do not get any more interruptions.

  For the duration of our journey, Melindra has not spoken again to anyone other than Flower, and the rest of us mostly ignored her as well. While we walked, we sort of split ourselves into little groups, with Kate and Leila in the back, Hadrik, Daren and I in the middle, and Flower and Melindra in the front. It seemed that Kate and Leila had a lot of catching up to do, so we decided to not bother them, and to let them have a little privacy.

  On the opposite side of the group, once Melindra had finished showing Flower the rocks, she began to ask her a lot of technical details about how her fusion with Illuna actually works. Some of the questions were more personal than others, but it didn’t seem like Flower was being bothered by them in any way, and she answered them all without hesitation, while Melindra was eying her with a look of sincere and eager curiosity.

  When it got past noon, we decided to have a break near a river, in order to eat our meals, fill our gourds with fresh water and gather some fruits, so that Flower could conserve some of her magical energy by not creating food every time we needed to eat something. It would have been nice if the water that Illuna conjures were actually drinkable, because then we wouldn’t have to worry about finding sources of fresh water, but from what she told me, the water that she creates with her spells disappears by itself after a while, so we might as well be drinking empty air.

  After I finished eating, I sat down on a rock, and I pulled out my notebook, to see if I could find any more of Eiden’s loopholes while we were resting. While I was calmly flipping the pages of my notebook, I could see with the tail of my eye how Melindra was slowly closing in on me, although she seemed to have conflicting feelings about whether she wanted to talk to me or not, and she went back and forth a few times, before she finally decided to stop in front of me.

  “So, uhm… Barry… was it?” Melindra says, with an obviously forced smile, while attempting to appear cute and approachable. “How are you this fine day?”

  “I see that you’ve finally bothered to learn my name,” I say, as I casually flip a page from my notebook, without raising my eyes to look at her.

  “Yes, your name is easier to remember than the others,” Melindra says.

  “That’s funny… Because you were calling me ‘half-lessathi’ just a few hours ago…” I say, still not taking my eyes off my notebook.

  “Oh,” Melindra says. “Well, back then it was harder for me to remember it, but now it isn’t.”

  “Because now you need to ask a favor of me, but back then you didn’t?” I ask her.

  “Yes, exactly!” Melindra says. “I’m glad to know that we’re both on the same page, here!”

  “You and I both,” I say, as I flip another page of my notebook.

  “So, anyway,” Melindra says, “I was curious about something. I know that you’re a half-lessathi, and I also know that you came here as a participant in the tournament, but as far as I’m aware, lessathi can normally only be found in the continent of Varathia. So, I was wondering who your parents are, exactly, and why did they leave this continent?”

  “If you’re talking about my real parents, then I most likely never met them,” I say. “I’m pretty sure that the parents who actually raised me were both regular humans.”

  “They ‘were’ regular humans?” Melindra says, intrigued. “Not ‘are’?”

  “No,” I say, simply. “They’re dead now. They were killed by a banshee.”

  As I say these words, Daren, who was sitting on a rock not far from me, sharpening his sword, now seems to be paying a little more attention to our discussio
n. I suddenly realize that I never really told him how I met my first banshee.

  “Killed by a banshee?” Melindra says. “And you weren’t there when this happened?”

  “I was there,” I say. “I’m the one who killed her.”

  “You killed a banshee by yourself?” Melindra says. “But the only way someone as powerless as you could ever hope to defeat a banshee would be to attack her in her most vulnerable state, right after the awakening. Which means…”

  She pauses for a second, as realization dawns upon her.

  “Which means that the person who turned into a banshee was also part of your family, wasn’t she?” Melindra says. “Your sister, perhaps? Cousin?”

  “Sister,” I say.

  “And you killed her with your own hands?” Melindra asks, with a look of morbid curiosity in her eyes. “How did the banshee look when she awakened? Did she really look like a genuine monster, like they say in the legends? What about your sister? Did it seem like she was still retaining a part of her consciousness, before the awakening process was over, or was she completely gone?”

  “Listen, Melindra,” I say, as I close my notebook and finally look her in the eyes. “If we’re going to be delving into subjects that we’re uncomfortable to talk about, then I also have a few questions for you…”

  I then lower my voice, in order to make sure that Daren can no longer hear me talking.

  “For starters,” I say, “why did you lie to us when you said that the reason why you weren’t helping us fight the orcs earlier was because you wanted to test us?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Melindra says, feigning ignorance. “I didn’t lie about anything.”

  “Oh?” I say. “So you’re saying that after spending more than a week in search of someone who could help you kill the king of Ollendor, you were going to waste your only chance, just like that, because we weren’t able to hold our own against one of Tyrath’s strongest teams of combatants?”

  “I already told you,” Melindra says. “Olmnar’s defenses are no joke! If you think that some ‘elite’ team of monsters can compare with what is to come, then you are sorely mistaken!”

  “Okay…” I say. “Then let me ask you something else. Why exactly did you need to bend your knees and to keep your elbows close to your body when you cast the spell that blew away the orc who was attacking you? Because as far as I’m aware, that stance is what they teach novice elementalists at the very beginning of their training, in order to help them better control their powers, when they are still getting accustomed to them. Are you still getting accustomed to your powers, after six hundred years, Melindra?”

  “I…” Melindra starts to say, but she hesitates, and I interrupt her.

  “Or is it perhaps that Arraka was speaking literally, when she said that you don’t know how to hold back?…” I say. “Those crazy stillwater powers must surely come with some sort of drawbacks, no? I would expect someone like Eiden, who knows all the ins and outs of magic to find a way around such a problem, but you don’t seem like the type. You still haven’t learned how to control your stillwater powers properly, have you? It’s too much for you to handle, and you’re afraid that you’ll accidentally put too much power behind one of your spells, and blow us all away, while also killing yourself in the process because of that oath you made.”

  “No, you’re wrong!” Melindra says. “The only reason why I used that stance was because I was still tired after casting that tornado earlier, and I wanted to be extra safe!”

  “Yeah, I’m not buying it,” I say. “I know how elemental magic works. Being tired should only affect your concentration, and there is no need to concentrate on how powerful your spells are, once you’ve mastered the basics. Admit it, there would have been no reason for you to use that stance, if you didn’t have trouble controlling your powers.”

  Melindra frowns at me, but she doesn’t say anything.

  “What I don’t understand is why you would purposely avoid telling us about it,” I say. “Do you really care about your image that much? Is it really so important for you to be known as this perfect and all-powerful stillwater that can do no wrong, that you’d be willing to risk this entire mission?”

  “I swear…” Melindra says, with a menacing look in her eyes. “If you plan on telling anyone about this…”

  “You’ll what?” I ask her. “Pat me lightly on the back? Caress me softly? Because that’s about the most you can do to me after that vow you made. I bet you must be regretting your decision to make that oath life-binding now, huh?”

  “A little…” Melindra says.

  “Relax,” I tell her. “I don’t have any reason to tell anyone about this. It’s not like you could help us if you wanted to. If you want to appear as even more unlikeable than you already are, then who am I to stop you?”

  “Oh?” Melindra says, with the smile of a child who’s just found a new toy to play with. “So you find me unlikeable, do you?”

  “Quite unlikeable, yes,” I say.

  “And you don’t enjoy talking to me?” Melindra says.

  “Not really, no,” I say.

  “Well, in that case, I see no other alternative than to keep pestering you until you’ll begin to find me likeable,” Melindra says, with a coy smile.

  “That’s not how these things work,” I say.

  “What are you talking about?” Melindra says, still smiling. “Of course that’s how it works. You’re a half-lessathi, I’m a half-lessathi, we’re both half-lessathi. What possible reason could you have to dislike me?”

  “Oh, I don’t know…” I say. “Maybe your personality?”

  “Hey, Melindra,” Daren says, as he closes in on us. “We’re all ready to go. Can you show us the way?”

  “Oh, sure,” Melindra says. “Just follow the river in that direction for a while, and you’ll be fine. We’ll catch up to you in a second.”

  “Uh… okay, I guess?…” Daren says, and then he turns to the others. “Well, you all heard her. Let’s follow the river.”

  Daren and the rest of the group then grab their backpacks, preparing to leave, and as they go past us, I can see Kate glancing at us a little suspiciously.

  “So, about your parents—” Melindra starts to say, but I don’t wait for her to finish her sentence, and I go to follow the others, while I put my notebook back in my backpack.

  “Hey, I wasn’t done talking, yet!” Melindra says, as she hurries to my side.

  “Oh, you weren’t?” I say, in a dry tone. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening.”

  “Well, in that case, I accept your apology,” Melindra says, seemingly oblivious to the sarcastic undertone of my previous remark. “So, anyway, I think that one of your parents might have been part of the lessathi top brass, or at least related to them in some way.”

  “What makes you say that?” I say.

  “Well, marrying a non-lessathi is strictly prohibited in today’s lessathi society,” Melindra says. “So it stands to reason that any such relationships will remain hidden from the eyes of the other lessathi. This is the reason why you don’t really see any more half-lessathi nowadays. However, if a lessathi woman were to become pregnant with the child of a non-lessathi, such a relationship would become much more difficult to hide. I’m thinking that the reason why your parents left this continent was because they considered it would have been too difficult to keep hiding after your mother became pregnant with you.”

  “Okay, but why would they be related to the top brass?” I say.

  “Because the only people that have access to teleporting devices on this continent are the kings and the lessathi,” Melindra says. “And those teleporters are the only way to leave the continent. Since only the highest ranked lessathi have access to the lessathi teleporters, it means that your mother needed to ask help from one of them, if she wanted to leave, and they would need to do it secretly. Maybe you’re even related to the leader of the lessathi! I’m guessing you were born arou
nd thirty years or so ago, so the leader back then would have been… Heksol. Yeah, that was the name. I think he might have died since then, though. Or was he killed? I’m not sure. I don’t really follow lessathi politics that much anymore.”

  “Can you two stop talking and focus for a second, here?” Daren says. “I can sense a group of mages approaching us. And I’m not sure if they’re friendly. Keep your guards up.”

  It takes a while before the mages show themselves, but it would appear that they are yet another group of weapon enchanters. They don’t really look like thugs, so who knows, maybe this time we can just say hello and then be on our way, like civilized people. I know that I’m being optimistic here, but still…

  “Hey, look at that!” one of the weapon enchanters says. “These bozos have brought whores with them to the tournament.”

  “Wow, you’re right,” says a second mage. “They even made sure to bring at least one for each of them.”

  “Do you think that the little girl was brought by the dwarf?” says a third mage. “That sick bastard.”

  All of a sudden, Melindra grabs my arm with both her hands, and she presses herself against me.

  “Darling, are you going to just let them talk about me like that?” Melindra says, with pleading eyes, but with a mocking smile. “You’re not going to let them walk away after calling me a whore, are you?”