Whispering the words of her spell, Ruethwyn suppressed her wince at the pain it caused. It was an easy spell to cast at least, and she charged the spell with enough mana to last for several hours. As she completed the spell, Ruethwyn smiled and muttered. “Let’s see how easy you find it to track me when I don’t leave a scent behind.”
With that done, Ruethwyn quickly headed south, planning to work her way east as quickly as she reasonably could. She didn’t want to be stuck in the woods with wolves for any longer than she absolutely had to.
“Not bad, Ruethwyn. Not bad at all,” Essryl murmured, sitting back against the tree trunk, her eyes half-closed as she watched the young woman.
If Essryl hadn’t modified the test, Ruethwyn would likely pass it fairly easily. The wolves and forest were all part of the test to begin with, so that much was to be expected, but it was Essryl’s changes that would make it interesting. It would be amusing to see whether Ruethwyn would encounter the barrier blocking the exit or Essryl’s major addition first, though.
Ruethwyn took a left, having just blasted another wolf into oblivion, and Essryl’s smile widened as she sat forward. “Ooh… this will be fun!”
It seemed that it was going to be the major addition, and Essryl’s anticipation heightened. If Ruethwyn failed, Essryl hoped that her teacher would be understanding. Essryl wasn’t certain that the teacher would be able to pass something like this without warning, after all.
Ruethwyn resisted the urge to grumble in annoyance as she destroyed her fifth wolf. She wasn’t certain why there were so many of them in the forest, but at least they weren’t coming in packs. She’d been exploring the forest for nearly half an hour, and was starting to wonder how big it was. The size of the trees and intricacy of the maze was startling, and she worried about getting lost.
The paths did seem to be growing a bit more open, so Ruethwyn suspected she was near the center of the maze. That was both good and bad, considering what it said about how spread out things were. Simple attrition could eventually take her down in the end, but at least she wasn’t having to maintain the scent-dispersal spell.
Ruethwyn debated for a moment, before taking the left-hand path, since she thought the path ahead was going a bit too far south. She jogged down it for a few moments, then skidded to a halt as she turned a corner to confront another wolf, its fangs bared as it growled at her from a few dozen paces away.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! Another of you—” Ruethwyn began exclaiming, whipping her wand up to point at the wolf as it began lunging toward her.
The sound of immense wings interrupted her, and a part of Ruethwyn twitched in terror. She’d heard that sound before. An instant later, an immense figure descended from above and slammed down onto the ground with a crash, a claw big enough to pick Ruethwyn up smashing the wolf into the ground. Ruethwyn froze for an instant, staring in horrified shock.
The figure was much like the wolves, in that it was semi-transparent, but the dragon was still immense and terrible, over a hundred feet long and with his head towering nearly thirty feet off the ground on a sinuous neck. The golden eyes sent shivers through her, and there was an odd, blue-green patch of light between them. More importantly, the scales were black with the faintest golden sheen to them, a sheen that Ruethwyn recognized… and which sent a spike of pure terror through her.
“Ahh, the mortal which I abandoned. So you lived, did you?” the shade of Resvarygrath rumbled, his voice deep and so much like what Ruethwyn remembered. The dragon seemed to smile, and she shuddered as he said, “I believe that I need to fix that. Run if you like, little mortal… you’ll only die tired.”
Chapter 18
The sight of Resvarygrath and his voice shocked Ruethwyn into action after her moment of paralysis. Two parts of her mind were the most pertinent at the moment. One was panicking and screaming that she should run away as far and fast as she could manage. The other was calmer and more logical, but it mostly agreed with the first part of her mind. Confronting Resvarygrath head-on without any preparations was suicide.
Despite that, Ruethwyn’s wand snapped upward and she spat the word to activate it without thinking, a surge of mana rushing into the wand painfully and sending a lance of water at the dragon. Resvarygrath’s neck swayed almost effortlessly to the side, and the water blast hit the scales along the side of his head, bouncing off without effect as the dragon let out a booming laugh.
“I see that you want to play, little morsel. Very well, then,” the dragon growled, his eyes narrowing as he drew back slightly.
The sound of his inhalation was familiar, and enough to finally get through to Ruethwyn, because that sound had immediately preceded the loss of her arm and eye, as well as Sinera herself. Ruethwyn cursed and darted to the side, throwing mana into her ring hastily as she did so to create a barrier of solidified air around her in the moment before the dragon breathed out.
A torrent of brilliant white fire lit up the forest like a miniature sun, and Ruethwyn flinched away in horror as it barely clipped her shield, shattering it like glass. A wave of heat washed over her and caused her to instantly start sweating, but fortunately, the blast of fire ended as quickly as it began, leaving a scorched cone of earth on the ground that led back to the dragon’s smoking nostrils and the steam pouring from his mouth.
Ruethwyn didn’t wait, though. The blast of fire had awoken near-gibbering terror in that part of her that had been screaming to run, and even the fragments of her mind that wanted vengeance had decided that it was time to escape. So she turned and ran as fast as she could.
Behind her, the dragon let out a deep, mocking laugh, his tone derisive as he called after her. “That’s it, run. Run, little elf! It’ll make the hunt more fun.”
Panting, Ruethwyn quickly turned one corner, then raced for another. As she ran she saw a wolf and cursed, taking aim and destroying it with a single blast. She didn’t stop, though, instead continuing down several paths, putting as many barriers between her and the dragon as she could manage. Only when her lungs felt like they were almost on fire did Ruethwyn come to a stop, putting her hand on her knee as she panted for breath.
“What… the hells… is he doing in here?” Ruethwyn huffed, her thoughts in jumbles. “That isn’t something any of the others could face! And he’s… he’s…”
She shuddered as her fear came bubbling up again. The annoyed arrogance in the dragon’s voice was humiliating in some ways, but the worst part was that she knew it was justified. He was simply so much more powerful than her that there was no realistic chance of her facing him and winning.
“Oh… that might be the point,” Ruethwyn murmured, realization dawning on her as she regained a bit of her focus. “I might need to avoid him and get to the exit.”
A loud, crashing sound interrupted her, and from much too close by Ruethwyn heard the dragon call out. “Come out, little elf! I’ll make it quick if you do! Why, you’re already halfway done to begin with.”
Flinching, Ruethwyn took a deep breath, then let it out. She’d run south in her panic rather than east, but that didn’t seem to have deterred the dragon. She needed to get away from him and find the exit, which would probably be a much more difficult proposition than she’d expected.
She’d just have to keep quiet, in case he’d tracked her by sound. An idea suddenly occurred to her as well, and Ruethwyn cursed herself internally as she realized that she had another option. If she used a spell to search for magic, it might help her track down the exit. The world here might be shaped by magic, but the exit doubtlessly would be one of the most powerful sources in the region.
The sound of a wolf’s yelp and the chuckle of the dragon brought Ruethwyn’s attention back to her current situation, though. At least the various creations weren’t getting along with one another, which gave her some breathing room. Ruethwyn quickly headed east again, trying to keep out of sight and to get away from Resvarygrath. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she also didn’t want to burn a
ll her mana too quickly.
She’d spent enough in her confrontation so far, and for exactly nothing.
“Hmm… not bad, not bad… she didn’t get herself injured immediately, didn’t outright flee, though that would’ve been the smartest, but tried to attack him. That’s going to go well,” Essryl told herself, sitting back and considering the situation inside the testing realm thoughtfully. “Maybe I made his shade just a bit too tough?”
This version of Resvarygrath wasn’t completely realistic, Essryl knew. Her lord would never spend so much time on a single elf, and even if he did, he wouldn’t casually saunter after her. Ruethwyn would die in seconds if the real dragon wanted to kill her and knew about her, but that wouldn’t make much of a test. Instead, she’d made the version playful and stripped it of magical ability, since that would make the test completely unfair. She’d even given the dragon a weak point, though targeting it would be quite tricky.
“She really could use depth perception. Her aim is fairly good for missing an eye, but if it isn’t coming directly toward her, she has trouble leading the target,” Essryl murmured, watching as Ruethwyn used a second blast to take down a wolf that had caught up with her.
The young woman had used a pulse of mana through the earth to search for magic, which had gotten her a plethora of results, Essryl knew. It had also drawn the attention of both Resvarygrath and the more powerful wolves, but it was Ruethwyn’s own fault for not considering whether or not they’d be able to sense the pulse. Still, Ruethwyn had moved fairly quickly, and both Resvarygrath and the wolves coming to investigate had led to an amusing, brief fight between them. Real wolves would have had the sense to flee.
Ruethwyn had made her escape quickly and was heading south toward the exit now. Essryl had wondered why the girl had been going east to begin with, but fortunately, she wasn’t too far from the exit. Not that she was going to be happy with what she found, Essryl imagined.
“No, he’s not too tough. Adversity is good for her,” Essryl said, nodding in satisfaction. “Now, as long as her teacher doesn’t check on her too soon, everything will work out, one way or another. If Ruethwyn succeeds… well, I might even reward her.”
Perhaps the trip wasn’t the most interesting one Essryl had ever been on, but it was entertaining to watch Ruethwyn flounder about. She was reasonably skilled, but the young woman needed experience, which Essryl was giving her.
Stepping close to one of the walls, Ruethwyn listened closely, trying to determine if the dragon or wolves were close. She didn’t hear much, but that wasn’t any guarantee of things. She’d come far too close to disaster after scanning the area for magic, as she’d felt both the magic source of Resvarygrath and at least a dozen others start approaching her. Worse, she’d realized that she’d been going the wrong direction to begin with and had actually been moving farther away from the exit by the time she’d run into Resvarygrath.
Now Ruethwyn was confident she was getting closer, but she’d noticed two powerful auras at what she thought was the exit, so she was moving more cautiously.
Moving around the edge of the nearby set of trees, Ruethwyn paused as she saw the edge of the maze. If she’d thought the walls of the maze were incredibly dense, they were nothing compared to the edge, which was almost a solid barrier devoid of even air as it stretched into the sky. Ruethwyn barely spared it a thought though, choosing to instead focus on where the exit was supposed to be.
A gap was a hundred feet or so down the passageway in the outer wall, and Ruethwyn didn’t see anything outside of it. The problem was that she could see a glittering, blue-green wall of magic blocking it, a magical formation in the center of it.
“That doesn’t look good,” Ruethwyn murmured, and quickly started down the path, glancing around cautiously for any sign of additional magic.
Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything in her path. On the other hand, as she approached the barrier, Ruethwyn took a single look at it and cursed foully.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me! That isn’t… gods preserve me!” Ruethwyn exclaimed, looking upward in frustration.
The magical formation wasn’t complicated, but it was one that was extremely resilient, and which Ruethwyn had seen described in books. It was designed to block an area off unless a linked item was destroyed, and deciphering and breaking one of them was supposed to be incredibly difficult. While Ruethwyn knew vaguely about how to go about it, she wasn’t certain about the details and she’d never done it before.
“Alright, if there’s a linked object, maybe they weren’t so cruel as to hide the link. What the hells is Master Mara thinking?” Ruethwyn muttered. She could see a small clearing with a miniature version of the halls no more than three feet tall in the center of the glade past the barrier, which she assumed had to be the exit itself.
It took a couple of seconds to remember the incantation for a short-range seeking enchantment, but Ruethwyn managed it. She’d practiced a basic one after Korima’s mother had been kidnapped, but it only had a range of a mile or so. Taking a breath, she braced herself for the pain of drawing on her mana before reaching out grimly and laying her hand on the barrier’s center. Although it felt like a smooth stone wall, it didn’t hurt her, and she closed her eye to begin the incantation.
The spell was moderately complicated, taking Ruethwyn a few dozen seconds to perform, but she completed it without issue… and hissed in frustration as the spell didn’t give her a result. Opening her eye, Ruethwyn glared at the barrier as she demanded. “What in the hells? Am I not even supposed to find out how to break this?”
“Congratulations on reaching the exit, Ruethwyn!” The female voice that spoke was a shock, and Ruethwyn’s surprise deepened as she recognized the familiar purr of Essryl. “I knew you could do it, once I examined the testing grounds. However, at the same time, I was disappointed in this, since it wouldn’t be a real challenge for you. That being the case, I decided to make things a bit more complex. You must have attempted to either find the linked object of the barrier or to break it. Unfortunately for you, the link can’t be detected because, quite bluntly, it has too high of a magic resistance. You can attempt to break the barrier if you like, but I don’t think that will work in the time you have. You see, the barrier is linked to a spell embedded between the eyes of the shade of Resvarygrath that I added to your test.”
“You did what?” Ruethwyn exclaimed incredulously. She wanted to strangle the speaker, no matter how dangerous Essryl was. “Why would you do something like that to me? I can’t beat him!”
“Doubtlessly you just asked me why I interfered, and the reason is simple,” Essryl continued, her voice amused. “You’re planning to rescue your beloved Anara and the other villagers. If you’re going to make the attempt, you must be prepared to face My Lord, even if attacking him would be suicidal in life. Thus my little addition to your test. This version of My Lord is… weaker and more gullible and doesn’t have his magical talent. Should you strike the linked point of the spell with any attack spell, it will shatter his form and the barrier, so don’t say I didn’t give you a chance, girl. Use that mind of yours and figure out how to overcome a proper challenge. I’m looking forward to seeing how you do!”
With that, Essryl went silent, and Ruethwyn stared at the barrier, utterly speechless. Her panic had faded slightly at the information she’d been given, but even so, she didn’t have any idea what to do just yet. Even if Resvarygrath was weaker here, she’d never thought that she could confront the dragon.
“Guardian, grant me strength… because she’s not going to give me a break,” Ruethwyn muttered under her breath, her anger turning to frustration, then resignation. Straightening, her lips thinned as she muttered. “Still, I’m not going to let her make me fail this. Gods know what she’s up to, out there. I hope Master Mara is alright.”
As Ruethwyn focused, allowing her determination to grow, she saw a wolf appear at the far end of the path and she took aim, then dispatched it.
/> The only good thing she had going for her was that the dragon’s shade was hunting her, and that gave her something to use. Now she had to figure out how.
Chapter 19
“Well, crap,” Ruethwyn muttered, looking at the contents of her backpack and feeling exhausted.
She had plenty of food, but she knew better than to think that a dragon could be lured somewhere with that. Maybe the wolves could be, but they’d be useless against a dragon. Her sewing kit, bedroll, and most of the other items weren’t much better, either. Maybe she could stitch a spell into the bedroll and use it as a trap, but Ruethwyn didn’t see how that would be more useful than her wand.
She’d already switched her ring out for one she’d designed to deal with a dragon’s breath, which gave Ruethwyn a little breathing room. Her ideas would have to revolve around her spells and the one thing she could see being useful, her rope.
Ruethwyn’s head snapped upward as she heard a growl, only to see a wolf with bared fangs at the corner of the passage leading to the exit. The wolf snarled and charged toward her, but Ruethwyn simply snatched up her wand and activated it, mercilessly destroying the attacking creature.
“I don’t have time for you,” Ruethwyn muttered, scowling as she tapped the wand against her leg.
Finally, she slipped the wand into her sash and picked up the rope, then began fastening her backpack again as the creature began dissolving into magical particles. Ruethwyn had to get the pack on, then think of some way to immobilize the dragon. Her thoughts were racing as she went through the motions almost mechanically.
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