by Jeff Inlo
Chapter 20
The trip through the Lacobian desert was as harsh as the surrounding lands. Reader Matthew and the other ten humans forced from Connel’s Church of Godson faced a painful journey. They were given little rest, less to eat, and only enough water to keep them alive. The goblins that pressed them onward were tasked with moving them as fast as possible to Tabris’ oasis without having any die. Beyond that one condition, the goblins couldn't care less if the trek was painful beyond comprehension. A suppressive dry heat nearly roasted their skin during the day and a biting hollow cold left them shivering in the dark of night.
It was at night, however, that the reader and his followers found the strength to go on. In this dark place, they saw stars they had never seen before. The sky stretched out before them and even in the empty coldness, they beheld a beauty that the goblins that pushed them or the sorceress that waited for them could not dampen. It was almost as if they could see into the very heavens where they believed Godson awaited them. In truth, many of them understood a glorious message of hope in these stars. In the vast nothingness, the dark emptiness, the stars glowed white and painted the sky with an undying belief that something so vast would contain so much more for them than an empty ending in a barren place. The desert tested their bodies, but it also strengthened their faith. That faith would serve them well once they reached their destination.
The oasis was pleasant to the eye and afforded much more agreeable conditions than the surrounding desert, but in truth, it did more to offend the followers of Godson than offer any form of relief. They understood that such a haven was not a gift out of the goodness of Godson, but a phantom sanctuary created by the will of a sorceress. They found the place repugnant, a twisting of the natural order of Godson’s will.
Tabris met the members of Godson’s church with indifference to them as a group but keen interest toward their individual traits. She seemed totally apathetic toward the struggles of their journey, offered them no solace. The only time she truly displayed any emotion was when she was informed that the one named Matthew was to be kept alive to watch Tabris test her powers on the other humans. She could only use him when all the other members of his church were extinguished.
“Which one of you is Matthew?” Tabris demanded.
“I am,” Matthew said simply.
“Why is it that I’m now inconvenienced in having to keep you alive?”
“It’s not by my request,” Matthew answered.
Tabris seethed. “Making me angrier is not going to help you or your friends.”
Matthew knew what he was about to attempt was pointless, but he tried to reach the woman before him anyway. It was as much an attempt to save her as it was an attempt to save those members of his church, and thus he had to try. “Don’t you remember me, Lauren? That was your name when you went into Sanctum Mountain, only after you left did you take the name Tabris.”
The sorceress stood silent, staring at the man before her with a mix of swirling emotions.
“I’m the Reader Matthew. I was at the Church of Godson when Stephen Clarin brought you to us. You remember Stephen, he was killed by Ingar.”
Tabris continued to display only indifference even as she now clearly remembered the reader. “The Reader Matthew—yes, I remember you. You had both legs back then. What happened to you?”
“I had the misfortune of meeting a dwarf axe with my thigh.”
“It seems your misfortunes continue.”
“Will you let them continue, Lauren?”
“My name is no longer Lauren, it is now Tabris. If this is some attempt to try and sway me to offering you mercy, don’t you think it would be best not to annoy me?”
“Very well, Tabris. If you remember me, you must also remember Stephen. He brought you to us when we needed you, when the whole of Uton needed you. He had great faith in you.”
Tabris shrugged. “He also died foolishly. As for my assistance at Sanctum, I now realize that it was necessary for me to become who I am. Had I not joined those fools, the sphere would have killed us all. Still, it is a shame such an artifact had to be destroyed. Knowing what I know now, I wonder if the sphere could have been altered in a way that it would not poison the land. Imagine what power I could possess if I controlled all the magical energy inside the sphere.”
“When you first went to Sanctum,” the reader reminded the sorceress, “it wasn’t about power. Stephen brought you there to save Uton, not control it.”
Tabris shrugged again. “Yes, well that was then and this is now. And now I’m learning to control the magic that is free. That is why you and your friends are here. There are spells I need to test. I wish to experiment in different ways of shaping the magic. There is only so much you can do with empty sand or snakes and scorpions. The spells I have in mind require more complexity and thus require more complex subjects. Living beings can be mixed with the magic in different ways. The magic can be used to harm or kill them, but it can also be used to change them. Twisting and shaping the energy in different ways will mean different changes. Unfortunately, until I really understand how the spell will affect an individual, I won’t be able to cast anything safely. That is why you are all here.”
Matthew considered the horrifying truth just revealed to him. The people of his church would face an unknown and potentially agonizing death as this sorceress treated them as nothing more than meaningless test subjects. He could not bring himself to imagine what sort of painful transformations the magical spells would have on their bodies. Hoping to stave off such a fate, he did his best to reach her once more.
“When I first met you, it was obvious you were scared of what you were becoming. Stephen found you and you trusted him. Do you remember that trust? He would not believe that you would hurt these people here. In fact, he knew you had great power and that you could use it to help people. You helped get everyone through the human tier of Sanctum. Remember what you were! Remember how you helped Ryson and the others!”
At the name of the delver, the sorceress bristled, and finally, emotion found her voice. She nearly trembled with anger.
“I remember the delver well. You wish to remind me of what I was? I remember it clearly. I did not ask for this power. I tried to stop it, but your friend the delver would not allow it. He forced me to become what I am.”
She felt the desire to cast a spell of lightning and obliterate the reader where he stood, but then she brought her emotions under control. “I see now why you must watch while I practice my craft. You must learn what the magic can do, what I can do. Let me show you now.”
Tabris pointed indiscriminately at a man that stood with the other believers of Godson. She ordered those goblins that had escorted the group to separate him and place him just outside the border of the oasis but still in clear sight and within earshot of her own voice. She bade the goblins to leave him and move out of the way. Then, she called to the man in an almost lifeless voice.
“What is your name?”
“Avery,” the man replied without moving. He stood still and watched the sorceress intently. It was obvious that fear began to creep into his mind, but he held his ground and remained standing. He made no attempt to flee. He waited with his feet on the gritty hard surface of broken rock, feeling the desert heat all around him. Only brief waves of cool air flowed into his face from the oasis before him.
“Avery, there is a spell I’ve been working on for days now. I can harness the energy of a storm. That is now child’s play. It is a simple feat to bring the necessary elements together to create a tempest of any quality. I have also already been successful in combining the essence of an individual with the power of a storm. In truth, that was also fairly simple. It was just a matter of transference. Build up the energy of the storm and then meld it to the inner energy of the individual. The problem in that spell is the physical body is lost to the greater power of the storm. I wish to accomplish more of the reverse. I want to capture the power of storm and maintain the body of the individual. Do y
ou understand?”
Avery did not answer.
“Well, it doesn’t matter if you understand or not. What I’m going to do is try and give your body the force of a storm as opposed to giving a storm the essence of your being. The first thing I’m going to try is a wind spin. It’s basically a small tornado. I will focus on the bottom half of your body. Your head and arms will remain untouched, but everything below your waist will begin to spin just like a miniature tornado.”
“You should not do this,” Matthew pleaded. “It is wrong!”
“Be quiet,” Tabris commanded but never looked at the reader. She instructed the goblins to take hold of Matthew and to watch the others to make sure they did not interfere. She returned her attention to Avery.
“Try to stay conscious as long as possible. I’m afraid there’s not going to be much left of you when the spell is over. I will work on that once I get the right configuration of the spell. You see, eventually I might even like to cast this spell on myself when I have it under full control. I envision myself crossing the desert at much greater speeds when I can actually combine myself with something like a hurricane wind. Of course, I can only do this when I’m sure I won’t destroy myself in the process. Thus, I have to practice.”
Tabris now did turn to the reader. “Anything you wish to say to Avery before I cast my spell?”
Matthew only glared back at Tabris for a moment, then he turned his full attention to Avery. “What she does will not last for long and then you will be with Godson forever. Hold to that thought, and keep your faith.”
Avery heard these words and actually smiled.
Tabris shook her head at the display. She concentrated deeply on the man standing in the desert and then pulled her hands together and closed them toward her chest. She muttered a few words as she mingled thoughts of spell fragments in her mind. An image of what she hoped to construct took shape in her thoughts as a violet diamond of energy appeared at her breast. Her hand took hold of the magical shape and she threw her arms forward toward Avery. The purple magic flew from her and exploded about the man’s legs.
Avery gritted his teeth and bit back a scream for as long as he could, but as his legs began to fling wildly in the air, he could hold back no more. He yelled in great pain as the bottom half of his body disappeared into a swirling mass of sand and debris. His legs were no longer visible to those that witnessed this atrocity. The upper half of his body appeared to be centered upon a spinning top, a tiny tornado that remained in place.
The screaming continued for long drawn out moments until Avery’s head went limp and drooped over his shoulders. His arms also fell lifeless down the sides of his torso. His hands bobbed about as his fingers fell into the swirling mass that consumed his lower body. Very soon after he lost consciousness, the spinning ceased and the remnants of his legs collapsed into a mound of twisted flesh and muscle as well as splintered bone. The upper half of Avery’s body crashed into the sandy rock of the desert. He was dead.
“I have learned much from this,” Tabris noted, completely disregarding the remains of Avery’s body. “I believe my deal with Sazar will indeed be a bargain for me.” She then turned to Matthew with apparently great interest. “What have you learned, reader?”
At first, Matthew did not wish to answer, but then found the strength to offer his own opinion of what just happened. “I’ve learned that faith is stronger than magic.”
The statement momentarily caught the sorceress off guard, but she found her anger again quickly. “If that is so, why don’t you use your faith to defeat me now?”
Matthew did not move.
Tabris continued to taunt him. “If your faith is so strong, stop me and save these others that depend on you. Save those that will be coming in the future.”
Matthew looked to the ground. “It seems their faith is stronger than mine.”
Tabris laughed and called for another follower of Godson.