“Ceras is not my bodyguard.”
“I’ll be her bodyguard,” said Qyndad with a beaming smile, to nobody in particular.
The wizard looked blankly at the interplay among the group. “Sorry, Your Highness, but the important aspect of this enquiry is the nature of this staff in my hand. We believe that it is a legendary weapon, but we cannot seem to use it,” he said, fingering the wooden and metal staff with a look of reverence.
“Earl,” said Ceras, “I can assure you that the staff you have is just a normal weapon and there is nothing that special about it. Even though it was taken from me by stealth, you can keep it as I’ll get another one in your city tomorrow.”
The wizard and the Earl both looked at the staff in amazement, then back to Ceras with a skeptical look.
“I doubt your words, sir,” said the wizard with an undertone of suspicion, “or else how did you perform the magic witnessed at the academy today? You are too young to be a wizard of legendary level.”
“I’m only a master at the moment, but it was my magical attack that did the damage,” said Ceras, showing his hand with the guild marking to the Earl.
“Impossible,” said both the Earl and the wizard at the same time.
“Earl, there is a rather simple solution to this discussion,” said Symania in a commanding voice. “Ceras will give you a demonstration of his magical attack skills without his staff and prove that what he says is true.”
The Earl seemed to grind his teeth for a few seconds, then gave a slight bow to Symania and said, “Your Highness is most wise in this respect. Would you please follow me?”
As the Earl stood, everybody in the hall rose and the Earl walked quickly down toward the entrance, with his wife and the wizard following behind. The adventurers were led out next by the butler and the rest of the people in the hall followed with excited chatter, the good food temporarily forgotten for the promise of a magical spectacle.
Soon enough the Earl had led them to a parade ground in a second courtyard of the castle, and on one side of the yard were target dummies against the inner wall.
The wizard pointed dramatically with Ceras’ staff and said, “If you would please, sir, I would like to see what damage you can do.”
“Is there anybody behind that wall?” Ceras asked. “I don’t want to injure anybody.”
“No, it just leads to the gardens,” said the Earl, “but don’t worry about damaging the wall as it is magically protected by wards.”
“With your permission, sir,” Ceras said to the Earl, who just nodded.
Ceras’ mood was not good. This whole situation was grating on his nerves, so he wanted to give them a good display of his magical powers to make up for the inconvenience this misunderstanding had caused his group.
Deciding to try a different form of attack that may be more powerful than the one he had used earlier this afternoon, Ceras held his hands with his palms upward and cast the ‘Temperature Extreme’ spell, releasing hundreds of balls of white-hot flames and swirling darkness into the air above him. Holding them with his immobilization spell, the buzzing storm of energy gathered overhead.
A collective gasp went up from the assembled crowd and some people stepped back, away from the swarming fire and darkness. Ceras remembered the shockwave that had affected so many in the academy grounds, so as he blasted the swirling ball of white and black at his target, he released a shimmering shield to deflect any debris from hitting the crowd. This time, instead of a straight blast from the ball of energy, he started to spin it with his immobilization spell that he was now using to move objects at great speed.
Ceras was instantly grateful for the shield he had placed in front of the crowd, as not only had the target disintegrated, but the entire wall was shredded into dust that was hitting the shield like a sandstorm in the desert. Before allowing the spell to disperse, Ceras moved the spinning mass into the ground where it started to bury itself.
After the spell had dispersed and the dust had settled, there was dead quiet on the parade ground as the whole crowd could see there was no longer a wall in front of them and a circular, twenty-meter hole cut into the ground. The wizard, his face white and full of fear, moved forward to check that what he was seeing had really happened, and dropped a stone into the hole.
Turning back, he looked at Ceras fearfully and asked, “Who are you?”
Before Ceras could answer, he heard Qyndad say to Rinaldo, “And you blame me for making a mess of things.”
“Gentlemen, why don’t we discuss that question in a more private setting?” Symania suggested authoritatively.
Chapter 6 A Difference of Opinion
The Earl and his wife were sitting in chairs behind a large wooden desk with scrolls spread across it and writing instruments mixed amongst them. Symania and the rest of the team were seated in comfortable chairs set out before the desk, while the wizard continued to hold onto Ceras’ staff as if it was a legendary item.
“With Your Highness’ permission, I would like to ask the question again - who are you to have so much power?” asked the Earl, an intense look on his face as he received the nod from Symania.
Ceras took a second to look around at the faces in the room before he started to speak. “I’m the new dungeon master of the dungeon about a week west of here.”
If Ceras had said that he was a devil planning to eat their children it would have brought less of a reaction from the Earl, his wife and the court wizard.
“You must arrest him immediately,” said the wizard to the Earl in a high-pitched voice, starting to cast a spell of protection around the noble and his wife.
“What have I done to gain such a reception?” Ceras demanded angrily, as he started to cast a shield spell around his own party.
“Well, for one, you defeated an army of the kingdom under the command of Moryam, the Duke of Riverwind, and he is certain to still be after your blood,” said the Earl.
“Does it make me a traitor to defend myself when I’m attacked?” asked Ceras, even angrier than before.
“It does not matter what you think, but what the people in power think and how they act. So, for my own political survival I will have to detain you,” said the Earl seriously.
“How are you going to achieve this? I’ve just demonstrated part of my power to you,” Ceras retorted, raising the magical shield around his body.
The Earl went white but said with a steady voice, “Well, I have a city and an army at my disposal. You can’t beat us all.”
“Maybe not,” said Ceras, “but if I die then I can easily come back with tens of thousands of orcs and giant troll monsters to tear down your city. Do you think you could defend against that?”
In the quiet that followed his statement, Ceras heard Qyndad whispering to Rinaldo, “Is that what you talk about when you say we should be polite?”
“Ceras, my lord,” said Symania, addressing them both commandingly, “will you please stop throwing threats at each other?” She faced the noble. “Earl, Ceras is with me and I order you to not attempt to detain him. It is best if we just sort this type of issue out in the capital with the king and other high nobles.”
“Your Highness, I wish I could just pass this man on for others to deal with as I do not need political maelstrom in my Earldom. However, you have no authority to order me over this matter,” the Earl told her.
“Well, this order comes from the King, my lord,” Symania said with a serious expression.
“Does it, Your Highness?”
Symania just bit her lip and nodded her head.
“Well, you’d better be gone as soon as possible before others get involved in your little games, Your Highness,” the Earl said. “I for one will be glad for you all to be out of my reach as soon as possible. Badeo, will you get the guards to open the city gates for them to leave straight away? Your Highness, my lady, I hope to meet you both under better circumstances next time, but I must insist that you go immediately.”
With that,
everybody stood up and the wizard and the adventurers left the room. The wizard had an ashen face as he led them silently through the hall of the keep to the courtyard. In the gatehouse he shouted at the guardsmen, giving them the order to escort the five adventurers to the city gate.
For the next hour the five were quickly led through the streets of the city that were now nearly empty as the night drew in. Before he knew it, Ceras and his fellow adventurers were walking up the hill toward the northern wilderness, using his magical light for guidance.
“Is that what comes from being polite?” Qyndad asked of the rest of the group.
Nobody answered him so he continued talking. “Do you want me or Ceras to burn the city down? It seems he could do a pretty good job.”
“Just shut up, you’re making things worse,” said Rinaldo. “We didn't even get to eat and I guess we’ll be sleeping on the hard ground tonight.”
“It wasn't my fault, as I was polite,” said the dragon with a smile as if he had achieved something great.
“Shhh.”
At that moment, in the distance behind them the city gates opened with a bang and Rinaldo said, “Put your lights out now, and everybody get behind cover over there.”
As Ceras’ light went out the team of five ran for cover, and he looked to see what was coming out of the city gate. In the distance, Ceras could make out small dots against the light of the city wall. The dots looked vaguely human-shaped from this distance and in a few seconds he could count about twenty. All of them seemed to be moving fast if they were running on the wind.
“Great, they’ve got boots of air,” said Shunneth, sounding tense. “This night is only getting better - what more can happen? Maybe a dragon will appear!”
“We’d better start running ourselves, as if we have to fight them it’s best if we’re further away from the city,” said Rinaldo.
“Follow me closely - I’ve got night vision," said Qyndad as he sped off ahead of the group and into the wilderness.
--
The five adventurers had been running as fast as they could for a few hours. Ceras was not surprised that the warriors in his party had been able to keep up the speed, but he was amazed that Symania, a healer, was not out of breath at all. She was able to follow closely behind Qyndad as he ran, as if she had the same night vison he did and endless stamina.
Reaching an area with rocky outcroppings that the adventurers could take cover behind in the dark night, Rinaldo said, “We should deal with the pursuers now. I don’t think it’s a good idea to be charging into an area of high-level monsters while being pursued. Ceras, can you use your eye in the sky to find out where they are?”
Ceras immediately shot up his vision into the sky and as he pushed more energy into it, the night became lighter. Moving his vision back to the path they had run along, he only had to scan about half a mile until he came across a number of large, fast-moving warriors, all seeming to fly along the ground.
“They’re definitely gaining on us - if we wait a few minutes they’ll be upon us. I’ll take them out before they can get too close,” Ceras said grimly.
“Try not to destroy their boots,” Shunneth piped up. “It will help us escape any other pursuer, now it seems like the whole world is after the new dungeon master.”
“I’ll try!”
As Ceras moved slightly forward for some space to work his magic, Rinaldo started to organize everybody into a defensive position in case his spells did not work.
Ceras used his eye in the sky to select a kill zone that was within his magical range, but not close enough for the warriors to attack him with ranged weapons. He cast the spell ’Temperature Extreme’, shooting out thousands of spheres of white and black swirling clouds. He soon had tiny specks all as small as pinheads flooding the kill zone, too small to be seen. Holding the spells with the immobilization spell, Ceras waited for all the warriors to reach the range of the particles. The men raced into the swarm of his spell, not even noticing that anything was wrong.
With a push from his immobilization spell, the thousands of particles entered the heads of each of the pursuers and with a flash of light, they all dropped to the ground, screaming briefly in agony only to be stopped by their heads exploding all at once with a mere puff of sound.
Ceras used his eye in the sky spell to check for any additional pursuers. He found none, and said, “I’ve dealt with them all. It wasn’t pretty. Shall I go and collect all of their equipment?”
Symania said, “We’ll come and help you.”
“It’s best if you don’t come. I’ll take Rinaldo with me. Shunneth and Qyndad, you stay here and guard Symania.”
Grabbing the sleeve of Rinaldo’s coat, Ceras led him along the grassy path into the night until they stumbled across the first body of a pursuer.
“Where are their heads?” Rinaldo muttered as he tried to make out the bodies in the light of the stars. He looked along the line of the trail. “None of them have any heads. What did you do to them?”
“I said it wasn't pretty,” said Ceras in a steely voice. “Come on, let’s get anything of value to us.”
The next half-hour was a grim task of taking weapons, boots and armor that would be of use to the adventurers over their next few days in the wilderness. Even the food the warriors carried would come in useful as they’d had to leave the city without acquiring any. By the time the task was done, even Rinaldo had gagged and nearly vomited a few times when he saw the state of the bodies.
Chapter 7 Into the Wilderness
For the rest of the night the adventurers ran at great speed, following Qyndad’s and Symania’s lead. Each of the adventurers had found boots of air that roughly fit, though some had to use extra socks to make them comfortable. When Ceras ran with the boots it was if he had a cushion of air beneath his feet that seemed to allow him to slide across the ground with ease, making him able to cover a large distance in a short amount of time.
By the time the dawn light was breaking above the distant horizon, the whole team was completely exhausted from missing a night's sleep. They came down from rolling hills into a vast plain with mountains on either side, and a winding river curving through the plain and far into the distance. They were now truly in the area of wilderness that was marked on the map as having high-level monsters, that most travelers avoided by taking the long way around to the central part of the kingdom.
“I think that we need to rest up for a while before we head out into the plain,” said Symania, her voice tired from casting spells to keep the five awake during the night. “It’s best if we’re as alert as possible to travel through this area.”
“What can we expect to find out there?” asked Shunneth.
“The map doesn't really say,” said Symania. “I wish we had Rhef with us - her ranger abilities would be useful at the moment.”
Using his eye in the sky spell, Ceras found a sheltered grove where they could camp for a while before setting out into the plain between the mountains.
After they had built a fire, they used it to cook a pot of porridge with some meat and barley. They ate around the campfire as the sun rose in the sky, healing their bodies from the night’s run through the dark to escape the many pursuers.
Shunneth started up a conversation as she seemed to want to get something out in the open that had been bothering her. “So, we made a lot of discoveries last night,” she said, her face screwed up as if she had tasted something bitter.
“You're one to talk, my lady - daughter of a duke,” Rinaldo said.
“I thought you all knew. It’s not like I’ve been hiding my identity,” she said, the same sour expression on her face.
“Same for all of us,” said Symania.
“Well, none of us knew that you were a princess of the kingdom,” accused Rinaldo.
“I knew,” said Qyndad matter-of-factly, as if it made perfect sense.
“How?”
“My mother told me.”
“How did your mother know?�
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“Do you really want me to tell everybody how she knew?”
Symania glanced at Shunneth and shook her head.
“That's another thing: who the hell are you, and why do you act so strangely?” demanded Shunneth of Qyndad.
Before he could answer, Rinaldo interrupted. “As I’ve said, he’s just a bit stupid but with a bit of education, he’ll work out. So give him some time, Shunneth.”
“But he didn't get injured in the fight with the warriors!”
“Very strong and very stupid, which come to think of it is a really bad combination,” said Rinaldo, straight-faced as Qyndad looked at him with death in his eyes.
“Thanks for telling me nothing.”
“That what I’m here for.”
“Back to who’s who," said Shunneth, agitated. “Mr. Dungeon Master who defeated an army of the kingdom - do you know the amount of political turmoil that’s going to follow you wherever you go?”
“Well, it’s slowly dawning on me, but the best thing to do now is to get through to the capital and then if you want, we can go our separate ways,” said Ceras.
“Are you kidding? Now that I’ve been placed with you I’ll have to stick with you until the uproar dies down, as it will be worse being on my own. Nobles can be like packs of hyenas,” said the dejected Shunneth. “Anyway, I’m off to sleep.”
With that, all the adventurers went to their tents except for Qyndad who watched over them, not in need of sleep.
--
It was the following day when the young adventurers set out into the plain between the mountains. Each of them was again wearing the boots of air as they sped across the land, trying to get through as quickly as possible. Ceras hoped that with the speed they were able to achieve with the boots, they could just outrun any trouble they came across. What surprised him the most by the time they were about halfway through the first day was how few creatures they did see, as he had been expecting a lot more.
“There doesn't seem to be anything too bad here so far,” Ceras noted to Qyndad as they ran together.
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