by Sever Bronny
Clouds waved his cane. “Wait for my men to return.”
Mr. Goss grabbed his woolen coat. “What if it is too late by then? I agree with Kwabe, it should be done immediately. Augum and Leera know a great deal of arcanery. I trust them to protect us more than swords.”
“Is there an apothecary in town?” Clouds asked.
“There is.” Haylee turned to Chaska. “Does your father have a sleeping draught in his shop?”
Chaska frowned in concentration. “I think so, yes.”
“Then let’s get it.”
“Allow me to administer it,” Constable Clouds said.
Haylee and Chaska exchanged a hesitant look but nodded.
“Meet you at the cabin in short order,” Constable Clouds said to Mr. Okeke.
The three departed, Haylee hobbling as quickly as she could, Chaska and the Constable waddling along.
Leera tugged on Augum’s sleeve. “Try to reach Mrs. Stone.”
Augum put his ear to the orb. “Nana, can you hear me? Nana—” but there was no response. He did however hear something faint—“I hear voices,” he blurted, and everyone froze. Multiple voices, all fading in and out, as if people were walking by. And there was a rustling of grass that came with their footsteps. Oddly, there was the sound of crickets too. It was almost as if—
“I think she lost it,” Augum said, staring at each of them in turn. “Nana lost the pearl somewhere.” But what that meant, he did not know.
“We’ll have to worry about that later,” Leera said. “Let’s go and tie Harvus up now.”
Mr. Okeke gathered his coat. “Jengo, stay here with Leland and Priya please.”
“Yes, Father.” Jengo exhaled as his body relaxed.
Augum handed Leland the orb. “Listen to this, Leland, and see if you can make anything out.” The boy, happy to be given a mission, eagerly complied with a moan.
Mr. Okeke armed himself with a shovel, handing Mr. Goss the coil of rope.
“Can’t believe we’re really going to do this,” Leera said as they exited the hut.
“I can’t believe we’re working with the Legion,” Augum countered.
The dark forest was quiet other than the sound of steady rain dripping through the branches. Wet pine needles squished underneath their boots as they pressed on in single file. Soon they were slipping down the soggy bank of the valley, the two cabins materializing before them in the downpour.
Augum and Leera, holding hands, crept along in front, blue robes soaked through. Augum pointed at the hastily-erected cabin before tiptoeing to the door, which stood slightly ajar. He pushed and it opened with a squeak. When he spotted the interior, a terrible chill ran down his spine.
Harvus was gone!
Just as he turned to report that fact, someone slurred, “Flustrato!” and a dull look passed over Mr. Goss’ face. He began to mumble while chewing on the end of the rope.
Augum, whose arm flared with three lightning rings, reflexively shoved at the air where he saw nine glowing green rings. “BAKA!” but Harvus summoned his shield—a hodgepodge of bark and twigs—and blocked the spell, stumbling a step back in the process.
“Shyneo!” Leera called, palm rippling to life with a cool watery glow, three rings appearing around her own arm.
Mr. Okeke, meanwhile, charged at Harvus with the shovel.
Harvus flicked his wrist. “Disablo!” and the shovel went flying from Mr. Okeke’s hands.
Augum pointed at the shovel, which twirled in midair, and caught it with Telekinesis, shooting it at Harvus.
Harvus, wobbling from the wine, barely dodged the clumsy attempt, countering with a slurred, “Dreadus Terrablus!” Had Harvus not been so drunk, his spell might have been too strong to block. Augum blocked it with Mind Armor, though not before he lost a moment fighting the feeling that he was about to drown in the rain.
Mr. Okeke lunged for Harvus, yet the man jumped out of the way—and it was no ordinary jump, but an arcane one, high and unnatural looking. Unfortunately, Harvus had not orientated himself properly and slammed into the branches above, tumbling to the ground a moment later in a soggy heap.
“Summano elementus minimus!” Leera called as she finished drawing the shape of a small elemental, but the attempt garnered nothing more than a fizzling sound.
Harvus cackled, slurring, “A terrible effort, girl. You are a poor student!”
Mr. Okeke dove for Harvus once more only to end up slamming into Mr. Goss, who had absent-mindedly wandered across Mr. Okeke’s path. The pair of them tumbled right into the stream with a splash.
Augum pointed at Harvus. “Flustrato!” but the man squinted as he used his Mind Armor to block the spell.
Harvus, now muddy as a hog, pointed at Augum’s throat. “Voidus lingua!” and Augum felt his throat close. This time his Mind Armor had failed.
Leera shoved at the air before her. “BAKA!” but Harvus, lying on his back, still managed to summon his shield in time.
Augum charged. Harvus flicked his wrist at Augum’s foot and he tripped, slamming into the sodden ground face first.
Harvus staggered to his feet. “Annihilo bato!” he shouted, slamming his wrists together. Two thick ropes of vine shot forth at Augum’s head. Augum closed his fist over his reflection crystal, hoping to cast Reflect, when he remembered he had been muted. Luckily, “BAKA!” shouted a girl’s voice from nearby, violently shoving Augum out of the way. He rolled into the stream with a splash. When he looked up, he saw Haylee raise her ice shield in time to block another of Harvus’ vine attacks. The attack was so powerful she was sent tumbling out of sight. At the same time, Chaska fumbled trying to nock an arrow while Constable Clouds bravely tottered forward, dagger in one hand, a vial in the other, cheeks puffing with every breath.
Leera swept her arms out. “Centeratoraye xao xen!” and began half-tumbling and half-running at Harvus, who had gotten to his feet and was shoving at the air, shouting, “Baka!” between trying to spear her with shooting arcane sticks and vines that appeared out of nowhere. Leera deftly cartwheeled over the strikes before shoving at the air. “BAKA!” Harvus failed to raise his shield in time and was sent flying into the forest, landing in the bushes. An arrow from Chaska whizzed through the spot he had been standing, thwacking into a tree trunk.
“Effectus xadius!” Harvus shouted from the darkness. Leera immediately began to move in slow motion.
Augum and Mr. Okeke had risen by then and charged.
“Let me show you how it is done!” Harvus slurred from the forest. “Summano elementus minimus!” A moment later a small green elemental plowed awkwardly through the bush, its movements clumsy, as if it too was drunk. It tried to tackle Augum but he jumped over it, though it did manage to knock Mr. Okeke’s legs out from under him.
Harvus leaped from the undergrowth straight at Augum, moving surprisingly quickly for his girth. He grabbed Augum in a bear hug and threw him against a tree, knocking the wind out of him. Augum, coughing and gasping for breath, realized the man had to have cast some kind of strength spell—his grip was like iron.
Mr. Goss, who had evidently recovered from the Confusion spell, grabbed Harvus’ shoulders. Harvus spun around, casting, “Flustrato!” Mr. Goss, now drooling from being confounded a second time, stumbled off into the woods, mumbling gibberish.
Constable Clouds had finally reached Harvus and bravely jabbed at him with his Legion dagger. Harvus let go of Augum and weaved out of the way, scoffing at the large man. He let him take two more stabs, which he danced out of reach of, before yanking at the air. “Disablo.” The dagger twirled out of Clouds’ hand, jamming into the mud.
Chaska loosened another arrow, but Harvus saw the attack coming and did something Augum had never seen before—he pointed at the incoming arrow and bent its flight path with Telekinesis, striking a hapless Constable Clouds in the back of a shoulder. The large man grunted and fell to his knees, wheezing. Behind him, Chaska cried out in despair.
Augum slammed his wrists
together, “Annihilo!” but nothing came out. He was still mute.
Leera aimed a kick at Harvus’ chest, but she was way too slow. He dodged easily and punched her in the stomach with his arcanely-enhanced strength, sending her flying to the soggy grass, where she writhed in slow motion. Something fell out of her pocket and into the mud.
Harvus’ nostrils flared when he saw what it was. “You filthy little witch …” He weaved over and picked up his hairpiece, face firing multiple twitches.
Augum frantically gestured at the dagger. It dug itself out of the ground and shot at Harvus. The warlock, who was glaring at Leera, did not see the attack coming and the dagger lodged into his side up to the hilt. Harvus gasped and whipped around.
Augum quickly waved at Chaska, who let another arrow fly. This time, it struck true, burying itself in Harvus’ stomach almost to the feather.
“Ah,” Harvus exclaimed, weaving, eyes on Chaska. Augum scrambled to his feet, but Harvus raised his arm and arcanely pinned him to the trunk, all the while staring down Chaska, who had another arrow nocked but did not let fly, perhaps fearing Harvus would perform another telekinetic feat and hurt someone else.
The group was a mess. The minor elemental had disappeared, leaving behind Mr. Okeke, who lay in a heap, exhausted from wrestling with it. Mr. Goss was in an arcane stupor, lost somewhere in the forest. Constable Clouds was on his knees breathing heavily, a disbelieving look on his face and an arrow sticking from his shoulder. Haylee had crawled back over the crest of the shallow valley, gasping. She was missing her cane and had a defeated look on her face.
Harvus flashed Augum, still pinned and mute, a victorious look. “Lessons are done, my boy.” He snatched Leera by the hair and yanked her up. She howled in pain, eyes unfocused in the deep confusion that came as a side effect to Centarro’s expiration. “Say goodbye to this little harlot. She has offended me for the last time. Impetus peragro bato!” There was a reverse sucking sound and Harvus and Leera were gone, leaving Augum to scream silently in the downpour.
The Chase
Augum barely knew what he was doing as he stumbled back to the village, still trying to catch his breath, back aching. He had left everyone behind, thinking of one thing and one thing only—he needed to find a horse and rescue Leera. Luckily, the Object Track spell he had cast on Harvus’ turnshoe was still in effect, ever so gently pointing him in the direction of the foul mentor. Unfortunately, Augum was not experienced enough to judge the distance of the enchanted object yet. For all he knew, Harvus could have teleported her to the other side of Sithesia.
The rain hammered at him, making loud plonking sounds against his skull and streaming down his face like tears. One foot after the other splashed into the soggy earth as he made his way along the dark and muddy path. It was Lover’s Day and this was not supposed to happen. He and Leera were supposed to have spent the day together in each other’s arms. Even the very idea of losing her made him want to retch.
He stumbled on, wincing from the pain in his back, a result of being slammed into the tree so hard. The battle replayed in his mind. He should have cast Centarro too, or even attempted Summon Minor Elemental. Then he recalled the fizzling sound of Leera’s failed attempt at the spell. No, it would have only cost him time, just as it had Leera …
He didn’t bother stopping by the Okeke home—Mrs. Stone couldn’t be reached anyway and time was supremely precious. The only thing that was important was that he had to get to Harvus before the bastard did something awful to her.
Augum careened past a couple of unaware drunks—two burly miners holding each other by the shoulders and singing the dreamy Lover’s Lure. He squinted past the rain, looking for a horse, finally spotting two tied at the front of the Miner’s Mule Inn, and lumbered forth, each step slapping a puddle. People sang A Farmer’s Daughter and the Heir from the balcony of the inn. Rain plonked and tinked off table after table of abandoned dishes and empty bottles, the detritus of the evening’s feast, a feast he and Leera should have attended hand-in-hand.
“If I don’t know none better,” said a dark-skinned man in an ale-stained jerkin to a colleague, “I reckon that one there’s a warlock. Look at them robes.” He nodded at Augum’s sodden attire.
“Muddy as a pig,” replied his friend, a scruffy man as short as Harvus. “But why is he untying that there Legion horse?”
Augum didn’t care whose horse it was and, despite whatever injury was plaguing his back, he managed to hoist himself on.
The door opened, allowing a brief glimpse into a packed tavern of rowdy people.
“Augum, what are you doing!” Bridget shouted.
“Harvus has Leera,” he found himself saying, as if in a trance. “He has Leera and I have to go find her and—”
“Just slow down and think for a moment! Let me get the soldiers—”
“There’s no time and they can’t help anyway, they’re not warlocks—” He began turning the horse.
“Damn it, Aug!” It was the first time he had ever heard Bridget swear. It was such a strange thing that Augum did a double take.
She grabbed the saddle. For a moment, he thought she was going to yank him off. Instead, she hoisted herself up and grabbed onto his waist. He immediately kicked the horse into a gallop, exiting Milham to the south, rain attacking his face and hands.
The night was thick, but the road was made visible by the slightest glimmer of a moon from behind dark clouds.
“I sense it too and was wondering if I had it wrong,” Bridget said into his ear, the rain pelting them like small stones. “He’s gone south. But this is madness, Aug, who knows how far he took her. We have to try to reach Mrs. Stone.”
“Haven’t heard from Nana in days, not going to waste more time trying!”
Bridget sighed and drew his hood for him, drawing her own after.
“Stop there,” she said after a while. “Let’s see if we can sense the spell better.”
Augum stopped at a muddy fork surrounded by evergreens. Besides his ramming heart, all he heard was the steady quiet roar of rain falling on a vast forest. His skin and insides felt fire-hot from the battle and from the terror of losing Leera. Nonetheless, he searched for that fragile arcane trail that would get him to her.
Panic rose to his throat. “I sense nothing!”
“You’re too upset, just listen to the ether. Concentrate.”
Augum tried to still his nerves and capture those faint reverberations, but all he could see was that trapped look on Leera’s face as Harvus yanked her up by her hair.
“If he does anything to her, I swear I’ll—”
“Aug! Please, you’re not helping. Let me try the spell.”
He forced himself to sit and wait. Soon the sleeve of Bridget’s blue robe appeared to his left, hand pointing into the rainy night. “That way!”
Augum rode the stallion hard, not caring about the pain in his back, the wet cold seeping into his undergarments, his hollow stomach, or the status of everyone back in Milham. Bridget forced him to stop at every fork so she could concentrate on the spell, saying nothing more about how dangerous and foolish this quest was.
Sometime in the depth of the night, the rain lessened to a drizzle and the clouds parted slightly. There was a horrible peace to it, a peace Augum couldn’t listen to, as it didn’t match up with the frantic thunderstorm in his heart.
They rode half the night, through thick forests, wide valleys, and raging rivers. The horse could barely keep up, gasping and neighing, eventually forcing Augum to slow to a canter lest they tire the animal out completely. They neither rested nor spoke, until Bridget told him to stop beside a lake surrounded by evergreens and an abandoned farm field. Nestled in a clearing past the field, under a clear starry night, was a camp. And at last Augum could clearly feel the pull—Leera was there!
“Slow and easy, Aug, we don’t know what kind of camp this is.”
Augum did not care—he was going to rescue Leera, and no one was going to stop him.
“Stop the horse.”
“What?”
“Just stop the horse!” She pointed at the sack. He squinted and finally understood—it was a Henawa woman, hogtied and hung. Red tendrils hung off her where carrion birds had had a go. For a moment, the pair just gaped. A nauseous bile began rising in his stomach.
“Quietly, to the woods—” Bridget hissed.
Augum directed the horse to the forest, where he tied it under a stubby pine.
Bridget gripped him by the arms. “It’s all right, Aug, we’ll get her, just don’t do anything foolish, all right?”
He could barely hear her beyond the roar of blood rushing through his ears.
“Take a few deep breaths with me.” She breathed deeply, keeping eye contact, still holding his forearms. “In and out, in and out. Good, that’s it. Now, let’s form a plan.”
“A plan, right.” Storm in there and kill them all, he was thinking, recalling Robin slicing Mya’s throat. They had to rescue Leera before that happened, before she too hung on a post in a field …
Bridget placed gentle hands on his cheeks. “Let’s study and watch the camp, all right? We don’t want to do anything rash, do we? Focus.”
He swallowed, feeling his veins buzz.
“Augum? Focus.”
He nodded sharply. “Focus, got it.” He’d focus his First Offensive right through Harvus’ brain.
Bridget’s voice was soft. “Augum.”
He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. She was right. He had to get a grip. He couldn’t risk Bridget or Leera’s lives with brash stupidity. They were alone in the middle of nowhere and there was no rescuing them should things go wrong. In fact, no one had a clue where they were.
“Let’s list all the spells we can successfully cast,” Bridget said calmly. “Shine, Telekinesis, Repair, Unconceal—” He joined in, feeling better with each word, “—Shield, Push, Disarm, Slam, Mind Armor, Object Alarm, Object Track, The First Offensive, Centarro, Fear, Deafness, and Confusion.”