by Blink, Bob
Then she realized that something was trying to attract her attention. She could sense it in the back of her mind. It was barely there, just a whisper. It wasn’t Rigo. It felt more like Daim, although she couldn’t have said how she made the distinction. That Daim might be reaching for her resulted in a sudden chill.
Which direction was it coming from? To the northwest she was certain. Her hand covered a quarter of a circle as she awkwardly pointed in the possible direction. That wasn’t going to help. She would never locate him if she couldn’t be more certain about the direction. Closing her eyes, Jeen tried to let her mind guide her. Finally, she extended her arm, certain Daim, and therefore Rigo, was in that direction. She opened her eyes and looked, locking the direction in her mind.
But how far away? From what she sensed, he could have been in the next room or at the Great Sea. Well, it had to be far, of that she was certain. It had to be near the river that bordered Lopal and Branid. That was where Rigo had been searching out the raiding parties.
Quickly she ran into the library where a large map of the three kingdoms was attached to one of the walls. It took some time, but she was finally able to translate her sense of direction into a line on the map from the Outpost toward the river. She marked the crossing with her finger. Rigo had said that a wizard could create a Bypass to a location based on a map, but it was coarsely positioned. She decided she had no choice.
For a moment she wondered if she should get someone to come along, but Burke was away somewhere looking for a novice, and Kela was out in the Ruins for another couple of glass. Jeen sensed there was no time to wait, and decided she would go alone. She focused on the map, but the Bypass stubbornly refused to open. She pulled back, reminded herself this could be done, then focusing intently on the map tried again. If Rigo said it was possible, then she was determined to make it happen. After a very long moment, the Bypass finally opened, slicing a table neatly in half. Well, she’d had no choice. She had needed the map.
Jeen stepped through onto a large smooth sandy beach along the river. She looked carefully both directions hoping to spot something useful. She was disappointed and realized she had expected to find Rigo where she had come out. That had been stupid she realized. There was no sign of anyone and nothing to give her a direction to proceed. If Daim or Rigo were here, they were under the sand, a thought she didn’t wish to pursue. But now what was she to do? She could be close or very far from them. Wandering around without guidance was almost pointless. As she tried to think, she realized she weakly sensed the call in the back of her mind. It was so faint she had almost missed it. The feeling was different than before, and she was now even more certain something was very wrong. But there was just enough that she sensed a direction. North! Jeen looked along the river that flowed north-south. It made sense.
Locating a hill at the extreme limits of what she could see, Jeen jumped to the new location. Once again the spot was deserted, but she now sensed the feeling in her mind coming from somewhere south of her. She had overshot. That was good. She was suddenly confident that Daim was between the two locations. He was close. The presence of the feeling, however strange at the moment, suggested there was still hope. Two more jumps were required before she was convinced he was nearby. She closed her eyes and slowly walked where her mind told her to go, stopping every so often to be certain she wasn’t about to walk off the bluff or into something. On the fourth stop, she spotted a body in the grass ahead.
Heart hammering in her chest, she ran over to the prone figure. She saw the back half of two arrows laying on either side of the body, the shirt soaked with mostly dried blood. The arrows had been cut neatly in half. Only magic could have done that, she realized. She also recognized the shirt and the hair. It was Rigo! She knelt down and ran her hands over his back. He was alive, but barely. The life force inside him was weaker than anything she had experienced before. Her senses told her that Rigo must have tried to heal himself, but his efforts had been clumsy and incomplete. Something needed to be done to correct his inept efforts.
Jeen knew she had to act immediately or risk losing Rigo. Tapping her magic she extended the glowing ball of energy into her friend’s body, gasping at the extent of the damage and quickly applying her skill to make things right. Her previous experience with Inge’s father helped guide her efforts. She spent a long time, undoing some of the crude repairs that Rigo must have performed, and finally was able to pull back, certain that the worst of the damage was undone. She had made the repairs, but the body still lacked reserves of energy and basic life force.
Despite everything she had done, Rigo was still in bad shape. He was very weak. She had used her magic to replace the lost blood and that would help, but he needed water and nourishment if he were to recover. She had to get him back to the inn where such things were available. Focusing on the familiar rooms of the Prancing Pony, she opened the Bypass. Rigo was too heavy for her to lift and carry, and she had no intention of leaving him here while she went for help, so she used her magic to lift him much as he had done for Inge’s father some days before. When Rigo had performed this magical feat, it had looked easy. Now she realized it took a lot of concentration and care to keep from dropping Rigo. She lifted him only enough to clear the ground, afraid she might drop him. As gently as possible she carried him toward the center of the opening stepping through into their rooms.
After giving him a few small drops of water, she arranged a place on the floor where he could lay. She’d see about getting into one of the beds when she had help. Then she hurried downstairs and asked the proprietor to send up some broth. While she waited, she managed to get a little more water into Rigo. He was borderline conscious which helped, but she couldn’t tell whether it was Rigo or Daim who looked out at her from the dull eyes several times. She checked for fever, but none developed.
Once the broth arrived, Jeen slowly fed it into her patient, and after a third of it had been consumed she allowed him to sleep. She applied a little more of her healing skills now that he had come around, and finally certain based on her probing that he was going to live, she made a quick jump to Sulen. She was more than a glass late in picking up Daria and Kaler.
“How could this happen?” Daria asked after she and Kaler had helped get Rigo into his bed when they had all returned from Sulen. “I watched him turn hundreds of arrows at one time. How could someone hurt him with only a pair?”
“We’ll have to wait and ask him,” Jeen replied. “I can take you back to where I found him tomorrow if you wish, but I would guess someone caught him unaware.” Being gifted herself, Jeen had a better understanding of the limitations of a wizard than the others.
“That damn Elm’ad has to have had a hand in this,” Kaler blurted. “I’ll kill him myself.”
“Rigo might want to handle that himself,” Daria said softly. “I know I would. Perhaps he’ll be more receptive to my desire to settle up with Cordale now.”
“You’re certain he’ll be okay?” Kaler asked, looking down on the pale face of his friend. He watched the chest rise and fall slowly as Rigo slept, apparently without discomfort.
“Physically he is fine, but it’s likely to take a couple of days before he regains his full strength. We’re going to have to watch him full time until then.”
Jeen hesitated. Daria noted her uncertainty.
“There’s something else, isn’t there?”
Jeen nodded. “I don’t know if its Rigo or Daim who’s in control in there now. His eyes seemed to change as I was healing him. What if Daim has taken over again?”
Daria hadn’t considered the possibility. It had been long enough that Rigo had retained control she had all but forgotten that it was possible for Daim to reassert himself. Rigo often talked about Daim’s presence, but she had come to think of him as only a second set of memories her friend could draw on.
“There’s nothing we can do either way,” she said finally. “We’ll just have to wait and see. Rigo took back his body once before.
We’ll just have to hope he can once again.”
There was little more that could be done until Rigo woke. Leaving Kaler and Daria to watch over him, Jeen returned to the Outpost. Ash’urn must be wondering where she had gone, and while Rigo might not approve, Jeen felt the other wizards needed to be warned about the possibility of attacks. Whoever had decided to try and kill Rigo might have a plan to set additional ambushes for others of the group.
She returned a glass and a half later after explaining to Kela what had happened. Ash’urn hurried into the room he shared with Kaler and Rigo to find that Rigo was awake. When Jeen hurried in after Ash’urn, she saw that Rigo was still pale and looked shaky, but he was feeding himself from another bowl of warm stew.
“Rigo?” she asked uncertainly.
He gave her a wry grin. “It’s me. Kaler and Daria already established that. I guess I owe you for finding me and fixing me up.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“Elm’ad set me up. I got careless. You should hear what Daim has been haranguing me about since I’ve regained consciousness. He’s really disappointed, but I suspect he feels he was careless as well. It’s one of the basic precautions that first year wizards used to be taught.”
“Daim is still in there with you?” Jeen asked. “We were concerned that he might assert himself while you were unconscious.”
“Daim saved us,” Rigo said softly. “I was out as soon as the arrows struck me. For some reason he was able to stay aware. He concealed the fact I was alive from the two hidden archers and Elm’ad, and then did enough repairing to keep us alive until Jeen followed his call and found us. He’s plenty annoyed with me, but he hasn’t made any attempt to take over. He might have been able to do so while I was out, but from what he implies, once I’m conscious it isn’t possible any longer. I’m too well established.”
“Why would Elm’ad do this?” Kaler asked. “He must know that no matter how successful his attempt, there would be retribution to follow.”
“I’m certain his plan is to claim he wasn’t there and didn’t know what happened. I would guess he is busy setting up teams to ambush any wizards who might appear. It’s a stupid plan, but I suspect he somehow learned how few of us there are, and that I was the strongest. If he could eliminate me, he might be able to take us all out. He clearly still doesn’t understand the power we control. We won’t know what he was thinking until we go after him.”
“What is your plan?” Daria asked eagerly.
“I’m not certain just yet. I need to think when my head is clearer. We have to make it absolutely clear to people like Elm’ad that such actions will not be tolerated. Their plans for conquering the three kingdoms are over. It wouldn’t be enough simply to kill him. The rest of the tribes need to understand the futileness and consequences of such actions.”
“He can’t know that you are alive,” Kaler said.
“That will give us a few days. The surprise when I return will be unsettling to those involved.”
They could see that Rigo was struggling to stay awake, so they withdrew and let him sleep. In the morning Kaler and Daria agreed they would stay with him during the day, while Jeen and Ash’urn would return to the Outpost. Jeen knew that after Kela spread the word of the attack, many would be anxious for news.
Chapter 82
“He’s alright then?” Burke asked worriedly shortly after Jeen appeared at the Outpost. None of the wizards knew about the Prancing Pony, which had kept away all who might be interested in Rigo’s situation.
“Still weak, but he’ll be back to normal in a couple of days,” she assured him. She had already told Kela and a couple of others, but was beginning to wonder if a group meeting might be necessary. She wanted to reassure everyone that Rigo was well, but also make sure everyone walked away with the importance of being constantly aware of possible threats. Most had spent the recent years protected by the general unawareness of their existence, plus the fact they had the ability to overpower any attackers. Being ambushed hadn’t been a threat. Now there were those out there who had a vested interest in eliminating them.
They were headed toward the Elders’ quarters when a frightened Stev caught up with them. Stev was one of the more powerful wizards at the Outpost and was on one of the teams that was maintaining a Hoplani watch in the Ruins. He was wild-eyed and dirty, and looked on the verge of panic.
“We couldn’t stop them,” he mumbled semi-coherently. “There were thousands of the things. The others were killed. I was the only one to get away.”
Immediately their priorities changed. “Who was killed?” Burke demanded. “Where did this happen?”
Stev provided a disjointed report, but when he was done it was clear that three of the four members of his team had stumbled upon a large herd of the advancing Hoplani. Not realizing exactly how many of the creature there were in the herd, they had confidently began to destroy the beasts. They were confident as their abilities with Brightfire had grown in the past week to far exceed anything they would have believed possible not too many weeks before. Dozens fell before their onslaught, but as a result the beasts became aware of them and the threat they presented. The herd turned toward them, their own magic poorly aimed, but magnified by sheer numbers. Before the group realized the danger, two had been struck by the energy bolts the creatures released. Before a Bypass could be opened, the third member was struck.
When the Hoplani reached the downed members of Stev’s team, their sharp teeth ripped into them. He had no choice but to flee as the creatures closed in on him.
“How many were there?” Burke demanded. All of them were aware they had now lost more crucial members of the team than they had added since Rigo had explained the need to find more wizards. Four had been killed by the Hoplani already.
“Thousands,” Stev claimed. “They have already passed by the towers and are on the way toward Lopal.”
None of them really believed his claim. The largest herd they had seen to date numbered just over two hundred. The situation and loss of his friends had almost certainly colored his perception of the size of the herd. Nonetheless, Burke set off to assemble a large force of the most powerful in Brightfire. Jeen agreed to go along after informing the Elders of Rigo’s situation and the attack Stev had just reported. Kela went with Stev back to the departure point. They would need him to lead them back where this had happened.
With Burke in charge, they jumped to the Ruins where the attack had taken place. Burke was the most powerful in Brightfire at the Outpost, much more so than Jeen whose talents were mostly directed to other skills. Even so, she was among the most powerful. What they needed now was Rigo, who could more than match the ten most powerful of the Outpost’s wizards all by himself. Unfortunately, he was in no shape to participate.
They found no sign of the dead wizards. The ground was torn and trampled by the passage of an incredible number of the beasts. Suddenly Stev’s assessment of the herd took on new meaning.
“They’re still heading west,” Kela said, pointing along the tracks.
They Bypassed to the side of a hill they could see in the distance. The creatures had been moving fast. Faster than anyone believed they could move. From the new location they could see the dust stirred up even farther to the west. Another jump put them on a second hill overlooking the approach of the herd.
“Great Risos!’ exclaimed one of Burke’s wizards. “Stev was right. There are thousands of them!”
The others had come to the same conclusion. The herd was impossibly large. Immediately the wizards began unleashing blasts of Brightfire into the passing animals. Everyone, Jeen included, fired bursts after burst into the herd. Intensely bright beams of energy flashed through the air, tearing into the Hoplani, cutting them down with beams of magical fire. Screams of the dying creatures filled the air. Hundreds died, but the losses were dwarfed by the number of animals. Each gap that was blasted out of the advancing animals was quickly filled by those moving in from behind.
/> It didn’t take long before the herd sensed the attacks and swung in their direction. Burke had assigned one of the wizards to watch for such an attack, and a Bypass was quickly opened allowing them to jump to the southwest on the other side of the herd. Once again the blasts of magical energy took a toll, but as powerful as they had become, they weren’t up to the task.
“We need more wizards,” Kela yelled. “There are simply too many.”
None disagreed, but did they have time? For that matter, did they have the numbers? This herd was less than a day from charging out of the Ruins and into Lopal. There were fifteen of them here already. If they were able to bring everyone with any power with Brightfire they wouldn’t be able to more than triple their number. That still didn’t seem up to the task. How many more herds were there like this one? If they brought everyone, that would mean leaving other areas unwatched for the time those people were brought to help here.
Jeen watched as Burke blasted several dozen of the creatures with one of his strongest bolts of Brightfire, burning them to oily blackened carcasses in an instant. Almost as quickly, the hole filled again. He blasted again and again. They couldn’t keep this up much longer. Even wizards tired.
Jeen had been granted something the others had not. Rigo had passed to her the complete knowledge of magic rather than just a selected group of skills. She had yet to sort through everything that she was capable of, but slowly an awareness of how the various magical abilities tied together had been growing in her mind. Her long discussions with Nycoh about Rigo’s plan to activate the towers using the linkage ability he’d given all the wizards at the Outpost was forming an idea in the back of her mind. Rigo had never said such a thing were possible, but it was time to try something different.