by Guy Antibes
She showed Fenning where the Master Mage’s tower showed. “It’s right here and I bet that ruby is some kind of key.”
“He told me it was a way for him to more easily monitor what went on in Polda.”
“Perhaps he died on the way to retrieve it. You did say he had business in Barleywood?” Fenning said.
“He did. I think this jewel is what he wanted.” Norra looked down at the map. “Magia, that’s our goal. We’re going to the Master Mage’s tower.” She looked at the wizard. She needed one she could trust to help her transfer the power. It would be better not to talk about a transfer at this point. People could change if they got greedy about all kinds of things. She didn’t want Fenning to change. He was nice enough, just as he was.
“But that’s in Magia,” Fenning said with his voice a bit higher than usual. He looked at Gristan and shivered and looked at the map and shivered more.
“We have no other place to go. I’ll bet there’s so much magic being used in Magia, that no one will notice me. It’s the only way to remove this curse.” Norra felt much more in control of things. She had a goal and that goal to was eliminate the power she bore.
“Curse?” Fenning said.
“The Master Mage’s power is a curse. He gave it to me, but from what he told me, there’s a way to give it back. I don’t want to be the only female mage in the world. Especially if I forget every spell within a minute of learning it.” Norra made a face at Fenning and folded up the map and took the jewel out of his grasp and put it with her possessions in her room. She pulled on a seam on her doll, splitting it apart, and then she hid the jewel in the doll’s stomach. She looked at the map and decided to memorize it, including the location of the Master Mage’s tower.
Magia. That’s where they would go and that’s where she would find release from all this. Then mages and wizards could forget her and she could live a normal life, with her parents, safe and sound.
~~~~
Chapter Four
A New Member and a New Follower
~
Smudges of smoke littered the horizon as they closed in on Hiddington. A line of people walked away from the city.
“What’s up with the fires?” Fenning said to no one in particular.
“Wizards,” said a man carrying a large white sack on his back. He spat on the ground. “Fought in my town. Burned my bakery right to the ground. Not a thing left. All that I’ve got is on my back.”
Fenning had purchased a youth’s sized suit of clothes and packed away his wizard’s robe at the first village past Barleywood. Gristan sat in the cart, invisible and joining in on the conversation from time to time. Delia slept as usual, now that the road smoothed out.
“Do you think your money is intact?” Norra said. Their cash supplies would last another few months, but she doubted they had enough to take them all the way to Taxia and beyond into Magia. She found herself a little anxious. She had no idea how much the journey to Magia and the Master Mage’s tower might cost.
“It’s intact all right.” Fenning’s face didn’t hide his concern. “I just don’t know if wizards remain in the city.
Guards at the gate of the city sat on overturned buckets and rose when they approached. “What’s your business in Hiddington?”
Fenning talked to them from his seat in the cart. “I have possessions stored in there and want to take them out. It looks like most of the city is in flames.”
“No, just the southeastern part where wizards battled. I’d still watch myself, although it looks like the fighting’s over. The two men looked at each other. “We don’t suggest that you go inside just in case they are still poking around. They’ll flame you to a crisp if they catch you.”
Fenning nodded and urged the horse on. Once inside the city, the flow of people lessened as they approached the battle zone.
“Where is your stash?” Gristan said. His comment made Delia stir. She sat up and looked around and then covered her head and went back to sleep.
“Of course, it’s in the southeastern part of the city. You know, where the wizards congregate. I am a wizard, you know.” Fenning looked miserable.
Norra put her chin on her fist. “Just our luck.” The long, slow trip from Barleywood had tired her and she would have liked to stay put for a few days again.
“We aren’t without resources, Norra. Between the two of us we can fight.”
“Don’t forget me,” Gristan said.
Fenning laughed. “Yeah, someone who can’t pick up a piece of parchment is going to save us.”
“You’ll see,” Gristan said.
The group certainly seemed on edge and Norra sat up a little straighter. She couldn’t let them fail. As she puzzled through her journey, she realized that Fenning could get them through to Magia and Gristan needed her close so he could see the world. Delia. Norra had no idea what good Delia was except to be a reminder of Fellingham and oddly enough, of her parents. Her presence did provide a measure of familiarity and comfort.
Fenning turned down a major road and stopped. They’d reached the edge of the destruction. Blackened buildings stood on both sides of the road. Smoke poured out of a few windows. Carts and carriages sat as blackened hulks, pulled aside on the cobblestones. He closed his eyes and then opened them. His face turned rather grim.
“There is a mage in the city, but I can’t detect any wizards,” Fenning said. “…and I’m not worried about the fires. If the wizards have left, we’ll be okay. A single mage won’t be any more interested in us than he would be an ant.” However he talked as if he was on edge like the rest of them.
“What’s the difference between a mage and a wizard?” Delia asked. “You’ve never really differentiated them before.” Delia mouthed the word ‘differentiated’ again after she used it, quite satisfied that she could use such a word in a sentence.
“A wizard can perform magic. A mage is a very, very powerful wizard and has passed certain tests of competency. Sort of like the difference between a mountain and a mole hill. Norra has the power of a mage, but obviously not the abilities. I’m adequately proficient at being a wizard, but I’ll never have a mage’s power or proficiency. However, that’s enough for me.” Fenning showed a sickly grin. “The most powerful of mages rule the nine towers. The mage is in there isn’t one of them. Master Ventor was powerful for a wizard, you know, but the man in there is vastly more proficient.”
The destruction seemed to go on and on until Fenning stopped at a building where the roof collapsed. He jumped off the cart and stood at the hulk.
“Come with me, Norra. I might have to teach you another spell.”
Norra didn’t want to learn any more spells, but they since they’d probably need Fenning’s money, she would go with him. She climbed off the cart and followed him as Fenning walked along a debris-filled alley to the back of the building.
The little wizard began to rummage around, throwing rubbish aside and turning himself black with soot in the process. Norra began to help him and kept slapping ashes from her hands, but found it a losing battle and just continued to clear the area.
“Oh no.” Fenning stood over a large beam sitting over a stone patio. “We can’t pick that up.” He shoved his sleeves above his elbow and began to intone a spell and then slammed his fingers towards the beam. It moved and shook and rose a few inches and then collapsed back to the ground.
“Need my help?” Norra said, knowing the answer.
“This is the spell…” Fenning made Norra repeat it back to him five times. “Now together.”
They both recited the spell in tandem and both thrust out their fingers towards the beam. It shot up ten feet in the air.
“Now move it to the left.” Norra followed Fenning’s gestures and the beam now laid out of Fenning’s way.
Norra put her hand to her forehead and didn’t realize she had perspired so much, as an ash-laden paste now decorated her face.
She stood with her hands on her hips looking at Fenning rummage
around and found the stone he looked for. He moved the stone and pulled up a small chest.
“What’s in the chest?”
Fenning looked up, his face as black as hers and held up a couple of bags. “Gold and silver. Between your little sack of gold and this, we won’t have to worry about how we’ll pay to get to Magia.” His eyes shown bright through the ashes as he lugged the chest back to the cart.
“I suggest we leave the city as quickly as we can,” Fenning said, looking at Norra, “and find an inn that has baths, further on,”
She wiped her hands on her dress and grabbed a towel from the back of the cart, ruining it while she rubbed off the mess on her face. The sooner they found a place to stay the better.
“If the mage isn’t looking for us now, he might soon enough,” Fenning said. “I’d like to leave immediately.”
Norra shivered. “He could see our lights?”
Fenning nodded.
“By all means.”
~
Namen
Namen felt a pulse of power wake him. He had cleared out both sides of the battling wizards in the city and needed his sleep to recharge his powers. He muttered a spell and snapped his fingers. The date and time in bright embers arranged itself in front of his eyes. He snapped them again and the embers fell to the floor.
Four days rest should be enough, he thought, as he put his robes back on and gathered his things. Certainly the pulse didn’t constitute a challenge. He’d have to detect the light again. It might have been two or three wizards.
He closed his fist as he thought of his goal of being the Tenth Mage. But he needed to find out who wielded the power, for his task was far from finished. Sleep kept him from assessing how powerful a wizard intruded on his rest. He didn’t think a mage would travel all the way across the continent of Polda, that’s what wizards were for, and he would stop them all.
His called for Bloggo while he washed his face. “Blog, we’re heading out.”
“But I thought you wanted to build a tower here,” the little fat man said.
“I do, but there are a couple of wizards poking around. We have some work remaining before we can seriously think about a tower. Something to think about when my work is done. Mount up.”
Bloggo loaded their possessions on their two horses and shortly they made their way towards the building that held Fenning’s treasure. Namen felt around for magic residue and found it in the back.
“Two wizards. One, very powerful, perhaps mage level, after all, but he must have been injured or disabled somehow. The application was crude. Another weaker wizard. “ he said to Bloggo who cleared the wreckage for his master.
“What were they doing back here?” Bloggo looked at the house and back at Namen.
The mage could only shake his head. “I don’t know. “ He got down on his haunches and looked at the cleared area. “Bloggo. See the smudges on this stone? Lift it up and let’s see what lies below.”
The servant lifted the stone, revealing a hollow space.
“Retrieving treasure, scrolls or amulets. It’s a brave man that intrudes into the aftermath of a wizard fight.” Namen rose and closed his eyes. “Ah. I can feel the mage’s power. It’s a faint thread of an odd hue. I’ve never seen a wizard light quite like it. I don’t know of that man. Let’s see if we can find them, eh Bloggo? That’s better than staying here and enduring the angry glares of dispossessed city dwellers. By the time we return, this damage should be cleared away.”
~
Norra
Norra shivered as they headed south.
Fenning noticed. “A shiver starting in the middle of your back and then spreading up and down?” His face registered concern as Norra nodded. “I felt it too, that’s a powerful search for wizard light.”
“You told me it was a colored light. What does it mean?” Norra said. Fenning was filling her head with information about wizards that she really didn’t want to know, but if she ventured to Magia, she’d have to be prepared.
“Magic creates a light within you. Most mages are a color of blue.”
“What color are you?” Talk of magic left a foul feeling, but Norra had the power and felt the need to have a basic knowledge of what was going on.
“Just a colorless light, not even silver. If you study hard, the power grows and changes color. Most wizards attain a silvery light.” Fenning paused with a look of thoughtfulness on his face as he drove the cart. “With all of that destruction, the winner would have to sleep a long time to recharge his powers. We must have the woken the mage up.” Fenning looked at Norra with a bit of fear in his eyes.
Norra pulled her cloak tighter to her body. The thought of facing another mage terrified her, yet she felt her anger rise at the Master Mage’s last act. Why me? She could be learning to tat at Miss Poddy’s, living a protected life. Her father would have made sure of that and now? She was on a mission to a far away place, now pursued by evil men with more power than what’s good for them. She shuddered after remembering the destruction in Hiddington. Norra lifted her chin and looked straight ahead, trying to banish such unpleasant thoughts from her mind. She wasn’t succeeding. “So what color am I, again?”
“What?” Fenning looked at her. “Oh. You’re much more powerful than me, to answer your question. Whoever detected a wisp of your power will see your unique light, more like a rose gold color. We’ll have to be on guard because there’s a possibility the mage in Hiddington may follow us. He’s the only mage I’ve ever heard of crossing from Magia to Polda. One can only detect magic light from so far. The more we travel away from Hiddington, the less he’ll be able to spot us.”
“Can’t we shield ourselves?” Norra said.
Fenning shook the reins to speed up the horses. “It can be done with a spell that I don’t know. If a wizard dies, the light goes out.”
“That woul be quite distracting,” Gristan said. “I have no idea what happens to me if Norra dies, bound to her as I am.”
“I’m sitting here, Gristan,” Norra said, speaking with a wry tone. “I’m not dead yet and won’t be if I have anything to say about it. As for your bond, that’s why we’re going to the Mage’s Tower, to rid myself of this.” Norra shook her hands. She suddenly blanched, thinking that any fast movements of her hands might inadvertently cause a magic pulse or light or whatever Fenning called it.
Fenning noticed her pulling her hands into her lap and laughed. “Thought you might have thrown a spell? It doesn’t work that way. It’s the spell and the initiator. The action with your hands or a wand controls the focus of the magic, but you need a spell to get everything started. Keep a clean mind and you can wave your hands at will and nothing will happen. See?” Fenning waved his hand at a little leafless bush on the side of the road and the tips of it burst into flame. He put his hand to his mouth. “Clean mind, Norra. Don’t forget a clean mind.” His face became as red as the fire.
They came to a village at a crossroads that sported a large inn.
“Bath time!” Norra clambered down from the cart eager to get the last vestige of the ashes off. “I don’t care how close the mage is. I want a real bath.” She shook Delia. “Bathtime!”
Delia rose from her slumber and blinked. “Count me in. I feel dreadful.”
~
Namen
Namen looked up and down the road, standing, tapping his foot. Why did his horse have to throw two shoes?
“Bloggo, what’s the verdict?” He felt the faint threads of his quarry fade away as he watched his servant try to repair the horse’s hooves.
The horse kicked Bloggo’s leg, sending him rolling. “Not good. I believe the closest village is behind us, brother,” he said, rubbing his shoulder.
“Fine, You may lead my horse and I will ride yours.” That will serve him right for his inability to fix the shoes and add to my irritability. Namen mounted Bloggo’s horse and followed his injured brother limping along. As his brother walked, Namen sent a bolt of healing strength into his brother
’s leg.
Bloggo merely waved a thank you and continued to lead his brother’s horse.
~
Norra
Norra felt remarkably better. She didn’t shiver again and wondered if her mind and body were playing tricks on her. She bathed and used the tub to wash her filthy dress. She tried to use the cleaning spell, but the spell Fenning had repeated to her ten minutes ago had already leaked from her mind. She knew she’d have to throw away the dress if it didn’t get a bit of magical help and that meant Fenning would have to teach it to her again.
Sleep came easily that night.
In the morning, sitting in the common room at the inn, the hustle and bustle of people coming and eating their morning meal and heading out again gave her a sense of anonymity. She enjoyed her breakfast and realized the depression of the previous day had left her. They were heading south before turning west towards Magia, far away on the other side of Polda. Norra didn’t want to dip into the Mage’s little bag of gold coins. She’d never been outside of the country of Hestvestia and here she sat not far from the border of Taulone.
Her father’s estate was less than two hundred miles northwest from where she sat. This would be the closest she would be to home for months, if not a year. She sighed, but then felt her life would be better if the Mage’s magic belonged to another or frittered away in the light of multi-colored sparkles like those that gave her the power in the first place.
Fenning sat and gave the maid his order, but all they had this morning was a country porridge. The chair between them spoke.
“Don’t worry, I won’t materialize. I had the most wonderful evening. I slept the night away in an ale cask,” Gristan said.
“Your muscles must be cramped,” Fenning said smiling.
“Who has muscles? What you see is pure ghost stuff. Anyway the cask was full and I could even smell it. Ahhhhh. I don’t really have to sleep, you know, but it was a memorable night.”
The maid set down mush and a mug of ale in front of Fenning. He put his elbow on the table and rested his jaw on his fist, staring at the mug. “Mush.”