Jack nodded. They’d kept moving and they had covered a good portion of the city, but there just wasn’t many more undead—at least not wandering the streets where they were easy pickings. “Maybe now is good time to leave.”
“Now?” Stann said. “But there are plenty of buildings we can check.”
“Yes, but we also need to spend some time walking. Remember, we aren’t taking the same portal circle back to the Academy. We need to make a new one, and the farther we go away the less walking we have to do in the future. Besides, we can always come back here. I think you are right and there is a lot more we can find here. We’ll come back another time.”
“I suppose,” Stann said.
“Hey, today was a good day,” Talia said. “We got lots of gear, and you have to admit, killing hordes of undead is fun.”
Stann smiled. “Yes, it is.”
“And the best part of that is we didn’t have to do anything stupid like go under a tower that was about to fall apart,” Talia said.
“Hey. I still maintain there was something really good under that tower. I just know it.”
Talia rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s get moving. Jack, which direction are we going?”
Jack looked at Colin’s map and notes. There weren’t any specific directions or suggestions for them. The only thing was that the next portal circle that Mage Nowak had given them was to the northeast. “Let’s go southwest.”
Talia shrugged. “Sounds good enough. You heard the man, Stann. Lead us southwest.”
Stann looked around. “Jack, why don’t you ask Lord Scratches the best way out of the city going southwest?”
Jack looked at Lord Scratches. “Mind going scouting?”
The little dragon stretched his wings out and took off. He did a large circle high above them and then went a couple hundred yards down the street to their left. He hovered in the air there.
“There you go, Stann. Follow the dragon,” Jack said.
They followed Lord Scratches. He then took off and did another big circle before leading them down another street. They did this for an hour before they reached the end of the city. In the distance, Jack could see the location of their original portal circle. They’d come almost in a full circle during their journey through the ancient city of Pailron.
From there they walked for another two hours before they came to a small village. They inspected the village, finding a few pieces of ancient farming equipment and a small number of swords and shields. They also found an estate on the edge of the village that looked mostly intact.
“Let’s check the estate before we head back to the Academy,” Stann said. “It looks like a rich person lived there.”
“How can you tell?” Jack said.
“The higher the walls and the fancier the gate, the richer the owner,” Stann said.
Jack wasn’t so sure that all rich people lived by that philosophy, but it made a great deal of sense. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to check the estate before heading back home. “OK. Let’s go see if Stann knows his rich folk.”
Stann grinned. “I’m telling you. That is a big and fancy gate.”
They went into the estate. Inside the high walls were plenty of dead trees and statues, along with what must’ve been a spectacular water feature at one time.
Lana seemed to share the same opinion of the outer grounds as Jack. “I’ll bet this place was spectacular in its time.”
The first building they came to had been the stables. The next building seemed to be the worker quarters. They found a few knives and weapons here, but nothing of note.
When they approached the main building, Jack was impressed by how good of shape the building was still in. In Pailron they’d found most of the buildings to be damaged in some way. How had this estate escaped the violence? Had it been a matter of luck? Or had the owner done something to mitigate the damage to this area?
Stann opened the door to the mansion and stuck his head in. He quickly jumped back.
A halberd sliced through the air, hitting the ground right in front of Stann. He jumped back in, swinging his axe as he went.
Seconds later he yelled, “Clear.”
Jack walked in. There were two ghouls on the ground.
“Look at the armor on these two.”
“Identify,” Jack said, casting his spell. The armor was good, exceptionally good, as were the weapons. Both halberds were magical.
“I told you,” Stann said. “High fences and fancy gates. This place is going to be good.”
The front room was large and had a wide staircase that curled up the second floor. They ignored the stairs and searched the bottom floor first. They found a few more skellies, but not armed. They disposed of them and moved on, going up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs they found a library. This was the first sign of damage as a chunk of the ceiling was gone and most of the books were water damaged. They sorted through the books and found three worth salvaging. Moving on, they found a series of bedrooms. Each was large and had been lavish. There were large armoires and fancy mirrors in each of the rooms. They found a few items of clothing that were still intact, and they all had magic. Jack suspected the magical clothing had been avoided by rodents and other little creatures while the normal clothing had been eaten and shredded for bedding.
At the end of the hallway they found a closed door.
“I’ll bet this is the master bedroom,” Stann said as he opened the door.
An ice mist slammed into Stann’s chest and Jack watched his health drop by a third.
Stann roared and charged into the room.
Jack ran behind him, casting a healing spell on him as he went. Jack saw Stann’s health drop by another third. He looked across the room trying to find what was damaging his friend so easily.
As Stann wisely ducked under another blast of ice mist, Jack was hit by it.
Jack groaned and spotted the source of the magic. On the far side of the room were three undead. Two were standing guard with sword and shield. The third was an undead mage, and he was firing at them.
Talia and Lana rushed into the room and spread out. Lana fired an energy bolt at the mage, hitting him in the chest, but the mage was hardly fazed. Talia followed up with a fire bolt. Again, the undead mage was barely hurt.
The two undead warriors moved forward and attacked Stann, who, after the second blast of ice mist, had wisely cast his stone-body spell. With Jack’s healing spell, Stann was back to half health, and it looked like he’d need all of it. The two undead warriors were fast and worked together. Their swords were striking Stann and they were efficiently blocking his attacks.
Meanwhile, the mage was firing his magic at Lana and Talia. When they ducked his shots, he fired at Jack.
“Help Stann. Hit the warriors,” Jack yelled.
Both of the girls responded by hitting the same warrior. The undead warrior fell, allowing Stann to concentrate on the remaining warrior. With a few hard-smashing blows, he destroyed the second warrior.
The undead mage fired another shot of ice mist at Stann, but with his stone-body spell active, the damage was significantly less than before.
With the two warriors out of the way, Jack fired a solar burst at the mage. The mage was rocked back. This gave Stann time to get close and to the side of the mage. He swung his axe, striking it in the chest. It sent the mage another step back.
Stann then jumped back, a move they’d learned from Instructor Brazee, leaving all three of Jack, Lana and Talia an open shot at the mage. The three of them fired away.
The mage absorbed several hits before exploding.
Lord Scratches, who’d been hovering behind Jack, flew through the room into the adjacent room and then returned, landing on Jack’s shoulder. The other room was clear.
“That was intense,” Stann said.
“I’ll say,” Jack said.
Stann rubbed his chest. “I’ve never been hit that hard before.”
“You should’ve had your stone-bo
dy active the whole time,” Talia said.
Stann frowned. “Easy for you to say. Stone skin hurts and drains my mana too fast. I only like to use it when I know I’ll need it.”
“Oh. Sorry,” Talia said. “I didn’t know.” She went over and hugged Stann. “You scared me. When I saw your health drop to a third, I almost died.”
“Me too,” Stann said.
Talia punched him in the shoulder. “Not funny.”
“A little funny,” Stann replied.
Jack searched the undead mage. There was a robe and two rings. Jack handed Stann the robe. “Throw that in your satchel.”
Jack then inspected the rings. They both added 15 to mana and gave the ice mist spell. He handed one of the rings to Talia.
She tried it on. The only way it fit was on her thumb.
Jack tried the other one on and it fit on his ring finger.
“At least we got something good out of that encounter,” Talia said.
Jack nodded. Two magical rings were a good score, not to mention the weapons and armor from the two undead warriors and the other two from the front door. “Let’s finish our search and go home. We’ll make our portal circle here.”
They searched the rest of the upstairs and found nothing else of interest, so Talia made the circle and they went back to the Academy.
37
“How did it go?” Colin asked as they exited the portal.
“Great, Stann almost got evaporated by an undead ice mage,” Talia said.
“Sweet. Wait… that is great?” Colin asked.
Jack laughed. “The trip went great. We ran into a few hundred undead and then a powerful undead ice mage.”
Colin sighed. “I’m still confused. Are you telling me running into a few hundred undead and Stann almost dying from an undead ice mage is a good thing?”
“Yes,” all three said at once.
Colin slumped down on the couch. “I think the Ancient Lands have made you all crazy.”
Jack sat down beside Colin. “We figured out a way to kill lots of undead at once. Finding hundreds of them was a good thing.”
“And by we, he means he figured it out,” Talia said.
“Inspired by your technique,” Jack said.
“That is true. I do deserve partial credit,” Talia said.
“OK. I can see that being good. You probably collected a few weapons, but what about the undead mage almost killing Stann? How is that a good thing?”
“How about I didn’t die?” Stann said.
“That, and Jack and I got a pair of sweet rings out of the deal,” Talia said as she waved her hand to show her ring.
Colin shook his head. “I guess.”
“Relax, Colin. It was a really good trip. I’m going to have to go pick up more cleaning supplies for all the weapons and armor we collected.”
“But we still have gallons of it,” Colin said.
“Not enough,” Lana said.
Colin finally seemed to understand how much gear they’d gotten this trip. He smiled. “You guys really did do great.”
“Yup, but now I’m tired. I’m going to sleep. Nobody wake me before noon or I will roast you,” Talia said.
Jack nodded. He was exhausted as well. It had been a long and productive day and sleep sounded perfect.
The next morning when Jack woke, he found that Lana was already up and cleaning weapons.
She looked at him and smiled. “Morning.”
“You’re up early.”
She shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep, decided I’d do something productive.”
“I’ll help.” Jack went back to his room and got his whetstone. He then sat down beside Lana and started sharpening the blades she’d cleaned. Jack still enjoyed sharpening blades. It reminded him of his grandfather. Sharpening blades with Ramy had been a good part of his childhood. It was strange, Ramy had been dead less than a year and it felt like a lifetime ago. Being at the Academy was a completely new life, and despite the rough start, it was a good one.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Lana said.
“Sorry. Just thinking about my grandfather.”
“Good thoughts?”
Jack nodded. “Yes. We spent hundreds of nights sitting around a campfire sharpening knives and swords. It was always a pleasant time for me. Sharpening weapons brings back those memories.”
“Good, because we have a stupid number of weapons to sharpen.”
They worked silently after that. Lana worked the cleaning bath while Jack sharpened.
An hour went by before anyone else woke up. It was Colin. He scratched his head when he saw the pile of cleaned weapons on the floor. “Great gobs of goblin fire, you weren’t joking about hundreds of undead. Look at all those weapons.”
Jack chuckled. “Looks impressive, doesn’t it? Most of them aren’t magic weapons, though. We won’t make nearly as much as if they were.”
“Still, it is impressive.” Colin picked up one of the swords. “Man, I wish I had a sword like this.”
Jack shrugged. “Take one.”
Colin frowned. “I can’t do that. That is our income to pay our academy fees.”
Lana laughed. “In case you haven’t noticed, we probably have enough to pay the rest of our fees right here. Besides, we all get gear. If you want one of the weapons, just take it. But don’t take just any one, take the best one. Jack can point out the magical ones for you.”
Colin ran his hand through his hair. “You guys wouldn’t mind?”
“For crying out loud, Colin, you are a Misfit. That means you’re an equal partner in the team, now take a freaking sword,” Talia said as she walked out of her room.
“You heard the lady,” Jack said as he stood up. “Identify.” Jack then touched all the magical swords and compared their stats. He found the best one and handed it to Colin. It gave 20 mana and had a lightning spell. “Take this one, Colin.”
Colin took the sword and grasped the handle. “Lightning? I have a lightning sword? That is wicked. Thanks, guys!”
Jack smiled. It was moments like these that made being a Misfit special. Colin hadn’t expected to be given a sword, but he’d earned it, and his gratitude was heartwarming, even if unnecessary.
“Speaking of cool new gear, are you going to try the new gauntlets?” Lana asked Jack.
“Maybe, but first there is something I have to do,” Jack said. He took the new gauntlets, which, now that they’d been cleaned, were a shiny silver with a soft white fur interior layer, and headed out. He needed advice, and there was only one logical person to ask for it: his advisor.
“Come in,” Professor Cyr yelled when Jack knocked on her office door. “Jack. It’s been too long. I didn’t get to talk to you during your little soirée. Headmaster Anderle had me negotiating with a representative from the Empire over a few details of our trade agreement. A boring ordeal, let me assure you, but I did get to try the meal. It was magnificent.”
“Thanks, Professor Cyr. It was Chef Ramsey who really made it happen. All I did was suggest it would be a good idea to share in our good fortune.”
“Modesty becomes you, Jack, now what can I do for you? You didn’t come here to talk about fancy meals. I’m guessing our discussion has something to do with gauntlets?”
“How did you kn—” Jack looked down at the gauntlets in his hand. “Oh, never mind.”
“Sit. Let’s talk.”
Jack sat down. He placed the ancient gauntlets on her table.
“Let me guess. You found these gauntlets and they are an upgrade over your gauntlets, but you don’t want to switch?”
Jack nodded. “I know it makes sense, but the gauntlets and the spell book are the only things I have that were hers. I don’t want to have to change.”
“Let’s see what we’re dealing with,” Professor Cyr said as she waved her hand, casting a spell. “Ah, they definitely are an upgrade. More mana, and additional spells. You’d be foolish not to upgrade. However, there is more than one way to upgrade.”
Jack frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Your mother’s old gauntlets were magically infused when they were made. The magic is embedded in the metals and materials. However, no runes were used. With rune magic you can take a magical item and add spells to it.”
He could upgrade his mother’s gauntlets. That was perfect! “How?”
“Well, any fourth-year student could do it. I could do it too, but since you now have access to all the ancient artifacts you can find, you should get the absolute best upgrade possible now. That way, if you ever find another pair of gauntlets worthy of making you switch, you’re doing it for a good reason. You need a rune master. Luckily, one of the best rune masters in all of Westdrift is in Ansby, Master Kalynchuk. He’s a friend and will treat you fairly. It may cost you those new gauntlets of yours, but it would be worth it.”
“Great. Where can I find Master Kalynchuk?”
“On Mage Street.”
Jack raised an eyebrow.
Professor Cyr laughed. “Jack, have you even been to Ansby yet?”
“No, I’ve been a little busy, trying not to get murdered, learning how to do magic and then how to survive the Ancient Lands.”
“Fair point, and you’ve been doing a fantastic job. Your mother would be proud. I’ve been keeping tabs with all your professors. Despite having to take the quester path, you’ve still been working on all your classes. Not nearly as much as a regular student, but more than enough for a quester.”
Jack nodded. “I knew if I wanted to survive as a quester, I needed to keep working on my magic and fighting skills. And having a dragon for a familiar, it just made sense to keep going to that class too. All of the classes have paid off.”
“The very fact that you’re still alive is evidence of that fact. That, and some of the accomplishments you’ve achieved. Chadwick is proud of you and likes to brag about his new team.”
“Is that a good thing? We already have enough enemies.”
“That comes with the territory, I’m afraid. But the answer to your question is yes, it is a good thing. It isn’t often that first-year students become questers, especially not five of them all at once. That the five of you have done as much as you have with the only significant injury being poor Colin’s toes is an accomplishment. An advisor doesn’t usually brag about first-year students because so many of them suffer far worse fates than a funny walk.”
Menacing Misfits: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (Darkthorn Academy Book 1) Page 40