THE WAR OF SPELLS
Book 2 of the Averot'h Saga
By George Mazurek
Text Copyright © 2016 George Mazurek
All Rights Reserved
Cover art and Illustration © 2016 Barbora Frankova
All Rights Reserved
e-mail: [email protected]
Revised: May 27, 2016
To my family: Jane, John and James, and my brother Pavel
Praise for The City of Wizards
“First and foremost, I want to commend the author's imagination” - Nelou Keramati.
“I enjoyed getting to know the world of Averot’h. The complex relationships throughout the tale were a challenge to keep up with. The mounting division between wizards and human was matched only by the internal politicking of the wizard factions” - Michelle Perry.
“Well my first impression was really good, it was a fine introduction, and the storyline was overall really good.” - Gustav Tarras Madsen.
“First off, wow, George is great at creating a sense of adventure. I found myself flying through the book and was just hooked on the world that City of Wizards created. The descriptions were just wow and it just really threw the reader into the world. I could just picture the events in my head.” - Serena.
“This was a great story. I look forward to reading more along with reading this story over and over again. It was that good.” – Dionne Washington.
“Fun, fast-paced and easy to read. I only wish it was longer so some of the story lines could have more development and natural progress.” - Jenna Kathleen.
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
AFTERWORD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PROLOGUE
we followed a bumpy path between the land of humans and the land of wizards, led by Elisa's talisman and my heart. The road ran through a valley with beautiful white rocks rising from larch forests and blooming meadows that reminded me of my homeland.
I pretended to be a poor wandering wizard in areas inhabited by wizards and a destitute journeyman in areas inhabited by humans. In any case, I tried to avoid strangers' eyes as much as possible. I still felt the consequences of my recent battles. My strength was increasing steadily, but I was not at the peak of my powers yet. During the day, I went by foot alone, but in the course of the night, Kwazzo accompanied me quietly. Once, I considered him half-thing and half-animal. I couldn't be more mistaken!
Tephirs shared wisdom that certainly matched that of humans or wizards. I learned many astonishing facts about them during our journey. For example, though tephirs are bred at tree farms near the Gulf of Wild Waters, their native environment is water! They move faster in the water than in the air; they even give birth there. We passed by low homesteads with thatched roofs and farmlands with sheep and goats, and I tried to help where I could with some discreet spells.
I listened to the stories told by locals; one of them was especially alarming.
“What do you think, Kwazzo? Is that tale about Gharib and the dark spot true? Is there some unknown magic power involved?”
I was resting on a river shore overgrown with reeds and nettles, while Kwazzo frolicked in the waves. The tephir emerged from the water and shook himself fiercely, soaking me in the process.
“I guess it might be true,” he answered. “It seems everyone has heard about it.”
“I wasn't sure before but now I'm almost certain Elisa is hidden somewhere in the black spot,” I said thoughtfully.
“Are you worried because of it, my Lord?”
I nodded. “I don't know what to expect there.”
“Martell wouldn't hide his only child in a place that is not safe,” Kwazzo said.
I sighed. “I hope so...”
“Are we going to continue, my Lord?”
“Yes.” I got up, still tired a little.
After two days, the river broadened. Large birds, such as cormorants and gulls, increased in numbers above its waters.
Kwazzo had spent this time under water; but I was surprised when he sprang up suddenly.
“What's wrong, my friend?” I watched him with amusement. “Water too cold?”
“No, my Lord,” he shook himself like a dog. “It's salty. I hate salt!”
I laughed out loud. “Can you see the blue line down the river? It's the sea, Kwazzo! The river flows into the Little Sea here.”
And Elisa is on the other side of it...
I stopped for a while. “We must cross it somehow. Are you able to get me to the opposite coast?”
“Unfortunately, I am not, my Lord. I have never flown more than ninety miles without a break, and this sea is three times longer.”
I weighed our options.
“We have to find a ship then,” I decided. “In Mag'reb, I saw a port near the river's mouth. Perhaps we will find a ship ready to sail away.”
The smell of fish guided us to a small port with two piers and about a dozen ships. The Good Fortune, a large, multi-decked sailing ship with black-red flags was being prepared to set out by a handful of sailors.
“It seems we are extremely lucky, my Lord. This galleon is heading out to the sea right now.”
I nodded. “So let's not miss the opportunity.”
I entered the deck with Kwazzo transformed into a leather bag. I paid two silver coins after a short haggling with the captain, and half an hour later the port disappeared under the horizon.
But we were not lucky for long, though...
A storm blew up unexpectedly. The gale tore sails apart; ten feet high waves played with the ship, forcing it to sway like a drunkard.
“I don't like it!” I screamed to Kwazzo. “Have you ever experienced anything similar?”
“Yes, my Lord. When I traveled this way with Zo'har, the same storm appeared.”
“What?!” I yelled in the wind. “Why didn't you tell me?!”
We were watching the storm from the upper deck. Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the galleon's main mast, breaking it with a terrible screech just a moment later.
“It was a long time ago, my Lord. And you didn't ask...”
“Damn! What did you do back then?”
“Zo'har drove the storm away.”
I had to think. Meanwhile, sailors and passengers were scurrying on the lower deck from side to side, screaming in horror.
Zo’har undertook the same journey... And he is dead. I must avoid his errors...
“Are you going to save us?” Kwazzo asked uneasily.
Our situation was truly miserable.
Before I could answer, another powerful lightning bolt split the air, followed by rumbling thunder. The galleon could no longer withstand the punishment; it began to break apart.
The deck under my feet bent at a ludicrous angle.
Our good fortune was definitely over.
I was falling into an abyss with Kwazzo under my left arm.
~
Without warning, the raging storm was gone. I was surrounded by calm, cold water and remnants of the ship slowly falling to the sea bed underneath.
I adjusted my breathing with a simple spell and looked upwards.
The dark cloud was still there, blurred by the stormy water surface and hopping and pulling a face maliciously.
“Shouldn't we resurface, my lord?” Kwazzo asked. He was floating right in front of me.
“Not yet.” I forced away a curious mackerel with my right hand. “Let him think he has won.”
We were descending among air bubbles, fish of all colors and sizes, and human bodies with wide-open, glassy eyes and swaying hair.
Despite the warm water, the scene was chilling.
“We cannot show our true strength yet. But, be sure my friend, whoever is responsible for this will be punished for the death of these innocent people,” I murmured through my clenched teeth.
“He deserves nothing better,” Kwazzo agreed and then paused. “I have a little problem, my Lord.”
“What problem is that?”
“Salt, my Lord. I don't know how long I can hang on.”
“Kwazzo, you can resurface anytime you want.”
“Thank you, my Lord. You can jump on me. Underwater, I'm faster than in the air.”
I followed the tephir's advice and stepped onto his horny crest, when I spotted a strange light among the seaweed underneath.
I pointed to the light. “Take me there, my friend.”
Water whirled fiercely as we headed to the deep with an extraordinary speed.
CHAPTER 1
Under water
in fact, it was not a single light, but a bunch of tiny sparkles coming out of the open sea-shells scattered at the bottom of the sea.
And among the shells a woman's body was lying motionless.
My heartbeat intensified.
The woman was clothed in a translucent veil that exhibited her bewitching beauty.
But it was not Elisa.
I jumped off the tephir and my feet sank two inches into the sand.
“She is a water nymph, my Lord,” Kwazzo commented. “I haven't seen any for some hundred and forty years.”
I bent over her. She was alive, but her vital force grew weaker rapidly.
“Can you save her, my Lord?”
I turned her gently on her back. Her arms were colder than ice. I checked her neck for a pulse.
“I hope so…”
I rubbed her chin with my thumb. The nymph opened her sapphire eyes. She examined me swiftly, and then her gaze turned behind me.
“My Lord!” Kwazzo exclaimed.
I turned just in time.
A behemoth creature was approaching quickly!
~
The monster dragged its giant mouth with four long bristles around its snout deep in the sand. I straightened up, but even then his mouth was taller than me...
The creature stopped three feet away from me.
“A man at the bottom of the sea!” It roared. “What else will Baldur live to see?”
His operculum expelled gallons of water. “Baldur is hungry, very hungry. But you are not yummy, little man. Humans stink!”
He shook with laughter similar to an earthquake, revealing two rows of five inch long and perfectly healthy teeth.
He circled me, his sharp scales nearly brushing my hips.
“I do, however, love the delicate flesh of a nymph…” he squelched.
The nymph gave a yell of horror.
“Just a moment!” I stepped between the nymph and Baldur, and tingling ran through my fingers.
The irritated creature fumed and waved its bristles in an attempt to push me away.
“You are not the only one hungry.” I continued. “Khrum is hungry too…”
Baldur's watery eyes looked around but couldn't find anything suspicious. Then he turned to me, his eyes swelling with anger.
I raised my hand to point upwards.
A giant shadow covered us both.
Baldur's worried gaze turned up too.
A giant mouth attacked him from above, and what followed next was not a pleasant sight for a tephir, not mentioning a nymph…
~
“I don't know how to thank you.”
Aoerea, the nymph, smiled at me and her luscious body swayed in a water stream. She placed her palms on my shoulders. I was completely absorbed by her green eyes. She embraced me seductively.
“Do you want me?”
My body, especially in the middle, screamed yes. She felt it too, and gave me a flirty wink with her long eyelashes.
“Don't take it personally, Aoerea, but not,” I said softly. “You are really gorgeous, but my heart belongs to another girl.”
She frowned a little. “You are a strange man. Who are you?”
“I'm a pilgrim.”
“A pilgrim who walks on the sea bottom and saves poor nymphs in danger? You have to be a wizard, a mighty one.”
I kept silent.
“I see a tower in your eyes...” she continued with a soft voice. “Where do you come from?”
“It doesn't matter.”
The nymph raised her eyebrow. “No, it really doesn't.”
She leaned forward. Her naked breasts snuggled up to my chest. Our lips drew closer. I couldn't resist the temptation anymore...
When only a gap as narrow as a razor blade separated us, Kwazzo hissed with warning. “My Lord! Don't kiss a water nymph! You'll become her slave forever!”
I pulled away. My head was spinning.
I almost kissed her...
“You saved my life, I owe it to you...” she whispered and moved forward to embrace me again.
I raised my right hand to stop her. She halted, dumbfounded.
“I'm sorry.” I apologized. “You are truly exceptional, Aoerea. But I must leave now.”
I sent her an air kiss through the water. Kwazzo landed at my feet and I got on. I looked back over my shoulder.
Aoerea gave me a shy smile and waved me goodbye.
“I guess we are done here, Kwazzo.”
The water around us started to boil. Soon, we reached calm and sunny waters just under the water surface.
“That's the way the nymphs are.” Kwazzo commented. “They are not bad or evil, just too much possessive.”
I laughed. “And they are very attractive too.”
“I guess so. Your Khrum was also worth seeing, my Lord.”
“Was it?”
“Yes. It was an interesting idea to put a piranha head on the body of a whale.”
~
The underwater world was amazing. It was a realm of calmness, unusual brightness and almost insane colorfulness. It filled up my senses to the rim, but my mind was wandering elsewhere.
I couldn't think of anything but Elisa.
I'm so close.
Only sixty miles left to the shore…
Kwazzo abruptly slowed down, his grey surface changed to pale yellow. He started to cramp violently.
“What's going on?!” I jumped off his crest and wrapped him tight.
He slipped out of my arms.
“Don't worry, my Lord. My time has come.”
“But you cannot die now!”
“I'm not dying. The time has come to give birth to my young.”
I was left with an open mouth, almost swallowing a nearby pilchard.
“Your young?”
“Yes, my Lord. Salt water speeds up my life cycle. That's why I dislike it.”
I caught sight of something black, small, and bony. It broke away from Kwazzo's underbelly and headed for the deep.
My friend didn't bother to follow his newborn.
“You let him go?”
“Sure, my Lord. Tephirs are self-sufficient from the moment of their birth.”
“Dearie me!” I scratched my beard. “Anyway, you don't have to accompany me, Kwazzo. You may go where your heart is.”
“My heart is with you, my Lord. And with Elisa...”
CHAPTER 2
At a crossroad
“someone wanted to make our arrival really tough,” I complained as I scrambled out of the water, completely dry. “Hopefully, he doesn't know where we are right now.”
Kwazzo accompanied me to a rocky beach surrounded by hornbeams, birch trees, and low bushes.
From the bushes, a man came out with some sticks in his armpit.
In
the blink of an eye, I transformed Kwazzo into a bay horse. And I pretended to be as wet as a drowned rat.
Damn! He had to see us crawling out of the sea...
The man looked at us with suspicious eyes before he turned back to the trees and continued picking little pieces of wood.
I became dry again.
The beach ended, and a path overgrown with thistles appeared under my feet.
“How are you getting used to your new appearance, my friend?”
“I guess it could be worse, my Lord. I'm a little baffled by those four legs down there a little, but I'm going to cope with that. You can get on, my Lord.”
~
The countryside was sparsely inhabited. We met a pair of locals with a cart filled with fruits and vegetables and an old shepherd with a staff and four skinny sheep.
“This region is truly poor,” I commented, “Even compared to my homeland.”
“And it seems wizards are sparse here as well,” Kwazzo added. He became a reliable means of transport, though not as fast as a tephir.
I avoided the use of magic to evade any unwanted attention. Also, I focused on recovering my strength after the recent battles and the long underwater journey that exhausted me considerably. I could still feel Mag'reb, but here, hundreds of miles away, its power was feeble.
After sunset, we rested in a pine forest, at a safe distance from the pathway. I always liked the tranquility of trees and their scent and shadows. I laid myself on some soft moss while Kwazzo rested high in a tree.
I closed my eyes.
I saw Lokmi falling down with a dagger in his back again, people with glassy eyes slowly descending through the green water to the bottom...
I woke up with the daylight and squinted into branches and leaves above me. A pine cone fell and landed beside me in a cobweb spotted by tiny droplets of dew.
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