She pauses.
“But I must be boring you with these stories,” Rose says. “I thank you all again from the bottom of my heart for rescuing me back there. I only wish there was something I could offer you in return.”
Daren grins.
“Well,” he says, “you’ll have time to think about that on your way home, because we’re coming with you.”
“What?!” Kate says, shocked.
“That sounds like a great idea,” I say.
“You too?” Kate asks me, disappointed.
“Well, it’s not like we have anything to do until they give us our objectives,” I tell her. “And we’ll probably be safer in one of the cities than out here in the wild, where we keep getting attacked every few hours. Didn’t you say yourself that you don’t have any specific leads to the whereabouts of the friend you’re looking for right now?”
“I… suppose, but—”
“Then it’s settled!” Daren says, enthusiastically.
“No!” Kate says. “Nothing’s settled! I never said I agree with this.”
“Please, listen to me,” Rose interrupts. “Daren, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I do not want you to fight with your friends over it. Trust me, I’ll be fine. I know I may have seemed like I didn’t know what I was doing back there, but in reality I’ve walked these roads by myself before. I’ve purposefully avoided all areas that are frequented by monsters or bandits, and have done plenty of research ahead of time. The only reason why I ran into those goblins was because they were a rogue group, far away from any other goblin encampments. It won’t happen again.”
“Be quiet for a second,” Kate says. “Do you hear that?”
Now that she mentions it, I can hear a faint whistling, although I don’t recognize the tune. It’s getting closer. Suddenly the music stops, just as the whistlers get in visual range of us. There are three of them. Weapon enchanters by the looks of them. They seem cleaner than Cutthroat Dave’s group, and they don’t smell like them, but other than that, they don’t look much different. They’ll probably attack us on sight like all the others.
And here I thought we’d filled our quota of pointless fights for today.
“Clive, do you see that?” says one of the men.
“By the gods, it’s a banshee,” says another.
The third man starts screaming, and he falls on his back.
“Monster!” yells one of them, with sheer terror in his voice. “Kill the monster!”
Kate doesn’t seem to be taking this very well. She is looking towards the ground, but this time it’s not anger I see in her eyes. If I were to guess, I’d say she’s feeling miserable.
The man named Clive is now rushing and screaming towards Kate, with the sword in his hand, ready to run her through. Daren readies his own sword, but before he gets to act, it is Rose that puts herself between Kate and the attacking mage.
“Stop!” she yells, and the mage named Clive stops in his tracks.
“Get out of my way, woman,” he says. “Or I’ll kill you along with that monstrosity you’re so keen on defending.”
“You can’t hurt her,” Rose says. “I won’t let you. I owe her for saving my life. And you can’t hurt me either. I am a citizen of Varathia!”
“Hah!” Clive says. “You think their dumb rules can stop me? I’ve murdered people before. I’ll teach you a little trick: as long as they don’t catch you in the act, they have no real proof. What, you don’t really believe in their fairy tales about their spell somehow teleporting me away before I kill you, do you? Anyone smarter than a rat would be able to tell that’s just a bluff.”
He’s right. Even for magic, a spell like the one Varathia’s claimed to have cast on us would go much beyond what we know is possible. To stop an attack before it even occurs, you would need something akin to… thought reading.
“Clive,” one of the other men says. “Maybe you should let her be. We shouldn’t be going around attacking locals on our second day.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t be attacking her,” Clive says with a wicked grin. “I’m just going to teach this little whore her place!”
“No!” Daren shouts, as he runs towards Rose.
At the same time, Kate extends her arm towards Clive, and an ice cone is slowly coming out of her palm.
Clive quickly slashes his knife at Rose’s face, and she instinctively closes her eyes. The mage stops his strike mere inches away from his target, and his whole body starts vibrating loudly, as it gets enveloped in a white light.
“Ah, shi—” he starts to say, but he gets teleported out of the continent, and away from the tournament.
“What did you do to Clive, you filthy— YYARGHH!”
The man who started to talk was immediately interrupted by one of Kate’s cones of ice that went through his right shoulder.
“Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about killing scum like you,” Kate says. “But I’d rather spare Rose from witnessing a gruesome bloodbath. So I’m offering you a chance to retreat. What do you say?”
The man with the ice cone in his right shoulder is grinding his teeth.
“Forget the banshee,” he says to his comrade. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”
Once the two of them get far enough away, Kate turns to Rose and says:
“I’ve changed my mind. I would be honored to serve as your escort until you reach your hometown. I’m sorry for having misjudged you. What you just did was very brave and heroic.”
“Since when do you appreciate bravery and heroism?” I ask her.
Kate, who is standing right beside me, punches me in my right shoulder. Her punch was strong enough to leave a decent bruise.
“Damn it, Kate!” I say. “Have you ever heard of moderation?”
“Shut up!” Kate says. “You asked for it. I was trying to be nice and you ruined the moment.”
“Yeah, well, being nice doesn’t suit you,” I say. “Now, punching people, on the other hand…”
Rose lets out a giggle, which catches our attention.
“I’m sorry,” she says, smiling. “It’s just that you reminded me of my little brother and sister, who always have fights like this. You two seem really close.”
Kate is blushing. This is the first time I’ve seen her blush since I’ve met her yesterday. It kind of suits her.
“I can see why,” Daren says, grinning. “Barry’s been smitten with Kate ever since he first laid eyes on her.”
“You what?!” Kate asks me in a very loud voice, taking Daren’s joke a little too seriously.
“Hey, now,” Daren says. “You’ll have to continue this conversation later, in private! Now that there are four of us, we’ll need to rethink our battle strategy. We need to make sure nothing happens to Rose if we encounter any monsters on our way to her hometown.”
And so, we ended up spending the rest of the morning on discussing different tactics and stratagems.
Chapter 6
“Alright, I think that’s a wrap!” Daren says, once we finish our strategy meeting.
We’re currently all sitting in a circle in front of our cave’s entrance. The sun is pretty high up in the sky, and there’s not a cloud in sight. Luckily, Kate has graciously agreed to use her ice magic to cool the air around us a bit. This way we can enjoy the weather without feeling as if we were inside an oven.
“Noon is almost upon us,” Daren continues. “We should get going as soon as possible. We can’t afford to keep travelling once the sun sets, and we have a long road ahead of us. Rose, did you get all of the herbs you were looking for?”
“Oh, no…” Rose says. “I just remembered, I dropped my bag of herbs when I was being chased by the goblins.”
“Don’t worry,” Daren says. “I doubt anyone would have stolen it, so it must still be where you left it. I’ll help you look for it! Come with me.”
I get up to follow them, but Kate grabs me by the sleeve.
“Wait,” she says. “There�
��s something that’s been bothering me since this morning.”
She looks really tense. It seems that she’s struggling to get the words out of her mouth.
“Were you…”
She pauses.
“Were you really smitten with me since you first saw me?”
Of all the things I would have expected her to say to me right now, this was the last of them. Thanks a lot, Daren. What am I supposed to tell her, now?
“Of course not,” I say. “Daren was just joking earlier. Don’t worry about it.”
Kate sighs with relief.
“I was hoping that were the case,” she says.
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” I say. “This isn’t like you.”
Kate looks away, takes a deep breath and exhales before she continues.
“When those three mages attacked us earlier,” she says, “it made me realize something. You and Rose are the only persons I’ve ever met that did not treat me like some kind of monster. Even if people don’t always say it openly like those three mages did, there’s something in their eyes that gives them away. Something that makes it clear that they do not see me as human. It’s the same with Daren. Despite what you’ve said, I don’t think he truly believes I’m not a banshee. I think it’s only a matter of time before I’ll have to fight him, just like I’ve had to fight everyone else.”
I guess she’s starting to see through my lie, already. I was hoping I could convince her to not lose her trust in Daren, but it seems she never really had much trust in him to begin with.
Kate shifts her gaze back to me.
“But you and Rose… you’re different,” she says. “When I talk to you, I see neither fear nor apprehension in your eyes. You speak to me as normally as you would speak with any other person. I do not know why that is. I do not know what’s wrong with you, but… thank you… for making me feel part of a group for the first time in my life.”
“Hey, there you are!” Daren shouts from a distance, as he and Rose come back from the forest. “We found Rose’s bag not far from here. It’s still got all her herbs inside. We should be good to go.”
When he gets closer, he looks at me and Kate and says:
“I’m sorry, did we interrupt something?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Kate was just about to profess her love for me.”
Kate makes a long sword of ice materialize in her hand and she presses its tip lightly against my throat.
“Say that again,” she says. “I dare you.”
“See, now you’re acting more like yourself!” I say. “All jokes aside, I think Daren has a point. The sooner we leave here, the better. Let’s get going.”
Kate takes her sword out of my face and makes it vanish, while Daren and I head for the cave to make sure we’re not forgetting anything. Just as we reach the cave’s entrance, we see Molan, the deer fawn, jumping up and down, looking very excited.
“Mommy, mommy, come quick!” he says. “It’s aunt Rose! Aunt Rose came to visit us!”
Rose’s usual warm smile perishes from her face when she sees the deer fawn and it is replaced by a sad expression in her eyes.
“Rose?” Elaria says, as she exits the cave. “Rose, is that you?”
“Yes…” Rose answers in the deer’s language, not bringing herself to look her in the eyes. “It’s been a while.”
“It has,” Elaria says. “We haven’t seen you in months. And you used to visit us so often. Rose, you know you’ll always be welcome in our home, right?”
“I know…” Rose says. “I’m sorry, I have to go, now.”
“Aunt Rose, you’re not staying?” the deer fawn asks her.
“Don’t worry, little one,” Elaria tells her son. “I’m sure she’ll come back and stay longer when she’ll be ready. She must have something important to do. You know how she is, always busy helping people.”
“Thank you… and I’m sorry,” Rose says, as she bows, and then turns away from the deer.
“Here are your things,” Elaria says, as she shows us our backpacks. “I took the liberty of making some more food for you, in case you get hungry and want to eat something other than roots and berries.”
“Thank you for all your help,” I tell her. “I hope we meet again!”
“It’s a small continent,” Elaria says. “I’m sure our paths will cross again someday.”
Kate and I say our goodbyes to the two deer, and we go on our way.
Before leaving, I make sure to take with me my spoils of war from this morning’s skirmishes: a crossbow from one of the crossbowmen who ambushed us, a dagger from one of Cutthroat Dave’s men, and the treasure I took from the duke of Bagelberry.
We join back with Rose, and we set off on our long road ahead. Rose is looking a little distraught after her discussion with Elaria. I wonder if I should say something to her, given the circumstances.
“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask,” I tell Rose, as I get a little closer to her, “how did you and Elaria meet? You seemed to know each other quite well.”
My question took Rose by surprise. She must have realized she wasn’t acting like herself because she immediately regained her smile when she started answering me.
“Oh, I met Elaria and Molan a few years ago when I was out collecting herbs,” she says. “Molan was very sick and I helped make an ointment to cure his illness. We’ve been friends ever since.”
“And then something happened?” I say.
Rose’s smile remains on her face, but her eyes are beginning to show a bit of sadness.
“It was that obvious, huh?…” she says. “Yes, something happened, although it wasn’t something that Elaria or I did. A few months ago, after the death of our grand priest, people started to get desperate. Our last reserves of food were dwindling and it wasn’t long before only the rich had access to any kind of conjured food that remained. Animal hunting became more and more popular, and a war between the animals and the humans was inevitable. The war has cost us many lives, including Molan’s father. Ever since he died, I couldn’t bring myself to look either of them in the eyes again. That’s why I haven’t visited them for so long.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I tell her.
“I know,” Rose says. “There’s nothing I could have done. I don’t even know who killed him. I just know that the killer was someone from my hometown. But I still feel terrible.”
“You’re only making things worse by deciding to not visit them,” I say. “Don’t you think they could have used some support from their friend after what happened instead of getting cut off without any explanation? You should consider yourself lucky that they still want to talk to you after the way you’ve distanced yourself from them.”
Rose looks at me for a while, thinking about what I’ve just said.
“I guess…” she starts to say, but then she stops for a second. “I guess you’re right. After seeing how they reacted when they saw me, I realize now that it might have been selfish of me to cut the ties with them just like that. I should have stuck by them in their time of need…”
She makes another short pause, before she continues.
“I promise that the next time I visit them, it will be different,” Rose says. “Thank you, Barry, for setting me straight!”
Her warm smile is back on her face, and this time it looks like it’s sincere.
“You’re welcome,” I tell her, as we end our conversation and continue on our way.
Kate seems to have caught some of our conversation, because she is smiling at me faintly.
Not long after my discussion with Rose, Daren notices that I’ve strapped my crossbow to the back of my backpack.
“Barry, why aren’t you just putting that crossbow inside the backpack, like you did with everything else?” Daren says.
“Well, because it’s already full with all my other stuff,” I say.
“Full?” Daren says. “Wait a minute, Barry, you’re telling me that the backpack you are carrying with
you right now is actually a completely regular one?”
“Well, yeah,” I say. “Enchanted backpacks are really hard to come by if you’re not a mage.”
“You realize you could have asked me to enchant it for you, right?” Daren says. “It literally only takes a few minutes. Here, give me that.”
Daren grabs my backpack and enters an enchanting trance. His eyes become yellow and the backpack starts to glow. The fact that Daren specializes on item enchanting had completely slipped my mind. Enchanted backpacks are leagues better than normal ones. They have almost infinite space, and people can’t see what’s inside them, so they can only steal your stuff if they know exactly what they’re looking for. Taking an item out of an enchanted backpack is as simple as focusing on its image, and reaching inside for it.
Rose is looking very interested in the enchanting process. She is now studying Daren closely.
“Hey, Barry,” Daren says. “Do you want to have your backpack extra secure or should I just leave it like this? If I secure it, then only you will be able to take items out of it. The only downside is that you can’t really authorize other persons to take items from your backpack once you secure it. Normally, security shouldn’t be much of a problem with these backpacks because someone has to actually know what you have inside before taking an item, but it never hurts to be safe.”
“No, leave it like that,” I say. “It’s secure enough as it is.”
“As you wish,” Daren says.
Once he’s done enchanting my backpack, he hands it back to me and then turns to Rose.
“I can see you’re very interested in my craft,” Daren says. “Would you perhaps like to have your backpack enchanted as well?”
Rose blushes, realizing she’d been a bit too obvious in her curiosity.
“I would be honored!” she answers.
Magium: The Mage Tournament: Book 1 Page 8