by D. W.
Thad sat with his staff for hours, trying to figure out any way to get his idea to work. From what he read of the magic book it should be more than possible. Back in the Ablaian prison he was able to call the staff to his hand just by thinking of it.
As Thad thought of his time in the Ablaian prison an idea struck him. It was so simple he wasn’t sure why he didn’t think of it first. Maybe he was making this harder than it had to be. Closing his eyes Thad tried to send a mental image of the item he wanted. He nearly jumped for joy when the staff sent out a small pulse of magic and then an image of his bag not far away popped into his mind. It was a great accomplishment but also slightly disquieting. It meant that his staff had more self-awareness than he would have thought possible. The magic book had said magical items could become semi-sentient but he hadn’t given that a second thought, until now.
Thad communicated with his staff through mental images and thoughts until he grew tired. It was nice to be able to lie down and stretch out for once. It would be hard to leave this place after he had everything he needed to move on but he couldn’t live underground forever. At some point soon, he would have to find his way out of these cursed tunnels and back into the world above.
When he woke, Thad grabbed his staff and began his search for materials. Even with the help of his staff it took a long time to find anything close enough to a tunnel to be of use. When he finally found a large supply of iron, it was more than an hour’s walk from his cavern. With all the twists and turns, he was more than a little afraid he would be unable to find his way back. More than once he had to force his fears aside to continue on toward his goal.
When he reached the point the staff had indicated, he found a massive amount of metal just waiting. He didn’t even have to cut into the wall much to extract his prize, since there were large chunks of iron ore jutting from the rock face. Within minutes he had his pack laden with ore and was on his way back toward his cavern. He didn’t know why he was so fearful of getting lost. With his staff to help guide him, he could have been days away and still found his way back. As he thought of that he wondered if his staff could locate an exit back to the surface. As soon as the thought hit him, he wanted to try it immediately but he knew that searching took a lot of concentration and doing it while exposed would be stupid.
As soon as he was back in the cavern and had double checked all the doors to make sure they were sealed shut, Thad took a comfortable seat on the ground and began his search. He wasn’t sure how long he had sat during his search but when he finally opened his eyes, his stomach was grumbling loudly. He hadn’t been able to find anything but he still had hope there had to be more than one way into the underground network of tunnels and caverns. It just didn’t make sense for there not to be.
After a quick meal, Thad began working on different rings and other items that might come in handy in his trek through the tunnels. The biggest problem he had was a lack of distance weapons. He didn’t have a bow or the skill to use one. He needed something that would allow him to take out his enemies from a distance without the use of his magic. All too often his magic caused unexpected consequences within the confined spaces.
Growing up, he enjoyed the stories where the young hero chased away the beast with his sling. Thad’s first few attempts at making a magic long range weapon failed miserably, mainly due to the fact that the exposed crystal sooner or later would connect with a hard surface and explode. After many tries he found a solution to his problem. If he enfolded the crystal completely in an inch layer of metal it allowed the slug to fly without fear of breaking the core. There was still a chance of damaging the body of the enchantment so he added another small layer of strengthened metal over the first.
The enchantment was fairly simple, when triggered it just told the slug to fly straight with incredible speed in the direction of its current momentum. It was strong enough that when shot at a wall, it would imbed itself over an inch deep in the hard surface. The only problem Thad could see was finding all the slugs after they were used. While a good idea here in the confines of the caves, in an open space they would travel extreme distances before stopping. To rectify these problems, he put a limit on the distance the slug could travel before the force on the slug changed forcing it to the ground. Then he linked the slugs to a ring that would bring them back to his hand. The ring wasn’t perfect and could only be used ten times before it was exhausted, but it was better than having to make new slugs every time he fired one off.
He made three pouches of ten slugs, each one with a ring. He doubted he would need more than that, but if so he still had his magic as well as his sword for up close and personal work.
Feeling warm from his accomplishments so far, now all he needed was to make the normal items. A few shield rings, paralyzing rings, and a few more lightning devices so he could save his energy while traveling. Thad knew it would take a lot of work to make enough rings to allow him to travel for long periods of time without running out when the best rings only lasted six hours and took three days to recharge.
Grateful that boredom was not a problem. Thad had other ideas as well he wanted to try. First was the possibility of an enchantment that would allow him to stay clean. No one else was here to smell him, but the scent coming from his own body made it hard to sleep. He had tried to wash off in the small pool, and while it took off the worst of the grime and smell, without any soap it was a temporary fix at best.
CHAPTER III
Thad lounged back in his stone chair covered in giant lizard skins talking to himself. He had long since lost track of how long he had been holed up in the cavern. It had proved a far better living space than he could have imagined when he discovered a large group of lizards that lived down one of the tunnels. They were easy to kill and offered little to no physical threat. They were slightly larger than a human on all fours and were slow spending most of their time eating the small bugs that crawled all over the underground tunnels.
After watching the creatures for a span of days Thad learned they were the main source of food for the goblins that must have their main lair nearby. He was careful when he went out to make sure he never encountered any of the mean little creatures.
The only real enemy he had was loneliness. Even the princess’s letters had stopped some time ago. He didn’t know what was going on in the palace and had no way to learn. It worried him more than a little but he had his own problems to deal with.
Thad spent most of his time using his staff to look for an exit, only taking breaks when he had more urgent needs. He had learned his staff had thoughts of its own though they were chaotic and seldom made sense to him.
“I wonder if the goblins know a way out.” Thad said to the air.
A picture of an underground river flashed through his mind. “Yes, yes you keep bringing up that river but there is no telling where it leads.”
Suddenly his mind was flooded with images of lakes, ponds and oceans. “That’s true it has to lead somewhere. But I’m afraid to go any deeper.”
In response the staff showed him as an old man lounging back in his chair. “I’m not going to stay in this room until I die. I swear you just like to get my hackles up you dried up piece of driftwood.” Thad yelled at the staff in his hands.
Pictures from his life pounded into his mind. Each picture showing a less than brilliant decisions on his part, usually coupled with the women who surrounded his life. “Enough! I know I don’t always make the best decision.”
Setting his staff down Thad walked over to the pool of water in the corner of the room. His reflection from the still water was nearly unrecognizable. His clothes were dirty and tattered, and a thin film of dirt covered his exposed skin. His light blond hair looked more dusty gray hanging past his shoulders in a gnarled mess. He had tried to make a magical cleaning device but it had worked a little too well nearly skinning him alive. His skin had been bright pink and very touchy for a few days after that.
More than once he had thought of swimmi
ng in the small pool but the idea of contaminating his only supply of water for a few relaxing moments didn’t seem worth it. Instead he had settled with using a stone bowl every few days to wash himself off. It didn’t do a lot of good only using his hands but it did remove the largest portions of dirt from his skin and hair.
Thad knew he had to leave his sanctuary soon. He had already stayed far longer than he had originally planned. At first it was easy to find a reason to stay a day or two extra after he had finished all the preparations for his journey. I might find a closer exit. I need to test out another idea.
He had enough shield and light rings to last him days without ever having to go unprotected. Three large pieces of iron ore enchanted to make walls so that he could set up a safe room no matter where he decided to stop. He had even taken the time to remake his rune necklace that had been lost in the prison.
All that was left was to walk out one of the tunnel doors and continue on. His staff was right. The river did offer the best chance for an exit. Water had to flow somewhere. Looking over at his staff Thad shuddered. He hoped it had been his staff’s idea otherwise he was losing his mind.
Not wanting to give it too much more thought Thad began packing up his belongings. The magical items took up little room and were mostly kept to the side pockets of his travel sack. The main compartment was filled with dried meat and what little water he could carry with him. The walk to the underground river should take about two days in his mind. He should have enough water to hold him but he was fearful about food later on. He currently had enough stocked to last a fortnight or more if he rationed it but after that he would have to find a fresh supply.
A sudden idea hit him. He still needed some type of magic to replace his foot unless he wanted to support himself with his magic the whole time he traveled. Using his magic to keep himself up had become second nature to the point he hardly had to think of it anymore. His staff did most the work but there was still a steady draw on his power. If he could use a magical enchantment to replace the use of his personal magic then he could travel much longer without having to rest, and in the eventuality of an attack would have a longer reserve of magic to draw on.
A thrill of excitement ran through him at the prospect of the new project. His staff continued to send pictures of him as an old man in the cavern but Thad dismissed them. This was his last project before he left.
Thad’s first thought was to make it much the same way he had made the illusionary horse back in the duchess’s castle. Not real, yet with enough substance to serve as a replacement leg. A normal illusion took very little magic to create and even less to hold in place. All it really needed to do was bend the light to make people see what he wished. Adding substance to the illusion used five times the magical reserve but if he could have something that looked and functioned like a real foot it would be worth the added strain.
He had made illusion enchantments before but he had never had one that was attached to a specific location. In this case his leg. His first attempt was an utter failure. It was easy to make the illusion look like a booted foot, but another altogether to make it move with him. The problem was the illusion’s movement had to be pre decided. That was easy if he made calculated strides but the second he made a turn or a short step he found himself falling painfully to the floor.
He tried different ways to make it work but in the end he had to give up on using an illusion alone. The only other idea he had was to use an adaptation of the spell he was already using to keep himself up. It was simple, like the enchantment he had used on the battle vestments of the Farlan soldiers; it sensed movement and reacted with a predetermined amount of force. The first time he had used the spell he had winged it but during his time wandering the dark tunnels he had perfected the technique.
It wasn’t hard to enchant a thin sheet of metal to use the same spell. The hard part was attaching the metal to his stub so it worked correctly. The only way he could make sure it stayed in place was to force the metal to clamp around his stub. It took a few tries to make sure the metal cover didn’t cut off circulation but after a few tries and using some cut strips of lizard skin as padding he had it finished. The only real downside was that the enchantment would only work for a short period of time before it would need to recharge.
Thad’s first reaction was to make a dozen or so of the cuffs but that would take up precious room. Not to mention the time it would take to change them out when their power expired. The solution seemed simple to Thad though he wasn’t quite sure how it would work in practice. He could simply place the same enchantment using different gems as cores with the same body. The problem was how to make sure they worked independently when they were needed and not all at the same time.
The first try he tried to simply link the gems placed in the metal, and add a second enchantment to regulate the amount of magic used. The basic thought was that with more gems the spell would be able to last longer. It worked but still left the problem with recharging, with them linked they didn’t recharge individually but as a group, making it much slower just like with the output the lead core was the only one that absorbed the magic.
After countless different methods he finally struck the right design. He placed the gems in a circular link with each one having its own unique link to the body. It also required them to be linked to a central core but its only real job was to switch from one core to another when the power level dropped below a predetermined level. He had tried the same thing countless times in other forms but in the end they all had to be linked in a circular pattern with only one link to each other and one to the central core.
He wasn’t quite sure why it worked the way it did. The best guess he had was that he was trying to make it too complicated. He thought about adding an illusionary enchantment that would make it look like he had a foot but it seemed foolish to fall for such vanity when no one was around to care.
With everything ready he made one last look around what had been a home to him even if for only a short time, and he felt nervous about leaving to once again travel through the dark alone. He thought for a moment to stay and make one final enchantment that would make it easier to find his way back should the need occur but his staff once again filled his mind with pictures of him as an old man lounging in his stone chair.
Thad didn’t know how long he had stayed in his stone sanctuary but being surrounded by the eerie darkness once again seemed almost new to him. It didn’t take long for him to miss the safety and comfort he had grown accustomed to. With every step more doubts crept into his mind. Every noise that echoed in the dark made him jump. More than once he had to steel his nerves to keep himself from running back the way he had come. Whenever he was near his breaking point his staff would nudge him along with pictures of the underground river that lay ahead.
For the first time he could remember he was naturally tired well before he had to use his magic. Even when he lived in the cavern he had relied on his magic to move around and he usually fatigued far before he needed to sleep. It was a unique feeling to be genuinely tired for once.
The tunnel was narrow enough that Thad only needed to use two of his magical walls to create a safe and comfortable space for him to rest. Laying down his mat Thad stretched out using a rolled up lizard skin he had brought with him as a pillow. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world but it was worlds better than banging his head around on the hard ground.
After checking to make sure that nothing had been sent through the sending box Thad penned a quick note on one of his last remaining pieces of parchment and added it to the small stack that already resided within the box. With nothing else to do and while tired Thad wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep so he closed his eyes and began to meditate.
The elemental flow of the narrow passage was vastly different than that of the cavern he had been living in. Instead of being flooded with earth energy it only had a slow flow of earth magic trickling through the area. It was laced by a small amount of water
but the darkness element held the primary power in his current area.
Thad had never dealt with dark elemental magic. He supposed he could use it much the same way he used the light one to take away light from an area but at the moment he couldn’t see the immediate use of such knowledge since the enemies he would face had the advantage in the dark. He knew that he could use light as a weapon as well if he concentrated it into a tight enough pattern. He wondered if he could do the same with the dark element.
Concentrating on the darkness Thad tried to make a thin beam the same way he would with light. It was a massive draw even with the high levels of dark elemental energy around him. He focused the attack on a small rock that stuck awkwardly from the rock face. With the area completely covered in darkness it was impossible to tell what was going on.
When Thad canceled the spell the upper section of the rock was gone. It wasn’t burnt away like it would have been with a concentrated light spell but it looked as if it had simply vanished. Thad wasn’t sure how the spell worked but it was obvious the spell was dangerous and costly. He decided after that until he could completely study the spell it shouldn’t be used. He had already had enough of spells backfiring because he didn’t give them the proper respect.
The next day it was much easier to keep moving along the tunnel as it began to widen slightly taking away some of the closed in feeling he was having the day before. With the widening of the tunnel also came more danger as his light failed to light up both walls. Thad didn’t really mind the increased danger. At this point he would almost welcome an attack. It would get rid of the constant boredom of staring into the endless darkness as well as giving him a chance to test out some of his new toys.
Thad placed his hand in one of the pouches on the side of his pack eagerly rubbing his fingers over one of the plum sized magical slugs he had made. He had used them on the slow moving lizards in the caves but that had hardly been a true test of their ability in battle. His request went unanswered as his trek through the endless darkness went unchallenged.