Broken Mage

by D. W.

  Forcing himself, Thad searched through his pack until he found some of the cooked meat as well as his full canteen of water. Eating fast Thad took a few small sips from his canteen saving the bulk of the water for his friend. Once he was done seeing to his own needs Thad lifted the smaller man’s head and started pouring the water down his throat slowly. Thad was still astonished that the man was so heavy given his frame.

  With the man’s head cradled in his lap a sudden thought occurred to him. He might not be a man at all but a Dwarf. From the stories he had heard dwarfs were supposed to have long beards and fiery hair. Though lacking the facial hair everything else seemed to fit with the exception that the stories normally painted the dwarves with humorously disproportioned limbs.

  He wouldn’t know for sure until his friend awoke but he was sure given everything he was right. His mind full of thoughts Thad sat back against the wall and let his eyes close. As he drifted off to sleep he could hear Avalanche whining to be let out of the cramped room, but he didn’t have the energy left to let her out.

  When he woke Thad checked on his guest and found that his breathing was much better and the swelling in his head had gone down slightly. Relieved Thad went to his pack to retrieve the last of the water. While he was trying to get to his gear Avalanche was insistently nudging him and whining. To appease her he opened a small hole in the nearest wall and let her scamper out. With her gone Thad quickly poured the last of his water down the unconscious dwarf’s throat.

  Thad knew that his friend would also need food but everything he had was already cooked and posed the risk of choking him. He needed fresh meat and water to make a broth, and that meant leaving the room unguarded. He was hesitant at first but he was left with little choice. Instead of taking down the wall he simply crawled out the same hole he had made for Avalanche, closing it behind him.

  As soon as he was standing Thad could see the dead form of the metal monster not far away. Unable to help himself Thad moved for a closer look. His was happy to see his sword though it was buried almost to the hilt in the creature’s abdomen. Climbing atop the creature Thad tried to pull his sword free but the metal held it tight.

  Thad didn’t understand why his sword refused to move. When he had fought the creature the sword has easily cut though the metal. Concentrating Thad looked over the creature using his magical sight and found that there was no magic left in the beast.

  After thinking for a bit Thad began to understand what had happened. The creature had been moving thanks to the magic. Otherwise there would be no way for metal to be that flexible. The sword had merely taken advantage of the system, forcing the metal to part. Now that the creature was dead and no more magic flowed through its body the sword was useless.

  Thad didn’t want to leave his only weapon behind so he tried the only thing he could think of. Placing his hands on the creature’s chest Thad focused his magic and forced the metal to part. It was much easier to do than he had figured and within moments he was able to pull his weapon free.

  Wanting to study the metal the creature was made of more closely Thad cut a small section free from it about the size of his hand. Thad was surprised that the metal was far lighter than anything that he had encountered before. Knowing Avalanche’s love of gems Thad quickly removed the creature’s eyes. The last thing he wanted was to get the urge to study them later only to find his pet had eaten them for a late night snack. Crouched down Thad’s knee hit something, looking down he saw the remains of his sending box. Tears began to leak from his one good eye. He had lost his only connection with the surface. The only thing that had kept him going was now gone. Trying to hold the darkness that threated to consume him Thad quickly went back to the task at hand.

  With his prizes safely tucked away Thad headed back toward the underground river to restock his supplies. It took him much longer to reach the river than he had expected. In his fevered rush the day before he must have moved farther than he had thought.

  Filling the canteens was the easy part of the expedition. There was only one fish to be seen in the murky depths of the water and it was far too small to make a decent meal for him let alone a broth for his unconscious friend. After walking the river for a little over what he perceived to be an hour he was able to catch enough fish to sate his needs.

  The walk back seemed to take longer than it should have. Thad figured it was due to his overly anxious need to be there when his new friend woke. It was an exciting prospect that his guest might be a dwarf. If so not only might he know of a way out the sheer idea of meeting a being that was thought of as being mythological in nature was astounding.

  “Idiot!” Thad said to himself. If dwarfs were real, what else had history paved over? There were many races described in stories and myth. The history of the lost empire ran through his mind. He had heard that the Fae Wars had been so named because it had been a war on all things magical. What if that meant more than just mages? Could it have also been an attack on the magical creatures of Kern? If that was true then the name “Fae War” made much more sense. His only hope of discovering the truth would be if his new friend had any insight into history dating back thousands of years. Though if the stories were true than dwarves were known to live far longer than a human.

  Thad found his charge still sleeping soundly when he returned. He wasn’t sure if he was sad or happy at the notion but he hoped he would wake soon. Thad knew little about head injuries but what he did know was distressing. He had once seen a kid take a sharp blow to the head during weapons practice at the academy. While the boy had lived he had never been the same after.

  With his limited cooking skills Thad was able to make an edible fish soup. He had added the last of the mushrooms in his pack hoping the extra nutrients would help. It was a battle all its own to get the thick liquid down the dwarf’s throat with a large portion of the food ending up on Thad.

  Once the dwarf was fed Thad sat back and stared at the wall wondering what his friends were up to. He had held hopes that he would hear news that Eloen was ok, but now he was only left to wonder what had become of her. He was also worried that the princess had been silent for so long. Now with no way to commutate with her he could only hope that she was ok.

  With little to do except watch his charge Thad decided to work on the problem of his missing eye in hopes to stave away the depression that threated to consume him. He could still see but more than once he had stumbled thinking things were farther than they were. Day to day it would simply be annoying but during a fight such a miscalculation could cost him his life or if he was wielding strong magic, someone else’s.

  He had experimented with making an enchanted eye before though its use was to mimic his magical sight. It had worked fairly well but he had run into the problem that it needed precise instructions to function and once set they could not be altered.

  After cutting a few small gems from one of the larger ones he had saved for Avalanche’s meal Thad coated them with a small layer of iron. Even with the gems ready for enchanting Thad had to create a spell to place on them.

  He had never had a reason to make a spell to see for him before. First he needed to know how the eyes worked. He couldn’t check his own eyes. He had tried before. Anytime he tried to check himself with his magical sight it had always looked like a barren spot. That was probably the reason the magical book he had found had strongly warned against using magic to alter or enhance one’s own body. If he had been born an internal magical user he could simply regrow his leg and eye. Then again he wouldn’t be able to enchant or use most of the other magic’s he had grown accustomed to.

  Luckily he had another creature around to study. Focusing Thad studied how the dwarf’s eyes were working. Even in his sleep they were moving back and forth frantically. There wasn’t a large amount of activity going on with the dwarf’s eyes but Thad was sure with the limited amount of information he could make a magical replica.

  Making a magical eye was far more difficult than anything he had t
ried before due to its complexity. The first try worked in a way, though instead of showing things as he saw them everything was shown by variances of heat. It was a unique way to see things. Even the walls heat varied slightly from one section to another. It must be how the dwarf and other creatures of the subterranean world could see without the use of light. Though it wasn’t what he was looking for Thad made a mental note of the nightsight spell, in case he wanted to use it in the future.

  It took long hours of slightly tweaking the spell before he was able get it to the desired effect. He could see even with his eyes closed. It was odd as he made his magical eye float down the barren corridors. The more he played with the spell the more uses he could find for it. As an enchantment it would be greatly limited having to have a fixed point, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use it in spell form whenever he wanted to know what was happening in a perceived blind spot.

  With the spell worked out all he had to do was begin the enchanting. It turned out to be much harder than he had thought. The first time he hadn’t linked it to himself and while he could tell the enchantment was working it didn’t let him see through it. He had linked things to himself before and knew the dangers. If the gem or body was damaged it could cause massive damage to him. His first rune necklace had been taken from him and luckily nothing had happened to it before he had been able to break the link.

  After giving it a good deal of thought Thad decided that it was well worth the benefit. Continuing on Thad started in on his second attempt, this time while he had linked it to himself he hadn’t set a focal point and everything came in skewed and blurry. His third attempt was a success as he set the focal point on the center of the exposed portion of the gem. Now any direction the gem was moved he could see as if it were his natural eye.

  Thad knew he couldn’t simply hold the eye all the time and while sticking it in his empty eye socket would solve that problem it didn’t solve the problem on how to make it move in coordination with his other eye.

  After three more attempts Thad had everything ready. It took a total of six gems. The main one for sight though extremely complicated it didn’t take a large amount of magic to use and as long as he shut it down when he slept it should easily be able to keep up without having to have multiple copies. Four of the others were linked to his other eye each one dedicated to a specific direction. The last one was an extra that allowed his eye to switch from the normal vision to nightsight. It wasn’t absolutely needed but Thad figured it might come in handy.

  All that was left was to make one of the appropriate size. Thad had purposely used small gems for his tests and while it worked there was no way it could hold up to extended use. The only problem was that he was running low on iron. While it didn’t take a large amount Thad wanted to make sure the magical eye was protected.

  While searching through his pack Thad found the bar of metal he had taken from the metal monster earlier in the day. It was light, which was a bonus but he wasn’t sure if it was strong enough to hold up to repeated punishment. It wasn’t as if Thad planned to get hit in the face over and over but the last thing he wanted was for his head to explode from a lucky punch.

  Thad didn’t want to use his sword against the metal. While it was great against magical items it was still just a simple sword against anything else and he didn’t want to risk breaking it. Spotting the dwarf’s axe against the far wall Thad had an idea. Placing the metal ingot on the ground Thad lifted the axe onto his shoulder ready to strike. Thad was still surprised at the sheer weight of the weapon. Using all his strength Thad swung the massive beast and was rewarded when a ringing noise filled the small enclosed room.

  The axe had cut into the ingot cutting a deep gash about of third of the way through the metal. It wasn’t perfect but given the weapon he was using Thad wasn’t sure any other metal would have fared half as well. With the metal decided he just needed to cut the gem to use as the center core. The ones he had with him while good for basic enchantments didn’t have the purity he was looking for.

  Not wanting to waste countless hours searching the nearby tunnels with his magical sight looking for gems of high purity and magical containment Thad pulled one of the gems that he had pulled from the monster out. Unlike his first assumption the gems were not sapphires. While they appeared to work like gems to his mage sight they were far more efficient than anything he had encountered before. Even diamonds that his book had exclaimed as being the best gems to use paled in comparison to the bright blue stone he held in his hand.

  The gem was twice the size that he needed so he was sure that he could use it for all six gems with some left over. With its strength Thad was sure that even if he left it on it could stay charged without trouble. It only took a few hours to get the gem cut and covered in two layers of metal. The first layer had the enchantment on it and a second thicker layer was placed over it to help protect it. Thad only left a small area of the gem exposed only slightly larger than the iris of his natural eye.

  When he was finished Thad was more than a little apprehensive of putting the gem in his eye socket. It burned a little as it slid into place. Once inside it felt weird as the cold metal moved around with his natural eye. Though it felt odd it worked to perfection allowing him to see as well as when he had had both of his eyes.

  With his sight restored Thad decided to take a walk around the outside cavern. After a couple turns around the area Thad switched to nightsight and learned that he had to close his other eye or suffer a massive headache from the mixed sight.

  Happy with his test run Thad decided to make one more stop before heading back to check on his unconscious friend. It only took Thad a few hours to make more than enough ingots than he could fit into his pack. Though they weighed little there were too many for him to carry alone so Thad used his staff to float them back to his sanctuary.

  CHAPTER VIII

  It was three days before the dwarf finally opened his eyes for the first time. During that time Thad had experimented with the metal trying to learn everything he could from it. He had long since cut up the entirety of the monster and had him stacked in ingot form against the wall. He had also made new magical walls using the metal and pieces of the sapphire like gem. They could be put up and taken down numerous times in one day without having to worry about them running low on magical energy.

  The first time the dwarf opened his eyes Thad ran to him hopeful, but it was short lived as he quickly fell back to sleep. Checking the man’s condition he noticed that the swelling was almost gone. If his waking even if for a short period of time was any hint soon he would be able to converse with his new friend.

  It was none too soon either. Fresh fish was getting harder and harder to find. On his last trip to the underground river he had had to walk for several miles before he had been able to find a single fish. He had more than enough water to last having made three large containers out of some of the metal he had salvaged.

  Later that day the dwarf stirred again this time waking enough to sit up. The dwarf looked like he was still in a good amount of pain. As soon as he had begun to move Thad was at his side handing him a cup of water. The dwarf took the offered water and gulped it down greedily with small amounts spilling from the side of his mouth.

  “Are you feeling better?” Thad asked his voice laced with concern.

  The dwarf opened his mouth as if to speak but only a raspy noise issued from his mouth. The dwarf looked stunned and reached up and felt his throat and tried to speak again. It was easy for Thad to tell the dwarf was none too happy with the situation and looked at him with contempt.

  “I didn’t do it. After I killed that monstrosity I put up some protective walls and have been nursing you for days.” Thad said putting his hands out in a placating gesture.

  The dwarf looked him over carefully. It was slightly unnerving to be under such scrutiny. Thad held still keeping his hands far away from the hilt of his sword not wanting to enrage the dwarf. When his eyes fell on his axe the dwarf tri
ed to jump up from his mat and ran into the wall a few paces away.

  Thad tried to help the dwarf to his feet but he was quickly and easily pushed away. Without his shield on Thad felt the full force of the dwarf’s mighty arms and was sure he would have a good sized bruise in the morning.

  The dwarf got to his feet again this time making slower and more confident steps. When he reached his weapon he picked it up and held it like a lost lover. Thad had never seen anyone hold their weapon with such tenderness. For a brief moment Thad worried that the blow to the head had addled the dwarf more than a little.

  The dwarf tried to speak once again but nothing came out. Obviously frustrated the dwarf started pantomiming with his hands. The dwarf raised his right hand far above his head and then began acting like he was fighting. At first Thad didn’t know what he was doing but after a few moments Thad got the jest of what the dwarf was trying to get at.

  “I used my sword destroy its core.” At Thad’s words the dwarf merely looked confused. After a few moments he put both his hands up and shrugged his shoulders. Great Thad thought to himself not only couldn’t the dwarf speak even if he could it didn’t seem like they spoke the same language.

  Thad pulled his sword out slowly and pointed to it with his off hand. The dwarf held out his hand and Thad quickly obliged and handed the weapon over. The dwarf studied the sword for a few moments until his face contorted into anger.

  Thad soon found the blade of his own sword dangerously close to his throat. Thad wasn’t sure what the dwarf was mad at but he quickly activated his shield ring. It was one thing to spend days nursing the guy back to health. It was another to let the dwarf remove his head from his shoulders over a misunderstanding.

  Thad wasn’t sure what to do to get the dwarf to calm down but he knew he had to get the sword back. Though he had raised his shield he doubted the sword would pay anymore heed to it than it had the last time he had faced it. He could call for his staff but he was afraid that the sword would cut through it as easily as it had the metal monster, than he would be in a real bind. Instead he simply tried to talk calmly hoping the dwarf would get the idea that he wasn’t a threat to him.