Krendal smiled.
Malachi gasped. “You’re kidding? And you’re letting him go into danger like that? Are you crazy?!”
“Maybe,” said Krendal, “but it’s safer than putting him into battle right away. I need him to grow confident in his abilities before I throw him into a war. Besides, I think the prophesy is linked to him in some way. He needs the slack to do whatever he’s supposed to do.”
“Which is?”
“Consult your local version of the Book of Prophesy,” said Krendal with a gleam in his eye.
Malachi rolled his eyes and groaned.
As Kazin exited the Tower of Hope, it was just getting dark. The cool breeze from the lake was enough to drive away the remaining clouds, allowing the sky to clear in favour of a starry night. Torches were lit in the tower’s courtyard and in various locations nearby where the clean-up operations continued. Kazin had no difficulty finding his friends, who were still assisting in the clean-up.
“Time to get some rest, fellas,” said Kazin as he reached them. “We’re heading out early tomorrow.”
“We?” pursued Harran.
“The tower would like to hire your services,” said Kazin.
“So they need a stone mason after all, eh?”
“Not exactly,” said Kazin.
“Oh,” said Harran, crestfallen.
“They need a guide. Someone who knows the mountains.”
Harran brightened. “You’re kidding?”
Kazin shook his head.
Harran straightened and pushed out his chest proudly. “They made an excellent choice. Harran Mapmaker, at your service,” he added, bowing deeply.
A figure lurking by the tower wall nearby ducked out of sight. About ten minutes later, when all was quiet, there was a flapping of wings in the same general location. No one was there to watch as a small bird flew off, due north.
The next morning the trio raced from the tower at a full gallop. The trip to the base of the mountain should only take about five hours. There they were to rendezvous with Malachi’s original scouting party and search for access points into the mountain.
Harran looked forward to entering the mountains. Adrenalin surged through his veins as he thought of exploring the mountain’s tunnels. His horse easily outdistanced the others and he was repeatedly told to wait while the others caught up.
The ride went well until they rounded a bend in the trail and stopped dead in their tracks. There, in the middle of the road ahead of them, lay several trees at odd angles barring their way. Sherman looked around nervously. “Trouble,” he murmured.
They dismounted to investigate this strange occurrence when a wave of fatigue crept over them. Kazin staggered under the effect of what he knew to be a sleep spell and pulled his wits together enough to outlast the initial effect. It was a good thing it was still morning. Later in the day he would have succumbed.
Sherman was not so lucky. He crashed to the ground, fast asleep.
Harran seemed about to topple but managed to stay alert long enough to overcome the effect as well. His adrenalin level must have been quite high.
Kazin spun in a daze and created a shield around the three of them. The horses were a bit too far away to be covered in the same shield.
Seven or eight rough looking figures appeared from concealed positions along the road. One scarred, unkempt figure stepped forward and spoke. “Give it up, mage. We only want the Guardian. If you let us have him, we’ll let you and the dwarf go, unharmed.”
“Forget it,” said Kazin. He was fully awake and aware now. “You’ll have to go through us to get him.”
Harran drew his axe. It seemed his answer was the same.
“Have it your way,” said the ruffian. He whistled and a cloaked figure carrying a knotted wooden staff appeared. Kazin couldn’t identify the cloak. It wasn’t a typical white, black, or grey mage, of that much he was sure. The figure pointed his staff and chanted arcane magic, something Kazin wasn’t familiar with. The magic that ensued was also strange, covering his shield and causing it to undulate. It didn’t take long for Kazin to realize that his shield was being destroyed. He had only seconds to cast a waking spell on Sherman and even then it would take the big warrior several seconds to shake off the effects of the sleep spell.
“Keep them off me as long as you can, Harran,” ordered Kazin. “I have my hands full!”
“Got it,” said Harran, moving forward.
Kazin cast a wake spell on Sherman while still maintaining his shield and then went on the offensive. He cast a volley of fireballs at his adversary, taking care to knock out a few of Harran’s opponents while he was at it. The fireballs succeeded in taking down two of the ruffians but had no effect on the mage.
Kazin’s shield was completely gone now. He bent and grasped some sand, throwing it into the air and chanting a new spell. A cloud of dust appeared just as the first wave of attackers crashed noisily with the dwarf. Kazin was already casting another spell when he felt an icy wind hit him in the side. The opposing mage had moved closer and sent an ice bolt in his direction, narrowly missing him. Without the dust cloud, he would have been a sitting duck. As it was he barely had enough time to raise another shield as another ice bolt came at him. This time it hit the shield squarely and bounced harmlessly away.
The opposing mage cursed and cast his shield eating spell again. Suddenly Kazin realized his opponent wasn’t able to cast any other spells while casting the anti-shield spell. Taking advantage of this, Kazin cancelled his shield spell. He pointed his staff at the opposing mage and prepared his favourite spell. As the anti-shield spell left Kazin’s adversary’s fingertips, Kazin’s lightning bolt left his staff and landed squarely in the mage’s mid-section. With a shriek, the opposing mage was flung backward. He landed on the ground in a heap, his robe tattered and torn where the lightning bolt had burned through. A smoky black ring on one of his fingers smoked heavily, melting the fingers and part of the hand with a tremendous burst of heat. After a few seconds, the smoky ring disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the charred remains of the hand in its wake. The ring seemed familiar to Kazin but there was no time to speculate.
Meanwhile, the sandstorm was beginning to dissipate and Kazin’s shield was no longer there, leaving him vulnerable. Harran was cut and bleeding and beginning to tire as he swung his axe viciously, trying in vain to hold back the fighters. One of the ruffians found an opening and lunged at the victorious mage. As his sword came down, it clanged noisily against another, broader sword.
“Not so fast,” growled a familiar voice. With a flick of his great arm, Sherman sent the ruffian tumbling head over heels into a bramble bush on the side of the road. The ruffian jumped up screaming and fled into the bush.
“Thanks,” gasped Kazin. The sand was fully settled now and, as the scene unfolded, Harran could be seen exchanging blows with one villain while two others were fighting among themselves. Two others were dead nearby. Kazin nodded. His confusion spell had worked. Harran would have been severely outnumbered otherwise.
After several parries Harran cut down his opponent at the knees and looked around for more foes. Kazin quickly nullified the spell the dwarf was under and Harran shook his head. “What the-?”
“I’ll explain later,” said Kazin. There was a yelp and one ruffian turned and fled, the other chasing him in bloodlust.
Sherman turned to Kazin. “What gives?”
“Don’t worry,” said Kazin calmly. “It’ll wear off. I hope.”
Sometime after they left the scene, Kazin explained that his confusion spell engulfed all the fighters. It did not affect the mages since they were naturally immune to that spell, and Sherman wasn’t quite awake, so he was unaffected. That left only Harran, and that didn’t matter, since he was going to fight an opponent whether he was under the effect of a spell or not.
The spell had the overall effect of reducing the number of foes they had to face.
Harran was not pleased. “I was under the control of a spell?! And of a friend, no less! That’s insulting!” His face began to redden.
“Relax, Harran,” said Kazin. “You weren’t affected by the sleep spell that mage cast, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well then, you probably weren’t affected by my spell either. You took three opponents down singlehandedly. Do you think you could have done that while under the influence of a spell?”
“I don’t know,” said Harran doubtfully. “I felt lightheaded near the end, as if I were in a dream.”
“That’s because you were shaking off the effects of the spell,” said Kazin. “You were resisting it!”
“I was, wasn’t I?” said Harran, smiling strangely. “I resisted the spells!” He nudged his horse ahead and began to hum happily to himself.
Sherman leaned over and whispered softly. “You’re smooth! Very smooth! You know he was under the influence of your spell!”
Kazin nodded. “I know that, and so does Harran. But he doesn’t know that you and I know. So let’s pretend we don’t.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a matter of honour,” explained Kazin.
“Honour?”
“Never mind,” sighed Kazin.
Chapter 26
Two hours later, one mage, one warrior, and one dwarf reached the base of the mountains. Ahead of them wound a jagged trail known as Lizard’s Pass. Few had ever ventured beyond here, and even fewer had returned. This pass was said to harbour evil in many forms.
“Now what?” asked Harran.
“The scouting party either went into the pass or took the eastern path along the mountain’s base,” said Sherman. “It’s not very far to North Lake in the west, so I’d rule out that direction. The cliffs along there are too steep to climb anyway.”
“You can rule out Lizard’s Pass,” said Harran. He was bent over examining the rocky ground of the pass.
“Let’s see,” said Sherman. He knelt next to the dwarf and examined the ground. Finally he nodded. “You’re right. No one has come this way in a while.”
“You mean the lizards didn’t use the pass that was named after them?” asked Kazin. “That’s a little odd, don’t you think?”
Sherman shrugged. “Maybe they flew over this spot while riding those chimeras just to throw us off.” He stood back up. “In any event, the scouting party went that way.” He pointed east.
“Then we go east,” said Kazin.
The companions rode east for just over an hour when they came across the scouting party’s base camp.
There were several young soldiers on guard, and all the horses and spare supplies were in their care. One freckled young soldier came forward and indicated that he was in charge of the base camp.
Kazin informed him of their mission and inquired about the scouting party’s whereabouts. The soldier showed them the path the party took and pointed to the tunnel entrance high above them. “We found it early yesterday morning and the scouting party left for it immediately afterwards,” he said. “They’re about a day and a half ahead of you.”
Harran squinted at it and approved of the path the party had taken. “We can follow the same general course.”
Kazin nodded. “How many people are in the party?” he asked.
“Fourteen, including the mages,” said the young soldier.
After a brief rest, Kazin and his friends planned to climb the mountain and camp near the tunnel so they could enter first thing in the morning. They wanted to be well rested when they entered the mountain, just to be ready in case of trouble.
They left their horses in the care of the soldiers at the base camp and began the long trek up the mountainside. It was late afternoon and the sun beamed down on the trio with the ferocity of a mid-summer sun, even though summer was still a week away. The cool west wind was a godsend to the climbers, cooling their bodies as they crept ever closer to the cave.
Harran pointed out some other cave entrances and asked whether they would be exploring them all. Kazin told him it was not likely. Their objective was to see if the scouting party had found signs of the retreating lizardmen and if they were the ones who had stolen the tower’s books. Harran nodded but looked yearningly at the unexplored caves from time to time.
Up they climbed, higher and higher.
Sherman, despite his strength, had the hardest time keeping up. His incredible bulk made the going difficult. He was getting a little anxious. “Are we there yet?” he asked repeatedly, panting heavily. Perspiration beaded his forehead.
“We’re five minutes closer than the last time you asked,” grumbled the dwarf. “And ten minutes closer than the time you asked before that.”
“I’m just a little nervous about heights,” said Sherman.
“Don’t look down,” suggested Kazin. Now he knew why Sherman was so edgy.
“Easier said than done,” responded the big warrior, looking down as he did. He stumbled and nearly fell.
“Take it easy,” said Kazin, catching hold of his friend and steadying him. “Maybe it’s time we took a short break. We’re three quarters of the way there. We still have a few hours of daylight left, so we don’t have to rush.”
Harran harrumphed.
Sherman slumped to the ground, exhausted. “Good.”
Kazin sat next to him. “I’m tired too. I’m not used to this kind of exercise.”
After a few moments of silence Kazin spoke. “Sherman?”
“Yeah?”
“Does the word ‘Guardian’ mean anything to you?”
“Not in particular. Why?”
“Those guys who ambushed us told us they wanted the ‘Guardian’ and that Harran and I could walk away unharmed.”
“They called me a Guardian?” asked Sherman. “Of what?”
“I don’t know,” said Kazin. “I hoped you would.”
Sherman shook his head. Then he brightened. “Hey! Whoever is after me isn’t likely to have people in the mountain waiting for me. They don’t know I’m entering the mountain. I didn’t even know that until we reached the base camp. I’m free of that worry for a while!”
“I suspect you’re right,” said Kazin. “But I also expect trouble of a different sort once we enter the mountain. To be ambushed in a mountain full of goblins and orcs is a high probability.”
“Kazin’s right,” said Harran. “We’re entering a mountain full of unknown dangers. Who knows what creatures roam the darkness?”
“At least I’ll be killing ugly beasts instead of humans with families and friends,” said Sherman sadly. “I’d hate to face the families of the people I’ve killed so far, even if they were assassins and thieves.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” said Kazin, rising. “Let’s go kill some creatures instead.”
The rest of the climb went more smoothly than expected and they reached the cave entrance with another hour of daylight left.
“Well?” asked Sherman. “Should we camp inside or outside?”
“It’s going to be a mild night,” said Kazin, “and we might not see daylight or stars for a few days. I’m inclined to sleep outside tonight. How about you, Harran?”
Harran was already nearly out of sight in the cave’s opening. “Huh? Whatever you say, Kazin.” He was too preoccupied to pay any attention to the conversation.
“I’ll get the fire started,” said Sherman. “I saw a little ledge a short way back where it should be relatively comfortable. It’s out of the wind and there’s some dead brush nearby.”
“Good,” said Kazin. “I’ll collect some wildhorn leaves in case we need them.”
“Some what?” asked Sherman.
“Wildhorn leaves,” spat Harran, returning from his short excursion. “You need them to see in the dark. Just keep them away from me. I’m allergic.”
“What did you find out?” asked Kazin.
“The search party went in there alright,” said Harran. “So did some orcs and lizardmen. We’re on the right trail.”
The trio rolled out their blankets and settled down for a quiet evening. Kazin gave Sherman instructions on the wildhorn leaves, cautioning him not to eat too many at once.
“What about you?” asked Sherman. “You’re not a dwarf, you know.”
“I’ll take some along,” said Kazin, “just in case. Remember, I’m carrying the staff, so I’ll have light even if I get separated. You won’t, and fights won’t necessarily be in close quarters. You’ll almost certainly be drawn away from the light should fighting break out.”
“True,” said Sherman. “But don’t think I’ll get too far away from you, either. I’m hired to protect you, remember?”
Kazin smiled. “Maybe that’s why you’re known as the ‘Guardian’.”
Harran was still excited about entering the mountain at first light so he volunteered for first watch. Sherman took second watch and Kazin was given the morning shift.
It seemed like Kazin just fell asleep when the warrior aroused him for his shift.
“Your turn,” yawned Sherman. “Everything’s clear and quiet so far.”
Kazin rolled over and winced. He had slept on his arm and it was asleep. “O.K., Sherm. I’m awake now.” He crawled out of his blankets and was surprised to see that Sherman had already slid into his. Kazin was just rolling up his blankets when he heard the deep snoring of his partner. “I wish I could fall asleep like that,” he murmured quietly. Then he stood up, alarmed, and did a spell check. Nothing. He relaxed. For a moment he was afraid someone had cast a sleep spell on Sherman.
Kazin put a few more logs on the fire and went to a remote area of the campsite. He cast a shield spell around the area and sat down. Then he pulled out the magic book he had received at his graduation. It had proven itself useful twice today. It was too dark to read so he lit his staff. He had to keep the study session short, however, if he wanted to save his energy for the tunnels. He memorized a few more spells and made a mental note to gather the proper ingredients for them. He was glad he had a hefty supply of white pigeon feathers and quartz for the numerous light spells he needed to cast in the tunnels.
Kazin's Quest: Book I of The Dragon Mage Trilogy Page 23