Kingdom of Magicians

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Even though Keo was dead tired, he managed to put a good amount of distance between them and Carrk. He ran for a couple of hours, and by the time he did, it was starting to become evening and he was sweating, hungry, and tired. The activities of the day—fighting Kraggan and escaping Carrk—were starting to take their toll on his body. His fatigue forced him to slow down considerably and it was becoming harder and harder to think clearly.

  Thus, he was happy when Jola's voice in his head said, Follow Dlaine's body and we'll rest, which he did. He followed Dlaine's floating unconscious body off the road over to a small group of hills that provided excellent shelter from the road. Here Jola rested Dlaine's unconscious body, while Keo let Maryal down and then sat down, almost collapsed, himself.

  Panting, Keo reached for his flask, popped it open, and then drank as much of the cold water as he could. It was delicious after such a long, hard day, and he didn't even care that a little bit accidentally dribbled down his chin and onto his shirt. He just drank it dry, then put the flask down and lay on the soft grass, staring up at the sky, feeling as tired as if he had run a marathon, which he almost had, now that he thought about it.

  Next to him sat Maryal, who was resting against the hill they hid behind. She didn't seem quite as tired as Keo, but she was sweating herself and looked like she wanted to rest.

  “Wow,” said Maryal. She took a deep breath, almost like she had been the one who had done all of the running and jumping, rather than Keo. “That was … amazing. I didn't think we'd make it out for a while there.” She looked at Keo curiously. “Does that sort of thing happen to you guys often?”

  Keo groaned. “No. Usually we're good at not angering the local Magician and having to escape her.”

  “Well, it certainly was exhilarating, at any rate,” said Maryal with a sigh. “So much action in one day … why, I'd say this has been the most action-packed day I've experienced in quite some time. Even if this isn't an every day occurrence for you two, it was still exciting nonetheless.”

  Keo wondered what was so exciting about being branded criminals and avoiding capture by the local Magician before he decided that it wasn't worth arguing with Maryal over this. She seemed wholly unused to any sort of exciting adventures, which meant that she was looking at the situation very differently from Keo. Besides, he was too tired to argue with anyone at the moment.

  So Keo looked to his left. Dlaine lay on his bedroll, which Jola had unrolled for him, and had not yet awoken from his unconsciousness. Dlaine's chest continued to rise and fall, which meant that he was breathing, at least.

  Then, without warning, Dlaine's eyes shot open and he groaned. Sitting up, Dlaine looked around, rubbing the back of his head as he looked at his surroundings in confusion.

  “Huh?” said Dlaine. He winced. “Ow, my head. What happened? Where are we?” He stopped and then tilted his head to the right, probably listening to Jola. “Oh. So we're out of Carrk, then, and didn't get arrested. Good deal.”

  Dlaine looked over at Keo and Maryal. “You two all right?”

  Maryal nodded, as did Keo, though he had to nod more weakly than usual because of how tired he was.

  “Good, good,” said Dlaine. He winced again. “But I have such a splitting headache. What did that woman hit me with? A ten pound steel pipe?”

  “It was probably a stun spell,” said Maryal. “Those can really hurt, especially if they hit you in the chest. Sometimes they can even cripple you for life, depending on where they hit you and how powerful the spell was.”

  Dlaine shuddered. “Looks like I got lucky, then.”

  “Oh, Enira probably wasn't trying to cripple you for life, just take you out long enough for her to haul you to jail,” said Maryal. “But you are obviously an older man and stun spells can sometimes have negative effects on older people that they lack when applied to younger people.”

  “Right,” said Dlaine. Then he looked at Keo. “You sure look tired.”

  Keo rolled his eyes. “Of course … I look … tired. I've been running … carrying Maryal and Gildshine … and it's a hot day …”

  “Of course,” said Dlaine. “Sorry. Anyway, it looks like we're all about to get some rest soon anyway, what with the sun going down soon.”

  Maryal looked around at the ground they sat on. “Wait, are you saying that I will have to rest in the dirt?”

  “Unless you brought your own camping supplies, yeah,” said Dlaine, nodding. “We're not exactly a traveling hotel, you know.”

  “I know,” said Maryal. She rubbed the back of her neck. “But I didn't think that I'd have to camp out in the wilderness with you two while we're going to Capitika. At the very least I thought you'd have a tent.”

  “No tents,” said Dlaine with a shrug. “Or anything else except for our bedrolls. You aren't going to start complaining, are you?”

  “No, no, of course not,” said Maryal, shaking her head. “I would complain about the hand that destiny has dealt me; instead, I will make do with what I have. I do wish, though, I could have grabbed some of my possessions from Carrk before we left.”

  “You're welcome to go back and try to convince them to give you your stuff back,” said Dlaine. “Unfortunately, I don't think the Carrkians are going to be very thrilled to see you again.”

  “You are right, I suppose,” said Maryal with a sigh. “But what about your friend, Galy? She was going to secure her front door when we left. Do you think she will be fine on her own against that mob?”

  “I imagine she will be,” said Dlaine. “Galy may appear small and weak, but she's a lot tougher than she looks. Very much capable of taking care of herself. She doesn't need us to worry about her. She'll be fine on her own.”

  “I hope so,” said Maryal. “That crowd was awfully angry and she was such a small old lady, but she is a Magician and seemed like a very skilled and experienced one, at that.”

  “You have no idea,” said Dlaine. “But anyway, were we followed at all by anyone from Carrk?”

  Keo shook his head. He sat up, feeling a little bit more refreshed now that he had had something to drink and time to rest, and said, “Don't think so. I think we lost them.”

  “Good,” said Dlaine. “Then that means that all we need to do now is head on to Capitika, which should only take us a couple of days to reach if we don't run into anymore delays or get caught up in any more unnecessary side quests.”

  “Wonderful,” said Maryal with a smile. Then she frowned suddenly. “What if Enira sends people to come after us during the night, while we sleep? We'll be unprotected and easy prey for her Enforcers.”

  “Unlikely,” said Dlaine. “Jola will stay up and keep an eye on the road for us. If she sees anyone or anything that could harm us, she'll let us know.”

  “Oh,” said Maryal. “Well, that's good to know. Jola certainly seems like an interesting lady to me.”

  “She's great,” said Dlaine. He yawned. “She's never failed to protect me in all of the time that I've known her. But let's change the subject, because we have more important things to talk about at the moment than Jola.”

  “Such as what?” said Keo, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. He wasn't in the mood to talk, but he didn't want to be left out of any important conversations, either.

  “Such as what we're going to do when we get to Capitika,” said Dlaine. “That seems like a pretty important thing to discuss.”

  “That's easy,” said Keo. He patted Gildshine in its sheath at his side. “We go to Nesma, show her Gildshine, which will prove that the demons exist, and—”

  “Hold on,” said Maryal, interrupt Keo and causing him to look at her. Her eyes were wide in confusion. “You know Nesma of the Wand? The youngest member of the Magical Council?”

  “Yes,” said Keo, nodding. He grabbed his flask again, drank briefly, and then said, “We were best friends back in the Low Woods before she became a member of the Council. Have you met her before?”

  M
aryal put her hands on her cheeks. “No, I haven't. But I've always admired her from a distance, because very few young people, male or female, ever rise to such power and prominence so early in life. Yet you say she was your best friend?”

  “Still is,” said Keo. “Granted, I haven't spoken to her in a year, which was when she first joined the Magical Council. I don't really know how she's doing, but we left on good terms, so I see no reason for her not to speak to me.”

  “I can think of several reasons why she wouldn't want to speak with you,” said Dlaine.

  “What?” said Keo, looking at Dlaine again. “How can you possibly know why she would not want to speak with me? You don't know her as well as I do.”

  “Maybe, but I do know everything we've been through recently,” said Dlaine. He started ticking off his fingers. “Escaping that jail in New Ora, getting caught up in that conflict between those two crazy sisters, fighting Old Cyclops, the demon at the Falls, and interrupting the charity duel at Carrk, though it's the last two that will really give us trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?” said Keo. “I don't understand.”

  “Think, Keo, think,” said Dlaine, tapping the side of his head. “Magician Skran and Magician Enira know who we are. They likely consider us criminals, which is technically what we are, and because we are currently traveling between towns, that means it is the responsibility of every Magician to catch us if they find us. Wouldn't surprise me if they sent reports to Capitika telling the Magicians there to keep an eye out for us.”

  “You mean, if we just walked up to Capitika's gates, we'd probably be arrested by the gatekeepers for the crimes we're wanted for in New Ora and Carrk?” said Keo.

  “Exactly,” said Dlaine. “And even worse, they might actually succeed, because Capitika is crawling with Magicians and they aren't afraid to step in and arrest any criminals they find if the Enforcers fail to catch us.”

  “So you're saying that walking into Capitika might be a trap,” said Keo.

  “Not necessarily a trap, but it would be stupid, yes,” said Dlaine. “Therefore, we need to figure out a plan of action that will allow us to enter Capitika without being seen.”

  “I can help,” Maryal offered. “I'm a Magician, so they will recognize me and—”

  “And arrest you, because they think you cheated, right?” said Dlaine, interrupting her. “Yeah, you're not going to be of much help, at least in that area.”

  Maryal folded her arms across her chest and pouted. “Well, I was just offering to help.”

  Dlaine sighed. “I know, I know, but the fact is that none of us, not even Jola, can just stroll up to Capitika's gates and expect to be let in without any fuss. So we need to figure out how we are going to get inside without being seen or noticed.”

  “Galy's invisibility spell?” said Keo. He looked down at his body, which was quite visible. “Isn't it still active?”

  “Probably not anymore,” said Dlaine. “Remember, Galy said that it only lasts about an hour, and it's been well over an hour since we left Carrk. And we can't replicate the spell on our own, either, so it looks like we're out of luck there.”

  Keo thought about the matter for a moment before shrugging. “I really don't know very much about Capitika, so I'm not sure how we can get in undetected or unseen.”

  “I think I have an idea,” said Dlaine. “I've had to sneak into the city before because of … reasons I'd rather not go into at the moment. I don't know if the particular route I am thinking of is still open, but if it is, then it should allow us to get inside without anyone even knowing.”

  “Want to tell us about it?” said Keo.

  “Not right now,” said Dlaine with a yawn. “Maybe in the morning. Right now, I'm very tired and think all of us need to get some sleep so we can get up bright and early tomorrow morning. All right?”

  Keo and Maryal both nodded, even though Keo was interested in hearing about Dlaine's plan right now. Still, he was so tired that he didn't mind putting it off into the morning.

  Thus, about ten minutes later, Keo was lying on his bedroll, while Maryal lay a few feet away using the extra blanket that Keo had had in his pack. It was the only thing they had for her, but Maryal did not complain, even though the extra blanket was small and didn't smell very good.

  And soon, Keo drifted off into sleep, too tired from the adventures of the day to even think about staying awake. Yet a part of him was excited that he would soon see his best friend in the whole world again. He didn't know how much Nesma might have changed since leaving the Low Woods a year ago, but he knew that, whatever changes she might have gone through, she was still, deep down, his friend, and always would be.

  ***