Accidental Mage

by Jamie Davis

  “I’ll try. Now I guess you should open a portal for me.”

  “Use what you’ve learned to join them, Hal. You don’t need me to do this for you anymore. Think of where you wish to go or the person you want to see, and the magic will guide the opening of the portal for you.”

  Tildi held up a warning hand as he turned to leave.

  “One thing to keep in mind, Hal. Outside of this shielded place, every portal is easily detected by any wind mage in the vicinity. The greater the distance of the jump, the more power used, and the farther away the jump will be detectable. The mage hunters have refined their methods and will be tracking you every time you use that spell.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. That is why I’ve been trying to modulate the amount of energy I use to create the portal. Have you ever tried to mask the energy you use in some way, kind of like a stealth teleport?”

  “I don’t even know how that would work,” Tildi replied, though Hal could see the wheels turning in her mind as she pondered the problem.

  “It’s gotta be something about the energy signature,” Hal said, wondering aloud. “It would be a matter of gauging the amount of energy needed to open a portal precisely without any bleed of extra energy. It’s that extra energy signature that signals where you are when you land. The energy to open the portal is all used up in the process. If you used just the energy you needed and no more, there’d be nothing to detect.”

  “It’s an interesting problem. I’m not sure it’s practical in process since you’d have to calculate carefully to find the exact energy needs. Usually, a portal is a spell of convenience or necessity. Unless you calculated the precise distance, elevation, and heading ahead of time, you’d be hard-pressed to do it all on the fly.”

  “I’m gonna work on it. There must be a way to fudge the system and make it work. Even dampening the energy down on a larger jump would hinder detection from a distance.”

  “It would be useful in many ways if you could manage that, Hal. Many of the safeguards used to create magical wards and barriers are based on detecting and interrupting the flow of magical energy before it can manifest in a completed spell. If you could use magical energy in a way that evaded detection, you might circumvent the wards.”

  Hal listened and nodded. It was something he planned to keep in mind and continue refining the concept. In the meantime, it was time to leave.

  He packed quickly. Hal didn’t have that many possessions to bring along, just a few changes of clothes along with his weapons and staff.

  He arrived back at Tildi’s side near the tower’s entrance fifteen minutes later with everything he owned in Fantasma either in his hands or on his back.

  “Thank you, Tildi, for everything you’ve done to prepare me for what comes next. I think I’m going to need it all before this is done.”

  “I knew you were more than capable the first time I met you back at that flea market so long ago. Trust your instincts and you’ll be fine.”

  Tildi held out a hand to clasp wrists with Hal, but he didn’t think that was enough. The diminutive mage squawked in surprise when Hal pulled her close in a brief embrace. He stepped back, leaving Tildi a little flustered, and thought about where Kay was. He pictured her in his mind's eye.

  He cast the spell and opened the portal. A lush plain of waving, golden grain lay on the other side.

  “Be well, Hal Dix. I will lend what aid I can when I can. Remember, though, only you have the power to complete the task at hand. Trust yourself.”

  Hal smiled at her and turned, stepping through the gateway to the east, letting it blink shut behind him.

  33

  Sentries on horseback challenged Hal as soon as he appeared on the grassy plain far to the east of Tildi’s secret canyon. The squad of armored lancers rode up and held him at bay with the tip of their lances calling out to him to halt and identify himself.

  Hal had no intention of going anywhere or doing anything that might get him spitted on the end of one of those lances. He smiled at the officer in charge of the troop when the man lifted his visor.

  The boy leading this unit couldn’t be older than eighteen. Hal realized he must be a junior nobleman from one of the western free cities.

  “Who are you, vagabond? How did you get inside our ring of sentries undetected? I warn you, do not lie to me or I’ll order one of my men to run you through.”

  “Easy, lad,” Hal replied, raising his hands to show he held nothing but his staff. “I need to speak with the leaders of your army. I have important information they must know before they launch their attack on the Crystal City.”

  “I am not in the habit of letting strange men, who infiltrate our lines, to bother this army's leaders or even my senior officers. Tell me your name and why you are really here and perhaps I’ll let you live.”

  Hal sighed. He hoped to avoid embarrassing the young lad.

  “Son, I’m tired of playing games with you. I’m Hal Dix, once a general in command of this army, or at least part of it. Now take me to her highness Princess Kareena or General Otto. I must speak with them on an urgent matter.”

  “You are not General Dix, sir. General Dix is a great warrior of unsurpassed skill and knowledge. He is somewhere to the west gathering more forces for our cause. You cannot be him.”

  The young officer dismissed Hal with a backhanded wave of his gauntleted hand.

  “Kill him and leave the body for the carrion birds.”

  “That’s it.” Hal declared. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Hal cast a wind spell, hardening the air around him. Several of the lancers charged forward, trying to be the first one to reach him, snapped their lances in half trying to run him through.

  One of the men was unhorsed when his lance struck the invisible barrier, the force driving backward and pitching the man from the saddle.

  Having protected himself from the lancers, Hal turned to deal with the upstart young officer.

  A quick shot of earth magic and fast-growing vines grew up beneath the officer’s horse, wrapped around the man’s spurred boot and pulled him from the saddle to crash in a heap on the ground beside his mount.

  Shouts of “mage” and “wizard” sounded from the lancers. Two of them wheeled their mounts and bolted away towards the encampment Hal saw in the distance.

  The remaining lancers lowered their weapons and moved their horses to stand between Hal and the camp.

  Hal approached the officer, struggling to rise. He rolled back and forth on his back like an upside-down turtle. Hal laughed aloud and extended his hand.

  “Come on, kid. Get up before one of your superiors sees you and decides you don’t belong in command of this unit of lancers.”

  The young soldier stopped trying to get up on his own and stared at Hal, realization dawning in his eyes.

  “You’re really him. Hal Dix - I mean, General Dix.”

  “I told you who I was. I'm not in the habit of lying to my troops. Now get up and take me to the command tent. I have news they must have before the assault on the capital begins.”

  The officer reached up and took Hal’s hand. Hal pulled him to his feet with a grunt. The boy and his armor weighed a lot more than he expected. Once the youngster was back in an appropriate vertical position, the officer saluted as he snapped to attention.

  “Lieutenant Alvarez, at your service, General.”

  “As you were, Lieutenant. Escort me to the camp so I may pass along my messages.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  By the time Hal and the cavalry escort reached the camp, word had begun to spread of his arrival. Soldiers from various towns and cities to the west stood and pointed at him. A few even cheered. Hal suspected those cheering and calling out greetings to him were members of his army of escaped slaves.

  The command pavilion at the center of the camp was a bustle of activity with runners and clerks coming and going in a constant stream. The sides of the massive tent had been rolled up, so the pavilion
became a sort of awning erected to protect those inside from the sun and other elements. It still allowed a little breeze to pass through which was a blessing in the dry heat of these eastern plains.

  Hal strode past the guards without challenge and entered the covered area. Sergeant Madry and the familiar squad of dragoons had set up guard around the tent. Hal nodded a greeting as he passed by the guards. A large table was laid out in the center, covered with maps, charts, and other various documents. Around it, Kay, Anders, Otto, Rune, Junica, and even the goblin scout chieftain, Churg stood looking over their situation.

  He didn’t fail to notice the two more dragoon troopers standing to one side, keeping a watchful eye on Kay. He caught their eyes and smiled in approval. The two men grinned in response and returned his affirmation with subtle nods.

  Kay and Otto spotted him first as he strode up to the table.

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Otto quipped.

  “It’s good to see you, too, old friend.”

  “What’s with the wise man outfit? Where ’s your armor and your sword? I thought you'd be coming to fight alongside us again.”

  “I’m here to help you, that much is true, but first you must call off this ill-advised attack. You’ll never penetrate the magical wards, and if you managed to break through, you'd lose too many troops to have enough force to take the capital on the other side.”

  “I suppose you have an alternative?” Otto asked.

  “Sure, sort of. It’s going to take some time to pull it off, but, yeah, I have an idea what we have to do.”

  “Hal, it’s good to see you,” Kay added, “But do you really have a plan or is this another one of your ‘make it up as you go’ situations?”

  “I have a plan, Kay but it’s not one I’ll share here in front of everyone and any prying eyes and ears the Emperor has inside your camp. Clear the pavilion. I’ll fill you in on what I plan to do once everyone is pulled back far enough to be out of earshot. I have to warn you all, though, you’re not going to like it.”

  Otto gave Hal a fierce grin. “If memory serves me, no one likes your ideas at first, Hal. They do have a way of working out in the end, though.”

  The general called out to the men and women around the pavilion.

  “All of you, clear out of here until you’re called to return. Now. Go!”

  Hal waited as the various clerks and messengers left the large tent. Even the two dragoon troopers were asked to move off to a distance until no one was close enough to hear what Hal said in the center of the tent. Eventually, he was alone with Kay, Otto, Rune, Junica, Anders, and Churg.

  “Alright, Hal," Otto said. "We’re alone now. What do you want us to do?”

  “Hold on, Otto. There’s one more precaution I need.”

  Hal spread out his magical senses and cast two spells, dropping two hardened domes of air over the pavilion, one inside the other, with a void of vacuum in between to insulate against any sound leaving the area. There would be a limited supply of oxygen inside the inner bubble, but he didn’t plan on taking that long. He’d dispel the domes before anyone started suffocating.

  Satisfied with the final precaution, Hal laid out his plan for his friends. He gave his reasons for the drastic nature of the initial parts of it, countering the numerous objections raised. In the end, Hal overcame all their concerns with a single sentence.

  "This will end this war once and for all."

  By the time the air started to get a bit stale inside the pavilion, everyone knew their part in the Hal’s elaborate plan and where they had to be at the appointed time. All seemed a bit uneasy, except for Rune, but he never looked flustered by anything. The eastern monk’s outward demeanor remained impassive and neutral which Hal took as a form of approval for the plan.

  Hal lifted the barriers against eavesdroppers, letting fresh air flow into the tent.

  “Remember, people. Keep this to yourselves. Secrecy is the most important part. Everything hinges on it.”

  “We know, Hal,” Junica said. “Don’t worry. We’ll have your back when it matters most.”

  “Try not to blow me up this time, alright, Junica?”

  The blonde archer shrugged.

  “You told me to fire those arrows no matter what, Hal. I follow orders. Besides, you’re fine. How bad could it have been?”

  Hal chuckled. “I was inside that explosion. Believe me; I thought I'd died, too, until Tildi woke me up and took me back home.”

  “I’ll admit I was happy to find out I hadn’t blown you up, too. Next time, though, you’d better be ready to run. I’d do it all again if victory requires it.”

  “I’d expect nothing less, Junica.”

  Kay and Anders came to stand beside him as the messengers and clerks flooded back into the tent to continue running the camp and issue the new orders Hal’s change of plans implemented.

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Hal?” Kay asked amidst the renewed hustle and bustle.

  Anders stepped up to stand beside her and nodded.

  “My beloved Kareena is correct, Hal. There are no guarantees the initial stages of your plan will be successful. What then?”

  “If I fail, Anders, you can always go back and try your original plans. Besides, my plan has to succeed so the two of you can get married in the palace where you belong.”

  “I don’t need to get married in any palace,” Kay said. “That’s not who I am anymore. That princess died alongside her parents a long time ago.”

  Hal knew the past still haunted Kay, but her lineage figured in his plans. Killing the Emperor was only the first part of it. This land would need a new ruler. He needed her prepared for what came next. He didn’t want to have to return five years from now and do all this again with some new warlord who'd taken over.

  “Where to now, Hal?” Anders asked.

  “First I want a hot meal and some time to rest for a solid night’s sleep.”

  “And then?”

  “Then, it’s off to find some mage hunters and get captured.”

  34

  Hal awoke the next morning rested and well-fed. Today was the day he kicked off everything. Months of preparation, training, and fighting all led to this moment. If everything worked out, he'd free Mona and Cari within a few days.

  Gearing up with everything he thought he’d need, Hal picked up his staff and stepped outside the tent provided for him the night before. Kay and Anders were discussing something with a cavalry officer nearby. The woman saluted, mounted her horse, and raced off at a gallop.

  “Everything alright?” Hal asked.

  “That was the last of the orders for everything you asked for yesterday,” Kay explained. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Hal. This is a big risk you’re taking. The Emperor could just have you killed on sight. He’s tried before.”

  “I think not, Kay. There are questions he wants answered about me and how I do what I can do. If I can offer him those answers, he’d be a fool to kill me before he gets them out of me.”

  Anders clapped a gauntleted hand on Hal’s shoulder.

  “You’re a brave man, Hal Dix. I don’t know many who’d willingly offer themselves up for capture on the slim chance the Emperor might be reasonable that day. Besides, how do you even know they’ll know where to come after you?”

  “Ask Kay. They’ve been dogging my tail ever since I got here. At first, I thought the mage hunters were tracking the other archmages. I was wrong. It’s me they’re after and I think they'll want me alive once they hear what I have to say. I plan on obliging them.”

  “Hal, I know it seems like they've been following us. Even so, how do you know they’ll track you here or anywhere else for sure?”

  “It’s hard to explain, Kay. Let’s just say I’ve figured out how to use magic in a way that’s less noisy than others. Usually, that lets me use spells in ways that can’t be easily detected. However, the opposite is also true. I'm powerful enough that I can make more magical noise than usual
if I want as well. I did that when I opened the portal and arrived yesterday outside this encampment.”

  Hal fixed them with a savage grin.

  “I’m betting every imperial mage hunter for a hundred miles in all directions heard me when I stepped out of the portal here. By now they've ported in with their forces and are waiting to see what I do next. All I have to do is jump somewhere else and wait for them to follow. My hope is they mistake my noisy portal use as evidence of my inexperience and being a general noob at using magic. I’ll sucker them in and they’ll take me right to the Emperor and my family.”

  Kay didn’t seem convinced and Hal explained again what he had to do.

  Anders beamed with excitement as Hal described how he planned to get captured.

  “It’s a shame I cannot come with you to witness your capture. I suspect it will be a magnificent fight. You’ll have to resist at first or they’ll know something is amiss.”

  “You and Kay just make sure the troops are ready when they get the signal. There will be a limited time frame in which to act. If you miss it, I’m gonna be all alone on my own in there.”

  “Don’t worry about us, Hal,” Kay assured him. “We won’t let you down. When the signal comes, we’ll all be ready to go.”

  “That’s all I need. Here, take this and be ready to bring it with you.” Hal handed over his staff to Kay. “With a little luck, I’ll see you both again in a few days.”

  “I’ll take good care of it in the meantime, Hal.”

  Hal clasped wrists with Anders and Kay in turn. It was time to get moving. He didn’t relish the next step. It was the first in a series of calculations he'd made based on limited knowledge. Those calculations were pretty much guesses. He had no way to ensure the hunters would do what he expected them to do.

  He hoped he calculated right. He’d find out soon enough.

  “I think it’s time to go,” Hal said.