The Circles of Magic

by Gabriela Fišerová

  With the dark gray clouds above and the gray stone around them, it created a rather grim picture, especially in contrast with the much brighter environment farther in the distance. There were still trees here and there, but they were noticeably smaller, likely due to the rocky soil. It would have been interesting to find out how old these trees were, but there wasn’t time for this.

  More booms of thunder followed them as they continued heading south, becoming louder and louder, as, after a few hours of travel, the road finally seemed to disappear completely. Thankfully, quasir were very versatile and could traverse an area like this with ease, so it wasn’t as much of a problem. However, it would no longer be possible to simply follow the road to get to their destination.

  Feyrith’s quasir came to a halt when his companions in front of him did. From the discussion between Arbane and Lanna, Feyrith could infer that they were trying to figure out which way to go to reach the ruin. With how dark it was from the heavy cloud above blocking out the sun, he was very doubtful they would make it to the ruin today. That was not a problem, though, as getting there tomorrow would suffice.

  Feyrith swallowed down the tightness in his throat as he thought about getting to the ruin. He didn’t feel ready for it, despite having had so much time to prepare, but he supposed there would be no putting it off, so there was no point in feeling intimidated.

  “There should be a way to get up here, ya see?” Lanna said as she ran her finger over her map. Feyrith couldn’t see anything from where he was standing, but he didn’t mind. He had never been good at reading maps. “Somewhere around here.”

  Feyrith looked around, frowning at the tall, steep rise on their right. If they could climb up that, they might get somewhere, however it was much too steep for the quasir, let alone them. And Feyrith was not good at levitation—definitely not good enough to make sure all of them made it up.

  And so they continued heading straight ahead, even as the jungle on the horizon inched ever so closer to the mountains. Feyrith could practically see the place the two met, and they wouldn’t be able to continue their travel at that point. Not if they wanted to survive.

  Thankfully, about an hour later, a pathway heading up alongside a mountain cliff came into view. It looked narrow and possibly dangerous, but it seemed like it would lead them where they needed to go. Feyrith grimaced as a harsh gust of wind hit him, forcing him to put a hand in front of his face. He hoped it wouldn’t start raining before they reached the top.

  “Are we going to wait for this to blow over?” Arbane said, practically yelling due to the loud wind. Thunder boomed again, lightning flashing across the sky.

  “It’s not such a long way to go,” Edwyr replied, frowning up at the trail. “We can make it. And Feyrith can protect us.” Feyrith almost flinched when he heard his name, reluctantly meeting Edwyr’s eyes. “Correct?”

  Feyrith swallowed. “Yes, of course. Provided we stay together.”

  “Are you sure this is a good idea, Edwyr?” Lanna asked, sounding very much like she didn’t agree. “We could wait here.”

  “Staying out in the open here is more dangerous than it will be up there,” Edwyr replied, nodding towards the cliff. “Fewer beasts to attack us. Besides, the storm might not start for a while still.”

  It made sense, and yet Feyrith couldn’t help but feel a slight bit suspicious of Edwyr’s sudden eagerness to keep moving. He hadn’t been very enthusiastic about this journey in general so far, though Feyrith supposed he should simply appreciate it and not question it.

  “Well, let’s go, then,” Arbane said, steering his quasir towards the base of the cliff where the path started. As it was still a bit away, it took a moment for them to realize that the trail would be too narrow and uneven to safely ride the quasir on it, and so they all climbed off them as they reached it.

  Feyrith stayed in the back, following the other elf and the humans closely. Like this, it was going to be easier for him to see what was happening, and he should be able to react fast enough like this to protect everyone. His staff was in his hand before he even thought about it as they started to ascend the cliff path, their quasir’s reins in hand. He hoped he wouldn’t need the staff, but he couldn’t help but expect the worst, and it would be better to be prepared.

  At first, it wasn’t too difficult, aside from the narrow, uneven nature of their rocky path, and the vines growing all around. Feyrith hadn’t noticed those before they reached the part of the cliff where they grew. Strangely though, most of the vines that would have been in their way seemed to have been cut in half, which made them much less cumbersome to deal with.

  The simplest explanation for this was that someone must have come through here recently and walked up the steep path. Feyrith couldn’t remember hearing about any elf visiting this part of the continent lately, so it must have been a human. That would make sense, as while it wasn’t as common for humans to travel between towns and villages, it did happen.

  Still, Feyrith felt doubtful of that possibility. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but it seemed off to him.

  Lightning continued flashing above them, which never failed to make him flinch. The storm still looked to be relatively far away, but it was getting closer, and fast.

  Feyrith did his best to not look at the sky and instead kept his eyes on the group in front of him as they continued on. They were actually making good progress with everyone moving as fast as possible in a desire to get somewhere safer, especially with how dark everything had gotten over the last few minutes.

  When they were about halfway up, though, a strong gust of wind hit them. Feyrith instinctively grabbed onto his quasir’s saddle, knowing that the beast had more stability due to its four legs than he did. He squinted through the still blowing wind at the others, relieved to see none of them had fallen.

  More thunder followed as a few droplets of rain hit Feyrith’s face, but it still wasn’t properly raining yet. Arbane yelled something over the howling wind, but Feyrith couldn’t even make out the words. It didn’t truly matter, though, as he could imagine what he was saying. Lanna and Edwyr also joined in, adding to the whirlwind of noise.

  “Come on!” yelled Edwyr, which were the only words Feyrith had managed to understand, but they were also the only words that were important right now. As soon as the wind let up a little they were on the move again, practically running now despite the narrow path making it dangerous.

  Feyrith did his best not to look down the cliff as he went, staying right behind Lanna as he dragged his increasingly anxious quasir along.

  They were almost at the top when the lightning struck. Feyrith felt as if time froze as a painfully bright light appeared above them. He barely had the time to yell the word shield in the ancient elven tongue before the lightning hit them, drowning everything out in an incredibly loud boom of thunder that left Feyrith’s ears ringing. He blinked, only then realizing that he was on his hands and knees. Had he fallen from the impact? He didn’t remember that happening, but he could barely think. His mind seemed so sluggish and confused.

  He blinked again when he felt hands grabbing his arm and pulling him to his feet. Feyrith squinted at the person, realizing that it was Lanna. Her eyes were wide with concern and fear as she spoke to him, but though the elf could see her lips moving, he couldn’t hear anything past the terrible ringing in his ears.

  He needed to heal his hearing but…. What was the word to do that? Even though he knew he knew it, it felt like he couldn’t quite recall it. Despite still feeling very dazed and confused, Feyrith let himself be pulled along, almost blindly grabbing for his quasir’s reins, as he was led by Lanna to the top of the cliff.

  Feyrith finally felt some clarity of mind return to him as rain hit him, heavy sheets of it turning his clothes wet within seconds. As the healing words finally came back to him, he whispered a general healing spell, hoping that it would be enough. He let out a relieved sigh as the awful ringing dissipated, and the headache he’d only n
ow realized he’d had was gone as well.

  Having realized Feyrith was okay again, Lanna stopped pulling him along and let him run after her himself. Feyrith frowned, looking around and spotting Arbane and Edwyr just a while further, heading for a rocky alcove surrounded by trees. Up here, their surroundings were much more barren, with only grass and pieces of gray rock making up the ground beneath their feet, and so the place stuck out much more than it would have normally.

  Feyrith didn’t slow down until he reached the alcove, letting out another sigh as he did, and mostly escaped the unforgiving rain. To his further relief, there seemed to be a shallow cave in the mountain wall, which should offer enough protection from the storm for all of them.

  Feyrith shut his eyes for a second, sending the Goddess a prayer of gratitude for this small comfort. He still felt a little off after what had happened, so he was especially happy he wouldn’t have to worry about chasing off beasts from all directions if some living up here decided to attack.

  He was still fairly confused about what had happened, however. Unlike him, his companions seemed perfectly fine. He’d already been preparing to heal them, but they were unharmed. Their quasir seemed scared, but not enough to run away at least. But other than that, everything seemed fine.

  “Are you okay, Fey?” Lanna asked, presumably not for the first time, as they sat down on the dirt floor of the small, dark cave. Thunder continued to boom in the distance, but Feyrith couldn’t see the lightning anymore. “Can you hear me now?”

  Feyrith gave a nod, wondering if it would be completely out of the question to remove his robes. He very much disliked being wet, and the robes were completely soaked in rainwater. “Yes, I am fine now.”

  Lanna narrowed her eyes in what Feyrith assumed was doubt, but she didn’t comment.

  “Does anyone require healing?” he asked, simply to make sure they were all fine.

  Arbane brushed wet hair away from his forehead as he nodded, raising his eyebrows at Feyrith. “No, thanks to you.” Feyrith was truly glad to hear that despite instinctively using a weaker shielding spell, it had been effective. “But you really should have shielded yourself, too.”

  Oh, was that what had happened? The shield hadn’t been large enough to protect all of them, so he’d automatically chosen to protect the others? Feyrith supposed that would explain the side effects, though he must have not been struck by the lightning directly or he’d be dead by now.

  “I’m sure Feyrith’s fine,” Edwyr said from where he was sitting opposite him, shaking water out of his hair. Feyrith narrowed his eyes at the dismissive tone, but he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. Edwyr had treated him that way for the majority of their journey. He probably shouldn’t have taken the brief moment of neutrality from last night as definite proof of change.

  Despite knowing this, Feyrith couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed, though he wasn’t sure why. If anything, he shouldn’t care at all what a Cursed elf thinks of him.

  “We need to start a fire.” Edwyr looked directly at Feyrith then. “Can you do it with wet wood?”

  Feyrith wasn’t sure if it had been the tone Edwyr had used, but he immediately saw it as a challenge. A challenge he wasn’t entirely sure he could take on, as he’d never actually done this. But he wouldn’t say no without trying first. “Yes, of course.”

  “Great.” And with that Edwyr got up and walked out of the cave, petting his quasir as he went and stopping almost immediately to pick up broken twigs beneath the trees. Some of the trees looked very damaged, with broken off branches in many places. It must have been windier up here, or perhaps in this region in general. Or maybe there were frequent lightning strikes.

  As if to prove his theory, thunder crackled loud enough to make Feyrith grit his teeth, the lightning illuminating the trees. It hadn’t seemed to be that close to them, as Feyrith hadn’t gotten a glimpse of the lightning itself, but it had been far closer than he’d like after what had happened.

  Feyrith continued staring outside at the rapidly falling rain until Edwyr returned a few minutes later, dropping a pile of wood in front of him. Edwyr didn’t even ask him to do anything, preferring to simply raise an eyebrow. Feyrith didn’t say anything to him in turn as he looked down at the wood.

  A small puddle of water was slowly forming under it. Feyrith grimaced when he noticed that. He’d originally been planning on simply setting it on fire and keeping it that way until the wood got dry enough not to resist anymore, but he didn’t think that would work with this. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think Edwyr had chosen this wood on purpose to make Feyrith’s task extra challenging.

  Still, he had no better ideas. He was sure there was a wind spell that could be used in this situation to safely dry things, but he’d not learned it, and trying to make one up on the spot was not something he wanted to try doing in front of neither Edwyr nor these humans. Trying to set the wood on fire without it wanting to cooperate was his only viable option, it seemed.

  And so with a few words, he summoned fire yet again, keeping it small and contained this time. He could very easily put everyone in danger in such a small place, but he was confident about his abilities when it came to this. Predictably, the wood hissed and refused to catch fire, aside from a few stray leaves and very thin twigs, but Feyrith didn’t let that discourage him.

  He continued, keeping the fire alive with his own lifeforce. He wasn’t used to doing that. Usually, he simply threw a fireball at something, and that would be the end of it. The fire would dissipate, and Feyrith would either do it again or be done with it. But he’d tried channeling magic like this before, and he knew he could manage it for a while.

  Though it was proving more difficult after being struck by that lightning. He’d had to heal himself, which was always taxing magic to use, but despite that, he still felt a bit dazed. But he pushed on, adding a few words to make the flame more intense until finally the wood started to crackle. Feyrith let the fire continue to sap some of his strength as it spread over the wood, starting to consume it. It seemed that despite being wet from the rain, the wood Edwyr had collected was actually fairly dry on the inside.

  Finally satisfied with the fire, Feyrith leaned back against the rocky wall, letting out a soft breath. Though he felt quite foolish suddenly, as he realized that he’d found it difficult to create a campfire with his magic. He was sure his teachers would have berated him for not doing it in a much smarter, cost-effective way if they had seen him.

  “Good going, Fey,” Arbane said, grinning as he moved closer to the fire to dry off easier. Feyrith bowed his head at him, subtly looking at Edwyr, who seemed much more annoyed than before. To his horror, Feyrith felt a spark of a spiteful kind of joy in his heart, and he immediately stomped it out. He couldn’t feel that way. Feeling spite, particularly towards someone like Edwyr was wrong, plain and simple. Feyrith was supposed to be better than that.

  “You know, I’m glad we’re already up here and all,” Lanna said, letting out a sigh and shaking her head. “But we probably should have waited. My ears are still ringing.” Feyrith’s head snapped up, but before he could offer healing, Lanna shut him up with a serious glance. “If it weren’t for Fey—"

  “It was just bad luck,” Edwyr cut in, using the same dismissive tone he’d used with Feyrith earlier. But this time it was significant. Feyrith had never heard him speak this way to the two humans, and clearly it was as unusual as he thought, given how Lanna and Arbane were now looking at him with raised eyebrows and surprised eyes. “Besides, if it weren’t for Fey, we wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

  Feyrith looked down into the fire, which was now happily crackling without his help. He would argue that Edwyr had come here of his own free will, but he felt it was pointless and improper to start that kind of argument. Though he couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed of how difficult he suddenly found it to look up at Edwyr again.

  “You were the one who said we should help him,” Lanna pointed o
ut, sounding both confused and a little annoyed. That came as a surprise to Feyrith, who had been assuming it was her and Arbane who had convinced Edwyr to come.

  “Yeah, I know,” Edwyr replied, huffing. Feyrith risked a glance at him, noting that Edwyr was also wearing an annoyed frown, but he was looking off to the side instead of aiming his irritation at anyone in particular. “But back then I assumed he’d be able to protect us from a little lightning.”

  Feyrith set his jaw, forcing himself to keep staring into the fire instead. This time it wasn’t discomfort or intimidation keeping him from looking up, but a fear of what he might say if he locked eyes with Edwyr. He could feel anger rising inside of him, and he needed to keep it under control. He had a responsibility to his people to be calm and collected at all times.

  “What? He did protect us. He almost died because of it,” Arbane argued, his tone now definitely irritated. Feeling the tension rising, Feyrith decided this was a good opportunity to try and diffuse it.

  “I was not in danger of—”

  “You have no idea what an elf is capable of,” Edwyr said coldly, interrupting Feyrith and rising to his feet. Feyrith wasn’t looking at him, but he could feel the other elf’s eyes on him. “What an elf should be capable of.”

  “Maybe that’s because you never actually told us,” Lanna replied, folding her arms over her chest, though neither she nor her husband got up like Edwyr.

  “And you never asked.” Before either of them could deny that—and Feyrith could tell they wanted to by looking at them—Edwyr continued. “But you seem to like asking Feyrith about our people, so I won’t have to explain.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Edwyr?” Arbane asked in an incredulous voice as he finally got up. Lanna didn’t move, only muttering something under her breath and much like Feyrith staring into the fire. That felt uncharacteristic of her, but Feyrith wouldn’t comment as he didn’t know her enough to tell that accurately.