Magic springs to life from the four as they work to counter what he’s doing. But whatever they are trying is insufficient to stop him. With a clap, the two sides of the pit slam shut upon the lads inside. The one hanging onto the lip of the opening is caught as the shutting of the hole crushes his lower half. After a moment’s agony, he grows still.
Stopping the flow of magic, the ground begins to settle down. The rider whose horse bolted on him pauses several hundred yards away for only a moment then turns and races away in the desert.
Beginning to feel drained from the magical endeavors, James returns to where Jared and the horses lie dead upon the ground. Everything they had on the horses is now a charred mess. He feels bad for Jared, emotions almost getting the better of him. Putting the carnage behind him, he runs toward the town.
Before he even gets halfway there, Jiron races from between two buildings on the outskirts, the reins of two other horses held in his hands. Galloping fast, he sees James and angles toward him.
James starts to wave to him when he sees a dozen other riders emerge from between the same two buildings as had Jiron. Their angered cries reach him as they chase after Jiron.
James sighs and readies himself as Jiron and his pursuers approach.
Crumph! Crumph! Crumph!
Three explosions throw dirt and sand before the charging riders causing them to come to a brief halt.
Jiron reaches James as the dirt begins falling back to the ground. Grabbing the saddle of one, James quickly mounts.
He glances back to the scene of battle. “And where’s Jared?” he asks.
“Dead,” replies James.
Jiron’s pursuers have halted behind the blasted earth. James creates his orb and launches it toward them.
Seeing the glowing orb flying toward them after having the earth erupt and almost kill them is more than they can stand. Three horses aren’t worth tangling with a mage of such power. Turning back to town, they flee for their lives.
Once they are on their way back to town, James cancels the orb. Turning their horses westward, they quickly get to a gallop and race past the town. James fills Jiron in on what happened and how Jared came to die.
Chapter Twenty Two
“Damn!” curses James.
“What?” asks Jiron as he walks over to where James is kneeling over a small pool of water. While Jiron was watering the horses from the spring, James had dug a hole and filled it with water to use to scan for hostiles. Looking over his shoulder, he sees over fifty horsemen riding through the desert. “So?”
“Take a closer look,” James says as he moves aside to allow Jiron to take his place.
The riders whom he had first thought were soldiers turn out to be mages. He glances to James and asks, “How far away?”
“Can’t be more than an hour,” he figures. He lets the water’s surface return to normal as he says, “I don’t think I can handle that many. I took a closer look and several have gray hair.”
“Meaning we are about to be hit by mages with experience?” he asks.
Nodding, he adds “And with power I would imagine.”
“What should we do?” Jiron asks.
“I don’t know,” he replies. “To the north I saw some old ruins but nothing there that could even begin to protect us against them I’m afraid.”
Walking over to where the horses are drinking from the spring, they quickly get back in the saddle. Jiron gets a thoughtful look and asks, “Could you raise another sandstorm? Turned out to be quite effective the last time. We could ride north and take shelter in those ruins you saw.”
“Maybe,” he says. “It might work if the storm could be raging when they get to it. Else they may be able to stop it before it even gets started.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” he asks. Kicking his horse in the flanks he bolts away from the spring with James right on his tail.
They keep a hard pace, trading off on the spare horse to maintain the horses’ strength for as long as possible. Little over an hour later, the first sign of the ruins comes into view, a single broken wall jutting straight out of the sand.
“We’re getting close,” comments Jiron as they pass by the broken wall. Up ahead are still more jagged walls jutting out of the sand. Most rise vertically while others leave the ground at an angle.
“Strange,” breathes James as he glances at the walls around them. As they progress further into the ruins of what is beginning to appear to have once been a city, the number of walls steadily grows. Again, some of the walls are vertical while others are slanted in one direction or another.
As they pass through, they hunt for a structure that will afford them some protection against the storm James intends to summon. Several minutes after passing the first broken wall, a series of more sizeable structures appears ahead of them.
“Find us a place in which to shelter,” James tells him indicating the structures ahead. Dismounting, he hands his reins to Jiron and adds, “I need to begin this storm before they come any closer.”
“Right,” he says. Taking the reins, he leaves James to summon the storm and makes his way further into the ruins. He passes sections of walls that once had been buildings. Some are practically whole with but a single wall missing or a portion of the roof. The wind begins to pick up and he glances back at James who’s lost in concentration. Take your time, he thinks as he hurries to find shelter.
Working his way through the ruins, he comes across a stone dome rising several feet from the ground. At first thinking it was resting on the ground, he’s soon to realize that most of the dome is still beneath the ground with only the uppermost section visible. That gives him a better appreciation of the scale of the buildings that used to be here. He had thought the broken walls they’ve come across were from the first floor of the buildings. But taking into account the dome, these walls must be what remains of the upper stories. No telling just how far down the buildings actually extend.
Finally, he comes across a building with most of the walls and good portion of the ceiling still intact. Taking the horses through the hole in the wall, he walks them over to the far side. Leaving them behind, he returns to tell James what he’s found.
On his way back to James, the wind begins to pick up. Sand starts flying through the air as the wind whips it up off the ground. Pulling his shirt over his head to protect his face, he hurries through the ruins.
He finds James exactly where he left him. Eyes squinting tight to ward off the flying dust, he has a hand over his nose and mouth in an attempt to keep the sand out.
“They’re fighting me!” he shouts to be heard over the wind as Jiron comes to a stop before him.
“Can you hold it?” he asks.
“I doubt it,” replies James. “There are too many working against me.”
“I found some shelter,” he tells him. “I left the horses there.”
Nodding, James turns to look at him. “We better get them. This storm isn’t going to last much longer.”
Taking him by the hand, Jiron says, “This way.” As he leads him through the raging storm, the winds that had begun to whip the sand violently begin to gradually subside.
Several mages lie unconscious on the floor around the Table of Sight. The master in charge has been fighting James’ control of the winds until the High Lord Magus arrives. Still an hour behind him, they had begun to be affected by the winds.
The master retains visual lock on their quarry and watches as the other man leads him through the ruins of Baerustin. When they enter the building wherein their horses were left, he sees his chance to hold them until his lord arrives.
Just then, a First Circle mage comes hurrying through the door. “The caravan is here,” he announces.
“Finally,” exclaims the master. “I need them now! Hurry and bring the slaves to me.”
“Yes, sir,” the First says then backs out of the room. He runs down the corridor until he reaches the courtyard outside.
On the far sid
e of the courtyard the porters of the caravan have already begun unloading the various goods purchased by the school. The First comes up to the caravan master and says, “You’re late!”
“My apologies good master,” the caravan master says humbly.
The First notices the pallor of his face. “You don’t look too good,” he states.
“Been feeling down last couple of days,” he explains. “I think the cook used bad meat or something and made us all sick.”
“Where is the cook?” he asks.
“Killed him for poisoning us,” the caravan master replies. “Tossed his body somewhere back along the road.”
“I need the slaves now,” says the First.
“Let us untie them for you,” the caravan master says as he begins to signal to his men.
Shaking his head, the First says, “Never mind that.” Not willing to wait the minutes his men would take, the First uses one of the first spells he ever learned. Summoning the magic, he casts a spell of breaking to free the slaves all at once. The casting of the spell triggers the seeds of destruction which James had planted in the wagon beds a week before.
Ka-Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three massive explosions of immense proportions detonate all at once. The force of it literally takes out a third of the school and collapses the room containing the Table of Sight. Taken unawares, his concentration firmly on what he was about to do to hold James, the master at the Table doesn’t react in time and is crushed by the falling stone of the ceiling. The same stone which takes his life smashes through the Table, destroying it.
Stone and rock launched into the air by the blast begins to fall on the rest of the school. Massive chunks of stone rip through roofs and cause even further damage as buildings which were already weakened by the blast are struck by the falling stone and give way.
One building of particular importance, the library, had been in close proximity to the blast when it went off. Filled with tomes older than memory, the basis for which magic works and knowledge gleaned through a millennium of research, is now nothing more than a gaping hole. Along with the rocks coming back to land, myriad pieces of paper blasted from thousands of books rain down as well.
All of a sudden, the resistance to the storm disappears. “It’s stopped,” James tells Jiron as they enter the building where the horses were left.
“What’s stopped,” asks Jiron.
“It feels like whoever was working against me isn’t any more,” he clarifies. Sending out the magic, he begins working the storm once more into a frenzy.
Realizing James is once again planning on staying and working the storm, Jiron has them move to the back of the room where the horses are to stay. If the storm becomes as bad as the last one James created, he wants them as far away from its effects as they can. James slips back into deep concentration as he resumes intensifying the storm.
After a half hour, the storm is now raging wildly outside. The open areas of the building allow the sand to enter and even though the force of the gale is abated by the walls of the building, still the sand stings when it strikes them. When he feels the storm has reached a point where it will continue on its own, he halts the flow of magic and settles down against one wall.
“That should take care of it,” he says. Taking a water bottle, he drains it completely before setting it down.
The light from the sun is greatly reduced by the time it makes its way through the swirling dust storm outside. With but faint light with which to see, Jiron takes a closer look at the building they are in. The walls are rather plain and unadorned, parts of the floor show through the mounds of sand which has built up over the years.
“Look at this,” he says when he comes to a depression in the floor by the far wall.
“What?” asks James too tired from creating the storm to want to cross the room to see.
“There are stairs here,” he explains. “Choked with dirt and sand.” He then tells him of the dome he found and how he believes there may be more below the surface.
With scenes of movies he’s seen running through his head, he wonders what could lie below the surface. Treasure? A lost city? A thousand mummies hell bent on their destruction? In this world who knows? Intrigued, he gets to his feet and goes over to investigate.
Just then he feels the tingling of nearby magic. Stopping halfway across the floor, he cocks his head to one side as he attempts to discern from which direction it’s coming. He glances to Jiron and whispers, “There’s magic nearby.”
All thoughts of the stairs vanish as they move to the opening and look out. Shielding their eyes from the whipping sand, they search for anyone approaching. It doesn’t take them long before several men appear out of the swirling storm. Each is surrounded by a dimly illuminated shield protecting them from the storm.
“Mages?” asks Jiron.
James nods his head, never taking his eyes off the men coming their way.
The prickling and tingling of working magic gradually increases as the men draw closer. Soon, more forms are seen out there among the ruins, each encased in a protective barrier. They are fanned out in a search pattern, whenever one comes to a wall or opening, they pause a moment to inspect it before continuing on.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” James says as he makes his way to the horses.
Jiron stops him and says, “Leave them. The horses will never survive the storm outside.”
James realizes he’s right. Leaving the horses, he says “Stay close.” A barrier suddenly appears surrounding them both.
“Won’t they sense this?” Jiron asks.
“Probably,” he replies. “But I’m hoping that with all the magic they are doing themselves, they may not realize it’s me until it’s too late.”
Approving of the boldness, Jiron gives him a grin.
“Now, let’s try to get through the storm before they realize we’re gone,” James suggests. He then moves through the wall and starts to move in the opposite direction of the searchers.
Jiron puts a hand on his shoulder and says, “Wait a second. If they’re on foot, then their horses must be left behind. How about we work our way around them and steal a couple of their horses. They would have to be kept outside the worst of the storm.”
He considers the idea and nods, “Alright, we’ll do it.”
Altering their course, they begin working their way away from the searchers. Then after putting some distance between them, they alter their course to run perpendicular to the searchers. They keep an eye out for the telltale sign of men in barriers walking in the storm. Each time one appears, they quickly move back and alter course to avoid them.
A sudden increase in the tingling sensation stops James in his tracks when out of the storm a blinding white light appears and strikes the barrier. The shock of the impact stuns James for a moment and the barrier keeping the storm at bay disappears.
Instantly they are knocked off their feet as the wind strikes them with fierce intensity. Quickly recovering, the shield again springs up around them as another blinding white light strikes from out of the storm.
Ready for it this time, James manages to keep the barrier from failing but the draw of power from him was great.
“What’s happening?” yells Jiron over the roar of the storm.
Then a form appears out of the storm. An aged man easily in his fifties strides forward. Behind him appear more men encased in protective barriers.
Kerith-Ayxt expected more of a challenge from this mage. True, the mage weakened himself by building a useless storm but he still thought this fight would be more of a challenge.
Again he sends the bolt of energy hurtling toward the two men and this time he can feel the barrier drop for a second before the mage recovers. Grinning, he continues to advance.
“Run!” yells James as the effects of the third bolt dissipates. He almost lost the barrier that time but managed to bring it back. He and Jiron turn to race into the storm and away from Kerith-Ayxt.
; The tingling spikes again. He grabs Jiron and they dodge to the right, barely avoiding the bolt as it flies past. Summoning the magic, James lashes out with a wave of force of his own but Kerith-Ayxt simply brushes it aside.
Then the rest of the mages arrayed against him unleash a barrage of spells. Fire, ice, waves of force, the attacks become unrelenting until all James can do is simply concentrate on maintaining the barrier. Kerith-Ayxt conserves his power while his mages throw everything they have at the pair.
“Watch out!” yells Jiron as a massive section of wall comes flying through the air toward them. Backpedaling rapidly, they barely get out of the way before the stone slab hits the ground. Slamming into the ground with a resounding thud, the impact shakes the ground like an earthquake.
All of a sudden, the ground beneath the slab gives way and it plummets down into darkness. Jiron sees the slab fall and quickly takes hold of James. “Come on!” he yells. Jumping forward, he yanks James off his feet and they both sail into the hole.
They fall briefly in darkness before James’ orb springs to life. The light illuminates the buried room seconds before they hit the ground. Seeing the floor coming up fast, they brace for impact. James hits hard and feels like he may have sprained his wrist from where he tried to cushion his landing. Jiron simply tucks and rolls, coming quickly back to his feet.
Jiron then takes a fraction of a second to survey the room and finds a doorway off to one side. Lending James a hand, he helps him up just before a blast strikes the ground where James had just lain. Running for their lives, they make the doorway just as a flaming ball of fire hurtles toward them from the opening in the ceiling.
Again the barrier flashes into being just before the fireball explodes. James falls to his knees from the drain of power, Jiron helps him back up and they move into the hallway extending from the room.
At the edge of the hole, Kerith-Ayxt looks down at the doorway through which his quarry disappeared.
“Should we go after them?” asks a mage of the Fourth Circle.
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