by Eric Vall
In front of me, Aurora swayed gracefully on Nerfrina’s back. Her spine was perfectly straight, and her azure hair cascaded down to her hips like a wave of blue silk. As I was admiring the view, the half-elf maiden glanced over her shoulder and smiled slyly at me, as if she knew exactly how beautiful I found her to be. I smiled back in return, and my heart pounded out an eager beat. I couldn’t wait to show Aurora what I had planned. I imagined the shock and awe that would form in her emerald eyes, and I spurred my horse to a quicker pace beneath me.
Eventually, the densely packed trees thinned out, and we entered a small clearing. Aurora and I dismounted from our horses and lashed them to a large pine tree surrounded by lush vegetation for them to graze on.
We went on foot from there. Grass gave way to bare dirt the farther we went, and before us rose a wall of rock over fifty feet tall. Vines clung to the gray stone and trailed down to the forest floor.
I spotted the cave straight away. It was a black hole that yawned at least twenty feet wide and ten feet tall. As we approached, the bitter smell of rotten eggs reached my nose. I grinned excitedly. We were in the right place.
When we reached the mouth of the cave, Aurora finally came to a stop and looked over at me. She cocked her eyebrow expectantly.
“Well, now what, Terra Mage Flynt?” she challenged.
I reached up to my shoulder and adjusted the leather strap of the bag I had brought with us for this next exact purpose.
“Now, we go spelunking,” I said with an eager smile. I winked at the blue-haired beauty and stepped through the shadowed entrance.
The Ignis Mage followed close on my heels, and a moment later, a flame glowed over my shoulder and illuminated the cave before me. As we picked our way over the rocky floor, the smell of rotten eggs grew stronger, and I heard a faint gurgle of water.
When we had gone maybe a hundred yards into the cave, my foot splashed into a puddle. I looked down to see a faint stream run across the cave floor in front of me before it curved off to the right down a tunnel into a separate cavern. I followed the flowing water and came to a wide pool.
This portion of the cave had a hole in its ceiling, and bright sunlight illuminated the space around us, so Aurora extinguished her fire. The pool was at least fifty feet wide and shallow along the edges, but toward the center, the water was darker and bubbled faintly as it rushed up from the wellspring deep within the earth.
The pool was a dark navy at its center, but it greened out as it stretched to the edges of the pool. The banks themselves were bright yellow with strange rocky formations that had grown in the shallows, and the smell of rotten eggs was almost overwhelming.
“Bingo,” I said with a smile.
“Will this take very long? It is… difficult to breathe in here.” Her face was wrinkled with distaste at the stench of sulfur, and her voice was strained.
I took a deep lungful of air and grinned cheekily at her. “I think it smells fine.”
“Then I envy your weak, human senses,” Aurora retorted as she narrowed her eyes at me.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright. I’ll make this quick.”
I skirted the edge of the bubbling pool as I made my wave over to the largest of the sulfur deposits. The yellow, crystalline stalagmite was as tall as my hips and about a foot wide. I splashed into the shallows and the warm spring water lapped at the bottom of my boots. Then, I reached out tentatively and brushed my fingertips against the rocky mineral.
I had tucked one of Odger’s hammers into the wide leather belt I had strapped around my waist, but the minute I touched the sulfur, I knew I didn’t need it. My magic hummed beneath my skin and rose gracefully to the surface like it knew and approved of what I had planned. I let the power trickle from my fingers, and it flowed forth easily.
I exhaled slowly, and a moment later, a resounding crack echoed throughout the cave.
The sulfur deposit shifted, and yellow dust billowed out of it. I held my breath and waited for it to settle. When it had, I set out another stream of magic, and the stalagmite divided into three evenly sized chunks. I pulled the leather strap of the bag I carried over my head pulled out an empty clay pot. I gently set it on the ground for later before I carefully guided the sulfur rocks inside. Then, I closed the flap and heaved the bag back over my shoulder. It had to weigh over twenty pounds now, but the weight was satisfying. One ingredient down, two to go.
I picked up the clay pot I had set aside and then turned back to Aurora. The half-elf still stood several feet away from the sulfur pool, but now she had her delicate hands clapped over her nose and mouth. The red symbol on the back of her hand stood out starkly against her pale skin, and even with the distance between us, the parts of her face I could see were creased with disgust.
“Are we done now?” she called to me. Her voice was muffled, but it still echoed out across the water.
I winced and held a finger to my lips in a quieting motion. With my other hand, I pointed up to the ceiling above us, around the edges of the hole in the cave’s ceiling.
Aurora frowned and slowly lifted her emerald eyes. A moment later, her face blanched because above us slept several hundred bats, their black bodies barely indistinguishable from the shadows and rocks they huddled between. The half-elf maiden looked back at me with wide eyes, and I held up my hand in a calming gesture.
“Just give me one more minute,” I whisper-shouted to her.
She flapped her hand at me to hurry up, and I couldn’t help but snicker to myself.
I turned away from the blue-haired maiden and made my way to the far cave wall, away from the sulfur pool and deeper in the shadows. Another smell began to overwhelm the stench of rotten eggs as I picked my way across the rocky floor. It was sharper, more acidic, like ammonia. I squinted into the gloom, and as my eyes adjusted, I found item two on my list: bat guano.
I reached for my belt, opposite of where the blacksmith’s hammer hung, and unsheathed one of the small, iron daggers I had crafted the day before in the workshop. The metal was cool against my skin, and the hilt seemed perfectly molded for my grip, probably because it was molded by my own power. I uncorked the clay pot in my other hand, leaned forward, and carefully but swiftly began to scrape the white and gray bat excrement off the wall. Once the cantaloupe-sized pot was full, I resealed it and gently placed it back in the bag alongside the sulfur.
Two down. One left, and that one was the easiest one.
I made my way back over to Aurora. “Ready?” I was practically bouncing on my feet and suddenly wished I had the ability to teleport as well so we could already be back in the blacksmith’s workshop.
The half-elf maiden nodded emphatically and spun on her heel to march back the way we’d come. I chuckled as I followed quickly in her footsteps.
The Ignis Mage barely bothered to light a flame as we returned to the cave’s entrance. She was practically running. When we finally stepped out into the unhindered sunlight, Aurora jogged several feet forward into the clearing and took a deep lungful of air.
“You okay?” I asked with a smile although I couldn’t keep a hint of concern out of my voice. The sulfur really hadn’t been that bad for me, but maybe it really had been choking her.
Aurora nodded as she cleared her throat and dabbed at her watery green eyes.
“I’m fine,” she rasped as she rubbed vigorously at her nose until the tip was cherry red. “I just cannot remove the smell from my nose now.”
“Would smelling some guano help?” I joked with a cheeky grin as I gestured to the bag at my hip.
The half-elf maiden leveled me with a flat stare. “Is there something else you require for your mysterious scavenger hunt, or may we return to Serin for some lunch?”
“The only ingredient left is charcoal, and we can make that ourselves once we’ve returned to the workshop. I think I’ve worked up an appetite, though,” I chuckled. “What were you thinking?
She wrinkled her nose. “Anything, but pickled eggs.�
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I threw back my head and laughed.
We mounted up after that and watered the horses at a nearby stream before we began the trek back to Illaria’s capital city. The sun hung in the western blue sky, the air warm and heavy with mid-afternoon. I clutched the leather bag to my chest, mindful of the materials I carried, as my horse trotted across the countryside.
By the time we had reached Serin, the sun had already sunk into the foothills, the sky burnished with fiery reds and burnt oranges. We made our way quickly through the capital city although Aurora forced us to take a detour through Serin’s marketplace.
“You spent an entire day dragging me across the kingdom for bat feces and foul-smelling rocks,” the half-elf argued with a scowl when I tried to persuade her to return to the Oculus as soon as possible. “I think I am owed a dinner.”
I glanced longingly up at the king’s castle and the Oculus that existed below it. I was eager to start already, but when the blue-haired maiden mentioned food, my stomach growled traitorously.
“Fine,” I relented with a sigh. “But can we get something that we can eat on the move? I really want to start on this project before it gets completely dark.”
“Patience is a virtue, Mason,” Aurora chastised as we wove our horses through the marketplace stalls and throngs of people. “I know of a stall in the city that has some of the best cooked quail. We can take it with us back to the workshop. The cook is a good friend of mine.”
“Sounds good,” I said with a grin. “Cause you won’t be very patient once you’ve seen this weapon. You’ll be begging me to hurry up and make you one.”
“I do not beg,” the half-elf maiden sniffed as she turned up her nose haughtily. But then she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye and a teasing light glinted there.
Heat traveled down the length of my spine, and I suddenly became more motivated than ever to get this weapon made. The sooner I got this beast problem taken care of, the quicker I could shift my focus to other pursuits, more pleasurable and fun ones at that.
The Ignis Mage eventually stopped us at a cart on the edge of the market. This stall was not in any way special that I could tell. In fact, it was actually smaller and less stocked than some of the others we had passed. It was owned and operated by the old man that stood beside a small, banked cooking fire. A boy of no more than ten, presumably his son, crouched by the flames and turned several small charred birds on spits over the fire.
Aurora slipped off Nerfrina’s back and approached the two. When the old man caught sight of her, his eyes went wide with surprise, and then a broad grin broke out over his weathered face, revealing several missing teeth.
“Defender Solana,” the man said reverently as he bowed his head deeply to the half-elf. “It is good to see you again.”
The Ignis Mage smiled happily in response. “It is good to see you and your boy as well, Owin, but how many times have I asked you to call me Aurora?”
“At least once more, my lady,” the old man teased with a chuckle. His brown eyes then skipped over her shoulder and locked onto me as I dismounted from my own horse. The man’s gaze immediately went to the back of my hands, and his face became more reserved as he inclined his head to me now.
“Thank you for gracing my humble stall, Terra Mage,” he said to me formally.
It seemed like he was almost afraid to meet my eye, or rather the eye of another self-important, pompous mage. I knew how people with power acted, but I had no desire to be an asshole, no matter how much magic flowed through my veins.
I held out my hand to Owin and smiled encouragingly. “I’m not a Defender yet, and Terra Mage is a little bit formal for my tastes. You can call me Mason.”
Owin stared down at my hand for a moment, like he didn’t know what to do with it. When I refused to drop it, he finally reached out and slid his palm against mine. His calluses caught and scratched at my skin.
“Owin Petrus,” he introduced himself. “It’s… a pleasure to meet you, M-Mason.”
“Likewise,” I replied as we dropped our hands. My stomach grumbled loudly again, and the old man’s eyes dropped to my abdomen.
“My apologies,” Owin said hastily. “The two of you must be hungry.” He turned back to the boy, still crouched by the fire. “Theo, get Defender Solana and her companion two loaves of bread and a slab of cheese.”
“Yes, father,” Theo responded meekly as he hopped up and dashed around the other side of the cart. A moment later, he returned with two loaves the size of a football and a large cut of white cheese. As he shyly passed the food to Aurora, Owin bent down and plucked the two largest birds from over the fire.
“It is not much,” Owin winced as he turned and handed the charred meat to me, “but everything is fresh. Theo and I got the quails this morning, and my wife made the bread and cheese.”
My mouth salivated heavily at the scent.
I brought one of the small quails to my mouth and ripped off a piece of flesh with my teeth. Salty, smoky flavor exploded on my tongue, and I had to stop my eyes from rolling into the back of my head. The excitement of the day had staved off my appetite as we traveled, but now I was starving.
“My compliments to you and your son, then,” I said around my full mouth. “This is the best cooked quail I ever had.”
I had never had quail before, but that was beside the point. The meat in my hand was damned good.
Owin’s eyes went wide at the praise, and he bowed his head again. “T-thank you, Mage Mason.”
“I told you that you had talent, Owin,” Aurora teased as she stepped up beside me with a grin stretched across her face. In one hand, she cradled the bread and cheese the boy had given her, wrapped in a cloth. She held out her other hand, palm up, and gold coins glinted against her skin.
“Defender Solana,” Owin gasped as he practically jumped out of his skin. He looked between the money and the woman that held it. “I cannot take such a grand payment. It is nothing but a bit of meat, bread, and cheese.”
“It is your livelihood,” Aurora corrected with a stern look. “I will not rob you of it. Now please, take it, or I will slip it into Theo’s pocket when neither of you is looking.”
The older man frowned, but at Aurora’s expectant look, he reached out and took the coins from her hand. He immediately dropped them into the small leather pouch attached to his belt. He didn’t even count it.
“Your generosity humbles me yet again, Defender Solana,” Owin intoned as he bowed his head low.
“It’s the least I could do,” she replied cryptically with a smile. “Now, the sun is close to setting. You and Theo better return home, or Bridgett will have both your hides.”
Owin winced at the mention of what I guessed was his wife’s name. “You are right about that.” He sighed as he looked back toward his son and nodded silently. The boy immediately set about packing up the stall for the night.
“Be safe returning home,” Aurora added as she reached out and clapped Owin on the shoulder.
“I always am,” the man responded with a tired smile. “Thank you again for your patronage, Defender Solana.”
Armed now with a meal, Aurora and I bid farewell to Owin and his son before mounting our horses. As Nerfrina and my stallion wove their way through the streets of Serin, Aurora and I tore into our food while we sat back in our saddles. When I had eaten most of the quail and half the bread, curiosity got the best of me, and I turned to the half-elf that rode at my side.
“How did you meet Owin?” I asked around a bite of cheese. “Earlier, when you paid him, you said it was the least you could do. What did that mean?”
Aurora swallowed the mouthful of quail she had been chewing and took a swig of water from her canteen before she shrugged. “I’ve known Owin for many years before Theo was born even. I had been returning from a mission along the eastern border, and I was injured. Owin and his wife found me and welcomed me into their home. They fed and cared for me while I healed. Since then, I try to grace Owin
’s cart at least once every moon, if my duties allow. He owns a simple farm on the edge of the east wood. They get by fine most of the time, but the harvests are often the targets of various pests and are at times not enough to provide for them. Plus, I owe them my life so I do what I can to help.”
When I didn’t respond right away, Aurora glanced in my direction and then frowned at my wide smile.
“What?” she asked as she brought a slender hand to her lips. “Do I have something on my face?”
I shook my head and couldn’t help but reply, “Your face is as beautiful as ever.”
Aurora narrowed her eyes at me, but I pressed on before she could comment.
“I find your actions admirable, is all,” I told her with a shrug of my own. “Not many people would do what you’ve done.”
“He saved my life,” the half-elf pointed out with a frown.
“And other people in your position would view that in itself an honor,” I argued. “They wouldn’t be grateful to Owin because they would have expected him to cater to their needs, because of the power and prestige a mage wields. You are a kind soul, Defender Solana.”
The blue-haired maiden’s cheeks reddened a bit, and then she looked away from me. It seemed she wasn’t used to compliments.
“We are losing the sun,” she said abruptly as she nudged her heels into Nerfrina’s side. “We should hasten back to the Oculus before Abrus believes we’ve perished in the mountains.”
“Whatever you say,” I teased as I popped the last piece of quail into my mouth.
Half an hour later, the two of us found ourselves back in the blacksmith’s workshop yet again. My belly was full, and my body was sore from riding all day, but I was the furthest thing from tired. As I carefully set down my leather bag on one of the workshop tables, I turned to Aurora with a wide smile.
“Well?” the half-elf asked as she cocked an eyebrow expectantly at me. “Now what?”