by Rick Field
“You killed two Warlocks,” Liane finally stated after five long minutes, pushing herself to her feet. She looked like she wanted to groan, but managed to contain herself.
Steve nodded, forcing himself to accept what he'd done. “The weapon you built me is completely silent and has no recoil. They never knew what hit them.” He sighed. “Somehow, I feel that killing should not be this easy.”
The Pillar agreed with him. “Magic makes it too easy to take life,” she explained. “It is the reason why we developed Decorum. We fight with words rather than magic.” She sighed and looked back at the two dead men. “What is happening today is outside my experience. This does not happen in Kiria. We need to move, that Mage is still out there.”
Steve accepted her explanation with a stiff nod and followed her. He didn't comment on her drop in pace. Although he wasn't really tired, he had been walking more than he had done for quite some time and his feet were aching. The Pillar that lead the way had been in full-on combat for hours now, and he privately commended her determination.
They pushed up the mountain, Lucifer in Liane's bloody right hand. In almost any other situation, she would have cast a few spells to clean up her robes and arm, but she simply couldn't spare the magic at the moment. If the Mage returned, she would have to rely on Steve and his weapon, or she would risk injuring her magic further. Her eyes darted to her hands. There was a time she had to wear focus gloves in order to be able to cast magic. With her tied-down core, that was no longer necessary. There also had been a time where her magic would influence her, would inspire her into bouts of glory that were beyond her normally, with no more damage than a fused core that would take a few days to heal.
Those days were behind her as well. The trade-off had been unacceptable, but there was no way back for her. Now, if she pushed too far, she would have to sacrifice more of her top-end power in order to contain her magic and allow her to function once more. It would happen anyway. Someday, she would be forced to sacrifice the last of her magic.
Lucifer dug deep into the soil with the amount of force she put on it. She was now leaning heavily on her staff, her body and magic completely exhausted. She hoped the Mage would not return until they reached the Druid Sanctuary, and that the Druids would allow them in.
Steve startled when suddenly, the tree-line in front of them appeared completely impassable. As far as he could see, one tree was standing next to the other, so close together a human could not pass. Liane nodded. “We've reached the boundary,” she told him, slowly stepping up to the boundary.
“Liane, the MagicWarper, Pillar of Kiria, requests to speak with the Druids,” she intoned ritually after placing her hand on one of the trees in the wooden border.
“Now what?” Steve asked, shooting a glance to the way they had come, his hand twitching toward his weapon.
“Now we wait,” the Pillar answered, slowly sinking to the ground against the trunk of a tree, facing the wooden barrier. “The Druids will come when the Druids will come. They work on their own timetable and for their own reasons.” The pilot frowned, obviously displeased with that answer, but remained silent nonetheless. Now that they had time to relax, Liane allowed her mind to drift to Arch Druid Xard. He had saved her life, and she hadn't known why he was even in the area. She wondered about the serendipity of it, her being mortally injured and him saving her life.
No doubt she had been incredibly lucky, and perhaps it was her encounter with him that now motivated her to climb up Mount Sina to their sanctuary. If the Arch Druid went around saving people, surely, the Druids would not be that bad, and would allow her entrance?
They had been waiting in total silence for almost half an hour before Steve broke the silence. “I don't like this,” the man said, still on his aching feet, looking back, obviously on guard. He glanced at her sitting form. “We could be attacked at any moment.”
Liane felt better with her short amount of rest. “At this point, anything is possible,” she answered him, calmly. “However, that is the border to the Druid Sanctuary. Attacking us here risks attacking that barrier with a stray spell. I would not like to be the person who attacks that barrier with a stray spell.”
Steve looked over his shoulder at the thick and unnatural line of trees, and nodded once. He deflated, and leaned against a tree. “That's a good point,” he said. “I do wish you'd told me that earlier, though.” he voice was tired but held a hint of accusation to it.
“There always was a chance that Mage was following us, and you would have been in a position to remove her,” the Pillar told him, acutely aware of how callous that sounded. She regretted the necessity of it. Taking life should never be the first option, and yet it seemed that it had been the only solution since this mess started.
The pilot shrugged, and remained silent.
When the tree-line in front of them finally started to move, they had been waiting for close to an hour and a half, time Liane had spent resting and recuperating. Steve had been leaning, pacing, sitting, and guarding. Nervous energy seemed to compel the man and he hadn't been able to properly relax for almost the entire time they had waited.
Slowly, her body protesting every movement, Liane pushed herself to her feet. Now that the action was over and she had been allowed some time to rest, her joints and muscles had tightened and cramped. A gap appeared in between two trees, as if their roots moved and allowed a Druid to walk through.
The woman that appeared was about Liane's age, dressed in forest-green robes that concealed every shape of her body. The Druid stopped, and looked at Liane and Steve, her eyes taking in their disheveled appearance, and suddenly locking onto Liane's blood-covered right hand.
“You wished to speak to the Druids, Lady Pillar?” the woman asked.
Liane frowned, the appearance and the voice of the woman triggering some latent memory. “Lady Monolith?” the Pillar requested instead.
The Druid smiled faintly, and dipped her head. “Indeed,” she answered. “It is good to be remembered, My Lady. Especially by one who has become one of the Legendary Nobles.”
The Pillar answered with a dip of her own, and motioned to Steve. “This is Steve from beyond the Great Barrier.”
Monolith nodded at the man, but remained focused on Liane. “You are injured, My Lady.”
“We were attacked on the way to the Capital,” the Mage explained. “When I attempted to contact the Capital to report the attack, communications were blocked by the raising of the city's battle wards. I contacted the Pillar safe house in Eunan. It was destroyed. I killed the first attacker. Three more appeared. Two of them lost their lives chasing us this far, the last remains out there. I request entry into the Sanctuary to allow for some time to recuperate and as a shortcut to the Capital.”
Monolith frowned slightly. “I am still only an Apprentice Druid, I cannot make such calls on my own, My Lady,” the Druid answered. Noticing Liane's stare at the admission, the Druid continued, “The arts of Druidism are long, complex, and involved, My Lady. It regularly takes twenty years before one becomes a fully accomplished Druid.” She turned to the tree-line. “I will confer with the leaders. I wish I could offer hospitality in the meantime, but alas, I cannot even do that. Please remain here.”
Before she crossed the border, Monolith took one look back, and said, “You will not be harmed.”
Steve let out a breath at the sensation that surrounded them. It was as if the forest had suddenly become a refuge. He didn't know why, but he felt safe now. The Druid vanished into the wooden barrier, a barrier that no longer showed any sort of gap.
“How did you know her?” the foreign pilot asked, part in curiosity and part to pass the time.
“All Noble children gather at the Academy for introduction classes in magic,” Line explained. “For three months we are taught the basics of magic, how it works, how spells work, and so on. At the end of this period, we take an aptitude test. This test is conjured and enchanted, and will ask a student questions, probing for kn
owledge, areas of expertise, and hidden talents. Most of us become regular magic-users, either Mages or Warlocks. Those with special aptitudes become apprentices to masters in irregular fields of magical study. One of my friends is a Necromancer, for example.” Liane's focus shifted from Steve to the line of trees. “The Lady Monolith was in my magical introduction class, and was chosen as a Druid. I have not seen her since.”
Steve accepted the explanation. “So, seeing as you know her, when do you think they'll come back and let us in?”
Liane resisted the urge to frown. Her thrown-together plan was based on the assumption that the Druids would let them in, and Steve must have picked up on that. For a moment, she wanted to lie to him. “It won't make a difference,” she answered. “As I explained, I have not seen her since we were both ten years old, so we are not exactly friends. She also explained that she does not have the authority to grant us entry or passage, so despite being acquainted, our chances have not changed. There is still a pretty good chance we will not be allowed in.”
Silence descended on their makeshift rest area. “What do we do then?” the pilot finally asked.
The Pillar sighed. “I do not know. We could attempt to make our way around, and hope that we do not run into that Mage again. Chances are, however, that there are more Nobles out looking for us. She has no doubt contacted her compatriots. Depending on the size of their group, and their ultimate goal, there may be more than just a few Nobles out after us.”
“I don't have enough bullets,” Steve muttered.
“I shall conjure you more once I have a chance to rest,” Liane reassured him. “I simply must rest to regain some of the magic I have used.”
The pilot was about to answer when the tree-line split apart once more, and Monolith appeared, looking grave. “Unfortunately, My Lady, the Druid elders have decided not to grant you passage or sanctuary. I cannot allow you entry.”
Liane felt as if the world had been struck out from beneath her.
Chapter Seven
Liane's back hit the tree behind her, and she would have slipped to the ground if it weren't for her two-handed grip on Lucifer. Leaning heavily on her staff, she closed her eyes. The aching weariness in her body and magic took its toll, and for the first time since long ago, the MagicWarper was at a loss. Taking refuge with the Druids had been a desperate gamble for time, safety, and a chance to recover. Now, it seemed, they would be turned away. There would be no chance to recover, to heal their wounds, to have some food and a good rest.
“You can't just turn us away!” Steve shouted. Despite her closed eyes, Liane could imagine Monolith's frown. One simply did not speak to any Noble in such a fashion.
“The Druids have spoken,” the apprentice Druid replied, coldly. “It would behoove you to curb your disappointment and not speak to me in such a fashion.”
Liane sighed. Her arm ached, Steve's makeshift bandage not doing anything to stop the pain of the spurned Death Magic strike. They were out of options. Steve's voice came back, “you're not going to help us anyway, so why should I hold back!?”
“Enough,” the MagicWarper said, opening her tired eyes and looking at the foreign pilot. “The Lady Monolith is correct, you should not speak to her in such a fashion, regardless of circumstances.” She pushed herself away from the tree, nearly overbalanced, and had to use Lucifer to stay upright. It was as if the disappointment had sapped the last of her strength from her.
“But...!” Steve started to protest, failing after that first word. This was no time to argue with her, she was practically swaying to stay upright. “You should sit down,” he told her.
“We cannot stay here,” Liane muttered. “We have been denied, we cannot remain.”
Monolith looked apologetic. “The decrees of the Elders cannot be ignored,” she said. “Regrettably. You are quite injured.”
“Can't you do something?” Steve asked. “Tell your Elders how hurt she is? Anything at all?”
Monolith slowly shook her head. “I informed them of the Lady Pillar's injuries. It does not matter, the Druids should not involve themselves in the disputes between Nobles. We temper the forces of nature; we do not take sides in human battles.”
“And yet, the Lord Arch Druid saw fit to save my life, My Lady,” Liane answered. “I had hoped the rest of the Druids were as compassionate as he.”
The Druid apprentice gazed at Liane with a calculated gaze. “Master Xard healed you?” she asked, sounding dubious.
The Pillar just nodded, not feeling the need to repeat herself or offer more explanation. They were out of options; it was time to make a new plan. She didn't have a lot of options left. “That is very unusual,” Monolith pressed on. “Master Xard does not usually engage in healing practices. He must have seen something that we do not.”
“Perhaps,” Liane allowed. “I do not know. I was not in a position to offer much conversation; I was in a life-threatening condition when the Lord Arch Druid healed me.”
“Most curious,” Monolith muttered in thought. Liane withdrew from the world once more. They needed an option. Perhaps one of the Spirits of Water would be able to heal her wound. She remembered Haturori and the sphere of water that had enabled her to cast without focus gloves – back when she needed them.
She regretted ever having bound her magic to enable her to cast without them. True, she could no longer be disarmed easily, but the invisible tradeoff was eating her magic. She hated not having a way back. She would undo the damage she had inflicted on herself in a heartbeat, if she could.
Water's wisdom could heal her now, ease her body and magic. It would mean blood in tribute and life in payment. Once more, she would lose time from her lifespan. She was already injured; could she lose another pint of blood without succumbing? The Pillar sighed loudly. She could not see another alternative. Leaving now would mean being tracked down by that bloodthirsty Mage, and certain death.
Standing as still as she could, she focused her mind inward. Liane, the MagicWarper, is of the Water and the Ocean, and calls out to Haturori, Regular Spirit of Water. Lady Haturori, are you there?
Her mental voice started to resound through nature around them, causing Monolith to stiffen and shoot a fearful glance at Liane before spreading her arms. “No!” she barked.
The cumulating effect abruptly shattered, Liane feeling the burst of backlashing magic strike against her core. She grimaced in pain, nearly driven to her knees by the sheer intensity of the sudden burst of agony that ripped through her body.
Slowly, the MagicWarper opened her eyes, and glared at Monolith. Before she could say anything, the Druid stepped closer. “You are the one, Lady MagicWarper? The one that summoned two of the Major Spirits?” She stepped even closer, brushing against Liane's personal space but not entering it. “You were the one who was accepted by the Major Spirit of Air as envoy and successor to the Lord Master, Jozua of the Magical Currents?”
Despite her pain and exhaustion, Liane was glad to finally know why Omkiel had called her 'Liane of the Magical Currents'. She nodded. “That is me, correct.”
“We have felt your magical signature each time you called upon the Spirits of the Elements,” Monolith said. “Those evocations are dangerous and take a heavy toll, both upon yourself and upon the environment. It is a deliberate upsetting of the balance of nature.”
“I am aware of that, My Lady,” the Pillar replied, as respectfully as she could without responding to the lecturing tone taken by the apprentice Druid. “However, I am injured and exhausted, denied help or food, and must leave while being chased by a person willing and able to kill me. At this point, I do not believe I have much choice.”
Monolith grimaced. “Please remain here, My Lady,” she said, before turning and stepping through the tree-line barrier once more.
“What the hell just happened?” Steve asked angrily. Liane glared at him, abruptly striking the anger out of him with nothing but a glance.
“Do not presume to speak to me in such a fashion,
” she said, her anger fading due to her lack of physical strength. “You nearly invoked the anger of the Druids by speaking to their representative as you did, and I will not have it continue.” Her back once more met the tree behind her, and Liane slowly sank to the ground.
“Sorry,” the foreigner muttered, not sure if he appreciated the stern tone the sickly Mage was taking. As if not noticing his inner dialogue, the Pillar resumed, “and what happened was that I was preparing a desperate gamble. It is called an evocation, a calling upon one of the spirits of nature. In this case, one of the Spirits of Water. Water heals and is wise. The downside is the payment.” She looked up at him from her position on the ground. “Evoking a Spirit means paying in blood and in life. Plus, it seems it upsets the Druids, enough to apparently, get our case revised. Perhaps we may get some assistance now.”
Steve nodded stiffly, and paced the area in silence. Liane just leaned her staff against her shoulder, and clasped her hands to stop them from shaking. Her stomach rebelled, the images of the dead haunting her mind. She had dealt in massive violence and death, and her body reacted angrily.