Rise of Shadows

by Vincent Trigili

  “A wizard who knows the healing arts and never heard of a healing potion? How can this be?” she said.

  I noticed then that she was much stronger and looked as if she had weeks of time to rest and heal. I looked again at the potion bottle and then recast my magical awareness spell. Soon I saw that there was residual magic in it, and when I looked up at Shea, I noticed the colors in her aura matched the potion. That told me that she must have made this potion herself. “Where I come from we do not have anything like this; can you explain it to me?”

  “Sure, we have a while before Craig returns with dinner, so I can even show you,” she said. She took off her sash and laid it down on the ground in front of her. The sash, like much of her clothing, was infused with power, and when she let go of it, it stiffened into a small table, which she then knelt in front of. She pulled out some ginseng, spider silk, and garlic from a pouch into which I had put all the herbs I had gathered back in her town. She also pulled out a stone and said, “Normally, I would use a mortar and pestle, but this will have to do until we get to a town where I can buy a new set.”

  She pushed her long, strawberry-blonde hair back out of the way and then used the stone to mash up the ingredients in a bowl while adding a little water from our canteen. I could only barely make out the tune she was humming while she worked, but I could clearly see power building around her hands and mixing with the mixture. Slowly it turned into a light red liquid that she poured into the bottle.

  “There,” she said as she put a stopper in the top of the bottle. “A perfect healing potion in case you need it again.”

  “That is amazing. I have not even heard of anything like this before,” I said as she cleaned up.

  “Surely you jest,” she said.

  “No,” I said.

  “You used healing plants to help me when we first met. How can you not know about alchemy?” she asked.

  “I was making medicine, nothing magical about it,” I said.

  “I see,” she said.

  I was not sure she believed me, so I decided to change the subject and ask, “If you do not mind me asking, what is your relationship to Craig?”

  “Oh, he is my brother,” she said.

  I thought to myself, What an amazing coincidence that the only two survivors of a raid on a town happen to be brother and sister. I really wanted to trust them, and certainly I could not make it without them, but the whole thing was still suspicious.

  Before I could question her any further, Craig came back into the camp with some strange animal that he had killed. As he started to prepare to cook it he said, “Ah, good, you’re awake. It will be dark soon, and we will have to be on guard. From now till we reach Bamtan’s crossing we will have to travel by night.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Goblins and the other predators in these woods travel by night, so it is not safe to sleep. Better to be on the move,” he said.

  “Where are you heading to?” I asked.

  “Just past Bamtan’s crossing is a small trading outpost. There we can buy horses and then push on for Syncillia,” he said.

  “What’s in Syncillia?” I asked.

  “Everything. It’s a pretty major city. From there we can book a caravan to travel north where we have family. I assume you will want to get to Syncillia also,” he said.

  “Honestly, I have no idea where to go,” I said.

  “Well, you said you are a wizard on the run from some powerful sorcerers. In Syncillia there is a wizard’s school, so you should be able to find help there,” he said.

  That sounded perfect. Once at that school, surely someone there could reach Alpha Academy, and they could get me home. The only problem was that there was no way I could get there alone. The last couple of days traveling here with Craig and Shea had shown me that. “That sounds great. Can I tag along with you until we get there?”

  “Did you think we would leave you? You saved my sister’s life! On my honor, I will see you safely to that school, or die trying,” he said.

  He seemed offended by my question, so I said, “Sorry. I am a long way from home and do not really have much of an idea where I am or what your customs are.”

  He relaxed a bit and said, “Yes, of course, I keep forgetting just how much of a stranger you are. Where are you from, anyway?”

  I was not sure how much it was wise to tell them, but it seemed like a fair question. “I do not know how to describe it in your language, but basically I am from a wizard’s outpost very far from here.”

  “It must be, I have not seen your race before,” he said.

  “We are a seafaring people, and come from an island chain far out in the ocean,” I said. I wanted to get the conversation away from me, so I asked, “I hope you do not mind me asking, but how is it you two survived the massacre?”

  “Shea survived only because you saved her, and I was not in town. I had been traveling and arrived only a few hours before you came back for supplies,” he said.

  My instincts said I could trust him, but I could not help thinking how convenient this all was, and that had me doubting my instincts. Still, I could not make it alone here. It was just too dangerous. I needed them, and that meant I had to trust them - to a degree.

  While I pondered that he said, “Dinner is ready. We should eat while it is still light. I would like to get a little distance from here before nightfall. The scent of the fresh kill will draw unwanted guests.”

  “Sounds good,” I said. While we ate, I was thinking that I would soon have recovered enough power to cast Night Form, and then I could easily travel safely. The only problem is I had no idea where to go, and the spell might not last quite until dawn. “How far is it to the crossing?” I asked.

  “Now that Shea is able to travel again, we can probably make it in two days, three at most,” he said.

  That meant three more days of walking through the woods and sleeping on the ground. I did not know if I could make it. Last night it was only adrenaline that kept me going, and if not for Shea’s healing potion I doubted I would be able to walk right now.

  “Dusty, these woods are dangerous, so please forgive me asking, but we need to know: have you recovered enough to use your spells if we are attacked?” asked Shea.

  “Good question, and the answer is: I am not sure. I just don’t have enough combat experience to know how much power I need. I have some and can definitely help in a fight, but beyond that … I can’t say,” I said.

  “I see,” said Craig. “How long until you are fully recovered?”

  “By mid of night, perhaps a little longer, I would guess,” I said.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The next two nights of walking passed without much happening worthy of note. Each morning when we camped, I used the time to learn as much as I could from them about how to live out here in the wild. Craig taught me how to prepare a fresh kill for eating, which was a messy but simple ordeal. Shea educated me on the local edible plants and the ones with medical traits. I tried once to create a potion like she did, but it appears it works like all the other magical gifts; you can only do it if you were born with the ability.

  As we walked along on the third night, Shea and Craig were chatting randomly about topics I could not really follow when I saw something ahead on the trail. “Stop!” I called out.

  Craig and Shea froze in place, and then Craig looked at me and asked, “What do you see?”

  “Ahead about five meters, it looks like some kind of magical trap,” I said.

  “How far is a meter?” asked Shea.

  “Well, I am a little shy of two meters tall,” I said.

  They relaxed a little, and then Craig asked, “What kind of trap?”

  The magical awareness spell I kept up at all times only showed me that there was power there, not what the power was. “I don’t know. All I can see is that something is there. It might not be a trap, but what other reason can there be for the ground to be
enchanted?” I asked.

  “Out here? None,” said Craig. He then went over to the trees by the side of the road and broke off a large branch from one of them. He then carried it over and said, “Stand back,” as he threw it in front of him. I watched it land in the magical field, and at first nothing seemed to happen, but then as we watched the branch started to age and rot away. Within a short period of time the branch had changed from lush and green to nothing.

  “You just saved our lives again, Dusty,” said Shea with a gasp.

  “The trees on either side of the trail are fine. Does the trap extend into the woods?” asked Craig.

  “I’ll check,” I said and walked over to the side of the trail. “No, the power stops at the tree line, so we can easily walk around it.”

  “Clever,” said Shea.

  “Clever? How so? Seems easy to avoid,” I said.

  “If it extended into the woods, the dying vegetation would give the trap away, but since it’s limited to the trail, it’s easy not to notice,” she responded.

  “Yes, now let’s get moving before whoever set this trap comes to check on it,” said Craig as he started walking through the woods, giving a wide berth to the trap.

  After a bit of walking I said, “Okay, this is far enough. We can return to the trail now.”

  As we returned to the trail a man appeared in dark robes. He held up a staff and called out a spell that sent dark bolts of power our way. We dove clear, and when I looked up, I saw the charred remains of trees and bushes where his spells had hit.

  Off to my left I saw Craig draw his weapon and begin to move towards the sorcerer. Shea crouched down behind him and pulled something out from her robes. I decided to stay where I was hiding to see what they were up to.

  “Pity you avoided my trap. It would have been a much less painful way to die,” said the sorcerer. He then cast another set of bolts at Craig, who stood his ground in the face of them. To my amazement, Craig used that overly large knife to defend himself from the incoming bolts. The weapon seemed to cut right through the bolts and dissipate the power.

  “Nice sword, but you cannot stop them all,” said the sorcerer as he began to cast more bolts.

  A sword? Is that what that oversized knife is called? I thought to myself. While I was thinking that, Shea stood up and threw something at him. I could not make out what it was, but when it was just about to hit him, he interrupted his spell, caught it, and threw it back. Craig and Shea dove out of the way as it hit the ground where they had been standing and exploded. It must have been some kind of grenade. Whatever it was, it packed a lot of power and left a small crater behind. I saw Craig stand up again and hold out his weapon defensively as he continued his careful march towards the sorcerer. Shea was readying another of her grenades, and the sorcerer began to cast again.

  “Pyraulous pagou!” I called out and sent ice bolts flying towards the sorcerer, catching him completely off-guard and interrupting his casting. He reeled back from my attack and Craig sprang into action, running forward and swinging his sword, but the sorcerer managed to fall back out of the way.

  “Left!” yelled Shea as she threw the grenade at the sorcerer, who was now struggling to get up. Craig dove to the left as what looked like a potion bottle flew through the air, hit the sorcerer and exploded, throwing smoke and debris everywhere.

  The sorcerer must have had some kind of defense up because he survived the explosion, though he was obviously hurt. Not waiting to see what he might do next, I cast my ice bolts again, which slammed into him as he tried to get up, sending him flying back to the ground.

  Craig recovered from his dive and carefully began to approach the sorcerer again. The sorcerer, obviously hurt, grabbed his staff and used it to stand back up. Craig took this as a cue to attack and charged in, swinging his sword. The sorcerer tried to get his staff up to block the attack but was just too slow, and there was a brilliant flash of light as Craig’s weapon cut deep into the sorcerer’s body, passing through the collarbone and burying itself deep within the sorcerer’s chest.

  “Get down!” yelled Craig as he ran for cover.

  I dove back behind the trees I was hiding in as an explosion ripped through the forest around me. Once it passed, I peeked out to see Shea and Craig coming out from where they were hiding, and a scorch mark where the sorcerer’s body had once lain. Now that the fight was over, I felt weak and drained. I had not used all that much power, but the stress of battle wore me down.

  Shea looked at me and said, “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah,” I said, still shaking from the fight. They looked totally calm and collected, as if it was just another day walking in the forest. That sorcerer was far too great for me to face alone, but they fought him seemingly without fear, and they beat him without him ever even wounding them. These two were far more powerful than I had thought when I first met them.

  “We should press on quickly to the crossing,” said Craig, as he put his sword away and started briskly down the trail.

  Shea and I quickly followed him down the trail. We were not far from the crossing, and soon I could detect the sweet smell of fresh water. That spurred me on to push through the aches and pains of sleeping on the ground and walking for days on end. We quickly reached the shore of the river and ran up on to the dock. The river was wide, deep, and running fast.

  “The boat is gone,” called out Shea as we reached the end of the dock.

  “Without the boat we will have to head downstream to the next crossing,” said Craig.

  “How long will that take?” I asked.

  “At least a week, probably closer to two,” he said.

  On the dock there was a pulley system set up, but it looked like someone had recently cut the rope. “Is this,” I asked, gesturing towards the pulleys, “intended to retrieve the boat from the other side?”

  “Yes, and to help pull it across against the current,” said Craig.

  “Then the boat is likely to be on the other side. I will get it. Wait here,” I said as I jumped into the river, hitting it at a sharp angle. Once under water I quickly tacked back and forth to stay on target while the current tried to push me away. The water had a strong rejuvenating effect on me. I felt my aches and pains slowly fall behind me as my lungs once again filled with that precious life-giving water.

  Once I had reached the other side, I found the boat securely docked with the rope dangling in the water. I grabbed the rope and dove back into the river. It was harder to tack properly due to the drag of the rope but I managed to get back across without issue. As I sprang up on to the dock, I saw Craig engaged in combat with a mob of Green Skins. Shea was hanging back, holding a potion, and looking for an opportunity to throw it.

  “Shea, take this rope and see if you can get the pulleys working, I’ll help Craig,” I said. Once she had the rope, I turned and cast a sheet of ice on the dock in front of Craig. I quickly followed it up with a Frost Wind spell, which blew the Green Skins off the dock and into the river. With the sheet of ice on the dock in front of Craig, now they could not charge his position, but that did not stop them from trying and sliding off the dock and into the river.

  “Got it!” called out Shea.

  “Go, Craig! Once you’re clear I can swim across,” I said. “Until then I can keep these buffoons busy.”

  With a swift nod, he turned and jumped onto the boat with Shea. He quickly grabbed the rope and started to pull it across the river. Meanwhile the Green Skins gave up their attempt to charge and instead started throwing things at us. It was all I could do to dodge the projectiles, and I had no opening to cast. That was bad because the ice sheet was a beginner spell and, as such, would not last long.

  Then I noticed that most of what they threw was harmlessly bouncing off my armor. So I quickly pulled on my helmet to protect my face and then cast my Ice Storm spell, which mercilessly pummeled their front line. They hurriedly pushed the bodies out of their way and tried to charge ag
ain just as my ice sheet started to fail. I cast another Ice Storm to slow their advance and retreated into the river. I could only hope Shea and Craig had had enough time to make it across.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  When I had reached the dock on the other side of the river, Craig and Shea had just arrived and were unloading the boat. “Should we cut the rope so the Green Skins can’t follow us?” I asked.

  “No, others might need to use the boat some day. The goblins won’t cross this river,” said Craig.

  “So we press on now to the trading outpost?” I asked.

  “Yes, in the morning. Now that we are on this side of the river we can go back to traveling during the day,” said Craig. “If I remember right, a short walk towards the setting sun from here will bring us to a sheltered area where we can camp.”

  I looked back at the river. I was not sure that I believed him about the Green Skins not following us across, but Shea and Craig started down the trail, so I joined them. When we had reached the campsite there was still at least half the night left till morning, so Craig took the first watch, and once again I had the wonderful privilege of sleeping on the cold hard ground.

  I just lay there staring up at the strange constellations overhead, wondering how I was going to get myself out of this mess. Craig’s plan of heading to the school seemed wise, but we had already been traveling for longer than I cared to think about. Shadow and the others were probably searching for me, and that meant the whole mission would be put on hold for a while. There was no way they could know where I was, or even if I was alive. If only I could get a message to them somehow, to tell them I would be back when I could, but not to wait for me. I was still awake when Craig came over to wake me for my watch.

  “Can’t sleep?” he asked.

  “Not since coming here,” I said as I stood up.

  “Takes a long while to get used to sleeping outdoors like this,” he said.

  “I don’t imagine I ever could,” I said.