by D. R. Rosier
“Three minutes,” I whispered as softly as I could.
They got close enough for me to feel them with my life detection and I had a solid count. There were thirteen. I passed on the information.
Jace sent Niol to wake up the wagon drivers and stay back in case any got by while the four of us moved out. I guess he thought the element of surprise trumped waking everyone up. We stopped about twenty yards from camp and hid in the brush. We waited until they were passing us; they all had swords out, no archers.
Jace gave the signal and we poured into their midst, four died immediately from blades in their backs. I held back, but not all that much. It was still two to one in their favor. I cut another one down, slicing the back of his neck as he tried to blindside Kendra. Ari flowed and danced between the enemies, every movement of her sword cut into flesh, their attacks simply missed as she flowed in a new direction.
She was fast, faster than a human, but not that much faster. Her style was just as deadly as it was graceful. Jace was following in her wake finishing off any of them that she only wounded while Kendra and I took on the last two. It was a quick brutal little fight, and then there was absolute quiet.
Jace grunted, “Anyone hurt?”
A series of negative responses answered him, including mine. Jace told us to stay here and went back to the camp to tell them to stand down and he grabbed a couple of torches.
When he got back we searched the bodies for some clue, but they looked like regular bandits. The armor was ill fitted, for those wearing any. Their weapons were little cared for. We searched the boat as well; we found some things to sell, but nothing that indicated why they were here.
Ari and I exchanged glances; we were both thinking the same thing. We had detected no watchers around the camp since we arrived, so how did they know where we were? We didn’t walk into an ambush, this was a planned attack. But it wasn’t a mystery we were able to solve.
Things settled down and everyone went back to bed except Ari.
“It’s almost my watch anyway,” she commented.
We walked off a bit together and sat down. We were both reading the air so I wasn’t worried about moving about.
I asked, “I’d like to give it a try tonight. The elemental I mean.”
She grinned in a relaxed way and said, “Okay, I’ll watch your energy for you.”
I nodded soberly, I hadn’t even thought of that. It would have been a dumb reason to die.
I said curiously, “Can I ask you something?”
She nodded.
“You seem a lot more open now, at least when we are alone…” I just trailed off not sure how to ask.
“I guess it’s a rather personal question, you don’t have to answer but… Is it a personal choice, or some Elven social custom?”
My eyes popped out when she started giggling at me. Giggling. Scary and magical Ari was…
She finally got a hold of herself and said merrily, “Sorry, but you looked so scared I’d get mad at you or something. A little of both actually. The lack of showing emotion is social, how we’re raised. Anyone who is not a friend is considered a potential enemy and showing emotion can be a weakness. Physical combat among Elves is rare, so the political and social warfare can be a little… cutthroat.”
She went on now fully recovered in an exasperated tone, “The second part, hiding in the hood, is just a personal choice. A lot of humans gawk. I can’t really blame them, since we hardly leave our forests. But it still gets annoying. Especially the men who decide they are going to lure me into bed, just to say they… you know.”
I said deadpan, “Know what?”
She peered at me suspiciously and cracked a smile when she read my mock innocence.
The strange thing is her beauty was becoming less alien to me and more just… Ari’s beauty. And with her laughter and smiles, it was no longer cold. I smiled back and tried to get in the right frame of mind. She was my friend, an Elf, I didn’t want to ruin it by being one of those guys. Plus I had a mistress over in my tent. Still, I did entertain the brief fantasy of it.
“Any last minute tips before I try this?”
She shook her head, “Just what I told you, frame the invitation along with your intentions.”
I frowned, “Does it have to be all in one jumbled thought?”
“No,” she said, “But it does have to be one continuous thought. If there is a break in the stream you’d have to start over. Do you really have that many?”
I shrugged, “Twelve or thirteen.”
I closed my eyes and tried to organize my thoughts like a stream. I sent it out with my magic, but nothing at all happened. I think I was sending my search magic out, and the thoughts, but not wrapping my thoughts in magic. It felt lacking somehow. So I started trying to figure out how to do it. First I tried visualizing.
I imagined a magical megaphone in my mind and fed the thoughts through it. That didn’t feel right either. Then I tried to box up my thoughts in magic and send them out. No dice. Then I pictured my magic like a stream, flowing out of me. Instead of pushing my thoughts out, I just dropped them in the stream of magic one by one and let the magic take the thoughts out of me.
That felt right. It felt like there should be a better way, I was wasting magic as it just poured out of me, but good enough for now.
So I started over with the invitation, and then my thoughts one by one dropping into my stream of magic. Nothing happened. I stopped the stream and thought about it for a while, maybe I was just going too slow. I set up my stream again, but I put up a dam and added some floodgates. I tested it a bit and a small reservoir built up, I could open the dam floodgates and close them.
This took care of my endless leak issue. I hoped I wasn’t coming close to using all my magic, I didn’t think I was as I was imagining a very small stream. Then I dropped the invitation into my magic reservoir. I could see the magic supporting the thought and holding it there, outside my conscious mind. So I added the thoughts one by one, jumbling them all into my magical reservoir.
Once it was ready, I opened the floodgate and it all rushed out at once. I smiled closing the floodgate, now just sensing magic, air, and water around me. Just as I was about to consider it another failure I felt two alien minds. I could feel them in the air and water. A sprite and undine.
I heard Ari whisper, “Just open your mind to them, and let them see inside.”
I did that and the alien thoughts rushed into my mind. It was strange, but I didn’t feel threatened at all. After a few minutes I felt two clicks in my mind and they receded. I could still feel them in my mind, though they didn’t appear to be physically present.
I felt like cheering, but I opened my eyes and said in a nonchalant voice, “So now what?”
I couldn’t help the smile though when I saw hers.
She said, “That took about an hour, so we should quit for the night, don’t practice without me. Basically though, you’ll use the connection they formed to send thoughts of what you want done, along with the magic it will cost. Nothing is free. The goal is to send as little as possible to get the job done, but if you send way too much, the elemental will send the excess back. Does that make sense?”
I thought about it, “So if I need wind, the magic I send with the thought will replenish the magic the elemental uses to do it?”
“Exactly,” she said softly, “Spells work the same way, you can use your elementals for them for air and water anyway. For fire and earth you need to send the spell out like you sent your call, you package it up and send it, though in that case you won’t get the excess magic back so it pays to learn to be accurate. To fall short of the price is worse; you lose all that magic then need to try again. Once your personal magic runs to low you’re helpless until you rest.”
“Sounds like it will take lots of practice.”
She shrugged, “You get a feel for it pretty quickly. Remember too they pick the means, you pick the end. It’s the spells that will take you a long time t
o memorize and learn.”
I nodded as I stood, “Ok Ari, thank you for all your help, I’ll see you in the morning.”
She said, “Your welcome Marcus, I’m really happy it worked.”
Suddenly I found myself being hugged briefly before she stepped back. I was a little dazed, her body felt good against me and her scent from so close was… I shook my head to clear it.
She added conspiratorially, “You know, I can’t teach you my sword style but… I wouldn’t chase you away if you came to watch.”
She shrugged and walked off with a wink. I don’t think she had a single clue what she had done to me with that hug, so I shrugged it off the best I could and went to my tent. With all the excitement after a long day between the ambush, and succeeding in bonding elementals, I was passed out in short order…
Chapter 8
The next week went quickly in a daze of work. Sienna and I were still going strong. The only thing annoying me was I couldn’t find anything about her that was annoying. The woman was definitely pulling me deeper under her spell. I didn’t think that she was really perfect, she was just that happy with both her work and me, and it showed.
I laughed at myself as I realized what I really needed was to see her in a bad mood before I made any decisions.
My friendship with Ari was getting closer and stronger. Besides helping me learn about my magic we talked often. I shared stories of my life and gave her my opinions on anything human she asked me without hesitation and with brutal honesty. It was really all I had to give in return for her teaching me about Elves and Elven magic outside of just sharing our company.
She hadn’t hugged me again, which was both a relief and a disappointment. I was suppressing my attraction for her; it just seemed like a really bad idea to move in that direction right now. I did start watching her morning workouts, studying her movements. But without her to watch me try and duplicate them, and to correct me where I go wrong, I wasn’t sure I could ever learn it.
That didn’t stop me from going though; she was mesmerizing during her sword dance beyond the physical beauty of it. There was something spiritual about it almost.
I had told Sienna of my growing friendship with Ari and my belief we had an ally in her. They had talked a couple of times but always during the day when she had her inexpressive marble face on under her shadowed hood for everyone else’s benefit. Whatever else, I kept the fact she wasn’t a cold unfeeling creature to myself with the exception of Sienna with Ari’s approval.
Niol was coming along better I thought as we trained together, and Kendra was keeping her distance from me. We hadn’t had any more attacks, but that last one was concerning and kept us all on our toes. I think we were all strung out a little from the constant vigilance.
We were only about a day away from Star’s Cove. From what I gathered it was built right next to a large lake. Before it turned into open water there was a large fishing cove with six fingers of water leading off in different directions, hence the star.
Star’s Cove was also a much larger town than Cliff’s Edge was, I couldn’t wait to get there tomorrow and have a night off, perhaps sleep in a bed. I was also glad this had been the longest stretch, the next two being ten and then eight days.
We had barely gone a mile from our campsite when all hell broke loose. Cirenthia outside of the northern mountains was pretty flat, but there were some fair sized hills. I had my air magic out and suddenly felt a number of arrows cutting through the air from the top of the hill. I opened my mouth to scream out a warning, and then felt a weird pinched feeling in my back and chest, that turned into pain.
Strange, I hadn’t felt it coming.
I looked down at the arrow head sticking out of my chest in shock. When I was a vampire, this would have hurt a little. Now with what I was, with all my nerve endings alive, it hurt so much more. I felt another arrow from behind, this one heading toward Ari. She probably wouldn’t be as stupid as me and get caught off guard but with a thought and a burst of magic the arrow split in twain and fell to ground.
I still couldn’t get a breath deep enough to warn anyone, but the falling arrows seemed to take care of that danger, it was the one behind us that people didn’t know about. I turned my horse around and felt a surge of disgust at what I saw. It was Kendra, on rear guard; she had shot those arrows at the two mages. Why hadn’t I seen this coming? My old self would have, but I had gotten so caught up in the new life and resurrected feelings, in friends, to recognize the obvious danger.
I’d bet she was the one that gave our position away as well, perhaps simply leaving messages on the way. That also meant this wasn’t another simple bandit attack. All this ran through my mind in a split second and as I pulled my sword, the pain in my chest exploding into agony.
She was busy knocking another arrow. I charged my horse in Kendra’s direction; I called upon my elementals to break the bow, sending magic down the line. The bow was covered in water which froze. Kendra looked at it in panic, then up at me. She slammed the bow into the pommel of her sheathed sword trying to break the ice, but the string snapped and the wood cracked as well.
She desperately reached for her sword, but it was too late. I swung toward her head; she lifted her arm in a futile gesture. My sword swung through her forearm, deflected up slightly, so it smashed into the side of her head, burying itself an inch deep. Her body flew off the horse and she did not move after hitting the ground.
I looked back up and saw more arrows raining down. Ari, Jace , and Niol started charging up the hill. I broke the arrowhead off and used my magic for a third time; it stung when the arrow was pulled out through my back. I leaned over and started puking blood, but I could feel the flesh closing over, healing itself. I coughed up a little more and found I could breathe again.
I used my air magic, there was no one else around that I could sense, just the archers on the hill. That didn’t seem right though, no one planned an ambush that badly. So I stayed where I was to protect the caravan. I had gotten so used to using my air magic to sense things with its greater versatility and distance. On a hunch though, I let out my ability to detect magic. I could feel myself and Ari up on the hill.
I could also sense magic off on the other side of the road; it was big, not strong, but large in size. Following my instincts I dismounted and faced in that direction. I couldn’t see anything there, but there was something there. Maybe waiting for me to move off up the hill or some other trigger or action I couldn’t fathom?
I sent a thought to reveal what was hidden in that spot and followed with a stream of magic to support the thought. A large wind came through, but it wasn’t felt with my body, just my mind. It was elemental wind, raw magic of air, when it hit the spot it tore away what I assumed was some illusion to hide them both visually and from magic.
There were eight soldiers; they looked well equipped and groomed. These were not bandits. They were surrounding a man in brown robes who was glaring my way. What was this? The man in brown smirked and a large chunk of earth tore out of the ground, and then moved toward me very quickly. A man couldn’t have dodged, and I was too new to automatically respond with magic.
Good thing I wasn’t exactly a normal man. I dodged and rolled to the side, the rock and dirt missed me by inches. I pictured him impaled and sent magic down my links. Shards of ice appeared and were thrown by the air itself. The man surrounded himself in walls of dirt, which caught the shards. I was to new; I didn’t know all the tricks. I wasn’t stupid, and could be quite creative, but I didn’t think I was familiar enough with magic that I could keep up.
So I rose to my feet and charged while the dirt hid me from his view. The dirt wall was only there for a second or two. For my enhanced speed that was more than enough. The walls lowered seemingly in slow motion, by the time he realized I had moved, my sword was sliding into his chest.
He coughed up blood and glared at me, cursing me with his last faint breath. I jumped powerfully back about ten feet, well aware I ha
d been surrounded by eight professional soldiers. I might be fast, but I could still be stabbed in the back. The large hole in my shirt was mute testimony to that fact. If Kendra had gotten my heart, or my head, I would be dead right now.
The soldiers seemed to be frozen in disbelief, not sure what to do.
I barked, “Report!”
Sometimes all a soldier needed was a little guidance. It didn’t seem to have the effect I was going for though. They sneered at me and drew their swords. Wasn’t that supposed to be against the law, drawing steel on a mage?
I said, “Last chance, do you really want to fight a mage who just killed yours?”
I sensed Ari moving up behind me, the archers must be dead.
“Make that two mages.”
They didn’t answer, and to my frustration just charged. I wasn’t really interested in saving their lives at this point; I just wanted to know what the fuck was going on. It seemed to me like that mage had been in charge, and I wanted to know why. It made no sense based on what I was taught.
They were well trained, their reflexes well honed to respond immediately to threats without conscious thought. But Ari and I were faster. When their swords struck out, we simply weren’t there anymore. Our swords struck them down one by one almost faster than they could track much less keep up with.
The last two we simply knocked out. I looked over and was relieved to see her unharmed, and went to find some rope. By the time they groggily woke up, they were tied up and in the back of one of the wagons. Jace was there to conduct the questioning as head guard. Henry was also there as head of the caravan. Ari and I stood slightly behind and to Jace’s sides.
Sienna was there as well, holding onto my arm. I could tell she was scared. It probably wasn’t the time or place, but I felt better with her there as well, so I didn’t try to send her away. Niol had been wounded by an arrow, but it wasn’t mortal. He was being treated by Denise a few wagons away.
We had lost two drivers and three horses to the falling arrows and we were all in a bad mood. I almost felt sorry for these two guys. Amazingly, no one had seen me shot with an arrow; they had all been focusing in front and to the side on the hilltop.