Adventurers Wanted, Book 5: The Axe of Sundering

by Forman, M. L.

  “There are ways.”

  “Yes, I’m sure there are, but that’s not my point. What I’m saying is that you shouldn’t use magic, and I’ll tell you why. You have a magical connection to Jabez.”

  “Yes, we’ve talked about that,” Whalen said, looking puzzled.

  “And Jabez has been using that connection to try and pry his way into your mind. I’ve seen how hard you’ve been working to block his attacks.”

  “It is not the easiest of tasks, defending your own mind.”

  “I’m sure it’s not,” Alex agreed. “However, I have no connection to Jabez, so I can use magic more freely than you.”

  “Perhaps you can, but I wouldn’t count on my magical connection to Jabez being the only way he can find our magic—or us.”

  “No, I’m sure it’s not the only way he can find us, but this is what I’m thinking: I don’t believe Jabez can find my magic at all, so long as I don’t do anything out of the ordinary and no one sees me doing it.”

  “I don’t know,” Whalen protested.

  “Even you have a hard time seeing my magic, and you know who and what I am,” Alex said quickly. “If no one sees me doing magic, I don’t believe Jabez will even know I’m here.”

  “Maybe not, but I don’t like the idea.”

  “Let me ask you a question,” Alex said before Whalen could continue. “Did you notice anything odd or magical when we were in the fishing village?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean. Magical? No, I saw no trace of magic at all while we were there. Why do you ask?”

  “Well, don’t be angry. I had to test my idea to be sure.”

  “Test what idea? What have you done, Alex?”

  “I used my magic. Yesterday, when I took a walk in the afternoon, I used a few spells.”

  “Spells ? More than one?”

  “Well, the villagers were so kind and generous to us, and I saw how they wouldn’t accept payment from you, so I did a bit of magic.”

  “What exactly did you do? This is important, Alex, tell me everything.”

  “I put spells of increase on their fields and herds. I put a spell of bounty on the sea, so they’ll have good fishing as long as that lasts, and I put spells of safety on their fishing boats.”

  Whalen sat in silence for a time. Alex wasn’t sorry for what he had done, and tried hard not to smile because of the stunned look on Whalen’s face.

  “You did all that, and I didn’t notice anything,” Whalen said finally. “I would have thought that, I mean, I should . . . I should have noticed something.”

  “I really didn’t want you to,” Alex said. “I was trying to hide the magic as much as possible, and as you know, dragons are very good at hiding things.”

  “I’ll never doubt that again,” Whalen said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “You’re not angry?”

  “No, I’m not angry,” Whalen said with a grudging laugh. “So, you’ve done all this magic without my noticing, which means there is no way that Jabez would notice either. So what’s your plan?”

  “Well, first of all, you should not use any magic at all,” Alex said.

  “And second?” Whalen asked.

  “That’s a bit trickier.”

  “What is this idea of yours, Alex? Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “Yes, well, I’ve been thinking about this for some time, and I’m almost certain it will work.”

  “What will work?” Whalen pressed.

  “I believe that I can hide you from Jabez using my dragon magic. I mean . . . if you, knowing who and what I am, and being close to me . . . Well, what I mean is, if you don’t see me using magic, and Jabez can’t see it either, then maybe I can use that magic to make it impossible for Jabez to see you .”

  “I see,” Whalen said thoughtfully. “Do you think it will work? Do you think you can hide me and block the magical connection between Jabez and myself?”

  “Yes, I believe I can,” Alex said confidently. “The link between you and Jabez will still be there, and you will have to continue to guard your thoughts, but . . .”

  “But what?”

  “Well, the connection will be weaker—maybe ‘fuzzier’ would be a better word. As if you were very far away, in a distant land, and magic was interfering with the link.”

  “That makes no sense at all, and yet perfect sense at the same time. You don’t think Jabez might notice you while you’re trying to hide me, do you? If there’s any chance of him finding out that you’re here, we can’t risk it.”

  “He won’t notice me. I’m sure he won’t.”

  “Alright, so if you do all the magic from now on, and I’m hidden from Jabez—then what?”

  “Then we stay away from the shores of Midland. I’ve done some reading on weather-working magic, and I found something called the ‘Mage Wind,’ which I think will help us sail farther west than the winds of Jarro might allow us to.”

  “Yes, the mage wind is a simple spell. I’ve used it myself many times. It is a bit more difficult if you cast that magic on a large ship, but on a boat this size it should work wonderfully.”

  “Good, then you can explain it to me if I don’t get it right. So, we hide you, sail to the south and west across the sea and come to Westland unnoticed. Of course it will mean more time at sea, and we do run the risk of running into another storm, but . . .”

  “But nothing. It’s a very good plan, and when I do reappear in Westland, Jabez will be taken by surprise.”

  “Let’s hope you don’t need to reappear before we get to Conmar Castle.”

  They finished their meal, and as they ate Whalen explained the mage wind spell to Alex. Hiding Whalen with his magic was really quite simple, so simple that Alex felt bad for not thinking of doing it sooner. Alex’s first attempt to raise the mage wind, however, was more than he had planned for. He nearly tore the sail off the mast, and the boat spun around wildly. After a quick magical repair of the sail, Whalen suggested that Alex start slower, and then add more power to his spell as he got a feel for it. By the time the sun was setting, Alex had mastered the spell and their small boat was making good time to the southwest, far from the shores of Midland.

  “Well, it seems we have some time to talk,” Whalen said as the darkness gathered around them.

  “Talk?”

  “About our business. For you to ask questions, and for me to try to answer them. We have several days with no one around to hear or interrupt, so we should use them.”

  “I’m not sure where to begin,” Alex said after a moment of thought. “I don’t have many questions about Jabez. Your journals answered most of those.”

  “But you do have questions.”

  Alex didn’t say anything for a time as he sorted things out in his mind. Whalen didn’t rush him, and sat quietly gazing out to sea.

  “The biggest questions I have don’t really have anything to do with the quest we’re on,” Alex finally said.

  “Really? What questions are those?”

  “Well, before we started this adventure, you told me that the council of wizards didn’t all agree that there is a Brotherhood, or at least they didn’t want to believe that something so evil could be happening.”

  “I may have misspoken. What I meant was that while they don’t want to believe in something so evil happening, they really don’t want to believe that they aren’t aware of it happening. There are some very proud wizards on the council, Alex. For something like this to be going on for so long without them noticing . . . well, let’s just say that it wouldn’t look too good, and it would wound their pride.”

  “But some of them believed you.”

  “I’ve managed to convince two or three of them, yes.”

  “What are they going to do? If we fail on this quest, or if an attack comes in some other land while we’re dealing with Jabez—what will they do?”

  “They will do what they can. But I’m afraid it will be too little, too late to prevent a lot of trouble.�
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  “But they are the council of wizards. They could summon all the wizards in the known lands to help them if they wanted to.”

  “Ah, I see that I’ve failed in your education,” Whalen said with a sigh. “The council of wizards is not as powerful as you seem to think.”

  “What do you mean? They’re the council ,” Alex said. “They fight evil, help train young wizards, and make sure that wizard law is not broken. I swore an oath to obey the wizard laws, Whalen.”

  “Yes, that is true. And we also settle disputes between wizards from time to time, and try to answer questions about magic,” Whalen said. “What we don’t do—and can’t do—is command other wizards to obey us.”

  “So the council has no power to command?” Alex asked in surprise.

  “We were not elected or appointed to the council, Alex. The nine members of the wizard’s council are simply volunteers who want to help. It has been suggested from time to time that we try to gain some power to command other wizards, but I have always been opposed to that idea.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I fear that if the council was given any power to control the actions of other wizards, we would end up becoming like the Brotherhood we are fighting to destroy,” Whalen answered. “Power tends to corrupt, and the temptation to use that power, even for good, could cause a great deal of harm.”

  “Yes, I can see how that could happen,” Alex said. “So you think if trouble starts somewhere else, or if we fail here, the council won’t be able to stop the Brotherhood.”

  “They will do all they can. The problem is that they don’t all believe, and by the time they do believe, it might be too late.”

  “Then we must not fail,” Alex said.

  “Well, we must do our best not to,” Whalen agreed. “Now that you understand about the council, what else would you like to know?”

  “You’ve given me a lot to think about already. I’m not sure I’m ready for any more answers tonight.”

  “Then rest. You can let the mage wind drop. The winds of Jarro will blow us to the south, and we have to go further south before turning west.”

  Alex moved to the bow of the boat and lay down, but he did not go to sleep. For a time, he thought about what Whalen had told him about the council of wizards. He was worried about how little real power they had to fight the Brotherhood. He could understand Whalen’s point about power corrupting, and for a short time he wondered about why the members of the Brotherhood wanted power. Some of them might believe that they were working for a greater good, but the power they desired turned all their good to evil.

  As the moon rose in the east, Alex’s thoughts turned to Jabez. He had read Whalen’s journals, and he felt as if he almost knew Jabez. He had learned a great deal from both Whalen’s and Jabez’s writings, and he had to wonder how Jabez had gone so wrong. He had not always been evil, but he had always wanted power and the praise of others. That desire had turned him away from Whalen, and away from the path of a true wizard.

  A memory of Whalen’s voice echoed in Alex’s mind— “A wizard should do his work and then be gone.”

  Alex glanced at Whalen in the moonlight. He was sitting quietly beside the boat’s tiller, looking at the stars. Alex smiled to himself and wondered how it was that he had learned so much from his friend in such a short time, and how Jabez had failed to learn the same lessons after so many years. Perhaps it was because Jabez was so familiar with Whalen. Maybe he had failed to take the simple lessons to heart.

  As Alex considered all of this, he realized he didn’t really have any questions about Jabez that he needed to ask. There were things he wanted to discus with Whalen, a few ideas that he wanted to talk over, but no real questions. He knew Jabez well enough, and while he might understand how Jabez had turned to evil, he could not forgive it.

  When morning came, Alex was still thinking. The winds of Jarro were hardly blowing, so he raised the mage wind once more to carry them south and a little west. As he and Whalen ate their breakfast, he brought up some of the ideas he’d had during the night. The first thing that came to mind was Jabez’s belief that ancient places held magic, and that the magic could be used if you knew how to call it up.

  “He may have a point,” Whalen admitted. “I’ve often found that magic tends to gather—or perhaps linger—around ancient places. I’ve never spent a lot of time in such a place though, so I don’t know if such magic could be used by a wizard.”

  “It would explain why he chose Conmar for his base.”

  “Yes, it could. We’ll have to be careful as we approach. If Jabez has found some way to use the magic of the place, there’s no telling what he might do with it.”

  “What could he do with it? I doubt he could use it for just anything, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t use it for some things.”

  “Perhaps. Don’t try to overthink it, at least not now. If Jabez can use the magic, well, we will just have to deal with that when it happens.”

  Alex thought about this ancient magic for a few minutes, and then turned their talk to another topic that had been on his mind.

  “What are the people of Westland like?”

  “Like most other people, I suppose,” Whalen said after a moment of thought. “They want to live their lives in peace, or at least with as little trouble as possible. They are more like warriors than the people of Midland, and they will not give in to Jabez just because he claims to be lord of Conmar, or even because he’s a wizard. They go their own way, and they don’t like to be told what to do, like most people.”

  “Joshua told me that Jabez was taking hostages. How do you think that will affect what the people of Westland do?”

  “It will keep them from attacking Jabez for a time. Though I think that at some point they will realize that Jabez will never return the hostages he has taken, and when that happens, things could go very bad for Jabez.”

  “By the time they see what he is doing, it may be too late for them to fight. He’s holding the hostages to buy himself time. I suppose the real question is, will the people of Westland help us? Or will they at least stand aside and let us pass through their lands to Conmar?”

  “Perhaps,” Whalen said and fell silent.

  Alex let the silence grow as he thought about what was coming. Jabez was already powerful in Westland, and he had started his war of conquest. He was strong enough to send warlocks and monsters into Midland and soldiers into Eastland. He was growing strong quickly, and Alex and Whalen had been slow—perhaps too slow.

  “How far south do you plan on going?” Alex finally asked. “We need to hurry, Whalen. Time is running out.”

  “Time is running out, but then, it is always running out,” said Whalen. “I’m not sure how far south we will have to go. To reach Conmar from the west we will have to cross the mountains of Westland. The passes over the mountains are high, and if the winter snows have started to fall, we may need to go a long way south before we can go west.”

  “Then we should sail more to the west now,” said Alex. “Once we have Westland in sight, we can judge the mountain passes. If there’s too much snow, we can sail south quickly enough with the mage wind in our sail.”

  For the next three days, Alex pressed the mage wind into their sail. The small boat almost skipped across the sea, but when they came in sight of Westland, things did not look good.

  “The mountaintops are hidden by clouds, but I can plainly see snow far down on the slopes,” Whalen commented.

  “South then,” Alex said. “South as fast as we can. If we must, we could sail around the southern end of Westland and back north to Conmar.”

  “Those coasts will be dangerous. Jabez is sure to have many watchers along the coast,” Whalen said. “I would prefer to come to Conmar by land if we can.”

  “We’ll find a way,” Alex said, turning their boat to the south.

  They sailed south, staying just in sight of land. For the first few days the weather was fair, and they saw no othe
r boats or ships as they went. On the fourth day of sailing south along the coast, the weather changed. At first it was only a little rain, but slowly the storm grew around them. On the fifth day the rain came harder, and the winds seemed to change direction every few minutes. It was difficult to see the coastline, as great drifts of fog covered the sea around them.

  “It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Whalen said as the gray evening turned to darkness.

  “We’ll find a way,” Alex said again, and fell silent.

  Long before dawn on the sixth day, the storm had come in full force, and it was all they could do to keep their boat afloat. Whalen held the rudder, while Alex bailed water and tried to use the mage wind to keep them going south. There was no time for rest, as waves crashed over them from what seemed like every direction.

  “We need to find a harbor,” Whalen yelled over the shrieking wind. “This boat wasn’t made for such high seas.”

  “She’ll hold together,” Alex shouted back.

  They sailed in the storm for what felt like hours. Alex added some magic to strengthen the small boat, as the winds and waves seemed determined to break it to pieces. Whalen was right; this boat was not made to sail in high seas. The low sides of the boat allowed almost every wave that hit them to fill it with water; and Alex was only able to keep them from being swamped by using magic.

  “To the west!” Whalen yelled. “A light to the west.”

  Alex looked but saw nothing but waves and fog. A wave crashed over them, nearly knocking Alex down, and for a few minutes there was no time to do anything but keep the boat afloat. When another wave lifted the boat, Alex took a quick look to the west. A beacon could be seen, a bright yellow-orange fire on the shore.

  “It’s a long way off!” Alex yelled.

  “It might be our only chance!” Whalen yelled back.

  Whalen held the rudder fast while Alex used the mage wind to fight the wind and sea of Jarro. The timbers of their boat groaned and popped as the storm tried to push them south and east, further from land. Alex redoubled the magic he’d used to hold the boat together, but he could feel the boat tremble like a frightened animal under his feet. Even with his magic, Alex could feel the planks of their boat ripping apart, when suddenly the sea became calm. Surprised, Alex looked around to see what had happened. The rain continued to fall, but the wind had dropped and the waves had been left behind. They had sailed past a headland to the north, and into a wide harbor where many ships were tied to rocky docks.