Mad Mage

by Salvador Mercer

  As they made camp, Cedric noted, “Do you think this is part of the Blackthorn still?”

  “I would think, if anything Elister has told us this summer about the forest is that the Blackthorn covered the land from the Border Mountains to a great sea in the far west many leagues from here.” Targon looked west as if he could see the body of water, which he couldn’t.

  “In his time, he called it the same thing you Kesh do now,” Cedric noted. “The old texts that I read sometimes refer to the land in those terms as well.”

  Khan finished laying out his own blanket and pulling out a few items from his pack and placing it by his sleeping place. “You refer to the Felsic Mountains, the Gregus River, and the Earlstyne Forest.”

  “Were they really called by those names?” Marissa asked.

  “Those names came before the Border, Rapid, and Blackthorn,” Khan stated.

  “What lies to the far north?” Salina asked. “Bran told us about a large mountain lake that was filled with icy blue waters in the mountains high above the valley.”

  “The lake feeds the river, as do several tributaries from the surrounding land,” Khan said, sitting on his blanket and pulling out a small piece of jerky.

  “Can we cross the Rapid River from the north side?” Cedric asked. “The books I read and studied never discussed a crossing outside of the bridge that we know about on the old trade road.”

  “I can’t speak for history or what the Kesh do, but the river is still not passable all the way to the northern mountain peaks,” Targon said, standing watch and peering intently into the darker corners of the forest.

  “Surely it can’t be as wide as it is down by your hunting shed,” Cedric said.

  “No,” Targon agreed. “However, it is faster and steeper the further north you go. At some points, you can almost leap from one cliff to the opposite side, as the river hurls itself faster than a horse can run beneath you . . . Almost.”

  “I thought you have only been on the northern side of the trade road a time or two,” Dorsun asked.

  “On the east bank of the river, yes. I’ve had to travel north a few times with my father years ago when we served on the Korwell hunting expeditions for the ruler of our realm. My brother, Malik, has been this way many times in prior years, especially as a scout in the service of Korwell,” Targon said.

  Both Kesh men nodded, and Salina asked, “How far do you think we need to travel to reach this secret gate?”

  “Hard to tell,” Targon said, looking overhead for Argyll, who was nowhere to be seen. “Elister indicated that it was far, but it could take a day or two depending on the terrain. He said it had been a very long time since he had ventured out of the forest and north of the trade road.”

  Several of the group looked up as well, with Dorsun asking, “Where has that bird gone to?”

  “Most likely fetching itself some dinner,” Targon said, and Salina scrunched up her face. “Come on, even the falcon has to eat.”

  “I don’t begrudge him a meal, but you don’t need to remind me,” Salina said in jest at Targon.

  They didn’t need to discuss the camp’s details. There would be no campfire tonight. Despite the forested nature of their current location, no one felt it had the same feel of safety and security that the Blackthorn gave them when they were near the druid. They all had the same feeling that they were now outside his realm of influence. Khan even debated trying to use his critir but decided against it for now. Without a cover, it would send out a vibrant blue glow, and that was to be avoided for now.

  The group rose early, before dawn but with enough light to see by. They didn’t want to break a leg or sprain an ankle, so they traveled by day along the rocky trail near the mountains. The sun rose well overhead when Argyll appeared to guide them further north and then east into a large spur of the massive mountain chain that intersected the land and realms. Once they started to climb, the trees became thinner, as did the air, and they felt a foreboding with each step that took them closer to their path.

  It didn’t take long before Argyll flew down to Marissa and squawked at her, even though they were still heading in the right direction; at least, according to the falcon. “What is it?” Salina asked.

  Marissa stroked the bird’s neck and simply nodded three times to whatever it was saying, and then it took flight and headed up in a wide circular motion. Marissa sighed and looked at the others. “Trolls.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Cedric said, complaining about the new discovery.

  Targon and Dorsun were more interested in the tactical details. “How many?” the Ulathan asked.

  “Where are they right now?” Dorsun said, both speaking over each other in the process.

  Marissa pointed to the nearest ridgeline that paralleled their current course. “He says there are at least three of them, and they are about a five-flap flight and glide at the start of that ridge.”

  “What does that mean?” Dorsun asked.

  Targon interjected, “It means about a half league.”

  “Yeah,” Marissa agreed.

  “Is there any way to avoid them?” Salina asked.

  “Why?” Will spoke up. “Let’s find them and give them what they have coming to them.”

  The man’s anger was noticeable, and Targon, their de facto leader, was forced to respond. “We are already stretched thin in capable fighters, and we still have Marissa and the . . .”—he thought for an appropriate word that the Ulathan sergeant would appreciate—“Ulathan civilians as well. A lucky strike by one of those giants, and we could lose one of our own. Better to skirt their position and move on.”

  “Speed is important,” Salina said. Her voice and tone indicated that she was thinking of her own family member who was suffering even now while they debated the matter.

  Khan was wiser than the others, despite his apparent youthful appearance. “Save your strength for the true enemy. The sooner we get to Kesh, the sooner you can mete out your retribution.”

  The lure of revenging Inga and meting out some Ulathan justice seemed to assuage the man’s anger, and he nodded in agreement with the magic-user. “Let’s get moving, then. We can go around them.”

  “That will take time,” Cedric said, opposing the plan.

  “Will you, please?” Targon looked at Cedric and raised a brow. “We’re trying to avoid problems right now.”

  “So am I,” Cedric explained, looking and addressing Khan with his question. “Don’t the mountain trolls serve the Kesh wizard caste?”

  Khan nodded. “Some do.”

  “What’s that got to do with these trolls?” Will asked.

  “The fastest way to this secret gate is up this mountain draw,” Cedric explained. “Going around them will be much harder now, as we’ll have to climb and ascend more than one piece of rough terrain, right?” The last part of his question was now directed at Targon.

  “Yeah, this old path is easier than going cross country, but the trolls will slow us down.”

  “Not if they are . . .”—Cedric looked down for a moment, thinking of the right word—“ordered to stand aside.”

  “Who would be ordering this?” Will asked.

  Salina took her son by the arm so his attention was on her. “We don’t have time for games, Cedric. What are you getting at?”

  Before he could explain, Khan spoke. “I think he wants me to greet and parlay with them.”

  “Exactly,” Cedric said, his brows raised and a look of hope on his face.

  “Would this work?” Salina now asked Khan.

  “Could it?” Targon chimed in.

  Khan performed his customary Kesh habit of stroking his small beard, starting from his chin. “The trolls I have encountered in the past were, shall we say, already domesticated. The wizards who specialized in this were few in number, and their methods of capturing the trolls, communicating with them, and training them in the service of Kesh is not widely known. In the wild, there’s no telling how they would react t
o a lone Kesh wizard who would approach them. Most likely they would try to kill me and defend themselves.”

  “What if you weren’t threatening them?” Cedric asked.

  “Where did you get this idea from?” Salina asked her son.

  Khan answered for him. “His books, most likely.”

  Cedric nodded in agreement. “The history book goes as far back as a thousand years, but it’s incomplete in many areas. However, there was one section, a paragraph only, if I remember correctly, that discussed the fealty and respect that the trolls of the Felsics had for the Kesh ruling class. One could then think that this custom could reside in their ancestors even after all this time.”

  “What does it hurt to try?” Will said. “We can kill them if they attack the wizard.”

  “Master can protect himself,” Dorsun said, defending Khan’s honor.

  “True,” Khan said, continuing his stroking and absentmindedly fiddling with the grip on his staff. “I could handle a troll or two, but an entire clan?”

  “The bird said there were only three trolls,” Will interjected.

  “At least three,” Marissa corrected the Ulathan soldier.

  “How many more could there be?” Will asked, looking from face to face in the group.

  Targon looked at Khan and then Cedric for advice, and Khan answered, “Last I heard, a clan could be from two dozen to over a hundred.”

  “Impossible,” Will said, spitting on the ground for emphasis. “We’d have seen some of them by now if there were that many of them. Can’t be more than a half dozen at most.”

  There was more than one eyebrow raised at this revelation, considering the fact that no one knew how many there were. As usual, Salina brought the issue to a point. “We’re running out of time. Do we go around them or at them?”

  There was silence, and Khan didn’t object to either option. All eyes turned to Targon, and he in turn looked at Salina. It was obvious that there was pain in both of their expressions, and the Ulathan woodsman was aware that in this debate, her husband was in danger while they spent time figuring out how best to save his mother. She had accepted the decision with courage and grace, and that was the deciding factor for the Ranger.

  “Khan, are you willing to approach them?”

  “If you request it, yes.”

  Targon nodded, looking to see Dorsun’s reaction before continuing. “Time is short. we go straight for the gate. Once we get close, Khan will attempt to parlay with them and secure our safe passage.”

  “If they refuse?” Dorsun asked, his voice low and sinister, making the man sound exactly like those from Kesh they had heard from in the recent past.

  Targon’s voice had a steely resolve that also chilled the very blood of his companions who heard him. “Then we kill the trolls and move on.”

  A moment of silence passed before Targon took the lead again and started back up the trail. The others followed, and Will came last, bringing up the rear guard, and everyone could hear his voice clearly. “Now we’re talking.”

  Chapter 14

  Temple of Akun

  The fire crackled, illuminating the area and clearly revealing the undead skeletons shambling down the mountainside. The night was dark, and if the twin sisters were overhead, there would be no sign of them. Despite the wind, the immense cloud cover, black and foreboding, covered the mountaintops and, indeed, the entire land around them all the way to the coast. Malik drew his bow and nocked an arrow he had freed from his quiver. He took aim and released it at the closest creature, which still was a good three stone throws away.

  He had learned in the Muddy Marshes that piercing the bodies of the undead did scant little to slow them down, so he aimed for the head, or skull in situations where there wasn’t much left of the corpses. His first shot felled the creature, and he prepared for another.

  “Wait,” Isolda said, stepping into his line of vision and holding her own sword out in front of her.

  “Stay out of my line of fire,” Malik said angrily at the Balarian thief. He thought she was a fool for her action.

  Collette seemed about to scream, and Isolda must have sensed it, because she turned and looked at the woman and then shushed her, saying, “Quiet, don’t make a sound.”

  The trio stood quietly and waited. In short order, the rambling creatures stopped and started to fan out, heading north and south along an invisible line that appeared to be behind the Akun totem. They watched in horror as the creatures hunted for something and searched relentlessly. They could only think that they were their prey.

  Finally, Malik had enough and hissed at Isolda, “What are they doing?”

  The Balarian thief responded without looking back this time, keeping her attention on the creatures. “They are hunting for us, but we are not within their realm . . . yet.”

  “You mean they can’t reach us here?” Collette asked, relief evident in her voice.

  “I don’t think so,” Isolda explained. “I couldn’t be sure until I saw it with my own eyes, but it appears the stories were true, though.” And at this, she did turn and look at Malik with a scowl and a frown. “I feared they would be released from their prison if attacked.”

  Malik sheepishly said, “Well, it appears that you were wrong . . . about the last fear.”

  “Lucky for you,” Isolda said.

  “Lucky for us,” Malik corrected her. “So now what? Are we supposed to sleep with these things roaming near us all night?”

  “Let’s retreat a way,” Isolda offered, and the other pair wholeheartedly agreed.

  They took their mounts, who were already skittish and only their bridle gear tied to the old tree kept them from bolting. They needed no encouraging to gallop a half league back toward the coast. Once they reached another flat area that had good grass and was tucked into a depression along the road, they stopped and calmed their mounts and remade camp. This time, they were both out of eyeshot and earshot from the undead creatures.

  “Shouldn’t we go further, perhaps all the way back to the crossroads?” Collette asked, half questioning, half pleading.

  “That’s too far,” Isolda explained. “We’ll need to return to Balax by the day after tomorrow before midnight. To do that, we’ll need to summit and return before nightfall, and we can only do that if we have a head start, so to speak. The main road is too far.”

  “Fine,” Collette said, looking furtively around the area and then at Malik. “You really mean to go up there, then, tomorrow, don’t you?”

  It was a question she already knew the answer to, but after the encounter, she was shaken up and worried for all of them. Malik could only nod and reassure her. “We’ll be fine. With Isolda’s experience, we’ll get in and out before those things can touch us.”

  Collette nodded and yawned, and then lay down and pulled her blanket over her, quickly putting the ordeal behind her. The resilience she showed intrigued Malik, though Isolda’s words were a bit unsettling. “Or kill us.”

  Neither spoke further that night, and it took a while to settle down enough for them to sleep. None of them needed to eat, as it was late and they had taken a meal while they rode in order to save time. So, with a dinner not necessary, the lateness of the hour, and the quickly fading adrenaline from their encounter, they had nothing better to do than to let sleep take them. They didn’t bother with a watch, as the horses were alert during the night, and according to Isolda, they wouldn’t expect any other travelers anywhere near them.

  Malik’s only concern was if the creatures were to somehow descend upon them further. He slept fully clothed and with his sword out and his bow lying by his side.

  Malik roused the others before dawn, and Isolda left her pack, taking only her sword, a small bag with food, two water flasks, and a few throwing knives tucked into her slender belt. Malik took his bow and a quiver of arrows, his sword, and two small bags, one with the Kesh staff magically stuffed in it and the other for food supplies. His bag had more food, and Isolda had both water flask
s.

  Collette wished them well and promised to stay with their horses for a full day, till the following morning, even though they planned on returning by nightfall. If they were stuck on the mountain after dark, no one thought they had a chance of returning at all, so the Balax woman agreed to return and give news to the old Kesh mage as an action of last resort.

  Just before first light, the pair took leave of Collette and trotted back to their old campground that they had so briefly used. The sun wasn’t shining on the ground directly, being blocked by the mountains and clouds, but enough diffuse light was around them for them to see clearly enough. Despite looking like intense thunderclouds, there had been no rain since they started their journey.

  The area was clear except for the one creature Malik had killed, most likely for a second time in its miserable existence, and there was no sign of any others. Isolda shook her head when Malik went to retrieve his arrow, indicating that he was to leave it there, but Malik plucked it from the creature’s skull and put it back in his quiver. He wanted to conserve his supply of missiles, but also, he felt it important to let the Balarian thief know that she did not have authority over him.

  They paused only for a second at the stone marker, which looked deadlier and more sinister than it did at night, though that seemed impossible at first. They ran up what remained of the road, which was hardly visible. It took off at a steep angle southeast, and they found themselves going from a quick trot to a jog, and then a quick walk as they struggled to maintain their breathing and pace.

  The road switched back several times, and in very little time, they found themselves overlooking their old and new camps far below. Malik fancied he could see the horses, and perhaps Collette, who appeared to be lying down again. He seriously hoped she had only gone back to sleep and hadn’t suffered any attack during their brief time away.

  “Come on, she’ll be fine,” Isolda said, motivating him to move faster, having already noticed his concern.

  They ran till the sun was high overhead, and it struggled to even be noticed by the pair. For a brief, triumphant moment, a few of its rays found a hole in the cloud cover and lit up the mountainside in warm, pleasant rays that gave them hope. Then, with a determination that exceeded the will of nature, the clouds closed the gaps and choked out the last rays of light, returning the landscape into an eternal twilight.