He tried casting spells toward the jades, wondering what would happen. Mostly, he saw the energy absorbed and forgotten. It was similar to what happened when he blooded himself on the shards; they drew in the blood and it vanished.
But what did the jades do with the blood? It connected him to them, surely, but there had to be something else. He thought back to his ice experiments, where he felt the power of fire and air emanating from within the shards, and then he figured it out. The blood connection was a two-way conduit. The jades drew power from him as surely as he drew from them. They were just doing it at a lower level he hadn’t noticed until he focused on it.
But did that mean his lifeforce empowered the jades directly? What would it mean as he found more of them? Would they drain him completely? Would there be anything left of him?
He thought then of Donya and her fears regarding the jades, that she hadn’t wanted them around during her pregnancy. Perhaps the jades drew on all of them. Maybe they were making it impossible for her to carry a child to term.
He dismissed the idea. People had children all the time. He had also been away from the castle with the jades when she lost Duria. They were just unlucky. But once he found the healing jade and linked it with the work he was doing with the gemstones, he knew everything would be all right. She would be safe and so would the baby.
That assumed, of course, that she would ever try again.
Chapter 37
Promises
“Parry to the left, dodge to the right,” a burly warrior shouted at Delminor. “You’re not getting it. Do it again.”
The mage held his training sword and tried to obey the instructions, but his sparring partner was overzealous.
“Again!”
“I’m trying, Dackson.”
“You’d be dead now on the battlefield.”
Delminor lowered his sword. “I haven’t died yet. But I need to be stronger.” The warrior lunged at him and Delminor brought up his sword sharply, connecting with a clang.
“Better! Again.”
The sparring session would continue for an hour, the extent Delminor could handle. He was sore after every session, but it was a good sore, unlike after the desperate scramble he had survived in Sandonia. It was the desert experience that propelled him to endure these sessions; his mind set, and his body forced to comply.
The warrior came at him again and Delminor leaned away, but took a hit on his right arm, still mending from his journey. He screamed in pain.
“I warned you to wait until you were healed.”
“My left arm is my dominant and it’s fine. But, oh that hurts.” He took off the leather helmet he’d been given and grabbed his other arm. “I think that’s it for me today.”
“No, we have to finish the hour,” Dackson said. He raised his sword and charged.
Delminor gasped but couldn’t bring up his sword in time. He bent low and turned his left side into the charging man, digging his shoulder into the warrior’s gut.
“Oof. Good move.” Dackson wasn’t slowed, however. He jogged off, then spun on his heel and pursued the mage.
Delminor scrambled and gritted his teeth against the pain in his arm, setting his feet into a firm stance as he had been taught, bracing himself for the oncoming blow. He swept his sword up and to the right, connecting with the warrior’s blade and deflecting it aside.
Dackson laughed and nodded. “Well done.”
“Are we finished then?”
“Very well, but you had better be here tomorrow.”
“I will be.”
* * *
Donya remained distant with him over the following weeks, avoiding his advances to continue their relationship.
“She is still in pain,” Essalia explained one night. “And yes, it doesn’t help that you weren’t here for her.”
Delminor was exasperated. “She told me to go. I never would have if I’d known there would be a problem.”
“You couldn’t have known. None of us did.”
“Then why blame me? Because I was the cause? Does she think I did this to her on purpose?”
“Shh. Stop yelling.”
Delminor lowered his voice, but his hurt was still evident. “I wasn’t here for her? You know what happened last time. She left because I wasn’t enough. She left.”
“You sound like you’re convincing yourself not to love her.”
He shook his head. “No. I can’t control that. I do love her. I want to be with her again, but she won’t let me get close.”
Essalia offered a pitying smile. “Give her time.”
Time was all Donya needed, and the knowledge that Delminor would respect her need for it. As the days passed, she sought out his company more and more and their relationship blossomed again. Things weren’t the same, but they were getting better.
“I want you to come with me,” he said one day.
“Where?”
Delminor pointed to a map on the table, where he had sketched a number of energy lines converging to the north. “I think there is another jade there.”
Donya examined the map. “That’s far from any villages.”
“So was Sandonia.”
She tilted her head. “Yes, but this part of the kingdom is more populated overall. Del, you know that place will be swarming with beasts. You shouldn’t go. It’s too risky.”
Delminor groaned. “You tell me to pursue this goal and that leads me north. I want you by my side when I go.”
It took some convincing, but Donya eventually agreed. Essalia was invited to join them, but she opted to remain behind, mostly so as not to get in their way.
The next morning, they were surprised when Gallena and Arenda showed up at their suite, bags packed and travel gear ready. “Is it time to go?” Gallena asked.
Delminor blinked. “You’re coming?”
“Favor to the king, really,” Arenda said. “But we’ll help keep you safe.” She gestured to the bow on her back. “I can hit a swallomer at fifty paces.”
Donya was relieved by the turn of events. “We’ll be glad to have you.”
Delminor shouldered his pack, knowing there was no point in refusing, especially if the king was sending them along. “Let’s get moving.”
Chapter 38
Battle
“Look out!” Arenda shouted, launching an arrow over Donya’s head. A black ravellion caught the shaft in its small golden beak, snapping it in half. The avian beasts darted swiftly through the air, shaming the speed of eaglons and swallomers. Arenda muttered a curse and launched another arrow.
“You’re being wasteful,” Gallena warned as the ravellion snagged the second arrow and crushed it. Delminor’s earth pellets did little either.
The creature released a piercing cry that made the companions bend and cover their ears, then it swooped in to attack.
Donya recovered first, sweeping her hands upward and flinging a sheet of water into the air. The bird flew through it, weaving slightly at the added weight. She then cast her freezing spell, trapping the beast in ice and grounding it.
Thankfully, ravellions were solitary creatures and the group had time to recover after the attack.
Pushing on, they ran into a pack of lupino cubs. The small wolfish beasts surrounded them and howled, calling for help. The cunning creatures were difficult as cubs and formidable as adults. The team worked quickly to dispatch the small foes.
Delminor began by drawing up the ground from under one of the cubs, sending it flying onto its back. He followed up with a running sword strike, finishing it off. Two others retaliated and targeted him directly. He rolled out of the way and brought his sword about. The cubs snarled and pawed the ground.
Gallena pursued two beasts with blasts of fire that lit the evening sky. She screamed with each bolt that flew from her hands, shooting until the spell lost its fuel. She rummaged through her pockets for firegnat serum while the cubs licked their wounds.
Arenda’s bow sang and she had the most succ
ess of the group, taking down three cubs that had turned toward Donya. The water mage fell to her knees, grabbing her side; one of Arenda’s arrows had grazed her. The archer ran to Donya’s side, her eyes wide.
Delminor saw Donya go down, but he had his own problems to contend with. The two cubs charged him and he pulled his sword against them, but the small lupinoes worked in unison. One moved left and the other right, so that Delminor could target only one. He pounced to the left and swung his sword, but the cub leaped over the attack, hitting the ground and turning sharply. The other lupino howled and ran in an arc to seek its foe again.
Fire lit the sky as Gallena summoned another series of fireballs. She targeted anything moving, Delminor included. He hastily drew up a dirt wall to block the flames, calling out for her to be more careful. But a fireball struck one of the cubs full in the face, ending its charge in a rancid mess.
He spun around and slashed at the other cub. The beast pounced out of the way and, seeing its brethren defeated, turned and scampered away. An arrow sailed through the air and brought it down.
Delminor hurried to Donya’s aid, pulling out a healing ointment Essalia had given him and applying it to the gash. She cried out in pain but then the aching stopped. He bandaged her wound and asked if she was all right.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Donnie, I’m so sorry!” Arenda had tears in her eyes.
Donya waved it off. “It’s not that bad.” She tried to stand but couldn’t, as pain shot up from her side.
Gallena scanned the horizon and then stepped over to a nearby tree and pulled off some low-hanging branches. “We might as well settle in.” She set the wood in a pile and used her magic to light a campfire. “Anyone up for some cub for dinner?” She fetched the small beasts and prepared them.
Donya had a rough night. The healing salve soothed the pain, but didn’t remove it completely. There was only so much an herbal remedy could do.
“Honestly, I’m okay,” she insisted the next morning. “Just sore and tired. Stop fawning.”
Her tone caught Delminor off guard, but he realized she must be weary of everyone always asking how she was doing. At some point, the question itself was worse than the discomfort.
The companions continued their trek toward the north, stopping in at small villages scattered along the way. The hamlets grew sparse the further they traveled. Donya’s wound healed enough that it was only a minor throb and she was able to fight again.
As they moved away from the civilized parts of the land, the frequency of their attacks increased. “We’re entering their territory,” Donya said. “We’ll be overwhelmed soon. It’s what I was afraid of.”
Gallena swung her sword in a circle. “Speak for yourself. I’ve got a lot of fight left in me.”
Not long later, her claim was put to the test as a pair of tigroars roamed past and spotted them. The orange and yellow beasts growled, then opened their jaws wide to disable their enemies with a rumbling howl. Unlike the sharp ravellion’s cry, these thundered and shook the ground, causing the team to stagger.
Delminor recovered and brought his hands around, scooping up dirt and launching it at the beasts. The minor distraction allowed the rest of his companions to catch their bearings.
Arenda let loose with her arrows, striking one of the tigroars in the side. It wailed in pain and then snarled, targeting its assailant. The beast ran full-tilt and she was at a loss for what to do. The tigroar pounded across the ground and leaped at her.
Fire flew from Gallena’s hands, hitting the creature and deflecting its flight, but only a little. The tigroar landed on Arenda with a hearty thud, cracking ribs and gashing her skin. Gallena hurried over, her face a mask of panic.
Donya struggled to use her magic and her swords. She hadn’t healed as much as she had hoped, and her movements were stilted. She scored a few hits on the other tigroar, however, as Delminor supported her efforts with magic.
Gallena’s battle cry caught everyone by surprise, tigroars included. It was shrill and fierce, like a wounded ravellion. Her sword cut into the tigroar that had landed on Arenda and she slashed and hacked at the beast long after it was dead.
Delminor focused on his earth magic during battle, as it still came the most naturally to him despite his work with the other elements. He launched a ball of dirt toward the tigroar, condensing it to stone and then exploding it outward when it was close to the beast. The shards of rock impaled the tigroar and caused it to whimper in pain.
He continued his assault, launching a series of stone darts until the beast finally had enough and ran away. No one bothered to give chase to finish it off.
“She’s hurt bad,” Gallena said, assessing Arenda’s wounds. “You’re right, Del. We need some way to heal people with magic. This just can’t go on.”
“We need to get her to a safer haven,” he said. “It’s out of the way, but I know where we are. Come on, let’s head west.”
It was difficult to move Arenda, but Delminor used the air jade to try to levitate her somewhat. It was impossible to control for long, but it helped Gallena to support her during the journey.
With Arenda out of commission, the next few battles were challenging. Her archery skills had been more helpful than they’d realized. A pack of eaglons flew in and Arenda could have downed one or two before they were close, but in her condition, she could barely breathe, never mind launch arrows.
Delminor grabbed the air jade and held it aloft, seeking the spell he needed to bring the eaglons down in a gust of wind. It had to be stronger than the air blasts he was accustomed to using, but the air jade was silent.
He switched back to his earth magic, his mind tired from all the casting. He couldn’t find the strength to launch any more darts, but he wasn’t finished yet. He first summoned the Shield of Delminor, then coated his hands in dirt, invoking one more spell. “Errectular poudounic wrekkulan karth.” The dirt around his hands solidified like stone, and he used them to pummel the eaglons as they hurried toward him.
Donya and Gallena focused on their swords, defending the onslaught, but letting Delminor do most of the attacking. The entire group was exhausted and it was all they could to keep fighting.
Eventually they continued with their trek and as they neared a small settlement, the attacks lessened. Delminor led them inside, knowing this place well.
“This is Verrithon. My hometown.”
Chapter 39
Verrithon
They made their way to Delminor’s home and he knocked on the door like a stranger. The door opened. “Yes?”
“Hello, Mother.”
It took her a moment to recognize him after nearly ten years. “Dellie? Is that you?”
“I’m home.”
She stared at him, dumbfounded. “It’s good to see you. My goodness! We thought you never made it past the market.”
He rolled his eyes. “May we come in?”
“Yes, of course.”
The four staggered inside, Arenda and Donya taking offered chairs immediately. Jary brought them some water and bade them to make themselves at home.
“Sorry I’ve been gone for so long.” His voice was more terse than anyone was used to hearing.
“It’s not like you ever sent word either,” his mother scolded. “I guess you couldn’t afford it.”
“I don’t see Father around. Does he still live here?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Your father’s out getting supplies and should return tomorrow. If he was back today, I’d have a bit more to offer you all.”
“This is wonderful, ma’am, thank you,” Donya said.
“Ma’am,” she scoffed. “You all call me Jary. It’s only fair. That’s want Dellie always did.” Then she looked at him curiously. “Except you just called me ‘Mother’ outside, didn’t you?”
“I was a bratty kid,” he said.
Gallena laughed. “You’re no better now. And no manners. I’m Gallena, this is Arenda, and that’s Donya. They’re ‘toget
her,’” she lilted.
Donya blushed. “Well so are you two, so be nice.”
Jary looked at Arenda, who was ashen. “Dellie, your friend needs help. There’s not much I’m going to be able to do, unless you think I can work miracles. Maybe your friend Leesha over in Jerrona knows something you don’t? Maybe you should head over there and find out.”
“I’m fine,” Arenda said around the pain. “Just need some rest.”
“Take her to your room, Dellie. It’s still there.”
He was surprised to hear it, wondering why they would keep his room set up for all these years, especially if they thought he had perished. Yet when he saw the room, he realized she only meant the room was still there with a bed. All of his things were gone.
Gallena stayed with Arenda, propping herself up on a stool and stroking her hair, coaxing her to sleep.
“We never expected you back,” Jary said. “Your things—”
“It’s fine, Mother. I understand.”
She smacked him on the shoulder. “Still interrupting me and making assumptions. Your things are in crates out back.”
His spirits lifted and he walked away without word to investigate. He heard his mother say to Donya, “Same old Dellie.”
The crates were in bad shape and he couldn’t imagine anything surviving in them through the rains and snows that had to have hit. He used his magic to pry open the lids and rummaged through the mess.
Most of his lab equipment was in there, some pieces of glassware shattered. Spell components had rotted or withered to nothingness. But he was looking for something specific. He dug through the crates, disappointment building with each one.
Jary came out to find him sitting on the ground, dismayed.
“Most of this is useless,” he said.
She carried a small leather cylinder and handed it to him. “Your father insisted we keep these inside for some reason.”
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