Biruell slowly woke and then sat up. “My legs are sore.”
“That’s okay, if they’re a bit sore, that should pass in a day or two. Stand up and tell me how it feels.”
The boy gingerly stood, testing the weight on his legs. “They feel, weird. I don’t know, different.”
“Ok, now try and walk around a bit and tell me how it feels.”
Biruell stepped forward slowly on bare feet. He was unsteady at first, but gained confidence as he moved. A smile slowly spread across his face.
“They’re sore, but all the hard pain spots are gone. I don’t have to drag this leg,” he said, pointing to the previously injured one. “Yeah, I think you did it. They feel pretty much all better. As long as the sore goes away.”
“I think it will, pretty soon,” Eril said and noticed that he was smiling from ear to ear and somehow tears had begun to flow from his right eye. “Yeah, I think you’re going to be all right.”
“Thank you,” Biruell said and walked over and gave him another big hug around the waist.
“It’s the least I could do, Biruell, the least I could do.”
Chapter 30
Back at Castle Kord, Dorull was following through on his threats of random attacks. The first day, it had been little things: people trying to trip him, body checks, or sudden punches to the ribs. In short order, Eril was a paranoid mess and justifiably afraid that everyone was out to get him.
Things continued similarly for the next couple of days, and slowly Eril adjusted to being on high alert any time he was out of his quarters or Dorull’s study. He began to suspect everyone and started to use his zdrell sight to see the beginnings of movements against him before they were physically visible. This was a trick he’d picked up when he was learning to fence. Now he used it to read whether a given person was a threat or not.
After three days, he’d readjusted, and almost none of the attacks were landing, so Dorull upped the ante. The soldiers in the castle started attacking with weapons as well as punches and kicks.
The first time a soldier tried to skewer him, Eril was so shocked that the point of the dagger had actually broken the skin before Eril blew him into the wall hard enough to knock the man unconscious. Dorull appeared almost instantly.
He tsked, “Sloppy, Eril. First, you let him nick you, and then you nearly kill him from the shock.” He bent to examine the fallen soldier. “You’ve given him a good bump on the head, but I don’t think it is anything permanent. I’m sure you can fix him up just fine.”
“What if I don’t want to,” Eril replied with a surly tone.
Dorull turned a penetrating gaze on him. “Who said anything about want? You injured him, you fix him, or are you challenging my authority.” The last was said with deliberation and coldness.
“No, I,” Eril sighed. “I’m just tired, and now I have to worry about people I think of as my friends trying to stick a knife in me.”
“As well you should. With power like yours, people will be looking to kill you for the rest of your life. Best you accept the facts and learn from them.”
“But I don’t have to like the facts.”
“No, no, you don’t. I don’t like them myself, but you won’t catch me whining. Waste of breath. Just remember, in a few days you’ll have to deal with Zeldar and me too.”
Eril groaned. “Are you sure there isn’t some other way?”
“Nay. Especially with what I’m still seeing. You’re jumpy as a cat in a dog kennel. Jumpy is better than allowing yourself to get passively whupped, but you can’t keep it up. We’ve got quite the ways to go before you’re a competent soldier.”
Dorull held up his hand. “And don’t bother saying you have no wish to be a soldier. This is a war we’re fighting, you’re either a warrior or a victim, and we can’t afford for you to be a victim.” Then, without warning, Dorull rushed forward to punch Eril in the gut. Only, the blow was deflected, and he nearly ended up hitting the wall.
“Better,” Dorull grumbled. “Next time catch me before I even start the punch.” Even before he’d finished speaking he tried to backhand Eril’s face. This time Eril froze the motion of Dorull’s arm well away from him.
“Like this?” he said, smiling grimly.
“Yes. That’s what I meant,” Dorull grunted, uncomfortable. “You can let me go now.”
“Can I?” Eril replied, his tone irritated. He still did not release Dorull’s arm. In fact, he slowly, inexorably, used the hold to push the old wizard back. “I’m tired, Dorull.”
Both of them were aware of Eril not using the honorific Master when he’d replied. Now Dorull’s expression darkened.
“So, you want to play, do you?” he said and muttered something rapid under his breath. Eril was suddenly unable to see and felt himself shoved back into the wall. Even so, he did not relax his hold on Dorull’s arm. He didn’t need his eyes to still perceive him clearly with his zdrell sight.
Eril slammed Dorull’s captured arm into the wall behind the wizard and held it pinned there. “No! I don’t want to play. But you’re not giving me an option.”
Eril’s vision was slowly clearing. He yanked up on Dorull’s captive arm, causing the wizard to cry out as his feet left the ground and he was dragged up the wall by the arm.
“I’m done,” Eril Yelled in frustration as he released the arm and stalked away. He casually invoked his shield amulet, fully expecting Dorull to attack his back. Instead, he heard the wizard call after him, “That’s a bit more like it. But take care, youngster. You don’t get to be my age without learning a few tricks.”
Eril refused to respond. He was mad enough he wanted to turn and blow the old man down the hall, but figured that failing to respond was more appropriate. Lashing out like a child wouldn’t make his point, so he just went back to his room. For a wonder, his look must have been dark enough that no one dared to try any tricks on him while he made his way there.
Chapter 31
The other area of study Eril was immersed in was fighting massed attacks, and with it, helping the castle defenders come up with a good strategy for dealing with another charzen. The first attack had shown their typical tactics to be wholly inadequate.
The charzen were simply too fast, strong and impervious for any ordinary group of soldiers to stand a chance of surviving. Even massed attackers would do little other than present a higher number of targets in a small area. Archers, firing from multiple angles simultaneously had been able to hit but not penetrate the charzen’s armor-like skin.
The only thing that had saved them from the first attack was Eril’s power to remove the charzen’s ability to maneuver and then smash him into the ground like a fisherman bashing his catch’s head on a rock. If Eril wasn’t there, the charzen were an enormous threat. They had to come up with a strategy that would allow them something similar to what Eril had done.
The first idea they came up with was using a net, as it could hamper both the charzen’s ability to strike and his uncanny speed. The problem was, if the net were light enough to be agile, it would just be cut through, and if it were sturdy enough to hold for any length of time, it would be too unwieldy to entrap the charzen.
As Eril, Captain Herriman, Zeldar, and Dorull puzzled over the problem, the solution came from an unlikely quarter, Gill, the castle warder, who had only been partially involved.
Gill said, “If we are looking to try and trap the charzen in a net, why not use an actual trap?”
“How do you mean?” Captain Herriman asked.
“We have the stone passage between the front castle quarter and the back, yes? It has large archways at either end, neither of which have gates. What if we create hidden metal grate portcullises at either end that can be dropped very quickly?
“Then we lure him into the passage and drop both gates at either end. He would have nowhere to hide and assuming the stonework of the passage and ironwork of the gates is strong enough, we should be able to either fill him with so many arrows he falls
down or possibly we could attack him with spears or other polearms. We could have groups attack from either end of the corridor so that no matter how fast or tough he is, he would keep taking damage until he was neutralized.”
“That sounds like a capital idea,” Capitan Herriman said. “We would just need to find a suitable way to lure him into our trap.”
“That does sound quite good,” Dorull said. “I only see one real problem with it, one which we haven’t addressed. What if there is more than one charzen?”
Silence was all that greeted this question for several moments.
“We could place several nets upon the battlements like we’ve discussed,” said Eril. “But we also have this corridor trap too. If there are three or more of them, I doubt any plan we come up with will succeed, but if there are only one or two these plans might just work.”
The construction of the fortifications began the next day.
§ § §
Eril finished most days studying healing magic with Zeldar and Master Dorull. Dorull had to keep admonishing Zeldar that Eril’s rapid progress in learning and applying spells was unnatural. In fact, he kept complimenting Zeldar, reminding him that he was mastering the spells much faster than he had.
A couple of days after Eril had healed Biruell, he mentioned it casually to Dorull. As he’d expected, Dorull gave him a dressing down for attempting something beyond his ability and experimenting on a young boy. He also berated him for not rendering the boy unconscious before doing major painful reconstruction.
Eril agreed that he felt awful about that.
Dorull had just been teaching him the spell to put someone into a pain-free sleep, which was what had prompted his comment about healing Biruell. He really wished he’d had that spell then.
The next day Dorull had Eril practice on healing more severe injuries in himself. To do this, either Dorull or Zeldar would stab Eril, and then Eril would try to see how fast he could heal the wound.
The practice started with small cuts and progressed to more and more grave injuries. One of the first things Eril discovered was how to stop the pain from his injuries, no matter how grave. With the pain banished, he was able to focus on using the magic to quickly heal the wound.
The most severe wounds that Dorull was willing to inflict upon him involved puncturing a lung and then stabbing him in a kidney. The lung wound was distracting since breathing became challenging, but not too difficult to heal. The kidney wound was more challenging as the organ was the most complicated thing he’d tried to heal.
He was aided not only by having his other kidney to reference, but also found that, even though he blocked the pain, he could feel when part of his body was whole and properly functioning, and when it wasn’t. It quickly became apparent to Eril that healing himself, once he had learned to control the pain, was actually much more natural than healing others, as he could feel intuitively when he was getting better and when he wasn’t.
§ § §
By the end of a month, no charzen had come to either Castle Kord, or Salaways. Eril celebrated his sixteenth birthday, and Dorull finished teaching him everything he knew about healing, including the rejuvenation spell, though it would be years before Eril would need it. He finished off by having Eril learn how to neutralize poisons, both ingested and injected.
Eril really did not enjoy that process, since it involved getting sick and then having to fix it. But he realized that poisons were one of his most significant vulnerabilities; anything that could cause him to lose consciousness was a grave danger.
The new fortifications at Castle Kord were completed. Eril tried playing the part of a charzen to test them. He could use his zdrell to increase his speed to nearly that of the charzen and his shield amulet gave him similar armor. During the practice runs Eril wondered if the charzen would be susceptible to the spell he’d been taught to render someone unconscious. Dorull didn’t know, but guessed it would be like most magic and not work, but in the event of attack, it would be worth a try.
After their third test, the castle defenders successfully boxed Eril in their new corridor cage. Eril was confident that using zdrell he could escape with little difficulty, but also felt that a charzen would not be able to do the same as quickly, giving the defenders time enough to kill it.
Eril had been traveling through the gate between the two castles every few days and Master Silurian had expressed a desire that as soon as Dorull had completed teaching Eril healing magic that Eril should journey to one of the primary gates to see if it could be restored.
“Well, Eril,” Dorull said after they’d discussed the last charzen attack simulation. “I think that is the best we can do to prepare. I think we have a good chance if a single charzen comes calling. If there’s more than one? I guess we’ll have to dance that jig when and if it occurs.”
“You could try the line cutter . . . “ Eril replied.
“If it comes down to that, I will. I really would never want to wield that thing. It is truly loathsome.” He sighed and got up from the workshop table where they’d been discussing the simulation. “Eril, I think I’ve taught you everything we dare take time to teach.”
“But, Master.”
“No, don’t play that. I know there’s more I could teach you here, but if there’s another manual out there like the one here, you can learn much more than I could ever teach you. No, you need to get out there. Anyways, if you’re on the move, you’ll be harder for the demons to track, and harder to catch too. If you’re here, they’d try and take us hostage to control you. Better you are out on your own.”
“I suppose you’re right, Master.”
“Of course I’m right. Stay the night, but tomorrow, I want you, your horses and gear through the gate to Salaways. Silurian can point you where he thinks you need to go.”
“Thank you, Master, I . . . “
“Bah. I’m the one who should be thanking you. Thanks to this wonderful ring you’ve made me, I am literally a new man. No, you need to spread your magic around. We don’t have much time before the demon wizards launch an all-out assault. We need more wizards willing and able to fight, and it is only through your magic that we have a chance. So, you need to get out there.”
“Alright, Master, I promise I will.”
“That’s all I could ask for.” They shared what started out as an awkward hug, but after moments, neither wanted to let go.
§ § §
The next morning, Eril finished packing up all his goods and led his animals to the gate. Using the portal had come to be second nature to him, though this was the first time he’d be bringing animals across. He put sacks over their eyes so they wouldn’t balk, and then led them through the gate as though passing through any other doorway. Both animals struggled a bit as they crossed the threshold, but otherwise made the passage unharmed.
Eril met with Master Silurian right after he’d stabled the horse and mule.
“Eril, I think that you need to travel light and fast from this point forward,” Master Silurian said as he paced the study where Eril sat. “The plan before was for you to be unnoteworthy. I wanted you to have some time to mature and stay out of sight. That obviously didn’t work. There is an all-out hunt for you, though they don’t know who you are yet. They know someone is either handing out or creating zdrell artifacts. They know at least one line cutter exists and they will do anything needed to eliminate it.” The old wizard leaned over, placed his hands on his desk, and shook his head.
“So, what do I do, Master?”
“Now that we know the location of the primary gates, I think you need to go and see if either of them can be restarted. If the entire gate system were working, it would give us a much-needed advantage. Demons can’t use the gates, and as long as demon wizards are limited to conventional modes of travel, we will be much better able to fight them.”
“Where should I go? Neither gate is close, and none of the gates near them responded when I was trying to connect to them from Castle Kord.
”
“I believe the gate in Argrave would be your best first target. The weather there will be much nicer than where the southern one is located. I try never to venture south in high summer.”
“Argrave is hundreds of miles away. Won’t it take me months to get there?”
“If you were taking a caravan, yes, but I think it is time you travel in the way only you can.”
“You want me to fly?”
“Why not? You should be able to cover at least one hundred miles in a day. If you follow the trade routes and stay invisible as you fly, I see no reason why it would take you more than a week to get there. You’ll have to limit yourself to a large pack. It really should be something of an adventure. You can keep a sending unit with you and we’ll keep each other informed on any developments.”
Eril wasn’t sure why the whole thing made him nervous. Maybe it was the paranoia Dorull’s training had given him these last couple of months, or maybe it was the fact that once again he was going to be off without friends or companions. At least he’d be able to check in daily. That itself was a comfort.
“When do you think I should leave?”
“I think the day after tomorrow should be soon enough. We’ll go through the essentials you’ll need to bring along, and I’ll make sure you have the maps you’ll need.”
“What do you think I’ll find at the gate?”
“I have no idea. My best guess is that there was a castle there that was destroyed around the time of the Great War. If that is the case, it’s hard to say what might be left. In any case, I’m sure you’ll find something. Finding a way to get a primary gate operational is a dream, but I have to believe you will find something, who knows what?”
Chapter 32
Eril flew. He had adjusted the shield spell so that it, like the shield spell on the flying wands, stopped the wind in the direction he was flying. He was also invisible, so he reveled in the freedom of flying high and fast with no concern of being observed.
The Journeyman for Zdrell Page 18