Turek paused, “So, are you following all of this? It’s important you understand because the spell won’t work unless you know what you are looking for.”
Eril nodded. “I, um, was already aware of much of that theory, Master.” He added hurriedly because he saw the response was angering the little man. “I was just studying a book that talks about portals, and it covered much of what you’re saying. It also talked about portals to places other than the demon realm.”
“What book is this?” Turek asked sharply. “I’ve never heard of such a book. I only know this because the last master I served with as a journeyman taught me. He said it was lost knowledge, not written anywhere.”
“The book was magically preserved. I only encountered it a month or so ago.” Eril said, hesitantly, unwilling to give too much away, but not wanting to be called a liar.
“What was the name of this book?” Turek obviously thought him to be lying.
Eril hesitated, then thought that the name itself would be no harm to reveal. “It is called, ‘The Theory and Practice of Interdimensional Gates and other Transpatial Vortices.’”
The look on Turek’s face was frozen. He looked as though he had seen a ghost. He shook his head. “You don’t have it with you?”
Eril shook his head no.
“No, of course not,” he groaned, then shook his head. “Fine, I’ll take you at your word. Then this spell should be that much easier for you.”
Eril made a point of putting back on his master ring and focusing on his zdrell sight as Turek began the spell. It took a surprisingly short time to cast. Eril immediately saw that it was, in fact, a variation of the spell used to open a portal that linked the effect to the senses rather than the creation of a portal.
Through gritted teeth, Turek said, “As you can see, the spell is fairly easy to cast once mastered. The difficulty of it is that the spell itself must be maintained to detect a portal, and it requires a fair bit of concentration, or it just collapses.” As he said the last, Eril could see the spell unravel and dissipate.
“So, for the spell to be much use, you must have cast it into an amulet or something like it?” Eril guessed.
Turek snorted and shook his head. “Smart boy. Smart boy. You are, of course, correct. I spent over a year trying to learn to maintain the spell and do other things. I never could. I tried all sorts of tricks, casting it for five minutes each hour, developing a way of splitting my mind, nothing worked. In the end only an amulet made any sense. What good is a guard spell if the only thing you can do is guard?
“I’m no good at amulet creation myself, but I paid for an empty amulet and spent the better part of six months enchanting the thing. That was what I used for my first ten years. That amulet will detect a portal opening within half a mile or so, and I needed greater range. I can cast the spell myself where it gives me a two-mile range, but it is a limitation of the amulet that it only works at the shorter range.
“Finally, I found someone, dead now, who could create a bracelet that would hold the greater powered version of the spell. I spent eleven months and something like one hundred twenty thousand casts to make this bracelet function,” he held up his left arm and the sleeve of his robe slid back to reveal the rune-covered silver band.
“But, it does work. Two miles range, and I have it activated nearly all the time. Once a month or so I have to cast the spell at it a few hundred times to keep it charged, but it is a small price to pay.
“Now, enough talk. Let me see if by some miracle you can cast the spell after only watching me cast it the one time.” He looked at Eril expectantly.
Eril took a deep breath and then began the incantation. He didn’t think he had it quite right, but even so felt a light tingling at the back of his awareness.
Turek looked at him strangely. “You did it wrong, but I can feel it in the air. Don’t stop concentrating on it.” He walked behind Eril, and Eril could hear a familiar chant. As the chant completed, he felt a tug and much stronger tingling directed right behind him.
Eril turned and saw that Turek had opened a pinprick sized portal, and as he watched Turek closed it. Immediately, the tingling and tugging subsided. With that, Eril let his concentration slip and felt the spell unravel.
“You felt it, didn’t you?” Turek said. “You knew when I had that portal open.” Eril nodded.
Turek growled his high-pitched growl of frustration Eril was getting familiar with. “You did it wrong. You got two syllables reversed and dropped one word entirely. It shouldn’t have worked, and yet it did. You are maddening.”
He paced the room in tight circles, staring at the floor and muttering, only to glance up and glare at Eril and then stare back at the floor. He stopped suddenly. “Do it again,” he demanded.
Eril began the incantation, but knew he was getting the words all wrong. He stopped, then started again, only to have it go worse than the first attempt. Even more frustrated and unnerved by Turek’s glare, Eril gave up and simply let his mind get to what he knew was the end of the spell without using any intelligible words at all. He’d done it, but nothing like what Turek had shown.
Turek howled, “You did it. You didn’t use a single proper word, but I can still feel it. It’s there, isn’t it? Isn’t it!”
Eril nodded silently, keeping his focus, so the spell stayed in place. He dared not meet the indignant wizard’s gaze.
“Curse Silurian for ever sending you my way. One more reason to hate that man. Fine. End it, then cast it however you want, five more times.” He grabbed a large hourglass and turned it over. “I’m leaving the tower. In the time that thing empties, you’ll tell me how many times I opened a portal and what the direction and distance is, by your estimate each time. Write it down between casts, or better while you keep the spell going, if you can. I’ll be back to see your progress.” He stormed out of the room.
Eril did as commanded. He canceled and then recast the spell, waited about five minutes with it active and then cast it again. In the hour he cast it a total of eight times.
During the hour, he sensed portals opening on four different occasions. Each time he was surprised at the difference in direction and distance between them. He figured the little wizard must be fairly running around the city to get to such different places. Each time he carefully noted down the time and the direction and his perceived distance.
Just minutes after the last grains of sand had dropped through the glass, an out of breath Turek banged through the door. Without preamble, he said, “Show me your notes, boy.”
Eril had taken pride that Turek of all the senior wizards he’d worked with so far hadn’t called him ‘boy,’ but since Carge left, he’d started referring to Eril this way. It rankled as he had been glad to finally have outgrown the moniker.
Oblivious to Eril’s irritation, Turek had come over and examined the sheet where Eril noted the times. He grunted several times and then said. “Well, that’s it then. I daresay that’s the most irritation I’ve ever had successfully teaching a spell.”
He reached under his shirt and pulled out a small silver amulet. “Here’s my original amulet,” he said, handing it to Eril.
“I have my bracelet and so don’t need it. We don’t have time to create one for you, but until this battle is over, one way or the other, you may borrow it.”
Eril took the amulet. The actual workmanship of the amulet was fine, and Eril could sense the spell within. He didn’t want to let Turek know that just touching it, he felt he could probably improve the power of the spell within the amulet. He put it on and moved it to hang next to his other amulets.
Turek looked at him expectantly. “And with that, I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain. Your turn.” He held out a hand.
Eril was a little put off by the directness of the little man, but supposed there was no point in delay. He went to his backpack and opened the shielded box he’d created when making the last set of power rings. He made a point of not letting Turek see inside the box a
s he reached in and pulled out one of the two power rings in the box.
He took the ring and handed it to Turek. As soon as the wizard touched it, his eyes grew wide. “It is just as you said.” He slipped the ring on a finger and closed his eyes. “I can feel the power,” he paused and gasped, “and I can draw it.”
The hearth in the corner of the room darkened as Turek pulled the power from it. Just as Eril had done, he created one of the glowing attack orbs, though not nearly so large as the one Eril had. Within a few seconds, he stopped.
“What am I doing?” He said alarmed. I’ve no way to get this out of the room. I can’t hold it for more than a minute or two!”
Eril said, soothing, “If you’ll allow me . . .” He gently took control and rewove the containment on the ball to the stable configuration. “There. Now it’s safe.”
“Hmmph.” Turek grunted. “Well, thank you. I guess. You’re a bad influence on me. I’m being as reckless as you. Either that or having this much power easily available is. Maybe your Silurian was right. Wearing a ring like this all the time could easily become an addiction.
“But, in any case. Tomorrow we’ll be able to cause some real Havoc with those Espilonians. We’ll be able to hit them hard and from a distance. That’ll frustrate them good. I can hardly wait.”
He continued walking rapidly around the workshop, working small bits of magic and marveling at the ease of having so much power. Eril had seen a similar reaction from both Dorull and Zeldar and wondered if all wizards given a power ring would react similarly. Master Silurian was the only one so far who hadn’t become giddy when presented with a ring. Eril supposed it must be a little like how he’d felt when he went from being a slave to living in castle Salaways. The ring gave the magical equivalent of sudden, unexpected, and unearned wealth. He would have to see how the next day turned out.
Chapter 63
The next morning, Eril and Turek met in a courtyard with a group of eighteen soldiers assembled around one of the largest flatbed wagons Eril had ever seen. All were dressed in their winter gear as they’d been instructed. Eril was a little intimidated by the size of the wagon, but reminded himself that the size of the wagon wasn’t really a factor in what he’d be able to lift. He only hoped his shield and invisibility spells would cover it.
After everyone had loaded into the wagon with Eril, Turek and the troop captain sitting in the driver’s seat, Eril checked that everyone had a good grip. He invoked the shield then the invisibility amulets. There was a murmur from the troops as the light within the wagon dimmed as a side effect of the invisibility spell.
“That dimming is from the invisibility spell, men,” Turek called out. “No one can see us now, so most of the light that normally lets us see is being shunted around us to make us unseen.”
While Turek had been talking Eril had started slowly raising the wagon above the courtyard. There were more than a few muffled exclamations as they ascended. They got louder as they continued to rise above the city. Finally, the commander, Captain Zask, yelled at the troops.
“Enough, men. You’re elite troops of Jull. You all volunteered for this assignment. Act like it. I’ll not be embarrassed by your behavior in front of these wizards!”
The men quieted quickly, though many of them continued to make quieter exclamations as they recognized various landmarks from the air.
Once they were over three thousand feet above the city, Eril announced, “We’re high enough for now. We’re about to head forward. We’ll be going pretty fast, so you all need to make sure you have a good hold on the wagon. I’m not sure I can help any of you if you fall out while we’re flying.”
His last comment was only partly true. Eril was pretty sure he could catch anyone who fell, but he wasn’t anxious to test it. After waiting a moment to ensure everyone was in place, Eril began to accelerate the wagon.
As he’d found with the last time he’d moved a wagon, it took little time before the sound of the wind breaking against his shield spell became deafening. Because this wagon was so large, he had to go at an even slower speed than he had with the previous wagon. Thankfully, he had a much shorter distance to cover this time.
It took them just under an hour to reach the foothills of the range that made up the border. They also flew over the force that was still marching to take up the defensive positions on the border. Eril kept going higher into the mountains until they arrived at one of the staging areas just below the pass.
After they landed, Turek, Eril and Captain Zask hiked up the short distance to a post where they could see over the ridge down into the next valley. It was clear that mobilization of the enemy forces had begun.
Where previously all the troops had been camped at the base of the valley, now columns of soldiers and wagons were streaming towards the road up into the pass. It was clear that the body of the attacking force would arrive in less than a day, and advance elements might arrive within hours.
“This is worse than we imagined,” the captain said. “I thought we would have at least another couple of days to prepare.”
“Well, this does put them in range of the trebuchet on the ridge here in only a few hours,” Turek commented.
“But I don’t have enough men or incendiary materials to man them yet,” Trask retorted. “I’m glad we have my men from the advance group here, but we need more men.”
He looked at Eril. “Is there any way you can get a couple wagon loads of men and supplies up here in the next two hours?”
Eril looked at Turek, who only shrugged. “I don’t see any real problem with that, Captain. But, I think you’re going to need to come down with me to explain the situation to them.”
“Excellent idea,” the captain said. “Let’s go.” He didn’t wait for Eril but started running back down the path to the wagon.
“Do what you can, Eril,” Turek said. “I’ll stay up here to keep an eye on the enemy and see if I can prepare some of the surprises we talked about.”
Eril nodded and then decided to fly straight to the wagon. He arrived several moments before the captain, who had needed to stop and relay the situation and his plan to his squad leaders. As soon as Captain Zask was seated, Eril invoked the invisibility and shield amulets and told the Captain to hang on.
This time Eril did not strive for subtlety as he flew. They got up just high enough to clear the mountain edges before Eril sent them down to where the approaching army still labored to exit the foothills into the mountains proper.
Eril enjoyed flying with this sort of breakneck abandon, while the captain gripped the rail of the seat with white-knuckled hands. Flying this way, it took less than five minutes for them to get back to the middle of the approaching forces. Eril assumed that talking to the officer in charge would be their first order of business, so he headed directly to him.
Their arrival created significant consternation and confusion when they appeared suddenly, descending the last ten feet to a wide spot in the road. The captain immediately stood up and called out that they were on an assignment from The Marshall and called for the general leading the expedition.
Eril opted to stay with the wagon while Captain Zask went to confer with the general. After several minutes while the entire force milled about and backed up as the hindmost elements continued to arrive, Zask and the general appeared.
“I’ve explained the situation to general Durge, Eril. He understands the need and urgency and wants to come with the first group back up to the pass so he can lead the defense.”
“I guess that makes sense, though it’ll be one less fighting man I can bring up in that load.”
The general swelled up and was about to tear into Eril for impertinence, when Zask laid a placating hand on his arm. “General, I’m sure Eril meant no disrespect. Eril, a commander is worth more than any other fighting man. He’s the one who will direct those fighting men in what to do.” He glared meaningfully at Eril while he said this.
“Sorry, General,” Eril said. “I just
meant we probably only have time for two or three loads at most before the fighting breaks out and I think you’ll need as many men and supplies up there as possible.”
“Understood, young man,” the general said stiffly. “I’ve already set things in motion. We should have men and supplies loaded here in moments.”
It took nearly half an hour to load the incendiary powders and fifteen troops into the wagon. Captain Zask did not go back with this load, so the general and a lieutenant sat next to Eril on the driver’s seat as they took off. Eril still invoked both the invisibility and shield amulets as he didn’t want any possible enemy scouts to see them flying.
He flew back to the summit with only a bit more urgency than he’d used when going there the first time. They were too heavily loaded and unsecured for Eril to risk any sudden maneuvers. The general had looked straight ahead, stoically through the entire flight. Eril suspected he was at least mildly acrophobic.
When they landed, the general got out and turned to Eril.
“Thank you, young wizard, for your assistance. I look forward to your help with defeating our attackers.”
While he had been talking, the troops had jumped out and started moving the sacks of powders and shot. Eril looked at them and said, “Everyone out.” Troops scattered to obey. Eril floated the entire remaining contents of the wagon out and onto the ground next to the wagon. Some of the soldiers cheered. At least as many looked disturbed to see the heavy bags moving through the air of their own accord.
With the wagon clear, Eril wasted no time. Invoking his two spells, he raced into the air and descended at an even faster rate than the previous time, as he didn’t have to worry about his passengers and he was getting more familiar with the route.
Captain Zask was shocked to see Eril back so soon, but instead of stopping to talk he just directed several soldiers to start loading supplies for the next run. In fifteen minutes, they were once again loaded with soldiers and ready to go.
The Journeyman for Zdrell Page 37