The Quest for the Lost Shards of Power

by F M Andrews

  Rage simmered. These beasts had made his life a misery for so long and they had no right to take away anything else of his. He had had enough. A lifetime of anger, frustration and pain once again boiled over as he stood, closed his eyes and screamed his outrage at these filthy intruders. It seemed to be what he did when faced with unbeatable odds, but unlike the last time he had screamed at the trolls, this time he felt a surge of power from the world around him answering his call. He felt the heat of the pale sun, the weight of the snow on the ground, the pressure in the rocks beneath his feet and he embraced it, reached for it and then flung it with all his might at these vile creatures. It felt so natural and so good. He felt powerful and in control. He knew it was all pointless but sometimes events were too overwhelming to handle rationally.

  His rage finally ran out of steam and he was left exhausted. He stood breathing heavily and slowly opened his eyes. The world had changed. All was still. There were no trolls in sight. The only people standing were his friends and they were all looking at him in disbelief. Why weren't they fighting? He knew these men and they would never give up. What was happening? He looked wildly about the empty walls and then turned to scan face after familiar face trying to understand their stunned expressions. Errin had a look of someone to whom understanding is finally dawning as if she had just solved a complex puzzle but the others were just staring at him with their mouths open in complete shock.

  Errin was the first to recover, walking calmly towards him with her hands held out as if she was approaching a skittery horse. “Turrin, my sweet little Turrin, of course you are the one. How could I have been so blind?” she whispered, in a voice full of awe.

  This made absolutely no sense to him at all. “Huh?” he exclaimed eloquently.

  Errin who now stood in front of him, grasped his trembling hands in her reassuringly warm, familiar ones and smiled a wobbly smile. “When you first came to me, a little voice in my heart told me to keep you close for you were special and although I love you dearly and you have always been so special to me I never knew just what it was that that feeling was truly trying to tell me. Why,” she gave a small depreciating laugh, “even today my head told me not to bring you along but thank goodness I was still listening to my heart and I kept you close.”

  Turrin was still none the wiser. Why was everyone staring at him? Even the twins were looking at him as if they were seeing him for the first time.

  Errin shook her head “Oh, you poor child, of course you don’t know what has just happened.” She let go of his hands and then gently lifted his chin with a forefinger to ensure he was looking right into her eyes as she whispered. “You, my special one, are a wizard with exceptional talent. You have such power and such strength, more than this world has ever known and possibly will never know again.” These words did not make sense. Why was she talking like this, didn’t she know they were in danger? Turrin looked wildly about him.

  “But... but … where are the trolls?”

  Errin shrugged. “Gone! You sent them away.” She paused, a more assured smile now playing on her lips, her eyes twinkling. “I suspect a very, very long way, away.”

  Hexrick laughed his deep belly laugh. “Yeh! You should have seen them fly.” Astonishment gave way to questions.

  “But how? I mean how can I be a wizard? I didn’t make the light glow brighter at the Guardian test.” He asked, raising his shoulders and looking inquiringly at Errin.

  “You have a very rare talent indeed,” she said. “You have what we call a masked talent. No one else can see it. The bonus of this is that this stunt of yours, which drew a tremendous amount of power, will not be detected by him. The downside is that you drew a tremendous amount of power that was sent directly out there into wild magic country and I suspect we might just see the backlash of that quite soon.” She turned and looked at Dissan. “Best to call Nyssan, I think.” Dissan nodded and gave the order.

  “Wait!” Turrin called, an idea formulating in his mind. “What if I can heal Hezrill? You know, silently, then we can send everyone off.”

  Errin who was holding his hands again, gave them a gentle squeeze. “I am sorry, Turrin, but it is beyond anyone’s ability to heal someone out here. It is a skill you have to learn and it needs quiet and time and at the moment we have neither of these things. The best thing we can do for her is to get her back to Feld as quickly and gently as we can.”

  Turrin’s shoulders slumped. What good was it to have talent if it could not help him save a friend?

  “Um, excuse me,” Myssan interrupted Turrin’s thoughts. “But doesn’t this mean we have four seekers again?”

  Both Errin and Turrin turned and stared at him. Of course! It was so obvious, but neither of them had seen it. Turrin could see the calculations running across Errin’s mind. Was he up for it? It was too good an opportunity to miss, but he is so young. In the end she came to the only conclusion she could. She had to send him. With sad apologetic eyes she gathered him in her arms and hugged him tight.

  “This is going to break my heart but I just do not have any other choice,” she sobbed. “You are so brave, so sensible and I am sure you will succeed. Will you do this for Feld?”

  He nodded into her chest.

  “I love you, please never forget that.” She released him, taking one last long look at him, before turning and issuing a string of orders. This was the Errin he knew best, the decisive Errin who knew exactly what needed to be done.

  Time, again, was their enemy. They only had a very small window before either Nyssan began affecting their magic or the Wild magic backlash came barrelling through. Dissan posted lookouts for the inevitable storm and sent riders out to intercept Nyssan to tell him to wait unless a storm was spotted. Hexrick gruffly hugged Lutex, before handing him over to Myssan to take to Errin. Dissan stopped them to give Myssan a brotherly back slap, which Myssan returned, neither saying much but each understanding exactly what the other felt. Quickly, Errin readied the seekers, making sure they had their backpacks that she had carefully packed for them, containing their parchments with the twenty-two day count down, food, water, blankets, healing herbs and bandages and so on. Then placing each of the seekers at the four points of the compass and herself in the centre she began.

  How strange life was Turrin thought. Here he stood in the snow, on the top of a hill out in wild magic country, staring at the most powerful woman in history, about to be sent to a foreign world on a mission that he had absolutely no preparation for. You couldn’t make this stuff up. Surely it was a dream. Glancing at the other seekers he was not surprised to see the twins’ faces flushed with excitement, Myssan was deep in thought as usual, and Lutex was a little nervous, biting his lip and looking over at Hexrick for reassurance.

  Surprisingly Turrin felt quite calm. There was nothing he could do and at this point – he was just going along for the ride. An air of silent expectation descended as Errin worked through her checklist. Everyone was holding their breath. Turrin couldn’t even bring himself to speculate what the world he was about to be sent to would be like but he hoped it would be warmer than here, it was cold standing still. He hugged himself and started stamping his feet, then began to jump up and down. He stopped suddenly when he caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye as one of the look outs stood and stared intently out into the wilderness. No, please, no, Turrin begged silently. But his plea was not heeded.

  “Storm!” the lookout shouted. “A bloody big one too. Coming fast!”

  Turrin closed his eyes briefly in despair. He had called this storm and it was coming directly along the path of his magic. If his friends were caught in it, it would be his fault, he would have killed them all.

  Everyone swung into action at once. Dissan gave the signal for Nyssan to approach as fast as he could and the knights prepared to ride. Hezrill, pale and unconscious was cradled in a distraught Anssan’s arms. Seeing her like this Turrin was sure that she would not survive the ride to reach Nyssan let alone the
long ride back to Feld.

  Only Errin and the seekers stood still, a calm oasis in a busy field of activity. “Ten leagues away,” came the call from the lookout.

  Errin raised her arms and Turrin could feel the power gathering. The hairs on the back of his neck stood and the air smelt just the same as when an electrical storm was coming. Errin began to glow; the light radiating from her only reached as far as the seekers but it radiated warmth. A low buzzing sound filled the air and he saw that all of the seekers were beginning to rotate around Errin, who was now shining almost too brightly to look at. Oddly there was no sense of disorientation but it was as if he was being sucked into a vortex. For a moment he resisted, but it made no difference apart from making him feel ill so he relaxed giving in to the sensation. He had to have faith in Errin and believe that she would never endanger him if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Muttering under his breath he told himself, “I am going to be fine. I am going to be fine,” over and over, like a mantra.

  Errin was getting smaller and smaller. Looking down he saw his feet were no longer on the ground and that he was travelling fast over the landscape far below. “Five leagues!” A disembowelled voice broke into his bubble. Then all went black and he was left floating in a world of silent nothingness.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Errin slumped to the ground, exhausted.

  Strong arms gently lifted her into the saddle in front of Hexrick who immediately enfolded her in his warm cloak, protecting her from the cold. She felt so empty. She was drained of talent for the moment yet it was more than that. Her heart cried out for Turrin. He had been such a constant presence in her life for so long that he was part of her now. She had never in her wildest dreams thought that he would be taken from her, but to have to send him away herself had been a stab through her heart. Hexrick immediately urged his horse into a gallop and Errin hung on. This was a race against an unbeatable foe. Their only hope was to reach Nyssan’s protective field before the storm engulfed them.

  “One league,” came a breathless call from a knight riding at the rear of the group. Errin could detect alarm in the voice, hinting at the terror he must be feeling. She looked forward at the flying horses spread out in front of her. There was no formation now. Everyone was in the race of their lives. In the distance she could just make out several small dots heading their way. Nyssan! Thank goodness. Almost against her will she stole a glance backwards and immediately wished she hadn’t.

  This storm was unlike any she had ever encountered. It raged, filling her entire vision. It engulfed the sky and the land. It was so wide it appeared that it had no end. It roared as it sped towards them. An angry predator with its prey in sight. She closed her eyes. There was no way they were going to reach Nyssan before the storm gobbled them whole.

  “Hold on, my lady,” Hexrick yelled as he urged Tilda to find another burst of speed. Errin’s world was reduced to flying snow kicked up by the thundering horses and Hexrick’s harsh breathing in her ear. So this was how she would die. Ironic, really, as this was the one situation where her powerful magic was of no use. Using it against the storm would only feed it, supply it with more fuel. It would take everything she could throw at it and return it with interest. The only weapon against it was a Guardian.

  Errin closed her eyes again. The dark behind her eyelids was preferable to the unbearable tension of the world outside them, but an exclamation from Hexrick made her take a sneak peek. Straight away she could see what the trouble was. Instead of racing for their lives Anssan, with Hezrill cradled in front of him, had slowed his horse to a walk. What was he thinking? They were still too far from Nyssan to be safe and time was running out.

  Errin kept her eyes glued on Anssan’s horse to try and work out exactly what was happening. It took almost no time at all to catch up. Errin motioned to Hexrick to slow and Tilda did not need to be told twice.

  “What is the matter? Why have you stopped?” Errin gasped as they drew alongside. The first thing Errin noticed was that Hezrill was awake. She was still lying prone in Anssan’s arms but appeared to be concentrating very hard on something. Anssan’s head was bowed over her as if he were struggling to stay awake and it did not take Errin long to work out what was happening. Hezrill had regained consciousness and knowing she was dying had instinctively reached for help from the nearest source of energy, Anssan. She could not know that she was draining Anssan’s life to save her own but if she continued both of them would die very soon.

  In desperation Errin grasped Hezrill’s hand and squeezed it, calling her name loudly. “Hezrill! Hezrill can you hear me?” Slowly Hezrill’s eyes turned to focus on Errin. “Listen child, I know you are frightened but you are taking energy from Anssan. If you continue he will die! We can save you. Just hold on for a few more moments and we can make all this pain go away.” Hezrill closed her eyes. Errin was not sure if she understood or not. Glancing back at the raging storm she knew she did not have time to be sensitive about this. “Let go Hezrill!” she shouted. “You are killing him.” Desperately she shook Hezrill’s arm trying to get through.

  Hezrill’s eyes flew open full of dismay and terror as she snatched her hand away from Anssan. Her eyes widened as she took in the rolling storm chasing them but instead of fright, a strange look of concentration calmed her features. Anssan sat up groaning then looked about in confusion. “What happened?” he asked Errin “Why have we stopped?”

  “I’ll tell you later but for now we must fly,” Errin shouted, pointing back at the storm. Anssan’s jaw dropped; however, his training kicked in and in one fluid movement they were once again racing onwards.

  Errin watched Hezrill carefully, trying to work out exactly what she was up to. Her gaze never left the storm but there was no sign of fear. In fact she was gaining a bit of colour and appeared to be holding onto Anssan a little tighter. Of course. Errin chided herself for not seeing it sooner. Instead of using Anssan’s energy she was now tapping into the vast wealth of power provided by the oncoming storm. Errin could only stare at Hezrill in disbelief. She had had so little training, never even been able to use her power, but here she was, close to death and inspired enough to use the enemy's power for her own benefit. Such a clever girl. For the first time since Errin had discovered how grievous Hezrill’s injuries were, she could believe that she might just survive.

  The tension was unbearable. It was a race between Nyssan and the storm. They were either going to just make it or just not. The horses were terrified now and although exhausted, they needed no encouragement to flee as they raced away from the growling force behind them. Looking at Hezrill, Errin had an idea. She wondered if she could also tap the storm's energy, just a little, so as not to raise alarm bells, and transfer it to the tired, floundering horses. Tentatively she reached until she felt a surge of raw power. It was overwhelming. How had Hezrill kept it from engulfing her completely? She retreated quickly as if she had touched a burning coal and mulled over the problem. There was just too much power. But what if she could bleed off some and just let a trickle through? She created a pathway with two branches, one that conducted most of the power back to the storm and one that directed a very small amount towards the horses. It took all her concentration but it appeared to be working as the horses took on a new lease of life and bounded away. It was still going to be very close but now there was a tiny window of hope.

  To Errin the distance seemed to close at a snail’s pace, yet, miraculously, it was closing and at last the two opposing groups came together. Slowing the horses proved to be tricky but once they sensed Nyssan’s protective field they finally stopped, standing with heads hug low, breathing hard. Errin sat gasping, doing a quick head count. The panic she felt when she couldn’t see Turrin was short-lived but powerful and she wondered how long it would take before she stopped looking for him at every turn.

  “Fillassan?” Dissan called. “Has anyone seen Fillassan?” Everyone looked at everyone else but no one knew where he was. Errin was once again remin
ded of what an incredible leader Dissan was. Even in the heat of battle and tumultuous retreat he had kept track of all his men. Known who had fallen and who had ridden out from the hill.

  “Out there!” someone shouted, pointing back the way they had come. Errin turned and saw Fillassan staggering towards them. There was no sign of his horse and he looked exhausted. She wondered how far he had had to run. As one, they all turned and rode towards him in an attempt to reach him before the storm. All eyes were glued to the distant figure, willing the knight on. Errin realised that she was holding her breath.

  It was all over so quick, almost too quick to take in. One moment there was a man floundering through the snow and the next there wasn’t. He had just evaporated. There was nothing left, not even a red mark on the ground. Then the storm slammed into them. A strange, clear bubble formed around Nyssan’s field, lightning arced across its surface, swirling clouds of various colours formed, became solid and then moved on.

  It was mesmerizing, awe inspiring and terrifying all at once. They were held spellbound until snow, stones and other unnamed things began to pelt down upon their upturned faces. Nyssan’s field would protect them from the wild magic but not the physical things it flung up. This was petrifying in itself. Many had seen boulders thrown up by previous storms and the damage they had created. Time to race for the protection of the boundary. Nyssan began to ride but he did not get far before slowing and eventually stopping. He looked questioningly at Dissan who just shrugged. They were lost. It was impossible to tell directions within the swirling chaos.

  Dissan and Nyssan had their heads together and there was a lot of pointing and hand waving going on but it was clear that no one was quite certain which direction to take. Errin moved closer to Anssan and Hezrill to check on her patient. Anssan’s head was down and he was barely conscious but he was grimly holding onto Hezrill who appeared lifeless in his arms. Errin had to admit that, now Hezrill could no longer draw on the power of the storm, she might not make it through the impending night. She handed Anssan a small bottle. “Try to get some of this past her lips, a small piece of cloth works best. It will make her sleep and take away the pain. It is all I can do for her now.”