Light in the Barren Lands: Travail of The Dark Mage Book One (24 page)

“Perhaps you could wait outside?” she suggested. “The crystal in here is very valuable and we wouldn’t want any…accidents.”

“If that would put your mind at ease.”

“Yes. It surely would.”

“As you wish, ma’am.” Indicating for Jiron and Jira to accompany him, they left the Emporium and waited out front by the curb for her son’s return. They didn’t have long to wait before he came hurrying through the doorway.

“Here,” the young man said, handing James a business card. One side bore the Emporium’s information while the other had a hastily scribbled address. “Tell him, Troy said hi.”

“Thanks again and we’ll be sure to do that.” Taking the card, he was about to turn and hail a taxi when one pulled up to the curb and stopped. The doorman had beaten him to it.

Troy waved goodbye then returned back inside the Emporium. As they got into the taxi, James handed the cabbie the business card. “How much for a round trip to here?”

When the cabbie saw the address, and that it was in Henderson, he said, “Seventy-five.”

James handed him two twenties. “For the ride over. If you wait and take us back you’ll get another fifty.” Taking the two twenties, the cabbie nodded and took off heading south.

Henderson was a smaller town on the southern outskirts of Vegas. There weren’t the mega casinos as what Vegas offered, but there were still casinos to be had.

Harry’s place was exactly what James had pictured a crystal purveyor’s place to look like. Set some distance from town, it looked like a saloon from some old western, equipped with the double swinging doors and everything. Outside was a broken down wagon from the century before, and a corral off to the side boasted a single donkey.

Leaving the cab to wait, James almost expected to find an old ‘49er with bushy beard and floppy hat on the other side of the swinging doors. But instead, the place was empty.

It looked like it could be the right place, for there were tools of a prospecting nature in evidence leaning against walls and laid across tables. But of gems and crystals there was no sign.

“Are you sure this is the place?” questioned Jiron.

“That’s what the cabbie said.”

Moving into the near empty, aged saloon, James hollered, “Hello?” After a wait of several seconds he was about to call again when a door in the far wall creaked open. A man walked in dressed in jeans and a T-shirt that read, “Rocks are for Stoners.” Obviously a play on words for there was nothing about the man to indicate drug use.

“Are you Harry?” James asked.

“Guilty as charged,” the man replied with a grin. “What do you want?”

“Troy sent us.”

At that the man’s grin turned into a full blown smile revealing the whites of his teeth. “How is the young rascal? His mother kick him out yet?”

“Not that we could tell,” replied James. “He said you might have crystals available for purchase.”

“He did, did he?” Coming to a stop in front of James, he held out his hand for James to shake. “Well, he was right. Though they aren’t anything fancy, just plain crystals fresh from the ground.”

“That’s what we are looking for.” Giving Jiron a sidelong glance, James nodded that they were in business.

Gesturing to the door through which he had just come, Harry said, “Got em out back.” He motioned for James to follow and then led the way to the back door. “How many do you want?”

“How many do you have?”

“Quite a few,” he replied.

Following Harry through the door, James was startled by a brilliant dazzle as sunlight coming through cracks in the roof was refracted by hundreds of crystals. “Wow.”

Harry nodded appreciatively. “That’s why I never have fixed the roof. I like the effect when the sun hits them just right.”

“I don’t blame you,” agreed James.

Gesturing to the crystals piled higgledy-piggledy across half a dozen tables, Harry said, “Now, these are only ordinary quartz crystals. I do have others which people seem to prefer.”

James gazed across the piles of crystals. “How much would a hundred dollars buy?”

Looking surprised, Harry asked, “Of these?”

“Yes, and the largest ones you have.”

“Two dozen if you keep the size around three inches or less,” he replied. “And you can have your pick.”

“That’s all?” queried James.

The man nodded. “Polished and looking good, I can get up to twenty dollars for a three inch specimen. Larger ones get expensive, fast.”

James pulled out his two remaining hundred dollar bills. Earlier he had broken the other two into smaller denominations. “How about five dozen for this?”

The man gave his offer some thought then nodded. “Sure, why not?” He took the proffered bills. “They’d only lie around here gathering dust anyway.”

Seeing a pile of old gunnysacks lying against one wall, James asked, “Can we use one of those?”

Nodding, the man went over and grabbed one that had once held rice. “Here, take this one.”

“Thanks.”

Taking the offered sack, James said “We get sixty crystals,” to Jiron.

“Will that be enough?” questioned Jiron.

Shrugging, James replied, “I hope so.” Then for the next half hour, he meticulously worked his way through each pile, selecting only those crystals he felt would work. Most measured between two and three inches in length. When his sack was full and the count verified by Harry, they returned to the waiting taxi and headed back to Vegas.

Chapter Fourteen

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Crack!

Another crystal shattered.

Now back in their motel room, James was trying to infuse the crystals with the magic gathering spells that he had used for over five years. A pile of quartz shards was beginning to develop on the floor before him.

The first crystal he worked on after returning from Harry’s had shattered in his now bandaged hand. Aside from the one that injured him, six others lay in ruination upon the carpet.

“It’s the magic here,” he announced. “It doesn’t seem to work the same.”

“Magic is magic isn’t it?” queried Jiron.

James glanced toward his longtime friend. “You would think so, but no.” It was the same difference he had encountered during his earlier creation of the orb that was making the crystals shatter. The spells were time-tested, had been used hundreds if not thousands of times. Yet here on Earth, they failed. Why? James hadn’t a clue.

“Okay then, you’ll have to come at it from a different angle,” Jiron suggested. “Start from scratch. Redo the spells all over again.” When it seemed that James was going to balk at the idea, Jiron added, “When fighting in the Pits, if your favorite tricks don’t work against a given opponent, you adapt them for the new situation. You will simply have to adapt your spells for this new magic.”

Chuckling without humor, James replied, “Easier said than done.”

Gesturing to the pile of shards, Jiron said, “Do you have a choice?”

James sighed in resignation. “I guess not. It took me a month before I got it just right the last time.”

Jiron shrugged. “If that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes. But you are much more experienced now, it shouldn’t take as long.”

“We’ll see.”

Taking another crystal from out of the gunnysack, James set it on the floor near the shards of its predecessors. He thought about what he wanted to accomplish. In his mind he visualized the magic in the world surrounding the crystal. He pictured the crystal drawing the magic into itself. Limits were also set so that the crystal would not draw too much too fast and shatter.

The spell felt different this time and he went with it. No longer did he attempt to force it to what he knew. Instead, he let it decide where it would go, all the while overseeing its course.

An hour passed before he thought that he may have it. So, setting the newly formed, still inactive spell within the crystal, James held it in place as he bound it to the crystal’s very fabric. Once he had it bound to his satisfaction, he withdrew and waited. In prior experiments, this had been the point at which the crystal had shattered. When after a moment the crystal remained intact, he relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.

“So far, so good,” he said to his two onlookers.

Jiron nodded from where he and Jira sat quietly side by side on the bed watching his endeavors.

Returning his attention back to the crystal, James calmed his excitement with a couple deep breaths, then said, “Here we go.” Reaching out with magic to the crystal, he hesitated only a moment before activating the recently embedded spells.

Visually, the crystal remained inert. It gave no outward indication that anything had changed. But James could sense the spells beginning to work, magic being drawn from the world around the crystal and storing it inside.

He could feel the spell drawing minute quantities from himself, Jiron, and Jira. But such minor drawings could not be felt by the average, non-mage person, which was the whole idea. By drawing only the barest amount, the crystal would not adversely affect any living beings which may come in close proximity, nor alert anyone as to what he was doing. This did have the downside of taking many days for the crystal to reach full capacity, a downside James was willing to live with.

“Is it working?” asked Jira.

Her uncle nodded. “Yes it is. It will take several hours before it reaches a point where the magic within will make the crystal glow. Sitting back, he glanced to her and said, “I think I did it.”

“That was fast,” commented Jiron.

James agreed. “Faster than I thought.” About to say more, a flash of light drew his attention back to the crystal. Deep within the crystal’s center was a purplish glow. A second later, the glow flashed a second time. Only this time with greater brilliance.

“The difference in magic?” questioned Jiron. He had seen James’ crystals many times before, and never had any reacted in such a manner.

“Must be.” Reaching out with his senses, James started to perform an examination of the embedded spells when a sudden spike in the crystal’s magical absorption startled him. It was no minor spike either. A quick glance to Jiron revealed that he had felt it too. Seconds later, the crystal flashed yet again.

The purplish glow was now shot through with ribbons of amber, the color James normally associated with powered crystals. “I’m shutting it down,” he told the others. Casting his senses toward the crystal, he sought the magical spells. When located, he found them altered, changed beyond recognition. “Something strange…”

Another spike and a large amount of magic was sucked from him. Jira crumpled back onto the bed and Jiron came to his feet. Sweat coated his brow and his hands visibly shook. “Shut it down!”

“I’m trying!”
he shot back. No longer working delicately, he slammed into the crystal with the full force of his magic attempting to vivisect the spell and kill it. The force of his attack knocked the crystal from its position on the floor and sent it careening across the room where it slammed against the wall.

Now a deep purple with thick bands of amber, the crystal fairly crackled with contained power.

The spells were altered too much. He couldn’t figure out how to undo them. Seconds were all that were left before it sucked magic from them again. This time, it might not be only Jira who would be rendered unconscious.

Attacking the crystal now instead of the spells, James sent forward a focused wave of magic to strike the heart of the crystal. Magic surged from him, far more than he’d planned. A spear of pure white light shot across the room and struck the crystal dead center.

Wham!

The power within the crystal reacted adversely to its untimely release and exploded. Paint and plaster from the wall went flying, Jiron was knocked off his feet while James threw up his arms to protect his face. Pinpricks of pain assailed him as debris from the explosion struck his arm.

When the smoke cleared, the crystal lay shattered against what remained of the wall. It was beyond belief how the explosion hadn’t blown a hole in the wall. The drywall was gone and much of the insulation was scattered about the room. Fortunately, the outer section of wall remained intact.

With crisis averted, Jiron crouched next to his daughter, fearing she may be dead. But when he saw her chest rise and fall, knew her to only be unconscious. He turned angry eyes upon his friend. “Be more careful next time! You almost killed her.”

Guilt ridden as he was over the accident, all James could say was, “I’m sorry.” He knew Jiron would get over it, that his words were more of a release of the fear he had felt over the possibility of losing his daughter.

James got up from the bed and crossed to the window, worried that the noise may have drawn the attention of the manager or another guest. But fate must assuredly have been with them, for there was no sign of anyone approaching. He kept watch for several minutes until he was certain that his little accident had gone unnoticed.

They didn’t really relax until Jira started coming around, the resiliency of youth working to restore her quickly. “How do you feel?” Jiron asked when her eyes turned toward him.

“Tired, father. Very sleepy.”

“Then go to sleep while your uncle and I have a little talk.”

“Okay,” she replied, then worked her way up the bed and snuggled onto one of the pillows.

Once his daughter was taken care of, he turned his attention back to James. “What do you think you’re doing?”

James stood there with another crystal in hand. “Working on getting us home.”

“But the last one almost killed us.”

“True. However, if you have a better way for us to return home, I’m all ears.”

Jiron knew the truth to James’ words, despite the fact of the inherent danger posed to him and his daughter. Not for the first time he came to understand why his friend’s workshop had been located so far from the manor. Experimenting with magic was dangerous. “You just better take more care this time.”