Spirit Blade: Book III of the Dragon Mage Trilogy (34 page)

Chapter 33

T
he orcs drew warily nearer, surrounding Sherman and his companions.

A brief tremor shook the ground for several seconds and slowed their advance.

“Stand back, I say,” said Sherman for the fifth time. He waved his sword menacingly.

“Put your weapon down and you will not get hurt,” said one orc. “We won’t kill you because the warlock may have some questions for you.”

“We’ll die first,” snarled Sherman. He was stalling for time. Kazin had not regained consciousness yet and Amelia was still bending over his inert form.

“Just do as you’re told,” said the orc. “You’re outnumbered. You stand no chance against us.”

“I beg to differ,” said a familiar voice.

The orcs turned as one to see who had spoken. Standing alone, wielding an ice axe, was a minotaur. He grinned at his audience.

“Whoever moves first gets an arrow in their skull,” said another familiar voice from a spot several feet away. The speaker was concealed in the bushes.

“You’re surrounded,” said a third gruff voice from a different location. It was a dwarf with an ice axe.

“You guys are a sight for sore eyes!” cried Sherman in relief.

“You’re never -,” began the orc who had first spoken. He didn’t finish his sentence as an arrow embedded itself in his skull. He fell to the ground with a thud.

“I warned you,” said Olag.

After that an earthquake struck and a battle ensued. Several orcs at a time were frozen in place as Harran’s ice axe waved past them. They stood no chance on his back swing as the axe shattered them into thousands of tiny fragments.

Zylor was content with ignoring the freezing effect of his axe and slicing his enemies like kindling. He mowed them down with ease. Sherman’s sword cut through the creatures like a hot knife through butter, felling everything in sight. Even Olag’s arrows kept pace, downing one orc after the next.

Some lizardmages appeared and were preparing to cast spells but Olag’s arrows made short work of them. One lizardmage succeeded in casting a fireball, but it went wide, landing on the ground beside Amelia.

“Oh, for crying out loud!” snapped the red-haired mage irritably. She stood up and faced the enemy. Raising her hands, she cast a spell and the trees around them reached out, grabbing the nearest orc or lizardmage with their branches and tangling them up. The more the enemy struggled, the tighter the branches and roots became. Within a few minutes there was not one enemy left standing. Those who were caught by the trees were crushed to death and then dropped to the ground.

Amelia wordlessly went back to tending to the mage.

Then the earthquake stopped.

Sherman heartily shook hands with the rest of the companions, embracing the dwarf and welcoming him back to their midst.

“It was quite the adventure,” said Harran.

“We’ll talk about it later,” said Sherman. He went over to where Kazin lay and gently pulled Amelia aside. “We have to get out of here, Amelia. You can work on Kazin as we travel.” Then he deftly picked up the much smaller mage and swung him over his shoulder. He nodded at Amelia. “Lead the way.”

Amelia withdrew her orb and led the companions from the area.

“If you get tired, let me know,” said Zylor to the big warrior.

Sherman looked over at the minotaur and smiled. “Not a chance.”

The companions made good headway and did not encounter any more enemies. They traveled without incident, following Amelia’s orb. As they went, Amelia healed a small cut Harran had sustained after the last fight and a gash that Zylor had received on his left arm. “You guys should tell me when you get hurt so I can heal you!” she warned.

“It might have happened before we joined up with you,” said Harran.

“I didn’t even notice my wound,” said Zylor.

The mage just shook her head in exasperation.

Kazin was still unconscious and murmured from time to time. One word that came up often was ‘Filbar’. They stopped once, at Amelia’s urging, to consume some food, and then were on their way again.

“I guess it’s only fair that we carry Kazin for a while,” said Sherman. “He’s carried us more than his fair share of the time.”

“Speaking of which,” said Zylor. He came over to take the mage from Sherman’s shoulder. Sherman was relieved to have a break but said nothing, knowing that any indication of weakness on his part would make Zylor insist upon carrying Kazin the rest of the way himself.

Soon evening was approaching so they stopped for another break. The clouds were departing and the sky was beginning to clear. Zylor put Kazin down and Amelia immediately hovered over him. Sherman took the opportunity to fill the others in on their progress. He included the theory that their quarry was jumping from body to body because they were some sort of evil spirits.

Harran whistled. “They’re going to be difficult to stop.”

Sherman nodded. He talked about Kazin’s theories and concluded with their journey and subsequent crash landing.

Harran was surprised they were so close to the enemy encampment. “Out of the frying pan into the fire.”

Zylor chuckled. “Suits me fine! The more we do battle the more I feel like I’m useful. Besides, now that we’re out of human territory, I can be myself again.”

A moan could be heard as Kazin started to come to. Everyone hurried over to see how the mage was doing.

Kazin moaned again and opened his eyes. He blinked several times. “Either I’m dreaming or Harran has been found.”

Sherman chuckled. “You’re not dreaming. Harran’s back, along with the others. They just saved your hide.” He looked across at Amelia. “Your red-haired girlfriend did most of the work, though.”

Kazin sat up groggily. “Well done, all of you.”

“But you were dreaming about something too,” said Amelia. “You were mumbling about ‘Filbar’.”

Kazin sighed. “I guess I ought to tell you about that.”

“About what?” asked Amelia.

“Remember when we were camped prior to entering the human encampment and you and Sherman woke to an earthquake and I was gone?” asked Kazin.

“Yes,” said Amelia.

“Well, I may have caused an unwanted change in history,” said Kazin. “I heard a dragon’s cry and went to investigate. I discovered a mage who had captured a dragon - a very young one. Well, it didn’t bode well for the mage. He was killed by the dragon and the dragon stole the orb that contained its life force. Around that time, I was discovered, so the dragon became bold and attacked me.”

“Oh, no,” said Amelia. “Were you hurt?”

Kazin shook his head. “Not badly. It’s just that when the dragon and I made contact, there was a loud explosion. There was no reason for it until I had a few seconds to think about it, thanks to the earthquake that happened then. Anyway, I acted on a hunch and asked the dragon if its name was Filbar. It was. The dragon was surprised by the fact that I knew its name and it flew away.”

“I don’t get it,” said Amelia.

Kazin smiled wanly. “Filbar is the name of the dragon I defeated and obtained the orb from. That’s how I became a dragon mage.”

Amelia’s eyes widened. “You mean - you encountered yourself?”

Kazin nodded. “The dragon part of myself, anyway. I was fearful that encounter may have altered history. But then I thought that if it had, I wouldn’t have succeeded in taking the orb and becoming a dragon mage, and wouldn’t be back here on this quest in the first place.”

“I see,” said Amelia. “I think.”

“If that’s true,” argued Sherman, “the dragon that you became must have been many generations old. Even dragons couldn’t live that long, could they?”

“I thought about that,” said Kazin. “I thought about that for a long time. The only conclusion I could come to is that the dragon was able to live for so long because it had its life force contained within the orb. There is a great deal of magic contained within the orb. If the dragon was able to draw the power from the orb, it could potentially sustain itself for several lifetimes. You already know I will live a much longer life span because of the orb and its power. This would be no different.”

“Then I guess you’re a lot older than you look,” said Olag.

Kazin laughed. “Trust me, I sometimes feel like that’s true.”

“You said the earthquake struck when you made contact with the dragon,” said Harran. “Do you think the two are related?”

“I’m not sure,” said Kazin. “Why do you ask?”

“Well,” said Harran slowly, “when I got close to Ironfaust before he took command of the throne, I felt a tremor. I couldn’t help thinking at the time that it was more than a coincidence. After all, my testimony before the king shouldn’t have happened. My testimony may have been the catalyst that motivated Ironfaust to act when he did.”

Kazin’s eyes widened. “You spoke to King Hammarschist?”

Harran nodded. “Yes. Not by choice, mind you.”

“What else did you do?” asked the mage.

Harran related the highlights of his adventure, ending with the war in the north and the earthquake that made fighting difficult for everyone.

“Well,” said Kazin after Harran had finished. “I guess we’re all interfering with history whether we like it or not. That could very well explain the earthquakes. Obviously, when any one of us does something significant, earthquakes are prevalent. It stands to reason. The earthquakes we experienced earlier on for no apparent reason may have been caused by our quarry as he interfered in history.”

“That makes sense,” said Sherman.

Kazin rubbed his head. “My head hurts”.

“I know what you mean,” said Sherman. “It’s from all the thinking.”

“Will you be alright?” asked Amelia. She gave the warrior a look.

“What?” said Sherman innocently.

“I think so,” said Kazin. “I’ve never been hit with so much magic before.” He looked around. “Where are we?”

“We’re not far from the enemy encampment,” said Amelia. “The orb is directing us there since that’s where our quarry has gone.”

“Good,” said Kazin. He shakily got to his feet. “We’d better keep moving. I’ll formulate a plan to get us into the encampment as we go.”

“I can carry you,” offered Sherman.

Kazin shook his head. “That will be unnecessary. My strength is returning rapidly. It feels like someone has used excessive healing magic on me.” He looked at Amelia, who blushed.

“I didn’t know if you were injured, so I applied healing magic on you just to be sure,” she explained.

Kazin smiled. “Thanks.” He slapped Zylor on the shoulder and shook hands with Harran and Olag. “It’s good to have you back, my friends.”

The companions continued their journey and came within sight of the enemy encampment within the hour. Darkness had set in and fires were lit with the scent of roasting meat in the air. The companions hunched down and Kazin briefed them on his plan. Zylor and Olag were to enter the camp as new recruits and were instructed to investigate the southern half of the encampment for any information or unusual activity. The rest of them were going to become orcs for the time being so they could spy on the northern portion of the camp while tracking their quarry using the orb. Zylor and Olag were to rendezvous with the rest of the group in a half hour using the rings Kazin had given them to bring them to the master ring he wore. They were given a head start so the whole group wouldn’t arrive all at once.

The minotaur and skink warrior entered the encampment without any trouble despite the fact that Olag was an unusual creature they had never seen before. Offering to sign up, they were readily ushered in with directions to a recruiting tent.

They had no trouble finding the recruiting tent but did not stop there. They moved on and went past a number of orc tents. Some orcs looked up at them momentarily, but did not show any interest in the newcomers. A bit farther on they encountered a small group of minotaurs mixed in with the ogres. Being so far away from home, it wasn’t a surprise there were so few of them in this army. Zylor guessed they were probably minotaurs who had been banished from the minotaur realm in disgrace for one reason or another.

One of the minotaurs was sitting on a log and looked up to see Zylor and Olag. He rose to his feet upon seeing a kinsman of his own race. Then he peered at Olag and exclaimed, “What is that?!”

“I am a skink warrior,” said Olag, puffing out his chest. “I come from a land many days travel, west of here.”

“I have been there,” corroborated Zylor. “It is a savage race capable of inflicting considerable damage in a short time. I recommend you do not upset him. I know his kind. They do not take kindly to insults.”

The minotaur laughed. “Surely you jest? Why, I could tear it apart with one hand behind my back!”

Zylor laughed. “You would have ten arrows in your body before you moved two steps if you tried that!”

The other minotaurs around the fire laughed, but the minotaur who was speaking was not impressed. “I think not!” he growled. “You toy with me!” He made a motion to come toward Olag and suddenly found an arrow embedded in his knee. Lurching wildly, he fell down with a yelp.

The other minotaurs stood up in alarm.

Zylor laughed as the first minotaur sat up, pulling the arrow from his knee. “I warned you but you didn’t listen. This creature has proven his honour in battle. Otherwise, I would not be accompanying him. You obviously have much to learn, my brother in arms.” He nodded at Olag and the two of them moved away. The minotaurs in the group glared at the strange newcomers with a combination of malevolence and respect. None of them wanted to challenge a minotaur who was larger than they, fearless in their presence, and more confident than their leader, who was nursing an injured knee.

“This isn’t over!” called the injured minotaur.

Zylor didn’t respond. His message had gotten across. Don’t mess with him or his companion.

The two companions continued to watch and listen to happenings around them but learned nothing useful. The only thing that seemed a little strange was when a cyclops came trudging toward them. The creature moved as if in a hurry, panting as it went. It ambled right past them without acknowledging them. There was a distant look in its eye and both Zylor and Olag were thankful it didn’t look them in the eye. They weren’t prepared for its gaze and would surely have been paralyzed if it had.