Broken Mage (21 page)

Kicking back on the bed Thad started
running through ideas that might be useful against a mage or
priest. Though he was still unsure of how a priest differed from a
mage he hoped that their magic could be countered in the same
way.

CHAPTER XVII

Thad and Crusher had stayed in their
base for over two days planning out their next attack. At night
when he slept Thad had hoped for another meeting with Sae-Thae but
it had not come. He had also tried and failed to enter his own
dream world both nights. On what little time he wasn’t working on
enchantments or tying new spells Thad looked through his magical
eyes.

The Vathari had become more active and
had begun to actively search for them. He had also noticed a few of
the robed Vathari walking around. It was hard to notice them but
there was a subtle heat change depending on where their clothing
rubbed against their skin. The weapons they carried had also begun
to vary, and he had noticed something that he hadn’t before. Some
weapons had different heat signatures than others. Thad knew that
some of that was caused by the metal the weapon was made of but for
the drastic differences in some of them he could only guess that
they were of magical in nature.

He couldn’t really prove his theory
without tracking down one of the weapons and slaying its owner so
he could study it at his leisure. It was a good idea but at the
moment it seemed incredibly risky for such a small goal. He had his
own weapons to check on but neither of them showed a huge change in
their heat compared to the ones he was seeing through the magical
eye.

The magic eye in the Vathari city was
hung up in what he believed was Sae-Thae’s study. It had the same
look as the one from his dream. It was even well lit with large
books and scrolls strewn about in a disorderly fashion. It was more
than a little surprising to see such a well-lit place deep in the
underground. The other places he had seen had been lit but only
dimly, barely allowing him to see more than the basic definition of
the things around him without the use of his nightsight.

There hadn’t been a whole
lot of activity in the magical eye hung up in Sae-Thae’s study but
he had caught a few glimpses of the
Vathari
mage. The view of the room did allow him one advantage though. The
magical eye was positioned so that he could easy see a book that
was laid out on the mage’s table. It was written in standard and it
detailed the events around the beginning of the Fae War. The first
day he had read the page five times trying to commit the knowledge
to memory. The second day when he had looked at it, the page had
been changed. He wasn’t sure if Sae-Thae was doing it for his
benefit but he could see no other reason to account for
it.

Thad hadn’t spent all his time idle,
while he waited for their next move he had come up with a few
surprises of his own to use against the Vathari. Nothing overly
complex but he had learned that simple had less of a chance of
backfiring when he was messing with unknown elements. The only real
problem was that all his weapons were based on the light element
meaning that it took a lot longer for them to fully
charge.

Thad was glad they were finally back in
the tunnels. One could only stay cooped up for so long before it
started to get to them. Not to mention they were beginning to run
low on food. Crusher had tried to sneak out the day before to get
some but the Vathari had been too thick for him to safely secure
any food.

Today their outing was more out of need
than anything. If they couldn’t secure food then soon they would
find themselves in dire straits. They were moving under one of
Thad’s new spells that put up a shield that mimicked the heat
signatures of the rocks around them. It wasn’t perfect but unless
the enemy was really looking they should be able to pass
unnoticed.

Thus far the spell had worked great and
they had even passed close enough to one group of Vathari that Thad
was sure they could have taken them out easily before anyone was
the wiser. He had resisted the urge but was more than curious to
try it out soon to see if it would work.

It didn’t take long to reach the herd
of weird creatures. The only problem was that they weren’t the only
ones there. The Vathari had a small group of soldiers guarding the
animals. It was obvious they had culled a few for their own use, as
the herd was nearly half the size it had been on his last
visit.

There were a little over a dozen
enemies in the cavern with the animals and only a few of them were
grouped together in more than pairs. Normally that would be good
for them but now that meant that it made it nearly impossible to
steal one of the creatures without being exposed. As close as some
of the Vathari were coming to them Thad was happy that the new
necklace around Avalanches neck allowed her to move around silently
by absorbing the sound her movements made on the stone
floor.

Crusher tapped Thad on the shoulder and
pointed at Avalanche then at the Vathari and made a clamping motion
with his hands. After Thad nodded his head Crusher pointed at Thad
then moved his hand over his face then pointed at the other
soldiers. The first motion was easy he wanted Avalanche to attack
but the second one was a little harder to grasp. After a few
seconds Thad started to get Crusher’s plan.

Getting Avalanche to attack was simple
she was always ready for a little play. Bending down Thad slapped
the side of her head and pointed at the two Vathari that stood at
the farthest tunnel entrance away from where they stood. She took
off like a horse making it hard for Thad to keep the camouflage
shield up around her.

The second Avalanche bent down ready to
jump Thad let the shield drop. He was rewarded with the surprised
screams of the first Vathari to feel Avalanche’s sharp teeth. The
other Vathari rushed to the aid of their comrade. Thad still had to
keep the shield up for both him and Crusher as the dwarf moved off
to get their food. It wasn’t easy but thanks to his staff it wasn’t
impossible as he moved around to get in a few strikes on the
unsuspecting Vathari warriors.

The strain from his
continued spells was growing rapidly the farther away Crusher
moved. Trying to focus on his own job as well as keeping the spells
active Thad walked among the Vathari soldiers striking at any one
of them that exposed a vital point. His strikes were timed and
well-aimed, each one sending a
Vathari to
their death.

The sounds of battle echoed and were
answered back by the sound of one of the enemy’s horns. The battle
was short lived and ended before any reinforcements were able to
arrive. Thad and Avalanche hid in a far corner until Crusher
returned. Thad didn’t see any of the animals with him but there was
blood on his axe. Thad figured that he had placed it in his bag
though how the dwarf planned to get the blood out later he wasn’t
sure.

The cavern was quickly filling up with
Vathari who began to inspect the area making it hard for them to
simply slip out even under the disguised shield. More than once an
enemy came almost close enough to enter the shield. It wasn’t
designed to keep out biological elements so if one of the Vathari
stumbled into their small area they would be exposed.

Thad knew he could add a silencing
effect much like he had done for Avalanche but his magical power
had already been stressed and he was afraid that if he tried to add
anything else the shield might fail, leaving them completely
exposed.

There were a few tense moments but the
soldiers in the cavern began to thin out as time passed. It wasn’t
perfect as the Vathari in the outlining tunnels had also increased
and were on high alert.

Even back at the entrance to their base
there were numerous soldiers patrolling. They didn’t seem to be set
in any set pattern so all the companions could really do was wait
until the tunnel was clear enough for them to enter undetected.
Avalanche didn’t seem to enjoy the extra activity around her and
Thad could tell she was more than eager to start playing with the
Vathari soldiers. Luckily Thad was able to keep her under control
until the Vathari moved far enough away for them to slip into their
base undetected. When the time came Thad didn’t take down the wall
but instead made a hole just large enough for them to slip
through.

Thad had thought that the number of
troops was staggering a few days ago made life difficult but now it
was getting outrageous. It seemed that no matter where they went
there were at least ten soldiers spread out. Thad could tell that
even Crusher was starting to doubt their current course of
action.

Crusher wasted no time in emptying
their prize onto the cave floor. There were five of the large sheep
like creatures. The one thing Thad noticed was that none of the
creatures were actually bleeding leaving Thad to wonder where the
blood for Crusher’s axe had come from.

While Crusher dressed out the creatures
Thad sat down and began to work on his new project. Today had been
a test of sorts to see if the spell would work. The trouble was
that the heat of the rocks changed depending on the area so he
couldn’t simply make a blanket configuration for them.

Thad had trouble in the past with an
enchantment that needed a complex design. He could make different
cores for different heat signatures but changing them at need would
be difficult. There had to be a way but how would the best way be
to go about it.

Absorbed in his own thought he didn’t
notice Crusher trying to get his attention. He wasn’t sure how long
the dwarf had waited before slapping him in the back of the head
but he doubted it had been overly long.

Once Crusher had his attention he
skipped trying to pantomime what he wanted instead he pulled the
young mage over to the wall where he had drawn the map of the local
tunnels and caverns. Using a white rock he began to map out a route
to an area that to Thad’s knowledge they had yet to go. At first
Thad figured he was planning another attack until the dwarf started
drawing small houses on the wall.

Thad was almost ecstatic they were
finally going to head to the dwarven village. Thad had given up
ever getting out of the caves alive. At first he had held out some
hope but as the number of troops increased that had gone away. He
hadn’t really lamented his pending death but now that there was
some hope he felt a little lighter than he had in
awhile.

They weren’t very far from the dwarven
village only about three days even at a slow pace of travel two if
they could move unmolested. Crusher agreed after a few moments of
awkward discussion that their best bet would be for him to finish
his enchantments first and let them fully charge before they tried
their luck. Now all he had to do was figure out how to get them to
work. Crusher was never the most patient of people and he was sure
that if he didn’t have a working model within a few days they would
be fighting their way through the tunnels.

It was slightly more pressure than he
wanted but maybe it was the push he needed to help him jumpstart
his thinking. Picking up a bar of the ever light metal and a sack
of different sized gems Thad retired to his room to begin his work
away from prying eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t like being around
the dwarf when he was working but if he didn’t secure himself away
the dwarf’s mumblings and Avalanches ever increasing nudging to
play would distract him.

Once back in his room Thad put up one
of the metal walls to block out everything but his own workspace.
As usual he sat down in a comfortable position and began to try and
mental work through the different ways he could create the
enchantment to work the way he needed. He sat for hours but nothing
seemed to come to mind that would work without being so complex it
would take him days to create and even longer to charge.

Frustrated Thad flopped down on his bed
roll and tried to relax. As he had the nights before he tried to
fall asleep while he meditated. It was a lot harder to do than he
had imagined. While he was relaxed when he meditated, his body and
mind were on different levels. If today went like the ones before
after a few hours Thad would simply drift out of meditation and
fall asleep.

CHAPTER XVIII

When Thad opened his eyes he once again
found himself floating in the sea of darkness. He waited to see if
Sae-Thae was going to make an appearance. When nothing happened
Thad waved his hand creating a nice space that was reminiscent of
the workspace he had once had in his own house back at the capital.
Thad wanted to celebrate his success but he knew that there was no
telling how long he had before he woke and any time wasted,
couldn’t be regained.

Oddly enough he found it impossible to
sit still within his own mind. He was yearning for some fresh air
so he waved his hand and his room disappeared and was replaced with
the familiar sights and smells of Joan’s farm. The feel of the sun
on his face was refreshing even if it was an illusion. It had been
so long since he had felt the wind brush against his face that Thad
wasn’t sure if he should waste his time on anything other than
simply enjoying what time he had in the sunlight.

Thad quickly shook the thought from his
head and sat where he could still feel the wind on his face as he
began to work through his problem. There had to be a way to make it
so that they could move with the disguised shield without him
having to personally preform the spell.