Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion (15 page)

“
Yes, that’s very nice, but the sword, woman!”

She brought the dagger
behind her back again and put her free hand on her chin to make it appear that she was thinking hard. “Sword? He wants a sword, huh? Oh, you mean this sword!” She pulled Winya out as a crossbow.

“
That’s not a sword!”

“
Yes, it is.”

“
No, it’s not!”

“
Yes, it is.”

“
No, that’s not a bloody sword!”

Winya changed to her sword form
. “Yes, she is.”

“
By my rock-headed ancestors! What is that?” I wish I could have captured the look on his face at that instant. Both of us doubled over with laughter, even Winya joined in.

“
My eyes must be getting bad, or did that crossbow just become a sword?”

“
Darroth, I would like to introduce you to Winya Coia, she was all the items that Maya was showing you.”

“
You made a shape-shifting weapon?” he stated incredulously, looking at us both for verification.

“
In a way, yes, and each form has its own powers.”

“
Like what?”

Maya reached d
own and picked up the first sword that she had sliced in two out of the bag and handed it to him. “Like doing that.”

Darroth took one look at the cut and
dropped the sword half and stared at me accusingly. “What the hell are you? Who are you? No one should be able to make something like this! Even the hallowed ancient dwarven masters couldn’t make a weapon that could change shape!” He stood there for a few seconds, his mouth was still moving but nothing was coming out. Then he rushed over to me and grabbed me into a crushing bear hug. I could feel my bones starting to crack.

He
finally released me and all the oxygen rushed back into me. Feeling a bit light-headed, I started to stagger a bit but, thankfully, Maya held my arm and let me regain my balance.

“
Sorry about that son, forget my own strength sometimes.” For those who think I’m a wimp, you try getting squeezed by a dwarven smith, it hurts.

“
No worries, I have Maya for support.”

He gave Maya a flustered little bow of respect
.

“
For a smith to give away his first masterpiece is a monumental honor, young lady.”

I couldn
’t see her reaction under the mask, but she reached up and gave one of my ears a playful caress. “I know and I’ll make it up to him someday.”

After a few seconds of trying to figure out what she
meant, I gave up. What good is a surprise if it’s not a surprise? After a few more minutes of talking, we all parted ways and went on with our day.

Lunch wasn
’t quite what I was expecting; Julia and Lin were at our normal table with their arms crossed and annoyed looks on their faces.

“
Where have you been?” they shouted in unison, attracting the looks of the rest of the dining hall.

I apologized to the people around us and then sat down to face the wrath of the girls
. “Both Master Rosa and Nia had way too much to drink, so I spent yesterday tending to two very sick women.”

They didn
’t seem too happy with that answer, waving it away with a flick of the wrist. “We don’t care what you were doing; all we want is for you to tell us what happened at the dance and to tell us now!”

I was
deeply puzzled at the moment; I had no idea that girls get so worked up about dances. “Um, well, we had a wonderful evening, and Maya seemed to really like the dance.”

Lin looked like I had just said the
stupidest thing on the planet, and Julia just stared at me. Thankfully, she had a bit more kindness than Lin and helped me out a bit.

“
No, Alex, tell us about Maya and how you got her to go with you, and about the gift you made for her.”

“
Yeah, what did you make for her? All during the dance I was trying to spot a necklace, or ring, or something.”

“
Well, since she is my combat instructor, we have spent a lot of time together and became good friends.”

Lin snorted
, “Just friends? Seriously? I’ve never seen just friends’ lip lock like you two were going at it. And, Jules, did you see what she was wearing in her hair? A white Gardenia!”

Julia snickered
, “Oh, yes, tell us more about being ‘just friends’,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Now I was really confused
, but I tried to explain. “When you spar with someone every day, you learn more about them than words could ever say.”

“
Like what?”

“
Like she’s strong, smart, honorable, caring, and has a terrific sense of humor. I fell for her very quickly, and I think she felt the same for me.”

They both
stared in silent judgment of me. “So by beating someone with a metal stick, you fall in love with them? Men!”

“
No, that’s not what I meant. By dueling with each other, our true personalities and beliefs are shown to each other. We both just liked what we found in each other.”

“
So you can’t put on a fake face and try to act like someone you’re not in a duel?” Lin pressed.

“
Correct - not for long, anyway.”

“
So to know if the guy is right for us, we have to fight him?”

“
Well, no, but that’s one way to do it.”

“
I see, and the gift?”

“
I made her a sword.”

They were both
scandalized and it showed. “Ok, you have serious issues. Why didn’t you make her some jewelry or something?”

“
Because Maya wouldn’t have liked it as much.”

“
And she liked this sword.”

I smiled
. “She cried over it.”

Julia put down her sweets and nudged Lin with her
elbow. “Trouble, Lin.”

I looked
in the direction she was facing, and sure enough, trouble was certainly coming. Marching across the room in our direction was Naton and his two favorite goons. He looked as though he was out for blood.

“
Enchanter scum! What’s this I hear about you having a girlfriend?”

“
That’s none of your concern, Naton.”

He laughed at me
. “That’s where you’re wrong. At the dance the other night, me and my girlfriend were supposed to be voted the best couple. Instead, the idiots at the party voted for you and your mystery girl. Then, you didn’t even have the guts to show up yesterday to face your punishment for humiliating me!”

“
Well, that’s not my problem, so don’t blame me for others’ opinions.”

“
From the way I see it, it is your problem. All you had to do was find an ugly girl to take, and I would have been king of the dance! But no, you found a hot one instead…bad mistake.” He smiled again with an evil look. “I have an idea, how about we pay your girlfriend a visit and make her ugly. A few burns on the face should do it.”

I
snapped. The next second, I was up from the table and in his face with a grip on the haft of my hammer.

“
You foolishly go anywhere near her, and you won’t live to regret it!”

He
sneered at me. “Or what? You going to do the same trick you did with my fireball? Well, guess what? My teacher taught me how to keep you from ever being able to do that again.”

I smiled this time
. “I won’t need to. By the time you even start to cast a spell, you’ll be a dead man. You fire wizards are so arrogant because you can do a lot of damage, but the downside is that it takes you so long to cast a spell that you would be the first to die on the battlefield. And it’s not me that you have to worry about, it’s her. She doesn’t have my patience for things like this; if she was here, you would already be dead.”

Apparently
, he was too dumb to get the point, because he immediately tried to conjure up a fireball. But with my mage sight, he didn’t even have enough magic ready to make a spark before the spike of my war hammer was tickling his Adam’s apple, and not in a good way.

“
I suggest you leave now so that only your pride gets hurt.”

He snarled but backed away
. “You’ll pay for this! Someday, I’ll see you killed!”

With that
, he and his two goons left, trying to make the most of the situation by looking tough, but failing miserably. Everyone in the dining hall had seen what happened, and they all knew that the big bad fire wizard was beaten by the lowly enchanter.

Once the jerk was gone
, I returned to my seat at the table with my good mood ruined. But Lin and Julia were just staring at me, not eating or moving, just staring. It was kind of creepy.

“
What?”

“
I can’t believe you did that!”

“
That was so cool! He was completely scared of you, that was awesome!” Then Julia jumped up from her seat and ran around the table to hug me.

“
Hey, what did I do?”

“
You kicked that bully’s butt, that’s what you did.”

“
Yeah well, that still won’t be the last of him.”

“
We’re not worried,” Lin piped up. “The spitting cockroaches that live in his room and I have a plan for revenge!”

“
We have cockroaches on campus?” I sputtered, choking on a grape.

“
Nah,” she returned with a sly grin, “just the Fire Tower.”

I was
so astonished and proud of both of them, I could barely ask my final question. “Umm, Jules, before you go, tell me something. What is the significance of a white gardenia?”

She leaned in close, giggled softly
, and breathed in my ear, “It means secret love, silly! And she was wearing it before the dance even started!”

That night after dinner
, Rosa sentenced me to a night of reading. The sun was starting to go down when the hall shook with an explosion. What the hell is going on? I rushed to the lab, which was where I thought the sound came from. When I opened the door, a cloud of smoke rolled out. “Nia, are you all right?”

I heard coughing as both Nia and Rosa
appeared out of the smoke, grabbing onto the door frame for support. “We’re ok….nothing to see here!”

I took one look at them and burst out laughing
. Their hair was blasted almost straight back and they had layers of soot of their faces. They looked confused, so I pointed at a mirror on the nearby wall. Looking at their reflections, there was a long, open-mouthed pause, and then they turned to each other and burst out in hysterical laughter.

After getting cleaned up
, they joined me in the reading room. “So, what happened?”

Nia shyly tried to hide herself, but Rosa told me anyway
. “Well, as you know, I’ve been working with Nia’s spells for a time now, and she has made some wonderful progress.” Nia beamed from her hiding place. “But we have made some interesting discoveries. It seems that she is incapable of casting normal pixie spells. Instead, she excels at mindless destruction,” Rosa grinned, and Nia performed a mock bow, “as well as illusions and scrying.”

“
Pretty sure that boom from the lab wasn’t an illusion,” I countered.

Nia
peaked out from around the corner of a book case. “Sorry, Alex, that was my fault. It takes so much magic for me to get a normal spell to even go off, so I used the same amount on a test fireball and well…that happened.”

Rosa was still
beaming. “I watched her closely, and from what I saw, she can cast fireballs all day without even breaking a sweat. I’ll have to test her more, but I think she could be stronger than most fire wizards. Nia may be a throwback to an earlier age when her people’s magic was primal and much more powerful.”

Nia
smiled happily, flew over and landed on my shoulder. “Huh, who knew? Guess I’m just an old-fashioned girl. Well, I say we celebrate with some sweets,” she giggled, obviously trying to change the subject.

Rosa and I laughed
. “Sounds like a good idea to me, the lab needs to air out now anyway.”

Alex

Thankfully, the next few days were rather peaceful. Darroth started me on plate armor and Maya added heavy shields to our training. In fact, the only one who was concerned about the fire wizards was Nia who was sticking close to my side.

Four night
s later, when both Nia and I were fast asleep, I heard something. At first, I thought I was dreaming, but as I listened I could hear a real voice in my head.

“
Alex! Please wake up! Something has happened to Maya and I can’t stop it! Please, I need your help!”

“
Winya, is that you?” I was fully awake now at the thought of Maya in danger.

“
Yes, it’s me, now please hurry. We’re in Maya’s room.”

“
I don’t know where that is!”

“
I’ll guide you!”

I quickly
threw on a robe and woke up Nia and explained what was happening. I briefly thought about waking Rosa, but Winya said there was no time, so we raced out the door. Thankfully, Nia had been to Maya’s room several times with Rosa, so she knew the way, but it was still a long way to go. Winding our way at high speed through the warren of towers and buildings, I would also have to get out past the inner wall, and it wasn’t something you could just jump over.

“
Alex, hurry, I think there’s someone at the door!”

I pushed even harder
. “Hold on, we’re almost there.”

“
He’s in the room!”

Darting past some astonished looking
guards, I burst past the gatehouse and used my mage sight to find where Winya and Maya were located, a section of long, worn wooden buildings that probably stabled overflow horses in time of need. Across the narrow alley, nearer to the training rings, were equally rundown troop barracks. Maya had a small one-room apartment at one end of the first building that looked like it had been a tack room in better days, but now just contained a cot and some meager amenities. Focusing, I could see that a man in red robes and a hood was already next to her with a dagger. If we didn’t go faster, we wouldn’t make it in time. I put everything I had into my legs, both strength and magical. But it was like hitting a wall and not being able to go any further. Then the man brought the dagger up to make a thrust. For a second, distance meant nothing to me, I was already there and through the door!

The red-
cloaked figure had a wicked looking dagger in one hand and a hooded oil lantern in the other. He spun around in surprise as shards of wood from the shattered door bounced off the walls near Maya’s small cot. Flustered, he cursed, dropping the weapon. It clattered off the rough floorboards and skittered under the bed frame.

Furious, I charged him, but I didn
’t make it. Suddenly, icy blades stabbed sharply into my chest muscles, then contracted into a fist, which then lifted me off the ground and slammed me dizzily into a heavy support beam, pinning me like a fly to a wall.

Shaky, but still working, my mage sight showed me my attacker
- a tall gaunt man dressed as a noble who came out of nowhere. He had sparse white hair, an amused expression and the largest canine teeth I had ever seen - vampire!

He turned his head casually and addressed the assassin.

“It’s our lucky day, Rast. Both young lovers just dying to meet us. Won’t the Master be pleased?” He looked back at me contemptuously. “Although, I fail to see why my lord Duke Pharmon considers you and your unconscious doxy over there to be of a sufficient threat to warrant our level of services. Perhaps, by some total unfathomable travesty of nature, something marginally exceptional is destined to spring from the fruit of your loins and become a pain in the ass to him in the future. Oh well, that’s irrelevant, I suppose, as neither of you will, of course, see the light of day again.”

The assassin, apparently named
“Rast,” was busy searching for the lost dagger. Finally, he retrieved it. Holding his lantern back up to eye level, he spotted the glittering bracelet on the arm of his intended victim. Pulling it off, he slid it on his own wrist and held it up to the light, admiring it.

“
Nice little bauble, it would be a shame if it melted when I burn this place to the ground. Are you sure you wouldn’t like a taste of the pretty bird here before I slice her, M’lord Ascott?”

I struggled against the grip holding me to the post, but I had nothing
. Neither magic nor physical strength were recovering fast enough to give me a glimmer of a chance to escape. I glanced around desperately for a weapon of any kind, knowing full well from my studies that vampires were immune to nearly everything, especially the old ones, and this one looked very old to my admittedly untrained eye.

The vampire grin
ned, his blood-red eyes boring into my own. “Tisk, Tisk, now quit struggling, it sours the blood. And you can stop looking around for a silly weapon to pursue your last valiant attempt at being a hero, it won’t work on me.”

“
Who is this Duke and what does he want?” I croaked through the pain in my chest. The vampire sighed in an angry, bored fashion and waved his hand indicating Xarparion.

“
Is this place not supposed to be an institute of higher learning? Do they teach you dolts nothing in school anymore?” he spat angrily. “Duke Pharmon, the Lifebane, is the powerful lich that controls more than half of the dirt on this world. His armies of undead are legion; wights, ghouls, zombies…if it’s undead, he controls it. As far as what he wants, it’s simple enough for even a bumpkin like you to understand. He wants to control ALL the dirt on this world, idiot!”

“
Why?”

“
It’s always ‘why’ with you humans, isn’t it?” he sneered. “How do I know, maybe his mother didn’t cuddle him enough as a child or a marmot stole his peanut brittle. Perhaps he just has an enormous itch that can only be scratched by complete and total world domination. I really don’t care if the payment is good.”

He turned back to the assassin
and ordered, “Finish the wench, her blood is tainted anyway! I think there is more than enough liquid in this husky young mage to satisfy me.”

He switched hands and held up one of his talons coated in my blood.

“Perhaps a taste before I enjoy the main course is in order.”

I watched as he licked his fingers like a cat lapping cream
. In my peripheral vision, I saw Rast moving Maya’s head to the side to present the best angle for a cut to my love’s carotid artery.

“
Hmmm,” the vampire purred. “An odd taste to be sure. You’re not really altogether human, are you my inquisitive friend?”

Suddenly his eyes grew wide and he convuls
ed slightly and began coughing. An expression that had probably not been in the vampire’s repertoire for over five hundred years - fear - crossed his face. He let go of me and dropped to all fours on the floor gagging, smoke wafting out of his mouth like someone who had just taken a deep draw on a pipe and was now breathing it out.

“
What are you?” he demanded, looking from his hands to me. “Your blood burns like acid, I can’t regenerate! Rast, kill her! And help me, you fool!”

I finally found my strength,
and feet. Shoving off the beam, I lunged for the man in red.

“
Winya, now!”

The assassin raised his knife o
ver Maya, and on the fatal down stroke, was extremely surprised to see the arm holding the weapon and wearing the pretty, sparkly bracelet flash brightly and turn to structure-less gray ash, with a radiating effect that continued up through his torso and finally erasing his astonished expression completely. Winya dropped heavily to the floor, as did the oil lantern, which promptly shattered and sent flames flowing in all directions. My momentum carried me far enough to allow me to snatch up the bracelet from the wood planking just before the flaming oil carried over her.

The room was seriously aflame, with a great deal of smoke accumulating near the
ceiling. I turned to find the vampire bearing down on me with a sword of his own. He didn’t look so good, but my rational mind estimated he was still probably stronger and faster than me.

“
Winya, I could use a little help!”

“
Anything to help Maya, but you must hurry! The flames, Alex!”
Instantly she was a sword in my hand, and I barely parried his first slash. He jabbed viciously at my midsection, driving me back toward the flaming floor. Damn! This guy was no slouch as a swordsman either, but it made sense if he were a noble in his breathing days.

“
I don’t know what you are or what that shit you call blood is, but you will still die by my hand tonight,” he wheezed, and took another swing. I was saved further monologue from him by the fact that, even though he didn’t need to breathe to survive, he did need to pump air through his lungs to talk. Judging by the acrid smoke still leaching from his mouth, he couldn’t have much lung tissue left. Backing me right up to the edge of the fire and less than five feet from Maya’s cot, and with both of us running out of time, he gamboled on a risky Fleche move, which Maya would no doubt have disapproved of had she been conscious. I managed to sidestep, and failing to connect, his lurching charge carried him into the burning flames on the floor. The oil-stoked fire immediately ran up his expensive pant legs and took hold. For a few seconds, he failed to notice and struck at me again, which I barely managed to deflect. He was still as strong as Rosa, if not stronger! I took a cut at him, more to keep him occupied and unaware that he was on fire. He hissed and scored a shallow furrow across my shoulder, my shortcomings as a swordsman becoming more pronounced. Unfortunately, I didn’t create Winya with a war hammer option.

It
’s an interesting phenomenon that a person engaged in the heat of battle can ignore a lot of pain and still function, but for us guys there is still a spot that always gets our attention. As we battled, the flames on the vampire’s clothes finally raced higher than his knees, and he stopped. His sword arm dropped to his side, and he looked down shocked and dumfounded!

“
Winya, I need your best,” I coughed, and swung. Winya’s ultra sharp blade moved across his bloodless neckline, leaving hardly a trace. His eyes lost focus, but he still brought his sword arm back for another thrust, the act of which unbalanced him slightly. It was at that point that his head and body parted company forever, the sneering skull rolling further into the fire and the body dropping in a flame-licked heap. Regenerate all you want, but you’re still dead without a head!

By this time, the flames and smoke were getting really bad, and Maya
’s cot was a small pitiful island in a full sea of fire. Coughing up what I was pretty sure were actual parts of my organs, I asked Winya to return to bracelet form and slipped her on my own wrist. I hot-footed it over to the bed and scooped Maya up gently then ran for the door.

Without considering any alternative
, I began to carry Maya back to the only safety I knew - the Enchanters Hall. My lungs and chest felt like they were burning as hotly as the stables. When we finally bumped into Nia still flying toward the fire, she looked out of breath and exhausted.

“Mister Alex, are you ok?” She looked like she was about to faint when she saw the blood covering the front of my shirt.

“
I’ve been better, but we need to get Maya back home, Winya says she was poisoned. But you need to take a break as well. Sit on my shoulder and catch your breath.”

She
plopped ungracefully on my shoulder and took a few deep breaths. “How did you move so fast? I could barely even see you move.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
When we were about halfway there, you blurred out and left me in the dust.” Well, that’s something to ask Rosa about. I wonder if it’s like her enchanted strength.

“
Maya was in danger, so I guess that pushed me over the edge. But I really should not have worried so much, Winya was still watching over her.”

“
I’m sorry, Alex, I should have been more careful. I almost failed at the task you gave me and still might if that poison takes her. I’m sorry, Maya; I hope you will forgive me.”
I don’t know how but I felt that she was crying, and it was making me tear up as well.

“
It’s not your fault, Winya.  Besides, you were the one who defended her, I was just a distraction.”

“
I know, but when she was hit with the dart, I tried my best to heal her in an attempt to stop the poison from spreading, but I couldn’t. What I could do was make damn sure that the bastard would never get another chance again!”

Even as a
bracelet, she was starting to get really hot on my arm; it was actually starting to hurt.

“
Um, Winya, could you please cool it down a bit. That’s starting to hurt...and what dart?”

“
Oops, sorry sir!”
She cooled back down to a normal temp.
“The dart is still in her left shoulder.”

I motioned to
Nia and she flew to the dart and had a tough time pulling it out. It was lodged deeply and had sliced through Maya’s leather training armor. The assassin must have darted her as she entered her room after training and she collapsed on the bed shortly after. When he knew she was unconscious, he entered her room to finish the job. The vampire must have been there to supervise and take care of any loose ends. Nia finally strained and carefully pulled the dart out. She then sniffed the barbed end. “This poison is made from red nightshade. It’s fatal to humans.”