Spellscribed: Conviction (24 page)

“I am happy you are back.” She said. “I thought for a while you were going to leave me with these scary women.”

Endrance nodded and responded in the same language. “I understand what you mean.” He said, patting her head. “They can be very… ferocious some times.”

“What did she say?” Selene asked. Endrance shot her a look that told her to wait, and continued speaking with his charge.

“Did you have difficulty talking with them?” he asked.

Giselle’s tail swished an enthusiastic affirmative. “Yes!” she said. “It was so hard to tell them when I needed to go, and I had to act like one of the wilder to get them to understand.”

“The wilder?” Endrance asked. “I don’t understand that word.”

Giselle struggled to think of how to explain. “Like… like a wolf, but runs on four legs and is not as clever as we are?”

Endrance realized she meant other lupines. “We actually call those wolves.” Endrance said. “Your kind we call wolf-men.”

Giselle seemed confused. “That’s stupid.” She replied. “Some of us are female.”

The wizard couldn’t find a way to refute her statement. “That’s true.” He admitted. “Would you like it if I taught you how to speak my language?”

Giselle’s tail swished nearly out of her control. “Yes. Yes.” She said. “Can I also read? I can teach you to read our language.” She looked at his hands. “You might not be able to write very well. Your nails are weak.”

Endrance patted her head. “Sure.” He said. “I’ll start teaching you.”

In the common tongue, he looked up at the two women and chuckled. “Sorry, she had a lot she wanted to catch up on.” He explained. “But she’s glad you all figured out when she needed to make waste.”

Bridget wrinkled her nose. “Only because she started leaving it on my bags.” She said distastefully.

“Yeah.” Endrance said, nodding his head. “She told me about that.”

“Oh the little!” Bridget growled. “She was doing it on purpose?”

“Yes.” Endrance said. “You were not learning how to understand her, so she had to resort to more obvious methods to get your attention.”

“What do you mean learning to understand her?” Bridget demanded. “She should be learning to understand me!”

Endrance glared at her. “Why should she conform to you, and not the other way around? She’s an intelligent being just like you, Bridget.” He exclaimed, his voice rising. Bridget was surprised with his response; he didn’t used to stand up to her so directly.

“She’s a child, and you all forced her to have to debase herself just to communicate with you.” Endrance continued.

“Okay!” Bridget said, holding her hands up defensively. “I’m sorry. I still don’t understand what I could have done, but you are right.”

Endrance sighed. “I know you weren’t expecting to be saddled with the job, but regardless, you three had the task shoved into your hands. I’m just relieved you all figured something out.”

The room was quiet for a while. Endrance stared at the floor for several long seconds before continuing. “But still, thank you. I am glad you all came, and for that I am grateful. I am glad you are going to stick it through with me.”

“Yeah.” Bridget muttered. “Sure.”

“So what are we going to do while we wait?” Selene said. “Looks like we’ve got another week of waiting around until all the details of your assignment are hammered out.”

“I’m… going to work on my spellbook.” Endrance stated. “I’ve adjusted many of my spells to be more efficient, but I need to test the improvements and then copy them down so I can have the changes available for reference. I also need to do some more investigation into something else.”

“What’s that?” Selene asked.

“Kaelob never showed up to my trial, and neither did the Archmagus.” Endrance explained. “They had both been directly interested in my well-being, so their disappearance makes curious.”

“So what then?” Bridget asked.

Endrance sighed. “I’m going to look into it. Failing that, we stop by Wayrest and I ask Kaelob personally.”

* * *

Joven met them at the Market gate the day they were heading out of the city. He fell into step next to Endrance with a smile on his face and a black eye. He beamed at Selene and Bridget, and even spoke kindly to his horse when they mounted up. Giselle climbed up onto the back of Endrance’s horse with a hand up, sitting facing backwards.

“Looks like someone found something in Ironsoul they liked.” Bridget observed, riding alongside Endrance opposite of Selene. Joven rode off to the side and slightly ahead. Though not technically on bodyguard duty, the big man seemed most comfortable in the old riding formation.

Joven chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “Yeah.” He said. “The drunkards here… they keep trying, gods bless their brave little hearts. I haven’t had bar fights like those in years.”

“You’re pleased about the bar fights?” Endrance asked.

Selene snickered. “I would have thought that Gwen was the a high point.” She said.

Joven rolled his eyes, though it was hard to see his left eye through the bruising. “Oh, and the sex was great.” He said. “She’s very… acrobatic.”

Endrance glared at him. “That’s enough of that.” He interjected. “I’m sure you can regale Selene with the fine details later.”

“Oooh…” she intoned in response. “Can he? I might get some ideas.”

Endrance gritted his teeth and pretended he didn’t hear her. “So, I was able to get most of the spells I had refined into my spellbook this week.” He said loudly. “I think you’ll all be pleased to see the improvements I’ve made. I also managed to teach Giselle some rudimentary words in the common tongue. What did you two work on this week while I was distracted?”

“Buck-et!” Giselle squeaked happily, her higher pitched voice was rough but understood without difficulty.

Bridget looked at him quizzically. “What kind of words?” she asked.

“Rudimen- very basic words.” Endrance explained, correcting his word choice. He had started slipping back into a lexicon more suited to a higher education level than word of mouth.

“Tail!” Giselle added, pointing at the rump of Endrance’s horse.

“Oh.” She said. She hesitated then looked at him angrily. “Wait, can she read?” Bridget demanded.

Endrance leaned ever so slightly away from her in the saddle. “Uhm.” He replied intelligently. “Only a little.”

“Read?” Giselle asked.

Bridget shot the fuzzy girl a glare and looked away, her face red and a constant grumble on her lips as they continued onwards. Giselle kept calling out names of things she saw in common, practicing her words as they traveled. Her insistent cheerfulness seemed to help Bridget’s mood, and Selene helped by supplying more words for her to practice or correcting improperly spoken ones.

They rode for a full day, reaching a campsite that would have taken nearly three times as long to get to on foot. As Endrance stretched his muscles, he noticed the layout and remembered the night the caravan had stopped there. He had finally recovered enough from his ordeal with the goblins to interact with the caravans. He smiled as the memory filtered through him, leading him to stand where he had rested that night.

“I’ll bed down here.” He said, pointing.

Joven lobbed a packed up tent at Endrance, catching the broad side against the mage’s chest and knocking him on his backside. “Great.” He said. “Your tent.”

Endrance set up the tent quickly. He had practiced enough before Weldom had taken him captive, and now that he was free and clear from the city he could take care of something he was itching to do. Once the tent was secure, he checked over the rest of the group. Joven and Selene were debating who should cook dinner that night, and Bridget was sitting cross-legged, in some form of staring contest with Giselle.

“I’ll be right back.” Endrance said. Sliding away while everyone was distracted.

“Uh-huh.” Bridget grunted, her eyes narrowing as she kept her gaze locked with the wolfman child.

Endrance padded off until he was a good distance away from the camp. He walked across the hard packed road and into the far field, first up and then down a grassy hill. The light of the camp finally faded from sight. Just to be sure, he kept walking for another five minutes and two more hills before he stopped. He looked around, and then up. He had to be sure he had several feet of clearance on any side.

“You cannot summon your familiar in the city.” Weldom instructed him. “The warding crystals mess with teleportation magic, and until you get the experience to handle it, you’ll only hurt yourself or the Fjallar in the process. Wait until you’re at least a day away from the city.

Endrance sighed, and firmly set the butt of his staff on the ground where it remained standing upright. It was a common trick that he’d figured out how to do a few hours after having time to spend with the object. He sat down in the grass, feeling the rocks in the dirt beneath his seat through the cloth of his pants.

He pulled off his shirt, folding it up and setting it aside. He didn’t want to risk destroying more of his clothing. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and concentrated. Immediately his Grandstaff lent strength to his will, and he was able to focus far faster than he would have been able to do alone. With his mind so focused, he started drawing on the energy of his bracers, draining their reserves into his body.

A year ago that action would have been suicidal, unless he was in the midst of casting a spell. The power would have burnt out every meridian in his body, most likely literally. But he wasn’t the same person he was a year ago. The power flooded him with an almost euphoric sensation, saturating his body and aura with more power than he would have been able to handle.

He was then able to gauge how much he had progressed in the year since he had left Wayrest. He once felt that a single bracer stored more than he would ever be able to hold. Now, as full as he felt he was able to tolerate, he had managed to drain a quarter of each bracer. As he was now, overflowing with power, he could hold half of the power he had thought beyond his ken.

The power was kept in careful check by his concentration; he mentally touched upon the circle on his back. The outer ring lit up in golden light as he slowly, deliberately went through each stage of the circle. This was also something new; the first time he used the spell, the circle had gone almost out of control, and he would have been badly injured, or even killed, by the power requirements of the circle had he not been lucky.

He reached the activation phase of the circle, but this time he had two options available to him, instead of just the one. He empowered the most recent improvement to the circle first, and then the original. Both circles within the larger filled with golden light, and as his power drained into the portal he had created, he felt a familiar mental presence return to him.

It is about time you called me back.
Gullin’s voice spoke in his mind.
I was… my, you have grown a little bit since I last was with you.

Endrance opened his eyes, and the night around him was alight with fire. Nothing burned but the grass around him, as a fiery silhouette of a great bird surrounded him. He stood, drawing the burning fire down to clad him in armor of flames. The spell circle completed, and he stood, a glowing corona of fire an inch from his skin, in the shape of a more avian form. Great wings of flame rose from his back, each easily spanning twelve feet.

I seem to have gotten a little better.
Endrance said smugly to his familiar.
I didn’t even need to conjure you out to channel your power.

Indeed.
The bird replied dryly.
Does this mean you prefer the presence of that elemental to me?

He must have been referring to the staff.
No, of course not.
Endrance replied hastily.
I am just practicing my options. I’ll draw you out now.

Good.
Gullin replied.
I was getting bored.

Endrance cut the slow drain of power to the circle, and the flames surrounding him guttered out. He realized then, that he didn’t have his wards up and yet the fire didn’t burn him, nor did he scorch his lungs in the process. His Grandstaff smoked slightly from being in such close proximity, but the presence inside seemed, if anything, healthier because of it.

From the swirling portal in his back erupted a ball of fire, easily a foot in diameter. The portal closed as the ball of fire shot out over the grassland, arcing up and coming back towards Endrance. The wizard watched as it went up over his head, straight into the night sky.

“What a show off.” Endrance muttered as Gullin exploded into existence. The fireball burst high up in the sky, the concussion thumping Endrance in his chest and turning the area as bright as day for a split second. The explosion spread for a dozen yards in every direction, and Endrance was surprised to see several smaller explosions chasing in the wake of the first. Lights danced in his eyes, forcing the mage to blink and rub his eyes as he tried to clear his vision.

Gullin landed while he was recovering. Endrance looked up at his familiar and nearly fell over backwards in surprise.

The bird was once the size of a large hawk, or a small eagle. Now, Gullin was larger than most condors. The bird’s size was magnificent. And at that size, Endrance could see beautiful variations of color in the familiar’s feathers. It still looked generally like a mix between a cardinal and a rooster, but neither of the birds carried a portion of the magnificence that Gullin had. The crest of his head now bore three distinct tufts of larger feathers, and every long feather danced with flames at the edges and tips, as did his wing and tail feathers. His legs had powerful claws ending in sharp talons.