The Missing Mage (21 page)

“So how come I just don’t try talking to her in my mind then? Wouldn’t that be the easiest way to communicate?”

Balthazar shook his head. “Easiest? Perhaps, but certainly not the smartest. If we consider an old memory a letter, a new memory a book, then trying to talk to each other right now would be like focusing on every book in a huge library all at once. Your brain would overload, it would be dangerous. Your memories would entangle with hers, confusing your mind. People have gone crazy from this. No, the correct path is progressive training to slowly build up your connection. It might not be necessary, some people naturally develop the magical connection. But the risk is not worth it.”

Going crazy? That did not sound like fun, Nathan thought. “You might have mentioned that sooner. I was trying to send her thoughts before.”

“Your connection is not strong enough for that just yet, and you probably wouldn’t go crazy right away, the first time you actually ‘talked’ with her in your mind you might pass out,” replied Balthazar, downplaying the potential danger of a first conversation.

“Oh, only pass out, that is comforting,” replied Nathan.

…

“So what do you think of my new armor?” asked Sharon.

Quinton examined her new outfit. Tight red leggings, topped with a black shirt decorated with red embroidery work that ended around her neck, leaving her shoulders and arms and a healthy hint of cleavage exposed. Red gauntlets covered her forearms. On closer inspection, the embroidery work on her top was an intricate design of roses and knives. An interesting choice, Quinton thought. Overall, the outfit was not one Quinton would think of as that of a warrior, but it was a beautifully made. “Well, I am not sure I would consider that armor, but it you look amazing in it,” Quinton answered honestly.

Sharon beamed, twirled around, and laughed. “It is not the most modest outfit, but it certainly is functional and it is armor. This is the spider silk, no clunky metal or thick bulky leather. I can move perfectly and all my vitals are protected. As for looking amazing, well I do work in the best dress shop in Balta. I can’t go around looking like a hobo, and besides if having boobs is going to distract men while they are fighting, might as well use it to my advantage.”

Quinton grinned and tilted his head to examine the body parts discussed.

Sharon smacked Quinton on the arm. “No peeking down my top. Well not right now anyways, you are helping me with dagger training today.”

Quinton groaned, she was dressed like that and being flirty and he was supposed to concentrate on daggers? Life was cruel some times. “Right, daggers. Today we will just spar. You already have good technique and footwork from your lessons with Nathan, it is just a matter of practicing now.”

A bruised and exhausted Quinton called an end to the training lesson. Sharon was a holy terror with her daggers. In her few short days of training, she had already elevated herself to a level of combat skills that equaled most of the soldiers in the navy where he had trained. A far cry from the last time they had sparred. “I give up. You are too good for me already.”

Sharon smiled brightly, ever since Nathan had started to teach her, she had been spending extra hours each day and night working on her footwork and techniques with the training dummy. Nathan was still too good for her to defeat, but beating Quinton was a major accomplishment. “You are not going to be one of those boys that gets upset because his girlfriend is better with a weapon are you?”

“No, I am not. Wait, did you say girlfriend?” Quinton’s eyes widened at what his ears thought they heard.

“Yes, I am not waiting around for some Balta floozy to steal my mage. You now have a girlfriend so act accordingly,” said Sharon as she raised a dagger to point at Quinton to give a playful emphasis her point.

Quinton didn’t know what was more terrifying, the idea that she might use the dagger on him, or the fact that he had just been anointed boyfriend. Either way he couldn’t imagine a better outcome to getting his butt kicked in training. “Does this mean I won’t get stabbed for peeking down your top?”

“Peeking in private is okay, but be a creeper in public and the dagger you get.”

“there is no one around now,” Quinton pointed out.

Sharon smirked and shook her head. “Sorry I am not done training yet, you need to get ready for round two.”

Quinton groaned. “You may be ready for round two, but I am done. I have an alternative for you. The next best thing to me… me.” Quinton turned and pointed to the practice dummy and, with a wave of his hand, the dummy turned into a replica of him.

The dummy smiled and waved its small sword before taking a defensive position.

“Wow,” said Sharon. “That is awesome, how much does it move?”

“Evil warlord dummy doesn’t move forward or back, but the illusion is strong and the sword will move. It will seem like you are fighting the real me, except for the fact that he doesn’t move. He will parry, attack, and defend. Nathan and I worked on it late last night. I might have been the model for this handsome warrior, but Nathan provided the swordsmanship. Attacking the dummy will be a challenge for you. It should help your training a lot.”

“That is so awesome, and I think the dummy is cuter than you. How is his kissing?”

“Hey!” protested Quinton. “If you are my girlfriend that means no kissing other guys, even if it is a practice dummy. If you need a practice kissing a dummy, that is my job.”

“That might not be a bad idea, maybe after I kick the evil warlord dummy’s butt,” replied Sharon with a wink.

Quinton blushed. He liked the sound of that.

…

Helena stood beside Ava and watched as she transferred her magical energy into her salves. “Good work Ava you are already getting better at transferring magic. I can tell without even doing a spell that these ones are better than what you did yesterday. You will be a good healer in no time at this rate. It will take you longer to familiarize yourself with traditional healing than it will using magic.”

Ava was happy, this was her second day working in the infirmary with Helena. So far Helena had been a wealth of wisdom. Her knowledge of herbs and plants was extensive and she had many helpful hints on how to magically improve each potion or salve that Ava already knew how to make.  Ava might not end up being a traditional healer but her potions and salves were quickly becoming very powerful. “Thank you Helena. Do you think we can work on combat magic for a while now? I would like to learn more.”

“Certainly, what would you like to focus on?”

Ava thought about it for a moment before answering. She already had the bloodstone rocks Nathan had imbued for her so she wasn’t without weapons. “Something defensive,” she finally answered.

“Wise choice, Ava, combat isn’t just about being able to attack. Magic can be a very strong defensive skill. Magical energy shields can defend an entire army from attacks if the mage is strong enough. But, even on a smaller scale, an energy shield can help a small group of people. Say you are attending to a wounded soldier and a fireball is coming towards you both.  You can surround yourself and the soldier. Like other spells, we will start small and you can practice increasing the size of your energy shield as you strengthen your magical powers.”

Ava liked the sound of that. ”Okay, so how do I make an energy shield?”

“Wait here one minute,” said Helena as she walked away. Shortly Helena returned carrying an old wooden shield. “Take this shield, carry it. Get used to it, have one of your friends attack you. Spar with them using this shield. Using that shield to defend yourself should become second nature. “

Ava took the wooden shield and hefted it about. It was reasonably light. She could easily lift and hold it with one hand.

“Making an energy shield takes a bit of energy. Start by trying to make a small ball of energy above your hand, like this.”

Ava watched as Helena made a small ball of energy appear above the palm of her hand. The ball of magical energy flashed and pulsed. Ava was familiar with transferring her magical energy into objects, but she had never transferred energy into air. “How do I make the ball appear?” she asked.

Helena made the ball of energy bigger then it shrunk and disappeared, then another ball appeared and grew bigger before flattening out into a shield-sized shape. “Same principles as transferring magic into an object, except instead of adding energy into an existing object you imagine the shape you want the magical energy to take. In this case, imagine a small tiny ball of energy, then once you make that tiny little ball of energy appear, keep adding energy to make it bigger.”

Ava lifted her hand and stared at her palm, imagining a tiny little ball of energy. Soon a shiny little speck appeared above her hand. She focused on adding more energy until she had a ball of energy the size of a marble.

Helena watched in approval. “Good, for a first effort that is plenty big enough. Now that you have a magical ball of energy you want to be able to manipulate it. Use your magic to change the energy ball’s shape. It is just magic, so you can create any shape you imagine.”

Ava focused on her marble-sized energy ball. She slowly was able to create a square, then a mushroom, and then she flattened it out until it resembled a tiny shield.

“That is it Ava, That is an energy shield. It is too tiny to be any use against a weapon but now you know how to make one. You just need to practice making it bigger until you have one the size of your wooden shield. Then you can use the magic shield in the same way you would the wooden one.”

Ava smiled, her tiny magical shield was only the size of a saucer, but it was a good start. “Thank you, Helena. Anything else we should work on today?”

Helena shook her head, “No, the salves that you helped imbue today will be very helpful here. You go home, take the wooden shield with you, and practice with that and making your magical one. I will see you tomorrow.”

Ava grabbed her new shield and headed home. “Thanks, Helena, see you tomorrow.”

…

“Turn your body more,” instructed Quinton as Sharon attacked Ava.

Sharon had been more than happy to include Ava in her weapons training, and Quinton was equally happy to have someone else take the brunt of Sharon’s attacks.

“If you carry your shield in your left hand, you want your left foot forward. Let your arm be pushed back into your body. Let your legs absorb the attack,” Quinton explained. “When your feet are side-by-side and something hits the shield hard, your body will turn, the shield will go around to the side and you will be exposed.”

Ava understood this, as Sharon had hit her shield so hard that it spun her around several times now. Training to use a shield was much more difficult than Ava thought it would be. Ava turned her body so that her left foot was now in the front. She gave Sharon the nod to continue her attack.

Sharon sprung forward like a cat, slashing down with one dagger then attacking from the side with the other one. Ava barely had time to move the shield from one spot to the next in order to block the rapid attacks. Sharon spun around for a power attack. The last two times she had attempted this maneuver Ava had ended up being spun in a circle.

Ava braced herself as the spinning attack came, this time when the dagger hit the shield, it was pushed back hard into her body, forcing her back a step, but she was not spun in a circle.
Progress
, she thought as she smiled at Quinton.

Quinton gave a small clap for encouragement. “Good work, now bend your knees a bit more so that your center of gravity is lower, that way you won’t be pushed back as far.”

Ava groaned. Quinton was turning into quite the taskmaster. Her body hurt, but she was determined to improve and Sharon was enjoying this too much to stop now. “Alright you evil wench, let’s go again,” exclaimed Ava.

Sharon just smiled before launching her next attack.

Chapter twenty five

WHEN NATHAN, BALTHAZAR AND Ranger Poole arrived at Cyrnic’s small home in the woods, it appeared empty. The small cabin was in the middle of a small meadow nestled in the woods. While Balthazar and Nathan waited, Cory Poole scouted around the perimeter of the woods surrounding the house.

When Corey came back, he gave the all clear sign. “Nothing that I can see, there is some foot traffic around the building but no sign of anyone.”

“Okay, let’s head in carefully then,” said Balthazar.

Nathan walked carefully alongside Balthazar as Corey led them towards the house. Once he made it to the door, Corey carefully opened it. First peeking his head in, and then going inside. When Corey gave the all clear sign, Balthazar and Nathan joined him inside the house.

The house was small but tidy, or rather it looked like it was normally kept tidy but had been ransacked since. Papers were all over the small desk in the corner and the surrounding floor. A workbench had been trashed, with broken beaker and flasks all over the floor. Balthazar went to the desk to look at Cyrnic’s notes while Nathan inspected the rest of the house. Corey headed back outside to examine the tracks he had seen earlier.

Nathan could find nothing of interest in the house; the bedroom and bathroom contained no more answers than the front room. “The rest of the house is clear; find anything interesting in his notes?”

“Well, other than a recipe for porcupine goulash, I am afraid not. Some notes on possible locations of the missing tomes, but all the notes here have been post scripted with the same thing, ‘location dead end, no new clues’. Whatever notes of value that were here are now gone, either with Cyrnic or the enemy,” said Balthazar.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion outside. Nathan rushed to the door in time to see a moving shape covered in flames in the middle of the meadow. Seconds later, a fireball came from the woods and hit the moving shape again. With a taste of bile surging into his mouth, Nathan realized the burning shape in the meadow was Corey Poole, the ranger. As another fireball struck Corey, he slumped to the ground.