The Sorcerer's Return (The Sorcerer's Path) (4 page)

“
Where are you going, Fennrick?” Elias demanded.

“I am going to go prepare my people for the end of the world.”

“Do you honestly believe the words of a self-proclaimed demon?” Paulina asked heatedly.

Fennrick gestured irritably.
“Whether I do or not is irrelevant. We have gotten lax in our training and duty since Jarvin ended the war, and I will ensure my troops are prepared for whatever arises, be they Sumarans or gods.”

  “It appears
Fennrick has lost his stomach for this business and replaced it with a very annoying conscience,” Paulina said when Fennrick left the room. “I hope you are not turning on me as well.”

“Of course not, Your Grace,
” Elias answered sycophantically.

“Good, now I want you to rouse every wizard in your command. You are to kill Lord Giles, his petulant apprentice, and get back my book. He was killed before and he can be killed again.”

“At once, Your Grace. It will take a few days for us to prepare.”

“See to it, Elias. Is there no more damned wine in this place?” the Duchess shouted.

***

Azerick finally relented and allowed t
hem to camp after four more gut-wrenching gate spells. While Ellyssa lay on the rocky ground willing the world to cease its spinning, Azerick magically excavated a depression in the rock and pulled up the water hidden beneath the surface. He stuck the silvery end of his staff into the water and heated it to the point it was just bearable to soak in.

He
pulled a few articles of clothing out his travel pack and set them by the steaming pool. “I liberated these from the brothel. They aren’t exactly travel clothes, but they will serve better than the rags you are wearing.”

“I don’t suppose you liberated any food as well?”

“I’m sorry, it’s been so long since I had to worry about that I forgot,” he replied abashedly. “Raijaun is a good hunter. We’ll scare up something while you clean up.”

Ellyssa gasped in pain and pleasure as she slipped beneath the hot water. She groaned as the heat pulled the filth away from her skin and a great deal of tension from her muscles.
  It sure beat the prison’s weekly washrag and bucket of cold water.

The smell of cooking meat
eventually coaxed her from her bath. Azerick was right, the clothes were too thin to withstand the weather and rigors of travel, but they would suffice. Her magic would keep the worst of the weather from reaching her, and they only had to last until they got home.

Ellyssa
descended the low hill to where Azerick had made camp and was cooking a large lizard and desert hare over a fire. Raijaun sat on a boulder, eagerly devouring the remnants of a thick lizard tail or a snake.

“I hope you like lizard,” Azerick said as she took a seat.

“I would eat a buzzard right now and swear it was chicken.”

Ellyssa quickly finished off the lizard and started in on the hare. It was stringy and would have been bland had Azerick not found some desert sage to rub into the meat.

“So tell me about Raijaun,” Ellyssa said between bites.

Azerick
gazed contemplatively at his son, who looked up at the mention of his name. “The elves created a creature they called a Guardian by combining the physical and spiritual essence of a dragon and elf. The last of the Guardians freed me from the abyss and combined my essence and hers to create Raijaun. Right now, his demonic nature is dominant, but I believe I can bring out his other heritages. It is why I am not rushing back home. I need him to behave properly before we get there. Once we are back, a lot of things need to happen, and I cannot afford to be distracted.”

“You think that will be
enough time?” Ellyssa asked dubiously.

“He grows very fas
t, both physically and mentally,” Azerick assured her. “From what I understand, their toddler phase passes very quickly. He was nearly animalistic just a few weeks ago and has already grown into a petulant child. I expect us to take about a month to reach North Haven. I hope that with your help and example, he will come into something nearing middle human childhood.”

“What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Teach him to read, write, and act like a human. I do not know how quickly he will come into his magic, but help me contain it as best you can. It resembles sorcery far more than wizard magic, so I will have to do his actual training. For now, I just need you to help me keep him from setting everything on fire when he gets mad,” Azerick admitted with a grin.

Ellyssa’s face dropped and she looked at the ground. “I
lost your ring and bracelet. I’m sorry. I needed them, but the Inquisitors took them when they caught me.”

“You mean these?” Azerick opened his hand
, and glittering in the late sun was the ring and bracelet. He handed them to Ellyssa. “Here, you will need these more than I will.”

Ellyssa took them and looked at him in wonder. “How did get them back? When?”

“The same time and the same way I got my book. I am not easy to steal from,” he chuckled.

“Do you still think they are coming after us?”

“I would be very surprised if they did not. The Inquisitors have been one of the most powerful forces in Valeria for a long time. They know I caught them unaware and will be certain they can defeat me if they are prepared. The Duchess has far too much influence in their order, and she will demand they recover the Codex.”

Ellyssa gnawed her lip worriedly before asking,
“Can we beat them if they come prepared?”

“There is only so much one can prepare for. Even the best laid plans often fail upon meeting the enemy
, because the enemy has plans of their own. It all rests upon who has the best plan, and the plan most able to withstand the engagement,” he said somberly.

“You have a plan?”

Azerick smiled. “I always have a plan. Moreover, I have the Codex.”

Azerick spent the entire night deeply immersed within the pages of the
Codex while Ellyssa taught and entertained Raijaun until the need for sleep won out. Until exhaustion finally overtook her, Ellyssa worked with Raijaun on his letters and even improved his speech beyond a few single word demands. Azerick was right; he learned very quickly.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, Azerick dragged them through another series of magical gates until Ellyssa was certain her head would split in half and her stomach would leap out of her mouth and make a run for independence.

There was little conversation as they trudged on. Azerick always seemed lost in thought
, and Raijaun scurried to and fro chasing and devouring almost anything he could catch. He and Azerick were both tireless and Ellyssa had to use her magic to ward off much of her fatigue to keep pace. Her sedentary imprisonment had definitely taken its toll on her strength, but she was recovering quickly.

“How long do you think it will take them to catch us? I don’t see how they can if we keep using your portals,” Ellyssa
said.

“It will likely take a couple days before they are prepared to leave Argoth. They won’t know how fast we are traveling until they find the residual energy of my gates. They can use the same network of horses as the King’s Blackguard and cover a great deal of ground in a short amount of time. We will keep using the gates until we reach Sandusk where we can take a couple days to rest properly and prepare. You
will need to be ready. They will find us two days out of Sandusk,” Azerick replied absently.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because that is my plan. We will wait for them in an area I passed through years ago. My gates leave a prominent amount of residual energy, and they will have little trouble finding them to ascertain our direction and speed of travel. If you have not noticed, I cast the same number of gates and we walk for the same amount of time each day. Nothing short of leaving a note for them will give them a better clue of our whereabouts.”

Ellyssa scrunched her face in worry.
“Shouldn’t we just keep running until we are back at the school? Then we would have help with a lot less risk of losing. I don’t know how powerful you are, but these are Inquisitors and there will be a lot of them.”

“Sometimes, you can achieve more with a
bluff than having a strong hand. We have a strong hand, but it is not unbeatable by any means. If we dig in at the school, the Inquisitors will likely call upon The Academy for support and our odds actually decline. It also creates a political element we do not have to contend with out here. You saw how Allister caved in to Academy pressure before. I love him and Rusty dearly, but our ideals do not always coincide. It is not enough to just beat the Inquisitors and The Academy. I have to convince them the threat of the Scions is real and more important than taking back the Codex. They must see that the Codex needs to be in my hands if we are going to have any hope of victory.”

Ellyssa rolled her eyes and curled her lip in a sneer. “Good luck with that. The Academy is nothing but a bunch of arrogant, hard-headed fools.”

“Which is why I have to be even more hard-headed,” Azerick replied grimly.

Partway through another
stomach churning day of gating, Ellyssa noticed Azerick scratching runes in the dirt or on a rock and hiding it from view.

“What are you making?”
she asked, curious.

Azerick set the rock he was carving
on rune side down and looked over. “I need to know when the Inquisitors find my gate locations so I can watch them. The runes inform me when someone comes near it and gives me a way to scry the location quickly and easily.”

Ellyssa nodded her understanding. Scrying was only possible if the person performing the spell was familiar with the target, whether the target was a person or a location. A good spell caster could blind scry, but it was like trying to find a small object in a big house in pitch blackness. It was also easy for another magic user to detect
such stumbling attempts.

Ellyssa looked around at the vast, rocky terrain. “Do you think they will even find these spots? This place is huge and we’re not exactly taking the trade roads.”

“They should. I am leaving a pretty big magical stink for them to sniff out.”

“I wish I was as confide
nt about facing them as you are,” she sighed.

“Make no
mistake; we are luring fleshreavers into a trap with nothing more than sticks for weapons. We just need to make sure our sticks are sharp.”

By the time they reached Sandusk, Raijaun was almost speaking in complete sentences. His behavior was near that of a normal human child
, and Ellyssa had no trouble overlooking his peculiar appearance. Ellyssa also felt more like her normal self, at least physically. Azerick’s return even made her feel better emotionally than she had in a very long time, despite everything else she endured. Maybe it was because she found it hard to think of anything except a night’s sleep in a real bed.

Several people on the streets
of Sandusk stopped and stared, and a few ran off with looks of fright evident on their faces. It was apparent some of the citizens recognized Azerick from his visit several years previous.

Azerick led Ellyssa and his son to a quaint boarding house. It was one of the few buildings
in which the owner took the time and expense to maintain in this harsh environment. It was obvious from the look of shock and displeasure on the prim, older woman’s face sitting behind the reception desk that she also recognized Azerick.

“Can I help you, My Lord?” she asked, suppressing her unease.

“We require a room. A large one with three beds if possible,” Azerick replied.

The woman folded her hands on her desk, likely to control their shaking. “I am afraid we are booked up. Perhaps you can find a room at the inn down the street.”

Azerick smiled. “I think you have a room. Sandusk is not exactly on a major trade route, or known as a prime vacation spot.”

“I’m sorry,
but I just cannot go through what occurred the last time you were here!” she exclaimed.

“I do not expect anything like that to happen again,” Azerick assured her.

“Were you expecting it last time?” she challenged.

“A fair point. I was not. However, you were well compensated.”

“Sir, there is not enough gold to adequately compensate or enough soap to scrub the image from my mind in the entire world!”

Azerick dropped enough raw gold on the counter to pay for a month. “I do not expect to be here for more than a few days. We will find the room ourselves.”

Azerick found a large room at the end of the hall. It had two beds and a sofa, as well as a desk and several comfortable chairs. The sofa would suffice as a bed for Raijaun.

“Azerick, she did not exactly agree to let us stay,” Ellyssa said uncomfortably as Azerick dropped his travel pack.

Azerick harrumphed irritably. “A great many people are not going to agree with me and challenge what I have to do. I do not have the time or patience to argue with them all. I need to wash the dust out of my mouth with something more than water. Stay here, watch Raijaun, and study.”