The Unsuspecting Mage (6 page)

James encounters more of the berry bushes throughout the morning. It is fortunate that they grow in such abundance. As the day progresses, breaks in the forest canopy allow glimpses of the gathering clouds. Near mid-day, thunder rumbles off in the distance. Shortly afterward, another stream joins the one he is following, increasing its width and depth.

When the grumbling of his stomach tells him it is lunchtime, he takes a break at a small clearing at water’s edge. After making a fire, he wades into the stream with his spear, this time looking for a fish to fry. Using a variation on his hunting spell, James soon has a large fish impaled upon the end of his spear. Pleased, he returns to camp and in no time has it roasting over the fire.

The forest continuously grows darker and darker as the thunder crashes ever louder.
Unless I want to walk in a downpour I better find myself some shelter soon.
When the fish is ready James eats it quickly, though this time he saves half for later. He wraps what’s left in a leaf before putting it in his backpack. After extinguishing the fire, he sets a quick pace downstream looking for shelter to wait out the storm.

He comes to an area where the trees thin out somewhat and spies a ridgeline off to the south, a little over a hundred yards away. There looks to be an opening at the base of the ridge that may be a cave.

As he moves toward the promise of shelter, a drop of rain lands upon the tip of his nose; more soon follow. Hurrying quickly, he speeds his way through the trees, hoping to beat the rain. Just as he enters the clearing before the cave, there’s a brilliant flash of lightning followed instantly by a thunderous crack and the heavens are unleashed. Torrential rain pelts him the last few feet before gaining the shelter of the cave. Relieved at not being at the mercy of the elements, he turns about and glances to the rain coming down in what his grandma always called a “gully washer.”

The cave is dark but the intermittent flashes of lightning reveal how it extends deeper into the hillside. Relief turns to wariness as his imagination fills the deep shadows of the cave’s farthest recesses with carnivorous beasts. He grips his spear all the harder and moves closer to the mouth of the cave.

It’s just your imagination working overtime, James ol boy. What you need is a fire to dispel the shadows and put your mind at ease.

The thought of sitting all night in the dark is not something he wants to contemplate. A glance to the torrential downpour that still hammered the earth makes it clear that any firewood will be soaked and unusable.

Maybe a spell to make a glowing orb?

Working out the spell doesn’t take very long as spell formulation is becoming easier. Concentrating to maintain the visualization, he says:

With the last word, he stretches out his hand and a glowing orb, cool and firm to the touch, forms on his hand. He smiles in satisfaction and places the orb on a nearby stone. Unlike his previous spells, after the initial surge of power, there remains a very slight draining of power.
Guess the orb needs a continual source of power, like a light bulb, in order to keep working.

With the orb’s illumination filling the cave, he now notices many bones lying scattered across the floor.
Must be the lair of a predator, or used to be.
Not feeling secure until ensuring that he is definitely alone, he takes the orb and holds it aloft as he moves deeper within the cave. It doesn’t extend much farther and the end is soon reached.

Aside from a collection of bones twice that of what had been encountered near the entrance, it was deserted. From the lack of animal musk and no fresh kills, James deduces that the cave hasn’t seen an occupant for some time.

Feeling better, he returns to the front of the cave and concentrates on the orb, dimming its light so it is not quite so bright. Reaching into his backpack, he takes the fish left over from lunch and sits down by the entrance of the cave. Pulling out the book taken from the waiting room, he reads more as he eats. A lot of what it says makes sense. It isn’t a textbook on magic, just an overview to get you started.

By the time he’s done eating, daylight has faded yet more. Behind the clouds, the sun must be nearing the treetops. Yawning, he realizes just how tired he is. Replacing the book back within his backpack, he makes ready for sleep.

One of the things mentioned in the book is how it takes a mage’s concentration to keep a spell active. It occurs to him that should he fall asleep, the orb could very well go out. Not wanting to wake to complete darkness, he works on a spell that will enable the orb to continue glowing all night, even while he’s asleep. Coming up with the words, he concentrates on his desired effect and then casts his spell.

With the final word, he again feels the surge of power, but this time it feels as if he’s being sucked dry. Unable to halt the outpouring of power, he feels a tremendous amount being drawn from him, the effect of which leaves him greatly weakened. Gasping as his knees buckle, he drops to the floor and pants heavily until the spell runs its course. Dots dance before his eyes as he fights to retain consciousness.

The battle is touch and go for a few anxious moments, but he manages to keep from passing out. Lying on the cave floor with barely the strength to keep his heart beating, he comes to the realization that there may be a limit to what he can do with magic.

The orb sits on the rock next to him, still glowing, unchanged. The constant, minute draining of power felt earlier is now gone and the orb no longer requires his concentration to keep from disappearing. Happy that he managed the spell but not about the effect on him, he realizes he’s going to have to be more careful in what he attempts before it kills him.

His strength slowly returns, and when he feels able, crawls over to his backpack. He pulls it beneath his head and finally gives in to the weakness.

Awakening in the middle of the night, it takes some time before he becomes aware as to what awakened him. When his eyes finally focus, dread overcomes him as he realizes that he is no longer alone in the cave. A wolf has entered and stands not three feet away, sniffing the glowing orb. Visions of meeting the same fate as Seth bring panic. Hoping to scare the wolf away, James concentrates and says very softly:

The orb flashes momentarily into a brilliantly, blinding light. At the same time, James sits up and lets out a savage, primal scream as he waves his arms wildly. The wolf jumps two feet off the ground, turns and races out of the cave with a yelp. That spell, so soon after weakening himself earlier, leaves him light headed and dizzy.

Using his spear to steady himself, he manages to get to his feet and looks out into the night. There in the rain he finds a dozen pair of glowing eyes staring back at him. Using what little strength he has left, he holds his spear aloft and yells at the wolves, but they fail to react.

Now what?
He leans upon the spear for support.
You’re in a pickle for sure.
Still drained from the earlier spell, he doesn’t feel like he can afford to do much magic.
Can’t make myself any weaker or I won’t be able to defend myself should that become necessary.
Thinking for a second, he reaches down for a small stone, and as he prepares to throw, says,

With the last word he throws the stone at a pair of eyes. There is a crack in the air as the stone shoots forward in a sudden burst of speed. A loud, sickening thud along with the sound of snapping bones tells the tale and a pair of glowing eyes vanish. The rest of the pack break out of their immobility. Yelping and howling, they flee into the night.

Dots dancing before his eyes; James sits and rests his head on his knees, panting.
Too much. No way can I do any more.
If the wolves come back tonight he’s a dead man for he has nothing left. Remaining awake turns out to be an exercise in futility. He’s simply too exhausted. Trusting to fate, he lies down with head on backpack and quickly passes out. Sometime in early morning, the rain stops, and when the first rays of sunlight enters the cave, the glowing orb vanishes.

A rustling near his head startles him awake and he sits up quickly, fearful that the wolves had returned. He discovers instead a small dog similar to the one that had made off with his dinner earlier. The animal is looking straight at him, still and unmoving.

“Boo!” James cries loudly frightening the dog, causing it to run from the cave.

His head feels like it’s about to crack open and he’s shaky. Using his spear to aid him, he climbs to his feet and shoulders his backpack. At the mouth of the cave, James searches for any indication that the wolves are still in the area. It is with much relief that he looks out and finds the clearing before the cave vacant. He does, however, see the one he killed and the hole in its chest where the stone had struck. To his utter shock, the back half of the wolf had been blown away by the force of the impact. Sorrow for the wolf comes over him even though he knows the wolf, if given a chance, would have had him for a late night snack. Keeping an eye open for any of its pack-mates, he makes his way back toward the stream and continues following it westward.

The rains of the night before have swollen the stream. Its water rushes pell-mell over rocks in its bed. More berry bushes provide a morning snack as well as sufficient quantities to resupply his pack. His strength slowly returns throughout the morning and by noon, the headache and shaking go away.

He continues following the streambed. Sometime after noon, motion from downstream brings him to an abrupt halt. A shiver courses down his spine upon spying a wolf standing amidst the trees, watching him. He bends over and picks up several stones, placing all but one in his pocket. Looking back toward where the wolf had stood, he readies to throw the stone, but the wolf is gone.

For the next several hours, wolves can be seen amidst the trees, pacing him along his side of the stream. Every time he pauses to try and take one out with a stone as he had the night before, the wolves melt back into the forest. Their intermittent howls were a force of fear as he quickened his pace through the forest.

By this time, the stream has swollen to twice its size; several tributaries having joined with it. The stream was becoming more of a river, having a width in places exceeding twenty feet.

James encounters another large tributary cutting across his path. Standing upon a grassy knoll on the far side, a wolf stands motionless as it stares him down. Reaching into his pocket, James takes a stone and cocks his arm back to throw. Forming a visualization of the stone striking the wolf with great force, he repeats the incantation used back at the cave and throws.

Before the stone flies from his hand, the wolf lets out with a spine-chilling howl. Several answering howls erupt from out of the trees all around him and break his concentration resulting in the ruination of the spell. Without the power of magic behind it, the stone flies wide and lands in a bush several feet wide of the mark. Wolves burst from behind bushes and trees.

James turns and flees toward the river. Their growls and snarls give swift speed to his flight. The wolves close fast and his flight is cut short as he is forced to turn toward them, spear held out before him. Swinging the weapon to and fro, he is momentarily successful at keeping the wolves at bay.

“Back!” he shouts, fear tingeing his voice with hysteria.

Doing his best to ward off their attacks, he backs up slowly until his feet enter the coolness of the water’s edge. A wolf darts in and only a quick thrust of the spear prevented the animal from sinking its jaws into his leg. Over a dozen wolves are arrayed before him along the shoreline. For the moment they appear content to merely watch as he backs farther into the river. The coldness of the water and the terror of being torn apart keep him from being able to formulate any spells.

Two steps, three, he slowly puts distance between himself and the wolves. At step number four, as if by some unseen signal, the wolves rush him en masse. He lays about with his spear, using it like a quarterstaff. For a time he manages to strike the onrushing wolves with the broadside of the spear, even managing to stab a few; but they are beginning to wear him down. He still has not fully recovered from the night before.

With his footing becoming treacherous as his legs slowly lose feeling due to the coldness of the water, he slips on a loose stone under the water. Having to thrust his spear into the riverbed to remain upright he’s unable to maintain his defense.

Seeing its chance, one wolf rushes in and nips him on the leg, tearing a three inch long gash along just below the knee. Blood flows freely from the wound and the pain is intense. James is certain this will soon be his end.