Vegenrage: The Magic User (12 page)

CHAPTER 9
The Fate of Elven Magic

The ruler of Erkensharie, King Estine, is walking into a large hall where Shandorn is looking into a well of water. This is a magnificent hall, not in its size, but that all the walls are a light-brown-colored wood. The hall seems to have been carved out of a single tree. The well Shandorn is looking into is made of stone mortared together and rises three feet from the wooden floor. The walls are empty of pictures or objects, but the smooth wooden walls are very beautiful, showing off the unique grain of this ancient tree. There is one starlight gem hanging from the center of the ceiling, giving off a perfect soft glow illuminating the room.

“Shandorn, what do you see?”

“There is nothing there, King Estine. The forest is free of Tronglebire and no sign off them.”

“What of the burning?”

“Some of the Vinegrowers have been incinerated by a large humanoid figure, and it came up and over our wall outside the front gate. This is a magic user, King Estine—a very powerful one, a sly one.”

“Can you track him?”

“Yes, he is on his way here. He has passed the Treestriders and is outside our home.”

“What is his intent?”

“Theft.”

“So this magic user is after the Octagemerwell. He is human?”

“Yes. This man approached through our lands, avoiding detection of all our kind and facing all the Treestriders from young to adult, instead of just approaching by air and avoiding that risk altogether.”

“Yes, maybe he felt this was less challenging than facing the Terrahawks.”

“No, he is making a statement. He wants us to know he is powerful, smart, and able.”

“Why would he do that, Shandorn? The whole point of theft is to be in and out unnoticed. Is this an assault on us? Is there maybe a deeper, more sinister plan at work here than just theft?”

“I do not know, but common sense tells me a magical power this capable wishes to further its magical knowledge, and the Octagemerwell is the greatest prize and will afford this magic a much more powerful balance.”

“Yes, but an outsider not of our magical order cannot call upon the power of the Octagemerwell. It will be useless to him. Call upon Tunull and Whenshade, you must protect us from this intrusion. I will have the guard tripled, and full alert will be in place until you have dealt with this situation.” King Estine leaves the hall.

Cloakenstrike flies to the heart of the Erkensharie homeland and comes to an unbelievably large tree. This tree is twenty-five yards across a colossal tree and the oldest Erken tree alive. The Erkensharie elves have complete knowledge of the Erken trees and have learned how to burrow and live in them, benefiting the trees. This tree is the king’s home; however, the entrance is unknown to Cloakenstrike, and surely there are unseen guards here that Cloakenstrike must be wary of. And sure enough, an arrow strikes his left shoulder. The gelatin shield is still in place around Cloakenstrike and absorbs much of the arrow’s force, but the arrow is sharp and true. The four-sided broad head penetrates his left shoulder. He chants a spell and turns invisible as another arrow strikes him just above his belly button, causing another painful wound. Cloakenstrike levitates high up and off a few trees to remove the arrows and heal himself magically. He obviously is a master of healing magic and heals himself quickly.

The elves are masters of camouflage, and he cannot detect their whereabouts right off. As far as his protective shield, which glows green when struck by anything made of wood. It was designed to protect him from the Treestriders. The Treestriders are made of an amazing combination of insect and wood. The shield Cloakenstrike created for himself protects him from all forms of wood, and the arrow being made of wood allowed for his shield to activate again—genius on his part. The elven arrows are deadly and strike with great force. Even though Cloakenstrike’s shield is now many feet thick, the sharp arrows are able to slice through, penetrating Cloakenstrike’s body, so he must stay alert to avoid the not deadly but painful arrows. The arrows penetrating Cloakenstrike’s body is actually a good thing and something he has planned for, because he needs to imbue himself with the elves’ essence, and even though this does not help him magically, it does give him tactical insight to their spiritual being, and every little bit helps.

Cloakenstrike slowly floats through the trees, looking for his adversaries, and good intentions are not on his mind. The arrows striking him were not necessary, but something he has planned, for he knew he had to draw the elves out, and they are very agile and able. He now needs to locate one so he can steal its life force—a tricky task indeed.

Cloakenstrike floats through the trees with his sword sheathed and hanging from his left hip, and finally he spots an elf stuck to the side of a tree. The elves are amazing; they have soft padded shoes with metal claws on the bottom that stick into the smooth, branchless trees, and they wear special gloves with claws in them as well that retract when not in use so they have full functionality of their fingers. The elves are amazingly nimble and are able to stand vertically on the trees without the use of their hands, only connected to the trees by their feet, but they use their hands when resting or, in this case, searching for an intruder. Their clothing is perfectly colored to match the light-brown color of the smooth trees, and they are remarkably camouflaged.

Nevertheless, Cloakenstrike spots the elf that struck him with two arrows, and unfortunately, it cannot see the invisible magic user closing in on him. Cloakenstrike slowly silently draws his sword and halts about fifteen feet from the elf. He wants to make a quick immobilizing death strike on the elf by stabbing it through its spine and sticking it to the tree as he absorbs its life force, but its bow is slung over its back, making his planned attack a little tricky. He studies the elf and does not want to waste time. He flies like Superman, sword pointed at its target, and makes an accurate strike, severing the elf’s spine, immobilizing it. He quickly wraps his right hand over its mouth, muffling any cries for help. Cloakenstrike chants a powerful spell draining the elf’s essence and ending its life painlessly. This is incredibly important for Cloakenstrike because now he is imbued with elven essence and knowledge. This does not allow him the knowledge he needs to access elven magic and the use of the Octagemerwell. For that, he will need to absorb the life force of an elven magic user, a more advanced one, and there are only three that he knows of that will give him the knowledge he needs in this matter.

Cloakenstrike has studied well and knows he needs either Shandorn, Tunull, or Whenshade to gain the access he needs to harness the magical knowledge of the Octagemerwell, a nearly impossible feat, but Cloakenstrike is on the path and has planned this quest for hundreds of years. Cloakenstrike is one of the great magic users in all the realms but seeks all power and has learned how to steal the life force of those he extinguishes. Stealing a life force is like getting a heart transplant. He can see some images from the life he has stolen, but they are like dreams. He doesn’t know if they are real. More importantly, he has the cravings of the life essence he has stolen, which are like clues into the life they had. The knowledge gained from a life essence are things that are naturally thought about or instinctively done, which confuses the host unless well trained and supremely disciplined, which Cloakenstrike is. He tries not to steal too many life forces at a time, because the more he steals, the more difficult it is to control all the cravings and decipher all the strange images.

Cloakenstrike has planned to steal up to five life forces before attempting his magic against one of the three master mages of Erkensharie. They are powerful indeed and may very well be able to defeat Cloakenstrike if he does not execute his plan perfectly. It is very hard to steal the life force of a master magic user of any school, and without the essence of at least one Erkensharie elf, Cloakenstrike may not be strong enough to steal the life force of one of the master mages. A lot of what is going on here is Cloakenstrike seeking adventure and wanting to become one of the greatest magic users in all the realms. With the Octagemerwell, he will be a true master, and very little will stand in his way. He is well ahead of the forces, unaware of a true master executing a flawless plan and is very close to his goal of owning and possessing knowledge of all elven magic.

He concentrates, hoping some sort of image or clue will come to him, gaining him entrance to King Estine’s home, but nothing comes to him. He very cautiously floats around the massive tree, looking for another victim, and knows time is against him, because surely, by now the elven mages are alerted to danger, and their magic is strong and secretive. He wants access to the king’s home as soon as possible to avoid a confrontation with the elven magic users before he gains entrance into the Erkensharie stronghold. He finds another victim and steals his life force, much like he did the first, and the image he has needed comes to him. The entrance, a little surprising, is through the ground. The inside of the tree is burrowed, but the outside is completely intact.

Cloakenstrike lowers to the ground and starts to walk around the tree. He quickly realizes this is not such a good idea since the grass is tall and thick, nearly knee high, and the insects are not thwarted by his shield. The Treestrider Absorption Pendant does not protect him from the annoying biting insects attracted to his warm body, and his invisibility does not help either since the insects are attracted to warmth and scent. He sure must feel very warm and smell just yummy, because the insects are all over him very quickly. He simply floats up a yard in the air and continues his search.

Another amazing trait Cloakenstrike has incorporated into his shield is yet more amazing magic that he has spent many years studying and mastering. His shield protects him from all Treestriders, growing stronger and thicker from the consumption of young Treestrider horns, but his shield is layered, and the inside layer acts as an insulator. Magic users, especially very powerful ones, give off energy that can be felt even by nonmagic users when they are close to one. It’s almost like an attraction; you just know there is something special about this person. Magic users on the other hand can detect this presence from far away, and many spend a lot of time learning magic to hide and protect this presence from others.

The inside layer of Cloakenstrike’s shield reflects his aura back to him, a very impressive magical spell and most crucial in allowing him to get this far undetected from the elves. This does not protect him completely, but before a user of magic can detect him, they must know his exact location and lock onto him. Once this has been accomplished by an individual, his shield will not protect his identity anymore but so far has worked successfully.

There are elves protecting the Erkensharie stronghold from the trees around the supersized tree and are supremely camouflaged. They have a great sense of smell and very keen eyes, but Cloakenstrike is completely invisible and well aware guards are nearby and moves slowly and silent. He does not want any more confrontation until inside the king’s home, and finally he finds the entrance. There is no visible entrance, but he can feel the magic protecting the entrance and most likely the exit as well. Amazingly, there are no exposed roots around the tree anywhere, but the roots underground must be incredibly large. He scans the surrounding trees with his eyes, looking for elven guards, but they are so well camouflaged and he cannot spot any, but he knows they are there.

He is in a tough situation now. He does not want to linger outside the stronghold. He wants inside quickly, but there is strong magic protecting the entrance, and he has never been able learn about the mostly unknown entrance to this most secretive home. This is a dilemma he knew he would face and would have to challenge when he got to this point. Does he chance forced entry not knowing the traps and expulsion magic in place? Does he try to take hostage an elf and see if this allows him a more smooth entry? Does he try to make a diversion and see if anyone will exit? Does he try to burrow through the tree itself or under the tree? All these thoughts are going through his head, and he knows the time is now and he has to act. The next few hours will determine if Cloakenstrike is the great magic user he wishes to be. In his head, he says, “The hell with it,” and decides on brute force. He has gone silent long enough, and it is time to show off.

He rises midway up the tree so he is in the middle of the branch line and the ground. He is still silent and cautious, but that is about to change. He removes his Treestrider Pendant and Wand of Splintering, which form back to one wand, and puts them safely into his Bag of Holding. His Wood Slicer Sword goes back in the bag as well, and it is time for a new arsenal to be adorned. Cloakenstrike pulls out the Staff of Flame Engulf. This is a very lethal weapon he stole from a vanquished magic user long ago, and its brutal lethality is about to be felt. It has a scabbard and is only about three feet long, looking like a big roman candle, which fits securely to his right side, held up by a belt. He pulls out a Necklace of Intensity. This increases his strength, his stamina, his alertness, and his magical power twofold, and he puts it around his neck. Now he pulls out a prized possession, the Cloak of Reflection. This is actually a long-sleeved black shirt, and when he puts it on, it forms to his body like a second skin and has little sparkles of diamond white throughout it.

He pulls out yet another most prized possession, the Helmet of Missile Deflection. Cloakenstrike has an unbelievable magical arsenal that he has accumulated over the centuries and has worked with his magical items very diligently to be able to combine very powerful items and make sure they work well in conjunction with other items. This is a painstakingly long and thought-demanding process that he has done for centuries. There is no doubt that Cloakenstrike is very deserving of his ability; he can just be so damn ruthless. The Staff of Flame Engulf, when pointed by Cloakenstrike’s hand, will shoot a golf-ball-sized fireball, and when this fireball hits its target, the target is engulfed in flames, burning hotter and hotter until the target is incinerated. The Necklace of Intensity increases the power of himself and all magical items he uses or wears. The Cloak of Reflection reflects any magic cast upon him back on the caster of the magic. The Helmet of Missile Deflection will deflect any projectile that is thrown, spit, shot, flung, cast, or fired upon him. He is truly indestructible.