Rampage, page 12
part #1 of Land of the Elementals Series
“Drink it all,” she heard Silver say again. “It’ll help with the headache.”
“As nasty as this tastes, it better!” she threatened.
She did as she was told and drank the entire thing. The headache immediately lessened to an almost imperceptible ache as she finished the nasty liquid. Silver handed her a waterskin next, and she took it gratefully. Taking a sip, she swished it around a few times before spitting it out. Then she took a longer and deeper sip, swallowing it this time with a sigh of relief.
“What happened last night?” she asked, looking first at Silver’s smiling face, then to Sylvester’s openly shocked one.
“And why are you both looking at me like that? And what happened to you?” she asked Sylvester with a raised eyebrow. “You look like you spent the night allowing a horse to drag you around on your face.”
“Don’t you remember what happened?” Sylvester asked, ignoring her comment.
Karria gave him a dirty look.
“If I remembered, would I be asking?”
Sylvester puffed out his chest, a cocky grin coming to his face.
“You should be thanking me for saving your life. After you passed out for some reason, I singlehandedly killed all the lizards,” he bragged.
Karria looked over at Silver with a quirked eyebrow. “What really happened?” she asked, seeing Sylvester’s shoulders slump.
She didn’t know why, but Sylvester seemed to have a penitent for lying.
“What Sylvester said could have been true, for all you know,” Silver said, the grin not leaving his face.
“Oh alright, I’ll tell you what really happened,” he said after a few seconds of Karria glaring at him.
He explained what had happened the previous night and who had really saved them all.
“You have magic. I suspected you did from the moment I first met you,” Silver said as he finished recounting the previous night’s events.
Karria listened to the entire story and when Silver finally finished, she looked between his excited face and Sylvester’s downcast one and decided that he was probably telling the truth.
I have magic?!
The thought both astounded and amazed her. She turned quickly back to Silver, needing some answers.
“What kind of magic do I have?”
“It’s only a guess, but I’m pretty sure you have the very rare and powerful Mythic magic!”
Karria raised an eyebrow and then placed her hands on her hips.
“Well, that explains everything,” she said sarcastically.
Now that the initial excitement had worn off, she was quickly becoming annoyed with him for keeping it a secret.
“Keep your breeches on. I’ll explain!” He held his hands up in a soothing gesture.
“Mythic magic is a very rare type of magic, only seen once every few hundred years. I don’t know much about it, except that it’s a form of mental magic. What happened last night was a good example of this. It seems that you built the power up unconsciously and let it out in a massive blast. The attack killed the lizards and, as a bonus, left that nice little hole in the ground,” Silver said, pointing to the crater a few feet from them.
Karria’s eyes wandered over to the five twisted lizard corpses.
Did I really do that on my own? she wondered.
She looked next to where the large crater sat in the parched ground.
I managed that as well?
“What else can Mythic magic do?”
Truthfully, she was afraid of what she saw. How could she do those things and not remember doing them at all? Would she start hurting people while she was asleep?
“I’m not too sure. Like I said, everyone’s magic is different. Some Mythic Mages could use their magic to make things fly, while others could project creatures out into the world. Only time will tell what you may be capable of.”
She bit her lip nervously, afraid to ask what was on her mind. Finally, she steeled herself and asked, “Is it safe for me to be around other people? Or will my magic attack them while I’m asleep?”
“Don’t worry yourself about your magic acting on its own,” Silver was quick to reassure her. “You were in danger when you used it last night and called upon it without realizing what you were doing. I do think you should attend the elven magic school to gain conscious control over it.”
Karria paused at that. The thought of attending school with Sylvester excited her to no end. And thought of actually learning to control her newly discovered magic was even more exciting than that.
“A warning, though…”
She was snapped out of her excited thoughts for a moment as she heard Silver speak again.
“As I’m sure you already experienced this morning, using too much power too soon will have consequences. If you overuse your magic, you will destroy your mind and be left a drooling husk of your former self.”
The thought of that quickly dampened her excitement as she remembered Silver’s story about the people who had misused magic.
He stood then, brushing the dust off his pants and approached her.
“I will be going now. We’re close enough to the forest that I feel comfortable leaving you. If you look off into the distance, you can already see the tree line of the Goldenleaf Forest.”
Karria felt her bottom lip quiver slightly at his pronouncement. She could see the distant tree line, but she wanted him to stay.
He wrapped his arms around her then, and Karria hugged him back, her small arms squeezing for all they were worth.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, Silver,” she said, standing back from him. “I’ll never forget the kindness you’ve shown me over the last weeks.”
Sylvester looked on, awkwardly shuffling his feet.
“I suppose I should thank you as well,” he said grudgingly and shook Silver’s hand.
Silver then bent down in front of Karria and handed her a small dagger. The handle was inlaid with mother of pearl and shone brightly in the light of the morning sun. The handle was capped by a small piece of ruby red metal, carved into the likeness of a roaring tiger. Pulling it out of its sheath, she saw that the blade was the same red color as the pommel. She marveled at the gift and looked at Silver in open amazement.
“This is beautiful!” she said. “I can’t take this. It’s too much!”
Silver smiled at her, waving off her concerns.
“It’s in the right hands. Now, you take care of yourself, my dear. I’m sure we’ll meet again, one day.”
He straightened then and turned to head back in the direction they had come, raising his hand in farewell.
Karria watched him go for a long moment. Then she turned around, facing the direction in which he’d pointed them. She could see a distant swaying tree line on the horizon and knew that they were near their destination.
“Come on!” she said to Sylvester with a grin. “I’ll race you there!” Clutching her new dagger, she took off towards the Goldenleaf Forest.
16
Arbor and Grak were riding through a rough-hewn tunnel, their horses’ clacking hooves echoing off the walls. Oddly enough, the tunnel was quite well lit, with small glowing stones set at intervals along the tunnel wall.
They rode in silence for a while. The tunnel was oppressive and seemed to discourage conversation. He looked back to Grak – she’d been acting strangely since their talk earlier and that worried him.
She was riding a few feet behind him and gave him a reassuring smile as he looked back at her. He turned to face forward once again and just shook his head. Whether human or gremlin, he would never understand women.
They continued riding for a few more minutes before the silence became too oppressive to bear.
“How much further do you think we’ll need to go?” he asked, turning in his saddle once again.
He had to admit to himself that now that the earlier excitement had worn off, he felt quite exhausted. He could also feel his side throbbing where the gremlin had cut him and could only hope it wasn’t infected.
“I’m not sure,” he heard Grak reply. “Dwarves live deep in the mountains, so theoretically, we could follow this tunnel for days before we reach a city.”
She sounded tired, and Arbor decided that it was probably best to make camp for the night. Or was it day now? He had a hard time keeping track when he couldn’t see the sky.
The tunnel was relatively warm compared to the outdoors and falling asleep wouldn’t be too difficult, especially with how tired he felt.
“I think we should stop and make camp,” he suggested, bringing his horse to a halt.
Grak pulled up next to him and gave him a tired smile.
“Yes, I would agree with you on that.”
Arbor quickly dismounted and then went to help Grak as she was still having trouble, due to her injured leg. She wobbled over to a nearby outcropping in the wall and sat down with a sigh of relief.
Arbor set about unsaddling the horses. His magic had fully worn off by now. Despite that, he could see the horses were far better off than they were. He loosened the straps on their saddles and slid them off, then dug around in the saddlebags for a moment, removing a brush and some heavy blankets. He rubbed them down, making sure to dry them thoroughly before draping the blankets over their backs, then went back to the saddlebags for the feed sack.
Pulling the bag open, he could see that there was only enough left for another week or so of travel. He really hoped they would make it to a city by then. Otherwise, the horses would begin to starve. He poured some feed into a small bag and tied one over each of their faces, stepping back and wiping his brow tiredly.
He looked over to Grak then, who had just finished rewrapping her leg. The wound had scabbed over, but it looked very painful. An entire day of riding with that could not have helped make it better, either. He pulled some dried meat and fruit from one of the bags, as well as a half-full waterskin. The horses weren’t the only ones running short on food or water.
When he’d purchased food in Grend, it had been with only one person in mind. Now they had only three days’ worth of provisions left. Arbor sighed. Nothing could ever be easy.
He walked tiredly over to Grak, who tried to stand up from her spot against the wall. Her leg buckled under her and she fell back with a small cry of pain.
Arbor put the food on the ground and helped to ease her back into a comfortable sitting position. Grak gave him a grateful look but seemed to grow upset.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so useless,” she said, a bitter tone in her voice. “I can’t seem to do anything right, and now I can’t even walk.”
Arbor didn’t really know what to say. He put his hand on hers, trying to offer comfort as he wracked his mind of a solution. A thought occurred to him then. His magic could accelerate his healing, and he’d filled the horses with magic earlier. Maybe he could help her as well?
He bit his bottom lip for a moment as he thought it through.
“Grak, I want to try something with my magic. I know you’re in pain, but I might be able to help you heal faster. I do have to warn you, I’ve never done this before, so it may not work.”
Grak looked at him for minute, not saying anything. “I trust you,” she finally answered in a quiet voice. “Just please be careful. I don’t want you hurting yourself like you did earlier.”
Arbor nodded, then closed his eyes. He found the Core of magic located in center – it was getting to be easier now – and concentrated on the streams flowing to his hands. He followed the path a few times, making sure to get a good feel for it, then slowly allowed the magic to flow towards his hands.
He soon found that he could feel a slight pressure building where he’d allowed the magic to collect. The magic seemed to want to disperse into his arms instead of staying bottled up in one spot.
He gritted his teeth and kept the magic there. Sweat beaded his brow as more magic concentrated, and finally, he allowed the flow to stop. He could feel Grak’s hand in his, small and warm, her fingers curled tightly around his. He concentrated on his hands, on the power collected there, and willed it to move into Grak’s.
The magic resisted at first, wanting only to stay and give him strength, but after a few minutes, it finally flowed outward and into her. He heard a small gasp as he did this and found that he could now sense her entire body through his magic.
He could feel her weariness, the aches and pains of a few bruises, and the burning agony coming from the wound. He took ahold of his magic and streamed it down to the area that was giving her the most pain.
He could feel the cut now. It was deep, and there was a nick in the artery, as she'd feared. The wound was still bleeding, despite the cut having scabbed over. Something like this would kill her if it wasn’t treated right away. She’d already lost a fair amount of blood, so Arbor concentrated on coating the wound in his magic.
It was fascinating to watch. His magic seeped into the wound and began knitting it together. The artery closed up and the inflamed muscle and tissue knitted back together.
There was a sigh of relief so audible that he knew Grak could feel the difference right away. He poured more power into her, soothing all the aches and bruises. Once he was done, he started to pull his magic back, but something made him stop.
He could feel something else from her now, a kind of thrumming power that seemed to be emanating from the center of her back. He didn’t understand what it was at first, so he moved his magic back to investigate. The thrumming seemed to be emanating from a small sphere located in the center of her spine. The Core was similar to his in many ways, except hers was a lighter blue and no streams were coming off it.
A wave of exhaustion washed over him then, and he was forced to pull his magic back in himself.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Grak leaning back against the wall. Her hand had gone noticeably slack in his and a small contented smile was plastered across her face. Her eyes were half-lidded and her body seemed to have an almost boneless quality to it in the way she was sitting.
“Grak?” Arbor asked.
“What is it?” she asked, in a drowsy voice.
She sounded like she was half asleep.
“How do you feel?”
“I feel wonderful,” she said contentedly, her words slightly slurred. “The pain is all gone, and I feel so relaxed.” She giggled a little.
Oh no! Arbor thought. He’d overdone it with the magic, and she seemed to be drunk.
It made a weird sort of sense to him. He remembered well the drunk feeling of power he had had while trying to re-energize the horses earlier. He’d wanted to tell her about the small Core he’d felt in her spine.
She definitely had magic, but it seemed to be dormant for some reason.
He figured that his magic must have looked like that up to a certain point. He desperately wanted to ask her about it, but he could see she was already nodding off and decided not to bother her. He released her hand then and straightened, groaning in pain as his cramped muscles stretched.
Digging his fists into his lower back, he leaned backward, hearing a satisfying number of pops. He then fetched a cloak and draped it over Grak. The red-skinned woman mumbled something as he did but didn’t wake up when he pulled the cloak up to her chin.
He then picked up the discarded food and sat down with his back to the opposite wall, munching on the dried fruit and meat. The horses were nickering softly next to him as he ate, small crunching sounds coming from the oats in their feed bags. His mind began to wander as he ate, wondering how his life had become so complicated.
All he had wanted was to get married, settle down, and live a normal life. But fate had intervened. His family had been butchered and his sister had been captured. He’d been forced to kill other sentient beings and was now looking for help from dwarves. There was also likely a warrant out for his head at this point, as well.
He rubbed his temples as he felt a headache coming on. Leaning back against the cave wall, he closed his eyes. All these problems will still be here in the morning. Right now, though, he just needed to get some sleep.
Arbor awoke with a start, his heart racing. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard a noise coming from further down the tunnel.
He looked over at Grak and saw that she was still fast asleep. He had a crick in his neck from sleeping at an awkward angle against the stone wall. Wincing slightly as he forced himself to get up, he made his way over to Grak, rubbing at the sore spot. He froze in his tracks, hearing the noise again. It sounded like a light scuffing of boots over the stone floor.
“I know you’re there,” he called out, his voice echoing off the tunnel walls. “Whoever you are, come out!”
He unsheathed his glaive and took up a fighting stance, preparing for a fight.
Grak started at this and began to wake up, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She looked around in confusion.
“Arbor?” She was still half asleep. “What’s going on?”
Just as he was about to answer, a troupe of dwarves came around a bend in the tunnel. They were fully armed and armored in gleaming plate mail. It was a wonder that he’d only heard them when they’d gotten this close with amount of noise they were making. From what he knew, they were supposed to be friendly, so he relaxed his stance.
“Hello, we’ve been looking for the city of Heart. Could you be so kind as to direct us there?”
Much to his surprise, the troop took up a defensive position and leveled their weapons at the two of them.
“The two of you will come with us. Drop your weapons and come peacefully. Otherwise, we will be forced to attack. Not that I’d mind killing a filthy gremlin,” the lead dwarf said.
Arbor noticed that the dwarf’s face twisted in disgust when he said the word ‘gremlin,’ as though it was the worst thing someone could possibly be.
Grak was fully awake and on her feet now, but she looked frightened. Arbor decided that it probably was best to cooperate. After all, he didn’t think the two of them could beat ten fully armored dwarves who were prepared for a fight. He leaned his weapon again the wall and held his hands out in front of him.
