Broken Mage (9 page)

Anger flared through Thad’s body. The
beast had taken away his one link to the outside world. With a
feral scream Thad launched himself at the monster. The sword bit
deep scoring a thick cut on the monster’s outstretched
arm.

The creature let out a massive howl and
backed a step away from Thad. At the same time Thad looked down at
the sword as if it had betrayed him. He didn’t understand why it
had succeeded where his own had failed miserably. As he thought
about it something occurred to him. Quickly while the monster was
giving him a chance Thad looked over the creature with his magical
sight. Thad had only held his magical sight for a moment but he was
sure that the creature was much like Avalanche. Its base
construction was magical in origin.

Knowing he now had an effective weapon
Thad attacked the monster with new vigor. Giving every last ounce
of energy stored in his body to the attack. The monster acted
confused and continued to back away as Thad hacked at it with
abandon, each swing cutting deeper and deeper into the monsters
metal flesh.

In the few moments Thad had seen the
monster through his magical sight he had noticed the glowing center
that worked as its core. Unlike a human its “heart” was in its
stomach right below where the ribcage would have been.

With one last lunge, Thad shoved the
sword into the beast’s abdomen with all his strength. As the
creature fell back the sword was ripped from Thad’s hands causing
him to fall hard to the ground. He landed hard on his right arm
sending tendrils of pain shooting through his body.

Thad laid on the ground breathing hard
exhausted. With what little strength remained in his body Thad
forced himself to a sitting position. If he was going to die he
wasn’t going to do it without fighting to his last breath. The
ending blow never came as the monster lay unmoving a few feet
away.

Avalanche was at his side nudging him
worriedly with her nose. “I’m ok girl.” Thad said absentmindedly
running his hand down her back.

With Avalanches help Thad got to his
feet. After calling his staff back to his waiting hand Thad made
his way over to the creature. Looking down into its featureless
face Thad let out a stressed laugh. Its eyes had lost the bright
glow that they had held in life. He didn’t have the energy to use
his magic to make sure the creature was dead so he decided it was
time to make his escape.

Thad found the small man and was happy
to find that he still lived. His breathing was light and strained
but he was alive. Thad wished he had the energy to heal the man but
he was sorely lacking at the moment. Not knowing how much longer he
could hold on Thad grabbed the man’s arm and began pulling him
toward the nearest wall. Seeing what he was doing Avalanche joined
in grabbing ahold of the man’s armor right at the shoulder and
yanking with its legs helping him pull the man forward.

With his friend’s help it didn’t take
long to get the man to the wall. After putting up the first two
magical walls Thad’s eyes noticed the man’s weapon laying a few
feet away. With both his weapons lost to him Thad quickly rushed
over to it and tried to pick it up. The axe was much heavier than
it had looked, forcing Thad to drag it awkwardly behind
him.

Once he had the axe placed against the
wall Thad put the last section of wall up. He didn’t know if his
walls would hold if the large monster was still alive but it would
at least give him time to ready a defense.

Thad pulled the lizard skins he had
been using for a pillow and carefully placed it under the smaller
man’s head. Now that they were in close quarters filled with light
the man looked slightly odd but in his exhausted state Thad
couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

With his charge as comfortable as he
could make him Thad sat out his own bed roll. Using his pack as a
pillow Thad got out his personal shield and placed it on him. He
did it none too soon as Avalanche plodded over to where he lay and
laid down with her head across his abdomen. The last sight he had
before drifting off to sleep was her piercing ruby eyes staring at
him worriedly.

CHAPTER VII

Thad woke the next morning his body
racked with pain. With the adrenaline gone the pain from his eye
and arm had come back in full force. After thoroughly checking his
right arm he was sure it wasn’t broken. It was stiff and sore but
he could still move it. He was sure it wasn’t broken just bruised
badly with large purple welts visible even in the dim magical
light.

Lifting his hand to see if he could get
his left eye open Thad froze in horror at what he found. Even after
his eye was open he still couldn’t see out of it. Thad ran over to
the dwarf’s axe and used its blade as a makeshift mirror. It looks
as if his eye had simply been ripped out it didn’t look empty as
muscles still crisscrossed behind where his eye had been The
missing eye explained the massive headache he was
having.

First his foot now his eye, what would
be next? At the rate he was going by the time he made it back to
Farlan all he would have left would be his ear and a tooth or two.
Thad wanted to moan about the loss of his eye but other concerns
took priority. The man who he had rescued the night before was
still breathing but it looked as if every breath pained him
greatly.

Using his magical sight Thad examined
the man. The first thing he noticed was that his body makeup was
slightly different than he had encountered before. The bone of the
man’s skeleton was much thicker and the muscles much closer
together as if someone had tried to force twice the normal number
into the same area. The man’s skin was also very thick compared to
what he was used to, much more like that of one of the subterranean
lizards.

Thad tried not to get sidetracked by
the man’s unique body and began looking for what was ailing the
man. The man was riddled with injuries but most of them were minor.
The major ones were the swelling in his head and throat. Thad had
no idea where to begin in reducing the swelling in the man’s head
but the throat was something he could work on.

There were countless small bones in the
throat and it looked like many of them had been broken in his fight
with the metal monstrosity. Thad focused intently repairing each
small bone one at a time. By the time he was done with the small
bones his forehead was covered with sweat. Even though he had just
woken up he knew he needed a break but was afraid to stop before he
was sure he had done everything he could for the man.

Focusing again Thad went back to work
on the man’s throat. A lot of the small tendons had been cut and
torn when the bones had been broken causing most of the swelling.
Unlike the bones they were much easier to fix as all he had to do
was encourage the body to speed up its own work. He thought about
doing the same thing with the man’s head but he was afraid of what
the consequence of such an action.

With everything done for the man that
was possible Thad sat back breathing hard. He had been up for less
than a few hours and he was already exhausted. He knew he needed to
eat and drink some fluids and if possible get some water down his
unconscious charge’s throat as well.

Forcing himself, Thad searched through
his pack until he found some of the cooked meat as well as his full
canteen of water. Eating fast Thad took a few small sips from his
canteen saving the bulk of the water for his friend. Once he was
done seeing to his own needs Thad lifted the smaller man’s head and
started pouring the water down his throat slowly. Thad was still
astonished that the man was so heavy given his frame.

With the man’s head cradled in his lap
a sudden thought occurred to him. He might not be a man at all but
a Dwarf. From the stories he had heard dwarfs were supposed to have
long beards and fiery hair. Though lacking the facial hair
everything else seemed to fit with the exception that the stories
normally painted the dwarves with humorously disproportioned
limbs.

He wouldn’t know for sure until his
friend awoke but he was sure given everything he was right. His
mind full of thoughts Thad sat back against the wall and let his
eyes close. As he drifted off to sleep he could hear Avalanche
whining to be let out of the cramped room, but he didn’t have the
energy left to let her out.

When he woke Thad checked on his guest
and found that his breathing was much better and the swelling in
his head had gone down slightly. Relieved Thad went to his pack to
retrieve the last of the water. While he was trying to get to his
gear Avalanche was insistently nudging him and whining. To appease
her he opened a small hole in the nearest wall and let her scamper
out. With her gone Thad quickly poured the last of his water down
the unconscious dwarf’s throat.

Thad knew that his friend would also
need food but everything he had was already cooked and posed the
risk of choking him. He needed fresh meat and water to make a
broth, and that meant leaving the room unguarded. He was hesitant
at first but he was left with little choice. Instead of taking down
the wall he simply crawled out the same hole he had made for
Avalanche, closing it behind him.

As soon as he was standing Thad could
see the dead form of the metal monster not far away. Unable to help
himself Thad moved for a closer look. His was happy to see his
sword though it was buried almost to the hilt in the creature’s
abdomen. Climbing atop the creature Thad tried to pull his sword
free but the metal held it tight.

Thad didn’t understand why his sword
refused to move. When he had fought the creature the sword has
easily cut though the metal. Concentrating Thad looked over the
creature using his magical sight and found that there was no magic
left in the beast.

After thinking for a bit Thad began to
understand what had happened. The creature had been moving thanks
to the magic. Otherwise there would be no way for metal to be that
flexible. The sword had merely taken advantage of the system,
forcing the metal to part. Now that the creature was dead and no
more magic flowed through its body the sword was
useless.

Thad didn’t want to leave his only
weapon behind so he tried the only thing he could think of. Placing
his hands on the creature’s chest Thad focused his magic and forced
the metal to part. It was much easier to do than he had figured and
within moments he was able to pull his weapon free.

Wanting to study the metal the creature
was made of more closely Thad cut a small section free from it
about the size of his hand. Thad was surprised that the metal was
far lighter than anything that he had encountered before. Knowing
Avalanche’s love of gems Thad quickly removed the creature’s eyes.
The last thing he wanted was to get the urge to study them later
only to find his pet had eaten them for a late night snack.
Crouched down Thad’s knee hit something, looking down he saw the
remains of his sending box. Tears began to leak from his one good
eye. He had lost his only connection with the surface. The only
thing that had kept him going was now gone. Trying to hold the
darkness that threated to consume him Thad quickly went back to the
task at hand.

With his prizes safely tucked away Thad
headed back toward the underground river to restock his supplies.
It took him much longer to reach the river than he had expected. In
his fevered rush the day before he must have moved farther than he
had thought.

Filling the canteens was the easy part
of the expedition. There was only one fish to be seen in the murky
depths of the water and it was far too small to make a decent meal
for him let alone a broth for his unconscious friend. After walking
the river for a little over what he perceived to be an hour he was
able to catch enough fish to sate his needs.

The walk back seemed to take longer
than it should have. Thad figured it was due to his overly anxious
need to be there when his new friend woke. It was an exciting
prospect that his guest might be a dwarf. If so not only might he
know of a way out the sheer idea of meeting a being that was
thought of as being mythological in nature was
astounding.

“Idiot!” Thad said to himself. If
dwarfs were real, what else had history paved over? There were many
races described in stories and myth. The history of the lost empire
ran through his mind. He had heard that the Fae Wars had been so
named because it had been a war on all things magical. What if that
meant more than just mages? Could it have also been an attack on
the magical creatures of Kern? If that was true then the name “Fae
War” made much more sense. His only hope of discovering the truth
would be if his new friend had any insight into history dating back
thousands of years. Though if the stories were true than dwarves
were known to live far longer than a human.

Thad found his charge still sleeping
soundly when he returned. He wasn’t sure if he was sad or happy at
the notion but he hoped he would wake soon. Thad knew little about
head injuries but what he did know was distressing. He had once
seen a kid take a sharp blow to the head during weapons practice at
the academy. While the boy had lived he had never been the same
after.

With his limited cooking skills Thad
was able to make an edible fish soup. He had added the last of the
mushrooms in his pack hoping the extra nutrients would help. It was
a battle all its own to get the thick liquid down the dwarf’s
throat with a large portion of the food ending up on
Thad.