Delver Magic: Book 06 - Pure Choice (43 page)

"Where does the trail
lead?" Holli asked, wondering why Ryson would have abandoned the chase.

"That's the problem,"
Ryson revealed with growing frustration. "It just ends."

"He probably teleported
himself or even opened a portal back to Uton," Enin offered. "But
don't worry. He won't be able to get away. I will still be able to follow his
trail. Show me what you have found."

But when Ryson brought Enin to the
spot where the trail ended, the wizard could not find any trace of a magical
path, no indication that a teleportation or portal spell had been cast anywhere
near the area.

"Are you sure the trail ends
here?" Enin asked of the delver.

"Positive. Look, you can see
his footprints."

The tracks were visible to all,
and they did, in fact, just stop, as if Ansas simply stepped into oblivion.

Holli bent down to examine the markings.
She felt the harsh ground with her fingers, checked the depth of the prints.
She waved her hand over the last footprint and watched the gray dust scatter
slightly in the breeze she made with her palm.

After straightening up, she moved
carefully forward, checking the ground at varying lengths away from the last
tracks and in all directions. She felt the dirt in several other areas and then
scanned the skies. She quickly returned to the delver. Even without finding
further traces of the sorcerer, she did not wear an expression of confusion.
She appeared to understand some hidden secret, but she needed to confirm her
suspicions.

"Do you still have his
scent?" the elf asked of Ryson

"Yes."

"Then there must be a scent
trail that matches his tracks. Does that end?"

"What do you mean?"

"Forget about the other
signs. Focus only on what you smell. Tell me if the scent trail ends at the
same spot his tracks stop."

"Out here? It's
difficult," Ryson admitted. "The stench is overpowering."

"Ignore it," Holli commanded.
"I believe we can find him."

That was all the delver needed to
hear. He crouched low and tried to find the scent of the sorcerer near his last
markings in the ground. Ryson inhaled the thick, humid air in light and brief
breaths. He narrowed in on Ansas' scent, even moved backward along the trail to
confirm he had it.

Once certain, he moved forward
again to the last set of tracks. As he did, he instinctively rose his head up
from the ground and kept moving forward. He even took several leaps in the air
as he continued away from the others. The last leap was a breathtaking jump
high above the ground that revealed his stunning delver abilities.

Ryson turned back to his friends.

"His trail doesn't end. It
goes up into the air."

"He flew," Holli nodded in
agreement.

"You mean he flew like Enin
can?" Ryson demanded of Holli.

Looking at the others, he realized
that flying was no small accomplishment. Even Enin was apparently surprised by
the revelation, but Ryson wasn't ready to give the sorcerer that kind of
credit. He turned his attention back to Holli.

"I've seen you float over the
ground. Couldn't he have just done that?"

"I am only able to cast
momentary spells of levitation. There is a difference between levitation and
flight. Trust me, he flew."

"This complicates
things," Enin admitted. "He is more talented than I would have
guessed."

Ryson didn't care about Ansas'
talents. He wanted to find the sorcerer. He wouldn't be stopped no matter what
spell the sorcerer cast.

"Can we follow the magical
trail?" Ryson asked of the wizard.

"No, he did not use magic to
affect space. He didn't compact it for teleportation and he didn't create a
magical path for a portal. He just elevated himself and then flew off. It's not
the same thing."

Ryson would not be deterred.

"It doesn't matter. He won't
get away. I can still follow his scent trail. Even in the air." The delver
looked to Enin with expectation in his glaring eyes. "You can fly and you
can carry me with you. You've done it before. All you have to do is follow my
directions and I'll tell you which way he went."

Enin looked to Holli hoping for an
additional opinion.

"It may work. What do you
think?"

"I do not see why it would
not," Holli offered. "It would just require patience and
concentration. I would suggest that the rest of us stay here. When you find
him, you can teleport us to your position. That way you won't be distracted and
Ryson can concentrate on the sorcerer's scent."

"It's probably the best
plan," Jure agreed. "I can keep watch over everyone here. I can even
protect Linda from any new arasaps. They would have to physically touch her.
The best..."

Ryson thought of the arasaps and
instantly cut Jure off.

"Don't say anything
else!"

Jure obeyed the order without
hesitation but looked immediately toward the delver for an explanation.

"I think Ansas is using the
arasaps to watch us," Ryson explained. "I think he knew we were
coming. That's why he took off."

"They shouldn't be able to
see us," Jure contradicted, "or hear us. Linda's magical immunity
would create a barrier."

"Ansas left right before we
showed up," Ryson countered. "And then he just flew away. Why would
he do that? He knew we were coming. I can tell."

"But it shouldn't be
possible," Jure maintained, but only for a moment, "...unless the
arasaps have managed to tap into Linda's senses as well as her emotions.
Perhaps they see what she sees, hears what she hears."

"That would explain a great
deal," Holli agreed.

Enin said nothing but quickly cast
a spell. He could not cast it directly upon Linda, or even on the arasaps
within her, but he could focus on the space surrounding Ryson's wife.

The others could not ignore the
wizard's actions, especially the delver. Ryson knew his wife was immune to
magic, and couldn't understand why Enin would direct a spell towards her.

"What did you do?!"
Ryson demanded.

"I placed a... think of it as
a curtain... around your wife. You can't see it, but it is there. She can no
longer hear or see us, which means the arasaps and Ansas can no longer see us
or hear us."

"So she thinks we're
gone?!" Ryson stated with his alarm growing.

"I understand your concern,
but in her state, she does not mind. She cannot see or hear anyone of us, save
Dzeb. I thought it would be best if he looked after her. The curtain does not
block him out."

"So she thinks I've left
her?!" Ryson was about to demand Enin remove the spell, but Holli affirmed
the wisdom of the move.

"We need you to help us find
and defeat Ansas," the elf intervened. "If you wish to help Linda,
you must accept this."

"Of course I want to help
her!" the delver roared. "But not like this!"

"It seems we have little
choice. You yourself demanded Jure to remain quiet. How can we
communicate?"

Ryson was becoming frustrated at
having his words and actions used against him, and they were no closer to
reaching the sorcerer.

"But if Enin just cut us all
off from Linda, then Ansas knows we're aware he was listening."

"If he is watching us, then
he already did," Holli noted. "You just said as much only a moment
ago. This may be difficult, but we need you to find him."

Despite how it would affect the
delver, Jure decided to expose yet another flaw in their plan.

"We have another problem. If
Ansas was listening to us—which he probably was—then he knows how we're going
to try to follow him."

Enin saw where the elder wizard
was going.

"And he now knows to mask his
scent from the delver."

"So he's going to get
away?!" Ryson groaned.

"No," Jure said with
certainty.

Holli recognized the elder
wizard's tone.

"You have an idea?"

"I do. I believe I can find
him, but you have to take me back to the elf camp."

Without hesitation or even asking
for further explanation from Jure, Enin teleported the group through a portal
once more, and they emerged just outside the borders of the elf camp in Dark
Spruce Forest. He did not know why Jure needed to speak to the elves, but the
magic that flowed through his consciousness seemed to approve of the decision.
He could never quite explain it to anyone else—as there was no one in Uton that
could control the energy with the same proficiency—but the magic would often
open his awareness to events of great consequence. He felt the lines of energy
converging around them, almost guiding them to where they needed to go.

The sudden appearance of uninvited
guests alarmed the elf guards on patrol and they called for the new arrivals to
halt. The outer perimeter of sentries did not openly confront Enin's party with
threats, but they remained on high alert and were extremely cautious involving
any magical portals. Each elf remained in position as the elf captain rushed to
the scene.

Birk Grund, recognizing most of
them as allies, addressed them all with a level of respect, but he also
insisted they reveal their purpose.

"Why have you come here in
such a manner?"

Jure knew the answer, but he
allowed Holli to speak for them all.

"We are in search of
Ansas," the elf replied.

"Is he near?" the
captain demanded.

Holli did not sense the sorcerer,
but as of yet, she was uncertain why Jure wished to return to the elf camp. She
bid the elder wizard to finally explain his intentions.

"No, he's not here,"
Jure explained. "He's still in the dark realm, but there are now two links
to him that I can follow. One is with us." The wizard nodded to Linda.
"The wife of Ryson Acumen is harboring four arasaps with a portion of
Ansas' black magic. That is one point. The other is within Shantree
Wispon."

None of the others, save Enin,
could understand Jure's intentions. It was Holli who pressed for further
explanation.

"But the links only create a
path back to where the last spell was cast," Holli asserted. "The
link to the arasaps led back to Ansas' study. The link to the elf elder will
only lead us back to the area in the dark realm where the elves were taken
after abduction, the ground that was under Ansas' barrier. Do you believe that
is where he is hiding?"

"I doubt it, but I won't be
following the links of a spell. I will seize upon the similarities within the
two points of magic—the one in Linda and the one in Shantree. Ansas left part
of himself in both, and I should be able to find the commonality between the
two distinct portions, separate out the differences, and draw a direct path
back to his unique power. That will lead us right to him... wherever he
is."

Ryson didn't understand the
magical implications, really didn't care about them. He wanted nothing more
than to get to Ansas as quickly as possible, but he also considered the need to
act with greater care. His impatience and carelessness had already led to one
setback. He despised the thought of any delay, but he wouldn't make the same
mistake twice. There was no way he would allow Ansas to escape again.

"How are you going to block
out Shantree?" the delver asked. "We can't let Ansas know what we're
going to do. If he was able to use Linda's senses, he can probably use
Shantree's. Is Enin going to cast another spell around her?"

Birk immediately responded with a
harsh rebuke.

"No one is going to cast a
spell on anyone in this camp without discussing it with me, the council... and
especially the camp elder!"

"But if we tell her what the
plan is, then Ansas will be warned," Ryson responded with growing
frustration, unsympathetic to the elf's concerns.

"Warned of what?" Birk
demanded.

"We are going after
him," Holli explained in the most diplomatic tone she could muster.
"He has used arasaps to penetrate Linda Acumen. We must free her of the
parasites."

"She has my sympathy, but you
do not have my authorization to cast a spell on the camp elder. Ansas has
already abducted us once and any action against him must be considered by the
council, or at least the camp elder herself."

Ryson finally boiled over. He
stepped up to the elf captain in a blur of motion and gazed defiantly into
Birk's eyes.

"Do you know how many times
I've saved this camp? If you think I'm going to let your idiotic rules
interfere with what we have to do, you're sadly mistaken."

The elf captain's tone grew cold
as he stared back at the delver with equal defiance.

"Have a care delver. You
forget where you stand."

Ryson stepped even closer.

"I haven't forgotten
anything. I know about the guards in the trees... even the ones you think I
can't see. Would you like to see how fast I can drop them to the ground like
sacks of dried beans? I can be finished and back here before any of them can
string an arrow, let alone get off a shot at me."

"Ryson!" Holli
admonished. "That will not help!"

Ryson would not back down.

"Holli, we're going to find
Ansas, and this over controlling
captain
is not going to get in my way!"

It was Jure who offered a
solution.

"Ryson, I don't think it's
necessary to block out Shantree," the elder wizard stated with all
honesty.

The delver would not release his
gaze from the elf captain, but he directed a demanding question at Jure.

"What do you mean?"

"What I'm planning on doing
does not require stealth. Even if Ansas realizes what I'm going to do, he won't
be able to hide. As long as I can sense the magic within Shantree and Linda, I
will be able to build a path to Ansas. There's not a barrier he can create that
will stop me."