Kazin's Quest: Book I of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (28 page)

Malachi was met with silence. “Well? What’s wrong?”

“He’s the one who stole the book in the first place,” said Krendal.

“Then get it back from him!”

“A dragon destroyed it,” said Kazin.

Now it was Malachi’s turn to be stunned. “What?!”

“It’s another long story,” said Krendal. “Needless to say, Sandor is presently lying in the Tower of the Stars in the care of the clerics stationed there. He is no longer lucid. The encounter with the dragon was too much for him. I don’t expect any help from him.”

Malachi swore.

“Where did the thief go when he left the tower?” asked Krendal.

“Back into the mountains with the rest of them,” answered Malachi. “I’ve sent a battalion equipped with a black and white mage to scout out the mountains and see if they can track them. I don’t expect much, though. If I haven’t heard back from them by tomorrow, I’m sending a contingent to see if they’ve run into some difficulties.”

Krendal grumbled. “Kazin?”

“Yes, Sir?”

“I was going to send you off in pursuit of the thief but the mountains are too dangerous. Without a proper navigator you’d be lost in an instant.” He scratched his beard slowly. “Instead I—.”

“I can hire a navigator, if you like,” interrupted Kazin.

“No, Kazin. I’m talking about a real navigator. One who knows the mountains and the hazards they hold: one who never gets turned around or lost. What you need is a dwarven guide.”

“Precisely,” said Kazin, grinning.

Krendal frowned. “This is no time to fool around, Kazin.”

“I’m not fooling, Sir. There is a dwarf in my company who fits the description perfectly.”

“In your company?” queried Krendal slowly.

Kazin grinned. “It’s a long story.”

Krendal sighed.

“The troops that I sent have no guide,” said Malachi thoughtfully. “I told them if they find some caves or tunnels not to venture too far. Their search would go much easier with a guide. Perhaps if Kazin hires—.”

“Very well,” said Krendal, throwing his hands up in the air. “It’s two against one. Go ahead and hire him, Kazin. Then take your bodyguard and head for the mountains. When you find Malachi’s group, see if they’ve found any caves or tunnels and put the dwarf to work. Report to me in a week or so and by that time I’ll have some more work for you.”

“Yes, Sir,” said Kazin.

“Remember, Kazin, be extremely careful. Who knows what’s in those mountains.”

“Yes, Sir,” said Kazin solemnly.

“You are dismissed.”

Kazin nodded and quietly left the room.

“See to it Kazin and his company have somewhere to stay for the night, Malachi.”

The High Cleric nodded. “Are you sure you’re doing the right thing with that young mage?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” said Krendal.

“You’re giving him a lot of slack. I could think of better things for him to do.”

Krendal sat back. “Malachi, you’ve known me for a long time, right?”

“Sure, so?”

“Well, you know how I go on gut feelings sometimes, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well, remember when I said two mages perfected the test?”

“Yeah, so?”

Krendal smiled.

Malachi gasped. “You’re kidding? And you’re letting him go into danger like that? Are you crazy?!”

“Maybe,” said Krendal, “but it’s safer than putting him into battle right away. I need him to grow confident in his abilities before I throw him into a war. Besides, I think the prophesy is linked to him in some way. He needs the slack to do whatever he’s supposed to do.”

“Which is?”

“Consult your local version of the Book of Prophesy,” said Krendal with a gleam in his eye.

Malachi rolled his eyes and groaned.

As Kazin exited the Tower of Hope, it was just getting dark. The cool breeze from the lake was enough to drive away the remaining clouds, allowing the sky to clear in favour of a starry night. Torches were lit in the tower’s courtyard and in various locations nearby where the clean-up operations continued. Kazin had no difficulty finding his friends, who were still assisting in the clean-up.

“Time to get some rest, fellas,” said Kazin as he reached them. “We’re heading out early tomorrow.”

“We?” pursued Harran.

“The tower would like to hire your services,” said Kazin.

“So they need a stone mason after all, eh?”

“Not exactly,” said Kazin.

“Oh,” said Harran, crestfallen.

“They need a guide. Someone who knows the mountains.”

Harran brightened. “You’re kidding?”

Kazin shook his head.

Harran straightened and pushed out his chest proudly. “They made an excellent choice. Harran Mapmaker, at your service,” he added, bowing deeply.

A figure lurking by the tower wall nearby ducked out of sight. About ten minutes later, when all was quiet, there was a flapping of wings in the same general location. No one was there to watch as a small bird flew off, due north.

The next morning the trio raced from the tower at a full gallop. The trip to the base of the mountain should only take about five hours. There they were to rendezvous with Malachi’s original scouting party and search for access points into the mountain.

Harran looked forward to entering the mountains. Adrenalin surged through his veins as he thought of exploring the mountain’s tunnels. His horse easily outdistanced the others and he was repeatedly told to wait while the others caught up.

The ride went well until they rounded a bend in the trail and stopped dead in their tracks. There, in the middle of the road ahead of them, lay several trees at odd angles barring their way. Sherman looked around nervously. “Trouble,” he murmured.

They dismounted to investigate this strange occurrence when a wave of fatigue crept over them. Kazin staggered under the effect of what he knew to be a sleep spell and pulled his wits together enough to outlast the initial effect. It was a good thing it was still morning. Later in the day he would have succumbed.

Sherman was not so lucky. He crashed to the ground, fast asleep.

Harran seemed about to topple but managed to stay alert long enough to overcome the effect as well. His adrenalin level must have been quite high.

Kazin spun in a daze and created a shield around the three of them. The horses were a bit too far away to be covered in the same shield.

Seven or eight rough looking figures appeared from concealed positions along the road. One scarred, unkempt figure stepped forward and spoke. “Give it up, mage. We only want the Guardian. If you let us have him, we’ll let you and the dwarf go, unharmed.”

“Forget it,” said Kazin. He was fully awake and aware now. “You’ll have to go through us to get him.”

Harran drew his axe. It seemed his answer was the same.

“Have it your way,” said the ruffian. He whistled and a cloaked figure carrying a knotted wooden staff appeared. Kazin couldn’t identify the cloak. It wasn’t a typical white, black, or grey mage, of that much he was sure. The figure pointed his staff and chanted arcane magic, something Kazin wasn’t familiar with. The magic that ensued was also strange, covering his shield and causing it to undulate. It didn’t take long for Kazin to realize that his shield was being destroyed. He had only seconds to cast a waking spell on Sherman and even then it would take the big warrior several seconds to shake off the effects of the sleep spell.

“Keep them off me as long as you can, Harran,” ordered Kazin. “I have my hands full!”

“Got it,” said Harran, moving forward.

Kazin cast a wake spell on Sherman while still maintaining his shield and then went on the offensive. He cast a volley of fireballs at his adversary, taking care to knock out a few of Harran’s opponents while he was at it. The fireballs succeeded in taking down two of the ruffians but had no effect on the mage.

Kazin’s shield was completely gone now. He bent and grasped some sand, throwing it into the air and chanting a new spell. A cloud of dust appeared just as the first wave of attackers crashed noisily with the dwarf. Kazin was already casting another spell when he felt an icy wind hit him in the side. The opposing mage had moved closer and sent an ice bolt in his direction, narrowly missing him. Without the dust cloud, he would have been a sitting duck. As it was he barely had enough time to raise another shield as another ice bolt came at him. This time it hit the shield squarely and bounced harmlessly away.

The opposing mage cursed and cast his shield eating spell again. Suddenly Kazin realized his opponent wasn’t able to cast any other spells while casting the anti-shield spell. Taking advantage of this, Kazin cancelled his shield spell. He pointed his staff at the opposing mage and prepared his favourite spell. As the anti-shield spell left Kazin’s adversary’s fingertips, Kazin’s lightning bolt left his staff and landed squarely in the mage’s mid-section. With a shriek, the opposing mage was flung backward. He landed on the ground in a heap, his robe tattered and torn where the lightning bolt had burned through. A smoky black ring on one of his fingers smoked heavily, melting the fingers and part of the hand with a tremendous burst of heat. After a few seconds, the smoky ring disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the charred remains of the hand in its wake. The ring seemed familiar to Kazin but there was no time to speculate.

Meanwhile, the sandstorm was beginning to dissipate and Kazin’s shield was no longer there, leaving him vulnerable. Harran was cut and bleeding and beginning to tire as he swung his axe viciously, trying in vain to hold back the fighters. One of the ruffians found an opening and lunged at the victorious mage. As his sword came down, it clanged noisily against another, broader sword.

“Not so fast,” growled a familiar voice. With a flick of his great arm, Sherman sent the ruffian tumbling head over heels into a bramble bush on the side of the road. The ruffian jumped up screaming and fled into the bush.

“Thanks,” gasped Kazin. The sand was fully settled now and, as the scene unfolded, Harran could be seen exchanging blows with one villain while two others were fighting among themselves. Two others were dead nearby. Kazin nodded. His confusion spell had worked. Harran would have been severely outnumbered otherwise.

After several parries Harran cut down his opponent at the knees and looked around for more foes. Kazin quickly nullified the spell the dwarf was under and Harran shook his head. “What the-?”

“I’ll explain later,” said Kazin. There was a yelp and one ruffian turned and fled, the other chasing him in bloodlust.

Sherman turned to Kazin. “What gives?”

“Don’t worry,” said Kazin calmly. “It’ll wear off. I hope.”

Sometime after they left the scene, Kazin explained that his confusion spell engulfed all the fighters. It did not affect the mages since they were naturally immune to that spell, and Sherman wasn’t quite awake, so he was unaffected. That left only Harran, and that didn’t matter, since he was going to fight an opponent whether he was under the effect of a spell or not. The spell had the overall effect of reducing the number of foes they had to face.

Harran was not pleased. “I was under the control of a spell?! And of a friend, no less! That’s insulting!” His face began to redden.

“Relax, Harran,” said Kazin. “You weren’t affected by the sleep spell that mage cast, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well then, you probably weren’t affected by my spell either. You took three opponents down singlehandedly. Do you think you could have done that while under the influence of a spell?”

“I don’t know,” said Harran doubtfully. “I felt lightheaded near the end, as if I were in a dream.”

“That’s because you were shaking off the effects of the spell,” said Kazin. “You were resisting it!”

“I was, wasn’t I?” said Harran, smiling strangely. “I resisted the spells!” He nudged his horse ahead and began to hum happily to himself.

Sherman leaned over and whispered softly. “You’re smooth! Very smooth! You know he was under the influence of your spell!”

Kazin nodded. “I know that, and so does Harran. But he doesn’t know that you and I know. So let’s pretend we don’t.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a matter of honour,” explained Kazin.

“Honour?”

“Never mind,” sighed Kazin.

Chapter 26

T
wo hours later, one mage, one warrior, and one dwarf reached the base of the mountains. Ahead of them wound a jagged trail known as Lizard’s Pass. Few had ever ventured beyond here, and even fewer had returned. This pass was said to harbour evil in many forms.

“Now what?” asked Harran.

“The scouting party either went into the pass or took the eastern path along the mountain’s base,” said Sherman. “It’s not very far to North Lake in the west, so I’d rule out that direction. The cliffs along there are too steep to climb anyway.”

“You can rule out Lizard’s Pass,” said Harran. He was bent over examining the rocky ground of the pass.

“Let’s see,” said Sherman. He knelt next to the dwarf and examined the ground. Finally he nodded. “You’re right. No one has come this way in a while.”

“You mean the lizards didn’t use the pass that was named after them?” asked Kazin. “That’s a little odd, don’t you think?”

Sherman shrugged. “Maybe they flew over this spot while riding those chimeras just to throw us off.” He stood back up. “In any event, the scouting party went that way.” He pointed east.

“Then we go east,” said Kazin.

The companions rode east for just over an hour when they came across the scouting party’s base camp.

There were several young soldiers on guard, and all the horses and spare supplies were in their care. One freckled young soldier came forward and indicated that he was in charge of the base camp.

Kazin informed him of their mission and inquired about the scouting party’s whereabouts. The soldier showed them the path the party took and pointed to the tunnel entrance high above them. “We found it early yesterday morning and the scouting party left for it immediately afterwards,” he said. “They’re about a day and a half ahead of you.”

Harran squinted at it and approved of the path the party had taken. “We can follow the same general course.”