Nature's Peril Part 1 (The Nature Mage Series) (12 page)

With the exception of
Bret, the other members of the party were all seasoned warriors, and they were putting up a good fight. Voltan threw a globe-light into the air and leapt into the fray alongside Sabu, laying all about him with his glowing fists and feet. Gaspi drew another two knives, but it was too dangerous to throw them. All of the mottled, hairless creatures had dropped to the gully floor and were attacking members of the party. Taking his cue from Voltan, Gaspi sheathed his knives and summoned power. Clearly, the ban on using magic had been lifted!

H
e formed a force strike and hurled it at the nearest creature. It took it in the side and smashed into another of the attackers, but the creature bounded to its feet again only moments later. Irritated at himself, Gaspi let go of the follow-up strike. He wasn’t trying to win a bout at the Measure, he was fighting to kill! He plunged his senses down into the ground, seeking the deep roots of the trees surrounding their camp. He searched beneath the rocky walls of the gully and found what he was looking for – thick, fibrous roots, stretching out from the trunks of ancient trees for dozens of feet in all directions. Calling them to obey him, he enlivened them with power, commanding them to seek the surface of the soil.

Responding to the call of a Nature Mage, the roots thrust out new growth at an unnatural rate, wriggling upwards through the
ground and bursting through the topsoil. They moved at Gaspi’s command, sliding around the ankles, wrists and necks of the hairless attackers and holding them in place. The dark creatures shrieked in anger and fear, eyes bulging in horror at the magical snares they had been caught in. Gaspi made a slashing motion with his hand and the roots jerked tight, snapping the attackers’ necks as easily as if they were twigs. In a single moment, the fearful shrieking was silenced, and the party of warriors was left with no-one to fight.

Voltan turned to face Gaspi. “Was that you?” he asked, looking around at the macabre display of dead creatures, hanging limply from dozens of
sinuous roots.

Gapsi
waved his hand and the roots released their captives, dropping them to the ground like unholy fruit. At another wave of his hand the roots slid back into the ground, retreating to the dark, nurturing depths of the soil.

“I’ll take that as a
yes,” Voltan said. He turned away and stalked around the clearing, toeing corpses for any sign of life. “You can sheath your weapons,” he announced when he was satisfied. All around the gully, blades slid back into their scabbards. “Pair up and clear the corpses.” Gaspi nodded at Taurnil and bent down to grab one of the creatures by its wrists, while Taurnil took it by the ankles. Hoisting it into the air, they carried it to a spot forty yards from camp, its rough skin chafing Gaspi’s hands with every step. It was much heavier than he’d anticipated, covered in thick, knotted muscle. He looked down at its yellowed claws, filthy and jagged from use, and shuddered as he remembered those hands tightening around his neck. Despite its bestial qualities, the creature was wearing a simple loincloth, so it must have had some kind of intelligence. 

Baard
carried two bodies over on his own – one under each arm – and dumped them on the ground, starting a pile. Gaspi and Taurnil dropped their corpse on top and made their way back to the gully to get another one. It took three trips to clear the ground of bodies.

“What were those things?” Gaspi asked when they were finished.

“Gaaks,” Voltan answered. “Nasty creatures with a liking for human flesh, but they don’t usually stray below the mountains. This tribe was a long way from home.”

“What were they doing here?” Taurnil asked.

“I don’t know,” Voltan answered. “They shouldn’t be down here in the lowlands, that’s for sure, but I think we found out what drove the villagers out. Their presence may be a coincidence, but it could also indicate something more sinister. From now on, we’ll establish a watch every night – two hour shifts. I was hoping to put that off until we at least got into the foothills, but apparently we are already well outside the protection of civilised lands.” He looked around at the group. “Get some sleep. I’ll take first watch, but I need someone to take over in two hours, and someone else to take over after that.”

“I’ll do it,” Sabu said.

“And I,” Talmo said.

“Good,” Voltan responded. “
Someone put out the fire will you? We don’t want any more of those things wandering in. Sabu, I’ll wake you in two hours. Everyone else, go back to sleep.” Baard heaped dirt onto the fire until it was out, and climbed under his blanket.

Voltan waited till the giant was
lying down again before banishing the globe light. Gaspi’s eyes widened in the sudden darkness, seeing nothing but the after image of the magical light, flashing in his darkened vision every time he blinked. Eventually the impression of the globe light faded, and Gaspi’s eyes readjusted to the night. He had a thousand questions, but the adrenaline of battle had taken its toll, and it wasn’t long before he fell asleep.

…

The next morning, they broke camp and trudged on towards the foothills of the Broken Ranges. The previous night’s battle had changed the mood of the group, and they rode with a wary eye on the undergrowth, looking for signs of further enemies. Gaspi and Taurnil rode up alongside Baard.

“What’s on yer mind lads?” Ba
ard asked.

“We were wondering about those Gaaks. You ever see one of those before?” Taurnil asked.

“’Course I ’ave,” Baard responded. “Anyone who’s bin up North ’as seen a Gaak.”

“What do you think they were doing so far from the mountains?”

“Who knows?” Baard responded, screwing up his face in thought. “Could be anything, but I’ll tell yer this much - little monsters run from big monsters, and
they
run from even bigger ones. Whatever chased them Gaaks out o’ the Ranges will be worse than they are. Yer may as well know from the start - there’s nothin’ good waitin’ fer us up North.”

“
Don’t be so cheerful Baard,” Taurnil responded.

“No use
gildin’ the lily,” Baard responded, and the three of them fell into silence, eyeing the dark spaces between the shrubbery as they rode.

…

Later that afternoon they reached a lake. It was only a few hundred meters across, but it stretched several miles both east and west, like a long thin ribbon. The trail they were following stopped at a small pier at the water’s edge. When they looked over to the far shore, they could see another pier extending out over the water, and beyond that the trail started up again, leading into the hills. Twenty yards from shore, the prow of a boat protruded from the water. Whether by accident or by design, the ferry that would have taken them to the other side had been well and truly sunk.

“Crap,” Baard said, scratching his beard vigorously. “What do we do now?”

“Gasp can you freeze this whole lake?” Taurnil asked.

“No,” Voltan interjected. “We were forced to use magic last night to protect ourselves, but we won’t be doing so again unless in the direst emergency.”

“I don’t think I could do it anyway,” Gaspi said. “The lake’s huge, and it’s the kind of spell you’d have to commit to. If I didn’t have the power to finish it, I’d die.”

“We could fish
the boat out and mend it?” Baard suggested.

“Any carpenters in the group?” Voltan asked. No-one responded. “Lo
oks like we have to go around then.” Baard grunted and fell silent. Voltan peered intently up and down the length of the lake. “We’ll go round the east side. It looks less rocky.” He dug his heels into his horse’s flanks and started off in that direction.

Taurnil glanced at Gaspi and shrugged. Skirting the lake would add a day to the journey, but it didn’t look like they had much of a choice. Pulling on his horse’s reins, he dug his heels into its flanks and the beast lurched into motion. Gaspi swayed in the saddle, falling into the steady traveller’s gait they had established. There was no point rushing, even if you had to take a long detour you’d much rather avoid. The faster you went, the more things went wrong; you got all kinds of sores from the chafing, items fell out of packs, the horses got tired and needed to stop and rest more frequently. No, it was better just to set a steady pace and stick with it, even if you were feeling impatient. Besides, they’d left the trail behind
, and the ground was rocky enough to warrant extra caution. If they were careless, a horse could turn its hoof on a stone and be lamed. Then they’d have no choice but to kill the beast and someone would be travelling on foot!

They
made steady progress through the afternoon, and by the time the light began to fade they were approaching the end of the lake. Flies buzzed noisily around their heads, as well as those of the horses, who flicked their tails and blinked their large, liquid eyes to fend them off.

“We’ll make camp soon,” Voltan called back down the line. “Over there,” he said, indicating a dense thicket of trees growing at the end of the lake. It certainly looked like a good camp; sheltered from the weather and safe from prying eyes.

As they drew near Voltan suddenly pulled on his horse’s reins and flung up a hand. He slid silently from the saddle and urged them to do the same. “There’s smoke coming from those trees,” he whispered.

“W
e’ll scout it out,” Zlekic said, indicating his twin with a wave of his hand.

“Okay
,” Voltan responded. “If there’s any danger, don’t go in. Just come back and report.”

“Understood,” Zlekic said. He and Zaric removed their
bows and arrows, hanging them on the pommels of their saddles, and paced silently towards the thicket. Zlekic went left and went Zaric right, circling the thicket and disappearing behind the mass of trees. Minutes later they returned, maintaining their silent progress through the rocky terrain.

“You won’t believe this but there’s a house in there,” Zlekic said in an undertone.

“A house?” Voltan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“More like a
glorified shack,” Zaric said. “The bushes are so dense you can only just make it out, but that smoke’s coming from the chimney.”

“Whoever lives there clearly doesn’t like company,” Voltan said.

“Like a hermit?” Taurnil asked.

“Yes, a hermit
,” Voltan answered. “Someone who has a good reason to stay away from other people. We’ll have to be careful.”

“Heath is a hermit,” Gaspi said. “They aren’t
all
bad.”

“True
, but we aren’t going to take any risks,” Voltan said. “We need to bed down somewhere for the night, and even if we don’t stay in the thicket, we ought to make ourselves known. We don’t want anyone to assume we’re enemies and attack us in our sleep. Agreed?” The group murmured their assent. “I’ll go alone,” Voltan said. He turned and walked openly towards the thicket, making no attempt to keep quiet.

“HO!” he called, when he was wi
thin twenty paces of the trees. He stopped and waited, standing with his hands hanging by his side, but there was no response. “HELLO!” he called again. A loud creaking sound came from within the trees, followed by the crackle of disturbed undergrowth as someone made their way through the thicket.

Voltan remained as he was, hands dangling by his sides in a non-threatening manner. The
foliage at the edge of the thicket twitched, and a man’s head emerged from among the dense branches.

“Help you?” he asked
, craning his neck around to look at the rest of the party. Gaspi almost laughed out loud at the strange sight of a disembodied head sticking out from the thicket. The man was filthy, with black hair so matted and tangled it made Gaspi’s scalp itch just to look at it.

“We mean you no harm,” Voltan
said, extending open palms towards the hermit. “We’re travelling through and need a place to make stop for the night. We’ll be camping nearby, so we’re stopping by as a courtesy to let you know we are no danger to you.”

The hermit raised a dirt-smeared eyebrow. “Want to camp in the thicket?” he asked.

“That’s very good of you,” Voltan responded. “Yes we would, with gratitude.” Gaspi smirked to himself. He’d never heard Voltan try and be diplomatic before, but he’d handled the hermit fairly well. He hadn’t even had to ask if they could stay in the thicket. The hermit had offered!

The hermit
’s head bobbed twice. “There’s an opening round the other side,” he said, and as quickly as that, his head disappeared back within the branches. Voltan looked at the group and shrugged. He walked back over and took the reins of his horse.

“It looks like we have a campsite,” he said.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sabu asked.

“We need to make camp,” Voltan said. “
He seems harmless enough, but if he turns nasty, there are nine of us and one of him. It’s not as if we’re helpless is it?”

“I suppose not,” Sabu said with a twisted smile. “Still
, we should maintain a watch just in case.”

“Absolutely,” Voltan responded. He glanced up at the setting sun. “Come on. Let’s get
in there before we lose the light.” He led his horse across the rocky ground and around the edge of the thicket until he came to the opening. It was heavily overgrown with weeds and unruly branches. “Baard, Sabu, can you go in first and hold back the branches so we can lead the horses through?”