Shadow Mage (Blacklight Chronicles) (16 page)

“You can call me Nikulo… And what’s your name?”

“Ophellia.” She glanced at Talis. “Your friend seems a bit lost…late night?”

Talis yawned, and nodded. “Indeed, and a rather lumpy bed of straw.”

Ophellia opened her mouth wide, and glared at her father in the far corner. “I can’t believe he stuck you in
that
room. We’ve plenty better rooms available. I hate him.”

“It was that room or out in the forest.” Nikulo rubbed his head, his expression displeased at the thought. “That terrible forest, we could have been killed if it wasn’t for Charna.”

“Charna?” Ophellia said.

“My lynx. She woke us from the nightmares the creatures were causing, and we…escaped. What happened there…” Talis noticed a faded bruise on Ophellia’s left eye and stared a little too long until she raised a hand to cover it.

Ophellia leaned in, and whispered, “He beats me, you know. That’s why I hate him. I never did him no harm, why does he hit on me so much?”

Nikulo glowered at the innkeeper, and clenched his spoon like it was a knife. Talis studied the girl, sensing sadness and shame. He opened his mouth to say something, but she raised a hand to stop him.

“I better go or he’ll suspect something.” Ophellia rushed off, pouring mead to the patrons at the other tables.

Talis held Nikulo back as he was about to go after the innkeeper. “Save it for later, I have an idea.”

They finished their breakfast, and Talis carried scraps of roasted chicken for Charna. She purred gratefully as he gave her the food. Nikulo took another drink of mead from the mug he’d snuck to the room.

“I wonder if lynxes like mead?” Nikulo said, and tilted the mug towards Charna. She sniffed it, and her eyes brightened. “I guess she does… Whoa, don’t go drinking it all, now.”

Talis chuckled, and sat back on the lumpy bed watching her eat. He unraveled the Surineda Map and summoned the image of Mara. He frowned.

“They’ve stopped moving, strange.”

Nikulo peered over the map. “Maybe they’re resting? They can’t keep traveling like that. I wonder where they’re going?”

“I wish I knew. Let’s pack up and go.”

“What’s your idea for the innkeeper? I can’t stand the idea of that beady-eyed monster hitting on Ophellia.”

Talis slung his backpack around, and grinned at Nikulo. “I’ll show you.”

They found the innkeeper downstairs in a room behind the bar. He was counting silver and copper ingots when he looked up and scowled as they came inside and shut the door behind them.

“What do you two want? You had your breakfast, now get out here.”

“There’s the small matter of pointing us in the direction of the stables. Our mules?” Talis sauntered over and sat on the man’s desk.

“Get off my desk and get out of my inn!” The innkeeper’s face went red.

“Are you right or left handed?” Talis said innocently.

“What? What kind of an idiotic question is that?”

“You heard me. When you beat your daughter do you use your right hand or your left hand?”

The innkeeper sprang to his feet, and raised a clenched right fist at Talis. “I’ll kill you….”

Talis sent a painful amount of Fire Magic inside the man’s right hand, and smiled grimly as the innkeeper cried out and stared in disbelief at his hand.

“What devilry?” The innkeeper flapped his hand, glancing around the room. He sunk his hand into a mug filled with liquid, but it did no good.

“I can make it stop…if you sit down and listen quietly.” Talis leaned in and glared at the innkeeper. “Or I can make it much, much worse….”

The man obeyed, terror blazing in his eyes as he stared at Talis.

“Now listen to me very carefully, I’ve placed a spell on your hand, the hand you’ve used so shamefully to beat on your own daughter. Are you paying attention?”

The man nodded, and whimpered and cried as Talis sent more fire into the man’s hand.

“From now on you’ll never lay a hand on her again, do you hear me? If you do, the spell will flare up again and then the pain will be five times as much as you’re experiencing now. Do you want to feel what that’s like?”

The innkeeper shook his head vigorously, shame and agony pouring from his eyes.

“Good. Leave the girl alone, and you’ll be fine. But if you don’t…” Talis hung his head as if contemplating terrible things. He stood and went to the door. “Oh, would you be kind enough to introduce us to the stable master? I hate bargaining with strangers.”

“Of course…anything, I’ll do anything.”
 
The innkeeper rose, trembling and staring warily at Talis, and led them briskly down the now bustling villages streets to the stables.
 

The innkeeper did indeed bargain well for them. Talis and Nikulo walked out with a fresh mule each. When they mounted the creatures, the innkeeper rushed away, not daring to glance back. Talis thought of the innkeeper’s daughter, and felt a warm glow spread across his chest. She wouldn’t have to deal with his abuse anymore.

“Why do you suppose Mara and Palarian have stopped moving?” Nikulo said, shifting uncomfortably on the mule.

Talis gazed down the grubby street lined with gawkers, merchants and stalls, and then to the end where the eastern gate led towards where Mara and the sorcerer had gone. An enormous man carrying a butchered ham waddled across the street, causing the mules to stop abruptly.

“I have no idea…” Talis wiped his nose. “Do we need supplies?”

Nikulo slapped his forehead. “Supplies!” He jumped off his mule and led the beast over to a vendor selling dried pork, baked sweet potatoes, and roasted almonds. He handed a silver coin to the lady and she frowned, turning over the coin several times, bit it, and finally seemed satisfied. Nikulo stuffed the pork, sweet potatoes, and almonds into his backpack, and handed more to Talis. Charna nuzzled Talis’s hand, and he gave her a piece of dried meat.

The sun glowed orange in the western horizon after they’d ridden most of the day. Every time Talis had checked the Surineda Map, Mara was still in the same place. For the last few hours, a feeling of dread had spread over him. Something was wrong. Even Charna seemed agitated, her tailed twitched as she scanned across the field.

As if sensing his mood, Nikulo cast Talis a reassuring look. “Maybe they’ve found a place the sorcerer was looking for, or they’re visiting someone?”

“Whatever the reason, we’ll reach them by nightfall.” Talis was fearful of confronting the sorcerer again. Whatever magic Palarian had cast on Mara, he could do that or some other strange kind of magic he’d accumulated over the many thousands of years of his life.

After another hour of traveling through wheat fields and sparse forests, they found themselves quite close to where Mara was on the map. They ventured away from the wheat and into a clearing surrounded by elm trees. In the center of the clearing, there was a campfire burning low, and a figure sat nearby. In the dying light Talis made out a silvery shimmer, an enormous bubble of sorts covering the figure and the fire.
 

Fear and hope shot through Talis as he recognized Mara. His heart raced, scanning around for Palarian, searching the the fields, preparing himself for battle.

Mara stood abruptly, her eyes flared in fear, and raised a hand to stop Talis’s advance. Nikulo froze, and glanced at Talis as if wondering what to do. In their race to catchup with Mara, Talis realized he’d forgotten to track the sorcerer’s movements as well.

“She’s surrounded by some kind of bubble…a magical shield?” Talis frowned, sliding off his mule, and he walked the perimeter around Mara’s camp. She pointed at the ground.

“Be careful, Talis,” Nikulo said. “Palarian has probably placed magical wards all around her.”

Talis took a step back, and sank to the ground. He withdrew the Surineda Map, summoned the image of the sorcerer, and tracked his position as miles east of here. Why had Palarian left Mara all alone here? He scrunched up his eyes and tried to puzzle it out.

From behind, Talis heard a slithering in the grass and a hiss loud enough to drown out his thoughts. A black shape slashed out at him, and he recoiled back in fear, his heart pounding. Nikulo jumped off the ground as another shiny dark thing undulated through the grass where he’d been sitting. Charna swatted the grass with her paw, and in lightning-quick speed snapped back. A glassy black snake’s head raised itself up as if inspecting them, its forked red tongue flicking in and out like it was tasting their smell.

“Get back!” Talis shouted, and edged away from the taller grass. Nikulo flanked around to the right, raising fingers to his temple.

In a quick burst, Talis shot fire from his fingertips, causing the grass to erupt in flames. The mules brayed and bucked, terrorized by the fire. Hundreds of giant black snakes rose up at once, immune to the flames, staring at them. Their mirror-like scales shimmered in the firelight.
 

Talis and Nikulo retreated from the snakes, watching in horror as the giant creatures grappled the mules, sinking their enormous fangs into their bodies, poisoning them until the mules fell over and exhaled for the last time, their eyes open in shock and fear. As Talis continued backing away from the snakes, he felt a tingling sensation run up and down his spine. He quickly glanced around and realized the magical shield around Mara had fallen as he’d passed through it.

Mara rushed over and flung her arms around him. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“We’ll never see anyone again if we don’t get out of here,” Nikulo said.

Talis faced the snakes again, pictured the sun in its strength, and shot out a burst of Light Magic at the reptiles. He could feel the power of the crystal shard aiding him in his casting. But the light only reflected off the glassy black scales, and the snakes slithered closer.

“Are they immune to magic?” Talis said, staring at the snakes winding through the burning field.

Nikulo pushed his way forward, aiming his fingers at the creatures. “I’ve been meaning to test this spell out.”
 

A stain of ghostly grey and black fibers shot from his fingertips and erupted across the field, finding purchase inside the snake’s bodies. “Fight fire with fire, and poison with poison.”

Just as the reptiles were about to overtake them, the snakes twitched, bared their fangs, and struck out against air, earth, branch, grass, flame, and even biting each other. Talis, Nikulo, and Mara stayed far enough away from all the mayhem, as the snakes twisted, sprang out, and contorted wildly.

“What did you do to them?” Mara said.

“The poison spell I learned from the Tandria Scroll.”

Mara’s brow furrowed as she stared at the snakes writhing in agony. “That’s disgusting… But, incredibly effective.”

Talis slapped Nikulo on the back. All those months Nikulo had spent studying the Tandria Scroll had paid off.
 

“So the sorcerer created the bubble to protect you?” Talis said.

“He’s not a bad person at all,” Mara said. “Ruthless, yes, but not evil. He knew you would cast the portal spell and come after him, but he was fine with that. He just wanted to return home.”

“And you told him I had the Surineda Map?”

Mara nodded, her eyes careful to see if Talis would be angry. “Palarian wanted to avoid fighting you, so he had to get far enough away. He figured it would take you some time to create the runes and cast the portal spell.”

“But why didn’t he leave you at an inn back in the Fioran Village?”

“He said those villagers couldn’t be trusted, they often kidnapped strangers and took them as slaves, especially girls.” Mara shook her head and exhaled in disgust.

Nikulo wrinkled up his forehead. “So what do we do now? We’re out here in a foreign world, and Naru is under siege by the Jiserians.”

“And by House Lei.”

“What?” Mara stared incredulously at Talis.

So Talis told her the story of what he knew, of the plots and intrigue surrounding the king, and rumored shadowy alliances with the Jiserian Empire. She winced at the story of her father leading an attack against the Temple of the Sun.

“How could he do that?” she shouted, slapping her hands on her thighs. “He promised me he wouldn’t hurt you if I stayed away from you.”

“You promised him you’d stay away from me?” Talis muttered.

“I didn’t mean it, and I made the sign of Trickster with my left hand. He was constantly bothering me about it!”

“That’s okay.” Talis ran a hand along her back. “Somehow we have to sort out the mess back home, bring things back to normal.”

“Normal?” Nikulo scoffed. “Things have forever changed. We’ve changed. And unless we find a massive power source like the black crystal, we’ll be stuck here on this world forever.”

They remained quiet for a while, listening to the fire hiss and crackle across the grass field. The air was thick with smoke, and Talis was lost in his thoughts. What would they do? The vision of Rikar trapped in that storm flashed in his mind’s eye. Did they have a duty to help him? Then a cold chill spread across his stomach.
 

The vision and the knowledge of the portal…it was all Aurellia’s doing.