Tides of Faith: Travail of The Dark Mage Book Two (29 page)

“No way.”

James stared with complete disbelief.
From tail to ears, the bulls hide showed an array of diminutive,
charred sections of burnt hair.

Miko followed his gaze just as a fly
landed.

Zap!

A spark and the fly were no
more.

Turning an incredulous look
upon James, Miko asked, “Are you telling me that the
cow
is the
mage?”

Not answering right away, James
gathered the magic to him and sent his senses forward to
investigate. Everything about the bull appeared normal, until
another circling fly landed on its shoulder.

Zap!

“It’s the cow.”

“But how?”

James shrugged. “Magic is in
everything. Somehow, the limited intelligence this cow possesses
has managed to work it.” A thoughtful look came over him. “Unless,
it was not always as it is now.”

“You mean this cow could once have
been a mage?”

“After what we encountered at the
mine…?”

Catching movement out of the corner of
his eye, he turned to see Jiron with knife in hand step into the
barn.

“Any sign of the mage?”

Miko grinned as James nodded and
pointed to the cow. “There he is.”

Jiron laughed, then realized the pair
was serious. “The cow?”

“Apparently,” James
replied.

“It has been zapping flies,” Miko
explained.

Still unsure as to whether or not he
continued being the butt of a joke, Jiron stared skeptically at the
bull. “That’s a mage, huh?” Seconds ticked by and he was about to
call them on their joke when a flash ended the life of yet another
annoying insect.

“If I hadn’t seen it, I would never
have believed it.”

Seemingly unconcerned with the nearby
trio of humans, the bull resumed his meal of grass.

James indicated with a nod for them to
leave the barn. “Have you ever heard of an animal that could do
magic?”

Miko shook his head while Jiron
replied, “Never.”

Coming from the barn, James waved for
the others to approach and filled them in on what had been
found.

Scar got a gleam in his eye, looked
within the barn then turned to James. “What are you planning to
do?”

“Do?”

He jerked his head toward the barn.
“About the bull.”

“Going to kill it?” Potbelly asked.
The sidelong glance he cast to Scar said he hoped that the bull
would be spared.

To Miko. James asked, “What do you
think?”

“I see no reason why the bull must be
destroyed. It is benign and unlikely to progress any further with
its magical abilities.”

“Do we know that for sure?”

Miko shook his head. “No.”

Jira stepped forward. “You can’t kill
it!”

“It’s an aberration,” Tinok
interjected. “What if other animals learned from it? Things could
get dicey.”

Father Keller laughed. “It’s a cow,”
he stated as if such a thought was utter idiocy.

“Bull, actually,” Miko
corrected.

Tinok scowled at the priest. “Think on
this. It destroys the flies because they annoy it. What happens if
an unwitting farmer, or child, annoys it? Will it be able to make
the distinction between a human and a fly? Or will it do the same
to whatever bothers it?”

Jiron glanced to James. “He does have
a point.”

“Yes. I hadn’t considered that.”
Sighing, he turned toward the barn. “Let us see what it does when
it gets bothered.” As he stepped forward, he said to the others,
“Better stay back.”

He re-entered the barn. The bull
lifted its head from where it had been grazing. Their eyes
locked.

The shimmering of his
shield sprang into being as he moved toward the beast. Actually, he
felt rather silly worrying about the possibility of a magical
contest with a bull. After all, like Father Keller had said,
it
was
just a cow.
The shield was in place more for the likelihood of the bull
charging than anything else.

“Hey, boy,” he said in a calm voice as
he drew nearer.

The bull’s head lowered and his right
front hoof dug into the dirt.

James paused to see if it would
charge, then angled to move around the bull and come at its
hindquarters.

A snort, another pawing, but the bull
remained stoic. Its head followed his movements.

Now within reach, James raised his arm
then brought the flat of his hand down hard…

Zap!

Though he was prepared, the blast of
magic from the bull was far stronger than anticipated. The smell of
ozone filled the air and he knew that had his shield not been in
place, he would be one toasty critter.

“Tinok was right,” he muttered at the
bovine countenance, “we can’t leave you alive.” Sadness came over
him as he knew what he had to do.

Bending over, he picked a stone from
off the ground…

James glanced sadly at Jiron as he
exited the barn.

“Is it over?”

“Yes.” Then his eyes went to Jira and
he felt even worse for she knew the truth.

Potbelly went to the side of the barn
and glanced within. There he saw the aftereffects of one of James’
magically-propelled stones and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that
the cow no longer lived.

“Pity.”

“It is,” James agreed.

“How could such a thing come about?”
Father Vickor questioned.

“Magic is in everything around us. All
it takes is a focused mind and the strength to bend it to your will
for anyone to make magic work.”

Father Vickor failed to look
convinced.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t have thought
a cow had sufficient intelligence to work magic.”

“Apparently, they do.”

James glanced to Jiron and nodded.
“Apparently so. Though its magic was rudimentary and raw, it was
still effective for what it wanted to do.”

“Such as zapping flies?” Scar
asked.

“If I was a cow, that’s how I would
use magic,” replied Potbelly.

His friend turned to him and grinned.
“Flies do like to hang around you.”

As chuckles sprang forth from more
than one source, Jiron asked, “Think there could be
others?”

“I doubt it,” James replied. “Since no
one has ever heard of this before…” his gaze went from one to
another, each time receiving a shake of the head or a
“no.”

“Then I think this was a one in a
million occurrence.”

When his gaze settled upon Scar, he
noticed that the Pit Master’s expression had turned
thoughtful.

“Do you think a cow could be taught to
do magic?”

“I don’t think that’s...,” began
James

“People would come from all around to
see a cow that could do magic,” Potbelly added. The gleam in his
eye matched that of his partner.

“That would be incredibly dangerous
and foolish,” Miko warned.

“Not for us,” Potbelly assured. “We’d
hire someone to take care of it.”

“Might have to build a separate Pit
just for the cow.”

Potbelly nodded. “Why should we limit
ourselves to just a cow? Surely there must be other, more
intelligent animals that could be taught to wield
magic.”

“No!”

Every eye turned to James. “I
absolutely forbid it. You’d be opening a Pandora’s Box that might
never be closed.”

“But, we’d be careful,” Scar
argued.

“I’ll lay waste to the Pits before I
allow such a venture to prosper.”

Such was the conviction filling James’
voice that the Pit Master was taken aback. He’d known The Dark Mage
for many a year and had rarely heard that tone in his voice. But
when he had, James meant business.

“It was but a thought,” Potbelly
replied.

James eyed the pair with all the
authority he could muster. “See that it remains so.” Then to Jiron
he said, “Let’s get out of here.”

As they mounted and prepared to
continue their journey, a small voice asked, “Who’s
Pandora?”

They managed to avoid detection for
two days. On the third, they spied riders off to the west and
despite their best efforts, were unable to escape undetected. When
it became clear that the patrol meant to intercept, they came to a
halt.

“Should we make a run for it?” Scar
asked.

James eyed the approaching riders and
counted twenty in all. He then cast his glance about the desolate
and barren countryside. “No. We’ll deal with this here.” Seeing the
gleam in more eyes than that of Tinok, he announced, “We are not
attacking.”

Tinok’s expression turned sour. “Why
not?”

“That is not why we are here. If we
can get through this without killing them, we will.”

Jiron nodded. “No point in drawing
more attention to ourselves than we must. A lost patrol would not
go unnoticed.”

“But what if they attack?” Shorty
asked.

James eyed the advancing patrol once
more and sighed. Such an outcome was assuredly possible. “That
would prove unfortunate…for them.” He then turned to Scar. “Say and
do nothing to provoke them.”

“Who, me?” Scar was innocence
personified.

“Don’t worry,” Potbelly said, “I’ll
keep an eye on him.”

A derisive snort was immediately
followed by Father Keller mumbling, “That’ll be the
day.”

As the thundering of the riders grew
in volume, James said, “We are on our way to investigate trade
possibilities with merchants in various cities beginning with
Korazan, nothing more. Short of being taken prisoner or being
forced to endure an escort, go along with whatever they
say.”

Scar nodded. “As you wish.”

With Potbelly at his side, he moved
several feet forward to wait for the riders. Over half had
crossbows slung across their backs, the rest bore swords. The
insignia emblazoned upon their left breasts was that of twin swords
crossed within a red circle.

“They’re Kazan’s men,” Miko
announced.

Warlord Kazan holds all
lands north of the Tears of the Empress, west to the mountains and
east to the Kirkens. His raiding parties are made up of cutthroats,
murderers; basically the dregs of society. Unfortunately, he’s
recruited enough of them to hold off the other Warlords, so
far.

Illan’s words replayed through James’
mind as Jiron said, “We’re not going to avoid
bloodshed.”

“We may yet.”

James didn’t believe the words even as
he uttered them. Intelligence reports indicated that Kazan’s men
preyed as much upon their own people as they did those of the other
Warlords abutting their territory. Caravans were about the only
ones free from molestation. Without them, Kazan’s economy would
utterly fail.

Tinok dismounted and came to stand
where Scar and Potbelly waited. Scar glanced down to him, nodded,
then returned his attention back to the approaching riders. He laid
a hand upon his sword hilt.

As the riders approached, four moved
toward Scar, Potbelly and Tinok while the others fanned out into a
semi-circle. Three of the four wore uniforms similar to the others,
the fourth sported a dark helm with a silver plume; a rare
affectation among Empire soldiery. This had to be the leader. The
leader and his escort stopped within speaking distance.

“Have you lost your way,
travelers?”

“No,” Scar replied. “Merely avoiding
the hustle and bustle of the main road.”

A wry grin coming to his lips, the
leader said, “What is your business in the Realm of the Warlord
Kazan?”

“Our business lies some distance south
of the great Warlord’s domain,” Scar explained. “We are but passing
through.”

“Ah. Then I must inform you that his
Greatness has decreed that all travelers must pay a tax for passing
through his territory.”

“A tax?”

The leader nodded.

“How much?”

“Everything you have.”

“Everything? Even my small clothes?”
quipped Scar.

The grin faded from the leader’s face.
“Trifle not with us, stranger. It’s everything, or your lives.” A
quick upturn of his arm and as one, the crossbowmen had crossbows
in hand and aimed at James and the rest.

His eyes roamed to where Jira sat with
Jiron. “And to pay for your insolence, we will have the girl,
too.”

James didn’t take the time to look at
Jiron’s reaction to that statement, but knew that his friend would
now settle for nothing less than the leader’s death for such a
decree. Keeping his hood close about him, he reached into his
tunic, pulled forth his coin purse and moved forward.