Delver Magic: Book 06 - Pure Choice (16 page)

Ryson knew the elves had indeed
disappeared, but he also knew that the current magical disturbance that
interfered with his senses was not responsible for the abduction. The answer to
the elf disappearance would have to wait, for the sword's enchantment focused
on his current dilemma.

"Are you going to show
yourself," Ryson called out, "or are you going to keep hiding?"

Without waiting for an answer,
Ryson removed his hand from the sword's hilt and leapt down from the tree. He
stepped into a clearing at the center of the deserted camp, folded his arms in
front of him and waited patiently.

After several long moments of
silence, the delver called out again.

"We're not enemies, and I
don't intend on treating you like one, but I need to know what happened
here."

It was then the swallit appeared.

"Good day to you Ryson
Acumen. Do you remember me?"

Ryson Acumen and that particular
swallit had met before, also in Dark Spruce. The delver recognized the dark
creature, not by its scent, but by the tone of its voice.

"Yes, I do. Want to tell me
why you tried to cover everything up with those illusion spells of yours?"

"I see no harm in
explaining," the swallit replied casually. Its large buffalo shaped head
swung back and forth as it sniffed the air. The stringy, dark green vines that
made up the bulk of its hide swayed gently with the movement. It appeared quite
pleased with what it could smell, or rather with what it couldn't.
"Effective spells. Even I can't detect a natural scent, and I cast
it."

"That means it works, that
doesn't tell me why you cast it."

"I suppose being a delver
makes you impatient for answers, I can understand that."

The swallit stood upright and it
slowly stepped across the camp using only its hind legs to walk. It suddenly
looked more human than buffalo as its front legs became more like arms. It
studied the ground in all directions.

"Tell me first, can you see
these fresh tracks that I make?"

Ryson looked down where the
swallit had walked. There was not a single hoof print to be seen, despite the
fact the swallit had stepped heavily through soft dirt.

"I don't see anything,"
the delver replied honestly, then looked back up into the dark creature's eyes,
"so your illusions covered your tracks. Seems they still are."

"Does that give you an idea
of why I cast the spell?"

"I can only guess, and since
you're here, I'd rather not. Why don't you just tell me?"

"Come now. Humor me. Use
those delver instincts of yours and tell me what you think."

"I think you're avoiding the
question."

The swallit grunted heavily and
glared at the delver. The creature grew annoyed, but not to the point of
charging the delver in fury, as swallits are known to do. Instead, it made a
threat it clearly intended on carrying out if the delver did not cooperate.

"Would you rather I just
leave and tell you nothing? I do not have to explain anything to you. I owe you
nothing."

"No, I don't want you to
leave, but I'm trying to find out what happened to the elves and I don't want
to play any games," Ryson shot back, growing somewhat frustrated himself.

"I assure you, my spells had
nothing to do with the elves disappearance. In fact, I had nothing to do with
it at all. It happened well before I arrived here. That's one of the reasons I
cast the spells. Does that help you?"

Realizing the creature offered a
hint, Ryson decided to make a gesture of his own and he offered his own theory.

"I think you were covering
your presence. You clearly didn't want me to know you were here, but I already know
you're not responsible."

"You
know
?"

"Yes, I'm certain of
it," Ryson acknowledged, but he did not reveal that the information came
from his sword. "I'm sure you're not a threat to me, and I'm positive
you
didn't cause the elves to disappear.
While I know you wanted to hide from me, what I'm not sure of is... why. I
think—and this is a guess—that you cast those spells so I wouldn't blame you.
Right?"

The swallit was impressed with how
much the delver understood and confirmed the delver's theory.

"For the most part, you are
correct. I didn't want you to get the wrong idea. I was hoping to keep your
mind on the elves and not on a possible intruder."

Ryson considered everything he
sensed, as well as those things he could not, and decided to reveal even more
of his assumptions to the swallit.

"I can't see any of your
trails, but I can still see the elves' paths, as well as a few goblin tracks.
All of the scents in the area are masked by some kind of illusion as are all of
the sounds. There's not a single natural scent in the air. What I smell is
being created by magic, not by what's around us. As for what I can hear,
there's an echo of a stream in the distance, but that's not real, either. I
think it's magic creating that as well."

"Very good," the swallit
congratulated. "I'm impressed to see that you have learned to pierce the
magic of illusion. You were not always so gifted. "

The delver ignored the comment and
continued revealing his perceptions.

"You didn't want me to know
you were here, but you wanted me to follow the signs of the elves, at least the
visible signs. You said it yourself, you wanted me to concentrate on the elves,
but I think covering the scents and the sounds hampered me. That has me a bit
confused. Why would you want me to see certain things, but not smell or hear
anything beyond what you created with your spells?"

"Because, as we have both now
confirmed, I didn't want you to know I was here. I focused the visual illusions
on hiding my tracks. I didn't believe that would interfere with your investigation.
I was not happy with covering up all the scents, but I wasn't sure if I could
separate them as easily. If you noticed even a trace of swallit scent, you
would have concentrated on me and not the elves. As for the sounds of the
forest, what you can hear is irrelevant. While the spell does not affect my
voice, it was meant to keep you focused on more important matters. What has
caused the elves to disappear is long gone, and any sound you would have heard,
such as my breathing, would have just led you to me, not to the answer of what
happened here."

"So you want to know what
happened here, too?"

"I do."

"Can I ask why?"

"It will become
evident."

"Are we back to playing games
again?"

"Not at all, but I don't want
my information to influence your findings. I'd rather have you tell me what you
sense, and then I will tell you what I know."

"So I have to go first?"

"Or I could simply
leave."

"Then we'd both lose."

The swallit grunted with renewed
frustration. It dropped down to all fours, but again, did not charge the
delver. It paced around in a circle shaking its head; the long, twisted vines
of its coat rustled from the agitated movement.

"Why must you be so
difficult?"

"Difficult? I'm just trying
to find a solution. Sure, I could tell you everything I know, but then you
might just run off and leave me with nothing."

"I don't expect you to trust
me," the swallit allowed, "but you must know by now that I am more
than simply curious about what happened here. I am no delver on a pointless
exploration."

"I'm not on a pointless
exploration, either. I knew these elves and something's very wrong here, and
that's aside from your spell."

"And that's why I must know
what you sense before I tell you anything. Untainted information is important.
You must realize this."

"Maybe, but I just want some
assurance you'll tell me everything."

At that, the swallit snorted even
louder and turned to face the delver directly. Once again it looked like a
hulking buffalo, and for the first time that day, it appeared almost eager to
charge.
"You are trying my patience again," the swallit said through several
heavy grunts. "Understand this, delver, just as you
know
I did not cause whatever happened here, I
know
far more than you, but in order to understand it, I must hear
your discoveries. If for some reason I am wrong, I will be in your debt. If,
however, I am right, you will owe me, for I will be able to point you in a
direction you would not find on your own. The more I reveal to you, the greater
your debt to me. That should be sufficient as an assurance. Now do not waste
any more of my time and tell me what you sense."

Since the swallit made its
position quite clear, the delver decided to reveal everything he was able to
uncover from his inspections of the elf camp, but he was not quite finished
with his assessment of the area.

"Your illusion spell, the one
that hides your tracks, can you cancel it so I can be sure about everything I
see? I also need you to cancel the spell that hides the scent trails. I need to
follow them for a while. You want to know what I sense, well, I have to be sure
about everything, and your illusions could be distorting something. I don't
want to miss anything."

"Very well."

The swallit stood up again on its
hind legs and reached outward with its front hooves. After grunting words that
made no sense to the delver, a yellow pentagon formed around the body of the
swallit. The five sided shape expanded outward, and as it did, sparks of golden
energy flared both through the air and into the ground. It continued to spread
and broke through the trees, passing harmlessly through trunks both thick and
thin. Soon, the rim of yellow magic faded out of sight.

Just as the spell ended, a wave of
enticements swept through the delver's senses. Ryson immediately smelled the
natural aromas of the forest and the scent of the swallit before him. He heard
all the sounds of the forest, both near and far. The forest became brighter,
the shadows crisper. He looked to the ground and he saw the hoof prints of the
swallit that had been previously hidden from him. The cover of illusion had
been broken and he moved about with renewed interest in everything about him.

With the illusions dismissed, he
refocused his attention on the signs offered by the elf camp. He darted about
checking the trails of the elves and smelling the ground and the tree branches
where the tracks simply ended. He looked closer at several imprints in the
dirt, measured them against each other. He felt the ground as well as the tree
limbs that served as the pathways for the missing elves, pressed his fingers
against the bark and dirt.

Growing more and more curious over
what he found, he began to almost dance around the camp with both enthusiasm
and concern. At times, he was a blur of motion, barely pausing to review some
track or trail, but in a heartbeat, he would stop all movement and drop to his
knees to intently examine one small patch of ground.

He took several opportunities to
pause and take deep breaths through his nose. As he gauged the scents, some
times he closed his eyes and other times he peered about the forest floor. He
said nothing after each breath, but he appeared uneasy with what he discovered,
as if the different aspects he could detect would not come together as they
should.

His investigation completed, Ryson
returned to the swallit.

"Well?" the dark
creature demanded.

"It's very strange,"
Ryson acknowledged as he considered what he had observed. "Every elf path
just ends. There was no apparent struggle, no battle or any conflict. It looks
as if the elves were just carrying out their daily routines, and then they were
gone. And it's not like they even had a chance to react. There's no indication
they came to an abrupt halt, or made a quick turn. There's no sign of a
reaction at all. They were not physically attacked and nothing knocked them to
the ground. One step they were here, and the next step they were gone. And it
all seemed to happen at once, at the same time."

"How can you tell?"

"Mostly because there's no
indication of a surprised reaction. If you saw me just disappear, wouldn't you
react?"

"Probably."

"Well, there's no reaction
evident in any of the tracks, even the trails of the guards in the trees. Like
I said, no turns and no stops. Just walking along... and then nothing. If elves
started disappearing one by one, at least a few of the trails would indicate
some level of surprise. The ones that didn't go first would run over to where
an elf vanished, wouldn't you think?"

"Perhaps," the swallit
allowed, "but then again, they might have been too fearful."

"An elf guard wouldn't have
been afraid. They would have investigated."

"Maybe they went first."

"Wouldn't the other elves
still react? Maybe run, or just freeze? They wouldn't just act as if nothing
happened... go about their business like nothing was wrong. The only
explanation is that they all went at exactly the same time. That way, none of
them would have had the chance to react."

"I see your point. So they
all disappeared at once. What else?"

"There was no conflict. Not
only are there no signs of a struggle, there aren't any tracks—other than yours
and mine... and a few goblin scavengers—that don't belong here. No invading
force came in to take them away. There's not a single sign of battle, or even
commotion. There's nothing out of place. Well, almost nothing."

"Explain."

"At the center of the camp,
in the clearing over there, there's some strange markings in the dirt. On its
own, it's not that unusual. It's really just wind sweeping across the ground
and swirling some dirt."

"Why does it bother
you?"

"Because it's not consistent.
It doesn't break across the camp naturally. Wind doesn't blow evenly—I know
that—but I still can't understand the pattern. It's too localized and uneven.
It's almost as if a hot breeze rushed over a part of the camp, but left the
rest of the ground completely alone. I've never seen a wind pattern like that
before, even in the desert."