Path of the Magi (Tales of Tiberius) (25 page)

The next morning, Tiberius was up early.  Captain Gato saw his new occult expert was at least punctual. 

El Gato called the troops together.

“We’re going to sweep the road.  We’ll move in three columns.  First column will march straight down the road.  I don’t expect you’ll see much.  Bandits will flee to avoid us and come back later.  That’s why I’m taking a company on either side of the road.  I’ll take the left column; Rodriguez will take the right.  Both of us will move a little in advance of the road column.  Hopefully that way we’ll pick up some of the scum fleeing from the roads.”  He turned to his new expert.  “You keep to the main road for now.  I’ll let you know if that should change.” 

Tiberius nodded his understanding and then started down the road with the troops.  The ride was a fairly pleasant one.  The weather was overcast but didn’t actually rain, and by mid morning a few patches of blue could be seen dotting the sky.  A few miles out from Vonair, the farms stopped and the road became worse. 

After a time, they came to a small wooden bridge over a creek. 

The horses saw it first.  The lead horses stopped and reared up rather than walk forward. 

“What’s wrong with them?” the lieutenant asked.

Tiberius came up beside him and pointed to a large rock by the other end of the bridge. 

“I don’t like the looks of that rock, Lieutenant.  Why don’t you let me ride ahead and get a better look.”

“I don’t have time to stop and let you look at rocks,” the lieutenant said.  “Squadron dismount; we’ll walk them across.  Maybe some of the timbers are worn.”

The lieutenant dismounted and handed the reins of his horse to one of the troopers.  He and a corporal stepped across first, studying the timbers of the bridge, which looked in good shape.  Tiberius also dismounted.  He followed a few steps behind, watching the rock carefully. 

Suddenly the ‘rock’ exploded into action.  The rock turned out to be a large troll, ten feet high, with an eight foot long club.  It swung it with barbaric fury towards the two Rangers up front.  It likely would have killed them but Tiberius cast a spell which shattered the club in mid-swing.  Still, the troll knocked the lieutenant down, and a backhand from the troll cast the other soldier into the river. 

Tiberius tried a second spell as the troll took a moment to look at his club.  Something went wrong, though.  Instead of the lightning bolt he had expected, he felt a blast of pain though his arm.  Nervous in his first field encounter, he’d tried to rush things and had flubbed the spell.  The troll stepped forward to finish off the lieutenant.  Tiberius had to try something else. 

He raised a wall of ice around the creature.  The troll’s enormous fist hit the wall of ice, not the lieutenant.  The ice cracked warningly. 

Behind him there was pandemonium.  No one had their bows strung; the horses were panicking.  The only good news was that El Gato had come back fortuitously to check on how they were doing.  He was trying to get men organized behind him, but he had a word for Tiberius.

“Run, you idiot!” he said.

Tiberius answered by telekinetically moving the lieutenant behind him and out of harm’s way.  He now stood facing the troll, who was busy pounding though the ice. 

Tiberius took the moment to collect his breathing.  Another second later the ice shattered and the troll charged towards him.

“Fulmo trafu!” he commanded.  Lightning shot from his staff this time and the monster fell back in agonizing pain.  The lightning ended and there was a moment’s pause.  The creature, maddened by pain, charged again.  Again lightning flashed.  This time the monster came crashing forwards.  It stopped and moved no more. 

Gato came forward and looked the scene over. He took a long look at the dead troll then took a look at the young magus. 

Tiberius was standing over the body of the troll.  Trolls aren’t too fine smelling to begin with and now this one reeked of charred flesh.  He was okay till he took a look at the face.  For all the rock troll’s stony body, the face was definitely human.  It had a disturbingly peaceful expression on its face.  Trolls were intelligent creatures.  Fairy folk, yes, but living all the same.  They weren’t like the living-dead vampires he’d dispatched.  Suddenly he felt a little ill.  He’d just killed someone.  Granted, that someone had been trying very hard to kill him, but all the same, the thought made him a little ill.

El Gato put a hand on his shoulder.   “Are you all right?” he asked.  The wizard was looking a bit green.

“Yes, … no.  Sorry, I’m just not used to killing things,”  Tiberius said. 

“First time in combat?”  Gato asked. 

“Yes, well, sort of.  There wasn’t a body before.” 

“I understand.  Take a drink of water.  Sit down for a minute; we can take care of the body.  Good work.  It was certainly trying to kill you.” 

He turned back to the troop.  “You and you there, let’s get this body off the bridge.  You two, you make sure you keep the wizard alive till he figures out what he’s doing.  Get some firewood; I want this body burnt.”  He turned to the lieutenant.  “What happened here?”

“The rock attacked us.  The wizard said something about looking at it.”

“The next time the wizard tells you he wants to look at anything, you stop and look, or I’ll have your busted down to a private.  I don’t care if it’s a rabbit.  You understand?”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said meekly, still rubbing his head where the troll had hit him. 

Tiberius came over to him.  “Let me see that injury,” he said.

“Are you a doctor?” El Gato asked.

“No, but I can treat most wounds.  I can help with the fire too, though I don’t think this kind regenerates.”

“We’ll make sure,” Gato said

One of the Rangers came up and saluted.   “Sir, there’s some gold under the bridge.  Looks like the troll kept a stash nearby.”

“Good.  Divide the weight and we’ll take it with us.  Make sure your count is accurate,” Gato said.

“Yes, sir,” the enlisted man replied.

After tending to the body of the troll and the bridge, the squadron moved on.  El Gato stayed with the center squadron and the magus.  Tiberius stopped him once that afternoon. 

“What is it?”  Gato asked.

“Something out there, I think.  Goblins possibly.  We’re being watched.  Should we pursue them?”

El Gato thought a moment.  “No, not at present.  I want them to know the road is patrolled.  I don’t want to go clearing out lairs just now.  Darras is on the north road.  We’ll team up to clean out some of these nests.”

“Very well,” Tiberius said.

“Step at a time, wizard.  We will clean up this territory.”

“Magus, actually.  Wizards are different.”

“Sorry, what was your name again?”

“My friends call me Tiberius, or just Ti for short,”  Tiberius answered.

“I understand shorting names,” El Gato smiled.  “My real name is very Spanish and very long.  I don’t even remember all of it myself,” he said.  “Come along, I don’t want to spend the night out in open country.”

The patrols continued for a few days.  Sometimes the Rangers would camp out under the stars; sometimes they would take shelter at a tavern or disperse to some of the farmers homes.  Farmers were only too glad for the company, but there were limits to the number of Rangers who were welcome at a time. 

One night in a tavern, Tiberus had a chance to talk over the patrols with El Gato.

“We haven’t seen much action of late,” Tiberius noted. 

“Not a bad thing.  Our goal is to keep the roads clear.  The roads are clear,”  Gato said.

“But still not so safe as we’d like,”  Tiberius answered.

“You have something in mind?” El Gato said.

“Most of the creatures that cause us trouble are nocturnal.  We’re patrolling in daylight.”

“It’s hard to see in the dark,”  El Gato said.  “The full moon won’t be for awhile.”

“I might manage something,”  Tiberius said in a whisper.  “Do you trust the staff here?” he said with a glance at the waitress. 

El Gato leaned closer and whispered,  “Not entirely.”

Tiberius answered in a lowered voice.  “The Burns’ farm had a lot of trouble with rustlers.  Sheep disappear in the night, or are found the next morning hacked apart.  What do you say we take a little stroll in the dark.  I’d leave a quarter of your men here.  They should try and drink for four.”

“That won’t be a problem.  The horses would be missed though.”

“We’ll go on foot.  Quieter that way,” Tiberius said.

“I like your thinking.  All right, I’ll talk to my men.  We’ll go out in small groups.  Out windows where possible.  We meet at the elm tree south of town at midnight.  After that we rely on you.”

Tiberius nodded.  He finished his dinner and then went to his room.  He then teleported out of the room into the darkness.  Walking silently and invisibly he made his way to the elm. 

The night was cool and the air was crisp.  There wasn’t much light.  Whispers of moonlight came though broken clouds.   Just right for goblin raiding.  There was not so much light that humans would see, but plenty for the nocturnal goblins and other creatures of the night. 

By midnight El Gato and a dozen Rangers were at the elm tree. 

“I can’t do all of you, but I can do three men.  That should be enough.  The rest of you, stay with your guide.  I need three men who are willing to risk a bit of magic.”

El Gato and two others stepped forwards. 

Tiberius touched the lid of their eyes.  “This is a night vision spell.  You should be able to see well enough to travel.”

El Gato blinked.  It was remarkably lighter now.  He could move without difficulty. 

“What if we have to fight?  What about the rest of the men?”  El Gato asked. 

“I’ll try something different if there is a battle.  I don’t expect trouble till the farm though,”  Tiberius said. 

In small groups they moved along the road.  The Burns farm wasn’t that far.  By keeping a good pace they were there by one o’clock in the morning.  Slowly and silently, they moved along to the outer pens. 

In the dark shadows of the night other figures were moving:  dark figures, half man-half animal.  They were called bogies and they were numbered among the fairy folk, though there was little magic about them.  There was a score of them creeping though the night, silent as shadows.  They were making their way towards the sheep pens.  

“Ho there!” a voice called. 

The bogies halted, sniffing the air.  A trio of manlike forms stepped from the darkness.  These had a more civilized appearance, though no more civilized manner.  These were goblins.  They saw well in the darkness; their yellow eyes had catlike pupils.  Their skin color ranged from green to brown.  The bogies met them with outstretched claws, but the goblins were not alarmed at this meeting. 

“Fine night for a bit of sheep stealing, eh me lads?  No worries, plenty for all.”  The goblin gave a gold toothed smile.

The bogey leader scowled as he replied in broken English.  “Queen’s men are near.  We take too many, we make men angry.”

“With you and us working together, who’s to stop us, eh?  We can have some real fun.  We can take all the sheep.  Maybe we can help ourselves to the farmer’s daughter, eh?”

The bogey’s companions looked at one another, then nodded agreement.  These were the sort of evil plans they enjoyed.  It was true, working together they could raid more sheep than just the bogies could manage.  The leader still looked warily at the goblin captain.  “We take best sheep.  You can have worthless daughter.  We ...”

Whatever else he was going to say was interrupted by a burst of lights overhead. 

Goblin and bogey alike froze and looked up at the sky.  What fool was lighting up the sky, the goblin chief wondered.  These looked like fairy lights; were elves here?  There couldn’t be a wizard stealing sheep, too.  Dwarves?  He had a very bad feeling about this.  His pessimistic appraisal of the situation was affirmed when his companion and one of the bogey’s suddenly fell over dead with arrows sticking out of them. 

“God and country, Rangers!” came a cry from the darkness.  The goblin captain had enough sense to run from unexpected dangers.  The bogies had more courage or less sense.  Their troop charged forward.  With numbers on their side they had cause for optimism.  The bogey chief had brought many of his clan to carry off the farmer’s tasty sheep.  Out of the darkness they charged forward.  There was too much light, though. The nasty arrows of the Rangers fired with speed and precision, dropping a number of their band and wounding others. 

A couple of the Rangers stepped to the front.  Captain Gato was there with a drawn sword and main gauche.  The first to reach him was dead in an instant, speared though the heart with an expert thrust.  A second faired no better; his arm was slashed and then the bogey finished off with a dagger thrust to the heart. 

The bogies scowled at Captain Gato.  The bogey leader circled around looking for an opening.  The sword and dagger the Ranger carried were too deadly for a frontal assault.  If they could flank him, they might yet kill him and have a bit of manflesh to go with the sheep.  Just the hooded man with the staff was in their way. 

The bogey chief stopped a moment, studying this strange man.  This was something new.  He didn’t look like a Ranger.  He didn’t smell like a Ranger.  Something about him stunk of elves and churches.  An instant later those smells didn’t matter.  Fire ripped from the man’s staff.  Two of his best men burst into flames.  His men were no cowards or fools though.  Four of them at once rushed the strange man.  They clawed only empty air.  Somehow he vanished and appeared behind them.  Another fell dead as the church-elf-thing cracked the staff over the skull of another bogey.  The chief lost track of the battle then.  A mound of earth suddenly exploded in front of him.  The bogey had just time to recognize it as an earth elemental before he stopped recognizing anything.      

El Gato squared off against another of the bogies.  They were strong and clever, but steel was keeping them at bay.  He had to be careful though. He dared not let those deadly claws come to grips with him.  Suddenly, a short wall of flames burst from under the feet of the bogey.   It screamed and leapt up as the fire burned his fur.  In doing so, he forgot about El Gato’s blade, which then quickly ran him though.  He then took a moment to salute Tiberius, who had given him the assist. 

The goblin captain had run from the battle as fast as he could when the first arrows hit.  He ran not entirely from fear.  Unlike the bogies, his men were mostly still in the woods and he’d run back not only to find safety in numbers but also to rally his men to his side.  He hadn’t been joking before; together the goblins and bogies could finish off a patrol of Rangers and help themselves to whatever they liked in the farmhouse. 

He waved his sword and his men came running up beside him. Then he turned to face the Rangers and froze.

He should have been seeing a whirling melee with Rangers and bogies locked toe to toe in mortal combat.  What he saw instead was mostly dead bogies.  Shock stunned his thoughts for an instant.  How could so many be dead already?!  Then he saw it.  Lit by flickering fire lights and flares was an eight foot tall earth elemental.  Next to it was a shadowy figure that vanished and reappeared behind one of the few surviving bogies and struck it dead with … something.  That was a wizard, a powerful wizard, and fighting for the wrong side.  Did even the great queen casually summon up earth elementals? 

“Do we attack?”  his companion asked. 

“Are you out of your f’ing mind?!”  The goblin leader hadn’t made captain by being stupid.  “Run for your lives, you idiots!  They’ve got some powerful wizard helping them!” 

“Wizard?  Rangers don’t use wizards?!” he said, just before the fireball hit him.  The rest of them needed no further encouragement.  One or two dropped from arrows before the rest of them made it to the relative safety of the woods.

“Hold up!”  El Gato called.  His men stopped at his order.  “Too dangerous, going on foot into the woods.  Anyway, better to leave a few alive to tell the tale.  They won’t be back this way soon.”    

  The farmer came out, hearing the noise.  His family could be seen peeking out the windows. 

“Rangers!  Thank God!  You got the thieving lot that’s been stealing my sheep!” he said.

“We had a little help,”  Tiberius said in a loud voice.  “Amazing how a little gold can turn the betrayer against his old friends,” he said with a wink.  The farmer chuckled in turn. 

El Gato came up beside him and whispered, “No one sold anyone out.”

“No, but if the word gets out someone double crossed the goblins, they’ll kill him for us, won’t they?”  Tiberius said.

“You have a devious and deceitful mind.  I admire that in a person,”  El Gato said. 

Tiberius felt sick and tired.  Conjuring the elemental had been a mistake, too much power for too little result.  A simple illusion would have done as well.  Better to be more economical with his magic.  Still, it hadn’t gone badly.  They had broken up a major raid and he was growing in strength.  He’d need endurance with his magic when he fought the dragon.  This was a good step forward.