SORCERER (The Elemental Magic Series Book 1) (16 page)

Alec followed his lead and stuffed his pack down at the bottom of his little tent before climbing in.

Chapter 16

Alec woke up early the next morning before the sunlight even broke through the trees. He didn’t have a whole lot of room in the tent but rolled over and stared the peak less than a foot from his face. He couldn’t believe all the crap he’d unloaded of Allen last night. The guy probably thought he was a big whiner if he didn’t already.

As the forest started to lighten it came alive with the sound birds and insects. Alec crawled out and stretched. While they were walking he remembered seeing an over grown raspberry bush and headed in that direction grabbing the cloth that had held the potatoes.

He made sure to keep in mind which direction the camp was because within a couple minutes he couldn’t see a hint of it. A good ten minutes later he finally stumbled upon the bush. Making fast time of it he quickly loaded the cloth full.

As he stooped to tie the corners together Alec noticed the imprints left by a pair of boots half way under the bush. Tom or Erik had probably stopped and got their berries as they were walking by. That meant they were close by most likely. Alec headed back toward camp to find Allen up and stirring the remains of their fire.

“I got breakfast!” Alec said as he entered the little clearing.

Allen jumped up. “Crap! You startled me. I figured you would still be sleeping.”

“Na, I’m used to getting up early for guard duty.” Alec told him.

“They still have you walking the wall? That’s odd. The only people still on the role should be enlisted. You should have told someone. I’ll check it out and see what’s up.” Allen frowned.

“I don’t mind. I get along a lot better with the enlisted than most of the wizards anyway.” Alec separated the berries giving half of them to Allen.

“Thanks. It’s our job to report anything odd or out of the ordinary. It may not seem like it but the academy is a military post. Most of the people in the martial school are training to be officers and the enlisted are regular soldiers. You magic types kind of a cross between the two but more officer and the bards are our arbitrators.” Allen informed him.

“We have to report anything out of the ordinary? I don’t want to get anyone in trouble just for something stupid.”

“What do you mean Alec? Have you noticed anything else?”

“Well when I was on guard duty yesterday it rained that night and it made the wall real slippery so Lenny stopped patrolling that section. I checked it a couple times and such. He said Little Pete almost went over the edge, I could see the marks even.”

Alec told him how the old oak tree had grown too close to the wall and allowed moss to grow on the walk. He was told that was the type of thing he should report to the guard room at the end of his shift.

The two of them cleaned up their camp and stowed their packs in the tents before grabbing their bows. Alec followed Allen being careful to step quietly. They would be hunting for their supper from now on. Allen showed him some of the edible plants and even turned over a log to show him that the grubs under it were edible too.

Allen led him on to a game trail and started talking. He went over each of Alec’s memories and how he felt analyzing each feeling and comparing it to what he’d done. Most of it was little things that they both knew were the thoughts and feelings of a child but they went over them anyway.

By lunch Alec had lost two arrows and bagged one lonely squirrel. Allen thankfully took down a small rabbit. Heading back to their camp both nibbled on some nuts and stocked up on berries. Just past their camp Allen showed Alec a small stream. As they sat on the edge cleaning the animals Allen started with the hard questions about his more recent experiences.

“I will concede that you were a lot smaller and probably intimidated but why didn’t you let any of the adults know what was going on when Greg and Jason took after you? Surely they would have put a stop to it. No one thinks its right to allow two larger guys beat on a younger smaller guy and where was your friend Jake? You said he was kind of a big guy, didn’t you ever tell him what was going on?” Allen asked.

“Jake is probably close to their same size. I just didn’t want to involve him. They would only try to beat on me when he wasn’t around. It didn’t get bad till later, that’s when I asked Ralph for some tips”

“And you didn’t tell him what was going on?”

“He asked but I just told him I was butting heads with a couple guys. I really didn’t think it would get that bad.”

“That Mr. Phillips sounds like a decent guy you should have let him know what was up or your aunt.”

“I didn’t want Karen to get hurt and besides what would she do?”

“Really, you saw Lena take that guy down right? I doubt your aunt would have broken a sweat on those two.” Allen laughed.

“Yah she’d have raised that long handled spoon of hers and those two would have started bawling.” Alec answered Allen’s questions on why he reacted the way he did up until they got to Christi’s decision to go with him to Jakes wedding.

Allen restarted their fire and forced some sticks into the ground making a spit. They set the rabbit and squirrel above the fire to cook.

“Well, what do you think about Christi and mother going to meet your aunt at the farm? Is that what you want?” He asked.

Alec looked at Allen from the corner of his eye. On one hand they’d been sharing some pretty personal stuff, on the other he was still her brother.

“Look, I’m not going to set you on fire for having your own thought and feeling about Christi. This is just you and me talking things through.”

“Well, I do want her to go and I don’t.” Alec answered hesitantly.

Allen set down his knife and held up his hands to show they were empty. “Here, I swear I won’t kill you for whatever you say about Christi.” He smiled and looked over at Alec. “I’ll wait and make you wish I had during training.”

“Fine but if you kill me you have to deal with Christi.” Alec stuck out his tongue. “I want Christi to come because I want everyone to meet her and I want to spend time with her away from the school.”

“So you really do like her then. Do you love her?”

Alec swallowed the lump that was suddenly in his throat. He thought he loved her but wasn’t sure he knew exactly what that meant and he damn sure wasn’t going to tell her brother that he did.

“I don’t know? I can’t get her out of my thoughts sometimes, other times she irritates me that she’s always so trusting and cheerful.” Alec answered.

Allen just nodded his head as Alec clamped his lips shut.

“So why wouldn’t you want her to go with you to the wedding?” Allen asked. He had a fairly good idea and knew Alec was hedging about his sister.

“It’s a farm. The roads are dirt, mud when it rains. We plant seed and raise livestock. She’s practically a princess and is a noble.”

“I think I see the problem. I have a feeling that you think she’s too good for you?”

Alec’s head drooped. There someone had said it. “She is, I don’t have some long family history and I’m not a noble by any means.”

“I know my sister. That stuff doesn’t mean a thing to her, especially if she cares for you. Sure she likes nice things and loves to go shopping. Don’t give her a coin pouch or it will come back empty. She’s not some fragile flower. She has gone with my father on his trips before where they camped on the side of the road. Not like this but cooking over a fire sleeping in a tent. She won’t break or cry because her hands got dirty.” Allen told him.

Alec understood what he was saying and it did make him feel a little better about taking Christi to Mr. Phillips’s farm. Now he just had the implication of having Christi and her mother meeting his aunt. The idea was both exciting and scary at the same time.

Alec went to bed crawling into his tent and fell asleep fast exhausted from talking to Allen.

Alec was up before the sun again and made his way to the berry bush collecting their breakfast. As he made his way back to the camp he realized the soreness in his ankles was starting to dissipate.

Allen was up and stirring the fire. They took their tents down after eating and packed the rest of their things. Alec followed Allen as they set off to the north. With the sun high in the sky Allen held up his hand warning Alec to stop.

Ahead of them near the bottom of the ravine a deer was grazing. Alec followed Allen’s lead and slowly brought his bow around and nocked an arrow. When Alec looked up, the deer had moved further down the ravine, too far to shoot.

“Move when I move, follow closely. We need to get closer or we won’t have a shot.” Allen told him.

Alec followed after Allen slowly making his way down the hillside being careful to not step on anything that would alert the deer to his presence. It took ten minutes to make it to the bottom. Allen kept trees between them and the deer. Allen ducked out from behind a tree motioning Alec to do the same. Both of them drew back their bows aiming for the deer. Allen counted to three and they releases.

The two arrows struck side by side. The deer took off flying down the ravine. Alec ran down the hill hot on the heels of Allen. They both came upon the deer as it drew its last breath. The deer would give them enough meat for the rest of their trip and then some.

Gutting and skinning the deer wasn’t much different from doing beef for Jake’s father.

“We’ll carry it with us to the large clearing that Tom was talking about. There should be plenty to go around.” Allen explained.

They gathered a stout branch and hung the deer between them. Hiking back up the ravine was a haphazard trip. They slipped down nearly as much as they went up. They finally arrived at the large clearing late in the afternoon and Alec saw a larger fire going with two tents set off to the side.

Erik and Lena quickly ran over to take their burden and set it over their fire. Allen led Alec over to the other side of the fire where they setup their own tents and set their packs inside.

“Where are Tom and Jaimie? Allen asked as they took seats next to the others.

“We haven’t seen them and we’ve been here since mid-day. Erik answered. He didn’t look happy about it.

“That’s odd.” Allen looked toward Lena and Alec and explained. “Tom is normally the first one here and I’ve only known him to show up a little late once when he had to take a guy back to the academy.”

Alec assumed being taken back meant having failed.

As the afternoon stretched on they took turns rotating the deer and Eric added some wild onions and editable mushrooms next to the fire on top of a large flat rock. Alec and Lena took turns gathering extra wood from the edge of the forest when Tom stumbled out.

Tom looked odd but Alec couldn’t put his finger on it till he collapsed face down. Two arrows were sticking up from his back. Alec dropped his arm load of wood and raced after Lena. As he drew closer he saw Erik and Allen kneel down next to Tom. Alec looked down at the man. The arrows weren’t in his back, one was sticking out of his upper thigh and the other in his upper shoulder.

Allen quickly took command of the situation and had each of them grab an end and carried him face down back to the camp. Alec was relieved when Tom let out a moan as they set him down near the fire.

Allen and Eric made quick work of the cloth around both wounds cutting it away from the arrows.

“Alec grab your canteen and boil the water inside of it and I need a clean cloth, hurry! Lena stick the end of your blade in the fire, not under the deer!” Allen commanded.

Alec ran to his tent and upended his pack grabbing his last clean shirt and canteen. He tossed the shirt to Erik and went to set his canteen in the hot coals.

“Loosen the cap first or you’ll never get it off.” Lena told him as he knelt beside her.

“Thanks.”

Alec heard a ripping sound which could only be his shirt and sighed.

“It’s just a shirt. I’m sure you have more.” Lena said frowning at him.

“It’s not that, it’s just that I have several robes back at the tower that are already cut to ribbons. At this rate the only clothes I’ll have are the ones on my back to wear.”

Allen called out that he thought the water would probably be hot enough and that he should bring it over. The only thing was he didn’t have a clue how he was going to get the hot metal bottle off the coals till Erik threw him a strip of his old shirt. Erik had him pore the water over a section of the shirt and waited for it to cool before nodding to Allen.

Allen placed one hand next to the arrow in Toms shoulder then carefully grasped the arrow near the head. It wasn’t in very far with the back of the head still sticking out. Allen pulled it out in one steady motion as Erik wiped the area clean.

Lena handed her hot knife to Allen getting thanks.

“Hold him down.” Allen told them as he practically sat on the guys back.

Erik took the left arm and as Alec and Lena each took a leg. When Allen touched the hot knife to Tom’s shoulder he bucked and let out a horrifying high pitched scream then passed out again.

The arrow in his thigh was already sticking halfway out the other side so Allen quickly cut the shaft and pushed it the rest of the way through. Alec didn’t know if he should be sick or amazed. His body decided for him, both. He quickly scrambled away with his hand over his mouth before heaving his guts out. When he was done he looked to his right and saw Erik doing the same.