The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 (4 page)

I pushed my way through the guards to
Doc and grabbed his hand, holding up the bite so I could examine
it. The mark was just beyond where the guardsman’s gauntlets
protected. The fox had been lucky.

Or it knew what it
was doing,
Cathy suggested.

Let’s assume things haven’t gotten that
scary yet.

I removed Doc’s gauntlet and charged a
Dispel in my hands. I hovered my hand over the wound and launched
the Dispel. Doc groaned loudly and thrashed violently.

“
What did you do?”
Vincent asked, struggling to restrain Doc.

“
A Dispel to remove
the corruption,” I answered, examining the wound again. The waves
of corrupted energy still radiated outwards. I looked up to Doc.
“How long ago were you bitten?”

“
Near...the
beginning,” he answered, gritting his teeth.

It’s too late for
him,
Cathy said.

“
Lie him down,” I
said.

The guards brought him to a vacant tent
to lie him down on a bedroll. Lady Sandra stayed outside to update
the returning Ser Wilson on the situation. I didn’t like this one
bit. I’ve never been a great healer and Doc was going to need a
Master or a miracle to survive.

“
Can you do anything
for him?” Bill asked concerned.

“
I hope so,” I
answered truthfully. “I need to check my book though. I may need
you guys to gather a few items for me.”

“
Whatever it takes,”
Vincent said.

Doc was still sweating profusely and he
started to ramble about stuff that didn’t make sense. I pulled the
ritual book from my bag and flipped through it. I had studied this
book many times and was doubtful that I would find a spell or
ritual that would help him. I had almost memorised all the spell
names.

I closed the book and looked up at the
guards as an idea formed in my head. “Anybody know what Vlas looks
like?” They looked at each other and shook their heads. “It’s
small, has two sharp looking leaves and grows in patches.”

“
I saw some on the
way here,” Ronnie said.

“
Bring me one as fast
as you can,” I said.

Ronnie ran out of the tent and Lady
Sandra poked her head in. “How long until we can leave?” she
asked.

Some of the guards stiffened and I
turned to Lady Sandra before anyone else could. “We need to figure
out what is happening to him so he can heal. You might as well get
comfortable.”

She looked over the guards and nodded
slowly. “Keep me updated. Get some rest, everybody.”

She left the tent and
Bill nodded to the group. “That’s the best we can hope for. Grab a
tent and catch a couple of winks of sleep.”

All the guards but Vincent stood up and
left the tent. “I’m going to stay a couple more minutes,” he told
Bill. When everyone was gone, he turned to me. “What are the
chances Pete is going to make it?”

“
Slim,” I answered.
“This is...different...than anything I have dealt with.”

Vincent nodded slowly and looked over
Doc. “Do what you can.”

“
Of course,” I
replied, picking up Doc’s arm and healing the wound.

“
Can’t find...sister,
where...don’t forget the mutton,” Doc said feverishly.

It’s attacking his
brain,
Cathy said.
He doesn’t have long.

Then let’s hope the Vlas comes here
quickly. The least we can do is put him into a coma so he doesn’t
have to suffer.

A mercy killing is
the better idea,
Cathy said.
But I can see how that would be hard to ask of
this group.

Vincent laughed once, a dry humourless
laugh. “I’m surprised Lady Middleton didn’t just make us mercy kill
him so we can move on.”

“
What’s the deal with
her?” I asked quietly. “She seems so...”

“
Distant?” Vincent
finished, a little anger slipping into his tone. “Yeah, you could
say that. I know Bill said to let her say it to you but we’ll all
be dead before that happens.” He took a deep breath. “During the
assault on Thurlborn Peak, Lord Middleton and Lady Sandra were the
ones that attacked Davenport in the castle. We were fighting
through the city when we heard the screaming. Good Lord, the
screaming,” he grabbed his head and shook it. “She won the fight
but came back...like that. Even Ser Wilson couldn’t talk to her.
When Davenport escaped...she snapped. She gathered a group of us
together and we began this death march across Kalenden. She won’t
stop. Not until she or Davenport dies. We are all just in her way.
She won’t care that she’ll lead us to our deaths. Look at
Pete.”

“
If Davenport thinks
he’s found shelter in Ghanlar, he’s wrong,” I explained. “We’ll go
pick him up from the Evenawks and you’ll be able to go home. Until
then, we’ll watch out for each other and make sure Doc didn’t die
in vain.”

“
I hope you are
right, Mage,” Vincent said.

“
What was she like
before?” I asked.

“
Fierce, but caring,”
he answered, relaxing a bit. “When she’d spar with me, she fought
like she was possessed but was always quick with an apology if she
hurt you. This one time, she put me on my back in two seconds.” He
laughed once. “Just zip and boom, there I was with a bruised
tailbone. I’ve never seen anyone move so quickly before. She spent
the next two days checking up on me to make sure I wasn’t
permanently hurt. Now...”

I nodded slowly as Ronnie entered the
tent. He rushed over and handed me the small Vlas plant. “I’m not
too late, am I?” he asked.

“
Not at all,” I
responded, taking the plant. “The orders are to take a nap while
Doc recovers. Take Vincent with you.” I turned to Vincent. “I’ll
take good care of Doc. You need to lie down; there is nothing more
you can do for him now.”

Vincent nodded slowly and turned to
Doc. “Keep fighting, Pete.”

Ronnie led Vincent out of the tent and
I turned the Vlas plant in my hand. I haven’t held this plant since
I failed to remove Cathy from the tree of my subconscious.

Now’s not the time
for a trip down memory lane,
Cathy
said.

I bunched up the
plant and grabbed Doc’s water flask from his side. I put the plant
into the flask and closed the lid. Placing the flask between my
hands, I transferred power into it to heat it up, brewing the
mixture like tea. I cooled it back down again and brought it up to
Doc’s mouth. He was already pretty weak and it didn’t take a lot
before he slipped into a coma. He wouldn’t survive the hour, but he
wouldn’t suffer either.

A mercy killing that
won’t affect the crew,
Cathy said
thoughtfully.
Well done.

They will still be saddened. But at
least they will be able to move on and give him a small funeral
pyre.

And Grumpy Sandra
won’t become impatient,
Cathy
said.

We should steer clear of her. If she
has a death wish, we might need a getaway.

Agreed,
Cathy said.
I wonder
what really happened. Something doesn’t add up.

I don’t think we’ll ever get to
know.

*****

When the guardsmen returned a couple of
hours later, I explained to them that Doc had slipped into a coma
and died in his sleep. I apologised and told them I made sure he
didn’t suffer. They thanked me and we put together a small funeral
pyre for him. I lit the torch with my magical fire and handed it to
Vincent to say the final words.

During the ceremony,
Lady Sandra stared into the fire with saddened eyes. It was
probably the second pyre she watched over in a short time. My hope
was that this would be a small wake up call to watch out for her
men more carefully, but as soon as the pyre was done, her face
hardened and we were on the move again.

As we passed by the
middle of the Archanion Field, I looked in the direction the Tower
once stood. The distortion was still plainly visible in the air,
but the area around had started to die and turn dark. This
corruption would slowly spread outward and consume the Archanion
Field.

Even banished, the Tower’s influence
still stained the land.

Chapter
4

By nightfall we had
arrived at the mountain path to Ghanlar Plateau. Ronnie identified
Davenport’s tracks heading up the path and I suggested that we set
up camp at the base of the mountain and wait for Davenport. He only
had three options: get caught by Evenawks, hide in the forests of
the plateau or come back down the mountain. With us at the base, we
would watch the path tonight, check with the Evenawks in the
morning and then have them fly over the forests looking for
him.

The guards were
supportive of my idea and even Ser Wilson nodded his approval in
his own gruff way. Lady Sandra reluctantly agreed and assisted in
setting up a small camp. The look in her eye suggested that she
felt that stopping for Doc’s funeral had prevented them from
catching Davenport before he made it up the mountain, but she had
wisely kept her mouth shut.

But if she did, the
guards would have torn her apart and we could have gone
home,
Cathy said.

Don’t tell me you miss the forest.

Not at all,
Cathy chuckled.
I’m
starting to not trust her. If I had a choice of living in the
boring forest and dying pointlessly on a rock...call me a coward
because I’m taking the forest.

Perhaps after we set
them up with the Evenawks, we can be relieved from duty. Let them
wander Ghanlar for a while.

It’s worth
considering,
Cathy said.

While the guards set up the camp and
started dinner, I assigned myself an easy job. I was looking for a
stick. It would be for a spell I learned from my book that would
alert us to anybody that walked over it. With Davenport being able
to use magic, he could easily cast an Illusion spell over us and
sneak by.

If he hasn’t
already,
Cathy added.

The Sentry Stick, as the spell is
called, emits such a weak amount of energy that Davenport wouldn’t
be able to pick it up on a mental sweep of the area; not with us
close by. The stick would snap loudly and I would be able to Dispel
Davenport’s Illusion for the guards.

I found a decent
stick for my task under a weak looking tree. It was 30-40
centimetres long and extremely dry. The drier the stick, the better
the sound I found. I enchanted it with the simple Spiritual spell,
Amplify, and brought it back to the path’s entrance. Placing it on
the ground in the centre of the path, I backed up quickly, the
power flowing into my hand. I stopped and launched the Proximity
spell at the stick, hitting it dead on. If someone entered the
Proximity spell’s range, the ripple of magic through the Spirit
Plane would trigger the Amplifying spell, snapping the stick
loudly.

I headed back to the camp and caught
the confused eye of some of the guardsmen. I explained to them what
I had done and they nodded, impressed.

“
Living out in the
forest teaches you a couple of tricks,” I said, settling in next to
the fire. “Back at my house, I have a couple set up to burst into
fire if the stick snaps. Helps keep some of the really stubborn
predators away.”

“
Could you do that
here?” Jeff asked, passing me a bowl of some sort of
soup.

“
Not without
Magmunese,” I answered, starting to eat. “It works as the igniting
agent. Sticks are too frail to enchant them with anything other
than simple spells and if you get something too thick, the stick
won’t break when triggered. It’s a subtle art.”

“
So there are some
good qualities of magic after all?” Bill asked. A small smirk
stretched across his face. “You are not all power hungry
mongrels.”

“
Oh, we still are,” I
smiled, getting a chuckle out of the group. “How could you not?
Through pure thought and will, I can create something to help or
hurt another person. Tell me, what would you do if you could do
anything?”

“
Not try to take over
everything I see for a start,” Trevor chuckled.

“
No?” I asked,
amused. “You are all men of the sword, sworn to protect the city.
If you could just reach out and stop a thief by sending a chunk of
ice into his heart, why wouldn’t you? What if one of the leaders of
a town was abusing and killing civilians? What stops you from
walking in and killing him with your power? What if the king of
Balendar was a tyrant? Free Balendar by marching on the Thurlborn
Peak. Where does it end? As long as you think you are doing right
for the world, why not use your power?”

I looked around at the thoughtful faces
of the guardsmen. Lady Sandra and Ser Wilson had joined the group
to hear what I had to say.

“
What stops you from
using your power?” Ronnie asked.

An interesting
question,
Cathy said
thoughtfully.

“
Duty,” I answered,
raising a few eyebrows amongst the group. “It is not a Mage’s duty
to lead, but to help, regardless of personal opinions on current
affairs. We should be healers, advisors or protectors, not warriors
or tyrants. People are so afraid of magic, but they shouldn’t be.
Magic isn’t the problem. Some people just can’t handle the
responsibility.”