Victim of Fate (14 page)

"Then spit it out! I'm no student to be
lectured."

Kar frowned, and then let his irritation slip
away. They'd all cared for Alto in their own way. He was young but
an amazing man that had done earned a spot in all of their hearts.
To lose him so suddenly and strangely was a blow to them all. A
blow that Kar had begun to question. "Why don't we go back for
him?"

"Go back?" Tristam's brows scrunched and his
cheeks paled. "He's gone; there's no sense of it."

"Is he dead, or just wandering lost in the
forest? I tell you, there was magic about that place. Magic that
confused and confounded us all. There's no reasoning for the way we
tucked tail and ran like whipped dogs other than that."

"We was whipped dogs," Tristam reminded him.
"Namitus's horse was cut out from under him by one of them
creatures! Karthor was there to grab him up or we'd be mourning the
loss of two and not one."

Kar shook his head. "There was more to it,
I'm sure of it. We were routed, but it wasn't just an army of
toothsome animals that rid the forest of us, I'm sure of it."

"Even taking that you might have the right of
it, how do we stop that from happening again?"

Kar smiled. "I'll be ready for it this time.
I can sniff out the magic and protect us from it."

"Can you now?"

Kar's smile faltered for a moment. "I think I
can. I've enough spells aimed at warding and disrupting hostile
wizardry; I don't see why one of them won't work."

"That's not very comforting."

They fell silent for a moment, each lost in
their thoughts. The silence dragged on long enough for Namitus to
speak out loudly, "I'll go back for him."

Both men turned to look at the rogue. Kar
chuckled. "You see, even Namitus will risk life and limb."

The rogue scowled. "What's that supposed to
mean?"

"Come now, you spent years living amongst the
Kelgryn pretending to be someone you weren't, simply for the sake
of survival. Going back into that forest looking for Alto will risk
that very same life and limb."

"I'll go, too," Karthor offered.

"Of course you will," Kar said. "I'm curious,
though, is it your faith that drives you or is it something
else?"

Karthor tilted his head at the question.
"Something else? Alto's my friend."

"Just making sure your scions within the
church haven't twisted you around to feeling an reasonable amount
of devotion to your fellow man," the wizard said.

"You're a disturbed man, Father," the young
priest said to him.

"Disturbing, at the least," Tristam echoed.
"You've turned my troop against me, wizard, but I won't deny that
it has some merit to it. If it turns out my soul is saved but my
body goes up in flames for it, I'll be sure to haunt you to
eternity."

"Excellent," Kar said. They'd brought their
horses to a halt on the road as they discussed the idea, making it
easier for Kar to guide his around. "We've only let a few hours of
the day escape us; we might even make it back to Fairhaven before
the sun sets if we put our minds to it."

Sebas whinnied as Namitus tried to turn the
horse around. "Hush now, we're off to find your master," Namitus
scolded the horse. Whether the animal understood or not, he settled
down and let the rogue guide him.

They'd ridden east from Fairhaven to a small
town that had sprung up around a junction of roads. Merrim's
Junction had earned the name because of the first man that had
organized the collection of shops and peasants into a proper
village. Since that single point in history almost a hundred years
past, not a single event of interest had occurred there. The
companions rode back through Merrim's Junction nearly an hour later
without pausing to consider the small town or the inn they'd stayed
at the night before.

They returned to Fairhaven not long after the
sun set. The horses and riders both were sore and tired. In the
darkness, the hamlet was already beginning to look normal again.
Two days of hard work by the survivors since the Blades had last
been there had done wonders for the buildings.

"The inn," Tristam pointed. "I'll not head
back into that forest at night again."

"Every minute we tarry could be a minute
Alto's in peril," Kar said.

"I've appeased your damn curiosity! Enough,
Kar, it won't do him or us any good if we all end up in the belly
of those things in the woods."

Kar nodded. "That's true enough, I suppose.
We should be able to convince the fine people of Fairhaven to give
us free room and board."

"They'd damn well better," Tristam muttered
as he dismounted in front of the inn. "Namitus, see to our
horses."

The rogue frowned as he looked at the four
remaining horses. Kar gave him a friendly smile and a wink before
he headed inside. Without realizing, they'd taken Alto for granted.
His worth in a fight or the strength of his arm notwithstanding,
he'd also tended their mounts without complaint. Kar hoped the boy
was lost but okay. Even captured by whatever malevolent being
darkened the forest would be better than dead, provided they could
get to him in time.

* * * *

Therion flung a handful of crystals into the
fetid waters of the small pond. They hissed when they struck the
cool surface and spat a fog into the air. The fog rose up and
drifted into shapes until it resembled a colorless moving
image.

The warrior had escaped him, riding far to
the north on the back of one the thrice-cursed unicorns that lived
in the southern parts of the forest. There were only a handful of
the beasts but they found ways to interfere with his plans every
chance they had. They'd never ventured so far into his realm before
they'd helped the boy escape, a move he planned to punish severely.
The warrior and the unicorn he rode had slipped through his grasp,
riding beyond his range to scry to the north. The remaining
unicorns, however, were still close by.

Unicorns and animals weren't on Therion's
mind at the moment, though. A nagging thought in the back of his
head had made him leave his new apprentice to her work dissecting
salamanders and frogs to collect various parts of their anatomy for
his magic. The wizard had realized that he'd been so focused on the
warrior that Rosalyn had pinned her hopes on that he'd overlooked
the rest of the warrior’s band.

Now he saw them riding back into Fairhaven
from the east. He watched as they dismounted and entered the inn of
the village, and then he dispelled the image.

"So you've come back," he muttered in the
darkness. "Not so weak minded as I'd thought, no doubt thanks to
your wizard."

Therion stared into the murky waters a moment
longer and then spun away from them. "Are you foolish enough to
brave the forest again?" he mused as he turned away from his home.
"I'll have to make sure you don't get a second chance."

Therion began to chant another spell. He took
a silver whistle from a pocket and blew on it to mark the end of
his spell. No noise issued forth from it. "Go east and destroy the
farmer's house; follow her scent." The wizard retrieved a wadded-up
piece of cloth from another pouch. He unfolded it and tossed it on
a stick that rose out of the marsh to reveal it as a woman's
smallclothes. He turned away as six-legged shapes emerged from the
darkness. The hybrid creatures, part wolf and part jaguar, circled
the clothing and sniffed them with feral feline faces, and then
turned and bounded off into the darkness, heading to the east.

Therion put the thought of the creatures and
their task behind him as he pushed the door open and stomped in,
pausing only to check on the gory progress that Rosalyn made. She
set her knife down and leaned back, allowing him to study her work.
As always, she kept her eyes averted from him.

He turned his gaze upon her and nodded. As
much as he enjoyed seeing her nude body, it had been a distraction.
Without realizing it, she had made him yearn to touch her and use
her. As soon as she'd given herself to him, he'd demanded she wear
a robe. As a maiden, she was of great use to him. Her tears and her
blood, in particular, could bring potent power to some of his
spells. And then there were other magical rituals that offered
great power when the purity of a maiden was sacrificed. He could
only use her for that once; it was not a gift he planned to
squander because of his own foolish needs.

"You've done well," he admitted gruffly.
"Clean yourself and join me in my study. I will test your
knowledge."

"Yes, Master," Rosalyn said. She went to a
bowl of water and cleaned her hands and her knife, and then
scrubbed the table free of the gore remaining on it. When she again
cleaned herself, she dumped the water out and stepped through the
open doorway into his study. "I'm ready for you, Master."

"Indeed you are, but we're a long time away
for that, my pet." Therion gave her a wry smile to show he had a
sinister twist to his words. He reached out to a shelf and pulled
off a glass jar with some dark reddish substance in it. "Now then,
what powder is this?"

"Blood powder from a vampire," Rosalyn said
after a moment of thought. "It can be used in a spell to siphon the
life from someone, poison them if ingested, or when worked into a
potion, restore vitality to the imbiber."

Therion nodded. He replaced it and grabbed a
faint yellow powder. "And this?"

"The dried essence of dandelions."

"And its uses?"

Rosalyn hesitated as she stared at it. "Dry
the target of a spell out?"

He nodded. "You learn quickly; that pleases
me. Tell me, Rosalyn, why do you study so hard?"

"I want to please you, Master," she answered.
"I want to learn to use magic and I want to be strong."

Therion studied her carefully. There was more
to it, more she wasn't telling him. He could see it in the way she
averted her eyes from his. She was afraid she'd give her secrets
away if she looked at him. "You want to hurt them, don't you?"

Rosalyn's lips parted in an almost silent
gasp.

"You want to track the people down that
couldn't help you and you want to show them what it's like. Tell
me!"

Rosalyn nodded. "Yes, Master!" she breathed.
Her shoulders slumped and she stared at the ground. "I want them to
pay and I never want to be weak again."

"I will show you, Rosalyn. I will teach you
the way and together we will be unstoppable!"

She nodded and risked a glance that nearly
rose to his face before it fell back to his desk. "Master, when
will you teach me magic? I hear you chant and it makes sense; I can
almost feel it. I've studied your components—learning about them,
knowing them—but I cannot do anything with them."

"Nearly any fool can use magic once they've
been introduced to it."

"Introduced?" Rosalyn paused before adding,
"Master."

"Your body must be made ready to handle the
energies. It must be opened to them so you can sense the eldritch
flows and shape them with your words and your movements. The
components we use will strengthen the spells and act as both
catalysts and fuel, much like a fire burns wood to exist. The magic
itself is all around us and in other places. We use our bodies to
turn it into something tangible, something real. For this, you must
be purified and conditioned."

Therion stared at her as she twitched while
he spoke. "Yes, it will hurt. You will burn on the inside, but it
will purge you of weakness and of the foolish notions of your past.
You will be born again and your growing power will be a thing of
deadly beauty, easily a match for your comeliness."

"Then I will be powerful, like you?"

Therion chuckled. "I have studied the arcane
far longer than you can imagine, my pet. Power is earned through
use, study, and practice. It takes time. I suspect you can be very
powerful one day, but each use of magic will tire your body out.
You must grow accustomed to it and learn how to wield it. One day,
perhaps, you will join the rank of arch-mages, but that day is many
years distant."

Rosalyn nodded. "I live to serve you, Master.
When you think I am ready, I will be."

"You'll be ready soon, my pet. Sooner than I
expected, I think."

* * * *

"I'd have thought the farmer would be out
fixing things," Tristam opined as they road up to James's farm.

"I still don't understand why we're stopping
here first," Kar snipped. "It's another delay. Do you hope to find
the boy dead?"

"This is the path we took! If he found a way
out, he'd come back here first," Tristam argued. "Now look and tell
me why I don't feel right about this place."

Kar took his pipe out and filled it, and then
clamped it between his teeth. A mote of magic from his thumb lit
the end of it, allowing him to puff on it while he studied the
farmhouse they rode towards. Kar shrugged. "Women's intuition?"

Tristam scowled at him and spurred his horse
forward to ride ahead. Kar snickered and took a few more puffs
before he upended the pipe to dump the glowing root from it.
Satisfied he'd put it out, he tucked the pipe back in his pocket
and watched the farm for any sign of whatever had Tristam's hair
standing on end.

Tristam rode into the yard and cursed loudly
enough to draw the attention of the others. Kar frowned and put his
heels to his horse, driving it forward. By the time he'd reached
the place, Tristam had dismounted and drawn his blade. He rushed
into the house ahead of them. Kar rounded the corner of the
farmhouse and saw the reason for the warrior's urgency: the front
door was broken apart, as was a window a few feet away.

Namitus and Karthor rushed ahead of him,
entering behind Tristam. Kar dismounted more carefully, fearful of
turning an ankle in his rush. He wasn't as young as the others and
the thought of asking his son to soothe his hurts was a blow his
pride would be hard pressed to handle. A cry of distress from the
house urged him on in spite of his misgivings.