What Once Was One (Book 2) (10 page)

I shook my head. “I’d rather rub dragon’s dung on me.” Jastillian laughed and patted me on the back.

When I finished, I tied my food and water to my belt, making sure everything was secure. My back strained from how heavy it all was, but I knew it would lighten after the ritual and days of travel.

“You may not see us, but we’ll shadow you,” Rebekah said. “We’ll try and take care of any large group of creatures that look to cross your path.”

“Thank you,” Prastian said.

“Good luck, all of you,” Rebekah said. She stared at me. “Return in one piece. Don’t make me give the princess bad news.”

“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure we all return in one piece,” I said. “But if we don’t return by the new moon then…” There were so many things I wanted to say to Krystal that I never had the courage to say. I couldn’t tell the captain first. “Tell her...I’m sorry.”

“I will do as you ask,” Rebekah said.

“We’ll take good care of him,” Prastian said.

Rebekah nodded. “Fare thee well.” She and her men sped away.

“We had better get a move on,” Jastillian said. “We must reach the cave before night falls.”

Jastillian took the lead and we followed. While walking through the alien environment, the elves and I constantly glanced around the bleak landscape. They had their hands on the hilts of their swords while I had my mana within a thought’s grasp.

“I feel ridiculous,” Demay said as he tugged the loose skin on his arm. “Are you sure this will work?”

Jastillian laughed. “To where we’re going, no. But for right now, yes. I know where the dense population of creatures is. We’ll be fine. I’ve traveled this area many times, and Rebekah and her people have cleared the area of creatures ever since the battle.”

“I also need time to gather my magic,” I said. “By drawing it from the land itself. I could have done it back at Alexandria, but incorporating the magic from the area where we’ll be is better. And with this much energy, I have to worry about affecting people in the area. Here, there aren’t any people to worry about.” I also wasn’t sure the effect the spell would have on us. It would be better if we were alone.

As much as I wanted to rest my weary feet, we barely stopped for any breaks. As the day progressed, the creatures became more visible. They were shadows no more. A pair of trolls lumbered near a boulder and an ogre chewed on a large piece of meat with the bone protruding from his hand. We had walked so long that I wasn’t sure if Captain Rebekah and her men still shadowed us. If they did, we couldn’t see them.

I couldn’t even be of any help if we ran into trouble. I meditated and focused on gathering in as much mana as I could, in preparation for the dangerous ritual I had to perform. Gathering mana from the environment was difficult. While the creatures and small animals gave me some, the land itself didn’t.

I tried to access the earth mana, but found the land damaged. In Northern Shala, the land greeted me in response, its mana racing up my arms. Here, it was like a dying heartbeat. I couldn’t help but feel like I was crafting a candle with the wrong kind of wax.

I stared at Jastillian’s back in front of me, his broad shoulders looking awkward as they shifted underneath his goblin disguise. The theory he had discounted was right. I might be a new wizard, but I could tell that something had drained the mana from the land, and a huge spell powered by a nexus seemed like the only explanation. The land shouldn’t feel this...wrong.

I glanced back south towards Alexandria, then at the hard ground underneath my feet. The Wastelands was once a place of beauty, but it had changed and continued to do so. What would happen in the years and centuries to come? Would all of Northern Shala be touched by this blight? And since I was a wizard, with an unimaginably long life ahead of me, would I be forced to witness it?

I exhaled and stared ahead. I couldn’t worry about that now. While I was a wizard, I wasn’t a god. I had no idea how to fix an entire land. The only thing within my power was dealing with Premier.

I stopped taking mana from the land itself, drawing it bit by bit from my friends, the Wasteland creatures, the lizards that scurried across our path, the spiders that hid under rocks, everything. It was slow and tedious, but also safer. Eventually, the power built up, throbbing against my fingertips, aching to be released. Extracting magic and storing it inside you was a very unstable thing to do. My body could explode with magic at any moment, and I didn’t want to waste it on an attack.

Jastillian said we were making good time. I felt it in my burning thighs. We climbed a small hill, but when we reached the top, we were shocked to confront a large ogre. Despite the elves’ excellent hearing and the ogre’s large feet and heavy footsteps, the beast seemed to emerge from nowhere. We froze, not daring to breathe or reach for our weapons.

The colossal creature was over fifteen feet tall. His long arms hung nearly to his knees, dragging a granite club the size of an elf, and his dark gray skin was the color of the ominous clouds overhead. Numerous scars were etched across his arms, peeking through the tattered brown rags he wore. The monster paused and glared at us. His big lips had been ripped away on one side, forever giving him a terrifying grin. His dark eyes burned with rage. He raised his club and unleashed a ferocious growl.

All the energy I’d gathered had been for naught. I was going to have to blast it on this brute.

“Cast your eyes down!” Jastillian whispered. “Make no sudden movements.”

Jastillian made high-pitched screeching noises and danced around. The ogre growled again. I leaned back, feeling the hair on my body rise as his roar shocked my heart, praying that the ogre couldn’t see past our flimsy disguises. Jastillian snarled back, stomping his feet. Jastillian then quickly bowed and lowered his head.

“Lower your heads,” Jastillian said. “Now!”

We did as he said. The ogre stopped and stared at us with a thoughtful look on his face. He seemed to be weighing the desire to kill us against the trouble it would take. A low rumble came from his throat, but the ogre lowered his club.
 
He walked away, continuing on his course.

“Let’s go,” Jastillian said, leading us in the opposite direction.

“What just happened?” Demay asked. “Why didn’t he kill us?”

“In nature,” the dwarf said, “animals puff themselves up to make them look bigger, or screech to scare off a bigger predator. I did the same thing here.”

“But ogres are smarter than animals,” Prastian said.

“Aye, but not by much. Just be thankful she wasn’t hungry.”

“She?” I asked. “I thought that was a he?”

Jastillian laughed. “No, lad. It’s hard to tell the difference, but that was definitely a she.”

“I’ve never seen such a huge ogre before,” Behast said.

“Me neither,” Jastillian said. “She’s older and bigger than any I’ve seen, and she walks alone. That makes her extremely dangerous. Let’s hurry before she changes her mind and decides she’s hungry.”

As darkness descended and more creatures woke, a shiver rode up my spine. I felt as if I was trapped in a sea of crazed predators, and I was meager prey. Bloodthirsty howls and screams raged through the night. In the distance, small armies of creatures crashed and fought against each other. We scurried to get out of plain view. Our makeshift disguises wouldn’t last if any of them got closer than that ogre. Jastillian led us to a small cave in the side of an elevated plateau.

We stood off to the side of the entrance. Before we stepped in, the elves used their ears to scout the dark caves. Quietly, they motioned with their hands, saying there were four, possibly five goblins.

In complete silence, my friends took off their goblin hides and freed their weapons. They deposited the bags of blood and supplies on the ground. I watched over everything, keeping an eye out for any creatures in the area, while they made their way inside the caves.

Shrieks and screams echoed from the cave. I wanted to peek inside, but I needed to keep watch over our belongings. Without them, I couldn’t perform the ritual that could get us into Masep, and my friends could handle a few goblins.

The goblins’ noises ceased and Demay retrieved me. We carried all the supplies inside. Goblin bodies lay in impossible positions. Dark green blood oozed from their fatal wounds. The biggest goblin clutched his hand around a rusted broadsword.

I peeled off my disguise. The slime stuck to me like molasses. When I finally got it off, I was thankful that the air seemed fresher, even inside a goblin lair.

“Demay and Prastian, please prepare some food for us,” Jastillian said. “Behast, would you help me chop off the goblins’ heads and hang them outside? Lad, start preparing your ritual.”

I nodded. The energy I had been gathering made my eyes twitch and the hairs on the back of my neck rise. It ached to be released. I stopped drawing in mana and meditated until dinner was ready, calming the inner storm trapped inside my body.

“Why’d you hang their heads outside, Jastillian?” Demay asked.

“To make others think this cave is being occupied by a couple of ferocious ogres.”

“Why would that stop creatures from getting in?”

Jastillian laughed. “It means there’s a mating ritual going on in here, and that things would get deadly for trespassers. There’s nothing worse than interrupting a pair of breeding ogres.”

We all chuckled.

“Will we need to rotate watch?” Behast asked.

“Aye, but there’s only need for one person at a time. The heads will serve as a good warning for two days. No one would dare come in unless something far worse was outside.”

After dinner, I started on the blood ritual, thankful to finally let the tempest inside my body out. The energy strained against my body, pounding to get out. I rubbed my temples and gasped for air. I had never held magic in for so long before. I’d cast powerful spells, but, like a roaring fire, they burned bright and were gone. Here, it was like carrying buckets of water across my shoulders for days. Magic wasn’t meant to be stored like this with no outlet.

“Hellsfire, are you all right?” Prastian asked.

“I’ll be fine as soon as I start the ritual.”

“You don’t look all right,” Demay said. “You’re glowing.”

I was about to ask him what he was talking about, but then I glanced down at my hand. A faint glow encompassed it. I thought it was a trick of light from the fire, but when I moved my hand, it was still there.

“Let’s get this over with,” I said. I blinked, holding my eyes closed longer than I should have, and I nearly toppled over. “The sooner, the better.”

Prastian was the first to volunteer. I painted a circle of blood around him from his slain goblin. The hard ground started to absorb the thick liquid. It didn’t matter. The essence of the blood was all I required, and it would still be there, soaked into the ground.

I sat down in front of Prastian and handed him the goblin skin he had worn. “You’re going to have to put on your disguise. Unfortunately, none of us are going to be able to take them off, otherwise the spell will end. And whatever you do, don’t move. Understand?”

“What happens if I move?”

“Your spirit may be lost and I won’t be able to recover it. Or worse, an unwanted spirit may inhabit your body.”

“What kind of spirit?”

For a moment, I hesitated to tell him. I didn’t want to make Prastian or any of the others nervous. But they deserved to know the truth.

“Dark spirits,” I said. “I will have to journey beyond our realm to retrieve the goblin spirits we’ll need. Other beings lurk in the place I will have to go. Beings that were never part of this world, yet would try desperately to cross over into this one. They’re more mindless and savage than the Wasteland beasts and more cunning than you or I. Their desire to cross over
 
makes them yearn like a desperate man dying of thirst, so they can wreak untold havoc on our world. With their knowledge and power and twisted desires, there’s no telling what they’re capable of.”