A Mage's Power (Journey to Chaos) (26 page)

The cave was cold and getting colder by the minute. The
chilly stone felt wondrous on their sweaty bodies. Nolien, however, warned them
against getting too comfortable and told Eric to cast a fire. Failing to
protect the caravan made him feel even more inadequate than usual, but lighting
a fire on his first try made him feel a little better.

“Leave me alone!” Tiza shouted. She was glaring at Nolien
and clutching her injured arm.

“If you don't let me treat your arm, it'll get infected.
Then you won't be able to fight anymore.”

“
I'll
do
it. I don't need your help.”

“Tiza, an injury of that degree needs more than a sling!
Just let me do it.”

They argued until Nolien lost patience and grabbed Tiza's
arm. She jerked away and slipped on a banana peel. Their fall brought their
faces a breath apart. Nolien turned red from embarrassment and Tiza from anger.

“GET OFF!” She shoved him away with her good arm.

He scooted away and looked aside. “That wouldn't have happened
if you'd just let me heal you!”

Awkward . . .
He picked up the banana peel.
Where'd
this come from?

Tiza groaned and tightened her grip. “Adrenaline's wearing
off, isn't it?”

“Shut up!” Tiza growled through clenched teeth. “I can take
it!”

Nolien face-palmed. “Is that what this is all about? Acting
tough?”

“I
am
tough!”

“How about this: you let me heal the arm and I'll let you
keep the scar? Then I can do my job and you'll have proof of how tough you are.”

Tiza didn't answer. At least, she didn't
say
anything,
but a moan escaped her lips. Nolien brought his staff to her arm and she didn't
move away.

“So, what's the plan?” Eric asked Nolien.

 Nolien was the official corporal. Basilard put him in
charge so he would know what to do. He didn't answer until he finished with
Tiza's arm. Eric told himself he needed to focus on healing and would tell him
the plan once he was finished.

 “We wait for Sergeant Basilard,” he said at last. “He told
us which tunnel to dart into so once he kills all those xethras, he'll find us.”

Yeah,
t
hat should work. You're supposed stay put
and wait for help when you're lost . . .
Eric trailed off as his comforting
thought twisted itself.
N-not that we're lost! Our client knows the way!

So they waited. The monsters were just C class after all.
They were death to a novice but nothing to a Squad Five Senior! Eric could just
picture him casually walking into their camp, dirty book in one hand and some
battle trophy in the other. He would say their training was lacking and then
work them into the ground when they got back to the guild. Eric never would
have imagined that the thought of intense training could make him so happy and
reassured.

Something scraped and stumbled near them. All three novices
raised their weapons. Even Tiza gasped when it stepped into the fire light. A
boy carried their badly injured sergeant over his shoulder. He was covered in
blood, sweat, and dust, and he was breathing heavily. He made one last, labored,
step towards the camp and fell forwards.

“AIO!” Eric dropped his staff and jumped, catching him just
before he hit the ground. Tiza and Nolien caught Basilard and together the
three of them dragged the casualties into the nook.

 Eric laid Aio next to their floating fire and by its light
he saw something he'd never forget: Aio's bright eyes were dull. It was
chillingly similar to the way he looked that night in Roalt. “Aio, what are you
doing here!? Do you have a death wish, you abyss-cursed moron!?”

Aio forced a smile. “That's a rude way to greet your former
roommate.” The smile turned into a grimace. His clothes were in tatters and
stained red; his body lined with open wounds.

“Aio . . .” Eric said softer. “You know what I mean.”

“I heard you were in trouble, Roomy.”

“But how did you—”

“I . . . I can't save both of them!” Nolien yelled. “I don't
have enough mana, enough time, enough—”

“Then pick one!” Tiza ordered.

“B-But the one I don't choose will die! I can’t do that! I
can't play judge!”

Tiza swatted him. “If you don't choose,
both
of them
will die! Now pick!” Nolien looked from the half-dead Aio to the equally
injured Basilard and back again and again. “Fine! Heal Daylra!”

Nolien nodded. Like a machine on autopilot, he pulled the
bottle of cream out of his pocket and spread it over Basilard's injuries. He
tensed and swore when the cream only covered half.

 Again on autopilot, he closed his eyes and his staff glowed
white. He took a deep breath, let it out, and placed his staff gently on
Basilard's gaping chest. The light seeped in and spread through his body.
Slowly but surely, the bleeding stopped and the wounds started closing.

“Stop the bleeding, check for germs, close the wound . . .”
Nolien muttered under his breath. There was an eerily cheery rhythm to it. “ .
. . mend the bones, reconnect the nerves and veins.”

Eric ripped strips of cloth from his tunic.

“Don't worry, Aio. I may not be a healer but I know First
Aid.”
You're NOT dying today!
He bandaged Aio's wounds, then realized it
was pointless. There were more wounds than cloth. “Okay, I'll apply pressure.”
Something's
gotta work!

“Relax . . . Roomy . . .” Aio said drowsily. “I'll be fine .
. .Can't even feel it . . . anymore . . .”

His eyes went out.

“Aio!” Eric shouted and grabbed him. “AIO!” His eyes welled
up with tears and narrowed. “All right, I'm
through
playing
along,
Tasio! I
know
it's really you! Game over!”

Aio didn't budge.

“You pretended to kill yourself in my apartment, remember?!
I'm
not
falling
for it this time!”

Still no response.

“Tasio, this isn't funny! I know it's you!” The tears
flowed. “Aio was one of the first people I met when I got here, and really,
'Aio Ricse'? It's obviously letters from 'Tasio Trickster'!”

The only sound Aio made was the steady drip of his blood on
the stone floor.

“Still not convinced?” Eric's voice broke. “All right, Aio
acts just like you
and
he knew when I arrived in Tariatla! Tasio, get
up!”

He was sure Aio would spring to life and shout, “Kidding!”
just like Tasio did in his apartment. He was positive a trickster could make
fake blood that looked real and smelled real. He convinced himself that
tricksters could even simulate Rigor Mortis. Every sign that Aio was really,
truly, dead was instantly refuted.

“Give it up, Battle Mage. He's dead.”

Eric glared daggers at the merchant. “TRICKSTER! HE'S A
TRICKSTER, YOU IDIOT!” Anuzat backed away as if the mage were a rabid beast. “But
he's not going to trick me! Not this time! Oh no, I'm on to him. Any second now,
he's going to give up this 'playing dead' routine. Any second now. He's too
hyperactive to hold still for long. He's gonna twitch or budge and then I'll
have him!”

“Uh . . . Battle Mage . . .” Anuzat said cautiously. “I
don't think he's—”

“ANY SECOND NOW! I lived with him for two months! I know him
better than you!”

Seconds passed and then minutes. A full two hours after
Eric's declaration, the only thing Aio's body had done was get ever colder. He
broke down and cried on the friend he finally accepted as dead.

Meanwhile, Nolien was hard at work. The petrification, the
flight, and now critical aid pushed him to his limits. He was sweating, panting,
and pale faced. His eyes drooped and his staff flickered.

“Tenderfoot, are you okay?”

Nolien shook his head and blinked. “Yeah . . . I'm . . .
fine.” His healing light flickered rapidly.

“Are you s . . .” The light dimmed. “You're running out of
mana!”

“Of . . . course not.” His healing light cut off entirely
and he had to shake his staff to get it glowing again. Tiza growled, grabbed
his hands, and pried them off the staff.

“Stop it! You're draining yourself!” Nolien tried to pull
his hands out of Tiza's grip and failed. She grinned. “
Fighter
.”

He stared back at her. “
Healer
. Now let me
heal
.”

They held each other's gaze; Nolien tugging on his hands and
Tiza tightening her hold with each tug. Finally, Tiza dropped her head and
groaned. She inhaled, locked his eyes, and smiled.

“Nolien, you have to rest.” Nolien's comeback was lost in
his throat. Tiza's voice was so much softer, almost gentle. “Please,
Tenderfoot, you've earned it.” He almost liked that silly nickname when she
said it like that. Tiza moved into a kneeling position and pulled Nolien's head
to her lap. “Daylra is stable now,” she cooed. “You've done a great job.”

“But—” Nolien protested as he tried, half-heatedly, to get
up.

“Relax.” Nolien let out a breath and closed his eyes.

“He could have done it . . . easily . . .”

“No better than you did. Sweet dreams.”

Eric was so surprised to hear a sweet voice in this
nightmare, he tore himself from Aio's corpse. His surprise skyrocketed when he
found out it came from Tiza. He thought he was hallucinating when she stroked
Nolien's hair. When his breathing evened, her smile was replaced by a grimace.

“
Never
again! He can go ahead and kill himself next
time.” She noticed Eric and Anuzat staring and growled, “What are you looking
at?!”

Eric held up his hands in defense. “Nothing!”

“Good! Then you'll have
nothing
to tell anyone! Ever!”

“My lips are sealed.”

They sat in the damp and dark cave. The darkness was so
thick, visibility was the reach of their fire. It was as if the rest of the
world did not exist. There was only Eric, Tiza, Anuzat, sleeping Nolien,
injured Basilard, dead Aio, and their fire.

The feeling made Eric paranoid. Every drip, creak, or crack
could be the xethras. His heart would race and he would spin his staff in the
direction of the sound, only to confront nothing. It was more a security
blanket now than a weapon. He knew it was useless against the xethras, but it
was all he had; he held it so tight his knuckles turned white. With Basilard
unconscious and Nolien exhausted, he and Tiza wouldn't stand a chance. He could
only hope the xethras didn't find them.

It was the first time Eric wished to go back to his home world;
his own Threa. The dangers he'd been in before were nothing like this. He was
too busy panicking or planning against Laharg, the Cecri, and Dark Staff to
think about anything else. Now, as he sat in the darkness, he wished he were
snug in his bed in his safe apartment and monster-free world. It didn't matter
that in Threa he was jobless, friendless, and soon to be homeless. At least he
was safe.
Is this Tasio's idea of helping me? Putting me out of my misery?

“Sncagsraf.” Nolien snored.

“Ahaaaaaa!” Eric cried.

“Hahaha!” Tiza laughed.

Eric stared in disbelief. “What's
wrong
with you!?
Aren't you scared?”

Tiza looked at him with the same disbelief. “Why should I
be?”

“Hello! We're stranded in a dark, damp,
smelly
cave,
our sergeant is badly injured, we could be surrounded by C class, and you want
to know why you should be scared!? You should be scared because we're gonna
die!
Die!
Just like Aio! Stone cold dead! Like the stuff we're sitting
on!”

“You should stop screaming . . .” Tiza said deadpanned. “ .
. .or you'll alert the xethras.” Eric's hands to flew to his mouth as his eyes
widened. Tiza chuckled. “Relax, Dimwit. We'll be fine.”

“And you know this because?”

Tiza shrugged. “I just do. Would you rather I was a nervous
wreck like you?” Eric dropped his head in shame. “Dimwit, look at me.” Eric
tilted his head. “I'm
not
calming you like Tenderfoot. Forget it. But I
will
tell you the story of a mage who didn't think his team could handle a Cecri—”

“Nolien did most of that . . .”

“Don't interrupt me! But they killed it without getting a
scratch in return. Or how about the story of the same mage who didn't think he
and the fighter of his team could handle a band of kidnappers—”

“It was two against one and we still almost lost . . .”

“Are you gonna let me finish or not?!” Eric apologized and
she continued. “And they succeeded in capturing one of them, thanks to the
fighter's miraculous aura power.” Nolien snorted in his sleep and Tiza was
tempted to swat him. She didn't because that would wake him up. “Once we get
back to the guild, I'll tell you the story about how this mage and his team
escorted a merchant safely through a deadly cave without their mentor's help.”

“But we haven't done that yet.”

 “That's why I think we'll make it. Cause it's gonna make a
great story to tell back home.”

“I don't know whether to admire your confidence . . .”
Anuzat said, “Or think you're crazy.”

Tiza gave her a lopsided smile. “Daylra says all mercenaries
are a little crazy; like chaos we overturn our own fortunes every day.”

Chapter 9
Desert

That night was most nerve wracking in Eric's life.
Basilard's scry was crystal dust in his pocket. They were alone. No one was
coming. By the time Mia realized anything was wrong, Team Four would be licked
clean. Tiza coped by taking a whetting stone and sharpening her blade.

“Go to sleep, Dimwit. If the xethras come, it won't matter
if you're awake or not.”

“That's not comforting!”

 “Cranky Client thought so.” Anuzat was asleep on her
remaining merchandise.