Rising of a Mage (19 page)

“To our guest of honor. The heroes of Kampar. In three days’ time they will leave our fair city. May glory and honor follow them in their travels.”

A loud cheer went up and everyone yelled ‘GLORY’ and ‘HONOR’ at once.

“The Gods give any that find themselves at the end of their swords the sense to turn and flee.” Captain Anthony waited for the laughs to settle and everyone had returned to the celebration before approaching the three. All of the members of the raiding party shared embraces and said their farewells. The three spent the rest of the night shaking hands and receiving good wishes. A number of people, some they knew and some they didn’t, thanked them for their actions on that fateful day, and handed them a few coins for their journey. Anwar wanted to refuse them, but it would have dishonored the giver to do so. Anwar’s last well-wisher was his brother Cannen. They shared an embrace and when they pulled away they both had tears in their eyes.

“I will be back one day, brother”

“Just remember where to stop first when you do.”

With that the three left the party behind them. They had received a handful of coppers, nearly thirty silvers and a dozen gold coins.

“Well, it looks like we are set for coin, anyway,” Jabaal said.

Anwar smiled. “More then set, Jabaal, I promise you that.” Jabaal was intrigued, but he did not press the comment further. Anwar looked at the woman he loved and the best friend he had ever had besides his brother Sammuel. In three days they would be leaving the only home any of them had ever known.

Chapter Fifteen

New Life and
New Friends

A
nwar, Mariah, and Jabaal met with Luda. His men were preparing the wagons, hooking up the horses and loading the cargo.

“Is there anything we can do?” Anwar asked.

“Ah, no. No, Master Anwar. These men can handle it; we will be ready shortly.” Anwar nodded. He had meant no offense; he was just anxious to be on the road. There was only one thing he still needed to do before he left the city.

“Jabaal, I have something for you.” Anwar went to the horse Luda had provided him with yesterday. He had loaded the animal as the pack horse for their supplies. Anwar took the rose sword that he had strapped to one of the saddle bags. “This sword is a match to that my brother and I made for Mariah. It is enchanted. It will not break. Steel will not stop it, and even most magical protections will give way to it.” Jabaal took the sword. The sword matched his own with its uncharacteristic length. The hilt was the same as the sword and the knives Mariah carried. It was designed in the shape of a sword. Mariah also wore a necklace with a rose on it.

“It is an amazing gift, Anwar, but I have nothing to offer in return.”

“Your friendship is more than enough payment, Jabaal.”

Jabaal smiled at the magnificent weapon. “So the rose is to be the symbol of our little group then?”

Mariah laughed. “It would appear so.”

Anwar just smiled and shook his head.

“Thank you, Anwar.” He removed his sword from it hilt and went to strap it to his own horse.

“Here,” Mariah told him as she handed him another hilt designed to be mounted on a horse’s flank.

“You two continue to spoil me.” He attached the hilt to his horse’s saddle and slid his old sword into it. It fit perfectly. He then slid his new sword into the hilt at his side. It fit perfectly where his old sword had once been. He wondered how Anwar had so perfectly measured the length and width of his uncustomary blade. Within an hour the group was passing through the newly constructed main gate of Kampar. The guards who saw them shouted farewells and good wishes.

Jabaal rode in front of the caravan alongside the first wagon, where he chatted with Luda. Anwar and Mariah rode together, bringing up the rear. After roughly four hours Anwar looked over at Mariah.

“What is it, my love?”

“This is the farthest I have ever been from Kampar.”

“And so our journey begins,” she replied. As the sun began to set, Luda stopped in a clearing off to the side of the road at what seemed to be a commonly used spot by travellers. “No need to build a camp when one is so conveniently ready. There was a circle of rocks for a fire pit with split logs laid around it that were obviously used as benches. To Anwar, the convenience of such a place seemed to make it an equally convenient place for would-be thieves to await their target. There were four wagons traveling with them. The first three were each loaded down and only carried two passengers on their benches. The last carried a family and in the back of this wagon rode a women and a girl who Anwar guessed was around twelve and a boy who couldn’t be more than six or seven. The children laid out bedrolls in the back of the wagon. Everyone else set up tents next to their wagons. Anwar, Mariah, and Jabaal did not set up a tent. The weather was not bad so they simply tied their horses to the back of Luda’s wagon and laid out their bedrolls. They planned to break camp at first light. Jabaal took the first watch and Mariah and Anwar shared a bedroll. Anwar kissed the back of Mariah’s shoulder. “Get some rest, my love; we have a long ride ahead of us tomorrow.”

\When Jabaal woke Anwar, the moon was nearly halfway across the sky. Anwar walked the perimeter of the camp. He heard no sound nor saw any movement, but he could not shake the feeling that someone was watching him. He woke Mariah only two hours before the sun would rise. He lay down as she began walking the perimeter of the camp. He did not sleep though. He lay awake and listened. He was still lying awake when Mariah began to wake the camp.

“You did not go back to sleep after you woke me,” Mariah stated when they were on the road once again.

“I could not shake the feeling that someone was watching the camp.”

“I felt it too; I thought I was just being paranoid. Maybe it’s just the wariness of being so far from home for the first time.”

“Maybe,” was all he said in response, but neither was convinced. When they stopped at midday to rest the horses and eat, Anwar noticed a single figure in the distance ahead of them. He told Mariah and Jabaal. Then he told Luda. When they started moving again, Anwar told Mariah and Jabaal to ride in back. He rode up in front of the caravan. As the sun began to fall in the sky they went through a trail with trees on both sides. The sun was in front of them. Anwar thought he saw movement in the trees up ahead but he could not be sure with the sun in his eyes. He pulled off to the side of the trail to motion for Mariah and Jabaal to keep their eyes open, but as he turned in his saddle he took a crossbow bolt in the shoulder. He fell out of the saddle. He was on his feet in seconds. Not fast enough, he realized. By the time he was on his feet there was a man coming at him fast out of the trees and only a few paces away now. He shifted his weight from his staff which he was using to help him back to his feet and swung the staff one-handed with unbelievable speed. The highwayman was barely able to get his sword up to block. The staff impacted with more force than he could have imagined any person could provide one-handed. His sword swing wide, pain shot through his hands and he nearly dropped the weapon. Before he could get the blade back up in front of him, however, he was kicked hard in the chest. Anwar heard the man gasp, the wind forced from his lungs. When the man hit the ground, Anwar sent a magic bolt into his chest. Anwar was already turning as the man’s eyes rolled back into his head, the life gone from his body. He did not want to move more than he had to in order to finish his opponents. He reached up and broke the shaft of the crossbow a few inches from where it was protruding from his shoulder.

Mariah had seen Anwar fall from his saddle. As she ran to him, sword in hand, she heard the crack of a crossbow off to her left. She spun, bringing her sword up. The arrow glanced off the blade and sank into the wagon next to her. Before she could take the time to appreciate her luck, she saw two crossbowmen running toward her out of the trees. Her hand went to her leg and, without thinking, she loosed the first of her dragon-headed daggers. It sank to the hilt in the man’s chest. She turned back to Anwar just as he kicked his attacker in the chest and fired a magical attack at the man. Then she heard one of the children in the last wagon scream. She turned to see four men in a line approaching steadily toward Jabaal. She sprinted toward him, loosing the second dragon dagger.

Four men were moving in on him. Jabaal raised his rose sword and prepared for the fight of his life. He knew he was good, but he could tell all four of these men knew what they were doing with the blades in their hands. Four to one. They were three paces away and circling him as the one on the right grunted and fell back. Jabaal smiled. Three to one were better odds and Mariah was on her way. The man nearest the one who had just fallen risked a glance back to see what had happened. That was more than Jabaal needed. He leaped to his right and as the man turned back toward him Jabaal was lunging forward, sword burying into the man’s throat before he could even get his weapon up.

“Grizzle Thizzle Crack Yer Head Blood run Free n Den Yur Dread.”

Jabaal heard this but didn’t look away from the two men in front of him. As the man closest swung hard for his head, Jabaal swung back, planning to knock the blade wide, but as their blades connected, Jabaal’s sword broke through the other man’s sword. The man was obviously a skilled His opponent was obviously skilled. He did not pause to figure out what had happened, but threw what was left of the broken sword at Jabaal. As he leapt out of the way, he saw the Dwarf yelling drive an axe into the side of the head of the other attacker tried to circle around to his side. The man who had thrown his broken sword had drawn a large knife. The dwarf had not slowed as he buried his axe in the first man’s head but let it go and pulled a smaller hand axe from his belt. As Jabaal thrust his sword forward, the dwarf slammed into the back of the man, slamming his smaller axe into the man’s knee, and forcing him forward to be impaled on Jabaal’s sword.

Mariah rounded the last wagon just in time to see this happen. There was no time to figure this out however. The Dwarf yelled again. “Ho Ho!” Then he was sprinting back toward the front of the caravan toward Anwar, causing the terrified screams of the members of the caravan as he passed, all the while yelling, “Grizzle Thizzle is coming, Mage. Save some for me. I’ll crush their faces.”

As Anwar broke the shaft of the bolt in his chest he saw Mariah take off toward the back of the caravan. He sprinted after her but halfway their he heard Luda.

“Master Anwar, HELP!”

Anwar spun and saw eight men coming out of the trees, crossbows in hand. He sprinted back toward the front. As he ran past Luda’s wagon he heard the crack as Luda released a bolt from a small crossbow he kept under his bench. It flew high, nearly a foot over the head of its intended target. As one, all eight men aimed their bows at Anwar and Luda. Anwar summoned a wall of flame in front of him and as the bolts ran through its intense heat they burned away. One made it through, but had lost its path and broke into harmless pieces of burnt charcoal as it hit one of the horses pulling Luda’s wagon. As the wall of flame died down, Anwar heard someone yelling some craziness behind him. A dwarf went running past him as he released a fireball that engulfed all eight men in flame. The dwarf was moving too fast when he saw the men burst into flame. He tried to stop but stumbled headlong into one man engulfed in flame and slammed to the ground on top of him. He jumped up. “OH OH!” he hollered as he put out an ember burning in his long beard. “Grizzle Thizzle said save me some. Silly wizard ruined all the fun.”

Anwar saw Mariah and Jabaal standing next to him, confused looks on their faces. He couldn’t help but smile; whoever this was seemed to be on their side, and Anwar thought he was quite entertaining. The other members of the caravan were gathering around Luda’s wagon more comfortable now that all of their attackers were taken care of. They were sure that the group could handle this one dwarf. Anwar smiled at the smoking dwarf.

“Well met, noble dwarf. I am the Silly Wizard; my friends call me Anwar.”

“A wizard indeed, but a warrior I see; a bolt in your shoulder and talking to me. Ho Ho.” This brought Mariah’s attention to Anwar. There was a bolt sticking out of his shoulder and he was standing here talking with this half crazed dwarf.

“Anwar, we need to take care of that.”

Anwar smiled at the dwarf. “If you would pardon me one moment. I believe it in both our best interest not to argue with her.”

“Oh Ho, I mean you no harm, warrior wizard. I see honor in you. If you promise me no harm, I will lay down my axe while your woman tends you.” “No harm will come to you, good dwarf, but I require you to do nothing.” Anwar clenched his teeth and Mariah pulled the bolt back through his shoulder. Then she placed her hand over the wound, spoke a few words and the wound was sealed. He still felt the soreness, but he had full use of the limb again. “Ho Ho,” the dwarf laughed again.

“Now that is finished, we should finish our introductions. If it pleases you, good dwarf. I must admit I have never met a dwarf, but you are not what I expected.”