Tides of Faith: Travail of The Dark Mage Book Two (35 page)

Leaping from his horse, Father Keller
went to see to his friend and found him a bit bruised but no worse
for the fall.

“
What in the name
of….”

“
Quiet!” shouted James,
cutting off Potbelly. “Is everyone alright?” He glanced to where
Father Vickor rose to his feet and received a nod.

“
It was not directed at
us,” Miko announced.

As if to answer the unspoken question
running through everyone’s mind, a dark object fell from the sky
and landed among them.

In the priestly light, the body of a
night owl could clearly be seen. Its misshapen body lay twisted in
the dirt.

“
What happened to it,
Father?” Jira asked.

Jiron looked to James.

Returning the look with an uncertain
one, James dismounted and approached the bird. Using the tip of his
knife, he flipped it over.

Shrunken flesh, leathery texture; it
was identical to the state in which they had found the wild dog
earlier. Considering the surge of magic felt just prior to the
bird’s fall, there was little doubt as to what caused its death. He
stood and turned to Azhan.

“
I thought you said there
were stages to the curse; loss of strength, withering of flesh,
and
then
death.”

“
That is what I was told,
Master.”

Miko dismounted and came to join
James, as did the others. “It would seem the nature of the curse
has changed.”

“
You got that right,” Scar
said as he nudged the dead owl with the toe of his boot. “Now it’s
one moment you’re alive, the next you’re dead.”

“
And we’re
next.”

James glanced to Shorty, held his gaze
a moment, then nodded. “You may be right.” He then turned his
attention to the ribbon of moon-dabbled water winding its way
through the darkness.

“
Azhan, any idea how far to
the bridge?”

“
No, Master.”

Miko came next to him. “What do you
propose?”

James kept his eye on an
expanse of river far ahead.
Press on or
head back?
They would lose time and risk
detection if they left Tapu and crossed elsewhere.
But dared they continue?

From the river, his gaze
traveled toward where he believed the surge of magic originated.
Though Azhan said the place was cursed, and the sign affirmed that
belief, he simply could not shake the feeling that the surge of
power he felt was something else. It had attacked the bird; drained
it of all its energy.
A defensive spell?
One designed to kill any living thing that encroached within a
specified area?

Such a thing was possible;
he had implemented similar defenses for his island; though his were
in “sleep” mode until activated.
Moreover,
who would need such a powerful defense? A mage perhaps that feared
retaliation for a certain island attack?

The more he thought about it, the more
the idea that they may have stumbled upon the mage’s lair made
sense. If the Empire were behind the attack, then they would have
thought little to afford the mage a base of operations, even at the
expense of the former inhabitants of Tapu. After all, what better
way to keep people away and make ready in secret than to kill off
the locals and post signs saying there was a curse. Had James less
a sense of morality, he too may have done something similar to
maintain his own privacy.

He turned to Miko. “Do you think
Morcyth will protect you from what killed the owl?”

“Are you thinking of continuing to the
bridge?”

Shaking his head, he said, “No. I’m
thinking of investigating the source of the attack.”

“Curse, you mean.”

James glanced to Scar. “I don’t think
it is a curse. Curses don’t act like this.”

Scar didn’t look convinced. “How do
you know?”

“Call it a hunch. If it was an attack,
something that powerful must be hiding something
interesting.”

“Like a mage of considerable power?”
Jiron asked.

He thought Jiron might be the first to
make that intuitive leap. “Exactly.” Turning back to Miko, he
asked, “So how about it? Care to check this out with
me?”

The high priest nodded. To Father
Keller he said, “You and Father Vickor remain with the
others.”

“But you may have need of us, Reverend
Father.”

He dismissively waived away the
suggestion. “We will be fine.”

“Scar,” James said, “you and the
others go back downriver several miles until we deal with
this.”

“How will we know when you’re
done?”

Jiron chuckled. “I’m sure we’ll have
some idea.”

Frowning, James shot him an annoyed
look, then sighed. “You’re probably right. Come on, Miko. Let’s see
what secrets lay within Tapu.”

As he mounted, he heard Scar say,
“Shorty, you take Father Vickor and see if you can’t locate his
horse. The rest of you, let’s get out of harm’s way.”

“Be careful, Uncle.”

James turned his horse to find Jira
looking at him with big, fearful eyes.

“Not to worry, Jira. Your uncle Miko
and I have handled this sort of thing before.”

Worry gradually faded away and her
little head bobbed. “Okay.”

“See you in a bit.” Then is a quieter
voice, one intended to be heard by just her, he added, “Keep an eye
on your father. Don’t let him get lost in the dark.”

All fear and worry vanished as a grin
took its place. “I’ll do that, Uncle,” she whispered
back.

James gave her a thumb’s up and then
turned his horse back toward Tapu and moved to join Miko. As the
two trotted off, the white glow of Morcyth sprang to fully envelope
Miko and his horse while a shimmering shield did the same for James
and his.

The two took their time approaching
the outskirts of Tapu. James sent his senses forward to ferret out
what lay ahead between their present position and the first set of
houses. Other than flora common to the area, there was little to
indicate the lair of a powerful mage; there was, however, the fact
that every few feet or so they encountered another dark lump, the
remains of some living creature fallen prey to the “curse” of
Tapu.

It wasn’t until the shadowy outline of
a farmhouse came into view that the attack struck.

Wham!

A massive surge of magic hit them
square on. An eruption of reddish-orange light exploded upon
contact with their shields to shatter the darkness. Both their
steeds reared. Miko kept his under control while James lost his
balance and tumbled to the ground. Rolling to the side, he barely
avoided the stomping hooves of the terrified creature. He released
the shield just long enough for the horse to bolt, then brought it
back into being.

Wham!

The strike hit the fleeing horse in
mid-stride. The force of the blow knocked it off its hooves and
caused it to sail through the air until landing with a thud some
yards away. It didn’t get up.

Miko rode to his side as he got to his
feet.

“Are you okay?”

James nodded. “A little shaken, but
nothing broken.” He glanced to where his horse lay. “Guess I’m
walking from here.”

Miko dismounted. “It might be better
that way.”

Laying a hand against his horse’s
neck, he whispered a prayer to Morcyth and the glow continued to
surround the creature as it turned to head toward where the rest of
their party waited.

He noticed James’ quizzical
look.

“He will find his way.”

“Uh-huh.”

This time they moved quickly to the
rear of a single-story home. A dark opening not far to their right
indicated the presence of a window. Moving toward the opening, they
paused briefly. The light surrounding Miko did little to dispel the
darkness within the abode; illuminating just far enough to reveal
what they took to be the corner of a bed.

James indicated with a nod that they
should proceed to the end of the wall and continue working their
way deeper within Tapu.

At the edge of the home, James glanced
across the street to another similar structure standing silent
witness to the encroachment of these two visitors; then down the
street leading to the heart of Tapu. Somewhere in that direction
lay the source of the magic.

Its presence now was quite strong.
Though inactive for the moment, James could sense the power waiting
to be unleashed. The mage must have accumulated quite a reservoir
of magic if he could feel its presence this far away. It was
similar in nature to the feeling one of his crystals gave off, one
that had reached its limit and could hold no more.

A tap on the shoulder caused him to
jump before realizing that he had been motionless in contemplation
for several moments. Nodding to Miko, he kept close to the side of
the home as he turned the corner and moved into town.

His senses still detected nothing that
would indicate that something lived in Tapu. They were able,
however, to see the emanating presence of the stored magic. It was
like the sun when it hits the horizon, deep red and angry. Of the
mage, there was still no sign.

Half a dozen streets and a smattering
of buildings lay between them and the magic. Moving out from the
side of the building, he made his way down the street and toward
the next intersection.

Wham!

Magic slammed into their protective
shields and knocked them back a step. A momentary flicker in the
static mass of magic had occurred half a second before the attack.
Attack, though, wasn’t quite the right word. It had been more like
a leeching; an attempt to draw magic from them.

James had plenty of experience in that
arena, for he had devised many a spell to do just that. There were
ways around it, but for that he had to figure out the overriding
master spell set into place that was generating the devastating
leeching.

Wham!

He had its number now. A small
alteration to the shield protecting him and the attack failed to
even so much as make him miss a step. When the next attack struck,
he didn’t even feel it.

Miko on the other hand was having a
much harder time. The attacks were draining him badly and the
strain of maintaining his defenses was clearly etched upon his
face.

James increased his shield to
encompass his friend.

Red flared as the attack came once
again. This time, the magic flowed over and around his shield only
to dissipate some distance behind them.

Miko released the power of
Morcyth.

“Thanks.”

“Not a problem. Morcyth must not be
much into battle mages.”

“No, he is not.”

“That’s alright. I can take it from
here.”

Miko glanced in the direction of the
magic. “I fail to detect the presence of a mage.”

“I know. The magic doesn’t feel the
same as it did during the attack on my island, either.”

“Someone else?”

James shrugged. “Maybe. Either way, we
need to find out what’s going on before we cross the river. Should
someone be hiding around here…”

Another attack stuck and flowed
harmlessly over his protective shell.

“…
they would have to know
we’re here and what we are. We can’t afford them the opportunity to
sound the alarm that a mage moves within the Empire.”

Miko nodded.

James stepped forward and maintained a
quick pace as he headed toward the source of the attacks. Miko kept
pace beside him.

His senses probed the buildings by
which they walked. Interiors devoid of any living thing were all he
found. Ahead, though, the source of the magic glowed in his mind’s
eye in ever greater luminosity with every step he took.

Finally, they arrived at what looked
to be a market square. During Tapu’s heyday, it would have been
filled with the bustling activity of haggling merchants and eager
buyers. Stalls lined the walls encompassing the square. In the
moonlight, they looked forlorn.

Still and quiet. Nothing moved in the
night. It seemed almost as if the very wind feared to move and
disturb what lay on the far side of the square.

His eyes told him nothing. Shadows and
indistinct moonlit mosaics formed a pattern within which anything
could be hidden. But with his mind’s eye, a glow nearly as deep and
dark as the heart of some fell beast radiated from a point along
the far wall.

A glance to Miko revealed that he
could sense it as well.

In a voice barely above a whisper,
Miko said, “There is no one there.”

James nodded. He, too,
failed to detect the presence of the master of the
magic
. Could the mage have a shield spell
that prevented detection?
Such an ability
would definitely put the odds in the mage’s favor.