Broken Mage (2 page)

Thad concentrated on his magic center,
trying to let it sync with the natural flow of magic within the
earth around him. The exercise didn’t require him to actively use
magic, just let himself be open to the magic around him and try and
match its unique rhythm. At first he thought that the rhythm under
the earth would be the same everywhere, but had learned differently
after a few nightly meditation sessions.

The flow of magic permeated the world
and was present in all things from the air above to the rocks
below. Thad found through changing environments that in some areas
it had thicker flow than others, like a massive river with many
different offshoots winding its way through the earth. There were
also different kinds of magic rivers and each one had its own
unique feel to it. The magic book had referred to them as the core
elements of the world. Underground, the earth and darkness elements
had a strong hold and thick flow of magic, followed closely by
fire. So as long as he could successfully tap into the magic around
him, any spells using those elements were much easier, such as his
little trick with the iron.

Thad thought about reading some more
from the magical tome stuffed in his pack but he only had two light
rings and didn’t want to over-use them. With little else to do, he
turned off the light ring and adjusted as much as possible in the
tight space until he could find a semi-comfortable position. He
closed his eyes, knowing that sleep never came easy in the
oppressive darkness, since every sound made him uneasy.

Thad awoke sometime later, his neck
hurting from the unusual position he had settled in. He wanted to
stretch and shake out the soreness out of his muscles, but there
was no extra room to move. Pressing his ear awkwardly to his metal
door, Thad listened for any signs of movement. When he heard none,
he placed his hand on the metal, causing it to bend and shift,
shrinking back into a small sphere that he stored in his pack for
later use.

With a practiced touch, he sent his
magic into his staff to light up the area beyond his cubbyhole.
When he was sure nothing was nearby, he crawled back into the main
passage and stood, letting his magic once again take the weight of
his missing right foot. It had become so second nature to him, he
hardly gave a thought to his missing appendage. That was, until he
became tired and was forced to reduce the magic supporting his
leg.

Not long after he had started his walk
through the main corridor an odd noise echoed through a tunnel on
his right. He knew that whatever had made such a racket would be
dangerous and better left alone, but he turned toward the sound
anyway. The hours of solitude were getting to him and he needed
something, anything to do other than simply walking.

Thad dimmed his staff so that it only
illuminated the small area around him in a soft red light. He had
tried many different colors in the darkness and had discovered that
red traveled the least distance, while also not stressing his tired
eyes. In the absolute darkness of the underground, it was still a
bright beacon and warning to anything nearby.

The clanging, and what sounded like
yelling, grew louder as he moved down the narrow tunnel, repeatedly
having to turn sideways or hunch down to shimmy his body and pack
through a tight area.

He couldn’t afford to dim his red
light, as he would be left unable to see in the darkness, but from
trial and error, he knew that many of the creatures in this
underworld did not react to it, and many seemed not to notice it at
all. He had to take that chance now, for good or ill.

Thad discovered quite abruptly, the
source of the noise as he turned around the last bend in the
tunnel. A band of goblins were attacking what looked like a large
black toad the size of a small house. It looked as if the goblins
were doing well in the battle, though many of their number littered
the floor of the large cavern.

From the looks of the rubbings on the
wall it looked as if the cavern was the toad’s natural home, and
the goblins were the aggressors. It was easy to see why. Large gems
and crystals jutted from the wall as if they were crops growing in
a fertile field. A small pool of water had also collected near one
of the walls in a pool big enough to accommodate even the toad’s
massive body.

His first thought beyond the existence
of the adversaries, was that this place had almost everything he
needed to survive, except for an obvious supply of metal ore and
replenishing food source. Suppressing a grimace of distaste, he
knew if the toad was edible it would last him a long time if he
could find a way to preserve it.

Thad waited, watching as the goblins
continued attacking the toad and trying to strike at its
underbelly. The creature was already bleeding from numerous wounds
and its movements looked wild and jerky. Its only real defense
seemed to be either crushing the goblins under its immense weight
or spearing them on the massive horns that jutted wildly from its
head.

The battle raged on far longer than
Thad would have believed possible, but the goblins finally
triumphed and brought down the massive beast. Having been
distracted by their foe, the goblins never saw him watching from a
small side tunnel. There were still a more than a half dozen of the
creatures left, and luckily they were too busy jumping on their
defeated foe to pay attention to his approach.

While the goblins were still absorbed
in their victory, Thad moved out from behind his hiding place
throwing a ball of fire that completely engulfed the goblin unlucky
enough to be closest to him. The resulting noise, light and stench
of the wildly burning goblin finally caught the attention of the
remaining odious little brutes, who then turned and stared at him
with their beady green eyes almost glowing with obvious
anger.

Knowing the darkness was to his enemy’s
advantage, Thad commanded his staff return to its brilliant golden
radiance. The sudden outpouring of light momentarily blinded him
but when his eyes refocused he noticed it had a much greater effect
on his enemies, giving him a brief moment of respite.

Wasting no time, Thad followed up by
sending a bolt of lightning arcing through the cavern, slamming two
of the ugly creatures against the far wall. The four remaining
goblins advanced on him warily, with their crude weapons held out
before them in shaky arms as they talked in their guttural and
snarled language.

While Thad didn’t understand their
language, the tone of it mixed with their body language spoke
volumes. They were scared and arguing amongst each other. He
figured they were discussing whether to run and gather more troops
or try their luck now. Then again, they could be arguing over the
best way to cook him. Do goblins even cook their meat? Perhaps that
would best left a mystery, as he was not very eager to find out.
With that thought in mind, he whirled into action, drawing his
sword from its scabbard as he struck the nearest goblin with the
end of his staff.

While the goblins were small, they were
deadly fast, and far more determined than Thad had expected. He had
learned how to hold up a partial shield to his front and sides,
allowing him to conserve his magical strength and allowing him to
be more aggressive in his attacks.

Safe behind his shield, Thad didn’t
waste energy dodging or trying to parry their clumsy attacks.
Instead, he shuffled around to foil a concentrated effort by all
the goblins to come at him together while waiting for a single
goblin to find the courage to attack alone. That way he could kill
them one at a time, conserving his energy and strength. The
strategy worked more often than not, but the ugly little creatures
were unbelievably fast and resilient.

After he had killed all but one of the
nasty little creatures, he allowed himself to relax a little. He
had refrained from using magic to kill the goblins, enjoying the
practice with his blade. When the last goblin made a hasty lunge,
Thad reflexively stepped aside bringing his sword down hard, neatly
severing the creatures head from its neck. Watching the head roll
to a stop, he felt regret that the fight had ended so abruptly.
Dancing with his blade allowed him to forget that he was lost and
alone in the darkness, at least for a time.

With the battle over, his next task was
to make sure he could make the cavern defensible with the meager
resources he possessed. It had five large openings and two smaller
ones, leading off into the darkness. All he had to use at the
moment was one small piece of metal that wouldn’t even stretch
enough to cover one of the openings, much less seven.

Not willing to give up, Thad continued
looking for ways to defend his new temporary home. On one of the
dead goblins he found a piece of unrefined ore. It wasn’t much and
after he purified the ore it would only amount to what he already
carried.

After searching the bodies of the
goblins and finding nothing else of use and still tingling with
energy from the fight, he dragged them down one of the larger two
at a time. Once they were far enough away that he didn’t think the
smell of their bloating bodies would bother him, or attract other
unwanted guests to his new home, Thad headed back to deal with the
large and very dead toad.

He shifted into his magesight to
inspected the toad and found that while the meat was edible it was
mostly made up of fat and fluid. Shrugging his shoulders, he
reasoned that it would still feed him for a few days. Unable to
block the entrances into the cavern, Thad began looking for
someplace to rest until he could recover his strength and start his
looking for resources.

After searching every inch of the
walls, his staff blazing with bright light, Thad didn’t find one
place suitable to rest. His only choice left and that was to make
one for himself. It was risky, using his magic to carve the stone,
as the potential for a cave-in was high. Sighing audibly, he
resigned himself to the task.

Finding a somewhat suitable location,
he began to chip away at the stone with his magic, blasting small
sections away at a time. It was easy at first, but the more he
worked the harder it became. He needed to keep the entrance as
small as possible while making the inside wider. In the end he was
forced down onto his hands and knees, dragging out the rubble after
each blast. When he finished, his magical reserves were almost
depleted, so he wearily crawled inside and quickly erected his
metal door using the last bit of his magical of his magical
energy.

Thad wasn’t physically tired but he was
severely mentally fatigued, and with his magical strength gone he
was vulnerable in the open. Propping his staff up against the wall
Thad let its light extinguish and activated his light ring. With
little else to do, he followed his normal routine and checked the
sending box for any news from the princess. Opening it he was
relieved and happy to see a small helping of dried meat along with
a new letter. He opened the letter he hastily while shoving a piece
of meat into his mouth.

Thad,

I hope the day finds you
well. I haven’t heard from you in some time but since the box is
always empty the morning after I use it, I assume you’re still
alive. If you get the chance, I would like to hear from you so I
know I’m not just feeding some monster that has your end of the
box.

There still has been no news
of Eloen. The creepy man in black has been back and has become a
sinister nuisance. Mother still doesn’t know what to do about him.
I’ve heard her say, that if this had been the past, she could have
simply ordered him to leave or threaten to throw him in the
dungeon, but with the current atmosphere she is afraid it would
undermine the new laws.

The rebellion has been put
down or smothered depending on how you look at it. Mother has also
started to crack down hard on any who have ignored her royal
decree. To prove her goodwill she has even gone so far as to buy
the young man who sent her that beautiful glass sculpture of Fort
Southpass his own shop within the capital.
. If any of the nobles knew she had done that, she would be
ridiculed by them, so she keeps it secret for now. It’s enough to
show visible progress to the commoners I guess.

Well I better turn in for
the night. Early tomorrow mother has a meeting with the king of
Rane, and she expects me to be there. Hope to hear from you
soon.

Your friend
Maria.

Thad read the letter four times before
finally folding it up and gently adding it to the others. He was
worried about Eloen, but there was nothing he could do for her at
the moment. He couldn’t even get himself out of the trouble he was
in.

Laying his head back against his pack
he tried to envision different ways to block off the tunnels
leading into the cavern, while still allowing him a way out when he
needed it. Using boulders was one way, but every time he wanted to
leave and return, he would have to move them and that would not be
a fast process. Sitting back in the darkness and mulling over the
different ways to solve the problem, he quickly drifted off to
sleep.

CHAPTER II

When Thad woke from his nap he was
still magically fatigued but he figured he was strong enough for a
few hours of work. After listening for any sounds of enemies, he
lowered the metal door and carefully crawled from his nook. The
meat he had cut from the frog still lay stacked in the corner of
the cavern where it was the coolest. It had been grisly work and
contributed to the miasma of stench that enveloped him but he had
tried his best to wash off the worst before going to sleep. There
was always the fear it would draw predators but there was little
else he could do with it at the time.