Broken Mage (26 page)

It was night and Thad found himself on
the balcony overlooking the queen’s garden. The moon lilies shined
brightly illuminating the ground below. The princess sat beside him
on a pillow made of a dark dyed red silk.

“Am I dead?” Thad asked looking into
her deep green eyes.

Maria held her hand over her moth
giggling slightly. “How am I supposed to know? Though if I was
forced to answer I would have to say no, but I could be
wrong.”

“You know I have missed you a great
deal?” Thad said leaning back on his hands looking up at the
moon.

Thad felt her warm hand as it covered
his own. “I’m glad to hear that. You have been gone for such a long
time I was afraid that you had forgotten about me. It’s good to
know that I was wrong.” She said her voice slightly
melancholy.

Looking closer at her he noticed that
she had changed slightly. She looked taller and she had obviously
blossomed more into her womanhood than when he had last seen her.
She also looked as if she had seen some hard times. It wasn’t
anything profound but her eyes had lost the youthful innocence they
had once held. She also wore a plain dress under a standard
fighters’ battle harness. He would have laughed if it hadn’t been
his own mind that had created the image. Was this how he truly
pictured the princess?

“I have never forgotten about you. I
think about you and the others daily. I believe it is all that has
kept me going at times. It hasn’t been easy but I hope one day soon
I can once again stand with you and watch the night sky again.”
Thad said giving the princess a rueful smile.

Maria returned his smile than stood up
and went to the rail looking longingly at the gardens below. “I
don’t know if now would be the best time for you to return. Things
have become a bit complicated, but I promise I will have it fixed
soon. So please don’t give up and find your way back home to
us.”

Thad found it a little odd Maria seemed
worried about something. Shouldn’t she be happy and playful the way
she had been when he had last seen her. Was his own mind trying to
tell him something the way it had when he was forming the magic in
the wrong way. If it was he was sure he would have the same dream
again so he let it pass, and let himself simply enjoy the
company.

“I’ll try my best to work on that.”
Thad said giving her a reassuring smile.

The two sat in silence for a long time
staring into the night sky. There was plenty Thad wanted to say but
he wanted to say it to the real Princess. Not simply a figment of
his own imagination even if it was a very pretty figment. In a way
it looked as if it was a mix of the soft princess and the fiery
Eloen both women he found himself attached to.

He had to admit that he found the
princess much more attractive in fighters garb and shorter hair. It
was hard to admit but she had always seemed aloof and out of reach
when he was in the palace. She took the time to talk to him and
showed genuine concern but she still had the air about her that she
was above his station. Now that was gone, she felt like someone he
could relate to, someone within his grasp.

Shrugging his shoulders, why shouldn’t
he enjoy his own dreams? Leaning down Thad kissed Maria softly on
the lips. They were soft and up close she smelled nice almost like
a field of wild flowers. When he pulled back Maria was blushing
furiously. She never said anything but a large grin stayed sprawled
across her face.

Thad woke with every inch of his body
in pain. Wherever he was it was pitch dark. Thad switched his
magical eye to nightsight but all he could see was the ceiling
above him. He tried to sit up but the second the muscles in his
stomach contracted a wave of pain rolled threw him so fierce he
nearly vomited.

Shortly after his eyes opened Crusher
was at his side pouring some foul tasting concoction down his
throat. He tried to swallow but all he accomplished was sending him
into a coughing fit. Off to the side he could hear Avalanche
whining. He had the urge to comfort the creature but any movement
he made only made his pain worse.

Crusher continued to pour the liquid
down his throat until he was satisfied that Thad had ingested
enough of it to drown a small village. The good side was after
their first few drinks the taste didn’t get any worse, the bad side
was once it was down his throat the taste didn’t go away. The
longer he lay awake, the more he began to understand something was
wrong. He felt hot, even though as far as he could tell he was
wearing nothing but a grimace. He could feel the sweat beading up
and he felt as if he was lying next to a furnace. He knew what that
meant his wound was infected, and from what he had learned that
meant he was in for a long and painful time and most likely
death.

Thad drifted in and out of
consciousness. The first few times he found himself lying on the
ground staring at nothing but the darkness. When he awoke to and
found himself being carried on Crusher’s back. Every step the dwarf
made was measured and careful and Thad only felt the smallest of
pain from the slight jarring.

The amount of time he was able to stay
awake seemed to shorten each time he woke. At first it was a few
hours but lately it seemed as if his had barely opened before he
was back into the dream world. The clarity at which he could think
was also drastically falling. While he was awake it was as if
someone had muddled everything in his mind. The worst thing for him
was that he couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Had he slept
for a few seconds or had it been days.

Thad had grown quite fond of being
asleep. For one thing there was less pain and he didn’t feel as if
he was being boiled alive. He also had time to think and enjoy the
fresh air. He was sure he was dead his body just wasn’t ready to
admit it yet.

Thad hadn’t seen anyone else in his
dream world since Maria had graced it. He had tried to make other
people appear but when he did they didn’t move or act. He wasn’t
sure how he had accomplished it the first time but wished he could
recreate it again. Being alone was starting to get slightly
distressing.

He had taken to spending his sleeping
time back on Joan’s farm. It was the most peaceful time of his
life. There had been no expectations from anyone including himself.
No danger, no fear of being exposed, and no fear of losing those
dear to him. A part of him wished he could go back in time and take
Joan and her families’ offer for him to stay, but he knew in his
heart that he would have regretted it if he had.

His time in Farlan had been less than
pleasant most of the time but he had also had good times. He had
also made some good and trusting friends. For every hardship he had
faced he had also found a line of hope that helped pull him
through.

“Not doing so well are we?” Thad heard
a voice say from behind him.

Thad turned to find Sae-Thae sitting
comfortably behind him on one of his unusual chairs. His face was
drawn tight and he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days or more.
Seeing the concern on his face Sae-Thae simply gave him a half
smile. “I know I must look a mess but the current project I have
been working on has taken a large amount of my energy and time.
There’s nothing for you to be overly concerned about.”

“I can’t say I’m faring any better at
the moment.” Thad said returning the smile.

“I can tell your energy is off balance
and much weaker than normal.” Sae-Thae said frowning. “I watched
the battle that you had with my mages and the shadow warrior. It
was a well fought match. I didn’t realize you had one of the
Brotherhood’s weapons. We have a few in the vault but they make
poor weapons unless one is fighting a mage.”

“Yes I came across it by accident but
have kept it with me so that it couldn’t be used against me again.
I have tried to study it in hopes of learning how it works but so
far I have learned nothing about it.”

“Ah, yes I spent a few years studying
them on and off for my first few years as a master mage in hopes of
the same thing. I must admit I failed horribly. I did learn one
thing in one misguided experiment. Don’t ever break one by
overloading it with magical power. I destroyed a whole wing of the
magical academy. The only reason I survived the whole affair was
that was quick on my feet. The other three mages who were with me
weren’t as lucky.”

Thad leaned forward completely
captivated by the older mage. “What happened?”

“We were trying to find out if there
was a limit to the amount of magical energy the sword could absorb
at once. Four of the strongest master mages had gathered together
to see if we threw our collective might at the weapon, if we could
destroy it. We threw everything we had at the sword and it broke.
That was the start of the trouble. It didn’t simply break and stop
working but a massive hole of darkness opened up sucking in
everything into an endless abyss. I latched myself to the ground
using my magic the other three were too slow and disappeared into
the darkness. When the portal closed everything was gone, simply
gone. Since that date I have stayed well clear of those
swords.”

“I will take your lesson to heart.”
Thad said his voice laced with worry. He had tried doing the same
thing one time. Thank the gods he had been unsuccessful.

“See that you do. I can understand why
you want to keep the weapon near but I would suggest you find a
safe place to keep it well away from anything that might damage it.
I have never tried to break it normally but after my last
experience with the sword I haven’t wanted to try it either. Now
for the reason I came to visit. We have learned that you are near
the dwarven village in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re
already there it’s hard to tell. As you know we are forbidden to
kill too many of the dwarves but my fellow Vathari heads are quite
enraged at the damage you have done to our forces and are
determined to see you dead. If you ever get cornered just yell out
the words, ‘Val sur tala reth.’ Once those words are uttered by a
human mage our people are required to allow them protected passage
to our village.”

“I will keep that in mind. Honestly I
would like to see your village one day.” Thad said
smiling.

“Now, I have to leave you. You’re
starting to roam too far away for me to continue contacting you. So
unless you visit this is goodbye my friend. I hope your health
returns and you take my offer and visit. It would be nice to have a
mage around who wasn’t secretly waiting for me to
misstep.”

And with that Sae-Thae was gone. He had
only spoken to the mage a few times but he considered him a true
friend. He had helped Thad stay alive and sane. He was the only
person who he had been able to talk to in the many days in the
subterranean world. It had been a short friendship but it was one
he would miss dearly.

When Thad’s eyes opened he found
himself surrounded by unfamiliar faces speaking to him in deep but
soothing tones. He couldn’t understand the words but it didn’t
matter he could hear their voices.

He had made it to the dwarven village
alive. His body still hurt but the feeling of being cooked alive
was gone. Now he only felt as if he had been through a gauntlet of
large warriors. He tried to sit up but one of the people
surrounding his bed held him down. Thad let out a heavy sigh he had
seen that look before back on Joan’s farm when he had pushed
himself too far. Letting out a slight laugh Thad gave up and let
himself relax.

EPILOGUE

Thad sat up in his bed. He had been in
the dwarven village for about ten days and was still confined to
his bed. Crusher visited along with Avalanche almost daily. His
dwarven friend had also regained his voice. Obviously the dwarven
healers were far better than he was and had been able to do what he
had been unable to do.

The woman watching him was nothing like
what he had read about dwarven women. Like Crusher her face was
hair free and while she was slightly blockier than the women that
he was used to she was far from ugly. She looked as if she was in
middle years though Thad was unsure of that face not knowing much
about how dwarves aged. She wore her black hair braided into an
interesting pattern. Each day there were slight differences and
Thad enjoyed trying to find them. Her eyes were a coal-colored and
her voice while a little deeper than most was still light and
pleasant to the ears.

He still had trouble understand what
was being said to him but he was beginning to pick up on the basics
of the language, thanks in a large part to Crusher’s help. The
words always felt a little heavy to his tongue but learning it gave
him something to do other than stare out the window.

He couldn’t wait to be free of his bed.
He could see the sky from his seat but he couldn’t wait to feel the
sun on his skin again. He was amazed when he first realized that
the dwarves didn’t live underground. All the stories he had heard
of them had always painted them as living in caves in the mountains
and here he finds that they live on the surface in a fairly large
village.

Other than Crusher he was also visited
a lot by what he believed was one of the elders or leaders of the
village. He wore a long grey beard and looked as if he was well
over a hundred years old if Thad was going by human standards. The
dwarf had been interested in the Brotherhood sword he carried but
with only a limited command of their tongue it was hard to explain
how he had acquired it. Other than those few distractions, Thad was
left on his own to heal. Sitting back Thad looked wistfully out of
the window. He couldn’t wait to once again fell the grass between
his toes.