“We may be able to cross the road undetected, but I doubt it,” Alexander said. “The man in black I saw with the Reishi is extremely dangerous. I suspect he was what Phane was referring to when he said I wouldn’t survive what he sent next. He’s dangerous in a way I can’t adequately describe.” He fell silent again.
“From your description of his aura, it sounds to me like he’s a mage-level wizard,” Lucky said. “If that’s the case, then you’re right about him being very dangerous. A mage can establish a connection with the firmament without restraint or limit. He has reached a place where he can maintain a firm hold on his identity and his will sufficiently that the firmament can no longer distract him from his purpose. A mage does not get lost in the firmament. As a result, the only real limits on what he can do are a function of his calling and his imagination.”
Alexander frowned at a new question that presented itself. He found that was the way of things. Whenever one question was answered it inevitably led to others. “Then what’s the distinction between a mage and an arch mage?”
Lucky nodded with a smile. It was the next logical question. “While a mage can establish a connection to the firmament and cause reality to bend to his will with awesome and frightening power, an arch mage is something else altogether. He has survived the second mana fast. In many ways he has transcended normal mortal existence. His will and consciousness are said to be fused with the firmament itself. An arch mage no longer needs to make a connection to the firmament because he has a permanent and ongoing connection to it already. It’s said that an arch mage no longer casts spells per se but rather injects a vision of his desired outcome into the firmament and it becomes reality.”
Alarm was building within Alexander as Lucky explained the scope of what he faced. “If Phane is so powerful, then why doesn’t he just will me dead and be done with it?”
“Even the power of an arch mage has its limits.” Lucky slipped easily into the familiar role of tutor. “First, every wizard has a calling which determines how his connection to the firmament functions. In order to reach the level of understanding necessary to fully connect to the firmament as a mage, one must focus on his calling. Such focus excludes other schools of magic. For example, I am a Master Alchemist. I have studied alchemy exclusively and one day I hope to gain the insight necessary to rise to the level of a mage alchemist. Mason Kallentera is a general wizard who has studied many areas of magic. He can do a great many things but, because he did not focus on his calling, he will never become a mage. An arch mage must first become a mage, which requires this kind of specialization, which, in turn, naturally constrains the scope of his abilities, while magnifying the level of power he can command within his chosen discipline.
“Second, every wizard is limited by his intelligence, imagination, and beliefs. If a wizard doesn’t think of something, he cannot make it manifest. If he doesn’t believe that something can be done, then he will not be able to cause it to happen no matter how powerful he is.
“Third, the firmament is like an ocean. The effects of a wizard’s will may be able to cause great turbulence in the area immediately surrounding the wizard, but farther and farther away, the effects diminish in the same way the ripples of a stone cast into the water diminish as they get farther from the point of impact. I suspect that’s why Phane summoned creatures to do his bidding. Once brought into this world, they can carry out his will where direct action by magic against you would have been beyond even his power because of the distances involved.”
“Well, I guess it’s good to know that Phane won’t strike me dead any moment now,” Alexander said more bitterly than he intended. “That just leaves a platoon of Reishi, Rangle, the man in black, and that giant I saw to deal with. No problem.”
“Alexander.” There was an edge to Anatoly’s voice. “Complaining about the problems we face does no good. Focus on our goals and look for solutions.” The admonition was an old refrain of Anatoly’s teachings: Focus on the solution, not on the problem.
Alexander looked at his old mentor for a moment before nodding slightly. He cleared his mind and laid out the goals in his mind’s eye: get to New Ruatha and then to Blackstone Keep. Then he laid out the obstacles that stood in their way: distance and a small but powerful contingent of Reishi led by at least two wizards.
After thinking about it for a moment, he realized that the enemy would be spread pretty thin on the road. In fact, they couldn’t possibly have enough men to cover every crossing point. Unless they had some form of magic to alert them, Jack’s plan of slipping by under cover of darkness might just work. More than that, he didn’t see any viable alternative. He had to get across that road.
“All right, we move for the road at first light. We’ll stop a mile or so short and wait until dark, then make our way across and push another mile into the forest before making camp. With any luck they won’t even notice us.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“We should probably douse the fire before it gets much darker or we’ll risk being spotted,” Anatoly offered.
Alexander drew last watch. He was sitting on his pack when the light of dawn broke over the horizon and washed over the sea of fluffy pink treetops. The golden fire of the sunrise deepened the color of the pink blossoms to a bright glowing reddish orange that was both beautiful and ominous. It looked to Alexander like he was on an island in a sea of fire that crackled and undulated in the gentle morning breeze.
The beauty of the colors all around stood out in stark contrast to the carnage of the two dead gorledons sprawled out in the middle of their camp. Lucky had clearly taken a few samples from the beasts including, from the looks of things, their hearts. Alexander shuddered at the sight of the monsters and the thought that he had come so close to death. He knew with certainty that his wound would have been fatal if not for Lucky’s magic.
Chapter 41
Alexander was happy to be on the move again away from the ugliness of the battle on the little hillock. The morning sun cast a warm glow through the canopy and onto the floor of the Pink Forest. Alexander was becoming more aware of the forest and the little details that Isabel had patiently taught him over the past few days. He could see why she felt so alive here. He let his mind wander as they made their way into the evergreen trees at the border of the Pink Forest. They’d lost a lot of altitude since leaving Glen Morillian and the air was warmer and thicker. New shoots of bright green leaves were beginning to sprout, giving the forest a dappled look of dark green and brown speckled with the new growth all around. It was beautiful with just the evergreen trees and shrubs, but the explosion of new growth that the early spring was causing added a whole new dimension to it. On top of the vibrancy of the new growth, the colors of the living aura surrounding those little shoots screamed of life to Alexander’s second sight. Almost as if by osmosis, he started to feel more optimistic.
They reached their stopping point a few hours before dusk. Isabel reported that the road was about a mile away. She had Slyder fly down into the tall canopy and flit through the trees to scout the road for several miles in each direction.
“There are soldiers on horseback riding patrol for miles in each direction of where we’ll come to the road. It looks like they’ve cast a wide net to see if they can catch us when we cross,” she reported.
“They must have some way of warning the others,” Anatoly observed. “Otherwise, I suspect they would employ a different strategy.”
Alexander nodded. “Makes sense, but even if they can warn the others, we’ll be far enough into the forest on the other side of the road before they can respond. Once we’re into the trees, they can only follow on foot. We stick to the plan. An hour after dark we’ll move.”
Even with Alexander’s second sight, the forest was hard to navigate in the dark. More than once he became entangled in dead branches that snapped loudly when they broke. They moved painfully slowly in an effort to be silent but still made it to the road in good time. Alexander scanned the forest for any sign of a living aura but saw none, other than the forest itself. It looked like their plan would work. The road was just too long to patrol effectively with such a small force.
Once Alexander was satisfied that they were in the clear, he whispered the order to go. All six of them raced across the road at the same time. Alexander’s head swiveled back and forth searching for threats as they crossed the danger area. He saw none.
Then, just when his foot landed on the centerline of the road, he discovered his mistake. The ground ignited beneath his boot. Heat flared up through his leg and sent him sprawling face first onto the ground. From the point of his footfall, fire rose up in a line stretching down the center of the road. The flare of magical flame raced away in each direction and left only a charred, smoldering line burnt down the middle of the road. The pain in Alexander’s foot faded quickly. It was a shock and surprise but did no damage. No sooner had the realization of the spell’s intent become clear than a whistler arrow streaked up through the trees not a mile from their position. Then another went up from the other direction. The enemy had their position and was on the hunt.
They abandoned stealth and crashed into the forest, moving as fast as they could through the darkness. The branches scratched and clawed at them while they ran. Once they were several hundred feet off the road they slowed to a quick walk, being careful to stay together. They could hear shouting in the distance as the soldiers of the Reishi gathered where they had crossed the road.
It was slow and dangerous but Alexander pushed on through the night trying to gain distance from his pursuers. The feeling of being hunted was becoming all too familiar. He could feel his senses becoming more alert as the night wore on. Every noise and every shadow represented a threat. By dawn his nerves were frazzled, he was exhausted, and his mind was tired. He just hoped that the night’s travel had bought them the distance they needed to stay ahead of the enemy. He knew that their trail from moving through the forest in the dark would be easy to follow, so he started looking for opportunities to leave a less trackable trail in the hopes that he could slow or even lose his hunters altogether.
Isabel took the lead. She knew the forest much better than he did and she knew how to move without leaving a trace. Alexander suspected that if she were alone she could easily lose the Reishi, but with the six of them it would be a much more difficult task. She led them to little streams and used them as pathways to cover their tracks even though she said any experienced tracker would see the evidence of their passage in the streambed. She searched for rocky areas and helped them move through without marking the mosses that covered some of the stones. She found fallen trees and carefully walked the length of the tree to avoid marking the bark. Her path was not direct but instead meandered in a course that would make little sense to a tracker.
After an hour of carefully concealing their tracks, she set out in a straight line to gain more distance only to repeat the process again a few hours later when they came to a rocky patch or a stream that presented an opportunity to disguise their trail.
She reported that a dozen Reishi including the man in black and Rangle were following on foot about three miles behind while the rest had gone north along the road on horseback, led by the giant and Truss.
“It looks like they’re having a hard time finding our trail after we left that little boulder field. They’re losing ground on us,” she said when she opened her eyes and broke her connection with Slyder.
She kept her forest hawk in the trees around the hunting party. So far it was clear that the trackers they had were no match for the forest knowledge of a Ranger. Alexander began to feel a little better about their situation even though he knew they would likely face a fight once they left the cover of the forest. The Reishi, no doubt, knew they were headed for New Ruatha and the giant and the soldiers under his command would probably be waiting for them on the plains between the northern edge of the forest and the city.
Alexander tried to put the thought out of his mind for the time being. It was a problem he would have to face when it presented itself. For now, he just wanted to gain as much ground on the man in black as he could. They started moving more quickly as the afternoon wore on, and Isabel reported that their hunters were still fumbling around looking for a trail. Alexander was exhausted. He could see that everyone else was at least as tired as he was but no one complained about the pace. If they could gain enough distance they would be able to sleep without fear that the Reishi could make up the ground in the dark.
It was grueling. They fast walked until darkness brought them to a halt in a little clearing. There was no sense pushing on. It was too dark to cover much distance and they needed rest and a meal. They would be traveling hard all day tomorrow and they wouldn’t get far if they didn’t get some sleep. Their meal was cold. No one spoke much. They drew for watch and went to sleep. Alexander felt like he’d just put his head down to sleep when Anatoly gently shook him awake for his watch. It was the dead of night and the forest was dark and eerily silent.
Alexander stretched as he sat up and pulled his cloak around him. He fumbled with his boots and carefully made his way to a nearby log to sit down while he kept watch over his sleeping friends. He fought to stay awake. He was tired and the night was so dark. To keep his mind active, he tried to work through all of the challenges he faced. Toward the end of his watch, he looked up with a start when he saw a light in the distance through the trees. It was just a flash but it had the quality of real light and not the gentle, colorful glow of an aura seen with his second sight. He focused and caught another flash of light. It looked like it was coming toward them. His blood ran cold when he realized it looked like torches coming through the forest.