Wizard's Quest: Book Two Chapter Four

All works copywrite Jay D Evans 2013

CHAPTER FOUR

 

 

Kahnlin called his troops to a halt as soon as they were out of sight of the canyon. He knew that the three young humans had not perished by his attack on them. The sphere would still have been there, close by. The boy had used it to transition at the last minute, but where did he transition them? Richard had no idea the power he held and still did not understand how to use the device. He would have moved them somewhere that he had seen, or could see, and it would have been close to where they were. He was clever, but inexperienced, especially on this world, and the fear of the trolls controlled his movements. Knowing this, Kahnlin decided that the humans had more than likely hidden at the mouth of the canyon. The boulders strewn about would have made it easy for them to stay out of sight. With Richard’s knowledge of using the earth as building material, it may be difficult to get to them, but not impossible, after all, he had already gotten into their temporary shelter undetected once before.

It should not be difficult to find their shelter, so far, it has been a cave or a small hut made from the surrounding rock and sand, not hidden in anyway. In addition, the entrance had always been easily assessable to him; Richard was only worried about trolls, not Trelfs. Gaining entry would be a snap, killing the young wizards and obtaining the sphere even easier. All he had to do was find them.

Once he had the power to manipulate the earth, the Trelfs would have no worries; their homes would be so well hidden the trolls would walk past without even noticing them. Once he got the sphere from the whelp he would have that power, he would have more power than Oberon had ever dreamed of having. Only the sphere would give him the magick he needed, the power of the average Trelf was extremely limited. Oberon had made sure that only the simplest of those sacred arts were instilled into his people, and none was given to the people of his wife. He had known that if magick was rampant in his world the animosity would start again and would destroy what he had built.

Oberon’s time was centuries ago. Now it was Kahnlin’s time. He would rule this world, the Trelfs would be supreme and the trolls would serve them as slaves. There would be no more hiding, no more Trelf deaths because of trolls, and they would pay for the atrocities they had perpetrated against the Trelfs for the last three hundred years. All he had to do was get the sphere from the young human wizard.

“We need to return to the canyon. I believe that the intruders are still there,” the Trelf stated without turning.

“But, Kahnlin, we thought that you destroyed them. They were no where to be seen,” objected the nearest soldier.

Kahnlin turned around to face his troops. The late afternoon sun, reflecting from his dark eyes, made him look more sinister than ever. Each of the soldiers cowered before their leader, knowing that to anger him was a sentence of death to the guilty one. It was well known throughout the Trelf nation that he was ruthless when it came to getting what he wanted. He had killed before for nothing more than someone looking at him the wrong way. He was also the only one that could keep the Trelfs together and alive. It was his ruthlessness, and cunning, that had kept them from being annihilated by the trolls. It was because of that very thing that the Trelfs gave him their complete loyalty and rarely, if ever, questioned him.

In a voice barely audible, filled with contempt, Kahnlin asked, “Are you questioning me?”

With head bowed in humiliation, the soldier replied, “No.”

With an evil grin, and determination, Kahnlin looked around at the soldiers. “We go back to the canyon. Now. The humans will have made camp and will not be expecting us. They will be protected; they fear the trolls more than anything. Keep your eyes open and your mouths shut and we will find them and destroy them this time.”

Kahnlin had not told his men the real reason he wanted the humans killed. If any one of them knew of the sphere, he would try to take it for himself. The power of the sphere was that great; and that…boy…thought it was just something to help him get where he wanted to be. MacCorkadall had done him a great disservice by not informing him of what it could do. He had put the boy in grave danger. It could be that the old master had not foreseen his young protégé encountering anyone who knew of what it could do. After all, they were only here to find their lost friends, and it had been a very long time since MacCorkadall had gotten the sphere from Oberon, he may have thought that it had been forgotten.

All that his soldiers knew was there were three young intruders, intending to collaborate with the trolls for the destruction of the Trelf race. He had told them this so they would not question his motives for killing the humans. Only one had questioned him about his helping them and spending time with them. That man had been summarily executed. After the beheading, Kahnlin had explained that he was ingratiating himself with the humans to gain their trust, thus being able to lead them into ambush. He was not questioned about it further.

It was well into the night when the Trelf group made it back to the canyon, the light from the three moons of Syrus lit the landscape as if it was almost dawn. More than enough light for the attackers to see where they were going, as well as to be seen, if someone were watching for them. Kahnlin made sure that their approach would not be detected by keeping to the darker shadows of the larger boulders that littered the valley floor. Surveying the area from several metres away from the mouth, he could not be certain that the humans were still there. There was no smoke or light from a campfire to give away their position. Maybe the young wizard was more cunning than he had given him credit for. No matter, he would find them, retrieve what was rightfully his, and dispatch the humans unmercifully.

Motioning for his troops to stay where they were, Kahnlin moved closer to the canyon mouth. Careful not to make any sound, he listened more than looked for them. When he had infiltrated their shelter at the other end, he had learned that Sean would snore lightly, and Elizabeth would talk in her sleep. If he couldn’t find them visually, he would find them by sound.  Silently moving along the sandy riverbed, listening intently, he finally heard what he wanted, the faint sound of snoring.

You did a fine job, my young nemesis, hiding your cave by making it look like the canyon wall. However, you erred by not putting up a sound barrier. I have you now! Revelling in his triumph, Kahnlin motioned for his troops to advance quickly. As the group gathered around what looked like the granite wall, they stared at their leader, confused. There was nothing here, had he gone mad? Kahnlin, seeing their confusion, put his hand to his ear and leaned toward the wall. Each of his troops did the same and heard the faint sound that indicated the humans were there.

The first to fall was the soldier standing next to Kahnlin, an arrow through his chest. Seeing his second in command fall to the ground, the Trelf leader leapt behind a boulder. Frantically, as they died one by one, the Trelf soldiers tried to avoid the flying arrows and spears, not knowing where they were coming from. The trolls had surrounded them while they were gathering at the wall, not paying attention to anything but the sound from within. When it was over, Kahnlin was the only Trelf alive, hidden between the boulder and the canyon wall. He watched as the trolls gathered his dead men and carried them off into the valley.

The entire attack had taken less than a minute. However, during that time, the shouts of his men and the roars of the trolls had awakened the three wizards inside their cave. Kahnlin wasn’t sure whether they could see out from their hiding place or not, he had not seen this kind of magick before, so he kept hidden, waiting to see what they did. The wait was not long, less than five minutes later Richard’s head came through the granite wall like a ghost appearing out of nowhere.

The young wizard looked around then disappeared again behind his illusionary wall then reappeared with his friends. “I don’t know what happened. There’s nothing here.”

“It was loud, whatever it was. I heard trolls, that much I know for certain,” Elizabeth commented, looking around nervously.

“Well, there aren’t any trolls here now. I wonder what they were doing. Do you think they know we’re here, Rich?”

“No, I don’t. If they knew we were here, they would have taken us, too. Whoever they were fighting might have known, though.”

“Only one person would have known- Kahnlin. He and his men were the only ones that know we’re on this forsaken piece of rock,” stated Sean vehemently, not disguising his hatred for the Trelf.

Kahnlin waited, watching from his hiding place, for the humans to either go back into their cave or move on. If they went back into their cave, it would be easier for him to attack them alone. If they moved on, the best he could do is follow and then get reinforcements to help him. He would rather do this alone, after the fiasco of the first attack. That would not happen again, he would make sure of it. He watched the three look around the area for some time. He knew that there would be nothing to find, only what blood had spilled on the sandy floor of the canyon, and there was little of that. Trolls were notorious for leaving nothing behind, taking everything and spending very little time doing it. Finding nothing, he watched them return to their hiding place. This would be easy.

Still not knowing whether they could see out from the cave, Kahnlin crept to the concealed opening, moving from boulder to boulder and staying close to the ground. He did not want to take any chances of being seen. When he finally made it to the rock wall, he was several metres from where he thought the opening was. Moving along the wall slowly, he felt for the void that would let him in. When his hand disappeared into the granite, he stopped and listened. The faint sound of Sean’s snoring was all he could hear with his sensitive ears. He would wait just a while longer to make sure that the other two were asleep so his approach would be a complete surprise. The three young wizards would not know what was happening until it was too late. After an hour, Sean’s snoring was still all he could hear. They had to be asleep by now. It was time to make his move.

As he quickly moved to enter the cave, he was repelled back. Damn that insolent little… He has learned too well to protect them. A simple protection spell will not keep me from what I want. Kahnlin moved back from the wall and concentrated. The Trelf’s magick was limited, but diverse. Like Druid magick, nature provides for those that know how to manipulate it, and the Trelfs had learned how to manipulate it well. It was a simple thing to change his aura into something that Richard’s protection spell would not recognize as a threat of any kind. A human’s aura was not that much different from his own and the spell let him through.

Silently he moved into the hidden doorway. There was no fire to light the inside of the cavern and the light of the moons did not come through the veiled entrance. He stood, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. As his pupils dilated in the pitch black, he could only make out the more dramatic differences, like walking through the valleys and mountains on those darkest of nights when no moon was visible in the sky and being able to determine where the dangers were without walking into rocks or falling into crevasses. It was more a sixth sense than actually seeing anything. His hearing told him that Sean was lying to his right, less than a metre away. Focusing his attention in that direction, he could vaguely make out three objects on the cave floor.

As long as Richard had the sphere, he could not be harmed, only by the strongest of magick. Magick that he did not possess. He had to get the sphere from the human before he could be killed. Deciding which of the bodies lying on the ground was Richard was the problem. Staring at the three objects intently, Kahnlin tried to determine which was which. Elizabeth was the slightest built, Sean was taller than Richard and in the darkness of the cave, it was difficult to determine size and shape. The body next to the wall seemed to be the smallest, it had to be Elizabeth, the boys would put her in the most protected spot. The other two were lying perpendicular to the wall, the longest towards the back. The two perpendicular objects heads were close enough together that he couldn’t determine by sound which was which. Through deduction, Kahnlin decided that Richard was the body to the outside, easiest to get at.

Moving slowly and carefully, the Trelf knelt down and reached out for what seemed to be Richard’s head. The sphere hung about his neck on a leather string, it would not take much to slip it off. As he got closer, Sean’s snoring changed to a less relaxed sound, as if he were waking up. Moving back quickly, he stood against the wall to blend into the darkness. There was no movement on the floor and the sound of Sean’s snoring soon evened back out to that of a soundly sleeping boy. Time was running out and Kahnlin was getting impatient. To hell with this! I’ll kill the two unprotected ones and grab the sphere before Richard fully awakens, while he is still confused and disoriented. Pulling his dagger from its sheath and positioning it so that it would slice up through the boy and into the girl in one swift move, he jumped towards the three bodies lying on the sandy floor.

The dagger made contact with the first object and sliced upward toward the second. In that split second, Kahnlin knew that he had been fooled. Instead of cutting through human flesh, the razor sharp blade cut through Elvin cloth and was dulled immediately by granite. At the sound of metal on stone, the cave lit up from behind. The Trelf saw that what he had attacked was three stone dummies wearing the clothes of the humans.

From the other side of the cave, Richard said, “Reodh!” and the Trelf was immobilized.

“How did you know he was there? That’s all I want to know,” said Elizabeth, looking down at their would-be attacker.

“He’s too smart to let the trolls get him. And he isn’t the type to give up.”

“Look what the bugger did to our clothes,” exclaimed Sean, picking up his tunic and pants, showing the cut material. “I can’t wear this; the whole front is ripped out!”

“Looks to me like he only got yours,” smiled Elizabeth as she gathered her own clothes and seeing that they weren’t damaged much at all. “At least I have my pants in one piece and my shirt only has a cut across the belly. I think they’d call it a midi back home in Houston.”

For the first time in a long time Richard laughed. Watching his friends banter back and forth about their clothing was somehow ridiculous to him. True, Sean’s tunic was ruined and he wouldn’t be able to keep his pants on very well, but it was nothing they had not endured before. Elizabeth’s tunic was no longer covering her belly, but that was the extent of the damage there. He had gathered his own clothing, found that it was undamaged and gotten dressed.

“Sean, use what was cut off Elizabeth’s shirt to hold your pants up. We’ll find something along the way that’ll work better.” Then, turning his attention to their frozen captive, “What do we do with you?”

“Rich, he tried to kill us, we should return the favour and kill him,” was the reply coming from Sean.

“No, we don’t kill unless there is no alternative. You know the law: Do no harm. Besides, he knows where we may find the others. As much as I don’t trust him, he can help.”

Sean and Elizabeth looked at their friend with astonishment. Together, they said, “You can’t be serious! After what he’s done?”

“You’ve gone daft, Man! Totally mental. You honestly think he won’t try again?” Sean looked at Richard with concern. Either his friend had lost his mind, or he had a plan.

“Aye, he’s a chanty wrassler but he’s nae choob. Ah cannae troost heem an’ Ah cannae kill heem. Th’ only hink left is tae tak’ heem wi' us,” Richard stated, his accent showing his stress over the situation.

Elizabeth, leaning into Sean asked lowly, “What the hell is a chanty wrassler and a choob?”

Sean, laughing, replied, “A chanty wrassler is our friend here: a useless, dishonest, worthless piece of crap. A choob is somebody that is stupid.”

“I hate it when he speaks Scottish. Hard to understand him.”

Sean laughed at this. The two Americans had always had a hard time with European slang, especially with those that spoke it around them purposefully so they couldn’t understand what was being said. Most of the students of Crauford Castle had not wanted the Americans there to begin with and had made it harder by using their native languages. Even though Great Britain spoke English, the slang was different and the accents could make it extremely hard to understand even the simplest of statements. Richard didn’t do this purposefully; it was an unconscious thing for him, doing it only when stressed or nervous.

“We cannae bide onie longer.” Richard looked at Kahnlin with disdain, “A body wrang move an’ Ah wulnae hesitate tae freeze ye again.” Seeing that his captive understood, the young wizard waved his hand in front of the Trelf and unfroze him.

“One wrong move, Mate, and I’ll blast you into next week,” Sean warned.

Kahnlin looked from one to the other; he knew that he would have to cooperate, at least momentarily. The three young wizards may be inexperienced, but they would be very wary for some time, watching him closely. Coming up with another plan would take some time. The best he could hope for would be a lapse in their attention, just a few seconds for him to escape, either that, or to meet up with some of his troops.

“I will acquiesce to your wishes.”

“How do ya know that he won’t lead us into another ambush, Richie? I don’t trust him at all.” Elizabeth voiced what she and Sean were both thinking. “There’s a lot that he could do. He could lead us straight into a troll camp even. It’s just his word that we have that the trolls are his enemies.”

“If the trolls werrnae his enemies, they wooldnae hae attacked his soldiers. An’, aye, thaur is a lot he coods dae. I’ll hae tae watch heem aw th’ time.” Richard looked at the Trelf with disdain. “Kahnlin, yer a bajin an’ Ah dinnieken if Ah can troost ye. A body slip an' Sean wulnae hae a chance, Ah’ll blest ye.”

Elizabeth looked at her friend, “Richard, you need to calm down. I can’t understand a word of what you’re saying. Things are under control right now.”

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Richard tried to calm his nerves. This search was not going as he had hoped. They were supposed to be able to find their friends that were here and then go on to the next world for the next group. All they had managed to do so far was find more enemies and were no closer to finding Mary, Thomas and Fergus. At least he hadn’t lost Sean or Elizabeth, he was grateful for that.

After several minutes of deep concentration, he finally calmed himself enough to where he could function more efficiently. He knew that when he got flustered his speech went back to his Edinburgh accent and, unless a person was knowledgeable with the dialect, was not able to communicate. In their present situation, he knew that his friends needed to know what he was saying. Sean was from Aberdeen and could understand him no matter how he talked, but Elizabeth, being from America, needed the Queen’s English.

Grabbing the sphere, he looked at the Trelf and said, “Tell me what this does. It’s more than just a space/time controller. What else does it do?”

“It would take a lifetime to explain it to you,” was all he got for a reply.

It was then that the air around them became thick and misty. Confused and frightened, the three young wizards backed up against the outer wall of their cave and watched as the mist coalesced into the shape of a human. The shape was blurred as if in a dream, not really there. As they watched the misty figure swirl and solidify, there was a gasp from them all at the same time.

As one voice, Richard, Sean and Elizabeth cried, “Master MacCorkadall!”