************************************************************************ Review of Chapter 6 ************************************************************************
"He was after our Diamond of Age," The lady explained. "He believes that it is a object of great power he can bind to his own."
We talked long into the night. Lady Cristiana told us many things of the land we were in. We promised to help in their fight against Belroth and in return she and her people promised to share their wealth of knowledge and experience.
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Chapter 7
I was still under the watchful eye of Lady Cristiana, and she had me sleeping by the fire. For the first time sense Borak and I had run from Korison I was sleeping alone. It was also the first time I had trouble sleeping. I opened the connection between Borak and me and found that he was dreaming about some childhood experience. I didn't want to wake him so I closed it again.
The camp was virtually dead. Only a few guards were awake patrolling around the camp. I sat up and stared into the fire. I allowed myself to slowly drift into my inner plane but continued to watch the fire. The individual tongues of flame slowed and I could see between every log and every coal. I focused on the logs and coals and many symbols for fire swam into my vision. With a little concentration, I combined them and pulled them above the fire. I watched amazed as the symbols split in half and the wood continued to burn but the flames were above it. With a small flick of my hand the flames disappeared but the heat was still there. I changed the remaining symbol a little and the light reappeared, but without the flames.
I continued to play with the fire, making different combinations of heat, light, and flame. After I tired of that, I picked up my sword. I now knew something I wanted to change on it. I looked very closely at the magic symbols placed on it and removed the locking spell. I made sure to maintain the other spells that Borak had place on it like extra strong steel, but added a spell of my own. Instantly bluish flames burst out of the blade. I passed my hand through them and felt that the heat, while not enough to burn, was enough to fool someone. I replaced the locking charm and slid the sword back into the scabbard.
I was about to set the sword down when it shot out of the scabbard and landed about six feet away. I was about to get up to retrieve it when I remembered that with the new spells I should be able to summon it to me. I stretched out my hand and said, "Maciltul!"
I felt something stir in the sword and it jumped away from the ground and arced into my hand. Looking pleased with myself, I removed the lock and played with the spells some more before locking it again and re-sheathing it. This time it stayed in the scabbard, but I had to adjust the spells on the scabbard to make the flames and heat contained by it. After that was all done, I felt exhausted and lay back down to sleep.
The next morning Shawn awoke me early. "Come," He said, "There is much to learn before confronting Belroth."
"What do you mean?" I asked in a tired voice.
"Sorcery my good friend. Belroth is a mage in such magics. It is time the Lady and I teach you the basics." He nodded behind me.
"Sorcery is very different from other magics." Lady Cristiana said as I turned.
"While she has practical knowledge, I have the passed down knowledge of my family." Shawn said.
"Don't you have practical knowledge? I thought your family was..." I trailed off.
"Fate, it seems, decided my destiny was better lived out without my family's magic traits. Yet my father demanded that I learn of the arts for my children will have the ability and will need instruction." He said.
"Sorcery is different than other magics," The Lady said again. "Because once the caster can tap into their source the instruction is done. For each caster the magic is different and is used at a different charge. It is a unique human magic trait. It creates endless possibilities."
"Come!" Shawn said and led the way toward the forest.
The training in sorcery was different from how I had learned Orcish magic. They had me remove all my weapons and sat me down in the middle of what they called a fairy ring and took positions at the north and south. They told me to meditate but directed the meditation through song and sounds. I soon found myself standing in the ring of mushrooms and a path that wasn't there before leading both north and south.
I slowly turned to face north and extended my natural senses. A blast of power came back and I shielded my eyes from the bright light. I turned again, this time to the south and again extended my senses. Again I was greated by a blast of power but this time it was darkness. Both spoke to me of power, that was sure, but the means of power were different. With the light came healing and a sense of wholeness. With the dark came death and destruction.
I knew that both ways would bring me power, that was not what I was concerned with. I wanted means to defend myself. Both supplied that but to only some degree. So I did the first thing that came to my mind. I reached out to both sides of the fairy circle and grasped both powers.
"Noooo!" I heard both the Lady and Shawn scream. My eyes snapped open and I saw in my hands were the two spheres of power like in my "dream". Out of both shot a beam of many colors. Where these collided was a daemon.
My thrust out my hand and cried, "Maciltul!" and instantly my sword was in my hand. At the same time I sent out a mental call to Borak because daemons were his specialty. I could see that Shawn and Lady Cristiana had been knocked out, but I could tell that they were physically fine. I extended my sword in front of me and squared off with the monster.
"You shall not harm them!" I cried as it took a step toward us. "I know not why you're here but your business is with me."
"INDEED!" The voice of the daemon was somehow hypnotic, "MY BUSINESS IS WITH YOU!"
He paused for a moment and then glanced around. "WHERE IS YOUR SOURCE? WHAT ART DO YOU CARRY?"
I stole a glance toward my hands and found that the orbs had absorbed themselves into my hands and caused the flames of my sword to glow brighter.
"I know not the art of sorcery." I paused at his smirk, "Or even the theory there of. Somehow my guided meditation took a turn for the worse and now you are here."
"HA! A BEGINNER! I SHALL ENJOY CONSUMING YOUR SOUL!"
"You shall do NO such thing!" I heard Borak bellow from behind me.
"AH! THE SOURCE! TWO SOULS FOR ME NOW!" He had a satisfied grin on his face.
I ran over to Borak while talking to him through my mind. "I don't know where he came from but I think he is the guardian of these powers." I raised my hands and Borak glanced at the orbs still surrounding them.
"Well you summoned him, banish him." Borak almost looked exasperated.
"What?"
"When you attempted to wield both powers the guardian was summoned, but through your magic. He survives off of you. Because of that you can banish him."
He sent me a burst of information about daemon banishing then stepped away from me.
"WHAT?" The daemon said with a smirk, "WILL YOUR SOURCE NOT HELP YOU FIGHT?"
My mind raced with the information Borak had given me. I knelt in the middle of the fairy ring and began speaking in a low voice.
"By the power of one I call this spell done..."
"HA!"
"By the power of two I will banish you..."
"WHAT?! WHERE DID YOU LEARN..."
"By the power of three you cease to be..."
"STOP!" Be bellowed and charged toward me.
"By the power of four I create the door!" I clapped my hands four times and a dimensional door opened before me and the daemon charged straight through it. I collapsed from the drain of the spell and darkness filled my vision.
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Sorry about the long wait and the short chapter. I finally finished finals and started writing again. Remember that you can find this and other stories I'm writing at my yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alpha_wanderer
Thanks for reading. Please send feedback at alpha_wanderer@hotmail.com Thanks