I stood behind a log in the second row of trees and watched as the melting lower part of the ice column thinned. It tilted more and more and finally crashed into the lava, creating loud hissing and even more steam.
I was officially impressed with the ice mage. Creating a column of ice fifteen meters high and a meter thick in seconds, or cooling lava over a large area to the point where you could walk across it, required immense amounts of energy. The man had to have a huge mana supply and a strong focus to be able to cast such spells. I wonder if I could ever develop my abilities that far.
After the steam cleared, calm returned over the lake. The two mages had disappeared into the tower, and the fire salamanders were nowhere to be seen. Only the corpses on the shore testified to the confrontation that had taken place.
Since there was nothing more to see, I made my way to the expedition camp. After two days without food I was ravenously hungry, hopefully the strangers would leave some supplies behind. If they occupied my tower, surely I was allowed to dispose of their camp, right? It was just a rhetorical question.
About an hour later, I reached the grassy area on the hillside between two forests. A few hundred meters to my left, I saw the tents of the camp. For not having any landmarks, the deviation was quite passable. I moved along the edge of the forest toward the camp, observing it. As I expected, nothing was stirring there, no guards were left behind. All the participants of the expedition went to the tower, where they perished, except for the two mages. I was able to enter the camp without danger.
While I left the forest behind and headed for the tents, I thought about the expedition. They had definitely not strayed here by chance. They definitely wanted to reach the tower. But what were they doing there? They probably didn’t take the long way because of the wand. I remembered the motto of the owner of the tower: Fire. Knowledge. Power. That’s probably what it was all about: knowledge and power. Good thing Aardhak’s diary was safely in my storage ring.
The gleeful grin quickly disappeared from my face, however, when it occurred to me that the guys in the tower could see me now as well as I could see them earlier. What if they suspected the diary was on me and came back? I would have nothing to oppose such a strong mage. I didn’t really know what the leader was capable of, but if the ice mage submitted to him, he had to be even more powerful.
Despite the queasy feeling, I didn’t want to leave the camp until I found something edible. My stomach was about to digest itself, without food I would soon weaken, how far would I get then? I just made sure not to stay in open areas for long and to have one of the tents between me and the tower, if possible.
It didn’t take long for me to find the cooking pots and neatly stacked clean dishes next to one tent. Inside the tent itself were bags of grits and bags of jerky strips. I shoved some dried meat into my mouth and turned back toward the exit, intending to grab a cooking pot and start a fire.
As I exited the tent, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye to my right and jumped to my left, startled. At the spot where I was standing a moment ago, a spear struck and stuck trembling in the ground. I looked ahead and saw one of the uniformed men a few meters in front of me, slowly approaching and pulling the nearest spear from his back. The Asian-looking man looked quite battered. The left side of his body was apparently exposed to flames, his short black hair singed. On the right, his leather armor looked as if it had been dragged across the ground. On his forehead above his right eye was a fat bump, the eye itself was swollen shut, the face below scratched and covered with abrasions.
Nevertheless, his gaze directed at me was firm and hostile. The man clearly sought my life, yet I wanted to give him a chance. I quickly cast a fire arrow and shot it into the ground at his feet. His left eye widened in shock as the blast showered him with clods of earth. He immediately stopped and dropped his spear. He put his right hand on his heart and his left hand on his forehead, then he stretched out both arms with the palms upwards towards me and remained in this position. I looked at him without understanding. What was he trying to say? Was it a gesture of peace or of surrender? When my reaction was absent, he said something in an unknown language.
“I don’t understand you,” I replied. “But if you don’t hurt me, I won’t hurt you.”
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Apparently, he could understand me just as poorly. Slowly, he lowered his arms, but did nothing else. Shrugging, I bent down for a saucepan, but when I had aligned myself with it, the stranger took it gently but firmly from my hands. What was the meaning of this again? Was I not allowed to use the cooking pot, or did he want to cook himself? I stopped and waited to see what would happen.
Sure enough, the man grabbed a wooden spoon and pulled some supplies from the tent before heading to a fire pit. I followed him and watched as he piled up some wood. When he finished and went to light a fire, I unceremoniously lit the wood with a fire spell, whereupon the man thanked me with a brief bow. I smiled at him and turned away to continue exploring the camp.
Aside from the tent with supplies, the small tents were pretty much the same and basically contained only the soldiers’ bedrolls and their knapsacks. As I inspected them in turn, I came to the spot where the deer had been sacrificed. The remains of the animal were still hanging over the stone slab, and although its death was only a few hours ago, the carcass was completely dried out like a centuries-old mummy. The sacrificial ceremony had apparently drained the last bit of life from it and turned it into purple mana. Is this how the purple mages recharged their mana supply? Were other lives the price of their magic power? I shuddered. This was so inhumane. Did such practices perhaps lead to drawing the attention of the demons to this world and provoking the invasion? I should investigate this suspicion as soon as I had the chance.
The large tent in the center of the camp was luxuriously furnished, unlike the soldiers’ tents. A thick carpet in dark red and purple tones covered the floor, cloth walls of heavy black velvet separated each corner, so that the interior was divided into five sections. First came a small empty entrance hall, behind that was an office with an ornate desk and a comfortable chair behind it, plus there were three sleeping spaces in the corner rooms. The beds were narrow, but seemed comfortable enough with the pillows and soft blankets.
In one room, which probably belonged to the leader, there was even a washstand, above which hung a hand-sized oval mirror. Curious, I looked at my so familiar and yet somehow changed reflection. Due to the involuntary fasting, my face was haggard and looked older because of the grown dark beard, the brown eyes looked at me seriously. I winked at myself, detached the mirror from the strut on which it hung, and took it with me. I was going to shave soon, and it was much better with a mirror than without. I wonder how the magicians did it. A spell to remove the beard would certainly come in handy.
I searched the drawers of the desk, but found only a few pages written in an unknown language, which I stashed in my storage ring. The day before, I was able to watch the expedition closely as they made their way to the camp. No one was lugging a desk on their backs, so I assumed that at least one of the mages also had extra-dimensional storage in which all the stuff was transported. That’s why I didn’t expect to find any valuable items or magical books in the tent, but maybe the documents would give some information about where the expedition came from or what brought them here.
After leaving the leader’s tent, I went back to the fire, hoping that the food was ready. Sure enough, the cooking pot was on the ground next to the fireplace and the stranger was waiting next to it. In the meantime, he had taken off his damaged leather armor and put on a clean uniform, his face looking freshly washed. When he saw me coming, he filled two ladles of thick porridge into a clay bowl and handed it to me along with a spoon, bowing slightly to me as he did so. I took in the appetizing aroma with my nose, whereupon my stomach growled impatiently and was about to sit down on the floor to eat when I remembered the armchairs waiting for their use in the storage ring. I quickly took them out, sat down on one and indicated to the man that he should sit down on the other.
The stranger gave me a quick, indistinct look and I could swear I saw surprise in his otherwise expressionless face. Was it at the appearance of the chairs out of nowhere, or rather at the fact that I offered him a seat? Somehow, I had the feeling that he was subordinating himself to me. At the moment, however, the food was more important to me, and I went after it with a ravenous appetite. The cereal porridge was mixed with pieces of meat, spiced with an exotic blend and finished off with a spicy hint that completed the taste, making it ideal for someone who hasn’t had something decent to eat in a while.
I devoured my portion and went back for seconds, fortunately the chef had not skimped on the quantities. He finished eating before me, got up and apparently waited for me. When I finished eating, I handed him my dishes and thanked him, whereupon he took another brief bow. This language barrier was really unattractive and I wanted to at least know his name. I pointed to myself and said, “Jason.” Then I pointed at him and waited for his reaction. He had to think for a moment, but then he seemed to catch on, pointed at me and repeated, “Jason.” Then he pointed to himself and said, “Qu Ji.” I smiled, “Qu Ji? Nice to meet you.” He bowed again and started putting the dishes together.
Well, that was it for the conversation. I took out the telescope and pointed it at the tower to see if anything had happened in the meantime. I immediately noticed one change: the portal frame that had been lying on the floor of the destroyed upper level was now vertically erect and no longer empty. The two mages had repaired the portal!