Chapter 7

Frost Wolf

In a gathering in the forest there were twenty or so odd adventurers talking excitedly amongst themselves. Many carried large exotic weapons and armor that could eclipse the sun. Baylee and Grey just walked outside of this group, arriving a moment ago.

"What is this?" mumbled Baylee, complacently. "So many people in the middle of the road. Was there a fight or something?"

She walked into the crowd, not caring who she bumped, pushing through everyone. Grey followed close behind. In the center of the crowd was a large gemstone the size of a person! A deep emerald color that dazzled the eyes and glittered under the light.

"At least fifty tallies," spoke a red haired beauty. The sword on her waist seemed to distort the air around her as if it were a flame. "The fellow who discovered this must have been kissed by some god in his previous life."

A blue haired man with long robes shook his head. In his hand a large staff with three gems embedded at its tip to form a flower. "I tell you I have seen this before in the Kargorian Dungeon. It's an King Emerald Treasure. A divine gemstone that can store up to three hundred different spells. You inscribe your glyphs into its surface and infuse it with magic. Right here is enough to make a complete set of armor.  "

The crowd collectively gasped in astonishment. An armor that could cast spells? In a life or death situation this was quite valuable.

"So who is the fellow who found this rock? Don't tell me it just happened to be here on its own?"

A man with a golden scythe shrugged his shoulders. "It was here when I came by the road."

The rest of the crowd joined in.

"Me too."

"Yeah, walked by and saw it."

"Saw people here, so I came too."

"So," mumbled a young green haired woman carrying a twin hammer. "What everyone is saying is that it is free?"

Free? In the world of adventurer's there was a thing called finders keepers. Now that this crowd of people found this priceless treasure, the question now was who was going to keep it? Everyone's eyes turned dangerous.

"Okay," said Baylee, turning around. "Grey let us leave."

Grey gawked at the large emerald stone. Something so priceless, ordinary folks would go their entire lives without seeing one, even adventurers seldom found such treasures. It was natural to be mesmerized by such rare beauty.

"Grey!" said Baylee, nearly shouting. She quickly pulled the boy back into reality. The atmosphere was already getting perilous. She could feel the warriors in the group releasing their battle sense.

Grey snapped to attention like a fish taken out of water. Baylee grabbed his hand and started to make her way out of the crowd. She barely made it out of the outer circle before a loud explosion erupted behind her. Adventurer's leaped left and right, avoiding one another. In a large scale fight everyone was the enemy!

Baylee pulled Grey close to her and released her battle sense to protect him. Aura from an enemy adventurer was strong enough to harm a normal person directly. Warrior's especially had an oppressive aura that slowed the movements of their opponents. If used on a normal person with no magical resistance, it would squash them flat like a bug.

Grey shook with both terror and excitement. The adventurers of his dreams were fighting all out before his eyes. As a boy. How could he not be awed and amazed by their flashy techniques? Baylee waded past flying daggers, earth tremors, and fierce winds, holding Grey close to her. Whenever an attack would find their way to her location, it would then suddenly veer off to the side, deflected by an invisible barrier.

"Wind Barrier!"

Even in such chaos, the battle had a methodology to them. Rogues frequently targeted weaker adventurers, appearing and disappearing as they pleased. Warriors targeted each other wanting to prove their superiority to their own peers. Mages waited till the last moment to swoop in to take victory, only defending themselves from danger. Rangers on the other hand...attacked everyone.

One such ranger stood in front of Baylee. Her hair rippled as if alive. Her bow was also something special. A triple bow string with large five foot arrows. This was no doubt a Great Dragonslayer Longbow.

"Who are you!" asked Baylee, venomously. It was obvious to all that she had a child and wished to leave. Who dared stop her?

The ranger bowed his head. "You might not want to fight but I do! Raise your staff or die standing!"

The air around Baylee turned to ice. "Don't you know who I am? Baylee the Frost Wolf. You dare challenge me still?"

"The Prodigal Mage?" said the ranger, astonished. Who had not heard of this genius? Her name was famous in all the lands as one of the rising stars of the world. If one could count the people that had a chance to reach heroic level. Her name was would be one of them!

Inwardly, the ranger grinned.

"So what if you are famous? This only makes me want to fight you more! I too am quite special. My name is Vera the Windfury. Come let me taste some of your magic."

Baylee glanced at Grey.

"Grey. Today, it looks like I cannot avoid trouble. So what? I'll show you something little kid. Hold this treasure. It'll keep you safe for a bit."

Baylee slipped a small white translucent gem under Grey's shirt and walked a few feet away so that Grey would not get caught in the crossfire.

"You blood thirsty fellow," said Baylee, angrily. "I'll teach you to fear mages."

Vera smiled. To fight was to live! How could there be any joy greater than that!

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"Penetrating Bone Spear!"

She loose the notch of her longbow. An arrow as large as a sword screamed through the air, warping the space around it.

Baylee whispered incantations under her breathe. Grey watched her carefully. As a clever boy how could he not miss the meaning behind his master's words. She was an advanced mage! Perhaps he could gain some insights of his own and progress faster to the elementary level.  

All at once, the arrow violently came to a stop, spears of ice jolted from the ground, skewering it like a wild boar. Her eyes glowing. Baylee let loose a torrent of  destruction!

"Coldsnap. Ice Lance. Frozen Orb. Frostbolt. Winter's Grasp. Lunar Tundra, Icefire, Black Sun."

Spells one after another, so fast it boggled the mind! What was this!? Vera could hardly react before the ground beneath her froze. Struck on all sides by a venerable blizzard. She leaped backwards, but she had been trapped! So many spells!? Faster than the wind! Her arms pierced by blades of ice. Her legs snapped to the ground. Her longbow sealed in a frozen rock heavier than the earth. A long frozen blade flew to her neck to take her life. Death!

A loud explosion resounded where Vera had been, but Baylee did not wait to see if her spells hit. Instead, she swept Grey off his feet as soon as she finished casting and ran away! Who cares about that fight? The most important thing to her is her apprentice! To have him die so soon, would surely break her heart. She leaped up before another fellow could jump in and attack her and with him in tow disappeared in the woods.

~~~

"Master? Did that woman die?"

A few miles away, Grey asked Baylee quietly. Ever since that encounter, there was a strange silence between the two. Inwardly, Grey berated himself for being too caught up with that King Emerald gemstone to realize the danger. Though originally he had been excited to see such crazy action. He realized he had put his master and his life at risk for his lapse of attention. If his master had instead died in that fight would he still be here standing? This made him feel very guilty.  

Baylee looked at Grey and sighed.

"From the power of that arrow. That woman was most likely another advanced level practitioner. For her confidently to attack me. You think she would die so easily? She had high level equipment that would lessen my attack before it struck. If the fight lasted too long. Who could say who would win? She underestimated me. So I taught her a lesson. She is not dead kid, but I imagine her neck should be aching."

Baylee could see Grey's nod slowly. She knew the kid felt guilty so she let him wallow in his thoughts for a while to better his character. Already, Baylee had grown very attached to Grey. Such a kind hearted child. Just too silly and young. He had enough sense to know when he was wrong and reflect on his actions. Could any kid say the same? She thought she punished him enough and then smiled, reaching out and ruffling his hair playfully.

"Silly kid. You look so sad. As long as you know you were wrong. I am not upset. Be more happy! Say! Did you see how cool your master was? You can praise me again!"

Grey's eyes lit up and he smiled.

"Master! What was that amazing thing you did! So many stuff came out at once!"

Baylee smiled.

"That was a multi-spell attack. Let me ask you Grey. What is the greatest weakness of a mage?"

Grey remembered the time that arrow flew through the air. Baylee stood doing nothing casting her spell. At that time his heart truly leaped in fear. He thought Baylee might be killed before completing her incantation.

"Would it be the time it takes for you to complete an incantation?"

Baylee smiled. This clever kid. To gain such insights from one fight. Truly a genius.  

"That's right. It takes time for mages to prepare. Rogues? Warriors? Rangers? They all use magic in its raw and unrefined form. We actually have transform our magic to give it real substance and power. That attack I showed you was a little shortcut some mage's figured out so many years ago. If it takes time to cast one spell, why not cast a bunch of spells at the same time? That's why in a fight high level mage's are the most fierce. If you let them rest for a few moments, then you get hit with all sorts of things at once. "

Baylee looked up the road and saw a large warrior talking to a chubby mage.

"By the way it looks like one of my fellows is waiting for us. Dane! What are you up to you old man?"

Dane turned around and smiled back.

"Ah, these fellows just came from the dungeon. I thought it might be good to trade some information so I am giving this fellow some of our bread for a little tip or two."

Baylee smiled playfully. "Fellow, if food is what you want, let this woman cook you something delicious, then maybe we can about some maps?"

The chubby mage smiled back. To fellow mages who traveled upon the path of knowledge a meeting was always a chance to learn something. A young girl with long bangs clung to the chubby man's robes and peeked her head around him to see who it was.  The minute her eyes fell upon Grey she quickly ran up and leaped into his arms. Everyone turned to stare. What?!

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Author Note:

If anyone is wondering. I usually post one chapter a day, health permitting, Pacific Time. 1600+ words. My goal is to eventually write enough chapters to make a book! I hope the pacing isn't too slow! I wanted to develop my characters properly before transitioning to the next arc and get all the battle related terms introduced.