Chapter 56 Traveling Magic

“Isaac!” Lenna called while jogging over to him. “Are you alright?” She questioned quietly. She could see the ice coating his boots and he was unconsciously flexing his fingers like he was trying to regain feeling in them. His nose and hands were bright red from his body trying its best to keep them from getting frostbite. She grabbed his hands in hers and started feeding him a gentle trickle of her healing magic. The taint of her broken oath made it actually hot instead of just feeling warm like most healers.

“Yeah.” He replied and both of them watched his foggy breath fade away. “Just a bit cold. Nothing I can’t handle. I can heal from anything, remember.”

Lenna shook her head almost imperceptibly. “How are you, really?” She asked in a whisper that she knew even he would have trouble hearing let alone anyone else in the cavern.

“Hypothermia is almost gone. Just keep warming me up and my magic will do the rest.” He told her. “All of my exposed skin feels like it’s on fire but I’ll survive. My head was getting a little foggy there at the end.”

“Through your healing?” Lenna questioned and Isaac replied with a quick nod. Lenna fixed him with her intense gaze with enough severity that his eyes subconsciously locked with hers. He had been glancing around at the battlefield while talking to her but not anymore. “You knew this would happen.” She told him. It wasn’t an accusation but a statement. She knew that Isaac had foreseen the risk of actually getting frozen to death as soon as Fable had mentioned using ice magic. “Why didn’t you offer another solution?” She asked but she already knew the answer. The answer to her question was that Isaac was too stubborn to back down from anything. He always had to feel like he was the strongest person in the world. The hypocritical part was that the one time he had truly believed that he was, he had gotten all broody and melodramatic on her. It seemed to Lenna that he was afraid of actually attaining what he claimed and strove for.

Fable ended up saving Isaac as he approached and eyed Isaac skeptically. “Cold?” He questioned. The temperature in the cavern had dropped to below freezing but was steadily warming back up. The surge of wind and cold air courtesy of Fable’s spell had started a draft that was bringing in warm air from the tunnel ahead of them as it was on a slight incline.

“A bit.” Isaac told Fable honestly and then immediately changed the subject: “That spell, I had only heard about it in passing before, what level was it?”

“Fourth.” Fable answered.

“There is no way that a spell that powerful is only on par with Wall of Flames.” Isaac replied skeptically.

Fable nodded. “You are right.” He agreed. “The drawbacks are why no one uses it.”

“Drawbacks?” Isaac questioned.

“If I moved even an inch the spell would’ve broken. Usually spells are designed to use up more power than strictly necessary to help them maintain form and function in combat.” Fable began. His decades of being an instructor temporarily overriding his memory of who he was talking to. “Without any of the bits that keep the spell stable, Final Frost can be disrupted or even dispelled entirely by a kid with a rock. Every part of the spell is out in the open and vulnerable. Truly a useless and impractical spell.”

“That you just happened to have on hand?” Isaac prodded.

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Fable actually smirked at Isaac without trying to be demeaning or pick a fight. “It was the spell that made me want to learn magic. I was so excited once I was finally able to cast it that I didn’t care about how impractical it is.” He explained and then seemed to remember he was talking to Isaac and not one of his students or his apprentice. “We should rest.” He told Isaac, back to business with no room for pleasantries. “Fina and Lenna are almost empty. I am down to half and Esk is not much better. Mark and Shy are fine but, according to you, you three are not capable of handling the flesh monster.”

Isaac nodded in agreement. “We need to back up farther though.” He began. “The Ori-Masa are on the move. There is no way that whoever is controlling them is just going to keep sitting by while we wipe out his army.”

“On the move, how?” Fable questioned.

“It feels like they are congregating in the next cavern that we were going to hit. They have been trickling in from almost every direction for the past few minutes. If we go now then we can catch them before they are properly prepared.” Isaac explained. “From what you told me though, we won’t have enough fire to deal with them.”

Fable nodded. “If there is more than double what was in the last cavern then it would be a recipe for disaster.” Fable agreed.

Isaac chuckled. “If only it was triple what was in the last cavern.” He laughed. “It’s a gods damned new years festival.” Isaac explained. “There has to be over three hundred of them already and the number just keeps rising.”

“Do you know if their leader is there?” Fable questioned.

Isaac looked like he wanted to say yes but he couldn’t bring himself to actually say it. If Lenna hadn’t been still holding his hands he would have tilted one of them back and forth in the ‘so-so’ gesture. “It’s a whole mess over there. When we were closer I thought I felt an area that was more… dense, I guess. Yeah, let’s call it ‘dense’.” Isaac continued. “It could have been the leader or it could have been three kobolds in a trenchcoat. There’s just too much input to get a good reading.”

Fable nodded in understanding. “Edward told me your senses were accurate but odd. I am glad to see that he was right.” Fable gave Isaac the closest thing to a compliment Isaac figured he would ever receive from the man.

“Thanks.” Isaac replied. He knew when to take a win when he got it. “How long will the casters need to rest?” He asked Fable.

“As long as possible.” Fable replied. “Five hours of deep meditation would be preferred.”

Isaac shook his head. “Out of the question.” He told Fable bluntly. “The Ori-Masa could start moving in five seconds or five minutes. We might be lucky and they’ll try to play defense.” He offered. “But that will make taking them out all the harder.” He shook his head. “And that is assuming they don’t get impatient and just come after us anyway.”

Fable frowned, he knew that Isaac was right, he also knew what the right course of action was in that situation. “We should head back to Safeharbor and come at it again tomorrow, preferably with more people.” Fable advised. “Continuing on like this is too risky.”

Isaac sighed and looked around the cavern and focused in on the sorceress, Fina according to Fable, and Esk. “Do you think your aura would hold out for plan ‘make it Jallen’s problem’?” Isaac asked Lenna.

She gave him a look that even through her closed faceplate screamed: ‘If I could beat the insanity out of your head, I would.’ Isaac’s eyes went wide and he went to raise his hands in defense but they were still in her grasp. “You should be warmed up enough now.” She told him without answering his question. “I hope I didn’t overheat you.” She let go of his hands and shook her head at him.

“Okay, let’s pull out.” Isaac agreed. “We can take another crack at this tomorrow. We are far enough from Ben’s End that it shouldn’t be an issue.” Isaac frowned as he realized something. “Fable, how did those kids keep up with us?”

Fable looked at Isaac quizzically with a hint of surprise. “Kids?” He questioned.

“Esk and… Fina, I think you called her.” Isaac explained. “Mark looks like the kind of guy who goes on fifty mile runs in full gear to stay in shape. The rogue, whatever their name is, is a complete unknown so who’s to say either way. You are too old and stubborn to let a long run slow you down.” Isaac shook his head while still staring at Esk. “But no matter how I think about it, he should have run out of… I don’t know, mana? Stamina?”

“When we arrived at the first location he was quite worn out, as was Fina.” Fable agreed. “We used traveling magic to keep up with you. It was more like a slow run than a sprint for the entire time.”

“How does that work exactly?” Isaac questioned. Magic that made traveling long distances easier was something Isaac dearly wished he could use.

“I am not explaining the spatial distortion and magically forced applications of physics to you.” Fable replied. “Can we go now?”

Isaac shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I kind of feel bad for the non-magical folks though.” He added and nodded towards Mark and the rogue, Shy as Fable referred to them.

“You haven’t been an adventurer for very long.” Fable commented. “Doing a lot of nothing is normal.”