Chapter 32

The Road to Horath

Vella

It had been slightly more than three days since Vella, Kraevos, Sani and Aren had left Lazzure. Despite the initial concerns over travel, Kraevos was able to slip back into the city and retrieve the group's belongings and dragons before leaving. It was as Kraevos had put it, “One of the many benefits of being a pelliverto. It’s not like a wanted poster or watch could manage to easily identify me.” The others had to agree rather handily with Kraevos, as without his abilities they would have been walking all the way to the Mages’ Academy. They were still a few hours away when the sun came up, breaking into a new day and waking Vella from her sleep.

As she began to rise she couldn’t help but realize how far she’d gone over the past several weeks. She’d gone from only leaving her farm to get supplies and sell wyrms to traveling almost completely across the continent of Surren. Here she was, waking up in a sleeping harness on the back of a wyvern of all things. At least now Vella could no longer claim that her life was dull. She looked across from her to see her three compatriots atop the moss dragon they’d used for transport, all of them already awake. Vella rose and pulled the reins of Aegis, nudging the wyvern to go closer to her friends so she could converse. “So,” Vella began inquisitively, “What exactly is Horath like? I’ve heard all sorts of wild stories that can’t be true.”

Kraevos took in a deep breath and let out a heavy disappointed sigh, “It is an awful, soulless place sadly. I started it with the best of intentions, but intentions alone do nothing for a legacy. That place has been warped and broken to a terrible design I did not intend for it. Worst of all, I’m sure my image is still all over the place there as though this was what I wanted for the academy.” he shook his head in shame, clearly imagining what he’d seen in the past. “The last time I visited the academy was at least a hundred years ago, maybe more, once you get past 300 years old, memory has a habit of going a little fuzzy. I just remember they had built all these garish statues of me, calling me the great founder. They claimed the whole place was built to my exact vision, that they were following directives I laid out.” Kraevos looked off to the horizon as he spoke, clearly trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. “The statues didn’t even look that much like me, I understand that I changed my form, but for some reason they picked the worst of the outfits I ever had, not to mention the ridiculous mustache I had at the time.”

Aren began to laugh next to him, “So are you more upset about how the academy is run or that they didn’t get yer style right? Seems a little egotistical to me.” Aren had a large grin, happy to jab at someone else after all the teasing he’d gotten for his wedding.

Kraevos turned to scowl at Aren, “You know I can turn this dragon around and send you back to Lazzure right?”

“Boys, stop arguing over who had the worse look, I’m sure it was both of you,” Sani interjected, always happy to get in the last laugh. “Seriously though Kraevos, what went wrong? If you started the academy, why did you leave it?”

“Honestly it’s a mix of a few things,” Kraevos replied. “First and foremost, my own arrogance, secondly my grief and third the greed of the people who oversee it.”

“Grief from what?” Vella asked. She gently hopped off of Aegis, choosing to sit with her friends for a while and stretch out on the far larger moss dragon.

“Grief over losing my daughter,” Kraevos said, hanging his head low. “You see Precia died while I was building the place… no, while we were building it. I did not handle her death well, not that any parent has ever handled the death of a child well. I was not alone though, her death fractured several of us in ways that still haven’t healed. The way I acted at that time is still one of the biggest regrets of my life. In my negligence, I was completely oblivious to certain actions made by people around me that turned the direction of the academy from my original design.” Kraevos stopped, letting a cold silence fill the air between them before changing the subject. “I’d say we’re about two hours away.” There was a solemn silence for the next while as the group continued on.

Vella passed the time the same way she had passed the last few days, she opened Precia’s tome and began to thumb through the pages, looking at whatever she could, taking in every bit of wisdom available. After years alone on the farm Vella was quite the fast reader. What astounded her though was how the pages were different each time she opened the book. If there was something she wanted to see a second time she could find it, but otherwise each page changed with every turn of the book as though it knew what Vella wanted to see and was trying to share with her. One detail that Vella found especially interesting was when she found those new pages, the words would start to appear as she turned the page, but they would be different each time. Some would form with a red glow, others with a faint crackle of blue energy, some with a glittering silver. Only a few pages had emerged in black and those had seemed the most off-putting of all with the information they contained. Vella wanted to ask Kraevos, but as she looked over to him she saw a look of longing on his face as he stared out across the endless sky. She judged it was better to leave him to his thoughts at that moment. As Vella read it was almost like she was in her own little world. Occasionally she would half hear Sani and Aren laugh or argue, not listening enough to get the words, but feeling the energy of the group as they went.

At last, Kraevos pointed out ahead to sprawling hills next to the edge of a forest on the horizon. “We’ll be stopping there and leaving the dragons. We’re better off taking some time to go through what we’ll be doing in Horath and walking on foot from there.” As the dragons landed on the ground Kraevos hopped off and began to explain. “On the other side of this hill is the outside of Horath. It’s been a few hundred years, but I doubt that much has changed in my absence. It is a heavily guarded place, but I’m the one who put in all the wards and protections, so I’m fairly certain that I can get us in the door. After all, I built myself little loopholes that only one as clever as myself could find just in case I ever needed to come back to the academy.”

Kraevos paused for a moment as Sani and Aren hopped off the moss dragon. “Now I can get us in the building, but that doesn’t exactly take care of the people, both mages and guards that will be there. That is a far bigger issue as they are all suspicious backstabbers who would turn us in quite quickly if we didn’t have a decent ruse. You see they care only for the pursuit of magic, the knowledge of it. They have no allegiance to anyone except knowledge, which means they can be bought rather easily. For all I know they are already under Sacrotian influence.” He stepped over to the saddlebags on the side of the moss dragon and pulled out a roll of fabric far larger than the saddlebag. “We will have to look the part and more importantly act like we belong there. Now I can do that with ease you three on the other hand worry me,” he said pointing to Sani, Aren, and Vella.

Aren chuckled and scratched his beard, “What do ye mean, don’t I look like some academic?”

“As much as you hate it, you at least have lived in high society long enough to fake the manners and behaviors. Buffoonery aside, I know I can trust you to play the part after what happened in Lazzure,” Kraevos said.

“It was a fine acting job wasn’t it, clearly I was meant for the stage,” Aren said smugly using his high society voice.

“You two on the other hand are of bigger concern.” Kraevos looked back to Vella and Sani, neither of whom felt particularly comfortable with where the conversation was going. “Neither of you has much experience with high society and the like, so the less you say the better,” Sani responded by sticking her tongue out, trying to say something but instead being cut off by Kraevos continuing. “Vella, to be blunt, they will see and smell the farm on you from a mile away. You are someone who has worked hard, backbreaking labor day in and day out. These mages have never exerted like that in a day, they spend their time in only intellectual work, one look at the well-worn calluses on your hands and they’ll start to get suspicious.” Vella looked down at her hands, she wanted to protest, but the callouses on her hands were rather large and defined. It was the sort of thing she took pride in, she’d earned the muscles and bruises life gave her and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You on the other hand,” Kraevos continued locking eyes with Sani, “Are the biggest problem of all. You look like a rogue, sound like a rogue, and have that stubborn arrogance that could easily blow our cover here.”

“Hey,” Sani spat back, “Cut me some slack. I am what I am, I’m not going to apologize for it.”

“Normally I am for your resourcefulness Miss Sani, but your willingness to skirt the rules makes you stick out here quite badly. You will have to be on your best behavior while you’re here.” Sani held up her hands as though surrendering. “Aren isn’t as clear an issue because he himself isn’t a mage. They are likely to ignore some self-important noble. You two are attuned to magic, but not academy-trained, this means even the slightest use of your magic will set off suspicion or worse. Which is why we will use this to our advantage.” Kraevos unfurled the large amount of cloth he’d grabbed. Vella watched as all sorts of outlines of different clothes and patterns began to swirl around in the fabric. “This fabric will form into clothing in the style and design we need. We will dress ourselves as low-level academy mages, the kind who would have to escort an unimportant noble like Aren. That will help us avoid suspicion.” He walked back to the saddlebag and pulled out three pairs of scissors. “Get to cutting now.”

With a grumble Sani sat down and started to cut furiously, attacking the cloth with far more vigor than needed. Vella on the other hand started cutting slowly and precisely, afraid to snip out of line with the pattern that had formed on the cloth. As she cut it was as though the image formed in reality, each snip turned the mesmeric cloth into mage’s robes. After a few frustrating moments, Vella heard a grunt and watched as Aren snatched the scissors out of Sani’s hands. “Gods above woman, if you keep cutting like that there won’t be any clothing to wear!” Aren stopped working on his clothes and moved next to Sani, instead taking his time to cut hers.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“You know I can’t do this, do you remember what happened the last time I tried to make my own clothes?” Sani asked.

“Aye, I do,” Aren replied, “Or more I remember a tattered heap of fabric on a tavern floor.” Aren paused for a moment and looked at Sani, “An I’ll tell you the same thing I told you then. Take your time, don’t let your frustration get the best o you.”

“Telling me that didn’t help then and it won’t help now,” Sani said, frustration clearly winning. “The only reason I got anything out of that fabric is because you took it from me and you made me those clothes.”

“So I guess this time isn’t any different than is it?” Aren said as he snipped away. Vella watched as Aren handled the scissors with surprising grace and deftness. Despite his meaty hands, he was precise and smooth as though he’d done this countless times. “Always was a good skill to have, take somebody else’s scraps and make yer own clothes, a lot cheaper than buyin’ them.” Vella was barely halfway done when Aren finished Sani’s clothes and handed them off to her. “See, not so bad eh?”

Sani looked at Aren while still clearly flustered, “Thank you.” She grabbed her clothes and headed off to the other side of the moss dragon to change.

Vella smiled watching the two of them, the way they were acting now made her happy, it was like having a family around her. Two arguing older siblings and a crazy uncle, but family nonetheless. “You’re pretty good at this,” she said to Aren.

Aren looked up, slightly embarrassed, “Like I said, learned it 'cause I had to, didn’t have the money for more than rags, so had to use 'em the best I could.” He scratched his head “I musta worked every odd job in the low part o Presidia at some point to keep me an’ Sani going. Did a lot o things before joinin’ the knights.” Aren kept snipping, lost in his thoughts as Vella finished up.

As the others finished making their clothes, Kraevos settled on the form of a strapping young man in his twenties with a large braided beard. “Yes, this will do,” he said looking into a small mirror he’d pulled out of his bag. His voice had gone to a higher register, a part of the transformation that still threw Vella off. As the last snip of the scissors happened the fabric began to glow silvery and blue, forming into a robe somewhat similar to the one Kraevos normally wore. As Kraevos watched the last two finish he spoke, “It would be best to get changed now so that we can head inside, there is a storm on the horizon.” He pointed out past the hills to a swirl of clouds forming in an ominous manner.

Vella walked off toward the forest, finding a large rock that she could change behind. She took her newly formed clothes and looked them over. She was amazed at the quality and the shimmer of the fabric. Velal still couldn’t help but be amazed at all the things that magic could do as each day seemed to show her something new and interesting. “I guess it’ll be nice to get out of my dusty old farm clothes,” she mused to herself. She knelt down to untie her boots and looked to the forest, her eyes catching on movement. She tensed, looking for an animal and instead catching eyes that she had seen before in Lazzure. She jumped back and sprinted to the others and began to yell, “Trouble!”

From behind her Vella could hear the pounding of feet on the ground and a deep, guttural snarl as Moren erupted from the forest, charging after her. As Vella ran past the rock she could see Kraevos and Aren standing and looking in her direction. Aren was half-dressed, having managed to take off his shirt in the time Vella had left. A green glow surrounded Moren’s body and he launched forward, much farther than normal humans could, and landed in front of Vella. He let a wild swing loose in her direction, nearly crashing into her shoulder as Vella managed to slide under her attacker and keep moving to her allies. As Vella sped past she saw the green aura covering Moren’s body except for the searing red markings on his back. “He must be bound like the other one,” Vella yelled out.

Aren charged past Vella, looking to occupy Moren as his allies gathered. He swung a heavy right hook at Moren’s head, unfortunately he ducked and delivered a swift kick to Aren’s ribs that doubled him over instantly. As Aren crumbled, Moren grumbled out, “I’m sorry” before charging after Vella once more. Kraevops let loose a bolt of lightning that struck Moren dead on, but the energy passed around him, crackling into the ground as Moren moved on. “You’re going to have to hit me with more than that old man!” he yelled as he leaped at Kraevos, knocking the mage to the ground. Moren pounced on Kraevos and raised his fists to strike. As he came down his fist was met with a crack of blue energy, a shield Kraevos conjured from his palms to protect himself. With each strike from Moren, the barrier pushed lower and lower onto Kraevos, beginning to fracture. With a last booming crack, the magical barrier shattered and Moren aimed to strike again.

Before his fist could land a mass of vines twined together and launched from the ground, flinging him off the mage and to the side. Moren rolled with the strike, growling as he went. Sani charged from the other side of the moss dragon, readying more vines as she went. “Aren, hammer throw!” she yelled out. Aren, who had regained his breath, ran beside her, grabbing the vines that she had planted. Aren’s runes activated and his body turned steel gray as the vines snapped forward, flinging him in Moren’s direction at a considerable speed. With a crash and a deafening thud, Aren made an impact with Moren. Dust and dirt filled the air, obscuring Vella’s vision of the battle as Sani grabbed Kraevos and helped him up. As the dust cleared through their hearts sank as they saw Moren still standing, with Aren incapacitated on the ground. Moren’s aura had grown at least twice in size he stood, gathering himself for his next attack.

Not willing to let that attack happen, Vella lunged forward, drawing her sword and letting her worry for her friend and her anger for her attacker overtake her. Her blade began to glow red as she slashed at Moren, slicing clean through the green aura and cleaving a red line across his chest. Moren let out a yell as hisaura retracted to him, covering the wound. He swung wildly at Vella, who managed to absorb the impact with her buckler before being sent skidding back.

“That’s it, more of that, kill me!” Moren yelled out.

Kraevos ran up behind Vella, readying a spell as he went. He waved his arms together and a gale-force wind hit Moren, sending him far back. “We have to break the binding on him, Vella. It’s the only way. Even if we kill him Emeria will just send him to us like she did that cursed woman and he's far stronger than her.”

“But Kraevos, he’s alive, how do we know that breaking the binding won’t kill him?” Vella asked, her eyes locked on her opponent.

Moren gained his bearings again and charged once more, only to be hit by another blast of wind from Kraevos. “I don’t know Miss Vella, but we really don’t have the luxury of worrying about that do we? If you ask me I think he’ll take his freedom from Emeria regardless of the outcome.: Kraevos raised his hands high over his head and began to spin them around, creating a small whirlwind and Moren. “I cannot do this Vella, you have to, free him.” Vella looked over to Sani who was propping Aren up, trying to get him conscious again. She looked back to Moren who was pushing against the wind to no avail. His green aura had shrunk directly around his body, each step he took sent a bolt of red lighting up as tears streamed down his face. Kraevos brought his hands down and the winds slammed Moren into the ground. Sani rushed up beside and formed massive roots that twisted around Moren's arms and legs, holding him in place.

Vella approached cautiously, looking at the desperate man in his earthen bindings and she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He looked up at her, surging with unimaginable pain coursing through his body, writhing in agony. With significant effort, he managed to utter, “Thank you,” to Vell as she knelt down next to him.

Vella took in a deep breath. This man didn’t deserve what had happened to him, he didn’t deserve to die either. She focused on how the spell had felt the first time. It was a surge of energy, but she hadn’t felt in control. This time she focused every part of her she could, on just the sensation of the magic energy coursing around her, blocking out the wind, and the sounds, until all she could hear was her own heartbeat. She felt the pulse of the magic at her fingertips, connecting them to Moren until she could feel his heartbeat, erratic and panicked in agony that only she could help stop. She let one slow breath leave her body as she uttered the word, “Eximos,” feeling every trickle of magic flowing between her and Moren. A blinding red flare unleashed itself from her palms and the runes on Moren’s body blazed for an instant and began to vanish.

Moren went limp on the ground as Sani’s roots began to retract. Vella leaned in, trying to see if he was alive. She put her hands to his chest, trying to feel a heartbeat, overwhelmed with the energy of the moment she couldn’t make out a thing. “I’m sorry, I know you didn't deserve this, no one does.”

As tears began to fall from Vella’s face, a hand reached up and touched her face. “Please do not cry, you have saved me from a fate far worse than death,” Moren said weakly. “I would have welcomed death compared to what I have been, you have given me back my life.”

Moren’s words were cut off as Kraevos knelt by his side, his form shimmering and returning to normal. “Today isn’t your day to die my friend, the forest needs its Huntsmaster back!” Kraevos put his hand over Moren’s open wound and said “Configos!” A white glow washed over the wound and it slowly sealed back up. “This may not be perfect, but it will keep you from bleeding out,” Kraevos said, as he propped Moren up. “Otherwise I will need to rely on that remarkable will of yours to keep you from dying.” Vella looked at the man who only moments before had been attacking her and wasn’t quite sure what to think.

“Yes,” Moren said with a groan, “That is more than the help I deserve at this point. I meant what I said,” he said, reaching out to Vella and grabbing her hand, “I owe you my life and that is not a debt that is easily paid.” He leaned forward and stood up, a pained motion given what had just occurred. He looked to Kraevos, “It is good to see you Kraevos. I have to say I only recognized you because of your smell, I’ve never been much for remembering faces, though I suppose that doesn't matter with you.” Moren stretched, putting his hands on his shoulders and chest, feeling for the runes that had imprisoned him for quite some time. “It is amazing to be outside of the abomination’s influence. I haven’t been free in quite some time.”

Sani walked over with Aren limping beside her, “Somebody care to tell us what’s going on? Cause a minute ago this guy was trying to kill us and what, now he’s gonna talk us to death?”

“None of my actions were of my choice mage,” Moren replied. I was bound, my body at least to Emeria. I could think for myself, but her will was imposed on me. Even despite my will, I haven’t been able to do much other than follow her directions for more than a year. I’d been trying with all my might to hold back and limit my damage, but you four caused enough trouble that Emeria put all her focus and magic into me.”

“Hold up,” Aren said groggily, “You mean to tell me that you were pullin’ yer punches?”

“Of course,’ Moren replied, “You might be strong, but if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead by now.”

Aren hung his head in shame, “An’ here I was thinkin’ I’d bested a Moren on my weddin’ day.”

Sani gave Aren a playful pat on the head, “In your dreams big guy.”

“Unfortunately we don’t really have time to be jovial and I can’t even revel in being free. A lot has happened since Emeria sent me to hunt you down that I’m not sure you’re aware of. Some of it even I don’t fully understand, but either way, I have a lot of grim news to give you.”