Broken Mage (13 page)

While he walked Thad alternately closed
one eye then the other trying to note the difference and
similarities between nightsight and normal vision. Thad believed he
was beginning to understand the meaning of some of the more subtle
changes in heat around him. In many ways nightsight was much more
detailed than his normal vision.

After making a sharp turn Thad noticed
five moving humanoid figures in the distance. They were about the
same size as Crusher but they were much thinner and their limbs
were much longer. Taking a chance Thad switched his eye back into
normal light spectrum and crept closer. When he was as close as he
dared to approach Thad lit up the area with a ball of light that
hung down the chamber above where the creatures had
been.

As soon as the area lit up the
creatures began looking around for its source. Thad didn’t know how
they could tell there had been a change. When his eye was in its
nightsight state he could only tell heat differences. The light put
off no heat so there was no change in the surrounding area. Even
without there being a change in heat all the creatures he had met
in the subterranean could tell when he lit up the room and it
seemed to cause most of them a fair amount of pain.

Besides their large eyes that looked
way too big for their thin faces and ash gray skin the creatures
could have passed as human children. Three of the creatures stood
upright looking around while the other two hunched down on all
fours sniffing the ground. They wore clothing that looked like it
had been made with a fair amount of skill. Thad was so focused on
the creatures he didn’t even notice that they had started moving in
his direction slowly.

Thad was shaken from his trance when
Avalanche began snarling next to him. Noticing his predicament Thad
started to slowly back away from his hiding spot and back down the
way he had come. After a few moments it became clear that there was
no way that he was going to be able to move far enough away before
they noticed him.

Knowing that it was only a matter of
time Thad reached into one of his packs side pockets and pulled out
one of his magical slugs. He hadn’t had a real chance to try them
yet and the narrow passage seemed the perfect place for a test run.
Not wanting to leave anything to the last minute Thad also freed
his sword from its scabbard.

As the creatures rounded the corner
Avalanche began to growl more intensely getting the creatures to
look directly in their direction. Noticing Thad the creatures
opened their maws impossibly wide and let out an ear shattering
screech. Before advancing each creature pulled weapons from hidden
spots in their clothing.

Thad was surprised at the appearance of
weapons especially since they seemed to be made of metal instead of
simple stone like the goblins used. They weren’t simple weapons
either but looked as if they had been forged by an expert
blacksmith. Given their clothing and weapons it was obvious they
were from a sentient race. That left Thad with the slim hope that
they were friendly. His hopes were soon dashed when a nasty barbed
arrow whistled by striking the top portion of his shield and
bounced off harmlessly.

With their intentions clear Thad let
loose his first slug releasing its enchantment the second it was
released from his hand. It shot forward but missed the creature by
a hairs breath, not wasting any time Thad let loose his second slug
this time catching one of the beasts in the chest blasting a large
hole out its back and catching the creature behind it in the leg
breaking it and sending the thing to the ground with a loud
scream.

The three remaining creatures picked up
their speed and raced toward him. Avalanche not content with
waiting safely behind Thad, jumped at the nearest creature taking
it full in the chest and bearing it to the ground. She made quick
work of the poor thing ripping its throat out with her sharp rock
teeth. As soon as the creature quit its struggling Avalanche jumped
on the next one ripping at it fiercely.

Thad, shaking away his astonishment of
the fierceness of Avalanche looked around for the last creature. He
found it running back the way it came dragging the one he had
injured with his slug behind him. Thad tried to hit it with one of
his slugs but it flew wide striking the far wall
harmlessly.

Thad waited for a few moments until he
was sure that the creatures weren’t going to return before he put
away the slug he held clutched in his hand. After taking a few deep
breathes to calm his nerves Thad recalled his slugs using his ring.
It worked perfectly bringing the slugs back minus the blood and
gore.

With his slugs back in their pouch Thad
began to search the bodies of the dead creatures. Up close they
looked even more human though their large eyes were slightly off
putting. Inside their pouches Thad found an assortment of items
including a weird gold coin with odd writing on it. Thad took the
gold coin as well as one of the creature’s swords. It was a bit
smaller than he was comfortable with but it was better than to
continuing using the ancient sword strapped to his
waist.

After making sure the creatures had
nothing else of use Thad headed back to the cavern he shared with
Crusher. It couldn’t have been called a run but Thad moved with a
purpose back toward the cavern. If the creatures were as
intelligent as Thad believed there was a good chance on them
returning and in greater numbers. Putting up defensive walls was no
longer something he might consider doing, now it was a
necessity.

When he got back to the cavern Thad
found Crusher dumping a bag of the white metal on a large pile he
had already accumulated in one of the corners of the room. Thad
went up to him and using his illusions explained what had happened.
Crusher pointed the weapon he had gotten from the creature with a
large frown on his face. When Thad nodded the Dwarf rubbed his hand
over his bald scalp shaking his head.

Thad could tell the dwarf was worried
but tried to allay his fears by explaining his plan to block off
all the entrances to the cavern using the ultra-light metal.
Crusher shook his head and pointed at the white metal then flexed
his arm. Thad understood the dwarf’s point the white metal was much
stronger than anything he had ever seen, not even forged steel
could hold up but changing it took a massive amount of energy. Thad
tried to explain the size of a gem he would have to have to make
its possible just getting the dwarf to shrug.

As if not paying attention to anything
he was saying Crusher drew a picture of an anvil in the ground then
pointed at the pile of white metal stacked carelessly in the corner
of the cavern. Thad pointed at the metal, then the picture, then
himself to make sure he understood what the dwarf was asking.
Crusher shook his hand giving Thad a hearty pat on the back nearly
sending him crashing to the floor with his strength.

Thad not wanting to argue started on
the task. Crusher had lived in the tunnels for all his life for all
he knew so he should be more than aware of what they should be
doing. While he worked Crusher grabbed his bag and collected
Avalanche to join him then headed off down one of the larger
tunnels leading from the cavern.

The work was hard as the metal resisted
with every step. He was fresh today having only used a small
portion of his own energy during the battle earlier. He had tried
to form the metal into a massive block and cut away the excess but
the metal was much stronger than he had anticipated. As hard as the
metal was to mold it was even harder to cut so he had been forced
to struggle and get it to bend to his will.

By the time Crusher returned he had the
basic shape of the anvil finished with only minor details to work
out. Placing his bag down next to Thad, Crusher inspected his work.
He made a few marks on the white steel where it needed to be
altered. Thad complied and began working on the changes and within
the hour, the anvil was finished.

Tired and drained Thad slumped down to
the ground sweat pouring from his body as if he had chopped a stack
of wood in the heat of the summer. Crusher handed him a full water
skin which he drained greedily. The water was much fresher than
from his canteen and didn’t have the slight metallic aftertaste he
had gotten used to. He wished he had the skill to make one but
unlike metal animal skin refused to bend to his will.

Crusher sat the bag in his lap then
went over to the hole in the wall and began placing some odd
looking red rocks inside the bottom. As soon as he was finished
with his task Crusher went to his pack and pulled out a yellow
powder and sprinkled it liberally over the stones Thad using a
flint stone and dagger ignited the powder with a bright flash. For
a long time Crusher minded the fire until it was roaring
illuminating over half the cavern.

The bag Crusher had given him was
filled with gems of all sizes more than a few of them the size of
his fist and of good quality. They would work perfect for the
magical doors but even with this large of a supply he knew he would
have to link more than one together or they would be severely
limited on how many times they could leave their
sanctuary.

Thad wasn’t in any shape to begin
working again yet, so he busied himself with watching Crusher.
Crusher first sat a large bowl made of dark stone into the fire and
filled to the brim with the ultra-light metal. Once that was done
he sat down with the hammer head Thad had made and the block of
dark wood.

Thad watched as Crusher pulled a hidden
dagger from under his tunic and began to carve the wood. The wood
wasn’t that thick and he had it whittled down into a broad handle
that he fit into the head of the hammer. Pulling two white nails
from his pack Crusher tapped them into the wood using the head of
his axe. Once the nails were well started he slammed the hammer a
few times into the ground forcing the nails deep into the
wood.

Crusher checked the metal over and over
waiting patiently for it to melt. Thad had seen other blacksmiths
doing the same though their forges were usually much bigger. While
he waited Crusher pulled out his smaller hammer and five chisels
ranging from the size of one of Thad’s fingers to the size of his
hand. Pulling blocks of the same black rock that the bowl was made
of Crusher began to chisel out the inside. Thad couldn’t see what
he was making but the rhythmic sound of the chisel against the
stone was lolling and he soon found his eyes too heavy to keep
open.

Thad woke with a start realizing that
he wasn’t behind the protection of his magical walls. He was happy
to see that Crusher still worked nearby. The rock bowl still sat in
the makeshift forge and Crusher was still chiseling away at one of
the stone blocks. Three blocks had already been pushed against the
wall apparently ready with whatever Crusher had planned for
them.

Feeling much better Thad walked over
and picked up one of the chunks of the white metal ore and sat back
down next to the bag of gems. Before he could use the metal he had
to push all the impurities out of the metal. It was always the
hardest part of working with raw metal and with the strength of the
white metal it was even more difficult.

Once the metal was in pure form Thad
pulled the largest two gems from the pack. The secret to making the
walls was not only the enchantment but designating where the
crystals would be located. If the wall went up leaving the crystals
exposed then one lucky blow could bring down the whole wall.
Placing the enchantment was much easier than Thad would have
thought considering the amount of trouble the metal had given him
so far.

The way enchanting worked and the way
his magicsmithing worked were completely separate. The enchantment
directed the metal with magic encouraging it to spread itself
within set parameters. The only thing that would stop the metal
from expanding to the sizes indicated was if it met overwhelming
resistance such as the tunnel walls. This ensured the walls were
sealed tight and that it was nearly impossible to simply knock them
down. Whenever he removed one of his magical walls there was
usually a thin line in the rock wall nearly a foot deep.

Thad had tried to reproduce the same
effect with his magic alone but he had found it impossible. It
wasn’t that it couldn’t be done, but that he couldn’t keep the
exact measurements in his mind all at once. With an enchantment it
was easy since it was all preplanned and charted out within the
metal itself. When he tried to mold it the metal it resisted him
every step of the way but it took well to the enchanting process,
not as good as the ultra-light metal, but still much better than he
expected.

Though it didn’t seem like it was
needed Thad still linked four plum size gems to the metal so that
they wouldn’t have to worry about them running out of energy. Thad
was only able to finish two of the magical walls before his energy
was exhausted. Looking up from his own work Thad found Crusher
using thick gloves to lift the rock bowl from the forge and pouring
its contents into the molds arranged neatly on the
ground.

Once all the molds were filled Crusher
took a seat next to Thad and pulled out two haunches of cooked meat
and handed him one of them. While they ate Thad pointed at the
molds and made a questioning gesture with his hand. Crusher gave
him his natural broad smile then pointed at the stump where his
foot used to be.