Broken Mage (3 page)

Thad had awoken with an
idea. He had spent countless hours examining things with his
magesight to check their compatibility with magic or their internal
integrity. He figured that he should also be able to search for
certain items the same way he had for his magical items back in the
Ablaian prison.
With the discovery of this
new ability to coax his magic to flow into the things he wanted,
instead of forcing it to his will, he was excited to learn if this
new application would work for a lot more projects that he had in
mind.

Thad almost closed his eyes to begin
the search then nearly slapped himself for his own stupidity. It
was dangerous enough in the caves with his light, leaving himself
exposed and vulnerable while searching was moronic. Mentally
kicking himself, Thad moved back into his little cubbyhole and
replaced the metal door. Once safely tucked away he closed his eyes
and began his search.

The area directly surrounding him
shined like a beacon to his magesight. It wasn’t just the gems. He
could see the very flow of the elemental lines running through the
earth. It was extremely strong and almost seemed to be pulsing
around him. He wondered to himself whether the gems had created the
excess flow of magical energy or if it was the other way
around.

At first he tried to move the magical
searching in a three hundred and sixty degree pattern but soon that
became too great of a strain. He then switched to searching smaller
areas little by little until he found what he was looking for.
About two hundred feet down the path he had taken originally to get
into the cavern there was a large deposit of copper. Not the best
metal for enchanting. It was too soft and he knew from experience
that it would bleed off too much magical power, but it was better
than nothing.

Emerging from his hidden nook, Thad
moved quickly towards where he had sensed the supply of metal. It
didn’t take long to make his way to the spot where he was sure the
metal was located. He could think of no delicate way to get to the
ore so he began blasting at the wall with magic. He started to get
worried when a few small pebbles from the ceiling rained down on
his head but shrugged it off when nothing else happened.

After the first few blasts, Thad could
see the copper peeking through the rock. If his magic was up to
full strength, he could have simply touched the metal and had it
condense into his hand in pure form. But with depleted strength his
only option was to continue to cut out chunks of rock and carry it
back to his new home until he regained his strength.

Thad’s pack was bulging with the copper
ore when he finished. It had been a rich vein with plenty more left
for future needs. He wasn’t sure how much he would need but he had
pushed himself to his limit and didn’t want stress his power
anymore. He didn’t think passing out in the middle of a dark tunnel
where any of the denizens of the dark could find him was the best
choice in ways to die.

Back in the cavern Thad quickly
unloaded his burden and crawled back into his alcove. With his mind
fuzzy he put up his metal door and quickly crumpled onto the floor.
While he had learned an easier way to control his magic, it also
allowed him to push much farther then before without feeling the
effects as severely. The downside was that when he had pushed
himself farther than his body could take, and it was beginning to
shut down. He had tried to learn where his limits were but he
started to understand that it depended a lot on the flow of the
elements around him. Some elemental magic tired him faster than
others. If he was going to continue to dig ore out of the rock he
was going to have to find a better way.

The next morning Thad refined the ore
and found it was much easier to work within the cavern itself. The
elemental earth magic jumped to his call as he worked the metal
from its rock prison. When he was finished Thad had three balls of
pure copper the size of apples. One ball should be the right size
to cover one of the smaller entrances but it would take two or
three to cover some of the larger ones.

The frog meat still sat in the corner
on the cool ground. He knew if he waited too much longer it would
spoil. Conjuring up a magical fire he quickly began cooking the
meat, stuffing cooked pieces in his mouth hungrily. It didn’t take
long, and once finished he placed the meat in his cubbyhole and
replaced the metal door hoping it would keep the smell from any
nearby predators.

After filling his canteen up with water
from the small pool, Thad made his way back down the passage to
where the copper ore was located. Once there he didn’t start
blasting away the rocks as he had before. Thad carefully examined
the rock thinking of a different way he could get to the metal
using the forces of earth instead of raw magical power.

Thinking back to his fight in the
capital, Thad closed his eyes and tried to liquefy the stone.
Reaching his hand in he was able to grab hold of the ore but it had
turned to a semisolid state along with the surrounding rock.
Focusing harder, he examined the stone wall. Down at its very core
the rock was just tiny bits that had fused together. Stepping back,
he placed his staff against the wall. At first nothing happened but
then the wall started to into hard gray sand that flowed faster and
faster to the ground.

Once he had the technique figured out
it didn’t take long for Thad to begin to fill his sack with fist
size chunks of copper. The amount of sand at his feet was growing
deeper by the moment, as he had to remove more and more rock to get
at the prized metal. Absorbed in his work, Thad didn’t realize his
mistake until parts of the rock wall began to crumble and fall down
on him.

Reacting fast, he quickly activated his
shield up as he grabbed his pack from the ground. Running to keep
ahead of the rapidly collapsing tunnel, he mentally kicked himself
for making yet another mistake. The noise of the collapse followed
him back to the cavern but he was hugely relieved to see it slow
down and then stop before reaching the entrance.

Berating his own stupidity, Thad
checked the damage once the dust cleared. The small tunnel had been
completely sealed off with hardly a crack for an insect to pass
through. The only upside to the whole situation was that he had one
less entrance to seal.

Thad looked over his supply of copper.
It should be more than enough to close off the passageways if
spread thin but it would do very little to stop most of the
creatures that roamed the underground networks. He could always
magically strengthen the metal but that would increase the
difficulty of entering and leaving the cavern. There were plenty of
gems to use but what enchantments would work the best? A shield
would work but it would have to be constantly activated and that
would take massive amounts of magical energy.

Not wanting to waste precious energy
while thinking, Thad returned to his small cubbyhole, and sealed
himself in. While his brain churned through possible solutions, he
scratched out a quick letter to the princess and placed it in the
sending box so that as soon as it was charged it would reach her.
He had food and water for a few days so it was a perfect time to
let her know of his current condition.

There were hundreds of ways to make the
doors stronger or make them easier to access but he wanted the one
that would work the best. He had plenty of gems to use but he
didn’t want to make it overly complex. Each new gem that had to be
linked would add hours to the planning and work process. After
giving it a lot of thought, Thad finally decided the best choice
would be to have five linked enchantments. The first would be a
shield that would activate when any movement within a certain range
happened. He wasn’t sure if it was possible to have the trigger of
an enchantment be movement but it was worth a try. The next two
enchantments in the chain could be activated by his staff to bypass
the first. The last two would simply be assigned to make the metal
barrier open then close after his passing.

This would allow him to use a minimal
amount of effort to place and use the doors. He would still have to
link quite a few enchantments for the opening and closing of the
barriers but it was much better than having an overly complex setup
for was only to be a temporary sanctuary.

Thad decided the largest of the tunnels
should be closed off first and went straight to work. He started by
setting up a thin metal frame around the tunnel mouth to hold the
gems and be the main core of the enchantments. The opening and
closing enchantment for the door was just a variation of one of the
swords he carried. Those being known to him were the first
placed.

Once all the tunnels had
their frames in place and sealed, along with more than enough gems
linked for his remaining enchantments, he breathed a sigh of
relief. They wouldn’t hold against a determined foe just yet but it
was a start. Now all he had to do was perfect the new enchantments
and place them.
He was anxious to get this
first stage finished so that he could mentally and physically allow
himself to relax in protected shelter.

Using the left-over copper, Thad made a
smaller version of the shield he had used back in the Farlan palace
to protect the princess and queen. This difference now was the
activation key was movement instead of a word. It worked but the
second set of enchantment that was meant to recognize him failed to
activate correctly. It took him three more tries before he found
the problem and was able to bypass it.

The enchantment did recognize him but
it had also picked up the movement of his clothing and equipment.
After figuring that out, Thad simply had to adjust the enchantment
to allow anything through as long as he was present within a
certain distance of the item. It meant that if he was being chased,
anything too close would still be able to follow him through. In
his mind that was still better than being trapped on the outside of
the barrier with who knew how many other things coming after
him.

Even with the enchantments figured out,
it still took a fair amount of time to get everything ready and a
staggering amount of magic for the larger doors. Thad had no way to
measure the time it took to finish, but when everything was finally
done, he was confident that nothing would be able to reach him
while he was in his sanctuary.

With his temporary home secure, he
still left with a multitude of problems. The water would last for
far longer than needed but he was running low on food and if he
wanted to make any items to help himself, he would need more metal;
preferably iron, gold, or silver. If that wasn’t possible, he would
even take copper.

The main problem with finding more
metal, was the vast amounts of magic it required to search for it.
He was in a room filled with a large amount of gems as well as more
earth elemental magic than he had ever felt before. There had to be
a way to use that to his advantage. He knew that it would allow him
to use any magic rooted in the earth elemental much easier and to a
much better effect, but that wasn’t enough. He needed a way to
harness it more effectively. His body could only handle so much
magical influence before it would begin to shut down.

Thad’s first thought of his staff. It
had been created to handle massive amounts of magic where his body
could not. It was like a giant cistern that collected magic and
allowed him to direct its flow where he wanted it. The only trouble
is that what he wanted was more than simply directing the flow. He
had never tried giving his staff a set of parameters to work from
but he didn’t see the harm in trying. The worst that could happen
was failure right?

Clearing off a comfortable space, Thad
sat his staff across his legs and began to focus. At first he tried
giving his staff a set of parameters to find something in his
nearby pack. When nothing happened, he got slightly annoyed and
tried to simplify the set of instructions. Still nothing
happened.

Thad sat with his staff for hours,
trying to figure out any way to get his idea to work. From what he
read of the magic book it should be more than possible. Back in the
Ablaian prison he was able to call the staff to his hand just by
thinking of it.

As Thad thought of his time in the
Ablaian prison an idea struck him. It was so simple he wasn’t sure
why he didn’t think of it first. Maybe he was making this harder
than it had to be. Closing his eyes Thad tried to send a mental
image of the item he wanted. He nearly jumped for joy when the
staff sent out a small pulse of magic and then an image of his bag
not far away popped into his mind. It was a great accomplishment
but also slightly disquieting. It meant that his staff had more
self-awareness than he would have thought possible. The magic book
had said magical items could become semi-sentient but he hadn’t
given that a second thought, until now.

Thad communicated with his staff
through mental images and thoughts until he grew tired. It was nice
to be able to lie down and stretch out for once. It would be hard
to leave this place after he had everything he needed to move on
but he couldn’t live underground forever. At some point soon, he
would have to find his way out of these cursed tunnels and back
into the world above.

When he woke, Thad grabbed his staff
and began his search for materials. Even with the help of his staff
it took a long time to find anything close enough to a tunnel to be
of use. When he finally found a large supply of iron, it was more
than an hour’s walk from his cavern. With all the twists and turns,
he was more than a little afraid he would be unable to find his way
back. More than once he had to force his fears aside to continue on
toward his goal.