Broken Mage (4 page)

When he reached the point the staff had
indicated, he found a massive amount of metal just waiting. He
didn’t even have to cut into the wall much to extract his prize,
since there were large chunks of iron ore jutting from the rock
face. Within minutes he had his pack laden with ore and was on his
way back toward his cavern. He didn’t know why he was so fearful of
getting lost. With his staff to help guide him, he could have been
days away and still found his way back. As he thought of that he
wondered if his staff could locate an exit back to the surface. As
soon as the thought hit him, he wanted to try it immediately but he
knew that searching took a lot of concentration and doing it while
exposed would be stupid.

As soon as he was back in the cavern
and had double checked all the doors to make sure they were sealed
shut, Thad took a comfortable seat on the ground and began his
search. He wasn’t sure how long he had sat during his search but
when he finally opened his eyes, his stomach was grumbling loudly.
He hadn’t been able to find anything but he still had hope there
had to be more than one way into the underground network of tunnels
and caverns. It just didn’t make sense for there not to
be.

After a quick meal, Thad began working
on different rings and other items that might come in handy in his
trek through the tunnels. The biggest problem he had was a lack of
distance weapons. He didn’t have a bow or the skill to use one. He
needed something that would allow him to take out his enemies from
a distance without the use of his magic. All too often his magic
caused unexpected consequences within the confined
spaces.

Growing up, he enjoyed the stories
where the young hero chased away the beast with his sling. Thad’s
first few attempts at making a magic long range weapon failed
miserably, mainly due to the fact that the exposed crystal sooner
or later would connect with a hard surface and explode. After many
tries he found a solution to his problem. If he enfolded the
crystal completely in an inch layer of metal it allowed the slug to
fly without fear of breaking the core. There was still a chance of
damaging the body of the enchantment so he added another small
layer of strengthened metal over the first.

The enchantment was fairly simple, when
triggered it just told the slug to fly straight with incredible
speed in the direction of its current momentum. It was strong
enough that when shot at a wall, it would imbed itself over an inch
deep in the hard surface. The only problem Thad could see was
finding all the slugs after they were used. While a good idea here
in the confines of the caves, in an open space they would travel
extreme distances before stopping. To rectify these problems, he
put a limit on the distance the slug could travel before the force
on the slug changed forcing it to the ground. Then he linked the
slugs to a ring that would bring them back to his hand. The ring
wasn’t perfect and could only be used ten times before it was
exhausted, but it was better than having to make new slugs every
time he fired one off.

He made three pouches of ten slugs,
each one with a ring. He doubted he would need more than that, but
if so he still had his magic as well as his sword for up close and
personal work.

Feeling warm from his accomplishments
so far, now all he needed was to make the normal items. A few
shield rings, paralyzing rings, and a few more lightning devices so
he could save his energy while traveling. Thad knew it would take a
lot of work to make enough rings to allow him to travel for long
periods of time without running out when the best rings only lasted
six hours and took three days to recharge.

Grateful that boredom was not a
problem. Thad had other ideas as well he wanted to try. First was
the possibility of an enchantment that would allow him to stay
clean. No one else was here to smell him, but the scent coming from
his own body made it hard to sleep. He had tried to wash off in the
small pool, and while it took off the worst of the grime and smell,
without any soap it was a temporary fix at best.

CHAPTER III

Thad lounged back in his stone chair
covered in giant lizard skins talking to himself. He had long since
lost track of how long he had been holed up in the cavern. It had
proved a far better living space than he could have imagined when
he discovered a large group of lizards that lived down one of the
tunnels. They were easy to kill and offered littletor no physical
threat. They were slightly larger than a human on all fours and
were slow spending most of their time eating the small bugs that
crawled all over the underground tunnels.

After watching the creatures for a span
of days Thad learned they were the main source of food for the
goblins that must have their main lair nearby. He was careful when
he went out to make sure he never encountered any of the mean
little creatures.

The only real enemy he had was
loneliness. Even the princess’s letters had stopped some time ago.
He didn’t know what was going on in the palace and had no way to
learn. It worried him more than a little but he had his own
problems to deal with.

Thad spent most of his time using his
staff to look for an exit, only taking breaks when he had more
urgent needs. He had learned his staff had thoughts of its own
though they were chaotic and seldom made sense to him.

“I wonder if the goblins know a way
out.” Thad said to the air.

A picture of an underground river
flashed through his mind. “Yes, yes you keep bringing up that river
but there is no telling where it leads.”

Suddenly his mind was flooded with
images of lakes, ponds and oceans. “That’s true it has to lead
somewhere. But I’m afraid to go any deeper.”

In response the staff showed him as an
old man lounging back in his chair. “I’m not going to stay in this
room until I die. I swear you just like to get my hackles up you
dried up piece of driftwood.” Thad yelled at the staff in his
hands.

Pictures from his life pounded into his
mind. Each picture showing a less than brilliant decisions on his
part, usually coupled with the women who surrounded his life.
“Enough! I know I don’t always make the best decision.”

Setting his staff down Thad walked over
to the pool of water in the corner of the room. His reflection from
the still water was nearly unrecognizable. His clothes were dirty
and tattered, and a thin film of dirt covered his exposed skin. His
light blond hair looked more dusty gray hanging past his shoulders
in a gnarled mess. He had tried to make a magical cleaning device
but it had worked a little too well nearly skinning him alive. His
skin had been bright pink and very touchy for a few days after
that.

More than once he had thought of
swimming in the small pool but the idea of contaminating his only
supply of water for a few relaxing moments didn’t seem worth it.
Instead he had settled with using a stone bowl every few days to
wash himself off. It didn’t do a lot of good only using his hands
but it did remove the largest portions of dirt from his skin and
hair.

Thad knew he had to leave his sanctuary
soon. He had already stayed far longer than he had originally
planned. At first it was easy to find a reason to stay a day or two
extra after he had finished all the preparations for his journey. I
might find a closer exit. I need to test out another
idea.

He had enough shield and light rings to
last him days without ever having to go unprotected. Three large
pieces of iron ore enchanted to make walls so that he could set up
a safe room no matter where he decided to stop. He had even taken
the time to remake his rune necklace that had been lost in the
prison.

All that was left was to walk out one
of the tunnel doors and continue on. His staff was right. The river
did offer the best chance for an exit. Water had to flow somewhere.
Looking over at his staff Thad shuddered. He hoped it had been his
staff’s idea otherwise he was losing his mind.

Not wanting to give it too much more
thought Thad began packing up his belongings. The magical items
took up little room and were mostly kept to the side pockets of his
travel sack. The main compartment was filled with dried meat and
what little water he could carry with him. The walk to the
underground river should take about two days in his mind. He should
have enough water to hold him but he was fearful about food later
on. He currently had enough stocked to last a fortnight or more if
he rationed it but after that he would have to find a fresh
supply.

A sudden idea hit him. He still needed
some type of magic to replace his foot unless he wanted to support
himself with his magic the whole time he traveled. Using his magic
to keep himself up had become second nature to the point he hardly
had to think of it anymore. His staff did most the work but there
was still a steady draw on his power. If he could use a magical
enchantment to replace the use of his personal magic then he could
travel much longer without having to rest, and in the eventuality
of an attack would have a longer reserve of magic to draw
on.

A thrill of excitement ran through him
at the prospect of the new project. His staff continued to send
pictures of him as an old man in the cavern but Thad dismissed
them. This was his last project before he left.

Thad’s first thought was to make it
much the same way he had made the illusionary horse back in the
duchess’s castle. Not real, yet with enough substance to serve as a
replacement leg. A normal illusion took very little magic to create
and even less to hold in place. All it really needed to do was bend
the light to make people see what he wished. Adding substance to
the illusion used five times the magical reserve but if he could
have something that looked and functioned like a real foot it would
be worth the added strain.

He had made illusion enchantments
before but he had never had one that was attached to a specific
location. In this case his leg. His first attempt was an utter
failure. It was easy to make the illusion look like a booted foot,
but another altogether to make it move with him. The problem was
the illusion’s movement had to be pre decided. That was easy if he
made calculated strides but the second he made a turn or a short
step he found himself falling painfully to the floor.

He tried different ways to make it work
but in the end he had to give up on using an illusion alone. The
only other idea he had was to use an adaptation of the spell he was
already using to keep himself up. It was simple, like the
enchantment he had used on the battle vestments of the Farlan
soldiers; it sensed movement and reacted with a predetermined
amount of force. The first time he had used the spell he had winged
it but during his time wandering the dark tunnels he had perfected
the technique.

It wasn’t hard to enchant a thin sheet
of metal to use the same spell. The hard part was attaching the
metal to his stub so it worked correctly. The only way he could
make sure it stayed in place was to force the metal to clamp around
his stub. It took a few tries to make sure the metal cover didn’t
cut off circulation but after a few tries and using some cut strips
of lizard skin as padding he had it finished. The only real
downside was that the enchantment would only work for a short
period of time before it would need to recharge.

Thad’s first reaction was to make a
dozen or so of the cuffs but that would take up precious room. Not
to mention the time it would take to change them out when their
power expired. The solution seemed simple to Thad though he wasn’t
quite sure how it would work in practice. He could simply place the
same enchantment using different gems as cores with the same body.
The problem was how to make sure they worked independently when
they were needed and not all at the same time.

The first try he tried to simply link
the gems placed in the metal, and add a second enchantment to
regulate the amount of magic used. The basic thought was that with
more gems the spell would be able to last longer. It worked but
still left the problem with recharging, with them linked they
didn’t recharge individually but as a group, making it much slower
just like with the output the lead core was the only one that
absorbed the magic.

After countless different methods he
finally struck the right design. He placed the gems in a circular
link with each one having its own unique link to the body. It also
required them to be linked to a central core but its only real job
was to switch from one core to another when the power level dropped
below a predetermined level. He had tried the same thing countless
times in other forms but in the end they all had to be linked in a
circular pattern with only one link to each other and one to the
central core.

He wasn’t quite sure why it worked the
way it did. The best guess he had was that he was trying to make it
too complicated. He thought about adding an illusionary enchantment
that would make it look like he had a foot but it seemed foolish to
fall for such vanity when no one was around to care.

With everything ready he made one last
look around what had been a home to him even if for only a short
time, and he felt nervous about leaving to once again travel
through the dark alone. He thought for a moment to stay and make
one final enchantment that would make it easier to find his way
back should the need occur but his staff once again filled his mind
with pictures of him as an old man lounging in his stone
chair.