Broken Mage (8 page)

Laying down Thad continued to rub
Avalanche’s back as he pulled one of Maria’s letters from the pack.
It was one he had read so many times he could recite it without
looking at it. It was odd but the words on the page comforted him,
as if he could hear Maria’s voice when he read them.

After the third time reading through
the letter Avalanche laid her head down across Thad’s knees. As
heavy as Avalanche looked he felt heavier, after failing to lift
Avalanche’s head from his legs he began to beg his new friend to
lift her head. She finally complied giving him a strange look while
tilting her head slightly to the side.

Hoping that Avalanche wouldn’t squash
while he slept, Thad moved over to the side of the small room and
lay down to sleep. His legs still ached a little from the loss of
blood but even with the slight discomfort it didn’t take long for
Thad to fall into a peaceful slumber.

CHAPTER VI

As the days passed the river began to
grow slightly wider and was now more than six feet across. At the
same time it had grown more shallow and less and less fish were
seen in its depths. If the trend continued Thad would either have
to turn back and take one of the many offshoots that had sprouted
from the river or continue on and risk running out of
food.

Avalanche had found two more places for
her food in that time and Thad had enough gems to keep her fed for
nearly a fortnight. Avalanche didn’t need to eat every day and
usually went three or four days without begging Thad for a
treat.

He only wished Avalanche was as skilled
at finding his food as it was her own. When he noticed the
dwindling food supply he took a few days to stock up on what he
could carry. With the cold temperature of the caves he didn’t have
to worry about the cooked meat spoiling quickly but even with that
it wouldn’t last long.

With the widening of the river the
ledge he had to walk on had decreased and more than once he had
found himself having to walk across the water. He had learned that
Avalanche didn’t swim, as the saying went the poor thing sunk like
a rock. She began showing a great distaste of the water. After the
first attempt Thad had simply levitated Avalanche over the areas
where there wasn’t a place to walk.

Wherever Avalanche was set down she
would go to the waters edge and bark for a short time. It was as if
she was taunting the water that she had once again kept out of its
murky depths. Thad often found himself adding words to the
creature’s actions. The first time he caught himself doing it he
was slightly worried he had lost his mind but he quickly put the
thought out of his mind.

Thinking through his options Thad
decided that if his food supply ran dry he would take the first
major tunnel that appeared. He didn’t want to back track, he felt
that if he did that he was going backwards. It wasn’t as if he knew
where he was headed but the feeling was still there.

In the past days he still hadn’t
received anything from the princess and it had really begun to
bother him. He had started his search with a new vigor stopping
early each day so he could devote more time to his search for an
exit. Avalanche didn’t seem to enjoy the earlier stopping time and
protested by running off searching the nearby area. The first few
times she had taken off Thad had worried that she might not return.
After the third time she had done it he had grown so accustomed to
her little romps he paid little attention to them.

He hadn’t found any promising places
yet. All he knew was that the water continued to flow for a good
ways. Other than that none of the tunnels leading away seemed to go
to the surface. He often found himself getting depressed about the
whole situation but Avalanche would begin nudging him until he paid
attention to her. Oddly it was as if she knew when he felt bad and
tried to make him feel better.

When he came to another expanse where
the water covered the ground Thad decided to stop for the night
instead of trying to expend the energy to cross. Thad sat up his
walls changing one of them so there was a small hole just big
enough for Avalanche to crawl though. He had learned that it was
much easier to allow her a way in and out than to have to take down
the wall when she wanted back in.

He started his search as soon as the
noise from Avalanche’s footsteps disappeared into the distance.
Slightly curious as to what his four legged friend was up to Thad
quickly began looking for her. It didn’t take long to spot
Avalanche as the creature shined brightly in his mind.

Avalanche was moving fast down a
corridor they had passed. It didn’t take her long to make it miles
away from where she had started. Thad didn’t know where she got the
boundless energy she had. She had moved farther in half an hour
than he could all day. Soon she was so far away it was too much of
a strain for him to continue to watch her.

Pulling away from his friend Thad let
his mind drift down the river where he would travel tomorrow. He
was glad he had decided to stop for the night the space to the next
spot where he could walk was almost half a mile away. While that
was easy for him normally having to carry Avalanche the whole way
would have severely taxed him this late in the day.

With still no sign of an exit in sight
Thad set down with his staff. He still wondered what Avalanche was
doing but he didn’t have the energy to spend to find out. Instead
he spent the time waiting on her, daydreaming about what she could
be getting herself into. In one she was searching for her family in
another she was hunting down enemies to test herself
against.

When she finally returned she looked
happy. Though sometimes it was hard to tell what the animal was
actually thinking. Thad was sure she was much smarter than he gave
her credit for. Her eyes were always inquisitive, and more than
once he wished he could understand what she was saying when she was
barking. It was probably the reason he filled in her words with his
own mind.

Tired and his companion back Thad
closed the small hole in the wall. Pulling a small ring from his
pack with four gems on it he activated one of his new shield rings.
He had made four so far but he knew to keep up he would still need
a few more. They had been made out of necessity since Avalanche had
the urge to lay on him without warning. While he found it endearing
his limbs and back found it exceptionally painful.

The next morning Thad was woken by
Avalanche’s loud barking. He stirred slowly still tired. From the
feel of his body he had only been asleep for a few hours. After
getting her to quiet down he understood why she was making such a
commotion. A loud sound was reverberating through the underground.
Concentrating hard on the sound he picked out what sounded like a
human yell. His hopes up Thad quickly took down his magical walls
and ran in the direction of the noise.

A few moments later Thad realized that
while he could hear the noise he couldn’t tell where it was coming
from. Avalanche saved him by running past and continuing on down
the tunnel. Thad followed her using his magic to lift himself from
the ground so he could keep up with her fast pace.

After what felt like an eternity they
finally reached the source of the noise. A short looking human with
dark tanned skin fought with a massive metal monstrosity. The human
was about four foot six and while obviously well-muscled it didn’t
look out of proportion like many of the other smaller humans he had
met. The man’s head had been shaved bald and tattoos covered his
right arm and left side of his face making Thad think he might be a
slave. If that was true he might know of a way out of the
caves.

The creature the short man fought was
at least nine feet tall and looked to be made of a silvery metal.
Its arms and legs were easily the size of Thad’s waist. Its eyes
reminded Thad of Avalanche’s except they looked as if they had been
made of sapphires instead of rubies. Thad wished he had the time to
examine the creature but with the dire situation the man was in he
would either have to help now or watch his chance to escape die in
front of his own eyes.

The battle looked one sided with the
man getting the worse end of the deal. The man was bleeding from
many cuts while the monster looked as if it hadn’t been harmed at
all. Avalanche was the first one to join the battle trying to grab
the metal beast by its leg. It did little damage and Avalanche was
soon thrown across the large cavern and into the wall.

Thad joined in as well throwing
fireballs at the creatures back. They seemed to do little to no
damage so he switched to lightning that seemed to at least get the
monsters attention. He soon found himself shaking as the hulking
monstrosity turned toward him and began making its slow advance on
his position. Thad hastily tried to use his paralyzing ring on the
beast but all it accomplished was getting the thing to stop for the
briefest of moments.

With his magic doing no damage, Thad
pulled his magical dagger from his side and activated it so it grew
into a full length sword. If his magically enchanted sword didn’t
damage the creature he would have little choice but to run for his
life. Running through his options he decided if he ran he would
have to take the other man with him even if he had to do so by
force. He wasn’t about to lose his only link with the surface no
matter the cost.

Before he had a chance to make a strike
the small man jumped at the monster from the side swinging a
massive axe at the creature landing a hearty blow on the creature’s
right leg. The weapon dug into the creature’s leg carving out a
small chunk that clanked loudly on the ground. The monster let out
a loud roar and backhanded the small man knocking him half way
across the cavern. It didn’t stop there as it rushed the downed man
and began stomping on him wildly.

Thad feared for a moment the man was
dead and in haste let loose such a massive lightning bolt it left
him light headed. The attack had the desired effect knocking the
monster off the man and throwing it a few feet
backwards.

The creature gave him a look filled
with hate. Avalanche still continued to rush the creature but its
attacks didn’t even bother the monster enough for a response. Thad
shaking slightly swallowed loudly and made his own
charge.

Thad used his speed to his advantage
darting around the slow-moving metal creature. Each attack landed
but he only achieved in cutting small nicks in the monster’s
natural armor. Seeing his attack doing little damage Thad lent some
of his own magical force to the sword. His new method was met with
marginal success as his sword began to bite deeper.

The monster was getting more aggravated
with each blow. It increased the speed of its movements but was
still having trouble keeping up with Thad’s frantic pace. While the
monster seemed to have boundless energy Thad was tiring
fast.

The monster finally was able to catch
up with Thad’s slowing movements and caught Thad with a vicious
strike to his side. Thad was knocked in to the air and landed hard
on his back. Before he could climb to his feet the monster was on
him. Thad put up his sword to block the impending overhead attack.
When the monsters arms met with his sword the blade snapped off
causing an explosion from the broken link tossing both Thad and the
monster across the cavern.

His head spinning Thad looked down at
his right hand, his vision slightly off as if his left eye was
closed. He let out a sigh of relief to see that it was still
attached to his arm along with all his fingers. His left army hurt
badly and Thad knew if it wasn’t broken it was still in bad shape.
He couldn’t see any sign of bone sticking from the skin so he hoped
it was just badly bruised or dislocated.

When he was thrown his pack had been
slung off his back and now the contents within had been tossed
about the cavern. His food, gems, metal, and most importantly his
sending box now lay scattered about.

Getting unsteadily to his feet Thad
pulled the only weapon he had left from its scabbard. The weapon
felt off in his left hand but he was left with little choice. He
wasn’t sure what good the blade would do but it was better than
trying to block the creature’s blows with his bare hand.

The sword had once belonged to a thug
in the capital who had set upon him along with a gang of others in
an attempt to rob him. The sword wasn’t magicalyl strengthened or
enchanted to have a keen blade like his other, though it wasn’t
from a lack of trying on his part. The sword refused to allow any
magic to affect it. In fact it cut through magic the same way a
normal sword cut through flesh.

With his sword in hand Thad backed up
bracing himself against the cave wall and looked around for his
enemy. It didn’t take him long to find the hulking monstrosity. It
was still on the ground getting slowly to its feet. Its right arm
was gone from the elbow down. The sight that the beast could be
injured brought new hope to Thad. Now if only he had another ten
magical swords to break upon the thing. What he wouldn’t do for one
of the glass spheres at the moment.

As soon as the metal creature got to
its feet it began to lumber straight toward Thad unmindful of the
rock dog that nipped at its heels. Thad watched in horror as the
monster’s foot came down on the sending box that had the
unfortunate luck to be in the beast’s path.