Tides of Faith: Travail of The Dark Mage Book Two (56 page)

He had to dodge out of the way as the
first creature nearly ran him over. Throwing on the fly, he saw the
creature thrust to the side by the force of the slug. It toppled
and hit the ground hard.

Just behind it, the second creature
turned toward where James had hit the ground and rushed
forward.

Miko darted in and sliced it along its
side.

Animalistic screams pierced the night.
The beast turned to face this new threat just as a slug slammed
into its backside.

Spine shattered, it fell to the ground
screaming in pain.

A swipe of his blade across the
creature’s throat reduced its cries to a quiet gurgle.

“Come on.” Miko reached his hand down
for James and helped him to his feet. “More will be
coming.”

James lurched to his feet, nodded, and
they headed off again.

They kept their pace moderate to avoid
complete exhaustion. Just then the clouds parted a little bit more
than they had and the world grew a touch brighter. Ahead and to the
right, starlight glittered off white flowers.

“There it is.”

Other shadows were on the move toward
them; two to their right, another on their left and one directly
ahead of them. A slug took out the one in their path and all out
flight kept the two on the right from reaching them.

Miko slashed at the one coming in from
the left.

Screaming as the blade severed two of
its head-stalks, it slowed enough for them to get passed and put
distance between them.

Enraged, maddened, and just plain out
for blood, the wounded creature screamed as it raced after at full
speed.

Even more blossoms could be seen in
the expansive field ahead. Thirty feet to safety and James felt a
renewed burst of energy.

“We’re going to make it,” he
chugged.

Behind them the wounded creature
gained. The gap closed fast between it and its prey.

Vines crunched under their feet as
they raced into their protective field.

The creature rushed in after
them.

“It’s not stopping!” James
cried.

Miko spun about and lashed out with
his sword.

James readied a slug.

Charging for Miko, the creature
screamed as a painful thrust pierced its hide. It screamed again
when its prey danced out of the way and it could not reach it.
Turning to charge, pain exploded as a slug shattered its
hindquarters. Falling, it screamed and thrashed until a blade
silenced it for good.

“Any more come in?”

The other two remained outside the
vines and a third and fourth could barely be seen as they arrived
to join the others.

“Doesn’t look like it,” James
replied.

They moved deeper into the patch until
they found the safe area of dead vines.

“Give a little light for a moment so
we can see where best to rest.”

Morcyth’s glow flared to life
revealing that the dead area was quite extensive with a hundred
feet diameter at the narrowest. It would prove quite suitable to
their needs.

The illumination reached the four
creatures at the patch’s edge. They stood stock still staring at
them, yet they failed to enter the vines.

“Okay,” James said and the light
vanished. They moved deeper into the dead area so as to have as
much of it around them as possible. He removed his helmet and took
a deep, refreshing breath of the cool evening air. “Much
better.”

“Yes,” Miko agreed. “I shall take the
first watch.”

James nodded. “Okay. Keep alert. Just
because they haven’t come in so far doesn’t mean they won’t if they
get hungry enough.” He jerked his thumb back to where the dead one
laid in the vines. “That one did.”

“Rest assured, I will remain
vigilant.”

Shucking off the rest of the suit,
James first poured the water out of his boots then laid them and
the suit out so air could get in as best it could to dry it by
morning.

Miko wiped his blade clean with a
cloth and tossed the gore covered rag aside.

Food and water warmed by a day within
the suit were the fare this evening. Gnawing on a bit of dried
beef, the high priest of Morcyth felt the barest hint of a presence
in his mind. Turning toward the southwest, he could feel it drawing
him toward it. He knew what it was. It was the Star.

Early the next morning, as the sun was
just cresting the horizon, James woke his friend by shaking his
shoulder. When Miko’s eyes opened, James said, “We got a
problem.”

“What is it?”

Sitting up, he looked about
and immediately answered his own question. Creatures ringed the
vine area; primarily those having the stalks on their heads similar
to what had taken Jira. But there were other ones too; small
dog-like carnivores with mottled fur and red rimmed eyes as well as
a pair of massive ground-hugging,
armored
reptiles. All paced the vine perimeter as if seeking a way
past.

“Can we overcome so many?”

“If I didn’t have to worry about that
shimmering field coming to alter my spells,” James replied, “I’d
say no problem. But now?”

“Take out as many as you can before it
arrives.”

“Don’t see what other course we can
take.” James gave him a hand up. “Got something else to show
you.”

Not three feet away, well within the
perimeter of the dead, safe area, grew a small patch of vines
bearing three white blossoms.

Miko walked around it. “I thought they
didn’t grow in the middle.”

“They don’t,” he said then took a
stick and pushed the vines apart. “Unless they have something to
grow on.”

When the vines parted Miko saw the rag
he had used last night to clean the creature’s gore off his
sword.

“And…”

Miko looked up. “And?”

James nodded. Moving to the edge of
the dead vine area, he pointed out to where the vines were healthy.
A thickly entwined patch had grown upward and formed in a mound
amidst the regular vines trailing across the ground.

“The creature that we killed last
night.”

“You mean in one night the vines had
grown that thickly?”

“It sure looks like it,” James
replied.

“How?”

“Assuming that it is as Brother Willim
stated that the vines feed on radioactivity, and also considering
the fact that the creatures thrive in a radioactive wasteland, then
it stands to reason that the creatures are themselves radioactive
which makes them a food source for the vines.”

“Yes,” Miko said. “That being so,
their hesitation for entering the vines would be
explained.”

James chuckled. “They don’t want to be
eaten so they stay out.” Then he sobered. “In any event, we can’t
leave as long as that mass of creatures remains just outside the
field. They would be on us in a heartbeat should we stray from the
vines.”

“What do you propose?
Slugs?”

He shook his head. “No. I’ve been
toying with a new concept and this would be an ideal time to test
it.”

“Ideal? How?”

“No apprentices to witness what I do.”
With a somber expression, James turned to Miko. “In our travels and
adventures, I altered my shield in many different ways. Even
crafted a bridge across which we walked at Tapu.”

“This is true. You are quite adept at
adapting magic to fit the situation.”

“Igor once said that it was how I
think that makes me such a good mage. In any event, a thought
occurred to me not so long ago.”

Turning to face the largest
concentration of creatures, he envisioned what he wanted to do and
summoned a micro burst of magic.

One of the stalk-bearing creatures
stumbled, then fell without so much as a cry. Before it hit the
ground, the one standing next to it began to topple.

Miko watched in awe as one after
another, creatures bearing no wounds fell dead. Two turned to five,
five to ten and in no time half the creatures waiting outside the
vines had fallen.

“I could do this all day,” James
explained. He looked up to the sky for signs the shimmering field
was returning, but the sky remained normal. “And it would seem the
amount of magic I use is so small and lasting such a short time
that it fails to bring the shimmering to us.”

“Incredible.”

“Yes, I suppose it is.”

Something in James’ tone drew Miko’s
gaze. Rather than elated and proud at such a display, James’
expression bordered on the sad and depressed.

“I could be the greatest assassin in
the world. No one could stand against me. I could kill at will and
no one would be the wiser. In a world where if you fall dead all
they do is bury you, it is very unlikely that anyone would discover
the terrible truth.”

“And that would be?”

Walking to the inner fringe of the
vines, James picked up a blossom. “This.”

Miko watched as James held the white
blossom out before him. Then among the petals several nearly
imperceptible flashes of transparencies sliced through the petals.
In less than a second, the petals fell away in a multitude of
smaller pieces.

“I make my shield razor thin and
solid,” he explained. “Do this within the brain of a man, or say in
his chest though I believe that would produce more visible results,
and he dies. Instantly.”

More of the creatures fell.

“Or I could merely slice through his
spine, paralyzing him for life. Sever a bowman’s fingers, a
swordsman’s arm and you have rendered them impotent, yet still
alive.” He turned to Miko. “Don’t you see what a heavy burden this
is?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I think I
do.”

“The hardest thing to kill
is an idea. If my apprentices ever see me do this, it would only be
a short time before they would figure out how. Word would spread
and before long, a terror would be unleashed upon this world the
likes it has never seen. Mages would use threat of quick, silent
death to control others. No one would be safe. Once that happened
there could only be one recourse.”

“What?”

“Every mage must die.”

“Surely there would be ones like
yourself who would rise above the temptation to dominate and
fight.”

“How? By the time you have your enemy
identified, your brain is mush or if they want to make an example
of you, slice and dice you like I did that flower.” He shook his
head. “No, this thought, this idea must never be brought to light.
I take risk enough in showing you.”

Miko looked slightly offended. “I
would never share such horrible knowledge.”

He laid a hand on his friend’s
shoulder. “I know. But when only one knows, there is little chance
of it spreading. Two doubles the chance and so forth.” He returned
his attention to the creatures waiting hungrily on the outside of
the vines. More fell.

“But, truth be told, I think there is
something even more dangerous on this world than magic. Something
that on my world laid waste to every part of it at one time or
another.”

The two massive lizards fell and then
the last two of the stalk-bearing creatures met their
end.

“What is that?”

Turning full circle, James sought
those still alive. Not finding any, he returned his attention to
Miko. “The secret of the Illuminator’s Guild.”

“But that is just bright lights and
loud noise,” Miko said, “something for celebrations.”

“Yep,” James nodded. “That was how it
began on my world too.” He grew reflective. “Might in some ways
explain the lack of mages on my world.” Then he shrugged. “May
never know.”

Returning to where his suit had been
laid out the night before, he picked it up and slid a leg in. “In
any event we need to be underway. Still have a ways to go and no
idea of the dangers along the way.”

The sun was full above the horizon
before they set out. Already, vines had encroached upon the
carcasses of the fallen creatures. Green tendrils wended their way
from one body to the next. As they walked past where one creature
had fallen atop another, a white blossom unfurled from a lone green
tendril that had threaded its way to the top.

“I bet by tomorrow you wouldn’t even
be able to tell creatures had died here.”

“Probably not,” Miko
agreed.

Leaving the carcasses behind, they
headed southeast. Yesterday they had to make their best guess as to
where the Star lay, but today Miko could feel it in the distance.
Though not entirely sure how far, where was no longer in doubt.
Knowing that his quest to recover Morcyth’s most holy of artifacts
drew near completion gave him a bounce in his step and vigor to his
pace.

Paralleling the road to Hyrryth proved
impractical. If not for Eddra’s carriage such a route would have
sufficed. But the uneven terrain bounced her old bones to such an
extent that Father Keller deemed it critical for her survival that
they return to the road.