Taking out his remaining crystal, James begins to head toward it.
“Let’s get out of here,” suggests Jared.
“I need to finish this,” James tells him. “Keep an eye out.”
Even as he makes his way toward the creature, he sees how flames from burning pieces of wood seem to leap toward the creature and be absorbed by it. It’s regenerating! Knowing this may be his only chance, he uses the magic of his sole remaining crystal to encase the creature in a barrier of ice before it has a chance to regain its strength.
As soon as the barrier forms, the creature responds. Fighting against the cold searing it, it lashes out with power of its own. To his surprise, James is able to hold the barrier. Augmenting the barrier with his own power, he begins to shrink it in upon the creature.
Weakened by the blast, the creature’s efforts are not nearly as effective as they were before. Though it struggles, it is unable to prevent the barrier from imploding. Inch by inch, the diameter slowly grows smaller.
Pouring more and more power into the barrier as it shrinks, James can feel the opposition within the barrier diminishing. Finally, the barrier completely implodes and the creature is no more.
Sagging with exhaustion, Jared catches him before he hits the ground and puts an arm under his for support.
Jiron glances back at them and Jared gives him a nod. Beginning to make their way out of the wreckage that once had been the Illuminator’s Guild, Jiron comes to a stop. Citizens surround them as well as several of the town’s guards.
None look particularly threatening and he draws his knife. “Get out of our way,” he says, the threat of imminent violence in his voice.
Either due to the fact they are stunned by the destruction of the building, or having watched James destroy the creature, whatever the reason they back away and clear an avenue out.
Jiron nods with his head indicating for Jared to follow. As they walk from the rubble, the people stand in silence and watch them go. They walk steadily and surely through the ring of people and down the street. He glances back once he’s past the onlookers and sees they are still watching him, some have begun to poke around the rubble.
The city itself has caught fire in several districts from the flaming debris that fell back to earth after the explosion. As they make their way further from the site of the explosion, the town becomes much more of a flurry of activity as people rush to put out the fires that threaten to consume their town.
Walking with a purpose, they arrive at an inn where Jiron leads them to the stables. He and Jared saddle three horses while James sits on a barrel and rests. “You okay?” Jiron asks while cinching on one of the saddles.
“Just tired,” he replies. “I’m out of crystals.”
“That’s not good,” comments Jiron. “Still going to hit that other place before we go?”
James sits there and thinks a moment before replying. “It’s on the way out of the Empire,” he tells him. “Let’s see how I feel when we get there. If I’m up to it we’ll take it out.”
“Fair enough,” he says. It takes but another minute to saddle the remaining horse then he comes to help James into the saddle. He finds a stash of water bottles which he fills and attaches to their saddles. Then once they are mounted, they leave the stables.
Smoke rises in the air from the fires. Riding quickly through the streets, they make it to the western gate and with luck find it open with no guards. They are all busy fighting the fires.
Once through the gates, Jiron takes them off the road and cuts across the desert.
Chapter Twenty One
“Milord!” Aezyl cries as he throws open the door to his chambers and rushes in.
Snapping awake, Kerith-Ayxt’s anger flares at the gross breach of decorum, not to mention the fact that he’s completely exhausted from the ordeal of summoning Aekion. With a harsh reprimand on his lips he turns eyes red and full of anger on his aide.
Before he has a chance to speak, Aezyl suddenly realizes what he just did and comes to a stop. “Forgive me my lord,” he cries as he drops to his knees. “But the mage has been found!”
“What?” exclaims the High Lord Magus as he sits upright in bed. “Where?”
“Just to the southeast of us milord,” replies Aezyl. “In the city of Taerin-Alith.”
“Taerin-Alith?” he asks.
“Yes, milord,” his aide replies. “And he has vanquished Aekion!”
“Impossible!” he cries out. “You must be mistaken.”
“No, milord,” he insists. “Inyi had the duty to search for the mage and all of a sudden the mage’s protection was gone.”
Getting out of bed, all thoughts of reprimanding his aide gone, he says “Tell me everything.”
Aezyl then proceeds to tell him of discovering the mage in a destroyed building, the subsequent destruction of Aekion, and how the citizens of Taerin-Alith seemed to simply let him go. “Of course the city was awash in flame, most likely due to the battle between the mage and Aekion,” he suggests for the reason they let him go.
“Where is he now?” the High Lord Magus asks.
“In the desert,” he replies. “I think he may be coming this way.”
“Here?” he asks.
“Maybe not here,” his aide replies. “But the direction he’s going will definitely have him pass nearby.”
Pacing and thinking furiously, Kerith-Ayxt begins to formulate a plan. Turning to his aide he says, “He can’t have much left in him after overcoming Aekion. Which of our masters has recovered most from the summoning?”
“Inyi has milord,” he replies. “He has since been keeping an eye on the rogue mage,” he replies.
“Have him take a score of the more powerful from the lower Circles and destroy the mage,” he explains. “Tell him the mage is weakened and to move fast before he can recover.”
“Yes, milord,” says Aezyl as he comes to his feet. Giving his lord a bow, he quickly leaves to carry out his lord’s command.
Defeated Aekion! Unbelievable! Kerith-Ayxt paces his chambers as he tries to come to grips with the impossible.
Shortly after leaving the town behind, James realizes his protection against magical detection is no longer in operation. Bracing for opposition, he reinstates his protective shield and waits while they ride. Immediately, he feels them try to break through but the attempt is half-hearted at best, not nearly what he experienced the time before. When it finally stops, he wonders why they didn’t try more. Whatever the reason he’s happy about it, confused, but happy.
Riding through the desert under the hot sun, they stay just out of visual range of the road to the south. He knows the magical school isn’t more than a day down the road. It’s entirely likely that they will send someone to investigate what happened back at the town.
With the light beginning to fade and James being exhausted from the battle, they move even further into the desert to find a spot to camp for the night. “Maybe you could use that mirror of yours to find a place where we could water the horses,” Jiron suggests.
“Can’t,” he replies. “It melted when the creature of fire appeared.”
“Oh yeah, right,” he says, a little embarrassed for having forgot.
Before the sunlight completely disappears, a stand of trees appears to the north, the kind normally found near watering holes. Relived to have stumbled upon an oasis, they alter course and make their way quickly toward it.
Other than half a dozen of the date bearing trees, the area surrounding the water is bare. The watering hole itself is barely three feet wide and not very deep. The horses eagerly approach and are allowed to drink their fill while they lay out their bedrolls.
Once settled in and they are having a bite to eat, he tells them what they are really after in the next town. As he lays it out, Jared gets a look of disbelief while Jiron just grins.