The Currents of Magic

Chapter Forty-Eight

When Meyer awoke his body ached, and his head hurt. He reached down to pull a blanket over his head and shade himself from the brightness. Only when his hands came up empty did he remember that he was not in his dormitory room. A mixture of despair and exhaustion descended upon him, but he dug his fingers into the ground and pushed himself up. He was about to rouse Damian and tell him that they were overdue to continue their journey when he heard voices. His depleted spirits shrunk away even faster than his grogginess.

"They've got to be around here," said a man's voice. "Gormuk, take three men and scour the area east of this outcropping. Sraft, do the same but to the west. I'll take the rest and search those trees up ahead."

Meyer heard approaching footfalls, but already he had shaken Damian awake.

"What's going on," whispered Damian.

Meyer was about to respond, when the same voice spoke again, this time so loudly that he would have guessed the speaker was standing at the edge of their makeshift lair if not for the fact that he and Damian remained unseen.

"Alright, split up," said the voice. "I want every leaf turned, and every tree climbed." Then there was a startling noise of boots crunching over leaves.

Damian cast a sound absorbing charm."They're not sorcerers, or they'd already have found us," he said. "We have a chance—give me your spell dictionary."

Meyer followed Damian's instructions, both shocked and mesmerized by Damian's cool-headedness.

Damian grabbed the book and flipped hurriedly through the pages. A moment later he handed it back to Meyer.

"I need to you cast the Spirasialos charm on me," he said.

Meyer looked down at the open page, his eyes darting over the words:

Spirasialos

Burst locomotion charm. Launches target between four to five miles. Slow acceleration allows for non-fatal human targeting. Use caution with human targets. Accuracy is minimal.

Negative Inverse: Undefined

Unbounded Inverse: Spirasiala, page 218

Galer Difficulty Rating: 0/6

Meyer read the description twice. Damian couldn't be serious. Launching him with the Spirasialos charm was the equivalent of catapulting him to his death.

"I can't cast a zero over six spell," said Damian, jolting Meyer's attention back to the present. "But if you cast Spirasialos on me, and then on yourself—"

"Are you out of your mind?" hissed Meyer. "Unless you intend—"

"For us to escape—I do," he said. "Listen to me. I'll use a Taras charm to blast this branch out of the way. Immediately after I do that you cast the Spirasialos charm on me. I'll be able to break my fall using self levitation charms, and then—"

"Self levitation charms are hard enough when you're not hurtling through the air at hundreds of miles per hour! Casting a levitation charm correctly to break a fall like that—"

"We have no choice," said Damian. "After you launch me, you need to buy as much time as you can before you launch yourself. Once I'm back on the ground, I'll send up red sparks so that you'll be able to see where I landed. With your self levitation skills, you should be able to navigate yourself accurately enough to land by me."

Meyer clenched his jaw. He would rather fight his way through the men than attempt navigating through the open air...

But then a twig snapped loudly next to them.