Light Magic (COMPLETED)

Chapter 7

The terrain is changing, the air is less moist, streams and lakes are more disperse, and the mossy ground is replaced by rocky earth and fungi. We are getting close to the Western boarder. Travelling by horse has saved us weeks of travel time. The days are getting shorter and the nights are beginning to get frigidly cold.

We walk, as Felix happily trots beside us—we are careful not to overwork him and always provide him with several breaks throughout the day. As I watch him, my skin begins to tingle and goose bumps cover my arms. I feel my hand instinctively reach for the hilt of my sword. Something is coming.

"Orgres!" Adreanus belts out from behind me. I turn and see he is kneeling on the ground examining some meticulously covered tracks. The fact that they have hidden their tracks concerns me; orgres are not the brightest of creatures.

The earth beneath our feet begins to shake—they are close and are approaching at an alarming rate. There is no outrunning them now. Felix cries out as he rears, standing up on his hind legs. I carefully place my hand against his back humming calming words, which relax him.

"Go, Felix. Run to safety. We will come looking for you," I say, tapping him lightly on the bum and hoping he understands me. He seems to protest at first, but I do not allow him to stay. I smile apologetically at Adreanus. Felix may have been able to help us out of a sticky situation, but I did not want to risk him getting hurt.

Trees begin to part as two lumbering orgres head towards us. I suck in a breath of surprise as I notice something dark sitting on the larger ogre's shoulder.

"A dark fay!" I exclaim. "That explains the hidden tracks. An ogre would never be clever enough to do that." The dark fay leaps from it's shoulder and a second dark fay joins it as they make headway towards us leaving the slower moving ogres trailing behind them.

I take my stance next to Adreanus, if we are going to survive this attack we are going to have to work as a team.

"We will have to work as a team," he says, reading my mind.

"Yes," I agree.

Perhaps it is because we have spent the last several months together, but Adreanus and I fight exceptionally well as a team. I see the subtlest of changes in his form and I anticipate his movements. We make full circle as we fend off the dark fay until we find ourselves standing back to back. A sharp piercing pain shoots through my left shoulder as I feel a talon rip through my skin. I whirl, holding my sword in my hand, and connecting the sword's end with the fay's chest. It topples over, as a howling inhuman grunt rushes from its throat. A black ink like substance seeps from the wound as it collapses to the ground.

I watch as the two ogres tare neighboring trees from the ground and begin to swing them haphazardly upheaving half of the forest with every swing.

I pull at the veil that conceals the magic and colourful filaments of light transform the scene in front of me. I delicately pull at the magic collapsing the earth beneath the two ogres approaching on my left. Deep rolling grunts escape their mouths as the earth swallows them whole. I watch as one pulls itself out of the crater as it grabs onto a large tree root. Magic tugs at the root as I send it flying into the abyss along with the ogre. The exhaustion that accompanies my every use of magic weighs me down.

Suddenly, I feel something grab my shoulder causing me to gasp, only to see Adreanus at my side. He pushes me to the ground and that is when I notice the dark fay lunging and thrusting a black dagger towards the very spot I had momentarily been standing in only now Adreanus stands there in my place. I watch as the dagger digs deeply into his abdomen. He lets out a blood-curdling scream and falls to the ground as a dangerously large amount of blood stains the forest grounds. I feel rage coursing through my body as I send light magic hurdling at the dark fay. I instantly feel as if I am being drained of all my energy. I immediately cut off the connection between my light energy and the darkness that consumes it. Instead I lift my sword and hurl it at the fay, who, confused by the previous display of magic faltered for just long enough for my sword to impale it directly in its back.

With the little strength I have left I run to Adreanus' side, throwing myself on the ground next to him. My hands are pressing on the wound, preventing his blood from escaping. I watch as his eyes come in and out of focus. It should be me, not him fighting for his life right now. Why did he sacrifice himself like that? Tears burn at the back of my eyes; I blink and allow them surface. But I do not have time for hysterics; if he is going to survive I have to think fast.

Keeping one hand on his wound at all times, I throw off my jacket and strip off my light cotton shirt, the cold air nipping at my bare skin. I fashion my shirt into a bandage and wrap it tightly around his chest. I leave his side only for a moment while I retrieve my bag. I dump its contents on the ground next to him as I look for anything that might help. I curse myself for selling the majority of my healing plants.

I combine a few plants into a tincture and place it on the wound. I grind my teeth as I watch him arch his back in pain.

"I know it hurts," I whisper sympathetically, "but I promise it is helping." The tincture should stop the bleeding and hopefully neutralize the poison.

I watch as his eyes gloss over. "You must stay awake," I plead.

In his condition I will not be able to move him alone. In any case, I do not know in which direction to travel—we are so far west that I am unfamiliar with the location of any nearby city. I slump down on the ground next to him and rest the back of my hand on his forehead. He is hot. I pray I was fast enough, if the poison made it to his heart—I can't even allow myself to contemplate the consequences.

I rummage through Adreanus' bag and find clean clothes. I strip off his cold and wet bloodied attire. His eyes meet mine and I feel my cheeks redden as I survey his body for any other wounds. I can't help but notice how beautiful he is. I quickly yet gently dress him in the clothes I had just purchased in Lagua. If the situation had been any different I probably would have been saying, "I told you so". I wrap our wool blanket tightly around him. I had completely forgotten my own state of undress. I wiggle on a shirt as the reality sets in. I feel my heart accelerate as a wave of panic passes over me—what the hell are we going to do? Then I hear him, he neighs with delight as he trots towards us. I leap to his side and gently pat his main, "Felix, you have saved us," I whisper in his ear.