Delver Magic III: Balance of Fate, Jeff Inlo [most popular ebook readers .txt] 📗
- Author: Jeff Inlo
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“I am not against casting spells, and I have done this in the past,” Holli admitted. “I simply have not had time to truly shape these skills.”
“If you are to be my companion, it is something we will both have time to do. To tell you the truth, I’m doing it as much for me as I am for you. If you’re going to be around me, and keeping an eye on me, I think it’s a good idea if we have some common interests. Otherwise, I’m going to start getting a bit nervous knowing that you’re always around keeping tabs on me.”
“An elf guard remains inconspicuous,” Holli asserted.
“I’m sure you will be, but it’s better if we actually have some true interaction and I really can’t think of a better way. You’re an elf and you’re more open to the ideas of what magic can accomplish than the people I normally talk to. This will give me a chance to discuss things that I don’t often get a chance to talk about. Such as, did you know dwarves are very resistant to magic?”
Enin did not wait for an answer. He continued on never giving Holli a chance to speak. “Of course you knew that, you’re an elf. Sorry. Never mind. The thing is if you tell that to someone like Sy, he would say ‘Well then use something else on them.’ But there’s more to it then that. You have to understand magic and how it works. Just because a dwarf is resistant to magic doesn’t mean he is immune to it. These are two different things. Being immune is extremely rare. Being resistant means it’s difficult for a magic caster to hurt you, but it’s not impossible.
“For example, if a sorceress stupidly sends out magic fire from her fingertips to blast away at a dwarf, the dwarf would just stand there smiling. Of course, there are many ways around that. You don’t send magic fire at the dwarf, you send it at the air surrounding the dwarf. Ignite the air and the dwarf won’t be smiling. That’s not just magic fire any more, that’s real burn-a-dwarf-all-over fire.
“The problem is that this takes more work to do, more power, more magic and definitely more concentration, but it works where the old magic fire from the finger tips is just a waste of everyone’s time.
“It’s the same with force blasts, too, you know. You can’t just send out a regular burst of magic force and expect it to work the same on everyone for all occasions. That’s just magical power—very strong against most things, but not against those that can naturally resist it. Instead, if the force is focused on the air which is not resistant to magic, you create a blast of true power that affects even the magically resistant. When you disburse the air, keep blasting it forward and forward, that’s a very powerful force. It’s a tornado that doesn’t spin and if done with enough velocity, it can tear people apart. That’s what I did to the dwarves when they attacked Burbon you know. Hit them with light and a wind driven force blast. They were lucky I took it easy on them, but if I didn’t I guess I would have knocked over every building in town. I don’t think that would have made Sy happy.”
Enin looked expectantly at Holli.
“So the idea is to use magic indirectly,” she stated simply.
“Exactly,” Enin beamed. “This is what I’m talking about. If you are to be my guard, it would help us both immensely if we had a common interest. So, what do you say? Are you willing to learn what I am willing to teach you?”
“Yes. Are you willing to let me be your guard?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were going off to Pinesway?”
Linda’s question was loaded with danger and Ryson saw now way to avoid any of it.
“It didn’t seem like a good idea at the time,” Ryson offered.
“Letting me know where you’re going is not a good idea?”
“That’s not what I meant. You knew I was out on a scout, and I was continuing that scout, I was just doing it near Pinesway.”
“No,” Linda said flatly. “You WERE on a scout with Enin. That’s where I thought you were, with Enin. You came back because you found out something was going on over there in Pinesway. You left without Enin, on your own, to deal with that. There’s a big difference, and you know it, so let’s try this again. Why didn’t you tell me you were going off to Pinesway?”
Ryson tried not to give up so easily on his first excuse. “It’s like I said. You knew I was out on a scout, you didn’t expect me home until today. Even though I was near Pinesway, it really did start out as a scout of the town.”
“Look, if you keep this up you’re just going to make it worse.” Linda’s face became flushed as her anger rose. “You’re playing with words here to try and avoid the issue. If you want to play this game, I can play this game as well. Yes, I know you were on a scout with Enin, but did you return to town yesterday or not?”
“I did, I never said I didn’t, but…”
“Did you leave again?”
“Yes, to scout…”
“I didn’t ask you what you were doing. I just asked if you came here and left. When you left did you leave with Enin.”
“No, he said he shouldn’t get involved.”
Linda was about to continue, but then realized what Ryson just said and seized upon it.
“Involved? Involved in what?”
“I told you. Sazar tried to take over Pinesway. He wanted to use it as a base for goblins.”
“So now you admit it wasn’t just a scout. You went out, without Enin, to stop Sazar.”
Ryson held his breath for a moment as he realized his misstep too late. He did his best to cover it. “Well, I didn’t know what he was up to until I held the sword. I told you that, too. It started out as a scout. It really did.”
“Godson, Ryson! You’re doing it again. You’re playing with words and trying to avoid admitting what you did. Fine, it started out as a scout, but it wasn’t an ordinary scout with Enin out in Dark Spruce. And that’s where I thought you were. But you came back from Dark Spruce because you found out something was going on with Sazar. You were scouting Pinesway with every intention of interfering with Sazar and his goblins. That was the plan from the beginning, even before you held the sword. Right?”
At first Ryson did not wish to answer.
Linda pressed him.
“Right?!”
“Yes, but…”
“But nothing! You can’t even tell me you didn’t have a chance to let me know because you came back here in between your trip to Dark Spruce and before you set off again. You were right here yesterday afternoon. And don’t tell me you didn’t have time, because we both know that’s ridiculous. And even if it wasn’t absurd, you could have told Sy to send me word. Speaking of Sy, did you know I went to speak with him last night?”
The delver wanted to groan but he held his breath. “Yes, he told me when I saw him this morning.”
“Did he tell you I asked him if he knew where you were?”
“Yeah, he said he didn’t say much, tried to be as hazy about it as possible. He said you didn’t look happy.”
“I’m not happy. Not happy when I talked to Sy, and I’m certainly not happy now,” Linda stated firmly. “I asked Sy if he knew where you were. All he said was that you were on a scout. I could tell he was trying to avoid the subject. I guessed you told him not to tell me, otherwise he would have told me straight out. Am I right?”
Ryson saw the hole just keep getting deeper. There really was no way out so he just came clean. “You’re right. I told him not to tell you where I went.”
Linda wanted to scream. “Do you know how utterly stupid that is?! For Godson’s sake, Ry, I work in a tavern. That means on some days I know more about what’s going on in this town then you and Sy put together. I heard that Enin flew over to Sy’s office yesterday afternoon. If Enin came back, that meant you probably came back as well. With a few nudging questions to a few guards, I found out you ran into town in a hurry yesterday afternoon and left again fairly soon after that in another great hurry. I also found out no one saw Enin leave with you. Now I find out you actually told Sy to hide the truth from me.”
“I wasn’t hiding the truth from you. I was trying to keep you from worrying.”
“So that’s what this is all about, huh? You think if you don’t tell me exactly where you are that somehow I won’t worry?”
“Well, if you know I’m heading into some place dangerous, you’re definitely going to worry.”
“Of course I’m going to worry!” Linda shouted with exasperation. “And if I find out where you went and realize you didn’t tell me, then not only am I going to worry, I’m going to be angry about it as well! You know, this is really ridiculous.”
The delver bit his lip realizing anything he could say at this precise moment would probably only make things worse. It was a wise decision not to speak at all.
Linda, however, had plenty to say.
“Ryson, don’t you think I know what this is all about? I know you weren’t trying to keep secrets from me, that you thought you were actually helping me by not telling me, but we’ve gone through this before. I don’t want you saving me from my own concern about you.”
Ryson attempted to swing that point to his favor. “Don’t you think there’s a difference between concern and outright worry? I mean don’t you think you would have viewed this differently?”
“Absolutely,” Linda responded quickly, “and if something happened to you and I found out your last thought of me was not to trust me enough to tell me where you were going, how would that have made me feel?”
“It’s not about trust,” Ryson replied with an edge of anger in his own voice.
Linda did not back down. “Yes, it is! You just don’t understand that yet. I see perfectly clear what your intentions were, you wanted to protect me, not lie to me. I understand that. What you don’t understand is that when you act like that, you’re showing me that you don’t trust me to understand what you are. You’re a delver. I have accepted what that means. You’re going to go out exploring; it’s what you have to do. You’ll do your best to tell me where you’re going, but we both know we can never be sure where you’re going to end up. That’s what happens to you. You tell me you’re going to scout the hills. Fine, but you and I both know that could last all of
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