Delver Magic III: Balance of Fate, Jeff Inlo [most popular ebook readers .txt] 📗

the crossbow from the hands of the leader. He flung it with force against the far wall of an abandoned building. It shattered, rendering it useless.

Ryson now stood stone still in the midst of the three dumbfounded brigands. He gave them a moment to collect their senses.

“There’s still three of you and only one of me. Of course, you don’t have your weapons any more. Oh, wait, let’s make sure of that.”

With speed the villains could not comprehend, Ryson shuffled his feet in two quick kicks and sent the clubs far out of reach.

The move actually angered one of the men as he felt the kick to his weapon was an insult to his manhood.

“Why you stinkin’…”

He reached for Ryson, but his hands found nothing but empty air. The delver dashed around the grapplers opposing shoulder and ended up behind him. With yet another lightning swift kick from the delver, the angry thief felt a blasting heel to his buttocks and ended up in a heap on the ground.

The other two decided to stay put. Ryson almost wanted to commend them for their intelligence, but he doubted they would understand.

“I want all of you out of here. I come back here from time to time and I don’t easily forget faces. I was easy on you this time, next time I won’t be. Move on.”

Ryson moved right up to the brigand on the ground that had rolled over onto the seat of his pants. Before the thief could stand up, the delver put his face right to his. The cold chill in the air was apparent as Ryson’s breath turned into a cloud of condensation around the bandit’s head. “You understand what I just said?”

The challenge was clear. This wasn’t even the leader of the three, just some muscle. Ryson had his back to the leader. He did that intentionally. He faced the one he felt was the most emotionally unstable, the one he wanted to send a clear message. The leader would be just smart enough to find another town, but the one that initially attacked him might want to stay to exact some sort of revenge. Ryson wanted to leave no doubt in this man’s mind that such an idea was not in his best interest.

“You don’t like being on the ground, do you? Well, right now you can get up and walk away. Next time, maybe not. The two behind me, they don’t matter. Forget them—forget what they might think or what they might say. Just move on.”

Ryson never took his eyes from the man on the ground as he backed away and returned to his path toward the center of town. The thought of the now broken crossbow made Ryson think of the old man he had come across during the goblin raid. He looked about the empty houses and wondered if any of these were the man’s home. He thought for a moment about maybe trying to track him down to see if he was still alive, to see if he needed anything. Then, he remembered how the old man left him and how Ryson knew there wasn’t really anything he could do for him other than to let him be.

Increasing his speed, the delver quickly reached the town square. Remembering exactly the last spot Lief Woodson stood, Ryson reviewed the ground, examining it for the clear signs of the elf’s path. Delvers were not the best trackers as their focus often wandered, but they had the natural eye to pick up specific traces of markings. Separating the different paths of goblins, humans, and the elf, Ryson centered his concentration on the tracks he needed to follow. The trail moved in the exact direction Ryson remembered Lief used to make his departure, and thus the delver followed it with confidence. He knew he could at least track the elf through this part of town.

The elf’s tracks were old, but the lack of any true population in the town kept them clear enough for Ryson to follow. The trail led him through many streets and in an almost directionless path. Ryson realized why when he noted the elf had stopped on several occasions to fire his bow, probably at the fleeing goblins. Remembering the anger Lief displayed, Ryson doubted that any of the arrow shots were meant to do anything but kill. Following Lief’s path eventually led Ryson to the northwest section of town near the river. The trail of the elf changed here, becoming more deliberate. Once Ryson crossed the bridge leading out of town, he picked up a second set of tracks. They were the distinct markings of a river rogue, complete with clawed-tipped, webbed feet imprints in the sandy soil by the river’s edge.

“So Lief went after the river rogue and it looks like the rogue took off into the forest.” Ryson looked into the trees and then at the sky to fix his own position. “Heading north. At least that’s no where near the Lacobian, and no where near Tabris.”

Ryson headed off into the northern branch of Dark Spruce Forest following the tracks of the rogue and the elf and hoping that he would find Lief before the trail turned in a different direction.

#

Once Linda left for home, Enin prepared Holli for two trips he now planned to take this day.

“We might as well take advantage of this opportunity to test your new spells. First, we are going to see Tabris in the Lacobian desert.”

“Before we go,” Holli interrupted, “there is something I have to ask. It is something I actually suspect. You were very quick to tell Linda that she had little to worry about Ryson being killed by Tabris. I must admit I was surprised by that. I have always been of the belief that very little is certain in this land, there are no guarantees. It is something I had to live by while being an elf guard. We took nothing for granted so we could be prepared for anything. Yet, you seemed to have no difficulty offering certainty to Linda. Right now, we know Ryson is looking for Lief and it is not without reason that Lief could be looking for Sazar. That possibly could bring Ryson right to Tabris. Ryson is very skilled as a delver but this sorceress is also very powerful by your own admission. Is there something you know that allows you to be so certain that Ryson is safe from Tabris?”

“Safe? No, not safe. He may indeed have to face her. Of that, I am not certain.”

“But you are sure Tabris can not kill Ryson; that he will not be taken away from Linda by the sorceress.”

“Yes, Ryson has a destiny he must still face. I can see that in him. It is something he can not avoid. Thus, it would be impossible for Tabris to do anything that would keep him from that destiny.”

“Do you wish to tell me what that destiny is?”

“No.”

“Very well, but why not tell Linda what you just told me?”

Enin smiled at Holli. “You learn about people quickly, don’t you? In the short time we have been together, I’m becoming more grateful that you are here. The truth is that I thought of doing just that, thought of telling Linda the real reason she need not worry at this time. Then I thought how do I word it? Do I tell her I see a destiny for Ryson that he must meet, and in order to meet it he must obviously be alive? Whatever way I thought of saying it, it just didn’t sound right. It might have even scared her more than the thought of Ryson facing Tabris. What would I have accomplished then?”

“Very little,” admitted Holli.

“I also have to remember that the magic is very different with Linda. I’m sure you’ve noticed that.”

“I noticed the first time I met her,” Holli replied. “She has no reception to the energy whatsoever. In fact, I believe her essence actually repels magical energies.”

“Your perceptions are right once more. If I cast a spell at her, used every ounce of my energy, it would not affect her in the least. Magic simply can not enter her being. She may not acknowledge that she’s aware of this, but I think deep down she senses it. It’s kind of like everyone is in a rain storm and everyone is dripping wet, except her. She’s completely dry and she doesn’t know why. Because of that, she has a deeper fear of magic.

“It doesn’t make sense really. She shouldn’t fear it at all. She’s basically immune to it. But since she can’t touch it in anyway, she can’t gain even a shred of understanding about the energy. So what do I do by telling her that the magic allows me to see certain things that must come to pass? I only make her fear the magic even more. No, it’s much easier to simply go off and throw a warning at Tabris than to explain to Linda why the sorceress is not a true threat. If that makes Linda feel better, than it is time well spent. It may also serve a few other purposes.”

“May I ask what they might be?”

“You may ask, and I will answer because you’re going with me to two different places today and I want you to know why. When we talk with Tabris, I want to get a better feeling for her. I want to see if I can figure out why she chose to join up with Sazar. I also want to let her know that we here in Burbon are aware of this. It’s a pretty good idea not only to warn her off from trying to hurt Ryson, but while we’re there we might as well tell her to stay away from Burbon. As powerful as she is, she still won’t want to cross me. This Sazar is a brazen creature, he moved on Burbon after the dwarves attacked. He might have new ideas of how to take the town. I want to let them both know it’s not really something they want to pursue. Finally, I also need to get a sense for something else. I need to know if someone else might be involved in this alliance of Tabris and Sazar, and if I can get near Tabris, I might be able to sense something.”

“Who is this someone else? Can you tell me?”

“You will be meeting him in our second trip. His name is Baannat. I am not completely certain of what he truly is, though I have my ideas. He is a very powerful sorcerer, that much I do know. He is nearly my exact duplicate in what I can do with the magical energies. He is also very evil.”

“That’s not very settling.”

“Well, yes and no. It’s never settling to have something that evil being that powerful,” Enin admitted. “By the same token, evil has to exist for the balance of things in this land to work. I hope I am on the side of ‘good’. That being the case, there would need to be an equivalent power on the side of evil. I believe this counter balance exists in Baannat. If he did not carry this power, it would be carried by others. With Baannat, I know where he is and I believe I can counter act whatever evil he might attempt. As long as I don’t try to intervene in this land and try to force my own concept of ‘good’ on everyone, that will keep Baannat from intervening is his way. If he did, he would tip the balance and I would have the opportunity to act. If he does nothing, and I do nothing, the balance is maintained. I’ve tried