The Young Mage Ch. 03

Chapter 3.

The sun was getting very close to the horizon, following its customary route before giving way to dusk, and then finally, to the night. Yet on the last steps of its trip, it rebelliously shone its rays, basking the beautiful countryside in reddish light, giving it a somewhat extravagant quality. Just before dipping below the horizon, the sun's last rays showed a lone rider who was traveling across the countryside, gazing in every direction with wonder.

"Why the hell is this country called Wildlands?!"

Magnus asked himself for the tenth time in the last few days. He had crossed the questionable border between Nessia and Wildlands two days ago, and since then he had been enjoying the beauty of this tumultuous country. It reminded him of Ashad, with its meadows, woods, and streams, yet the plant life was definitely of a different kind here. Still, it seemed like a beautiful land, and he couldn't reconcile the picture he had formed in his mind when he had first heard the name Wildlands with the sight he had before his eyes. He was expecting a wasteland, a desert... or a dryish prairie at the most, yet in the last two days, all he had seen were blooming grasslands and forests.

Magnus stopped for a moment and looked around in every direction. The dusk was about to settle and he needed a decent camping spot. After a moment of deliberation, he found a clearing surrounded by trees. It would keep him reasonably hidden from sight. He dismounted and stretched his limbs, trying to shake off the ache in his muscles, especially in his legs and butt. Then, he cast a few earth and air spells all around the clearing to serve as a warning in case someone tried to sneak upon him.

"Although, I am yet to see a single human being in these... Wildlands," Magnus thought, settling down on the ground and taking some food out of his bag. Judging by the scarce information he had gotten in Nessia, Wildlands had plenty of tribes who often warred amongst themselves, and the only reason this nice land hadn't been conquered by some other country was because the tribes would usually stop their quarrels to deal with the invader. If the stories were true, they were fierce warriors, honed by years of infighting.

"I wonder why they can't find a way towards peace," Magnus mused as he took a bite of dried meat and cheese. The last chance he had had for eating something warm was several days ago in an inn in Nessia, and he felt quite fed up with dry food. But it was all he had right now. He was about to take a second bite when he heard one of his alarm spells go off. He rose to his feet quickly, straining his eyes to see in the waning light of the day.

"There... what..." Magnus thought as he started charging a spell by instinct.

THWACK!

The crossbow made a distinct sound as it launched its deadly projectile towards Magnus. On pure instinct, Magnus released his spell instantly and his lightning bolt flew straight into the trees...

A jolt of pain shook his body, radiating from his left shoulder, as a muffled cry sounded from the trees. Magnus turned his head and saw a crossbow bolt lodged in the flesh. The bolt had likely stopped when it hit bone, and it was now protruding from his left shoulder. Anticipating pain, he gritted his teeth and pulled at the bolt, yanking it out of his body with a cry of pain. Blood flowed in rivulets out of the wound, but Magnus paid no attention. A cold shiver ran through his body as his brain processed the sight before his eyes. The head of the bolt was blue.

"Lenerium..." Magnus thought as the implications became clear. This was no bandit attack; this was an assassination attempt...

Magnus walked slowly towards the trees, expecting any moment to feel the surge of energies in his body, indicating that his brain was working on mending the shoulder wound. Yet, nothing was happening...

"The last time, my magic returned the second lenerium was removed from my arm..." Magnus thought, nearing the place where he heard a cry.

"Maybe if it penetrates my body... or maybe if it touches my blood it takes longer for the magic to return?"

He felt a pang of worry in his gut. He barely knew anything about the strange metal. Yet he did know it was extremely expensive and quite brittle, so only a fool would use it for a crossbow bolt... unless one wanted to kill a mage.

Magnus made a few more steps and then spotted his attacker. He was lying face down on the ground and Magnus approached him cautiously, straining his eyes to spot any kind of movement in the receding light of the day. Then, he realized his caution was unnecessary. The assassin was dead.

"So much for the answers..." Magnus thought, turning the body over and searching through the pockets.

"Nothing..." Magnus exclaimed with a hint of frustration. The man was probably just a paid assassin anyway. The pain in his arm reminded Magnus of his wound and of the fact that his healing wasn't working...

"I'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way..." Magnus thought, walking back towards his horse. Rummaging through his bags, he found some clean cloth and miraculously, some of the healing ointment that Fiona used to buy from her sources. It must have been among his things since before he developed his healing abilities. He rubbed it over his wound, grunting in pain and hoping the ointment would work. Then he bandaged the wound carefully and sat on the ground sighing heavily.

"I must have stirred some attention after all..." He thought, realizing the implications. Instead of going west in a straight line from elven lands, he had chosen to travel south, following the same way he had used to get to elven lands, through Fluvia and its capital Charobny, then through Vistania's Highfort and then finally heading for Nessia. He had traveled through every major city that was even remotely on his trajectory, hoping to find some clue, some information, just in case the directions he had gotten from the Seer were no good. He had asked questions, describing Lina and watching for clues on the faces of people he had asked, but without result. Yet somebody had obviously been rattled enough by his questions to want him dead, and it seemed that same somebody had spared no expenses.

"I wish they had tried something BEFORE I went through three whole countries... Then I would at least have some idea where to go and poke... Now, after asking questions in so many places, I have no way of knowing where and whom did I provoke..." Magnus thought, stretching on the ground.

"No... I must continue west and hope that the Seer was right. Hopefully, my magic will be back after a night's sleep."

***

Magnus woke up, feeling a throbbing pain in his shoulder. He groaned, realizing he was still cut off from magic. He was getting worried.

"I am not sure if I will be able to accomplish much without it... but I must press on. I am still a week or two away from the coast and plenty can happen in that time. I really hope it is just a matter of time before my magic returns...," Magnus thought while he was reapplying bandages to his shoulder. The ointment had clearly helped, but not as much as it usually did. It all seemed so weird. He rubbed some more of it on his wound and covered it with a clean bandage.

After another day of riding, he stopped at dusk and was somewhat relieved to see the wound was healing. There was still some pain and discomfort, but it felt much better. If only he could say the same about his magic... He felt so strange and so empty without it. The world looked so different to his eyes now. He was used to seeing the energies flowing everywhere, and now everything seemed so static and so... bland.

Magnus ate in silence and then stretched out on the ground. The sleep wouldn't come easy to his troubled mind. His search for Lina seemed a hundred times more complicated now unless he got his magic back. Maybe Fiona would know how to deal with his problem? Or maybe the mages at Vistania's court?

"I am not turning back now... I must hope for the best," Magnus thought as sleep finally overwhelmed his tired body.

In the morning, he was once again disappointed by the absence of magic. He would have to get used to the feeling. His shoulder was nicely healing, at least. Looking up, he realized he had overslept since the sun was well above the rim. He stretched out, preparing for another day of riding...

"I swear it, when I find Lina and get her to safety, I will not move from one place for a year... I really hope she is all right. It has been so long since she was taken, and if they hurt her, I'll..."

Magnus's train of thought was interrupted by the sudden realization that he wasn't alone. Troubled by his thoughts, he hadn't even noticed a group that entered the clearing where he was camping. Magnus blinked in surprise. There were five of them, and they were all women... and they all had their weapons out. Magnus raised his hand in salute.

"Hello, I wish-"

"Not a step further, you scum!" a woman with braided hair said. Her accent sounded strange to Magnus' ears but he could understand her. He felt his body tense in anticipation of conflict.

"There are five of them, one armed with a sword, three with a spear, and one with a bow and presumably a knife. The way they are holding the weapons though... Only the braided one seems to have experience with arms... I can take them, yet I doubt I can do it without hurting some of them..." Magnus thought, assessing the situation. His sword was lying sheathed on the ground, only a few paces away. On the other hand, they were standing between him and his horse, thus making the eventual undignified retreat impossible... He saw the obvious tension on their faces, the nervous and clumsy clutching of weapons, and a hint of fear on some of those faces. They were trying hard to hide it.

"I can't simply surrender either... I mean, gods only know what their intentions are... What an absolutely delightful moment to be without magic," Magnus thought, sighing inwardly. Not having his powers had left him with far fewer options...

"I don't wish you any harm... I am simply passing through," Magnus said, forcing calm in his voice.

"Of course you are passing through... on your way to report to the slavers, right?!" the braided woman said with contempt.

"I am not working for slavers! I am also searching for someone taken by them and-"

"Save your breath, scum!" the braided woman spat. "Save your lies for someone who believes in them!"

"Damn it, this won't go well... What do I do here? They are all women, gods help me, and I resent the possibility to harm them, yet I can't just give myself up either... What would happen with my search, what would happen to Lina?" Magnus thought, gritting his teeth in frustration. He had already worked out a path of attack, but he couldn't make himself do it.

"Maybe I could just rush those three to the left and then go straight for the horse... I need to be really fast-"

His thoughts were interrupted once again when he spotted a hint of movement behind the big woman who was standing to the left. Two inquisitive eyes emerged behind the woman's legs for a few seconds only, but for Magnus, it was more than enough. He breathed out, releasing the tension from his muscles. Deep inside, he was thankful that the decision had been taken from him.

"All right, I surrender!" Magnus said in a level voice, raising his hands high. The women moved cautiously, circling him slowly until he felt the tip of a blade under his chin.

"Just give me a reason!" the braided woman hissed, watching him with intensity and hatred. Magnus ignored her look, focusing instead on the little girl of no more than eight or nine. She was looking at him with curiosity and just a hint of apprehension. He wanted to smile reassuringly, but it was hard with a sword pressed at his neck.

"Ana, we need some rope," the braided woman said. The big woman nodded.

"Leah, search his bags for rope," Ana ordered to a dark-haired girl. The girl hurried towards Magnus' horse and started searching through his bags.

"I got it!" she exclaimed and brought the rope, which they used to tie Magnus' hands behind his back.

"He is all tied now, nothing to fear Mona," the braided woman said looking at the little girl with affection.

"Oh Dinah, I am not afraid of him... I don't think he is a bad man," the little girl said, making Magnus show a hint of a smile. The braided woman, Dinah, scowled at him and then she shook her head.

"They are all the same... Now let's move! Leah, help Mona onto the horse, she gets a ride to the village!" Dinah said and then smiled at the expression of happiness on Mona's face.

The group set off northwards. Leah was leading the horse that Mona was riding, and Dinah and Ana were discussing something and occasionally glancing behind to check up on Magnus. Magnus was walking behind them, flanked by the two other women who had their spears at the ready.

"There is something strange about all this... I've never seen women in the role of warriors, with the exception of Elves, of course. But that's not the weird part... The way they move, the way they held their weapons before... They are clearly not comfortable with those weapons, so why are they acting as warriors then?"

They were walking for some time and he had the time to observe them more closely. The braided woman, Dinah, was clearly the leader of the group. She was somewhere in her early thirties probably and she was the only one who could have passed as a warrior. She had an athletic body and Magnus had to admit she was attractive in a primal kind of way. The big woman, Ana, was a tall brunette with a voluptuous body, somewhere in her late thirties or early forties. She was an eye candy in her own way, with her rounded curves and pretty face. She seemed to have a degree of authority in the group as well. Leah, the dark-haired girl, was a relatively small and very cute girl of about twenty. She was by far the least warrior-looking. The two women flanking Magnus were somewhere in their thirties, dark-haired, and also without a warrior build and posture. And of course, there was the sweet and inquisitive little girl Mona. All of them had somewhat darker skin and were all dressed in leather pants and shirts.

"They probably grow cattle... That is by far the most common source of leather and I doubt they are hunting many deer in these lands. There are more grasslands here than forests..."

The sight of smoke rising above the bushes interrupted Magnus' musing. They had reached the village.

Magnus saw a large number of tents made of cattle skin, strewn across the land without some particular order. Perched on Magnus' horse, Mona smiled and waved to the villagers who watched the group stride through the village. The sight of Magnus, whose hands were tied behind his back, had attracted a lot of curiosity and a few angry looks as well. But one thing struck Magnus the most. He had seen plenty of people looking at them and asking questions from Dinah and Ana, yet the woman-to-man ratio seemed to be no less than ten to one. It was bizarre.

"I don't think I have ever seen such disparity in numbers... What the hell happened here?" Magnus thought, his curiosity piqued by the strange sight. The group strolled to a big tent in the middle of the village.

"That is quite a catch you got there, Dinah," a young woman said, exiting the big tent. She was looking at Magnus with unhidden curiosity, and Magnus couldn't help looking back at her. She was quite a beauty. Relatively tall, dark-haired, and with a striking face, she gave off an air of authority, yet she couldn't have been older than Magnus...

"She must be some kind of chieftain... I've always thought that tribes like this one picked their leaders based on their strength and their warrior abilities. After fighting Lanaya, I would be a fool to underestimate female warriors, but somehow, I don't think she is really one... And besides, Elves are a special case as their natural magic makes them faster and more agile than humans," Magnus thought as he held the chieftainess' eyes. On his way towards the village, he was thinking about possible ways to escape, but now, he felt his curiosity overwhelm his desire for freedom. There was some kind of story here.

"What is your name, stranger?" she asked, still holding his gaze.

"My name is Magnus."

"So, Magnus... What are you doing trespassing the lands of the Owl tribe?"

"I didn't know I was trespassing... I was on my way to the coast..."

"Why?"

"I am searching for someone... someone who was probably taken by the slavers. I was going to demand some answers from them," Magnus said with intensity in his voice.

"He is lying, Theia! He is their spy!" Dinah spat.

"I am not a spy!"

"Am I supposed to believe that you were going to demand answers from slavers? You, a lone man who was captured by a small group of women?" Theia said, raising an eyebrow. There were chuckles from everywhere around them. Magnus gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Hey, I surrendered because I didn't want to harm them! I am also a mage but I lost my powers on the way! Yeah... That would just prompt another round of laughter," Magnus thought, unsure how to reply. His silence wasn't leaving a good impression.

"Take him to one of the empty tents and set some guards, Dinah. Let's see if a day without food will make him rethink his answers," Theia said. She turned away from him, but not before giving him a contemptuous look.

Magnus spent his day sitting in a tent with his hands tied and listening to his stomach rumble in protest. He was still conflicted between seeking ways to escape and his curiosity. He was debating the reasons for and against for the umpteenth time when he suddenly tensed, straining his ears. He could have sworn someone was calling him.

"Magnus!"

This time he was sure. The hushed voice was coming from behind him, outside the tent...

"Magnus, do you hear me?!"

"Huh, Mona is that you?"

"Yes! Magnus, are you a spy for the slavers?"

"No, Mona... I said the truth... I am searching for my sister who was taken by the slavers..." Magnus whispered, moving close to the back 'wall' of the tent. The cattle skin wasn't proving as much of a sound barrier.

"I believe you! I have a good feeling about you, you know? I am smart that way!"

Magnus smiled. At least somebody believed him, even if it was just a little girl.

"Mona, you might get in trouble... There are guards outside, they might hear you..." Magnus whispered.

"Pfh, I get in trouble all the time! I am going to find a way to smuggle some food for you."

"Thanks, Mona, but please don't get in trouble over it, I can manage..."

"Don't worry!" Mona said and Magnus could hear her sneak away from the tent.

As the evening neared, Magnus was finding himself increasingly bored. It was probably the hardest thing about his captivity.

"At least I am not hungry anymore..." Magnus thought with a smile. Mona had managed to make a small hole in the back wall of the tent, near the bottom, and she used it to push some meat and bread for Magnus. It felt funny eating the food like that since his hands were tied behind his back, but he wasn't going to complain.

"She seems a proper troublemaker... I remember Lina being the same at her age... Oh Lina, will I ever find you..."

Magnus heard voices outside, and soon he saw Dinah enter the tent, followed by two male warriors. Their faces were grim and Magnus saw hostility in their postures.

"Ah, spy... The night is coming, so rather than keeping people awake to guard you, I will tie you to the ground instead," Dinah said, her eyes glinting. She was licking her lips unconsciously. Magnus remained silent. It took some time for them to put pegs into the ground and secure them, but before the night took its hold, Magnus found himself tied spread-eagle on the ground. At least they let him drink some water and do his business before they tied him down. Still, it wasn't going to be a comfortable night.