Wizard Ch. 02

Headed north into the unknown... but first they discover monsters of a type all too familiar to them.

The wagon lurched to a stop. John ignored the lack of motion for a moment. The moment stretched on and then the door to his left opened. He noticed the movement but paid it no heed. If what he was reading was true— and the logic and patterns of the spells were well reasoned and placed— then he should be able to—

"John!"

John jerked his head up and around to see Jennaca staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Wha— can it wait a moment, I've almost got this figured out."

"It's Sasha," Jennaca hissed. "Listen, you can hear her."

John frowned. Sasha was a giant tiger, she could take care of herself. Why he—

John's thoughts were rattled again as he heard the roar. It was distant, but filled with primal rage. "Are you sure that's her?"

Jennaca fixed him with a look.

"Okay, sorry. I was just so close..."

"You can pick it back up later," Jennaca said. "Come on, we need to help her."

"She needs our help?"

Jennaca grabbed his wrist and tugged, pulling him off balance and nearly forcing him to drop his book. "Come on!"

"Hang on," John grumbled and shut the book. He put it back in his chest and pressed the spells on it to make it disappear back into the ether. He grabbed his cane and stepped out. With a touch of dark magic he called on the item's magic and it sprang to its full six foot length, including the crossed blade that looked like an X to whoever was unfortunate enough to be staring down the pointy end.

"What else can that spear do?" Jennaca asked.

John shrugged. "I'm not sure, why?"

"It's been a few days since you figured that out," she said while starting off the path next to the river and heading up into the tree and brush filled hill. "You've been learning new things on the hour lately, it seems."

"I'm trying," John said. He turned and saw Artesia standing behind him, her hand on her sword. "Stay with the wagon."

"I have to protect you," she said.

"I can protect myself well enough," he said.

She snorted.

"Next time we spar, should I use my magic?" he asked.

The woman-at-arms's nostrils flared. She shook her head and said, "No, but you have to teach me how to do that."

John hesitated and then nodded. So far he'd taught her only the basest of magical tricks and spells. She struggled to learn them and struggled harder to put them to use, but maybe if she had something to identify and associate the magic with it might help her. "Okay. You and Zynga keep watch."

Artesia snorted again. Zynga was as likely to raid the wagon herself as she was to protect it.

John turned and hurried to catch up to where Jennaca waited for him. "Just us, I guess."

"Anyhow," she said. "A walk in the woods is just as good for you as studying and learning new things," she said. "Especially when a friend is in trouble. Now be quiet... or as quiet as you can."

John raised an eyebrow at the gentle rebuke. He summoned up his magic and thought through the spells he'd managed to master, wondering which, if any, he might need. Some sort of protection might be nice, but he already had the necklace he'd taken from Jaspara that shielded his flesh from harm. He could still be hurt, but it took a lot more effort to pierce or cut him. A log upside the head would leave him senseless too.

Sasha's roars grew louder while John pondered how he might best respond to whatever was coming. Jennaca slipped between the bushes like a shadow, leaving them barely even moving, let alone making any noise. She had a hand on her hand axe, keeping it tight to her thigh so the branches and brambles didn't get caught on it.

John made up for her silence even though the bushes seemed to slide off his magical robe. His big feet found the sticks she missed and his staff bumped branches, trees, and rocks sticking out of the ground.

Sasha's roars and the cries and shouts of men drowned out the thunks and cracks John made. Nearly another minute of traveling up one hill and down another brought them to a small clearing caused by the rocks that emerged from the dirt of the hillside. Jennaca and John hung to the trees at the edge of the clearing where the large boulder emerged from the ground. Sasha was ahead, her back to a cliff side while three men approached. Two held spears and a third held a net. A fourth man was behind them his arm clutched tight to his belly. Blood dotted his legs and the ground around him. The man's net was on the ground to Sasha's left. She was favoring her rear left leg too, putting as little weight on it as possible.

"She's hurt and outnumbered," John whispered. "Nets and spears... they know how to fight her. Do you want me to entrance them or leave them dazzled? I could blind them too, or—"

"Just wait," Jennaca replied.

"Wait? They might hurt her!"

Jennaca shared a wicked smile with him. "Trust her."

John frowned and looked back. He prepared his hand to trace out the pattern to weave bands of magic around the three men and leave them slowed and confused while they struggled to pull and cut themselves free of the phantasmal bonds.

The men advanced, unaware of the threat behind them in favor of the tiger before them. Sasha roared and limped back until her haunch bumped the rocky wall behind them. She roared and snapped at the wall then.

The men laughed. The hunter with the net swung it around and around, building momentum and spreading the weighted points so it would fly true.

"Jen..."

"Just wait," Jennaca said even though she slipped her bow off her shoulder and fitted an arrow to it. She didn't draw back, but she was ready.

The man with the net tensed and took a step forward while his arm came around. Sasha leapt straight up, her wounded leg driving just as powerfully as the other three. The net flew under her while she twisted and caught the edge of the cliff side in her claws. She pounced around, springing off the rocky wall even before her upward motion had stopped.

"Blood of the Ampytheans!" John cried out as Sasha leapt over the three men and landed. She spun around and roared at them, trapping them between her and the cliff.

The wounded hunter screamed and tried to run, only to trip over himself and end up falling on the blood stained rock. Sasha stepped to the side and dropped one paw, claws fully extended, on his wounded arm and pressed him down to the rock.

"Come on," Jennaca said and stood up. She stepped out into the clearing and let the sunshine highlight her tanned flesh on display. She glanced at the wounded man and then looked to three trapped beside the cliff.

John was a step behind her. He held his spear like a walking staff but was ready to bring it around if need be. In truth, he wanted his hand free to throw a spell. He could pull the rocks above the man to try and start a small rock slide that would injure or bury them.

Jennaca kept walking and reached down with a free hand to rub Sasha between the ears. Sasha, in turn, leaned in and rubbed the side of her head against Jennaca's thigh. Jennaca smiled down at her and then looked at the three shocked men. "Are you done hunting her or do you want to try some more?"

The man that had thrown the net motioned for the other two to lower their spears. "This tiger's yours?"

Jennaca sighed. "She's not mine, she's my friend."

"She stole our deer," he stated. "We had it up draining and she came and snatched it."

Jennaca looked at the nets on the ground. "Hunters with nets?" she asked. She scratched under Sasha's ear. "I've known a lot of hunters. I've been a hunter, believe it or not. My mom keeps track of the hunters up where we're from, you see, and in all that time I've never known a hunter to use a net. A trapper, maybe, but they usually prefer cages and snares and traps. No, a net is something used to take prey alive...

"So what I keep asking myself is: if you're afraid of something that can carry off an entire deer, why would you want to capture it alive?" she asked.

"We never said we were hunters," One of the spear wielders said.

Jennaca pointed the end of her bow at him. Her knocked arrow was pinched in place by her finger so it didn't fall free. "True, you didn't. I made an assumption, and 'm sorry for that. Very ignorant of me. So tell me then, what are you?"

"Entertainers," the man with the net said. "I'm Blasim. This is Hector and Roderick. The man your, ahem, friend is stepping on is Amos."

"Amos is going to lose his hand," Jennaca said. "Stop threatening my friend and I'll be happy to make a poultice of some herbs that will keep the infection from spreading."

"You're kind... um..."

"Jennaca," she offered.

"Lady Jennaca," John insisted.

Jennaca let out a huff. "Just Jennaca is fine."

The men looked back and forth between the two. "Right... well, we've a healer who's fixed worse. Thanks all the same. If you could just, um, have your friend let Amos up?"

"Sasha," Jennaca said and nodded her head to the side.

Sasha looked down at the supine man and sniffed him. She growled deep in her chest and then licked the side of his face. Amos cried out and, as soon as she picked up her foot, he crawled across the rocky ground and then managed to get to his knees and pick himself up. Blood stained his clothes.

"He might not make it to your camp," Jennaca said. "That's a lot of blood."

"We'll get him there," the man said as he picked up his net. He kept an watchful eye on Sasha while he wound the net up and stowed it away on his belt. The men with spears raised them like John did, using them as staves to minimize their threat.

"Entertainers," John said while looking them over. "You're well equipped for minstrels."

"We're not minstrels, we're gladiators," the man with the net said. "We set up fights for towns."

Jennaca stiffened. "And you wanted Sasha to fight for you?"

"She'd bring in good coin. People would pay to see what she could do!"

Jennaca growled and reached for the string of her bow to pull it back.

"Hold," John snapped before she could.

The three men stared at her, wide-eyed, and then jerked the eyes to Sasha as she lowered herself down and growled.

"Have you ever captured a tiger before?" John asked.

The apparent leader shook his head. "What? No... never. I've heard of it, but thought it was just fancy dreams and wine talking."

"Well, don't," Jennaca said. "Ever! You have a choice to fight. If you capture and chain an animal and force to fight, they have no choice."

"They could not fight and die," Roderick said.

Before John could stop her Jennaca drew and loosed her arrow. Everyone stood shocked for a second until then jumped to action at the same time. Hector lowered his spear and Blasim reached for a sword opposite his net. Roderick grunted and then gasped. Jennaca's arrow had pierced the back of his hand and split the shaft of his spear before it continued through and penetrated his leathers far enough to bury the barbed head beneath the skin of his chest.

"What are you doing?" Blasim shouted.

Jennaca had a second arrow nocked and ready to draw. "Kind of sucks not having a choice, doesn't it?"

"Jennaca!" John hissed. "Stop!"

Jennaca wavered before lowering her bow. She returned her arrow to the quiver at her hip but kept her bow in her hand. Less than thirty feet separated her from the three men. Amos was sitting on a rock and watching, his eyes glazed from pain and blood loss.

"Take us back to your camp," John said. "I want to make sure."

"Make sure of what?" Blasim said. "That we've got no tigers in chains? We don't! Just men and a few women."

"Any of them in chains?" Jennaca asked.

"We're not slavers," Hector said.

Roderick let out a hiss of pain as he tried to pull the arrow out of his chest.

"Don't move," Hector advised his friend. "Let's Sadie fix it."

"I'm going to—"

"You're not going to do a damned thing," John growled, his voice thick with power.

"I'm... right."

John nodded. The magic spent, his voice returned to normal. "You were going to show us your camp?"

"It ain't right, we done no harm to you or that cat!" Blasim said.

"She was limping, or don't your remember that?"

Blasim shook his head. "We thought she hurt her foot on a stick of something, we never laid a finger on her. She tore open Amos's arm with a swipe when he tried putting a net on her."

John turned to look at Sasha. Jennaca shook her head. "She's fine. She does that to trick people."

"Cunning," John mumbled.

Jennaca smiled.

"Who are you?" Blasim asked.

"John."

"Lord John," Jennaca said.

John fought back his smirk at the fiery young woman.

"Lord John," Blasim said. "Lord of what?"

Jennaca coughed and then shook her head when he looked at her. There was a twinkle in her eye that made him wonder what she was up to.

He turned back to Blasim and said, "My lands are far from her, to the southeast. I am on a journey north, into the wild lands."

Roderick groaned.

"We're headed north too," Blasim said. "There are some villages that starve for entertainment. They pay well, I'm told."

"There is strength in numbers," John said. "Perhaps, if I can promise my companion won't shoot any more of you... and her companion won't chew on anyone, we could travel together?"

Blasim chuckled and sheathed his sword. "Perhaps. We'll let Amos and Roderick weigh in on that... after we tend to their wounds."

"I can't walk through the woods like this," Roderick hissed. He winced and turned his head before clearing his throat. He shuddered and tried again before he ended up coughing. His body jerked and he grimaced. A fresh drop of blood ran down the arrow to his hand and then down the spear shaft.

Hector moved to look at the wound and scowled. He reached up and poked at Roderick's chest, earning a curse and a raised hand from the injured man. Hector held up his free hand and backed away. "She's not going to come all the way up here, you need to pull it out."

"Watch out," Jennaca snapped. She slung her bow over her shoulder as she strode toward them. Hector jumped back out of the way, his eyes wary as she approached. Roderick's mouth opened and he shook his head. "Oh stop," she chided him. "Pain is only pain."

"Yeah, it means—"

Roderick's reply turned into a howl as Jennaca reached behind her back and drew her sword. It flashed up between the spear and Roderick's chest. The blade circled back down and around until she slid it back into her scabbard in a single smooth motion.

Roderick staggered and dragged his spear across the rocks He stared at his hand still stuck fast to the spear and the shattered arrow shaft that emerged from between his bleeding fingers. Jennaca followed him and grabbed his hand and the spear with one hand. Her other hand grabbed the arrow and yanked it free.

Roderick spit and sputtered at the half naked woman's actions. It wasn't until his spear fell to the rocks at his feet and he was staring at the blood running down his hand and adding to that coming from the cuts in his fingers the arrow's blade made that he realized what had happened.

"Now you can walk," Jennaca said while putting the broken arrow back in her quiver.

"By the saints," Hector breathed.

Blasim let go of the hilt of his sword. "Hector, stay with him. Amos... Saints, he's going to pass out!"

Blasim rushed over to Amos and grabbed the man before he toppled off the rock. "Come on, man, let's move!"

He got Amos to his feet and got his moving down the hill to the northeast. Roderick stared at his fist until Hector curled the man's fingers into a fist and showed him how to grab the back of his hand with his other hand and hold against it. He got the man moving then, pulling and keeping him going as uneven steps jarred the arrow in his chest or the blood slowly draining inside his lung made him cough and send fresh pain through him.

John looked at Jennaca and shook his head.

"I think he got the point," she said and turned to follow them back to their camp. "They all did."

John walked with her and said, "I know he got the point... the point of your arrow!"

Jennaca's grin turned to a blush when she saw John wasn't laughing at his joke. She shrugged. "I won't let them hurt animals that don't have a choice."

"You don't seem as upset about light elves being used as slaves... or anyone else, for that matter."

Jennaca shrugged. "Should I be? That's their choice."

"People don't choose to be slaves," John said.

"Really? You did."

John stopped and stared at her. He opened his mouth to argue but no words came out. He shook his head and hurried to catch up to her. "That's not the same," he snapped. "I'm no one's slave."

She kept walking. "What about your Mistress? You do anything she wants you to."

"We have pact. A deal. She grants me power in return for my service."

"You do anything she asks of you, even what you did to Corsa..."

John sighed. "Corsa chose. Just as I chose."

Jennaca turned and bathed him in the radiance of her glowing smile. John blinked, confused. "What..."

"You chose. She chose. We can choose."

"Slaves can't—"

"Yes they can," she argued. "They can choose to not be slaves."

"And get punished... most likely killed."

"They choose freedom," she said with a devastating smile that meant she'd proved her point. "Animals can't do that, they get tricked and trained."

John stared at the beautiful but naïve young woman beside him. Deadly too, he reminded himself. "I can't argue that," John realized. "But I can say that there are a lot of complications along the way that turn black and white into shades of gray."

She tilted her head and nodded. "I suppose, in some ways, you're right. You and I, for example. I never would have figured that I'd be attracted to you, let alone doing what we do whenever we can."

John coughed into his hand. "Yes, well, that's—"

"Magic... or at least at first it was. I know, I had a choice and I was curious. You're a handsome man, John, but I'd never been interested in sex before."

John nodded but didn't speak. He did note how dumb it was that one of his primary goals was to seduce women... yet he was embarrassed to talk to Jennaca about sex.

"I sure am now though. I figured why not see what all the fuss is about - you obviously knew what you were doing and wouldn't disappoint me. Phew! Far from it... you do things to me... Oh dear, I'm starting to get heated up just talking about it."

Perhaps to prove her point Sasha sniffed and sneezed from where she padded through the woods beside her.

"Oh stop it," Jennaca said and swatted Sasha on the shoulder. She took a few more steps and bit her lip. Jennaca slipped her hand down and around her loin cloth and then pulled it up. She caught a passing ray of sunshine that broke through the trees and saw her fingertip glistening with wetness.

"Problem?" John asked through his red face.

"You, it seems," Jennaca said. "My pussy is wet and it feels empty. It misses you."

John looked down the hill. The gladiators were out of earshot and still moving. "We, uh, don't want to lose our new friends... you know, the ones you stuck an arrow in?"

Jennaca glanced at them and grinned. "I could always track them."

"I don't think we should," John said.

She opened her mouth to protest but he held up a hand.

"I know you can track them," he said. "I'm more worried about taking too much from you."

"You said you could control it," she pointed out.

"I can," he said.

She grinned and skipped ahead of him. John watched her speed up, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. She stopped at a large rock and bent over it. John's mouth fell open and the fell further when she reached back and flipped the narrow back strip of her loin cloth up and onto the small of her back.