Impractical Magic

Muld and Syndi battle the necromancer and his minions.

32.

Impractical Magic

 

Eight men advanced upon them, including Tendel, who was chanting a spell.   The flames of the burning corn lit up the night enough to clearly see them and Muld was mostly concerned about the necromancer, who quickly completed his spell and now had black pulsating orbs around his hands.    He had them stretched out before him which told Muld he had cast a Deathtouch spell, which would kill anyone he touched with the orbs.    It was a grim indication of the power of the man, for only the most skilled necromancers could cast such a deadly spell.

Syndi pointed her finger at the nearest crony of the necromancer as he raised his sword to strike her.     A bolt of blue shot from her fingers, striking him in the chest.   He fell dead immediately.

Magic Missiles, Muld thought, pleased at her choice.   But now she’d be vulnerable until she could get another spell cast.

His mind flew through ideas of different spells, but an idea came to him.   Practical Magicians were not battle ready wizards or sorceresses and lacked the powerful arcane offensive attacks.

Yet his master had taught him that even seemingly mundane practical magic spells could be used, if a magician carefully thought out his attack.   

So he chanted the few words to create a temporary invisible wall, (used to suspend something until another spell could be cast  upon something that needed to be cast in mid-air) which he set up to be two feet high and ten feet wide.

He pointed it into place between them and the necromancer and his men.    It came into existence without any visible indication and would only last a few minutes, or until it took enough damage to dispel it, but Muld hoped it would achieve the purpose he had for it.

The attacking men were nearly upon it when he placed it across the path, but they didn’t see anything and rushed forward.

Those in front stumbled over it, falling hard on their faces.    The necromancer was running behind them, focused on getting to Syndi and Muld, whom he (of course) intended to touch with the Deathtouch spell.

So when the men in front of him fell suddenly, Tendel tumbled over them, one hand instinctively reaching out to break his fall.    This hand found the back of one of his cronies, killing him at once.   But even better, the stumbling necromancer fell against his other hand and died immediately.

That left five of them, two still standing, having stopped short, unsure what had caused their fellows to fall.

Syndi shot off her second spell, casting a Burning Hands incantation that seared the face of one of the two standing cronies.

The man screamed in pain, dropping his sword and grabbing at his burnt face.   But he wasn’t burnt bad enough to put him out of the conflict.

The three still on the ground had regained their footing by now, but Muld now cast a Magnetize spell, which those in his craft used to give something the properties of a magnet.   He selected the highest pulling power and quickly squatted and patted the ground, sliding his hand forward, to set the area of effect as the soil in front of him.

Now all the metal that the men carried was strongly drawn toward the ground.    Two of them dropped their swords and were struggling to pull them free from the magnetic effect of the dirt.

Muld glanced around to see Syndi giving him an impressed look at the effectiveness of his practical magic spells.

The magnetic effect was strong, but resistible.   The man with the burnt face had regained his sword and again the five men moved toward them.    Syndi cast a quick sleep spell, pointing at one of them and he slipped to the ground for a quick nap.

They were almost upon them when Muld used a simple Push spell, which he’d used many times while making the cannons, and this pushed the first two men back with enough force to again knock them down.

The third and fourth men carried wooden clubs, unaffected by the magnetize spell and both of them swung at Muld.    He ducked the first blow, but the second one hit him in the stomach, sending him to his knees.   

Syndi reacted with a practical magic spell of her own, casting darkness on the third man’s head, sending him into pitch blackness.

The same man that had injured Muld now swung at Syndi, but she jumped backwards in time to avoid the blow, though there would be no chance for her to cast any more spells with him attacking her.

The two knocked down by his Push spell were again on their feet and advancing toward Syndi.

Ignoring the pain in his stomach, Muld frantically tried to think of a spell that could help her, but all that came to mind was a Shelter spell, which would create an igloo-like sphere over her for as long as it could sustain damage from the blows of the weapons of those who would try to smash inside to get her.

Unless he didn’t cast it on her at all.

An idea suddenly came to him.

It only took him a few seconds to chant the spell, and he materialized it around the three that were threatening Syndi.   Thankfully, the area of effect included the one still groping around in darkness near them.   All at once a semi-translucent sphere enclosed them within.   

They jumped back in momentary alarm, as did Syndi, who leaped away when the shelter suddenly materialized.

Muld immediately began chanting again, not even taking the time to stand up, but crawling over to the edge of the igloo-like magic structure.

The men had recovered from their surprise now and were using their swords and clubs to pound at the structure.    It wasn’t designed to take repeated blows, but as it was sometimes used as emergency shelter in rough weather, it would absorb some blows before dissipating.

It was a race to see if he could finish his spell before the men shattered the magic barrier.

But Muld won, finishing casting the Vacuum incantation and touching the side of the igloo-like structure.

Vacuum was used in the manufacture of the arcane vacuum engines, and it simply sucked all the air pressure out of an enclosed structure up to about six by six feet in diameter, which was slightly larger than the area of the Shelter spell.

Though he knew what it would do, the effect was horrible to see.    The sudden, complete drop of air pressure made the three standing men pass out after several seconds, and the man staggering around in darkness dropped to his knees then fell flat on his face.

For a few more seconds nothing else happened, but then the air pressure in the men’s lungs caused the arteries there to burst in the perfect vacuum, and blood flowed from their noses as they hemorrhaged and jerked.    Then they were still.  

A few more moments passed, the Vacuum spell ended, and the abrupt return of pressure pushed out the corpses’ chests to distorted proportions.

Muld was already standing, shielding a horrified Syndi from seeing more of the effects of the spell, by pressing her head against his shoulder.   She trembled and shook at the rush of excitement and the awfulness of killing and witnessing death.

But for the time being they were not threatened by anyone.

“Oh God, how horrible, killing people!”  She groaned, weeping as he drew her away.

“I’m sorry, my dear, we had no choice,"  He told her.

“I know, I know, but it is awful to see their faces!”

“Shh, it’s alright.”

Muld led her down the path at a quickened pace, for he knew that the fire would draw the people from the town and they would probably not be very happy to find all of their revenue going up in smoke.

A few minutes later they could hear the sounds of shouts and hurrying feet.    Without a word between them, they slipped off into the brush on the side of the path and moved back far enough to be comfortably concealed.

Hundreds of residents from Pattinton raced up the hill toward the fire, some carrying buckets of sand and water in a desperate (and pointless) attempt to extinguish the flames.

“We’ve got to get out of here while they all are preoccupied up there.   If they piece together everything, they may begin searching for us,”   Muld told her.   Syndi agreed and they quickly slipped down the hill avoiding the footpath.

It was slow going, but as soon as they hit level ground, they hurried westward down the road, hoping all the necromancer’s men were up at the fire.

 

They were in luck and after half an hour of walking in the dark, they slowed down, confident that they were out of danger from the people of Pattinton.    The fire on the hillside continued as hundreds of acres burned, glaring bright in the dark night.

“I’m sure people from other towns will come to see what is on fire,”   Muld told Syndi as they walked.

“Yeah.”  Syndi replied, sounding distracted, as if lost in thought.

“Are you alright?   What can I do to help?”  He asked, figuring she was still haunted by the faces of the dead.

But unknown to the Practical Magician, Syndi was struggling with a very out of place and worrisome emotion.   For though she was still sickened at the memory of being forced to kill people, she was also feeling a strange and wonderfully new epiphany about Muld.

It tormented her, for it made no sense why she would feel that way right then, after the nightmare of what they had just experienced.

But when she had seen Muld moving with such deadly confidence and power, using the common practical magic spells with as much authority and skill as a master wizard, she had felt an overwhelming physical attraction toward him.

It was as if he suddenly seemed very virile and mature and she was mortified that during such an awful time, she could be overcome with a strong arousal of him.

She loved him, of course, and had for many months, for his personality and intelligence, combined with his charm, had attracted her to him even before they began experiencing Aleiryid.   

Yet she had not felt any urges like this, ever in her life.   Where she had loved him like a dear brother or close friend, suddenly a completely new feeling had washed over her at the absolutely worst, most inappropriate time.

But she couldn’t shake it.   When he had comforted her after the death of the men in the vacuum, his touch had sent electricity through her.    She wasn’t sure if what she felt was normal or even morally right, but Syndi sensed an emptiness that she desperately wanted him to fill.

She walked beside him as if in a fog.     It took all of her effort to keep her mind from wandering down very adult paths of fantasy which only made the desire she felt more intense.

She needed him to help her generate Qi, but there were far more wonderful and pleasurable interactions they could enjoy together.

Syndi shivered at the thought, feeling very vulgar and naughty, and that just added fuel to her arousal.

Muld saw her shiver and stopped in the road, touching her shoulder, which made her shiver again.

“Are you cold?”  He asked gently, showing tenderness that only further entwined her heart.

“No, I’m not cold,”  She replied, trying her best to sound normal.    What she told him was true, for she was certainly not cold right then.  Instead, she felt almost feverish.

“Do you want my cloak?   It’s warm.”

“No… it’s not that.”   Her heart pounded.   She was going to admit what she was feeling for him.    Exhilaration surged through her as the wild uncertainty of where that might lead occurred to her.

“Well, what is it then?   Are you sick?”  He asked, touching her feverish forehead with the back of his hand.   Again an involuntary shiver went down her body.

“Muld-“  She began to say, but at that moment there came the faint, but very distinct sound of an airship’s vacuum engines, approaching out of the west.

“That might be someone from Westmark,”  Muld said excitedly.    Immediately he chanted a Continual Light spell, touching a tree on the side of the road to act as the source for the spell.    The tree immediately was covered in bright white light.    

The tone of the engines changed, as the airship slowed down to investigate the sudden source of brilliance.

Syndi secretly prayed that the airship would not stop, but to her chagrin it did and when the hover boat was lowered, she was frustrated to find Jevon and Mutt on board.    It was The Autumn Maid, which they had taken on their search for Muld south of Westmark.   They said that they were nearing home when the captain of the airship had seen the distant flash of Syndi’s fireball and the hill engulfed in fire.     So they had turned east and hurried to see what was happening.

“How lucky that you flagged us down!”   Mutt exclaimed as they boarded the hover boat.

“Lucky,” Syndi mumbled as the hover boat slowly rose straight up to rendezvous with the waiting Autumn Maid.