Chapter Five

A Leap of Faith

 

 

“No!” I screamed.

I scrambled to my feet and looked, though I was afraid of what I would see. Pemeria was flying down through the air, quickly falling to her death. Dormuris was there beside me, holding the egg, a look of fear etched onto his face. Without thinking about the consequences, I pulled the wooden pendant from my boot, grabbed the elf’s hand, and jumped off the ledge.

The womanliest scream came roaring out of Dormuris as we fell. I probably would have laughed if I didn’t think this was complete suicide. The air whipped around me, deafening. I opened my mouth to cry out to Pemeria, but the wind forced my words back into my throat and my cheeks began to hurt as they flapped roughly. I tried to close my mouth, but it was almost impossible.

It felt like the rocky ground was coming up to meet us, speeding up faster and faster. I reached out and grabbed hold of Pemeria as we overtook her, then I broke the wooden pendant. At first, nothing happened. I remembered what Master Zalore said, about thinking of where you wanted to be. The ground was only fifty feet away, if that. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see my end, and pictured the Academy.

My stomach lurched, and I snapped my eyes back open. We were traveling through a portal, similar to the one that brought us to the Triad’s mountain. The world shifted in and out of focus around us, and this time I thought I was going to be sick.

Everything slowed down, as if time itself were crawling, and then there was a ploop sound. A feeling of dizziness swept over me and I turned my head, expecting to vomit. I didn’t, and the feeling passed. The world stopped spinning and I saw we were lying in the grass of a front courtyard. I sat up too quickly, immediately regretted it, and laid back down. I covered my eyes with my hand and recognized the architecture of the Academy.

We made it.

I laid still for a long moment, then eased myself up onto my feet. Pemeria was on the ground, looking up at me. She still looked angry, but that seemed to the be the case permanently since she’d been turned into a frog. I scooped her up and placed her back into my pouch, then looked for Dormuris. He stood a few feet away, clutching the oversized egg to his chest.

No guards came to investigate, so we made our way inside the building and up to Master Zalore’s office. The door was open and he was sitting behind his desk, reading over the papers scattered upon its surface. He looked up as we entered and rose to his feet, an enormous smile spreading over his breaded face.

“You’re back!” he said triumphantly.

“We are,” I replied, trying to hide the fact that I was in pain.

“Where do you want this thing?” Dormuris huffed, struggling to keep from dropping the egg.

“I’ll take it from here,” Master Zalore answered. He whispered a few words and then motioned with his finger. The egg broke free of Dormuris’s arms and hovered lazily past the old wizard’s desk, onto a stone pedestal.

“That spell could have come in handy,” I said, shooting a glance at Dormuris. The elf shrugged. Sharp pain lanced up my side. I clenched my jaw, trying to ignore it.

“That may have looked easy, but I can assure you it wasn’t. Magic is not something just anyone can do. And for those with the gift, it is not easy to control. Dormuris here is not to be blamed for his lack of control. We are merely tools in the hands of magic, though others tend to believe the reverse.”

I suddenly felt very light and my vision began to swim. “I don’t—” the words abruptly ended and the last thing I saw before the darkness consumed me was the wooden floorboards of Master Zalore’s office coming up to meet my face.

«—»

When I awoke, the first thing I noticed was that everything was bright white. I soon realized I was lying on my back, staring up at the ceiling. I sat up and hissed as my side erupted in pain. I held my side tenderly and looked around.

An older woman dressed in gray robes was carrying a bowl, heading towards me. She smiled as she got close and set the bowl down on top of a table beside the bed I was on.

“I’m sure you’re still in pain, but you’ll heal up nicely. I did everything I could, but my magic is not what it once was. I managed to mend the broken ribs, but the muscles were bruised pretty bad. That’s the pain you’ll be feeling for a few days, but as long as you take it easy, you’ll be back to normal in no time.”

“Thanks,” I said. Judging by the look of the room, I guessed I was in some sort of wizard infirmary.

The woman dipped a cloth into the bowl and wrung it out, then dabbed it against my temple. A stinging made me blink and wince, though it was nowhere near the pain of my side.

“They said you fell right on the floor,” she said softly. “You had a nasty lump on your head, but the swelling is gone now. There’s a small cut, but it doesn’t look like its infected. I just want to be sure, though.”

She hummed softly as she worked and I remembered the sword, how it crooned harmonically when I swung it. Dormuris had said the sword was enchanted with powerful magic. If singing was what he meant, he was crazier than I thought. Then again, when I dropped it fighting the minotaur, it had fallen off the ledge. Yet somehow, it magically came to me when I wished I had it. Was that one of the spells that it was charmed with?

I considered calling for it now, just to test my theory, but thought better of it. I’d hate for the old lady to get frightened or accidentally stabbed. Seeing as how she was a wizard, she probably wouldn’t be frightened. She’d probably seen more scary things than I could imagine.

She finished her work and offered her arm to me. I accepted it, more to humor her than anything else. I didn’t need her help to get off a bed. As soon as I was on my feet, I swooned with dizziness. On second thought, maybe I did need her help. The room spun for a moment, then everything calmed and I was able to walk without her assistance.

I was almost to the exit when Dormuris entered the room. His eyes widened and he seemed genuinely happy.

“I was wondering when you’d finally wake up. You had Pemeria worried.”

“How long was I out?” I asked, confused.

“Two days,” the elf answered. “Though it felt longer.”

Two days? Holy gods!

“It didn’t feel that long,” I said.

“Do you need me to help you walk?”

“No,” I answered. “My side hurts, but other than that I feel fine. Two days? Gods, what did I miss?”

“Not much,” Dormuris said. “You passed out and went down hard. I thought for sure you cracked your skull open. Master Zalore called for the healers and they took you here. I’ve been watching over Pemeria while you were out. Master Zalore was happy we were able to get the egg. He says the quicker we can get the unicorn, the quicker he can change Pemeria back into her normal form.”

“That’s where we’re going next,” I said. “If we can steal an egg from the Triad and escape with our lives, catching a unicorn should be a walk in the woods.”

“Have you ever seen a unicorn?” Dormuris asked.

“No, why?”

“They’re large creatures. Bigger than horses, and an attitude problem you wouldn’t believe. They used to be more common, but they were hunted for their horns and now most people think there’s only a handful left.”

“So, what you’re saying is … this isn’t going to be easy?”

Dormuris shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”

“That’s great,” I sighed. Could one thing go right? Just one?

I followed Dormuris to the room he’d been given to stay in. My clothes were clean and neatly folded on a desk. I stripped out of the white robe I was wearing and put my own clothes on, then strapped my singing sword around my waist. Dormuris collected Pemeria, then we headed to Master Zalore’s office. Again, we found him pouring over papers. When we entered this time, he didn’t look up.

“You’re alive,” he said with a smile, but still didn’t look up.

“It’ll take more than a kick from a minotaur to take me down.”

“That’s good,” he replied. “Because I have bad news.”

“Bad news?” I repeated. “What’s the problem?”

“Are you familiar with goblins?” Master Zalore asked, looking up.

“Extremely. I spent an entire summer hunting down a tribe of them a few years back. They’re quick and spindly, but easy enough to kill.”

“There’s reports that a few have been spotted near Silverwood, which is where you’ll need to go to find the unicorn. There should be three of them, a male and two females. I want one of the females. They are more docile than males, and more magical, too.”

“Do you have to have an entire unicorn? Could you just use some of its hair or something?”

“No,” Master Zalore shook his head. “I need the entire animal.”

“How do we get it here?” I asked.

“The same way you got back from the Triad. I’ll give you another pendant. Speaking of, you didn’t use the last one when you were on the mountain, did you?”

I flashbacked to the moment I jumped off the ledge. Technically, we weren’t on the mountain. “No,” I lied.

“Good. If the minotaurs think the Academy had anything to do with the theft of one of their eggs, there’s going to be hell to pay.”

“I would think wizards could handle minotaurs without much fuss,” I said. “Magic and all.”

“We could, certainly, but you are missing out on the politics. Nevermind that,” the old wizard waved his hand, as if pushing the subject away. “Silverwood is west of here, about three days on foot. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to transport you as close to the woods as I would like. Unicorns are powerful and most magic doesn’t work on or around them, so I’ll have to drop you somewhere near Livaara.”

I groaned inwardly. I’d been avoiding Livaara for months now. I suppose it wouldn’t be too bad. It wasn’t like we’d be staying in town. We were going to Silverwood, so it was doubtful I’d run into Theo and Breg. They were my old hunting partners and we’d been on bad terms for a while now.

“That should be fine,” I said, not hearing the last bit Master Zalore said. “Is there any good news?”

“You’ve almost got your girlfriend back.” The old wizard chuckled, apparently finding that funny. “Well, are you ready to go?” he asked.

“Now? I just woke up after being unconscious for two days.”

“I know, but we don’t have much time. If Pemeria stays in frog form too long, I won’t be able to pull her out of it.”

I was still in pain, but I’d struggled through worse. Like that time I accidentally stepped in my own bear trap when I was tracking a clan of meenlocks. Now that was a story.

“Dormuris, can you fill a pack with some food and water? Once you’ve got that, I guess I’m ready.”

The elf left and then I remembered the man from Thurm. They had a vampire stealing their children. I looked at Master Zalore. “Can you get a letter to Lord Skrinn in Thurm?”

“Absolutely. A good friend of mine lives near there. I can have him deliver it personally. Do you want to write something, or should I?”

“Either,” I answered. “I just need to let him know it’s going to be a few more days before I can get there.”

“Lord Skrinn summoned you?”

“In a way, yes. One of his townsfolk sought me out before we came here. They’ve got a monster that needs dealt with. A vampire.”

Master Zalore nodded. “Fascinating! I’ve never studied monsters, but Master Verus is quite knowledgeable. When you get back with the unicorn, I can have him meet with you if you’d like to know anything about vampires? I’ve heard they are quite dangerous.”

“So have I. And I would definitely like to pick his brain.”

Dormuris returned carrying a pack that looked stuffed to the brim.

“Got enough supplies?” I asked, eyeing the bag.

“I think so.”

I shrugged and looked at Master Zalore. “Let’s get this over with,” I said. “This whole travel by magic is not an ideal way to get around for me.”

“Of course,” the old wizard chuckled again. “Not everyone can handle flying through space and time. Here,” he handed me a new pendant. This one was larger than the first one and had a symbol etched on the surface.

“Use it the same way you did the other one.”

We walked over to where we had transported before. I watched as Master Zalore cast his magic, opening the swirling maelstrom entrance on the floor again. It seemed unnatural that a mortal should have access to such power. Then again, without magic it would be harder to kill certain monsters.

“Remember,” Master Zalore said.

“Don’t die,” I finished his sentence with a smirk.

“Of course, but I was going to say don’t piss off the male unicorn. If he’s feeling extra vengeful, he just might send you into another plane of existence.”

I shook my head and jumped into the portal. Master Zalore smiled and waved and then everything disappeared.