Galena reached for the hilt of her sword even as Elenio and Tark drew theirs. She took in the sight of these creatures, having only heard about them in stories during her childhood. Unlike a fully-grown torlic that had been trained in the bowels of Rau’s palace, these dark creatures were a good two feet shorter. Their skin was dark red, almost black and the horns upon their heads were barely stumps. They still had long hair, but it fell in greasy sheets over their faces, covering most of their features. They lacked the rippling muscles as well, although they still had a well-toned appearance. She could hear their raspy breathing and wondered how she had missed them sneaking up behind. Galena found that this combination of different characteristics and her limited knowledge of them to be even more disturbing than dealing with the torlics that had been chasing them for weeks. At least she knew what to expect with torlics.
She pulled her sword and prepared herself for a battle, her nerves tingly with fear as she realized she would not be able to call upon magic when things became difficult. She tried to push that particular thought to the back of her mind.
Shifting her weight to a more comfortable position, she noticed Morgo from the outskirts of her vision step up, and looking determined, waved a hand in front of him. Just as she was taking a calming breath before she lunged, all of the torlos crashed to the ground. Loud snores could be heard all around, making her feel as if they were coming at her from all directions. She dropped her sword arm and turned to look at Morgo in amazement. He still held his hand in front of him, a determined look upon his sweat covered face.
Elenio cautiously approached the fallen torlos, but Morgo cried out softly, “You must not touch them or they’ll wake. Once we pass, I will take care of them, but we must pass without them waking. I will explain once we get away.” Wiping the sweat from his brow, Morgo motioned for them to go quietly past the torlos, indicating once more the importance of not touching the bodies. Tark led the way quietly and slowly, followed just as slowly by Elenio.
Before she began to weave through the sleeping bodies, Galena turned to Morgo and grasped him by the arms. “While we head to the Mountains of the Gods, you must explain to me as much about magic as you can.”
Morgo nodded fervently.
She firmly believed that if anyone could teach her anything worthwhile about magic, it would be Morgo. Galena slowly stepped over legs, arms, and other body parts. She felt as if she were competing in a dangerous game in which failing meant a certain death. She had never cared for games of any sort. She came dangerously close to kicking a torlo in the head when he grunted in his sleep and turned over. Pausing to make sure the shifting torlo would remain still, she gingerly stepped past, suppressing the urge to jab the dreaming torlo in the head for almost making her lose this dangerous game.
Reaching the other side of the pile of sleeping monsters, she turned with Elenio and Tark to watch Morgo’s progress. He seemed to be moving even more slowly, bending down beside each one, and depositing a small item before moving on again. He made sure to put at least one of these shiny items by each fallen body before moving on. After what seemed like hours, he finally reached the other side. He motioned for them to take several steps back, before he turned around himself. Galena saw the same determined expression cross his face as he once again waved a hand slowly in front of him. Instantly, each of the shiny items burst into flames, spreading quickly over anything a few feet from them. Within seconds, the torlos were consumed in a white-hot fire. Galena cringed as she heard the tormented screams echoing through the tunnels. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the torlos rising all around, trying to beat out the all-consuming flames before falling to the ground again, where the flames reduced them to a pile of ashes. The screams would be enough to haunt her for years to come; she didn’t need the images to accompany those sounds.
The four elves retreated further back as the fire grew more in intense in heat and light. Galena turned toward Elenio, burying her head in his chest, but not before she caught the look on Morgo’s face. Morgo’s black eyes were unusually bright and his expression grim. Apparently, taking the life of another creature did not suit him well either. As quickly as the fire had begun, it died away, revealing an even blacker area covered in soot. It was all that remained of the torlos.
“Let’s be on our way before more come to find out what happened to their hunting party.” Morgo turned and headed back down the tunnel until he reached the entryway of the split. Without hesitation, he turned and headed down the left tunnel. They followed Morgo down the winding path, at a quick pace, for hours. At times, they found themselves jogging to keep up. Galena began to feel an ache in her legs and back from the continued pounding of feet on hard stone. The impact jarred her entire body with every step and made her head ache miserably. This feeling only intensified as the day wore on.
Finally, having deemed a larger area in the tunnel as an appropriate stopping point, Morgo turned to face them and swinging his bag off his back, began to get a campfire and food ready for them. Elenio put one hand on his hip, leaning backward while rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand. Tark was attempting to stretch his shoulders by grasping his hands behind him and stretching them out and up as far as he could go. Galena plunked down on the ground and lay back on the cold stone again. The cold felt soothing on her aching muscles and head. Her body hurt from the very tips of her toes to the top of her head. Even the weight of her hair seemed to be too much at the time. She thought once again about what a miserable place this would be to live. One would have to have shoes made from the thickest faux in order to walk comfortably, for any length of time. Twoit came out of her pack then and seeing Galena lying flat on the ground, scrambled over to her and nuzzled her ear affectionately.
“I’m alright, just tired,” she whispered quietly to the fuzzy, little animal. She reached up and scratched behind Twoit’s ears in which the ferret turned her head, and nipped Galena’s fingers playfully. Bounding across Galena, she scampered down the tunnel in search of her own meal. Morgo watched the tiny creature go, as he often did. He never brought up the fact that ferrets were supposed to be extinct in Tomiro, but simply seemed to enjoy the little creature’s company and promises of good luck as the others did.
“Alright, now explain why you didn’t want us disturbing the torlos’ slumber,” Tark said quietly as he too watched Twoit disappear down a tunnel.
“Using magic is a lot like exercising, as I’m sure you have noticed,” Morgo nodded his head at Galena. “Sure, it’s fun to swim for a while, but once you’re tired, you generally get out. One would not keep swimming or jogging until dead, your body would shut down before then. For your mind and body will generally fight for life even when you think it would be easier to die. Only the elf that truly holds no regard for life, will let themselves slip into the void of the other world. Every now and then, the need arises and you continue until you pass out from exhaustion. I could continue to put the torlos to sleep as they awoke until I could dispose of them, but like exercising, I would only be able to do this for so long before wearing out and collapsing. When trying to preserve one’s life in the face of danger, this is not the best idea. Plus, putting creatures to sleep requires more strength, because you have to fight against their conscience, which is telling them that they should be awake.” Morgo paused to let this information soak in while he took a swig of water from his flask. “This is something that I happen to be good at, just as some elves are particularly skilled with the sword or at running long distances. Every elf seems to be better in one area of magic than others. I became quite fond of putting my sister asleep whenever she annoyed me, thus the reason I can put larger groups of creatures, or elves, to sleep.” At this, Morgo grinned at Tark, his voice almost had a ring of amusement to it.
Tark returned the grin before turning to Galena and winking.
Galena simply rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the food she had been handed.
“Like exercising, you can build up your endurance when doing different types of magic. The key is to practice, as you would do with any other thing that you wanted to be accomplished at. Nevertheless, even with the amount of practice that I have had, twenty torlos is a lot to handle. I was surprised at just how tired I felt after putting them to sleep. Even with the jires, I was unsure if I would be able to start a fire that would finish them off. In that case, I was going to rely on you and your swords.”
“Jires? Is that the glass orbs that you laid all around them?” Elenio asked.
“Yes. They are glass balls formed by elves that are particularly good at working with glass, and filled with a flammable liquid found in certain stones around the underground rivers. It takes a particularly strong elf to be able to harvest this liquid from stones. We create them just for moments like these, because creating a fire with something that cannot easily catch fire takes a great deal of strength. Creating several fires would wear anyone out.” Morgo finished simply.
Galena looked down at her hand uncomfortably, recalling the lesson she had learned doing this very thing. She was lucky it had not done more than numb her hand for a couple of hours. If she had tried to do more or catch more of the Torlic on fire, she might not have made it this far.
As if sensing her thoughts , Elenio pulled Galena toward him, and sitting her in his lap with her back against his chest, he wrapped his arms protectively around her. Inhaling deeply, he nuzzled the back of her neck lovingly. She placed her hands on his and smiled contentedly. Twoit came scurrying back, carrying another strange mouse like creature in her mouth. She placed the dead creature by the packs, coming over to nip Galena’s shoe affectionately before returning to her meal.
“Do you think Rau knows where we are?” Elenio asked as he stroked Galena’s thumb with his own.
“No, he does not control the torlos the way he does torlics. No marks on their foreheads. I believe they had been hunting us for some time, that’s why so many were sent. They didn’t seem to realize that only one of us is able to do magic or there would have been fewer.” Morgo looked at each of them in turn, seeing the interest on their faces before continuing. “You see, when we travel in the tunnels, a defender always has to be present. We are capable of defensive magic, as you have seen. We normally aide traveling elves from village to village. That was another reason I was chosen to accompany you. I have traveled these tunnels several times and have never lost one in my charge before, even though I have run into countless torlos over the years. Just you watch. Before we get to the next village, we’ll have more trouble. Mark my words.”
Galena did not feel very reassured with this proclamation, but sensing that it would do no good to worry about the situation until it arose. She felt her mind wander to a saying her father always use to tell them whenever they fretted about anything. “If you live worrying about the if’s, you miss the now.”