Master Novice - Part 02

Diana stretched, her muscles tingling from her exercises, and said, “Man, do those things reek!”

Eric looked over from sharpening his sword. “Tell me about it. Wish I had a good old-fashioned gas mask.”

Hank looked up from the fire and said, “Why don't you ask Presto? He used to do that kind of thing all the time.”

Eric laughed and said, “No thanks - if he's still as good with that hat, he'd probably end up with a canister of tear gas or something.”

Diana laughed, then said, “What is he doing in there, anyway?”

Hank shook his head, saying, “You'll see. He's got something planned.”

“Do you agree, then?” Preston asked.

Sheila shrugged. “I guess so. Not much else we can do.”

He nodded. “Exactly.” He clapped his hands together. “Well. I'll take most of the night, and I'll be waking you early.”

Sheila turned toward the exit, and Preston called after her, “Send in Robert, please.”

“Okay.” She walked out of the tent, and stumbled over Rob. “Bad place to meditate, man.”

“Hmm. Sorry.” Rob stood. “He wants me?”

Sheila nodded. “Yeah.” She turned away, then turned back. “Those things can't understand us, can they?” she asked, pointing at one of the bugbears patrolling the perimeter of the camp.

“Not as far as I can tell.”

She nodded again. “Good.”

Rob lifted the flap and entered Preston's tent. He paused, marveling at the fact that while it was hardly more than a pup-tent on the outside, inside it was as spacious as many small houses.

He heard footsteps, and turned to see Preston approaching, carrying a huge book with him. “Y'know, I keep telling you, you've got the wrong approach to magic. Do you see me carrying around any forty-pound books?”

Preston shrugged. “Sue me.” He put the book down on a small table nearby, and paused for a moment. He looked up at Rob and said, “This probably isn't going to be easy, you know.”

Rob thought for a second, then said, “How so? I don't see why not.”

Preston sighed. “Well, for one, they're actually right about one thing - Sheila was trespassing on their grounds. So, being as that in both our culture and theirs that not a very nice thing to do, we should let them have Sheila and that's that. But,” he continued, seeing Rob's face start to cloud, “seeing as how she's family and all, I don't think that's a viable option.”

Rob grunted. “So then what 'viable options' do you have in mind, wizard?”

“Well, there's always you and me. I figure, between the two of us, there's more than enough ways to prevent a tragedy.”

Rob considered, then nodded. “You know, you might be right. What's your plan?”

“Easy - we magic the heck out of her. When I awaken her in the morning, I plan on casting fly and stoneskin on her. That way, she'll be able to get out of there, and suffer little damage.”

Rob scratched his chin. “And I can give her stone strength, and cloak of fear... maybe some protection, I don't know.”

Preston nodded. “That's good. To rescue the prisoners, I'm going to weave some illusions around the cage. After all of that, I'm planning on memorizing a few combat spells, just in case.” “Well, I don't have many useful combat spells, but I have a feeling we might have need of some healing magic before the day's done.”

Eric rubbed his temples - between this silly idea of Presto's, and the stench of the bugbears, he was getting a pounding headache. “Let me get this straight - his entire plan consists of layering a zillion protection spells on you, and then just kind of sneaking you out?”

Sheila shrugged. “Well, if you have any better ideas, let's hear them.”

He leapt to his feet. “Damn straight I got a better idea. I say we overpower these guards here, if we can stand the smell, and then beat it - we don't need to stick around for this.”

Hank looked up at Eric against the night sky. “Eric, sit down.” Eric looked down at him for a second, then sat. Hank continued, “You know that's not going to happen. If we did that, they'd all come after us, seeking our blood. This way, we can take care of that immediately.”

Diana spoke up. “Besides, his way, we might have to face maybe as low as one-tenth their current strength - odds that I can handle much better.”

“Agreed,” said Hank. He stood, saying, “We should get some sleep. Sounds like we're going to need it.”

“Sheila.”

“Nng. Go 'way.”

“Sheila - it's time to get up.”

Sheila sat up and stretched. “What time is it?”

Robert glanced at the sky, and replied, “About an hour before dawn.” Looking back at her, he continued, “Hurry - we don't have much time.”

Sheila got up and put her boots on, then walked over to Preston's tent. Before she could reach the flap, it was lifted by her brother.

“C'mon in, sis. We're ready.”

Sheila shuddered at the thought of them having to be “ready” for her, and walked in.

The tent was filled with all sorts of jars and containers, none of which had been there the previous evening. She looked closely at one, and realized that whatever was inside appeared to be moving. She looked away in disgust.

“Quite a place you didn't have here last night, Preston,” she remarked. “Where did all of this stuff come from? How did you get it here?”

He grinned, and reached into a small cabinet. He sorted through it for a second, and then pulled out something Sheila hadn't seen in over a decade.

“The hat! I'll be damned. I thought you had gotten rid of that, or something.”

He shook his head. “I thought about it, but the stupid thing's just too useful. Besides, I'm a lot better at using it now. Watch.” He placed the hat on his head for a few seconds, then whipped it off, called out, “MIRROR!” and reached in. He pulled out a fancy silver lady's mirror and handed it to her. “Quite useful, really.”

She nodded in agreement, and looked into the mirror. “Gawd, I look terrible. Now I remember why I don't adventure any more.” At that, they all broke up in laughter.

Preston recovered his bearings, wiped the tears from his eyes, and said, “Well, that was relaxing. Shall we begin?”

Rob nodded, and said to Sheila, “What I'm going to do is pass on to you the ability to cast a couple of select spells.” Seeing the shocked look on her face, he continued. “I'm passing on three spells: stone strength and two healing spells.”

She nodded, and he added, “I'll need one of your hairpins.”

She reached up and pulled one out, immediately moving the hair it had been holding to another pin. She handed the removed pin to Rob.

He turned to Preston and said, “I need a censor with incense, a chip of granite, the hair of a giant, and a vulture's feather.”

Preston nodded and started rummaging through his various jars. Rob turned back to Sheila and said, “Cast the stone strength as soon as you are brought before the chief, and get the hell out of there. Don't waste any time; it will only last about ten minutes. Do your best to rescue the prisoners, because if you don't things are going to be a whole lot harder on all of us. If they need healing, heal whoever is worst off - you can only heal one person with each spell.”

Preston spoke up. “Here you go.”

Rob took the items, saying, “Thank you.” He lit the incense, got a small silver circle out of his pocket and replaced it with the feather, then picked up the other items in his left hand. Turning back to Sheila, he started to chant and wave his free hand in the air.

The items he was holding started to glow, then one by one faded from existence, leaving the silver circle in his hand. This he firmly pressed against Sheila's palm, and finished chanting.

He took a deep breath and said, “Okay. Now I'm going to cast cloak of fear. Basically, it means that you will be able to radiate an aura of fear. You can only do it once, and it will only last for a few seconds, so use it wisely - I'd suggest use it if you're attacked while freeing the prisoners.”

He pulled the feather from his pocket and again chanted, this time waving the feather over her head. As he finished chanting, the feather burst into flames and was gone. As soon as it disappeared, Rob lightly touched his sister on the cheek.

Speaking in a rather subdued voice, he said, “Okay, that's it. I'm going to get some sleep, if I can,” and walked out of the tent.

Preston looked after him for a second, then turned to Sheila and said, “Talk about anticlimactic.”

She stared at him for a moment, then giggled. “Yeah. So what spells are you going to cast? Going to let me toss around fireballs and call down lightning bolts?”

Preston grinned and shook his head. “Can't. My magics work a lot differently than his, and I don't have the ability to pass that on,” he said, adding, “not unless you want to apprentice yourself to me.”

She lifted her hands to her face, feigning horror. “Me? No, never!”

Preston laughed. “In that case, we'll begin.” He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out what appeared to be a handful of dust. “I'm going to start with stoneskin. This is moderately powerful defense-type magic. You will not suffer any damage from regular attacks, but be warned: you are not invincible - magic can still cause harm. Now, hold out your hands.”

She did, and he stepped closer to her, concentrating on his magic. He started chanting in an odd, distorted language, and waved his hands in the air over her hands. He finished his spell by sprinkling the dust on her outstretched palms.

His eyes refocused, and his sighed. “Okay, that's one.” He reached into another of his pockets and pulled out a tiny feather. “Now I'm going to give you the ability to fly at will. Normally, it would last between an hour and a half, and two and a half hours, but I'm also going to cast another spell which will extend it for at least an extra forty-five minutes.”

He waved the feather about, much as Rob had done bare minutes earlier, a quickly spoke a string of words. Then he dropped the feather, so it fluttered toward her lap, but before it could land, it burst into flame and disappeared. At the same instant, he touched her shoulder.

He immediately launched into another spell, speaking quietly under his breath for a long moment. Then he looked up at her and said, “Okay, that's it. To fly, just think about it - it's about as hard as walking.”

She stood up, and found herself floating a foot off the ground. “Wow,” she exclaimed, “you aren't kidding.”

He nodded, and said, “Watch your head - it would probably hurt if you hit one of the supports.”

She looked up and realized that she was rising. She willed herself down and alighted, smiling broadly. “Anything else?”

He shook his head, and she turned toward the exit. As she lifted the flap to leave, he called after here, "Do be careful".