Free Alutar: The Great Demon by Richard S. Tuttle Page A

innkeeper and rose. The Spinoan soldiers allowed the Aertans a wide berth as the five men slipped out the door and mounted up. Within minutes they were heading north along the coastal road towards Giza. As soon as they were out of sight of the city, they turned into the forest and dismounted, changing out of the Federation uniforms.
    “You played that pretty rough back there,” one Alcean Ranger said to the one who had pretended to be outraged. “We nearly ended up in jail, and I don’t think our stories would have held up all that well. Someone in Valdo must know that the portals are no longer working.”
    “Perhaps,” chuckled the outraged Ranger, “but it sure was fun. I noticed that the sergeant calling us cowards sure left the common room in a hurry. I never even had the chance to hit him.”
    “Well, I am glad you had fun, but we were supposed to hit more than one inn while we were in Valdo.”
    “There was no need,” grinned the outraged Ranger. “By nightfall the whole city will be talking about it. We accomplished our mission just fine.”

Chapter 5
Colonel Loyalty
    There were no forests along the Coastal Highway between Farmin and Giza. Fields of grain stretched inland from the road as far as one could see. On the other side of the road was the shoreline of the Sea of Tears. In places the shoreline was merely a narrow strip of sand, and in other places it was wide enough to host small villages. Travelers would often camp along the shores of the sea, so anyone riding along the road this night would not have given much thought to the campfire with eight people gathered around it. Even if someone did take particular notice of the group, they would find it hard to believe that the camp held eight of the most powerful mages in all of Zara. Three of the men appeared very old, as did one of the women. There were also two younger men and one younger woman. The only person who appeared out of place was the young female elf, and she would not be noticed unless a passerby was making a rather close inspection of the group. Even then, while it might not be quite normal for an elf to travel with humans, it was not unheard of, either.
    “Where are we heading, Fakir Aziz?” asked Dorforun, a dwarven mage who appeared similar to Theos, thanks to an illusion held by Valera. “You speak little of our future travels.”
    Fakir Aziz sat across the campfire shaping a staff out of a piece of black wood. He looked up and blinked as he saw the face of Theos, as if it took a moment to remember that a dwarf sat behind the illusion. He let out a slight sigh.
    “Our path is not yet clear, Dorforun,” stated the Mage, “but even if it were, I would not speak of it.” He gazed around at all of the questioning eyes staring at him, and he sighed again. “I know all of you have inquisitive minds, and your curiosity is surely peaked by my secrecy, but you need to remember the nature of our adversary. The Great Demon has the ability to hear and see many things in ways that your minds cannot comprehend. I will tell you what you need to know when you need to know it. You must have faith in me.”
    The dwarf nodded and the others lowered their eyes to stare into the fire. Fakir Aziz sighed heavily as if the weight of holding all of his thoughts secret was pressing down on him. He also lowered his gaze, but not to the fire. He sat staring at the broad ring of sand around the campfire, and he suddenly smiled. With an imperceptible twitch of his hand, a small dust devil arose in the sand. It was a tiny thing and not worthy of notice, but the Mage slowly widened the funnel to encompass the entire area between the mages and the fire ring. At the same time, he lowered its height until it was just skimming the ground. The sands near the feet of the mages began to flow in a clockwise rotation, although it was too weak in areas where the fire blocked the view of the Mage.
    The other mages took notice as sand began to dust over their feet.