Free The Mage of Orlon: The beginning by Gene Rager Page B

pile of magical energy. This was why the village could get all those hard to get items, they made them. ”
    “ The siege went on for weeks; it was deemed that if Santrose fell to the dark forces it would gain all the magic of the village. So the elders where dispatched to defend the village. ”
    “ Even with all the magic and warriors they had the queen ’ s army fought on, when it seemed that Santrose would fall to the Dark Queen, the elder ’ s gathered as much of the magic as they could and cast one final spell, the result was Cravenwood. ”
    “ All the animals, trees, everything attacked the dark army, tearing them to shreds, but this kind of magic is wild and unpredictable. The forest turned on the villagers as well driving them out of their beloved village. It was the first and last time the elves intervened in the lives of humans, our greatest shame. ”
    Lela fell silent; a single tear fell from her eye. The tragedy still caused such emotions that were uncontrollable. Nate moved closer to the princess and put his arm around her shoulders. Lela wanted to pull away, but in that moment the need to be close to someone was too overwhelming. Lela snuggled into the crook of Nate ’ s chest.
    “ Lela, you tell that story as if you were there. ”
    “ I was Nate, the spell was my idea. I had been an elder for only a week, I was arrogant. I thought if we could cause the dark army massive casualties they would withdrawal. Instead I damned a village to be a ghost town. After that I stopped using higher magic, and became more of a solider than an elder. The king was not happy with me after that, being an elder is the highest honor among our people, but after Cravenwood I no longer trusted my own judgment. ”
    “ What about this ghost archer? ”
    “ Demon archer, those who saw him said his eyes glow red right before he fires his bow. The arrows never miss, some even explode. The few people that have seen him and made it back alive are so scared of Cravenwood now they live in the desert afraid of any trees that might house the archer from the pit. ”
    “ The demon archer lives in the village. ”
    “ Yes, and we will be there in the morning. We have to get through the village to get to Lex ’ s home. Going around the village is certain death; the magic is strongest around the village. ”
    “ So, we go through the village and hopefully, the demon archer is out doing something else or taking a nap or whatever it is that demons do that doesn ’ t involve watching for us. ”
    The night passed fitfully for Lela, finally she was awake. Darkness still shrouded them, the tent was enchanted to keep the forest from spelling their dreams.

Chapter 17
    The morning came with fog that seemed to cling to everything. The fog was unusually cold and damp. It chilled Lela and Nate enough that they pulled the cloaks out of their packs for warmth.
    “ It seems a shame that Crolin only had the one invisibility cloak with two we could just go invisible and walk past this red eyed demon thing. ”
    Nate turned to see Lela ’ s shocked face, at first he thought it might be the comment about the invisibility cloak, but then he noticed the bright red spot on the front of Lela ’ s shirt growing larger. With a thrust forward the blade exploded through Lela ’ s chest, splattering Nate with her blood.
    Lela half mumbled half gurgled, “ Help, me. ” Before the blade was ripped back out from behind. Lela fell revealing an orc with a twisted smile, Lela ’ s blood dripping from the zigzagging blade.
    “ Nooooo! ” Nate raised his hand only to see nothing happening. The magic failed him, he looked at Lela ’ s dead form on the ground her lifeless eyes accusing him of not being able to protect her.
    The orc swung the blade in a deadly arch, Nate rolled just in time for the blade to miss him. Nate stood up, as the orc recovered from his earlier miss. The orc charged at Nate, connecting fully tossing Nate into a pool. Nate swam