Free Ways of Power 1: Power Rises by R. M. Willis Page A

chuckled.
                  "GRRR, Shut it!" Dorbin growled. "Hmmm, though--now you mention it, we should o' been out o' the city forr some time."
    Rancoth, who had been walking slightly ahead due to his longer stride, stopped and turned back to face his  companion. "We haven't been going in circles have we?"
                  "Nah, the sun's been on ourr left the whole time." Dorbin explained. "Waite look therre, that woman, she's passed us beforre." Rancoth turned to see a tall Elfkin woman, which did indeed look familiar.
                  "Somethens not rright," Dorbin whispered, pulling the small ax from his belt, and the shield off his back.
                  "Dorbin, do me a favor," Rancoth said, hefting his long smooth pinewood walking staff in a defensive double handed position.
                  "What?"
                  "Don't talk this time. Pordly, come." With Rancoth's command the stench of sulfur permeated the air, though being outside; it wasn't quite as potent as it had been in Dorbin's shop. Dorbin watched with interest to see what grisly creature the thick inky black smoke would reveal this time. But the smoke just kept growing and growing, until it reached monstrous proportions. Finally a pair of shining, pure white eyes appeared floating around in the midst of the smoldering air.
                  Rancoth stood in deep concentration staring at the beast. Eventually the billowing creature began to grow again. As it did, however, it seemed to dissipate, until finally it was nothing more than a thin veil that appeared to cover the entire city as far as the eye could see.
                  After a short period of time, the city vanished! Then suddenly, the smoke began to rapidly coalesce and then disappeared. Crumpled on the ground at Rancoth's feet were two men. Brandishing his axe, Dorbin ran forward, ready to maim or even kill either of them if they made any sudden moves.
                  Rancoth flung out his arm, palm toward Dorbin in an attempt to halt his charge. "It's okay, they're unconscious, and I know them."
                  "What? Who the hell arre they? No….betterr yet. What' the hell just happened?" Dorbin demanded.
    "The short red headed one is Hilbran, and the taller blond one is Rowley. They're a couple of illusionists who used to make sport of me when I was younger. Jurile usually had to chase them off." Rancoth then knelt down to make sure they were not seriously injured.
                  "Rright well, that answerrs one o' my questions." Dorbin growled.
                  "Hmm, oh sorry." Rancoth said, looking back up. "Pordly is a vapor demon. It doesn't have a mouth, and can be very unpredictable. I thought it best to communicate with it telepathically, so that, as Karakas said, my commands could be quick and decisive. Anyway, it feeds off of arcane energy. After making sure it wouldn't harm either you or me, I asked it if it could sense any of its favorite food nearby.
    "It did, but only for a relatively short distance. I figured that we could no longer be in the city, because the amount of arcane energy that surrounds that many Magi would have stretched for miles. So, I told it to absorb all the nearby energy, save myself of course, and to bring any people it found, other than you, back to me without killing them. Once its task was finished I ordered it back to its realm."
                  "Ahh, well, yes…naturrally," Dorbin said with a hint of sarcasm.
                  "I wish I had said not to harm them. Pordly took advantage of my lapse in command. There's no telling what he did to them, or how long they'll be unconscious." Rancoth squinted up at the sun, and then looked back at Dorbin. "Well, any suggestions?"
                  "Hmm, well, we could just leave the nasty little bugerrs. It's prrobably what they werre gonna do to