Jeff Inlo - Chain of Bargains

It didn't make sense, not to Holli. She understood goblins far better than the captain realized and she made the point clear.

"And you would not even put up a fight? You have a defensible position! You are situated between two rivers. Your only weak spot is the forest to the south, but you have a sufficient clearing to build several bulwarks. You could erect walls and towers, even dig a moat to connect the two rivers and allow the flowing waters to form yet another barrier."

As Holli watched the captain, she saw something more than fear or incompetence in his reaction to her outburst. He kept looking to the guard next to him, worrying much more about his presence than Holli's rebuke.

"You thought of this," Holli confirmed while reading the man's expression. "You knew you had a choice, but there is more to it. You could have defended the town against the goblins that entered, but you decided not to. He is paying you! Isn't he? This Prilgrat has purchased you and you sold out the town you were supposed to protect!"

She almost slapped him. She wanted to, with all her heart. Her fury burned with deep personal emotion. She had been an elf guard. She accepted that duty as if it was a covenant with a divine being. The responsibility of protecting her camp became her purpose and her identity. She devoted her being to that responsibility and never looked upon it as a sacrifice.

In fact, sacrifice became a foreign concept because there was nothing in the land that meant more to her than the honor of her position. She achieved all she could possibly desire, and thus, there was nothing left to forgo. The only thing that forced her from that duty was the knowledge that it was the only way for her camp to survive. In an act of pure sacrifice, she gave up everything for her duty. She ceased being an elf guard to her camp. It hurt her more than she could ever reveal, but she accepted it as would any true elf guard, and here was a man who could be bought with a few handfuls of shiny metal, nothing more.

Being in his presence disgusted her.

"We are leaving your town," Holli growled. "Be satisfied with that. Do not attempt to follow us and send no message to Prilgrat. Inform your men to disregard this event… that our capture was a mistake. Do you understand?"

The officer nodded, but said nothing. The response was insufficient and Holli made her meaning clear.

"Then understand this, just because I have left does not remove me as a potential threat. Magic can strike from a great distance. If you know anything about me, you know I have power beyond your imagination at my disposal."

Before they released the captain and his escort, Ryson made one last demand of his own.

"The man you sent forward is unconscious in an alley. The guard you sent for help is tied up around the corner. See to them."

Drawing the magical energy back within her essence, Holli ended the spell that was only a light show, a harmless incantation to impress children, nothing more. As the green orb disappeared, she turned from the captain, quickly chose a side alley, and motioned Ryson to follow her. She leapt away with the grace of an elf.

Ryson followed. Once out of earshot of the captain, he pressed Holli for their true objectives.

"Are we really leaving? Or should we check out that warehouse first?"

"No, the goblins are pawns-always have been and always will be. I am more concerned with the one who is influencing the events of this region. We will go see Prilgrat before he can be warned we know about him."

"You think the captain will talk?"

"No, but I do not have the same faith in the soldiers that were with him or the ones in the station. They saw you move. They saw my ears. They know you are a delver and I am an elf. One of them will talk. Word will spread that we were here and escaped. This Prilgrat will discover it. I want to find him first."

Pressing his own perception into the thoughts of a sorceress who once begged for his aid, Enin probed Heteera as if he had taken a physical presence in her mind. The bizarre complexity of the labyrinth always amazed the wizard. As opposed to layers of thought and consciousness that blended together like the petals of an intricate flower, Enin wandered through distinct segregations defined by absolute borders and harsh obstacles. He understood it didn't matter how deep he penetrated the sorceress' thoughts, depth was inconsequential. The ability to maneuver and navigate through the confusion proved to be much more important.

The portion that made up Heteera's open awareness appeared to the wizard as a flat, near lifeless, wasteland. Enough responsiveness existed to allow Heteera to remain alive, even to walk and complete simple tasks, but this level of thought produced a minimum of active consciousness. To the wizard's perception, the stunted level of clear decision-making amounted to nothing more than mere tumbleweeds rolling over scorched and empty plains.

In the distance, a ring of mountains surrounded the desolation of Heteera's conscious thought, but the peaks lacked distinction and majesty. They appeared more like a solid wall that encircled a dying land, a dark brown mound forming a simple circle with little character. Though the barrier lacked magnificent splendor in appearance, Enin understood the significance of the mountains. They served not only as the first obstacle Enin needed to overcome, but they also represented the spell which divided Heteera's mind and isolated the magic within her essence.

The barrier had been created by the incantation of another spell caster. During a battle where Heteera's immense connection to magic proved pivotal, the wizard Jure needed to access her pool of energy but wished to avoid the pitfalls from her lack of control. He cast a spell which encased the magical energy within her being, protected it from her self-doubt and insecurities. That spell allowed Jure to feed on Heteera's power, but it also created a self-sustaining wall that divided the sorceress' consciousness.

The spell would not dissipate on its own. It existed on the tremendous flow of energy fed by the sorceress' connection to the magic throughout Uton. There was no drain on the spell itself, nothing within Heteera's essence that conflicted with the spell's intention. Unless the casting was magically assaulted by a spell of superior power, it would remain in place until Heteera's connection with the magic ceased.

Drawn to the magical energy, Enin crossed the barren flatlands of Heteera's mind as if he flew over a dead sea. As he approached the range of mountainous rock, he pressed lightly against the barricade with his own will. The magic was sealed off completely, like a great river running through a tunnel of rock that could not be breached by nearly any force. The wizard, however, possessed a connection to the magic that defied force, and he considered many different spells that would allow him to break through the walls and free the energy.

He knew he could breach the barrier, but the raging flow of power always forced him to reconsider. Once free, the magic would burst throughout Heteera's essence. She would become the focal point of enormous energy unleashed, yet she was no longer capable of rational thought. He wished to help the sorceress, not obliterate her in a cataclysmic release of power. The wall had broken her mind into pieces, and while it was possible that the removal of the barrier might undue part of the damage, it was also probable that her lack of will would lead to an epic disaster. That always gave Enin pause, and so he pressed onward.

He probed over the wall of rock, attempted to reach beyond it to escape the wasteland that represented Heteera's consciousness. He needed to contact more complex levels, levels of thought that were cutoff by the wall. He could not go through the barrier, but he could will himself over the top.