Call of the Waylanders

XVI. The Wizard Slayers

"Who are they? What are they?" Sari asked, searching for an accurate description of what exactly she wished she knew. The Wind had told me nothing, mostly because they had no idea of who or what these people were. I wanted to know just as much as Sari did, but unless we took the "bad idea" path and walk up and ask the men(at least, they looked impeccably like men) who or what exactly they were, there wasn't really any way to know. We would have to tiptoe past them and hope they didn't awaken from their obviously peaceful sleep.

We began our slow and steady crossing, and I took a look at the men. They weren't much unlike Rangers, but they certainly had a different aura. They were blue hooded cowls lined with a silver trim, along with metallic dark blue armor. They each had a violet crystal on an amulet, but whatever reason those crystals served, I had no idea. I had never seen something like them, their light was even different from a geovore's markings. I wanted to grab one and see what I could make of it, but as soon as I drew near to touch one with the tip of my lance, making sure I made no noise, the feeling of magic's absence increased. We continued our crossing.

A branch snapped.

The man that I had been closest to's eyes snapped open, and he leaped to his feet with a single smooth movement. I pointed my lance threateningly at him, but he seemed to take no notice. I didn't want him to attack, so I kicked him in the stomach. He fell to the ground, but got up again and whispered, "Chtypísei píso!" The jewel on his necklace glowed, I went flying into a tree, making more noise. I hadn't seen the others, but if they weren't awake already, they were awake now. I tried to slide my lance over and trace my Mark of Strength, but the man in front of me interrupted, "Kamía pithanótita!" and all my Marks turned white. I looked at him with horror, and I saw, in the shadow of his hood, a glint of a smirk. I decided not to tolerate whatever his thought he was onto and jabbed him in the solar plexus.

He grunted in pain, then looked at where I had struck. I had struck straight through his armor, and there was a little bit of blood, but nothing else. I struck with my other lance, but he deflected my blow and punched me in the very tip of my mask's beak. The strike nearly broke my nose, but it would be fine. I hadn't trained for years in the Ranger Academy to faint at just my nose being broken. Another came into my vision, but I slapped him aside with my lance. The matadorian lances were made well: they were made out of a ring of blades that all converged into the center, forming a very sharp point made for killing people to death. There was also its second form, but I hadn't attempted to use that just yet.

Raq sidestepped over to me. "Their magic is strange. Well, not magic, but..." he began.

"...Unmagic!" one of the men shouted. Raq hadn't been whispering, and we were in a small clearing, so it was easily probable that the man had heard me. I asked him what he was talking about.

"Why, I speak of the great and powerful Unmagic! A greater power than even the greatest wizard can conceive!" the man was larger than his two companions, and he spoke like a barker at a carnival, demanding that people go and see some unbelievable freak of nature. 

"And what, exactly, is Unmagic?" I asked him.

"Well, what does it sound like?"

"Well, not magic? Against magic?"

"You're correct, young man with the beak! Allow my partners and I to demonstrate it more!" He spoke something I couldn't understand, and violet flame spouted from the crystal on his necklace--all three of them had the crystal, so I assumed it was what channeled their "Unmagic" powers. The fire hit me in the chest before I could register it and dodge, and my core seemed to hollow out. I didn't even know I actually had magic, but it seemed like it all left me. The man to the large man's right fired a beam from his crystal, but it didn't affect me.

"You idiot, Charles, I just burned his magic. Don't use éntono fos on him, it only works when they do have magic. We went over this," the large man chastised. Raq put hi hand to me and muttered, "Et factus est leo." I recognized some of the words from when I spoke with magicians and was able to deduct that he was commanding me to become a lion.

I obeyed. My hair grew into a golden mane, I threw off my mask, and my hands became large paws, ripping away my gloves. I fell onto all fours, and Raq stood next to me. He pounded one fist into an open palm, and I knew what he meant.

"Goodness gracious! Combat magic?" the large man exclaimed as I leaped towards him and ripped the crystal off with my fangs. I was so much stronger, faster, and smoother than being a human. It was almost as if it was better to be a lion than to be a human. I tackled Charles, the one to the large man's right, and Raq kicked the other in the chest. When the men were down, we ripped off their crystals.

"See, I told you we needed to make our only weapons less obvious," the large man told the other man. I scoffed with lion-ness, then turned to Raq. He snapped, and I changed back to human form.

"Should we spare them?" Raq asked.

"Where are the others?" I replied. We looked around, but there was no one else. Raq instead turned to the men.

"Would you like to be spared, or should we kill you?" he asked. I nearly laughed at his openness, but his obvious scowl(his mask obscured his face)stopped me.

"We would like to live, please," the large man begged, standing up. I acknowledged his decision: if he wasn't lying in the idea that those necklaces were their only weapons, they had to be spared.

"Alright, we'll let you go," I declared. The large man smiled evilly and pulled out another crystal from his cloak.

"REMEMBER OUR NAME!" he cried, then, with a flash of light, Raq and I were knocked into the adjacent tree, and the men were gone, only a piece of paper left in their place.

"What's that?" I asked as my teammates stepped out from the brush.

"Great fighting, Raq," Jordan complimented.

"Where were you?" I asked, picking up the piece of paper.

"We immediately hid once Charles woke, then watched your fight," Josie answered. I scoffed again, and rolled my eyes before forgetting my mask was off. There were more important things, such as what was on the piece of paper.

"What does it say?" Chris asked. I read it aloud.

"It just says in red lettering, 'WIZARD SLAYERS.'"

"Wizard Slayers?" Sari asked.

"Wizard Slayers," I confirmed.

Wizard Slayers.