The Currents of Magic

Chapter Forty-Seven

Damian nodded, a grave expression passing over his face as he lay down his pack and sat down. He opened the pack, taking out his water skin. "Pass me yours," he said.

Meyer knelt and withdrew his nearly empty water skin from his pack. He lamented not having rationed the water more carefully, and as he handed the sagging pouch to Damian, he felt slightly abashed.

But Damian merely reached into his pack and took out two small blue squares, dropping one into each of the skins. He whispered, then handed Meyer his water skin, now entirely filled.

"How'd you get transfigured water?" asked Meyer.

"Ever since the night of the light panorama I've been preparing," said Damian.

Meyer drank deeply from his water skin. He had fled the Dale with no plan—without the slightest consideration to the journey ahead. And as he stared around the barren landscape, he felt dreadfully lost...The Outlands were over two thousand miles away, and he and Damian had perhaps traveled twenty. It would take him months to reach Urbana, and longer still to reach Vanroc. He could only hope Damian's preparation would propel them to the Great Realms—through the crumbling High Provinces unnoticed by the forces of the Magician...

"We should sleep," said Damina. "How do you want to divide watches?"

Meyer looked up, suddenly feeling dizzy. He ran his hands over the leafy ground. "I'll take first watch," he said, but as he spoke, his feeble attempt at straightening himself failed, and his shoulders sagged down.

Damian raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe we can hide ourselves instead," he said

"How?" said Damian.

"Use magic to dig a hole, and then cover it with leaves..."

"Did you bring your spell dictionary?"

Meyer opening his pack, withdrawing his copy of Spells in a Pinch. He flipped through references tables that filled the second half of the book until he found a section labeled Spells by Field of Use. Eventually he found a title called Macro-Construction and running his finger down over the list of spells, came across a spell called Urda next to which was written: hole construction, page 348.

He turned to page 348. Written across the top of the paper in thick black letters was the incantation Urda. Underneath was a short description:

Unbounded excavation in soft substances. Variance includes depth, width, height, interior surface texture, substance compaction versus removal. Best for moderate hole construction.

Negative Inverse: Undefined

Bounded Inverses: Pages 349-352

Galer Difficulty Rating: 6/4

"Let's not bother with the Urda charm," said Damian, looking over Meyer's shoulder. "Six over four is very difficult. We should be able to find a bounded inverse, though."

Meyer nodded and started reading through the list of related spells. At the top of the list were other unbounded spells meant for different types of hole construction such as large and small holes or creating holes in rock or other hard substances. Beneath them we a long list of bounded charms. He found one called the Urdanaros charm which read: compact six foot cubic hole, page 649. Flipping to the next page, Meyer found the bolded title Urdanaros, under which was merely a reference to the Urda spell on page 648 and a Galer Difficulty Rating of 0/3.

"I'm going to try it," he said.

Damian took several steps back and Meyer reached out with his magical sense. The Currents flowed through him effortlessly and he cast the Urdanaros charm, carefully focusing to maintain the unfamiliar spell shape. With a low rumbling the ground trembled, and a moment later a square hole appeared before him.

Damian approached the edge and looked over. "Now we just have to figure out a way to cover it."

They return to pouring of the spell dictionary, but couldn't find any particularly useful spells. Meyer noticed a leaf summoning charm, but without a way of covering the hole with branches, the spell was useless. After ten minutes of turning through random pages, Meyer's eyelids began to feel heavy and the words began to blur together. Gathering his energy, he stood up.

"What are you doing?" said Damian.

Meyer didn't respond, instead gazing up at the trees around him. They were tall, with sturdy branches, their leaves providing a canopy of shade. Fixing his concentration of a leafy branch, he felled it using a severing charm and dragged it over to the hole. With Damian's help, he rested it across the opening, and then stepped back several paces. The branch was covered with smaller extrusions of limbs and leaves, providing a degree of concealment.

"Good enough for me," said Meyer. He walked over to their packs, and picking one up in each hand, brought them to the edge of the hole. Moving the branch aside, he lowered the packs into the hole, and then jumped down. Damian followed after him, lowering himself as far as he could before dropping the last four feet and landing lightly on his feet. Meyer moved the branch back into place overhead.

"You think we should still have a watch?" asked Damian.

"We both need sleep," said Meyer.

Damian nodded, and despite his uneasy expression, lay down on his side, resting his head on his pack. When Meyer eased down onto the ground next to him a moment later, his eyes were already closed.

Yet as Meyer lay beneath the canopy of leaves and branches, he felt his body tense, as if stopping had allowed all the events of the past twenty four hours to catch up with him. His mind jumped from one scene to the next, his thoughts moving in no apparent order: his encounter with Trant, his revelation about Adryn, his latest vision of Eschera... Jato... Moon... Odessa...

He was Odessa's son—the thought suddenly pierced him, sending a shiver of fear through his body. He felt as though there was an infected part of his identity—a reality he could not accept... But it was only spreading...

Who was his mother? Who was he?

Meyer swallowed, a desolate sense of unknowing rising in his stomach. Again the Outlands were under attack, the Magician was about to declare himself openly, and Moon was being undermined by a traitor. The lord could be in more danger than him, and with Adryn controlling Eldrin's Dale... Even the tempests were in danger... Meyer tried to remain calm, but despite having stayed up the entire night trekking through the his darkness, his muscles were coursing with energy. His head was reeling, his thoughts continuing to swirl... The Magician was closing in... Everyone was in danger... And he was at the center...