Aglanthol 3 - The Castle of Saelethiel (The Law Cannot Be Shaken) - 14. Chapter 14

"What are we supposed to do now?" Magath asked. "We can’t just wait until this whole world is upside down, can we?"

Qildor and Magath stood, feeling at a loss. The wizard watched them silently.

"Yes," Qildor agreed. "What do the brethren have in mind? We can’t find the castle. And we can’t just wander around. It doesn’t make sense, does it?"

"What would you do?" Neldor asked, looking between the two men. "What is your first impulse?"

"Find the man and finish him," Qildor said grimly. "And thus put an end to it all."

Neldor looked at Magath.

"What about you?" he asked.

Magath shrugged.

"I don’t know. I’m at a loss," he replied. "What was your first impulse, Master Neldor?"

"I wanted to figure out how the brethren’s magic works," Neldor said slowly. "I felt tempted to explore the brethren’s powerful magic. But it would have distracted me from what I need to focus on. It would have stopped me from finding out what is really going on here."

"Just an assumption," Qildor said.

"Not a wrong one, I think," Neldor replied.

They looked at each other. Qildor finally gave a brief nod.

"All right," he said. "So what do you suggest? What can we do?"

"We must wait for the man’s move," Magath said. "We must hope that he acts on his first impulse and then runs into a trap"

"What if he also just waits for us to make the first move?" Qildor asked.

"The man has a goal. He wants to seize the magical tool. Sooner or later he must act," Neldor said in a determined voice. "I’m sure he has also realized that the surroundings have changed. He will draw conclusions."

Qildor shrugged.

"I just don’t hope a boulder will suddenly appear out of nowhere and smash me to pieces while I idly sit and wait for something to happen," he said drily.

Neldor smiled faintly. He shook his head.

"This will not happen as long as we keep cool and mind our steps. But let’s have breakfast now. We have not yet eaten," he said.

The wizard walked back to their camp. Qildor and Magath followed him.

~~**~~

Ogol walked down the path. He was impatient. He looked out for signs that indicated that the wizard Neldor was around. But Neldor’s ward worked well and hid him and his companions perfectly. Ogol moved to the place where he had seen the hovering image of the spider. Neldor had spent hours in the place, exercising his magic. Ogol’s ward worked well also and hid him from sight. Ogol took a bold decision. He entered his follower’s camp, unseen and unheard by his followers. Ogol walked around and investigated the place. He did not see the three men and he found no trace of the wizard. Neldor and his companions were sitting on the ground, eating and talking. They had no clue that Ogol was around.

~~**~~

Like on a command, the brethren stood and changed seats. They sat down again and sank in deep meditation. The threads of the web changed their positions and the material world changed according to the threads of the energy web.

~~**~~

Magath cried out loud at the sight of a man who had appeared out of nowhere and stood right in front of him. The man was dressed in a black robe. His face was hooded. His lips were compressed and his look was grim. The man gazed at Magath and then his eyes widened. He reached out his hand and pointed at Magath.

"Who are you?" he shouted.

Magath did not reply. He rose to his feet and glanced at Neldor and Qildor. The two men looked at him in confusion. They did not see the hooded man. Qildor was about to rise to his feet, yet Neldor placed a hand on his arm and stopped the man from moving. The wizard leaned in to Qildor and whispered to him. Qildor gave a nod. And then the two men sat silently. This happened in just a few seconds. Magath watched them out of the corner of his eye. And then he understood. The man in front of him did not see Qildor and the wizard.

‘It’s him,’ Magath thought, his eyes now fixed on the unknown man.

"Who are you?" Ogol shouted again. He had expected to find the wizard Neldor. Instead, he had found a simple and average looking man.

"None of your business," Magath shouted back.

He kept looking at the unknown man. Ogol gazed at him grimly. Suddenly, he gave a laugh, turned around abruptly, and then retreated. Magath looked after him. The man stepped on the path that led up the mountain, and then, from one second to the other, he disappeared from Magath’s sight. His ward worked again. Ogol was invisible.

Ogol hurried up the path and went to the observation point from where he had watched his follower’s camp the previous day. He looked down at the camp. The man had disappeared from his sight. His ward worked again. Unsure if his own ward worked properly, Ogol made a step back in order to hide himself from the sight of the man.

He finally returned to his own camp farther up the path and leaned against a rock. His heart was beating fast and his breathing was heavy. He had expected to find the old wizard Neldor. He had found a young man instead. Who was this man? He looked average and he was dressed like a peasant. Had this man exercised down there the previous day? The man was young. His image had been rough and imperfect. The man was not a skilled and trained magician.

Ogol closed his eyes for a moment. His thoughts were running. Finally, he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

‘Not the wizard Neldor followed me, but a young man, an adept,’ he thought.

Ogol gave a mocking laugh.

"This man was the only one you could mobilize?" he said with a disdainful look at the mountains. "Did you not summon Neldor or did the old man decline because he knew that he would not stand a chance?"

Ogol gave another laugh.

"An adept! You summoned an adept to chase and stop me? And the man answered your call and came here instantly?" he asked with a cold look at the mountains.

Ogol compressed his lips and narrowed his eyes. His look was grim and hate-filled.

"This man must be a fool," he hissed.

He shook his head, and then he straightened. He returned to his cold demeanour. With his arms crossed in front of his chest, he leaned against the cold rock and looked into nowhere. Ogol was thinking.

~~**~~

Qildor rose to his feet. He approached Magath and placed his arm around the man’s shoulders. Magath was petrified. His muscles were tensed.

"I saw him," Magath uttered. "I saw the man."

Qildor patted his shoulder.

"He’s gone. Calm down, Magath," he said in a reassuring voice.

Neldor approached them.

"What have you seen?" the wizard asked urgently.

"He appeared out of nowhere. He suddenly stood right in front of me. He glared at me and shouted at me. He wanted to know who I was," Magath recounted.

Qildor patted Magath’s shoulder again.

"What else?" Neldor insisted.

"Did you not see him?" Magath asked back. "A tall man, dressed in a black robe, his face hidden by a hood. His look was grim. He shouted at me. And then he went and disappeared from one second to the other. Over there," Magath said, pointing at the path.

"It’s him. The man that Dran saw on the clearing," Qildor said.

He kicked a stone aside and looked around warily.

"We have evidence now. The man is here," he said.

Neldor nodded thoughtfully. He looked at the point where the man had disappeared.

Magath sat down on the ground and startled again.

"Look," he called out, pointing at the daisies that had grown in the place.

Neldor and Qildor turned to Magath. Qildor gazed at the flowers. Neldor bent down and picked a daisy. He held it in front of his eyes.

"I sensed a very strong energy," he said thoughtfully. He dropped the flower. "It faded when the man had disappeared. I suspect the brethren changed the energy threads again. A change has occurred in this place," he said, pointing at the flowers.

"Why did we not see him?" Qildor inquired.

"We were sitting over there. The energy change did not affect us," the wizard said. "However, the energy change weakened the ward that I had put up in order to hide us from the man’s sight. Magath became visible to the man because he was sitting on an energy thread that changed its position."

"Yes. I don’t think he saw you," Magath said slowly. "He did not glance aside."

"Qildor and I did not see him either," Neldor replied. "Only you became visible to the man. And he became visible to only you. You and the man were right in the place where an energy thread changed its position."

They lingered on their thoughts for a while.

"He now knows that someone is after him," Qildor said

"He knows of Magath," Neldor said pensively. He rubbed his chin. "This might confuse him."

"Why?" Qildor asked.

"For I am sure that he had expected to find me or at least another very skilled and trained man," Neldor said.

Qildor nodded.

"Why me then?" Magath asked in a worried voice. "He saw me. I am his target now."

"So much the better," Neldor said calmly.

"What?" Magath exclaimed.

Neldor raised his hand.

"Think," he said. "And don’t take my words as an offence. He saw a peasant, not a skilled wizard. He saw a man who is no danger to him and his plans."

Magath opened his mouth to protest. But Qildor raised his hand.

"He’s right, Magath," Qildor said. "This could develop to our advantage. He might act more careless now and could be more off guard."

Neldor nodded. Magath looked between Qildor and the wizard. Finally, he gave a nod.

"Provided another energy change does not reveal your presence to him," Qildor said to Neldor.

"This will not happen as long as I mind my steps," Neldor said seriously.

Silence fell.

"Anything else you have observed?" Qildor asked after a while.

Magath pondered. He shook his head.

"He is the man that Dran saw in the wood. Dran’s description fits well," he said. "He’s dark and menacing. He has a grim and piercing look. He was sneaking about in our camp. Yet he was also shaken when he saw me. The event took him by surprise. He had not expected to see me."

"Yes. And we know one more thing now. His magic does not work properly either," Neldor said.

"I find he acted careless," Qildor said. "I mean, wasn’t it risky to sneak about in our camp?"

"Why did he come here anyway? How did he learn of our camp? We were hidden from his sight, weren’t we?" Magath asked.

"Good question," Qildor replied. "Perhaps he had no idea and was just investigating the place."

"No," Neldor said in a grave voice. "I made a mistake. He saw Magath’s images. I forgot to hide them."

Qildor and Magath turned to the wizard. Neldor looked at them seriously.

"Goodness," Magath said. "It never occurred to me."

Neldor did not reply. His look was absent-minded for a while. Then a smirk spread on his face.

"No harm done," he said. "No harm done at all."

"Why?" Magath asked. Neldor’s sudden change of attitude confused him.

"He saw a beginner’s image. This will only support his assumption that you are not a skilled magician. He must think you are an adept, but nonetheless a man with magical ambitions," Neldor said.

"Since when is Magath a man with magical ambitions?" Qildor asked.

"Since he asked me to teach him," Neldor said seriously.

"You did what?" Qildor asked, turning his eyes to Magath in bewilderment.

Magath shrugged.

"Yes, I asked him to teach me how to visualize images. These mind focusing techniques fascinate me, I have to admit," he replied.

"He’s talented," Neldor said.

Qildor looked between Magath and Neldor in disbelief. Had he missed a thing? When had the two men become friends?

"Talented," he repeated the wizard’s word.

"Talented," Neldor said in a sober voice. "I’m leaving you for a while. I need to ponder and meditate."

Qildor and Magath looked after the wizard.

"Don’t say it’s true," Qildor said, turning his eyes to Magath.

Magath shrugged. He smiled vaguely.

"He says I’m talented. I do not know. I have never felt drawn to magic and I have never observed anything unusual. Apart from what we witnessed in the wood last year, that is," he said. "But starting a fire with a snap...well, this really intrigues me. And also the hologram thing."

Qildor looked ahead. He was not sure what to make of it. Magath, a man with magical ambitions? Qildor shook his head in disbelief. Conflicting emotions overwhelmed him.　

~~**~~