Chapters 5-7

Chapter 5 (continued)

The mountains were harder to navigate for Sorellen. Elya had cast an air spell to help him get a better footing, but he still had a hard time. Sometimes she had to get down from him so the extra weight wouldn’t be a hindrance. Meals consisted of grains she had learned how to cook, with meat strips for Elya and some hay for Sorellen. She had tried to grow some grass, but as they waded deeper into the mountains it was too arid for anything to grow. Since Elya could only nurture existing plants, not make new ones, she had no choice but to give Sorellen dried grass. “Sorry, you get fodder tonight” Elya informed her travelling companion. He was content to eat, however, as he had had a hard trek that day.

It was now the sixth day after the magic user and her horse left the city of Kindlire. According to the map, the volcano Elya was looking for was only a day or two away. Tense and full of nerves, she was glad to be stopping for some rest. While she was eating a spoonful of assorted grains, Sorellen nudged her with his head, wondering why she was so stressed. “Well, in the hundreds of years that men have inhabited Nispes, only one person has been able to beat a keeper. I’m not sure I can do it. And those that have tried to defeat them but didn’t succeed… It is said they were too exhausted from the effort of channelling magic, and didn’t make it back to their cities. Maybe they didn’t want to go back to their hometowns, in shame. I won’t give up though. If I can’t beat Kagutsu the first time, I’ll try again”. Sorellen nodded at her, seemingly supporting her decision. He sat next to her and they drifted off to sleep, thinking of the hard trials Elya would face.
The next day, at noon, Elya told Sorellen to stop. “It’s there” she informed him as she pointed at a particularly large volcano. She checked the map, just to make sure, but she knew that to be the right place. She felt the fire magic flowing from it; for a moment she closed her eyes and felt the power, present so close to her it was almost palpable. “Let’s get a bit closer, Sorellen. We should stay next to the volcano today, while I try to come up with a strategy, and tomorrow I’ll go inside”. Sorellen turned his head back and made a noise of protest. “Well, I guess you can watch, if you don’t stray too close”. He sped up his pace until they reached the volcano’s edge. There Elya took out all of her handwritten books and started looking for a good defence against fire magic. “Light magic will provide me with a shield… I could combine it with water magic to make it more effective. After all, if I have to defeat Kagutsu I should use water magic. Channelling some more won’t be that hard if I’m concentrating already. But the source of water magic is so far away” Elya kept on mumbling more ideas, trying to see which spell would be better. She spent all of the afternoon that way, until the darkness forbade her to read. Deciding to rest more than usual, she ate dinner and went to sleep, thinking anxiously of the day ahead of her.

“It’s time” Elya announced the next day. She had barely eaten anything, as she was so nervous. She mounted the volcano with Sorellen, until they reached the opening at the top. It was as warm as a summer afternoon, even though it was winter. “How are we going to get down?” Elya asked out loud. She knew the source of fire magic was inside, she could feel it, but didn’t see an easy way inside.
Suddenly the air currents rising from inside the volcano seemed to have changed. As they became stronger Elya had to hold on to Sorellen, so as not to fall off. “Calm down” she said, “maybe it’s leading us inside the volcano”. Sorellen was even more shifty as the air currents took them deep into the volcano. Slowly the air became drier and warmer, Elya felt as though her skin would crack if she stayed here for too long.
Instead of falling into boiling magma, there was a circle of hardened lava upon which they set foot. It formed a kind of duelling arena, the sort of place warriors would go to in order to test their abilities. As Elya set her feet on the cooled lava, she spotted someone on the other side of the circle. A man, or something shaped like one, was staring at Elya.
His skin was as dark as soot, so was his loose garment. His eyes, however, shone a bright red colour. His hair was relatively short and spiky, a darker shade of red. There was no doubt, even in Sorellen’s mind, that this was the keeper of fire magic.
She dismounted her horse and, after having given him her backpack, told him to stay back. Elya then walked a few paces towards the figure. “Kagutsu” she said firmly, “My name is Elya Ramile. As Sorellen did before me, I challenge you in combat”. She gripped her sword and unsheathed it, calming herself down for the battle. Very formally, Kagutsu replied “I accept your challenge”.
He looked at her and raised a hand, suddenly flames started rising around her, encircling her. Quickly Elya concentrated on drawing the power of water, used it to douse the flames in front of her, then ran out of the circle. She headed towards Kagutsu, as she could attack more easily if she was close to him. Elya wished she was more fit, she couldn’t easily evade the flames. Instead she had to put them out, which gave Kagutsu more time to cast spells.
Now she was mere feet from Kagutsu, who didn’t seem to be alarmed. Elya added some of the power of water to her blade, then tried to stab the keeper of fire with it. She wasn’t surprised when he daftly moved away from it. But that was part of Elya’s strategy. She concentrated and said “Water!”, then a torrent of water fell upon Kagutsu, who was too busy evading the blade to notice. He flinched and stepped back from the column of water, then aimed a ball of fire at Elya. It was larger than a man’s head, Elya doubted she could dodge something that big. She summoned the power of light to create a shield a bit larger than the ball of fire, then advanced with it towards Kagutsu, in an effort to push him with her shield and make him fall. That would give her enough time to cast a more complex spell.
He saw this, however, and jumped idly out of her way. While he did so, Elya tried to use some air magic to make him fall. She succeeded, so she tried to lower the temperature around Kagutsu, using water magic. The change in temperature affected him, he quickly got up and away from Elya. Immediately he made fire appear beneath Elya’s feet, and all around her. She put out the flames beneath her feet, but Kagutsu kept on sending flames her way. She knew she couldn’t extinguish the flames forever, so she thought of how to leave the flaming area. All the while she was getting weaker, the heat and dryness exhausting her. The air was heavy with something Elya couldn’t recognize, probably ashes.
Suddenly Kagutsu ran towards her at a great speed, making the flames part in his way. Elya summoned a shield, which stopped the flames he sent her way. But she didn’t realize that wasn’t his goal. He extended his hand and grabbed her neck with one hand, her sword with another. Before she could realize it Elya was squirming for air, her sword pointing at her face. When she was about to faint Kagutsu let go of her, she fell heavily to the cooled lava floor. She noticed Sorellen was nudging her, plainly worried about her. “I’m fine” she told him.
“Come back once you know how to conquer fire magic” Kagutsu said, handing Elya her sword back. She took it from him and sheathed it, then stood up. “I will” she said, then bowed at him. He nodded in response, then Elya felt currents of air making her and Sorellen rise out of the volcano.
She landed on the side of the volcano, then mounted Sorellen, who led her to its base. Elya breathed deeply, savouring the air around her. ‘I have to think of something’ was the last thought to cross her mind before they reached the volcano’s base, where she promptly fell from her steed.

Chapter 6

Elya lifted her head slowly, some pain still present in her body. Not only had she used a great amount of magic the previous day, she had also slept in a terrible position, which gave her more discomfort than she was accustomed to. As soon as Sorellen saw her he trotted to her side. “I’m fine” she mumbled, resting her back on a large boulder. “Just give me a day or two to recover, then I can have a go at Kagutsu again”.
Sorellen didn’t want Elya to take such an unnecessary risk, and tried to make her come back to her senses. Nudging her side and whinnying, he attempted to dissuade her from fighting such a powerful opponent. Elya, however, was determined to defeat the keeper of fire. “I’ll make sure to prepare more this time. I promise I won’t go until I’ve thought of a strategy. But for now, let’s have dinner”. She unpacked some of their food, at the same time judging how much they had left.
“We have enough food left for two weeks, I think. That means I have a week to come up with a good way to counter Kagutsu’s magic. Here, you must be hungry” she said, giving Sorellen some dried grass. Grabbing some meat for herself, Elya started eating, gazing at the sky. From what little knowledge she had of astrology, the stars and planets showed it was the end of Corumes. This period was the first half of winter, and the coldest time of the year. Fortunately for Elya, cooler temperatures could only help her in this situation.

After having slept the night away, Elya propped up a few magic books against her various belongings. Two of them had their pages open to the fire section, the other two open to the water section. Leafing through them all, Elya considered her options. “’Steam will form from the union of fire and water’. That might help. I know lower temperatures affect Kagutsu, maybe steam will as well. If I surround us with mist and he can’t see me, I might gain some advantage. Even with the mist I can still sense him, for his power is strong, but as a human, mine is too weak”. Putting that book aside, she looked for more combinations of magic. “’Fire and air will converge as an explosion’. That may help as well, though I’ve done explosions with air magic only. ‘Fire may boil earth into magma’. No, that would make things worse. Hm, I think it’s time for lunch” Elya said, gazing at the burning sun above.
That night, Elya had formulated a plan, one she thought might give her a chance against Kagutsu. However, she knew it would take a lot of magic, so she decided to take another day to rest. She slept well, much better than Sorellen, who was too concerned to be able to relax. He paced around Elya’s sleeping figure, thinking. He usually disliked magic, and people who used it. But now that two magic users were fighting each other, and the one he knew was likely to lose, he was worried. Even though he didn’t entirely like Elya, she had started to grow on him. Unlike the magic users in his stable, she cared about him, and treated him as if he were a person. She used her magic for positive things only, something that made Sorellen look at her in a good light. But now Elya was trying to do more than he thought was possible, something he wanted to make sure she realized. He fell asleep next to her, hopelessly trying to find a way to dissuade her.

By the time Sorellen had woken up, Elya had already dug a hole in the ground and filled it with warm water. Sorellen deduced it had been done with magic, for water was extremely scarce in this volcanic region and Elya wouldn’t be able to dig so much by hand. As the brown horse neared the water, he noticed she was taking some sort of scented bath. The pleasant smell of aromatic herbs was soothing his nerves. Interestedly touching the pool with his paw, Sorellen looked at Elya. The short magic user didn’t see him, however, for she was busy meditating.
Thinking it might be some sort of ritual, he decided to leave Elya to her magic. After having paced for half an hour, Sorellen watched as the previously meditating girl wound her way back to her possessions. “The water’s still warm, if you want to take a bath” she told her horse, while casting an air spell to dry her hair. Nodding in reply, Sorellen trotted towards the makeshift pool, quite happy despite his worries. Elya treated him like another travelling companion, not her steed, something he valued more and more as their adventure progressed.
A few meters away, Elya sat down cross-legged facing the south-east. She did this to face the source of water magic, the magic she would need the most the next day. If she channelled water magic all day she would have an easier time doing it against Kagutsu, she reasoned. Quietly immobile, she used her mind to call upon the magic she needed, twisting it into the shape she wanted.
Even Sorellen, whose magic wasn’t developed, could feel some power had gathered close to him. Slowly, with his eyes half-closed, he turned to look at Elya. Knowing she must be using magic yet again, he decided to leave her and continue his bath. He had never soaked in warm water like this, he was feeling pleasantly lazy. He though he might actually enjoy the fact that she was a sorceress, despite his past dealings with magic users.

Finally, it was a new day. Elya woke up nervous again, but much more determined than the last time she had gone into the volcano. After a breakfast that consisted more of water than anything else, she coaxed Sorellen to take her up to the entrance of Kagutsu’s lair. “Please, I have better plan this time. And you saw Kagutsu, he didn’t want to kill me, just test my skill. Come on, let’s go” she said pleadingly, trying to drag her horse with her. After a minute’s squabbling, her companion gave up and trotted obligingly next to her. She thanked him as she got on him, assuring him she would do better this time. With that hope in mind, the horse and sorceress climbed their way upwards.
The same procedure as last time took place. Shortly, Elya was in the circle of cooled lava, facing Kagutsu’s bright red eyes. She informed the keeper that she was ready to try again, and politely asked if he would test her powers. “Most certainly” he said, then stood waiting for her to use magic.
Elya’s eyes were closed as she gathered the power of water. Once she had gathered a reasonable amount, she held it in place and looked for fire magic. That was a far easier task, as the source was right below her she was able to gather it quickly. Converging it with the power of water she had gathered, she weaved a spell she had never tried before. “Mist” she said, and within seconds visibility was reduced to a few meters. The mist that appeared was cool, as she used some of the gathered water magic to lower its temperature. Taking advantage of the situation, Elya closed her eyes again and tried to feel Kagutsu’s power.
He was moving around the circle of lava, back and forth, trying to make Elya lose track of him. She knew that, although tiring, the keeper’s movements would make him harder to hit. Of course, she thought, once he receives one of my spells he will be too tired to be able to escape quickly. Thinking fast, Elya decided to use the explosion she had read about, the one combining fire and air magic.
Merging the two powers together, she moved them closer to Kagutsu, holding them in place. The keeper was moving in a seemingly irregular way, too fast for her to be able to follow him on foot. However, Elya realized as she was struggling to hold the magic, he always came back to a certain area, for it provided better footing than the other parts of the lava circle. Noticing he went back to that spot every minute, stopping for seconds to recover his breath, she waited for him to reach that spot once more. Eyes still closed, heavily concentrated, she let loose her magical explosion on the keeper as he set foot on that area. As he was trying to recover from running he had little breath to spare, not enough to get him out of the spell’s range in time.
Sorellen jumped, he had heard something burst. To his great fear he couldn’t tell who had gotten hurt, for the chilling mist blocked his vision. All he could see was the lava under his feet, and a sliver of light coming from the sun above him. He didn’t dare move, for fear of being hurt by a passing spell, and grew more worried by the moment. Now he heard hurried footsteps, growing more faint as the person running drew further away from her horse.
Elya wasn’t fast, but she reached Kagutsu before he had started to move. Had she not produced the cold mist or timed her spell right, she might have been hit by a prepared Kagutsu’s spell. However, she reached him before he had gotten up. Coming to a halt out of his range of vision, she called upon the power of water, a task that took a few more seconds.
Kagutsu was about to sprint, he knew he was fleet-footed enough to catch Elya from behind. He had deduced where she was by the direction the spell came from, knew she was bound to be heading towards him now. He had mentally planned to run in a circle, catching her where he was standing now, taking her by surprise. The slight shiver he felt when disengaging his boot from the lava should have warned him of the magic he was about to face, but his mind was too busy formulating a plan to notice.
The spell lowered the temperature around the keeper. He noticed he was weakening, but thought he could still manage to run and attack her. If he did, he would have caught her after having used up a great amount of magic, she was bound to be tired. However, he forgot there was mist surrounding him.
As the spell cooled the area and Kagutsu started to leave, the evaporated water that is mist turned into a liquid form, then stuck to him as a myriad of ice crystals. His nerves screamed in protest. As the keeper of fire he had been given its characteristics: he moved as quickly as fire spreads, he could conjure fire and manipulate it at his will. Unfortunately, it also made him vulnerable to water and low temperatures, both of which were hindering him at the moment.
As the ice chips encumbered Kagutsu, Elya noticed he slowed down to a halt. Knowing her spell had succeeded, she ran towards the keeper, expecting him to be immobile. Only he wasn’t. Crouched down, eyes narrowed, Kagutsu cast a spell the moment Elya was visible.
She was able to shield herself in time, though her spell wasn’t large enough to cover her wholly. As the fire touched the sorceress’ pale skin she couldn’t hold back a scream. The spell had reached her legs and knees, the latter bending, sending her painfully down to the lava floor. Clutching her necklace, to make magic channelling easier, Elya pretended to be agonizing. The fire keeper noticed her pain; he closed in on her, smiling at her foolishness.
Kagutsu towered over Elya’s huddled body. He stretched out his hand, preparing to cast a spell or perhaps grab her, when he heard Elya trying to say something. Thinking he would hear her plead for her life, his red eyes focused on her face, his hand gathered the power of fire. As the temperature rose and mist started to disappear, he heard her whisper ‘water’.
His eyes had widened at the sound of that word, he hadn’t even felt the magic being gathered. However, his surprise was short-lived, he realized she must not have gathered enough magic to be able to hurt him. He had only stepped back a pace when he decided there was no magic coming. Glad to have won again, he walked back to Elya, though slightly crestfallen. He had hoped she would put up a better fight, hoped she would be able to equal Sorellen. The hero had defeated Kagutsu the second time he had tried, in a long and arduous battle that lasted at least half an hour. Smiling with melancholy, Kagutsu bent down to look at Elya, still motionless on the lava floor.
His eyes fell upon her left hand. It was holding her necklace —not her heart, as he had previously thought. Then Kagutsu noticed her right hand was somewhere near her hip, not trying to heal her knees. Before he had remembered she carried a sword, she had lounged forward, taking advantage of the short distance between them. He didn’t panic, for he was stronger than a normal human, and could stop the blade with his hands.
Elya, however, had imbued the blade with some water magic she had gathered as she was curled on the floor. The keeper’s hands tried to stop the blade, but released it as soon as they felt its surface. The sword, glinting icy cold, had barely pierced his skin when Elya stopped its movement. Kagutsu’s arms fell in defeat, he looked at her face as she took the blade from his chest, stopped the water spell and sheathed her sword. The sorceress’ eyes were shining in victory, her visage calm though pained. Looking away from her face, he used air magic to blow away what little was left of the mist. The process took a whole minute, however, as he was still weak from the ice that was now melting off of his loose clothes.
Now sure she had won, Elya grabbed her necklace again and started healing herself. The raw flesh, partially burnt away, was slowly recovering. Soon after she had started Sorellen trotted to her side, worry plaguing his black eyes. “I did it” she said quietly, not elaborating on her victory. All of her mind had to go to her healing, so as not to make mistakes. Uncontrolled magical curing could cause problems in the future, for example, giving too much energy for cells to duplicate could make some cells cancerous.
Kagutsu looked at Elya’s tired face, now dusted with soot. When her legs has stopped bleeding she looked at him, concern lingering in her face. “Do you need healing?” she asked, noticing blood trickling from the keeper’s chest. The wound wasn’t deep, but Elya was responsible for it, and felt she should try to help. Kagutsu, however, shook his head in reply, while taking something from his robes. As Elya stood up, she saw he was handing her something. Her outstretched hand received the item, a triangular ruby the size of her fingernail. “This will make the channelling of fire easier. I will also make fire magic flow more freely from here. Release the other powers, then the barrier encircling Nispes will disappear. Farewell”.
Before they had time to react, Elya and Sorellen were taken upwards by the air currents. They took a considerable time getting out, for Kagutsu was in a weakened state. Finally, they reached the mouth of the volcano and started making their way down. Still standing far below them, Kagutsu looked outside, towards the sun.
He was still a bit bothered. Thinking back, he had smiled twice during the fight. It was not something he was accustomed to. Thinking it was very strange of Elya to have made him do that, he retreated to an inner part of the volcano, to rest and heal. Another smile threatened to cross his face as he was walking away. He thought of the time it would take for him to heal, in an effort to make his expression neutral or pained. He didn’t succeed.

“I’m fine Sorellen. I told you I would be fine. He thought I was going to give up when he burned me. Then when I said water I powered up my blade, but he couldn’t see it. He just thought I was so low in magic I couldn’t cast a spell. Well, I’ll tell you everything that happened later, I’m tired now, and I have to finish healing myself”. Sorellen made his way down, finally reaching the place they had slept in the night before. Here Elya got down from her horse and took out something to eat before healing herself.
Once she was done, and had mended her clothes, she took out the ruby she had received. “Isn’t it pretty?” she asked Sorellen, moving the gem so it would sparkle in the sun. He nodded his head in reply, also admiring the gift. “Should I try using some fire magic now?” she asked him, wondering if he was as curious about the new power of fire magic as she was. Evidently he wasn’t. Shaking his head, mane moving wildly, he tried to make her understand it wasn’t the best thing to do after having cast so much magic. “Ok” she said, though she was still quite anxious to try using fire magic with her ruby. She decided, as she was conjuring a little water for them to drink, that she would try it when the power of fire was released. Thinking she would be able to notice such a change, she could bear to wait a little bit.
It wasn’t until that night that she got to feel the strengthened power of fire. She had finished eating and had started brewing some tea, the small pot was warming over a fire. As she added a few leaves and herbs, she suddenly felt a rush of power, so strong she had to close her eyes and hold on to a nearby tree to steady herself. Being next to the source of fire magic, the power felt extremely strong, stronger than she had imagined. Slowly, she opened her eyes and tried to steady herself. Before, being close to the volcano had been exhilarating. The sheer amount of magic made her feel wonderful, but now there was so much of it that she had a hard time feeling anything else.
Sorellen noticed the wave of power, but as he had never used magic he didn’t feel it as strongly. He didn’t feel like the small sorceress next to him, who was overwhelmed by this release of magic. It was as if a flashlight had been shined on her eyes, making her vision quite useless. She would need some time to get accustomed to this change, though she didn’t worry much, for she would be leaving this volcano. Putting distance between the source of fire magic and herself would make her feel the power less, thus make it easier for her to feel other magical powers.
Elya concentrated and drew some of the fire magic towards her, now that the power was able to flow more freely. It was much easier for her to do now, she called the magic with great ease and modified it in any way she wanted. Stopping for a few seconds, she gathered some nearby branches and held them tightly in her left hand, the ruby in her right. “Fire” she said, and burned what she had gathered. She cast the spell in such a way that her hand wasn’t even singed, that was the level of control she had over the magic at this point. She stopped the spell, smiling in a self-satisfied way, then rinsed her hand to get rid of the branches’ ashes. Pocketing her ruby, she continued preparing her tea. She would have cast more spells, but knew she had used too much magic that day.
“Do you want a bit, Sorellen?” the young magic user asked her steed, offering him some of the infusion she had brewed. As it smelled quite pleasant, he nodded, and walked towards Elya. She tipped the teacup so he could finish the drink. Again, Sorellen had to remind himself he was a horse, for he wasn’t treated as one by the small sorceress. He sat down next to her, looking at the sky, sometimes glancing at the volcano. He remembered Kagutsu’s red stare, it seemed to be cold but now Sorellen wasn’t sure it was. The keeper hadn’t gravely hurt Elya, he tested her powers and wit in quite a fair way, considering what he could have done. Laying down sleepily in the ground, Sorellen looked at Elya, who was now rinsing her cup with some water magic. For a magic user, he thought, she’s quite considerate.

Chapter 7

“Go to the right, please” Elya told Sorellen as she consulted her map. She was taking a longer route back to Kindlire, something her horse noticed. “I don’t want to be spotted” she explained. “Everyone’s going to know that fire magic has been released. They’re probably going to head straight to the Rekun volcanoes and try to find whoever it was that defeated the keeper of fire. And I’d rather not have anyone know it was me”.
Sorellen accepted her explanation, deciding a few more days of travelling wouldn’t be that bad. He tried to keep a steady pace as he was navigating the mountains, but had to be aided by Elya’s spells, for the barren region was very hard to navigate. However, he didn’t complain. Though he had only spent a few days with Elya, he learned that magic could be both good or bad, and that properly casted magic was extremely useful. So his fear of it had decreased.
Three days passed this way, by which time the pair had left the mountainous area. Relieved to have left the Rekun range, they sat down in the scant expanse of dried grass, watching the stars. As Sorellen readied himself to sleep, Elya procured a small pouch from her bag. Opening it she revealed a golden bracelet and a pair of matching earrings. With a smile, she placed the small ruby she had received from Kagutsu on the bracelet, admiring its effect.
The jewellery had been a gift from Birseo. He had ordered it from the mining city, Joyesu, and given it to Elya as a birthday present. Though she had a great many accessories, she treasured Birseo’s the most. Not only because he had less money than most, but because he knew exactly what Elya liked. The earrings were simple, unadorned golden hoops, as was the bracelet. Many in the Ramile family called these ‘what the peasants emptied their money bags on, in an attempt to look as refined as us’. But of course, Elya admired their simplicity.
She was now thinking of attaching the ruby she had received to her bracelet. That way she could easily carry it, and it had room for more jewels, in case the other keepers gave her more. Smiling, she carefully replaced these things into their pouch, and then her bag. She cast a spell to guard herself and her horse, then fell asleep.

She was soon awakened by her magic, for a spell had detected people walking close to her. As making light appear would give her location away, she sat up and closed her eyes. Using her mind, she tried to look for living beings nearby. She spotted a few rats nearby, a lone squirrel, some plant life. Expanding her horizons, she slowly perceived four larger life forms located nearby. Two of them were human, the other two seemed to be animals. “Two horses and their riders” she concluded.
Of course, she still didn’t know what their intentions were. All she knew was that they seemed to be searching for something in the nearby area. It could be anything, from phoenixes to herself. Still sensing their presence, Elya sat down, holding her magic-enhancing necklace.
They’re getting closer, she thought, and received confirmation when an orb of light appeared close to where she was sitting. She could discern the outline of two people mounted on horses. Then, she heard a female voice, coming from one of the two riders. “Put that light out Lethos! Whoever it was that defeated the keeper of fire left the main road and is trying to hide. We don’t want to show him we’re here”. Another voice, barely as audible as the second one, responded. “But we can’t see anything with this starlight. And besides, if we can both feel he’s nearby, then I’m sure we’re close enough to see him”.
Following the proclamations of the second, male, voice, Elya tightened her focus and tried to hide her magical abilities, so she wouldn’t be found. The pair looking for her seemed to have noticed. “See Lethos, now he’s blocked his magic! It wasn’t hard to guess we were looking for him when you lit a bright flame in the middle of the field! Now come on, help me look, he can’t have gone far…”
Still concentrating, Elya nudged her horse awake. “There’s two people looking for us. I could lie and say I’m an innocent traveller, but I’m a very bad liar, so they wouldn’t believe me. If you get up quickly we may be able to leave before they spot us”. Sorellen obediently stood up and waited while Elya attached all of their belongings into his saddlebags. She then placed a spell on his hooves and mounted him, urging him to walk on.
The brown horse quietly walked south, his hooves barely making sounds against the dry grass. Elya still blocked her mind, trying to make her captors lose track of her, and sensing the pair at the same time. “They’re still close to us” she said softly as her horse wound his way around the barren plains. However, the appearance of a creature stunned them both.
A phoenix flew from their right, and passed so close to Sorellen that he couldn’t hold back a sound. The bird’s beautiful plumage shone against the moonlight, it’s bright golden eyes seemed to salute them as he flew by.
As soon as it came, it left. Elya and Sorellen were dumbstruck, not able to produce a logical thought. Slowly, their minds started working again. “We just saw a phoenix… Some people spend years in the Rekun mountains to see them, but we were lucky enough to have seen one, so lucky that we saw one outside the mountains… They really are as beautiful as they say…”
“Over here!” A man’s voice cried. Elya and Sorellen turned around to find a young man on his horse, quickly making his way toward them. “No need” Elya told her horse, who had turned and readied himself to run away. “We’ll just see what they want”. Reluctantly, the horse turned to face the man who had given the call, and another figure that was fast approaching.
As the young man came closer, his face became visible. He had relatively short light brown hair, a bit unkempt at the moment. His eyes were of a bright green colour, and a bit narrowed in suspicion at that moment. He seemed to be taking in every bit of Elya’s aspect as he waited for his companion to arrive.
“So, where is the old, bearded, staff-wielding magic-user? Oh, wait, it’s a girl” the other figure said as she approached. “Never mind Lethos, we probably got the wrong person. Were you travelling by yourself?” the woman asked Elya, in a bit of a motherly way. Which was quite funny, Elya thought, as these two were only a couple of years older than her.
“I was travelling with my horse” she said, looking innocently at the pair. “But why did you hide your magic and flee from us?” the man asked, descending from his horse. “Because she’s a girl travelling alone, and has to take care of herself” the woman said, nodding sagely. “She obviously thought we were going to attack her. Well, don’t worry miss, we’re just looking for the person who broke the seal on fire magic. You felt it, right?”
Elya nodded, still trying to look young and inoffensive. “I felt it too. But how are you going to find whoever it was that broke it?” “Well, it’s not going to be easy, but we had a very large number of people from the guild come here and look for anyone suspicious in the area. So far, all we’ve found are travellers, so we split up to look more effectively” Elya nodded again, glad they didn’t have any ways of tracking her down. Sorellen shifted a bit under her, clearly impatient to leave.
“Shouldn’t you continue to look for that mage?” Elya asked, hoping she would be able to leave soon. “Yeah, we should” the woman said, and ordered her horse to turn around. “Are you sure you’ll be fine?” the man asked before leaving. Elya nodded, saying she could take care of herself, and watched as they made their way north. Once their lights had disappeared, she told Sorellen they could stay and sleep there for the night. “I think they’ll just say they found a young girl travelling by herself. Still, I thought they would at least ask me about the ‘bearded, old magic-user’ before they left. Heh, they really underestimate me”

By the time Elya had made her way back to Kindlire, she and Sorellen had encountered a few other groups intent on finding this illusive old staff-wielding mage. “Really, just because most mages are old men doesn’t mean they are the best. Take the hero Sorellen, for instance. He wasn’t that old when he defeated the keeper of fire. I don’t know why they hold on to such stereotypes…” Sorellen, the horse, nodded. He was thinking more about Kindlire than Elya’s words. Surely inside the city magicians must be looking for the person who had defeated the keeper, he thought.
Elya didn’t have a strong reaction when Sorellen voiced his concern. “They can’t possibly ask everyone in the city if they did it. And I bet you, someone must already have claimed credit for my actions. Either way, no one saw us enter the Rekun mountain range, we should be fine”. Brushing Sorellen’s other worries aside, she led the way to the market, where she bought some more supplies. After she was fully equipped, she decided to have something to eat at an inn, and spend the night there. “They have room for you” she said, “so you should be able to sleep well tonight. I need some good food and rest, I’ve been a bit tense the last couple of days”. Sorellen thought he had been more tense, but nodded all the same, and let himself be steered towards a stable boy.
After a good, hot dinner, Elya left the inn and made her way towards the city’s blacksmiths. When she reached them, she made her request, embedding the ruby into her golden bracelet without damaging either. “It’ll cost you quite a bit missy” one of the men working there told her, “because we need magic as well. You’ll be ready to pay?” Elya nodded, and waited for the job to be done.
The tip she had given ensured she only had to wait an hour for the ruby to be implanted in the golden bracelet. Admiring the handiwork, she paid the blacksmith and left the store. Once her bracelet was in her hand and her gold in her bag, she let her thoughts stray. You’ll need more money if you’re going to waste this much, her mind told her, but you can’t take many jobs here, or head to the guild at all. Just find something to do in Mavelar…
Elya had decided, upon much reflection, that she should go to Mavelar, even though it wasn’t close to the source of air magic, where she was going next. It would be best to take some time between keepers, and not go after them all at once. And it’ll be good to visit the rest of the world, she thought, I’ve never been outside Numen…
As her feet left her in front of the inn, Elya opened the door and walked past the tables and up a staircase. When she was about to enter her room she noticed a man was standing there, leaning against her doorframe. As the man turned to face Elya, she recognized his face, dark skinned and framed with red hair. The brown eyes were those of Iramo, the man she had met on the Nereid a couple of weeks ago.
“Iramo” the short sorceress said, “what are you doing here?” However, Iramo’s face gave her the answer. He, clearly, had not underestimated her. Now next to her, he looked down at her face, with a mixture of surprise and approval. “Yes, I did” Elya said, looking away from his face. She smiled, despite herself.
“I knew it had to be you” he said. “Your family told me you had been missing for over a week, the day the power was released. I asked all the innkeepers to tell me if a young, brown-haired girl paid for a room by herself, and was told you were here. But, how did you manage to do it?”
Elya smiled again. “Can I tell you in my room? I don’t want anyone to overhear us… not that it would help if they’ve heard you just now”. Iramo nodded, and stood aside for Elya to unlock her door. Once they were inside, she explained what had happened. Iramo sat quietly, not making any comments until the end. “You realize that, had the keeper decided not to spare your life, you would not be here now?” He asked, concern showing for the first time in his face.
Elya lowered her eyes, she knew that as well. “I think”, she started slowly, “that the keepers want us to defeat them. They want us to grow stronger, to challenge and beat them. Then they will be able to release more magic into the world, and let us leave the small part of the world we inhabit”. Iramo nodded, accepting her information.
“So it is true, defeating the keepers will do that… Unfortunately, if I tell the rest of the guild this, they will all try their hand in defeating the keeper. I believe it would be best to just tell them that someone defeated Kagutsu, and that this person is heading to the other keepers”. Elya nodded, grateful that Iramo would not tell anyone it had been her who had defeated Kagutsu.
“And where will you be heading next?” “Mavelar city, I think” Elya said. “I’m going to find the keeper of light magic next, but not straight away. It would be best if I don’t defeat all the keepers at once, assuming, of course, that I can. Either way, I…” Elya stopped herself and raised her hand, making the door fly open.
Outside were Lethos and Carmesi, crouched next to the doorway, plainly trying to listen in. “Lethos, Carmesi, what are you doing?” Iramo asked while walking towards the two. “Looking for you, what did you think? We had a report to give about our search, but didn’t find you at the guild. So we asked Tosada, and he said you were here”. Elya eyed the pair of them. Carmesi was smiling at Iramo, trying to look guiltless, while Lethos was staring at her. The young sorceress turned away from them, thinking that she should have been more careful when talking to Iramo. “So, you defeated the keeper of fire? And here we had thought you were a stranded little girl” Lethos said.
Little girl… the words echoed across Elya’s mind. It was true, she did look younger than her eighteen years, and she wanted to be underestimated. But, for some reason, it seemed to be bothering her right now. “This little girl” Iramo said, “fooled the both of you. Even when a phoenix caused her to lose concentration, you failed to notice it was her who had such high magic power”. He placed his hand on Elya’s shoulder.
The dark-haired sorceress turned around to face the two who had so misjudged her. They were looking abashed, especially Lethos. “We’re sorry Iramo” Carmesi said. “We just thought it had been someone else. But, anyway, does that matter now? We know who defeated Kagutsu, we caught up to her”. Lethos nodded, apparently still unable to speak.
“She will be leaving tomorrow” Iramo announced, “And I hope neither of you do anything to hinder her departure. Telling the guild, for example”. “But” Carmesi started, “But we have to! They’ll want to know everything about the keeper, everything about the barriers, and the release of fire magic, and-“
“No, you don’t have to. If Elya prefers to remain anonymous, it’s her right. She may decide to tell the guild later, once she has defeated all of the keepers, or once she decides to fight them no longer. You cannot make that choice for her”. Iramo’s sudden strictness stunned the pair, who obviously had seen his cheerful side manifest most of the time. Then they nodded in defeat, walked towards Elya’s bed and sat there.
Shouldn’t they be leaving? Elya thought, I’ve nothing more to tell them. However, they seemed intent on talking. “So how did you think of doing that to defeat Kagutsu? Steam isn’t something most people would use in combat”. Elya looked around, a bit uncomfortably. She had given an account of her fight to Iramo, but to do it again, and to be asked so many questions… “I just read about it and thought it would be a good idea” she replied, not wanting to elaborate.
However, the pair sitting on her bed wanted to know more about her duel. “And how did you notice Kagutsu was going back to the same spot? Surely it must have been hard to feel his power when you were so close to the Fire God”. Elya looked up, not wanting to answer this either. Fortunately, Iramo told them she was just very good at magic, and that she needed rest.
To Elya’s great relief, the two stood up and went to the door. “You’re going to Mavelar then?” Lethos asked. She nodded, wondering why he was asking if he already knew. “My brother lives there. Our parents are from Mavelar, but I decided to leave and study fire magic here”. She nodded again, still not knowing why he was bringing up his brother. “Anyway, I was thinking of going to visit him sometime-“
“No you’re not” Carmesi interrupted. “We have a project to do! Remember? You can’t just leave me and ignore it. It’s due in two weeks, and unless you have forgotten, we still haven’t managed to hold the spell for longer than two seconds. My partner for the experiment can’t just leave if two people are needed for this magic!” Lethos looked down, and Elya noticed he not only seemed to be the younger of the two, but the more subdued one. Carmesi had quite a bit of authority over him.
“Can’t you practise on the way there?” Elya asked. She felt a bit sorry for Lethos, and might not be bothered by company if they didn’t ask so many questions. And she would really like to see how two people cast magic together, it wasn’t something she did often, especially not recently. “I think so. The project is all we have to do for now, so we could go and come back in two weeks”.
Carmesi still looked troubled, evidently she wanted to have a teacher or someone else to supervise her work. She voiced her objections, and everyone was quiet for a while. Just when Elya thought Lethos would give up, Iramo spoke up. “I can accompany you” he said, to everyone’s astonishment. “But they’ll need you at the guild, especially now…” Carmesi said. He told her it would be all right, that the guild could continue without him.
Sensing defeat, Carmesi walked out of the room, taking Lethos with her. As they closed the door and their footsteps died away, Elya turned to face Iramo. “Why are you coming with us?” she asked. He looked around, then back at Elya.
“I think it best to accompany you, at least until you are quite a ways from Kindlire. And besides, with those two on the journey, you will have no peace” he said quietly. Elya nodded. It would be better to be with Iramo, in case anyone asked her if she knew anything about the keeper of fire’s defeat. And her other travelling companions were bound to ask too many questions if they were alone with her. “Thanks” she said, to which he nodded.
“I’ll be going then. Let us meet at the southern edge of town, at noon. I’ll tell the other two”. She smiled, thanked him again, and saw him leave her room. Locking her door, she changed and went to bed. I have a lot to tell you Sorellen, she thought.