The Unsuspecting Mage - Brian S. Pratt [176]
James begins to concentrate and forms a spell, then releases the magic. From the direction of the lake behind him, a squishing sound begins to be heard as if someone was walking in boots full of water. From out of the darkness lurches a slow moving glistening, shimmering form roughly man shaped.
The man guarding Miko sees it first and lets out with a cry of fear.
The man with the longsword looks up from examining the contents of the pouch and sees it approaching. Letting out a startled cry he backs away as it approaches, not realizing that he has just removed the sword from in front of James’ chest.
James waits until the man has backed up several feet then quickly bends over and picks up a stone. In one fluid motion he arcs his arm back and then throws it at the one guarding Miko. Distracted by the sight of the water creature the man fails to see it coming and the stone pierces his chest. The light in his eyes quickly vanishes as he slumps to the ground dead.
Rolling away from the man with the longsword, James puts distance between them, all the while maintaining his concentration on the creature. It continues its advance, steadily closing the gap.
Eyes wide in fear, the man raises his sword and strikes at the creature but it has little effect. The sword simply passes right through the water.
Seeing one of his partners lying dead on the ground and another battling a creature that is unaffected by the sword, Lim screams in terror and races off into the night, leaving his partner to his fate.
The man turns to run just as the water creature lurches forward and touches him on the arm. Unable to break the contact, the man watches in horror as the water from the creature begins to spread along his skin, moving to envelope his entire body in a thin layer of water.
Miko stares in awe as the man becomes completely cocooned by the creature. Gasping for air, the man’s mouth opens in a vain attempt to breathe. Water from the creature instead flows into his lungs and he starts to spasm as he chokes. Finally his eyes roll up in his head and collapses to the ground.
When he hits the ground, the water from the creature loses its integrity and splashes off him, running along the ground.
Gasping from the exertion of having maintained such a spell, James almost passes out but somehow retains consciousness.
Miko comes over and closely examines the man killed by the water creature. He turns to James and exclaims, “He’s dead!”
Nodding, James sits there and tries to keep the world from spinning.
Miko takes back James’ pouch from the man’s hand and brings it over to him. “The other one fled into the night,” he tells him.
“That’s okay,” says James. “I doubt if he’ll be back anytime soon.”
“What was that thing?” he asks.
“I suppose you could call it a cross between a water elemental and the blob,” James replies. “It’s something I cooked up a while back for a game a friend and I used to play. It was almost more than I could control though, it kept trying to lose cohesion and break apart.”
“Whatever it was, it sure was impressive,” Miko says. He starts to chuckle, “It sure scared the hell out of them.”
James smiles back, “That was the idea.” He lies back and can feel himself beginning to slip back into sleep. “Miko, you’re going to have to keep watch till morning,” he tells him, yawning. “I’m not going to be able to stay awake.”
“That’s okay, James,” he says. “You go ahead and rest, I doubt if I could sleep now anyway.”
James closes his eyes and quickly falls asleep.
Miko drags the dead men out of camp but not before going through their pouches and removing anything of value. Once the camp is clear of dead bodies, he begins walking around and manages to stay awake until morning.
Chapter Twenty Four
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The following morning, James wakes with a terrific headache and a mouth as dry as a desert. He discovers Miko still to be awake and had remained so throughout the night.
Upon seeing James rise, Miko brings the water bottle over with some berries gathered earlier that morning from nearby bushes.