Chapter 9

Journey to the Spire

"Are you all right, Steve?" The boy stood by the entrance to Vane.

"Mmf hm urgm mferbur."

"Are you a little tired?"

"Death to morning people." Steve yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Where's Mia? Once we start moving, I'll be fine."

"I'm here," Mia called.

"What took you?" Steve snapped.

Before Mia had a chance to be upset, Nash came to his defense. "Steve's not a morning person," he stated quickly.

A look of understanding washed over Mia's face. After all of the good that he has done for the guild, and for her, he could afford to be grumpy in the morning. She turned to Steve. "I was getting this ring from my mother."

Mia extended her hand with the ring. "Is that the ring?" Nash asked. Mia nodded. "The guild has been working on a ring that absorbs the magic used on a person."

"Whatever," was his only reply.

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"Hail, Nash and Mia," yelled the watchman from the southeast tower. The three travelers hiked up through the mountains to the Nanza Barrier. As they reached the large wall, a scruffy looking man was there to greet them.

"Master Nash, Mistress Mia. What brings ya here?"

"We are just helping our friend get home," Mia stated.

"Steve. Nice to meet ya," Steve said, extending his hand.

"Joe," he said, taking the hand. Then turning back to Nash, he said, "I wish you'd gave us some warning you were commin'. Kyle left fer Meribia three days ago."

"Great," he shouted. "Now we can't get through Damon's Spire. We have no skill . . ."

"I don't know about you, but I've got plenty of skill," Steve joked.

"I believe he was referring to skill magic," said Mia.

Steve shook his head. "You may be smart, Mia, but you sure don't pick up on subtilties. Or, evidently, play-on-words."

"Them jokes won't get ya through Damon's spire," came Jo's voice.

"You'd be surprised how far jokes will get you," Steve retorted. "Don't take life too seriously. It's too short not to enjoy every minute of it. And like I said, I got plenty of skill." He gave them only a small smile.

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"Why do you always have to be so secretive?" asked Nash as the three passed by Reza. They wanted to stay far away from the thieves guild since, as Nash pointed out, they weren't members.

"I don't have to be secretive. I wish to be. For me timing is everything. It's more fun that way." Steve looked past Nash to where Mia usually was. He reached out to stop Nash.

Mia slowly caught up with the boys. She breathed loudly as she caught up.

"Are you all right, Mia?" Nash walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "You look tired."

"It's nothing, I just haven't been out of Vane much since the adventure. We shouldn't stop on my account."

"We're not," Steve said looking to the West. "We're stopping because the sun has almost set." The two mages looked in the direction Steve was. Sure enough the sun had almost set.

"I'm going to see about getting some firewood. You guys set up camp. And I had better not catch you guys doing anything you shouldn't." Nash and Mia both blushed. Steve flashed a grin.

The two watched Steve walk into a nearby forest, before starting to set up camp.

"Who does he think he is, pulling comments like that?" Nash muttered.

Mia looked up from the sack of supplies. "Did you say something Nash?"

"It's nothing."

"Nash, do you really want to keep secrets from me?" she asked sorrowfully Nash faced the girl he loved with downcast eyes. He hated it when she was sad.

He let go a sigh. "It's just that, I'm the premier of Vane and I feel like I don't get respect from him. I mean, he is always cracking jokes."

"That's how he shows respect," Mia explained. She took a step toward the young mage. "It's just the way that he is. The more jokes you get, the more respect you have." Mia sat down on a nearby rock and motioned for Nash to sit beside her.

"If it bothers you that much," she continued. "You could always tell him."

"Yeah," was his only reply. The sun was now completely set, and it was starting to get cold.

An icy wind blew from the direction of the forest, causing Mia to shiver. Nash got a cloak from his bag and put it around her shoulders.

"Thank you," she said softly, staring into his deep brown eyes. Her lips quivered as Nash leaned in.

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The cold wind sent a chill up Steve's spine. Something was wrong. He hadn't learned how to sense magic without Azoric, but he could tell there was an evil around. He drew his sword and knife, and readied himself.

A blast of dark power came from out of nowhere, hitting the ground behind him, and blasting him into a tree. His robe offered little protection against the jagged bark.

A large figure levitated from out of the trees. Steve's eyes refocused on the dark armored figure.

"Torach," he spat.

Torach sneered at the boy. He raised a hand as the dark power welled in it. Steve scrambled to his feet and jumped away from the oncoming blast.

He looked back toward the tree to see a circular hole in it. "Come on, Torach. You missed."

Dark energy flowed from Torach's eyes. Suddenly two beams of purple light flew from his eyes, into Steve's body. Steve convulsed from the pain.

"You destroyed my life," he said coldly. "Now, you will pay."

"How . . . could you . . . get . . . so strong in . . . dark magic . . . so fast?" Steve managed to choke out.

"What the guild doesn't know . . . Well, I guess, now it can hurt them." Torach let a small laugh escape, causing him to lose concentration on the spell.

Steve rolled away from his attacker and ate a healing nut from his pocket. What am I going to do? Steve thought. Fire and lightning may start a forest fire, so we'll try this. The wind started to pick up as he yelled "Gale Force!"

The force was enough to pick up the evil boy and hurl him through a small tree. Steve ran after him, but got there just in time to see Torach disappear in a dark blaze.

"Now is not the time," came a voice from all around. "Later."

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"I thought I said I didn't want to see you doing something you shouldn't ." Steve walked into the camp interrupting Nash and Mia. The two were sitting on a rock, making out.

As the two stuttered, both trying to explain, Steve dropped an armload of wood. This ought to be good, he thought, as he sat down to listen to them try to explain themselves.