Chapter 4 4, You don't know what you do

Koth looked around; this was an ambush, but a poorly executed one. He needed to work out where the instigators were so he could position himself between them and Irin. She had insisted she could protect herself, but anyone as young and inexperienced as her would need help. The snapping of a branch and the murmur of agitated voices revealed the enemies' location. Amateurs; they shouldn’t be out here if they didn’t know what they were doing.

“Right, fun's over, come on out,” he shouted in their direction. Silence. “I know where you are; I’m a wizard. A few bushes and trees won’t stop me if I want to hurt you, so step out where I can see you.” Still nothing. Then a thud from behind as a third person dropped from a tree. Maybe they weren’t complete amateurs, he thought.

“I don’t think you get it, big fella; you are surrounded,” a voice told him. Big fella? Who were these people? He turned and stared at a tawny man, his hair matted, with twigs and leaves sticking out of it. He looked like he hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks.

“Look, I get you’re desperate, but look at me, then look at yourself. Do you think you’re the one who'll come out on top?” Koth tried to reason with him.

“Hey, don’t act all big and mighty. I’m not the one surrounded in an ambush, am I?” the man said. “We just want money and food. We won’t even try touching the gorgeous little woman. Be grateful, give us what we want, and you can move along.”

“First of all, we aren’t surrounded; you’re standing on one side of me, your two friends are hiding in the bushes over there,” Koth sighed.

“And the rope, don't forget the rope.”

“Right, in your world, the rope is on your side. I get it; the rope is probably the strongest of the bunch of you, so I understand why you want it on your side, but it’s more like a neutral party. Yes, it’s blocking our path, but it’s also blocking your friends’ path to us, so let's see it as a referee.”

“What?”

“Never mind. My second point is, even if I took this seriously – which I don’t – there’s no way you would lay a hand on my travel companion. So, be off before any of you get hurt. Take this as a lesson and think before you do this again,” Koth told him.

“If you don’t listen, then we will make you listen,” the man said, reaching into his tunic and drawing a large knife. He started walking towards Irin, who he perceived to be the easy target. Koth was about to use one of his spells to trap the man to the ground when he saw Irin’s lips move. Koth could feel the magic that suddenly filled the area. Irin’s eyes, which usually glittered in blue hues like the ocean, suddenly had a green glow.

“No!” she exclaimed, and pushed her hands out. A gust of wind, which would have easily pushed Koth to the ground if it hadn’t been for the rope catching him, blew out from her. The man with the knife was sent flying, as were the two in the bushes, judging by the sound. Koth was blown away in more ways than one. Where did the small human get this power from? Koth had to use some of his more complicated spells to achieve something like that, and she did it as if she were annoyed.

“Irin, I think you can stop now,” he said as the wind continued to buffet him.

“Sorry,” she said, relaxing. The wind was gone in an instant, as was the magical power which had filled the surroundings. Koth looked at her as he straightened up and brushed leaves out of his hair. He looked around and saw the man lying spread-eagled further back on the road. Koth walked over to him and kicked the dagger into the bushes.

“Now do you get what I’m saying? Attacking a wizard and a cleric is suicide. Just be happy neither of us is out for blood. Think things through before you go and be stupid again,” he told the man, standing over him.

“Y-yes sir,” the man said.

“Good. My companion and I are going to leave; until we are gone, you are going to stay put where you are. Then you will get up, collect your friends, and have a long, hard think about your life decisions.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good lad.” Koth walked back to Irin and the horses. He took out his knife from his belt to cut open the rope, but once again he was beaten to it by Irin. She produced a dagger from her boot, and it must have been sharp, as it cut through the rope as if it were butter. Who was this little human he was travelling with? Had he been so wrong about her?

“Ready to go?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, unable to formulate a longer sentence. He just mounted his horse and they set off again. They rode on for some time in silence.

“How old are you?” Koth blurted out. Irin looked at him.

“Me? I’m twenty-six, why?” she asked.

“Twenty-six?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“I know how old I am, Koth. How old are you?” she countered.

“Thirty-one,” he grumbled.

“Okay, is there a point to this conversation?”

“How did you do that back there?” he asked.

“You do know that I’m a cleric?”

“Of course, I do.”

“No need to be testy. Sheesh, grumpy much? Why are you so surprised, then? As a wizard, I would have thought you’d know the difference between a priest and a cleric,” she told him.

“A priest serves their god or goddess and is an ordained member of the temple. The cleric is the vessel of the divine magic in the temple,” he told her. He knew it, but he had just never seen it used in the way she had.

“That’s right. It’s not my magic. It’s the goddess's power, which she grants me when I ask for it.” Irin nodded.

“I have never seen anyone wield such power from divine magic.”

“I overdid it. I should have held back a little.” He could see she was blushing.

“It’s better to overdo it than to not do anything at all,” he told her.

“I guess so.”

“Does it take a lot out of you?” Koth asked. He was intrigued by this kind of magic. He had always dismissed it as being weaker than the kind he used, but he realised he needed to revise that conclusion.

“A little. It’s like when you’ve stayed up too late reading and have to get up early the next morning. The energy in the magic isn’t mine; I draw it from what anchors the goddess. In Alesseja’s case, it’s nature. What I feel is the energy it takes me to channel the power,” she explained.

“That means you can amp up the magic quite far without any negative side effects,” Koth said. It was an astonishing revelation to him.

“I suppose. I have never needed to use that much power, but I guess the more power I ask for, the harder it would be for me to channel it. But yes, it would take a lot of power for me to get to the point where my body wouldn’t be able to handle it. I thought you knew all of this,” she said, almost accusingly.

“I never paid much attention to divine magic; it always seemed too frail and powerless to be of any interest,” he admitted. “Haven’t you ever tried something really powerful just to see if you could do it?” he asked.

“Why would I do that?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because to use my magic, I have to ask Alesseja to grant it to me. I would never ask her to lend me her powers if I didn’t need them,” she told him. Koth was silent for a while; this new information gave him much to consider. It was a little unnerving to realise there was an entire field of magic he had overlooked. He had been studying magic for almost fifteen years, and had thought he had a better grasp of it than almost anyone else. Then this happened, and it became abundantly clear he didn’t. He shook off his thoughts as he saw the sun beginning to turn orange.

“We need to set up camp for the night,” he said. They found a good spot along a small creek that provided fresh water. They worked in silence as they got a fire going and settled the horses. Irin offered to prepare the evening meal, and soon they were sitting down to eat. “We are making good progress,” Koth said. “We should reach Behenoth in three days.”

“That’s good; let’s hope the weather holds. I think we will slow down if the autumn rain starts,” Irin said. Koth grunted in agreement. He then looked at his travel companion. Her copper hair came alive in the firelight, and her blue eyes seemed to search for hidden answers in the flames. She was a beautiful woman, and that was Koth’s problem. He had never been good at resisting a beautiful face. But still, he had learned new things he would have been oblivious to if he hadn’t come on this journey. That could open up new areas of research, which excited him. “Thank you for coming with me,” Irin said to him, as if she had read his mind. Clerics couldn’t read people’s minds, could they? He hadn’t read anything that suggested it.

“No problem. Had I known how capable you were, I wouldn’t have stayed home,” he said. It was meant as a joke, and a compliment. But the way Irin’s shoulders tensed and her eyes darted up to him before returning to the fire, told him she had interpreted it differently.

“Yeah, sure. I guess I should have been more upfront about not being totally useless. I’m sorry you had to come along under false pretences,” she said. Koth felt like punching himself. He did not mean to make her feel like she was an inconvenience.

“Irin, that’s not what I meant,” he began.

“It’s okay, Koth. I know you were tricked into coming. I’m still grateful you did. It’s getting late, and we need to get going early; I’m heading to bed.”

"Okay," he said. They had already decided that he would take the first watch. He felt as though he had done something stupid and had a sneaking suspicion that he would come to regret it, but he didn’t know how to put it right. Koth would just wait it out; Irin would come to realise that he appreciated her company more than he thought he would. As she settled down under her blanket, Koth sat with his back against a tree and looked at the stars. Something was gnawing at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp it.