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WILD MAGIC
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She flashed a smile. "I'm dancing at Lord Bolan's party tonight."
"You'll not find him here. My orders state that no one enters the tower. No exceptions."
The sentry was wearing his sword, but his cudgel was leaning against the wall next to his chair. She noticed that he wore no helmet.
"I must have misunderstood," she said. "But I thought the party was at the tower."
"Parties are held at the banquet hall over on the east side of the castle. Ask the sentry over there for directions."
"Thank you so much."
As she turned to go, she dropped several coins on the floor. "Oh dear me!"
As the sentry stooped to pick up the coins, she grabbed the cudgel and brought it down on his unhelmeted head. He fell to the floor in a heap. He would be out for a long while, she guessed.
She climbed the spiral stairway leading to the top of the tower. At the top of the stairs, she encountered a heavy wooden door. She paused a moment to catch her breath. What would she do now?
She could summon a spell to unlock the door--such a spell would be too simple to go wild--but the magic might alert the wizards inside. Her element of surprise--her only real advantage--would be gone.
Perhaps if she spelled the door open and stormed in quickly enough, she might catch them off guard. But how many were inside? How quickly would they react? She had to consider that there were at least two highly trained, experienced wizards on the other side of that door.
But what alternative did she have? She certainly couldn't knock, entreating them to open the door for her. She decided to spell the lock open and rush in, hoping to catch them unprepared.
She reached for the door handle and nearly yelped in surprise when she discovered that the door wasn't locked. They obviously weren't expecting a hostile visitor. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
Two men and two women were sitting at a table playing a board game. It was a wizard's game, a contest requiring deep concentration. The four wizards had been deeply immersed in the game when Carma entered. To the rear of the room she saw a door with metal bars--probably the prince's cell.
The wizards jumped up from their game and gaped at Carma. They were startled, and Carma knew that she must act at once to take advantage of her unexpected entry. She summoned the strongest sleep spell she could muster, praying that this time it wouldn't go wild.
Not one of the wizards fell asleep. They stared at her for a moment and then began laughing. They pointed at her, laughing louder. Had she been so inept that they were deriding her? Had she bungled it so badly that they weren't even trying to fight her? But then she began to realize what had happened.
Her sleep spell had gone wild, becoming a spell of mirth instead. The wizards had seen her sleep spell coming. They instantly countered the sleep spell, only to find themselves under a spell of mirth instead. This time her wild magic had saved her.
The wizards were now pointing at each other , giggling, and doing little jigs. They ignored Carma as she searched for the key to the prince's cell. She found it hanging on the wall. She entered the cell to find the prince also giggling and singing a bawdy song. She grabbed his hand and led him out past the giggling wizards.
Carma was weary. She had used a great deal of energy spelling the wizards, and she needed time to restore that energy. She prayed that she would not need to call another spell during their escape. At best, her powers were erratic; she didn't want to work magic in her weakened condition.
She led the prince, still singing his bawdy song, down the stairs and out of the tower. She noticed that the door sentry was gone.
As they left the tower, Carma discovered that she'd lost her advantage of night vision--the clouds had dispersed, and a bright full moon was lighting the night. She started singing along with the prince, hoping that they would be taken as revelers from a party.
As she led the prince toward the carriage, she heard a commotion and turned to see a group of sentries running toward her. She reached the carriage, but not in time. One of the sentries grabbed the reins as the remaining six surrounded the carriage, swords drawn.
She recognized the tower door sentry as he stepped forward. "You'll pay for what you did to me wench. Now step down from the carriage, both of you."
She was now forced into a situation she'd hoped to avoid. She felt drained, and knew that she needed more time to rest and restore her energy. Casting a spell now might be harmful to her--maybe even fatal. But she was left no choice; if she took no action she would die anyway. She gathered her strength to try one more spell. She elected to try a spell of confusion, a spell that required minimal effort.
She was stronger than she thought. But her spell of confusion went wild, breaking up into several different spells. Two sentries fell asleep and four sentries threw themselves on the ground and began sobbing. The door sentry found the scene before him to be hilarious and began shaking with laughter. The prince was still singing.
Carma shoved the prince into the carriage and climbed in after him. Singing along with the prince, she drove the carriage toward the main gate.
The old gate sentry--not yet aware of what had taken place, laughed and waved them out. She thanked the Seven Spirits; she wasn't at all sure that she could have summoned another spell.
Several hours away from Grenwyl, the prince snapped out of the spell. "What happened? What are we doing here? Who are you?"
She explained to him all that had happened.
"That was a very brave deed, and I am grateful--even if you did bespell me along with the wizards." He laughed, and then turned serious again. "The wizards have probably organized pursuit by now, and we have a long way to go. Can't you get any more speed from that horse?"
"You needn't worry, Your Highness. Glistan has been waiting at the border with a force of mounted warriors and some of his wizards. He has been watching the castle with his crystal ball. Although a spell prevents him from seeing inside the castle, he can see the gate. He was ready to cross the border the instant he saw us emerge from the gate. We should meet up with our own forces before our pursuers catch up."
As soon as they spotted the torches of the Ingrian forces, they looked back to see the torches of their pursuers. But the Rhonians turned tail and raced back toward the castle when they saw the large force of Ingrians.
Glistan turned his horse over to Prince Vado, so that the young prince could lead the expedition back into Ingria. The wizard chose to ride in the carriage with Carma.
Carma related to him all that had taken place at Grenwyl. "My worst moment," she told him, "was when I first faced the wizards. I couldn't believe how surprised they were."
"Not so strange." he said. "Their spells were set up to deal with known wizards, such as myself. They never anticipated an attack from a lone, untrained mage. They didn't recognize you as a mage, even when you faced them. Had they known who you were, they could have neutralized your powers in an eye blink." He chuckled. "I wish I could have seen their faces when they recovered and realized what had happened."
"I'm just glad it's over," she said.
"Yes, it's over, and we have our young prince back with us." He cleared his throat. "Carma, when we get back, the queen is sure to offer you a place in her court. And the prince--who has more than a casual eye for you--may seek your company. I know all that will be tempting to you, but I truly hope you will choose to stay with us on the council. The queen will leave that option open to you."
"You needn't worry," she said. "How could one who is mage-gifted deign to choose otherwise?"
The Most High Grand Wizard nodded his head and smiled.
***THE END***
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