Chapter 21 Chapter Twenty

Porg Reese paced restlessly in his little room.He kicked a basket aside and watched as a cockroach skimmed the floor and ducked into the shadows under the bed. "Flee, little bug," said the young magician. Pogue tossed the strands of brown hair aside and ran his fingers through it.He's like a little bug. He looked toward the window, which was too small to really see anything, but still big enough to let him know that the afternoon sun was finally starting to fade.Pogue intended to leave the city at dusk, among the beggars who left Calatown every evening. Once outside the city, he could conjure a magical steed, and his journey to the Wall of Trinity would be swift and unimpeded.Pogue was happy at the thought of being away from Carraton, the young priest, and his companions, but not at the thought of facing Aballister.Worse, if the ghost succeeds in its mission and the killer makes his triumphant return to Wall Trinity, Pogue will look humiliated and cowardly.

"Little Pogue." He spit out these three words angrily.He thought he'd better get used to hearing it, because Aballister and Dorigen wouldn't make him forget his cowardice anytime soon.The young man's only consolation was that he had arranged for the dean of the Mengzhi Library to be killed. The cockroach came out again for a moment, whistling across the floor and under the folds of the oversized curtain. "That'll shut them up!" Pogue said to the roaches.Especially Dorigen, because she was in such a mess in Simista's forest. A smile crept across Pogue's taut, boyish face.He killed a priest!

Glancing at the window, he saw that it was time to set off for the west gate.He selected some materials that would allow him to perform his appearance-altering magic, put them into a handy pocket, and picked up his bag. He put it down again immediately, as a sound of incantations came from the corridor. ※※※ "Fire and water," Cadderly said in a focused, monotone voice. "Fire and water, the elements of defense. Fire and water." Danica and Pikel stood in front of the young priest, between Cadderly and the door.Danica pushed her hair away from her face and looked at the stairs, seeing the slightly bald top of the innkeeper crouching there nervously.Every so often, the man peeked from the top flight of stairs, worried about his belongings.

Still, Cadderly easily persuaded him to let the three of them go upstairs to Pogue's room.Danica looked at Cadderly again.He was chanting more forcefully now, eyes closed, hands moving up and down in front of him, creating a thin wall of magic.The young priest shaved off his beard before they left the Dragon's Fig Leaf, and now looks more like him. However, he is no longer.Danica couldn't explain it, but Cadderly just grew more confident with each progress.His soul-encounter with Dean Avery—whatever happened along the way—also added a sense of stability to these growing confidences.

Danica didn't ask him about that, but she sensed that Cadderly knew his god was with him every step he took now. "Fire and water," Cadderly intoned, "elements of defense." He raised a hand and sprinkled a few drops of the conjured water on the door.The other hand was raised as well, and Cadderly let it shoot a ball of fire. The hiss of fire hitting the wet door was the signal for Pikel. "Ooh," the dwarf shrieked, and slammed his club against the door like a battering ram.The weapon sliced ​​cleanly through the thin wood, making a decent hole, but it failed to knock the door open.When the dwarf retracted the stick, Danica learned of Pikel's mistake.She reached over the dwarf, turned the handle, and the door swung open easily - wide.

"Oh," said a deflated Pikel. As the door opened, the room filled with Pogue's chanting and Cadderly's continued prayer.The magician held before him a small metal staff, the magical implement Danica had seen before. Pikel had seen it too, and he and the young woman stepped aside, knowing there would be a burst of lightning. Cadderly neither moved nor flinched.A near-transparent, shimmering energy field appears through the open doorway. Pogue attacked it angrily, and the lightning hit the defensive wall hard, hissing and bursting with sparks of many colors.A cobweb of green and orange energy penetrated Cadderly's field, burning the doorframe.When the sparks burn out, only a small puddle of water appears under the intact defensive energy field.

The wizard's eyes widened in amazement, and he began another spell, as did Cadderly. Pogue took out another magic material and began to chant quickly. "Sneeze," Cadderly ordered. Pogue complied, and his chanting was interrupted. The stubborn magician growled and began to read again. "sneeze." "Damn you!" Pogue yelled, wiping the wetness off his face. "That's wrong," Cadderly replied calmly, "Should we continue playing this game?" "Release!" Cadderly yelled suddenly, and Pogue's face contorted into an angry stare.The glowing energy field disappeared from the doorway, and Danica and Pikel rushed into the room.

Pogue knew his mistake; he could have continued to "play" as the young priest put it, forcing Cadderly to take a defensive stance, so that his many spells might still have hope of being better than the younger priest's. Priests last. Danica went straight forward, first ducking her head, then jumping up, and then landing suddenly forward, so fast that the surprised Pogue had no time to react.He raised his arms defensively, and the monk immediately rolled them, slipping her hands through the mage's, then snapping them back down, locking Pog tightly. Still, he twisted a wrist, drawing a trail of blood on Danica's sleeve.

A hidden dagger! Danica's leg kicked quickly from among the mages with daggers close in front of her eyes, shattering Pogue's nose.Danica let go of his other arm, wrapped the free hand behind his clenched fingers, and pressed his hand back hard toward his upper arm, twisting his arm the other way .The dazed Pogue didn't fight back at all. The magician's face was contorted with pain.He tried to grab the only weapon, but Danica's foot kicked again and her hand kept pulling. Pikel joined her a moment later. "Oh," he said sullenly, disappointed that the fun part was over.He heard the hidden dagger drop to the ground with a clang, and he looked down at it, scratching curiously at the green-dyed beard.

Cadderly walked to the bed and motioned for Danica to take her captive there. "You can let him go now," said the young priest. Danica gave Pogue a quick, painful twist before letting go of his arm.She pushed him into a sitting position. "We need to talk, you and me," Cadderly ordered quietly. Pogue glared at him from the bed.It was a feeble threat, but Danica slapped him on the ear anyway. Cadderly's surprised expression seemed to calm the young priest's rambunctious conscience, as she responded with an angry stare and held up her cut arm to show him. "Dorigen sent you," Cadderly said to the man.

"no." Cadderly looked at him strangely, "I have a way of knowing you're lying," he warned. "Your probing will come to nothing," Pogue replied. "You are with the Mask of Night, but not part of their organization," Cadderly commented. "You're going to die," Pogue assured, drawing another slap from Danica. "Why are they after me?" Cadderly asked.There was no answer, so he spoke again. "I can talk to your dead body, if you prefer that." Finally, Pogue seemed to be getting scared.The sheer calm in Cadderly's tone made his threat stronger, and Pogue knew it was the truth, and, since he wanted to live long enough to be an old wizard, he answered. "You're a big hindrance," the young magician said intermittently, "in the library, and in the woods. You're making Eb—" Pogue snapped off. "Who?" Danica demanded, her face closing in on Pogue. "Aballister," admitted Pogue, "Dorigen's teacher, my teacher." Cadderly looked at Danica, rather worried.Duo Ruizhen is already a strong opponent, so how strong will her teacher be? "I'm just here to observe," Pogue continued, "and they asked me to." "Oh?" Pikel interrupted, walking past Danica, pushing her aside, and showing the burnt hole in the leather top.It was hit by Pogue's lightning in "The Dragon's Fig Leaf". The color faded from Pogue's face, and his growing desperation forced him to act even more desperately.He quickly reached into a pocket, grabbed a handful of pebbles, and sprinkled them on the ground. A burst of small-scale explosions appeared, one after another quickly exploded, scattering smoke screens of various colors in the air.These little outbursts didn't hurt Cadderly or the others, but they were distracting.Pogue said a quick spell, shrunk to the size of a cat, and slipped between Cadderly and Pikel. Cadderly tried to call out, but couldn't decide in time whether to call his friends to stop Pogg or warn him.Danica finally pushed him and Pikel aside, and followed the magician's expected route to the door. They heard the door close—the smoke began to clear, and the bog had returned to its original size outside the door, beginning a new spell. Danica stopped, wise not to go through the door. From behind the door, they heard Pogue's terrified screams.The group of friends heard footsteps, a sickly muffled sound, and then something heavy hit the door. Cadderly shook his head, looking away.The point of Ivan's double-bladed battleaxe pierced the door on the other side, dripping crimson blood.As if that wasn't grim enough, Pogue clawed helplessly, his twisted fingers protruding from the square hole Pikel's stick had made earlier.The door gradually creaked open due to the added weight on the outside. Pikel walked past Danica, opened the door all the way, put his head out to look, looked at the magician hanging there, and said "Oh". "Told you to be careful with magicians," Ivan declared, standing a dozen feet away in the hallway, hands on hips.He walked towards the door and motioned for these people to come out of the room. The young priest couldn't help looking back at the dead young wizard, who probably wasn't even Cadderly's age. "Neither of us asked his name," Cadderly said. Ivan kicked the door shut, spat in each of his hands, and put a booted foot next to Pogg for balance. "Don't know what to write on his tombstone?" he asked rudely. Danica watched the young priest carefully, looking for any signs of weakness.This time, though, Cadderly seemed able to control his emotions and accept this necessary evil. "I'm just curious." He replied to Ivan, shrugging resignedly, as if he had pushed the accident out of his mind. "Put the body back in the house," Cadderly said to the dwarf.He shook his head, thinking how sarcastic he had said before, just to frighten Pogue. He was indeed able to talk to Pogue's dead body. ※※※ The lake faces the empty street.Calaton became visibly quieter at dusk, and interest in the exaggerated events that took place at the Dragon's Fig Leaf quickly faded.Only a few occupants remained in the ruined hotel, and now that Cadderly and his companions were away, the place seemed quiet, too quiet for Zilkhan Rufo. The thin man stood in front of the small window in the room, his slanted posture made him look almost like a slanted cross bar on the glass.Several minutes passed without Rufo moving at all. He knew he had gone too far this time, had crossed over to the darker part of his nature.He doubted whether he would ever come back.Now he stands there thinking, trying to trace how he got to this terrible position.It all started in the library, when he met the evil Barjin, and, at the priest's orders, caused Cadderly to fall down the stairs leading to the hidden tomb. Rufo could forgive himself for that unwise move, and all the members of the Cult, including Cadderly, forgave him.In the Elven Forest, Rufo betrayed his companions again, but he made amends for his actions, and finally provided the information his companions needed so that they could win in the end.As for the library, the efforts of Cadderly and others prevented a catastrophe from happening and Rufo's mistakes were not too serious. Now Avery lay downstairs dead.Rufo sent the Patriarch to the jaws of a gang of killers.Rufo had crossed that line and gone too far. He tried to make excuses for his behavior, kept telling himself that he had no choice, that if he didn't cooperate, the killers would kill them all. But the facts do not support his excuse.Cadderly, Danica, and the dwarves (where the hell did they come from?) won and drove the Killers back.They would have won faster if Rufo had gone to the young wizards as soon as they met them for the first time. Avery would still be alive. The thin man let out a low howl and turned around from the window, suddenly feeling extremely insecure. "He deserves it," Rufo said grimly.He reminded himself of how Avery had treated him since the Simista trouble.Avery would not give him any chance of advancement in the Denierian order; the dean had threatened to expel him from the library!It wasn't fair at all, Rufo's irrational side argued, because the Dean had all the power and Rufo could just stand there and let Avery's whim decide his fate. Anger had replaced guilt by the time Rufo walked through the small room and picked up his bag.He fought back against Avery the way he could, and now it's done.No one suspected him; the conspiring magician had fled, and Rufo evaded questions from the city guard.Even more comforting was the fact that Cadderly had clearly taken the conclusions of the guards as fact, for the priest hadn't asked Rufo a single question about the tragic event. Rufo hid his smile as he paid (with Avery's wallet) for Federja's lodging during this period.He explained to the hospitable innkeeper that he must return to the Mengzhi Library immediately to report the sad news. When he stepped out of the "Dragon's Fig Leaf", it was already dark, as dark as the road Zirkan Rufo had staggered along. ※※※ The four companions left the inn later, and Cadderly tossed a purse to the terrified innkeeper to pay for the damage they had done, as well as the cost of disposing of Pogg's body. "Where are we going?" Ivan asked impatiently, because now he knew where the other enemies might be and was eager to start the fight. "Go back to the Dragon's Fig Leaf," Cadderly replied flatly. "What are we doing there?" Ivan said, sounding not at all happy about the choice. "Wait," Cadderly replied, trying to calm the impatient dwarf. "We've fought a lot during the day and night today, and we all need rest." Cadderly's words were true, for he was exhausted from overuse of magic, and he just wanted to pass the next few hours in peace.Although, what he learned after talking to Pogue's soul made him not sure whether this wish would come true. It was getting dark, the air outside was chilly, and a few stars began to appear in the night sky. It was going to be a long night, Cadderly knew.