Chapter 12: Cave

Chapter 12: Cave

Carlos cast the light spell many times, paying careful attention to the sensations he could feel from using mana, as he waited for Amber to return. He was pretty sure he'd learned all he could from that when, just over an hour after his first successful casting, she emerged from the surrounding trees and undergrowth. He was also starting to feel tired, drained of energy in a way he hadn't felt before. He didn't bother to speak, just holding up his glowing hand towards Amber as she approached.

"Finished that already? Good job, that's fairly impressive."

Carlos sat back and sighed tiredly. "I've been practicing it for an hour or so, and I'm feeling weirdly tired. Does that mean I'm low on mana?"

Amber nodded. "Yes, depleting your personal mana causes mental fatigue. If you really forced yourself right now, you could keep going for a great many more castings, but that would be using up your soul shell mana. Don't do that. It would be a terrible waste."

"Right, I need that for making soul structures. Is there anything more I need to know for how to make a soul structure?"

"First, start packing up. Your body should still be fully rested, and I've found a better place to move our camp." Amber was already taking the fireplace apart.

Carlos stood up and walked over to the tent to start disassembling it. "Better how?"

"If we stay out here for long, sooner or later something or someone will get through the concealment ward, and we might have to fight. I figure our best chance of winning a fight is to help Purple set up a good tough dungeon, and the best place for that is caves. I found an empty cave, so let's move there."

"Fair enough. Purple, did you hear that? Time to pack up and move!"

Purple's glow flickered briefly, though it was harder to notice with daylight all around. [Heard. Ready.] Carlos thought he caught a hint of frustration in Purple's mental voice, but not enough to be clear.

"Hey. We'll settle down and stay at this next spot for a while, so you'll get to really rest properly this time. We just have to move, one more time, first."

[Move not problem. Other problem. Tried something. Not work.]

"Huh. Ok, well, maybe I can help figure it out once we've moved. I'd better focus on getting the move done first, though." Carlos picked up Purple and pocketed him, then reached in to pull out the rest of the tent's contents before collapsing it.

The cave Amber had found turned out to be half an hour's trek away, and that was with Amber guiding Carlos straight to it. No surprise it had taken her all morning and part of the afternoon to find it. Carlos had spent the trip over just reading out and explaining the soul structures list that he'd accidentally written in English.

Now Amber was critiquing it. "I get the impression that you listed these in roughly the order of how important you think they are, or maybe the best order to make them in. Is that right?"

"Ok. Purple, where should we put you?" Carlos took the dungeon core out of his pocket and held it out. It glowed, but considerably dimmer than Amber's light spell.

[Back. By water.]

"By the water, ok." Carlos repeated Purple's request for Amber's benefit as he walked over to that spot and tenderly placed the tiny crystal on the floor, where it began floating and slightly intensified its glow.

[Need help. With problem.]

"The problem you tried something for this morning?"

[Yes. Tried make soul structure. Got mana. Impressed concept. Mana not take concept.]

Carlos blinked. "You tried to make a soul structure?!"

"What?" Amber's head snapped around to look at them from where she was unpacking the concealment ward. "A dungeon making soul structures?" She paused and tilted her head. "I don't know whether to be amazed or terrified by that idea."

Enchanter Tornay tried to hide his anxiety as he waited for a response from the Supreme Enchanter. Far too much depended on whether his superiors accepted the agreement he'd reached with Darmelkon. It was difficult not to jerk, and instead calmly stand and retrieve the letter, when the enchanted long distance writing copier finally flared into action. Carlos would have called it a magical fax machine, not that Tornay knew any such thing.



Enchanter Tornay,

Your proposed contract with Lord Merchant Darmelkon is approved. However, your reward for successful completion will be reduced proportionately, to only two point five percent of the assessed value. We are displeased that such a costly step became necessary.

The penalty fine for failure remains unchanged.

Supreme Enchanter Nyralis



Tornay let out a long slow breath, releasing most of the tension he'd built up while waiting. Things were back on track, finally. He turned to Darmelkon, who was sitting perfectly still, completely calm and utterly in control of himself as he waited. "Sir, the contract is approved. Signed by Supreme Enchanter Nyralis himself."

Darmelkon nodded. "Very good. Come, then. We have a teleport to trace."