Page 11 of Ruins of Magic
Arion snorted. “And you know who I am?”
“Yes, young one. I do. Any being born of magic will recognize you.” The zanzar bowed to Arion before scurrying over to hide in the darkest corner as footsteps approached.
“Arion, are you still here?” Taneth called out. “I’m certain this is the correct cavern, but where is his light?”
“I am here. My torch must have gone out.”
Garron laughed. “As if you didn’t notice that.”
Arion hadn’t, for the entire cavern burned brightly from the magical runes on the walls. He could see as clearly as if it were high noon outdoors on a sunny day.
“We brought wood. If we can just find a flat surface to build a fire, we’ll be able to see better,” Leeric said.
“Taneth is still concerned with ventilation. You’re going to suffocate us all, Sir Leeric,” Ailsa whined.
Arion dared a glance towards the zanzar who nodded and pointed to a spot on the floor that was pooling with water. He listened and heard the drips from the ceiling.
“There is a puddle in the corner coming from a leak in the ceiling. That should do well enough to vent the smoke for us,” Arion said, relaxing when the zanzar nodded his top hatted head in agreement.
“How on Amaria did you notice that?” Taneth asked.
Ignoring his question, Arion walked over and took the firewood from Leeric and placed it on a flat, dry surface before arranging the pieces for a fire.
“Taneth, follow my voice. The ground is flat enough, you won’t trip.” He watched as the knight listened and walked towards him until the light of the torch reached him. “Okay, you should be able to light the fire using your torch.”
Within minutes they had a roaring fire. It was much easier for the others to see around the cave and move about. The best part for Arion was that no one was questioning why he could see so well in the dark, that wasn’t really dark at all, at least not for a being of magic.
That thought weighed heavily on him as they set up camp and settled down for the night. Could it be true? So much that had happened to him lately simply didn’t make sense. Did the zanzar have the answers he sought?
Arion drifted off to sleep with a thousand questions going through his head and a plan to find the answer to each of them first thing in the morning. Even if the zanzar didn’t have all the answers, he was certain the earth genie could help guide him in the right direction.
Chapter5
Arion awoke to the smell of eggs frying and meat smoking. His stomach growled loudly. He rubbed his eyes groggily not ready to open his eyes but listening to the sounds around him. It took him a minute to realize where he was and why he was there. His body ached from sleeping on the cold hard ground. He groaned when he finally moved.
“Looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake,” Leeric said with a snort.
Arion sat up and finally took a look around. It was still dark in the cave with no way for him to tell what time of day it was. Ailsa was cooking by the open fire and Leeric and Garron had all of their gear already packed and loaded on the horses they had brought back with them sometime in the night, or morning, he couldn’t be sure, though he didn’t remember them being there when he’d laid down to sleep.
Valaria was sitting near him, staring. She seemed to stare at him a lot, though he constantly chastised himself for reading too much into it.
Taneth was nowhere in sight and Arion noticed the symbols marked into the cavern walls by the zanzar were fading. He jumped up quickly and went to investigate, starting with the corner of the cave he knew the earth genie was hiding.
He looked and looked all around and couldn’t find him anywhere.
“What are you doing?” Valaria asked him in a low voice.
Arion turned to realize he had drawn the attention of everyone in the room.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he said curtly.
“There’s nothing you could tell me that I wouldn’t believe, Arion,” she said softly in a voice filled with hurt.
“Sorry, it’s just pretty unbelievable even for me,” he admitted.
“You’ll tell me if it’s something I need to know, won’t you?”
“Of course,” he said turning his attention away from her and back to the walls simply because her closeness made him uncomfortable with want of things he knew he shouldn’t.
