This is the second part of a chapter I removed from The Wolf Pack. It wasn’t adding anything to the story, nor to our view of Carthinal, either.

This hasn’t been edited, nor critiqued, so please forgive any blatant errors.

Carthinal was excited to be taking the exams that would end his apprenticeship. There were written ones, but it was essential that a mage should prove he could use magic safely so a practical exam was also deemed essential.

On the journey to Hambara, where the tests are to take place, the caravan with which he is travelling is caught in a flash flood on the Brundella, and Mabryl, Carthinal’s teacher, sadly dies. Before he dies, however, he makes Carthinal promise to continue on to do the tests.

He passes the written exams with flying colours, and now is taking the practical. He has dispatched several enemies and solved problems, but he has now come up against a blank wall.

Now read on…

He searched again for any secret doors, but this time he drew a blank.
‘Seems like I should have gone right. So much for the God of Chance!’ he murmured as he retraced his steps.

This time he took the right hand fork. He estimated that his caution on the curving corridor and the wrong turn had taken up another hour, leaving four more hours to find the way out.

He noticed the corridor ahead had a number of alcoves in it.
‘What a good place for an ambush.’

Almost as a reflex, he stubbed out the light. That would have let anyone know exactly where he was. He paused. Yes, sure enough, there were heat sources in some of those alcoves. He moved backwards, confident that whatever or whoever was in the alcoves would have seen his torch and be expecting him. 

He leaned against the wall while he thought. There may be enemies in those other alcoves too. In which case, they’ll wait until I’ve passed the first ones and then surround me. That was what I would do in their place.

He considered using a protection spell to give himself some armour, but quickly rejected it, I it would use up his energy and probably to no avail if he were fighting in close quarters with enemies in front and behind.

I’ll need to draw them out somehow while I’m still on this side of them, so I can put them to sleep. At least some of them will be out of commission while I deal with the rest.

He quickly made a plan, and then ran it through his mind again to look for any flaws. There were flaws, of course, not least that he did not know what kind of creature he was dealing with. He assumed the mages would not put in anything a final grade apprentice should not be able to deal with, so he executed his plan.

He felt around for any pebbles or stones, and picked up a few and crept forward silently, as only elves and their kin can do. When he was within spell range, he stepped out and began to shuffle on the spot. 

Sure enough, he saw the creatures in the first two alcoves prepare to fight. 

He noted with relief that they did not seem to be too large, maybe goblins.

Smiling slightly, he took out a small pebble and tossed it in front of the first alcoves. He then tossed a second between the alcoves. Using a simple cantrip he had learned in his early days with Mabryl, he said, “Shit!” and caused the sound to appear to come from the position of the second pebble.

Immediately, four goblins emerged from four alcoves, waving short swords at the empty space between them. 

Goblins are not noted for their intelligence, and after whacking each other a few of times, they stood around in confusion. 

This gave Carthinal the chance to fire a sleep spell.

Within a few seconds, three of the four were snoring on the floor. 

Carthinal took out the fourth with his dagger, thrown with deadly accuracy, and then he re-lit the torch before going over to retrieve his weapon and dispatch the remaining three.

He felt tired and thirsty and decided he had time for a rest for a few minutes. He took a drink out of the pack all the apprentices had been given and sank onto the floor and drank deeply, but he did not empty the flask. While he rested, he cleaned his dagger and re-sheathed it in his arm sheath. 

Having decided to remain there for another half-hour before continuing, he re-lit a torch while he rested and put it in a sconce on the wall. It gave a welcome light. He considered his progress so far and felt that he had done well.

He had passed three enemies and only used two simple spells. That meant he had enough energy left for several more, depending on their difficulty and the amount of mana they drew. He did not think there could possibly be more than one more enemy, or it would have been well nigh impossible for many who would rely completely on spells.

He smiled to himself, remembering his early life in the gangs of Bluehaven. It had given him some skills mages do not generally have.

However, there would almost certainly be tests of ingenuity and intelligence.

When he estimated the half hour rest he had allowed himself was up, he stood, stretched to get rid of the stiffness, once more shouldered his pack and set off down the corridor, having retrieved the torch from the sconce. He decided he would like some light for a while, reasoning there would be no enemies in this part of the tunnel as he had recently passed some, so he carried the torch still lit.

A corridor branched off to the left. Should he take it or go straight on? He pondered for a minute, and then decided to continue along the corridor he was travelling down. If it came to a dead end, he could always backtrack to here. 

The corridor continued to have alcoves along it for some distance, but then they stopped. The corridor widened and became a large circular room with four doorways leading from it. The four doors were closed, but in the centre of the room was a circular device made of metal. On the top was a second circle of metal, slightly smaller, with an arrow engraved on one side.

Carthinal looked carefully at the device and it became apparent that the piece of metal on the top rotated over the lower one. There were four lines engraved on the lower circle across the diameter and at right angles to each other. Carthinal did not touch it yet. He needed to know more before doing anything. He looked around the room, and saw that there was writing all around, just above the height of the doors. 

At that moment, his rush torch went out.

If you would like to read about the formation of the group known as Wolf, and follow Carthinal’s adventures, click on the book image in the  side bar, or on the button below.

You can also find out about Carthinal’s early life by clicking on this button. The Making of a Mage.

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