Delver Magic III: Balance of Fate by Jeff Inlo (best free e reader TXT) đź“–
- Author: Jeff Inlo
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“What’s going on?” Holli questioned.
“I’m not completely sure, but I would venture to guess that the magical energy that once was Tabris now belongs to Baannat. Magical energy is never extinguished. It is cast out in spells and then it is absorbed once more. He must have known what was going on here and waited for Tabris’ end. When she died, all of the energy that was hers became his. I’m afraid he has used this cataclysmic event not only to steal her energy but to expand his own capabilities. If I’m correct, he is now much more powerful than before.”
“Is this Baannat the one that’s basically your equal in power?” Ryson asked as he slowly walked over to the two.
“Yes,” Enin answered solemnly. “Unfortunately, this leads to a greater problem. A problem I have been doing all I can to avoid, but I’m not going to avoid it any further.”
“What is it you are going to do?” Holli asked.
“What must be done. In truth, I had already made my decision before I came here to you. You were right, Holli. While balance is important, it must never be used as an excuse, or as something to hide behind. And that is certainly what I have been doing. A greater threat now exists, and it’s a threat that must be dealt with.”
“You just said he is much more powerful than before,” Holli noted. “Is he now more powerful than you?”
“If I am correct about what happened here, then yes, I would bet he is.”
“Can you defeat him?”
“It is not my destiny to defeat him,” Enin stated firmly. He took a moment to look into Ryson’s being and simply nodded his head. “But I believe I can weaken him, and I must at least make that attempt. If I don’t try, I would not be able to live with myself. I have been fearful for too long.”
“Hold on here,” Ryson demanded. “What are you talking about? Now all of a sudden you want to act? You’re almost sounding like Lief and that’s about as far an opposite as you can get from what you have been saying all along.”
Enin frowned. “The truth is we were both wrong. Lief would go too far, and I would not go far enough. The best solution is as it always is, somewhere in the middle. Balance. The very concept I’ve been using as an excuse not to act, it the very thing I now understand.”
“So you’re going to fight another wizard because you think he is evil?” Ryson pressed. “That doesn’t sound like balance.”
Enin sighed. “I have made many mistakes. I guess that proves I’m still human, and that in itself is a bit of relief to me. I suppose I had to go through this. I was given a gift of so much power, but I still have all the failings I had before. It’s still possible for me to lose my courage, even my faith. The important thing to remember is that even something that is lost can be found. Mistakes are made. It’s how we learn. Anyway, the truth is I now see things clearer. You came here to stop Tabris because she was ultimately responsible for what happened in Connel. That is only partially true. She certainly shared in the responsibility, but now I can sense there was another hand shaping events.”
“Baannat?” Holli wondered aloud.
Enin nodded.
“So he is responsible,” the elf stated with no true surprise.
“I don’t know how he hid it from me, but it is clear to me now.”
“If you know you can’t defeat him, then why will you do this?” Holli demanded.
“For the very reasons you came here,” Enin responded. “I will have no regrets about what I must do this night. I understand things better now. I hope you can also understand. Destiny can’t be stopped, but it can be slowed or sped up. We will turn things faster today, so to speak. I think we already have. Things that might have waited, no longer can.” He paused only for a moment, wondering if he should say what he wanted to. In the end, he decided to speak freely about what he was about to do and let the events play out without deception or denial. He looked toward both Ryson and Holli. “What I do, I have decided to do. What Linda does, is up to Linda. What you do, is up to you. Destiny and choice, they can indeed go hand in hand.”
With this, Ryson found concern exploding in his chest. “What do you mean Linda? What does she have to do with this?”
“She must decide that for herself.” It was all Enin said before he disappeared.
Enin appeared outside the door of the Borderline Inn. He stepped quickly inside and moved to the bar that Linda was tending. It was very late, near closing and only a few patrons sat scattered about the room. It was a slow night anyway with most of the guard out of Burbon and involved in the attack on Connel. Linda was just about to begin closing up the bar when Enin called for her attention.
“You and I have to speak in private, we must do it quickly,” he said with a graveness Linda was not used to.
Without hesitating, she directed him back behind the bar and to a small storage room filled with mugs, plates, and other assorted items used during the inn’s daily activities. With a look into the wizard’s face, Linda quickly assumed something terrible had happened, and she imagined the worst.
“What is it? Is Ryson alright, did something happen to him?’
“Ryson is fine,” Enin began, “but he is the reason for my coming to you. The truth of the matter is that so much has already happened this evening. Eventually, you will come to learn all the details, but there isn’t enough time for that now. What you need to know is that Connel has been freed and Tabris is no longer a threat. In fact, she is no longer alive. Your Ryson and Holli are alive and well in the Lacobian Desert, but I am afraid two of Ryson’s close friends have also past. Lief and the Reader Matthew from Connel died in the battle with Tabris.”
Linda found herself very torn at this moment and her head swam with the confusion of opposing emotions. She could not understand how Ryson became involved in a battle with Tabris in the Lacobian Desert. She knew this night was critical for many that called Burbon home, and the last six days moved at a snail’s pace for her and everyone else that had a loved one in the town guard. Still, she only believed Ryson would be working to evacuate the people trapped in Connel. The thought of him fighting Tabris left her near breathless. While she felt great relief to hear that he had survived the confrontation, she also realized how the loss of his close friends must be affecting him at this very moment. She also wondered what else he might be suffering from for fighting magic was not something she could easily comprehend.
“You fought with Tabris?” she questioned after finally finding her voice. “I thought they were going to Connel, not the desert. How did Ryson end up in the desert? Why did he fight Tabris?”
“There will be time for greater explanations later,” Enin stated flatly.
“But I don’t understand…”
“I know you don’t, but this is not the time for that.”
“Can’t you bring Holli and Ryson back here now?” she asked as she realized Enin was not about to explain much of what happened. She hoped if Ryson was here he could explain and she in turn could try to comfort the delver during his time of loss.
“I can, but we don’t have the time for that either,” Enin admitted. “There is something of great importance I must ask of you and it’s going to be hard to explain. It’s not something you’re going to want to hear, but you must. You have a decision to make and you need to know everything.”
“What’s going on?” Linda pleaded growing more frustrated with Enin.
Enin for his part leapt right to the area of his focus. He did not even attempt to guide Linda slowly into what needed to be said. He breached the subject with all the subtlety of a mountain shag at a sheep farm. “You once asked me what Ryson’s destiny was, what it was I saw that allowed me to know that he would not fall at the hands of Tabris. I didn’t tell you then, but I will tell you now. There is a magic caster, a dark creature—very powerful. At this moment, he is now even more powerful than me. It is Ryson’s destiny to face this creature.”
This news immediately and completely obliterated any relief Linda felt only moments ago. “What are you talking about? Is this going to happen now?”
Enin frowned but did his best to explain. “I hope it will happen soon, but this is beyond my control. This is more of a choice Ryson has to make. I can set the stage to a degree, but how it plays out and when, I can not say.”
Linda now became visibly angry with the wizard’s answers and made as much clear to him. “If it’s his choice, why does he have to face this creature?! And it sounds like you’re trying to manipulate something. What is it you’re not telling me?!”
“I’m trying to tell you everything. It’s important that I hold nothing back from you, but you’re really not giving me a chance.”
“Give you a chance? A chance for what? Ryson can’t face something like that! That’s insane! This is exactly what I told you couldn’t happen, exactly why I asked you to tell Tabris to stay away from him. Tabris is dead and you come to me and tell me that something even more powerful than you is going to face Ryson. You can’t do this to me!”
“It is not my doing, it is destiny.”
“Don’t hand me that, you just said he had a choice. If he has a choice, then it doesn’t have to happen. You have to stop this!”
“Linda, calm yourself. I can’t stop it, but I intend to help him, and I am here to give you the opportunity to help him as well, but you have to listen to me!”
“We…I can help him?” At that moment, Linda found the strength to calm her fears. She took a deep breath as she waited for the wizard to finally offer some form of explanation.
Enin took the opportunity to spell out the situation to the best of his abilities. “Yes, I am sure you can help him, but only if you listen to me. The problem is you will not like what you are going to hear. Baannat is the name of the magic caster. He is very evil. He has manipulated many things in the past few days, of that I am now certain. He has done this to grow powerful in magic and it looks like he has succeeded. For a while now, I have known of his existence, and though I thought I was keeping him in check, I have failed to do that. I have been hesitant to confront him, but I can no longer avoid that. I am going to face him now and do everything in my power to weaken him. If I go alone, I believe there is no way I can win. If you go with me, there is a great chance we can succeed. That is the key, for it will give Ryson the ability to survive
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