The High-Wizard's Hunt - By Ashley Delay Page 0,26

odd. Something isn’t right here.” He looked at Osric. “The Turgent’s elite force, right here in Stanton? Are you getting anything from them that would indicate why they are here?”

“No. I would have to be closer to feel any significant pull from my gift.” His eyebrows raised, “Actually, I don’t know why the others didn’t give me some kind of warning unless this is a harmless passing by of troops.”

A crack of a stick sounded behind them and they turned, startled. A unicorn stood alone, next to a tree, watching them. Osric stood slowly to approach the animal and felt the familiar forward movement and falling that came from the traveling spell. After a brief moment, he was able to shake the disoriented feeling, and he realized they were no longer on the outskirts of Stanton. He looked around, shocked at his new surroundings, and met the equally confused expressions of Toby and Kenneth.

“Archana’s bones, Osric. Why did you cast that spell and bring us here?” Toby exclaimed. “Unicorns are harmless.”

“I didn’t do it.” Osric shrugged. “I don’t even know where here is.”

“It wasn’t me either.” Kenneth stood and looked around. “I recognize those buildings from my trip with my father when I was young.” He pointed in the distance at a grand city. “I think that’s Rowain!”

“What?” Toby shouted. “How did we end up in the capital city?”

Osric surveyed the town from the distance, trying to think through the events leading up to their traveling across the human realm to the capital city. After a moment’s contemplation, he thought he knew who had cast the traveling spell. Why they were brought to Rowain, however, was still a mystery to him.

“I think it was the unicorn who sent us,” Osric said.

“But they don’t speak. I thought that was a spoken spell that takes you places when you say it,” Toby argued.

“That’s the way it works for us,” Kenneth answered with an addled expression.

“I am starting to wonder if we know a whole lot less about magic than we think.” Osric took a mental step back to try and make a plan.

He didn’t know why they would be in Rowain, and there was nothing he could do without first learning the purpose of being there. He was still worried about the arrival of the troops in Stanton, and he wished he knew more about the situation back home. But it was obvious that they were not supposed to be in Stanton, or the unicorn wouldn’t have sent them away. It was a puzzle he had no answers for, but he thought he had a plan.

“All right, we need at least one of us back in Stanton to be my eyes and ears.”

“That’s me,” Toby answered. “I can’t just leave my family alone with all those Union folk.”

“Good. I’m just going to pop into my home and grab my spell book so it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Then, when I get back, you can leave, and Kenneth and I will poke about in Rowain to see if we can figure out why we were sent here. You remember the spell, right?”

“The basic words of it, yes. I will jump about a bit here and there while you’re gone to practice. You explained the concept well enough earlier.” Toby looked a bit nervous.

“I’ll be right back.” Osric focused his mind on the room where he kept the book. “Eo ire itum.” He vanished as Kenneth and Toby watched, and he reappeared in his own home a moment later.

The book sat perched on the shelf where he had left it. He grabbed it and then walked to the window. Osric peeked through the drapings to get a look at the street, careful not to cause any movement. The Kallegian men were leaning against houses and studying the people that walked through the streets. They wore a distinct expression of trouble on their faces that made Osric nervous. It wasn’t the time to investigate, and his Portentist gift was warning him of significant danger. His innate gift, which he had been born with, warned him of moments of significance both positive and negative. The sensation was familiar, and he couldn’t mistake the message he was currently getting from the ability. He stepped back from the window and spoke the spell again.

“How do things look there?” Toby asked anxiously as he approached Osric.

“They are watching for something, or someone. I can’t really tell, but I did not want to be spotted so I