The Disguised Caravan (Chapter 4: The Unexpected)

Deldon barely recognized former Sazar. The man grew taller than an adult with dark blue crystal like scales adorning his entire body from head to toe. Crystals created six-pack pattern below his chest and shorts around his vital safe. Spike crystals replaced the black hair. His sharp white eyes seemed menacing, but his grinning chapped lips forecast imminent disasters. The most notable changes are both his hand and legs. They stretched longer than tree branch with five digit sharp crystal claw readied for action.

"What a carnage," said Sazar, surveying about him. His voice sounded like two stone rubbing against each other. "Don't you think so, Orfus?"

"What became of you?"

"Me?" Sazar looked down at his body and raised his head. "Nothing strange. What's wrong?"

"Guess this is not the first time you have turned into a monster."

"Rarely. Plus I haven't maximized the potential power of this form," said Sazar. "One more thing, I must deliver my thanks."

"For?"

Sazar smiled. "Dispatching my subordinates. I don't have to waste much time in dealing with them after this battle."

"I don't have much time myself either. You can go on your way than lingering here than you must."

"Hand me the king then."

Orfus planted his staff deep into the ground and maintained his composure. "I refuse."

Sazar answered back by punching a small fireball. A blue fireball. Its size gained larger as it traveled which aided his momentum on colliding with a wind ball Orfus had casted rather than creating a wind wall. The fireball swallowed the wind ball and shot fast to Baldin's master, exploding on impact. Deldon could do nothing and watched the smoke billowed around the old man.

Not like the previous action, Orfus didn't cast any spell to ward them off. Either he refrained from casting it or worst case he was blasted into nothing because there was no body part splattered around. There's always a possibility. Silence fell over them as the smoke began to dissipate. Deldon and his friends awaited what became of the old wizard in anticipation.

Seconds later, the smoke wafted off. Orfus stood with his staff pointed upfront and his barrier was gone. Sweat droplets almost dotted his entire face, but he remained intact. From the looks of it, Sazar's power proved more potent than before and that's only one fireball.

Sazar regarded Orfus with a wide smile. "You are the third person who can withstand my power. I must admit, you are strong."

"I'm not surprised you have this power if not because of the ring." Orfus used his sleeves robe to wipe the sweat. "How do you persuade my old friend to give you the ring?"

"Persuade?" Sazar laughed aloud. "He even kept it from me in the first place. At the end, I seize it."

"So, the rumor of his death is true."

"He's old and weak. Someone must use the ring than keeping it all the time, like me."

"Trust me. You're better not using the ring."

"And give it to you? What a joke?!" snorted Sazar. "You better think about you and your friends situation after I have worn this ring. You're all going to die, except the king of course."

Deldon could make out the ring this time. It was a plain white ring with a black square stone attached to it. Not a particular ring a richman would seek and may be designed that way to avoid robbery.

Sazar flung a blue fireball and another one. Again and again. This combo attacked had the same pattern as the previous tactic, but this time the tide of battle would be different. They flew faster and bigger on their ways. Orfus thumped his staff on the ground, channeling yellowish glow emanating from atop his staff to form a barrier around him before the blue fireballs hit him.

Orfus shouted behind him."Evacuate all of you!"

Deldon felt the ground trembled quite a bit when the fireballs exploded one after another. A thick smoke soon enveloped Orfus. Captain, the king, and everyone behind Orfus had joined Deldon and Liutenant in hurry. At the last seconds, Orfus had created a separate barrier for him and them, so all blue fireballs only attacked him. Baldin joined them too after treating the wounded.

"Master!" Baldin shouted again. He intended to meet his master, but Deldon and Captain held him because it's a suicide.

"Control yourself, Baldin!" said Captain. "There's nothing you can do!"

"B-But… He's going to die!"

"Stand on your ground, Baldin!" A voice boomed, coming from billowing smoke.

"Master!" Baldin shouted in delight. "Yo…"

"Still alive old geezers!" Sazar cut Baldin. "Taste these!"

Sazar shot more blue fireballs. The last one he amassed quite large before releasing it and exploding on impact. The ground shook and silence befell them once again.

"M-Master…." Baldin trailed off, his eyes welling.

Another boomed happened. A powerful shock wave swept through the surrounding and blew anyone on site, hurling the hapless bandits across the land. Although the barrier had weakened the shockwave, Deldon still fell on his butt and covered his ears from the deafening sound. The explosion came from Orfus's position.

When the dust subsided, Deldon saw Orfus had been brought down to his knee. His both hand touched the ground in front of him with his white medium length hair streamed down. He coughed a couple time before spitting out blood.

"Master!"

Orfus raised a hand towards Baldin. "Don't come here, Baldin."

"What a scene! Hahahaha!"

For a moment, Sazar laughed loudly. This time, no one cheered him anymore because every survivor bandits didn't survive the last blast. Either they'd smashed nearby trees, been gored by jutting rocks, or been hurled somewhere and met their fate in unfortunate ways.

"I don't know how you avoid your death, but that blast must be from your barrier."

After a cough, Orfus pulled himself to his feet. He leaned on his staff. "Of course, but there's more to it…. You'll learn a lot if you can live to my age."

"I shall and you will die here." Sazar pointed Orfus. "Let's see if you can dodge this one. No mercy anymore."

The tip of his index finger emitted blue sparks. The fifth time it flickered, a small blue ball emerged out of the blue and grew from as a marble into as massive as a boulder before it stopped growing. The massive blue ball hovered in the air. Its heat even outweighed the heat from the scorching sun above, but something different from this ball than the previous ones was lightning roots roamed within it and rumbled vigorously.

Another ball. Deldon was sick of seeing the ball between thess two magician as if there's no other shapes except a ball, but he could only watch and hope the best for Orfus.

"Deldon," whispered Liutenant. "Give me your bow."

"What do you want to do?"

"I can't stand watching our magician embraces his death."

A frown creased Deldon's brow. "It's not a good idea to disturb their duel. Why don't we act as a bait and let the king flee?"

"Don't be naive, Deldon. You have seen the huge man Sazar killed in the mid-air," said Captain. He turned to Liutenant. "And you must not interrupt them no matter what. You know the rule, Liutenant."

"Honor. I know," admitted Liutenant. "However, there's no honor in death, Captain."

"Let's us die with our boots on protecting the king then."

All of them including the coachman looked at the king. The number one person in country only sat with a pale face and watched the battle not far away from him. Something was wrong with the king, but neither he nor the coachman soldier dared to asked. Definitely Captain and Liutenant hid the king's condition from them. Aside, Baldin had gone to help a newly found survivor in the wreck wagon, a kid, after the survivor knights hailed him for help. Every couple seconds he glanced his master who drew something on the ground using his staff.

Sazar shot his masterpiece. "Eat this, Old man!"

Orfus tilted his head and thumped the staff in his hand once again on the ground. Suddenly, the thing he drew glowed a magical light and pried open a hole among the air above it. The hole, resembled a large mouth with nothing but darkness in it, received the blue fiery ball at once. Then it closed in as fast as it opened behind Sazar to let the blue fiery ball continued its journey. Its target had changed from Orfus to Sazar himself. Another blast happened again accompanied by crack sounds of shattering crystal and a long shriek of Sazar.

"T-That's…. Impossible….."

Sazar's words trailed off into nothing. At least, that's what Deldon could heard after covering his ears again. When he opened his eyes, Orfus strode towards the charred patch where the smoke billowed out from what was left of Sazar. He had his staff shoved the black scraps.

"You dit it, Master!" Baldin approached his master.

The old magician held his staff back and smiled. "We did it."

Baldin gave Orfus a small vial he took out from a small pouch hanging from his belt. Blue liquid trapped inside it.

"Your wound, Mas…."

"I'll drink it later. Now help me ou…"

"Deldon, help me up."

Captain struggled to heft Liutenant on his feet. The man was not that big, but if Captain couldn't lift him, let alone himself. Deldon gave his arm way through under Liutenant's left arm and grabbed his right shoulder while Captain grabbed his left. Both he and Captain raised in unison until Liutenant stood with his right leg slightly raised so only his left leg supported his entire body weight.

"Ughhh…"

"Does it still hurt?"

"Not really, Captain. Baldin's medicine helps a lot or at least relieve the pain much."

"We must know his recipe. It can be really handy for us."

Deldon shared the same thought, though he doubted Orfus would be so generous, especially because they almost dragged the old man and his student to their demise. He threw away the thought as they met their savior with king staggering on their side. The coachman trailed them with weapons in his care.

"Thank you, Orfus," uttered Captain. "Please forgive us for the trouble we have caused."

"Never mind. I'll do the same in your shoes." Orfus examined the king. "And the king need his medicine right away."

"The king can wait. You should rest after that dangerous duel."

"Nah, I'm fine. I can drink my medicine."

"I found the ring, Master!"

Baldin got up and put the white ring on Orfus's wrinkled palm. The ring rolled around a bit before settled down in the middle. No scratch, black stain, or whatsoever it is. They huddled and scrutinized it curiously.

"This ring belongs to my best friend, at least it used to be," Orfus cracked open the conversation. "I'll keep it as my memento."

"Will you use it?"

"What made you think I will, Deldon?"

Something passed Deldon's mind. "In the face of impending doom."

"Well," Orfus closed his palm and tucked the ring inside his pocket under his robe, "a temptation indeed. I'll decide after further investigation."

"And also thank you to Baldin for helping my men," Captain continued. "You taught him well."

"I'm proud of him as well."

Baldin blushed at the mention of his deed. "I-I just do what I can."

"But you scream like a woman," rebuked Orfus, frowning. "Maybe Captain and his men can train you for a few days."

Baldin widened his eyes and bowed down. Like a kid scolded by his mother.

"Speaking of it, what Baldin has applied on my wound?"

Liutenant pointed his wound. The crust had gradually dried up and only little pain remained as far as he concerned.

"Some sort of powder I make by mixing various plants I harvest from far land from here. You'll be fine after two or three days."

Captain opened his mouth, but closed it again before any words came out. Deldon knew Captain wanted to ask the recipe, but since the powder was self-made, he simply lost motivation. Perhaps for now.

"About our situation…"

Captain looked around them. A chaos. Bandit corpses littered the ground in many places. The wreak wagons laid unmoving, but some survivors consisting of soldiers and villagers gathered together in one place. They motivated or helped each other. And their death comrades scattered around them.

"We won't reach our destination on time," concluded Captain.

Deldon added, "But we're still alive."

"A good point," Orfus interjected. "Captain, do any magician station in City Peldor?"

"Yes. Every city has at least one magician."

"I can telepathy them using my mind."

Captain frowned. "We don't have any crystal ball with us, do we?"

"I don't need any crystal ball, but my mind."

"Are you sure?"

That's right. Magician communicated among themselves via crystal ball. Never before had Deldon heard a magician could communicate without one, even from the grandmaster himself.

"Trust me, Captain."

"We can try."

After the conversation, Deldon did what he could. From burying the dead to helping the poor soldiers who lost their limbs. He's grateful being spared and this battle would forever change his way in future confrontation against any magician, also befriending them whenever possible.