Magali

When you are a proficient magic wielder, and as well-versed in the world around you as Magali, you don’t often have need to feel afraid. Most fear stems from lack of knowledge - that is what her mother had told her.

There was nothing she could have read in a book that would have prepared her for the mud slide.

She would not admit aloud that it had near paralysed her with fear. When you faced a bandit or a beast, you could fight it. It could be slain. When injured or sick you could be healed. When a tidal wave of mud approached at the speed of a galloping horse and you have but one exit to run through (one that leads to an eventual dead-end where you will either be crushed by mud, suffocated or starved, that is, if you are not eaten by trolls before you get there…) well, you ran anyway. If you were given the option to die now or in an hour’s time, even a fool would beg for every extra second. There was so much she still had to learn; books she had not read, places she had not seen, experiences she had not had…

Such as the experience of being trapped in a dank, muddy tunnel with a woman who does not speak.

They had stopped running once the mud had slid to a halt, completely concealing the entrance and entrenching them in darkness. For the first few minutes, panting like a dog, Magali had thought herself alone. The short woman so silent she had not known she was there without light to see.

When she focused her energies on a weak light spell, unfamiliar to her hands as it was learnt in her infancy as a training tool, she was almost sent to her grave finding the crossbow-wielding woman stood beside her. She was relatively sure her name was Dani… But both of Matilde’s goons had such similar names…

“Are you mute by choice, or have you been afflicted with an illness?” she snapped with a racing heart and a slight tremble to her glowing hands.

The woman stared at her for a few moments before parting her lips ever so slightly, barely enough to fit the word through. “Choice,” she answered with a rasping voice.

“And the reason for that is?”

The woman shrugged, and Magali felt her temper rising through her, heating her cheeks and hairline.

“There must be a reason. Everything has a reason and an explanation.”

The woman shrugged again; although, this time there was the slightest twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

“You are intentionally irritating me,” Magali deduced.

“You are easily irritated,” said Dani.

“Goodness, was that an entire sentence?”

Dani ignored her, it did nothing to cool Magali’s temper.

She attempted to weigh up her options but quickly realised she didn’t have any. They had a wall of sludge behind them and a corridor leading away. Unless she intended to sit and starve, it would be wise to begin exploring. The worst case scenario would be starving while she walked instead of sat, so she really had nothing to lose by moving forward.

“Fine,” she huffed. “We only have one direction we can head in. Let’s walk.”

Apparently, Dani agreed; although she didn’t say as much as she started down the dark tunnel at a brisk pace.

Magali kept a step behind her as they made their way steadily downhill. Every foot of the tunnel as plain and unremarkable as the last, lit only by the glow of Magali’s palms held aloft and pointed ahead. A pair of mismatched shadows lead them, one taller and slender with flared clothing, the other short and stout with the points of a bundle of bolts sprouting from its shoulder.

It had been a slight shock standing beside Matilde’s group in the entranceway, Magali had not realised just how tall the two blonde women were until she was peering up at them from close by. She was used to being tied for tallest group member with Eudora. She wondered now how it must feel from Dani’s height…

They trudged in silence until Magali’s feet began to ache, her heels protesting against the slight downward slope to the ground that was no doubt leading them deeper inside of the mine. That could not be a good omen even at such a small degree, she would definitely prefer to be heading upwards. Preferably straight to the surface and out into the drenching rain. She would give just about anything to meet with that horrendous downpour again.

Magali was not a fan of inclement weather; she had been raised in Mesial and rarely had to deal with such inconveniences as heavy rain or hail in her youth. Now, as an adult, she found herself horridly unprepared to be travelling about the Western region of Elatior, known almost solely for its wet and sludgy weather… It could be worse, she supposed. Eudora could have dragged them up North where legend had it they hadn’t seen a day without torrential rain in decades. At least the West had bursts of sunshine mingled with its showers. Sometimes they were even fortunate enough to glimpse a rainbow.

She attempted, after some time, to start a conversation with her still-silent companion, commenting, “I didn’t see anyone get caught in the slide, did you?” as she stepped in line beside her, watching her expression for changes.

Dani shook her head no. Her face remained as smooth as a stone.

“I hope everyone is safe,” Magali whispered. She immediately regretted saying it. It was a redundant statement, and Dani clearly didn’t care for idle chatter.

Usually Magali could respect someone who did not feel the need to speak unnecessarily. It was a mark of forethought and a no-nonsense attitude, but her lingering anxiety from the mud slide caused her to be irritable. She wanted to let out her stress through words, discussion was a wonderful tool.

It did not help that she was struggling to maintain a spell that fell outside of her specialist divisions. It was a child’s spell, and she should be able to wield it easily. However, it had been many moons since she attempted any spells that were not of her regular repertoire. It was not humanly possible to master a fourth division, and therefore she had abandoned all study of those outside of her three once she began to specialise. Now she walked, struggling to contain a pair of puny lights to her hands. Frustration bubbled in her stomach, rising to her chest.

Shockingly, Dani mumbled an agreement. Magali couldn’t be sure of her exact words, but she thought she had heard “as do I.” She had been too lost in her thoughts to know for certain.

Silence consumed them for another long period. Magali fell back again.

It was not that Magali was a nattering woman by nature. She simply needed something to keep her occupied. She was very capable of spending entire days in silence with the right book balanced on her lap or an advanced spell to practice - anything that would require concentration and halt mind-wandering. Mind-wandering was for simpletons, her mother had told her so. And her mind-wandering had cost her what had almost been a genuine verbal exchange. If she had been paying attention, she would have heard Dani’s soft words.

Eventually, Magali felt she simply had to speak, or she would lose her mind, her favourite attribute.

“What is that shaved into the back of your head?” she asked, referring to the geometric design etched into the woman’s black hair, beneath a highly balanced bun. Magali wondered why she couldn’t decide on one hairstyle and instead had to combine two together. And how she could have possibly instructed another human being to cut it for her with such intricacy without using more than three words?

Dani seemed to actually consider the question for a few moments before answering, much to Magali’s shock. “Flower,” she grunted.

“It is a rather strange flower. What species is it supposed to be?”

Dani shrugged, easily cutting their incredibly brief conversation off.

This was bordering on torture. Magali needed her brain stimulated; her focus removed from the ache in the soles of her feet, the fatigue in her hands and forearms from holding this unfamiliar spell for so long, from her rambling thoughts. She needed distraction from the dull thuds of two pairs of feet plodding on hard earth.

It was not often that she wished for the pointless nattering of her group members, for Lowri’s incessant questions, for Eudora’s soothing voice providing them with updates on landmarks passed and their journey timings, for Blaire’s massively exaggerated stories.

Blaire would entertain her in this dingy, claustrophobic tunnel. Blaire would tell a magnificent story of riches and battles and heroic women. Despite Magali’s lack of interest in the fiction section of Mesial’s library, she could admit, at least to herself, that she enjoyed Blaire’s stories. Of course, she would claim all of her tales were rooted in truth, but they often very quickly grew and branched out into the fantastical and wild.

“I am growing weary of holding this spell,” she admitted with a sigh, bending her fingers slowly and testing their strength before adding, “It is not of my specialised divisions.” An unneeded explanation.

Dani, predictably, did not respond. Instead she stopped in her tracks, glanced at her, then rifled through the leather satchel strapped to her back. Magali could have sworn she saw a sudden glint of glass or gemstones shifting among Dani’s belongings out of the corner of her eye but decided not to ask. She wouldn’t receive an answer anyway.

With little flourish, Dani pulled out a pair of small rectangles and an arms-length torch, clearly home-made. Magali suddenly recognised the rectangular items as flint and steel.

The frustration in her stomach and chest rose to her tongue in a tidal wave.

“You had those the entire time and didn’t say anything?” she screeched, her high-pitched voice bouncing off the closely compacted walls. Sod the trolls, she was furious.

“I cook,” was all Dani offered in explanation. It did not soothe Magali’s anger.

“It’s a relief to hear you are capable of doing something,” she seethed through gritted teeth.

Dani ignored her, lit her half-sized torch and continued walking as though nothing had occurred.

Magali dropped her spell and followed. She had nowhere to stalk away to in a huff.

It took many steps for her anger to drain with the pull of fatigue, her body and mind too exhausted to hold onto her annoyance any longer. Her energy needed to be conserved for walking… so much walking.

The light from Dani’s flame flickered far more than Magali’s spell had, but she was grateful for the rest of her mana reserve nonetheless. While her body was losing energy like a leaky barrel full of water, at least her supply of magic was slowly replenishing.

How much time had passed when the cramped passageway unfurled into an enormous cavern was unclear, but Magali was too overrun with relief to care - there were no trolls in sight and the pair finally had a little breathing room. Dani paused in the entrance while Magali strode in to appraise the room.

It was easily ten times the size of the one which they had been run out of by the mud slide, and housed a wide pool of rippling water. Light shone in from a small circular hole in the high ceiling directly above the water. Rain raced through the air to meet the water below, creating tremors of dancing light upon the surface. The clinging scent of wet mud may have permeated every inch of the cavern and its nooks and crannies, but there were wafts of fresh air blowing in from above, and Magali dragged in a long breath through her nose.

Far more exciting, though, were the four other exits leading out of the oversized room. Magali was certain at least one must be able to connect them to their respective groups.

It lit the first flame of true hope she had felt in hours.