TRUUUUUUUU!!!

Horns rattled with greater force than before. It felt like the sound is all around us and we can’t escape from it.

‘Here is the tunnel!’ Widogast shouted, ‘I’m surprised how tough these boars are! Their bleeding almost stopped and they have plenty of energy left! Hahaha!’

‘Wido! Goblins! They are approaching us from the left!’ I screamed as loud as possible so he could hear me clearly.

‘..and from the right!’ Senka’s voice was not as loud, but Wido managed to understand both of us.

‘Yeah! I see! They will try to block our path, but I have something on my mind! Goblins are afraid of fire, that’s why they only use crystals to light up their houses!’

‘That’s not helpful at all right now, Wido!’

Goblins were already waiting for us, raising their spears, and making a live barrier in front of the tunnel entrance.

‘I can’t release the reins, Tariq! You will need to do this!’

‘To do what?..’ Wido didn’t hear my question and threw me a shallow wooden tube that perfectly fit into my palm. Something wild was inscribed onto this tube, but I couldn’t read it. Symbols that I have never seen before were glowing in the darkness with dim yellow light.

‘Come here in front of me, Tariq, Quickly! When I say you to blow, you will start blowing into this tube with everything you have in your lungs! Got it?’

‘Yes!’

Wido was standing right at the front edge of the cart, so I had to squeeze between his hands and reins to be ahead of him. I grabbed this strange tube with my both hands and heard a crackling noise that started inside of it.

‘Blow it! Now!’ Widogast shouted right into my left ear. I’ve inhaled as much air as possible and put this tube around my lips.

WHOOOOOOOO!!!

An outrageous flame appeared in front of me and started burning everything that happened to be there.

‘Hahaha! First time using it and already such a big flame! Haha! Blow for the second time, son, you are doing well! Don’t be afraid!’

Somehow it felt heartwarming to hear Wido call me son, and how out of all the places I managed to be born in a Stoyan village…

‘How awesome it could be if my own father would have been an adventurer like Widogast…’

With these thoughts, I blew into the tube for the second time.

WHOOOOOOOO!!!

Another wild flame appeared above the boars, burning the goblins down. Our foes started retreating as soon as they saw fire, thus the entrance was completely cleared.

‘Hahaha! That was a good shot, Tariq! Look at these boars, they are burning!’

Fur on the backs of boars ignited and they looked like two giant torches running through the dark street of goblin village.

‘Haha! Now we don’t have to worry about Azure lights we have our own source of light!’

With these Widogast’s words we entered the tunnel and left the village behind. As soon as Wido released me from his clasp, I fell on my back right in the middle of the wooden cart. Senka was sitting on his knees besides me, he was holding onto the edge of the cart and had a knife in his right arm prepared for the fight and azure lights in his left hand prepared if we hadn’t had any other source of light in this tunnel.

Lying on my back I tried to regain my breath after blowing into that bizarre tube, but it was no use. It felt like this thing drained all my energy out of the body. Widogast turned his head back,

‘Ahh! You are still awake! That’s good! That is some elves magic for you! This wooden thing transforms your stamina into the flames that burst out of the tube! We call it Dragon Breath! Hahaha!’

That was the first time when I felt how magic went through my body. I’ve imagined that it would be much more pleasant than this, turns out I’m still too weak for this.

‘We, humans, don’t have a magical force flowing through our veins, Elves can cast spells right through their arms and legs using chants and scrolls! Tools like this is our only way to use magic, however they use a lot of stamina instead. This is the last option you want to use in situations like this! I would fell on the ground as you did if I tried to use it, but then who would steer the boars? Haha! That’s why I asked you to do it instead of me!’

‘Bastard…You should have warned me…’ I could only whisper, so Widogast didn’t hear what I said.

‘Tariq… I’m so sorry…’ Senka put his hand on my shoulder and started crying, ‘I could have killed us all…’

‘Damn it… now he is acting like a baby…’ I tried to punch him in the face, but I had no energy left in my body.

‘Boys! I think our boars are dying!’ and Widogast was right. Boars started to slow down, because their hinder legs were bleeding all the way again and the fire on their backs burned their spines to thick crust, ‘That’s very unfortunate! Because we are still not so far away from goblins’ village and we still need to exit the tunnel. Tariq! Don’t worry, I will carry you…’

‘I will carry you…’ I murmured to myself while my eyes gradually closed till I fell asleep and started dreaming.

It felt so good… I didn’t have to worry about a thing. Adventures, witches, goblins… Senka… everything that mattered to me seconds ago now has gone somewhere deep inside the caves of the Cold Valley or Eastern Montserrat or how Wido called them, anyway it doesn’t matter… I’m standing on the edge of a cliff and waves are fighting with rocky coastline beneath me.

‘Tariq!’

I turn my head back and see how Hina is smiling and pointing towards the sea. Apparently, she saw a seagull. A bird that she had never seen before… That’s funny. Seagulls are just as regular here as cows and deer are.

Now she is running away from me. Why is she running away? I need to stop her! But why? What for? Ahh, yes…

Adventures… Witches… Goblins… Senka…

Senka is running right besides my and shouting something, but I can’t hear him. We are both trying to catch up with Hina, but we are too slow.

‘Taariiiq…’ was shouting Senka.

‘Taariiiq!’ he repeated again.

‘Tariq!’ I’ve opened my eyes and saw how Senka on the left side was running and shouting at me, ‘Wake up! Wake up! Tariq!’

Then I realized that I’m being carried by Widogast on his back and he is panting heavily. I turned my head back and saw dozens of small yellow dots following. They were flickering and rushing in random directions.

‘Tariq! Goblins are catching up!’