Broken Mage by D.W. Jackson Read Free Book Online Page A

giving him plenty of room for his magical walls Thad
decided to stop for the night. He started off with only two walls
that stretched almost to the edges of the water. He knew before he
lay down to sleep he would have to completely close off the small
room, but this allowed him a measure of protection while still
allowing him access to the water and glowing fish.
    After eating two of the fish Thad
pulled a third one up to study. The creature was fascinating. He
didn’t know why he didn’t notice while he was flaying the creatures
but their scales were translucent and some type of liquid coated
them on the inside. Once exposed to air the liquid glowed for a
short time on his fingers but began to dim quickly. The only
problem he ran into was that the fish died too quickly once outside
of the water for an in-depth study of the animal.
    His mind still deep in thought Thad
placed the last wall up closing himself off from the world around
him. Laying back on the ground he tried to think of different ways
he might be able to reproduce the fish’s effect in other animals or
plants. Remembering the queen’s gardens and the glowing lilies he
made a mental note to study them when he returned. It was possible
that they were natural but even if they were he might still be able
to learn something from their study.
    The next few days passed by quickly in
a routine manner. With a supply of fresh water and food as well as
the almost artistic glowing dance from the water the trip had so
far been enjoyable. He was surprised he hadn’t encountered any
other creatures in the dark. With such a large body of water he was
sure that he would have to fight his way through many creatures
that had already claimed dominion over the area. The fact he had
been left to his own devices had been slightly
depressing.
    Everything seemed to be going well
until Thad found himself staring into a clean rock face with no
perceivable way to continue on. The water seemed to simply
disappear into the rock. Using his mage sight he could see that it
flowed into a massive underground cavern through a gap at the
bottom of the river.
    It was impossible to tell what exactly
was on the other side. He knew it was filled with water with some
room for air but it was hard to tell just using his magical sense.
It still wasn’t too soon to turn back but at this point he didn’t
really want to. He knew his staff was right if he didn’t force
himself to continue on he might just find himself an old man
puttering around in these caves waiting for death to claim
him.
    Following the river wasn’t a problem.
All he had to do was jump in and swim to the bottom and let it
carry him. The problem was keeping his belongings dry and safe with
him. He didn’t want to lose the princess’s letters or any of his
magical items. The answer seemed simple enough. All he had to do
was form a shield around him that would hold out the water. The
second problem was much harder. What would he do if the space
further on didn’t have enough air for him to breathe? After
surviving thus far he didn’t want it to end by drowning due to his
own stupidity.
    At first he had tried linking the
shield to the ground above but after less than four hundred feet or
so the magical drain became too much. After two days of endlessly
trying to figure out a solution to his problem he was beginning to
get agitated.
    Gazing down at the fish swimming around
he started wondering how they were able to breath underwater.
Focusing on one of the larger creatures he followed it with his
magical sense trying to see if he could figure out how it
functioned. He could see that the gills pulled air from the very
water as it passed through them.
    The process seemed simple enough; all
he had to do was get his shield to mimic the effect. It didn’t take
long to get the basic feel for the spell down, now all he had to do
was test it, and the only way to do that was to get in the water.
If he did that he knew there was no coming