Victim of Fate by Jason Halstead Read Free Book Online Page B

when they
neared the apex of the hill. The forest was another half a mile to
the west but that wasn't what had Tristam swearing. It was the
wasps that flew to and from the edge of the woods. They'd seen
several that had flown past them but that had only served to grow
their concerns. Now they knew they were right to be worried.
    "That's a large hive," Alto stated.
    "That's a poor joke," Karthor reminded
him.
    Alto stared at him until he realized what
he'd said. "I don't mean the size of it; I mean that's a lot of
wasps!"
    Karthor offered him a smile. "Both are true,
I suspect."
    "Some of the wasps seem larger than the
others," Kar said as he squinted at the flying insects.
    "Aren't they large enough?" Tristam muttered.
"Got another of those balls of fire like you used to open the gates
of Highpeak?"
    "That nearly consumed me!" Kar muttered. "And
if these things came from that forest, there's going to be other
things that won't take kindly to having their home burned
down."
    "Well, what then, wizard! How do we fight so
many of these things?"
    "Do I look like a beekeeper?" Kar snapped
back. "Alto seems to know the most about these things. What say
you?"
    Alto felt the weight of their expectant gazes
on him. "These aren't normal wasps," he stated the obvious. "A hive
dies off in the late fall. About this time, usually."
    "What kills them, the cold?"
    Alto shrugged. "They feed on flowers and
insects; there are few of them left this time of year."
    "That explains why they've been taking
people," Kar reasoned.
    "Lucky us," Tristam muttered.
    "Seems we're drawing attention; perhaps a
hilltop wasn't the best idea," Karthor pointed out. A few of the
wasps buzzing through the air turned towards them.
    "Why do others ignore us?" Kar asked. "The
larger ones, at that."
    Namitus snorted. "I'd say these are big
enough!"
    "We can outrun them on our horses," Alto
reasoned. He'd raced away from normal-sized wasps often enough as a
child, and that was just by running on his own feet.
    "That won't solve the problem and earn us our
reward," Tristam said. "Besides, it's too late, make ready!"
    "Wait, over there I see smoke!" Karthor
pointed to the north.
    "They'll be more dormant at night," Alto
suggested.
    Tristam nodded. "All right, let's go then.
Kar, slow them down!"
    Kar muttered something about using Tristam as
bait while he turned and pulled out something from one of his
pockets. Alto frowned when he saw it was a feather. Was he going to
summon his raven familiar, Blackwing? Alto had seen the bird a few
times but never had Kar used a feather before to bring it to
him.
    Kar began to chant and wave the feather in
the air. After a moment, Alto realized the wizard wasn't just
waving: he was drawing a picture, even if no one could see it. A
moment later, Kar uttered the final word of his spell. A massive
black feathered bird appeared on the ground in front of him. It
flapped its wings and took to the sky, lifting up and heading
towards the incoming wasps. The insects veered away and headed back
towards the forest.
    "Why didn't you do that before?" Tristam
snapped. "A giant wasp deserves a giant bird to gobble it up."
    "We'd best hurry or you'll find out why," Kar
said. When he was greeted with nothing but blank stares, he scowled
and explained, "It's nothing but an illusion! I was bluffing and
hoping they'd be frightened away by the sight of it. It worked, but
if the bird had to try to eat one, they'd know it was fake. Once
the illusion loses its believability, the magic breaks apart."
    Alto shook his head, confused. Magic was not
the stuff normal men had any right to dabble with.
    "Come, let's ride! And hope it's not just a
brush fire Karthor's spotted." Tristam led the way to the north,
guiding his horse as fast as he dared down the hill and then
fording the river.
    Alto glanced behind as they rode. The magical
bird continued to circle in the sky and drive the wasps away. It
looked real enough to him; he was glad it wasn't coming after him.
It