Shard

I did an oops last chapter, there is no southern gate to the village, I meant eastern gate.  Doh.  Also fixing some other minor issues in earlier chapters, nothing worth rereading, however, as no events or details are being changed.

Covered by his illusion, Niphru carefully headed east towards the woods, following the trail.  As he traveled, he occasionally jumped up into the air to get a better look over the tall grass, but did not see any sign of a human along the path he was taking.

Upon reaching the lumberyard, he made himself visible again and ran towards the overseer, quickly reaching him and relaying, “I was sent by Amilya, Norman went mad and attacked her, then attacked the eastern gate guards and fled.  One of the guards said he consumed mana stones and is turning himself into a monster, so we need to get you out of here and inside the walls.”

“That damn fool…  I never thought he’d go that far.  I suppose you are right,” the overseer muttered.  He then turned and hollered out, “Alright everyone, finish your current tasks and gather up!”

Turning back to Niphru, the overseer continued, “Did you spot Norman on the way here?

Shaking his head, Niphru replied, “No, I didn’t see him anywhere along the way.  Do you have any ideas where he might have gone?”

The overseer sighed, then said, “Well, Norman lived on the north-eastern edge of the farms, so he may have gone there.  In that case, we should probably head around the southern side of town and enter from the west to avoid running into him.  Do you think you could scout ahead of us to make sure we don’t run into him?”

“Sure, I’ll wait outside the camp while you get everyone organized,” replied Niphru, before he turned and followed the path a short distance toward the village.

A few moments later, the overseer led the workers out of the camp, and Niphru led them to the southwest, avoiding the main trail towards the village.  The travel was uneventful until they got near the village, where Niphru spotted Norman uselessly attacking the eastern gate with a scythe.

“Go ahead and travel around the southern edge and take the western gate, I’ll deal with the madman,” Niphru told the workers following him, before racing towards Norman.

Niphru jumped up above the grass to get a better view, noticing several lines of wood chips in between the village wall and the watchtowers.  Additionally, it appeared the guards had retreated from the watchtowers; nor were any near the outside of the gate.  He assumed this was to keep them safe from the crazed man.

Carefully keeping to the dense grass, Niphru avoided the lines of wood chips that would take away his cover, and approached close to Norman before laying down on the ground.  Reaching as far from himself as he could, he realized his range had improved significantly.  He quickly thought back to when he had run to get Monti while leaving his foxfire behind, perhaps that had helped, he considered.

Shaping his illusion into a copy of himself, he had it let out a scream and jump in the air while running in a circle.  After a few seconds, he heard a shriek of rage from the wall, and, assuming Norman was chasing it, had the illusion start running towards the forest.  A few seconds later, he stood up and began heading after the illusion to keep within range of it.

A short while later, he stood on his hind legs to peek over the grass, and saw Norman was focused on the illusion, facing away from him.  Hopping up into the air again, he got a better view, and slowed his illusion down to help keep Norman chasing it.  As they ran, he occasionally had the illusion jump up and yip to taunt the madman further.

Once the illusion reached the forest, he had it run out of sight and scream again, before dissipating it and returning to hiding himself, then turned to head back to the village.

Upon arriving at the village, he saw one of the towers had a guard in it again, and the two guards were back outside the gate.  As he approached, they opened the gate for him, shouting out their thanks.

Arriving back at Amilya’s house, he entered and saw Amilya sitting down, with Monti still present but resting.  “I brought the workers back, and had them go around the south side of the village while I drew Norman away from the eastern gate.  Is there anything else I’m needed for?” he queried.

“Not that I can think of, perhaps join Dawn in practicing magic a bit more?  Oh, wait, you should try to draw mana from some of the smaller mana stones.  We are likely going to use up all the ambient mana, so you will need to be able to resupply yourself from the stones,” Amilya replied, getting up and carefully walking to the container.  She grabbed a small pouch that was laying beside it, then filled it up with a handful of mana stones.

She beckoned Niphru over, then gently tied the pouch around his neck as he stood on his hind legs to keep her from having to bend over.  Nodding at the pouch, Amilya briefed him on how to use them, “You need to keep a bit of mana in order to use these, as you have to push your mana into the stone, then use it to pull back what is within the stone.  So be careful not to use too much.  Unfortunately, though you can restore your mana, it doesn’t help with the mental strain from casting, which will keep building up.”

Amilya waved at the door, finishing, “Now go ahead and go practice some more, we don’t have too much longer.”

Niphru nodded to her, and headed to the door, watching her carefully move back to her chair and sitting down as Monti stood up and returned to heal her further.  Guessing that Dawn would be back at the hill to the west, he headed there, finding his guess was correct.

Dawn was standing in the center of an area of upturned dirt, with a hoe laying to the side, surrounded by small flames darting around.  As he watched, half the flames suddenly reversed direction as the other half shot outward before spiraling back.  He noticed her shoes and socks were singed, and began to worry as the flames slammed into the ground around her.

Unlike he feared, the flames didn’t harm her, landing just far enough away to avoid touching her.  Without opening her eyes, she spun, a ring of fire forming where her hands passed, then condensing into a dozen balls of flame.  Throwing her hands up, the flames gathered above her, merging into a single larger ball of fire.  Snapping open her eyes, she flicked her arm towards another patch of bare dirt, the bolt of flame flying towards it before detonating just above the ground, leaving a crater several feet across.

“That was amazing, Dawn!” Niphru exclaimed, startling her and causing her to jump, as she had not seen him standing to the side.

After recovering from her fright, Dawn ran over to hug him, remarking, “I’ve been trying hard to make sure I can help and protect myself!  I don’t know why, but fire almost seems like a part of me now, while other magic is very difficult compared to it.  Maybe it is because of our bond?”

Niphru considered this for a moment before deciding it wasn’t important, then replied, “I don’t know, nor do I think it is terribly important, as long as nothing harmful happens.  How about we both practice together?  Maybe I can learn some of your new tricks.”