Chapter 3

"So what the hell happened here?" exclaimed Terrance as he looked around the ransacked camp area.

It was a creepy looking site, not because of its layout, it was a large site, but because of the men who lay in all type of grotesque poses on the ground. Looks of horror were etched on their faces and their eyes were rolled back in their heads, but yet they remained wide open. Impossibly wide open.

"Not one of them is alive. Who could have killed them all like this? It was as if they just died where they stood," said Ariel as she knelt down and touched each of their necks looking for a pulse.

As everyone else was walking around looking for signs of what happened, Nathan and Kat each were running blue glowing hands over different bodies of the men they found.

Almost as if they were one, they both stood at the same time after looking at a couple of bodies and joined everyone else.

"It was a black mage. They were very powerful and the spell drained their life right out of them. Who ever it was must have been very powerful to use a high level spell like that," said Nathan as he looked at the others.

"But why did he kill them instead of scaring them? None of this makes any sense. None of their weapons or valuables are missing," said Rory as he kicked a coin purse on the side of one of the dead men.

"Maybe they took something we might not immediately think of as valuable. See all this half eaten food and water pouches over here? Something tells me the mage was very hungry and that's all he needed. I count thirteen water pouches and fifteen men. Someone took two with them I would venture to guess," said Ariel as she looked around the camp.

She noticed that Nathan was moving over to another body and checking it magically as she spoke.

"This is a big camp, how do we know that Brandon's men didn't take any extra with them when they left?" asked Terrance as he walked over to where the half eaten food was piled up.

"And leave fifteen men to share water bottles when they plan to raid a town they've been raiding for seasons? I find it highly unlikely," said Ariel with a smile.

"I guess you're right. Fifteen men would be enough to hold off a small group and enough to flee if they were overwhelmed," said Terrance.

As Ariel looked around she couldn't miss her husband Nathan off in the distance checking yet another body. So far he had checked ten of them and appeared to be determined to check them all.

"Honey, why are you checking them all? Didn't they all die the same way?" asked Ariel as she came up to stand next to her husband.

"That's just it. They died exactly the same way. There are no mages here among the dead, so some should have seen the mage coming after he killed the first one. Some should have seen or heard him casting, but it almost appears as if they didn't. As far away as some of these bodies are they should have at the very least been able to run away, draw a weapon, or hide.

"But not one of them was spared and they all were killed. I'm trying hard but I can't think of a single spell in black that would let a caster do this. To catch so many fighters off guard and to kill them with a large area spell like this should be impossible using only black," said Nathan as he moved to check yet another body.

Ariel looked at Nathan's back before she looked down at the body she was standing in front of. She realized that he was right and as she looked around she couldn't see a single weapon that was drawn by any of the victims.

"Oh my god," whispered Kat as she threw herself backwards from one of the bodies.

As the others heard her they approached her. While Rory and Terrance didn't want to get too close to her, they needed to find out what she was talking about. Ariel and Nathan closed on her easily.

"What is it? What did you find out?" asked Nathan

"I've been trying to cast a locator spell to find the caster of this one. But I ... I can't get through! His power is blocking mine. That has never happened before," said Kat in shock.

"A locator spell? So I was right. Just how much power do you have or can you store exactly?" Nathan asked in shock.

"What is the problem?" asked Ariel as she looked between them.

While Kat looked back and forth at the two of them, Nathan only looked at her and answered Ariel's question.

"That is an eighth circle spell, but it's on the high upper end of the spectrum of the blue spell circle. It's not something that you want to cast unless it's your only option left open to you because it's so draining.

"But for her to be casting over and over again as if it wasn't any big deal makes me wonder just how much power she has to spare. You have been testing all the bodies, correct?" asked Nathan as he watched her carefully.

"As I'm sure you remember, you once stated before when we met that you had figured out that my magic is sexually based. I have as much magic as I can safely store, and that is quite a lot. Currently I have enough to safely test all the bodies without it dipping too far into my reserves," said Kat.

"Why do you want to find that mage so badly?" asked Nathan carefully.

"Because I want to know who I need to look out for around here, he could be close by watching us even now. This was quite powerful magic and I don't want to be surprised by any other powerful beings that I don't have a defense against," said Kat as she looked him in the eyes

Nathan nodded and Terrance, Rory, and Ariel disappeared into the surrounding wooded area to search for the mage.

He thought about telling her about Wolfgang, but he figured if Wolfgang didn't know about her already he soon would, and she should be able to face him head on without breaking a sweat.

"I doubt he's still around, but that was different," said Kat as she returned to magically searching the bodies.

"For you to be casting that spell is one thing, but for someone to have the power to block your locating them speaks volumes about their power," said Nathan as he turned away from her.

Nathan was surprised to see how determined and dedicated she was to this. She didn't once try to sexually come on to him or trick him into being with her. So far she was behaving herself.

As hard as it was for him to do it, Nathan also returned to examining the bodies to find out who was so powerful that they could have done this to all these grown men before they cut the mage down.

It bothered him to turn his back on her just yet, because he still didn't trust her, but he knew that Ariel would be on her quick as lighting if she tried anything as well.

Jarrod was finally full after so long of scrounging.

He found two completely full water bottles, as opposed to the ones he left that were only partially full, and enough food to fill his pouch. For only being ten he was able to scrounge pretty well.

The boy thought about taking the money he found, but for now with his thread bare clothing most people would pass him by without a second thought as long as he didn't jingle. He didn't want to be beaten again or robbed.