“No doubt.” Jazai snickered and shook his head as he turned the box in his hand. “What was that? It looked like you launched some kind of holy fire from your sword.” He pointed to the section of forest that had been caught in the light’s path. Everything but the dirt had been obliterated along it. “Well…maybe ‘holy’ isn’t the right word. Unless flora can be sinners.”
“I don’t know,” Devol admitted and studied his blade warily. “I simply…I wanted to stop him.”
“Killing her is a way to do that.” Jazai laughed, flipped the box, and caught it. “Yes, I know it’s an illusion and the thief’s gender is male, but when it looks like a girl and acts like a girl…” He shrugged. “My brain has a hard time seeing him as anything but a girl.”
“You think we’ll run into him again?” Asla questioned and clutched her left arm to try to dull the pain.
“It’s a possibility,” the diviner reasoned. “Or at least someone from the order will. If they are after the malefic, they’ll be back eventually.”
“Asla, Jazai, Devol!” Vaust called and the three friends looked down the road as the mori appeared almost out of nowhere. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, sir.” Devol nodded and pointed to the other boy. “We retrieved the box but the thief got away with the mask.”
“You did?” The Templar seemed rather surprised. “That is…quite impressive. I thought she would be too fast for you to catch up.”
“He was,” Asla admitted. “Even for me. If he’d wanted to, he could have easily outrun us.”
“It turns out she had a thing for fighting.” Jazai sighed, tapped his cheek, and flinched. “The only reason she stopped is that she wanted to fight.”
“And you took the bait?” Vaust demanded in annoyance. “You may be gifted and have majestics, but even you had to know you were outmatched.”
“Oh, we were well aware of that,” the young diviner responded and handed the box to him. “But I think I speak for all of us in saying that it was more stubborn pride than sense.”
“It was Devol who finally forced him to flee,” Asla noted and gestured at the destroyed forest behind them. “His sword did that.”
The Templar observed the damage and looked at the blade. “I see. Interesting.” He looked the boy in the eyes. “You must have wanted to defeat her very badly.”
He grimaced. “I did, but I would think that is normal in a life or death situation.”
Vaust chuckled. “Sure enough, but there is a difference in wanting to win and simply not wanting to die.” He frowned at the young Magi. “But I think you’re confused. That was a woman.”
“Nope.” The diviner shook his head and grinned. “We’ll explain later but trust me, she seems to be a he.” His grin broadened when the Templar stared at him in bewilderment. “So, Vaust,” Jazai began and pointed to his head. “What’s going on with your hair?”
His two friends frowned when they noticed several dark streaks in the mori’s silver hair. “It is nothing to worry about,” he said and ran his hand through his locks. “It happens sometimes. For now, let us return to the village. I think we all need some rest.”
Devol nodded, took Asla’s arm, and put it over his shoulder. “Oh yeah. Without a doubt.”
When they had returned, the town was in a tizzy. The residents had watched the fire blaze and then suddenly go out, and guards who went to investigate the incident said that a large section of the forest was now completely dead.
“A mori?” a surprised villager called. Vaust turned and nodded politely. His hood was completely gone now, so he could not hide it at this point.
“Excuse me, you four!” a guard shouted and caught the group’s attention. A small team approached. “You were seen coming out of the forest. Did you see what happened in there?”
Vaust held a hand out to stop the other three from speaking. “Indeed. We came across two evil Magi who were after this.” He raised the box. “We dealt with them, but they used their powers openly. I’m sorry it caused such devastation to your beautiful forest.”
“No kidding,” a guard muttered before their leader shushed them.
“Do you have any descriptions?” the captain asked.
“One wielded a wand that produced and controlled fire,” the mori began. “He called himself Salvo, had white hair, and wore a black jacket, boots, trousers, and sunglasses with red-tinted lenses. The other was a woman who—”
“It wasn’t a woman,” Devol interjected and drew the attention of the guards and another confused frown from the Templar. “Well, he appears to be a woman to some people, but his name is Koli and some type of illusion changes his appearance a little depending on who sees him. And he had a malefic.”
“A malefic?” the guard shouted and Vaust twitched slightly. “Someone with a malefic was here?”
“Yes, sir.” The young swordsman nodded. “But he has gone now. He teleported away.”
“Far away,” Jazai added.
The guard captain frowned and focused on the Templar. “A malefic? If you were able to take on someone like that…” He looked at the box, then at the mori again. “Are you here on Templar work?” Vaust nodded and tucked the box behind him. “I see. All right, boys, let’s continue the investigation and try to restore the peace.”
The guards left them, but as they headed to the inn, they could hear some of them complain that they had let them off too easy. Their leader responded with things like, “Doesn’t matter,” and, “Nothing we can do anyway. Can’t touch them.” But one of the more irate comments from one of the men caught Devol’s attention.
“Templars always bring curses with them.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Vaust hissed as he placed a large cloth soaked with some kind of wine-colored liquid over the burnt skin on his shoulder. Asla had finished applying ointment onto her feet and studied her bruised shoulder with a frown. Fortunately, Koli’s knives had grazed rather than
