Warden by Kevin Hardman Page B

collapsed back down into the fire, which continued burning black around the body.
    Taking a deep breath, Errol flopped to the ground in exhaustion.
    It’s over.
    He looked towards Gale, hoping that the blanket had protected her when the seed pods exploded - and experienced a mild moment of panic when he didn’t see her. He stood up and looked around wildly.  She was gone.
    “Gale!”  he called out desperately.  “Gale!”
    She must have slipped away while he was fighting the Wendigo. What would killing the Wendigo do as far as the Fever? Was she still under some weird compulsion?
    He studied the area where she had been sitting, and saw her tracks leading off into the marsh. He held up his wand, letting its light flare brightly against the gloomy darkness. He was about to follow after her when he heard something behind him. Thinking it was her, he braced himself to turn, only to have something hard and solid connect with the back of his head before he could do so.

 
    Chapter 19
     
    He was tied up when he came to, his arms firmly bound behind him. He heard an odd undulating chant as he opened his eyes and looked around.  He was still at the fire marsh campsite.  The chanting stopped.
    “You’re awake,” said a vaguely familiar voice.  Errol looked in the direction that it came from.  His vision was a little blurry, but he blinked a few times and things slowly came into focus.
    “Jarruse!” Errol exclaimed.  “What are you doing here?”
    “Just reclaiming what was rightfully mine,” the man said, tapping something next to him.  He stood over by the campfire, which was almost out now. Looking closely, Errol could see the monstrous skeleton of the Wendigo in the dying embers; shockingly, the skeleton had turned completely black. Errol also recognized the item that Jarruse had tapped: the odd book of magic from Tom’s pack.
    “I have to say, you Magnuses are incredible examples of manhood,” Jarruse continued. “I was impressed when I saw your brother escape from the Wendigo, but you!  Actually killing one!  I’ve never even heard of such a thing.  Hell, I hadn’t even known escape was possible until Tom.”
    Tom was alive???!!!
    “What happened to him?”
    “The Wendigo, of course.  It chased him from the cabin, through the marsh here, to some fields nearby.”
    “Then what?”
    Jarruse chuckled. “A roc. That’s what happened.”
    “A rock? Like a boulder?” Errol was perplexed.
    “A roc . A giant bird. It dropped out of the sky, grabbed your brother’s horse and flew away with it. He had tied himself to the horse, so it flew away with him, too.  The Wendigo was furious.”
    “So my brother got lucky?”
    “I’m not sure luck had anything to do with that roc showing up.  I think your brother summoned it.”
    Of course!  Tom had that ability!
    “Why would you say that?” Errol asked anyway.
    “Because I’m a sorcerer, and I felt magic in the air before it happened.”
    “A sorcerer?” This was worse than Errol thought.
    “Yes. The supreme sorcerer now that I have this.” Again, he tapped the book.
    “What is that exactly?”
    Jarruse laughed. “The consummate book of magic. It belonged to my great-great-grandfather.” He mumbled something, then brought an axe down on the Wendigo skeleton, chopping an arm free of the remains.
    “Unfortunately,” he continued, “although he was an extremely powerful sorcerer, Great-great-grandfather was also a bit of a do-gooder. So, it was only natural that he would get involved when he heard about some unstoppable monster terrorizing this region and eating people.”
    “The Wendigo.”
    “Yes. But even with the power of the book, he wasn’t able to kill the thing. The best he could do was put it to sleep, make it hibernate forever. So that’s what he did, and he put a spell on the Wendigo’s cabin to make it impossible to find. But there was a price: the book had to stay with the monster to keep the magic effective.”
    “So you