"Begin evacuating immediately," she stated to Birk Grund.
"He still has several members of our camp," the guard captain noted. "I will not leave without them."
"I have no intention of holding them against their will," Ansas responded. "You see? They travel behind me. They can go as they please."
Ansas glared over his shoulder at the column of elves cautiously making their way back toward the other elves. As they passed, the sorcerer eyed Scheff, but only for a brief moment. He had not yet received an answer regarding the elf's intentions, but such a matter was trivial at best. The sorcerer was far more interested in the inevitable confrontation he would initiate with Holli and Jure.
Scheff noticed the sorcerer's gaze. He didn't avoid it, but he said nothing. He still considered what he would ultimately choose. As he moved away from the sorcerer and toward the gathering of elves, he could not dismiss a feeling of regret. He wondered if refusing the sorcerer's offer might be the biggest mistake of his life. He trudged forward with the other elves, struggling with a decision that would determine his future.
Once the elves passed back into the fold of the others, Holli questioned the elf captain.
"Is that all of them?"
Birk nodded.
"Get everyone out. Do not leave anyone behind… even elf guards. We shall handle this ourselves."
"Very well."
Birk guided Shantree Wispon back toward the center of the lowland clearing. A portal was quickly opened and the elves began to cross back to their home.
An uneasy silence gripped the four individuals that stood apart from the elves waiting to escape. Ansas watched the three companions with marginal interest. He disregarded the delver, but he took sweeping glances at the wizard and the elf. After a few moments, it sounded as if he chuckled to himself.
Jure stood stone still with his arms to his side. He kept his gaze locked upon the sorcerer and he prepared several spells in his mind. If Ansas so much as gestured, Jure would bring the full force of his own magic against him.
As the elves continued to cross through the portal, it was Holli who broke the uncomfortable quiet.
"You wanted us here, for what reason?"
"Come now, elf witch. You're not that dense. I wish to rectify a previous mistake. You have grown in power, but we both know you're still no match for me. Your associate found a way to beat me last time. He will not have the same success."
"So you are determined to engage in some pointless battle?"
"Pointless to you, not to me."
"And if we simply refuse… just leave this place and you?"
"I will abduct the elves again, but next time, I will kill half of them. I will have my way."
Jure wished to strike at that moment. In light of the elves' abduction, the additional threat was enough to justify any means to subdue the sorcerer, but he would not act without Holli's consent.
"So we have no choice," Holli announced.
"You never did."
Holli turned to the delver.
"Ryson, go to the elves. Assist them in their departure. Wait for us at the portal. If something happens to us, return to Connel and advise Enin of what happened here."
"But I…"
"Do not argue. Please, trust me."
It was the last two words that forced Ryson's decision. He did as he was asked and rushed off toward the portal.
"What if I objected to that?" Ansas asked.
"You and I both know you do not wish to face the delver. Only a complete fool would, and though you are many things, you are not that."
"And do you think your threat to tell Enin of my actions might frighten me?"
"I do think you should consider it."
"Of course I've considered it."
"And you still wish to continue?"
"There is nothing that will stop what I have planned."
Holli shook her head in disgust.
"This is so childish. What should we do now? Should we face opposite directions, march twenty paces, turn and begin casting spells at each other?"
"It does seem rather uncomfortable, doesn't it?" Ansas admitted. "But I believe I have an answer. Your companion is waiting for me to strike and then he believes he can contain me. Why don't I make the first move and we can finish this quickly?"
Ansas stepped back calmly. With deliberate steadiness, he cast his first spell. It was of no great consequence, a simple shadow strike that was meant to dull the perceptions of his opponents.
Jure watched with growing surprise. He was prepared to launch a defensive spell of immense power, but he knew immediately that such a response was unnecessary. He expected the sorcerer to move quickly, viciously, but the slow and steady movements of his foe allowed Jure to analyze the spell before it was even cast. It was so weak it was almost pathetic.
Adjusting his own spell, Jure cast a very simple light shield that disbursed the shadow before it could strike. He had much more magical energy at the ready and he decided to use it to end the conflict with limited consequences. He believed he understood Ansas' one weakness and attempted to exploit it before the sorcerer could utilize whatever plan he concealed.
A pure white circle of energy formed around Jure's hands. With but a few words, he cast the magic directly upon the sorcerer. The white magic turned blue and formed a sheer wall of water, a magical shell that would surround Ansas, a barrier somewhat similar to the shadowed dome which imprisoned the elves.
Ansas did not smile, but he reveled in the wizard's error. It was exactly the spell he expected, the very reaction he wanted from Jure. During his first encounter with the old wizard and the elf, he had been trapped in the same manner, encircled by a wall of water that opposed his ebony magic. He was trapped because he wouldn't cast spells of fire or storm to disburse the water; he refused to stain the purity of his castings with a hue inferior to ebony energy. Since that defeat, however, he learned he did not have to stoop to such actions. He could destroy the barrier and remain pure.
"I was hoping you would do that," Ansas revealed.
"Why?" Jure asked, still somewhat uncomfortable with Ansas' seemingly apathetic approach. He could still see the sorcerer through the translucent blue shell and found the unconcerned expression on his foe's face slightly unnerving. "Do you think I lack the power to hold the shield? You're wrong. I've learned to tap into great pools of energy. I can outlast you if I have to."
"That's almost laughable."
"I don't see you trying to escape."
"Would you like me to? Fine."
As Ansas pressed his hands together in front of his face, a ring of pure black energy, darker than any night sky ever produced in Uton, formed around the sorcerer's waist. It expanded outward and brushed against the blue shell of magic. At contact, there was no blast of fury, no explosion of opposing wills. The dark ring simply seeped into the shell, flowed outward, and engulfed the entire watery prison.
Ansas slowly pulled his hands apart. As he did, the shell around him changed from transparent blue into a darker, almost navy color. He used the dark magic to change the composition of the imprisoning shell. It turned from fluid water into a thin solid, similar to that of charcoal wafers. With a flick of his fingers, the shell shattered into a fine, black dust.
"Your containment shield worked once on me, but never again. I don't have to directly counter your spells… use fire against water or light against shadow. I simply have to alter their nature, not an easy task, but the purity of my magic makes it possible."
The ease with which the sorcerer altered the imprisoning spell left Jure uneasy but not defeated. He still cast white magic in a perfect circle and he did not doubt his own abilities.
"You've only proven that you can escape a simple water shield. You've hardly won."