“What?” Tucker stared at the scratch mark on the crystal. It should have flared or showed some signs of mana overflow, yet it remained dull. It’s scarlet color, unfazed by the sudden blade mark.

  Why? Why wasn’t there anything happening?

  It made no sense to him. He quickly grabbed another crystal and scratched the surface, yet the same thing happened. He then repeated the process with several others, scarring the surface of the stones as bits of dust fell off. Not a single reaction from the crystals emerged. Before he could look into it further, a voice stole his attention.

  “Tucker god dammit! Is there anything useful back there?” Alex furiously shouted.

  The wagon jolted once more, wobbling violently with a loud thud. Tucker stumbled, his body shifting from one side to another. He grabbed hold of the coach window and cursed. “There’s nothing fucking useful here, and the one container that I can’t open seems to be sealed with a spell!”

  The veteran’s mind raced, steering the flaming steeds with all his might. He kept his eyes on the road and gritted his teeth. They were far too heavy to outrun the mages. “Dump the crates!” He ordered.

  “But—”

  “Do it!”

  Tucker stared at the containers and quickly grabbed hold of one by the metal handle. He peered out the window and caught sight of one of the mages, riding their mount slightly to the side. Unlike the war horses the knights rode, these ones had a set of small rigid shields attached to the bridle near the horse’s eyes. Their oval shapes, handcrafted and made of leather, curved slightly against the horse’s head. Obscuring their mount’s vision from the sides.

  With all his might, he hurled the chest at the horse, aiming at the beast’s legs. The wooden crate smashed against the beast’s hind legs, forcing it to let out a shrill cry of pain before plummeting to the ground. Its momentum forced it forward. Crashing against a boulder with a sickening crack as dirt and stone flew in the air. The mage’s back folded in half, bending at an unnatural angle with a loud snap.

  That was one down, but from the sound of the battle above, Tucker knew there were still plenty more. He gazed at the other crates. If there was one he was going to keep, it would be the crate that was sealed. His hand reached for the next defective crate of crystals. Peering out the other side of the window, he could see a mage fix their gaze at him. The same trick most likely wouldn’t work twice, so he had to come up with a new tactic.

  Tucker closed the lid on the next crate and left the hinges unfastened. It was a gamble, but one worth taking. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the chest out the other side of the window. Watching as the mage swiftly controlled their mount and steer it out of the chest way, but the moment it hit the ground. The container burst open, spilling its contents in a chaotic spray. Mana crystals scattered across the dirt road, bouncing and skittering in every direction.

  A cascade of noise followed as the horse released a panicked screech. Its hooves scrambled for footing, slipping on the countless crystals that rolled beneath its feet. Before the mage could react, their body violently jerked back from the momentum of their mount and soon their bodies collided with another rider. Knocking down both of them and their steed into a tangled heap.

  For a moment, Tucker felt a spark of triumph. He had somehow caught a few of their pursuers off guard. But as he reached for another crate, the next few attempts proved futile now that they had seen his tricks. As the fourth crate left his hands, he watched as an azure magic circle formed behind the mage.

  The magic circles were intricate in design, with three outer rings surrounding the symbol in the center. Numerous distinct patterns were inscribed in the inner workings. The outermost ring ticked like a countdown, its markings shifting with each measured interval as it channeled mana towards a singular point. Once the timer had finished, the next revealed itself, and along its path were four sockets. Each one representing how many repetitions were in the spell. At the center, a final ring that was etched with cryptic symbols in a foreign language stood apart. Glowing faintly with an ominous power that seemed to enhance the base spell.

  Slowly, the air shimmered as the rings activated one after another until the spell reached its fullest potential. In a blinding instant, four fireballs the size of a boulder tore through the night sky. Leaving behind streaks of crimson lights in its path. Tucker felt his heart stop, an eerie, almost unnatural silence taking over. Before he could even react, the massive projectiles splintered into countless smaller orbs. Blazing like falling stars. The firestorm that rained down upon the carriage sent violent tremors through the ground. Scorching the earth around them with each impact.

  Alex glanced overhead and clenched his jaw. Fighting to keep the horses under control as the earth quaked beneath them with each resounding crash. Flames licked the edges of their path, leaving remnants of molten debris scattering and pelting the carriage from all sides.

  Molten energy spewed forth with the debris. Tucker could feel the tremors through the wooden frames and stared with a worried look at his surroundings. Blaire swung his lasso and caught a fireball falling through the sky in mid-air. The muscles in his arms screamed out in pain, with the lasso bubbling as his spirit essence rushed to cool the surface. With every ounce of strength in his body, he flung the fireball at another, causing a thunderous explosion between them and the mages.

  While Gale and Newton were carefully soaring in the sky, deflecting the smaller fireballs away from the carriage. The wagon still viciously rocked back and forth with Tucker barely evading the crates that bounced inside. Nearly every single crate was moving with each jolt of the wagon. All but a single one, the one that was firmly sealed and bolted into place. He held onto the wooden frame of the carriage with a puzzled look.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Why didn’t they just destroy the carriage?

  They definitely had enough firepower to blow them apart, and right now, it seemed like they were leading them somewhere. Driving them to a corner. Each spell was deliberate, landing only a few meters away from their position, and soon it clicked. The mages weren’t trying to kill them. They were leading them to a point where they couldn’t run. Like a shepherd herding their sheep. This meant that they weren’t their target. They were after something else.

  The Emerald Tower mages didn’t care for their lives. They weren’t loyal to the Empire nor part of their court. What the mages wanted was what they had with them, the contents within the sealed crate. Why else would they not destroy the crates as soon as it was tossed out of the carriage? They were being careful. Trying to identify each one before making their decision.

  But why?

  If it was a barrier crystal like what’s stated in the report, they wouldn’t bother trying so hard. They would just create another one. It wasn’t easy by any means, but well worth the trouble if it meant they could kill us in one fell swoop. Mages weren’t the kind to waste precious time like this unless there was a reason.

  Tucker grabbed onto the handles of another crate and hoisted it to the window. Scrapping the wood against the metal frame as he tossed it out the window toward one of the mages. He watched as they examined the crate, searching for something on the surface before swiftly destroying it with a tiny bolt of light that hissed from the end of their staff.

  He stepped back from the window and stared at the remaining chests. They were large enough to fit several pounds of gold, and for all of them to be magic crystals was unbelievable. There was enough mana in the containers to decimate a small fortress, but nearly all of them were duds.

  Was the barrier crystal that important? It was just a defensive spell, no matter how much Tucker looked at it. Yet, at the same time, the only thing of value on the carriage. He fell deep into thought and soon widened his eyes. Tucker had forgotten about the conversation with the knights. They didn't have the barrier crystal. They had something else, something far more important to the mages.

  “We’re approaching a sharp turn! Hold onto something!” Alex shouted.

  Tucker held onto the walls of the carriage as his body slammed into the side along with the crates. A loud thump entered his ears, causing his eyes to drift to the sealed chest that had another box slam into it. It was short, but for a brief moment, he saw something. A faint blue light glowing from beneath the chest.

  Seeing this, Tucker moved closer and grabbed onto one of the crates before flipping it over. It was blank. Whatever the mages wanted was in the sealed crate, but he wasn’t good enough to break the spell locking it. Such a thing wasn’t within his capabilities. However, if the reason they were examining the crates was to search for the magic circle, then he knew what to do.

  His hand brushed against the fresh varnish on the wooden planks, and slowly, he gathered the mana from his surroundings. He wasn’t a mage by any means and had failed to create mana circles beyond the first one that was used to store mana, but it was good enough.

  With a delicate motion, his fingers traced a circle along timber. Guiding the stream of light blue energy from the mana circle he created in his mind onto the base of the wooden chest. It wasn’t like using swift stride or feather step, where control was mainly based on experience and practicality. Instead, it required deliberate and careful planning along with visualizing the flow of mana. He wasn’t good enough to create an intricate seal like the mages from the Emerald Tower. But making a magic circle that glowed a faint blue light was easy enough.

  His index and middle fingers drew smooth arced lines, and once the circle was completed, Tucker felt the carriage violently shake once more. Rocking his body back and forth as he continued his work. The noise that erupted outside sent tremors through the chest's surface as he desperately tried to keep the crate still. The only piece left was the characters within the center. A single word written in a language that connected the essence of creatures to the world itself, lux. The word meaning light.

  There were many more complicated and advanced ways to create magic circles, but thankfully, a basic design was all he needed. By overlapping the characters while maintaining their distinct features, one could improve the flow of mana within the circle. Giving it a significantly faster and more powerful activation, but such a thing was unnecessary in his case. The letters just needed to fit within the confined space, and with the final stroke completed, the circle faintly glowed and hummed a pleasant tune. A soft melody that resonated with the world itself.

  “How close are we to another sharp turn or ledge!” Tucker yelled, grabbing onto the silver handles of the chest.

  “Now!” Alex replied.

  The words made Tucker immediately hurl the chest out of the window. Smashing the glass plane into tiny bits as cracks rippled through the surface. The wooden box rattled out of the carriage, bouncing off the wooden frame with the dim light glowing at the base.

  Barely tipping over, Alex shifted his weight on the coach seat and did his best to prevent the carriage from falling off the ledge of the cliff. The dirt road wrapped along the twisting rocks, and Blaire, who was desperately fending against the spells, was at his limits. For him to hold on for this long was commendable, but now they were at the end. Even the horses tugging at the harnesses that bound them were on the verge of exhaustion.

  “What the hell?” Blaire muttered in disbelief.

  The mages had pulled on the reins of their horses, causing them to come to an abrupt stop, and peered at the chest tumbling down the cliff. It was a brief moment, but enough for Blaire to fire a series of icicles at their mounts. Penetrating through the flesh of their steeds as a blood-curdling screech filled the air. Sounds that no other being could make entered their ears, and for a moment, it seemed as if the flesh from the horses were… wavering. Like thin strands of string.

  “What happened!” Alex cried out.

  “They… they stopped chasing us,” Blaire replied.

  “What?” Alex raised a brow, resisting the urge to peer back. “What are they doing?”

  “They’re staring down the cliff right now.”

  The old man thought about the current situation and clicked his tongue. He peered through the window in the carriage and stared at Tucker, who was prying open the next set of crates. “What have you found?”

  “A whole lotta nothing,” Tucker said.

  “Really? What did you toss out?” Alex asked.

  “A chest filled with dud magic crystals.” Tucker held one up for Alex to see, then tossed it in the air and caught it. “In short, there was nothing but trash except for one chest that was sealed.”

  “Sealed, you say?” Alex focused back on the road, steering the mounts shrouded in his aura along the path. He fell deep into thought, thinking about what Tucker said.

  Whatever the rookie did, it was enough to buy them precious time to get further away. Yet the words that followed bothered him. For the first time in his years of service, he had never heard of mages sealing a barrier crystal. The only reason they were deemed crucial in stealing or destroying was because the process of creating such devices took a considerable amount of time and resources. Locking up a handful of mages in the process of mass manufacturing such trinkets would be essential to weakening the overall fighting force of the Empire.

  So what exactly was so important in that chest for the mages to stop chasing them?