Supermage

by Aaron Oster

  It would also appear that what Sarah had said was true. If the cost to rank up kept increasing at the rate that it was going now, it could very well take years to rank up at higher levels.

  He decided to check on his skills next to see if they’d changed at all.

  Fly: Manipulate gravity to make yourself lighter and move through the air.

  Cost - 1 CP per second

  Maximum height - 33 Ft

  Maximum speed - 20.3 Ft per second

  Maximum carry weight - 53 pounds (carrying any more weight will decrease speed by 0.1 feet per second for every additional pound)

  Heavy handed: Manipulate gravity to make your blows land harder (currently X2.03)

  Cost - 20 CP

  Duration - 13 seconds

  Wind blade: Manipulate the air around you to create whirling blades sharper than steel

  Cost - 40 MP

  Duration - Until dismissed

  Tailwind: Manipulate the air around you to increase speed (Currently X2.03)

  Cost - 20 MP

  Duration - 13 seconds

  So his skills had gotten more powerful.

  Morgan was almost ecstatic.

  Not only had he ranked up twice, and gotten a nice increase to his attributes- his skills had also improved!

  Closing his status, Morgan yawned widely. The fire was beginning to die down. Only small bursts of flame peeked out of the burned wood. He found this oddly relaxing. Turning his back to the fire, Morgan closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep.

  ∞

  Lord Simon paced back and forth in his study. His mind was whirling with the news of his guards’ deaths.

  It would appear that Morgan had somehow gotten an ability - a super ability judging by what the tracker had told him - and he had then somehow killed three men in a matter of seconds.

  Simon was understandably furious when the tracker had come back bearing the bad news. His cooling corpse now lay in a pool of blood on his study floor.

  There was a knock at the door. His pacing immediately stopped.

  “Come in,” he called, walking back to his desk and taking a seat.

  A man walked into the room. He was tall; well over six feet, with cropped black hair and dark brown eyes. His mouth was turned down in a perpetual frown and a neat black beard covered his chin. He was dressed in black painted plate mail and the hilt of a massive sword peeked over one shoulder.

  The door bumped the corpse of the tracker and the man made a sound of disgust as he stepped over the body.

  “Couldn’t you have had that cleaned up before calling me?” the man asked.

  He walked over to the desk and took a seat in one of the chairs.

  “I’m glad you came so quickly, Arnold,” Simon said, ignoring the man’s previous question.

  “Of course. With how much you pay me, why wouldn’t I?” the man asked, reclining back in his chair.

  “I’m sure you’ve already heard what’s happened to my daughter.”

  It was a statement, not a question. If Arnold didn’t already know why he was here, then he wouldn’t be working for him.

  “I take it you want me to go fetch her?” Arnold asked lazily. “I heard your guards were all killed by a couple of kids. Pretty sloppy on their part.”

  “Yes. I also want a bounty put out for Sarah’s safe return and Morgan’s head. As for my sloppy guards; that man on the ground told me that the boy, Morgan, launched a surprise attack and managed to kill half of them before they could even react.”

  “And you want to kill him?” Arnold asked, raising an eyebrow. “It would be a shame to kill someone with potential like that.”

  “Yes! I want him dead!” Simon declared, slamming his fist down and destroying his second desk in as many days.

  “Fine, I’ll kill him,” Arnold said, rising from his seat.

  He made his way towards the door.

  “Make sure to get this done quickly, Arnold,” Simon called to the man’s retreating back. “The King will have need of our services soon.”

  Arnold just waved his hand in confirmation, before closing the door behind him.

  Simon stared at the door for a few moments once it had closed.

  He was aggravated that he’d needed to call Arnold for this job, but it couldn’t be helped. He needed to get his daughter back and no one got results like he did.

  He looked back to the corpse lying on the ground and wrinkled his nose.

  Arnold was likely right; he really should get someone to clean this mess up.

  8

  Morgan stared up at the approaching walls of City Six. It was well into the evening and the sun had painted purple streaks across the sky as it sunk toward the horizon.

  They had been riding hard over the last two weeks to stay ahead of whatever pursuit Lord Simon had undoubtedly sent after them. Morgan was tired and hungry. Above all, he was extremely saddle sore. It wasn’t nearly as bad now as it had been on his first few days of riding, but it was still painful enough to cause him discomfort.

  Sarah was even worse off than he was. Being the daughter of a city lord, she’d never really felt true discomfort. Their food supply had run out two days ago and although Morgan was used to not having much to eat, even he was feeling the constant pangs of hunger by now.

  That was why, despite the risks involved, they were heading towards the gates of City Six.

  At first, Morgan had protested the idea, saying that they were likely being watched for. After Sarah had threatened to go in alone, he finally caved in to her demands.

  They pulled their horses off the road and into a clump of trees about a mile from the city walls. Sarah dismounted gracefully and led her horse over to an area, where they would be well hidden. Morgan, on the other hand, more fell than dismounted. He hit the ground in an undignified heap. He heard Sarah’s laughter as he righted himself and grabbed the four-legged devil’s reins.

  He glowered at her as he led the horse forward, hearing the hell spawn snorting behind his back.

  Mocking him, no doubt.

  Before this journey’s over, I’m going to kill this monster, he resolved.

  Morgan grimaced as his legs flared in pain.

  He didn’t understand why his constitution did nothing to prevent soreness. Maybe it just wasn’t high enough yet; or maybe this hell spawn had a special skill to induce pain.

  “I don’t see what’s so funny,” Morgan grumbled, stopping next to Sarah, who had just finished tethering her horse to a nearby tree.

  Sarah didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, she waited patiently for him to finish tying his horse to a nearby tree.

  “You ready?” She asked, once he was done.

  He nodded, then turned his back to her and crouched. Sarah wrapped her arms around his shoulders and Morgan placed his hands under her knees. He then used fly, not even bothering to straighten from his crouched position.

  He flew straight up until they cleared the tops of the trees. Then he headed in the direction of the city. He could feel Sarah’s stomach growling against his back and felt his earlier annoyance abate.

  If she could stay positive when she was this hungry, he didn’t have a right to be this annoyed.

  It took another few minutes for them to make it over the city walls and there was a moment of panic when one of the guards looked in their direction. Thankfully, the uncertain light was enough to cloak them and the guard soon turned away.

  They touched down on the ground in a darkened alley and were soon walking through the streets of City Six.

  “Where do you think we should go first?” Morgan asked, as they made their way into the city proper.

  “We should go first to find somewhere for you to buy clothes. Then a supplies shop and an inn where we can spend the night.”

  “That wasn’t part of the plan,” he reminded her, his brow creasing in aggravation. “We decided it would be too risky to spend the night in a city until we reached the Central Kingdom.”

  “Yeah,” Sa
rah said distractedly, as she looked into the windows of the shops they were passing. “But I changed my mind. I need a bath, and there is no way that I’m sleeping on the hard ground when I could be sleeping in a bed instead. Oh, this place looks promising!”

  Morgan groaned as Sarah pushed open the door to a small clothing shop and went in.

  He felt a knot in his stomach. He feared it would not end well for them.

  Morgan followed her into the shop, despite his misgivings, and resigned to his fate.

  Three hours later, the two of them were tucking into steaming bowls of stew at a local inn called The Pigeon. Morgan had thought it was a ridiculous name for an inn, but who was he to judge? He’d never been in one before, as the local tavern owners in City Four had made sure he wasn’t allowed in.

  He tore off a hunk of the crusty loaf near him and dunked it into the stew, soaking up the juices and shoving it into his mouth.

  He couldn’t remember the last time a meal had been so good.

  Sarah, who was sitting across him, had attempted some sense of decorum when a waitress had brought out the steaming bowls. After she’d taken her first bite, she completely gave up and shoveled the stew down her throat like a woman possessed.

  Morgan finished his bowl and motioned to the waitress.

  “What can I help you with, sir?” she asked, a professional smile plastered on her face.

  He found it odd how the people in this place had started calling him ‘sir’ as soon as he’d walked in.

  Looking down at his nice shirt, clean pants, and new leather boots, he could see where the confusion had come from.

  They’d checked into the inn and paid for two rooms and a bath. After cleaning up, which took Sarah an inordinate amount of time, they’d headed down to the dining room where they’d ordered a massive meal.

  “Yes, I would like a refill on the stew,” Morgan said, holding out the empty bowl. “And can you bring me another mug of that dark cider?”

  “Of course, sir,” the waitress said, taking both the bowl and the empty mug. “That will be four copper for everything.”

  Morgan fished around in the coin pouch he’d stolen from the guards back in City Four and handed over the money. The waitress left with a smile and he surreptitiously checked on how much he had left.

  When he’d left City Four, he’d had a total of 38 gold, 6 silver, 8 copper and 15 bronze. After his shopping spree, along with the fee for the inn and bath, he now had 35 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze left.

  He winced at how much he’d spent over the last few hours.

  The currency in the Five Kingdoms was fairly simple. There were 5 bronze to a copper, 10 copper to a sliver, 100 silver to a gold and 1000 gold to a platinum.

  With the average person making about 10 silver a week; he had just spent the equivalent of eight month’s wages in a single night.

  Sarah of course, had just scoffed when Morgan had complained about prices; and when he saw how much money she had he could see why.

  While his pilfered purse was mostly full of gold, hers was full of platinum.

  She’d of course refused to pay when he’d asked her to, saying that he had his own money and that a real man wouldn’t ask a Lady to pay.

  Morgan didn’t have the faintest idea of what so called ‘real men’ did, but from his experience growing up on the streets, it was every man; or woman, for themselves.

  Morgan closed his coin purse and tucked it inside the pocket of his new pants. Looking around the room, he was suddenly aware of a man, who was sitting in the back corner and throwing them furtive glances every few minutes.

  Morgan resisted the urge to bolt up from his seat and run. Instead, he pretended not to notice the man, but made sure to keep an eye on him.

  “Don’t look now, but there’s someone watching us,” Morgan said, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

  Sarah stopped with a spoon halfway to her lips.

  “Where?” She asked, immediately beginning to look around.

  “I told you not to look,” he hissed.

  Sarah nodded, going back to her stew and continuing to eat.

  The man had stiffened slightly when Sarah had begun looking around, but he relaxed in his seat when she went back to eating.

  “What do you think he wants?” she asked, taking another bite of her stew.

  “If I had to guess, we’ve been recognized,” Morgan said, as the waitress came back with his stew and drink.

  They waited for her to leave before continuing their conversation.

  “What do we do?”

  “We finish eating, then head up to our rooms. If the man leaves as soon as we do, we’ll have to make a run for it.”

  Sarah groaned in frustration. “And just when I was going to get a good night’s sleep!”

  “You can always stay and be caught,” Morgan replied, shrugging. “I’m sure nothing bad will happen to you and you can even go back to your handsome prince.”

  She made another rude hand gesture at him and Morgan laughed.

  They finished their meal quickly after that and headed up to their rooms. Sure enough, as soon as they rose from their seats, the man rose as well.

  Morgan sighed when he did, and knew they wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night.

  9

  They rushed up to their rooms, and quickly packed up everything they’d bought while in the city. They had bought enough food to last them for a month, a few changes of clothes and Morgan had even bought a leather breastplate. Sarah had bought one as well, but hers was nicer and had some metal worked into it.

  After packing their things, Morgan opened a window and used fly. He moved sluggishly through the air, weighed down by all their supplies.

  “Hurry! Fly faster,” Sarah said urgently, clinging tightly to his shoulders.

  “This is as fast as I can go with all this stuff weighing me down,” Morgan answered, gritting his teeth with the effort it took to keep them moving.

  They were flying at a quarter of his normal speed, and with the looming threat, they seemed to be moving even more slowly.

  A alarm rang out, startling the two of them, and Morgan almost fell out of the air. Sarah’s grip tightened so much that he began choking.

  He wondered how high her strength stat was.

  “Sarah, I can’t breathe!” he croaked.

  He began to feel lightheaded.

  “Sorry!” she said, loosening her grip, allowing him to take in a lungful of air.

  Morgan could feel his heart pounding once again as they made their way safely over the wall and out to the open area outside the city.

  “I think it would be faster to land and run for the horses,” Morgan said, shouting over the alarm blaring out behind them.

  Sarah agreed and he landed quickly. The two of them made a run for the trees. It only took about a minute to reach the horses and the two of them set about tying their packs to the saddles and untethered them. In just a few minute’s time, they were racing down the road away from City Six.

  They had only made it a few hundred yards when the city gates started to open. Morgan chanced a glance back over his shoulder and felt his blood freeze in his veins. There were at least thirty guard waiting behind the door as it slowly creaked open.

  “Sarah!” Morgan called out, his voice taking on a frantic edge. “There are a ton of guards behind those gates and there’s no way we can outrun them!”

  He saw Sarah look over her shoulder and her face went pale, then set in a determined expression as she pulled her horse to a stop.

  Morgan scrambled to do the same, but Sarah waved him on. “Keep moving! I have an idea that might buy us some time.”

  Kicking the horse on its sides, Morgan took off down the road; his rear end bouncing painfully in the saddle.

  Sarah stared at the slowly opening gates and took a deep breath. Then she activated her condense water skill and sent a stream of water toward them, freezing the gates on contact. When she felt that the ice was sufficientl
y thick enough, she cut off the skill and sagged in her saddle.

  She tiredly turned her horse back toward Morgan and groaned, seeing that he hadn’t made it nearly as far as she’d hoped.

  She knew that the ice would only hold them back for a few minutes at most, so their best option right now was to find a place to hide.

  She kicked her horse’s flanks and took off toward Morgan.

  Morgan heard the pounding of hooves and quickly swiveled in the saddle. His racing heart calmed somewhat as he saw Sarah coming up behind him. It didn’t take long for her to catch up.

  “I’ve bought us a few minutes,” she called over as they rode. “But we need to find somewhere to hide.”

  “It’s no good,” Morgan called back. “If we could hide, don’t you think I’d have just suggested that we stay back in the woods and wait? There is no way they don’t have a tracker, so we need to do something to throw them off our trail.”

  They rode on in silence for a moment as they furiously thought of what they could do. It was Morgan who finally came up with a solution.

  “When I was in the air earlier, I thought I saw the forest come to an end. Do you think there’s a cliff there?”

  Sarah opened her mouth to answer, when a loud splintering boom echoed out across the night.

  “Only one way to find out,” Sarah yelled, pulling her horse’s reins hard and turning into the woods.

  It would be a lot more dangerous going though the woods on horseback than the road had been. The moon was bright and full and with no trees in the way, the road was quite visible. The woods, on the other hand, not so much.

  Morgan followed Sarah as they made their way desperately through the woods. He could barely see two feet in front of his face, so when Sarah’s horse suddenly loomed out of the dark, he had to jerk his horse to the side to avoid colliding with her.

  The sudden tug caused the horse to trip. Its foot caught a tree root, and the horse threw Morgan from the saddle as it hit the ground with a panicked whinny.