by Eric Vall
I could at least try to spare Aurora, Deya, and Cayla from worrying about it so soon as Shoshanne was determined to.
“Look,” I tried in a low voice, “we all knew rune magic wasn’t as simple as burning a few runes into my arm, but I didn’t register how much I needed to control this one, okay? Now that I know, I just need to train a bit is all, like I trained to better understand my magery. It’s nothing you have to worry about.”
“Train with your rune?” she clarified.
“Train against it,” I corrected, “but yeah, basically. Dragir said an attack on me is an attack on this rune, and that it would lash out accordingly. So, I figure I only need to get stronger than that.”
“Stronger?” Shoshanne asked in complete confusion. “Mason, how can you train against something that makes you murderous every time you’re--”
Shoshanne went silent as her eyes snapped to mine, and I kissed her before the look on her face could get much closer to terror.
“This is why I didn’t want to talk about it right now,” I sighed when I pulled away to find her still staring in shock. “Let’s go inside and see what this mage has to say, alright? I’ll be fine, I’ll get a hold on this new rune, and we won’t have any repeats of what happened today. That’s all that matters.”
I noticed Shoshanne didn’t technically respond to any of this, but she did let me take her hand and lead her back into the house, and I just hoped she wouldn’t let her mind run away with her concerns.
When we came into the atrium, Cayla and the others were speaking with the mage who had his leg laid out along the edge of the fountain, and his bandage was already dotted through in a few places with blood.
The fact that the fountain was still filled with gold was a little awkward in retrospect, but there wasn’t much I could do about it at this point. I behaved as naturally as I could while I joined the others, and Cayla sent me a soft smile from where she stood beside the mage.
Then Aurora and Deya looked at me in unison, and their expressions showed quite clearly they’d overheard everything Shoshanne and I had talked about outside.
Living with two elven women was definitely going to keep me on my toes, but for now, I decided it’d be best to turn my full attention to the work at hand instead.
“I’m Mason Flynt,” I told the Ignis Mage as I held out a hand.
“I know who you are,” the man said, and he shook my hand as he sent me a grateful smile. “I can’t begin to thank you for what you’ve done. I have a sister whose family I look after, and just the thought of what would have happened to them if I remained under the power of that mark … ”
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore,” I assured him. “We’ll see you get the protection you need here.”
“This is Lyro,” Cayla explained as she gestured to the Ignis Mage. “Shoshanne had to suffocate him a bit, but he woke up about ten minutes ago. You should hear what he has to say.”
“I’m all ears,” I told the man as I sparked my magic and pulled a stool up from the stonework of the atrium floor. “Anything you can tell us would be incredibly helpful.”
Lyro was about to speak when I heard a quiet shushing sound, and the moment I glanced over my shoulder, Deya and Aurora pulled their attention from Shoshanne. They’d somehow ended up on either side of the healer already, and all three women had worried creases on their brows that they quickly attempted to mask.
I looked back at Lyro, and I knew I’d have to address the issue with my rune the moment I finished speaking with the mage. There was no way the women were going to sit by and say nothing about it.
“Sorry about that,” I muttered to Lyro as he looked curiously between me and the women, “you can go ahead.”
“I was just telling Princess Balmier about the day I was branded,” he began. “I’ve been living in the Oculus for about a year now, but I think it was only a week ago that I was branded. I’m having trouble remembering exactly. I’ve been so … I’ve felt very strange lately.”
“In what way?” I asked.
“I’ve been very angry,” he explained, “and this mark your healer removed, it’s been talking to me. I couldn’t understand it all the time, but I still did what it told me to do without thinking, which the elf--I mean Miss Deya, told me is something that happens with runes.”
“It is,” I agreed, but I tried to press past the subject as I heard Shoshanne’s heartbeat quicken. “What else?”
“I was angry and determined to turn all of the mages against the Order,” Lyro continued. “These were my instructions from the leader of my troop. I remember speaking with several mages in my sleeping quarters and trying to convince them the Order was only a way of keeping our powers in check. I told them I’d found a means of realizing my full potential, and that I could help them.”
I furrowed my brow. “What did the mages say to this?”
“I don’t remember,” Lyro admitted. “I can only remember how red my vision got, and how frustrated I was.”
“What did you do?”
Lyro looked nervously at Cayla, and when the princess nodded, he swallowed hard as he tried to proceed.
“I … I’m sorry,” he told me as his face began to pale right before my eyes. “I really am. I didn’t mean to do it, and I’m sorry I did, but the rune--”
“It’s alright,” I assured the man who’d started to knead his hands nervously, “rune magic is a powerful force. A rune like the one that was on your leg is designed to possess your mind completely and force you to do anything the Master wishes. I know it wasn’t your choice.”
Lyro nodded, but he didn’t look any less guilty.
“I … I remember killing two of them right there,” he told me in a quiet voice. “Then the last three began to scream, and I attacked them as well. I managed to strangle two of them, but the third escaped.”
“Did you brand the two you strangled?” I asked.
“I’m sorry,” Lyro tried again. “I can’t believe what I’ve done, and they weren’t the last. There were two more younger mages I found at the library the next day, and others I can’t quite remember branding. I gave them the same instructions I was given, though. The runes wouldn’t stop pushing me to order them around and make sure they focused on luring in other mages and not killing them if possible. Then word arrived that you’d come to the Oculus, and I grabbed four more as this frantic feeling washed over me. I knew I should brand more before I left, so I attacked the four mages in the library while another mage waited to lead them away. I branded them, and I didn’t even wait for them to recover before I ordered them to follow the other. I don’t know who they were, but I know I burned them all badly.”
“Who gave you word of my arrival?” I asked next.
“My leader, Defender Aloshi,” Lyro told me. “She’s an Aer Mage, but she’s been branded by the same rune, I saw it on her arm. She came to the library instead of helping at the marketplace, and she said all plans were off and to get anyone I could before I reported to the camp.”
I furrowed my brow again. “You were the one who set the shelves on fire, weren’t you?”
“That’s right,” he mused as his eyes went wide. “I did that. I forgot about it … when I saw you, the rune made my vision red again.”
“Defender Aloshi was right there with you?” I asked incredulously. “She was one of the two mages you spoke with in the corner?”
“She was,” he confirmed, “and the other was a Terra Mage I didn’t recognize. They wanted me to get the last few Ignis Mages from their posts for them while they led the others.”
“What plans were called off?” Cayla interjected.
“There were supposed to be eight Ignis Mages,” Lyro explained. “Each of us were in charge of the brandings in a different section of the Oculus, but we all had others with us to help catch our recruits. I was with an Aer Mage I’ve never met before, and a Flumen Mage as well. They were the ones you killed when you found us in the foothills.”
&nb
sp; I felt every one of my women’s eyes burning through me at the words, but I was determined to keep my focus set on Lyro.
“Was Defender Aloshi supposed to coordinate an attack in the marketplace?” I clarified.
Lyro nodded. “Her and the Terra Mage were leading three others in it. Aloshi said they’d get the most mages per minute there.”
“Gods,” Cayla muttered. “I don’t want to imagine what that would have been like.”
“That’s why we were instructed to get as many as we could before we left,” Lyro explained. “The Master wanted two hundred by this evening, but your arrival made that impossible, so we tried to do what we could.”
“Two hundred?” Aurora gasped. “How many does he have so far?”
“I don’t know,” the man admitted, “but I was told we were an army of fifty a few days ago, and that the Master needed numbers faster than we were delivering them. Defender Aloshi told me I’d be killed if I didn’t recruit forty within the next week.”
“How many did you get before we caught you?” I asked.
“It couldn’t be more than fifteen,” he assured me, but his voice began to shake with shame. “I-I can’t believe what I’ve done. Most of them were good friends of mine, but some were young mages who didn’t have the ability to counter my powers. One of them had just arrived in the Oculus that day and asked me for directions to the sleeping quarters. I was so angry and blinded to everything except this need to recruit more and more for him. I’ve sentenced them all to his rule, and I can’t do anything about it now.”
I sighed and scruffed my beard as I thought through this.
“At least our presence in the Oculus interrupted the Master’s plans today,” I muttered, “but at this rate, if we don’t prevent him from getting an opening like that again, we’ll lose every mage in the blink of an eye.”
“You can’t stop him,” Lyro told me as fear pinched at his features. “He’ll take over all of Illaria and then move on to the other regions. He’s too powerful, Defender Flynt, and with Defenders like Aloshi on his side, there’s nothing we could do to stop this.”
“We don’t know that they are on his side,” I clarified. “They’re possessed, but we’ve been fighting against every army The Master’s gathered so far, and I can assure you he can be beaten with perseverance.”
“Were they mages you were fighting?” Lyro challenged.
“No,” I admitted, “but if we do our jobs, we won’t be fighting an entire army this time.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we brought you back,” I told the mage. “You’re sitting right here as yourself again, and even though you’ve suffered and branded this rune on others, you’re alright. We’ll do anything it takes to ensure--”
“But you killed the others,” Lyro cut in. “You didn’t save them.”
I tried to ignore how much more irritating the fact was coming from someone other than my beautiful women, but the amount of effort it took to spare Lyro’s life wasn’t anything I wanted to get into at the moment. Considering the strength of the Aer Mage’s hold on my lungs, though, I honestly would have killed him whether or not the rune was on me.
The Flumen Mage might have been spared.
“Unfortunately, that was unavoidable,” I finally said. “I’m working on a means of ensuring no fatalities are involved in future situations. For the time being, I need to develop a line of defense for the mages at both the Oculus and here in Falmount. That’s the priority, especially given the Master’s attempt to raid both locations this morning. Once security is handled, we’ll begin capturing more mages in order to help--”
“You can’t do that,” Lyro hastily interrupted. “You’ll sacrifice every one of your own if you try. I can tell you with certainty any living thing that comes up against a mage like Aloshi will either die or be recruited to the Master’s rule. Look at what happened when you tried to capture me, and I’m not nearly as advanced in my magery as her.”
For a split second, Lyro’s estimate had me doubting the idea, but then I realized he’d just answered his own argument.
“That’s it,” I muttered half to myself. “Any living thing.”
“What are you talking about?” Cayla asked.
“I know how to capture the mages,” I answered as acute relief flooded through me. “We can do it without risking a single life in the process, too.”
“That’s impossible,” Lyro said.
“Unless you have enough metal,” I said with a grin. “Which I do.”
Then I turned to Shoshanne, who was still looking intently at my back with an unreadable expression.
“Shoshanne,” I tried, “can you keep working to find a tranquilizer? We need to get those darts made as soon as possible.”
The healer nodded a response.
“Thank you,” I sighed, and I sent her a reassuring smile.
Lyro still looked thoroughly confused when I turned back to him, but I barreled ahead now that my mind was turning a mile a minute.
“How many leaders are in charge of the Master’s troops besides Aloshi?” I asked the mage.
“I don’t know, she’s the only one I met.”
“You mentioned a camp,” I tried instead. “Is this where the Master is organizing all of his recruits?”
“I think so,” he said as he thought hard on this. “We were instructed to remain in the Oculus to do our work for him, but after Aloshi warned us about you, everything changed. The Flumen Mage I was working with was leading us to the camp when you found us today, but I didn’t know how to get there myself. He said it was near Mors Pass. That’s all I know.”
I turned to Aurora. “Do you know where Mors Pass is?”
“I recognize the name,” the half-elf mused as she furrowed her brow. “It’s in the eastern foothills, I think.”
“We’ll have to figure out where it is,” I decided. “If we can locate the camp, then we can track the mages more easily and hopefully recover them at a faster rate than the Master can brand them.”
“As long as you’re sure we can capture them safely,” Shoshanne said quietly.
I sighed and decided this was a good time to stop. “Thank you for everything, Lyro. Why don’t you stay here in Falmount for the time being? It’d be really helpful to be able to ask you a few more questions if anything comes up.”
“Anything you need,” Lyro insisted. “I owe you my life, and the life of my sister’s family as well. If I can do anything to make up for what I’ve done, I will do it.”
“There’s an Ignis Mage named Kurna in town,” I explained. “He was in the pub when I came in to talk to you. Find him, and he’ll put you up in a place for the evening, and in the morning, we’ll get you some better accommodations here.”
“Thank you, Defender Flynt,” Lyro said as Cayla helped him to stand. “Truly. If there’s anything I can do to help you save the others, please don’t hesitate.”
“I appreciate that,” I told him, and Cayla led the mage into the lane to show him which way he was heading.
The minute the door closed at their backs, I turned to face the looks Shoshanne, Deya, and Aurora leveled me with.
“We need to talk,” I announced for them, and all three women nodded briskly. “I know you heard the discussion outside, and Shoshanne, I understand why you’re upset. Before everyone jumps down my throat about this, I want to clarify that the situation is under control, and I already have a solution.”
“The situation being?” Aurora pressed pointedly, and Cayla rejoined us with a look of complete confusion as she read the tension in the room.
“I’m having some trouble with this healing rune,” I replied vaguely.
“You killed two mages you never meant to harm,” Shoshanne said as the crinkle on her brow deepened. “You have no control over that rune, and it will only get worse. You need to remove it.”
“I’m not removing it because even Dragir couldn’t confirm it was a safe idea.”
“
Remove it,” Shoshanne ordered as her lip quivered lightly, and I took a steadying breath.
“Shoshanne, you know I can’t do that,” I told her soberly, “but I can fix this.”
“How?” Deya asked.
“With the darts,” I explained. “Lyro said no living thing could counter the Master’s mages, and while I honestly don’t agree with the claim, I do acknowledge that I’m not the guy for the job at the moment. There’s no way in hell I’m risking any of your lives to get it done, though, and the mages here need to be kept clear of any encounters with the possessed mages until they’re prepared. So, the very simple solution is to create a means of capturing them that risks no one’s lives.”
“If none of us are doing it, then how do we use the darts to tranquilize them?” Aurora asked skeptically.
“Big Guy,” I said with a grin. “Although, not him specifically, because I need him to guard Falmount Rift, and he isn’t rigged for projectiles.”
Finally, Shoshanne’s expression cleared a degree. “Another metal machine will do the capturing?”
“Yes,” I assured her, “and he’ll be rigged to fire our darts and round up the bodies so we can capture larger quantities at once. This way, everyone lives, and the same result is accomplished.”
“What if the mages damage the machine before it can tranquilize them?” Cayla asked. “They’ll fight against it.”
“I’ll be able to tell from a quick scan of the area if something’s wrong,” I replied. “Depending on the distance, I can even make the necessary repairs from here and get it back in business with little time lost.”
“You don’t have a spare channeling gem, though,” Aurora countered.
“I can use Bobbie’s whenever we send the machine out to gather some mages for now,” I decided. “It’s not ideal, but it’s the best I can do at the moment, and we can always use horses like the locals if needed.”