Apprentice

by Nicholas Hale

Apparently, he had some more rousing things to say, thought Gale, laughing to himself.

  "I'm sorry, lieutenant. But I just received the news. They got Thanril!"

  A stunned silence in the room.

  The man was well respected and very well liked. And, from what Gale had heard, he had promised to remain neutral in this affair. Darius had to be truly stupid to kill him.

  "When?" asked Renal.

  "Just today. They found him in a pool of blood in his chambers. They say he ripped out his own throat with his bare hands!"

  Gale could feel the anger boiling over in the room.

  The man was second in command, but he was also like a mentor to many of the thieves in Renal's hall. Being the master of his guild-hall, Renal had to always enforce the rules, but Thanril was like the kindly old uncle who all the thieves looked up to.

  "Death to that treacherous bastard!" screamed one of the thieves, driving his blade into the table.

  Noises of approval.

  "Send word to Thanril's men. I offer them revenge," said Renal.

  "There's also another thing, lieutenant. Good news this time," said Elisha. "Seymon has docked in at the port!" she said cheerfully.

  There was loud cheering and some clapping as the name was mentioned. Gale knew of the man.

  Seymon, the smuggler. An ex-Black Raven who had turned to plying his trade on the seas. He had left the Ravens on very good terms with a blessing from the Ravenlord himself, rumors said.

  He was in the guild around the same time Renal and Gale were. He left shortly after Gale did. Somehow Gale thought the man would get assassinated by a rival inside the guild itself. He was simply too...naive to survive as a Raven. But he did have the requisite skills for a smuggler. He turned out to be a success at it from what Gale had heard.

  "Get ahold of the idiot and bring him here," said Marcus. "We don't want him wandering into the guild-hall by accident."

  There was loud laughter following that statement. Only because it was completely possible that Seymon would do something like that.

  "We have close to a hundred men. I'm counting Thanril's men with us now," said Renal. "Do you think that would be enough against five Summoners?"

  "It should be. But Dahl would be unpredictable. You have two mages on your side now?" he asked.

  "We have two more that we recently put on retainer."

  "So that's four in total," said Crassus. "Mages are always good against Summoners. They should also have the necessary tools to incapacitate an Ursvang. You said there were five Summoners, so I should say one more good mage should do. Just to even things out."

  Chapter 70

  Lorian couldn't believe his eyes as he looked around. So this was Archon. He had never seen such a busy place in all his life. The nameless village he grew up in was a speck in comparison. The only other towns he had been in were those around Norvind. All of them, including Bren, looked tiny compared to Archon.

  It was the people, he thought. So many of them.

  "Why are you standing there gawking?" asked Orcus.

  "I'm just...taking all this in. I've never seen a city this big before."

  "What are you talking about? Bren is this big."

  "But not as busy," he said, still looking around. "And Seymon tells me these are just the docks."

  "I'm hungry," said Orcus.

  "I should really look up some shape-shifting spells. Turn you into a cat maybe. There was plenty of fish on the ship."

  "I don't think I like the taste."

  "Of course you don't! Hamsters don't like fish. Your...body parts aren't suited to tasting or digesting a fish. Which is why I said a cat would be better. And I'd look a whole lot better with a cat than with a stupid hamster!"

  A zap of lightning ran through his body.

  "If you do that again, I swear—"

  "Ho! Lorian!"

  Lorian looked around and saw Jaffar, first mate of the Cassandra. The man walked over, slapping Lorian on the back. A spasm of pain shot through Lorian's entire body. Tears welled up in his eyes.

  "Oh my god! I'm truly sorry," he said.

  "No. That's quite all right. It didn't hurt as much as it should. Which is good news," Lorian said, forcing a smile.

  "Well, it did hurt, so I'm still sorry."

  "Apology accepted," said Lorian, wishing to be done with the matter.

  "So how do you like Archon?" he asked.

  "It's...interesting. So many people around here."

  "You should be careful, though. Plenty of pickpockets all around. With lots of newcomers in the area, the docks district is where all the fresh pickpockets go to learn. People like you who are new to Archon are easy targets."

  "I don't think I have much worth picking," said Lorian.

  "What's that? You don't have the three hundred gold you made on Thellis?"

  Thellis was the name of a small island they had stopped at on their way to Archon.

  They were only supposed to resupply, but ended up getting involved in an interesting adventure with some local goons there who worked for a brothel keeper.

  Lorian had been initially taken there as a show of power, but the situation had deteriorated quickly. What started off as a simple scam turned into a battle affecting the entire island.

  Suffice to say, everyone on the ship made good gold and had a fun adventure, thanks to Lorian.

  His share of the venture had been three hundred gold. The first bit of gold Lorian had ever earned.

  And also the first bit of gold Lorian had ever lost. While gambling.

  Somehow, he thought he would excel at a game of dice simply because he was a mage. Magic study relied on mental aptitude. But the shipmates soon showed him just how many kinds of intelligence there were. How Orcus had laughed at him that night.

  "Er...I lost it all to Ben and the cook at dice."

  "Those bastards! I told them not to fleece any money from you. Just you wait! I'll give them a thrashing they won't forget."

  "Don't trouble them. It was an interesting experience. And they earned it."

  "No they didn't. It isn't earning if you—oh, for heaven's sake. Here!" he said, pushing a small pouch of gold into his hand.

  "I can't."

  "Yes you can, and I won't hear otherwise. We're all indebted to you. Now you carry on and find a good place to spend that money. Actually, leave that to me. I know this girl. She'll make your—"

  "Not so fast," said another voice from behind them.

  Seymon the smuggler. Their captain.

  Lorian was glad to see the man. Somehow, life on a ship wasn't as uninteresting as Lorian had thought.

  There was genuine camaraderie between shipmates. Something he hadn't seen at the Shadow Spire, where apprentices were constantly trying to outdo one another, or at Norvind, where every mage took to patronizing him.

  It was the first time in his life Lorian had felt something like that, and there was a moment, on the ship when they were singing a lewd shanty that Lorian had seriously considered joining them. For good. He would have been willing to forget everything that happened, with the Lumen, with Gawain, Amadeus and even Mog'rath.

  But Orcus had talked him out of it.

  "Mages live long," Orcus had said. "With demonic essence inside you, you should be able to live longer than most. You can always come back and find them if that's what you really want. But it's more important that you learn more about yourself and this essence that you contain. You can't afford to be so carefree with the essence of an arch-demon inside you."

  Lorian had to agree with that part. Seymon's voice brought him back to the present.

  "We have something of a problem," said Seymon. "A dangerous one. And I really don't want to impose on you."

  "You can ask me anything," said Lorian.

  He wasn't going to join them, but he was sure as hell not turning down an opportunity for another adventure with them. Not with the fun they had on Thellis. Besides, he didn't have anywhere else to be right now.


  "First of all, let me say this. You will be paid well. Very well. And second, it's extremely dangerous. You really don't have to say yes."

  That would be helpful. Gold was always nice. You could always trade it for something more valuable. Like information. Or even tomes. And as for the danger. Well…depending on the specifics, it could be interesting.

  "I'm listening," said Lorian.

  "Not here. Follow me. There's someone I'd like you to meet."

  *

  They certainly hadn't spared any expense, thought Lorian.

  The food laid out in front of him was some of the richest he had ever seen. Even Orcus was happily nibbling on one of the juicy pears.

  They were sitting in an isolated booth in an inn called the Bottomless Keg.

  He was surrounded by people. All of them looked to have concealed weapons. If Seymon hadn't been sitting right next to him, Lorian would have been a little alarmed.

  Not that he couldn't handle them in a fight, he thought, but thieves were notoriously dangerous in battle for a mage.

  Master Thaugmir had taught them all the ways in which an assassin could cripple and kill a mage. He taught them that you needed a different mindset if you were to ever fight a group of thieves. Lorian wasn't sure he could adjust to a battle with thieves so quickly.

  Two men and a woman sat opposite him and Seymon. While four others stood guard outside the booth, glaring at anyone who dared look at them.

  The older of the two men was called Marcus.

  Apparently he held the rank of a lieutenant, however high that was, in a guild called the Black Ravens.

  Seymon had mentioned on their way here that the Black Ravens were one of the strongest groups in all of Archon. He also hinted that they had a vast network that stretched out even to Eora. And that if it was information that Lorian was after, the Ravens were good allies to make.

  The second man was called Gale. Lorian didn't know why he was here, as he didn't seem to have any official rank within the Black Ravens.

  Yet Lorian suspected it was because didn't want to leave the side of the woman sitting next to him. Illazehra, the mage. The strangest one of them all.

  All she had done since she had seen Lorian half an hour ago was stare. Intently. She seemed decently trained in magic, Lorian could assess, but her magical power kept wavering. It was the sign of someone who hadn't completely mastered any school of magic. A mage who had chosen to generalize.

  Lorian would give off the signature of an elemental mage. As Gawain would the Lumen. And Amadeus necromancy. The woman, however, didn't seem as specialized. In breadth of knowledge, she probably knew more spells than Lorian, but in a duel, Lorian could possibly kill her in under five minutes.

  Lorian knew that the woman was there solely to measure his magical power. If Lorian wanted to impress her, he would have tried focusing and making his magical presence felt. As he had done when presented to Gawain back at the Shadow Spire.

  But he could tell from the way she bit her lip, that she was already impressed. And confused, from the looks of it. Even though Lorian wasn't trying, there was something inside him giving off an aura of intimidation targeted at the woman.

  It was like hunger. Like he wanted to reach out and rip open her throat with his teeth. It was probably Mog'rath's bestial nature.

  Anyway, Lorian didn't feel like making an effort to suppress it, although it seemed to be making the woman uneasy.

  "So what do you say, then?" asked Marcus.

  Truthfully, Lorian barely heard any of the story at all. The names were a little too many to remember. But he had gotten the gist of it.

  A group of thieves who Seymon was friends with were going to attack a guild-hall that consisted of thieves who had allied themselves with Summoners.

  Summoners. That was the word that had really interested Lorian.

  Who better to seek out for knowledge regarding demons other than the Summoners? Not that he'd want to join them, but he could get some information from them. Perhaps some books, or the location of a library. If he defeated them, of course. Maybe even from their corpses, if he could kill one of them.

  "Yes," said Lorian. "When are we going to attack?"

  "By the heavens! Not a moment's hesitation. Didn't even ask how much we were going to pay him. This one's an eager lad you've brought us, isn't he, Seymon?" said Marcus, laughing.

  Seymon smiled weakly.

  "You do know that these are Summoners you're going against, right?" Seymon asked, leaning in and whispering into Lorian's ear.

  "Yes. I'm fine with that," replied Lorian, also whispering.

  "You don't have to do this," he said again. "They'd heard from one of my crew about what you did at Thellis and asked me. I had no option but to introduce you to them. Just say the word and I'll end this right now."

  "Relax, I want to do this. I always wanted to go up against a Summoner."

  "What's that you're discussing? If he's asking you for a finder's fee, don't listen. He's been well paid already!" said Marcus.

  For some reason, the man seemed pleased with himself. Lorian smiled at him, not knowing what else to say. Marcus leaned in and said in a low voice, "We're heading out tonight. We're waiting to hear from Thanril's men. Once they send word, we'll be set."

  Lorian nodded.

  "What about those spell breakers?" asked Marcus, looking at Seymon.

  "I have every item on your list. Jaffar is procuring them from my warehouses as we speak. You should have them well before the attack," said Seymon.

  "Right then. Dig in, lad," said Marcus, addressing Lorian. "Eat up. You'll need plenty of energy for tonight."

  With that, the three of them got up and made their way out.

  "Marcus tends to...try and be a little boisterous when he needs something. I can tell by how much he laughed that they need you. Real bad. And from what I hear tell, this Summoner they're up against—a man named Dahl—he's no laughing matter. The man is rumored to have fought under Naxannor."

  Interesting, thought Lorian. After he had healed on the ship, both Orcus and he had gotten around to try and master some of his new abilities. Chaining. Filling up his inner well. He had put them to good use on Thellis and had literally destroyed his opponents there.

  He tried not to use his demonic wings or the claw. He didn't want to scare his shipmates.

  He was eager to fight a new foe. Someone formidable. Without Mog'rath's help. Dahl wasn't bound to be as strong a mage as Amadeus or Gawain. He should be right within Lorian's reach, from what he could tell.

  "I'm looking forward to it," said Lorian.

  "I do hope you fully understand what you're getting yourself into," said Seymon. "I've booked a room here for you. The waitress will take you there when you're finished eating. Marcus will come and fetch you once it's time to leave."

  Lorian nodded. He turned to look at Orcus, whose head was completely buried inside the pear. He really should look into those shape-shifting spells...

  *

  "Well, what do you think? Any good?" asked Gale.

  "He scares me, Gale," Illazehra replied, biting her lip.

  "Scares you? He looks to be around twenty. And he has a hamster with him," said Gale. "If anything, I would have thought Seymon was stiffing us with some cabin boy dressed up to look like a mage."

  "No. Magical power alone, he's on par with my master. Perhaps even stronger. He wasn't even making an effort to maintain a magical aura around him. There's something besides that. Something really wrong with him. It makes me uneasy just to look at him."

  "Aren't you overreacting?"

  "No, I'm not. Right now, at this moment, I'm more scared of him than I am of Dahl and the Summoners."

  She seemed to be shaking. What was happening here?

  "I want to leave, Gale," she said, suddenly bursting into tears.

  Instinctively, Gale held her in his arms and hugged her. He really was at a loss for words. Leaving now was the worst possible thing they could do. But he
chose not to say that.

  "It'll be all right," he said instead. A lie if there ever was one.

  The pragmatist inside him said that their odds for surviving weren't really that good.

  "Looking at him, I can't get rid of this feeling that something really bad is going to happen," she said.

  "I'll...protect you. With my own life if I have to," said Gale.

  He really meant the last part. But he sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to that.

  Chapter 71

  "This is a nice room they've given us," said Lorian, enjoying the large bed. This was truly luxurious when compared with the barrack-like rooms he had shared with other apprentices at the Shadow Spire or the spartan living quarters at Norvind.

  "They need you, from the looks of it," said Orcus. "What did you think of the girl?"

  "Eh? She was pretty, I guess. She had nice hair and—"

  "Not her looks, you lech! Her magical prowess. I heard one of the thieves mention that next to a mage named Kugan, she was the best mage they had."

  "Oh. That. Well, I guess she was...about an average spell caster?"

  "You're being nice?"

  "Truthfully? She's not truly adept in any school, so it's hard for me to tell. But I guess the breadth of her spells would make her somewhat useful in battle. She definitely knows many more spells than me."

  "The other two aren't going to be of much use then, if they're weaker than her. I heard they were hired very recently."

  "Mercenary mages. They prefer the word retainer, but that's all they are really. Mercenaries. If this Darius or whoever gives them more gold, I won't be surprised if I have to fight them."

  "Are they generally good?"

  "Mercenaries? Not really. Most good mages belong to a school of some sort."

  "Aren't you a mercenary now?"

  Azrael shot a scornful look at Orcus, but then smiled. The oracle turned hamster had an interesting sense of humor. Orcus spoke.

  "I only ask because you need to be evaluating this before heading into battle. There are five mages now including you, but if three of them are useless, it's essentially you and this old mage against five Summoners."

  "You think I can't beat them?" asked Lorian. It was more of an honest question than a defiant one.