Apprentice

by Nicholas Hale

  "What kind of spells was he casting?" asked Coran.

  "He hit me with a fireball. Bastard took me completely by surprise. And would have killed me too if it weren't for my Ursvang."

  "Who cares what his name is?" said Darius with a strained voice. "And why is that even important?"

  "I know him."

  All the men in the room stared at him. Edwin, who was pacing in the corner by himself, turned to look at him. Edwin had been lost in thought after retreating from a crushing defeat. He had barely managed to teleport away before they killed him.

  "He was an apprentice at the Shadow Spire," explained Coran. "Under my master, Thaugmir. He studied with me."

  "What kind of spells does he use?" asked Dahl.

  "Elemental, mostly. But—"

  "Elemental, my foot!" said Nazer. "That was hellfire! And he had demonic wings! Like those of an Azhurai!"

  What? Coran was about to say that Lorian went to study in Norvind, but Nazer's words had completely halted his train of thought. Hellfire? Coran knew about it. A flame from the demonic planes. Unlike elemental fire that was pure, hellfire was corrupted and burned almost anything.

  "An Azhurai?" asked Dahl. "You're sure about this?"

  "Of course I am! Will everyone stop asking if I'm sure about every single thing I say! Why would I even mistake—?"

  "That's enough," said Dahl, dismissing Nazer. "This is indeed interesting news."

  "You think he's a demon spawn?" asked Edwin from behind.

  "That's one possibility," said Dahl.

  "Who cares what he is?" asked Darius once again. He then turned to Coran.

  "You said you knew him. Can you call him off? Tell him to just...I don't know...leave? I can make it worth his while."

  "We weren't enemies, but we weren't on the best of terms either. We were rivals in our school. I doubt he'd listen to me."

  'Rivals' was bit of an overstatement. Lorian, arrogant as he was, probably didn't even consider him competition.

  And this news of him being a demon spawn? First he'd ever heard of it. But it would explain much. Several of the other apprentices at the spire had been alarmed by Lorian's aptitude for magic. It was simply not normal for a human being. Especially one so much younger than them.

  "They've breached the second floor!" shouted a scout as he burst through the door. "They'll be here any moment."

  "Just what I need," said Darius with a sigh.

  Dahl stood up and walked to the center of the room. He then addressed the Summoners.

  "Edwin. You still look able to fight."

  "Yes, Master. But my energy is—"

  "It matters not. Stay close to me and you can make use of the essence I release."

  Edwin nodded, looking pleased.

  "Let me fight too, Master," said Nazer, trying to stand up.

  "Don't be foolish. There's no room for your injured pride here. I have no intention of losing any more men in this farce of a guild war, dragon egg be damned. We could have obtained another one for the cost of two summoners."

  Nazer looked a little disappointed, but Coran had to agree. Besides the severe burns, he also had a deep wound on his back that could have been life threatening.

  "Demon spawn or not, Edwin and I should be sufficient for him," said Dahl.

  "You are welcome to join us," he continued, addressing Coran, "but you would be left to your own devices, and had best stay out of our way."

  Coran was still debating whether he should return to the Shadow Spire. The Summoners were far from defeated, and he heard that two mages had died on Renal's side as well, but if he had to compare, it would seem Renal's men had the advantage here. Nadia still hadn't given him the tome, and he knew Dahl would lose his temper if he asked them for it now.

  He could still cut his losses and return to the spire. But after the praises from Master Thaugmir, he would look weak and unworthy if he returned empty-handed.

  There was also the possibility that Lorian could die today. If he did, and if Coran could take credit for that, he would become the most elevated apprentice in the Shadow Spire. Several of the apprentices there knew Lorian's strength.

  "I'll fight alongside you," he said, his decision made.

  "Excellent! You won't regret it," said Darius.

  *

  They were on the stairs to the third and final level.

  There weren't any demonic creatures or Summoners in the rest second level. It had mostly been hidden assassins.

  Lorian wasn't surprised—whatever remained of the Summoners' forces would have retreated to recoup. The assassins on the second level were merely buying time. The level itself wasn't as open as first one, consisting of many narrow corridors and several small rooms. Perfect place for ambushes, but fortunately, Renal's men were in their element there. Lorian had very little to do except the occasional stab with his spell blade.

  Ceívar did most of the work. Orcus had been right. The man was hiding something. His combat abilities seemed to improve by leaps and bounds when he was separated from his companions or when he was pressed. He was a large man, but he moved with the grace and agility of a much lighter person. The sudden bursts of energy with which he moved were definitely magical in nature. His silver rapier too seemed enchanted, glowing when he struck with it.

  It reminded him of the time he met some Rhial Knights as a child. Yet, there was something alien about it. Someday, when he had time, he would have to look into this organization that Orcus said he belonged to.

  Two of the assassins remained behind to clean up and to ensure that their group wouldn't be taken by surprise. Renal, Gale, Illazehra and Adrian went up first. Lorian, Ceívar and the remaining soldiers followed close behind. Lorian could already hear spells clashing against each other.

  "Go on ahead," he said to Ceívar, who was right behind him.

  "I'm to stay with you," Ceívar replied, looking displeased.

  "No. Trust me. I'll be right behind you."

  Ceívar looked like he would disagree, but then, shaking his head, he went up the stairs first as Lorian had suggested.

  "Planning something?" asked Orcus.

  "I think so."

  He was still making up his mind, but he decided to go with it anyway. By now Dahl would already have known to look for Lorian, courtesy of his increased magical aura when he first entered the guild. He would also know that none of the mages who were currently locked in battle upstairs would be capable of that.

  If Dahl was indeed a careful man, a man who cared more about winning than he did about proving some point...

  Lorian saw light at the top of the stairs as Ceívar disappeared into the room. Quietly Lorian summoned his wings and his spell blade. It might be unnecessary, but he couldn't take any risks.

  He had gotten used to basic flight by now, which meant he used his wings as a replacement for levitation. He had tried pushing the limits to move faster, but it seemed to take more of his energy to do so. Still a few more steps to go, Lorian pushed hard with his feet and channeled as much energy into his wings as he could for a full second.

  He sped through the doorway like a dart.

  He felt a red flash behind him and heard an explosion as the doorway was covered in red mist and lightning. The Summoner's burning star. And it had been fast. Unlike any other that Lorian had seen this day.

  It seemed he was right to expect the trap. Without slowing down, Lorian closed in on the most powerful source of magical power he could discern, with his blade held out in front of him. He came to a grinding halt and felt his hands jar as his blade met a barrier. Standing behind the barrier was a man who could only be Dahl.

  The two mages smiled at each other before Lorian leapt back several feet, raising his hands for another spell. Dahl had already begun casting. It was time to see how good he really was.

  Chapter 76

  Coran's opponent was completely on the defensive. In a normal magical duel, one looked for openings that arose when opponents cast longer, time-c
onsuming offensive spells, but this mage seemed to have dedicated himself to merely staying alive.

  This meant two things for Coran. One, he wouldn't be able to find any openings to kill the man easily. And second, he would have had to expend a good amount of magical power in breaking down the man's shields. The mage was being overly cautious and spending a large portion of whatever little energy he had in bringing up shields unnecessarily.

  If he wished to Coran could break through his flimsy shields, but at the cost of wasting some of his own power. It was better in such situations to cast weaker spells and let the fool spend all his energy. The mage's defensive strategy had given Coran some time to survey the battlefield.

  Although his original plan had been to team up against Lorian with Dahl and finish him quickly, Coran began to wonder if that was even possible.

  Lorian was fighting on equal footing with Dahl himself. That and his sudden dramatic entrance had changed the flow of the battle. It seemed to have significantly increased the morale of Renal's men. Almost everyone, even the thieves locked in physical combat, were sparing the occasional second to glance at the heated battle between the two mages.

  Everybody knew that the real outcome of this entire guild war would be decided by that battle.

  During Lorian's time at the Shadow Spire, Coran had noticed him improve by leaps and bounds. Speed had always been his greatest advantage, and his battle strategy consisted of using a select few spells with great expertise—something all elemental mages favored.

  Yet, as far as he could recall, he had never seen Lorian cast spells in such quick succession.

  His eyes had moved away from his opponent, to fall upon Lorian for less than a second, during which he witnessed him cast at least three fireballs, each trailing the previous one. Even the greatest of elemental mages would not be capable of a feat like that. There was a hard limit on the speed at which you could pull elemental energy into your body.

  He also didn't remember Lorian having demonic wings on his back. Clearly, something had happened to change things after he left the Shadow Spire.

  Putting aside his pride, he could go as far as to say his own abilities were just a level below Lorian's own abilities. That was a few months ago. Looking at him now, Coran was glad Lorian was fully focused on Dahl and hadn't seen him at all.

  As if Lorian's increased prowess wasn't surprising enough, Darius seemed to be able to hold his own against Renal. Against Renal! Coran knew next to nothing about swords, daggers or any form of physical combat, but he knew Renal's reputation. And he knew that one didn't get to the position of guild-master of one of the leading guild-halls in the feared Black Ravens without the necessary martial expertise.

  It was not just Renal. It appeared several of his men possessed skill. He could see that at least two of them seemed to know their way with the blade. Darius had very few men left. The only thing preventing the thieves from ripping the Summoners apart was Edwin.

  Coran did not know how it was even possible, but Edwin could summon many hellion wolves to keep the attacking thieves at bay. He suspected it had something to do with him standing very close to Dahl. It looked as if Edwin was feeding off the demonic essence that Dahl was releasing.

  If Coran had known this would be the situation, he would have simply cut his losses and left Archon. This was too precarious a position for him to be in.

  *

  Lorian's hands shook as his shield was battered by a barrage of red lightning. This seemed to be a strange spell that Lorian hadn't seen the other Summoners use.

  Then again, there were several things that were different with Dahl. For instance, his burning stars were much stronger than the woman he had fought. Dahl could also release them in pairs, and they were fast enough that Lorian had to react as soon as he saw the spell being cast. The explosions when they hit the shield also showed that they were far more dangerous. It seemed he had truly mastered that spell.

  He had other stronger spells at his disposal, such as the lightning he had just attempted to hit him with. As it dissipated after hitting his shields, Lorian saw that although it carried large quantities of demonic essence, at its core it was merely elemental lightning. Unless you were a mage as capable as Amadeus, such modified spells took too much time and effort to cast.

  Dahl had not disappointed him.

  Unlike the female Summoner, who relied solely on her frenzied wolves, Dahl was using his demonic essence wisely. His wolves weren't as big as the woman's were, but they were certainly stockier and more durable.

  At first Lorian didn't understand, but it soon became clear. Dahl wasn't using the wolves to attack. He was sacrificing them to protect himself from Lorian's spells. They were living shields whose primary goal was to stop projectiles from harming their master.

  They were strong enough to withstand up to three elemental fireballs. And Dahl was able to summon more of them quickly enough to replace the fallen ones. He was also using them to provide cover for himself as he cast his lightning spells.

  What was impressive was that Dahl seemed to have figured out that Lorian could chain his elemental spells. He was surprised at first, but he'd figured it out the very first time he saw Lorian cast them.

  The wolves getting in the way was working for Dahl, but Lorian felt he could use it against him. The problem with the wolves was that, even damaged badly, they could move around. And when they were wounded enough, they fell to the floor. Lorian needed them standing so that he could them as a shield between him and Dahl. Having one, immobile, in between them would give Lorian the time for a stronger spell.

  As a feint, he chained two fireballs and sent them at Dahl in parallel. As expected Dahl had the wolves close in to take the hits. Working quickly, Lorian started launching lances made of hardened ice against the wolves. Instead of striking them in the vital organs, he ensured they were angled to impale them from above and pin them in place.

  Four lances and one of the wolves began whimpering as it was stuck. Lorian quickly angled himself and started casting hellfire. The slowest part of the spell was getting his mental state ready. The entire process of filling himself with hatred.

  He wished there was a better way of simply making himself feel anger, but even at his fastest, he couldn't bring down the time it took. Pain helped, so he made a habit of biting his tongue before casting it. He discovered it when he saw that the strongest fireballs he cast were the ones that had traces of it—and the reason they had traces of it was because his own hands were nearly burned when casting such a strong spell.

  Dahl had walked around the wolf to get better visibility, but Lorian had completed the spell by then. His felt the skin on his hands burn as he saw the air around Dahl and the wolves light up with sparks. Within moments a small inferno formed around them, engulfing them in a ball.

  The wolves were roasted to ashes, but Dahl was still standing when the fire died out. He'd suffered some burns, but Lorian could see no significant damage to the man. He wasn't sure how Dahl had extinguished the hellfire.

  "Surprised?" Dahl laughed as he summoned two more wolves to replace the dead ones. "When you work around creatures that can produce it, you learn a few tricks to dealing with hellfire."

  They exchanged more spells before Dahl spoke again.

  "It's produced by burning demonic essence. So, hellfire's greatest strength is around your body. The nearer it is to the core of your essence, the stronger it is. If you had been closer to me when you cast it, I wouldn't have been able to defend myself."

  Why was Dahl telling him this? Was it a ruse?

  "For your hellfire spell to be effective at that distance, the demonic essence inside you is indeed strong. Much too strong for an ordinary human being."

  Dahl walked closer while casting the burning stars, his wolves in tow. Lorian defended himself and readied another fireball. A bigger one this time, since Dahl had given him the window with all his talking.

  "It's pitiful how little knowledge you have of your true a
bilities."

  Lorian was about to reply using his fireball when he heard a loud metallic sound.

  He saw a golden ball the size of a human head bounce between him and Dahl. It looked like an egg.

  For the briefest second, Lorian's eyes darted in the direction the egg was thrown from, and he could swear he saw the small shadow of a child darting back into one of the corridors.

  He returned his attention back to the battlefield.

  This was his chance! Dahl was distracted by the golden ball. He just stood there staring at it as his face lost color. How could he be such a good mage and yet not know the cardinal rule of battle? Never take your eyes off your enemy.

  He had nearly completed the release before something unbelievable happened. It seemed like an earthquake that lasted a split-second, shaking the entire guild-hall.

  But then the entire roof, and one side of the guild-hall fell away crashing into the streets below and flooding the guild-hall with moonlight. The force with which the wall had been ripped open had even broken parts of the floor, exposing the level below.

  Everyone in the room stopped fighting and looked up to see a man floating above them.

  Even though they hadn't seen him do it, it was evident that the man was responsible for the damage. He was wearing plain white robes and had long blond hair. He seemed to be surveying the entire room while floating from above.

  "Dragon," whispered Orcus.

  Lorian froze.

  "You're not serious..." he said trying to look at the man's features to find something draconian.

  He looked nothing like a dragon, but they were creatures advanced enough in magic to use shape-shifting spells.

  His hand began to burn, the spell still unreleased. Lorian slowly withdrew it.

  "I've been around Irith'arcana long enough to recognize one."

  The man spoke with a loud, thunderous voice that caused the walls to shake.

  "I smell not one but two. Filthy, vile demon spawn. And demon-worshipping scum! You dare lay your disgusting hands upon one of my brood? My queen was right to purge your ilk from this world!"