Mageblood

by Christopher Johns

  “What do you want?” He said, likely for the second time with how exasperated he was. “The master and I are exceptionally busy.”

  “I needed to speak to your master regarding magic I need unlocked.” I held my hand out to shake his, but he just stared at it.

  “Another wanderer with sealing magic? That’d be two in one day, highly unusual.” He tittered to himself, his fingers fidgeting with his beard.

  “I don’t have sealing magic; I have summoning magic.” His eyes widened. “I was told that your master may know what I have to do to unlock it.”

  “Master!” The dwarf hollered, and a great shifting and sliding sound echoed in the room. I followed the dwarf inside in time to see a large lizard-like creature, not quite a dragon, but not fully human, either shuffling forward.

  His scales sagged, and he had some kind of scaly version of a beard on his face that shook as he spoke, “What is it, Nevilin?”

  “Master Armenes, this wanderer seeks knowledge.” Nevilin bolted toward me and hauled me closer to the older being, his large body taking up a great amount of space. He easily dwarfed Gage, and his horns appeared to have been carved from his head.

  “Another one, you say?” The great, green-scaled wizard’s clawed hand lifted a pair of thick spectacles to his half snout nose before narrowing his eyes at me. “Kin? Kin do not typically have an affinity for sealing magic. Curious.”

  “It’s for summoning, sir.” Nevilin corrected helpfully, hauling a large tome from a shelf off to the left of the doorway. The room was much larger than the tower outside looked able to hold. Had to be some kind of spatial magic trick to hold more things that were popular in a lot of movies and books. Cool. Bags of holding? Even cooler.

  Shelves of all sorts of varying sizes and widths covered the walls with books of varying types, titles, and colors all over. No real system that I could see was in place, but it was neat and tidy.

  “Ah, yes, summoning magic is rarer even than our own, Nevilin.” Armenes squinted over the tome the dwarf had brought him. “Here we are, ‘let he whose body becomes the vessel for others come to the east, where she of the mountain holds sway.’ That seems very straightforward.”

  “Forgive us, Master Armenes, we are but mortals who cannot hope to grasp the strands of time that color your life’s weave.” Even I was impressed by the amount of bull crap the dwarf could sling with his words, the wizard simply raised a scaled eyebrow ridge and the little man hurriedly added, “we do not seem to think it so straightforward.”

  “Why Nevilin, you should know of whom I speak—you grew up there.”

  “Belgonna’s Hold?!” Nevilin gasped with a hand over his heart. Something told me that this guy was a bit dramatic. “But you couldn’t possibly mean the great one, in that passage, could you?”

  “Yes.” he shut the tome with a soft whoosh of escaping air that ruffled my hair. “He will need to venture through the plains to visit She of the Crimson Fury. Lady of the Sulfurous Lake. Your mother.”

  “I have to go see your mother?” I raised an eyebrow at the dwarf.

  “She is not my birth mother, she adopted me when I was abandoned.” Nevilin ran his hands through his long blond hair, tucking it back behind his ears.

  “Well she doesn’t sound that bad, I don’t know why she has all those titles.” I blinked up at Armenes, he seemed content to watch and listen. “And I feel like little Darin needs a thumping for not telling me you’re a dragon, and for putting things in your soup.”

  “He is half right, though I am much, much less of a dragon than some out there.” Armenes’ sharp teeth flashed in a wry smile. “I quite like the boy; he is rambunctious, and his pranks keep my mind sharp. I permit him to come into my sealed laboratory and study here so that I might see him from time to time and test his wits. As to the draconic moniker, well, that is a story for another day. Suffice it for now that I had too much greed for power at a young age and sought to overcome my mortality with an ancestral ability. Creating an abominable thing.”

  “I don’t think that you’re an abomination, Armenes.” I tried to smile at him, his great green eyes narrowing at me funnily. “Intimidating? Sure. But there are so many new things in this world for my kind, and me, more than a few of us would accept you.”

  “That nice young orc lady gave me a kiss on the cheek.” More of his teeth flashed in the brightly lit room. “Do you plan to do the same, young Kin?”

  I had to laugh at his forward glance and suggestive eyebrow waggling, though my cheeks warmed at the thought of Trickle and her brazen act. “I’m not much for kisses, mermaids being the exception, but how about I resolve to come back and chat with you?”

  “Another guest for a lonely old man?” He looked over to a still nervous-looking Nevilin. “Why, that would be a wonderful distraction, thank you.”

  “Before I go too far, is there a way to get there swiftly?” They both seemed to be confused by the question, so I asked a different way. “Would there be a way to go through a portal? Or some kind of flying creature who can take my friends and me? Including the young orc lady?”

  “The young orc lady is a friend of yours?” I nodded, and he rumbled happily. “Excellent. She is welcome too. Unfortunately, travel like that requires a powerful space magic-user who has been to a place before. Unless there is one that I am unaware of here, you will have to get guild permission to travel on.”

  “Ah, well, thank you for your insight and formidable knowledge.” I bowed at the waist to both of them. “I truly appreciate your time.”

  I felt a prod from a dull item on top of my head and saw Armenes’ clawed forefinger retreating. “My sealing magic in the stairwell should no longer bother you. Be safe, and watch for the Lady in Crimson, while you are away. The way there is dangerous, but not overly so. She is fair, but she can also be fickle. Goodbye.”

  I left the master and dwarf to their own devices, the older wizard chuckling as Nevilin stuttered something at him just before the click of the lock sliding home shut me out of the room.

  Getting back down the stairs was a breeze, though I felt adding stairs as well as sprints, to my workout routine was necessary if I’d be climbing as much as I was.

  “Wait!” I heard a voice pant behind me. I turned to see a flushed and sweaty Nevilin rushing toward me. “Wait… please wait.”

  I stood there quietly as he caught his breath, then listened to him speak, “Be careful of my mother. She has a knack for collecting things—people—it matters not. Mind yourself.”

  “Just what is she?” I shook my head at his attempted warning. “You make her out to be some sort of monster.”

  “We are forbidden to tell those who do not already know anything more but please.” He looked a little manic now, making me worry. “She is not what she seems to be, and she is stronger than you could ever imagine. She has a good heart, and is full of wonder and love to give, but do not cross her, or my siblings. They will devour you.”

  “Noted, thank you, Nevilin.” I offered him my hand once more and remembered he didn’t like that, so I took it back and offered him a slight nod of the head instead.

  He gave me one in return then panted his way back up the stairs. No wonder he was a little less built than the other dwarves I’d seen.

  Leaving the castle was easy enough, but a direction after that was a little more difficult.

  —p/Where are you all?— I whispered to the others.

  —p/We’re all over at Gage’s place with Alvor. He has our gear.— Sundar explained.

  I grinned like it was Christmas all over again and made my way to his place at a light jog.

  I arrived there with only one person cursing at me for him not paying attention to where he was, so I was happy about that.

  I found the gate to the back fence and let myself into the back yard. Alvor stood with a large burlap bag next to his left foot and spoke to the others excitedly.

  Albarth, Sundar, Gage, and Monami chuckled and listened well as they h
efted their own weapons.

  Monami had a modified version of the chakrams, their sharp circular edges bisected by almost-s-shaped handles. They were about ten inches in diameter, and she rolled her wrists with them easily as if getting comfortable with the weight.

  Albarth had a rapier on his hip as if it were the most natural thing in the world, though he was holding a blade I wasn’t familiar with. It was roughly dagger sized, but thicker at the base and almost blocky until it came to a boxed tip.

  Sundar carried a long sword on her hip that looked well-crafted, and the leather sheath looked very well kept.

  “Here he is,” Gage rumbled as he came from his garden, clapping dirt from his hands onto his pants and transferring a green vegetable between both his hands gingerly as he did so. “Welcome back, Kyvir. You’ll be pleased to know that those other two who were punished got the full sentence. They are gone for seven days.”

  “Thank you! You know, I didn’t get to ask last time, but with the instrument and the gardening.” I motioned to the garden, then the vegetable in his hand. “Why?”

  His head cocked to the right as he tossed me the item, motioning for me to eat it. “Why what, my friend?”

  “Why do it at all?” I took a bite of the vegetable, the skin was firm and had a bitter, earthy flavor to it, but the sweetness of the inside overtook it all. A subtle hint of heat came after that, making me groan—this was delicious. “Aside from tending delicious things like this, wouldn’t your time be better spent refining fighting techniques?”

  His demeanor changed from curious to accepting. “Ah. This is a question I receive all too often from people who do not understand war and battle.”

  He grasped me by the shoulder and ushered me into the garden. “Do you see all of the things here?”

  I did. Purple vines sprouted from the ground and crawled around through a lattice of white and black, where the same kind of vegetable I’d eaten grew. Rows of plants that resembled corn stood stoutly in close formation, their loads borne by thick shoots with green leaves flaring out here and there.

  Other plants that resembled tomatoes grew near strange things I couldn’t even liken to plants I’d ever seen on earth.

  I nodded, and he smiled. “All of these plants require patience and knowledge to groom and grow. As much knowledge as it takes to lead men into battle, if not more. I choose to be the farmer who knows how to fight, rather than a person who knows only combat and comes home with nothing to offer their people but what they know.”

  “Is that really a thing?” I couldn’t hide my ignorance. I had never thought of enlisting or serving.

  “It is,” Sundar answered quietly, making me look back to see a somber look on her face. “There are kids who join the military straight out of high school and train in nothing but combat-style occupations. Their very lives are about destruction and chaos. They spend their waking hours perfecting ways to destroy their country’s enemies and protect the men and women to their right and left to the point that their training is as instinctive as breathing.”

  Her voice took on a jaded tone, her eyes closing as she seemed to recall horrid memories. “Then those kids see combat. Their friends die, getting blown up in front of them, or shot by the enemy. They get injured, and then the army thanks them for their service and sends them home to people who don’t understand them and without any truly marketable skills. They’re broken, hurting, and feel useless, so there’s nothing for them, and that hopelessness cultivates anger. Sometimes that anger finds a good outlet. Other times… my brothers and sisters aren’t so lucky.”

  “Then your ranks lose even more as well,” Gage confirmed softly, his horned head bobbing knowingly. “This is a thing I have seen, too. I have taken great pains to ensure my command knows to teach skills, ones like music so that our people are more than just warriors. We have poets, writers, musicians, farmers, crafters, and other talented individuals among our ranks who I am proud to have had serve with me. Does that answer your question, my friend?”

  “Yes.” I frowned and thought about my lot in life. Maybe I should donate to some good causes for veterans, as well? I’d talk to Sundar about that. She likely knew some. “Thank you for entertaining my ignorance with patience.”

  “Education starts with humility, Kyvir.” Gage clapped me on the back and almost knocked me off my feet. “Admitting ignorance is a start, and to start toward something better by learning about your fellow man is indeed a noble path.”

  “Noble path or not, we need to get on the trail to leveling up some more.” Sundar grabbed me by my shoulder and led me to Alvor.

  “Hello Kyvir.” he bent down and opened his pack, lifting out a short sword in a well-kept sheath the same color as Sundar’s. I pulled it from its home, the heft and balance so much better than the poor quality one.

  Basic short sword

  Quality: Common

  Base dmg: 2-5 dmg

  Durability: 10

  Worth: 5 silver.

  I had seen a similar weapon before, but now I was worried.

  “I hadn’t gotten the chance to get to initiate with the sword!” I smacked my hand to my forehead, and Gage snorted.

  “Nothing a bout of training cannot fix.” The Minotaur grinned at me. “It adds minimal damage at lower levels, but a point or so of increased damage can add up. We will see you to rights.”

  I smiled back, relieved at the added thought by the master swordsman.

  “Now, this one was an odd request as well, but it was more than fun to work on, and master Ori liked it so much he’s decided to try making other weapons like it.” Alvor grunted and hefted out a larger, odd-looking weapon.

  It looked like a sword blade that started a foot and a half up the handle, came to a rounded but sharpened tip then swept back about halfway down the other side with more cutting edge. The grip had leather wrapped around it but appeared to be hollowed out near the bottom. It was a very queer attempt at a sword, seeing as the handle of it was more than a foot and a half long without the bladed portion. The whole thing was three and a half feet long.

  Then he pulled out another portion that looked identical to the first.

  “This is a glaive that you can separate.” Alvor stepped closer to me and showed me that there was a portion of the second half that slid into the first half, twisting into place with ease. “They’re twins and built to be like long swords, so if you want to take them apart and use them that way—you can.”

  He passed the item to me, and I had to marvel at the balance of it.

  Separable Glaive

  Quality: Uncommon

  Base dmg: 4-9 dmg

  Durability: 10

  Worth: 2 gold

  Woah! “That cost, is this okay?” I looked to the others. “Can we afford this?”

  “With your earnings from the crown for both acts of bravery?” Gage chuckled, snorting after he finished making his nose ring flop onto his top lip. “I imagine that it would be fine.”

  “How much did we earn?” Monami opened her inventory as I asked and tossed me a small pouch of forty-seven gold and five silver pieces.

  “That was after we paid for both of your weapons, and that’s your individual earnings from the prince.” Albarth tossed another small bag my way after that statement. This one held four gold. “That was from the guards as a stipend. With that, we can go get armor and things.”

  “And no, armor isn’t going to mess too much with our magic.” Mona beat me to my question, then seemed thoughtful. “Though we may want to play into our roles and skill sets as far as it’s concerned.”

  “Sounds good to me.” I heaved a sigh, they really had been pulling more than their fair share of the weight and seemed fine doing it. Time for me to step up. “Let’s go get geared up and then be on our way.”

  “Before you leave, allow me to pass on his Highness’s regards and follow an order.” Gage stepped forward and look at all of us. “It may be difficult, but you all have permission to use the dungeon
under the city. If you wish to go, I will show you how to get there.”

  “That place hasn’t been used in years.” Alvor hissed with fear in his gaze. “Not since the prince almost died there!”

  “That is why he trusts the wanderers with the secret of its location.” He nodded to us. “They are clearly braver than we, and they will return if they die. He had a quest he asked that I impart to you all.”

  He blinked, and a notification screen populated in front of my gaze.

  QUEST RECEIVED – Prince Klemond deems you fit to fight in the crypts beneath his home. Find the cursed item at the end of the dungeon and bring it out of the crypts to nullify the curse. Reward: Negotiable, 400 EXP, and potential future dealings with the crown of Iradellum. Failure: Loss of reputation with the crown, loss of dungeon privileges.

  Do you accept? Yes / No?

  “That’s cool and all, but I have access to only half of my magic.” I shook my head. “Before we can consider that, we need it to be unlocked in Belgonna’s Hold.”

  “Ah, then you would be even wiser to take this quest because in order to venture to the next city, you must carry a seal from the adventurer’s guild,” Gage explained. “In order to even join the guild, you must reach level ten. You have much to lose should you deny this quest, and I would not see that happen.”

  “Let us think on it?” Monami asked with a great, big smile that completely disarmed the Minotaur Sergeant.

  “I suppose so. Come, young Kyvir, let us enter into the training circle, and I will show you sword forms.” He looked to the others as well. “In fact, all of you could use the practice. Ünbin comes with an extra bow so that he might further instruct you in the way of archery, Albarth, please be patient.”

  “Of course, Gage.” Al bowed his head respectfully and stepped to the side of the training circle. “I will ask, how on earth is Kyvir to carry that beast of a weapon?”