The boy pointed to the magical map. “You said this could ‘zap two critters with one spell.’ I assume one of the critters is getting this qualification from you, but what is the other?”
The man looked at the map and nodded. “Ah…right! I almost forgot to mention that.” He looked at Nauru, who granted her permission with a nod for him to continue. “Well, boy, we have no anchors that take us directly to Levirei, so we’ll have to take a train there.”
“A train?” Devol inquired and understanding lit his eyes. “What—oh. A train would take us through—”
“Aye, lad.” Wulfsun smiled broadly. “We’ll take the train to Levirei from your home city, Monleans.”
Chapter Ten
Far away from the order, in a darkened forest in the corner of the Britana Kingdom, was an old, neglected manor that had stood for more than three centuries. At one point, it was a prized abode, built by an earl who had made a fortune selling specific curios during a fad period all those years before. He had only lived in the house for a few years and was eventually driven away by his paranoia, or so the townsfolk from the nearby village said—or at least they did when they had lived there. The village had been abandoned a good many years earlier.
It was in this darkened mansion that Salvo stood, his jaw clenched as he shut the front doors behind him and walked into the main lobby. Dark wood, rickety floors, and a few vases and statues left behind when the earl had fled his home created a dismal scene, most of them in various states of disrepair. He walked past the curved stairs and into a long hallway, although he paid little attention to his route. Resentment seethed within him as he considered what he should do next. Ever since the failed mission, he had been given busy work—tasks meant for the underlings, not him.
But it wasn’t only pure frustration and feeling cheated that made him so bitter. If it were only that he would have simply burned the manor down and left his employer, although he had almost done exactly that on a few occasions. For once, his annoyance was eclipsed by something else—disappointment in himself. He felt he had let down one of the few people—perhaps the only person—he respected more than himself.
Footsteps ahead intruded and Salvo’s instincts were still keen enough to snap him out of his brooding. He looked at a familiar face, although it seemed foolish to call it that given that the person it belonged to could change it on a whim. Koli strolled casually up the hall and smiled at his partner in amusement.
“Well, hello there, Salvo,” he said cheerfully as thunder cracked outside. “You missed the rain. Good fortune seems to be following you.”
“Like a geist, Koli.” he retorted, his voice low and harsh. “Are those maniacs in?”
“Do they ever leave?” his partner responded and held his nose for a moment. “I’m beginning to wonder if hygiene is a foreign concept to them.”
Salvo shrugged and prepared to move past. “It makes no difference to me. I’m only here to pick up spare bodies.”
Koli raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? You have good timing. The next batch won’t be here for a few weeks from what I understand. Are you going somewhere?”
He stopped and straightened as he fixed the trickster with a firm look. “I am done simply waiting for orders and being the others’ errand boy. I’m going to go and find them, Koli.”
“Oh. You’re showing initiative. Who are you looking for?” As much as Salvo’s current demeanor simply begged to be prodded, he was genuinely curious at what plan his former partner’s mind had concocted over these last few boring months.
“The ones who took the box,” Salvo stated and clenched his fists as he shoved his hands into his pocket. “Those damned Templars.”
Koli nodded. He had assumed it would come to that eventually. “Is that an order from your glorious leader?” This was answered by something sharp and warm that poked at his cheek. His partner had produced his wand, Kapre, and pointed it at him with a shaking fist.
“Do not mock me or him, Koli!” he insisted and small sparks of flame flared from the red jewel at the top of the wand. “And don’t be so arrogant. You had the box and lost it. You couldn’t even handle a few brats so I will not listen to you prattle on about your—”
“If you recall,” Koli interrupted as he slipped a hand under his eyepatch, “it was my partner who was the first to retreat.” He raised the eyepatch to reveal his malefic. “And, as much fun as it would have been to have a chance at the mori, a rather interesting development occurred during my fight as well.”
Salvo hesitated and the sparks faded from his wand as he growled and put it away. “Yeah, that majestic blade. You told us,” he muttered. As much as his rage fueled him, his better judgment still won out. He couldn’t fight Koli on his own and especially not in a place like this. “Whatever. Leave it be. I’ll have my chance to see what it does for myself.” With that, he attempted to leave again but his companion reached back and caught his sleeve.
“Tell me, do you have a plan to find them?” he asked, “or will you simply spend a good while walking the lands in a big game of hide and seek?”
Salvo yanked his sleeve away. “I’ll start burning things and get their attention. Maybe I’ll start with Rouxwoods where we saw them last.”
Koli chuckled. “I admire your tenacity, but that’s more likely to draw in far more than only the Templars, if they show up at all.”
“So be it,” the other magi retorted. “I need to release some anger anyway, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll eventually think of something else once I’ve cooled down.”
“Cooled down?” The trickster continued to snicker. “There’s a better chance of the Astrals returning than that happening, Salvo. Even in your state, you must realize that.”
“What’s it to you?” Salvo snapped and spun to face him. “You’ve run odd jobs since the failure the same as I have. I haven’t seen you doing anything to help look for them.”
“I was not asked to,” Koli stated, his tone matter of fact. “I’m on contract, unlike you. In fact, I made a delivery to our dear friends down below that will finish my term under your lord’s employ. I had hoped to run into you at the estate, but it seems fortuitous that I run into you now.”
“Is that so?” the fire magi muttered and shook his head. “I know you are playing coy, Koli. You have at least some idea of what he plans to do. Why bother leaving? You are paid well and once he changes the realms, what good will it be to not serve under him?”
Koli frowned and pulled his eyepatch down. “I still have my freedom of choice, Salvo. No one will strip that from me,” he replied, his gaze calm and deliberate. “That was something we both held dear at one point.”
Salvo’s eyes narrowed behind their shades. “Who says I don’t? But even I can see the inevitable. I guess I learned that no matter how far above fate you think you are, it finds a way to slap you back into reality.”
The assassin studied the man he once believed he knew and felt somewhat disappointed. But in spite of that—or perhaps due to the time they had shared—he decided to offer him some aid. He reached into his tunic and retrieved a device. “Here, take this.”
“An a-stone?” The fire magi took it and examined it curiously. “What? Is this for us to stay in touch?”
“You know I’m not that sentimental, Salvo,” Koli teased and held a finger up. “During that little scuffle in Rouxwoods, I did one small thing to be safe. I planted a rune—a tiny one—that let me attach a trace amount of mana onto it to open a small line of communication, which would allow me to listen to anyone speaking within the vicinity of the box.”
“What?” The other man gasped. “And you didn’t tell anyone?”
“I told your boss,” he said with a smirk. “I let him decide whether to tell others. I guess he chose to keep it to himself.”
Salvo grimaced but looked at the a-stone. “How much longer will the rune last?”
“Oh, not long at all at this point,” Koli admitted with a shrug. “A day, maybe a little
more. As I said, it was rather small so it would not be discovered easily. Fortunately, the contents of the box seemed to obscure it for the most part. But that’s not what you should be concerned about.” He pointed at the a-stone and circled his finger. “I heard something quite interesting before I arrived. It appears your quarry is preparing to leave on another mission. They intend to go to Levirei to investigate some disturbance there.”
“They are?” his partner asked, his eyes wide as the smallest grin began to form on his lips. “When?”
“In a day or so. You can listen to the conversation for yourself. The mori won’t be with them, it seems. Another Templar named Wulfsun will lead them. And it appears they are investigating dark, ominous magic that has been springing up throughout all the kingdoms. It seems Alastair is getting things going now, huh?”
Salvo’s eyes widened even more. “He’s already beginning? No, this must be one of the tests he mentioned.”
“I would think so. It’s causing quite a fuss, whatever it is, but it’s hardly something that will bring down kingdoms and empires.” Koli smirked. “Do with the information what you will but hopefully, you won’t be so sulky from now on.”
Salvo certainly was not. He was now genuinely smiling as he rested a hand on the trickster’s shoulder. “I knew there was a reason why I kept you around.”
“How sweet.” Koli chuckled and ran a hand through his violet locks. “Listen, Salvo, since I’m on my own again and have time to kill, I suppose I could accompany you one last time if you like.”
The fire mage removed his hand from his shoulder, his smile still present, but he shook his head. “No, I gotta do this. I want to do this on my own. Unless you want a rematch yourself, I don’t need you to intrude in my fun.”
He shrugged good-naturedly. “Fair enough. Are you sure you can take on another Templar on your own? I’m sure this Wulfsun has a majestic as well.”
Salvo moved his jacket aside and unclipped a box from his waist. “Despite what you may think, Alastair still trusts me.” He produced the box and showed it to the assassin.
Koli’s eyes narrowed before a bemused grin snaked onto his face. “I see. I guess he was saving that experiment for a different time?”
“Either that or he realized it could be more useful in my hands,” the fire mage replied and put the box away. “I’ll get a few more tools from the freaks. After that, I’ll listen to what you gave me and be on my way.”
“I see.” He nodded, turned away, and headed out of the hall. “Then I wish you well in your hunt, Salvo.”
“Where will you go now, Koli?” he asked. “Will you simply wander around causing a little slaughter on the way?”
“Not precisely,” he admitted and slid his hands into his pants pockets. “I also heard something interesting for me in that conversation—something I had thought about doing for a while and well…I have the time now.”
“Then I guess I wish you luck in whatever the hells that is,” the fire mage told him, now so enthusiastic that he almost skipped down the hall that led to the basement stairs.
Koli reached the doors to the main entrance and opened them to glance at the rain that poured outside. “You should probably save that for yourself, Salvo,” he whispered as he set off. Lightning flashed above but not a drop of rain fell on him. “Even if you are victorious against the Templars, I do not believe you have chosen wisely when it comes to a free future.”
He stared at the sky. Another bolt of lightning streaked through the wide expanse and the white light reminded him of the light from Devol’s majestic. He smiled when he thought of it. “And that may lead to me doing something rather naughty.”
Chapter Eleven
Jazai opened the door to the roof of the center spire, his personal area where he would go to think when things became too heavy for him. He had forgotten that it was not exactly unknown and was also no longer only his.
“Evening, Jazai.” Devol looked over his shoulder at the apprentice as he closed the door. “Have you come to think?”
“I guess I could talk instead,” he responded as he walked to the swordsman’s side and leaned against the railing. “Are you thinking about the Oblivion Trials?”
“Eh?” his friend muttered, his attention focused on the stars. “That seems a little far off to worry about now. I’m thinking about the mission.”
He regarded his friend with a mixture of confusion and amusement before he turned and looked at the stars with him. “I’m curious about something, Dev.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way although admittedly, I’m not sure how to phrase this so it doesn’t sound mocking.” He glanced at him and hesitated slightly before he continued. “How are you so naïve about the wider world? You grew up as the son of a guard captain in Monleans, the capital of Renaissance, and were taught by your mother who was schooled in one of the finest academies. You aren’t exactly a farm boy from a tiny village.”
Devol's response was simply a good-natured chuckle and a shrug. “I realized that myself on the Rouxwoods mission, if you recall.” He looked a little sheepish. “I guess it was because I was so focused on being in the guards that all my training was put into that. You still have to go through a couple of years of physical and educational instruction in the guards, so learning more about things outside of kingdom history—math, and sciences, schools on bestiary and such—all that could wait until then. I’m not sure if my mother or father are aware of things like malefics and the Oblivion Trials. I assume they might be. Perhaps they hoped I would never have to worry about them.”
Jazai laughed dryly, “Poor luck for you, it seems.”
His friend responded with a slightly goofy smile, “Maybe, but in a way, I was still taught right.” He tapped the hilt of his majestic on his back. “I may have not been in the know about these kinds of things, but I’m prepared for them nonetheless. It’s something I should thank my parents for when I see them again.”
The young diviner nodded and thought briefly of his father. “You haven’t seen them since you arrived, have you?”
“No, but I’ve sent them letters.” He shook his head with a self-deprecating smile. “I’ve left out some of the more intense things. My father might be amused by our missions but my mother may be a little more concerned.”
“They sent you to train with the Templar so they have to know something like that would happen,” the apprentice responded. “Although you were certainly sent downriver damn quickly.”
“It’s the best kind of training if you ask me,” Devol retorted with a laugh. The door to the spire opened again and they turned as Asla stepped out. “Hey there, Asla.”
“Good evening.” She shut the door and joined them at the railing. “I like this perch, Jazai.”
The magi nodded. “I liked the peace,” he said with a sly grin. “But the company is appreciated too.”
“We were talking about the upcoming mission,” Devol told her and hopped up to sit on the rail. “And about the trials later down the line.”
She nodded and tapped her claws on the metal. “Yes, I’ve thought about that too.”
The young swordsman folded his arms and looked from one to the other. “Both of you seem worried about those.”
“Well, yeah,” Jazai stated flatly. “It’s a nice gesture, I suppose, but I have to admit that taking part in the Oblivion Trials was not something I contemplated personally until today.”
“It can’t be that bad, can it?” Devol asked. “Almost all the mentors have completed it.”
His companions both sighed. “True, but they also completed it when they were older. I believe Wulfsun and Freki were around twenty years of age when they attempted it. I am unsure how old Vaust or the grand mistress were, but potentially centuries,” Asla explained.
The apprentice shook his head. “Honestly, even the experience that comes with age doesn’t automatically guarantee victory. I’ve heard that many older magi—even those fr
om other realms who vastly outlive humans—have fallen in the trials.”
“Really?” The swordsman seemed unconcerned as he returned his focus to the stars. “I understand if neither of you wants to participate. It is a big risk. But I have to admit I’ll be lonely without you.”
Jazai stared at him, his expression one of confusion, and he moved closer to him and leaned against the railing. “Wait—what? You’ve already decided? I thought you said it was too far away to worry about right now.”
Devol shook his head. “Oh no. I made my mind up before we were dismissed from the meeting. I merely think it’s too far away to be troubled by it at the moment.”
Asla hopped onto the railing and steadied herself on the balls of her feet. “Might I ask what makes you so confident, Devol? Do you truly not understand what awaits you in the trials?”
They waited in silence while he considered the question. “Well, I suppose I don’t, not entirely, but isn’t that the point? It’s supposed to be mysterious, isn’t it?”
Jazai looked like he thought he might be dreaming and should slap himself out of it. “Yes,” he said finally, “but the one thing you do know is that there is a very high mortality rate.”
“The same could be said about the mission we are about to do,” Devol replied. “In this case, we know people have either died or simply disappeared and we aren’t sure what is causing it other than some vague dark magic. That isn’t stopping any of us from taking the mission, is it?”
His companions looked at one another and their surprised expressions acknowledged that he had made a good point. “Fair enough,” Jazai began, his face pulled into a thoughtful frown, “but that’s different. For one thing, Wulfsun will be with us and he—”
“We’ve hoped to not be followed by an elder Templar while on a mission,” Devol countered before he could finish. He seemed a little bored as he began to do a handstand on the railing, “Unless you were more comfortable facing those flayers and that giant creature in Rouxwoods because you thought we had backup.”
Bloodflowers Bloom (The Astral Wanderer Book 2) Page 6