The Isle of Mists: An Epic Mage Fantasy Adventure (Legend of Ecta Mastrino Book 3)

by BJ Hanlon

  He only saw the tops of his companion’s heads descending the stairs to the east. Edin followed, his heart racing as fast as his feet could take him.

  He could sense the shadow of the looming volcano behind him, a giant and beastly thing that could crumble and fall and smash all of them into a soft putty if it wished.

  Edin reached a patio with fuzzy potted plants and a statue of Nelput, clean shaven and staff wielding. The boar, the great beast he had slain was nowhere in sight.

  He turned down a switchback and continued. They were moving fast, but above him, he could hear men still following. Why didn’t Pharont make them cease? Was the fat man lying? Edin remembered his eyes… the shock.

  They reached another level, about twenty yards above the back garden, though he didn’t know exactly where they’d come out from before.

  Below, he could see the billowing capes and tunics of brosons… or were they just guards now. The same secret police that had always been around, only now, expanded. Edin noticed they all had weapons drawn and were looking up like sharks waiting for their chum.

  Arianne stopped, her head swiveled and then ran toward a door. With a strong blast and ear-piercing crack, the door flew open as if flicked by the finger of a god. A moment later there was a long windowless hall lit by unending torches.

  They followed her, Edin had no idea where they were going. Another door flew off its hinges and there was a shriek of surprise. Statues flanked them as they burst into a grand chamber with columns rising every few yards. It was tall and light came in from somewhere above him.

  Wooden platforms rose around the chambers with workmen staring down at them as if they were watching a show in the theater.

  They split a pair of columns and continued straight, deeper into the castle. Did she know where they were going?

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something flying toward him. Edin dropped to his knees, scraping them on the floor as a hammer whizzed over his head.

  A loud crash echoed through the hall and he saw a stilt of one of the platforms blow out as if someone had taken an axe to it.

  Someone cried as it began tilting toward him. He didn’t have time to stop, Arianne was blasting through another door. Edin dove forward and felt a gust as the whole platform crashed down behind him.

  He scrambled back to his feet and ducked through another door and they began heading down a staircase.

  At the bottom Arianne, turned right and went in a door. When Edin entered, she slammed it shut.

  “We’re at ground level,” Placisus said through huffing breaths. “To the garden is through there…” he pointed toward a door at the far end. “Or we go through here and head to the dungeons.”

  “The…” then he remembered, Mersett and Dorset.

  Edin dropped his hands to his knees and tried to steady his breathing. He was completely turned around and had to take the man’s word for it. “You two go to the garden, escape.” Edin said.

  “Escape to where?” Arianne said. “We had one chance… maybe it worked… but by now our men are probably surrounded or dead…”

  “Go to Belo’s if you can, I’m going after our friends.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Arianne said. Placisus nodded.

  “Fine,” Edin jogged toward the dungeons. His feet having difficulty rising off the floor.

  There was no one in the next corridor as well, though it was very long and with many doors on either side.

  He glanced through an open door and saw a serving woman changing. Unclothed with a towel around her head. She had an ample bosom and a rather nice figure. A smile crept over his face as they locked eyes. She shrieked.

  “Sorry,” Edin called and looked forward. He could feel Arianne’s glare on his back.

  They reached the door. Placisus used a key from his jangling chain to open it. He remembered these stairs.

  Edin went first and nearly ran down the stairs. The tingling of the suppression came from below. He stopped.

  “How many jailors are down here?” he whispered.

  “Three, maybe more… let’s try not to kill them.”

  “I feel the wan stones working the further we get, I want to try something,” Edin said.

  “Hey, whose up there?” A guard called from below.

  Edin heard the footsteps from below and summoned all the moisture into water droplets. Then into a large floating orb of bluish green water.

  He felt Placisus beginning to help.

  A guard appeared at the base of the steps. They released the ball and it slammed to the floor, rushing down like a flash flood.

  A wind came up and threw it forward, turning it into a wave.

  From below, there came gargled shocks of surprise and Edin ran down the remaining steps, his feet splashing in the remaining puddles. The first guard was spitting up a mouthful of water, while the second was trying to twist out of a chair.

  Edin pulled the blade. “Prisoners, where are they?”

  “Captain?” The first man said.

  “Sargent.” Placisus said. “Put away your sword. These are my men.”

  “Not all sir…” They heard a wildly painful sounding scream from somewhere deeper into the dungeons. “The broson extractor…”

  “What’s he extracting?” Asked Edin, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

  “Fingernails I believe…” The sergeant shook slightly. “It’s awful.”

  “We should’ve killed Pharont…” Arianne said.

  “Open it,” Edin said. The three wings of the dungeon were barred, Edin’s was familiar with the left but the screaming came from the far right.

  “I’ll stay here,” Placisus said. “I need to watch them.”

  Edin and Arianne ran toward the sound. Their footsteps were drowned out by the wails.

  These were not barred cells. These were dungeons like that of the mountain keep… where he met the draugr.

  There was another scream. They stopped outside of a door and looked in. Through the small window, they could only see the back of a thin man with straight black hair. He was bending over a person in a chair.

  Edin grabbed the handle.

  “Kill him,” Arianne whispered. “Time to become a man.”

  Edin gritted his teeth. He saw Foristol’s dead eyes looking up to him. Then another scream, so loud and bloodcurdling, he felt chills running around his body.

  Edin took the door knob and opened it.

  “What?” The thin man said turning.

  Edin stabbed his blade through the man’s stomach. His dull gray eyes snapped open as he tried to comprehend what was going on.

  In the chair, a man was ragged and bloody. His hands looked like he’d dipped them in red paint. There were burn marks on his body and his clothes were in tatters.

  The eyes looked up at Edin. “Le Fie?” He said.

  “Wohhe…” the man croaked out.

  “I can’t understand.”

  “He wants water, I’ve heard enough of your delirious talk, I can speak it.” She moved to a bowl. Le Fie shook his head.

  “That’s not the water…” Edin said.

  “I can smell.”

  He saw another one, a bucket. Edin picked it up, Arianne tilted Le Fie’s head back and Edin gently poured water down his throat.

  “I thought you were dead,” Edin said.

  “Don’t talk… we need to get him out of here.” The water began to spill down the sides of his mouth. “That’s enough…”

  Edin cut the tight bindings around Le Fie’s ankles and wrists and they tried to help him stand. The man’s head was wobbling, and he couldn’t move on his own.

  Edin pulled an arm over his shoulder, Arianne did the same. Flakes and liquid blood began to cover them.

  “Before I met you Edin… I could wear a tunic more than one day without having to burn it,” Arianne said through gritted teeth.

  At the end of the hall, the sergeant ran up, “my gods…”

  “Help him, it’s L
e Fie…”

  “Le Fie…” Placisus pushed past the two men and took Arianne’s side.

  “Where is Councilman Bolisona and his nephew?”

  The sergeant nodded his head toward the opposite door. “Wanted to keep them as far from… that.”

  “The chair,” Placisus said and one of the guards brought it over. They set him down. “Did you know it was the leader of the Darsol Rose?”

  Arianne stood over Le Fie and began to cast a healing spell.

  The two guards looked at each other. It was clear from their expressions they knew but said nothing.

  “Let’s go,” Edin said drawing his blade and pointing to the two guards.

  “You want us?”

  “Yes.” He let the men go first. At the far end of the hall, in Edin’s dripping cell and exactly opposite from Le Fie was the two men. They were huddled in the corner like lumps of discarded trash. The sergeant opened the door.

  “Come on, get out.” The sergeant said in a manner that almost seemed like he was the one making the decision.

  “Get out of there men…” Said Edin. He didn’t want to go in there and let the guards at his back.

  Then Dorset looked up. Hope ran in his weary, dark and sunken eyes.

  A few moments later, Mersett was helped out by his grandnephew. They both looked exhausted, they moved like children with small, hesitant steps and seemed to not know what was happening.

  Edin put a hand on his roommate’s shoulder as he walked past. “You two. Get in.” Edin said.

  The guards offered confused expressions.

  “And give me the keys.” Edin commanded the guards, the tip of Mirage pointed at their chests.

  “What? Why?”

  “So, you two are not held liable for one,” Edin said. “And two, I don’t trust you not to raise the alarm.”

  “Do you think you can kill both of us?” The guard started.

  “Yes,” Edin said without embellishment.

  The guard reached for his hilt but the sergeant rested his hand on the man’s arm. He dropped the keys to the ground and walked in. The guard held Edin’s stare as if he were trying to intimidate Edin.

  “Come.” The sergeant said from inside. The guard finally made up his mind and followed his superior.

  Edin slammed it shut and locked them in.

  “Tell someone we’re down here,” the sergeant said.

  Edin nodded and then returned to the axis.

  “It sounds like they found us… do you think Pharont has got them under control?” Placisus said.

  A voice called down. It was rough. “Murderers. Come out without your weapons or we will kill you.”

  “Or he had a change of heart.”

  “We won’t make it to the sewers…” Arianne said. She was looking exhausted, sweat beading down her forehead. She blinked it away.

  Mersett coughed. “The sewer... is behind that wall.” He said through deep breaths. “A foot or more.”

  Edin looked at it. The stone was worn and old but strong.

  “How will we get through? I can’t feel any connection to the talent…” Placisus said.

  “I can,” Edin said. It was faint, very faint, but it was there. “It’s stronger up there…” He pointed toward the stairs.

  “I can redirect your lightning,” Mersett coughed. “Like reflecting light from a mirror.”

  “You don’t have the strength…” Dorset said, concern in his voice.

  “I don’t have the strength to summon the power, but I do for this. Come now, we do not have much time.” At that moment, he looked older than ever, weaker too, like the days in the cell had aged him fifty years. He stared at Edin who didn’t move. He remembered seeing Mersett collapse under Pharont’s blast… would the same happen here?

  “Hurry boy,” Mersett said and slapped him on the arm. It wasn’t hard but shocked him.

  “Are you certain?”

  Mersett nodded.

  Edin ran almost halfway up the stairs. Above him, he heard clacking of wooden wheels or barrels rolling on stone cracks on the other side of the door.

  He thought he’d gotten through to Pharont, thought that maybe they could join together. What is that fat arse egotist thinking? Edin wondered.

  “Now!” Mersett yelled with a hoarse voice that Edin could barely make out over the rattle above.

  Edin closed his eyes and concentrated. He didn’t want to hurt the old man, he tried to temper the amount of static in the air he was bringing in. Edin shot out an arm and a short bolt shot toward the old man. It struck his hand but then disappeared off to the left in a flash of brilliance.

  “Are you a toddler? Why so weak boy?”

  Edin tried adding more and let it out. As he did, hinges squeaked about him and a moment later, a crashing of liquid.

  It did the same, Mersett sighed, his face angrier. “You are the son of Rihkar, not his grandmother’s grandmother. Do something worthy of the name Harlscot. I do not want anything weak again. Keep building!” The man’s voice trailed off.

  He felt the water reach his feet and glanced down. It was thick and viscous. He instantly knew what it was. Oil… lamp oil and a lot of it.

  His heart raced and he felt the power building, growing in his body. It grew, he began to hear snaps of static in the air and feel them in his body.

  The odor of the liquid rose to meet him. He instantly knew what it was.

  Oil. Lamp oil. And a lot of it.

  “What?” Mersett called.

  “Scat…” Edin said. Lightning will turn this to a fire storm.

  He raised an arm and let the bolt out.

  A thick, blue bolt flashed down, almost too quick to make out. It struck Mersett’s hand and deflected off. A huge explosion came from below shaking the walls and the stairs. Edin fell, his hands slapping the wall. Edin shook his head and blinked a few times. Noticing a glowing light against the wall he turned to see what it was from.

  On top of the stairs Casitas stood with a torch in his hand. Someone moved in front of him and kicked over another barrel.

  More oil flooded down the stairs. Edin watched as Casitas dropped the torch. It struck and instantly the stairwell was awash with light and fire.

  Edin ran down the stairwell, slowly feeling the talent leech from him like a bottle on its side. He half ran and half slid down.

  He felt the heat rising on his back. Then something burning, flesh. He couldn’t turn around.

  Edin shouted “run!”

  A spark leapt past him and then flamed. He tried to skirt it, but the fire latched onto his soaked boots.

  He was only a few yards from the dungeons. No one was below.

  Edin screamed, his foot, then his leg was on fire. He ripped off his tunic and slipped. A moment later he was on the ground in a flaming puddle. His nightmare turned real.

  Edin could see their faces in the flames, all the Por Fen, the nobles, the villagers of Yaultan. Everyone who wanted to kill him, to burn him alive. They were getting their wish. He could do nothing about it, he wanted to cry, the heat, the searing pain was unbelievable.

  Suddenly, hands reached in and yanked him up.

  A shove from behind and Edin fell forward. He tumbled fully into a cool pool of water. The flames were extinguished and he felt the coolness flow around his body.

  Something brushed his leg, he yelped and took in a mouthful of water… not water, sewage. Edin spit or retched as he turned and saw the glowing orange surface above his head. Below, he saw the unknown, the deep and unseen depths. Dark water that caused him to freak out.

  Popping his head out, he glanced around. The group were all standing on a stone ledge over the waterway. Next to them was a crumbled opening billowing black smoke, perforated by dancing flames.

  Arianne was on her stomach, she reached over and waived for Edin’s hand. He gripped it and she pulled, helping him onto the ledge.

  Edin rolled up and out of the sewage, he laid on his back and let himself breathe for a moment
. As he glanced over, he was sure he could see dead birds and rats floating in the water. He nearly puked again.

  Arianne was hovering above him, her eyes shining down. He heard the crackle of the flames barely above a soft whimper.

  “You stink and your trousers are destroyed, again.”

  He sat up and noticed that, one leg was completely missing, the other half burnt. His skin felt tender but it didn’t feel as though he’d been barbequed.

  A moment later, he saw Dorset, crying and staring into the inferno.

  “Mersett?”

  Arianne shook her head.

  “We can’t stay…” It was Placisus but he sounded far away.

  Edin carefully stood and grabbed Dorset’s arm. He tried lifting his frozen friend, a friend whose legs decided to start working too late and one splashed into the sewage river.

  Edin gripped his arm and helped him back up. It did little to wake Dorset up.

  Ahead, in the dark cavern, he could barely make out the figures of Placisus, holding a torch with one arm and helping Le Fie with the other, far ahead of them. Arianne was next with Edin followed by Dorset.

  They followed, without turning down any of the other passageways.

  Black smoke continued to hang an arm’s length above his head. The river of waste flowed with them. Slowly, Edin began to hear the sound of water. It was soft at first but grew louder.

  Ahead of the two men, a light nimbus cloud hung in the air. Le Fie and Placisus stood before it as if it were a wall.

  As they approached, it was clear that on the other side of the mist, there was some sort of waterfall.

  “What is it?” Edin asked.

  Placisus hesitantly put out a hand and ran it through the mist. When he pulled it back, nothing happened. He flipped his hand over, the same with the backside. Placisus tried again. He put his arm through.

  “There’s nothing here, it’s just air… but.” He pulled his arm out, the sleeve was the same, nothing happened.

  “A cleansing mist.” The voice came from behind. Dorset’s first words since they left the cell block. His voice cracked. “A spell to purify the sewage…”