The Dark Mage

by Jace Mitchell

  Riley shook her head. “I’m not sure.” Keeping a straight face, she asked, “Harold, are you making a joke of some sort?”

  “I assure you, ma’am, I am not.” He looked past Riley to Pat. “Hello, Pat. Welcome home.”

  “Get fucked,” Pat called. “This isn’t my home.”

  Harold turned to Riley with a look that said, What can you do? “Are we ready to enter? My master is excited that you’ve come.”

  “Do you guarantee safe passage?” William asked.

  “Guarantees? What guarantees are there in life? Come in, and let’s look around. The master will decide what guarantees there may and may not be.”

  “Fuck it.” William looked to Riley. “Ready?”

  She nodded, still staring at the warrior who sounded like a professor.

  “Where do we put our horses?” William asked.

  “We have stables inside. Beneath. It’s too hot to leave them out here, yes?”

  Riley said nothing, only watched as Harold turned and started walking away. Riley spurred her horse but heard Pat say something behind her. She reined Wind Whisper in and looked over her shoulder.

  “He sounds nice, you two,” Pat spat. “He always sounds that way. I’ve seen him decapitate children. Don’t trust him. He’s a straight-out psychopath, loyal only to the master he talks about.”

  Riley looked at Lucie. The woman stared forward as if she were hearing nothing.

  The four followed Harold into the building.

  The horses were stabled, and Riley found herself staring in awe at the space. The room was huge, complete with hay and all the trappings of an actual stable. She’d never seen anything like it, and it was underground. The building stood four stories high, but so far they’d gone two stories beneath the ground. And there were even more underground floors.

  Riley had seen nothing like what Pat described yet. No people in cages. No gruel being fed to them. No one with green necklaces on, having their magic stolen from their bodies. Their group hadn’t even been disarmed. Riley’s sword still hung from her side.

  To Riley, for a place in the middle of nowhere, everything appeared relatively normal. She saw people coming and going through the hallways, all of them dressed like Harold in white robes. Some looked like they’d seen battle, and others looked like they lived in classrooms and probably didn’t have a single callus on their hands.

  “Here we are,” Harold declared as the four walked into a large room.

  A vast amount of food sat in front of them, enough to feed a party ten times their size. Riley had only seen feasts like this when the Prefect met with important dignitaries.

  Her mouth opened and started to water. The smells were intoxicating. Roasted meat, grilled vegetables, fried bread, wine, milk. They even had iced water. As she scanned the table, the list went on and on, her body suddenly realizing how little nutrition it had had over the past few days.

  “The master would like you to eat and regain your strength. The trip from New Perth to here is not a short one, and he realizes you must be hungry.”

  “Where is he?” William asked.

  “He is here. He will come soon. It’s him you want to meet, right? Pat told us he would be bringing people back, and we’re happy he did. The master no longer wishes to hide in the northern regions, unknown. So eat, and he will join you shortly.”

  The big man bowed, oddly graceful for such a large person, then made his exit, leaving the four alone.

  “Ah, hell,” William said. “I’m gonna eat. I can fight on a full stomach.”

  He didn’t waste any time but simply went to one end of the table and grabbed a plate. He started piling things high on it, and although Riley wanted to join him, the urge to understand what was happening right now was stronger. She didn’t fault William for eating; she knew he was correct. If something happened that he didn’t like, a lot of people in here were going to die.

  Riley turned around and stared at Pat. The man was almost sheet-white.

  “He knows who you are, I’ll give you that. You also brought us here, which in itself says you weren’t lying about being here. I’m not seeing the rest, though. The kidnapped people. The cages. This magic technology.”

  Pat only nodded. “You will. I told you both I made a mistake by bringing you. I told you both that we needed more people, and people with magic. It’s too late now, though. You wouldn’t listen.”

  Riley ignored him. His fear wasn’t important now. She looked at Lucie. “Is this the guy? The one from fifty years ago?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Lucie answered. She still had her hood up, which was odd, but her eyes were distant. She didn’t look at Riley as she spoke, only stared over the banquet to the far wall. “I think we’re going to find out soon.”

  “And what if it is?” Riley asked. “If it is him, what would you recommend we do?”

  “I think we’ll have to hear what he says,” the old woman responded. “And then make our decision.”

  “Damn it.” Riley turned back around. She walked across the room, grabbed a plate, and started angrily piling food onto it.

  “You two are nearly worthless,” William called. “Both of you claim to have met this man, and yet neither of you have any real advice. Crazy man here says we should run. Lucie says we need to wait. You see, skinny, you need to just listen to me. Eat your food, and then we’ll see what’s what. Stop asking them two questions.”

  Riley agreed with the big man but said nothing as she filled her plate. She sat down next to the other Right Hand and began eating. Pat and Lucie didn’t move from their spots.

  Riley was finishing her plate when she heard footsteps. She looked up quickly, her neck turning to the left where they were coming from. Seconds passed as the sound of someone walking grew louder.

  And then the man was in the large doorway.

  Riley stood with her hand on her sword. William only looked up from his plate, biting into a large turkey leg he held in both hands.

  “Welcome.” The stranger’s voice was calm. He was tall like William but lanky like Riley. His face was hard, but not severely aged. He didn’t look nearly as old as Lucie. Maybe in his fifties, but someone obviously still capable of physical feats.

  His eyes.

  Pat hadn’t lied.

  His eyes were that pale blue. A frozen lake.

  “How is the food?”

  “It’s great.” William ripped off another big bite. “Now, tell me why you sent out a group to kill the Prefect’s Right Hands.”

  “Oh, that? We needed to make sure you were who your robes proclaimed you to be. If you were only impersonating a Right Hand... Well, we can’t have bandits running around in here, can we?”

  The man stepped farther into the room, his eyes moving from Riley and William to the others.

  “Pat, how are you doing? I’m glad you’ve returned.” His eyes fell on Lucie, but he said nothing.

  The room froze as the two stared at each other. There was no doubt in Riley’s mind that they knew each other.

  “You hid from me.” The tall man’s voice was cold. “You were with them the whole time.”

  Lucie nodded.

  “Why did you hide? Why did you block me?”

  “That seems obvious, Rendal. I didn’t want you to know I was coming.”

  The tall man stared for a moment longer and then looked back at Riley. “Sorry. Just some history that I was surprised to see entering the present. I was wondering if your Prefect would send someone when Pat here ran off.”

  Riley glanced at Pat, who was silent. He had moved closer to Lucie as if she could somehow protect him.

  “Yeah,” William grumbled, “and now we’re here to look around. Pat here says you’re plannin’ an invasion of New Perth, and while I’m not buyin’ everything he’s saying, I don’t appreciate being attacked when I walk up to a place. We’re goin’ to look around and decide for ourselves if there’s a risk here.”

  “New Perth holds no sway in this pl
ace, Right Hand,” the man responded. “I’m sure you know that. This is my property, not the Prefect’s.”

  “Aye, I guess that sounds ‘bout right.” William took another bite. “But you should have thought about that before attackin’ a Right Hand. It’s akin to attackin’ New Perth itself, so in a way, we’re at war right now, you see? And unless you want this war to grow, you had best show me ‘round.”

  William dropped the piece of meat he was eating and stood up from his chair.

  “Do you understand what I’m gettin’ at here?”

  “I do,” Rendal answered. “What would you like to see?”

  Riley was still standing with her hand on her sword, not liking this at all. The man didn’t seem nervous. It was as if he’d always planned on showing these Right Hands the inner workings of his operation.

  “Crazy man,” William called, “you’re going to direct us. Show us where these cages are.”

  Pat swallowed, obviously not wanting to move.

  Rendal smiled. “It’s okay, Pat. You brought them here. Show them around. It will all be okay.”

  Riley walked across the room, turning her back on Rendal for the first time. She was trusting William to handle any possible attacks while she looked at Pat.

  “This is why we came, right? Because we want to see if what you’re saying is true. Now’s your chance to show us it is.”

  “It’s a trap,” Pat whispered.

  “That’s fine,” Riley answered. “We’ve been put in traps our whole way up here. We’re good at getting out of them. If this is a trap, we’ll get out of it too.”

  Pat nodded, although obviously still shaken.

  “You,” William called to Rendal. “I want you walking in front of everyone, including Pat. He’ll lead us, and you just follow his directions. He says left, you go left, understand?”

  “Of course.” Rendal nodded. “That won’t be a problem.”

  “I-I don’t know where it is.” Pat sounded lost.

  They’d been walking for an hour, Pat calling out left and right and left and right. Riley didn’t understand how it was possible that they were still winding through hallways. They seemed endless, and she had no idea where they were headed.

  Endless hallways beneath the ground at an already remote compound.

  “Well, crazy man, we’ve been walkin’ an awfully long time for you not to know where it is,” William scolded. “And I’m tired of walkin’. I’m just plain tired, to be honest with ya, and you’re the one who brought us up here.”

  Rendal turned around. “I wanted to let him show you around down here so that you can see he’s... Well, he’s lying to you. Now that you’ve seen it, perhaps we can venture up to ground level and discuss what’s actually happening. Does that work?” He didn’t look at Lucie as he spoke, only Riley and William.

  “That sounds good to me,” William answered.

  “Come,” Rendal told the group. “There’s a quicker way upstairs than the winding one we just walked.”

  He wasn’t lying. The walk back to the banquet hall took fifteen minutes, as opposed to the hour they’d just spent. Pat was relegated to the back of the line, behind even Lucie, while Riley questioned Rendal. Everything she’d seen up until this point, including Lucie’s talk at the fire, had led her to believe what Pat was saying, yet they’d just been given a tour by Pat, and they’d seen nothing. Just hallways. They’d opened a few doors, the ones Pat directed them to, and each had been food storage.

  “I’d like for just the three of us to talk if that’s okay? You are official representatives of your government, and I am the ruler of this place, so it seems right.”

  “That works for us,” William declared.

  “If you’ll come with me, Lucie and Pat can remain here. I’ve had my servants prepare two tubs in the back of the room. They will find the water warm if they want to clean themselves.”

  “Don’t leave.” Pat’s voice was only slightly above a whisper. “Don’t leave me here.”

  Riley turned to Lucie. The old woman was acting stranger and stranger. Riley felt like she didn’t know her at all. Lucie clearly knew Rendal, and he her, but nothing else made much sense. The man seemed almost regal, and protective toward the small part of the world he’d carved out. Yet, Lucie came here thinking it might be the man from her past, and he was—except Riley saw no magic. She saw no threat. Perhaps a warlord, and a powerful one, but nothing that could threaten New Perth. Certainly nothing that would have brought Lucie out of her restaurant.

  Yet here she was.

  “Are you okay?” Riley asked.

  Lucie nodded.

  “Can we leave you here?”

  “We’ll be fine, girl. Go see what Rendal has to say.”

  Riley nodded and turned back around. “They’ll be safe? They might not be Right Hands, but they are New Perth citizens now, and if any harm befalls them, you’ll answer to the Prefect.”

  “They’re safe.” Rendal smiled again. “As safe as you and your colleague here. Now, let’s go upstairs to my quarters, and we can speak.”

  Rendal led them back to ground level and then to the fourth floor. The room they entered was glorious, even by the Prefect’s standards. Overstuffed couches and chairs were everywhere. Tall floor-to-ceiling windows lined the walls, those on one side of the room looking out at the ocean, the other the forest.

  “Come, sit.” Rendal took his seat in a high backed chair.

  William removed his sword and sat down on the couch. He laid the sword across his lap.

  Riley remained standing next to the couch.

  “Okay.” William took the lead. “You tell me what’s going on here. I’ve seen warlords, and this place ain’t nothing like them. They live in huts out in the Badlands and squabble over sand. What you have here is a massive operation, tons of food, and actual warriors. A lot of ‘em. The man downstairs might be crazy, because I don’t see any cages or magic, but that doesn’t mean this place is exactly friendly to New Perth.”

  “Pat worked here. The last few months, he started saying some of the things you’re telling me now. Cages. Me stealing people’s magical energy. It truly was crazy, and then one day he woke up and said he was leaving and bringing people back here. And, a few weeks later, here you are.”

  “Believable.” William shrugged slightly. “Now what are you doin’ up here? He worked for you? What’d he do for work, then?”

  “I’m a merchant,” Rendal answered. “All the food storage you see down there, it’s arbitrage. I buy it at one price, and hold it until I can sell it at a higher price. Those tunnels and those storage rooms, they’re what allow me to stay in business. It’s cooler beneath the earth, naturally so, which helps keep my costs down.”

  “Who are you selling to?” William asked.

  “Whoever. Warlords mainly. We run a good long-range shipping business, as you can see from the docks out there. We have two ships there now, both of them from many miles away. Sometimes we sell to Sidnie if we have a serious arbitrage opportunity and can make it across the Badlands.”

  “Why don’t you sell to New Perth?”

  A sad smile spread across the man’s face. “As I’m sure Lucie told you that I have a history with New Perth. I was once an important man there, even if no one knows my name now. I wasn’t treated kindly on the way out, and if I’ve been forgotten, all the better. I’d rather not be remembered there, so I don’t trade there.”

  As if Rendal weren’t sitting in front of him, William looked at Riley. “I may actually put crazy man in the stocks. Four days of walkin’ to hear this? What do ya think?”

  Riley looked at the tall man sitting in his black robe with one leg crossed over the other.

  “What happened there?” Riley asked. “On your wrist.”

  She saw tiny dots around his left wrist, which appeared to be scabs.

  “Ah, that.” Rendal glanced down without any display of nervousness. “I wear a bracelet sometimes, and while it looks beautiful, it�
��s not very comfortable. Sometimes it grabs a little tighter than I’d like.”

  William was still looking at Riley, waiting for an answer.

  “I’m okay with where things are,” she finally responded.

  “Good. Now we can get home.”

  “There’s no need to run off today,” Rendal replied. “I’ve prepared beds for you, and baths as well. You can each get a good night’s sleep and begin your travel home tomorrow, but with more provisions. How does that sound?”

  William studied the man, and Riley knew he was deciding whether to trust him. William didn’t like this place, that was clear. He didn’t like any place outside of New Perth and the Prefect’s rule. This man could still be a danger to William and Riley. William simply didn’t think him a danger to New Perth, which was why he was leaving. However, staying tonight might put the group at risk.

  “How could I attack the Right Hand?” Rendal asked. “New Perth would fall on me like an avalanche. I would never survive.”

  William nodded. “You’re smarter than you look if you know that to be true.” He turned to Riley. “I’m okay with a night and provisions. Are you?”

  Riley wasn’t, but she nodded all the same. “Sure. A night sounds good.”

  Chapter Eight

  Lucie walked through the hallways long after everyone else in her party had gone to sleep. The other three were exhausted, including the man who had escaped this place. Even with his outright terror at being here, Lucie knew sleep had come for him because she’d used magic to probe his mind.

  When the three were asleep, she’d risen from her bed.

  Rendal wasn’t hiding from her, although he’d blocked off much of this compound. Lucie had been using magic all day to try to find out what was in here, but large areas were sealed off. Rendal had obviously used his magic to make sure that people couldn’t see inside his operation.

  Yet he wanted her to come to him now. That was why he wasn’t hiding. She could see where he was, as well as how to get there.

  The door was open, and Rendal sat with his back to her. He was close to the windows on the left, staring out at the night as the ocean beat against the shore. She stepped in.