“And when he came back he told me all he just told you.” Megdline spoke for herself and couldn’t lie. “I then dedicated the next three days to finding those desired books in the library, searching the bindings one by one. Still I did not find even a reference to your situation and it was frustrating not knowing yet we had to.
“Then I finally got the call to be seen by the First Council. Frill and I entered the chambers and began retelling and using magic to show them all I saw and heard of my story on how the bandits surrounded me and how you singlehandedly killed them with physical and magical skill. This intrigued and amused the members as it had me and none of them had never seen you before either. Oddly though, my husband told me to retain the image of my memory and something in his tone was secretly frightened. He had me hold position on the image of infinity on your back.”
“Why? It should be no more odd than a giant gold tattoo of Frill on yours.” Cage commented.
“I will get to that, but when my husband saw the image he and the other first class sorcerers and sorceresses grew deadly serious. I asked what is wrong, but he shook his head and spoke to me as a member of the council, not my loving husband as he told me to explain every detail of my time with you. He, his Familiar and others in the room gave knowing, grave glances as I showed them the first time I showed them your back… when your mark grew then shrank. Even the sweetness of your mana I tasted further added to my report. I held the floor the entire time and explained everything and I had never seen those mages so void of emotion or watched as the color drained as you said you came from Earth. I expected a laugh like I first did when I heard you say it. I showed them your solar system as you had for me. Truth can only be spoken in the chamber so they knew my encounter to be genuine. I told them how you wanted to heal and have a Familiar of your own. I then added sound to my spell because I could not forget your chant or the effect it had. I cannot even begin to describe the abject horror on my husband’s face as he and everyone saw that gigantic blue eye of the creature you tried summoning, the growth of your mark or how even the weather changed after your chant. They had relief as the Familiar didn’t come through, but that wasn’t enough to make them feel at ease. I first told them you wanted a teacher and when that was over I delivered your warning, but it was as if I had slapped that room in the face. They took it more seriously than I ever believed. My husband dismissed me and told me to wait outside.” Megdline smiled and shook her head. “I tell you, I’ve never in my life heard those on the Magical Council yell and make the ground tremble. That room sounded like a war raged in there. The whole of Twilight grew still after we stepped out. Cage, our meeting threw centuries of calm minded and our most powerful mages into a two year olds temper tantrum. And those loud deliberations lasted for over an hour.
“Eventually the hostile debate ran its course and went silent for the rest of the day. The remaining problems were put off for an undetermined time, but I waited until nightfall when the council finally called it an end to a day and left to go home and they and their Familiars looked upon me oddly before my husband had us go home. For the first time since we married he broke protocol to explain what happened.” Frill hissed a laugh. “Quiet you, he did not nearly soil himself.” Cage smirked, liking the build-up she created. “Apparently, Cage, you are neither a wizard or a sorcerer, but something profoundly more powerful and deadly. My husband said this, word for word. ‘Megdline, you just met a warlock!’ Cage, my friend, you are a warlock.”
Chapter 8
“A warlock?” Cage wondered aloud. “Why would a warlock be any different than a sorcerer? Isn’t it just another name for a mage. On Earth it was just a cool name in many fantasy novels.”
Megdline swallowed dryly. “Cage, do not take this lightly. If it will help you to understand, right now my husband and the entire Magical Council are viewing us this very moment in Twilight. Trust me, if you are proven to be evil and untrustworthy, the council will send every mage that has ever gone to Twilight as one cohesive force to kill you before your strength reaches its peak.”
Cage looked up to grin. “Hi Grandpa! If you’re really watching than you’re smarter than the government from my world. So long as you don’t come at me in any hostile way I promise to be peaceful. And if you have been watching lately then you’ve heard and have seen my word doesn’t break unless I’m betrayed. And thanks for sending Granny, it was smart. If you had sent someone else to secretly gain intel I would be more than likely to use them and not give you a damn thing to really learn about me.”
Then there came a violet orb that popped in the ceiling and a deep, calm voice of a strong sounding man came through. “That is the truth we have observed. I entrust my wife to teach you and I will have you constantly updated for everyone’s protection. If I get word you so much as harm one hair on her or prove to be a threat then we’ll unanimously agree to commit all of our resources and assets to hunt you down. I hear you make unbreakable bargains?”
“I’m listening?” Cage smirked lazily to the purple floating orb. Brooke felt lost in the conversation and Megdline and Frill silently looked up.
“If the Great Prophet truly left his last words for you then I will place a wager on you being our hope. He was my dear friend and had only the best interest for prosperity in mind. My wife will teach you the proper ways of using magic and so long as you prove to be a patient and trustworthy pupil then I one day welcome you to Twilight to have full access to whatever we may offer. For now, I cannot endanger our people with your presence. Will this be a respectable arrangement?”
“It is. Now leave us alone, I want to hear what she also has to say.”
“Very well. Love, continue to disclose everything you learned to him.”
“I was planning to.” Megdline smiled lovingly as the orb vanished instantly. She smiled. “Calling him Grandpa… Cage, do you have any fear?”
“Course I do. Being called a warlock and being threatened by a government isn’t a big issue for me. If you cannot control your fear it will get you killed. And even if I haven’t been here on Raliea all that long I’ve learned that the Magical Council is greatly relied upon. That wouldn’t be the case if they were known for being liars and broke their word. Tate, Cillian and Skylar seemed to impart on me the need for the Magical Council and the good they do, even if mages scare the hell out of people who cannot control their mana.”
“It is true.” Megdline confirmed. “I didn’t expect my husband to actually speak to you so soon, but it isn’t surprising. Right now he is likely sitting together with the other ten first council members and the twenty two others all watching closely on our meeting. And as a stickler for protocol, he is bound by his word. Besides, he needs to put the lives of our home before me and I know this is hard for him. It is hard for me, but I accepted a responsibility I wanted to have anyway.”
“How many are watching us?” Brooke asked, glancing at the cave walls, looking for someone staring at them.
“Since this is such a serious event, likely a hundred or two. Can’t really say. But after I voice a specific keyword only the ruling members of the First Council will be able to view us. It will be a powerful spell so we at least have some privacy, but hearing us and our conversations will be stopped as well after I say the word. And any private moments will also be automatically blocked. And as you are also here, Brooke, you fall under the spell’s protection.”
“It seems I have no choice. So long as they don’t keep us from rescuing our woman and people I have no issues.” Brooke decided. “Continue, I want to understand why my mate has frightened so many he has never been in contact with and why they would kill him if he doesn’t meet their approval.”
“I won’t go down without a fight.” Cage casually decided. Inside though he was trying to understand everything and all it did is cause great frustration.
“Spoken as a warlock, but first I have to ask you a question and have to test you. I already believe you are a warlock, but the council needs to be
absolutely sure.” Megdline said and Frill crawled out of her lap and walked over to Brooke. He saw her grip on the tomahawk tighten at her thigh. Frill sat down and waited.
“Do what you have to, but get back to the story.” Cage yawned.
“I shall. For the question. Cage, do you ever remember your dreams?”
Brooke laughed lightly. “That’s your question? Of course everyone remembers their dreams.”
“I’ve never had one I remembered in my entire life. I’ve had daydreams and random thoughts, but never a dream in which I was asleep.” He admitted and Brooke looked at him openly.
Megdline nodded as if she expected this and Cage found it oddly relieving someone didn’t find it abnormal. “Lastly, Brooke, I must ask, do you have any meat? I ask because I had a long talk with Meeka and she told me if I gave him any meat he would politely refuse. So do you have some?”
“Yes, but he calls himself a vegetarian. He will not eat meat.”
“He will humor me only this once.” Cage didn’t react, but his stomach started to ache at even thinking of consuming an animal’s flesh. “Brooke, please take out some and take a bite, give a piece to Frill and me. Cage, you will partake last.”
Cage aimed a hand at Frill and would blast him with magic as Brooke had to use both hands to retrieve her pack and take out a strip of smoked meat. She found it and took a bite. She shrugged as it tasted good and gave a broken piece to Frill, setting it in front of his paws. He ate the morsel quickly and licked his whiskers and then he walked back to rest in Megdline’s lap. Brooke tore what remained in half and went to toss one over the fire, but Megdline raised a hand and the piece floated to it and she popped in the meat and chewed. “My, that tasted delicious on an empty stomach. I didn’t even realize I haven’t eaten since breakfast.” Megdline approved. “Now that you have seen us eat, you do not have qualms of trying it?”
Cage reluctantly accepted the thumb sized bite. What is the harm? They all ate and she said I’ll only have to do it once. He figured. He watched Brooke’s worry and Megdline’s coaxing. Getting over with it he smelled it piece, trying to detect the poisons that had an odor to find none. “Damn.” He grumbled, closed his eyes tightly and popped the piece in his mouth, breaking his vegetarian streak for the first time in sixteen years. He tried to remember how good it used to taste, like jerky or a hamburger right off a grill.
Instead, what he tasted was the revolting flavor of something putrid and rotting. His stomach instantly reacted by violently constricting and filling his mouth with vomit. Cage’s eye flew open as he held his mouth closed while his cheeks expanded. He jumped up, vaulted over the fire and Megdline to speed to the outside where he could no longer contain the contents as he retched loudly out into the snow. His body reacted and could not be controlled. Cage emptied his whole stomach as he heard Brooke’s voice demand when she recovered “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!” He panted hard and felt as if he’d been punched by a sledgehammer to the stomach. Megdline softly said something he couldn’t hear as he moved away from his retched pile steaming off the snow and found a clean patch of the frozen ice, melted it in his cupped hands and washed the acid and all remaining putrid taste out. He then spat and repeated the process.
Cage returned to see Megdline sitting as he had left her and Brooke stood fuming with her clutched tomahawks prepared to fight to the death and looking very hostile. Brooke was the first to see him and her anger melted slightly and said “Love, are you well?”
In a cold tone, Cage said “Spill, Granny, what the hell just happened? I’ve never tasted meat so vile, even if it has been a few years.”
“I will explain in full, but you’ve shown the council that you cannot be disputed as a warlock. Would you like something to take the taste from your mouth? I have supplies tailored to your specific diet.”
“Granny, that wouldn’t be a good idea for you right now. After that…” He pointed outside. “My patience is on a hair trigger.”
“Fair enough.” She conceded and gestured towards Brooke. “Sit down and replenish what you lost with whatever you already have.”
He glared angrily and clenched his fists, but he knew she didn’t do anything and there was the subtle meaning she would only ever ask that of him once. Megdline sat patiently and waited for him to calm down. It didn’t take long as she hadn’t lied since he still felt his magic spelling her. Cage closed his eyes and slowed his breathing to regain control and lose the grin that began to form. He opened them and walked around to dig in his pack and eat the remaining few berries he found before entering the forest. Brooke put her weapons aside and pressed the back of her hand on his forehead and cheek to find them warmer than usual after the fit. She also offered him her water skin, which he gladly took to remove all bad tastes and settle his stomach.
Megdline waited till the pair calmed to say “Forgive me, but I didn’t want to do that. They needed indisputable proof and none can deny you are a warlock after that serious reaction to meat. They have it and will not ask you to ever do it again.
“Back to when my husband took me home and told me that you are a warlock, I had hundreds of questions, but he had me hold them to say that you should not be on this world at all.”
“Then it means I’m not the first man from Earth to come to this world, especially since they can classify me as a warlock.”
Megdline shook her head gravely. “This is where your assumption is wrong, Cage. It is not that you came to Raliea from Earth. Your people came from here!” She touched the hard ground she sat on to emphasize. Cage’s eyes bulged without intention. “Cage, it would be best for you to relax and hear all I have to say without interruption and if you have a question after I’m done you may be free to speak.” He agreed with a firm nod. “My husband sat me down with Frill to say that after I relayed my encounter, he and the others fought without anyone getting hurt, but for that first tense hour there were two sides, one to kill you outright before the information a warlock again walks among us and the other saw it as a rectification of a past mistake. They wondered how Ceembura could have made those armguards to summon you, and called his spirit to the room, but he told them it was a once only spell that breached the Great Divide, something he didn’t intend… I’ll get back to that soon. Ceembura didn’t go into details, but he did have the council want me to say to you ‘Keep entertaining all of us.’ Apparently the spirits are watching you.
“I was also told a decision had been unanimously reached to observe you before either side took any action. Without a full agreement from the eleven members and their partners, neither could act. And starting a war over you would do no good. Also they saw it as a blessing in disguise that you were willing to accept a teacher, but the hardest decision was who could do it? They needed someone with power to properly guide while also none important enough to lose if you decided to go wild and kill everyone. In the end I was chosen because of my qualifications and we already had contact. You respect me as your elder teacher and a friend and they want to use that to eventually reach a decision. In all actuality, I’m glad they chose me, even if my husband is worried. Frill also enjoyed our time. It was why all the members looked at me, putting their hope in me so that you do not start something dangerous. And as your selected teacher I was allowed where I never dreamed. My husband brought both Frill and I to the First Class Magical Archives. I was the first person in three thousand years under the first sorcerer’s class to be allowed access to the most treasured and legendary room. It wasn’t even a quarter as large as the main library, but that place holds information that cannot be allowed to leave the vault because most knowledge that is stored there is capable of destroying many ways of life and even all life on this and other worlds. I had never thought to have such honor, but I wasn’t taken there for fun or enjoyment. I was taken to learn all there is to warlocks and why you are here as the only one.” Megdline grew completely serious and still felt the active truth spell. “Cage, have you ever wondered why you came to another world tha
t is nearly identical to what you left behind, besides the technology? How you can even breathe the air on another planet or have evolved exactly like us, physically? Even convergent evolution would dictate differences between separately evolved sentient home worlds. Even reproducing in the same way as another human is theoretically impossible.”
“It crossed my mind a few times, but since I couldn’t find an answer I let the subject drop.” He answered since she asked, even if he was told to hold questions till later.
“That is because humans of Earth evolved originally from Raliea.” Cage raised an eyebrow and let her continue. “The Great Divide I spoke of earlier happened ten thousand years ago when there were many warlocks. It was not a good time from the stories I studied. For a mature warlock, whether man or woman, had the strength of dragons.” Cage smirked and Megdline couldn’t resist knowing what it meant. “Why do you smile?”
“Back when I protected my tribe from the wyvern, I felt that I wasn’t strong enough, but I had a feeling one day I can take one on and have a proper fight. The idea of fighting a wyvern still gets me excited for such a day.”
“Not too surprising because in my struggle to study more about warlocks I found they love to fight and never back down from a challenge. They were natural warriors, not commoners. If you felt that one day you could fight a grown wyvern and survive then it might become true.
Familiar's Ancient Throne (Book 2 of the Death Incarnate Saga) Page 23