Hunted Sorcery (Jon Oklar Book 2)

by B. T. Narro

  I reminded myself that we were also given many perquisites. We lived in lavish rooms in the castle. We ate the finest food in the kingdom. We were given lessons of sorcery, lessons that would normally cost a small fortune for a commoner like me. Perhaps we weren’t that cheap after all.

  “What do you spend your coin on?” Calvin asked me.

  “Besides clothing, I haven’t figured out what else I should buy. What do you use your coin for?”

  “What don’t I use it for? Everything costs coin. Armor and weapon repair, food and lodging…a bit of fun here and there.” He lifted an eyebrow. “I do save as much as I can.” He lowered his voice. “Some of the others blow everything on card games and prostitutes. Not me. I want to be done with this in a few years. I’m going to buy a boat and fish.”

  “Fishing? I had no idea.”

  “What’s not to love about the sea? The smell of the air on open water, the tilt of the boat above the waves, and of course the feeling of pulling in a great haul.”

  It was almost as if I was losing Calvin as his eyes took on a distant look.

  “My father was a fisherman,” he said. “But he fought during the rebellion and was killed.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Calvin nodded.

  I noticed something going on around us that made me a little nervous. There were people walking in and out of the great hall. Some were clearly amused with the extravagance soon after entering, but others seemed to go through the open doors with purpose. The king had left them open, no doubt because there was nothing valuable in the great hall that they could pocket, but I still didn’t feel very comfortable about it.

  Then I noticed one of the fire mages trying to get into the keep. I rushed over.

  “What are you looking for?” I asked.

  “A place to relieve myself, unless you want me to piss in the corner of this courtyard?”

  I directed him toward the great hall and explained how to get to the privy. There were others on their way there, so it should be easy for him to find.

  I went to check the door to the apartments just in case. It was locked. Many of the castle workers, who lived on the first floor of the apartments, were probably in their quarters right now waiting for this threat to pass. All had curtains drawn.

  When I met back with Calvin, he asked me, “Was that your first time speaking with Pearson Robinson?”

  “Yes, I haven’t formally met him or the other fire mage.”

  “Josef Webb is the other. He’s not much better.”

  How did I know that name?

  My heart dropped when I realized who he was. He was the one Remi had…traded with. I gaped at the much older man. He stood alone with his arms crossed, looking as if he had somewhere better to be.

  “So you have heard of Josef,” Calvin said.

  “A little. Nothing good.”

  “There isn’t much good to say about him or Pearson. They both want to drive the other out of the city. It’s been that way for years.”

  Another point of Eden’s that seems to be true.

  “They both only know fire?” I asked.

  “Seems that way. The Stormeagles haven’t had to deal with them much, so I can’t say for certain.”

  Eden approached us. “Some of these men are disgusting,” she told me, ignoring Calvin. “One old enough to be my father just propositioned me.”

  “Which?” Calvin asked.

  “The one with a graying beard.” She gestured with a swing of her head. The man was one of three flirting with Willelma now. Fortunately, Barrett was in the midst of breaking them up, sending them to their assigned posts.

  “He’s one of ours,” Calvin said. “I’ll share a few strong words with him later.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Calvin,” he said as he offered his hand. “I’m with the Stormeagles.”

  “Eden. I’m with the king.”

  “I figured. Are you the enchanter I’ve heard about?”

  “That depends on what you’ve heard,” she said with a flick of her hair. “For example, do you recognize me because of my lauded beauty?”

  “Oh I, um.”

  “She’s teasing,” I said.

  Eden grinned.

  “I see,” he said with a nervous chuckle.

  Barrett came over to us. Addressing Calvin first, he asked, “Who are you with?”

  “The Stormeagles, sir.”

  “You watch the eastern wall with the rest of them. Eden, you should be in the great—”

  A commotion broke out on the wall high above. An archer screamed as he fell off the wall.

  “We’re under attack!” rang out.

  I lost the stricken archer at the last moment as he fell amidst the dispersing crowd in front of me. I didn’t keep track of where Eden, Calvin or Barrett went as I ran to the injured archer, knowing he must be in need of healing.

  A dense cloud of smoke rose out from where the archer had fallen. I didn’t understand how there could be so much when I saw no fire.

  Soon it enveloped me, blocking out my vision.

  There was shouting all around me, but the phrase “smoke charges” was the most clear from everyone’s panicked voices. I tripped over the archer before I found him. I had to lean very close to see him as he gasped for breath.

  “What’s broken?” I asked, but he couldn’t seem to speak as he grabbed my arm.

  There was no arrow in him as I’d first expected. Instead an arrow lay beside him with a pouch producing all this smoke. The enemy archer must’ve placed this pouch over the end of the arrow and struck this man with his shot.

  “My ribs,” he finally wheezed out.

  I put my hands around the sides of his chest. It looked as if he tried to scream in agony but couldn’t make the sound.

  It took a lot out of me to heal his damaged body, but I was done quickly. I stood and pulled him up with me. I needed to get out of the smoke so I could see what the hell was happening as more shouting rang out all around me.

  I picked a direction and ran, but I couldn’t seem to escape the smoke. I soon figured out why when something soft struck me in the back. I turned and looked at the ground to see another pouch, more of the gray smoke pouring out. We were being bombarded with these damn things I’d never heard of.

  I stomped on it until the smoke was barely puttering out of it, but it didn’t seem to help overall as I still couldn’t see two feet ahead of me. Suddenly, I realized where I needed to be.

  “The drawbridge!”

  I had a good sense of where it was. I started to run in that direction, but I collided with someone who I didn’t recognize. Not knowing if they were friend or foe, I pushed them to the side and kept going. All around me I heard coughing, but that changed to screams as steel began to sing.

  A woman was yelling my name. “Jon! Jon!” It sounded like Eden.

  I hesitated for a moment as I was unsure if I should go back for her.

  “Damn it,” I muttered as I turned and ran toward her voice.

  I ran headfirst into the legs of someone, which made no sense to me until I realized there was a dark mage suspending this person in the air. Their body slammed down just in front of me. I pulled out my sword and charged the sorcerer dressed in black robes, his hand extended at my injured comrade.

  Dteria clenched my waist and hoisted me up, but I threw my hand and hit the dark mage with a blast of dvinia. He tumbled backward into the smoke, his spell coming to an end.

  “Eden!” I yelled.

  “Here!”

  I found her. Calvin seemed to be guarding her, both of their backs against the wall of what seemed to be the apartments, though it was difficult to tell.

  “These are cursed enchantments,” Eden told me. “You can break them with ordia.”

  “How?”

  “Just use ordia and try to stop the smoke when you find one.”

  I was so angry I almost swore at her. That’s why she’d brought me away from the drawb
ridge? How the hell was I supposed to find these pouches let alone use a spell that took more time to cast than Heal?

  “There’s no point in trying that. I need to get to the drawbridge. Calvin, get her into the great hall if you can.”

  “Aye, Jon. Go.”

  I dashed through the fighting, wishing I knew how many dark mages had come over the wall. A needle pricked my heart as I realized that Cason was probably here among them.

  Something huge struck me from the side. Suddenly I was on the ground with a man on top of me. I threw him off and grabbed him by his shirt, but I recognized him as one of the Freemen. He glared into my eyes for a moment before he must’ve recognized me as well. Then we parted quickly, and soon I was rushing toward where I guessed the portcullis to be.

  I found it after a few moments of searching through the chaos, still with no idea who was winning this fight. The portcullis was closed, thankfully. None of the dark mages had managed to open it. Normally I could see through the bars to tell if the drawbridge was closed, but there was still too much smoke. So long as the portcullis remained closed, however, an enemy army could not enter the courtyard and would not get into the keep.

  I prepared myself to defend the portcullis, my back to the crank. It helped to know that only the strongest of men could use the device to lift the gate, and it took a great amount of time and effort. I should be able to prevent any of these dark mages from getting it all the way up, even if one of them was a stronger sorcerer than I was.

  My breaths were heavy as I waited. My throat was burning. I coughed a few times, but I tried to keep my eyes open.

  Pearson rushed into view with alarm in his eyes. “Good, they haven’t gotten through,” he said with some relief. “I’ll help you guard it.”

  “Thank you.”

  I was a little surprised he had come. I had figured he and the other fire mage would flee from danger, not run toward it. He stood beside me, our backs to the crank on the wall.

  It wasn’t a moment later when, what felt like a long plank of wood, struck me along my entire back and legs. It scooped me up with incredible speed, throwing me high into the air and far, far away from the portcullis. I went so high that I emerged out of the smoke and was blessed with a view of the entire courtyard, gray waves of the smoke roiling below.

  I didn’t have time to be confused. I was going to be hurt very badly when I landed. I had to make sure I came down on my legs and did not strike my head hard enough to lose consciousness, or I would probably die.

  With surprising calm, I stopped flailing as I straightened my body out vertically. I could lie horizontally in the air and try to catch myself with dvinia, but a failed attempt would mean my death.

  I fell quickly through the smoke. Unable to see the ground, I braced as best as I could.

  I struck hard, my left leg cracking as I rolled down and tucked my head. I was dazed, my whole body in pain. I had struck my head after all, but I was all right. I healed it first so that I could focus on healing the rest of my body.

  I screamed out my agony as I mended the broken bones in my left knee and then a few in my ankle. Everything still hurt when I got up, but I didn’t feel slowed by the pain, only from the exhaustive healing.

  The spell that hit me had been so strong, it was as if Cason himself…no, wait. A chill of horror ran through my body. It was Pearson. No one else could have gotten behind me with him already there.

  He was the one who’d helped Cason escape when we fought in the street. He was the dark mage more powerful than Cason. He had hidden his true identity, tricking people who’d lived in Newhaven for years, like Eden and Calvin. I didn’t know how any of it was possible, but I did know that Pearson had to be stopped.

  But could I even stop someone so powerful? What was going to prevent him from throwing me in the air and possibly killing me this time?

  I swallowed my fear as I found my sword a few yards away. I’d dropped it at the last moment before landing. He had surely lifted the portcullis by now. It was the keep that needed to be defended. The binding contract took a firm hold on my instincts.

  I had to protect the king at all costs.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  I fought my way toward the keep as I saw many troops running around. It seemed likely that there weren’t many enemies in the courtyard. Perhaps Eden was right after all. The smoke was our worst opponent.

  I made it to the keep, relieved to find the door closed and barred from the inside still. But then I distinctly heard screams coming from within, a girl’s shrieks.

  Callie.

  One of the dark mages had made it into the keep, most likely through a window. I was certain the king had many guards inside, but if Pearson was the one who’d entered, I doubted any number of them could hold him off.

  I needed to be able to lift myself if I had any chance of helping the royal family. I haphazardly forced my dvinia around my body, adding the note of G to the spell and yelling at my mana, grab me!

  All I managed to do was throw myself off my feet. When I was done rolling away from the door, I got up and mindlessly slammed my shoulder into it. There was a pop with searing pain.

  Now I had to heal my shoulder that had come out of its socket.

  It was no use. The door was too thick.

  I could do nothing but engage the enemies in the courtyard, but I didn’t want to stray too far from the door of the keep. My heart trilled as I heard Eden scream. I ran toward the sound, but I nearly collided with Cason coming the other way through the smoke. He was hideous, with large splotches of hair and eyebrows missing after Leon had singed them off.

  My reflexes were quicker than his, as I swiped my sword across his body. A bleeding gash along his stomach followed my blade. He fell backward as he screamed, one hand going over his stomach while the other reached out at me. A ring of dteria wrapped around my neck, squeezing the air out.

  I dropped my sword as I jammed my fingers in and pried hard. I couldn’t get it off me as it tried to lift me off the ground. I was worried Cason might break my neck with a jerk.

  I stopped trying to fight his dteria and hit him with my own spell, but he took his hand off his stomach and created a shield of energy to block my attack. I almost couldn’t believe his focus while suffering from such a grievous injury. It was as if he was incapable of succumbing to shock.

  He twisted his other hand, attempting to break my neck as I’d feared. I tensed every muscle, covering my neck in my own mana emerging out from my body.

  I fell when it was over. Something wasn’t right, the dteria slipping away, but I still felt as if something was around my neck.

  I could still move my hands and legs. He’d torn a muscle, at least, but I could heal that. I put my hands on my neck, painful bulges coming out on both sides. I healed myself as Cason picked up my sword and trudged toward me, still ignoring the bleeding wound on his stomach.

  I backed away quickly to buy myself time, but he lifted me off the ground with dteria. I had just finished healing as he prepared a heavy two-handed swing that might take off my leg as I lifted up my knees to protect myself.

  I was too exhausted from healing to even think about casting another spell. I flinched as he was about to strike, but then I fell without pain.

  I hit the ground. Cason was stumbling toward me, shards of ice in his back. Willelma threw her hand at him, and another spear of ice shattered against his back. He was about to fall face forward over me, but his body was scooped up. After a quick flip in the air, he landed on his feet with a hand gripping his stomach. I was certain the pain from my slash was getting to him.

  And yet, his wound was healed a moment later.

  Willelma had blood running down her arm, her sleeve ripped. She used her mind to throw another spear of ice at him, but it shattered against his wall of dteria. Cason threw out his hands, and his dteria slammed into her and sent her too far into the smoke for me to have sight of her any longer.

  There was a sharp whistle that see
med to get Cason’s attention. He shot into the air and was gone.

  I knew his spell couldn’t have gravely injured Willelma, so I rushed toward the keep instead of checking on her. The door was broken off its hinges. I ran inside to find two guards lying in pools of blood, cracks on the floor around them as if they’d fallen from high up.

  A team of armed guards ignored them as they ran past me and out the keep. I crouched in front of the two injured, feeling the pulse of one. He was alive, but he probably wouldn’t be for long.

  “Jon!” the king shouted from the second floor. He leaned over the railing. I’d never seen the man so panicked. “Pearson stole a large chest. He must be stopped. It must be recovered!”

  I listened as I healed the guard, but the strain of the healing took too much for me to reply.

  “Stop healing them and go after him!” the king ordered.

  I stopped my healing spell. I had repaired the fractures in the man’s head. He had other broken bones, but he should live for now. I checked the pulse of the other quickly, thinking I should be able to spare a few seconds to save his life, but he was already dead.

  “Jon!” the king screamed.

  I got up on wobbly legs and stumbled out of the keep after the many guards. The smoke was clearing, finally. I could see far enough across the courtyard to catch the backs of the guards who’d left the keep before me.

  But suddenly these men were blown back through the air as if flicked by some monstrous giant. One landed right near me, his leg twisted in a gruesome way. With the healing spell already at the forefront of my mind, it just took a moment to mend his broken bone.

  My heart was pounding as I had to ignore the other man who was injured from the fall but would clearly live. Pearson needed to be stopped. I didn’t know how much of the king’s riches were in the stolen chest, but I wouldn’t soon forget Nykal’s expression. Pearson had to be stopped.

  The guard whose leg I’d healed ran ahead of me, my fatigue wearing me down. I puttered on, soon seeing the open portcullis ahead, and the lowered drawbridge soon after. There were many guards in Pearson’s way, but none could hope to stand up to him. His dteria was too powerful. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to do if I caught up.