Blaise shook his head and walked away, Friedrich however, was concentrating. My protective wards flared blue, and I read his magic. Shithead was trying to drown me. And not even with living water, he was trying to fill my lungs with normal water. Elemental magic worked on the normal elements as well as summoned elementals from the planes of fire, water, earth and air.
I sighed regretfully, knowing if I tried to spare his life now, all the others in the keep would sense weakness and pounce, I had no choice. Though Friedrich and Blaise were relatively weak, I could not face the more powerful apprentices if they teamed up, although that happening… was doubtful.
With a cackle and a deep sense of irony, I drew the glyphs for summoning a water elemental in my mind, focusing it in the shape of a small dragon. About the size of a wagon. The dragon wasn’t any more powerful of an elemental then say, a two inch person. But it was more intimidating.
I watched with a careful pose of boredom on my face, I couldn’t stomach an evil grin. The dragon roared, a jet of water striking his protective wards. After a short time they sputtered and disappeared. The water dragon bellowed in victory then swallowed him whole. I just stood there watching him drown.
Tit for tat right? Then why did I feel so sick deep down inside. It took all I could muster to hold the look of boredom on my face. When he finally stopped struggling I dismissed the elemental and turned to Maria and Jason who were looking at me in horror. Since a combat death was common, even in Lethia, I assumed it was about the look of boredom on my face.
I said shortly, “Time to go,” and started walking for the gates. Blaise was nowhere in sight.
When we made it to the open country I explained the reasons for the bored look, that it was to actually prevent more killing and that I wasn’t actually bored at all. I’m not sure they believed me. I am pretty sure to the Lethians, our way of doing things are just as unbelievable as theirs is for me. Problem was, I was going to have to learn to fit in there.
Raiding parties to Lethia for new slaves, food and other things were fairly common. Normally the other masters would allow a party to travel through their area safely. It was of course, to preserve their own lives, for it may be that the party belonged to a more powerful master and they simply didn’t want to be attacked and killed later.
I was a bit worried though, normal raiding parties were half a dozen apprentices with a large number of slaves to carry off the loot. We were just one apprentice, and two people disguised as slaves. We made some good progress through the hills, I only had to lead them off the road twice to avoid other travelers. We were about to come out on the plains however, and there were just three more demesnes to avoid. Problem was, there was no way to avoid them. The land was open.
The only good news was how close the border was, only about two miles off. We stopped and shared some food, I tried to learn more about where I was going and found the answers very disturbing. Apparently their king was chosen by birth, not power. That was absurd. They also had a council of mages who advised, which were political posts. Partially based on power, but clearly reading between the lines it was about who your friends were.
How… dishonest. I thought it so ironic, at least with the masters you knew where you stood. In Lethia people were free, or at least as free as they could afford to be. Slavery was outright here, there it was clearly based on money.
I was learning the supposed good people using light magic, were just as power hungry, sneaky and underhanded. Only they hid it, and it only became a problem if they were caught. Light mages were hypocrites. Not all of them, but enough that I needed to be aware of it.
Granted though, at least there was no human sacrifice, or punishments for showing weakness. Perhaps you were used by unscrupulous people, but at least showing compassion wasn’t a death sentence. Ugh, this was going to be hard.
When the conversation came to a halt, I brought up our little issue.
“So, we are about two miles from the border, but we have a problem. We can’t sneak anymore, not enough cover. We could try to just bluff our way through, but I can’t think of a story that covers just one apprentice and two slaves heading for the enemy border. We could try to go at night, but even the least powerful apprentices and watchers know the glyph for infravision.”
I waited a few moments, they didn’t look happy. I asked, “Any ideas?”
Maria asked, “Can you turn us all invisible? Then we can just make a run for it.”
I sighed and shook my head. “That’s dark magic, I can’t use it anymore. If white magic can accomplish it I don’t know how.”
I was feeling kind of guilty, my reasons for grabbing these two were selfish at the time but they were growing on me. Still, even if we died now at least they wouldn’t be tortured, sacrificed or become slaves. Assuming of course, we were killed and not captured.
Jason asked, his voice even, “What do you mean you can’t do dark magic.”
I suppressed the guilty look I felt coming on and explained what happened this morning and added, “I didn’t really think it all through, except I knew we needed to move quickly.”
Maria said suspiciously, “A being of light saved you?”
I chuckled then shrugged and said, “Yeah, I didn’t believe it myself, and I was there. We may just need to take our chances with a bluff. How about this…” I explained my crazy idea. They didn’t like it, but agreed.
The first demesne we walked through just ignored us. The second one was more cautious as we were an oddity. The back of my neck was tingling non-stop until we made it into the last demesne. So damn close. I could actually see the blue ocean on our right side, and the mountain range on the left. Ahead, less than a mile, I could see the strip of land that started the pass between kingdoms. So close.
Then I saw a group approaching and I noticed who was leading it. An old man, a master that had visited mine on more than one occasion, I almost passed out until remembering to breathe. Even more disturbing was the power emanating from the arch-demon that walked at his side, I doubted highly I was powerful enough to banish it. I barely took note of the two apprentices.
I had coached Jason and Maria well, at about ten yards from them we stopped. They kneeled as a slave should while I bowed to the approaching master. My hands sweated, and I had to fight my flight response when the master came closer, he stopped a mere three feet in front of me with his eyebrows raised.
The old master frowned and said, “What is this?”
I answered in a matter of fact way as possible, “My master has conditioned these two slaves as spies. Our group is small since I just need to slip them across the border and return. He saw no reason to send a full raiding party for this purpose.”
The old man smiled at me, which made me nervous, then said, “Very clever, I would even fall for your prevarication, except… tell me. Where are your magical ties to your master? I can’t make them out.”
I froze, not sure what to do. Attacking would be suicide. He continued, “Aah, do not blame yourself, if you ever became a master you would have learned how to detect those links, and even destroy them. I’m surprised you didn’t stay and read his spell books however.”
His voice had been chatty, even pleasant. But his smile was vile, and he was acting bored. I blushed, realizing he was treating me much as I had treated the lesser apprentices. I was so screwed.
Then his spell hit, and I knew my wards would last only seconds. Attacking was out of the question and would fail, so I went for escape. I released my earth elemental glyph and was busy building another as the ground beneath me swallowed me and started to burrow toward the mountains. I felt a flicker of guilt leaving Maria and Jason behind, but dismissed it as I released my second spell.
I couldn’t out fight the old man, but I was hoping to out think him. As I started to burrow into the dirt on the side of the tunnel, in the shape of a groundhog, I released one more spell. A white magic protection spell that would hide my magic. Hopefully if anyone saw me, without a magic aura to detect,
they would believe me to be a groundhog.
Not many people use shape shifting magic. If the glyph and my concentration on the form hadn’t been perfect it would have gone badly. I had studied it, but been afraid to try. I figured though, it was that or death.
Through the large hole in the ground just ten feet away I heard the old man snarl and then I felt his magic. A small but extremely powerful fire elemental jumped down into the hole and ran toward me, then right past me as it chased down my burrowing earth elemental which was still digging for the mountains acting as a decoy.
Predictably, a few moments later my earth elemental was nothing but dust. I waited, holding my breath, afraid to move, my body quivering in my smaller offshoot tunnel. I gasped a breath of relief as I felt the fire elemental being dismissed. I still didn’t dare move yet.
A spike of guilt hit my heart when I heard the old master say, “Well, will you two come quietly, or would you like to die like your cowardly friend?”
Does running make you a coward if the other person is more powerful? I did feel guilty though, about Maria and Jason. Were they my friends? Perhaps they could have been, we had certainly been moving in that direction, or so I thought.
The old man continued, “Take them to the dungeon. I am still expected in the other demesne so questioning will have to wait until I return in the morning.”
I cringed, it had been a complete coincidence running into trouble. I felt reluctant when I considered running for the border without Jason and Maria. Was I feeling guilty? No, it couldn’t be because of guilt. I just needed them for when I got to the other side, or I would be lost. Compassion was weakness, so it couldn’t be that. Feeling better about my justification for not running for it, I lay my head on my front paws and took a nap. I needed to be sure the master was long gone for his visit, or I’d never get away with a rescue.
Chapter 3
When I woke it was dark, I crawled out of the hole and made for the keep. Successful once, but knowing I still needed to be cautious I built the shape changing glyph carefully and turned into a mouse. A groundhog would look suspicious. No one took notice of me as I scurried from shadow to shadow. I didn’t know the keeps layout, but I knew the dungeon would be down, so it didn’t take me too long to find them.
I found them in a cell much like the ones I was familiar with. Dank and disgusting. They were chained to the wall but otherwise okay. I guess the master here doesn’t let the apprentices play on their own. I saw first alarm, then relief, on Maria’s face as I shifted back into my normal form.
I said very softly, “Let’s get out of here.” Then I took care of the chains.
Jason looked suspicious again and said, “Why didn’t you just do that earth thing to sneak us past?”
I sighed, non mages… “That spell radiates a lot of power, it would have been easier to sneak by with a trampling army at our backs. I’m sorry I left you when I ran, it was the only way. I am strong, but that master…” I trailed off and a shudder went through me.
He just nodded and grudgingly said, “I’m glad you got away, we thought you died.”
I said, “We need to get out now, as quietly as we can. With the master gone it just makes it possible to escape, not easy.”
Maria whispered, “Can you make us all animals, otherwise we will probably have to fight at some point.”
I considered the question briefly, I had thought of it, but then dismissed it.
I explained, “I could do that, but for it to work you would have to not fight it. The mind instinctively rebels against a change like that. If you did fight, and you would because the conditioning of your mind is specific to allow this change, one of two things would happen. If you beat the spell and stay human you would be fine, but still human which defeats the purpose. Or the spell would defeat you and cause you to go completely insane. I would not recommend trying it.”
Maria nodded in understanding, her face a little pale. She whispered, “So what’s the plan then?”
I replied, “The best I could come up with is to sneak to the courtyard, then we need to kill the gate guard as quietly as possible, then run like hell for the pass.”
Jason questioned, “The walls?”
I shook my head, “They are warded, at best it would set off the alarm, at worst, it would harm us.”
Jason sighed and nodded, then said, “Thanks, for coming back for us.”
I felt both a flush of pleasure from his thanks, and was quite uncomfortable for leaving them in the first place whatever the reason. I choked off the silly emotion before it got me killed. Strange, I had never been thanked for something before.
It was the middle of the night so the halls were mostly quiet. I could detect the magic coming off the apprentices in plenty of time to get us hidden and avoid patrols in the halls. I wondered at the fact they hadn’t been taught to hide their aura. Of course, I hardly bothered with that when I was an apprentice enslaved to my master. I had to suppress a giggle, I would never have considered someone would come in and try and rescue slaves, but here I was.
We made it to the courtyard and hid behind a wall. I was still trying to figure out a way out. Light magic was pretty worthless for offence, with the exception of demons and undead, but that wouldn’t help right now. I didn’t want to have to kill the guard but couldn’t see much way around it. It was ironic to me that a sleep spell was mind control, dark magic and was not allowed. But I could kill him with elemental magic, which was neutral, and perfectly acceptable.
That gave me an idea. I drew an air elemental glyph. Instead of summoning an actual elemental I froze the air surrounding the apprentice gate guard. His shield flickered out quickly and he froze. He was suffocating and unable to move. No way to draw breath and cry out. I signaled and we headed for the gate. As we were leaving I watched the guard pass out, so I released the spell. He fell over, but I saw his lungs draw breath. He should be unconscious for a while but just fine.
I felt proud of myself for finding a way, without killing. The feeling was distracting so I squelched it and we headed for the pass at a run. It only took a few minutes. I felt the demons on Zual side of the pass, but they didn’t do anything. Their orders probably only covered invaders from the other side. It seemed like a lack until I considered any escape attempt would have normally been stopped cold long before now.
I mean, how often does an apprentice kill his master and flee in favor of taking control of his demesne? Outside of my weird circumstances I couldn’t see it happening.
The pass had a lot of cover. Rock falls on the left with the mountains behind them. The ocean on the right and it was lightly wooded in the center.
When we reached the no man’s land between the two sides I stopped and pulled their old clothes out. I gave them to Maria and Jason before I turned around. Modesty was still a foreign concept to me, but it cost me nothing to respect theirs.
I considered my own clothes. Black robes. It wasn’t too revealing, but I was assuming it didn’t exactly make a great statement. I did look good in it, but it was meant to be intimidating, to show I knew dark magic and wasn’t afraid to use it. I needed new clothes, when possible anyway. All the spares in my pack were the same.
When they were done changing, we walked out in the open at a relaxed pace toward the Lethia side. I decided it would be prudent to put up a number of protections. I was dressed as a dark mage, and it would only take one twitchy guard with a bow to ruin things if I wasn’t protected. I stopped for a moment in shock, then continued on. Would they try to put me in white robes? I shuddered at the thought.
Maybe I could wear normal clothes, whatever that was. In Zual, there were master robes, apprentice robes and slave clothes, I had no idea what free normal people clothes would be. I did like Maria’s dress a lot, but it didn’t look common, at least not to me. Perhaps I could just wear different color robes, just not white or black ones. I shook my head and laughed silently at the absurdity of worrying about clothes, I realized I was just nervous as h
ell.
Another ten minutes of walking and a challenging voice rang out, “Halt and identify yourselves.”
We stopped walking and I found myself immediately in another position. So far I had been leading the group, taking point and trying to ensure our escape. Perhaps it was just my fear of the unknown, but I deferred to who I was thinking of as my first new friends. It felt really uncomfortable to be dependent on someone else. I had no experience with it.
Jason replied, “Knight Jason of Lethia. The three of us have just escaped Zual with the help of this apprentice mage, Silvia.”
He placed a steadying hand on my shoulder. I was trying to come to terms with the fact, who I thought had been a normal guard was actually one of the Knights of Lethia. The knights were the only ones who could dispute the raids sent into the land, besides of course, the white mages.
Without his enchanted equipment he wouldn’t be able to fight a mage, and I would never have been able to figure it out. I shrugged, not sure that it changed much, except the person I rescued was a bit higher up in Lethia’s society than I had suspected.
A few men in armor approached and the one in the middle spoke with the same voice I had heard earlier, “And who is this third…,” he trailed off as he got a good look at Maria then turned and barked an order, “Get these three behind our lines, now!”
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion and took in Maria’s dress again. It was very fine. Apparently I had two important people that I rescued. I felt a little angry that they hadn’t come clean with me, but grudgingly admitted to myself it would make sense to keep that secret until we actually reached freedom. What I didn’t know I couldn’t reveal. Unless… they just hadn’t trusted me.
I couldn’t exactly blame them for that, if it were true, but for some reason it still bothered me.
I watched, my mind in turmoil, unsure why exactly I was upset, as a large number of guards came out of hiding and surrounded us. They set a quick pace and marched us out of the pass. Not being able to take the suspense anymore I whispered, “Just who are you Maria?”
The Formerly Dark Mage Page 2