The Gods' Games Volume 1 & 2: Graphic Edition (The Gods' Games Series)

by Quil Carter

  Teal looked at Josiah like he had just lost his greatest ally. Malagant’s golden-haired brother gave him an innocent smile before he bit off a piece of warm sour dough bread.

  “He took one already. He’ll loosen up in a half an hour. If he takes two, he’s going to pass out and drool all over Ben’s face.” Malagant reached over and stole a potato off of Josiah’s plate.

  Just when Malagant had popped the potato into his mouth, there was a small whimper coming from below him. Malagant looked down to see Ben’s eyes open.

  He stopped chewing and quickly swallowed, not knowing what was going to happen next. Either Ben was going to flip out, or he was going to recognize them.

  “Hey. Benny?” Malagant whispered.

  The room tensed up around them; all eyes were on Ben as he squinted and looked around. He made the motion to sit up, but before Malagant could stop him he sunk back down, his face strained.

  “Can I have some potato?” Ben mumbled. “And drugs, I want drugs. You have drugs?”

  Malagant could see the colour drain from Teal’s already rather pale face.

  “You heard us?” Malagant asked gently.

  Ben nodded, still blinking his eyes hard; he was exhausted and out of it. “In and out… where am I?”

  “You’re in Birch, bud.” Malagant took the plate of food Josiah had handed him and tore him off a small piece of meat. “That’s Josiah, my brother. Dad is out… taking care of an errand. You’re safe.”

  Ben blinked slowly, his eyes started to become glassy. He made the motion to take the meat from Malagant when he started to seize again.

  All they could do was comfort him as he shook. Teal had already jumped behind Ben to hold his shoulders down, anxiety on his face as they watched the black tar and blood drip down Ben’s mouth.

  When the seizure died down though, everyone was on guard, waiting for the manic Ben to spring to life and start trying to get away from them. But Ben was silent and still, and although his eyes were half-open, they saw nothing. They only looked into the abyss of the universe, far away from them.

  Josiah put a hand on Ben’s chest and listened. “His lungs sound like stones grinding together. His breathing is adequate… for now.”

  “He can’t know I have them, Malagant,” Teal whispered. He looked at Malagant for help, then down at Ben. “Dammit, I shouldn’t have had them out. I didn’t think he was listening…”

  “Chances are he’ll forget Teal, if not we’ll deal with it when he mentions it again,” Malagant reassured. He started eating from Josiah’s plate again, before his brother stole it back.

  It wasn’t long before the door opened and Anagin came walking back in.

  “Pontis and Frankon are having kittens over the screams they heard when we were getting the human back,” Anagin grumbled, hanging up his cloak. “I quelled them, but I swear on Kelakheva’s staff if I hear that scream again I’m ripping the plains apart until I find who it belongs to. Sent by prophecy or not.”

  He took a drink from his teacup and walked into the living room, leaning heavily on his cane, he looked exhausted. “Well, you built him quite the little eyrie. How is he?”

  “He was lucid for a moment, asked for food and alters, which is… Ben, but he had a seizure moments later,” Malagant explained, wanting to help his father sit down but knowing better. “He’s been like this ever since.”

  Anagin nodded; there was a small clink as he set his teacup down, before making a move towards Ben. Everyone got out of his way. “Better time than ever. We’d be wise to get him a bucket and some towels. This might get a bit messy.”

  When he had gotten the bucket for his father, and Teal had fetched the towels, Malagant picked Ben up and positioned him on his knees. He steadied Ben by standing behind him, his arms around his chest. In front of him was the wooden bucket, and around the floor, several towels laid out so they were overlapping each other.

  Teal appeared beside Ben, he looked worried, though he always looked worried.

  Anagin looked at Teal as he knelt down in front of Ben.

  “This isn’t anything too special, Teal. I’ve been doing this since I discovered my powers, and Josiah since he healed me for the first time when he was only four. You won’t see Shol smoke or demenos this time. You can stand back.”

  Teal moved all of three inches back. Anagin seemed to let that slide as he held a hand up to Ben’s chest.

  A small ball of light formed in Anagin’s hands; the light started to seep into Ben’s chest, illuminating his rib cage like a luma lamp. Anagin pressed his fingers against Ben’s chest and started to flex them, his eyes tensed in concentration. He moved his fingers slowly up Ben’s chest, and as he did, the light spread throughout Ben’s body. It looked hauntingly beautiful. The glow shot through Ben’s bloodstream, lighting up every blood vessel in his body. It focused inside of his heart, flickering with every heartbeat.

  “Open his mouth,” Anagin said quickly. But before Malagant could react, Ben’s body gave an awful heave before he started to cough and gag. The black tar and blood ran out of his mouth like a rain spout.

  Malagant quickly took Ben’s head and held it over the bucket as the black sickness seeped from his nose, mouth, and even his ears and eyes.

  Ben continued to cough as Malagant started hitting his back, his veins still glowing with Anagin’s sunmagic. He looked into the bucket and felt a bit nauseous as he saw dead flies mixed in with the tar vomit.

  “Pontis is not going to like this…” Anagin murmured, drawing the remainder of the stuff from Ben’s mouth. “But what he doesn’t know…”

  “What is it, Dad?” Josiah asked.

  Anagin pulled his hand back, the veins started to dim, before disappearing into Ben’s skin once again.

  “I would put the merchant being from Jevaria, or that region of Kar’Endia. Or else he is very knowledgeable of the area,” Anagin explained. “These are blister flies; Ben had a very contagious, very dangerous disease.”

  “Plague. Ben had plague?” Josiah said in alarm.

  Anagin shot him an annoyed look. “Don’t use that word, Josiah. Ben is cured, and none of us have it.”

  “But how did he get literally infested with flies from Jevaria? All the flies we saw were normal plains flies and house flies.”

  “They are valued because they can make a potent poison. The merchant must have brought some to trade and accidently infected Ben. Perhaps that’s why he abandoned him, or else the merchant died.”

  “Could he have taught him the silvermagic?” Malagant asked. He was happy to have some answers but the fact that Ben had been diseased was scary.

  “No one but Kelakheva could do that, and Kelakheva wouldn’t be hiding helping Ben. He would have pranced him right into Birch and come over for tea to flaunt him in front of me.” Anagin shook his head. He held up Ben’s chin and looked into his eyes.

  “He’s cured now, but burn the bucket outside, and burn the towels. And for Shol’s sake, I don’t need to tell you not to tell Pontis or Ben will be out the gates, prophecy walker or not,” Anagin said. “Including your doublet, Malagant. Anything that has the black sick on it.”

  Malagant did as his father asked and threw his doublet in with the towels. Teal and Josiah took the bucket and towels outside. Malagant quickly put on a white undershirt and turned to leave with them but his father stopped him.

  “No, you stay, the other two go,” Anagin said. He got up and sat on the edge of his grey chair with a grunt, holding his hip as he did. He swore to himself, something he usually did when his side was hurting him.

  Malagant hated being reminded that his father was getting old, and in all respects (though he would never dare say it) a cripple. His dad always seemed immortal, powerful, and all-knowing. These small reminders were hard to see. He couldn’t imagine his dad never not being in Birch. It warmed him even in the coldest of days knowing he always had his house, his father, and his brother to come home to.

  Malagant got anoth
er glass of wine. When he walked back into the living room, Anagin was washing his hands with merile.

  He handed the bottle to Malagant. “Kneel beside Ben.”

  “Why?” Malagant asked, dripping some of the cold solution onto his hands; he winced as it burned his skin.

  “The Anean Prophecies are a complex thing, Malagant; they tell you to do things that do not make sense at the time. They give you confusing, strings of nonsense, or beautiful haunting poems that you need to mull in your head for a year before they make sense to you. Malagant, you’re my son and a prophecy walker…”

  Malagant stared at him a bit dumbfounded. This he wasn’t expecting. He thought his father was keeping him around to make him a fresh cup of tea.

  “Sometimes with the prophecies, you can have an answer right in front of you, and you won’t see it until you’re ready. Other times, you find answers when you weren’t even looking for one, like when Teal appeared on my doorstep. His appearance answered a lot of questions I had in my head.” Anagin’s eyes didn’t leave Malagant’s face. “I thought when Kelakheva told me Teal was dead, that your purpose in life died with him.”

  “You reminded me of that regularly growing up.” Malagant was surprised at how bitter the words were on his lips. “Which is why you shipped me off to Fort Greybane.”

  Anagin paused. “I sent you to become a knight so you could find your purpose, Malagant… and it worked out just fine, you were a fine knight… until Erick came,”

  Then Anagin paused and a smirk appeared on his face. “It’s time you start to learn how to heal your friends.”

  Malagant looked at his father like he had just grown tentacles. “I have no maegic; I have no magic ability. Didn’t you scream this at me growing up also?”

  Anagin shook his head. “You think out of the whole family you’re the only elf without an ability?”

  “That’s what you always told me!”

  “Well, I lied,” Anagin admitted flatly. “Or Kelakheva did.”

  “Kelakheva told you to lie?”

  Anagin looked like he was about to shut himself down again, but Malagant didn’t care.

  “Yes, he did,” Anagin said. “He’s a neutral demigod and what he tells you, you must obey. He had a path for you. I thought it was lost when Teal died. When it was lost, I didn’t see a reason for you to develop your magic, especially when you joined the Knights of Alcove. If they knew you were a mage they would have brainwashed you first. So you’re welcome.”

  “Do I have an ability?”

  “The demigod said you did, yes.”

  “What is it?”

  “You’ll have to find out.”

  Malagant stared at him. Anagin rolled his eyes. “You look like Tes when you give me that look.”

  “Am I a sunmage?”

  Anagin shook his head. “No, your black hair ruled that out when you were born. But I will teach you what I can about healing while you’re here.”

  “Blackmage? Your hair turned black when you became a blackmage…”

  “No one is born a blackmage, Malagant. You know that.”

  “Croagh mage then?”

  “I am not Evercovian and neither was your mother.”

  Malagant’s face became stormy. “I would know the answer if you just taught me when I was younger. There are dozens of different magic types and the fact that you’re an orphan and we have no idea where you’re from, means I could possibly be any one of them!”

  “Not all of them, my facial features rule out quite a few.”

  Malagant sighed.

  Anagin continued to sip his tea. “I don’t have an answer for you, Malagant. I’m assuming the prophecies will direct you to your ability. What I can do though is teach you basic healing.” He motioned over to Ben who was still lying on the living room floor. “Drag Ben into the sitting room. He’s out of it; he won’t know what’s going on.”

  It might be the wine that made Malagant giddy, or it might be the fact that his father had never cared to teach him any magic before. Nevertheless Malagant jumped out of his seat, grabbed Ben’s bare feet and dragged him into the middle of the sitting room.

  Ben groaned, his eyes were open but they were still looking into nothing.

  “Alright, what first?” Malagant said eagerly, rubbing his hands together.

  His father gave him a pained look. Anagin walked over to Ben and kneeled down in front of him, beside his son. “Calm down first, you need to be relaxed and steady for this magic. Take a few deep breaths.”

  Malagant tried to calm his excitement. He took the deep breaths and held onto his ruby pendant. It shimmered and shone in the warm glow of the fire, it always seemed to attract the fire more than the other two pendants.

  Anagin took Malagant’s hands into his own; the sunmage’s hands warm and emanating energy. Malagant looked down, trying not to smile, as his father put his hands over a bruise on Ben’s side.

  “Pull your maegic, and channel it into your pendant, then into your hands,” his father directed. “It will come naturally to you; all three of you share a connection. If a human can learn runeflame even you can learn basic healing.”

  Thanks for the bout of confidence, Dad. Malagant’s brow furrowed as he tried to draw up his maegic. It was a small bit of energy inside him that had always been stunted; it was like a little firefly buzzing around inside of a massive dark cave.

  Malagant could feel his pendant start to warm as he tried to direct the maegic into it. Still it felt odd to do it, and he had no idea if he was doing it right.

  “Your pendant is an extension of you. Don’t treat it like it’s just a piece of jewellery. It is you, at least for the time being. My ring had a ruby encrusted in it and I controlled an entire army of demenos with it,” his father said. He pressed down on Malagant’s hands. Malagant could feel them start to become oddly warm and cold at the same time, then they started glowing an off-white colour.

  He started to feel weary, but he persisted. Like his father had instructed he tried to draw the energy out of the pendant. Though it still didn’t feel natural, like a key fitting into the wrong lock. He let out a grunt of frustration.

  “Keep drawing it up, direct it into your hands, all of it. You don’t have much; you won’t overload him,” Anagin’s voice said behind him.

  Malagant gave another push. He could feel a rush go through his body as he directed the small store of maegic from the pendant into his hands. It didn’t feel right, it felt forced.

  His eyes closed as a faint burst of light came from his father’s hands on top of his, the warm-cold feeling centered around his father’s palms.

  All of this was from Anagin; Malagant knew he wasn’t doing any of it himself. His father was wrong, the damn demigod was wrong – he wasn’t a mage.

  My job is to keep Teal and Ben alive, or it was anyway. I’m no mage and I have no abilities. Maybe I don’t have a role in these prophecies except the token kid of Anagin Avahlis.

  The rushing continued, but he found himself having to gather up all of his strength to keep it from running out. Every strand of maegic in his body was leaving him quickly. But it didn’t even feel like it was going into the pendant, just a black hole. A pit that seemed to suck up every shred of light he had in him with an intensity that rivalled a vortex.

  It wasn’t working. Even if he could do magic his father had waited too long to teach him.

  Malagant withdrew feeling like a failure. “It doesn’t feel right; I’m not a healer.” He let out a breath of disappointment and opened his eyes.

  As Malagant looked down his eyes widened. His father’s hands weren’t there anymore, only his own remained.

  Malagant looked up and saw Anagin, Teal, and Josiah sitting in their appointed chairs, watching him with matching smiles.

  “What… happened?” Malagant blinked.

  Anagin and Josiah laughed. “You were doing that for fifteen minutes. Look down!” Josiah said excited.

  Malagant gave him a blank stare
, before he looked back down at his hands. He lifted them away and was amazed to see the bruise noticeably improved. It wasn’t gone, but it looked at least several days healed.

  “You did it, boy!” Anagin rose and slapped him on the back. Malagant couldn’t help it, he smiled proudly.

  “Now you can heal the rest of him, he’s your job now, boy.” Anagin smirked, grabbing his cane. “He has the perfect injuries for you to get started on. I think both the hibrids will need patching up with their penchant for getting hurt. Practice, tire yourself out, heal until you puke. You’ll need it for the prophecies. Garas is a long ways from Birch.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” Malagant was still smiling like an idiot. He felt a new wave of hope go through him.

  Ben was alive, and he had a new way to heal them on their way to the Islands as well. Perhaps things weren’t as hopeless as he had thought.

  Anagin gave him a small nod. “It’s late, I’m going to bed. Both of you are sleeping down here with Ben?”

  Teal and Malagant both nodded.

  “Wake me if he doesn’t sleep. I’m going to be spending a lot of time in his head for the next few days. I want to make sure he’s rested.”

  And with that, Anagin grabbed his cane and started making his way up the stairs.

  53

  Erick smiled as Sweeny came back from his bedroom, which also doubled for the wine cellar, holding two golden goblets of wine. His squire was entirely naked, all except for Erick’s black ivory crown of twisted thorns which rested askew on top of his wavy chestnut hair.

  He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. He himself was spread out on the bed naked and sweaty from their marathon of love making. It had been a busy couple of days, only leaving the bed to visit Nyte to help train Nikken on Erick’s body language and speech patterns and the occasional visitor who needed something from the king.

  But besides that it had been just Erick and Sweeny alone.

  “How do I look?” Sweeny giggled. He looked to his side towards a mirror and blushed before shaking his head and taking the crown off. “It’s so audacious to see! I don’t care if you like it, I cannot see myself wear it.”