by Rain Oxford
I hesitated when a sign beside a sturdy wooden door promised food and a clean bed for a reasonable price. I didn’t have any money, but I still had the jewelry I had picked up from the bandits on Akadema, so I went in. There were sturdy wooden tables around the room, a staircase in front of me leading up, and a long wooden bar to my left.
It was a much more respectable place than the taverns of Akadema. There weren’t half-naked women serving drinks, drunk men trying their hardest to get into a brawl, or raucous laughter. On the contrary, there were only six customers, who were using their chairs as seats instead of clubs, enjoying polite conversation, and eating hearty meals.
The smell of roasted meat and fresh bread caused my stomach to growl. I approached the man behind the bar who was about the size of Bloodbath and possibly even more hairy.
“Good evening,” I said, making my voice deeper than it naturally was. “I need a room and something to eat. What can I get for this?” I pulled one of the gold necklaces out of my bag. It was a locket that would be worth more to someone who liked pretty things, but I just wanted to eat and sleep in a comfortable bed.
The man’s eyes widened. “Anything you want. Bread, stew, roast, vegetables, ale, wine… a woman.”
No matter how confused I was, I wasn’t interested in a woman I could buy, let alone one I could buy for a necklace. “Can you give me a room and send up food and drinking water? Any food you have ready will do, I’m not picky.”
“Here is a key,” he said, pulling one from under the counter and passing it to me. “Up the stairs, last door on your right.”
“Thank you.” I grabbed the key and started to turn, but he continued.
“I will ask you not to cause any problems here,” he said, pointing to my staff. Although his voice was steady and deep, his tone was not impolite. “I have nothing against magic-users, but if you want to fight, you need to go outside or to the tavern. That’s not the kind of business I run here.”
“Do you get a lot of trouble from magic-users?”
“Not typically. Magic-users usually stick to their own kind around here. I’m just warning you that your gold doesn’t mean I won’t kick you out if you destroy something.”
“Duly noted.”
I went upstairs and found my room, which was simple, warm, and clean. Other than a small bed, there was a chest for clothes and a window. I sat on the bed, pulled out a book, and started reading. Soon, there was a knock on the door. When I answered it, a pretty woman gave me a mug of water and a plate of bread, cheese, and roast. I thanked her and shut the door. Although it smelled great, I was so hungry that I ate every bite without bothering to taste it.
When I was done, I set the dishes out in the hall, locked the door, undressed, and went to sleep.
* * *
I had more bad dreams about facing monsters, only this time I wasn’t in a tower and Merlin wasn’t coming to help me. The worst part was that Magnus’s monster was a dragon and I had to fight it. I kept hearing my father’s voice telling me that this was the last dragon and if I killed it, the extinction of the species would be my fault.
I forgot most of the details the moment I awoke. The dreams left me with dread and I felt like I was missing something very important. Trying to shake the feeling, I dressed, gathered everything up, and went downstairs. The same man was at the bar and along with the key, I handed him a gold bracelet that matched the necklace and asked for breakfast. Eggs and potatoes made a welcome treat after all the fish I had to eat on Bloodbath’s ship.
“Are you a wizard or sorcerer?” he asked, wiping some dishes.
I sighed. “I’m a sorcerer.” I couldn’t very well say I was both; it wasn’t normally a possibility. Fortunately, the man didn’t say anything more. There were only a few other people in the room, so I easily overheard two men at a table near the window.
“Did you know that the king of Welsma sent his warriors to draft the men of Red Rock for a battle?”
“Yes. I heard he couldn’t afford enough warriors, so he was looking to volunteer men against their will. Red Rock is about a day’s south of here, right?”
“That’s right. His men arrived at Red Rock yesterday afternoon, except the city was gone.”
“What do you mean the city was gone?”
“I mean there was an open field where the city was supposed to be. I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s true nonetheless.”
I groaned and let my head fall to the bar next to my plate. I wasn’t trying to curse the people, but I wasn’t trying to save them. Apparently, even my neutral magic was white magic. Maybe that’s what’s bothering me. No, it was something bigger.
“Take some bread with you,” the man behind the counter said, setting a loaf of bread wrapped in a thin cloth on the table.
“Thank you.” I picked it up and started to put it in my bag… and froze. I had gotten books from Livia’s library, so my bag should have been heavier than when I got to her castle. I quickly removed the books and set them on the table. Only then did I see what had been bothering me so much.
The syrus was missing. I knew I had it when I left Livia’s castle, and that just made me sick to my stomach. The only time I could have lost it was when that boy in the city bumped into me and caused my bag to spill open. I replayed the event over and over but I couldn’t remember seeing it to pick it up. There were other people around; it must have rolled out of sight.
“You just became pale as a ghost,” the man said.
“I tried to get ahead of my brothers by trapping them temporarily, but I’ve just realized I forgot something I really need and now I have to go back to my brothers who are going to kill me painfully and slowly.”
“Do you have another friend who can help you?”
“I did, but I kind of got mad at him for betraying me and left him.”
“Well, that wasn’t very smart.”
“I know. When they get free, my brothers are going to come through here. They’re not like me; they’ll hurt people and destroy things just for fun. You might want to shut down for the next couple of days.”
“Thank you for the warning.”
I gathered the books back into the bag and went to the door, but when I opened it, I froze. Merlin was sitting right outside, looking very displeased. “What are you doing here?”
“Did you honestly think I was going to let you get yourself killed?”
“So you still don’t think I can defeat Magnus on my own? After everything we’ve been through?”
“I never said I did not believe you were capable; I just did not believe you would go through with it. Had I known you were the seventh son of the seventh son, that you had such a rare power, I would never have promised to teach you to be a sorcerer, because that was unfair to you.”
“How was---” I was cut off as one of the two men who had been talking in the inn pushed me out of the doorway. “Sorry.” My apology was unheard, because he ran away as soon as he spotted Merlin. I started walking south, since going after Magnus without the syrus was a waste of time. “How was it unfair to promise to teach me to be a sorcerer?”
“Because what you are is more important. Encouraging you to just be a sorcerer is repression.”
“But I just want to be a sorcerer. I want to be successful at it, but I would rather be a sorcerer than… not anything. What am I supposed to call myself now?”
“Why must you call yourself something?”
“Because people ask. Twice just yesterday I’ve been asked whether I’m a wizard or sorcerer. I don’t know what to say now.”
“Then find something you want to be called and excel in that. You grew up believing that curses and manipulating people was your only future. Did you ever wish you could do something else?”
I thought about it, and found myself grinning. “I like books. I like traveling, too. I could travel around and collect books. I could get a house and people could come and borrow books from me and then bring them back so others could read the
m too. I mean, it wouldn’t be fair to have all the best books in the world and never let anyone else read them. What would that be called?”
“A librarian, Ayden.”
“I like that. But no, that couldn’t happen. No matter how much I may screw up as a sorcerer, I am still a Dracre, and my mother would never let me live as anything else.”
“Then you are determined to be a sorcerer?”
“I’m determined to try. I’ll defeat Magnus and my brothers if I have to. I will be a sorcerer, but not like my family, because I’ll choose when to use sorcery and when not to. Maybe I’ll use sorcery in a wizard way. Like, I would only help people when it benefits myself.”
“I foresee no terrible consequences deriving from that idea whatsoever,” he said sarcastically.
“You’re not a seer. Besides, I’m still mad at you for betraying me.”
“Then I will make it up to you. In the meantime, can we change your hair back now? It looks so odd.”
“No. It pretty much saved my life when I ran into my brothers at Red Rock.”
“Why are we going back the way we came from?”
“Long story. I forgot the syrus in the city a day south of here, and before leaving, I locked the city in an invisibility spell, which stopped my brothers from getting out. Now we have to go get it and probably face them. Then I found out that the city was about to be invaded and I ended up saving them from that.”
“Somehow I feel you just made the story much longer and more complicated than it would have been had you not shortened it.”
We got back on the road and began the long journey back to face my brothers. “Thanks for coming after me and for facing my brothers with me.”
“Well, I admit it would have been easier had you not snuck out, but friends help each other, even if one of said friends forgets to act his age and locks himself in a room sometimes.”
* * *
We walked and walked. I told Merlin about what happened at Red Rock and then, with nothing else to do, we passed the time by telling fairytales. It occurred to me we should have been talking about Livia and what I learned, but I didn’t want to get upset again.
When the sun was low in the sky, we finally reached the hill that overlooked the field where I knew the city was. “There it is. Well, it’s there, but you can’t see it. I’ll have to break the spell, but first, a plan would be nice. The box will be in the middle of the road unless someone took it. Anyone in the city could have it. Furthermore, my brothers are there, and they’re after me. I have no idea why or how they got so close.”
“It is most likely a blood call. Siblings are drawn together. As for a plan, I have one. I can sniff out the syrus the same way I found you. Watch for your brothers because I do not know their appearance.”
“They’re hard to miss. I’ll make us both invisible.”
“Tread carefully with such magic.”
“I know.” I used both my wand and staff and visualized the two of us becoming invisible along with my bag, staff, and wand. My magic stirred slower than usual, as if it couldn’t believe I was encouraging cooperation between the wand and staff. The magic was blue and trickled gently into both Merlin and me. I felt my skin tingle right before Merlin vanished. I reached out, unable to see myself at all, and felt his thick fur.
“Because you cannot follow the sound of my voice, if we get separated and you need me, call out my name and stay still.”
I raised both my wand and staff again and focused on the spell I had put over the city, although it had not been my intention to make it invisible, it worked out in their favor. If my mother ever found out, I would be so dead a necromancer wouldn’t even be able to resurrect me.
I felt the spell easily and since it was my own, breaking it was as simple as calling the magic back into me. There was a definite stain. My brothers had tried to break out. They didn’t try very hard, or they would have broken it easily, but they tried nonetheless. Maybe they were distracted by arguing with each other. I had always wondered what they would do if I weren’t there for them to torment.
“Why are my brothers even looking for me?” I asked.
“I suspect your mother must have sent them when she found out you left. Perhaps they don’t know you’re going after Magnus.”
“No, she wouldn’t risk the chance that someone would tip Magnus off. My brother’s aren’t very fast or wise; I’m sure they’ve told everyone they passed that they’re going after him, and my mother knows that. She would tell them not to waste time until after they’ve defeated him.”
“Well, we should be off before someone leaves with the syrus.”
I let my magic flood my wand again and white light wrapped around us. When it cleared, we were right back where I had been when I transported myself out. I was suddenly out of breath.
“You are using a lot more magic than usual,” Merlin warned. “You have to build your endurance along with your magic.”
I nodded, which I then realized was a waste because he couldn’t see me. “Go look for the syrus. I’ll keep an eye out for my brothers,” I whispered.
“Be safe.” I didn’t hear anything else, so I assumed he had left.
A moment later, dread welled up from deep inside me. It must have been my magic sensing my brothers’ magic. A cruel laugh turned my blood cold, and then a spark in front of me caught fire. The fire spread to create a wide circle around me, only as high as my knees. It wasn’t meant to burn me; there would be something worse trapping me inside.
Zeustrum, Bevras, Gibus, Febarin, Mikron, and Thaddeus all exited the tavern and surrounded me. Invisible or not, I was caught.
Chapter 14
“I told you he’d come back,” Thaddeus said.
He didn’t look directly at me, though; none of them did. They couldn’t see me. By then, everyone else in the city had shut themselves into their homes or businesses. Whether the Dracre reputation reached these lands or not, everyone recognized a sorcerer duel when they saw one.
Of course, this was more like a sorcerer execution.
“Why isn’t he there?” Febarin asked accusingly.
Gibus rolled his eyes. “He obviously learned a spell that makes him invisible.”
Zeustrum and Bevras shared a glare. “That is illusionary magic. Impossible. Ayden, explain yourself,” Zeustrum demanded. His tone promised the beating of a lifetime if I didn’t instantly obey.
“He must have picked up an enchanted item or something. It doesn’t matter; he can’t hold it for long.”
I was so distracted by the fact that Zeustrum was right— invisibility was illusionary magic and therefor impossible for a sorcerer to do— that I didn’t realize what Gibus said until I felt the lethargy start to drag on my magic. This was one of their favorite curses; the circle would draw on my magic until any spell I cast was broken, including my invisibility.
I sighed and allowed the magic over me, my bag, my wand, and my staff to fall. To my brothers, it would look like I gave up, but I really just wanted to put all my strength into keeping Merlin hidden for as long as possible.
Bevras’s eyes widened. “Your hair! How did you get your hair to stay black?”
“Never mind that,” Zeustrum dismissed. “You are in a lot of trouble, little brother.”
“Why were you looking for me?”
Thaddeus scoffed. “Are you serious? You thought you could go and warn Magnus about us and we wouldn’t stop you?”
I gaped. “You thought I was trying to warn Magnus you were going after him?!” My screech of outrage might have been a little hysterical. They did everything they could to humiliate me and torment me just because I wasn’t like them, but it never crossed my mind that they would think I was a traitor.
Zeustrum’s eyes narrowed. “Why else would you have run away the night before we were sent to defeat him?”
“I was going after him myself! I wanted to defeat him alone to prove to Mother that I’m just as powerful a sorcerer as you all!”
&
nbsp; “Alone? Are you insane?” Mikron sneered. “Not even one of us could defeat him alone.” Zeustrum and Bevras glared at him. “Okay, maybe Zeus and Bev could, but certainly not you. You could have just begged Mother to let you go with us.”
“Oh, yes, like I went with you on that hunting trip last summer?” They all laughed at the memory and my face flushed. They made it a game to see which of them could kill me first until I managed to escape and return home. Mother ridiculed me for days and then tried to send me back to them. To my surprise, Mikron and Thaddeus were faking their laughter. I turned to my oldest brother because he was the only one the others would listen to. “Zeus, please, just let me go.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
An idea was forming in my head as the words came out of my mouth. “Because I have something you want more than me dead.” As if it knew my plan, the crystal on my staff pulsed with a deep, dark red glow. All my brothers’ eyes fixed on it. “This is not only the most powerful sorcerer staff that has ever existed; it can also show you the way to Magnus.”
“How?”
I lowered it to point at them, but none of them flinched because their faith in the circle around me was absolute, unlike their faith in me, apparently. However, I had enough magic left since I dropped my invisibility. When I pointed the crystal to the north, it pulsed. Zeustrum’s eyes lit up with interest.
“And why shouldn’t we just take it from you and kill you?”
“You can’t get it without dropping your circle. If you let me go, you can always come up with a way to use me later as bait, a decoy, or whatever. Drop your circle and take the staff. Just look away for a moment so I can run.”
Thaddeus went up to him and whispered something in his ear. His expression showed utter shock for just an instant before he schooled it. “Alright. Give me the staff and run. Run as fast and as far away as you can and never return. If I ever see your nuisance face again, it will be the last time.”
Curiosity burned inside me; Zeus never changed his mind. Whatever Thaddeus had said, it was huge.