Fallen Magician (The Magician Rebellion)

by Cornett, Curtis

  The elf sighed in acceptance as if this course of action had been clear to her all along. Cautiously, she warned Sane, “If you do this, you will be branded a traitor to the crown. There will be no safe harbor for you anywhere and the symbol of the kingdom being destroyed by a magician would only mean more difficult times for magicians in general.”

  “Things cannot get much worse than they are now. The prince plans to make us all into mindless puppets forced to jump as he pulls our strings. I would prefer death to that.” Sane gave a short and tired laugh. He rubbed his eyes as if he was trying to banish the weariness he had been feeling of late. “But all hope is not lost. There is another member of the Aurel line who would be king if Janus was not in the way… and he is a magician.

  “It was twenty one years ago and I was well ingratiated as a member of the king’s court at the time as the kingdom’s first free magician. Queen Wendi had given birth to a healthy baby boy. It was a difficult birth and the queen would never be able to carry another child again, but mother and child both survived and the kingdom rejoiced at the birth of the second prince for a full week.”

  “Yes, I remember,” Sari cut in, “It was around the same time that I came to Aurelia following after you in search of adventure. The newborn prince died in his sleep as can happen occasionally with newborn humans. The news was followed by a month of mourning in the capital.” She stared at Sane intently and his face must have given away some clue as to what was about to come next, because Sari caught his eye and asked with some accusation, “The baby did not die. Did he?”

  Sane forced a humorless smile. “No, he did not. The Aurel line is inclined towards magic. Long ago, they even had a magician in their line, King Fantyn Aurel, who eased restrictions on magicians during his reign, but ruled ruthlessly causing a backlash against magicians after his death. After Fantyn’s time every newborn child of the royal line was tested in secret for magical aptitude and any that were discovered were drowned. Their deaths would be covered up as accidents or determined to be of natural causes, but not this time.

  “In her despair that she would never have another child, Queen Wendi convinced me to steal her baby away and put him somewhere that he would be safe before he would be drowned. I did as she asked and gave him to Kellen so that not even I would know where the baby prince was. The prince was replaced with another babe and no one was the wiser.”

  “So if we go to Colum, then we can find out from Kellen where the child went from there,” Sari deduced. “This could turn out to be quite the adventure.” She paced back and forth with excitement, her earlier trepidation forgotten for the moment.

  Sane grinned at the elf’s sudden shift in mood, and this time it was genuine. Sometimes her carefree attitude reminded him of a child, belying Sari’s true age. “There is no need, I have already found him. Byrn Lightfoot is the magician-prince. His heritage is the real reason he was forgiven for his prison escape and why King Kale made him a vassal of Warlord Nightwind. They hoped to bring him into the fold even if Byrn, himself, was unaware of his noble lineage.”

  Sari stopped pacing and stood with her mouth agape. She started to say something twice, but stopped herself both times without uttering a word. Finally she decided, “I need a cold mug of beer,” but looking around the simple room could find none. Then another thought popped into her head and she wondered, “Does Marian know all of this?”

  Sane shook his head in the negative. “Marian and I have never been on good terms,” he admitted, “and after I killed Bertran right in front of her… Well, let me just say I am surprised she did not sell me out to the Kenzai right then and there. I think she was still in shock at the time or she thought I was her only hope of finding Byrn. Not that it mattered much. We had barely left the inn that they were using as a headquarters when they discovered the dead assassin and raised the alarm.

  “Using my magic, we could have escaped at any time, but we needed to remain in Lion’s Landing to see if we could find out anything about the woman who took Byrn. There is an unspoken bond between magicians and priests although their magic comes only from Ashura. Often times rogue magicians will mark transportation runes at or near the life temples giving them a safe and secluded place to transport to inside a city. It was my hope that someone at the Lion’s Landing temple would be able to tell me more about this mystery woman.

  “Marian and I dodged in and out of alleyways to avoid the Kenzai as they searched for us. Their numbers were small enough that I had little to fear from any except the most advanced of their order, but I did not want to start a fight in the middle of the city and give any temple priests cause not to help me.

  “It took the better part of the day to get to the temple safely, but once there I was able to find some clue as to the young woman’s identity. One of the priests knew the woman as Alia Necros and told me to seek her out in Marchess.”

  “The old gambling town?” Sari asked incredulously, “I am rather surprised you did not come back for me!”

  “You know that I would have if I could,” Sane said appeasingly. Sari knew the transportation spell had its limitations, so he did not have to convince her. “We returned to my keep in Mollifas ever so briefly so that I could collect everything I had of value before leaving for good without so much as a goodbye to King Kale.” Sane shook the pack that had been strapped to his back. “From there we were off to Marchess. We spent weeks searching for any sign of Byrn or his abductor, but came up with nothing.

  “With our leads exhausted and Marian’s growing concern over the state of things here, I agreed to return her here and hoped to convince you to come with me instead. I may not be able to find Byrn, but I can spread the truth about him. It will seem as rumors at first, but it will spread throughout the kingdom like a raging wild fire. Then when I kill Janus, Byrn will be able to come forward and take his place at the king’s side whether I am the one to find him or not. He would be the only legitimate heir to the crown.” Sane spoke softly as he spoke the words that he knew were treasonous. A part of him thought he might be a madman, but he saw no other way.

  “You will still be an outcast,” Sari warned him.

  “I know. When everything is over, I think I would like to retire someplace far away from the kingdom like Raiden or Tempest.”

  Sari considered what the magician said, “I cannot leave these people as an orcen army comes for them and I have a feeling that even if you refuse to support the kingdom any longer that you cannot leave these people to be killed. The orcs are coming with four thousand soldiers and we have two hundred. Councilor Aldyd sent a request to Silvering for more men, but without a missive from Marian they ignored our request and it is too late now for help to arrive in time. Besides if you are going to travel the countryside singing tales of the secret magician-prince and the plight of magicians, then you will need to make a name for yourself with the common folk and having the people of the mountains at your back is not a bad place to start.”

  Sane looked out the tower window overlooking the mountain city once more, but this time he looked past the streets below and even beyond the walls that protected Everec. There was the faint glow of fire off in the distance that could only be the orcs coming steadily closer.

  “They can’t win this fight with only two hundred men,” Sane mused, “The city will have to be abandoned.”

  “Plans are in the works and Aldyd is making the case to Marian,” Sari assured him.

  “Do you know why they are attacking?” Sane asked as he tried to estimate how long it would take them to get to Everec. The orcs would be upon these people soon.

  “No idea. We only know they are killing any humans they come across as they approach and in addition to vastly superior numbers they are armed with siege weaponry. All of the mining colonies between the Dread Marsh and here have been plundered and razed.”

  ***

  Donovan silently descended the stairway of the tower. He had followed Sari to make sure that the magician did not try to harm h
er, but what he heard was alarming to say the least. The sorcerer planned to kill Prince Janus and place a magician on the throne in his place. He would probably kill the king too while he was at it! To make matters worse, Sari, who he believed to be a trustworthy and noble woman, was in league with this man.

  He had to do something, but what? They needed every able man and woman to fight back the coming orcs if there was any hope of survival. Maybe Donovan would get lucky and Sane would be killed in the coming conflict, but if not then he would have to be prepared to do whatever was necessary to ensure the safety of Aurelia.

  As he left the tower and skulked across the grounds he headed for the barracks. Chance would be sleeping now, but he needed to hear of this. Then the two men could decide how to handle the magician together.

  Chapter 11

  The cave entrance towered over them like the maw of a great beast and the sun rose in the eastern sky casting a long shadow over the magicians. It was Alia's rune, crafted years ago that brought them to this cave not far from Colum.

  “I know this place,” Byrn told her placing his hand on the cave's wall as if he was testing it to make sure it was real. It was a piece of his past from a time that, although it was only a few years earlier, it felt like it was a lifetime away. “A pack of ogres used to live here. They always gave Colum a wide berth and we did the same with their cave. My father told me once that the guards would not attack it for fear that the cost of life of clearing them out would be too high, so we had to be content with the knowledge that as long as we left them alone, they would do the same for us.

  “One day they were driven mad by a magician who held a grudge against Colum... or maybe just people in general and my hometown happened to be an easy target. That was the day that I first realized that I could wield magic. That was also the night that my life was changed forever. I ended up in Baj for accidentally killing nine people and the magician who set the attack in motion was never caught.”

  “I am sorry,” Alia said with a somber note to her voice. She put her hand on Byrn’s shoulder to comfort him, but he barely noticed. “The gods work mysteriously at times, but if you think about it maybe that was the best thing that could have happened to you. If not for that event, you may have never discovered your true potential.”

  Byrn continued as if she had not said anything, lost in his own memories. “For the longest time I felt cursed by that day. It seemed that fate had conspired against me to take everything I cared about away, but now,” Byrn paused looking for the right words, “now I still feel that loss, but I could no longer imagine myself as being anything other than I am now. If the ogres never attacked, then I would have moved away from Colum as a journeyman courier. At the time it seemed that a life where avoiding the occasional bandit would be all the excitement that I would ever need, but at some point doing the fantastic- things that I never thought were possible- has become commonplace. Spending time with you and others like us in a community of magicians has made me feel at ease with who I am and if things had unfolded differently, then I would not have grown into the person you see before you. Does that make sense?”

  Alia only nodded. Her mind seemed to be in another place.

  After a time they made their way to the lake although the term “lake” did not do the body of water justice. It was a great lake, larger across than many rivers, and would take a full day for them to reach the opposite end on foot where they guessed the sewer tunnel was located. The side they were on was often trafficked by Colum’s residents and as Byrn had never seen anything like a sewer tunnel emptying out on this side, then it must be on the opposite side of the lake where no one ever went except on occasional hunting expeditions when food was scarce.

  Byrn calmed his mind easily focusing his thoughts dispassionately on his outward magic so that instead of generating fire as was his natural tendency he dropped the temperature in the air several degrees and froze a portion of the lake before them large enough that they could walk out on it. Byrn was the first to test his icy construct and, finding it satisfactory, held his hand out for Alia who took it as Byrn helped her aboard.

  “Hold on to me,” he told her, releasing her hand and offering his arm in its place.

  “What for?” she asked.

  In answer a powerful gust of wind blew across the lake that nearly pushed Alia off her feet on the slippery surface and she instinctively grabbed onto Byrn’s outstretched arm as their impromptu ice raft pushed away from the shore.

  Alia shivered and pulled her cloak tightly around her slender body, but Byrn barely felt the cold touch his skin. “I’m going to summon another wind to push us along more quickly,” he told Alia and she responded by snuggling into his arm to his gratification.

  “Do you mind,” she asked nudging closer to him, and he indicated that he did not. “You’re so warm,” she said and pressed her body against him, which only seemed to intensify his own inner heat. “It must be a perk of being a master of fire.”

  It was, but Byrn did not tell her, preferring to let her draw her own conclusions.

  In this way, Byrn and Alia made their way across the lake in about an hour instead of the day it would have taken to walk around it. Alia appeared happy to disembark from the ice raft, but the ride was over all too soon for Byrn.

  From this point the pair of magicians would need to search on foot for the sewer’s entrance. They did not speak much as they spent the next hour or so moving up and down the shoreline that was in the general direction of Baj. The view of the prison was largely obstructed due to the tree line that blocked their view. Each magician reflected on the events that transpired in Colum four years ago and their decidedly different roles in that fight.

  The sun was setting while the magicians continued to search along the edge of the lake looking in any area that had an overgrowth of plants or forestation leading into the lake, believing that the sewer entrance must be hidden, but the tunnel’s entrance still eluded them.

  The moon grew fat in the sky overhead. It was a cloudless night and the moon’s reflected light in the lake helped to light the night as the hours passed. It was hours later and they were discussing where to set up camp for the night when Alia found the sewer run off hidden behind some large bushes and an overhang of rock and dirt. The pipe was large enough for a single person to enter hunched over, but was blocked by a metal grate. Byrn tested it and found that it was held securely in place.

  “I was beginning to doubt that it was here at all,” Alia told him. The relief in her voice was undeniable and Byrn did not have the heart to tell her that he was thinking the same thing.

  Instead, he simply agreed, “It was very well hidden.”

  “Can you burn through the bars?” Alia asked looking over Byrn's shoulder as he examined the grating.

  “I think so, but maybe we should wait until morning. The flame or smoke could draw someone’s attention.”

  Alia considered their options. “We should do it now. If we burn through the bars now, then someone might see the glow of the flames, but if we wait then we run the risk of being spotted by any patrols that might pass through here.”

  “I do not relish the idea of being caught unaware or staying awake all night and being too tired to properly defend ourselves should the need arise,” Byrn conceded, “Can you move back by the bushes? I don’t want to risk accidentally burning you.” After Alia moved a safe distance away Byrn created a fire dagger and pressed it against the top of the middle bar. He held it and moved it slowly against the bar as he willed a constant flow of magic through the construct. Unlike an actual dagger there was no resistance as the fire construct licked against the bar, but it still took a minute before the top of the pole was melted through. Byrn was pleased to see that only a few small clouds of smoke were created by his cutting and he hoped that no one would see them rising.

  Byrn was halfway through the bottom half of the bar when Alia reappeared from the bushes. “There are some people approaching in a small boat. How close
are you?”

  “Not much longer. Did they see you?” Byrn kept working on the bottom end.

  Alia considered the question briefly, “I don’t think so. It is probably the glow of the fire that is attracting them.”

  The bar fell into the sewage tunnel with a loud clang. Alia hissed at the sound and sneaked a peek through the bushes. “They are looking this way,” she whispered. Then added, “They are paddling towards us.”

  Byrn looked out. The men were still far away. It would take them a quarter hour or more to get to the grating even at a full row. “We still have some time. If we make no more noise and replace the grate, they may think that nothing is amiss.” Byrn squeezed through the opening and smiled wryly at his cohort. “Are you coming?”

  Alia climbed through with much less difficulty. “Let us continue.”

  “Not yet,” Byrn told her. He squeezed past her so that he was at the grating and grabbed the bar and held it in place with one hand while he touched the top end with his staff. A small but intense flame sprang forth and lightly melted the bar back in place. “Now if those men do make it here they will see nothing out of the ordinary.” He did not speak the new fear that suddenly sprang to his mind. What if there was an entrance into the sewers from within the prison?

  Byrn led the way through the tunnel. A soft glow emanated from his staff lighting the way ahead of them. Although it hardly mattered as they traveled for miles before coming to the first point where the pipe split. They stood in front of three possible paths. Alia placed her hand against the wall and said, “Come forth, Sprite Alphene,” and when she removed her hand a bright gold sprite sprang forth as if she had been hiding under Alia’s palm the whole time.