The boy knew the streets well and led them to the Nightwinds' estate in a half hour. The lord's manor was about a third the size of the king's castle, but was still a very impressive structure especially considering that Lord Nightwind only visited the capital city once or twice a year.
The manor’s head attendant greeted them at the entrance. He was an old man in his seventies by the name of Sevu whose wrinkly face was a strange contrast to his smooth, balding head. He wore a fine dress shirt and trousers, but nothing as elaborate as Byrn's new clothing or the ceremonial armor worn by the rangers.
“Welcome, honored guests,” Sevu said sounding sincere. Sevu greeted the women formally by name, but with warmth like that of a grandfather. To Byrn, he took the young man's hand in his own and shook it briskly lavishing him with praise for rescuing Tian. Taking a superior's hand unbidden was a breach in etiquette for a servant, but Byrn did not mind as he found the courtier's genuine demeanor reassuring. Finally, he led them to the manor's throne room and bid them to wait while he announced their arrival. Sevu disappeared behind the throne room's door.
“You seem nervous,” observed Sari while they waited.
“I half expect that this is some sort of elaborate trap and Kenzai hunters will come pouring out of the stonework when I least expect them,” Byrn confessed. “My first night at the castle I did not sleep at all. I sat up all night waiting with my grimoire in hand for hunters to come and try to take me in the middle of the night.”
He expected the elf would laugh at that, but she only nodded. “It is a sad thing when one sees enemies around every turn. It is sadder still when those enemies exist. I do not doubt there are those who want you dead or imprisoned, but it seems that, for whatever their reasons, King Kale and Lord Nightwind are not among them.”
“If I may ask a question,” Byrn's voice lowered almost to a whisper, “You two are the only non-magicians in the kingdom that I fully trust. Do you perceive any possibility that this is all some sort of scheme to harm me or that they may be using me to find other rogue magicians?”
Sari thought on it for a moment, but before she could answer Sevu had returned and bid them to enter the chamber. They did and found Lord Nightwind in attendance with his wife and daughter. A handful of guards were stationed around the chamber, but no more than would otherwise be expected.
They exchanged pleasantries and before long the warlord began to speak to his two newest vassals' duties. To Marian he said, “You will be placed as the dame-ranger of Everec. It is a small mining city in the mountains near the border with the Dread Marsh. We have been experiencing orc raids of late in the region and I think you would make an excellent captain for our ranger garrison established there.
“There is also a keep in the city that you will be given ownership of along with the nearby land holdings in the region to do with as you see fit.”
To Byrn, he said, “I understand that you have been separated from your family for quite some time. As a magician, I expect you to travel throughout my province as the need arises, but you will also be established in Everec with some property and servants of your own during your downtime to be near your mother. In addition you will have quarters within my own castle as I expect that we will see each other often.”
“Thank you, my lord, but I was hoping I might ask you for a boon,” Byrn said with some hesitation not wishing to sound ungrateful.
The warlord regarded him with an intense gaze, “Indeed? I make no promises, but will hear you out. What is it that you wish?”
“Understood,” Byrn agreed, “Before I came to Mollifas to rescue my mother... and Lady Tian I was planning to start a small school for magicians to help others learn to control their powers. I would like to still do so, but under your supervision, of course.”
“That is a difficult thing you ask,” Nightwind told him. The warlord shifted to a more upright position in his seat making him look a little taller. “Taking in one rogue magician, even one who saved the life of my only child, is no small feat. His highness understands my reasoning and has chosen to support me in this decision, but there have been those who have opposed your ascension behind closed doors. If I were any less than a warlord and trusted friend to the king, I dare say you would have found yourself back in Baj or worse by now.
“Allowing you to start a school would be tantamount to treason. It would never be allowed by the kingdom or its people.”
Marian squeezed Byrn's arm fearing that he might say or do something that he would come to regret, but no outburst came. Byrn's heart sank at the warlord's words, but he knew Ethiel Nightwind believed himself to be working in the best interest of the kingdom and did not hold that against him. “Perhaps it was foolish of me to even consider the idea,” Byrn admitted with some sadness. “Your offer is very generous, but I have made a commitment to my master before all this began. May I seek counsel before making my decision?”
“I am accustomed to getting what I want,” Lord Nightwind sounded harsh, but took a breath and relented a little, “but I understand your desire to fulfill your obligation to your former master. That is the same kind of loyalty I like to see in my vassals, but know that if you choose to renounce your knighthood you will no longer be under my protection or that of King Kale. You will go back to being a rogue magician. I do not know what kind of life you lived before, but any anonymity you possessed will be gone now that you are well known in the kingdom. It will be a harder life.
“How long will it take you to reach your former master and make your decision?”
Byrn thought for a moment and told him, “No more than two days.”
Lord Nightwind seemed surprised by this and said, “Indeed? It is fitting that you spent the last few days staying in the castle. You must have been living right under the king's nose for much longer.” Byrn did not bother to correct him. It was not truly a secret, but most people were unaware that many magicians could travel vast distances in an instant. The general populace feared magic enough without having to worry about magicians transporting into their homes while they slept.
The knight-magician thanked the warlord again for his generosity and left the estate with his companions. As they walked toward the inn where Sari stayed while in Mollifas, Byrn began talking, “I will go back to my school for a bit and return in two days, but before then I have a task to complete so that I can return here quickly.” To his mother he said, “Can you take me back to where Mantellus held you captive?”
Marian said that she could and led them back to the warehouse where she and Tian had been held. When they entered the building she asked, “Why did you need to come here? Did you forget something?”
“I needed someplace with little or no foot traffic and this warehouse is the best place I know of in the city. Mantellus chose this place for its seclusion, after all,” he told them.
“You plan to make a transportation rune?” Sari asked.
Byrn smiled knowingly, “You have an impressive knowledge of magic.”
“The stories I could tell,” Sari waved him off dismissing the comment. “Sane and I traveled together for a long time when we were your age.”
The magician reached into his backpack and pushed his cloak out of the way to find a small pouch containing some blank rune carvings. Taking one out, he held it against the front interior wall and began to chant in a melodic voice.
Chapter 41
The dungeon under the royal castle was damp and smelled of a nauseating mixture of mold, excrement, and blood. A single brazier lit the hallway leading to the cell where Mantellus Firekin laid chained to the wall. His body was bruised and bloody from long days of interrogation at the hands of the king's inquisitors until they were sure that he acted alone and that none within the temple knew of his true nature.
By all accounts Mantellus had the ability to heal. It was difficult enough to accept that magicians could use healing magic which was previously thought to be a gift reserved for Ashura's chosen, but to admit that a serial murder
er like Mantellus could practice the healing arts could throw the kingdom into chaos as the once faithful commoners would turn against their priests and destroy their own temples. Nearly all of the healing arts in the kingdom were performed by Ashura's priests and if they were suddenly gone medical care would be set back a thousand years.
The official word being passed around by the rumormongers under the crown’s employ was that Mantellus Firekin was a rogue magician who was merely disguising himself as a priest and as long as Mantellus disappeared there would never be another question on the matter. He would have to be disposed of... or be put to good use.
A pair of bodyguards followed closely behind by Gilkame Axebeard and Prince Janus entered the cell. It was a large chamber built to house a dozen prisoners, but Mantellus was alone except for his Kenzai guards who were preventing him from working magic. They stood at attention with glowing blades drawn ensuring that the area was free of magical energy. The other prisoners were moved to a nearby cell leading to overcrowding, but there were few complaints since none of the thieves or murderers wanted to be confined with a magician.
The dwarf carried a dull, wooden box and Mantellus eyed it warily, saying nothing. Nor did Gilkame care to explain as he opened the box in the battered magician's presence. He removed a simple collar of gold with a joint allowing it to open and latch in the front.
It was the prince who spoke first. “Have you tried this before?” he asked the dwarf hoping for some reassurance that everything would go smoothly.
Gilkame shook his head in the negative. “This is my first attempt with an actual magician although my trials involving criminals have been very favorable in making them domesticated,” and added, “I had the first prototype moved to Lion's Landing along with some of my other goods and someone stole it. All of the guards protecting it were killed too.”
“It must have been a very powerful magician to do such a thing,” the prince offered in consolation. “The notion that there are renegade magicians loose in the kingdom who know what we are up to is very unsettling.”
Gilkame made his way to the prisoner, who seeing the dwarf approach with the necklace began to squirm and tried in vain to free himself from his chains. “What are you going to do?” Mantellus' voice quivered fearing another beating.
“Hold him still!” Prince Janus commanded and his two bodyguards jumped to obey. Each one grabbed one of Mantellus' arms and roughly pinned him to the wall refusing to let him move as Gilkame fit the collar around his neck and snapped it shut.
Mantellus kept squirming, with the collar, on until Gilkame told him to stop and the killer much to his own surprise listened. He looked at the dwarf fearfully and found he was unable to utter a single word, but fear turned to anger, as did Mantellus' stare fore that was all he could muster without the dwarf's permission.
It was then that Mantellus noticed a small golden rod in the dwarf’s hand and he handed it to the prince. “With this necklace you can command the magician to do whatever you desire of him.”
“Slave, sit,” ordered Janus and he loosed a dark laugh when the magician obeyed, dropping his butt to the damp, stone floor. The prince put Mantellus through a few more paces until he was certain that the magician would obey his every command even going so far as giving the magician a knife and telling him to slit his own wrist. Seeing his new toy about to make good on the command, Prince Janus hastily told him to stop.
“The collar appears to be a resounding success!” Gilkame declared. “With your approval and financial backing I will begin seeing that these devices are produced in large quantities. There will be enough to collar every magician in the kingdom in a few months’ time.”
“Yes, of course, master dwarf,” the prince answered with a growing spark in his eye, “With this we will finally have the power to put every magician in the kingdom to heel, finally ensuring the safety of the people of Aurelia from the magicians' threat.
“The only question now is what to do with this one?” Janus gestured to Mantellus.
“I believe I have an idea,” Gilkame told the prince grinning from ear to ear.
Chapter 42
Turshyn whistled at Byrn's fine clothes, teasing his friend. Mere days ago Byrn left for Mollifas to find his mother and when he returned with news of his success he did so as a noble dressed in the finery of a person of rank in the kingdom.
At first, the necromancer thought his friend was telling a tall tale of dining with royalty and being made a knight. It was the thing of childhood fantasies, but once the initial shock wore off and he saw the sincerity on his friend’s face, Turshyn accepted that Byrn was not playing a joke on him.
“Do not be jealous,” Byrn told him pretending to take a snobbish tone. “I will be happy to share my hand me downs with you.”
Rex, one of the teen elementalists, sat at the opposite end of the table and laughed unexpectedly. The joke was doubly funny to him since Byrn was the larger of the two men standing a half a head higher than Turshyn. “You better get Mellani to sew those fine threads up for you, Turshyn, or you will be tripping over your own feet.”
Byrn looked at the necromancer in disbelief. He did not ask the question, but Turshyn knew him well enough to guess at what he was thinking. “After the incident with that collar, Mellani has really warmed to me recently,” Turshyn explained. “I do not understand what happened to make her change her opinion of me. Maybe it was the fear of death, but since then she has been loath to leave my side and while you were gone she professed her love to me.”
For all the years Byrn knew him Turshyn had pined over Mellani from a distance. Byrn reached across the table and cuffed Turshyn on the shoulder playfully. “See! Something more absurd than my dining with the king did occur.” In response the necromancer leaned over the table and punched Byrn in the arm. “Ow!” Byrn exclaimed. As he rubbed his mildly throbbing shoulder he said to Turshyn, “But you do know I am happy for you? In truth I knew it was bound to happen eventually.”
“Sometimes I can not figure you two out,” said Avelice Necros coming into the room, “At times you behave like the closest of friends- almost like brothers- and at others you fight like bitter enemies.” She sat beside Byrn taking in his new tunic and trousers without comment.
“I believe that is also a trait of brothers or close friends,” Turshyn told her.
Then Byrn told Avelice of all that had transpired since he left; from rescuing his mother and Tian to being made a knight of the Warlord Nightwind. When he finished he said, “What do you think I should do? If I stay I can help to teach more magicians to control their powers, but if I have a warlord's ear and move about Aurelia openly, then maybe I can help people to see us as more than monsters.”
Avelice thought on the decision for a while, but in the end she boiled it down to the heart of the matter, as she was apt to do. She told Byrn, “As with any decision there are advantages and disadvantages to whichever path you take. Know that whatever you decide, you will always be welcome here if that is what you fear. In the end you must decide what is it that you wish to do.”
Byrn had not even considered this. He was more concerned with his obligations to Avelice and fulfilling a perceived debt to the master necromancer rather than giving any serious thought to the path he wished to take. Finally he said, “I am not sure, but I still have a day to figure it out.”
***
Byrn returned to Mollifas via his new rune to give Lord Nightwind his answer. The decision was not an easy one to make, but in the end he decided to become a vassal of the warlord and leave the establishment of the new school to Turshyn and Mellani with the understanding that if they ever needed his assistance all they had to do was send a summons and he would come.
As he knelt before his new liege and swore loyalty to Warlord Ethiel Nightwind, Byrn felt a knot tighten in his stomach. Lord Nightwind told him to rise and clasped his new knight's hand in his own. Byrn was a little surprised at the strength in his lord's hand. “I foresee a bright futu
re for you, Sir Byrn Lightfoot, knight-magician of the Western Province.”
Chapter 43
The Seahawk docked in Lion's Landing without notice in the middle of the night to unload its cargo. However, there were no silks or food aboard. Nor were there any crates filled with weapons or bars of iron. The only cargo the ship held was its passengers. A group of twenty men and four dwarves, dressed in black cloaks, stepped onto the pier and disappeared into the city as silently as they arrived.
Down the main street the black clad Gilkame walked with similarly dressed humans flanking him in a protective formation. Beside the dwarf walked a human with fiery red hair and a pale complexion. The man glowered at Gilkame, but could not bring himself to harm his master.
“Frown at me all you want, Mantellus Firekin,” Gilkame told him, “It does not bother me. You belong to me now. You are nothing more than my puppet. The sooner you accept that, the better.” They turned down a side street and black-cloaked men followed not far behind them. “Cheer up, magician,” the dwarf continued, “soon you will be able to cause all the destruction and death you wish. You will just be doing it under my terms.”
Mantellus screamed in his mind, since his mouth was unable to voice his rage without the dwarf's permission. Every inch of his being willed his hand to raise and kill Gilkame with a scorching blast of fire, but he could not manage to even lift a finger. It was like the terror he felt while under the effects of Ryonus' paralysis spell, but this was a thousand times worse as he had no hope that this spell would ever fade.
The collared magician knew their plan. The damnable prince and dwarf made no effort to hide it from him. They thought it a funny joke that he would be used as a weapon against his fellow magicians. Mantellus held no love for his magical brothers and sisters, but resented having his free will removed so that he was nothing more than a prisoner in his own body.
Rogue Magician (The Magician Rebellion) Page 24