Star Mage (Book 5)

by John Forrester

  “From my research into their history I’ve gleaned that the ancient founders of their Order made a blood oath to steal the beating hearts of every dragon in the world, and offered the hearts as a sacrifice to their cruel gods. Once they completed that horrific mission they perfected their magics with the aid and blessing of their gods. That is why there are no more dragons on this world, at least according to their lore, and I’ve heard no better explanation for the dragons disappearance.”

  Nikulo thought to Vellia, and the vast horde of dragons from Ghaelstrom, and couldn’t imagine them all being killed. What nefarious minds were powerful and conniving enough to destroy all of dragon kind?

  “You know there is a cult within the Order of the Dragons that claim that their members have gone weak over the years without dragon blood and hearts to sacrifice to their gods. They hold a great reverence for the dragons, and believe that their ancestors should have never killed all the dragons, but instead conquered them and bred them for repeated sacrifice over the years. They’ve sent scouts far across the seas and north into the mountains searching for any remaining dragons, but from what I’ve heard, none have been found.”

  “I hope Talis never transforms into a dragon in Carvina, they’ll try and rip his heart out alive.”

  Master Holoron thought about his words for a while, and shook his head in disagreement. “No, I imagine they might worship him as a god and raise him up as the most powerful figure on this world.”

  “So what do we do about Onair?” Nikulo changed the subject, not wanting to picture Talis getting mixed up with such a strange magical order. “We’re stuck here now that the ship has gone. Unless we wait for another one going north?”

  “I never said we’d give up on our mission. I merely meant we wouldn’t fight. There are other ways of winning than fighting. And here before us is a valuable lesson in the art of war. What is the goal we are seeking to accomplish?”

  Nikulo thought about all the miserable refugees that had come to Naru after the destruction of Onair. If they couldn’t win in a fight against the Jiserians, then what was their real goal? “To protect the people left in Onair?”

  “Think more carefully. To protect them would put yourself in a position of requiring to fight those of the Order of the Dragons. What is our real goal here in this situation?”

  “Well, we wanted to go down and get rid of the Jiserians and free the city.” Nikulo felt himself getting frustrated at the wizard’s cryptic questions.

  “Precisely, the goal is to get rid of the Jiserians and free the city.” Master Holoron bowed his head in respect to Nikulo. “And to achieve that goal, there is no reason for us to fight. We just need a way to assure victory for our goal without raising a finger to fight. And do you have any ideas on how to get them to leave Onair?” At Nikulo’s no doubt exasperated look, the wizard continued, “We know what they want, do we not? I’ve just told you they crave dragons to breed and use as a sacrifice for their dark gods.”

  “So you are suggesting we offer them a way to find dragons? The dragons on Vellia? But they have no means to leave this world and journey to Vellia, Aurellia made sure of that by leaving. Unless there are others remaining in the Jiserian Empire that possess the knowledge? But without a powerful enough crystal, there’s no hope of succeeding in the casting of the world portal spell.”

  “Ah, but there is someone in the Jiserian Empire who has such knowledge and holds a powerful crystal required to cast such a spell. You said it yourself.” The wizard leaned forward and Nikulo shuddered at the devious look on his face. “Your friend, Talis Storm, would he not be able to provide what those Jiserians desire?”

  18. COLLATERAL EXECUTIONS

  As they snuck through the silent streets to the house of their destination, Mara imagined the feeling of the twin daggers in her hands, blazing and slicing as she cut the criminals down. Master Goleth’s story had strangely affected her emotions and even now she found her arms shaking from the image of those horrible men hurting the Builder and his mother. She allowed Talis to lead the way so she could open her backpack and withdraw the daggers. The leather straps of the sheaths were perfectly sized to attach to each forearm, and the weight of the blades and the feeling of fury flowed into her mind at their close proximity.

  I will kill those men myself with my own daggers, she told herself, and she pictured the blood erupting from the old men’s necks. Age demands no pity of me, she thought, and as Talis pointed at a multi-storied house made of stone, she gripped the daggers and wielded them, a burst of bloodlust surging through her.

  A quick glance from his wary eyes caused Mara to lower the daggers in caution, not wanting for him to recognize the design. “The door is steel and there are solid iron bars on all the windows. And I doubt at this late hour they’d open for someone knocking at their front door.”

  “Use the map to show us any dangerous people or traps,” Mara said, and noticed the hesitation in Talis’s response.

  “Is this really necessary?” Master Goleth said, and his eyes looked tired and fearful as he stared up at the strong house. “I mean what is done is done, and will killing two old men who committed a crime many years ago really help anything?”

  “Of course it will,” Mara retorted, and frowned in response to his stupid words. Why was he being such a coward? They hurt and probably killed his mother, and he felt no rage against them? “What they did to your mother, they likely did to many other people, and from the look of this house, they probably continue to commit crimes every day. Let the Lord of the Underworld mete out his judgment for all their evil deeds.”

  She took a step towards Talis and jutted her chin at the Surineda Map. Her eyes fixed on Master Goleth. “Stay out here in the street and suffer under your memories, Builder, but I’m killing those men tonight.”

  Talis stopped opening the map and gaped at Mara in horror. “What’s come over you? I want to see those men punished for their crimes as do you, but it’s almost like you’re enjoying the thought of killing them. And where did you get those daggers? They don’t make blades like that in Naru.”

  “You know as well as I do that we’re the only ones who can punish those men for what they did to Master Goleth’s mother.” She sighed in irritation and looked up at him with a pleading gaze, not wanting to answer his question. “His story really got to me, ok? We both have a mother and he had to grow up knowing that his mother had been hurt by those men. And his father refused to take him in… Can you imagine how you would feel if that ever happened to you? Those men are guilty. Period. End of argument. Now are you going to help me or not?”

  The wariness in his eyes melted under the weight of Mara’s stare, until he gave her a grim smile and nodded, his expression fierce and certain. “May the gods use our hands to execute justice in the protection of the weak and defenseless.” He opened the map and closed his eyes, and soon a sea of danger appeared over the place where the house was drawn.

  “Oh, Nyx, what have we gotten ourselves into?” Mara whispered, and studied the angry red dots milling around the map.

  “Traps at the roof, looks magical.” Talis pointed at arcane runic symbols pulsing on the map. “All the doors have magical wards, especially the back door. The front door looks strong enough to not to need any magic to hold it.”

  “It seems like those men who hurt your mother are now crime lords of some kind. No name above the door, quiet, unmarked streets… Or perhaps a cult of some kind?” Mara wondered how they could find a way inside. She studied the glass windows and realized those men were primarily thinking of protecting themselves from people entering the house to hurt them.

  “They’re arrogant enough to keep glass windows. Likely they’re not worried about someone setting their house on fire.” Mara gave Talis a devilish smile.

  “But what about all the people inside?” Talis said, and studied the map. “You want to set an entire house filled with people on fire to exact revenge against two guilty men?”

  �
�That sounds about right. If the gods find them innocent of crimes then I imagine they’ll escape unharmed and unmolested by our attacks as they flee the building.”

  “So you want to kill them as they try and escape a burning building?” Talis gave her a look like she had gone completely insane.

  “I can’t help but believe that they will be quite violent towards us as they charge outside.” Mara knew she was walking a razor-sharp line with Talis and he was close to giving up on pursuing their targets. So she tried another tact to convince him. “How about we set fire only to the area of the house where the two men are? Maybe if we are lucky they will die in the blaze. That way the others will have a chance of escape and we can hide over there in the shadows and wait for them to leave the house. We’ll watch the map and track their movements. That way we shouldn’t hurt too many people.”

  Talis looked placated and Mara gave his arm a reassuring squeeze and told him he was doing the right thing to help Master Goleth. The Builder cleared his throat and his face held a crafty expression.

  “If you insist on going through with your plan of revenge against those two men, then let me suggest another plan of attack.” The wizard cleared his throat in a raspy, purging fit. “Excuse my cough, it seems as if I’ve come down with something during our sea voyage. I feel quite fatigued and dizzy.”

  Mara tilted her head and studied the dark, deep circles under the man’s eyes and his skin’s pale complexion. Had he looked like this on the ship or was it only because they’d entered this part of Carvina?

  “As I was saying, my skills as a wizard relate not only to building but also to deconstructing. Your plan to set fire to the building is fraught with impossibilities. For instance, if their security is sophisticated enough to cast magical wards over doors, I imagine that the glass windows will be magically protected as well. However, very few rune masters know how to protect against my kind of magic. One spell and I can eliminate the doors and bars and windows, and leave them completely exposed to outside forces.”

  “Really?” Talis said, and gave the wizard an amazed look of admiration. Mara knew Talis was still very interested in learning of the magic of the Order of Rezel, but like Mara, he only wanted to study directly with Master Goleth, from the only Jiserian they trusted.

  “I suppose now is as good of a time as any,” the Builder said. “Track those two vile men on your map and I’ll create the most elaborate distraction you’ve ever seen in your life.”

  Talis and Mara followed Master Goleth over to hide in the shadows, and once there, Talis nodded at the Builder and studied the map. Soon he glanced up as the wizard stretched out his long fingers and aimed at the building, a look of intense concentration on his face, like when Mara had seen him for the first time on the island in Vellia.

  Mara watched the Builder cast his spells and she thought the swirl of the elements looked like the building spells he had cast before, but done in reverse motion. The iron bars and steel doors literally melted into a sea of shimmering light and poured into a new object that he was fashioning from those stolen elements. At first Mara had a hard time telling what Master Goleth was fabricating, but soon the shape rose and refined and resolved into a tall statue of a beautiful woman with curly hair, her long arms stretched out accusingly at the now dissolved front door.

  “That’s your mother?” Mara said, and was surprised to find her voice choked with emotion. Tears spilled from her eyes as she glanced back and forth from Master Goleth to the haunting statue.

  “They’re coming!” Talis hissed, and he aimed a hand at the building entrance. They stood tensed and ready to strike, and Mara could feel her heart pounding inside her chest. She gripped her daggers tighter and pictures of rage and revenge swirled around in her mind like silent commands.

  The first thug poked his head out of the entryway and gaped stupidly at the place where the steel door had been attached to the hinges. A larger, brutish thug shoved him aside and muttered curses at how his fat face was getting in the way. The man glanced around the street, a menacing, calculating look in his eyes, until he stared in confusion at the beautiful metallic statue of the woman pointing at the entrance.

  “Get the sorcerers,” the thug shouted, and he turned and charged back into the house, the other man following him as well.

  Talis glanced at the map and Mara saw that the two old men were leaving from the rear entrance. “Let’s go after them. Looks like they’re trying to sneak out unnoticed.”

  As they headed out back down an alleyway, Mara noticed that the Builder had cast a quick spell and barred up the front door and windows with slashes of steel woven into a dangerous pattern. Now the thugs and sorcerers had no choice but to leave via the back entrance, and Mara was sure that Master Goleth was preventing them from flanking their rear and attacking them with the element of surprise.

  “There they are,” Talis said, and pointed at two burly looking old men surrounded by a gang of six toughs, and three sorcerers in green robes followed from the back of the group. Before Talis could cast a spell, the Builder flicked his wrist and formed a prison of those same steel spikes around the two old men, causing the thugs to shout in consternation and surprise. The sorcerers flared their hands around, eyes searching for the source of the attacks.

  The thugs charged off after Talis and Master Goleth, who stepped forward to face their enemies in the alleyway, but Mara snuck along behind the shadows of several crates piled high. The passageway between the crates and the house was wide enough for Mara to sneak through. The dark street was illuminated by bursts of light magic and lightning bolts, and the sound of steel striking steel as the thugs hacked away at the barriers that the Builder had constructed to contain the men.

  Talis was caught in a frenzied battle against the three powerful sorcerers who crafted runic symbols in the air between Talis and them, blocking or absorbing every spell that Talis cast at them. With each casting, the runes seemed to strengthen and grow brighter. But while the sorcerers were concentrated on Talis, Mara had stalked along the building and positioned herself behind the three shriveled sorcerers with pasty, wrinkled faces. Two daggers for three sorcerers, Mara thought, and remembered the technique that Master Relech had taught her for dealing with situations like this.

  The blade in her left hand swung around in a wide arc and punched a hole into the unsuspecting, left-most sorcerer’s heart. While the man crumpled to the ground, blood bubbling from his chest, Mara twisted and brought the dagger in her right hand around and sliced the other sorcerer in the neck, nearly severing his head. A spray of blood filled the air and Mara felt the warm droplets on her face and arms as the man gurgled and gasped for air as he collapsed into the expanding pool of his own blood. The third sorcerer pivoted and aimed his fingers at Mara, but before he could get off a spell, the man found an exotic blade buried deep into his eye socket.

  The thugs, lured by the sounds of battle behind them, gave up on Talis and turned to inspect the bloody mess that Mara had created. What a sight she must have been for those men. She chuckled as their eyes narrowed in perplexed horror at the mess of blood over her face and white frilly blouse. With a quick pull she yanked the dagger from the last sorcerer’s eye socket and beckoned for the thugs to come and dance with her. The feeling of pulsing power from the twin daggers raged inside her hands and heart and she stabbed the air in the direction of each thug in a children’s game of choosing which pig she’d butcher first.

  None of the hired thugs were brave enough to join in her dance of death, and the men bolted down a side street, filling the silent night with the sound of boots clapping against cobblestone as they escaped. The rage simmered slowly and Mara felt the blades’ disappointment at not being fed their fill of blood. She wanted to chase after those men and stalk them down one by one, but she remembered all the points of light on the Surineda Map. Weren’t there more men inside who could threaten them?

  Master Goleth melted away the sharp steel barriers and strode over to where the two
old men cringed in terror, their baffled eyes studying the Builder as he approached. Mara glanced at Talis’s concerned face as she joined the wizard to stare at the criminals who snarled at them like two old rats caught in a trap. She prodded the steel cages around the men, wishing her blades were longer.

  “Leave them for me,” Master Goleth said, and his unrelenting eyes offered no opportunity for argument. Mara moved aside and allowed the wizard to stand alone and face those two men. With a flourish of his hands the steel cage evaporated into elemental particles and swirled around and formed into a menacing-looking, serpentine short sword that fit nicely in the Builder’s hand.

  “You may not remember me.” The wizard jabbed the sword underneath the wrinkled neck of the first old man. “But I remember you two, especially you, for my mother was the first to suffer under the punishment of your hands. She was so young and beautiful…why did you have to hurt her?”

  A line of blood dribbled down the old man’s neck as a flash of mockery crossed his face. “I don’t remember you or your whore of a mother, and I don’t really care. I’ve made it my business to hurt filthy women and poor innocent boys. Ah!” The wizard slashed the sword across the man’s big belly and stared with some interest as his intestines spilled out.

  “A declaration of guilt,” Master Goleth said, his voice cold and flat. He turned the blood-soaked sword to the other man, whose eyes glowered at the wizard in defiance. “How about you? If I recall, you tried to stop your friend from hurting my mother at first, but then he called you a coward and to prove him wrong, you joined in and were even more brutal than he was against her.”