Thelee tried to move out of the circle but the dryads locked hands and stayed with her, “What’s all this about?” She asked.
Ephaltus cleared his throat, “Just wait for it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Sssh, quiet!” he looked up at the sky light. “The sun is just about in the correct position.”
There came a knock at the door followed by a dryad entering. “The arena door has been breached, sir.”
“Ah, right on time.” He dismissed the dryads surrounding Thelee. “Forgive the protection circle, my dear, but sometimes he actually breaks into here and I didn’t want you hurt before you even started the job. Follow me and say nothing.” He hesitated, “Oh, and stay behind me. You will be fine if you keep quiet and stay behind me.”
“Shouldn’t the dryads come with us? Weren’t you worried about me getting hurt?”
“The arena is much bigger; you’ll be fine if you keep quiet and stay far behind me. Now, come on, follow me.”
Ephaltus led her through the moss covered opening to the Earth Chamber and out into the early afternoon air. Once they crossed a short walkway of cobblestones, they emerged at the foot of a grassy hill. Ephaltus trudged up the hill almost leaving Thelee behind. He looked back at her, “Keep up!”
“Yes, master.” She replied.
They topped the hill and before them, taking up a vast amount of land was the Arena of the Six Kingdoms. Earthen walls build high and strong surrounded a tract of flat land seemingly stretched to the far horizon. Ephaltus continued down the slope of the hill toward the arena when he realized Thelee has stopped following him. “What, didn’t you see the arena when you arrived?”
Thelee stumbled toward him. “No, I couldn’t see over this hill when I arrived.”
Ephaltus wrinkled his lips, turned and kept descending the hill as Thelee found her footing.
The forty-foot-high double doors to the arena were smashed inward and there were deep claw-like marks gashed into the stone walls.
“Remember to stay behind me.”
“I get it. I will stay behind you, master.”
“No need for the attitude, apprentice.”
“Sorry, master,” Thelee said sheepishly.
They entered the arena with Thelee coming in behind Ephaltus. The old tourney Master stopped and scanned the spectator stands, which expanded upward to about half the height of the walls surrounding the arena. Each section was marked by a set of colored poles indicating the six mages who would compete each century, red, blue, white, grey, black, and green.
“Where is he, dammit,” Ephaltus grumbled.
“Who master? What is this about?”
“For one thousand years, not long after I awaken, one of the gods sends an avatar to fight me.”
“What?” Thelee asked. “Why?”
“Because if they can put me down for a while their champion will have more time. Try to keep up, we discussed this.”
“Master, look out!” Thelee said, pointing behind the wizard.
Ephaltus turned while conjuring a shield of magic. The avatar of the god pounded its huge fist into the shield and its hand bounced off it. The monster stood almost as tall as the double doors to the arena. It was covered in scales and sharp, menacing horns protruded from its arms, back, and from the top of its head. It stood dumbfounded that Ephaltus’ shield could deflect its terrible blow.
Ephaltus couldn’t help but smile at Thelee, “This is going to be fun!” He said gleefully.
Part Three: Into the World
“Little man, I have come to retrieve you.” The avatar said in a rough, monstrous voice. “Stay still now and let me complete my mission.”
“Not a chance,” Ephaltus said. He raised his hands and pointed his fingers at the avatar. Streaks of lightning flowed from his fingertips. The avatar stumbled backward and shielded its eyes.
The avatar ground its teeth as it strengthened its resolve. It sent its huge fist to smash Ephaltus. “Ah, predictable.” The tourney master said as he thrust his fist forward and the energy from it expanded into a giant magical fist that smashed directly into the Avatar’s punch, abruptly stopping it. The avatar’s wrist cracked with reverberation. It screamed as it clutched its arm in great pain.
“Master!” Thelee cried.
Ephaltus turned his attention to her and saw that another avatar had seized her. “Clever, the god that sent you remembered this year there might be two of us.” He flicked his wrist and the ribbon of pure blue light snatched his new apprentice right out o the monster’s hand and placed her at his side. “I may as well begin the transfer. Now is as good a time as any, I suppose.” He placed his hand on the side of Thelee’s head. There was a blue spark between Ephaltus and Thelee before her eyes lit up. “You see now?”
Thelee dropped to one knee and then returned to standing. “I do!” The avatar, who had her before, charged at her and she deflected its attack with the wave of her hand.
While Ephaltus was watching Thelee take control of her new tourney master abilities the avatar he had his back to grabbed him with its good hand and squeezed. He found himself unable to make a sound as the creature closed its fist, but he tried. The sound he did manage to make was a squeaking gasp. Thelee heard the noise he was making but she was dealing with her own beast. He could see by the agony in her face that she was desperate to help her master. She pointed her hands at the beast as she saw Ephaltus do earlier, but instead of firing bolts of lighting, she ruthlessly jumped at the creature’s head, grasping it between her hands on both sides, and let go of the full charge of lightning directly in the avatar’s brain. It screamed as the charge fried its mind and slung her off in its horrible death throws before it collapsed lifeless. What Ephaltus saw next chilled him to the bone. Thelee turned to the avatar that had him trapped with such a gaze he knew the creature was done for. The avatar, seeing what happened to the other, dropped Ephaltus as soon as Thelee began to run for him. He turned to run too, but Thelee used her now found power to leap on it back, somehow avoiding the spikey horns and climb to its head. It tried in vain to shake her off, but in a few moments, it suffered the same fate as its companion.
Thelee regained her composure and ran to help Ephaltus who was still gasping for air. “Don’t get me wrong, apprentice, I’m glad you rescued me. I am a bit old to be fighting such things, but I think you might have been unnecessarily brutal.”
Thelee shrugged, “They were monsters,”
“Never the less, we of all people must show restraint. We are mentors and teachers to the mages, not the combatants themselves.”
“I will try to remember that the next time one is squeezing you to death.”
“Sarcasm is unbecoming.”
“Forgive my attitude, master.”
Ephaltus wasn’t sure if her apology contained even more sarcasm but he decided to let it go. He motioned to the creatures. “Now that they are dead, they must be disposed of and the arena must be repaired. These are your tasks as well. Come, and I will show you how to get any maintenance done around the arena.”
“Lead on, master,” Thelee said with a sweeping motion of her right hand.
“Since the arena is so enormous and the wall so high, the maintenance is performed by rock sentinel made especially made for the job.” He went to the entrance of the arena again and pointed to either side. “Do you see them in the frieze? In the scene depicted?”
Thelee looked at the raised mural on the wall next to the enormous double doors. “I do.”
“Good!” Ephaltus went to the frieze and placed his hands on a stone orb. “Go and ready the arena.” He said.
The two stone sentinels began to move and step out of the side of the building. “And, that’s all there is to that. They will clear off the arena grounds and repair the doors as well as clean and repair any damage the arena might have suffered over the past one hundred years.”
“Simple enough. So, what’s next?”
“Next, we get started. It’s time to show
you around.”
Thelee rubbed her hands together excitedly.
“The Earth Chamber is your private residence. The dryads serve you but they are not your servants. They will awaken you on the ninety-fifth year following the last winner. You will have up to five years to find and convince all six mages of their destiny. Since the fate of the six kingdoms depends on you, you cannot fail in this task or it could be your life. Before you ask, no tourney master has ever failed as far as I know.” He held up his right hand and put his thumb on the ring on his pinky finger. “The portal spell I showed you earlier will allow you to travel to all six kingdoms easily, once you learn it that is. This ring is the key to the arsenal I am about to show you. I will hand it over to you once we complete your training and identify all six mages.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
“What I am about to show you very few people outside of tourney masters and mage champions have ever seen before.” He walked up to the same moss covered tree trunk where the entrance to the Earth Chamber was located. He placed his ring onto a knot on the tree and it moved aside. Thelee stood there staring.
“What?”
“Isn’t this just the Earth Chamber?”
“Nothing is ever as it seems. The ring makes the difference, come on in and you’ll see.”
Ephaltus was excited to see the look on Thelee’s face as she viewed the Arsenal of the Way for the first time. “Welcome, to the Arsenal. Don’t touch anything until I explain everything first, all right?”
“Certainly.” She said.
Ephaltus was not disappointed when Thelee entered. Her expression was full of awe and wonder. The arsenal consisted of three separate levels all viewable from the first floor, with two spiral staircases in each of the far corners leading all the way up. The ground floor had swords, spears, halberds, shields, and all manners of weaponry. The second floor was stuffed with parchments, books, and scrolls and the top floor was stacked with robes, capes and other clothing items. In the middle of the room, on the first floor, tables, cushy chairs, and couches dotted the living area.
“All of this is for the tournament?”
“Absolutely, the mages have all of this at their disposal, of course. As far as the uses of the inventory herein depend upon the need and creativity of the mage.”
“Great!”
“In the rear of the arsenal is a very special room. It requires the ring key as well, but you use it a little differently to enter it. Come along. I’ll show you.” He headed off toward the rear of the arsenal confident Thelee would follow. At the rear door, he held up his ring and whispered a few words to his ring. A thin metal spine appeared out of it and he inserted it into the keyhole and gave it a turn to the left. An audible click told him of his success. The door opened with a gentle push. Inside the room was a desk with shelves lining all the walls except for the wall with the entry. On the shelves, there were all kinds of artifacts, parchments, and scrolls.
Ephaltus escorted Thelee inside, “This is the room that contains all the secrets to finding and bringing in the mages.” He went to one of the shelves and removed a red crystal orb. “The spell for this orb tests the blood mage, or as you might know them as the red mage.” He paused for a moment before resuming his speech. “I know you think you have already located the red mage, but this orb will tell us for certain. I have an orb like this for all the mages. They will also take us to the general area where the mage may be located. Are you ready to get started?”
“You know I am!” Thelee said excitedly.
“All right, grab a hold of my arm, we are off to the most probable location of the red mage.” As Thelee wrapped her hand and forearm around Ephaltus’s forearm, a wave of foreboding rose within him briefly. The orb began to stir and an image began to appear within the red crystal. “It looks like we are going to Vestia. Is that where you concluded the red mage to be?”
“Actually, it is.” She said.
Why do I not believe her? Ephaltus thought. “Hold on to me and shield your eyes, there will be a flash of light when we travel.”
Thelee closed her eyes.
The crystal emitted a low red glow that grew to engulf the two in a red magical orb of light. The light suddenly became intensely bright and then blinked out. They were gone.
Part Four: Vestia
“We’re here. You may open your eyes now.” Ephaltus said. Thelee opened her eyes. “This is outskirts of one of the principal cities of the kingdom of Vestia. Although this part of the kingdom is mainly a wooded area, to the south is grassland all the way to the sea. The villages, towns, and villages here are built from the wood of the forest and supported by logging, trapping, farming, and cattle ranching to the south.
“Forgive me, master, but I am aware of Vestia. I have even met the king and queen.” She took a step and pointed to a row of houses. “The house in the middle, the one with the second story, is the one where believe the red mage resides. We need to move fast on her because the rumor going around is that she is in hiding from a noble house or something. If the rumors are true, she might try to leave for parts unknown.”
“Rumors?”
“Apparently, the family she works for has been talking to neighbors about the girl and her suspicious behavior around the house. News of this sort travels fast around here. In fact, the rumors are how I came to be aware of her.”
“Those houses are for the well-to-do. How exactly is she in hiding?”
“She is a servant girl.”
Ephaltus laughed. “A mage, with blood magic, doing menial tasks for a well-to-do family? That’s absolutely preposterous! I love it.”
“Never the less, I am afraid it’s true. Her name is Ilhana.” She rubbed her hands together excitedly. “When do we go talk to her?”
“Don’t rub your hands together too quickly, Thelee. We are just here to observe at the moment. We’ll take notes and be absolutely certain before we confront anyone. To some, the prospect of fighting other mages is bad enough, but the prospect of ruling six kingdoms can be even more daunting, especially if you spring it on someone all at once. This process is delicate.”
“I just told you, though. We could miss her if we don’t act now.”
“Then we miss her.” Thelee tried to interrupt but Ephaltus cut her off, “Look, we can’t be swayed by the lives these mages lead. There is nothing they can do, nowhere they can go that we can’t follow. It’s our primary function. And even though I told you we need to act quickly; I didn’t mean that we need to come in and snatch them up where they live. The next five years will move faster than you ever thought possible. During that time. Events will play out, and our mages will grow. It’s our job to cultivate and guild from behind the scenes. We will have our hands full with the manipulation of the gods, believe me.”
“I guess I don’t fully understand,” Thelee said.
“You will, as time goes by and I show you each mage, you’ll get it,” Ephaltus assured her. Look at it this way. If you were a mother and you wanted your son to become a farmer. You wouldn’t throw him onto a tract of land with some farm implements at 5 years old and say you expected a crop at harvest time, would you?”
“No, I suppose not. I get your point now.”
“Each one of these mages has a unique story to play out over the next few years. We will watch them and decide when the time is right for us to intervene.”
“So, they are expected to learn their magical abilities on their own, without some kind of master or guidance?”
Ephaltus began biting his lower lip as if he were debating whether or not to tell. “Well, there is some training, yes. Each discipline will have some instruction, but they will mainly be on their own. I prefer to show you later if that’s satisfactory.” He took his staff, which he conjured at that moment out of thin air, hoping to impress his apprentice, and stepped forward. “Let us see this red mage, shall we?”
Thelee nodded and the pair of them walked into the house where the red mage allegedly resided.
Thelee stopped cold when they got to street level.” Won’t they see us if we get any closer?”
“Not unless I wish it. It’s another perk of being the tourney master. We are able to sneak up on people. That is, we can get close enough to see and evaluate. If you try to go into the same room with them when they are in private situations such as sleeping or dressing and undressing, in personal proximity, they will most likely see you and scream and all sorts of havoc with play out. We just need to get close enough to cast our spell and move on to the next one.”
“What if one of the gods pulls something again?”
“Oh, you can rest assured that one or more of them will before we make our rounds.”
“Well then, what do we do.”
“We deal with it, of course.” Ephaltus reached the front window. Inside, dusting the furniture was a young, blonde-headed girl, humming sweetly to herself, and dancing about. Ephaltus spoke the magic words and the girl began to glow a bright red.
“Can’t she see that?” Thelee asked.
Ephaltus frowned at her in the most condescending manner he could muster.
“I guess not.”
“No, why would she? This is for us.” He planted his staff in the ground, “Her name is Ilhana and she is the red mage. Time to go back and record it. I will show you how she will be trained in her discipline when we return, as to answer your question about it earlier.” He took the red orb and held it fast. The circle surrounded them, there was the flash, and they were gone.
Back at the Arsenal of the Way, Ephaltus led Thelee into a chamber adjoined to the equipment room. It was a library and study from the looks of it. The big desk at the center had a massive, leather-bound book on top of it opened to a page that said the second millennium. The old wizard took the pen and dipped it into the inkwell. He recorded the name Ilhana on the line headed, the red mage. The parchment glowed gold and seared the name into its pages. “There she is recorded. Now, we can send the one who will train her.” He went back into the equipment room and over to a room on the other side. A twin room to the one where he recorded the red mage’s name. He reached down and opened what looked like a cellar door. He hesitated, “This might be a little unpleasant for you.” A rush of stale air issued forth from the cellar and Thelee coughed.
Tournament of Mages: Commencement: Tournament of Mages 1st Series Short (Tournament of Mages Series Shorts) Page 2