The Black Mage: Candidate

by Rachel E. Carter

  I laughed nervously. “You obviously have not spent much time with the royal family.” King Lucius couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as me, and I wasn’t so sure his eldest didn’t want me dead, despite whatever his brother claimed.

  “Ryiah.” Ian shut his eyes. “You convinced Darren to marry you. You have influence whether you want to believe it or not.”

  “He’s not the heir. He can’t—”

  “Won’t you at least try?” My friend’s voice became increasingly strained. “Or does the lowborns’ cause no longer concern you now that you are not one of us?”

  That hurt. Ian knew full well that neither of us had been “lowborn” since our apprenticeship. “O-of course it does!”

  There must have been something in my voice because Ian immediately looked guilty. “I’m sorry, Ry, I didn’t mean—I know you are a good person. I just don’t want this new life of yours to change you.”

  “It won’t.” I made myself smile as I reached out to touch his arm. “Believe me, it would take a lot more than pretty dresses—” A foul odor rose up and I wrinkled my nose, peering down at my boots. Horse droppings. I had managed to step into a mound of them, half-hidden by the dense forest floor. “Great, just…” I froze.

  Droppings. Fresh—only a couple days old. Ten minutes past the brush where the bandits had supposedly turned around.

  I glanced up sharply and took a quick examination of the surroundings, trying to locate any trampled foliage that had not come from Paige, Ian’s, or my tracks.

  There. I squinted. There. My eyes locked on some crushed ivy: and there. The bandits had come this way!

  I drew a baited breath. “Lord Waldyn’s envoys said their regiment couldn’t find the bandits after two full days’ search. But didn’t their report state they went north, like Sir Gavin’s group? Everyone thought the tracks leading south were too obvious. What if they weren’t? What if it was a ploy?” I pointed to the mound at my feet.

  Ian whistled. “The bandits wanted us to assume they took the stream.”

  I felt my excitement building. “It’s why the southern trail looked so trampled. Because it was! They didn’t just send a couple men to give it that appearance and turn around at our camp—they kept going: here!”

  I was practically dancing in place. Finally. Something to show the others I was more than the girl the prince favored. “If the bandits had circled back they wouldn’t have had reason to create false tracks this far south. My guess is they missed this or ran out of magic and figured they were too far south for us to search.”

  Paige groaned. “You mages make everything so complicated.”

  Ian gave the knight a victorious grin and hauled both wood sacks onto his back. “Things would be too easy otherwise, my dear.”

  The guard scowled and snatched back her sack. “I am nobody’s ‘dear.’”

  I waved us forward. “Come on, let’s go see where these tracks lead…”

  “Oh, no, you don’t.” Paige grabbed Ian’s and my wrists and yanked us back with a heavy tug. “You two will report back to the rest of your camp and let them decide whether to pursue the search now or in the morning. You know Sir Gavin will have my head if I let the both of you recklessly wander off to hunt the bandits on your own.”

  I made a face. We were already three days behind the bandits’ progress. “It’s not reckless. Lief said we could go in pairs and we’d only be scouting—”

  “But Sir Gavin said you mages shouldn’t be doing anything the soldiers can handle on their own.”

  “They sent us for firewood,” Ian offered. “We are short-handed, we’d be doing the rest of them a favor.”

  “I am sure your leader will have a different priority for tracking criminals.”

  The two of us gave loud sighs as we followed Paige back to camp. She was right, of course, but I was itching to prove myself to the rest of our party. I chanced a glance at Ian and his expression mirrored my own.

  “Feels like the old times, doesn’t it, Ry?”

  I smiled. Not yet. But I expected it was about to.

  ****

  In the end our party voted to search the forest that morning. We were already three days behind the bandits’ progress, and it would be foolhardy to try and ascertain their location at night when we could barely see two feet in front of us. Torches would give away our location, and the mages weren’t about to use up magic tracking when we would need it for our inevitable encounter later on.

  I spent a restless night tossing and turning. It was a warm summer night—cold in the shade of the forest, but still heated enough by fire to spend it under the stars instead of a tented canvas. Next to me I could hear Paige doing the same. She put on a brave act, but I suspected she was nervous for her first test of duty. When we went to battle, she would be undoubtedly glued to my side.

  The entire camp was packed up and ready to go by the first morning’s light. Ian, Paige and I were no exception. Every one of us was restless and ready for battle. Sixteen days of camping in the wilderness, and without the repetitive training routine of the Academy, I was itching to use my magic.

  Five straight years of routine were hard to break. Here in the regiment we were expected to conserve our magic while on duty—one could never know when we could be forced to engage—and with the added pressure of my squad’s disapproval I was ready to show it.

  Luckily for us, the bandits’ trail was easy to pick up with the discovery of the horse droppings the night before. The criminals clearly hadn’t expected us to investigate this far south, so they hadn’t bothered to hide the rest of their tracks. Everything was still a little wet with the morning dew, but by midday we had left the cool cover of the denser part of the forest for the sparser terrain deep in the mountains.

  Summer heat beat down like the gods’ pounding fists. In no time at all I was drenched in sweat and grime and my clothes were sticking to my skin. I was definitely happy Darren wasn’t there to witness his betrothed’s repugnant stench. Let alone the way the undershirt beneath my chainmail had turned brown and wet in the most revolting of ways.

  Hours dragged by and the ground we passed became coarse. Jagged granite lined the narrow trail up and down into the heart of the northern range. Our stops became more frequent as even the horses grew weary.

  It was late into the afternoon when two scouts finally returned bearing the news all of us had been anxiously anticipating: the horses and the bandits’ base camp were just three more miles southwest of our current location. Apparently they had a small camp set up along the base of three nearby mountains. The heart of the Iron Range. Also desolate. A territory previously ignored by the regiment whose patrols had focused along the border and northernmost townships.

  Which was probably the reason the outlaws had chosen it. And from the report the scouts had given, it had been in use for a year at the least. The horses were only a recent addition. There was livestock as well. Two cows and a small bay of pigs were stationed in pens at the edge of a roughly made fort. Several chickens clucking away in a wooden fixture nearby. Even several thin rows of mountain-hardy crops: red lettuce and stubby carrot heads.

  The bandits’ set up was far too permanent to be just a camp.

  Paige scowled at the end of the scouts’ report. “They must have been living there awhile.”

  “Explains the recent influx in thefts,” a soldier nearby added. “All this time we thought the incidents were Caltoth. Never would have suspected it was on our side of the border.”

  “How many?”

  “Thirty,” was the scouts’ reply.

  “Only thirty? Why do they need forty horses?”

  “Gods, Karl,” someone drawled, “they are thoroughbreds. The bandits were probably going to sell them to the Caltothians, not ride them.”

  The head knight Killian cleared his throat above the soldiers’ discourse. “The scouts may have counted thirty, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more nearby. I doubt they expect us, but we can’t
be too careful. Ryder, I want you and half your band to take the camp with me. Avery, you are going to take the others and flank the outskirts in case there are others our scouts missed.” He continued to list the names for each squad.

  “What about Combat?”

  “Ian, you are with Ryder’s party. Ryiah—Avery.”

  My face fell. Not because I didn’t admire Avery’s conduct—she was a skilled knight, from what I had seen during the morning drills. It was that once again I was forced to join the action-less party.

  Ian caught my eye and shook his head slowly. I bit my lip and took a deep breath. He knew exactly what I was thinking. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe our leader chose Ian for his seniority.

  “Great, I’m stuck with her. If we run into trouble you had better hope we don’t need a mage who can actually fight.”

  I tasted the copper tang of blood, and realized I had bit too deep in an effort to keep my comeback to myself.

  Paige pulled up beside me. “Let’s go, my lady,” she said quietly.

  I followed her back to where Avery and the rest of our group were gathering. My knight might not be my biggest fan, but she wasn’t heartless. Silently, I thanked her for dragging me away before I said something I’d regret.

  Adjusting my reins I listened to Avery detail our strategy.

  We would be taking a slightly different route into the valley while Ian and Ryder’s group took the main one. An Alchemy mage in each party had two potions on hand to give off a bright flare: red once the mission was complete, blue if they ran into trouble and needed backup. It wasn’t as effective as lightning but it would serve our purpose given the close proximity while helping keep Ian’s and my magic in reserve.

  Assuming everything went to plan.

  ****

  This time I was not going to be reckless—by word or by deed. It was a vow I had sworn my first night of service, and one I intended to keep. One that I was repeating over and over as I inched along in line with the twenty-five others of Knight Avery’s lead. We skirted along a narrow trail of pine and stone, squeezing uncomfortably between the walls of two towering crags while the clip-clop of the horses hooves echoed our progress. The path got to be so tight that only one could pass at a time, and it took us the good part of an hour just to pass the worst of it.

  I was beginning to wonder how the other party was faring when there was a heavy rumbling and then an earth-shattering thud. The ground quaked. My horse whinnied, then reared, and I just barely held on as the air filled with panicked cries behind me.

  In the seconds that followed, I managed to calm my mare just long enough to dismount as Paige did the same. The two of us had enough sense not to stay mounted during an attack in such limited quarters.

  I turned, one hand raised for casting as the other slid my sword from its hilt. Then I gasped. I heard the knights and soldiers behind me do the same.

  An enormous boulder easily fifteen feet tall and as wide as the gap had fallen not five feet behind us, cutting us off from the rest of our group and the trail we had taken. There was the loud clash of metal on metal and shouting coming from the other side. I couldn’t see—the obstacle was far too high—but I had ears. It didn’t take much to ascertain that the scouts’ count had been wrong.

  The bandits and the rest of our men were on the other side.

  And from the sound of it, ours were losing. They had the Alchemy flasks but were undoubtedly too occupied to use them. And even if they weren’t, our location was shielded by two rocky walls with no end in sight. I doubted the others would be able to see us, let alone get here in time.

  The fifteen of us listened to the fighting in a panic. Paige bellowed a string of curses and several soldiers were trying uselessly to move the boulder standing between us and the rest of our party.

  I looked up instead and saw the tall ledge where the bandits had got the drop on us. It was high enough that no one had ever bothered to watch the ledge.

  We were fools. The bandits had probably had a rotation of sentries posted at this entrance of the valley hiding, waiting for just this sort of opportunity. Bandits who built that sort of permanent camp undoubtedly employed various techniques to protect it: starting with the giant boulder that was keeping us out as they massacred the rest of our men.

  “Ryiah, do something!”

  I turned and saw Avery watching me with desperate blue eyes. The knight was frantic and the expressions of the soldiers and knights nearest were equally disturbed. Or helpless.

  “We need you to stop them,” she whispered.

  “I…” My pulse was racing. Here was my opportunity to prove myself and I had nothing. The rock was too heavy to lift, too dense to cast through, too smooth with no holds to climb. I could levitate but it wouldn’t help much—the others needed reinforcements, not one girl floating and trying to balance her casting at the same time. “Should I cast lightning to warn the others? Maybe Killian—”

  “He’ll come too late.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be powerful?” a man sneered. “You are a second-rank mage, aren’t you? Save them!”

  “I don’t know what I can—”

  “They are dying, princess!” another snapped.

  “I’m not a—”

  “Use your magic!”

  “I don’t know what to do.” My voice quavered as I stared down fifteen sets of angry stares. Worse, I could hear the screams from across the way, echoing along the mountain passage. Bloodcurdling cries and shrieks. They are dying because you can’t think of a way to save them.

  “You are useless!” The same man who called me “princess” spat on me.

  “That’s enough!” Paige stepped in front of me to glare at the soldier. “She isn’t useless, and your shouting isn’t going to help her any so why don’t you shut your big, ugly mouth before I am forced to do it for you!”

  I swallowed. She was wrong. I was useless. This wasn’t about my pride. I couldn’t care less what that soldier or any of his friends thought of me. I was a fool to wish for conflict. The gods had done this on purpose to punish me. Silly girl wishes for battle to impress the others and this is what she gets. Stuck, useless, listening as innocents are slaughtered just a few paces away.

  All my years of training had never prepared me for this.

  I was helpless.

  I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know anything.

  My whole body was erupting in shakes and anxiety was seizing my veins. Think, Ryiah. I fought against the fear that was building, praying to the gods that my knees didn’t give out in the face of my panic. I have to do something.

  My audience’s faces danced in and out of my sight, blurring and clearing as I held still. I couldn’t do this now. I needed to be strong. I needed to think of something. Not to impress the others but to save them.

  “My lady,” Paige said softly, “you can’t save everyone.”

  She was right. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t try. I breathed in and out through my nose, ten times. Then I squared my shoulders. “Everyone away from the boulder now!”

  Three soldiers that had been trying to climb scattered and the rest backed away from the rock. I strode forward and placed my palms directly against the rock. Normally I wouldn’t need to touch something to cast, but the amount of magic I was about to attempt would require every advantage available.

  Let’s hope I haven’t reached my potential yet…

  Clenching my eyes shut I called upon my magic slowly, piece by piece like kindling to a flame. I built up the projection in my mind, fanning the image until it was as real as the object pressed against my hands. I envisioned the casting I wanted to create, taking extra care to make sure my magic was equally projected along the five points in my mind.

  Then I took a step back and threw my energy into the cold, gravelly surface for all I was worth.

  The boulder started to… quiver? It was emitting just the slightest tremor, and I could hear the murmur of voices behind me. I dug
my heels into the ground and forced my mind into a blank slate, wiping out the commotion of noises and smells and the beads of sweat condensing along my brow line. I ignored everything but my magic and strained against the headache that was building and building…

  My legs started to tremble, blood pounded against my temples, a rush of hot and cold swamped my skin… but I kept focus and clenched my jaw, forcing my magic to stay with me even as I was ready to fall.

  Someone gripped me by my armpits and held as my body set into convulsive shakes. “It’s working,” Paige whispered.

  I peeked out beneath my lashes, and I fought to stay calm. I had never even remotely attempted something this heavy during my apprenticeship. Darren had, but even he had his limits. The rock was close to four tons—and the most I had ever lifted was two. Still… the boulder was hovering—albeit very shakily—a couple inches above the ground.

  By the gods!

  Behind me I could vaguely hear Avery giving orders for the others to take off their extra mail and plates. I swallowed. They needed at least a foot and a half—not two—to fit through the small crawl space.

  “Paige,” I croaked. “Your knife.”

  My knight wasted no time in placing the weapon into my shaking fist. I pressed the sharp edge into the palm of my hand. Lightly. Feather-soft at first, careful not to exert too much pressure and collapse the casting I had worked so hard to control.

  The rock jolted for just a moment. It jumped another inch, and then three, before settling back a couple inches above the ground.

  Ignoring the gasps behind me I let Paige take on the brunt of my weight as I dug the blade deeper and deeper—until blood was dripping down my wrist and the pain of metal against bone and muscle was almost too much to bear.

  I opened my eyes again and saw the boulder was hovering two feet above the ground. Everyone was crawling as fast as they could to reach the other side.

  A flare of white slammed against my eyes and everything became muted… Past experience taught me I had only seconds before my magic would end.

  I stuck out the casting for as long as I could, gritting my teeth and willing it to stay, praying the others had finished making it across. The slight tremors in my legs and arms became sporadic jerks, and Paige struggled to hold on as I lost control of my limbs. I couldn’t stop my body’s response to the magic much longer...