They found Alec waiting beside one of the tables in the library, noting that he had already placed parchment out for Leo to use and a list of words for him to copy.
"Didn't you have something you wanted to read Mia?" Leo asked as he noticed her standing over him.
Alec looked at her, as if to say she was in the way, but that look only appeared to make her more determined she wasn't going anywhere.
"I'll stay and watch you Leo," she said deciding instead to sit herself down beside him.
Alec just sighed, taking his specs off and giving the lenses a wipe in his frustration, knowing Mia was just being awkward. Not one to cause a fuss however, he sat down the other side of Leo and pointed out what words he wanted him to copy out. Leo nodded his understanding, and picked up his pen. Even in the few days of Alec helping him, he thought how much, not only his writing, but also his reading had improved. After years of misery and abuse, he was beginning to find, not only his literary skills, but also his self-confidence returning.
After an hour or so of writing, and listening to Mia scoff at Alec every time he made a comment, Leo thought it best to call it a night. He thanked Alec for his help once more, and asked if he could meet again the following evening. "Don't worry, Mia won't be tagging along," he whispered, knowing she had only been there to annoy Alec. The young Literary Apprentice smiled, “See you tomorrow Leo,” He said before watching him turn away and walk off heading towards the exit.
Mia once more linked her arm with Leo as the two friends slowly ambled along the corridor. There were still a few others roaming about, despite it being the time most were thinking about settling down for the night. As they reached the foyer, Mia guided Leo outside the main doors rather than towards the dorms.
The guards at the doorway paid them little heed as they passed through, and slowly walked down the steps. They headed for the garden area, along the narrow walkways lit by small lamps. Leo looked up at the cloudless night sky, it was dark and the plethora of stars sparkled aside the crescent moon. There was a little bit of a chill in the air, but nothing that made being outside uncomfortably cold.
Leo took a deep breath and inhaled the fresh cool evening air, when for some reason, he was not sure why, Mia leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek. He was a little taken aback and not quite certain how to respond, so being undecided he just grinned at her, and hoped that was suitable, although judging by the look on Mia's face, he was beginning to think that it wasn't. Trying to think quickly, he felt his heart beating quicker, as he looked into her eyes, and kissed her on the lips, albeit a little awkwardly.
That not only felt rather nice, but also he thought that Mia seemed impressed by it. She snuggled a little closer, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they walked. They did not talk as they strolled along the walkways, instead, they savoured the intimacy of their shared moment. Leo had never kissed a girl before, but he judged by Mia's reaction, he must have done something right as she moved in for a repeat performance.
Chapter 8.
Belaria was a large hilly country, and like its neighbours, it was ruled by a monarchy. Although here the position of king had up until now, been merely a ceremonial position, with the real seats of power being the wealthy landowners, who reaped all the benefits for themselves. This state of affairs however, had soon changed under the current monarch.
When King Oribe had taken the throne from his brother, he had immediately started to make changes. His first act had been to claim the power back, lost by his predecessors, although that had ultimately meant removing some of the landowners and their bloodline relatives. This meant, as there was no heir, all lands, properties and people living there became property of the crown. After removing three of the larger, wealthier landowners, the others had merely accepted his rule.
The king normally only commanded a small guard of soldiers, usually for self-protection and ceremonial affairs. However, they had not counted on Oribe being a sorcerer, and moreover, he was a magician who had gathered together a small army of the same. The landowners, despite having large armies at their disposal, had been simply brushed aside, and the more lands he took, the larger his own army became. Now with thousands of soldiers and hundreds of sorcerers at his command, he sought to expand his territory still further.
Oribe's first target was the small nation of Caldronia, although he knew that despite its much smaller size, it was not going to be an easy target, yet also knew the riches it held were worth the risks. He was aware the country had a small force of soldier and sorcerers, but also knew they were very well trained, yet his own forces by comparison were a complete mishmash. Amongst his many sorcerers, he knew there were a few who were quite powerful in their own right; Most however were not, yet despite their shortcomings, all the sorcerers made up the most vital part of his plans.
He had discovered a way of recharging a power source, via old parchments he had found describing of ancient methods, which involved draining the life from others. The only drawback, which had not been mentioned when he had read the documents, was the side effects. Because you had taken the life force of another human being, your own power source became tainted. This taint was like an addiction, which needed to be fed regularly, and he had deduced afterwards it was perhaps the reason the practice had been stopped. Fortunately, it did not matter whether the person you drained was magical or not, and as a result, Oribe had found an easy way of disposing of his enemies.
Amongst the haul of old documents, he had unearthed, were writings describing several other seemingly forgotten practices, although these had clearly been discontinued due to their shocking nature. One of which involved feeding a charmed alchemy potion to children of a certain age group. Within a few minutes, those unfortunate enough to have taken the potion were transformed into small imp-like creatures. These imps then appeared to be bound to the sorcerer who had imbued the potion, and would follow his or her command unquestionably.
Capable of manifesting and casting fireballs, Oribe had already made good use of these creatures. The only drawback being the fact that the imps had to draw the power from their own life source. Ultimately, this meant that once they had been used a few times, they merely keeled over and died.
Oribe had already sent his men to make raids against his smaller neighbour, with each raiding party consisting of a mixture of sorcerers, imps and regular soldiers. His plan was to force the main bulk of his enemy's best troops away from the capital, and have them spread out. He knew that despite his greater numbers, Caldronia had the better men, and as a whole group, they would prove difficult to defeat. Having them spread about the country would not only make them easier to fight, but would also make the Caldronian capital a possible target. If he could keep the bulk of the enemy sorcerers busy along the border, he anticipated that he could make a strike at removing the Caldronian king, hence cutting off the head.
He watched from his elevated position upon the elegantly decorated throne, as two of his guards ushered in his next victim. Despite him not using a great deal of his power, the need to drain another's life force became harder and harder to resist. As a result, he now had to kill at least one person every day, and although this initially had not been a great problem as he had plenty of enemies close at hand to kill. Now however, he was feeding upon the poorer members of society that roamed the streets of his capital city, mere beggars and outcasts that most considered a blight.
Oribe stood, and stepped down off the dais upon which his throne was sat, as his guards held an arm each of the middle-aged man they were holding captive. He turned his nose, as he could smell the man's pungent odour. Without prolonging his desire to feed his power, he grabbed the man with both hands, clasping them firmly about the head, and felt an instant wave of relief, as the life force of his captive drained into him, feeding his addiction for one more day.
As if what he had just done was little more than a normal occurrence, he waved a hand giving the order to take the corpse away, as he returned casually
to his throne and sat back down. He closed his eyes, satisfied his addiction was, for now at least, suitably quenched. Taking a deep breath, feeling revitalised, his thoughts then veered to matters of importance.
The King of Belaria called his advisors to silence. It often irritated him that they spoke over each other, rather than listen to one another. It was getting late afternoon and the lamps around the dim throne room had been lit, and as the flickering light glistened off the opulent gilding around the room, those within it eventually fell silent. Oribe, feeling annoyed that he had been forced to raise his voice, told them he wanted to listen to words of advice not ramblings.
He outlined his plans, to those before him. With many of his own forces keeping the border regions under pressure, Oribe wanted to hear options on how to best attack the Caldronian capital of Surmont, and to see if it was possible and feasible for him to do so. With much of its strength being sent to defend the south, now was too good an opportunity to miss; His only problem was how to best, make the most of it.
After over an hour of discussions, he had made a decision; the strike needed to be quick and discreet. It would be no good sending a single large force to attempt the attack, as the Caldronian rangers would spot it easily and alert the defenders of Surmont to prepare. What was needed was a multitude of small but capable forces, able to move quickly and undetected. Obviously, these small forces would each have to be made up of his precious sorcerers aiding the regular soldiers, and this would mean Oribe having to risk the best of his men to carry out the mission, although a risk he deemed worth taking. The plan being that if these groups could move all but undetected and meet up once they reached their target, the Caldronians would wake up one morning with a vast army outside their door, and be helpless to defend against it.
Without further delay, he ordered the small groups to be formed and to depart as soon as possible, knowing that if he could bring down the Caldronian leader, the country would fall into disarray. Politics was always a slow process, and he hoped that by making the takeover of Caldronia a swift one, neither Farasavia nor Arandor would have time to aid its smaller neighbour. If that were to happen, he might well find himself fighting on several fronts, and that was currently something he could ill afford to do.
The minor defeat suffered at Hexley cross had been little more than an inconvenience, but had come as a wake-up call. The losses sustained were almost circumstantial, but it did show the defenders still proved a challenge. With the news that the Caldronian king was reinforcing the southern towns, Oribe knew he would have to sacrifice some of his own soldiers, to make sure the enemy forces stayed there. For his ideas to work, he needed to keep them preoccupied, so his masterstroke of a plan could come to fruition.
In some respect, he envied the Caldronians, after all, their guild system and the highly skilled men and women it produced, was something he would like to emulate. Finding suitable people for him to operate such a thing though was proving highly difficult. He walked slowly down the corridor to his study, and awaiting him there, were supposedly three men he hoped would prove capable of doing just such a thing.
As a powerful sorcerer and king, others he passed on route bowed subserviently, and Oribe enjoyed watching people show him the esteem and admiration he deserved. On first taking the throne, it had been one of the first commands he had made, as failure to show him respect, could, if he chose, see the perpetrator severely punished.
He stopped beside a mirror hanging on the wall, and stared at his reflection, tilting his head just slightly before straightening his neatly cut brown hair. The first signs of stubble were showing on his face, which he scratched with his fingertips. Oribe could certainly never be described as handsome, but his slightly tanned skin and well-defined bone structure was to some people’s taste. Of course, since he had become king, he could bed any woman he chose, and was something he did, regularly, even if the woman he selected was married to another; objection was not an option.
Once satisfied with his preening, he continued his journey, as his long striding steps soon saw him arrive outside the door to his study. He waved a hand for the door to open and stepped inside.
He completely ignored the three people bowing as he entered, and made his way around to the other side of his desk. The highly polished surface and intricate carving made it a fine piece of furniture. He waved his hand again, and the shutters on the windows flew open, letting in the remaining rays of late afternoon sunlight. With it still being gloomy within, he flicked a finger, and two of the four lamps on the wall sprung into life, before he sat down upon his cushioned chair and made himself comfortable.
He had decided when first taking over that he liked this room, and that the previous king had certainly made a fine job of furnishing it. With its light walls, adorned with colourful pictures, and its plush carpet underfoot, every inch of it just oozed quality. Even the smaller items, like the gold writing set upon the desk, down to the implements beside the stone fireplace had been crafted by the very best hands.
He eventually looked up at three people stood in his room, noticing immediately all of whom were much older than he was, and certainly much older than he had expected. He was only in his late twenties, quite where this motley crew had been dragged from he was not sure, and his first thought was to have them all removed, but as he was there, he thought he should at least hear what they had to say.
"You," he said pointing to the one he thought looked at least a little younger than the other two did. If Oribe had to hazard a guess, he reckoned even this man was probably close to fifty years old. To his credit, the man gave a bow of his head and spoke very calmly and clearly of his ideas. Naturally, the Belarian king was only interested in the part of about creating more highly skilled soldiers and sorcerers.
The man's plan was to recruit teenage children, just as their neighbour did. Only they would not teach writing and sums and such rubbish, but instead it would be run along military terms and conditions. All the young sorcerers would be taught ways to fight and shield, not read books and write poems, and more impressive to Oribe, was the man reckoned after just six months of intense training, he could have the first recruits ready to serve.
Oribe tilted his head slightly to one side, trying to judge the character of the man before him, thinking his words were certainly, what he had wanted to hear. After a moment or two of consideration he got to thinking he had little to lose, and so very much to gain, as he nodded slowly. Without even listening to the other two speak he gave his go ahead for them to start recruiting as soon as possible, telling them funding would be in place when they needed it.
In his capital city of Ferden, there were several garrisons, and one of these would be vacated, and given over to the three people before him. Recruiting would start immediately, meaning, he told them, the minute they walked back outside. Only whereas the Belarian king paid the parents to take a child from their family, Oribe would just do so anyway. He declared it law, that anybody selected by his new guild masters, was to be drafted. Failure to comply would mean not only death for the child, but for the immediate family members as well.
Satisfied his late afternoon meeting had gone well, in fact much better than he could ever have hoped, he made his way back to his rooms. As he passed through his private dining room, he clasped his hand around the wrist of a young maid and dragged her along. The girl was probably no older than sixteen years of age, slim and a good foot shorter than he was, as he paused briefly to cast an eye over her. He ran his free hand through her long dark hair, and moved it down to her small but pert breasts, and nodded satisfactorily to himself before continuing.
It was clear the young girl was nervous, probably even scared he thought, "Come with me my dear," he said gesturing the way to his bedroom. The girl glanced around the room at the other maids, looking for help that was never going to come. "Come along now, I will be gentle," Oribe added. He liked his girls young and thin and this one was not only that, but quite pretty as well.
&n
bsp; As the two of them entered his bedroom suite, he waved a hand and the two finely painted doors closed shut. Oribe smiled at the girl, "What is your name," he said as he stood over her.
"Freya...Sire," she said in a weak timid voice.
"Well Freya, why don't you remove your clothes for me," he added, unbuttoning his own tunic. The girl nodded, and with her hands visibly shaking she undid the ties to her dress and let it drop to the plush red carpet on the floor.
Oribe threw his tunic onto a cushioned chair beside him, and started removing his white shirt, "And those," he said gesturing for Freya to remove her underclothes. He watched like a hawk as she did as he asked, and soon felt his own body's excitement at what was being revealed. After almost ripping his arms from the sleeves of his shirt, he tossed it aside. His own body was slim and toned. He moved his hand slowly down Freya's naked skin, before ordering her to unbutton his trousers for him. Already feeling fully aroused he started kissing her neck, before lifting her up off her feet, and dropping her onto the soft silk sheets of his bed. Being king, he thought, certainly had its benefits.
The Apprentice Sorcerer: The Caldronian Guild Page 7