The Legend Of Kairu:
The Tower Of The Watchful Eye
Tim McFarlane
Mirador Publishing
First Published by Mirador Publishing at Smashwords
Copyright 2013 by Tim McFarlane
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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First edition: 2013
Any reference to real names and places are purely fictional and are constructs of the author. Any offence the references produce is unintentional and in no way reflect the reality of any locations involved.
A copy of this work is available though the British Library.
IBSN : 978-1-909220-22-5
Prologue
“The troops march on your command, Master Holcombe,” a soldier in full chainmail said.
I surveyed the battlefield. The castle lay quiet, we have snuck up unheard and darkness would continue to serve us well. I don’t recall ever seeing this castle before but one thing stuck in my mind.
Rescue her.
“What is your name, soldier?” I asked.
“Captain Smith, sir,” he replied with pride.
“Where are the other masters, Captain Smith?” I asked.
He looked confused. “What other masters?”
“The other masters of the Order,” I responded equally confused.
“We were told it that it would just be you leading the troops, sir,” Captain Smith replied.
“Very well,” I said thinking it was strange that the Order of Magic would only send one Master for a mission. I haven’t been with the order for very long, but I knew that the Masters only respond to catastrophic situations.
“You don’t remember volunteering for this mission, sir?” Captain Smith asked reading my mind. “You felt that returning the King’s daughter was important for the Balendar Kingdom. You told the King himself you would personally lead the troops.”
Everything was sounding familiar, but something didn’t feel right.
“Yes,” I said rubbing my chin. “We must hurry then. Have your men ready to follow me. I will cast an Illusion spell over the guards to give us cover. We’ll strike from within the castle itself.”
“Brilliant plan, Master Holcombe,” Captain Smith said with a smile.
He left to address the small group of troops behind me as I started to walk slowly towards the castle. The rustling of the grass behind me indicated that the troops were following slowly behind me. I reached out with my mind and searched for mental activity within the castle.
As we drew closer, I started to make out the hum of mental activity. It was quiet at first but slowly grew louder with each step and I could identify individual minds. As soon as a mind was in focus, I cast my Illusion spell on it. From now on, whenever they would look out in our direction, they would see nothing but open field. One by one, the castle guards fell under my spell.
When I was confident that we were covered, I openly sprinted towards the castle. The clank of the chainmail behind me was noisy but thanks to the spell wouldn’t give away our position.
At the front gate, I searched for the mind of the gate master and influenced him with Mind Control. The gate slid open slowly and my troops and I walked through the front door into the courtyard.
I chuckled to myself softly at the child’s play that was this mission, but a small part of me was impressed by the amount of power I had at my disposal. It was a weird and almost unnatural feeling to be impressed by my own magic. I shook it off and motioned for Captain Smith to spread out his troops so I could drop the Illusion spell. I scanned the courtyard and found the guards’ barracks. I smirked as a little plan formed in my head.
I released my hold on the guards’ minds and held out both of my hands towards the barracks. Focusing my energy into my hands, they grew warm as a massive Fireball launched from them. The Fireball singed the ground under it causing a burning trail as it drew closer to the barracks. A cry of alarm rang out as the ball struck the barracks causing the stone building to explode.
“Intruder!” a booming voice shouted from the upper walls of the castle.
“Now’s our time,” Captain Smith called to his men.
Battle erupted everywhere in the courtyard as steel swords met shields and the cries of men dying filled the once quiet night. I scanned the upper wall and found an archer aiming towards the fight. I reached out my hand and felt my hand grow cold as the power travelled to it. An Ice Bolt, a chunk of ice as sharp as an arrow, flew from my fingers straight into the archer’s heart.
“Good shot, sir,” Captain Smith said as he ran over to me with his shield raised. “We’ll take care of the fighting here. Lord Rollins should be in the grand hall. They may have barred the door.”
“Leave it to me,” I said.
“Be careful, sir, reports say he may have a Rogue Mage in his ranks,” Captain Smith warned.
“Thank you, Captain Smith,” I said as I turned towards the door to the keep.
Captain Smith shouted a war cry as he rejoined the battle and I reached out and felt the presence of three guards barricading the door. I held out my hands and launched another exploding Fire Ball. It hit the door and blew it off its hinges. The cries of the guards burning added to the soundtrack of the night.
I walked calmly through the doorway into the room behind it. The hall was large and open with high arching ceilings and rows of benches in front of a throne. Grand assemblies and addresses were held here, but now it has been reduced to a battlefield because of one man’s greed for power. The man himself, Lord Rollins, stood at the end of the hall near his throne with a tall man in a robe beside him.
I started to sprint towards him and he called out to his remaining guards. Without breaking stride, I sent them each an Ice Bolt which penetrated their hearts and dropped them to the floor.
My fingers tingled and my heart pounded as I stretched out my hand and launched an Ice Bolt at Lord Rollins. The robed man raised his staff and a barrier blocked the ice from finding its mark. I stopped short and raised my hands ready to defend myself against whatever the robed man would do as a counter.
“Kill him,” Lord Rollins ordered the robed man.
“With pleasure,” he replied with a sneer. This man was clearly the Rogue Mage Captain Smith had warned me about. The rules of the Order were clear: he needed to be Silenced or killed. Seeing the crazed smile on his face, the latter was an easy choice.
He raised his staff and the tip glowed red with Fire. I concentrated a small amount of energy in my hand and waited. When he pointed his staff at me, I launched the simple spell: Dispel Magic. The Mage quickly dodged and the Dispel hit the wall. The room started to waver and fade in and out a bit.
I looked around confused as the world struggled to remain in focus. Weird memories started to work their way back into my mind but disappeared as the world returned to normal. I sensed the Fire Ball and jumped out of the way too late. The Fire spread quickly across my robe and I threw it off me and stood with only a pair of trousers and shoes to cover my
skin. The Mage pointed his staff at me again and I cast another simple little spell.
My skin hardened as darkened scales replaced my flesh. In a matter of seconds my whole body except my head and face were covered in scales giving me the appearance of a Demon. The Mage hesitated with a shock expression on his face but caught himself and launched a stream of Fire at me with his staff. I held up my scaled hand and the Fire washed over me. There was only a slightly warm feeling as the scales protected me from the harmful effects of the spell.
The Fire stopped and I charged some power into a hand a launched a Pulse, a blast of magic through the Spirit Plain, at the Mage. He clumsily threw up a shield that was too weak and the force of the Pulse caused him to stagger back.
I reached out with my mind, grabbed his staff and ripped it from his hand. The staff flew across the room towards me and I caught it with a scaled hand before shooting a stream of Ice at him. He tried to throw up another shield but was quickly frozen solid. I gripped the staff with both hands, swung it in a 360 degree arc and smashed it into his frozen form, shattering him into a thousand pieces. I pointed the staff at Lord Rollins, my scales slowly transforming back into human flesh.
“Who are you?” he asked astonished.
“Master Andrew Holcombe of the Order of Magic,” I answered. “You are coming with me to face judgment for the kidnap of the King’s daughter.”
The sound of footsteps caught my attention and when I craned my head to look. I smiled as Captain Smith and his men approached. “Captain Smith, take this man into custody,” I ordered.
“Yes, sir,” he answered.
He and a couple of the soldiers approached Lord Rollins and Captain Smith removed a key on a chain from around the Lord’s neck. “What do you want to bet she’s in the master bedroom?” Captain Smith said as he tossed the key to me.
“Get him out of here before I kill him myself,” I said disgustedly after catching the key.
The master bedroom was at the top of the keep. With Captain Smith’s victory in the courtyard, there were no troops left to defend the keep and I was able to walk through the entire area unopposed. With the key, I unlocked the door and found a young woman, roughly my age, sitting on the bed with her back to me. Her long, chestnut hair in a braided ponytail leading down the pale creamy skin of her back and when she turned to face me, she had the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen.
She was truly a vision to behold.
She rose from the bed and turned her body to face me. Her dress was ruffled and torn and the look on her face was one of pure fear.
“It is okay,” I said as I entered the room more so she could see me. “I am Master Andrew Holcombe of the Order of Magic. You’ll have to forgive my ghastly appearance, my lady. My robes were destroyed during the fight.”
Her expression softened and she smiled a bright smile. “I’m sure I look no better.”
“Nonsense,” I scoffed, “you are absolutely beautiful.”
A small blush rose to her face. “Thank you.”
She approached me and placed her hands on my chest. “And I mean, thank you.”
“We really should get you back to the King.” I smirked as I pulled her in closer.
“My uncle can wait,” she breathed as she brought her lips up to kiss me.
“Your uncle?” I asked leaning away.
“Yes,” she said confused.
“I was told you were the King’s daughter,” I continued suspicious.
“Oh,” she said with an awkward chuckle, “well he thinks of me as his daughter. So I’m sure he would have referred to me as such.”
I released her and stared at her.
“Now, please,” she said getting closer. “I want to reward my hero.”
“Something’s not right,” I said as I pushed past her.
“But this is what you want!” she said pleadingly.
I walked past a mirror and stopped. Something in the reflection caught my attention. I walked back and stared at the person in the mirror. He was tall, muscular with long flowing black hair and a face that would make all the girls swoon. The most important feature was the fact that it wasn’t me.
At least not how I remember me.
I grabbed my head as it started to swim. “This isn’t me,” I said.
“What are you talking about?” the girl asked nervously.
“I don’t look like that,” I continued as my memories flooded in. “My hair is wirier, my nose is bigger and for God sake I don’t think I have a single muscle…this isn’t real.”
I turned to look at the girl and she just sneered at me. I gathered all my strength and launched a Dispel at the floor. The room started to fade as the girl shrieked. When the room finished fading, we were left standing in a small clearing. A single tree stood in the centre and everywhere around us was a dense fog. The girl closed her eyes for a second then reopened them. Her eyes were gone, replaced by bright lights.
“So you figured it out,” she said in her new voice. It was similar to the voice she used for the girl just a little deeper and echoier.
“You will leave my mind, Demon,” I commanded shakily.
“I admit defeat this time,” she purred, “but I will have you. Even the strongest Mage has fallen to my charms. You will not be able to resist me forever.”
“We will see,” I said as the fog overtook us.
Chapter 1
“ANDY!”
My eyes shot open and I sat up quickly, smacking my head on the top bunk and falling back onto my pillow. I grabbed my head and hissed in pain.
“What the hell?” I muttered.
“It’s still fun to do that,” the familiar female voice giggled.
“If you keep doing that, Lily,” I started as I looked up at her, “I’m going to finally have a real excuse for failing my exams.”
“As opposed to your famous excuse of, ‘because I don’t want to’?” she smiled.
“I don’t see the point of shooting Fire Balls through hoops,” I said as I sat up in bed.
“It’s to train your accuracy,” she explained. “The last thing you want to do in battle is catch one of your own Mages in the butt with an Ice Bolt.”
“I do a pretty good job in my dreams,” I said with a shrug.
“Speaking of dreams, what was up with last night?” she asked with a smile. “You were thrashing about.”
I smiled weakly. “I was going well until I realized a Demon was trying to possess me.”
“You had your first Demon Dream?” she asked excited as she sat down on the bed next to me. “Congratulations, what was it like?”
“It was…” I stalled for the proper word. “Strange. I was lucky that I could pick up on all the little mistakes.”
“Was it a Demon of rage?” she asked staring at me like a little girl hearing a story of dragons. “Or was it pride?”
“I believe it was a Demon of desire and pleasure,” I answered.
“You have desires?” she asked confused.
“Oh, ha ha,” I said sarcastically. “The Demon made me a Master of the Order in charge of a small group of soldiers trying to save the King of Balendar’s daughter. I figured it out when I met ‘the daughter’ and she said the wrong thing. She called herself the King’s niece.”
Lily laughed. “Stupid Demons. That’s why they’ll never possess me.”
“Don’t be so sure,” I said. “It’s easy to be swept up into the dream.”
“Well, I can’t wait for my first Demon Dream,” she said dreamily. “Then I can finally follow the School of the Elemental and stop doing these pointless classes.”
“At least you know what you are going into,” I said sadly. “I think I’m screwed.”
“Nonsense,” she smiled. “You’re good at Illusions. Just go into Spiritual or Demonology. You’re bookish enough for it.”
I smiled a little. “I don’t know if I want to dedicate my whole life to understanding dreams though.”
“Then come with me in Ele
mental,” she pitched. “It will be a lot of fun.”
I thought it over for a second. “I don’t think Elemental is my speed.”
“No offense, Andy, but you don’t have a speed,” she joked. “Just don’t get into that Nature stuff. I’d hate for you to become one of those self-serving bastards.”
I laughed. “Nature isn’t my thing either. You don’t worry about me, Lily.”
She chuckled. “Someone has to, might as well be your best friend.”
“You’re going to be late for class,” I smiled.
“Oh jeez,” she said panicked as she stood up. “You’re right. You better hurry and catch a Master before they start their classes. See you later.” She grabbed her books from her bunk and ran off as I raised my hand in a wave.
Lily is a bit of a crazy person. She always seems to be happy and makes friends easily. You also won’t find a more dedicated student in the Tower. I wish I knew how she does it. In the five cycles we have been bunk mates, I have yet to figure her out.
She was, sort of, right referring to her as my ‘best friend.’ When you only have the one, the title is given by default. I wouldn’t even go as far as calling us friends, she travels with her social circles and I only ever see her when we meet in the Apprentice Chambers. We are two completely different people that just happen to share a bunk bed together.
I stood up and grabbed my Apprentice Robes from under the bed. I brushed my hand down it a couple of times to get the dust off and changed out of sleep wear. I didn’t have to worry about casting a spell for privacy. Everyone was too focused on running to class to notice. Grabbing my notepad and the Alchemy book I borrowed from the library, I left the chambers in search of a Master.
The Apprentice Chambers were on the first two floors of the Tower of the Watchful Eye with the next five acting classrooms and libraries. The next ten belonged to Mages and Teachers and the top four going to each Master respectively. The top floor holds the Archives and is restricted to anyone but the Masters and The Keeper.
The Tower is the home of the Order of Magic and right in the centre of the great continent of Kalenden. The Order of Magic acts as a governing figure for the four provinces: Balendar to the East, Nesqa to the South, the Ghanlar Plateau to the West and The Szwen Forest to the North. Each province is in charge of their affairs but the Mages will intervene when necessary.
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