by Jordan Baker
"Hurry," Zachary said from between gritted teeth.
Stavros had only once seen such a grim expression on the man's face, the day he had learned that the woman he loved had died, and he knew they were running out of time. He touched the tangle of power and pried at it, looking for weaknesses, parts that might not be bound as tightly and, after some prodding he found one line that looked like it might release some of the others. Stavros dispelled it, but it turned out to be a very small piece and removing it barely affected the rest. He tried another one and it too did very little to loosen the others. Aaron's body began to shake with tremors and Stavros could see that an unfavorable pallor had fallen across his face.
He glanced over at Zachary and saw that he was drenched in sweat and was shaking as well. He saw the raw power spilling out from him, and the air in the room began to burn with energy. Stavros quickly dispelled several more lines and stopped short when he found a thread of power that was pulled from Aaron's own being. Had he dispelled such a flow, he could have done very serious damage to him. Stavros carefully dispelled the lines it had wrapped around and finally it let go, receding back into the boy's core, where it was no longer visible. He dispelled a few more and finally the tangle began to loosen and the strength of the remaining parts of the ward began to wane either from Aaron's power being removed from it or from the energy Zachary was taking from it. He could now remove the rest of the ward without it being drained.
"Enough," Stavros said. He looked over at the other mage and realized he had not heard him. "Enough, Zachary! Release him!" he shouted. Zachary turned to look at him and Stavros saw something terrible in his eyes, a dark look of malevolence that he could only describe as pure hatred and he knew that the intoxication of power was now consuming the mage. "Let go, Zachary. He is your son!"
At the last, Zachary's expression gentled and he pulled his hand away from Aaron, stumbling backwards. Stavros watched in awe as Zachary stood up straight, his every muscle bunched, a vein on his forehead protruding and his face frozen in intensity. His mouth opened slowly and a rasp of air escaped his lips. It became a low growl and then rose to a yell and the wooden floorboards of the room creaked for a moment before Zachary shot upwards, bursting through the ceiling with a crash. Stavros hoped the man would be all right, but he kept his focus on the knotted lines of energy that were beginning to tighten again now that the power that sustained them was no longer being drained. It appeared he had underestimated the power of the ward, but at least he was now working with the lines he had created. He moved quickly and dispelled the lines as fast as he could but only a moment faster than they could reform. Thankfully, he was able to keep ahead of them.
Outside the room, Carly stood guard and heard the rumbling and commotion from inside. After hearing what the mages had said, it sounded like they were going to work some powerful magics that were probably very dangerous, so she was glad that she was out here, rather than in there, though she wondered whether it really made much of a difference. From what she knew about magic, which was more than she would willingly admit, she knew that either of the two mages in that room could do a lot of damage, if they chose, which was why she thought it best to make sure that the group of angry pirates who marched up the stairs of the inn and down the hall toward her did not enter the room.
"Carly," Lanos said. "What is going on here?"
"Not much, just a little healing. That's all," she told him.
"Every pot and pan in the place is boiling over, even the flagons of ale have turned steaming hot. The fire in the hearth just shot up the chimney like the breath of a dragon and lightning bolts are jumping between my fingers!" He held up his hand and a spark of energy jumped between his thumb and his forefinger. Carly noticed that the man's beard seemed to be a little straighter and his hair was sticking up in a few places, despite being slick with grease.
"Must be leftover from the storm," she told him with a shrug.
"I'm going to have a word with those mages. We let that mangy mage, Zachary visit the island on the agreement that he promised not to use his magic hereabouts and he's already broke that promise twice this day."
"I heard he stopped a giant wave from destroying every ship in the harbor," Carly said. "Is that true? He saved all the ships in the harbor from being turned to splinters. Perhaps it would have been better if the mage had stood by and let the town and all the ships be destroyed. Seems to me, Meer Island is lucky there was such a man of power about. Some might reckon you are in his debt."
The angry group of pirates standing behind Lanos hesitated, their irate expressions turning to bewilderment. Carly had overheard the story that had been the talk of the tavern when she had run down to get the basin of water earlier and no doubt the men standing before her had heard it as well. Lanos would not be dissuaded, especially by the likes of Carly.
"That's beside the point, there's something going on with that mage and it's causing trouble. Now stand aside!"
Lanos took a step toward her but he froze when the sharp tip of a dagger pressed up against his throat just under his chin. Carly moved in on him so fast he had hardly seen her pull her daggers. She gestured with the other blade at the other pirates.
"Go back downstairs, the lot of you," she told them as a loud rumble shook the entire building. "I've no quarrel with anyone here, even this lout, but there's serious business at work here and you'd best not disturb the mage who saved your sorry hides and your ships this day. You'd be facing him and another mage just as powerful. You might not think it, but I'm doing you a kindness, keeping you from this door."
Most of the pirates now seemed unsure of themselves and a few of them looked as though they might give up on the idea of bursting in on a pair of powerful mages.
"You're going to regret this," Lanos hissed at her.
"Not as much as you will if you don't clear off," Carly told him as she spotted Zachary at the end of the hall. She stepped back from Lanos and slid her daggers back in the folds of her clothes then moved out of the way. Lanos stared at her for a moment, not sure why she had released him, then he heard the commotion behind him. He turned and saw the other pirates flattening themselves against the walls on either side of the hallway as Zachary walked between them, his eyes black pools of darkness with flames flickering in them and his entire body coursing with lightning. The mage stalked down the hall like a living thunderstorm and, as tough a pirate as Lanos considered himself, as much as he was Meer-tana, the leader of the pirates of Meer Island, he too stepped aside. Zachary stopped outside the door to the room, looked at Lanos for a moment and at Carly then he opened the door and walked inside, closing it heavily behind him.
Stavros finished dispelling the last of the ward when Zachary entered the room, his entire being still charged with power. With a horrific look on his face, he walked toward Aaron's unconscious form and Stavros worried that the powerful mage might be under some effect of the death magic he had used, that he might not be himself and could harm his own son. Stavros moved to intercept but Zachary stopped him with the slightest flick of his finger, sending him across the room and slamming him against the wall, holding him there while he reached out and placed his hand on Aaron's shoulder.
Stavros was awestruck at Zachary's power for he could barely move from within the magical grip of the other mage. Luckily, he could still use his power to see what he was doing and he watched as Zachary poured raw magic into the flows of Aaron's own energy. It was almost the reverse of death magic, but such a thing should not be possible, Stavros thought. Mages could lend one another power, which was not difficult to do if energy was given freely, but to forcibly take magic from another required overpowering a mage's will completely, but the absorption of power once it had been taken was fairly easy, since a mage instinctively controlled the flow of his own magic. Forcibly giving another mage power would require matching the flows perfectly and the level of subtlety and detail required was almost beyond imagining, yet Stavros was witnessing it being done as Zachary
returned to Aaron the energy he had taken from him. Finally, the power began to ebb and Zachary stepped away from the bed, releasing Stavros from the wall as he slumped in the chair.
"I couldn't hold it," Zachary said. "It was too much."
"He is powerful, your son," Stavros said, walking over to the bed and gently reaching out with his power to check one more time if there were any traces of the ward.
"He is very powerful. I do not know how he can just lie there, asleep, with such a torrent of energy at the core of his being."
"I imagine we'll see when he awakens," Stavros said. "We should be ready for anything. Aaron has been cut off from his power for a very long time and, once he is conscious of it, it may overwhelm him."
"You're right," Zachary stood and gathered his power. Stavros felt the air crackle again and he was amazed at the amount of energy the other mage still had at his disposal even after what they had just done.
"Are you holding your true power, Zachary?"
"Much of it," he replied.
"I am glad we never truly fought," Stavros told him. Zachary turned and smiled at him.
"As am I," he said. "It's one of the reasons I left. I feared what I might do if my anger got the better of me."
"You would not have harmed anyone." Stavros could not believe such a thing, but the former head of the Council of Mages, who was thought by many to be the most powerful mage who had ever lived, turned and looked at him with an expression that was tired and haggard but hid a smoldering fire just beneath its surface.
"I was very angry."
"And what about now?"
"I am still very angry, but I've calmed down a little. It only took a decade or so," Zachary said, then he turned back to the bed as Aaron stirred a little. "I might be able to handle raw power, but you can see the patterns better than I can. It was always one of your talents. What is happening? Will he be all right?"
"He seems fine, Zachary," he tried to reassure him, "but we won't really know until he wakes."
"Should we attempt to rouse him?" Stavros shrugged and Zachary pushed Aaron's shoulder but he did not stir. "I saw him move a moment ago. Perhaps we should shake him or get some smelling salts."
"Why don't we just wait," Stavros suggested. "I could use something to eat and I suspect you could as well."
"But what if he wakes and we're not here? What if his power is too much for him? As you said, he's been cut off from his magic for too long. What if he can't control it?"
Stavros smiled at his old friend and sometime rival. Zachary sounded like a new parent fussing over a newborn, and he supposed that was exactly how the powerful mage felt. It was probably overwhelming for him to have learned about Aaron this way, almost accidentally, and to go through such a range of emotions in such short order could not be easy, especially for someone so passionate and volatile as Zachary. A thought occurred to him, and Stavros wondered at the coincidence of finding Zachary here on Meer Island, the most unlikely of places, just when a mage of his particular power was needed.
"I am sure he will be fine, but we can take turns keeping an eye on him, if you like," Stavros said. "Tell me, Zachary, how long have you been at Meer Island?"
"I come and go," he said with a shrug. "I only come here when I feel like drinking. These pirates don't water their drinks, so it's a better place than most. I arrived last night. Why?"
"Was there any reason you decided to come here?"
"No. I just felt like drinking, and I'm starting to feel like it again. What are you getting at?"
"Perhaps nothing," Stavros said. "Just a curious thought, but it doesn't matter. If you would like to get something to eat or drink, would you like to go first or shall I?"
"Like I said, I could use a drink," Zachary said then he let go of his power and walked toward the door. He paused for a moment. "Should I have them send up something for you?"
"Some ale and perhaps a little bread will suffice, thank you," Stavros told him.
Zachary pushed open the door and walked from the room, discovering Carly, who was still waiting outside.
"Is everything all right?" she asked.
"The ward is gone, but he won't wake up," Zachary told her and continued down the hall. Gone was the drunken arrogance she had observed in him when she had first encountered the mage, his abrasive demeanor now sinking into dejected melancholy. Carly entered the room and found Stavros seated on the chair next to the bed.
"The other mage said he won't wake," she said.
"He should recover in time," Stavros told her. "There is nothing wrong with his body and his power is contained. I can sense his mind, but it seems distant, so he is very far away from consciousness and there is no spell that I know of that can draw him back. We must wait."
"For how long?"
"However long it takes, I suppose."
"Lanos and his gang might not like it all that much," Carly said.
"Why not? My gold is as good as any," he said and snapped his fingers. Carly gasped when a heavy looking purse appeared on top of the wooden trunk at the foot of the bed and a heap of Maramyrian gold coins spilled out of it.
"You can just make gold, just like that?" she asked. Stavros chuckled.
"No," he said. "I suppose I could make gold if I really wanted to, but it would be too much effort. I simply called it from another place where I had put it for safe keeping."
"Is there a reward?" Carly stared at the mountain of gold. Stavros glanced at her.
"A reward?"
"Yes, a reward, for getting Aaron here safely and saving him from Cerric's men and that mage, Dakar?"
"I suppose you have been helpful. What kind of reward do you think you deserve?"
Carly was not sure how to respond. She was used to bargaining for things or working out arrangements and there was a time when she would have made an unabashed demand for a reward, but that time was fading. The mage who sat before her was powerful and the gold in the pouch represented a small fortune, but she knew she had not helped Aaron for money. She was not sure why she had helped him, except that she had wanted to help the princess and it seemed the right thing to do, that and things had become too dangerous at Rivergate. Still, she did not have to bring Aaron all the way to Meer. They could have parted ways in Forsian or at the port at the river's end. Carly shrugged, her eyes turning to Aaron.
"I don't know," she said.
"Perhaps I can help you. Is there something you want? Something meaningful to you, perhaps?" Stavros asked with an amused look in his eyes.
"Well, I would like to get my ship back."
CHAPTER FOUR
Cerric opened one book after another, magically flipping through their pages, but he found nothing of value. All the books the mage priests had collected in the storehouse turned out to be completely useless for they held no clue to what he was looking for, or more precisely, what the god, Kroma was looking for. He felt the powerful essence of the god flowing within him and the consciousness that was not his own gripping his mind, influencing his every thought, like echoes that happened before instead of after, and there was something else, darker and filled with rage that lived beneath the personality that threatened to consume him. Cerric was at once terrified and exhilarated at the sensation and he reveled in his newfound godhood, all the while slipping deeper into the infinite darkness.
"Can I be of some assistance, your highness?" Dakar asked. Cerric threw the book against the wall.
"What assistance could you possibly render me, mage?"
"Perhaps if I knew what it was you were looking for, I could help. There are many mages here who could join in the search."
Almost immediately after the ceremony in which he had been married to the Xallan queen and was inhabited by the god, Kroma, Cerric had begun an intense search of the palace, the armory, the Academy, and every book repository and weapons room in Maramyr. The god-king had practically torn apart half the city looking for something and, whatever it was, he had not yet found it and Dakar could sense
the god-king's frustration.
"No need," he rumbled. "That which I seek is not here."
"We have faithfully collected every magical tome from the library and transported them to this place. That is what you instructed in the holy book, is it not?"
"Your understanding of the book is rudimentary, mage," Cerric told him. "Do not presume to know my mind."
"I would never make such a presumption, my lord," Dakar said. "I only with to serve my god."
"You only seek reward, Dakar. Do not forget, I know your mind and I see your innermost thoughts. Though I find it amusing, your playing at humility and servitude is a weak pretence. You seek power, something I do not disapprove of, but remember this; your power is mine, and you exist by my grace. Now quit this sniveling and groveling and embrace your power. Take what power you can, mage, for that is the way of things."
"Yes, of course, your highness. I am grateful for your infinite wisdom." Dakar replied. It appeared that Cerric and the god Kroma were one and the same, or at least Cerric spoke the power and authority of the god, though he noticed a slight difference in his voice when discussing different subjects. When speaking of matters that concerned Cerric more than Kroma, something about his tone seemed less threatening, even though Dakar could feel the magical link that connected him to the god, slowly draining his power and peering into his mind. It was unnerving and it had made him fearful that he, like the other members of the priesthood, was entirely at Kroma's mercy, but the god had made it clear that he did not begrudge him power. Dakar also did not miss the fact that the subject had changed, and he remained curious at what the god might be searching for, but he let it go. There was nothing to be gained in raising the ire of a god.
"Dakar," Cerric said. "Tell me of the war with Kandara."
"I dispatched mages to meet up with our troops shortly after the ceremony. They will report soon with details, but our advanced forces should have breached Kandaran territory. We expected the Kandarans to guard the passes but there has been little resistance thus far."