“Caius?” The War Mage replies, his roiling ball of fire disappearing with a whoomph as he settles down to the ground.
What!
“How is Camilla? I thought you were assigned to the Tower, what are you doing out here?” Caius asks Dan, hastily putting away his badge of office. What in the frozen hells is happening!
“Camilla is fine, getting better with that treatment of yours. I don’t know what I would’ve done without your help.” Dan says, Caius toes the dirt.
“I’m out here to pick up some judge named Decius, got dispatched last night to find him. I’m surprised to find you out here, I thought you were out by Hurendale dealing with bandits?” Dan asks.
“That is where we were when all this started, but now we are just trying to get back to the Tower. The Archmages need to hear about what we have seen.” Caius tells Dan.
“Speaking of ‘we’ why is Kearika hiding behind that rock?” Dan asks Caius, pointing towards the cave and the rock I’m peering over. He’s must be a Mentalist, he never even looked at me.
I slink out from behind the rock, keeping a guarded stance the whole way up to the pair. I wall off my mind from everything else, even my bond with Caius. The world grows close and quiet as I concentrate on my mental shield. I hate this feeling. Caius visibly stiffens, but makes no comment on what I’m doing.
“Pleasure to meet you, Master.” I intone to Dan, keeping my eyes firmly locked on his as I give him a nod. Proper protocol would be to bow, but I’m not taking my eyes off him for an instant.
“I believe you’re supposed to bow, but I hate formality. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, especially with how much Caius talks about you.” Dan says. Caius talks about me?
“What does he say?” I blurt out, Caius flushes red and turns away with a cough.
“Well-” Dan begins, and my mind fills with ice. Jagged spikes pierce my thoughts, shredding them as they bury themselves. Dammit! I try to make a noise, any noise at all, but I am no longer in control of my body. He used that as a way to make an opening, and Caius can’t tell because I sealed myself off. I’ve really stuck my foot in it now.
I need to warn Caius somehow. The question is, how? Dan’s control is now fully in effect, his raw power brushing aside the last of my defenses. He makes me flex my fingers, rolling my shoulders and the like. Getting a feel for me. I can’t resist at all, instead I concentrate on trying to keep my memories away from him. If he learns what Caius and I can do, it’s all over.
Like being in the eye a storm, Dan’s power rages outside what’s left of my mind. A frown flashes across Dan’s face, but it vanishes as Caius turns back from his cough. His eyebrow twitches, and behind the friendly smile on his face are empty, dead eyes.
I can feel the tendrils of Dan’s control tearing their way through my body, like barbed wire being forced through my veins. In the real world I’m just a passenger, and I can feel Dan sizing up Caius.
I won’t be able to hold on much longer. As it is there’s almost nothing left. Beyond the memories I’m holding on to, Kearika doesn’t exist anymore. Dan’s magic isn’t the light touch of manipulation, or the binding ties of control. His control over me is through brute force, destroying every shred of me that stood in the way of his control. I hurl myself into a memory of mine, hoping what they taught me during my training actually works.
I’m sitting in the woods, relaxing in the sun as I watch a dirt path meandering through the trees. It’s a little warm for my tastes, and there’s not nearly enough snow either but that’s okay.
“Come on Caius, we’re going to be late if you don’t pick up those weak mage feet of yours!” I shout, as Caius and I come around the bend in the path. Caius strains under the weight of his pack, which is heavily overloaded. Books, glassware, alchemy supplies and other arcane bits festoon every square inch of fabric.
“I told you Protector val’Harod, you should refer to me as Master Claudius. It is the proper way to address me!” Caius huffs, laboring under all that weight. I smile to myself. I know what’s coming next. Down on the path I give a frustrated huff of my own, putting my hands on my hips and swinging around to get in Caius’s face.
“Look here Caius, we’re going to be traveling together for the foreseeable future, which means we need to set some ground rules.” I say confidently, Caius wilts under my glare with a small sigh.
“Fine, like what?” Caius asks.
“I’m not going to call you Master Claudius, ever. You ever call me Protector val’Harod and I’ll kick your teeth in, get me?” I hiss at him, frustrated at being assigned to someone like Caius. I had thought he was useless, the mage who couldn’t fight. I had joined the Tower to make the world a better place, not nursemaid an academic.
How wrong I was.
“Do not threaten me Kearika.” Caius says in a hushed tone.
“Or what Caius! Everyone knows you don’t have the stones to do anything about it.” I shout at him. He stiffens under the lash of my words, a deep seated pain in his eyes.
“Exactly my point.” I reach out to push him, to show him that I’m in control.
The shock from his ward knocks me half a dozen feet away and face first into the dirt. I struggle up, my limbs tingling with the discharge. The frigid cold of the aether is a hundred times worse than the lethal winter chill of the North. Still, I get back to my feet.
“You’ll pay for that Southerner!” I spit out, drawing my knife. Strangely, Caius doesn’t back away from my blade.
“Why don’t you try that without your magic shield to hide behind!” I taunt him. Caius shrugs, but the air around him ripples as his ward falls. With a victorious grin I rush at him, letting out a yell as I do. Caius doesn’t move a hair as I get close, not even bothering to protect himself. I thought he was trying to taunt me, to show that he was tougher.
My screaming charge comes to abrupt end, the tip of my knife skittering off Caius’s exposed neck. The dozen or so slashes afterwards have the same lack of effect. Trying to strangle him gets me thrown down the path again. I lay there for a few minutes, reevaluating my charge. I roll over and lever myself up into a sitting position.
“My father was right, you Mages are fearsome. Maybe you will become a Master worth protecting after all.” I laugh, putting my knife away as I stand.
“I’m sorry for the way I acted Master Claudius.” I apologize, bowing deeply from the waist as I do. It was a good lesson for me.
“Caius will do just fine. Come on, we need to get going or we will not make it.” Caius tells me, a small smile playing on his lips.
It’s a shame I won’t have this much longer. Outside my little bubble of memory my mental landscape has fallen away. This happy little scene floats in a vast nothingness. The sky above my scene is slowly cracking, a tiny fracture that grows by the second. Once it breaks, there won’t be a me left to save. I wonder what’s going on outside?
“Can you take us back to the Tower?” Caius asks Dan.
“Afraid I can’t Caius.” Dan replies, and my body steps closer to Caius.
“Tell me, have you told anyone else about what you’ve found?” Dan asks, buffing his fingers on his tunic.
A wary look crosses Caius’s face and he folds his hands into the sleeves of his robes. Caius gives me a quick glance, his eyes growing wide in shock. I guess I look out of it.
“What the hell have you done to Kearika!” Caius shouts and Dan pulls back in surprise. Dan recovers quickly, his aura of flame snapping backing into being with a roar.
“You know exactly what I’ve done to her. You’ll suffer just like I did before you die.” Dan replies with a snarl.
“What? No! No, you wouldn’t!” Caius yells, turning to look at me again. He leans in, peering into my eyes.
“They’re…they are empty. There’s nothing there. You sealed her away. Just like you did to Camilla.” Caius whispers. I’m still here Caius!
“What are you going to do about it Caius? Everyone knows you’re a coward. Wh
y do you think I took Kearika, and left you?” Dan says icily, pointing an open palm at Caius. Aether swirls in a vortex, spinning rapidly as it coalesces into a spear of light. Move Caius, do something!
“It’s because I needed a pawn who’s actually useful.” Dan says, the spear screaming out of his hand and into the back of Caius’s head. The spear explodes into a shower of falling motes of light, a shimmering cerulean field surrounding Caius. Dan gives a surprised gasp, a bit uncertainty in his eyes.
“Because you are a fool.” Caius whispers, finally regaining his composure.
He whirls around, hurling a spread of silver needles into Dan. They pass through his bubble of fire and bury themselves deeply into his skin. His veins turn black around the needles, which continue to sink further into Dan’s arms and chest. The flames surrounding him vanish, and he falls to the ground gasping. My body lurches into action, grabbing Caius from behind and holding him still.
“I am sorry about this Kearika.” Caius says to me, exhaling deeply, a burst of aether knocking me away from him. I land face down in the dirt, a creeping warmth spreading through my arms. I get back up, a little unsteady and rush back towards Caius with the tip of my halberd extended. Dan throws another one of his spears, directly towards Caius’s heart.
This time the spear skitters off the ward, landing in the forest instead of dissipating. An area the size of a barn disappears in a flash of light, the concussive force of the blast knocks down trees for another dozen meters all around. Shreds of wood and dirt are deflected by our wards, but Dan is knocked flat on his back.
“Is that the best you can do? I thought War Mages are supposed to be powerful.” Caius says to Dan. I’m finally rubbing off on him.
Dan gets up with a snarl, aether burning in both hands. With a scream he hurls spear after spear into Caius as fast as he can. A sole silver needle returns along the same path, burying itself in Dan’s throat. For my part my legs seem to have frozen, I can feel the pull of Dan’s control but my body refuses to move. This is better than trying to kill Caius, but not by much.
As Dan pushes his control harder, my world shrinks further. There’s no longer a forest path, just me and the patch of grass I’m sitting on. Even that is shrinking though, the boundary crushing me as it comes down on me. Gotta get out of here soon, somehow. I can feel Dan sorting through what’s left of my mind, trying to find a weakness in Caius. Too bad for him, I don’t know what Caius is really capable of against mages. I’ve certainly never seen him like this before.
Dozens of explosions crater the forest, incinerating hundreds of trees and setting the area on fire. Caius stands there coolly, untouched by the devastation around us. The fire roars around us as it eats up the forest, growing ever more massive. The air around Caius and I shimmers with his wards, keeping the worst of the heat from us.
Dan lays wrapped around the charred remains of a tree trunk, impaled on what’s left of a low branch. With a gasp he pulls himself off the tree, a wet sucking sound coming from the hole as he gets free. He stands there, breathing heavily and glaring daggers at Caius. I can see through his chest; the hole is as wide as my fist. His skin chars and comes off in patches as he stands, the intense heat burning away at him
“What do you think you’re doing Caius, you can’t beat me!” Dan screams through blackened, cracked lips. His skin sloughs away as his face moves, revealing the muscle underneath.
“Oh? I do not see a hole in my chest.” Caius replies, sliding his hands back into his robes.
“Let’s change that then.” Dan growls, flicking a hand at me. My skin glows from the aether being pumped into me, it bursts from my skin in flickering patches. I give a ragged howl from the pain as I stand. When I get out of this, we’re always going to go with Plan B from now on.
I swipe at Caius with my halberd, it slides off his ward and the axe head buries itself in the dirt. I use the stuck weapon as a fulcrum, swinging up into a kick aimed at Caius’s chest. The kick knocks him back, and the momentum lets me rip the halberd from the earth and bring it down in a vicious arc onto his head. Dan has to know this won’t work, I could hit Caius until next year without getting through his wards.
Predictably my blow slides away from Caius’s head, less predictably he responds with a heavy slap to my face. A slap that shatters the barbed wires holding me in Dan’s thrall, clearing the aether out of my body. I fall to my knees, shivering and coughing up blood. It drips down from my eyes and ears, boiling to vapor as it falls away from me. I can still think, I can still fight. I just have to move. I struggle to rise, in my severely weakened state it’s a struggle to stay on my knees let alone stand. Another spear of light strikes Caius in the chest and explodes in a blinding flash that leaves Caius untouched.
“You cannot pierce my wards, Dan.” He says calmly. Half a dozen more spears pepper him, from head to toe, each as ineffectual as the last. The ground around Caius has burst into flames from the heat and his robes move sedately inside his ward.
“Tell me Caius, do you know the weakness of wards?” Dan asks, his hands moving in a complex pattern in front of him. Small arcs of lightning are leaping from the ground into the air, following the pattern his fingers trace. A massively complex symbol is coming together in front of him. A spell circle? What magic could be so difficult that someone with his power would need to make a circle?
“They can be broken.” Dan says, placing a hand on the back of the arcing magic circle. Caius confused look becomes one of surprise as he realizes what’s about to happen.
A ravening column of light billows out from the circle and envelops Caius. Around us the fire goes out; the dirt stops glowing from the heat and the air stops rippling. I can see Caius’s ward struggling under the assault, the cyan glare from it almost overpowering the light of the attack.
I need to get up, he needs me! I draw in a ragged breath, forcing myself up from kneeling into an unsteady crouch. I spot my halberd laying in the dirt next to me and I use it to get myself up off the ground.
Caius’s ward is collapsing on him, the ravening energy drawing closer with each second. A thin coating of ice covers everything, and my breath steams up the air in front of me. A brutal chill is sweeping through me, I can barely move my fingers from the cold. The assault cuts off suddenly, leaving Caius surrounded by a nearly opaque wall of cyan. A spear of caged lightning forms in Dan’s hand, his arm already cocked back to throw it.
“Goodbye Caius.” He says. The lightning streaks into Caius, his ward rippling under the attack. There’s a blinding flash of light and a soft pop. Caius’s ward explodes, knocking me flying. I smash through several trees, the repeated bludgeoning knocking me out after the first few.
When I come to I’m lying near the lip of a crater, which is easily a hundred feet across. The trees are just gone around the edge, and they’ve been flattened beyond that for quite a distance. Well, Caius survived that at least. I’d know if he hadn’t. Seems like Dan did too.
I can see the two of them from here, both lying near the center of the crater. I need to help Caius. With a groan, I get up from the charred earth and pull myself over the crater’s lip. We could have just hit him, but no we had to blow up the forest first. I tumble down the hill, struggling to hold onto my halberd with my weakened grip. I finally come to a stop in a cloud of dirt and rocks. I peer blearily towards the two mages and begin the awkward process of standing.
Dan gets up first, unsteadily rising to his feet and swaying as he stumbles over to Caius. That’s not good. Dan drives a booted foot into Caius and starts stomping on his chest. Move dammit! I start to run, barely keeping my balance in the loose earth. Dan draws a small knife from his robes, running it along Caius’s chest.
I lean into my sprint, digging deep into the tortured earth as I pour everything I can into my pounding legs. My world narrows down to Dan and his knife, I give a wild yell as I slam into him. Something crunches under the impact of my shoulder as we go down in a tangle of limbs.
I end up st
raddling Dan and raining blows down on his charred face. The hole in his chest is leaking a thick black fluid from its edges, and the blackened veins in his arms have spread up to his shoulders. I struggle to draw the Zauberei knife from its sheathe on my hip while keeping Dan from stabbing me. Finally!
I rip the knife out and slam it point first into Dan’s shoulder. He gives a wretched scream, fire bursts down his arm from the cracks in his blackened flesh. The whole arm blows away into ash, and I scramble off of him in horror. I stumble over Caius’s prostrate form as Dan rips out and throws the knife into the dirt. I shake Caius, trying to get him to wake up.
“Caius, if you’ve got anything left now’s the time!” I shout to him. Dan gives a smirk as he readies another one of his spears, which leaps from his hand in a flash.
For the second time in a few minutes I go flying, blown away by the force of the blast. Once again face down in the dirt I struggle to pick myself back up. Have to stop Dan. Somehow. I force my head up so I can see and discover that my head wound has torn open. Blood blinds one my eyes but I can still see Dan backing away from Caius, his eyes wide with fear as Caius advances.
“You make the same mistake everyone else does. You all assume that because I do not fight, I cannot fight. That I must be a complete coward, that I must totally lack the stomach for violence.” Caius says in a flat tone, still sedately walking towards Dan. Dan trips over his own feet and he continues to scramble backwards.
Gotta stop Caius, before he does something he’ll regret. I crawl across the smoking, burning dirt towards him. The choking smoke rasps against my lungs as I crawl, my vision swimming in and out of focus. Damn, the ward is going. Caius has caught up to Dan, lifting him by the throat with one arm.
“The reason I do not fight, is because I choose not to.” Caius says, throwing Dan effortlessly over his shoulder, towards me. I can see Caius’s arm giving off wispy tendrils of aether, the fingers of that arm are elongated to the point of looking like claws.
Whisper of the End Page 21