"What about the person who is framing me? If they are a Necromancer, how do they rank as a mage?"
"Depends on who it is. If we're lucky, it's someone just playing around hoping to cast a few spells on the dead a time or two. They could be a simple Apprentice gone bad."
"And if we're not lucky?"
"Then it could be an Adept trying to earn the rank of the Archmage and studying necromancy was just the push they needed to turn evil."
My chest suddenly felt heavy. That was the second time Spratlin mentioned something about turning to the dark side. "You mentioned before about there being a dark side to being a Healer."
He stopped and looked over his shoulder. "You don't have anything to worry about. You keep practicing your magic the way I've taught you, and you'll be just fine."
But I was worried. I already didn't like the idea of being part of a coven, and apparently renouncing my membership was highly frowned upon. I didn't want to ask Spratlin, but I wondered if becoming a Dark Daughter meant I could still level up my mage ranking. Hey, I'm a gamer; I can't help it. Everything is either a rank or level to me. Even though most of the time I've spent as a witch has been nothing but a big pain in the ass, knowing that I'm practically living in an Elder Scrolls game was pretty damn cool. And Archmage? I liked the sound of that.
There was a deep guttural growl up ahead. That, however, I did not like. "Sounds like we've got company."
"Probably a demon patrolling the caves." It grew louder as we got closer, and finally, we were right around the corner from it. "Take point," Spratlin whispered.
My heart pounded. He wanted me to survey the area and decide what to do? "I think we're well past the damn training missions."
"I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think you were capable."
I suppose now was not the time to fall back on my gamer habits. Going in guns a' blazing was likely not the better choice. I bent my knees and pressed against the cave wall. Slowly peeking around the corner, the demon came into view as it paced back and forth. Two torches hung on opposite ends of the area.
He whispered once again. "Try to conserve energy if you can."
In other words, don't blow my wad all at once. There was a joke in there somewhere, and if I hadn't been scared out of my wits, I would've likely blown our cover making it. I took a deep breath, pushing all outside thoughts from my mind, and began channeling my magic energy. I exhaled.
Peeking around the corner once again, I waited until the demon made the turn and then I stepped out and shot a bolt of lightning at the back of its head. The demon growled but went down instantly. I ran over to it and stomped his lights out. Then I grabbed a torch and lit it on fire.
"Nice work." He took a breath. "Remind me never to piss you off."
"Tell that to Alexa." I took the lead down the path. I hadn't even realized I had done it until I noticed the mysterious footprints had also continued the same way.
"You still think it's her?"
"Who else could it be?"
He looked doubtful. "I just don't think she's talented enough to pull it off. Necromancy is not something you just pick up in an afternoon."
"You saw that spell she cast that almost killed Gaylin."
"Yeah, and it burned Jeremy's house down. I'd bet money that wasn't intentional."
"I don't see her working for someone else. Maybe she conned someone into helping her." I should have been more concerned about that than I was, but revenge for someone framing me and almost killing my best friend was blinding.
"Speaking of Gaylin, if everyone in Blackwood is a witch, why wasn't she at the party?" She had been coy about how she fit into all of this. Even when she came to visit me at the store after Jeremy's party, she wasn't quite herself.
Spratlin grabbed my arm to stop me. "Shh!" He pointed at the wall of the cave. "Shadows."
The corridor sloped downward, so I tiptoed closer to the corner to get a better look. Three hooded figures were huddled together whispering. My foot slipped on the incline. The figures turned toward us. One of them handed another one what looked like a book and ran away. The other two began walking toward us, each one flicking their hand to produce a ball of magic!
13
Spratlin took his stance. "Take the fire mage! I'll deal with the other one."
I assumed he chose the pulse mage because fire and water don't mix. At least some of that magic mumbo jumbo made sense. My magic welled up in the palm of my hand as fast as it ever had. It was getting easier.
He glanced over his shoulder and said, "Just don't get burned."
Gee, thanks, teach. What sage advice. We stepped around the corner in unison and immediately fired our magic at the two figures, then ducked behind a jagged rock for cover.
The fire mage formed a wall of flame in front of him blocking my Bolt. "Damnit."
"Figure out a way around it," Spratlin said.
Ricochet! I could bounce my electricity off the cave walls! The fire mage stepped in front of a boulder as he was progressing toward me. I flung a Bolt at the wall to his right, it ricochetted onto the boulder behind him, and zapped him in the back.
"Yeah! Take that, fucker!" The mage dropped his Flame Wall, and I shot a more powerful Electro Bolt into his chest forcing him off his feet. He hit the ground hard right as Spratlin's pulse mage also went flying backwards. The two mages landed in a tangled mess.
"That's how ya do it!" He was more excited than I was. "I hope all my future students are as good as you."
I bent down and pulled off the hood from the mage. "Do you recognize him?"
"No," he said. "No telling what coven he came from. Come on, let's go after the other one. I wanna see what they gave him."
"Hang on." I picked up flame hand's feet and dragged him. Spratlin grabbed the other one, and we hid the bodies behind a cluster of boulders. I checked their robes for any clues. Nothing. I disrobed the fire mage and threw on the robe. Spratlin looked stunned. I shrugged and said, "When in Rome."
He threw on the other mage's robe and we proceeded deeper into the corridor.
"How many covens are there?"
"In Blackwood or the world?" Putting it like that made me uneasy. "I imagine hundreds or thousands all over the world. Those guys could have come from anywhere."
"We need to find out what they're doing here. Are there any covens that don't get along with yours?"
"Uh, yeah, that's an understatement." I glanced back at him but could hardly even make out the bottom half of his facial features because of the hood. "Blackwood Coven."
"Blackwood Coven?"
I had a feeling I wouldn't like what he was about to tell me.
"Our city was founded by the mages of Blackwood Coven, hence the name."
I paced. "Why wasn't that in any of my training textbooks?" He didn't have to say anything to answer. I knew why. The lovely Ravencrest Coven was too proud to acknowledge it.
"Remember when I mentioned the massacre that Mrs. Gonzales was a part of?
I nodded.
"It happened a long time ago, when Mrs. G was about our age. High Wizard Cyrus of Ravencrest accidentally cast a spell on the son of Archmage Laris of Blackwood. Basically turned the kid into an invalid. Legend has it Archmage Laris sought revenge and sicced his wolf familiar on our High Wizard's daughter ripping her to shreds."
I flinched at the brutality of that last part. "Geez."
"The two covens started a fight that lasted weeks. Children on either side weren't safe, and were either forced into hiding or forced into war. It was a bloodbath. If you ask anyone in our coven, they all agree, there was no real true winner. Not with that many casualties."
I didn't know what to say. The situation sounded a little too familiar. Would the hatred between Alexa and I lead to war?
"Mrs. G's participation in the fight helped turn the tables for our side. Next time you see her, greet her as High Wizard. She'll get a kick out of it."
I saw the edge of a black robe as it moved around
the next corner. "There he is!"
We took off down the corridor chasing after the runaway mage. As we got closer, I let go of a Lightning Bolt, but it narrowly missed him. "Damnit! Don't let him get away!"
Spratlin ran past me. By the time I caught up to him I was out of breath. I watched as he threw a cool-looking swirling ball of water at the mage's feet. It tripped up the mage and the book he was holding went skidding across the cave floor. He tried to scramble to his feet, but my foot in his stomach impeded his progress.
"Oh shit! My boss is gonna be so mad at me." He must have realized how ridiculous he sounded because then he changed his tune. "You'll pay for this!"
He tried to raise his hand to cast magic on me, but Spratlin bound his hands together with magical handcuffs. He was seriously gonna have to show me how to do that. Those were way cool.
"Oh, no you don't." Spratlin then popped the mage on the head with the book. "Where'd you get this?"
"I don't know where it came from. I just do what I'm told."
"Then answer the question." I pressed harder on his stomach.
He cried out. "I don't know!"
I got in his face. "Then who are you working for?"
"Some mage called Ma Jasmine."
My heart stopped. I stood up straight, stiff as a board, releasing my hold on the mage. How did he know that name? It wasn't possible.
"Are you okay? Whoa!" Spratlin cupped my elbow in time to steady me.
I turned my focus back to the mage who was scooting backwards on his hands. "Where'd you hear that name?"
Before we could stop him, the mage got to his feet and lunged at Spratlin. He grabbed the book and took off down the path.
"Let him go," I said.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"That's the name I used to call my mother when I was a little girl." He looked at me with stern eyes, like he was processing what I just said. The only other person who knew that name was my mother, and she was dead.
"What do you think it means?" When I didn't answer, he pulled me into a hug.
I was afraid to think what was happening. Either Alexa was playing an even crueler trick, or... No, it wasn't possible.
Spratlin must've sensed I was distracted and that my guard was down because he took the lead as we made our way further into the caves. My mind was still swirling with what the mage said. I wasn't sure if it was my newfound psychic ability or just plain ole gut feeling, but I couldn't shake the notion that something bad was about to happen.
I pictured Mom's garden on a warm sunny day. She was tending to her flowers when she told me that jasmine was her favorite. She said, "It means love." I liked the sound of the word so much that I took to calling her by that name every so often. I never said it around anyone else, so there was no way anyone but her could know.
It just didn't make any sense.
I bumped into Spratlin again before I realized he had stopped. "Dude, brake lights."
"Look," he said as I stepped out from behind him. The corridor had opened up into a bigger room that was filled with lit candles and crosses adorning the walls.
"What is this place?"
"I don't know." I didn't like the uneasy way he said it.
At the other end of the room was another doorway that led into a dark hall. We followed it along until we felt it get cold. It wasn't just a pocket of cold air like when I would ride my bike at dusk near the cornfields. No, the temperature had literally dropped.
The pathway had some loose stones scattered about. Touching the wall to brace myself, I yanked my hand back like it had singed me. I brought blue magic to my palm so I could get a better view of the walls.
I noticed Spratlin watching me. Guess he liked my use of 'practical magic'.
It looked as if the wall's veins and tissue were exposed. Like it was alive! "Seriously, what the hell is this place?" I rubbed my arms to soothe away the goosebumps.
We kept walking until the path opened up into an enormous chamber. Huge columns stood before us that went several stories both up into the ceiling and down into the pit below. Standing on the ledge looking down into the vast pit made me feel tiny, like a mouse who had just poked his head out of her little hole.
Human skulls lined the columns and the walls all around the Great Chamber. They were packed in like sardines. We had just walked into a large catacomb.
"Ho-ly shit," I said as I looked around, mouth dragging the cave floor. "That battle you told me about? Think we found where the bodies were buried."
"This can't be good," Spratlin said. We locked worried gazes. The fact that we were chasing after a necromancer was not lost on either of us.
I stated what we were both thinking. "Somebody's about to have a hell raising good time."
14
Below us, across the vast chasm of skulls and makeshift graves were four robed figures. They were standing near an entrance, and another robed figure came running in. His quick, jagged movements looked frantic. His hands waved around in unison. They were bound, which meant it was our mage who got away. One of the figures he was talking to started advancing on him and pointing his finger.
"He's pissed."
The angry mage turned around as if he was looking for someone, and then turned back to our mage. He shrugged his shoulders. "I bet he just asked where the other two are," I whispered as I moved further out on the ledge to look for a way down.
My foot slipped and a few stones tumbled down the chasm. The mages looked up, and one of them pointed right toward us! "Shit! We gotta go!" I said as I took off down the corridor.
We ran as hard and fast as we could through the living hallway, hoping to reach the exit before bumping into any more mages. I was afraid there were more mages, and now that the word was out, the whole coven would be searching for us.
Finally, we reached one of the many forks in the path. I stuck out my arm for Spratlin to stop. Footsteps. Glancing around, I saw a small alcove across from us. "Quick! Over there!" I hoped it would offer a safe spot.
"Odd. I didn't notice this when we first came through," Spratlin said.
There was a stone column blocking the view from the other direction. It was so dark in the corridor, it was easy to miss. The narrow passage opened up into a room complete with chairs and floor to ceiling shelves that were stocked with books.
"Who would build a library underground?" I tore off the robe and threw it in the corner.
Spratlin did the same. Then he said, "Someone who doesn't want it to be found."
I pulled a dusty old book off the shelf and flipped through it. It was filled with a language I didn't understand as well as evil-looking drawings and symbols. The shelves weren't stocked with nursery rhymes and classics, that was for sure.
"Dark magic." I looked up from the book to see Spratlin also looking through one. "Whoever built this place is into some dark shit."
I slammed the book closed, eager to return the book to its resting place, then I lingered toward the back of the room. "Hey, come look." I stepped into another room with beds lining both sides of the room. Each one had a small table next to it and a little black book on top. I didn't even want to look inside those. Not the kind of bed time prayers I was used to.
"This place keeps giving up the most interesting secrets."
Wandering the length of the room, something caught my eye in the back right corner. A black ring sat on the bedside table. Upon picking it up, I realized it was just like the one I wore that belonged to my mother. Things were already weird; shit was getting spooky.
"What is it?" Spratlin said as he came to stand behind me.
Turning around, I held up my right hand in a fist so he could see both rings. "Look familiar?"
He slid my ring off my finger and inspected both to see that they shared a similar design. The intense look didn't leave his face when his eyes darted over at me. "Mackenzie, your ring..."
"What? Don't scare me like this. What is it?"
He looked white as a ghost, all c
olor had drained from his face. Even his blue eyes lost their color. Like a fish when it's scared. "That ring bares the mark of the devil."
"What? No, it doesn't." I grabbed the rings to inspect them closer.
"That right there," he pointed. "It's how necromancers identify themselves."
What he was implying wasn't possible. If my mother was a witch, there was no way she was into necromancy.
Was she?
Self doubt is a bitch, folks. Fight it best you can.
I fought it by thinking of the wonderful memories I had of my mom--before my dad died and she sent me away. Growing up without my dad to help, I'm sure put a lot of pressure on her. She was strong and capable. Hell, she had to be.
Sure, there were times when she'd work late, or be gone a little too long on the weekends. I never let it bother me. My head was usually immersed so far in a game to care, or notice, how long she was gone. I guess I also never noticed how she was drifting away from me.
After learning she was a witch, like every other person in this God-forsaken town, I wonder what she was like. Did she help fight bad guys, or was she more the intellectual mage who studied the craft and devised tactics and strategies for bettering our magic?
I also wondered what it would have been like to practice magic with her. To have her teach me. My chest hurt with the thought of lost memories. Memories we could have shared if only I had discovered my power earlier. If only she had told me instead of shunning me.
What was done, was done. I would never know what it would have been like, so there was no use in daydreaming about it. I slid my ring on my finger again. The lure of its magic seeped into my skin. I raised my hand closer to get a better look and gently rubbed the titanium. Would she have taught me necromancy? Would she have wanted her daughter to follow in her dark footsteps?
Shaking away those thoughts, I inspected both rings. Inscribed inside the band that I found on the bedside table were Gaylin's initials. An even weirder feeling washed over me. Like, even though I had discovered a lot of strange truths these past few months, things were about to take another turn.
Wanted Witch (Daughter of Darkness Book 1) Page 8