The Wizard Book

by Radu Aldea

  “What do you want from me?” Kara asked calmly.

  “I don’t want anything from you. If it were up to me you’d be dead already. That would’ve been the kinder option. I don’t know if you agree. So I’ll show you what your future looks like. You’ll be breeding stock.”

  He jerked her head so she could see her two servants being raped. Kara wanted to vomit. She wanted to take over the men raping them and stop it. But reason told her it wouldn’t do any good. She would be killed at the first sign of trouble and the soldiers would continue doing what they were doing. Kara felt the pain, the anger and the fear coming from the two girls. They were the only two voices in her head now. They had been there all along and she somehow ignored them. She wished she could do something about it, to make the pain and the fear go away. She couldn’t and frustration boiled inside her. Then Kara realized there were only two voices she could hear, and Aleyna’s, whose she had been so used to, was missing.

  “Don’t try to do something stupid or I’ll kill you!”

  “Where is Aleyna?” Kara asked not letting the panic show in her voice.

  “You mean the third girl. She died in the forest. I tell you, she was a fighter, not like these two here. She almost managed to escape. All that effort you put into trying to help them, perhaps you should’ve used it to help yourself. Why did you do it?”

  “Why did I try to help her escape? Because she is my friend!”

  “You mean she was your slave.”

  “No, I mean friend!”

  Kara took a few moments to regain her composure. Of course she knew Aleyna must’ve been dead. There was no other explanation why the connection between them was broken. The link between a senator and someone he controls is broken when the senator chooses to sever it or when at least one of them dies. Kara didn’t break the connection, so the answer was clear. She swore she would avenge her friend if it was the last thing she would do. Whoever did this would pay dearly. A senatorial purge would be invoked for every men or woman who had any part in this.

  “You do realize you’re all dead, don’t you?” Kara asked him.

  “I very much doubt it, honey!”

  “Even if I die people will come looking for you. They’ll kill all of you.”

  “They’ll have to find us first. They won’t!”

  Kara started laughing. There was a drop of insanity in that laughter.

  “You think you can hide from senators. Then you really are a fool. Do you know what a senatorial purge is? You might not because the last purge was invoked fifteen years ago. Do you have any family?”

  “Do you think you can frighten me? I don’t have a family because your kind killed them. You are all abominations and you should all be dead.”

  “I see! I had nothing to do with that, you know!”

  “It doesn’t matter. You are all the same.”

  “You do realize you can’t keep me prisoner and make me breeding stock?”

  “People seem to think they can. They tell me all they have to do is cut out your eyes. You will still give birth to your evil spawns and they will still have your power. But you won’t be able to use it ever again. They told me I should cut out your eyes while you were unconscious. They said this would be the safest way. I disagreed. I wanted you to see the fear on your slaves’ faces and realize you would look the same. You just won’t be able to see it. You know, I volunteered for this task.”

  Terror was beginning to take over her. What they had planned for her was worse than she imagined. The man was right. She needed to see to channel her power. Without sight she was powerless and they could do whatever they wanted to her. Kara breathed slowly and tried to fight the panic. This was not the moment to panic. This was the moment when she found a way to escape. She would rather die than accept a fate like that.

  “I won’t kill you,” Kara said. “I will take over you and make you kill everyone you care about. Then you will know what a senator is capable of.”

  She heard the man’s chilling laughter.

  “I think we’ve talked enough. It’s time to get this done.”

  She felt the man let go of her hair and reach for a knife. At the same time there was an explosion in front of them. Her two servants and the men who were raping them or waiting for their turn screamed. They were all covered with dirt and it seemed to hurt them because they were all trying to get it off. Kara didn’t want to wait until things settled down and she figured what was happening. She leaned back. The man made sure she couldn’t turn her head. He wasn’t worried, as he said, he thought she didn’t have any power left. And he wasn’t prepared to hold her if she leaned back. Their eyes made contact. That wasn’t necessary for her to use her power. All she needed was to see enough of the man to get a clear impression of him. She had. And nobody seemed to notice what she had done. Even better!

  He was hers now. Time was on her side. Nothing was faster than a thought. He must’ve realized it too. Although he wouldn’t be sure until she issued her command. But he knew and he was really scared. Panic was taking over him. Stay still, Kara ordered him and she felt him obeying.

  “Is she doing this?” The question came from somewhere behind them.

  Tell them this is not my doing!

  “No stupid, she’s a senator. She can’t do something like this.”

  Then things began to calm down. Nobody seemed to have an explanation for what happened and everybody was talking and looking around. From what she was hearing she figured everybody was looking around and saw nothing. The men who were hurt in the explosion got cleaned up in the lake. Nobody bothered with her servants. Kara saw there were burn marks on them. How could the earth have exploded? How could it burn someone?

  “Kill her now! It is too risky to keep her as prisoner,” a voice behind her said.

  Three columns of water rose from the lake. This happened so quickly Kara barely realized what was happening. The first column somehow grabbed the men closest to the lake and dragged them to its bottom. The second formed what seemed a protective dome over her servants. It wasn’t very large, only about ten paces in diameter. The third one created an even larger dome over her and the men near her. She hoped it acted as a shield.

  Let go of me! The man obeyed immediately. She turned around just in time to see the men who were under the water dome with her. They seemed to be stunned and didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t believe her luck. She took control of everyone who was near her as she turned around. When she was confident she controlled everyone under the dome, she tried to understand what was happening. This was not a senator attack. It looked like something a sorceress might be able to do. Or many sorceresses! Untie me!

  Kara didn’t have time to ponder on this much longer because the soldiers thought she was behind the attack and started gathering around the dome. Form a shield of bodies around me, she ordered the men under her control. They did it just in time. The soldiers outside started to throw spears at them. But the water dome acted really well as a shield because it slowed the spears. They just fell down on her side of the dome. Then the soldiers tried to get through the dome themselves. The water wall was solid enough because it stopped them. The soldiers who tried to get through it started screaming. The wall seemed to be made of boiling water. Tell them a sorceress is attacking them!

  “This is not a senator attacking, this is a sorceress,” the man who had held her shouted.

  That got through to them because they were looking around again. They understood they couldn’t do anything about the water shield. This gave her the time to find out what was happening and who ordered this attack. Surprisingly, she found out that the soldiers were not from Suttland but from Essland. They had a commander. That’s all they knew. They had no idea if someone else ordered the attack against her. So she had to find their commander. That was not easy with all the commotion around.

  Kara was not so sure this was a sorceress attack. There was no female in sight and supposedly sorceresses could not attack at more th
an five hundred paces away. Perhaps some could, and she just didn’t know about it. Still, this didn’t explain what a sorceress was doing here. She didn’t have time to answer that question because a wall of fire rose from the ground and stopped the soldiers who were trying to escape. That moment she realized this was not a sorceress attacking. A sorceress was not that powerful. Kara couldn’t bring herself to admit it, but there was no other answer. This was a wizard attack. A powerful wizard! The problem was the wizards were thought to be dead.

  There was nothing she could do about a wizard right now. His attack continued and now the wall of fire was shaped like a semicircle that ended in the lake. It surrounded everyone. From what she had seen earlier, Kara wouldn’t recommend going into the water. Balls of fire shot from the wall killing the soldiers. And the wall was closing in around them. There wasn’t much time before everyone would be dead. Where is your commander? Point him to me! The men pointed him out.

  She saw him. He was just as terrified as his soldiers. There wasn’t much time. Kara took over him. She was not sure she could do it through the wall of water but she did. It wasn’t very difficult to get the answers she wanted. The commander was from Essland as well, as most of his men. The men used in the first attack, the archers, were brigands or rabble. They didn’t even ask who they were attacking. They just wanted to get paid. The soldiers were more reluctant to attack a senator. They agreed only because the payment was worth it and they were promised nothing would happen to them. They didn’t think that now. And this attack was ordered by a human count from Essland. That’s all the commander knew. Why would a human count from Essland attack her? He wouldn’t, not unless someone else ordered him. Or he was under the control of another senator.

  She didn’t get a lot of time to think about that. The commander was hit by a ball of fire and died. There were men and horses dying all around her. Some tried to escape through the lake and drowned. Some tried to get through the wall of fire and burned. Some were trampled by horses, which were out of control. It went on like this for a while and then it ended. All the riders who were outside the domes were dead.

  The water that formed the domes returned to the lake when the battle was over. Kara ran to her two servants. Physically they weren’t hurt much. There were only some burn marks on them. However, they were scared and in shock and didn’t understand what happened.

  “I’m sorry this happened to you,” Kara told them and took their hands. She didn’t know how else to comfort them. Then she ripped a piece of cloth from one of their dresses, got it wet in the lake a cleaned their faces. Kara helped them get dressed as well as they could, considering their clothes had been ripped.

  “Did you do that with the fire and the water?” Amelia asked. She had always been the braver of her two servants and seemed to come to her senses sooner.

  “No! You know I can’t do something like that,” Kara answered.

  “Who did?” Cecilia, her other servant asked.

  “A wizard, I think!” Kara saw the terror on their faces. They knew, just like she did, a wizard wasn’t good news. “I don’t think he means us harm. He could’ve killed us, or let them do it. He saved us.”

  Then she saw him coming out of the forest. He was tall, with black hair and simply dressed. Kara instantly knew he was her equal. That didn’t happen a lot to her. In fact, there were only four senators who rivaled her power. You couldn’t quite compare the power of a senator to that of a sorceress, yet everyone she knew assumed that the top senators were more powerful than any sorceress. Only a wizard could be as powerful as she was. And here was one who could. And he was daring if he came out to talk to her.

  “Thank you for saving us,” Kara said when Michael was close enough.

  “It seemed like the right thing to do,” he answered.

  She looked into his gray eyes. All the time he was walking towards her she barely controlled herself, but she didn’t make contact. Kara wanted to read his mind, not to order him. What stopped her was that he would know what she had done. The wizards and sorceresses were the only ones who were aware that a senator connected to them and only wizards were able, given enough time, to break the connection. She didn’t want to thank him that way.

  “I am Kara and these are Amelia and Cecilia.”

  “I am Michael. It’s very nice to meet you. You went to take care of these two after I dissolved the domes. Aren’t they under your control?” Michael asked showing his surprise.

  “It is my duty to protect them,” Kara answered. “Obviously, I failed today.”

  “Protect them?” Michael asked not hiding his mistrust.

  “Look! We’re not slaves, we are not forced to do anything against our will, and we are paid well,” Amelia spoke more annoyed with Michael than Kara was.

  “This attack took me by surprise,” Kara said. “I should’ve tried to escape when the first phase of the battle was taking place and keep everyone safe. I was arrogant and overconfident and because of that I lost Aleyna. You haven’t seen my friend, have you?”

  “I only arrived when you were unconscious and they were dragging these two from the forest. I didn’t see anyone else, I’m sorry. Can’t you order her to come back?”

  “I’ve lost the connection to her.”

  Michael understood what that meant and didn’t push the matter anymore.

  “Look! As far as I can tell there’s no guarantee that would’ve been a better solution. They would’ve come after you and I don’t think your powers work well in the forest. Things might’ve been worse. I don’t think you should blame yourself!”

  “Thank you for saying that, even if it’s not true. I’m better trained than this, I swear.”

  “Aleyna was ahead of us. We lost sight of her. She might’ve gotten away,” Amelia said in an attempt to comfort Kara. “What happened here was not your fault. Whoever sent these men is the one responsible. He has to pay for this.”

  “He’ll pay, don’t worry about it. Apparently people forgot why you shouldn’t attack a senator. They seem to have short memories, but I will remind them.”

  “About that,” Michael spoke, “do you have any idea who is behind this?”

  “Yes, I do! It was some human count from Essland!”

  Cecilia and Amelia seemed really surprised. Michael, on the other hand, did not. He expected an answer like that.

  “Did you do anything to him?”

  “No, wizard, I didn’t do anything to him. I’ve never heard of him before today. In fact, I haven’t done anything to anyone that would warrant this.”

  “I didn’t mean to offend you, Kara. It seems to me that if there is an attack on someone like you is for one reason only: power. And I don’t think any human would be that daring.”

  “No, he wouldn’t. Not on his own and not unless someone very persuasive ordered him. What surprised me is the soldiers were told nothing would happen to them.”

  “Could anyone manage to keep that promise?” Michael asked.

  “Of this world there isn’t anyone,” Kara snorted. “Maybe if they made a deal with a god or a goddess, or maybe the late emperor it would work.”

  “Would a senator be able to offer that kind of protection?”

  “No, his family would be exterminated. All senators know this!”

  “That’s not exactly true,” Cecilia spoke with a trembling voice for the first time since Michael had arrived. “Lucian hates you and he could protect them if you were dead. Lady Kara, you said they came from Essland!”

  What Cecilia said really made Kara think. Lucian didn’t exactly hate her and he wasn’t pleased with her either. It didn’t matter, Lucian liked power. And her family was definitely in his way. Perhaps he saw an opportunity with the imperial succession taking place. The new emperor couldn’t compare to his father. That’s what Kara had heard, anyway. Still, Lucian wouldn’t need a thousand men butchered if he wanted to kill her. But that was only if he knew she was roaming around that unprotected. What if he didn’t know?
Her habits were not the same as five years ago. She needed to talk to her father and he would help her clear this up. Then Kara saw Michael staring at her, probably trying to read her mind or something.

  “I guess this Lucian is a possible mastermind of the attack?” Michael asked.

  “Yes, he might be involved. I have to go back to the house and talk to my father.”

  “Perhaps you shouldn’t go home!” Michael told her.

  “Lady Kara,” Amelia spoke and fear was clear in her voice, “if Lucian is involved in this he could’ve attacked the house as well. Without you there he could take it.”

  “I still need to go home!”

  “Perhaps I should come with you. Whoever sent these guys knew exactly where you were and came directly for you. And you’re almost drained of power. Don’t bother denying it,” Michael said when she gave him an ugly look. “You might need my help.”

  “Fine, you can come!”

  Chapter five

  Michael didn’t know why he told Kara he would go with her. She might need his help? Yes! In fact, he was sure a lot more trouble was waiting for her home. That wasn’t all there was, though. Now that he was close to Kara he had the feeling he could trust her completely and that something very bad would happen if they parted ways. He liked the first part of the feeling and hated the second. He didn’t have foresight – only two wizards had it in the last hundred years that he knew of – but to him it was a more evolved form of instinct and if he was right, something terrible for almost everyone would happen.

  “Just wait until I will get my backpack from the woods.”

  “Will it take long?” Kara asked.

  “No, it will only be a minute.”

  “Good! Because we are in a hurry,” Kara said drily.

  Michael couldn’t figure why she was in a hurry or what difference ten minutes would make. The only answer he could find was that she also had the feeling something happened to her home. He couldn’t blame her for worrying.