Brink Mage

by Gideon Mills

  In the house, there were no servants and no other person. That was again one of the rumors that Wyatt heard. That Gareth didn’t let anyone work for him, he refused to allow others to be around him in that capacity. It was one of his strange quirks.

  At the end of a long, wide corridor the centaur opened up a door that led to his office. It was a circular room, with a desk for the centaur. The walls had both art and books, and a window that looked out to the back of the estate, and had a decent view of the inner city.

  “Mage, elf, you must be desperate to see me.”

  “I am,” Wyatt said. “You have seen what is going on in the city?”

  Gareth Stone remained silent for a moment. Taking Wyatt in, his eyes not leaving him, as if measuring him up. Taking in every part of him, like reading his soul. If that was even possible. There was a lot that Wyatt didn’t know since he was never trained, not in the mystic arts, or in any way.

  Cat most likely had more formal training that Wyatt did. The mage was poor before he opened his business and still didn’t have much. He had refused the mage training that the Brotherhood offered, and before that when his family was still around, they were too poor for any of the normal schools in the city. The Brotherhood would have dragged him to a far-off land that Wyatt wanted nothing to do with.

  Many of the others who happened to be born a mage and poor might have gone. It was rare to be born with magic, but not unheard of. Some families had more mages than others, but just because a family member was a mage didn’t mean their child would be one.

  After several minutes of silence during which Wyatt had to force himself not to speak, Gareth Stone finally answered him. “I have seen the goblins leave, the elves are speaking of riots, and the dwarves are building escape tunnels.”

  That was even more than Wyatt knew about. How had he missed all that? And Cat said nothing of the elves.

  “I haven’t heard about the elves,” Cat said.

  “They don’t trust you,” Gareth said. “You might be an elf, but you aren’t a city elf.”

  “I know, but I’ve been then talking to them. Doing work for them.”

  “Still not one of them,” Gareth said. “They don’t trust me either, or anyone for that matter.”

  That didn’t surprise Wyatt. The way many of the races treated each other, it was no shock that they were all about to start fighting. The city was on the brink of war and chaos, and that had to be stopped. They needed to bring back a stable place for all to live in harmony.

  “What do you know of King Martin?” Wyatt asked.

  “Very little.”

  Wyatt told the centaur about the job, and the little he knew. Even about the attack on him that supposedly came from the king.

  “I see, that does explain much, the vile human king is part of the reason tensions are high. You would be smart to remove him.”

  Wyatt didn’t want to kill him, but he got the impression that’s what Gareth wanted. “I just want to prove he’s behind it, but I have no access, and don’t know if I can use my magic there.”

  “That is what you seek of me?”

  “We seek knowledge of the wards, and someone who can grant us access,” Cat said. She tried to be as specific as possible. That was smart when dealing with a man like Gareth Stone. Otherwise, he would give you knowledge, but it might not be what you needed or expected.

  “Very well,” the centaur said. “I will find this out for you, but you will owe me. Someday I will collect from both of you.”

  Wyatt and Cat both gulped. While this was what Wyatt wanted, it didn’t make it any easier to swallow.

  “Very well,” Cat said. “We agree.”

  Outside of the estate, Wyatt’s body was tense and on edge. “I can’t believe we did that.”

  “It was your idea.” Cat glared at him. “I didn’t want to go to him. Centaurs are shifty and manipulative.”

  Wyatt laughed. “I know, and I know. But we have nothing.”

  “Now what?”

  The day was still young, and Wyatt didn’t want to waste it. They might not hear back from Gareth for a long time. He wasn’t known for being quick, but he did seem concerned about the goings on in the city.

  “I want to look into the stuff that he mentioned.” Wyatt didn’t like hearing about the elves and the dwarves. “There is more going on. It troubles me.”

  “Me too.”

  It was on the complete other side of the city, but they decided to check on the elves first, since they both had contacts there and Cat being kin. Not that seemed to matter to the city elves.

  “I still can’t believe they don’t trust me.” Cat had started to complain about that right away.

  “I get it.” Wyatt might not be an elf, but he saw their plight. Many of them felt abandoned by the elves from Flemval Grove. Even though it happened generations ago, and many actually chose to leave that way of life behind.

  “I don’t,” Cat said. “They could go to the grove. Could be part of our life.”

  It wasn’t that easy. Simple to say, but for most to travel across the world, that was no easy feat, and elves were poor, and not trained to fight. The stories of bandits that roamed the roads were enough to keep them here. Keep them in place, not to mention the threat of dragons, giant trolls, and more.

  Cat might have been able to travel alone form Flemval Grove, but a city elf wouldn’t be able to equal that feat, and going in a group would draw even more attention. It wasn’t feasible for them to leave the city. They were stuck in the place they lived—many not going more than a few miles from their homes ever in their lives.

  Part of Wyatt actually hoped they did riot and go against the king and his tyrant ways. Show the humans, and others just how badly they were treated.

  Reaching the elven section of the city, Wyatt didn’t like what he saw.

  10

  Chaos

  At first glance, one would say it was a typical day in the elven part of town, but it wasn’t. Too many were out on the streets and rushing around. None of them looked up at Wyatt or Cat. That wasn’t normal, and Wyatt didn’t like it.

  Every other time he ventured to this part of the city, the elves would greet him. Talk to him. They might be treated poorly like they were the scum of the world, but they always treated victors like friends. Never had they just pretended that no one was here.

  “I don’t like this,” Wyatt said.

  “Me neither.” Cat examined the area and the elves. “We need to talk to Elder Victor.”

  Wyatt nodded in agreement. Elves had a hierarchy like all the other races in the world, and in Imlay, Victor was the man in charge. At least, to the outsiders of the culture.

  He was always that man that Wyatt talked to and learned about elves from. Victor had hired Wyatt for more than one job and knew that Wyatt cared about the elves. Over the years doing his work, Wyatt had never charged more than he had to. Just cost, and Victor knew that and thanked Wyatt for that.

  The houses here were tiny and falling apart. Compared to these, Wyatt was living in a mansion and rich beyond compare. It made him sad to just think about it.

  “Why didn’t you live here?” Wyatt asked.

  “They wouldn’t let me,” Cat said. “And doing the PI work, I had to be around the people that would pay and who might be behind what I was really looking into.”

  “I see.”

  That made a lot of sense, once he thought about it. Not to mention that it was no real surprise that the other elves didn’t want a forest elf around. That was a shame too.

  Many of the elves appeared to be meandering around aimlessly, but that couldn’t be the case. The more that Wyatt watched them as they made their way to Victor, the more it was clear they had a purpose but were doing their best to pretend otherwise.

  “You see that?” Cat asked.

  In the distance, Wyatt saw several King’s Guards watching the elves. It wasn’t unheard of the for the guards to be here. They were the men that protected the city
and made sure that criminals paid for their crimes. These guardsmen looked to be doing more than just doing a regular patrol. More than protecting the city, but scouting it, and seeking to do harm. There was just something off about them that Wyatt couldn’t put his finger on.

  That was yet another troublesome thing going on. Wyatt didn’t like seeing them and not being able to place the reason. So much was off in the world right now, and it was scaring the daylights out of Wyatt. What had he gotten himself drawn into?

  Victor leaned against his own hovel. Clearly, the other elves had told him of their arrival, and that they were making their way to him.

  “Wyatt,” Victor said. “I see you have met Cat.”

  Wyatt nodded. “I have. We are working together.”

  That didn’t appear to please the elf. He cringed, and a frown formed on his face. “I see.”

  Cat noticed his displeasure. “I’m not here to hurt you; I’m trying to help.”

  Victor scoffed. “Many have said that yet none have proven true.”

  This wasn’t the path that Wyatt wanted to go down, and it wouldn’t help them at the moment. It wasn’t that Wyatt didn’t agree with Victor or doubted that Cat wanted to make the world a better place. Both were right, but it wasn’t the time.

  “Look,” Wyatt said. “Victor, you and I go way back. I’m not perfect, but I need to talk to you. Things are going on in Imlay and in the rest of Urgan. I’m trying to figure it out and stop anything bad from happening.”

  Victor furrowed his eyebrows and crinkled his nose. Wyatt hoped he would be willing to look past all the issues that elves and humans had. And the city versus forest elves as well, and be willing to talk. To let them know what was going one.

  “I don’t know what you think is happening,” Victor said.

  Cat licked her lips and was about to speak, but Wyatt tapped her arm. “Can we talk in private?” Wyatt asked.

  Victor again looked at him with quizzical eyes. “Very well.”

  The elf led them into his hovel and gestured to one side. Not for them to sit down, as it was one room, and didn’t have a place for guests to relax. It smelled of roasted vegetables. Many of the city elves ate meat, but those that clung to the tradition of the forest elves didn’t. Victor was one of the latter and never touched any meat. How he managed that, Wyatt didn’t know. The mage would starve if he tried.

  The walls had no art, and the bed was a small, big enough only for Victor and on the floor, like most of the poor in the world. Only the rich had enough money for wood frames. His bed at least was straw and had fabric over it. Many of the elves didn’t even have the material or straw. They slept on leaves, or nothing at all.

  “What do you think is happening?” Victor asked again.

  Cat didn’t let Wyatt stop her this time, and he didn’t really try even though he thought it would be better for him to be in the lead. “The king is planning something to take out the poor. To hurt the goblins, elves, and trolls.”

  The city elf lip’s quivered. “I see. You know more than I thought.”

  “We want to stop the king,” Wyatt said. “I’m trying to find proof.”

  “You won’t find any,” Victor said. “And you don’t have any allies here. You, both of you, have hurt the city elves.”

  Wyatt sighed. He knew he could have done more in the past to help them, but he was just one man and didn’t have the funds to make a difference. “I get you don’t like humans, mages, and all the other races that act like they are better.”

  Victor winced at what Wyatt said. The mage must have hit home to the elf and showed him that he was just as bad as those he hated. It took two to bring hate into the world. If one was willing to look past the hatred and disgust and learn to accept the other, both sides were better off.

  “I don’t, but I see you mean well.”

  “We do,” Cat said. “I know you hate me. You think I’m cruel, but we have seen the damage and felt it. We want to bring back balance and power to the world.”

  “Power?” Victor appeared to be confused by the notion. To be honest, Wyatt wasn’t sure what she meant by that either but wasn’t about to ask about it. This wasn’t the time or place.

  “Yes. Balance for elves, goblins, dwarves, and humans.”

  “What about me?” Wyatt said.

  Cat laughed. “Technically, you are human, as mages aren’t a race. More of a class.”

  Wyatt had never really thought about it like that. It made him now wonder what other classes Cat might think there were in the world. That was again something for later.

  “We are going to riot,” Victor said. “The king made a new proclamation last night. We won’t stand pat.”

  Wyatt hadn’t heard any news from King Martin or the royal family, but it didn’t surprise him that the king had done something stupid. Already, he was attacking Wyatt out in the open. While his attackers hadn’t been the king’s guardsmen, they had said the king sent him.

  “Let us try to fix it first,” Cat said. “Delay the plans.”

  “I can’t,” he said. “It’s too late.”

  Wyatt cursed under his breath. He figured that might be the case, but at least they knew why it was going to happen. Urgan was going to hell in a hand basket, and Wyatt didn’t like it.

  11

  Proclamation

  It didn’t take long to leave the elven part of the city. Wyatt wasn’t pleased with the lack of actual progress, but they did have a good talk. As they left the elven district, the city changed around them. The buildings got a little larger, and some would argue were better-made. It was a slight change, but the people that lived here noticed it and talked about how much better it was. Wyatt didn’t think so.

  “I wish he told us more about the proclamation,” Cat said.

  Sometimes Wyatt forgot just how new to the city Cat was. “We can get the full thing. The king has to post it.”

  “That seems stupid.”

  Wyatt laughed. “I’m sure he doesn’t post all, but if it’s a proclamation like Victor said, it’s posted.”

  “Where?”

  “Follow me.”

  Wyatt didn’t want to go to one of the nicer parts of the city, but that was the place that it would most likely still be hanging up. The one board near the elven section of Imlay was most likely already down and being used as part of their riot. Wyatt didn’t want to be on the streets when that started. It scared him just thinking about it. Not that he couldn’t hold his own, but that the king's guards would slaughter the elves. That was the fear and he didn’t want to see it first-hand.

  In his years working as a private investigator Wyatt had seen death and people hurting. His stomach could handle it. His heart was the issue. Wyatt had grown to care for the city, all of it.

  The street was not as crowded as normal for this time of day. It was near midday, and usually, people were out and getting their midday meal. Today that wasn’t the case; the streets had half as many people as normal. Over the last few weeks since he took that job and the goblins left, the roads were less and less crowded. That was a troublesome occurrence, but today was even worse.

  “I don’t like this,” Cat said. She was taking in the area and how few people there were. They were walking through one of the higher traffic merchant sections of Imlay, and almost no one was on the cobblestone street.

  “Me neither.”

  They were nearing the proclamation board that all the news was posted to. It was one of the ways that people got information. Only the rich had access to the few newspapers that were printed, and they were only monthly.

  The board was big and stood out. Close to ten feet tall, and on the top was the mark of the royal family and of the country. “Is that it?” Cat said, pointing to the board.

  “It is.”

  Cat picked up the pace and arrived before Wyatt. On the board there was only one new proclamation. The rest had been removed to let everyone focus on the new one.

  It read:

  T
hose that live in the sections of Detram, Waram, and Steram will have a curfew going forward. They cannot be out after dark. Also, all residents must register with the newly formed Martin Force.

  Wyatt had never heard of such a thing. What the king was doing, he had no clue. It was as if he was trying to invoke a riot by the elves. All those sections were the parts of Imlay that many called the elven district or section. It was unheard of, and what this Martin Force was, Wyatt had no clue.

  “He’s a tyrant.” Cat face was red, her nose crinkled up, and her fists clenched. She was angry, and her body shook.

  “We will figure this out,” Wyatt said. “We still don’t have all the pieces in place.”

  “I know,” Cat said through a clenched jaw.

  It wasn’t easy, but Wyatt was able to guide Cat from the board. She seemed to want to stand there and stare at the words. As if that would change them, and make it all go away.

  Wyatt got her to the edge of the district they were in when something caught his eye. Or rather, movement and a voice.

  “Wyatt,” a woman whispered.

  Off to the left was a goblin, and she was attractive. She had purple hair and bright yellow eyes that went well with her smooth green skin. Her clothes clung to her tightly, and showed Wyatt she was in excellent shape.

  “Uh, hey.”

  “Stop staring and follow me, the elf can too.”

  “Do I know you?” Wyatt asked. He knew a few goblins, but they had been part of the group that left the city.

  “No,” she said. “If you follow me, I can explain.”

  Wyatt looked to Cat, and the elf just shrugged. That wasn’t much help. Wyatt didn’t like just following people and doing things if he didn’t know what they would lead to. It was bad enough that he’d already done that today with Gareth Stone.

  “Very well,” Wyatt said. The world was already going crazy as it was. Might as well just follow a random goblin, and see what she wanted. At the very least, it was even more eye candy for him. Not that he needed that with Cat at his side, but what sane man said no to more.