Given that the banshee is obviously long past her awakening stage, I can only assume that the host’s soul is long gone, and that the banshee is the only one in control of the body right now. However, I was not aware that a banshee could maintain the original appearance of her host even after her awakening. I thought that Flower and Illuna were a special case, because of the fusion, but it appears I was mistaken. Perhaps I do not know as much about banshees as I would like to believe.
The woman’s hair is long and black, and the expression on her face looks ruthless and unforgiving. While we were getting closer to her, I could see the banshee take a short glance towards Flower, but then she went back to looking straight ahead of her, awaiting the sage’s orders.
All of the members of our team stop about twenty feet or so in front of the stone table, in order to make sure that we have enough space to move, in case a battle erupts between our two groups. Nolderan, of course, walks past us, and he joins his true comrades, who are currently forming a line behind the sage.
“I see that you are not willing to advance any further,” Talmak says, as he takes another sip from his dwarven ale bottle. “No matter. At least you are close enough that I don’t need to shout. Let’s get down to business, then, shall we?”
He then puts his bottle down, and places his hands on the table, while looking at us.
“I think you may have already guessed that all of the pinecone-collecting mages outside are working for me,” Talmak says. “They are all mages who have agreed to give up on participating in this tournament, and to spend the rest of their time here helping me win instead. In exchange for their services, they will be receiving generous rewards, many of them unobtainable by normal means. As you all know, when you become a sage, you receive many benefits. You also gain a lot of influence, with many people. And I can use this influence, to make people’s wishes come true. Now tell me, Daren, would you not by any chance have any wishes that you would want to come true?”
“My wish is to gain access to the Magium,” Daren says, with a very serious tone in his voice. “But from what I’m gathering, this is the one wish that you would not want to grant me…”
“Don’t be a fool, boy!” Nolderan says. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You will never get a chance like this again. For once in your life, use that rusted brain of yours and think!”
“I think I’m starting to understand what’s going on, here,” Daren says. “It wasn’t by accident that you found our camp, was it, master Nolderan? You already knew that I’d be there, and you were sent to bring me here by the sage, so he’d offer me this deal. I thought I had made myself sufficiently clear that I would not become your henchman when I didn’t answer your letter, Sage Talmak. Why did you feel the need to make this offer to me again?”
“He’s made this offer to you before?” Hadrik asks, surprised.
“Yes,” Daren says. “He sent me a letter not long after the tournament was first announced. I’m guessing that master Nolderan must have received a similar letter as well. Except that he actually accepted it.”
“Why aren’t you being honest with me, Daren?” Talmak says, as he takes another drink from his bottle. “Why don’t you tell me the real reason why you won’t join me? Who else managed to recruit you before I did? Was it Azarius? Nolderan’s told me that you’ve always admired him. But I can offer you more than Azarius ever could. You have no idea how much knowledge you gain access to when you are a sage. There are so many books that are not shown to the general public. So many restricted areas. I could give you access to all of these. And all I’m asking in return is for you to join my team, and to help me win the Magium. Hell, I’ll even extend the offer to all your friends, if you want. You only need to say yes.”
“I wasn’t recruited by Azarius!” Daren says. “Don’t you understand? I came here on my own! I came here because I’m tired of travelling around the world, trying to save people, while thousands of others are dying somewhere else, where I cannot reach them. No matter how much I trained, or how hard I worked, it was never enough. I couldn’t save them all. But once I get the Magium, I may finally become able to achieve my dreams…”
“Boy, are you out of your mind?” Nolderan shouts. “Are you telling me that you are still holding on to your foolish ideals from back when you were still my pupil? When will you finally grow up and accept reality?”
“Grow up?…” Daren says. “And then what? Become Talmak’s lapdog, like you did? What happened to you? What happened to the master I knew, who was a proud man that was happy and content with teaching people martial arts and enchanting for a living? What happened to that man who would never bend his knee to anyone, regardless of their social status, or their strength?”
“That man died long ago,” Nolderan says. “He died after I lost my sage status, and after everyone abandoned me, forcing me to take up work as a mercenary. But this time it’s different. I’m no longer just working for scraps. If we succeed, here, I could finally turn my life around. And so could you, if you wouldn’t keep stubbornly holding on to those childish ideals that you’ve had ever since I first met you!”
“It seems that my old master truly is dead…” Daren says, as he shakes his head in disappointment. “But my ideals are not. I am sorry to say that I will be refusing your offer once more, Sage of the North.”
“Surely, you must be joking…” Talmak says. “You can’t seriously be thinking that you have any chance of winning this tournament by yourself, when there are four sages competing against you… There’s no way that anyone can be this naive.”
“He is serious,” Nolderan says. “I can see it in his eyes. It’s the same look that he had when he first told me why he wanted to become my disciple. It hasn’t changed one bit since then…”
“No, this can’t be possible…” Talmak says, in disbelief. “I refuse to believe that this is actually happening… Someone needs to wake this man up! You there! The one without any magical powers. I don’t know if you’re Daren’s servant, or his advisor, but you seem like a man with his head on his shoulders. Try to make him see reason. Please!”
“Yeah, Daren,” I say. “You should quit the tournament! Less competition for me, that way.”
“You won’t get rid of me that easily, you opportunistic bastard,” Daren says, with a grin.
“Is this supposed to be some sort of joke?” Talmak says. “Please tell me that you are not seriously planning to participate in this tournament against me as well…”
“It’s not a joke…” Kate says. “Take a good look at them, and you will see from their eyes that they are not bluffing. They really did both come here to win the tournament.”
After hearing Kate’s words, Talmak keeps turning his head between me and Daren, looking at each of us in turn, as if he is simply refusing to believe what is happening before his eyes. Once he finally understands that we are indeed being serious, he completely loses his temper, and his face contorts into a snarl.
“You would compete against me?” Talmak shouts furiously, as he gets up from his chair and looks at me directly. “Me? The Sage of the North?”
He then stops suppressing his magical power, and for a moment, it feels like the intensity of his aura is hitting me right in the face.
“As far as intimidating auras go, I’ve seen better,” I say, once I’ve recovered from the initial shock.
“Do you people think this is a game?” Talmak says, as his eyes are still brimming with fury. “Do you all think that this offer I made is something that you can just refuse? Are you unable to understand the situation you are in?”
“I think we all understand our situation very well, Sage Talmak,” Daren says, with a serious tone in his voice. “Judging by the terrified looks that those mages outside were giving us when they saw us travelling alongside Nolderan, I’m willing to bet that you’ve also threatened them in the same way, and that this is the real reason why you have so many people working for you. But these sorts of tactic
s won’t work on me.”
“Is that so?” Talmak says, as he calms down a bit. “Well, Nolderan, I hope you won’t hate me too much if I kill your old disciple. He is simply leaving me no choice, at this point.”
“The boy chose this path on his own,” Nolderan says. “He was given ample opportunities to see reason, but he wouldn’t listen. I am sad that it has come to this, but there is no other way.”
“It’s good to see that you still care, master Nolderan,” Daren says, with a dark look in his eyes.
“These two fools have already sealed their fate!” Talmak shouts, as he faces the other members of our team. “But the rest of you do not need to die together with them. If you join my side now, you will be allowed to live.”
“That’s mighty generous of you,” Hadrik says, with a grin. “But I’m afraid that I’m going to have to refuse.”
“What about you, banshees?” Talmak asks, as he looks at Kate and Flower, in turn. “Are you going to stand by your friend’s side and get slaughtered, or will you pick the sane choice, and live?”
“I did not come here to become a mercenary,” Kate says. “You are not the first powerful adversary that has threatened us since we’ve arrived in Varathia, and you will not be the last.”
“One banshee has denied me, but one remains…” Talmak says. “What do you say, little girl? Will you also make the same reckless choice as your friends? Or will you choose the winning side?”
“I think that you might be greatly overestimating yourself, Sage of the North,” Illuna says, in a dismissive tone.
Talmak laughs.
“So you will all die together, then…” he says.
“But what about me?” Melindra says, as she fakes a pleading look in her eyes. “Are you going to kill me too? I am only a defenseless maiden who was being escorted by these warriors. I do not want to die…”
“Hmm?…” Talmak says, looking as if he’s only just now noticed that Melindra was also there. “Oh, I suppose there’s no need for you to die with them if you don’t want to.”
“Then… can I join your side?” Melindra asks.
“Of course,” Talmak says. “And the other girl can come to this side of the table as well, if she wants.”
“I will stay here,” Leila writes, as Melindra heads over to the sage’s side.
The sage first looks a little confused, when he sees the blue writing in the air, but then he understands its significance, and he addresses Leila directly.
“As you wish,” Talmak tells her.
“I should have known that you would abandon us with the first opportunity you got, you traitor!” Kate tells Melindra.
“Don’t take it personally, ice mage,” Melindra says with a smirk, as she reaches Talmak’s side of the table and she places herself beside him. “I did somewhat enjoy travelling with you and your group. But now it’s time to move on. I’m sure that I will find other suitable candidates to escort me to Ollendor, eventually.”
“Ahahahahaha!” Arraka starts to laugh all of a sudden.
“What is it that you are finding so amusing?” Illuna says.
“Don’t you see?” Arraka says. “Don’t you see what is going to happen?”
She then starts laughing again. The sage ignores her completely, and he resumes talking, with a loud voice.
“Well, it would appear that everyone has now chosen their side,” Talmak says. “Is there anything else you might want to say, before we commence this massacre?”
Wait a minute. Something’s not right, here. Why would Melindra go out of her way to give me a vague message, if she was just going to betray us afterwards? And why did she specifically request to join the sage’s side? If she really wanted to be safe, she could have just flown away, and left us to our fate…
“Just shut up and prepare yourself for battle, will you?” Daren tells the sage, as he readies his sword and shield.
No matter how hard I think about this, it still doesn’t add up. Unless…
“Ahahahahaha!” Arraka laughs even louder in the background now.
“Then let us begin…” Talmak says, with a confident grin.
“Yes,” Melindra says, with a smirk. “Let us begin!”
She then snaps her fingers with both her hands at the same time, and all of a sudden, a huge tornado engulfs her and the other six mages by her side, sending them flying into the air, before they have the time to react. As the twister keeps spinning them round and round, it seems that the base of the tornado is quickly expanding in size, with every second.
So this was her plan all along… I should have known from the very beginning.
“I knew it!” Arraka says. “I knew that she’d do it the moment she asked to join the sage’s side. This girl is even crazier than the half-lessathi. I’m dying of laughter, here, ahahahaha!”
“But… why?” Kate asks, seemingly in a state of shock. “Why did she do it?”
“Everyone get back!” I shout. “Melindra can’t control her powers properly. This tornado may well engulf us too, soon, if we don’t get away from it.”
“Can’t control her powers properly?…” Kate says, confused. “Wait, is this why she’s never fought together with us in the past? Because she could risk hurting us by accident?”
“Yes,” I say. “Now let’s move!”
“But if you knew about this… then why didn’t you tell us?” Kate says, as we all move away from the tornado.”
“Because she asked me to keep this a secret,” I say. “Listen, I don’t have time to explain now. We’ll discuss this in more detail later. Flower, we need to fly up there and get Melindra out of the tornado.”
“What?…” Flower says.
“She asked us to pull her out after she snaps her fingers, remember?” I say. “Now come on. We need to hurry!”
I raise both of my arms into the air, which signals Melindra’s air currents to lift me off the ground. Flower then starts her fire jets, and we both head upwards, while also slowly approaching the tornado. After a few seconds of trying to spot Melindra, we finally locate her, as she is spinning continuously along the outer borders of the twister.
“Come on, let’s get her out!” Flower says.
We both fly closer to the tornado, and when we’re right next to its borders, I call out to Melindra.
“Melindra!” I shout, when the tornado spins her towards our side. “Can you stretch your hands towards us on the next rotation?”
Melindra appears to be holding her breath, so instead of answering me, she nods in approval. We wait for her to do a full circle around the tornado, and when she gets right in front of us again, Melindra extends her arms in our direction, as Flower and I each grab one of the arms and quickly pull her out. After flying together with her for a few dozen more feet, in order to make sure that we’re far enough from the cyclone, we stop for a while, so she can catch her breath.
“Took you long enough…” Melindra says, as she starts coughing from all the dust that she’s inhaled while inside the twister.
“We came here as fast as we could,” I say.
“No doubt,” Melindra says. “But it still feels like I’ve been inside there for a million years. Glad to see that you got my message, at least.”
“Yeah, I did get the message, eventually,” I say. “Although, it would have been nice if you had made it a little clearer.”
“I couldn’t risk it,” Melindra says. “They may have had people in that group who could tell when people are lying, by studying their auras. I needed you to be genuinely shocked at my betrayal for this plan to work.”
“But couldn’t you just create the tornado from afar?” I say. “Why did you have to go all the way to their side to do it?”
“When I make a tornado as big as this,” Melindra says, “if I’m not right at the center or straight above it, I won’t be able to control it properly.”
“What about now?” I say. “Are you able to control it now?”
“I hope so…”
Melindra says. “The hard part was creating it, so as long as I only need to maintain it, I should be able to— Ugh…”
Melindra suddenly puts her hand on her forehead, as she is trying to suppress a headache.
“Are you alright?” Flower asks, worried.
“I’m fine, I just…” Melindra says, and then she pauses again, while she massages her temples. “I just used too much power all at once, that’s all. As soon as I rest a bit, there should no longer be any— Oh no…”
As Melindra was talking, a few small twisters were starting to form very close to where our friends are standing.
“No, no, no!” Melindra says, as she panics. “I can’t stop the cyclones! I can’t stop them from forming! I need to undo them all, quick!”
“Just make sure not to also undo the big one by… accident,” I say, but before I got to finish the sentence, the big twister was already gone, along with all the small ones.
As soon as they’re out of the tornado, the sage and his henchmen start to fall down, while they’re coughing and taking large gasps of air. Talmak manages to conjure a floating stone platform out of thin air, and they all land on it, as they’re still trying to catch their breaths.
“Let’s go back to the ground and group up with everyone else,” I say. “We can start fighting when we’re all together.”
I begin to fly towards the ground, along with Flower, but Melindra is still just floating there, and it appears that she’s gotten another sudden headache. The sage notices this immediately, and he uses his powers to magically create a big rock, which he flings towards her, at great speed. Melindra does not get to react in time, and the rock hits her hard in the head, making her lose her consciousness.
“Melindra!” Flower shouts, as she rushes to stop her from falling.
Just as the sage tries to hit Flower too, Illuna quickly casts her golden cage spell around herself and Melindra, which makes Talmak’s rocks break into pieces at the impact with the cage’s golden bars.
“The fox’s cage…” Talmak says, as he watches Illuna starting to heal Melindra, while inside their floating cage.
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