Aldan tore his eyes away from the Princess and answered the King in kind. “Majesty, this I swear to you; whatever the cost to me, Mage Robric will not survive to trouble your kingdom.”
* * *
By noon, the pikemen and archers had formed up and left on foot. Servants swarmed the castle courtyard and the streets outside, pushing food carts in an attempt to feed everyone prior to leaving. Aldan, Odessa and the King stood off to one side, having already eaten, and watched as a large group of rag-tag volunteers assembled to receive last minute instructions from the arms-master.
King Rodger shook his head, the wonder in his voice unmistakable as he surveyed the scene. “What have you done to my people, Mage Aldan? I have never seen the like. We stripped the castle armory bare trying to find armor and weapons for all the people who have come forward. Those we couldn’t find armor for volunteered to drive wagons and carry the wounded to the Princess.”
“People can only live in fear for so long, Majesty,” Aldan observed. “My presence has given them a ray of hope that this evil may be stopped and they can return to their lives without fear.”
The clamor of loose armor and weapons rattling slowly diminished, and the aroma of fresh bread and hearty soup dissipated as those assembled settled into an expectant calm.
“It is time,” Rodger announced. “Come, I have promised the volunteers that we would ride escort for them until we reach the ruins.”
Aldan raised his staff in salute to the volunteers as he rode to the head of the column. The men, young and old, raised their swords and cheered in response. Jon and Derek were already waiting for them along with half of the King’s personal guard. At a signal from the King, the entire column proceeded through the castle gate and into the city, where the wagons fell into line. The other half of the King’s guards and those few lords who could muster war horses brought up the rear.
Once past the city and on the road, the arms-master broke into a ribald marching song to help the volunteers find their cadence. Soon the men were in step and singing along, some of the older men adding verses from memory. The experience of being part of an army, even a small one, surprised Aldan with the intensity of his reaction and feeling of camaraderie with all those around him. A few verses of the marching song raised the heat in his neck that got worse when Odessa laughed and joined in the song.
To cover his embarrassment Aldan turned to the King. “What are these ruins you spoke of?”
“Robric’s fortress is too far to reach in a day’s march. The ruin of an old castle sits atop a small mound roughly halfway there. The truth is lost, but tradition has it that the fortress belonged to a powerful mage during the Mage Wars. It was destroyed by enemies who had joined forces against him. There isn’t much left now besides foundation stones and the base of a tower, but it’s the most defensible position along our route.”
The sudden rush of anger and despair that filled Aldan’s mind was shocking until he realized it wasn’t his. Reaching into the pocket that held his Tome of Magic, he gently spoke to the spirit within.
“I have been such a fool. The thought that you were once a man never entered my mind. The ruins were at one time your home, were they not?”
The anger and despair vanished like a puff of smoke as a voice barely recognizable as the Spirit of the Tome answered. “Forgive me Aldan. I have been a spirit for so long; I believed human emotions were beyond me. I was never a very powerful mage, but it was my knowledge that others feared. Unable to capture me, they razed my home to the ground instead. I managed to escape. My family did not.”
Unable to find words equal to the emotion that welled up inside, Aldan hoped the simple gesture of squeezing the Tome would suffice.
By the time the King’s group reached the ruins, the pikemen and archers had begun clearing brush from the slopes and were busy removing the wild growth at the top. Although the King believed that Robric would wait for them in his place of power, Commander Erikson would take no chances and prepared for a possible night attack. Aldan rode through the ruin, the Tome observing through his eyes then circled the base of the mound at its request.
“Amazing,” the spirit said in wonder. “All the stones I set so long ago to anchor my defensive matrix are still positioned perfectly. As soon as everyone is settled for the night, I will show you the spell to activate it. The matrix won’t kill the goblins if they attack, but it will slow them down.”
The Commander ordered all troops to sleep in their positions fully armored with weapons close at hand. Most pikemen settled behind the foundation stones and were told to stay low so the archers would have a clean line of fire. The King and the other mounted combatants were stationed near the openings in the foundation wall. Aldan, Odessa and her guardsmen occupied the top of the tower base, giving Aldan the best vantage point.
* * *
Later that night, amid the quiet snores of the men and the occasional movement of the horses, the Staff tentatively reached out to the Tome.
“Amos the Wise. Is that really you?”
“So you remember, Marcus. Yes, it is me.”
“I am so sorry, Amos. I would never have destroyed your home if I’d known your wife and children were still inside.”
“I know, the others confessed to lying. They needed your power to break through my defenses. That is why I convinced the council to preserve your spirit, not theirs. Had I believed otherwise, the staff would now be inhabited by another.”
Ancient memories full of pain and sadness tore through the fabric of their fragile spirits, especially for Marcus who had only recently become self-aware. The great passage of time was difficult to comprehend even for a spirit. Other memories soon re-surfaced.
“Amos, is Aldan the one foretold?”
“He has the potential, Marcus. It will be up to us to work together to ensure he reaches that potential. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
* * *
Sometime after midnight, Aldan woke to a voice in his head. It was the Staff.
“Aldan! Krindar are in the camp. Focus your spell through me and I will target every one of them at once. If not, some will escape.”
Before he could react, Aldan watched in horror as two of the night watch crumpled to the ground, their throats ripped out from behind. Casting the krindar spell into the Staff resulted in a dozen demons flashing into nothingness. He quickly cast protective shields over those he could see just as arrows rained down from the dark sky.
“’Ware arrows!” Commander Erikson bellowed. “Return volley, now!”
Even firing blind, the archers were experienced enough to estimate from where the enemy had to fire to reach the top of the mount. The snap of bowstrings and the thunk of crossbows filled the night as screams of pain floated up from the base of the slope.
The matrix flared to life as the first goblin passed through in a lumbering charge.
“Marcus, can you do the same thing with the goblins as you did with the krindar?” Aldan asked. “I would rather place a small light over the head of each beast rather than several large lights overhead.”
“I can only target the ones you can see. You will have to move to the other side to target them all.”
Aldan stood on the highest part of the tower ruin and gasped at the number of goblins that surged up the slope. Already he could hear the sound of pikemen gagging as the stench of the beasts filled the air. Dozens of small fire balls shot out from the staff and hovered over the heads of the beasts, causing them to stumble. He jumped down and rushed over to the other end of the ruins as arrows continued to bounce off of his personal shield. Aldan paused to increase the power in the defensive matrix from simple warning to deadly force.
Having targeted the goblins on that side, Aldan turned to sprint back to his vantage point when the Tome called out in concern.
“Aldan, beware! No single mage has the power to summon krindar and control so many goblins and humans at the same time. Something is not right here!”
&nb
sp; Aldan passed Odessa already absorbed in her task of healing those brought to her, unaware that her book of spells had just issued the same warning. From his vantage, he watched incredulous as the King and his riders charged the goblins in an attempt to knock them back down the slope.
A figure on horseback appeared on the road near the base of the ruins. The staff he held high burst into flames that engulfed both horse and rider.
The Tome cried out to Aldan. “It’s the Staff of Agropa! Even the entire Council of Mages was unable to defeat it. Mage Robric is only a puppet to the staff now. Our only chance is to separate the Mage from the Staff.”
Robric lowered the staff and a flaming bolt of power lanced out toward the ruins. Aldan countered with his own bolt crackling with lightning energy. The resulting concussion as the two bolts met blasted a hole in the ground that destroyed every goblin within twenty feet.
Instead of lowering his staff to point at the fiery apparition below, Aldan lifted it and pointed to the sky. A bolt of lightning the size of a tree trunk struck the shield over Robric. The resulting concussion ripped trees from the ground. The horse was driven to its knees but quickly recovered, the mage and staff unaffected.
Before Aldan could draw another breath, a blast flattened him and all those around the tower base. The matrix flickered and died and the fire balls dogging the goblins began to dim. The King and his riders went down in a tangle, overwhelmed by the beasts. The guards were forced back into the ranks of the volunteers as the goblins swarmed over the foundation wall.
* * *
Odessa had opened herself up to every trace of power released by the shed blood and the few unfortunate deaths so she would have a reserve to heal all those brought to her. The sudden flood of power as the goblins broke through their defenses surpassed her conscious ability to control it.
Somehow, her magic had insulated her from the blast and she scrambled up to where Aldan lay unconscious, blood flowing from his ears. Dimly, she was aware of her book of spells calling out to her.
“You must control the power!”
The sight of her beloved lying there near death broke the gates holding back the anger she had buried since being forced from her home. Her control disintegrated in the face of that flood.
She had the power to kill. Nothing else mattered. Stretching out her hands toward the mage and staff below, inky red tendrils of power flashed out and engulfed the mage, staff and horse. Robric’s scream was short lived as he and the horse melted into a pile of flesh and bones. Suspended in air by its own power, the Staff of Agropa resisted.
Unthinking, she drew more power from the wounded men littering the ruins. Men she could have healed died as she stole the last of their life force to feed her anger. The flames surrounding the Staff grew into an inferno then vanished. A flash of sparkling motes signaled its demise. The goblins convulsed and shrunk as if crushed by a giant hand.
Odessa knelt next to Aldan and quickly healed his concussion and a number of broken bones. Bending down, she kissed him on the lips and smiled when he opened his eyes. “You are safe now my love.”
Aldan stared, uncomprehending, into a set of eyes the color of old blood.
Epilogue
Far to the east, deep inside Greystone Castle, King Romar sank back into the old and worn out stuffed leather chair that came with Mage Ryecliff’s rooms. As King, he could have chosen any one of the royal apartments, but there was something about this small suite of rooms that called to him. Maybe it was the traces of magic left by the old mage that were so familiar and comforting. Everything in the room was saturated with the residue of magic which made it easy to cast spells.
Fingers that trembled slightly twisted the dragon ring on his finger, the glass of wine beside him long forgotten. Eyes squeezed shut; he replayed the fragmented images of the battle he’d just witnessed. Knowing the young Mage’s magic signature, it had been easy for Romar to cast a spell that alerted him every time Aldan used his magic. Assuming that he and the Princess were still together, it was only a means to keep track of where they were so he would be forewarned if they decided to return.
What he hadn’t expected was the rapid rise in the Apprentice’s power and abilities. The night he’d watched as Aldan battled with the spirit of the staff for supremacy had left Romar visibly shaken. It had not been so much a show of force but a contest of will and determination. If he was to be honest, that was a contest he might not have won.
One of the drawbacks to his spell was the absence of sound. The images were only a reflection of Aldan’s magic as it affected the world around him, but it was enough to paint a picture. Tonight, King Romar witnessed a mage battle with enough power released by both sides to shatter the dreams of his own ability. Anyone with even a touch of mage sight would have been aware of that conflict. His spell began to lose focus as Aldan’s magic failed, but the final surge of power left a red after-image on his mind’s eye. He’d been forced to break contact or be caught in that spell of what could only have been Blood Magic.
Romar’s limited knowledge of Blood Mages forced him to consider the possibility that it was Princess Odessa who had somehow donned the mantle of a witch. As soon as they recovered, he knew the Princess would be on her way to reclaim her kingdom. His only hope lay in the completion of his original goal. All of his initial attempts to enter the Citadel of Oron had failed until he realized that as a school for apprentice mages, the spell to enter would have to be simple enough for the newest mage. He needed to test his theory now.
Never one to waste time, the King jumped up and opened the door to his rooms surprising the guards outside.
“Find the arms-master and inform him that I require his presence. Then go to the kitchen and have the cook put together a travel sack for a week’s journey. Hurry!”
As the young guard rushed off, Romar turned to the remaining guard. “Send the arms-master in as soon as he arrives.”
“Yes Majesty.”
Once back inside, he changed into a simpler and more comfortable outfit. The trappings of a King would mean nothing inside the Citadel, and the presence of a sword at his hip would only fuel his own vanity. On sudden impulse, he picked up Mage Ryecliff’s personal journal and idly flipped through several pages. While the old mage’s vision of magic differed from his own, the intelligence of the man was obvious and forced Romar to reconsider how he perceived magic. It might be the best weapon for him to carry.
A knock at his door announced the arrival of his arms-master, who bowed, then snapped to attention. “You summoned me, Majesty?”
“Relax, Gregory. Time is too short for formalities as I must leave soon. Come, walk with me and I’ll explain.”
After one last glance around the room, the King led the way out and headed for the kitchen. “The Princess and her Mage will soon return. He is more powerful than I and my only hope is to enter the Citadel to acquire whatever power and knowledge I may.”
“What became of the Apprentice?”
“He is an apprentice no longer, and the Princess has discovered a power of her own. If I do not return before they arrive, do not fight them. I repeat, do not fight them, Gregory. I will not continence the waste of lives and possible destruction of this castle.”
“What of our home?”
“Send the majority of our guard home with a message for my brother that the kingdom is now his. Keep only a small detachment to escort the Princess back home.”
By this time, they had retrieved Romar’s travel sacks from the kitchen and stood before a blank wall at the rear of the castle. Gregory reached out to clasp his liege’s forearm; his voice broke as he spoke. “You… you don’t intend to return, do you?”
Romar returned the grip of the man who had been his only friend while they grew up in his father’s castle. “My life has been driven by the pursuit of knowledge and if that knowledge still exists it will be here. I feel I’ve finally found the place where I belong.”
He placed one hand on the wall and an ornat
e entryway appeared. Turning back to his old friend, he continued. “A young Mage like Aldan will need a good man to watch his back. Promise me you will offer him your services when he returns. I can’t put my finger on why, but I sense there is something very special about that young man.”
“I promise. Goodbye, Majesty. I hope you find the peace you’ve been searching for.”
Unable to respond to Gregory’s deep bow, Romar turned away and walked through the open door.
“Enter and be welcomed. Give and it will be given. Take and it will be taken.”
The Princess and the Apprentice Page 11