by Eric Vall
“I’ll summon the blacksmiths of Serin,” Temin decided. “They’ll see that the mages are armed as soon as possible.”
“That’s very helpful,” I replied, “but we also need to increase security at the entrance of the city. Several possessed mages have been living in residence there, and while they appeared to be clearing out today, every mage in the area knows how to find the gate to the Oculus.”
“I fear my guards will not suffice,” Temin admitted, “but I will have a troop posted at the gate every moment from here forward.”
“That will have to do for now,” I said as I furrowed my brow thoughtfully. “Once Falmount Rift is secure, I’ll see what I can do to help with security measures here.”
“Excellent,” the king sighed, “and what of your army?”
“An Ignis Defender by the name of Kurna has gotten word out and gathered a sizeable number of recruits already,” I explained, “but they’re in need of intensive training, like I said. I’ll keep you posted on their improvement and return within the week to check the Oculus again and be sure nothing else has happened.”
King Temin nodded as he shifted to ease the tension that had built in his shoulders, and then he stretched a hand across the table to me.
“Those are the kind of plans I was hoping to hear from you, Defender Flynt,” he told me soberly. “Keep up the good work, and if you need any supplies for the training sessions, feel free to borrow anything from the Oculus. Consider the city as much yours as it is mine.”
I tried not to look too shocked by the gracious statement as I rose to shake the king’s hand.
“How are the tariffs against Orebane going?” I asked, mostly to distract myself from the notion of the magical city being practically in the palm of my hand.
“Dismally,” Temin muttered while we all followed him to the door. “I would have you address the lords now on the matter, but I need you working with the mages immediately. If I can’t get nobility to ease up soon, though, I’ll be sending word to you at this town of yours. We can’t risk the anger of the Elders of Aurum at this time.”
“I agree.”
We parted ways with the king as he headed back to the gathering of his lords at the other end of the great hall, and then we left the castle and piled into Bobbie.
The Mustang growled to life and brought us through the gates of the castle, and as we headed for the outer reaches of Serin, Cayla hummed thoughtfully to herself.
“What is it?” I asked as we waited for Simun and Goreth to part the gates.
“I’ve decided you’ll be a baron soon,” the princess replied.
I smirked. “Have you?”
“Yes,” Cayla assured me. “I’m sure you’re serving the king more adequately than many of the barons he already has, and if Falmount continues to expand, you’ll be housing nearly half of the mages in the Order for him as well. Now that he’s as good as entrusted the Oculus to you, I believe a gentle nudge is all it would take to gain the status of a baron.”
“You’re not gonna rest until I have every scrap of power possible,” I chuckled.
The princess grinned and shrugged. “I can’t help it. I know this system too well to sit by and let you labor as a knight.”
“I thought you were happy with the knighthood,” I countered.
“I am,” she allowed, “for now.”
I shook my head as Aurora giggled in the backseat, but then another sound caught my attention in the woods that dotted the foothills beside us.
It was the distinct sound of swift feet scaling logs and boulders, and for a split second, I thought a troop of elves had tracked Deya down already, but after listening more closely, I decided they weren’t quite quick enough to be elves.
Which meant only one thing.
I kicked up our speed and brought the car to stop well ahead of the group sprinting through the woods, and then I immediately unsealed the doors. As the women grabbed their weapons and joined me, I trained my ear intently toward the foothills to be sure I didn’t lose the trail.
“What is it?” Shoshanne asked in a low voice.
“There’s four of them,” Aurora said as she followed my lead.
“They’re not elves,” Deya added.
“They’re Defenders,” I muttered. “Most likely a group that fled from the Oculus this morning.”
“Should we track their route?” Cayla asked.
“I would say yes,” I admitted, “but they’re heading straight for Falmount Rift, and we can’t let any of them get to our mages. They probably expect us to still be in Serin. Kill them if you have to, but if you can subdue at least one, do it.”
The women nodded their agreement, and as Cayla, Shoshanne, and Aurora headed for the trees, I kissed Deya on the cheek before she flickered out of sight. Then I left her and Ruela beside the Mustang to join the others.
We broke into a run when we reached the forest, and with both Aurora and I gauging the distance of the mages, we were able to spread out and were already waiting when the four of them came sprinting into a clearing.
From my place crouching behind a dense crop of nettles, I recognized the two cloaked mages I’d pursued, but my eyes caught every detail of the group in one glimpse, and I saw the hems of their mages’ robes bore the mark of each element.
The moment they arrived, I split the earth open just ahead of their steps, and as the Flumen Mage yelped and tumbled into the trench, the other three managed to leap just in time.
The Terra Mage halted as he landed on the other side, but before he could raise his companion up from the base of the rocky chasm, I slammed it shut and drove a spire of stone up beneath the Terra Mage’s feet.
He flew several feet into the air, and then Aurora hurled her flames over a boulder.
The cloaked Ignis Mage in the clearing swiftly doused the half-elf’s attack to send their own flames her way, but even though this was dispelled, I heard Aurora’s breath hitch suddenly.
I eyed the Aer Mage in the clearing who had their palms raised toward Aurora, but before I could move, a fierce breeze blew up around me, and Shoshanne countered the Aer Mage’s attack within a second.
When the Terra Mage came hurtling back to the earth, everything escalated immediately, and Cayla sent a bullet into the cloaked Ignis Mage without pause. Before he’d even dropped to the ground, the Terra Mage took a bullet through the chest, and I grinned as Aurora ignited the last mage’s robes.
The Aer Mage snarled and whipped around to tear the flaming fabric from themselves, but Shoshanne was already tightening her hold on the man’s lungs, and as he dropped to his knees, I felt a spike of energy in the atmosphere around us. The Aer Mage was countering Shoshanne with a vengeance, and I could tell the healer couldn’t maintain her hold on him.
Cayla was poised and ready to fire on the possessed mage, and when I realized we had no means of containing his powers, I sent a nod her direction.
The bullet from Cayla’s rifle swiftly struck the Aer Mage between the eyes, and when he collapsed forward in the leaves, we all stood silently looking down on the three dead mages in the clearing.
Aurora had a strange look on her face, and I didn’t need to guess what it meant because I felt the exact same way.
These were mages just like us, and we’d killed them all without pause.
I let this sink in for a moment, and I couldn’t decide how I felt about it. Knowing we’d intercepted their route toward the mages at Falmount was a relief, but this warred against a growing sense of wrong.
I didn’t want to kill mages.
I furrowed my brow as I made my way over to the Ignis Mage lying dead a few feet ahead of me, and then I pulled his pant leg up to reveal the rune blazing in his skin.
“It’s still fresh,” I muttered, and Aurora cursed as she kicked a log nearby.
“What about the others?” Cayla asked, and Shoshanne took stock of the other two mages in the clearing.
“The Terra Mage is fully healed,” the healer infor
med us, “but the Aer Mage must have been branded only today.”
“Check them for an iron rod,” I commanded, and I began digging through the pockets of the Ignis Mage.
There was nothing there, and Shoshanne confirmed neither of the others had a branding rod on them either.
“There’s still the Flumen Mage,” Aurora pointed out.
I grimaced as I realized I had to dig him back up, and I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my gut as I sparked my Terra Magic. We found the body of the mage some seven feet under with nearly every bone in his body crushed, and I didn’t even have to remove him to see the iron rod sticking through the meat of his hip.
I summoned it to me with my Metal Magic and closed the trench back up, and when Shoshanne saw that it was identical to the one Deya had stolen this morning, she let out a nervous whimper.
“Mason, there could be dozens of these,” the healer said quietly.
“And the Master’s sending the mages straight to the Oculus with them,” Aurora added.
I furrowed my brow. “One of each element,” I mused as I thought over the tactic. “He’s been paying attention.”
“What do you mean?” Cayla asked.
“The Master’s not a mage, but he’s had plenty of time to watch how we work lately,” I explained. “We’re incredibly effective in our attacks because we have three of the primary elements among us. Fire, air, and earth. Add water, and you could counter anything.”
“Then he’s forming troops to do the abductions,” Aurora said as she came to my side. “One branding iron per group.”
“And it doesn’t matter who they’re attacking,” I realized.
“They’ll counter the younger mages and easily keep them incapable of fighting back while they brand them,” Aurora finished.
I nodded, and my decision was made. “We need to trap one,” I informed the others. “This might be our only chance. We know several are fleeing the Oculus right now, and if we can capture one and remove their rune, we might be able to get some answers from them. We’ll focus on that, but we’ll avoid killing the others for now.”
“You can’t be serious,” Cayla interjected. “They’re moving in packs, Mason.”
“And those packs are made up of freshly runed mages at the moment,” I pointed out. “If we can save them from the Master’s hold, we will. I’m not going to slaughter every one of them just because they’ve been abducted and forced into his regime.”
“I agree,” Shoshanne said with a worried look. “If we dismantle each troop in turn, we’ll not only stop the brandings, but reverse the numbers he’s already gained.”
“It won’t be fun work,” I sighed as I recalled the gory removal of Rali’s rune in the jungle.
“I’ll help you,” the healer assured me.
“You don’t have to do that,” I told the beautiful Aer Mage. Just the thought of someone as sweet as her doing work like that made my gut churn, and I’d rather it be me if anyone. “This isn’t something I’d wish on anyone else and--”
“I’m the most qualified for the work,” Shoshanne countered, and I could see by the look in her eyes she wouldn’t waver on this one. “It’s like surgery, and if it means we get our mages back, then I’ll do as many procedures as necessary.”
“Perhaps the healing staff could help you,” Cayla mused.
“She has a good point,” Aurora admitted. “The healing process could be accelerated.”
I still didn’t like the idea of Shoshanne having to meticulously peel one rune after another from the mages’ limbs, but there was too much logic in the plan for me to argue it any further, and I reluctantly nodded my approval.
“How will we trap the first mage?” Cayla asked next as we all headed back toward the Mustang and left the mages in the clearing behind us.
“The real issue is how we subdue them,” I clarified as I considered the options. “I can scan the woods for the next hour and probably find multiple mages fleeing the capital, but there was no way we could subdue that Aer Mage without him trying to kill us with his powers, and based on what I saw, he would have succeeded.”
“I tried to counter him,” Shoshanne said with disappointment, “but he was stronger than me, and his connection to our element was strange. It wasn’t the way I feel when I’m influencing the air. I couldn’t sense his presence at all, only this unbelievable strength pressing against my own efforts.”
“I felt the same with the Ignis Mage,” Aurora immediately agreed. “I expected to find that familiar sense of a mage fighting against me, but it was as if he wasn’t there at all. Only fire.”
I furrowed my brow and recalled the Terra Mage I’d tried to keep locked within the Oculus. “Why are they stronger, but disconnected from the innate connection we all have to our elements?”
“Something to do with the rune, I’m sure,” Cayla decided as we came to the Mustang, and Deya flickered into sight.
“Tranquilizers,” the beautiful elf said at once.
“What?” I asked in confusion.
“I heard you say you need a way to subdue the powers of the mages in order to save them,” Deya said in a rush of excitement. “Dragir captured all of you with our darts at House Quyn. Use a tranquilizer!”
I stared at the woman as I realized she’d found the answer we needed, and I couldn’t resist kissing her right then.
“You’re amazing,” I assured the elf as I released my hold on her. “That’s exactly what we need.”
“I know,” Deya said with a haughty smirk, and I turned to the others.
“Luir said the willows in his garden produced the tranquilizer whenever they bloomed,” I recalled. “Do any of you know if those trees grow here in Illaria?”
“They don’t,” Shoshanne answered, “but I can look through my books and find something that would suffice.”
“Perfect,” I sighed. “Let’s get back to Magehill and see if we can’t get some darts ready fast. I want to catch a mage before all of them have taken cover somewhere else. Cayla, train Deya for the afternoon, and show me where she’s at with the dagger by tonight. Aurora, I need you to find Kurna as soon as we’re back and tell him the first training sessions will begin at dawn. I’ll gather some Terra Mages to form a couple fields we can work in.”
Bobbie tore along the foothills at top speed to bring us to the western woods of Falmount Rift, and the mages gaped at the Mustang as it passed by the tenants of Magehill.
When we parked beside the house and climbed out, several young mages were running down the lane to get a closer look, and I let them all admire the car as the women dispersed to get to work.
“I need six Terra Mages,” I announced above the chatter of the mages near the Mustang, and within a minute, I had eight men and women waiting in front of me.
Three of them were around my age, and the others looked like new students of the Oculus.
“We’re altering the foothills behind the town,” I explained. “How many of you have experience working in a circuit?”
The three eldest and one other raised their hands, and I nodded as I addressed the few with less experience.
“Pay attention, and you should get the idea pretty quickly,” I assured them before I headed down the lane with the mages close behind.
We strode through the marketplace to make our way to the back of the town, and a few mages fell in step with us out of curiosity.
“Do you need our help as well, Defender Flynt?” an Ignis Mage asked.
“Can you manage a controlled burn?”
Three mages nodded.
“Then follow us,” I told them. “We could use your flames to speed up the process.”
I grabbed Odin, the Flumen Mage, as well when I caught sight of him in one of the last shops of the marketplace, and when we made it beyond the northern border of the town, I finally stopped and addressed the group.
“Let’s start with burning a circular area with a radius of around eighty feet right here,” I instructed. �
��We’ll need another one just like it to my left, and once the majority of the trees and brush are dealt with, the Terra Mages will join a circuit to level the terrain.”
The Ignis Mages diligently got to work while the Terra Mages split into two groups, and as the more knowledgeable among them began advising the others on how to best work in a circuit, I turned to Odin.
“You’ve been practicing your craft?”
“Yes, sir,” he said with an enthusiastic nod. “I’m already gathering the water back together.”
“Can you tell me about that?” I asked as I furrowed my brow. “I’m wondering what a Flumen Mage requires in order to be effective.”
“Well … water, sir,” Odin replied in confusion.
I smirked. “Yeah, I figured as much, but what are you drawing it from? The river Asris is miles away from here, and it’s not like the foothills of Illaria have as much moisture in them as, say, a jungle.”
Odin thought about this for a moment. “I’ve been sensing a lot of water in the leaves and working mostly with that,” he told me. “There are natural springs dotting the village under the rocks that I’ve started to sense when I really focus hard, but I would have to figure out how to pull these up through the ground to access any of that. I’m not really there yet, I don’t think.”
I nodded. “What else?”
“The weather’s been clear lately, but if it wasn’t, I’d probably say the clouds would be my next option,” he mused. “Then the mages, of course.”
“What do you mean, the mages?”
“I just mean they all have water in them, you know,” he said with a shrug. “I can tell because when I summon my element, I have to be careful not to draw it from the people around me.”
This was what I was looking for, and I nodded as I considered the implications of this.
“So, a Flumen Mage who wanted to drown someone could draw the water from another mage’s body and filter it into someone’s lungs?” I clarified.
Odin’s eyes went wide. “I … I don’t know, sir. I’ve never imagined something like that but, I think it makes sense. D-Do you think a Flumen Mage would do that?”
