“Well she left you a patsy and now you are on the run,” Tanner replied. “I am not the sharpest sword on the rack but I am guessing there aren’t too many half man mages running around. Zavor will put the pieces together and come after you like a mother badger protecting her wee ones.”
“Why do you sound like a Ketian?” the impostor replied.
“Because I am a Ketian,” Tanner stated. “And you are a magic user without a focus, no wand or staff. Zavor is not the type to let you off easy, there is a pony outside, if I were you I would get the hell out of here.”
“Why are you telling me this, why not let me sit and die?” the impostor asked.
“Because I doubt Whychara can be prosecuted,” Tanner explained. “It would be simple for her to say she thought she was with the real Zavor, people have seen them together before. She can lie about how you tricked her or some other such nonsense after she has copied the book, everyone will be searching for you. The longer you stay on the run, the more likely it is that I can reach where I need to go.”
“Take me with you,” the small mage begged. “I know most of Zavor’s recipe by heart, the one that changes faces. I just don’t know what he is doing after he puts them all together but a can find out.”
Tanner thought to himself about the offer. Zavor hadn’t really used any magic of his own, he used the sword’s. Tanner’s gift had no effect on the sword so in theory he could make his own brew.
“You will write it all down or we split right here,” Tanner said with a look of wariness. “I can find you something to use for a wand or staff and I will put in a word for you with the King of Ket. If you try to cross me even once I will kill you.”
The small mage quickly nodded agreement. Moments later they were both on their horses following the quickest trail towards Ket. The night dragged on a bit, turning into dawn stubbornly as Tanner could tell the half man was ready to fall off of his horse.
“We need to switch horses,” Tanner said as he looked at the half man. “You have any money?”
“I keep some in my boots, only one gold and a couple of silvers,” the half man replied.
“That should be enough along with these as trades,” Tanner replied.
“I still need a staff or a wand,” the half man said as he looked at a town coming into view.
“I will get you one soon enough” Tanner said looking around. “Can any old stick do?”
“No it won’t,” the half man said. “Anything with bark on it is useless, so is wood with knots in it. The smoother the surface of the wood the easier my magic works. I am not anywhere near as gifted as other mages, I came in the bottom of my class and was so bad they rejected me for military service. My spells are weak, they can harass but anyone determined can get through them.”
“Great, I’m with the weakest jinx flinger in all of Tavor,” Tanner replied disgusted.
“I still have the knowledge you need,” the half man said hurriedly. “I just don’t want you to expect much from me in a fight, especially if I do not have the right tools.”
“Well then just try to stay out of my way,” Tanner said as he eyed the town. “It’s still early so people shouldn’t be on the streets yet. We get some horses and maybe a carving knife or something to make your wand.”
Tanner rode his horse into the city and could see barely anyone was out. He spotted what he thought was the inn and hoped some traveler had well rested horses he was willing to part with. Tanner had gotten four gold off of the farmer and wanted it kept secret from his companion but if he needed to he would expose his secret treasure in order to get faster horses.
“Let me do the talking,” the half man said. “Your accent is a giveaway, I will try to bargain for other horses but I am tired, I need rest.”
“Well let’s see if this inn is even worth stopping at for horses,” Tanner replied. “If you are tired you can sleep in the saddle or go your own way after giving me Zavor’s secret.”
“I can carry on,” the mage said defeated as he moved his horse to follow Tanner’s.
Tanner went around the inn to the stable and could see familiar caged wagons. Inside of them looked like more slaves gathered from the Ketian army. Surrounding the carriage was the soldier he had met on his way inside of one those same wagons, currently the man had a staff which he was using to poke the slaves while laughing. Tanner scanned around the area and could see there were at least three more soldiers who were laughing at the spectacle.
“We don’t need this problem…” the half man began futilely as Tanner had his sword drawn and closed the space in a blink of an eye. Tanner sliced through the back of the soldier. A cry went up almost immediately as Tanner turned towards the other soldiers. Before one man could even draw his weapon Tanner dove under the wagon and out the other side and gave the man a wicked slash in the groin area before rolling to his feet and decapitating the other man just as he drew his blade. Tanner looked down at the man he had slashed when he dove under the wagon and made it a quick death, one stroke to the back of the neck and the man moved no more.
“I don’t know who you are but you picked the wrong people to rob,” Tanner heard a soft voice say. “You are fast, faster than I have ever seen but in the end you are still just a swordsman.”
Tanner turned as the mage in red that originally sold him into slavery had a wand pointed at him with a spell already on its way. Tanner stopped in his tracks as a bolt of lightning slammed into him, the mage in red must have had some power to pull off such a spell. The spell fizzled out on Tanner’s skin as he realized he had his anti-magic field drawn in too much. The mage looked puzzled and fired off another spell, this one a fire spell that died out four feet in front of Tanner.
“MAGE BREAKER!” the mage cried out as Tanner closed the distance and with a vicious back slash took the man’s head from his shoulders.
“All right you lot, do you wanna sit there like a noble at tea or do you want to get the pit out of here?” Tanner said as he started searching bodies for the keys.
“You’re a Ketian!” said one of the captured, an older man who definitely had the build of someone who was not a soldier.
“You want to say that any louder, I don’t think every man in town heard you yet,” Tanner said as he opened the cage.
The soldiers quickly filed out of the cages as Tanner freed them and started looking around for something they could use from their surroundings.
“Nice wand” the half man said as the Ketian soldiers noticed him for the first time.
“The jinx flinger is with me,” Tanner said as he started stripping the dead Tavorians of their clothes.
“The half man’s a Tavorian Mage, we should kill him right here,” said a large blond haired soldier who had a sword trained on the man. “I am in charge now, I am a squad leader in the army.”
“You will leave him alone” Tanner said as he smiled at seeing the boots he had just taken would fit him perfectly.
“And why should I listen to you?” the soldier replied as he narrowed his green eyes.
“Because the second you off him I will stick you and leave you bleeding like a virgin on her wedding day,” Tanner said as he stood up and faced the soldier. “If you want to be Mr. High and Mighty then take whoever is dumb enough to follow you and go your own way. If anyone in you lot would rather follow me, someone who has memorized a map of this land and who freed you single handedly after staring down a mage, then get ready to leave now.”
“What do you mean you have a map memorized?” the blond soldier said warily.
“It’s just like I said, I know the map,” Tanner began as he started putting on the clothes of one of the dead soldiers. “The half-man has knowledge the king wants, anyone who harms him will face his wrath when we get back. Now here is the plan, pile those dead folk in the cages. We will pretend to be slavers and dump them outside of town. We will continue until we reach the border, once we are there its every man for himself to get across without being killed. Half-
man you said you needed rest, you can get it inside one of these cages. Now let’s use this straw to cover up all of this blood”.
CHAPTER 9
Tanner and his makeshift crew had been on the road for a week now, trading horses whenever they could and sleeping in the cages in shifts. All were frightened at the fact that the Tavorian at the capital should be sending someone to chase them down. The blond soldier he had gotten into it with turned out to be a capable leader, Jorg was his name and he was in charge of the other 6 Tanner had freed. He had been in the army for a while and was actually ranked much higher once, he lost his rank due to disobeying an order he thought would get his men killed. Tanner and Jorg struck up a friendship despite the difference in age, the Tavorian mage though was a different matter. Tanner still did not know his name and the half man had said little since the fight that killed his countrymen, the only time he had spoken was to bargain for horses or other such things. At the last stop Tanner made, he let it be known they were very close to the border and that the last of the money had been spent that they took off the dead soldiers and mage. That was yesterday, in a couple of hours they should reach the frontlines.
“I’m getting nervous now we are getting close,” said Devin one of the captured soldiers.
“What is going to be our plan? We can’t just split up, that would be suicide,” Jorg replied as he looked at Tanner.
“Well I sure in the pit didn’t run this far to be stopped now, me and the mage have a date with the king,” Tanner said with a smile.
“I was thinking about that,” Jorg replied. “Now I saw you beat the fella that used to own these red robes I’m wearing, how I don’t know. But what’s to say when you bring the mage in the presence of the king that he won’t murder the king right then and there. Yeah most likely he will die immediately afterwards, but the damage would be done.”
“The Mage Breaker has nothing to worry about,” the half man replied. “If you were smart you would watch yourself around him Jorg, they are known for being secretive.”
“What are you on about?” Jorg asked as he turned to the mage.
“Mage Breakers are spoken of in some circles, they are assassins, murderers who kill once they have no use of you,” the half man replied looking at Tanner. “The mage breaker is not even 17 summers yet he is built like the most powerful of men. You saw him fight with your own eyes, who kills four men including a mage that quickly without a scratch?”
“Listen here you tosser, if you have something to say then say it and stop talking in riddles,” Tanner said as he stopped the caged wagon.
“I have heard all about your type, the stealing and siphoning of magic,” the half man said warily. “You can stop magic completely, but siphoning it makes you faster, stronger, more focused. Whychara had told me about the last mage breaker in Tavor, he killed many mages and many more normal folk to keep his ability secret. I think you allowed yourself to get caught; Zavor’s magic wouldn’t work on you anyway. You did all of this to gather the secret of disguise, now you are heading back to your King with me as your prize. What boy not of noble birth has the ear of their ruler? Your King would want this all kept secret, I will be silenced along with every man who knows your real secret.”
“Are you daft?” Tanner said as he started the wagon back up. “I didn’t have a name for what I am but I admit I can stop magic and do all that other stuff you said. As for seeing you folks murdered why in the pit would I do that after we have helped each other get so far? Now once we cross over you are more than welcome to leave at any time once you give me the recipe. I’m not worried about you lying because I think a half man would stand out and be easily found by someone who is looking for him, especially one that sounds like a Tavorian.”
“I have saw you fight Tanner,” Jorg said in a tone that seemed like he was thinking. “I can’t let this opportunity go if you are some type of reverse mage. The Tavorian mages think they are better than the common soldiers and always have their tents separate in the rear. When we were captured I saw them, right next to the tent we were kept in. The Tavorians put too much fluff and self-importance during their war making. The mages are all in flamboyant robes and their tents are much nicer than the standard troops and they are a reddish color. If we can find these tents you have to dispose of them, me and my men will do whatever we can to help you slay as many as you can. This could change the tide of war or at least give Tavor a black eye.”
“Did you see where their command tent is?” Tanner said hopefully. “Before I got conked on me noggin I was supposed to find and kill some General.”
“That is a prize you have no chance of collecting,” Jacob said, another soldier in Jorg’s squad. “The general isn’t a stupid man, he will be at the center of camp and he has guards on top of guards around him. The mages don’t have any posted, the only regular soldiers close enough are those in the slave tent keeping watch.”
“What about the mage?” Devin asked pointing at the half man.
“We will take him with us,” Tanner said. “I’m not worried about him doing anything crazy, Zavor is likely to kill him on sight on principle alone. But I am guessing there are at least a hundred jinx flingers running about, how are we gonna get them all?”
“Well when we were taken the Tavorians were in Ket, not too deep but deep enough,” Jorg began. “The mages were far back from the line, I would say it would take half a mark just for them to reach the encampment where the rest of the troops are. I say wait for night, cancel out as much magic as possible and me and the boys will kill as many of those bastards as possible. If more than two of us fall, we should run like the pit.”
~
Tanner had been slowly edging forward on his stomach along with Jorg and Devin. The mage tents were not easily missed, Tanner was expecting just one but it turned out there were three. The rest of the soldiers were hidden in the woods with a cache of arrows, whenever they saw a Tavorian they were to fill him with arrows. Tanner was happy the Tavorians mages were so cocky, who lights a fire in the middle of a war? They had lit several torches leading from their tents to a smaller tent that Jorg had told him was an outhouse. Currently there was one person in the outhouse, a soldier from a much smaller tent that Devin had told him held prisoners to be sold as slaves.
“Okay, change of plans,” Jorg said quietly as he held his arms out to signal everyone to stop. “I can spot no one that would challenge us, we are going to pull the slave wagon right up to the tent. “We are going to walk right in like we belong and hopefully kill the guards before an alarm can be sounded. From there we will free the slaves then assault the mages en masse.”
“You have given us a plan to kill, how are we going to escape?” the half man asked.
“I haven’t gotten that far yet,” Jorg admitted. “I figured we can steal clothes and pass ourselves off as mages, it has worked well for me so far.”
“Your plan has a bunch of holes in it,” the half man remarked.
“Yes it does, but we can’t pass up this chance to kill off battle mages,” Jorg said as they all started inching back.
Tanner was nervous as the slave wagon rumbled loudly on its way to where the prisoners were kept. Long before they reached their target, one of the Tavorian soldiers was out of the tent with arrow nocked as they came closer.
“Damn am I happy to see you,” the soldier said as he lowered his bow. “We just captured a fresh batch not even half a day ago. You are going to need more cage than that though; I have thirty men piled up in there and only me and Gunther to watch em. Come on in and let me at least give you the worst of the bunch.”
Tanner took in everything he could with his eyes and his heart almost stopped as he saw a lone mage stick his head out of their tent. The mage gave the wagon a once over then apparently went back to sleep. Right now Tanner was siphoning magic off of twelve mages but he had a hunch that something was a little off. Tanner stopped his siphoning and started being more precise, the tent he was probing had 80 magic u
sers inside of it that he could tell. When Tanner probed the next tent over though, he could determine it contained less than ten despite being the same size. This is where the top mages were, Tanner would have to get to them first. Tanner received an elbow in the stomach from Jorg, apparently he could see Tanner wasn’t paying attention. Tanner walked into the slave tent and was accosted by the smell. These prisoners were not allowed to shit or piss except on themselves. There was another guard at the far end of the tent with holding some type of club, at his feet was a soldier moaning in pain.
“Aye Guther, we can finally get rid of some of these pieces of shit,” the guard said as walked over towards the other guard. “They only got room for about six though, who are the biggest trouble makers we…” the guard never got to finish his sentence as Tanner saw Jorg run him through with a well-placed stab to the back of the neck while arrows sprouted from the other guard’s face. The prisoners figured out quickly what was happening and started jostling each other awake with words of silence. It had taken no time at all to find the keys and slowly release the prisoners.
“We need to attack the far tent first,” Tanner whispered to Jorg. “It is big but doesn’t have a lot of people in it, I think that is where the more powerful mages are kept.”
“Then lead the way,” Jorg said as he pointed towards the door.
Tanner walked outside as grasped the Sword of Ages, instantly he was hyper aware of his surroundings. The sword begged for more mage blood, after Tanner had killed the mage with the red robes the swords thoughts had started to become clearer. Those without weapons were hidden all around the other mage tent, if any of the mages stirred their job was to put them down quickly. Tanner took a deep breath and ran into the tent.
The place was dark but the sword let him know they were sleeping, i.e. not a threat. Tanner stared hard into the darkness as his eyes suddenly shifted, allowing him to see light like it was almost daylight. Tanner turned around and gave the signal to stay quiet and stay put, Jorg quickly understood as he closed the tent flap and only let in the half man. The mages were spaced out in the tent and seemed like they hadn’t a care in the world despite being in a warzone. The sword instantly let Tanner know where to strike that would not alarm or wake the others, the attack was quick and brutal, no words or cries were heard, just the sound of metal parting flesh. Suddenly the tent became too bright, Tanner turned around to see the half man walking around and looting the corpses. Tanner’s sight switched back and could see the half man barely had enough light to see by, he spent his time collecting wands and even one staff. The Sword of Ages was ecstatic; every time Tanner killed a mage the sword gained more power, power it shared with him. The sword wanted to be bathed in mage blood, its former owners hated mages with a passion and wanted them all dead. Tanner tried to get the ugly thoughts out of his mind as he let his power drift to the other tent, instantly he felt sick.
The Mage Breaker Page 12
