Nodding to himself, he started to speak. I stopped him before he could. “There is one last thing for you to consider. If you enter my service, and betray me, I will kill you.” I held him with a lifeless stare.
He nodded, ”I would expect no less. I would like to enter your service.”
“Your Name?”
“Toll-ess, Sir Mage.”
I concentrated and teleported a small keg of nails to the floor in front of me. I opened the keg and cast a tracking spell on the nails. “You first task is to place one of these nails in the keel of every Dunwich ship that comes into this harbor until you have every Dunwich ship tagged.” He looked at the keg of nails and nodded.
“You will want somewhere to live that is safe and secure. Use your powers to make yourself an apartment under this warehouse, you need not make an entrance to it. That way only you have access to it. You will have a safe refuge.” I placed a large purse of gold on the coffee table. “Furnish it as you like.”
I reached into my purse and took out my extra “purse of holding”. “This is a ‘purse of holding’ anything that will fit into its mouth will fit in it.” I took the purse of gold from the coffee table and dropped it into the purse. He watched closely. “And it weighs nothing. Well, you can fill it, but it holds a lot.” I handed it to him.
He took it testing its weight. He reached in and took out the gold purse. “Amazing.” He dropped the gold back inside and fastened the belt around his waist.
I took out an armor bracelet set, including a circlet. “These are runed armor bracelets. They are magic armor, shields, and helmet. They will automatically activate when you are attacked, protecting you from both physical and magical attack. Once you put them on, they will go under your skin and be hidden from view. You never take them off. Put these on your wrists, and these on your ankles. This one goes on your head like a crown.” He put them on as I explained.
“Let me see your daggers.” He gave them to me. I examined them. ”Do you like these, the way they feel and move, or were these the best you could afford?”
“They were the best I could afford.”
“Find some good quality ones that you like the feel of, and the way they move. I’ll show you how to make them better.” I gave him his daggers back. “I’ll be back in a few weeks; I’ll want an update on your progress. I also expect that by that time you will have hired a tutor and have started classes. Check in with Master Merchant every few days to see if he has anything he may need your help with.”
My last gift to him was a guise ring. “You are known here, this is a guise ring, it will change your appearance. Just in case.”
Nodding he took it and put in on his finger. “Thank you, Sir Mage.”
“Leave through the floor, it’s best if no one knows you are working for us.”
He stood, bowed, picked up the keg of nails, and dropped out of sight. I felt him move away. I briefed Master Merchant on our new Mage and our arrangement, just in case he needed some Mage help.
Chapter 26
Dov-ees bought the house he wanted, and I renovated it to his specifications. I added the tunnel he wanted between the warehouse and his new house. He and his wife were happy with the results. I was glad for them.
Since my shipyard was on hold for a while, I opened a lumber mill there to cut and season the lumber for the ships.
Toll-ess was working out well so far. He was tagging every Dunwich ship when it was in port. I could now track where every tagged Dunwich ship was. I did the same to ours, in case I needed to find one.
He had hired a tutor, and his studies were going well. On one of my trips I gifted him a notebook to help him with his studies. I showed him how to hide it inside himself. He loved that. The notebook would also allow me to know where he was as long as it was with him.
He bought a nice set of daggers; we made them an awesome set of daggers. He hid them in his forearms, like I did mine. I gave him a Mage Cloak, and a Mage Staff for him to practice with. I told him he needed to be able to fight with magic and/or steel. Both at the same time would be better.
All my maps, and map tables showed where all the marked ships were. Dunwich showed up in red, ours in blue. Everything had been running smoothly for the last six months... Then it wasn’t.
Dov-ees’ message just said, “Trouble.”
I teleported down to his office. “We have trouble?”
“We just received a message from Dunwich, they have seized the ship you are having built, and the merchant house.”
“Our people?”
“Toll-ess got them out and is hiding them in his apartment.”
“It’s always something.” I teleported to Dunwich, under the warehouse. Toll-ess had his apartment there, and they were inside. I looked up into the warehouse, the doors were closed, and guards were posted. I stepped through the wall. “Everyone all right?” They all nodded their heads. “What happened?”
Toll-ess stepped forward, “I heard that the Crown was going to seize your ship and came to warn the Master Merchant. On the way here I passed troops coming down the wharf. I assumed the worst and brought them down here. If I was wrong, no harm done. Turns out, I was right.”
I nodded, “Well done. Did you hear why they seized the ship?”
“They found out you were from Shornwick, they’ve lost a lot of ships and troops to you. The King’s not happy with you.” He said smiling.
“What about the people at the shipyard, anyone hurt?”
“No, they were told that the ship now belonged to the Crown, and to continue to build it.”
“Gather your belonging we are closing up shop for a while and going home. Toll-ess, you are welcome to come too.” He nodded gathering his things. When they were ready, I opened a portal to Port City. “Tell Dov-ees I’ll be back as soon as I conclude my business with their King.” They nodded and stepped through the portal. I closed it behind them.
I lowered my output and masked my power levels. I travelled under to the castle. Parts of the castle were warded, I erased the activation runes. The Throne room was also warded, enchanted, and had Mage traps. I erased their activation runes as well. Everything looked and felt like they would do their jobs, they just wouldn’t activate.
I would be as peaceful and as diplomatic as they would let me. I came up out of sight and approached the main gate of the castle.
“State your business,” the guard said.
“I am the Mage from the Shornwick Trading House. The King sent a message for me to come see him.”
“Wait there I’ll send for an escort.”
Before long, I could sense a flurry of activity in the castle. Mages were gathering, so much for being diplomatic. I continued to wait.
My escort, a single soldier, finally arrived. They were trying to put me at ease. They took me straight to the throne room. As I suspected it was full of Mages.
I stood before their King waiting. One Mage stepped forward, “you will bow before the King.”
“Kings do not bow to other Kings.” That sent a ripple through the assembly.
“King you say? Name yourself.”
“My Name is King Aaron, King of Shornwick, and the Northern Kingdoms. You have seized the ship I paid to have built, and my Trading House, I have come to ask why.”
“You did not have permission from the Crown to have a ship built. You did not pay the fees.”
“Oh, but I did. I paid ten golds to the Mage to your right. He gave me the go ahead to build.” All eyes shifted to him. He looked daggers at me but nodded.
“That does not matter,” The King finally spoke. “You have sunk, or stolen 20 of my ships, and killed or captured thousands of my troops. You will pay me for them all.”
“Are these the same ships and troops that invaded my lands? The ones you hired out as mercenaries? Are those the ones you are talking about? Because if they are, that was war. You knew the risk when you sent them, or you do now.” His face was getting red.
“You will pay
me, or I will land 50 thousand troops on your shores and take everything you have. You will pay me a yearly tithe, or I will come take it. I have you here, and here you will remain until they pay your ransom.”
I stared at him; he sat there so sure of himself. “The only thing worse than a bully, is a bully with power. Here is my counteroffer. I’ll forget you tried to steal my ship. I’ll close my trading house and leave you in peace. Once my ship is complete, I’ll pay for it and you send it to me. If you attempt to stop me, I’ll burn your harbor to the ground and every ship in it to the waterline.”
“Kill Him!” He screamed. I threw my shields up. Every Mage in the room attacked. Through my feet I felt the strength of the earth powering my shields. I took their attacks of fire, lightning, ice, steel, whatever they fought with, I absorbed it all. I felt my power expanding. I sealed the doors and windows shut. I melted seams in the stone walls. No one was leaving this room. As my power expanded, it would envelope a Mage. I would take his power, which grew my power. They saw this and were panicking.
“Kill him before he kills us all!” The attacks intensified. lightning strikes multiplied, as did the fire and ice attacks. Some at the rear were trying to escape but could not.
The power, the raw power was intoxicating. I could feel the whole city. I melted the road from the castle to the harbor, turning it into lava. Then I turned the stone wharfs into lava. Ships started burning because of the intense heat, it was a chain reaction after that. Ship after ship caught fire.
The Mages and the Mage King of Dunwich were no more. I had absorbed all of them and their powers. My power still grew feeding off the magic in the castle. I felt the forts around the city I started melting them like lava. People were fleeing to get away from the fires and lava, still my power grew. I laughed at the small Mages who thought they could stop me. I was the sun, who can extinguish the sun? I felt the castle melting around me, my power grew. I felt myself expanding, consuming, becoming more powerful.
A distant memory surfaced. “Be careful of that spell, it’s dangerous, and addictive... dangerous, and additive... Addictive...” It echoed through my mind.
Survivors of that night told of a giant fiery warbird that rose above a melting castle. Spreading its great wings, it screamed a challenge to the world. Then like a sun exploding, it turned the night into day, and was gone.
It took a week to put all the fires out. The harbor had melted into the earth. Every ship that had been in the harbor was burned to the waterline. It would take years for Dunwich to recover. They called all their ships and troops home to help rebuild.
“RON IN CHOPPER FIVE News is on the scene where the collapsing cliff face has closed the interstate. Ron what can you tell us?”
“Bob this was a terrific explosion. Initial reports said it was a single car, but they are now saying a fuel truck could have been involved. It’s hard to believe a single car could have caused all this damage and fire. Emergency services are on the scene, fire fighters almost have the fire under control. It will take a while to recover any remains from the vehicles, if they can find any. They tell me the intensity of the heat has probably consumed any remains. This is Ron Chipley Chopper Five News, back too... What the?...”
“Stand by Bob, something is happening at the crash site. There seems to be more explosions, oh my God, look at that. Bob a huge explosion has just happened. Flames are reaching hundreds of feet into the air. Oh my, what in the name of... What is that? A Phoenix? Are you kidding me? Are you getting this Bob? There is a giant Phoenix rising above the crash site. There must be a fireworks truck involved in this. That would explain all the damage to the cliff face. That was a heck of a display, it must have cost someone a fortune for that one. Look at that, it’s flapping its wings, and screaming. I have never seen anything like it before. I hope they had insurance.” It blazed bright then faded out, sparks twinkling to the ground. “Firefighters are pulling back; they are going to just let this one burn itself out. You saw it here folks, Ron Chipley Chopper Five News, back to you Bob.”
“HE’S KIND OF A STRANGE one,” one waitress said.
“Are you kidding? This close to San Francisco he doesn’t even make the top 100. As long as he doesn’t bother anyone and pays his tab, I don’t care. He can sit there eating his meal and read his paper all day long. I don’t care if he is wearing a lizard skin cloak.” The older waitress replied.
From the TV in the corner, “continuing our reporting on what has got to be a strange news week,” the News Anchor said. “New information has come out about the break-ins and vandalization of libraries around the city. Well, they weren’t really vandalized, just broke into. Numerous books were stolen, but the thieves left gold coins to pay for what they took. It started at public libraries then college libraries, now bookstores. Books taken, but they always leave gold coins to pay for them. We are told the value of the gold far exceeds the cost of the books taken. We aren’t talking about a few books either, they say there were over 3000 books taken. I guess someone is starting their own library. In national news the FBI is investigating a break-in at the U.S. Patent offices, no word yet on what was taken."
“More tea Sir?”
“No thank you, I have to be getting home, my wife and kids will be worried about me.”
She nodded, “I’ll get your ticket ready.” She returned to the table with his ticket, he wasn’t there. She looked around to see if he might have gone to the restroom. Two gold coins lay on the table. She picked them up and put them in her pocket. “For that kind of tip, you can be as strange as you want to be Mr. Lizard Cloak.”
I FLEW UNDER, BACK up to the cliff where I had challenged God to a fight. No one else was there. I emerged from the ground and stepped over to the cliff's edge. I looked at the reef below where waves crashed.
“Thank you, Father, for my family, and all you have given me. Help me make wise decisions and be a wise ruler of the people under my care. Give me strength to resist my weaknesses, and to control my anger. And, as my LT used to pray, don’t let me screw this up.” I smiled, “Amen.”
I felt the world around me; I centered myself and concentrated on Reggie’s location. She was far, far away. I smiled. This would be a long jump. I gathered my power and opened a portal. It took a few seconds to fully form.
“Da’s home!” I heard the twins squealing from the other side. I saw Reggie standing there, I stepped through. “Yep, I was home.”
Don't miss out!
Click the button below and you can sign up to receive emails whenever James Haddock publishes a new book. There's no charge and no obligation.
https://books2read.com/r/B-A-EGDJ-PVKDB
Connecting independent readers to independent writers.
Mage Throne Prophecy Page 25
