The Mage of Mages 2

by Whiskey Flowers

  “Well now at least you see waiting for some rich woman is something that is not happening” Penelope said.

  “I am more than capable of earning my own money” Sawyer replied. “I am still young and I don’t mind hard work. If anything I know a man with a sword always can find a job, bandits are in every kingdom and rich people always need competent guards.”

  “I thought you said your father taught you magic” Tabitha replied. “If you were married to a duchess then that means you failed to keep your secret. I am sure she tried to give you the best teachers money could buy. Too bad magic in Colten wasn’t cultivated earlier, you might have had a decent teacher. How were you discovered having magic?”

  “We were at war” Sawyer replied. Sawyer was still giving very little answers and let the others fill in the blanks they wanted.

  “You were pressed into service and were found out” Penelope said. “And I am guessing whatever Duke whose daughter you were married to found out about you before anyone else did and you were married to a girl that blew your mind. She was probably the person that took your virginity and you have been in love ever since.”

  “I can tell by your face the princess is either very close to the truth or right on it” Tabitha said looking at Sarlon. “At least that mystery has been solved. Now to find you a proper master.”

  “What do you mean a proper master?” the Queen asked. “You are high mage and you have a four affinity mage in front of you without a master.”

  “Sarlon absolutely hates me” Tabitha replied. “We have a history of letting the apprentice pick their own masters if they would have them. I am positive I would not be the one he picked, the only one he hates more is Candace and he was ready to beat up Samson while they were both in Maduro together.”

  “How is Samson?” the Queen replied.

  “He is sufficiently rehabilitated” Penelope replied. “He still doesn’t have his medallion back though. I think we will be ready for marriage in a few weeks, maybe sooner.”

  “You and Samson?” Phoebe asked. “And why should he be with you?”

  “I may be out of line but why are you both arguing over a man who can't keep it in his pants?” Tabitha asked. “Why not pick one of the others? I don’t think they would be stupid enough to sleep around and you always have Maduro if you want to go somewhere with better atmosphere.”

  “We know you just want Samson for your apprentice Tabitha” Phoebe asked.

  “I brought you Sarlon” Penelope said. “Samson is mine, I plan on making our appearance during the celebration. If anything it should prevent a bunch of unwanted attention, the Dukes have been trying to go after me just as much as they are trying to go after you.”

  “This is how everything is going to happen” the Queen replied. “Tabitha you will be his instructor, I am not going to trust a four affinity mage to any of those other fools and whores that make up our mages. Penelope there is a chance your union with Samson will be taken better by the Dukes than yours would be Phoebe so Samson is hers. Make sure you tell Samson that if he is not on his best behavior that he will be staying in Maduro permanently. Same goes to you, whatever your name is.”

  “I don’t think Sarlon would mind it as much anymore” Tabitha said. “He has found at least two people there that would look out for him and he doesn’t mind hard work. The fact he won Mr. Maduro probably endured him to a lot more women there. I know the smith he was staying with has confided in me she wished her daughter in law could find a man like Sarlon. Walking around half naked and being oogled is what he had a problem with, which is why he is wearing the clothes he has on now.”

  “I’ll find something within the law to make his life ugly” the Queen replied. “I have to go now, Tabitha you have a student to teach and the rest of you have to prepare for tomorrow night.”

  “I already have an apprentice Your Majesty” Tabitha replied.

  “You know as well as I do that girl is ready” the Queen replied. “She will be stationed in Maduro, that is why she has the big home. The people of Godden may come to her to help settle some things but Maduro will be her home base. And I will be clear for my reason, she is to have no contact with Mage Samson. She will like Maduro and right now he hates it with every fiber of his being. She is a young girl and there are many playthings to be had in the city, if she wants something a little more there is always Godden. Make it clear she is not to leave that area unless she is summoned which she most likely will be because of the war to capture more slaves.”

  “Yes Your Majesty” Tabitha replied.

  “Good” the Queen replied. “My girls need Samson more than your former apprentice does. If they are married off to almost any of these nobles then things can change here in a hurry. I have had massive pushback on letting women inherit property and it is still almost impossible for a woman to own her own business. Their work around is to keep things the way they were before my husband died and even change the way things are working in Maduro.”

  “Why would they care about Maduro, it is in the worst part of the kingdom” Tabitha replied.

  “Because a lot of rich and powerful women live there and they don’t want or need a man to survive” the Queen replied. “What is even worse is that none of them can just walk in Maduro whenever the feel like it and I have not granted any permission to any of them.”

  “They would want to destroy it anyway” Phoebe replied. “They know about it, but knowing about it and seeing it are two different things. They see it as a prison camp ran by women, which we both know it is not.”

  “I see” Tabitha replied. “It is more involved than I thought. I will tell Candace, she will be upset but she will understand and maybe a new permanent surrounding will get her over it.”

  “She had better” Penelope replied.

  CHAPTER 7

  “You have been able to recreate every spell I have thrown at you using pure magic” Tabitha replied. “You may not remember all of them instantly but with practice I think you will be on my skill level eventually. Your magical reserves is deeper than the others, gaining you was a boon for the kingdom. I think the Queen will be pleased with our progression and it hasn’t even been a full day. I will let you go to sleep now, tomorrow will be a busy day with the celebration. Your own Mage Guard has been put together, I think Princess Penelope oversaw it herself. Stay here and I will see to it they bring you to wherever you will be staying.”

  Sawyer watched her leave the courtyard and thought she had to be tired. Sawyer had mostly used her magic to power his spells and saw she was down to less than ten percent of what she was capable of. Sawyer had to admit he had learned a lot of new spells, Tabitha would be a handful for most of the mages to tackle and had the reserves to give even the affinity mages problems. Sawyer had written down a few spells and would use them again, he was looking them over when six men came walking over to him. They were all wearing red and were at least as tall as he was.

  “Alright here is how it is going to be” said a man who had a wicked scar running down the right side of his face. “I am Darion and I work for the Queen, not for you. I heard you can throw down but before I became your baby sitter I was one of her personal guard. Do anything to damage the kingdom and I will kill you. Collude with other forces to the detriment of the kingdom and I will kill you. Piss me off and you will get a beating you won't forget. My job is to keep you safe from outside forces, nothing else. Do you understand everything I have just said?”

  “I do” Sawyer replied as his eyes took in the man and those around him.

  “I have seen that look before” Darion said. “You are sizing me and my men up, you will find that you have the best of the best around you. You may be gifted with the sword but so are all of us, you may be a decent unarmed fighter but so is every man here. Now let’s move.”

  “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are but I will blast your ass clean across this courtyard” Sawyer replied. “You and all five of these guys will be in a heap, if you
think I am just shucking wheat then make your move.”

  Sawyer noticed the man had his hand on the pommel of his sword but so did Sawyer. If he drew it he would have no time to react to Sawyer’s spell since Sawyer had his staff out and ready for action.

  “You may work for the Queen but she aint here in the courtyard is she?” Sawyer said angrily. “It’s just me and you here and I hate bullies more than anything, I aint one of these tossers flopping about with a pretty robe and fancy sword on. I have killed too many men to take shit off some guard.”

  “You want to do this do you?” Darion spoke as Sawyer noticed the men start to circle him.

  “I am not worried about your men, even if they win you won't be alive to bask in their glory” Sawyer said and took a deep breath. “Now draw your steel and let's see how this plays out, my father didn’t even raise any cowards, better to die with steel in my hands than cowering to another man.”

  “I think this one is serious” said a voice from Sawyer’s left. “He is keeping an eye on me but most of his attention is on you Darion. I will back you but it is your move of when we go.”

  “What is all this?” Phoebe said from behind the men as they all stopped what they were doing and took a knee.

  “This mage didn’t want to go to his room” Darion said.

  “You threatened me and I want you to back it up” Sawyer replied. “It figures you need a woman to get you out of a jam.”

  “Sawyer these are your personal Mage Guard” Phoebe said motioning for the men to rise. “They are here to protect you from enemies.”

  “I don’t need their protection Your Highness” Sawyer replied. “I have my sword and it is loyal to only me while it is in my hands.”

  “You will stop all of this and follow Mr. Darion” Phoebe said angrily. “He is the leader of your Mage Guard and is sworn to your protection. You should be flattered that Perdomo’s best was given to you, now stop whatever this is, the Dukes and Barons are around and I am sure at least one of them are looking.”

  Sawyer lowered his staff and removed his hand from the pommel of his sword.

  “Mr. Darion please show this man to his room” Phoebe said.

  Sawyer followed the men into the palace, three of them stayed behind him as they brought him into a small room. It probably was a closet or something close to it, a place like the palace had to have big fancy rooms which meant they ran out of space and was trying to make do. All of the furniture looked new and the place smelled like it was freshly scrubbed but there was still a slight wetness in the air. There was a small brass tub in the small room, it was filled with hot water. Sawyer stripped off his clothes and climbed inside, he wasn’t in the bath for longer than a few minutes before his door was opened up and a woman came inside of his room. She was wearing a thin dress that clung to her body and left little to the imagination, it was low cut and looked like a dress a laundress or something would wear just modified to accentuate her body. Her brown hair was down and fell over her shoulders in bouncy curls, her lips were thick but was formed into a little pout that Sawyer had to admit was beyond sexy.

  “Get out of my room” Sawyer said without preamble. “Whatever it is you want, you won't find it here.”

  “I came to see if you needed any help with anything” the woman said in a sultry voice.

  “And I said get out of my room” Sawyer replied. “What part of that isn’t clear to you?”

  “Fine then I’ll go” the woman said in a playful voice. “If you want some company later on though you might regret sending me away.”

  “Doubtful, now go and don’t come back” Sawyer said as he closed his eyes to enjoy his soak. When he heard the door shut Sawyer knew that bit of company would continue until he did something about it. He couldn’t relax now he was thinking of it, Sawyer climbed out of the tub and used his bone ring to cast a spell that cleaned him and then did the same thing for his clothes as he put them back on and looked out the door at the two guards that remained.

  “Please don’t let anyone bother me again” Sawyer replied. “Especially people like that girl I just ran away.”

  “Whatever Mage” a man with a big red beard said as he sat on the ground playing cards with the other one. Sawyer shut his door and wished he could have used his earth spell, it would raise the stone on the other side of his door by a few inches which would stop it from opening but he was not supposed to know that spell yet.

  Sawyer looked around his room and could see someone had brought two mage robes around his size and placed them in a wardrobe, Sawyer looked them over and left them there and laid his staff and his sword by his bed. His makeshift sheath was still working and held his sword nicely although Sawyer was unsure how long it was going to work. Sawyer was tired from the spell casting and took off his clothes and laid down in bed, the bed was comfortable and so was the big pillow that was placed on it and Sawyer soon drifted off to sleep.

  Sawyer started coming to consciousness when he felt something on his manhood. It was a nice wet feeling and he knew Elena was using her mouth to get him good and aroused before the real fun would start. Sawyer moaned a little as he wrapped his right hand around the back of her head, Elena had gotten a lot better at it than the last time she used her mouth on him. Sawyer opened his eyes with a start, Elena was the person who got his father killed and here he was lying in bed with here. Sawyer moved his hips back and shoved the woman out of his bed and cast mage light using his ring. He wasn’t back at home, that’s when whatever dream he was having started fading away and Sawyer could see the beautiful woman from earlier looking stunned on the floor.

  “Get the hell out of my room” Sawyer said as he hopped down from his bed and grabbed her by the hair. The woman wrapped her hands around his in an effort to stop her hair from being yanked out and got to her feet quickly. Sawyer grabbed open the door and tossed her out as he looked at his guards who had a look of shock.

  “Didn’t I tell you I don’t want anyone in my room?” Sawyer yelled.

  “It’s just a whore” the man with the red beard said right before Sawyer’s fist crashed into his face.

  Sawyer knew the man didn’t expect it and grabbed him by the shoulders and threw a knee into his groin, spittle flew out of the man’s mouth as Sawyer turned around and ducked a blow from the other guard. Sawyer threw a nice punch that also caught the other man in the groin, he went down cussing as Sawyer walked back into his room and closed the door. Sawyer grabbed his pants and slipped them on, whenever they recovered he was sure they would barge into the room. It took a little more than the time it took Sawyer to put on his pants when Darion came flying into his room holding a cudgel along with the three other guards that were not watching him. Darion ducked as Sawyer grabbed the first weapon closest to him which was his sword. Sawyer brought it around at the second man who used his cudgel to block the blow, Sawyer wasn’t trying to kill him, just scare him a little. Sawyer knew Darion had gotten to his back as he drove the other two towards the door and turned around to see Darion holding his staff. Sawyer thought it was in slow motion as Darion brought the staff down over his knee and Sawyer stood in shock as the staff snapped in two pieces.

  “Now you don’t have your staff for this fight” Darion said as Sawyer’s vision went red.

  Sawyer charged at the smiling man who readied himself, Sawyer used his ring to strike Darion with a bolt of pure magic which tossed the man up against the wall making him drop the two pieces. Sawyer was on him quickly as he brought his sword down and barely missed opening up the man’s chest and instead just left a gouge going from Darion’s right collar bone to the left side of his stomach. Darion howled as Sawyer dropped the sword and kicked out hard with his left foot which caught Darion full in the stomach. The man toppled over as Sawyer spun around and launched a powerful air spell which blew the incoming guards right out of the room. Sawyer used his magic to shut the door and raised the stone behind it to keep him from being disturbed. Darion was on his feet now looking uneasy
as Sawyer turned and looked at him. Sawyer charged and used a wind spell a powerful mage named Flynn Guire used on him but upped the intensity, Darion was plastered against the wall like he was chained there and couldn’t move as Sawyer began hitting him hard all over his body with a cudgel he had picked up. The cudgel moved fast because of the wind spell, bones broke whenever the cudgel landed and a loud crack was heard with each blow. Sawyer was systematic with the blows, he struck the feet first and worked his way up as the wind made it difficult for Darion to even speak out. Sawyer had just broken his seventh or eighth rib when he was hit hard from behind with a spell that made him drop the wind spell. Sawyer turned around and saw Tabitha there and drew on her reserves to make a shield as he turned around and started savaging Darion with the cudgel. Tabitha broke through the shield and Sawyer quickly raised another one, Tabitha’s next shot drained whatever she had remaining and surprised Sawyer when it broke through his shield and smashed him up against the wall, knocking him out.

  ~

  Sawyer awoke with a start and his head made him groan as he remembered the guard who broke his father’s staff. Sawyer saw that he was chained to a bed and his ring was missing. Rings, wands and staves just made it a lot easier to concentrate magic with, it wasn’t impossible without it but took a little meditation.

  “I see you are awake” Tabitha said.

  “Where is he” Sawyer said as he strained at his restraints. “When I see him again he and his men are dead.”

  “For allowing a girl to come to your room?” Tabitha asked.

  “You spin it however you want” Sawyer snapped. “He is a dead man the next time I see him, all of them are.”

  “The staff” Tabitha replied. “You know you can get another one, already one is being made for you.”