“You know how if you use up all of your magic you get extremely sleepy and run down?” Sawyer began.
“Well we are not stupid, it is because magic drains your body” Reginald said.
“I think a mage’s body can use their endurance as magical energy” Sawyer began. “Using magic is like hours of heavy exercise all at one go. I found that the more I work out, the longer I can cast magic. I doubt my magical reserves suddenly got larger, I think my endurance did and my magic pulls from that. I think people in good shape should be able to use magic, since endurance is not as volatile as magical energy, I don’t think they will even need to focus as much”.
“That’s foolish” Dominic said. “If casting magic was as simple as picking up a staff and saying a few words then everyone would be doing it”.
“I never said just anyone could do it” Sawyer replied. “I said those in good shape might be able to. The reason I think no one has discovered it is simple, I don’t think they are in good enough shape. For example, the High Mage uses pure magical energy, so can the rest of us. However she can perform spells that hardly any of us can, it because her magical reserve is a lot larger than ours is and some spells require a lot of magic to bring it into existence. I think the same can be can of endurance, the reason no one has just been able to pick up a staff and start casting can be because a number of things. Maybe the spell they tried to cast is too powerful, maybe they tried an affinity related spell or maybe they simply did not have enough endurance. But this man does, I think he would be able to outrun me in a long distance race and I train hard every day.”
“That is because you carry around too much muscle” the messenger said. “Sure you might have little fat but muscle needs air when you run. My family have been messengers for years and we train to run and keep our bodies efficient. All that muscle needs air, food and water. You most likely can beat me in a sprint but I don’t think it would be much of a contest if we ran any type of distance. I think you would finish, after all everyone in the palace has seen what type of pain you put your body through but you are built all wrong for messaging. Well unless of course sending you to someone was supposed to be a message in itself.”
“Well I want you to try something for me” Sawyer said. “What is your name?”
“Booker” the messenger replied. “Devin Booker, my family has served the crown even when we were all known as Mast.”
“Well Mr. Booker I want you to do something for me” Sawyer said as he walked over and grabbed Reginald’s staff.
“Why don’t you use your own staff?” Reginald said grabbing for his staff.
“Because my staff is bonded to me” Sawyer said as he gave Devin the staff. “Mr. Booker I want you to hold this staff and say a couple of words.”
“Are you saying I can do magic?” Devin asked. “I hate to disappoint you but I put my hand on the High Mage’s magic ball and nothing happened.”
“Well then you have nothing to worry about” Sawyer replied. “I want you to say the words Malforta Eksplodo.”
“Malforta Eksplodo?” Devin said as a bolt of magical energy shot from the staff and took Candace in the chest and dropping her to her behind.
The spell really wasn’t that powerful, it was definitely enough to get someone’s attention as it stung like being slapped full across the face by a grown man with heavy hands but it was not nough to drop someone. Sawyer figured the surprise of it is what startled her enough and now she was angrily reaching for her staff as she climbed to her feet. Candace pointed her staff at a shocked Devin who repeated the spell two more times out of desperation to defend himself. Both bolts struck before Candace can say or do anything, one hit her on her hand which made her drop her staff and the other one hit her full in the face, making her yanked her head back and causing her to be off balance. Candace fell hard on her behind as Sawyer stood in front of Devin.
“That was an accident” Sawyer said as Candace jumped up, the effects of the spell making her entire face red. “He meant nothing by it and only gave you another taste because you were about to attack him.”
“Move out of my way!” Candace screamed as she pointed her staff. “Or I will go right through you.”
“You attack me and Mr. Booker will be the least of your worries” Sawyer replied. “What you should be focusing on is that Mr. Booker was able to perform magic without having any magical energy. If he tried to cast another spell though he would most likely drop. If he tried to send his bolt over a longer distance he might be able to do so once before he dropped sleep because of exhaustion.”
“The Queen needs to hear of this” Tabitha said. “Just one more thing I have to worry about now.”
“Give me back my staff” Reginald snapped. “And this doesn’t mean you are a mage, only that you can do a little magic.”
“Well he took down the girl easily enough” Dominic said. “A first time novice beat her so soundly she should run back to Maduro in shame. The big red mark on her face makes it all the sweeter.”
“So what he beat a stupid girl” Reginald replied. “That means nothing. While you are laughing, every man with a little fitness will be running around pretending they are one of us. How hard would it be for this man to get a robe made or just take one of our cast offs and go to a tavern to romance? Our women would throw themselves at the pretender, too stupid to tell the difference between a real mage and him.”
“I don’t follow” Dominic said. “There are enough whores for us all.”
“No there isn’t” Reginald snapped. “What kind of man do you think would be able to perform magic without being a mage? Just look at that one, he is as thin as a bean pole and I am sure he has muscled stomach underneath all that. With a lot of them types running around, if you were a stupid little airhead who values looks over substance you would give yourself to them. I am willing to bet all of them will be running around casting magic, you hear the Mad Mage. That messenger didn’t even have to concentrate, they could carve their own staves out of regular wood.”
“Don’t like the competition, do you?” Claudia replied. “Calling those poor women looking for a better life, ‘your women’. It is disgusting, and it would serve you right if every man with the ability pretended to be a mage. The only reason I agree with you is because a lot of women might end up pregnant and will not receive any compensation but instead have another mouth to feed.”
“This doesn’t leave this tent” Tabitha said. “Devin you will stick around one of the mages in this room and pretend to be one of us. As for those of you who want other company I am shutting that down right now. You want to get happies off, then pick one of your peers. Sarlon it seems the Queen is questioning your commitment to her, what I am about to tell you all can get you killed but is necessary to prove your loyalty.”
CHAPTER 10
Sawyer watched the sun drop over the horizon and smiled, it was as sweet of a sight as he had ever seen. It took three months but he was in Sale now, the Salian army had fell back to protect their homeland after the Havenians abandoned their part of the former Kingdom of Colten. The Aft were still around but for the most part they had withdrawn deeper in Sale, they wanted to be closer to their country if the Salian army were ran over so they could make their own defenses. The problem with that made Sawyer smile, the Sale were paranoid and didn’t trust the Aft to protect their capital so they moved most of their army towards the capital as well. This made it easier for the Perdomo army to roll right up to the border of Sale and Sawyer doubted it would take long before they reached the capital. The only issue Sawyer had was how to enact the Queen’s wishes.
The Queen wanted at least one of the Dukes, if not both dead. Sawyer was seen as a possible collaborator so it would fall to him to do it. If he were caught he would be killed and no one would collaborate his story if he tried to out the Queen. Sawyer had to do this before setting foot back on Perdomian soil or he would be killed. If any Duke tried to shelter him she would try them for treason and kill them
both. Sawyer had to like how the woman tried to kill two birds with one stone and knew he would do at least one thing to make her happy, he would kill them both. The Queen wanted it to look like it was the work of an assassin, Sawyer thought that was beneath him but these were two of the men behind the purge. Sawyer wasn’t sure when he would do it but was happy to be back in Sale, he didn’t know how he would get his revenge but even in his wildest dreams he never thought it would be like this.
Sawyer was back in Sale with an entire army, he would press deep into Sale and kill his wife, her sister the Queen, her father the Regent and Flynn Guire who had been a thorn in his side since the war began. Sawyer had tried to avoid Flynn on the battle field, Flynn had seen Sawyer’s go to spells and would recognize who he was fighting against. Instead he struck with spells he had learned from Tabitha and retreated whenever he sensed Flynn trying to reach him. Soon though he would let Flynn know he was there and their fight would begin. He had only faced Flynn twice technically, the first was when Sawyer was new at magic and Flynn wiped the floor with him. The second time was when Sawyer was blasted out of a window, but Sawyer was caught unprepared. Sawyer wouldn’t have any excuses now though, he would have to face Flynn and pray his twin sister was not around. She was even stronger than Flynn and considered to be the strongest mage in Sawyer’s class back in Haven.
“Are you done?” Samson said annoyed. “I thought you had to relieve yourself, not stare out at the sun like an idiot.”
“I am savoring this moment” Sawyer began. “My enemy is in front of me, I never thought I would be able to pay them back this quickly but here I am.”
“You still on about that wife of yours?” Dominic asked. “You have bigger things to worry about than a long dead woman. Have you thought about how you are going to do it? Whatever your plan is your time is getting limited, and you know the price for failure.”
“It will happen” Sawyer replied. “At the end of all this is when it will happen, I just have other things that need to be accomplished and they are capable men and their troops follow them.”
“They follow them out of fear, not respect” Andrew replied. “But enough of this, time for me to degrade myself.”
“You are a fool for even trying” Samson said.
“You are only saying that because there is no way you can do anything with anyone” Dominic said. “I just hate the way they lord it over us, this is worse than it was in Maduro. All we are doing is pumping up their egos and making the High Mage look good. I can't wait until this war is over so I can have a real woman. The best looking among them is either Candace or Claudia and I wouldn’t dare beg any of them. That leaves us all stuck with fat Bessie or the rest of those cows, it is almost like being overweight is a prerequisite for a female mage.”
“Says your fat ass” Samson replied. “At least you have had sex, Penelope only wants to tease until we are married. I have no sympathy for any of you.”
“Well enough of this, the sun is down and we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow” Sawyer replied. “How is Devin doing?”
“A little too well for my taste” Dominic replied. “I can't believe Her Majesty even gave him his own Mage Guard. Right now we have twelve pretenders walking around like they are one of us, if you weren’t so caught up in either training or killing then you would know. At least the High Mage relaxed that stupid rule about us all being in the same tent. I still think it is stupid for her to trust her fake mages.”
“Their Mage Guard will keep them honest” Andrew said. “And it is not much of a relaxation, we are banned to one of five tents and all of them are right next to each other. And I cannot stand being around the fakes, just hearing them talk makes me ill.”
“They are just excited to practice magic” Sawyer replied. “They went from nobody to somebody quickly. Just having them around is boosting morale.”
“Boosting morale for who?” Reginald asked. “Any soldier that needs to see those charlatans for inspiration are weak minded.”
“Well I need to train” Sawyer said walking towards the tents.
“You train too much as it is” Samson replied. “You never see me jumping around like an idiot and I have killed the enemy just as well as you have. I don’t see what Phoebe or Penelope sees in you. It should be me with Phoebe and you should have the girl. They talk about you back home like you are some kind of super mage. Mage of Mages my ass, you have just been lucky you have been fighting mages so weak they probably shouldn’t even be holding a staff.”
“Leave Sarlon alone” Andrew said as he walked. “You were just talking about how she hasn’t given you any and now she just a girl. You should have went after Phoebe to begin with but I think you were stupid and let you ego get in the way. You gave up having sex with almost any woman and being pampered everywhere you went for what? Having sex with one woman and even then only when she feels like it and having to live in the palace. Sarlon was smart enough to not even pretend to lead any of them on and has made it clear he is not looking for any romance. If you would have done the same you would be out here with the rest of us having fun.”
“Whatever” Samson replied. “The training is still pointless, the only reason he is doing it is so the women can oogle him while he prances around half naked like a Madurian slave.”
“I think you are just jealous you finally have some competition” Andrew laughed. “Well here is where I leave you, might as well get rejected by Tabitha. The rest of you are still young enough the others don’t find you disgusting despite your girth. Good night to you all, tomorrow we push into Sale and see how far we can go.”
Sawyer walked into the largest tent, it never offered privacy but did offer enough space for a halfway decent work out. Most of the mages used this tent as meeting place, like the common room of a home. Sawyer walked inside and saw Bessie, she was a rather large woman with poor self esteem. Sawyer wondered why she even put up with any of the others, she had her own place in Maduro and could do a lot better.
“Hello Bessie” Sawyer said as they made eye contact. “You ready for tomorrow?”
“Not really” Bessie replied. “I am not very strong in magic and all of this walking is killing my feet. I am not brave enough to hop on one of the horses, I would either hurt the poor thing or fall on my ass. I am taking the time right now to relax, you here to practice?”
“Of course” Sawyer said taking off his shirt and boots then rolling up the bottom of his pants. “I want to do it with armor but the High Mage has hidden it for whatever reason. You want to practice with me?”
“Practice with you?” Bessie said and laughed. “What about me makes you think I want to jump and spin around while gripping a sword?”
“It wouldn’t be anything like that Bessie” Sawyer replied. “I want you to keep casting weak mage bolt and I want to try to dodge the thing.”
“You want me to hit you?” Bessie asked. “I know you are big and strong but that would hurt.”
“I’ll be alright” Sawyer replied. “I won't attack you back so don’t hold back. I want to test my reflexes, I think I have been getting better with the sword and want to prove it. The way it will work is that I will try to touch you, your job is to hit me and stop me from reaching you”.
“Why don’t you ever spar with your Mage Guard then?” Bessie asked.
“Because I don’t trust any of them” Sawyer replied. “I don’t like them and they know it. Right now we have a working relationship, if I can't meet my mission I know they are going to be the first to try me. Not that I am worried about failure but it puts things in perspective”.
“What are you two over here talking about?” Claudia asked as she walked into the tent and looked at Bessie.
“Sarlon wants me to help him train” Bessie replied.
“You?” Claudia replied. “Why you?”
“Because I like Bessie” Sawyer replied. “If you don’t mind I have practice I need to get to.”
“Whenever you find out your wife is t
ruly dead, then what?” Claudia asked. “Are you actually going to start living your life?”
“Are you ready Bessie?” Sawyer asked.
“The silent treatment huh?” Claudia asked. “And to think the first time I met you I thought you were good people. I thought here is a man that every woman would dream of, one that wants her and only her. A hard worker who is not afraid to laugh and enjoy life without hurting anyone in the process.”
“I still think he is all of that” Bessie replied. “He laughs with me all the time and I don’t think anyone can say he hurt them. Sure he rather not talk to some of you but if I were him I wouldn’t talk to you either.”
“Girl you have fucked every mage here except Andrew, Samson and Sarlon” Claudia replied. “Your opinions don’t count and won't count until you find some self esteem.”
“I have self esteem” Bessie replied. “I just like getting laid, nothing wrong with that. I don’t care that I am not the first choice or even the second. I am not the sexiest thing out there so I don’t have room to be too picky. I think it is better than being here eyeing the men and refusing to touch like the rest of you. I have seen you all slobbering over the spell casters but are too afraid to make a move.”
“That is because getting pregnant by one of them would be disastrous” Claudia replied. “They aren’t mages and the chance for a mage child are slim.”
“Well enjoy your fingers then” Bessie replied. “I know the others make fun of me for my weight, my height, the way I look and all kinds of others things. I wasn’t at Maduro to see the show but I didn’t need to be, you had one day to get back at Reginald, Dominic and Samson and I have had months. I am sure you can guess what types of things those deviants make those poor desperate women do. Now they are the ones in need, I let them have the same treatment. Most of the time I get finished off and they still don’t get lucky. I have them both on the four for one, for every four times I get finished off in the method of my choosing I will let them have a little bit. Even after this is over they have to live with it, they can look down on me and say many hateful things, but I know where that mouth that is saying those hateful things has been. Sorry for getting all graphic Sarlon.”
The Mage of Mages 2 Page 18
