The Dark Mage

by Jace Mitchell

He’d let William have the moment because he deserved it. Also, any recognition might have ended it, because William didn’t want to practice magic of any kind. Mason knew why he was doing it, and it was the same reason Mason had crossed the Badlands: Riley.

  William might not want to practice magic, but Mason wanted him to learn. The more people who could light their hands and swords on fire, the better.

  William was at the front of the line, his horse leading the way. Verith was behind Mason and Worth directly in front of him.

  Mason spurred his horse and trotted up to the tent city leader.

  “Aye, Mason.” The man didn’t turn to look at him, and he wasn’t smiling either. The tent city leader was usually smiling almost stupidly. Mason had only seen him look this serious when he had first shown up at the tent city.

  “I wanted to talk to you about last night with William.”

  Worth nodded. “Talk.”

  “Thank you for doing that. Can you continue? Will you teach him more?”

  “He have potential. I make him magic.” Worth nodded, still looking forward.

  “He’s going to need sleep, but teach him as much as you can before we get there, okay?”

  “He no need sleep. He warrior. Like Worth. Sleep for babies, not warriors.”

  Still no smile from the big man, and Mason didn’t like that.

  “Is something bothering you, Worth?”

  He nodded. “Aye.”

  “What?”

  “He watch us.”

  “Who?” Mason looked around the open landscape. He saw no one, just dead grass and dirt.

  “Mage. He see us now. Know we come.”

  Mason understood, and he looked up as if he would be able to see Rendal Hemmons.

  “No. Not up there. All around. He see you. He see me. He dangerous. Powerful.”

  Mason brought his head back down. “We are too. You and your ilk, plus the Right Hand and Verith. We’re powerful, too.”

  “Worth know. We magic. We be okay.”

  Mason rode with him for a few more seconds, but it seemed clear that Worth wasn’t looking to talk to anyone, so Mason dropped back into line.

  He sees us, Mason thought and smiled.

  He raised his hand and closed all the fingers but one.

  “Get fucked.”

  Lucie lay against the back of her cage.

  Her body looked drained, almost sickly. She was coming to look like the other women in this place.

  She looked down as her cage was lowered from the ceiling. Rendal already stood below it. He hadn’t come back to her since the first time, and Lucie had been fine with that. She didn’t want to see this hollowed-out human anymore. He wasn’t the person she had loved.

  The cage stopped, but Lucie didn’t attempt to get up. She was too weak. She received food and water, but lack of nutrients wasn’t causing her to feel like this.

  It was the draining, as she was coming to think of it.

  “I can tell that you understand what I’ve become now,” Rendal started.

  Lucie blinked slowly, showing no emotion on her face. “I can tell you’re a madman.”

  “I have her, Lucie. I have the Right Hand. She’s here.”

  Lucie swallowed. “Have you hurt her?”

  “No, of course not. I’m going to make her my protégé. And if not, I’ll throw her in this cage with you so that you have company. I’m not completely cruel. In fact, I’d say I’m not cruel at all. I just believe in purpose.”

  Lucie looked up at the cages above her. “That’s not cruel, Rendal?”

  “That’s purpose.” He smiled, though it died away quickly. “Her precious Mason is coming for her, Lucie, and he looks to have mutants with him. Who are they?”

  “Mutants?” Lucie’s eyebrows raised. She knew nothing about any mutants. There were none in New Perth. Hadn’t ever been as far as she knew.

  “Yes. I think they’re mages. Who are they, and are they are from New Perth?”

  “I don’t know them, Rendal. And I don’t know where they’re from, either.”

  Rendal stared at her, measuring the truth in her words.

  “I don’t give a damn if you believe me. To be honest, I’d rather stare at the bars on this cage than your face. You’re not very handsome anymore, ya know? Why not just raise me back up in the air and let me stare at the bars a while longer?”

  Rendal shook his head. “Handsome or not, we’re not done here. I don’t know who these mages are, but if they practice magic, they could be a threat—mutants or not. I’m going to get you out of there, actually.”

  “Why?”

  “An insurance policy of sorts.”

  “I can’t help you, Rendal. Don’t you see that? I’m nothing in New Perth. They’ve forgotten my part in your failed attempt for power. They don’t care about me. If people are coming, then they’re coming for Riley—not me. They won’t care what you threaten me with.”

  “You still don’t see.” Rendal smiled. “All this time, and you still can’t see the end. You don’t matter to them, Lucie, but you matter to her. You matter to Riley, and she’s not going to leave as long as you’re here. She’ll stay out of this little skirmish if she knows you might be injured...or killed.”

  Rendal stepped back.

  “Guards, get her out of there. She’s to be our guest of honor for this next battle. And Lucie, don’t think I won’t kill you if you do something antithetical to my purpose.”

  Rendal had one other thing to check, then he wanted to watch the travelers coming for him. They definitely possessed magic, and understanding their plans would help considerably when they arrived tomorrow.

  He needed to speak with Artino now, though, so he headed downstairs to the laboratory.

  He didn’t knock but walked right through the door.

  “Always! Always interrupting me!” Artino shouted, throwing his hands into the air and the papers he was holding as well. “Ridiculous, Rendal! You need to announce yourself! Create appointments! I have work to do!”

  “I know, I know.” Rendal walked into the room, stopping a few feet from Artino’s desk. “It’s okay, Artino. I don’t plan on being here long. I need to talk to you about what you showed me.”

  “Yes. I showed it to you. What else is there to talk about?”

  Artino started pacing again, staring at the floor and refusing to look Rendal in the eye.

  “How quickly can we operationalize it?”

  Artino stopped but didn’t look up. “What do you mean, Rendal? What are you saying?”

  “How quickly can I have an army?”

  Artino’s feet started moving quickly, pacing in a figure eight. “He wants an army now. I just gave him genius, and he wants an army. It’s unending. I shouldn’t have ever taken this assignment. He’s mad, I tell you. Mad! Mad.”

  Rendal didn’t care what the man was saying; he only needed an answer. “Artino, it’s a simple question. How long before we can operationalize the technology?”

  “I don’t know, Rendal. You’ve drained all the subjects of their nanocytes. The man over there, he’s the only one with a full measure. The nanocytes will have to replicate, and that takes time. You know that. I can’t just put bracelets on people, and expect this start working. It’s going to take time.”

  “How much time? That’s what I need to know.”

  “A month.”

  Rendal’s hand turned into a fist. “No, Artino. It must be shorter than that. If I need them tomorrow, how many can you give me?”

  Artino laughed, a high, strained thing that made it sound like something inside the man was near to breaking. “None. I can give you none except that man over here.”

  Rendal looked into the corner. The man hadn’t appeared to move since Rendal saw him earlier. “Is he even alive?”

  “Yes, yes. I take the bracelet off of him routinely, with a guard. Feed him, allow him to use the bathroom. He’s fine. He’s all you will get, Rendal, at least for now. If you want more, you
’re going to have to stop draining them upstairs. You understand?”

  Rendal ignored the little man. One would not be enough, at least not to do real damage. They were bringing a few handfuls of people. Rendal could handle them easily, magic or no. He would have to decide whether he wanted to use this man, but he was leaning toward not doing so. Perhaps keep him in the pocket for now. After all, this was only the first skirmish.

  “Okay, Artino. Don’t have an aneurysm. We will use him, and I will slow down the draining. Just make more bracelets. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, yes. I understand. I always understand. If you’d only quit interrupting me!”

  Rendal was smiling as he left the room. He thoroughly enjoyed disrupting Artino’s day. It always made him feel great.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “You tired?” Worth asked.

  William shook his head. A lie, but a necessary one. The truth was, he was exhausted. Tomorrow they’d finish their journey, and William’s life the past two weeks had been nothing if not overworked. The past three nights he’d slept maybe six hours total, and now he was a few hours away from dawn without much hope of any sleep.

  Still, this had to be done.

  “It okay be tired.” Worth patted him on the back. “Now, tomorrow. It okay. Battle come. No tired. Bloodlust then. You be fine.”

  The tent city leader talked as if he were William’s superior, and in the beginning, William had despised it.

  Now, on the last night, he thought Worth might be. He would never tell that to anyone, of course, but the man had wisdom that his horrible grammar and goofy nature didn’t reveal.

  And he was right. William was tired, and he would be tired tomorrow—but when the war came, his body and mind would react. They always did.

  “He watch us.” Worth nodded. “Yes. Now. He watching us.”

  “Rendal?”

  Worth looked to him. “That his name? Mage?”

  “Yes.”

  Worth looked to his left and right. “Yes. He see us. Good. Let him. We come for him. We get woman back.”

  He looked at William.

  “We almost done. You sleep next, aye?”

  “Almost done?”

  “Aye. Almost done. With this. There more, but this almost done.”

  William didn’t believe him, but what could he say? He was at the tent city leader’s direction.

  “Then stop slowing us down with chit-chat, Worth. Get to the point.”

  Worth smiled and stepped back. “Bossy boss, aye. Okay. Go on.”

  William’s eyes widened. “Go on? Go on where?”

  “Make fire. Make magic. On sword. We almost done.”

  William laughed, then looked at the sleeping campsite to see if anyone heard him. No one stirred. He turned back to Worth. “We’ve been able to make my hands light up a bit. We’re nowhere near me doing what you did with the sword.”

  “You—” Worth pointed to his own head. “Wood for brains. You. Go on. Make fire. Make magic. On sword.”

  William wanted to throw the damn thing at him. He held it in his hands, the point touching the ground. Last night, he’d managed to get to a place where he could bring flames to his hands about half the times he tried. He was starting to understand the focus—where to place it, and how to feed it.

  That was a far, far cry from what Worth was saying now.

  “I back up. You might burn me.” Worth smiled as he said it, and William saw glee in his eyes. He was serious about this; he wasn’t fucking around.

  The man went back about thirty feet, leaving open space between them.

  William was basically alone and didn’t know what the hell to do.

  “Fuck you, Worth,” he grumbled.

  William supposed they could stand here until Worth grew tired and came back, because that was about all that would happen.

  The tent city leader didn’t move, and William remained alone, holding his sword.

  And not trying.

  He let out a deep sigh. This wasn’t about him or his ego. It was about Riley, and Worth was right, even if he wasn’t saying it: they were out of time. If William was to augment his fighting with magic, he had to get it together tonight.

  Because tomorrow, war came.

  He closed his eyes and remembered the things Worth had taught him in his broken language.

  Only broken you, he remembered Worth telling him. Me understand fine. Me speak good.

  William smiled, forgetting himself for a moment.

  When Riley sees this, he thought, she’s gonna piss her pants. She can talk all the shit she wants about being a better swordsman, but she won’t have fire attached to her blade, will she?

  He forgot himself a bit more.

  And Rendal? That evil fucking wannabe mage? When he understands that it doesn’t matter how many men he sends my way, they’ll just be decapitated by a sword of flames? I can’t wait to see his face. I can’t wait.

  And just a bit more of William’s ego left.

  Faces started flashing through William’s mind. Those he cared about. Those he would kill tomorrow. Goland. Mason. Worth. Torney. Rendal. Harold.

  Riley.

  William felt the fire on his hands, but he’d felt that before.

  It was Worth’s hoot from across the expanse that made him open his eyes.

  He looked at the tent city leader first. Worth was dancing in the darkness, trotting around like a child. William tipped his head down and saw his hands—on fire as he thought they would be—but that wasn’t all…

  His sword was ablaze.

  Fire wrapped around it, up and down, covering the hilt and blade.

  William’s eyes grew wide.

  “Hit me, wood for brains!” Worth shouted.

  William’s head jerked up, and he thought the fire would go out. He looked back at it, but it still burned.

  “It part of you, wood for brains! You magic. It same as sword. Part of you!”

  He was shouting loudly now, not caring about waking up those still sleeping. William turned to the campsite again; no one was lying down. They were all standing and staring at him. At his sword.

  Mason walked to the front.

  “I bet Riley could do that, no problem!” Mason shouted to him.

  William laughed, actually feeling good. “Go fuck yourself, Assistant Prefect!”

  He lifted the sword, a giant, heavy thing to most people, but the only tool he went to work with each morning. He could feel the fire’s heat on his face, although it didn’t burn his hands.

  I’ll give them a show, William thought. If that’s what they want.

  He swung his sword with both hands as if he were about to slice deep through someone’s ribcage. It was a move he’d executed countless times before, but he felt something different this time. His sword was no longer limited to the metal it’d been created from.

  It was extended by the fire that wreathed it.

  He swung it farther.

  The fire swept through the air rapidly and Worth dropped to the ground, the flames barely missing him. William stared at him, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. Worth was still hooting from the ground, yelling from either pain or happiness—it was hard to tell.

  “You magic!”

  “I’m magic!” William roared into the night air.

  “You’re a popular person, Right Hand.”

  Rendal stood in front of Riley’s doorway.

  She looked up to him. “What are you talking about?”

  “They’re coming for you.”

  “Who?” She didn’t stand from the bed but it looked like she was about to, always reaching for that nonexistent sword.

  “New Perth. There are quite a few of them this time. The other Right Hand, plus some people I don’t recognize. Mutants, from the looks of them. From the Badlands. One other man who appears to be from New Perth. And then, of course, Mason. Your precious Assistant Prefect.”

  She did stand up then, and Rendal understood fully how much
she cared for that man. She would do anything for him if she thought it was in his best interest.

  Rendal wanted to smile but didn’t. He saw the path through this now, even if he hadn’t in the very beginning. The goal was in front of him: Riley Trident. The path? Well, that would be revealed to everyone very soon.

  “Yes, he’s coming. They should be here this evening.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to politely ask them to leave, of course,” Rendal replied. “Then everything will be fine, yes?”

  Her eyes narrowed. He could venture into her mind and know what she was thinking, but he thought that might be a bit dangerous. Rendal was coming to understand how powerful this woman was the longer that he remained around her. Even after only a few days, he thought she was coming to know when he was reading her thoughts.

  “Don’t hurt them. I’ll do what you want. I’ll stay here. Just don’t hurt them.”

  “I’m going to bring Lucie out for the meeting with them.” He said nothing else for a second, letting that sink in. “You haven’t seen the truth of my words yet, but you will soon. Perhaps after tomorrow. However, I know how dangerous you are with your hands—even without that sword. Lucie will be there in case for some reason you decide to...forget what side you’re on now. Do you understand, Riley?”

  The woman swallowed. She was quiet for a long second, then, “I understand.”

  “Good. Now, when they arrive there will be a bit of talking, I imagine. But not too much. They’re disrespecting the deal we made: that if you came with me, I would leave them in peace. They’re bringing war to me, and I have to protect my people. I’m sure you understand. What I want from you is to tell them to leave, that you’re fine here. That you want to be here.”

  “They know that’s not true, Rendal.”

  “Fine. They can know whatever they want,” Rendal said. “It’s your job to convince them. You say that you want to be here, and maybe they’ll leave unhurt. If you don’t convince them with your words, then I will with my own type of persuasion.”

  Rendal couldn’t help himself then, venturing slightly into her mind.

  He only remained there for a second. It was all hate and anger, nothing else, and all of it directed at him.