Branded Mage

by D. W.

  Trent and the older captain who had been speaking nodded their heads in approval, but a brash young lieutenant didn’t seem too pleased with his answer. “Why would you make them so they quit working? With a weapon like this at our disposal, we would never have to fear another Ablaian invasion.”

  Thad started to explain his reasoning, but General Foreman beat him to it. “Yes, with a weapon like this we could defend the fort from many attackers. We could most likely take over Abla, after we amassed enough ammunition. In fact, we could probably start our own empire with enough weapons of this kind, and that is the exact reason that it shouldn’t last. Today we know that our queen is a kind and gentle sort, but what of the future Jacob. Can you promise our young mage here that these will never be used for evil purposes? While I wouldn’t mind having one of these permanently at the fort, I can see Thaddeus’ reasons for not wanting something so dangerous to last forever.”

  Thad had expected there to be some fuss about making a weapon that only worked for a short period of time. Even the orbs wouldn’t hold magic over an extended period. In less than a year after being made, they would be so weak that the glass orb itself would cause more damage than the magic it held. He was glad that some of the officers understood his motives. He had learned one thing well from the lesson in the book of magic. The mages own creations were used against them during the Fae Wars, and that was something he didn’t want to repeat.

  As the group made their way back toward the main area of the fort, Eloen jogged up beside him. “Remind me not to make you mad when you’re holding one of those.” She said nudging him hard in the ribs with her elbow. “I have seen you do a lot of damage since I met you, but that is the first time I nearly wet myself. Seriously Thad, those scare the living hell out of me. All I have to say is I’m glad you’re on our side. I can’t imagine what war must have been like when there were thousands of mages running around.”

  Thad understood what she was saying, and a part of him could start to see why the emperor had gone after the mages with such vehemence. He was still new to magic and most of his efforts were trial and error. Back then, they had mages who could pass down their knowledge to the next generation, constantly building on their skills. If he could do so much damage while learning everything on his own, what havoc could the mages of the forgotten past been able to do?

  The sun was already setting so instead of heading back to his office, Thad walked back to the command center with Trent. He was glad the day was over. He had worked himself with hardly any breaks since the shipment of good had come in earlier that day. He was surprised that he was able to work for such a long period of time. The constant strain would show sooner or later, but the fact it hadn’t yet meant that he had grown much stronger over the passing year. Using direct magic still tried him fairly fast, but enchanting seemed to take a smaller toll on his body and mind with every passing day. Maybe it was because with enchanting, you were slowly building the magical force that would be employed by the combined effort of the core and body instead of hastily building it and directing its force with your own. He wasn’t quite sure, but he wished he had someone with knowledge of such things.

  Back in his room, Thad checked his sending box as he did every day to see if the princess had sent another letter. It was bare, but Thad wasn’t disheartened. It had just been used a few days prior when the princess had told him about the meeting that the king of Rane had set up with her to discuss the impact of the new laws on their merchants.

  Pulling out a sheet of parchment, Thad quickly wrote a letter telling Maria of the arrival of the shipment of supplies as well as the result of his test. He also wrote of Todd and everything else that had happened to him in the past few days. The letter wasn’t overly long, it only took up half the page but he figured it was enough information unless he wanted to bore her with what he had eaten for his midday meal.

  Folding the parchment neatly, he placed it inside the sending box before laying down on his bed. Closing his eyes, Thad tried to plan out what he would do when he awoke. He got as far as an early morning run before he drifted off into a deep sleep.

  Thad woke early the next morning, feeling thoroughly rested. Leaving his room, he found his two guards waiting for him. Their own eyes were still sluggish from lack of sleep. He felt bad making them exercise before the sun came up, but he knew that if he didn’t force himself to exercise, then he would fall back into the pattern of spending countless days without moving.

  He didn’t take a fast pace, just a slow run around the Fort. After seeing his guards lagging behind, he switched to shorter circuits around the training area so they could watch him from a fixed position. He decided to stop when the rest of the guards started showing up for morning sparing practice. He estimated he had run about three miles, he wasn’t breathing hard but he hadn’t really pushed himself either.

  Eloen and her group were some of the first ones to the training arena. They had a running completion going with the other squads. Eloen had drafted Thad into her group, and they were currently ranked second among all the units. Captain Bower and his men had held an iron hold on first for the past week. Unlike Eloen’s group, his were all older seasoned soldiers who had all seen countless battles. A lot of the soldiers had nicknamed the group the silver soldiers making light of their age, but there was no denying their skill at arms.

  As per the rules, they would each have a match, half with the team higher than them and half with the team lower. Even though he was skilled, Thad was far from the best in the group, so he was always placed fighting against the weaker team. He had lost more often than not, but he could tell his skills with the sword were growing every day.

  The first five matches against Bower’s platoon commenced. Thad and Lucas warmed up preparing for their fights. Lucas was a few years older than Thad and had joined Eloen’s unit shortly after he had been placed in the duchess’s army. Like Thad, Lucas was also a slave from the academy. He was good with his blade, but he lacked patience and would often resort to a risky move in order to finish a fight rather than wait for an opening to present itself. Sometimes it worked, but more often than not, Lucas found himself on the receiving end of the wooden practice blades.

  After they warmed up, the two sat and watched the remaining battles waiting for their turn. They lost terribly against Bower, with only Ballard securing a win. Their next set of fights would be against the third ranked squad that belonged to the snarky lieutenant that had been at the weapons demonstration the night before.

  Darryl was up against their top man and scored an easy win, quickly dispatching the man with blurring movements from his double blades. Thad felt slightly bad for his opponent; if one wasn’t used to fighting against a skilled dual wielder, it was easy to be overwhelmed.

  The next two fights passed by much more slowly with one win for each team. That put them at two to one against their opponents. Thad stepped apprehensively to the field, knowing that if he won, he would secure their spot as number two for another day. He was surprised when the lieutenant was the one who stepped onto the field as his challenger.

  “Let’s see if the mage is half as good with his sword as he is with his little parlor tricks.” The lieutenant said as he took up a fighting stance.

  Thad refused to respond to the man’s taunt, instead he readied himself. He placed his lead foot slightly to rear, in a defensive position. The lieutenant attacked with vigor, but each blow was parried by Thad, who was slowly moving in a routine pattern forcing the lieutenant to readjust after every few attacks. Thad was conserving his energy while, at the same time, forcing the lieutenant to expend his. It was the oldest trick in the book, but his opponent was so obsessed with beating him, he hadn’t noticed that Thad had yet to launch a single attack.

  He could see that the lieutenant was tiring quickly as he started sweating profusely the front of his tunic growing darker every second. His attacks were also coming less frequently and with reduced force. It was almost time for him to make
his move. Waiting paid off as the lieutenant made a sloppy, slow overhead chop. Thad quickly moved into action, letting his sword travel up the side of the man’s blade until it reached the guard. He snapped it hard to the left, pushing the sword wide and forcing his opponent off balance.

  Thad could have easily made a winning blow in the time it would take the lieutenant to regain his stance, but he wanted more. He wasn’t usually the vindictive type, but everything about the young officer seemed to rub him the wrong way. Even the way the man moved seemed to be so self-important, it made him want to slap the swagger out of his step.

  Stepping forward and turning on his lead foot, Thad brought up his elbow, smashing it hard into the officer’s nose. He was rewarded with the sound of breaking cartilage and a grunt from the lieutenant as he stumbled backward. Thad didn’t let up, bringing his sword around and down, sweeping the man’s feet out from under him. As the lieutenant tried to pick himself off the hard ground, Thad brought his sword down across his back with a loud thud.

  With the battle won, Thad walked back to his comrades who cheered and patted him on his back. Eloen joined in, but he could tell she was less than pleased with his performance. When Lucas moved up for his chance to fight, Eloen grabbed Thad by the arm, pulling him away from the crowd.

  “What was that?” She asked; her voice and body language clearly showing her displeasure with his show.

  “He’s a pompous ass that needed to be taken down a peg or two.” Thad replied defensively.

  “Yes Webber is a major ass. But we can’t afford you to start making waves this close to the Ablaian attack.”

  Thad was saved from having to respond, thanks to Lucas losing in a grandiose style. Thad quickly joined his other friends in breaking down the fight for Lucas and helping him find out where he needed work.

  After their sparing was finished, they all headed for a quick breakfast where they talked more about their previous and upcoming fights. Once their meals were devoured, they all headed to their respective posts.

  Thad’s first stop was to see Andre, who was busy working in the smithy, making his steel plates. The blacksmith had already finished three, so Thad grabbed them and headed for his own office. Once inside, Thad went straight to his desk and began working on the magical charging plates.

  The first one took a lot of effort to find the best array for the gems as well as the perfect enchantment links that would allow for the best absorption rate. While he was working on the second, he heard the door to his office open. He didn’t think it was time for the midday meal, but he could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time he lost track of the hours as he worked. He was at a good stopping place, having just finished linking two of the gems together.

  Turning around, he found Hunter creeping toward him with a bloody knife held in his hand. Thad had been focusing hard that his brain was still a bit sluggish. He didn’t quite understand what was happing until Hunter lunged at him with the dagger. Thad instinctively threw up his arms trying to protect his vitals. Thad screamed loudly as the dagger bit deep into his forearm.

  Thad regained his wits quick enough to activate his shield ring as he kicked hunter off of him. He didn’t have a weapon, but he didn’t really need one. This was one time when no one was around to get in the way if his magic. Thad touched his rune necklace and cast a thick lightning bolt towards Hunter, hitting him square in the chest and throwing him back hard against the wall. Thad could smell the burning flesh and hair as Hunter’s body slid lifelessly to the floor.

  Thad got to his feet and looked down at his arm. A steady flow of blood flowed from the wound. He tried to stem the flow with one of the blankets he had used to cushion the explosive orbs. The blood quickly started to soaked trough the blanket and Thad knew he was in trouble. He stumbled to his feet and made his way out of the office. Opening the door, he found his young female guard slumped on the floor with her throat cut. Well, now he knew why the dagger was already bloody when Hunter had come into his office.

  He used his hand to steady himself as he staggered down the hall. His head was growing light and his vision was blurring as he reached the door to the blacksmith workshop. Thad fell through the door, barely catching himself on one of the workbenches. He didn’t see Andre, but the other soldier started yelling and rushed towards him.

  Thad tried to fight the soldiers off with his one good hand, but his strength was waning and it was a constant battle to keep his eyes open. It was a losing battle and Thad felt as his knees hit the stone floor hard. He tried to stay upright, but it was hopeless. He began to fall forward. He didn’t feel the impact of the ground as darkness enveloped him.

  CHAPTER XVIII

  Thad woke on his soft bed, surrounded by three of his friends who all wore serious looks on their face. Eloen sat at his bedside while two of her troops Alden and Donnie stood armed for battle on either side of his door.

  “Sleeping beauty finally awake?” Eloen said, smiling though her voice was taut with worry.

  “I just needed my beauty sleep.” Thad said, trying to keep his voice light and jovial.

  “We found Hunter and Kylee. It was pretty easy to piece together that Hunter had killed Kylee then attacked you. We searched his belongings and found a few letters indicating that he was working with the Ablaians. Since we don’t know if there are any more, we decided my squad will be reassigned as your new security detail since everyone here has had a chance to kill you numerous times and haven’t done it yet.”

  “So the Ablaians are sending spies to kill me? That’s wonderful.” Thad replied sarcastically.

  “We don’t think so. None of the letters pointed at you directly. They just said that he was to do his best to hamper our defensive efforts. We believe he saw you as an obstacle to the Ablaian invasion, but we’re not going to take any chances for now on. You will be guarded even when you go to the latrine.”

  Though her voice was serious, Thad could see the concern in her face. It was nice to know someone cared, but he didn’t like the idea of having an even more intrusive guard than before. Looking up at Eloen, he knew arguing or complaining wouldn’t get him anywhere so he resolved to deal with his new guards as best he could. At least this time they were people he counted among his friends.

  He wanted to get back to work, but Eloen and the military doctor refused to allow him any of his enchanting supplies. While his wound had only been on his arm, he had lost quite a bit of blood so they wanted him to rest for a few days without doing anything that stressed him physically or mentally.

  With little to do, Thad asked for his magical book so that he could get some good reading in while he was stuck in his bed. It wasn’t ideal, but at least he might be able to learn something that would be of help later on. He had learned early that the better he understood the forces of the world, the easier they became to manipulate and copy.

  Neither Eloen nor the doctor could see a good reason to keep him from reading, so they sent a runner to fetch his travel pack from his office. It was annoying not having the thing with him. He decided he was going to start carrying it everywhere. He hated being bored and everything to keep him busy was now on the other side of the fort. In all fairness, he wasn’t in the clearest mindset when he left it behind.

  While he waited on the book, he chatted with Eloen whose worry still showed clearly on her face. He tried to steer the conversation away from talks of war and death, but somehow the conversation kept coming back around to the upcoming battle.

  “Seriously Thad, I don’t want you on the battlements during the battle. If the situation gets that dire, we can call for you. Until then, you are to stay back at the command center.”

  “Eloen, I know you’re only trying to protect me, but it’s my choice. If I decide to be on the battlements, nothing will stop me. If my being up there helps to save so much as one life, it’s worth the risk. By time the battle starts, all the help I can provide with my enchantments will be at its end. If I remember correctly, the queen wanted me
to be seen during the battle, not just by our allies but the enemies as well. While I know you outrank a civilian in a war zone, I still don’t think that gives you the authority to override the queen.” Thad said, getting agitated with Eloen stubborn resistance.

  “Fine, have it your way but don’t expect me to cry when you get yourself injured again.” Eloen said before storming out of his room.

  Alden and Donnie broke out laughing a short while after Eloen had left the room. “You two lovebirds having a little love spat?” Alden said giving Thad a broad grin.

  Thad wanted to throw his pillow at the annoying soldier, but he was too comfortable to bother with it. He opted instead to simple stick out his tongue out at Alden.

  Thad was happy the runner returned with his magical tome. He had only had sparse moments on the journey to read so far. He had filled the tome with countless books before leaving the capital. A lot of them had to do with what little history he could find of the time before the Fae wars. The killing of magic had included any written knowledge, so he doubted he would find much about the mages of the past, but any hint he could find about them might aid him in his endeavors to unearth the secrets of the past.

  Thad read late into the night. His guards were shifted every few hours, but he paid little attention to who was in his room at any given time. The first few books he searched were histories, only mentioning the scourge of the mages. They never offered many details about how they lived or their capabilities.

  He was currently reading the diary of a long forgotten baron who had a small holding not far from what was now the capital of Farlan. Thad figured the book was found in the ruins of his estate and sold to the Royal school as an antique. It mostly held the Counts thoughts and day to day events, but it often mentioned a mage he had hired.

  The mage had earned the job after creating a richly decorated waterfall from out of the ground. The baron had to pay dearly to keep the mage around and his main function seemed to be as a status symbol. There was little else written mention the mages power, but Thad continued to drag through the diary, reading every mundane passage in hopes of uncovering even the tiniest tidbit of information.