Magium: The Mage Tournament: Book 1

by Chris Michael Wilson

  “Wait,” I tell her. “You’re saying that you have to keep Arraka under constant supervision, so that you can dispel her explosion spell before she fully channels it, but what happens when you sleep?”

  “Oh, Petal and I sleep in turns, so our body technically never goes to sleep,” Flower says. “In fact, Petal’s been sleeping ever since we left the ruins.”

  “But what if you both fall unconscious?” Kate says.

  “Well, at first we tried to see if there weren’t any incantations we could use to automatically dispel any spells cast in an area every few hours, but unfortunately all of them required the caster to consciously focus on the spells they want to interrupt.”

  Flower then turns towards Arraka, who was subtly channeling an explosion spell while she was talking to Hadrik, and she dispels it with a flick of her finger.

  “Gods be damned!” Arraka shouts. “Girl, do you have eyes in the back of your head?!”

  “See?” Flower tells us. “You can’t dispel it unless you focus on her spell, specifically. So, instead of going for automatic dispelling, we made a spell that continuously tries to wake us up in case we’re both unconscious, and if it doesn’t manage to do it in two hours, it kills us both, which at least ensures that we’ll have a peaceful death, instead of Arraka absorbing both our souls and then destroying the world.”

  “Wow,” Kate says. “That’s quite a… pragmatic approach.”

  “It was Petal’s idea!” Flower says, smiling.

  “I thought as much,” Kate says.

  “Speaking of Petal,” I say, “how have you two been getting along these past twenty years?”

  “Oh, it’s been a blast!” Flower says. “I’ve been having loads of fun over the years and I think Petal’s been enjoying it too! Or at least I think she has. It’s kind of hard to tell because she’s always grumpy and not very sociable.”

  “Yeah, I know the type,” I tell her, as I look towards Kate.

  Kate frowns at me, but she doesn’t dignify my comment with a response.

  “What about Arraka?” I ask Flower. “What’s it like, having to carry her around all the time?”

  “It’s not as bad as you might think,” Flower says. “I mean, okay, she tries to get us into trouble with any chance she gets, but when things get really serious, she can be very helpful. If I die, she won’t have any more humans left to possess once she gets out of the amulet, so it’s in her best interest to help us stay alive for as long as possible!”

  “Hey, Flower!” Daren shouts from a distance. “Is this the right way to the ogre stronghold?”

  “No!” Flower shouts back, as she runs off towards where Daren is standing. “If we keep going this way, we’ll end up in the middle of a swamp! We need to turn left here, and then follow this trail until we get out of the forest.”

  The six of us resume our journey, and Flower takes the lead once more. The girl has become much more reliable since we got out of the ruins. She looks like she knows exactly where she’s going, and she’s regularly checking various landmarks that she’s set in the past, in order to make sure that we’re still on the right track. She must have walked these paths many times throughout the years.

  As it starts to get dark, we decide to make camp in a valley near a small river, where there aren’t many trees that could hide any potential ambushers. Flower and Kate decide to go scouting the area around our camp, while Daren and Hadrik, who both had several spare tents in their enchanted backpacks, are now busy setting them up. Since they said they don’t need any help, and there isn’t really anything else that needs to be done, Rose and I sit ourselves down on a log not far from them, in order to not get in their way.

  “So, uh…” I start to ask Rose. “How have you been holding up, lately? You looked pretty shaken up after we ran into that hydra. And you didn’t seem to be doing so well when the dragon attacked us, either…”

  Rose blushes as she hears my question.

  “Oh, you’ve noticed…” she says, sounding a little embarrassed.

  “Well, it would have been a bit difficult to ignore you, what with the whimpers and trembling and everything,” I say.

  As I finish my sentence, Rose punches me in my left arm, but she does so very lightly. I would have barely felt her touching me if I weren’t paying attention.

  “I’m starting to understand why Kate hits you so often,” Rose says, smiling playfully. “But thank you for your concern. As you may have realized, I’ve always been afraid of giant monsters. I am accustomed with small and medium sized ones, because I’ve run into several goblins and ogres during my travels, but the very thought of meeting a dragon in the flesh would always send chills down my spine. I never imagined that I’d come face to face with both a dragon and a hydra in less than one day. I knew they existed, but I hoped I’d never run into one of them during my lifetime. I can’t imagine what it’s like for people like Daren and Hadrik, who fight monsters like these on a monthly basis.”

  She pauses.

  “Come to think of it, this must all be pretty new for you too, isn’t it? From what you’ve told me, you had never even fought a goblin before coming to this tournament. How are you always able to remain so calm, despite the fact that you’ve had your entire world turned upside down?”

  “I guess I’ve always been a little crazy,” I say.

  Rose giggles softly.

  “I suppose that fear would be the last thing on your mind when you are crazy enough to come to a tournament like this without any kind of magical abilities!”

  “Hey, now, that’s just not true!” I say. “I mean, sure, I’m not a mage myself, but the stat device I’m using is a pretty powerful magic item. Especially when it gives me actual magic powers, like in that fight with the dragon, yesterday!”

  Rose smiles.

  “You know… you were really gallant, up there, while you were confronting Tyrath,” she says. “Something about the look you had in your eyes before you went to fight the dragon made me feel really safe, and cast away all my fears.”

  Once she stops talking, Rose suddenly realizes that she was blushing, so she quickly turns her head away in a clumsy attempt to hide her face from me. As I don’t really feel like embarrassing her, I decide to ignore what happened and change the subject.

  “So, anyway,” I tell her, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you in private since this morning. What do you think about Flower?”

  Rose turns her head back towards me when she hears my question, and I notice that her cheeks are no longer red. She seems somewhat surprised by my sudden inquiry.

  “Do you mean in a general sense?” Rose asks me. “To me, she seems like a charming young girl with a cheerful personality and a kind heart, and I find that she is a really fun person to be around with. What about you? There has to be some reason why you asked me this. What do you think about Flower?”

  “I don’t know…” I say, “I just can’t bring myself to trust her.”

  “Why’s that?” Rose asks.

  “Well, banshees never struck me as the most trustworthy types,” I say.

  Rose gasps.

  “Shame on you, Barry!” she says. “I’m almost starting to believe that Daren was right about you. Did you really only trust Kate because of her pretty face?”

  “Hey, Kate was different!” I say. “I could tell from the get-go that she wasn’t a real banshee!”

  “Well, neither is Flower!” Rose says. “Petal is the banshee. And if Flower trusts her, then I do too!”

  “You’re willing to trust a banshee just like that, without any evidence whatsoever?” I say.

  “Yes!” Rose says. “Because her and Flower have been together for twenty years. If Petal still has Flower’s trust after so much time, then that’s enough evidence for me. Please, Barry, couldn’t you maybe give Petal another chance? For me?”

  I sigh.

  “Well, I suppose I could give her the benefit of the doubt, at least…” I say.

&
nbsp; “Thank you!” Rose says, smiling. “I promise that you won’t regret it!”

  “Let’s hope so,” I say.

  While Rose and I were finishing our conversation, Daren and Hadrik were starting to work on the last two tents. Kate and Flower, who had just returned from their scouting mission, reported that there was no suspicious activity around our campsite and then they both took a seat on a log next to us.

  Once the tents have all been set, we decided to go to sleep early, in order to be well rested when we leave tomorrow, at the crack of dawn. Flower volunteered to take first watch, and then she immediately went to climb the highest hill, to get a good view of the entire valley. As she passed me by, I could sense her aura weakening considerably, and the banshee’s aura becoming a lot stronger. Does this mean that the girl went to sleep and left the banshee in charge of the night shift? If that is so, then this would be the perfect opportunity to get to know the banshee a bit, before we reach the ogre stronghold tomorrow.

  “Aren’t you going to sleep, Barry?” Rose asks me, as she sees me just standing there.

  “Actually, I was thinking of staying up for a while longer,” I say.

  I then whisper in Rose’s ear what I noticed about Flower and Petal, and I tell her that I want to have a little discussion with the banshee before I go to sleep.

  Rose gasps.

  “Barry, that’s an excellent idea!” she says. “Hold on, just give me a second to leave my backpack inside my tent, and I’ll come with you.”

  As the two of us make our way up towards where Flower went to oversee the valley, I start to realize that my intuition was right, and the girl really did go to sleep. I can feel that the outworldly aura around her is definitely the dominant one at this point in time, and as we get closer, I see that her eyes are shining with a bright blue light, in the same way that they did before, when the banshee took control of the body.

  “The girl is sleeping,” Petal tells us, in a cold voice, as she sees us climb the hill towards her. “I can wake her up if you need to tell her something important.”

  The banshee is sitting on the grass, cross-legged, with a sandwich in her hands. It appears that she was just about to start eating, before she saw us come up the hill.

  “Actually, you’re the one we wanted to talk to, not Flower,” I say.

  “Is that so?” the banshee says, eyeing me suspiciously. “Well, then, by all means, have a seat.”

  She then takes a bite out of her sandwich, while I seat myself on the grass next to her.

  “Am I correct in assuming that you are Petal?” Rose asks. “My name is Rose. Pleased to meet you!”

  She then offers the banshee her hand.

  “Actually, my name is Illuna,” the banshee says, without taking her hands off her sandwich. “Petal is just a nickname that the girl gave to me when we first met, because I didn’t want to give her my real name. She’s been calling me that ever since.”

  Seeing that the banshee has no intention of shaking her hand, Rose smiles politely and takes a seat on the grass, on the other side of her.

  “So, uh,” I start to say, “it’s a really lovely weather we’re having, don’t you think?”

  The banshee frowns when she hears my question, and she turns her head towards me.

  “Cut to the chase, human,” she says. “I’ve never been very fond of the roundabout ways in which you people like to start your conversations. You’re here because you don’t trust me to guard your camp by myself, aren’t you?”

  “No, you’ve got it all wrong!” I say. “We just wanted to get to know you, that’s all!”

  “Well, then you are either a liar or a fool,” Illuna says. “Nobody should trust a banshee to have their best interests at heart without some very strong evidence to back up such a claim. And Flower is nowhere near a reliable enough source of information, when it comes to such matters.”

  “You’re not even going to try, are you?” I say.

  “Try what?” Illuna says.

  “To get us to trust you,” I say.

  “Why would I even bother to do such a thing?” Illuna asks. “We are only travelling together because Flower decided to help you on a whim. Once you are free of your collars, I’m expecting us to part ways and then to never hear from each other again. Given these circumstances, I see no reason why I should waste my time trying to gain your trust. Feel free to believe what you want of me, and I will do the same for you.”

  “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask…” Rose says. “Where did you get that sandwich from? I never saw you carry a backpack with you.”

  “I made it with magic,” Illuna says, as she waves her hand and magically conjures two more sandwiches that fall directly into our laps. “Here, knock yourselves out.”

  I take a look at the sandwich that she conjured out of nowhere, and then I grab it with both my hands, but I am a bit hesitant in taking a bite from it. I have no idea what ingredients she made this from. Could it be poisoned?

  “Oh, for crying out loud!” Illuna says, when she sees me eye her sandwich suspiciously. “You’re not seriously thinking that the sandwich is poisoned, are you? Who in the world still uses poison nowadays? Barring the hundreds of easily learnable magical protections that can provide you with immunity against all poisons, you can even buy anti-poison elixirs for ten copper a piece. Surely you must have drunk at least one of those before coming to this tournament? A single elixir should easily provide you with immunity to all known poisons for the remainder of this tournament. Just eat the damn sandwich, will you?”

  Rose giggles.

  “Now I understand why Flower told me you were always grumpy!” she says, smiling playfully.

  “Spectacular,” Illuna says. “Is there anything else that the girl shared about me while I was asleep?”

  “Well, she most certainly didn’t tell me that you could conjure food out of thin air!” Rose says. “That is normally a skill that only the grand priests of each city can master. You must be incredibly talented!”

  “Actually, I am ashamed to admit that Flower was the one who taught me this skill,” Illuna says.

  “Flower did?” Rose asks, surprised.

  “Yes,” Illuna says. “The girl has the natural talent of being able to instantly comprehend some ridiculously complex spells without expending any effort whatsoever. She only saw the spirit fox cast this spell once, twenty years ago, and she managed to mimic it in the very next second. However, she is completely hopeless when it comes to learning spells that require the least amount of studying beforehand. I’ve been trying to teach her healing for years, but it’s like trying to teach an ogre how to speak lessathi.”

  Rose smiles.

  “See?” she tells Illuna. “You can actually open up to us if you try!”

  The banshee frowns at her.

  “Congratulations,” she says, coldly. “You have achieved your goal. Now will you finally go away and let me finish my sandwich in peace?”

  “You know, you look really cute when you frown!” Rose says, smiling playfully again.

  “Good grief,” Illuna says. “What would it take to make you go away and let me have my peace and quiet? It’s hard enough that I have to put up with Flower while she’s awake. Can’t I at least have some rest while she’s asleep?”

  “Of course not!” Rose says, with a cute smirk on her face. “If we went to sleep now, then who would be left here to tease you all night long?”

  “By the gods,” Illuna says. “It’s as if the Flowers have multiplied…”

  We ended up spending the next few hours talking with Illuna, and although on the surface she appeared to be annoyed by us, a part of me felt that she was actually enjoying our company, in her own way. Even if she maintained her grumpy demeanor throughout the night, the banshee slowly started to open up towards us and she even told us a few stories from her adventures with Flower in the past few years. It was later in the night that we were interrupted by Daren and Hadrik, who came to take over our s
hift.

  “Wait, wasn’t Flower supposed to be the only one taking this shift?” Hadrik asks us, surprised.

  “It seems that Flower misled us yesterday,” Daren says, with a grave tone in his voice. “Because she apparently never intended to take on that shift herself.”

  Illuna and Daren then spend a few seconds looking each other in the eye, as if they were ready to jump at each other’s throats any second.

  “Hey now, let’s all calm down!” I say. “We’re all on the same team here, right?”

  “I don’t know, are we?” Daren says. “Everything worked out fine because you and Rose figured out what happened and went to keep a close watch on her, but who is to say that she wouldn’t have slit our throats in our sleep if left unsupervised?”

  “There would be no need to use such underhanded tactics to rid myself of a handful of mages that can’t even use magic,” Illuna says. “You and your friends pose no threat to me in your current condition. If you have a bone to pick with me, healer, then I would be more than happy to show you that I’m not bluffing.”

  “I will take you up on that offer, banshee,” Daren says, as he pulls out his sword. “Let’s see if you fight as well as you run your mouth.”

  “Daren, wait!” I shout, as I place myself between the two of them. “Do you plan to kill the girl along with the banshee?”

  “Just because the sword can’t lock onto the banshee’s aura by itself does not mean I can’t do it manually,” Daren says. “I can still kill the banshee without harming the girl if I focus hard enough.”

  “Have you gone mad?” I ask him. “How do you expect to properly target the banshee’s aura if the sword can’t do it by itself? You’re almost guaranteed to fail!”

  “If I do, then it would still be a better fate for the girl than to live her whole life chained to an evil spirit,” Daren says.

  “Oh yeah?” I say. “And who’s going to lead us to the ogre stronghold with the girl gone?”

  “We already know the general direction,” Daren says. “I’d say we are close enough to our destination to be able to make it there even without a guide at this point. Step aside, Barry.”