by Edun, Terah
She darted forward, this time putting on a burst of battle magic speed that made her fleet of foot and able to dodge arrows without diving to the ground. With a couple of acrobatic flips, one in which she had simultaneously backflipped over one arrow and opened her legs to escape another by letting it fly between her shins. She landed against the back of the weapons cart, yanked the padlock off the door to open it, and jumped inside.
When she did, even in the darkness, she knew she hadn’t gotten to the weapons cart as she’d hoped. It was the same cart that she had seen from a distance. But its disguise hadn’t been to hide one of the numerous carts filled with swords, knives, and shields. No, this held something different. She held her breath tensely as her eyes scoped out the too-bare walls around her.
She noted that even though the door had been closed and sealed with a padlock, the air inside was clean and circulating with the even breaths of another person at the far end.
“Who is there?” a woman called out as chains rattled in the back.
Sara was silent. Not wanting to give her presence away. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She desperately did not want to go outside without something to shield her body, but she also didn’t want to get into a knife fight with someone else inside of a cart that at best was four feet high and four feet wide. She had no idea of its length, but she guessed double that.
“Who is there?” said the woman again. “Please help me.”
Sara eased back and halted before stepping outside. The sound of a renewed hail of arrows stopped her from exiting. The rain of arrows before she entered had seemed like a lot. But this sounded like a torrent was coming down in a renewed assault. If she backed out of the cart, she was as good as dead, no matter how many flips and dodges to the side she was able to do.
Growling, Sara stayed put.
She took out her knife. The woman sounded helpless. But you never knew.
Sara said, “I’ll ask the questions here. Who are you?”
The woman’s voice echoed in the night. “I’m Nissa.”
“Nissa,” said Sara carefully. “Why are you chained here? Be careful of your answer. I’m just as likely to slit your throat as help you if I don’t trust what you’re saying.”
That was the absolute truth. She didn’t have time to rescue a woman only to learn she was an enemy out to kill her.
Nissa answered. “My name is Nissa Sardonien. I am a mage. I am a prisoner of the Empress of Algardis.”
That was smart. In one stroke she’s told me she’s useful either way. If I was an ally of the Kade mages, I would free her. If I was an ally of Algardis, I’d be sure to keep her shackled but safe for the imperial court’s reward.
Sara took a step forward. Her outstretched hand held a globe of battle fire. It lit the interior of the cart in a stable glow. Stable in the sense that it wouldn’t combust in her hand. Not unless she did something stupid, like fall to the floor. The light was enough for her to see Nissa. She wore a white robe with a parted slit down the front and long, gossamer fabric that covered even her feet. Her hands were hidden by the draping sleeves.
“Show me your hands,” commanded Sara. “Slowly.”
Nissa raised her hands as far as she could, until they were just above her seated waist and her palms were out. The chains prevented her from moving them any higher. Then Sara saw what covered her arms. Like thin sheets of metal they sheathed each arm from the wrist to the elbow. They weren’t innocuous jewelry, though. Those were mage bands encircled that prevented Nissa from working magic.
“What kind of mage are you?”
“I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you,” Nissa said, lifting her chin so that her long and straight hair fell back to reveal a defiant look on her face.
“Try me.”
“Very well, I’m a sun mage.”
“You’re right, I don’t believe you,” said Sara. There were a lot of mythical things showing up in her life right now, but having a living sun mage show up was taking things a little too far.
Nissa’s lips thinned but she said nothing.
“Even if I did think you were telling the truth,” said Sara, “the only living sun mage was killed by her Kade mage compatriots months ago.”
“I am she,” Nissa said defiantly.
“You are the nameless one? The scourge of the battlefield that set fire to thousands of men with a sweep of her hand? That woman that caused the red rays of the sun to pierce the tents of imperial mercenaries as if they were weapons? Weapons that burned the flesh off men as if they stood in the middle of a raging fire pit?”
Nissa let no regret show on her face. “I am.”
Sara crouched down as she watched Nissa’s eyes and the cart rumbled as the sound of a trumpeting war elephant rushed past. Once it had stilled again, Sara said, “So then tell me, Nissa of the Sun Mages, why are you still alive? You stand amidst thousands of your enemies. Each of which would gladly roast your head above a pit for the friends you’ve killed.”
Nissa smiled. “Why don’t you ask your captain?”
Sara flashed a bitter grin. “I asked you, and I’d be careful to not dodge my questions again. I’m not having a very good day.”
“So I see,” Nissa purred as she leaned back against the wall, the thump of her chains against the wood the only sound.
Then Nissa sighed. “I was taken to Sandrin to be given an opportunity to help the empress of Algardis find...something. I refused at first. But after some persuasion I agreed to do what was asked of me.”
Nissa shifted and Sara’s mage light shone on something curious. Narrowing her eyes, Sara noted in a flash scars that been hidden before. Deep, parallel grooves on Nissa’s chest just below her breasts.
“They tortured you,” Sara said.
Nissa nodded. “The standard imperial fare for prisoners of war. It was what came after that that convinced me to turn on my compatriots.”
“And what was that?”
“The future,” said Nissa.
Sara raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
Nissa opened her mouth and then a shriek of a different kind broke their concentration. It wasn’t the sound of a human or animal screaming, but the sound of an object that Sara had only read about in her textbooks. But she recognized it instinctively from the drills she had endured at her father’s hands. It was the sound of a ball of battle fire coming down.
Sara realized that she had better douse her own ball of mage fire quickly. She did, and they descended back into darkness. From that moment to the next, everything changed. The battle fire outside hit the ground with a boom, so close by that the blast flung the cart they were trapped in the air. It flipped end over end as Sara slammed into the sides until it finally came to a rest on its side.
With a groan, Sara tried to stand. Her ankle almost failed her. She soldiered through the pain and stood anyway. Nissa moaned to her right. Sara conjured an orb in her aching hand. Nissa was still in chains when she looked, but she was also hanging at such an awkward angle that Sara feared her arms were broken.
The battlefield outside was silent. But only for a moment. Sara knew that once they started shelling the enemy with battle fire they wouldn’t stop until all their foes lay dead on the ground.
Making a decision, she turned.
Then she heard Nissa call out with desperation in her voice. “You can’t leave me!”
“Watch me.”
“Do you really think the fact that I’m here is a coincidence?” Nissa said.
“The Kades want me dead. That is the only reason this attack has begun. Otherwise this arsenal would be far too much overkill for one, small regiment,” Nissa stressed.
Sara halted. “Begun?”
Nissa said, “This is only a small hint of what is to come. If my Kade compatriots bring their full force to bear, this land will stand blighted for decades to come.”
Sara turned to her. She knew what Nissa said was true. It was even more daunting to think that this
was just a taste of what was to come. Even though this magical onslaught was minor for the Kade mages, to employ it on such a concentrated spot still took skill and power. The fact that they were only targeting a mere five hundred troops was overkill. They could easily have fought hand-to-hand combat against the Corcoran guard and won if they wanted to defeat them. Instead they had pulled out all the stops and sent a magical onslaught.
Sara turned with one question on her lips. “Why?”
Nissa straightened her head into what had to be a painful angle as her body hung limply to the side. “Because I know how to defeat them. And your captain was ordered to escort me here for that sole reason.”
Sara hesitated.
Nissa pleaded as another blast rocked the ground not far off. “I’m bound by the sorcerer’s shackles. I can’t use my gift. Do not leave me here. You and your entire kind will regret it if you do.”
Sara snarled, then cursed and moved forward. Toward Nissa.
She had time to wonder what the woman meant by her kind, but not enough time to ask as the sound of battle fire balls streaking through the air grew greater.
“Where are the keys?”
“On my jailer,” Nissa said breathlessly. “At the front of the cart.”
Sara cursed. “That won’t do. He’s probably dead or on fire a few dozen feet away from us by now. Could be in either direction, too.”
“Well, battle mage, I suppose you need to use that ball of fire and get to work, then,” said Nissa drolly.
Sara gave her a sharp look as she came to stand in front of her. She saw no other choice.
“Yes, I know what you are. I said my magic was bound, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still sense another mage when I see one. Even if I wasn’t blind to the ball of battle fire in your hands. Nice work, by the way.”
Sara didn’t respond to the praise. Although she was right. Very few battle mages could hold a combustible ball of fire in their hands for any length of time. Battle fire tended to go wonky if you did that.
“To be clear,” Sara announced, “I will only remove the chains that bind you to this cart. The bands that lay close to your skin and bind your magic will stay. For eternity, if I had anything to say about it.”
“Understood.”
Sara nodded.
“Scream if you want,” Sara muttered as the sun mage looked directly into her eyes with a twist of her lips.
“I plan to.”
With that Sara set to work as suggested. She pushed up the heat of the flame in her hand to a level so intense that she immediately started sweating and held it right on top of the chains shackling Nissa’s wrist to the wall.
Nissa was a sun mage, gifted in using its fiery rays to her on demise. She differed from an ordinary fire mage in fascinating ways, but right now the only difference that mattered was that she wasn’t immune to the burn of fire.
The sun mage threw back her head and screamed as her wrists burned and her flesh bubbled under the teeth of the ball of battle fire on top of her wrist.
The links chaining her began to weaken as they grew red hot with the intensity of the fire.
“Almost there,” said Sara through gritted teeth as sweat poured down her face.
Nissa screamed again as Sara hurriedly grabbed the chain’s cold metal links farther down and yanked with all the strength of a battle mage. Nissa’s wrist shackle came free as the chain snapped and Sara jerked her hand holding the orb away.
The woman’s head came forward and her hair hid her face as sobs tore through the air.
Then she looked up with her teeth set in a gritted line and fierce expression on her face. “One more.”
Sara nodded and went to her other side.
Chapter 22
She freed Nissa with one final yank of the chain and quickly caught the tall woman before she could tumble to the floor. Lowering Nissa to stand on her own two feet, Sara watched carefully as the woman gathered herself together and stood on shaky legs.
“Can you run?” Sara demanded.
“Yes,” said a breathless Nissa leaning over her aching arms.
She said that just a tad too quickly, Sara thought.
Sara said sharply, “I didn’t ask if you could walk. Once we get out of this cart, we’ll need to run for the nearest shelter—a forest at least a few yards away. We’ll be dodging poisoned arrows and balls of battle fire the whole time. I also need to find my friend, so this isn’t going to be the straightest shot.”
Nissa looked up at her with a hint of fire in her eyes at Sara’s abrasive tone.
Sara said, “So I’ll ask again. Can you run?”
“I’ll pass you by, battle mage.”
“As long as you don’t get in my way,” Sara said.
She walked to the front while pushing Nissa ahead of her. She still didn’t trust her.
“How do you plan on finding your friend?” Nissa said as they faced the closed door.
“I don’t know,” said Sara. “I had hoped to locate a finder here inside what I thought was a weapons cart. Instead I found you.”
“Too bad,” said Nissa. She didn’t sound that dejected.
Sara rolled her eyes and doused the ball of flame in her hands. She wouldn’t need it outside. The company mage lights that had glowed all along their route at night would still be hovering over their dead owner’s bodies until the power instilled in them faded. Which could be years away.
“One more thing, sun mage,” Sara said in a dark tone.
She felt Nissa shift in front of her.
“You might want to stay close. Without your magic, you’re helpless, and there are probably nine people in all of Algardis that don’t want you dead. Seven of them being your friends amongst the other Kade mages, all of whom are miles away from here.”
Nissa laughed coldly. “And who might the other two be?”
Sara said simply, “The Empress of Algardis...and myself.”
With that she stepped around her, kicked open the door to the outside, took stock of their surroundings, and dived out of the overturned wagon. She sensed Nissa following close behind. Unlike the time she had lost Ezekiel, it felt like it would be virtually impossible to do the same with Nissa. Sara felt her every move as Nissa tracked her movements perfectly, stepping where she stepped, diving where she dived, and even dodging when she did. It was almost as if it was coordinated.
Despite her misgivings, Sara was impressed. She always had an appreciation for graceful footwork in a swordsman. She had no less of an appreciation for a woman able to dodge arrows and flying balls of fires with efficiency.
She knew the exact reason why she could feel Nissa’s every move, even if she couldn’t see her physically. It was because Nissa’s shackled powers resonated with Sara’s own. And that there was the primary reason she was starting to believe the woman’s story about being a sun mage. Battle mages could sense another’s gifts and intent, just like she had Cormar in what felt like a distant time but in reality was only a week ago. The more powerful the mage, the greater her ability to sync with them and assess their intent before it formed. As Sara followed closely behind, Sara sensed her presence behind her. It was like an ever present threat looming in her shadow. One she couldn’t get rid of because she had told the woman to stay with her. It was both disturbing and comforting at the same time. Disturbing because her battle mage powers instinctively saw Nissa as a threat sneaking up on Sara. She had the itch to turn around and draw her knife across the woman’s throat every time she leaped behind her. Sara had never been good with partners.
But she had been good with dependents. And like it or not, the sun mage was dependent on her to get her out of here alive. It felt good for a moment until Sara realized she was basically protecting a mass murderer. As they crouched in the shadow of a lumbering dead elephant, Sara took a breather.
“What now?” Nissa whispered.
“Keep an eye on everything going on behind me,” Sara said. “See if you can spot any balls of battle fire
coming our way. If they do, we’re going to have to move fast.”
Nissa nodded and put her back to her. Sara didn’t know if it was because Nissa was a sun mage or it was because her potential power was greater than her own, but she felt Nissa turn in her mind. She could tell the woman was staring outward without looking herself or listening to what her ears were telling her when she heard the shuffle of her feet. It was unsettling, to say the least.
Letting a slow breath out, Sara cleared thoughts of Nissa out of her mind and turned a practiced and calculating eye on the surrounding landscape. All around them it looked like a battle of great proportions had been fought here. Fought and lost. But she knew that only one side had come away with not a single person dead. Only one side had deployed its mage gifts and not one single living creature and yet still won the day.
Only one side has the Kade mages, Sara thought to herself bitterly.
The Kade mages were eight—now seven as far as the rest of the world was concerned as the sun mage was supposed to be dead—of the most gifted mages Algardis had ever seen. They had joined together over a year ago and declared war on the Empress of Algardis. No one knew why. But from that time until now, Algardis had been in civil war. Several principalities, independent of the empress’s rule but taxed enough for her coffers to have her leave them alone, had declared themselves for the Kade mages. Most of those principalities were located in the northeast corner of Algardis. Almost six hundred miles inland from the coastal city of Sandrin, and before this, wholly unnoticed by the empress herself.
After those principalities had declared themselves for the mages, the empress had taken the fight to them. So now the turbulent civil war, only eight months long so far, was fought in the flat pasturelands of the empire’s breadbasket. The empress had at first called up a minimal guard under Sara’s father’s leadership. They been roundly trounced and her father had sternly informed the empress that this was no laughing matter. She had taken his advice seriously. Now five military companies stood on the warfront, under the commander of one lord general, a council of mages and the leader of the mercenary factions—Captain Simon, whenever he relieved Captain Kansid of the Red Lion Guard, that is. All told, she had heard that over five thousand of the empress’s men and women fought and died on the battlefield. Not to mention the dozen mages of all stripes she had released from her service at the imperial court and pressed into uniform on the warfront.
