The Mage's Grave: Mages of Martir Book #1

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Panting, the sweat running down the side of his head making him feel hotter than he was, Darek tried to figure out the best spell he could use that would damage his hands the least. Pagomancy was his specialty, but it was pretty clear that if he used it more often, he would end up freezing his hands. Therefore, he needed something else.

  Unfortunately, he had little time to think about what else he could do, because the chimera teleported again. His senses went into overdrive as he searched for the chimera, but then he realized that it was using the same strategy as before.

  Therefore, he whirled around just in time to see the chimera reappear behind him. Without even thinking, Darek slammed both of his fists into the chimera's thick, barrel-like chest. The blow itself did little against the chimera's body, as Darek was not much of a bodybuilder and the chimera's body was like a boulder.

  Instead, Darek channeled as much magic as he could through his hands into the chimera's body. He knew he probably shouldn't have, but he focused on his pagomancy, sending cold waves of ice through the chimera's body. He didn't even think about it, just kept channeling more and more ice cold energy as fast as he could.

  The chimera must have been shocked that Darek had predicted its strategy because it stood there for a moment as the ice spread across its whole form. When it finally seemed to realize what was happening, it let out a roar of anger, but that roar was soon cut off when the ice formed around its head, completely cutting off its air supply.

  Yet even after the ice consumed its head, Darek made it thicker and thicker, remembering how easily it had broken out of the ice block he had encased it in a few minutes ago. This in spite of the fact that his hands were now screaming with pain from the sheer coldness of the ice. He knew he should stop soon, but he was so determined to make sure the monster was actually dead that he didn't let up for at least another thirty seconds.

  By the time he was certain that the chimera was no longer a threat, the ice was so thick that the chimera itself was barely visible underneath it. Removing his hands from its chest, Darek took a step back, panting, feeling his magical energy levels at perhaps half their normal levels, if even that.

  Then he looked down at his hands and wished he hadn't. His hands were a solid blue, almost as blue as the ocean itself. He couldn't even feel them, although he had no idea if the damage was permanent or if it was temporary. Nor could he move his fingers, which looked more like frozen sausages now than the digits of a human hand.

  The air where the barrier had formed shimmered, and the next moment, it was gone. Darek realized that the chimera must have been consciously maintaining the barrier, which meant that if the barrier was gone, then the chimera was well and truly dead.

  Yet Darek didn't shout in joy or celebrate his victory. Using up so much power so quickly, in addition to his frozen hands, had worn him out and he could barely stand upright, much less jump for joy at his victory.

  He closed his eyes as he fell backwards, his mind fading into unconsciousness well before he hit the grass.

  Chapter Six

  More dust fell from the ceiling, although Durima noticed that the tremors seemed to be getting rarer and rarer. Either the mages were having success in stopping whatever was causing the tremors or the tremors had been a prelude for something worse.

  Either way, Durima thought as she rested her chin in her oversized hands, Gujak and I are still stuck down here. Stuck like rats in a box.

  When the Magical Superior, Yorak, and Junaz left, Durima had made another fresh attempt to break out. She had tried to bash in the bars with a fist made of rock she had summoned from the ground, but the bars must have been crafted by Grinf, the God of Metal, himself, because they withstood the blow quite easily. And like before, they had bent themselves back into shape. Durima wished she knew what kind of magic the mages used to make such sturdy bars because she believed that the gods should ban its use by the mortals.

  That was why Durima had resorted to sitting in her cell, thinking about other escape methods she hadn't tried yet. Gujak had been strangely quiet the entire time, probably because he was convinced that this whole mission was a lost cause. Perhaps he was too busy thinking about what Master would do to them if he found out that they had failed their mission.

  He's not going to be happy, Durima decided. Maybe we're actually safer in these cells than we would be outside, where Master can get us.

  It was an absurd thought, but it had some merit to it, which made their imprisonment seem a little less grim. Still, it was almost impossible not to think about the ways in which Master would punish them for their failure once they escaped, although she did her best to avoid thinking about them anyway.

  That was when Durima heard something slithering through the darkness. It sounded huge, much larger than the average snake, and for a moment Durima was worried that the mortal mages had a pet snake that would eat them.

  Then she felt that presence. The temperature in the catacombs dropped like a rock. She shivered and heard Gujak do the same. The presence grew larger and larger the closer the slithering sound became. And she knew exactly who was slithering around nearby and that it was no pet of the mages, although it was definitely someone's pet.

  It could only be one creature: Uron, the large teleporter snake that was the pet and servant of Master.

  That thought should, perhaps, have made her happy, instead of terrified. After all, Uron was on their side. Although the snake had only been working for Master for two months, it had already proven itself a good ally, although not so much a good friend. No doubt Uron would save them from their cells. Still, the snake had always made Durima uneasy and she didn't look forward to seeing it again, no matter what it was here to do.

  If Uron was indeed present—and he was, there was no mistaking that powerful, overwhelming presence that reminded Durima of the gods themselves—then he was probably here to save her and Gujak. Which meant that Master already knew about their failure, which most likely meant that Master was going to punish them dearly when they returned to his domain.

  Actually, as Durima listened to Uron's slithering, she was surprised that Uron had come at all. The snake rarely left Master's side. Most of the time, Uron stayed curled up next to Master, like a grotesque dog. Why Master seemed so attached to the snake, and for that matter, where Uron had even come from in the first place, Durima didn't know. She just knew that Uron showed up one day about two months ago and Master had never bothered to explain where he had come from or why he was now Master's pet.

  That's because Master would probably not be very happy if we asked, Durima thought. She distinctly remembered Master, on the first day he had Uron, making it clear that asking about Uron was off-limits, but again, he had not explained why, and probably never would.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the cell door's lock snapping. She heard the door swing open in the darkness and then heard Uron's huge body enter into her cell. With him came that oddly powerful presence, a presence which felt like a dozen gods put together.

  That was another thing she didn't understand about the snake. The most that Master had offered by way of explanation about Uron was that the snake was an unusually large teleporter snake, but he had not explained why Uron's presence was so overwhelming. Animals, even magical animals, rarely gave off as powerful a presence as this.

  As Uron slithered around her, hissing, Durima had at one point speculated that Uron was actually a god in disguise. But something about that theory seemed unlikely to her, probably because, while the gods were known to sometimes trick each other for revenge against some slight committed against them in the past, this seemed too elaborate for a god to try to pull off. Besides, with the banishment of Hollech, the God of Deception, Thieves, and Horses, thirty years ago, she couldn't think of any other god who would go to such great lengths to trick Master like this.

  She heard Uron stop. Based on what her senses told her, the snake was right in front of her, staring at her. Most likely it was waiti
ng for her to respond, to say something. It was probably magically-linked with Master, now that she thought about it, which would allow the Ghostly God to see and hear whatever Uron saw and heard.

  So Durima said, “Thank you for rescuing me, Uron. Have you let Gujak out of his cell yet?”

  It let out a low hissing sound that might have been a confirmation or a denial. It was hard to tell with snakes, but especially Uron, who due to its purplish-black skin was practically invisible in the darkness. Considering Gujak was not jumping around shouting in joy, she had to assume that he hadn't been freed yet.

  “I suppose I should get up and go, then,” said Durima as she stood up as much as she could in her tiny cell, “before the mages stop whatever it is that distracted them in the first place and come back to interrogate us.”

  Uron did not answer, mostly because it couldn't speak at all. She heard it slither out of her cell immediately and a second later, heard the sound of the lock on Gujak's door being snapped apart. After that, she heard the sound of Gujak's door opening and heard Gujak himself shriek in terror, as if he had been sleeping the entire time.

  That explains why he didn't say anything when I was talking to Uron, Durima thought, shaking her head. What an idiot.

  “Durima?” came Gujak's slightly trembling voice. “Did you know that Uron is here?”

  “Yes,” said Durima as she stepped out of her cell and stretched her limbs. “He broke me out of my cell first, actually, so I knew about him before you did.”

  “Oh,” said Gujak. “Did Uron give you a message from Master? Because he gave me a folded up paper before he left.”

  Durima frowned. “A paper? And he left? I didn't even hear him go.”

  “I know, but he's definitely gone,” said Gujak. “I don't know where he went, but I'm guessing he returned to Master. Maybe he only had two things to do and he did them.”

  “I just don't know about that snake sometimes,” said Durima, shaking her head. “Anyway, what does that paper say?”

  “I don't know,” said Gujak. “It's too dark. Let me shine some light on it.”

  A moment later, a pale blue light began shining from inside Gujak's cell. The light was not very strong or bright; however, it was more than enough for Durima to notice that Uron was indeed missing. She did not know if that was a good thing, but she supposed Uron probably had orders from Master to return to him once it had freed them.

  Would have been nice for Uron to stay and actually help us, Durima thought, frowning. But then again, he is Master's special pet and special pets can't be allowed to get themselves hurt doing Master's dirty work, now can they?

  She walked over to Gujak's cage and saw that he was already reading the note. It was a small piece of paper, barely bigger than Gujak's hands. He was reading it by the light glowing from one of his hands, but he didn't seem at all happy about it. His eyes grew wider and wider the more he read, until he was practically trembling in fear, so much so that Durima wondered if he was actually still reading the note itself or if his fear had temporarily shut down his ability to read.

  “What does the letter say?” said Durima. “And be quick about it. I don't feel the tremors anymore, which means that the mages have probably dealt with whatever was causing them. Which means it won't be long before they send someone to check up on us.”

  Gujak looked up at Durima and held out the note to her. “Read it. Now.”

  “Read it?” said Durima. “I don't have time to read a note, even one from Master. Weren't you just listening? You can just tell me what it says.”

  “You need to read it yourself,” said Gujak. “I don't want to repeat it aloud. Never know what kind of tricks those mages have that might enable them to listen to us.”

  Durima let out a drawn-out sigh before cutting it short and grabbing the note. She held the paper under Gujak's light and squinted.

  Written in an elegant, easy-to-read script that Durima recognized as Master's handwriting, the note, which was only a paragraph long, read thus:

  Do not think that Uron's rescue of you is an indicator that I have forgiven you. When you return from your mission, even if it's successful, I will punish you dearly for your failure. Now burn this note to prevent it from falling into the hands of our enemies.

  There was no signature, but there was no need. Durima closed her fist around the note and heated up her hand with some pyromancy she had learned a long time ago. When she felt the paper turn into ashes in her hand, she opened her fist and dropped the ashes onto the floor.

  “So he gave us a note only to threaten us with punishment if we fail?” said Durima. “That seems like something he could have told us when we got back.”

  “He's trying to motivate us,” said Gujak, who was trembling in fear. “He wants us to get the mission done now. We must have wasted a ton of time down here being captured.”

  “Then what are we standing around here waiting for?” said Durima, throwing up her hands. “I certainly don't want to waste even more time down here talking about how Master is angry at us for wasting time.”

  Durima turned and began walking down the catacombs in the direction that she had seen those three mages walk when they left earlier. Gujak followed, his hand still glowing and illuminating their path, but despite the fact that they were in a hurry, he still seemed to want to talk.

  “This must be a very serious mission if Master sent Uron and a note threatening us to complete it,” said Gujak. “I thought for sure he was going to demand that we abort the mission and return to his island, but I guess not.”

  “Why would he ever do that?” said Durima without looking over her shoulder at Gujak. “I can't even remember the last time he called me in from a mission that he wanted me to complete.”

  “I wonder what's so important about this Braim Kotogs mortal that he threatened to punish us dearly if we failed,” said Gujak.

  “No idea,” said Durima. “Don't really care. Don't have time to care.”

  -

  It took less time than Durima expected for her and Gujak to get out of the catacombs. She had thought that it would take them hours, but as it turned out, the path out of the catacombs was incredibly straight forward. There wasn't even a locked door to deal with at the end of the path. The catacombs simply opened onto the area behind some of the school's buildings, although as Durima was unfamiliar with North Academy's layout, she was unsure exactly where they were.

  Thankfully, North Academy's general layout was easy to navigate. She remembered that the graveyard was just to the north of the Arcanium, and due to the Arcanium's large size, the main building was easy to spot even from their current position.

  Yet despite seeing it, Durima and Gujak hesitated. They did not see any of the mages from the school; however, just because they couldn't see them didn't mean that they weren't around. If any of the mages saw Durima or Gujak walking around in broad daylight, that would undoubtedly end with Durima and Gujak back in the catacombs.

  So Durima and Gujak moved toward the Arcanium bent double over and doing their best to remain quiet. Thankfully, they did not run into any mages on their way to the graveyard, although they did come across a couple of students behind the Arcanium who were doing things to each other that Durima had heard humans did to each other but which she had never actually seen before. Thankfully, the two students were too enamored with each other to notice Durima or Gujak, and based on the noises they were making, they were unlikely to be much of a threat to their mission for quite a while.

  Besides that, the rest of the trip to the graveyard went smoothly, and in a few minutes, Durima and Gujak stood before the waist-high wall and gate that separated the graveyard from the rest of the school grounds. Dozens of large tombstones stood there, many of which were so old that the text carved into them had faded away completely, which made Durima wonder if she and Gujak would be able to identify Kotogs' grave at all.

  “We're here,” said Gujak, who was talking in a whisper, probably because he didn't want t
o draw unnecessary attention to themselves (despite the fact that they were alone). “Look at this. They have giant ice Walls and an automaton, plus a crazy mortal wearing a fox mask, to defend their school, but they only have a waist-high stone wall to protect the remains of their dead. They must not value their deceased very highly.”

  Durima stroked her chin. She did not sense any magical traps; in fact, in comparison to the other high magical levels that seemed to permeate the entire school, the graveyard felt quite ordinary. It was almost as if the mages had cut out a normal mortal graveyard from some town without any magic and plopped it right into their school without bothering to make it magical.

  But it didn't make any sense to Durima. Why would these mages, who were clearly obsessed with making their school as ridiculously difficult to get into as possible, leave their graveyard undefended?

  Gujak was reaching for the gate, which appeared to have nothing more than a simple metal lock to keep intruders out, but Durima did not have a good feeling about this graveyard at all. She grabbed his arm, causing Gujak to look at her in surprise.

  “What's up?” said Gujak. “I was going to open the gate. Do you want us to get seen and captured by the mages again? You remember Master's note.”

  “Precisely because I remember Master's note that I know that opening this gate now would be a very bad and very dumb idea,” said Durima. “Or has the potential to be. I don't sense any magical defenses protecting it, but that doesn't mean we're going to waltz in on an obvious trap.”

  “What if it's not a trap?” said Gujak. “Durima, you can be kind of paranoid sometimes, you know? Sometimes, things in life are just easy.”

  “Things in life are never easy,” said Durima. “Especially things in life created by mages from one of the most prestigious schools in the entire mortal world. Let me search the area with my geomancy before we so much as touch anything.”