by Dixon, TJ
“If they were easy foes we would leave it to the royal army. We were called here because they are not easy foes.” I say.
“I know that the Divine Flames have quite the reputation, but it is unusual to be sent against an enemy army with just four people.” Ragia says.
“The enemy probably only have a few elite people, so it makes sense to use a few elite people ourselves. It is not truly an enemy army. The Queen would deal with this herself of course, but we wouldn’t want the Fallen Angels to get involved personally, would we?”
“No.” Ragia says. “From your introduction I assume you are a wind mage. What about our fourth member?”
“Yu Kii is an earth mage. She is here purely to help us locate the enemy. It is our job to capture the enemy.”
“Capture? I was under the impression we were to kill them.” Ragia says not even trying to hide her disbelief at my words.
“If it comes down to it we may have to, but only if we have no choice. There is information we need from them.”
“I see… The Queen didn’t mention that. We need only capture one of them then.”
“We will capture as many as we are able to, but if we can only capture one, we will not have failed our mission. As long as they have the information we need that is…” I say. The truth is I just need someone who can read elven writing, but I would rather not kill anyone I don’t have to.
“I see… Please forgive me if this seems rude, but is it true that you’re still at the academy?”
“That is correct.” I answer.
“So, may I ask why you were chosen to lead such an important mission?”
“I already explained why the Queen cannot lead this personally.” I say and somehow keep a straight face. I hope she can’t read auras like I can.
“Yes, I understand that but… There must be many other mages who have already graduated.”
“How many of them can command the same power as the Queen?” I ask, and her mask completely drops, but like her aura her expression is pure shock.
“The same power as the Queen…” Ragia says. “You can’t be serious.”
“It is a different element, but in terms of raw power I am quite serious. Of course I have limitations the Queen doesn’t have. My power isn’t going to replenish whilst we are on this mission so I can’t afford to waste it.”
“Why isn’t it going to replenish?” Ragia asks frowning.
“You don’t need to know that.” I answer.
“You are certainly the mystery, but I will not shame my family name, and neither will my daughter.” Ragia declares.
“You are both ready?” I ask.
“Yes.” They both say.
“The Queen will port us. It takes a lot of power to do so and we do not wish to waste our power.” I say. “Everyone follow me.”
We enter the Queen’s throne room, and as we approach the throne we are announced by the herald. It is darker than last time and I almost have to squint to see. I kneel just before we reach the throne, and the others follow my example. The Queen places the mind magic chains around the necks of Ragia and Trinity.
“Do not remove these until you are in my presence again. Now, rise brave mages of Contractia.” Queen Emily says sounding far more royal than the last time we spoke. “Put your hand on mine.” We place our hands on her small hands and Trinity is clearly awed to be doing so. Ragia hides it well but from her aura she is also moved to be touching the Queen. Yu Kii and I both know the Queen so it is little different from any other port for me, and Yu Kii seems only slightly awed. I blink in the bright sun, which contrasts the darkness from a moment earlier. I can hear music in the back of my head. Like a song that has got stuck there.
“Can you hear music?” I ask.
“What are you talking about?” Ragia asks and both Trinity and Yu Kii shake their heads.
“Odd. It reminds me a little of… What was it? Never mind, I’m sure it’s not important.” I say mostly to myself. “There should only be us and the elves outside the city. Yu Kii, see whether you can sense anyone.” Yu Kii kneels and closes her eyes. She stays like that a while before shaking her head and opening her eyes.
“Nobody close enough to sense.” Yu Kii says.
“It was never going to be as easy as that.” Ragia says with a laugh.
“True, but we have to start somewhere.” I say. “If I understand correctly you also have reasonable flight magic Trinity. Is that correct?”
“Yes, but I’m much better at fire magic.”
“But not as good as Ragia?”
“Well no... Very few mages are as good as my mother at fire magic. Perhaps even none, other than the Queen of course.”
“Are you able to fly all of us?”
“Yes.”
“Please do so. We’ll need to try searching from lots of different areas. We don’t believe they can be that far from the city so keep us fairly close to the city.”
“Ok.” She says reluctantly. It seems odd being flown by someone else, and she must think it odd to be flying a wind mage. I can’t afford to waste my magic on something so trivial though. By nightfall we have circled the city and are no closer to finding the elves.
“We’ll sleep here.” I say.
“Are you insane?!” Ragia asks. “The elves will kill us in our sleep.”
“I hope they try, but I doubt they would be that easily tricked.” I say.
“Where’s the tent?” Trinity asks.
“We don’t have luxuries like that. We sleep on the earth under the stars. It is quite warm enough that it shouldn’t be a problem.” I say. Yu Kii nods and Ragia grimaces a moment before nodding. Trinity however is dismayed.
“You’ll get used to it!” Ragia snaps at her daughter. “Assuming we don’t get killed in our sleep.”
We each find a spot to sleep close together but not too close. I close my eyes and open my senses to their full. Yu Kii knows to focus on sleep until I wake her. My senses allow me to search a much wider area than normal thanks to the extra power, but it takes much longer to search such a large area. It is morning and I still have no idea where the elves are. The song in my head seems to be getting a little louder. I can almost make out words, but not quite.
I have Trinity fly us to the opposite side of the city. We literally fly over the city. She seems very unhappy, and I am sure she didn’t get much sleep but she will get used to it. I take a gulp from the blue bottle the Queen gave me. It makes me more alert, and forces the tiredness away. I consider giving Trinity some, but decide against it. Who knows how long this mission will take and unlike me Trinity can at least get some sleep during it.
“I can’t sense anything from here either.” Yu Kii says after trying for a while.
“We will wait here the rest of the day. Get some rest Trinity.” I say.
“On the ground again?” She asks. “Why couldn’t we find an inn or something in the city if we are just resting?”
“Shut up Trinity. Peter, what exactly are we waiting for?” Ragia asks coldly.
“You will know when it is time.” I say and lie down on the ground. I open my senses to their fullest.
“You’re just going to lie there when we have a mission?” Ragia asks furiously.
“Do not interrupt me.” I reply calmly, but there is an edge in my voice. I can tell she is still furious but I don’t let it distract me. It is night and I still haven’t found the enemy, but the song in my head is starting to annoy me now. I know I shouldn’t waste my power but I blow a quick breeze to try to clear my head. For a moment the song stops, but then it starts up again. I look up to the stars and they are different. Then I notice that the song seems louder as I look up. I look down and it quietens slightly. I look up again and it is louder again.
“Makes sense…” I say. “Is your power is at full, everyone?”
“Yes.” Everyone says.
“Have you found them?” Yu Kii asks me.
“No, but I have an idea. Trinity fly us to t
he city. We’ll drop off Yu Kii there, and then head straight up.”
“Straight up? I can only go so far up with flight magic.” Trinity says sounding worried.
“I’ll fly us once you get as high as you can.” I say.
“Oh, ok.” Trinity says. She gets us to the city where we drop Yu Kii off. It is the first time we have seen the people close up and they seem worn down. Exhausted and hungry, and lacking any sort of motivation. She then takes us up. “This is as far as I can get.” Trinity says. We aren’t very high, but the song is definitely louder now. I can make out the words but I don’t understand them
“Don’t worry.” I say and take over the flight magic. We soar up and the song gets louder, but then it gets quieter. I stop and focus on my senses. The song stops and I just dodge the first attack. Ice magic… Then the air is full of water drops and ice shards. Perhaps a water mage would have been handy after all.
I am grateful for Ragia’s quick retaliation. It misses but the enemy is forced to dodge and I have time to launch my own. The force of my wind slice instantly shatters the enemy’s ice attack and shield with a deafening roar, but they port behind us. Ragia’s second attack doesn’t miss but it is shielded by a second elf. My flight magic is taking up more power than expected so I can’t afford to let this drag on. Trinity attacks, but her aim is awful. I don’t think she can sense the enemy.
“Trinity, put up a port block on the whole area. Don’t waste your power on blind attacks.” I say before she can attack again.
“Ok.” She says sounding panicked. I dodge the enemy’s attack. Lightning this time, but followed by water and a second lightning attack. The water might not have harmed us but if we had been covered in water we would have been killed by the lightning. Ragia’s flames are again shielded, and this time my wind slice is dodged. They clearly realise just how powerful my attacks are so don’t try to shield or counter it.
I throw caution to the wind so to speak, and launch five wind slices at once and then four more, one after the other. I can really feel the drain but it works. A little too well. Unable to port or dodge an elf gets hit and is instantly killed. Panicking, the other one dives away from us. I am about to follow when I notice a third elf. They seem much weaker and are desperately trying to hide their presence.
“Keep up the block, and shield but don’t attack.” I say and soar straight up again, but only for an instant. I grab hold of them and as their presence is revealed and I am able to see them I realise they seem to be a child. I am not sure whether it is a boy or a girl.
“Don’t kill me!” They cry out and I recognise the voice.
“You’re the singer?” I ask in surprise.
“You heard it!” He exclaims in that melodic voice. I think he is male anyway.
“You’re a boy right?” I ask just to be sure.
“Of course!” He protests sounding embarrassed, but then his eyes widen. “Does that mean you’re going to kill me?”
“No. I’m a boy too aren’t I?”
“You are?” He asks in surprise. “I thought all Contractian mages were female.”
“Do I really look like a girl?” I ask with a laugh. I am still in my uniform. Shorts and no top…
“I don’t know what a human boy or girl looks like.” He says.
“I hate to interrupt, but this is no time for chatting.” Ragia says angrily.
“I suppose not.” I say and grab a small red bottle. “Drink this and I will spare your life.”
He looks at it fearfully but hand shaking he takes it and gulps it down all at once. I grab him with my own flight magic as his fails. Then I dive down quickly. I drop him off with Trinity where we left Yu Kii and then fly back up above the city with Ragia. After searching I realise he is gone. I sigh and say, “It seems the other one got away, but I think the dimensional block is lifted.”
“Perhaps if you had spent less time deciding whether he was a boy or a girl, we could have caught the other one too.” Ragia complains but then sighs. “You weren’t exaggerating. It would normally take an army to kill an elf, but you killed that elf with a single attack.”
“Nine.” I say.
“Only so he couldn’t dodge.”
“It was a man then?” I ask.
“I assume so, but man or woman, it was an enemy. You did well.”
“Thank you.” I say though I am not happy about having killed a person even if he was an enemy.
“Was the real reason you brought me so I could see just how powerful you were?”
“Your power also helped.” I say. “I did want to prove that I am worthy to work with your daughter though. Aventurine that is.”
“She isn’t going to be much use if you have that kind of power.” Ragia says frowning.
“Not yet, but with time she will be.”
“If I can’t compete with you it would be stupid to stop her working with you, but even though she is a noble, she has probably been expelled by now.”
“She hasn’t.” I say.
“The Queen’s doing?” Ragia asks cautiously.
“Perhaps.” I say not wanting to openly admit it. It could cause the Queen trouble, so I make up an excuse for her doing so. It is exaggerated but I say. “She has a lot of potential.”
“There’s no way that is the reason.” Ragia laughs.
“We may as well land now. I assume Aventurine will be back at the academy tomorrow.” I say lowering us slowly.
“Are you abandoning the last elf?”
“Most likely he or she is nowhere near here anymore. Perhaps not even in this world. If the gate is open we can resupply the city and the immediate danger will have passed. We also have the prisoner. So will Aventurine be at the academy tomorrow?”
“Yes, if we head back then I will send her back to the academy.”
“Is it true that you had her chained up?” I ask, hoping I am not pushing my luck too far.
“Only for the first night. If she had given up on you I was going to send her to a different academy. Since she didn’t, I decided she would have to give up magic instead. She never seemed to have much potential. I still doubt what you said about her potential, but it would be a pleasant surprise if it proved to be true.”
“Please head back with Trinity. They may need your help getting the gate working.” I say as we land.
“Very well.” Ragia says. “What about you?”
“We will return later.”
“And the prisoner?”
“He will return with us.” I say firmly.
“Very well.” Ragia says and ports away with Trinity. There seems to be a crowd growing around us. They seem a lot more motivated now, and they seem to be expressing their anger at us, and most of all at the elf. Understandable I guess, but it is making me very uncomfortable. The elf boy seems truly terrified.
“Yu Kii, create a wall and a roof around us. It just needs to give us a little privacy and protection. You’ll need to take it down when we leave.” I say.
“Okay.” Yu Kii says and instantly a clay wall rises around us and then extends itself into a roof as well. There are a couple of small air holes in the roof that also let in enough light to see by. The sun is strong. If we stayed here long I am sure it would become unbearably hot in here. I don’t plan to though.
“Can you read this?” I ask the elf boy and show him Claire’s contract.
“Not the top bit.” He says. The top bit is Contractian and was there the whole time. The bottom bit only appeared once David was dead. Rin thought it looked like elven writing but didn’t know enough to actually read it. It seems she was right.
“What does the rest say?” I ask and pay attention to his aura.
“It says the girl may be woken by the Song of the Third Prince.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Do you know this Song of the Third Prince?”
“I’ve never heard of a song called that.” He says.
“Have you ever heard of anyon
e called the Third Prince?” Yu Kii asks.
“Well, not called the Third Prince, but there are four elven princes.” The boy says. I think he is grasping at straws, perhaps afraid he’ll be killed if he doesn’t come up with something. He isn’t lying though, and I am grasping at straws too.
“Perhaps the third born prince?” Asks Yu Kii.
“Maybe… Do you know what the rest says?” He asks.
“Yes, but it doesn’t help.” I tell him.
“What are you going to do with me?” He asks trembling. I suspect he thinks he will be killed once he is of no more use.
“What was your involvement in the war?” I ask.
“I sang the song to block unnatural magic.” He says nervously.
“Unnatural magic? You mean dimensional magic?” I ask.
“I think that is what you call it.”
“The other elves used dimensional magic when they ported.”
“The Fallen Angels taught us that magic. It is still unnatural though.”
“Did you do anything else in the war?”
“No.” He says and again he is not lying.
“Why were you involved in the war?”
“Those were the orders of the Envoy. If the Envoy orders something you have no choice but to obey.”
“The Envoy?”
“He speaks for the Fallen Angels, and rules us for them. He has an elf body, but his mind and spirit are something else. If you are chosen to be the next Envoy it is a death sentence.”
“Are you willing to abandon the Fallen Angels?”
“I never wanted to be with them in the first place. I hate the Fallen Angels. I don’t want to harm my people though.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not asking that of you.” I assure him. “The deal I made with the Queen was that I could keep any prisoners as long as they sign a contract to be my slave. Will you sign the contract?”
“Yes. I don’t have much choice.” He says sounding depressed but more than a little relieved. His aura matches his voice. I take out the contract and hand it to him with a pen. He kneels on the floor and signs it. I can tell the contract is sealed. “I can’t read it, but I assume it is what you said.”
“It is.” I assure him. “I can’t read your writing, or any elven writing, so what is your name?”
