Human Mage: Book Three of the Highmage's Plight

by D. H. Aire

  Terus frowned in thought, “Why, my dear wisp, I have to save my talent for my petition, but what harm in a little demonstration before I am on my way, eh? In return, you could direct me to the Guild Hall. I seem to have lost my sense of direction.”

  “IMPS HAVE BEEN PESTERING YOU... OH, VERY WELL. IT IS MY TASK AS A WISP TO GUIDE IN ANY CASE. GET ON WITH IT, THEN.”

  Revit stared as the wisp relaxed into a soft expectant mauve glow. Terus turned to him and said commandingly, “Rise, my servant!”

  The blond lad quickly obeyed, realizing the play was just beginning. With a flourish, Terus touched his hand to Revit’s shoulder, “Mages have long utilized staves, jewels, and swords to focus their power. Familiars are often used by hedge wizards and witches, but I have mastered a focus beyond any paltry imaginings!”

  Without uttering any spell, Terus’s hand began to glow. Revit closed his eyes and somehow knew that Terus did the same. “Let us weave light for our friend here.”

  Fire sparkled before the wisp, dancing madly. It was a simple trick they had used a time or two to convince an apprentice his spell had gone completely awry. It drew additional strength from the fooled apprentice’s partially cast spell, which grew as the apprentice struggled to complete it.

  The wisp was enraptured by the display, which to human eyes might be called a “flea circus.”

  A mote of smoke noted the dance and the boys before the wisp, “Hey, guys! I found them! They’re over here!” Revit and Terus instantly flung their eyes wide open to gape at the pointing imp. The wisp’s rosy glow faded as the dancing flames vanished. It turned and noted the descending horde of a dozen or more imps, “DRATS! I JUST CLEANED THIS PLACE OF THEIR ILK! AH, WELL, THAT WAS QUITE A SHOW, LADS, DO BE SO GOOD AS TO FOLLOW ME!”

  The wisp just ahead of them, Revit and Terus raced pursued by the small horde of smoke shrouded imps. There was a door before them now.

  “I do believe we’ve been recognized as belonging here, George,” Staff availed through George’s very own lips.

  :Oh, so kind of you to let me see and hear again. Accessing memory... Casber, what was he doing here?:

  “If here he even was?” commented Staff facing the door.

  He tried the handle. “The door appears to be locked.”

  :You could try giving it a push.:

  “A push?” Staff mused, then put his shoulder to it as George often appeared to do, when trying to shove his often unruly monster of a horse.

  :I do no such thing!: George shouted enrapport.

  Staff winced, then strained against the door a moment more before taking a step backward. “It is definitely locked.” He began examining the lintels. There was a quiet cough behind him. He turned. Raven stood in girl form, shaking her head. “Picking lock simpler.”

  Disconcerted, the man said, “I must admit to agreeing with George, child,” then, reaching into his belt for his strangely discolored blade, “you really ought to wear proper clothes.”

  She shook her head firmly at that as he bent to the lock, then prodded the discolored blade into the key hole. It began to smoke and the door took on an uncanny glow. He frowned at the scent of acrid smoke, “It would be helpful, if you just opened.”

  Raven frowned, noting an odd sound behind them. She turned, then shimmered into beast form. The wisp shot from the darkness behind them followed by the two desperately running boys she had seen before.

  A wave of smoke billowed after them. The stench of imps was clear in the air.

  There was a click from the lock as the man straightened with a satisfied expression on his face. He turned at the shout for help behind him.

  :Staff!:

  “Oh, my, I do believe this may best be handled by you.”

  :So authorize the shunt!: the human mind screamed.

  “Shunt!” Staff shouted. Man and Staff flared as one.

  The Hall doors burst wide as Master Stenh gestured, “I do believe our petitioner has arrived.”

  The chamber was instantly bathed in an uncanny burst of light, then a host of imps poured into the room. Elvin mages hurriedly rose from their seats and gaped.

  A pale beast roared through the entry, while a wisp shot straight across the room and into Archmage Regis’s arms.

  “Shh, there now, Little One,” he crooned, frowning in puzzlement.

  Abernathy actually grinned, “He certainly is one to make an entrance.”

  Senason shouted something across the unnatural din, which sounded vaguely like a spell. An imp instantly screeched to a halt and glared at the elf, even as it was whisked from the Hall back into the Enchantment’s depths.

  A cannier imp sought to hide behind the thrust wide doors, realizing that it was somehow free at long last. BAM. The beast kicked it squarely before it had quite reached its goal. With an agonized shriek it fell back into the waiting darkness.

  Aaprin pushed Master Hyram aside and gasped at the sight before him. “Revit and Terus!” he cried in horror, seeing the boys battling a small host of imps as they stumbled into the Hall freed as abruptly from the Enchantment as the imps that pursued them.

  Master Donnialt heard Aaprin’s cry, then found his gaze riveted upon the two lads. With a groan of dismay, he left the Academy booth and rushed down into the midst of the fray. Imps underfoot, he bespoke a slew of elvish words. Spells keyed, as chanting began from a half a hundred elfblooded throats even as Staff relinquished his control over George’s body.

  With a gasp, the man shivered and recovered himself enough to stand even straighter. Imps fled in pain and panic before him as the spell thrust them back into the Enchantment.

  George coughed, waiting for the imps to finish being cleared from the Hall. He stared, eyes wide, even as Raven moved toward the struggling boys, who frantically batted away at the imps that clung to the pale and trembling blond lad.

  Unthinkingly, Geoge rushed over to Revit and brushed the fiery little demons aside with but an enhanced thought.

  Staff blazed. The last of the Imps shrilled and fled away from their prey only to be caught in the spell chant, which spoke of home and security.

  For those that continued to resist the Spell of Returning, Raven bound toward them and kicked and batted them with hind legs and paws, casting back into the stygian depths of the gaping portal.

  Revit and Terus collapsed, exhausted, to the ground as the foreign mage knelt beside them. Moments later, Master Donnialt, concern marking his visage, was at their side as well. The Master glanced at the man opposite him strangely before saying, “you two will come with me.”

  Helping them to their feet, they slowly accompanied Donnialt, while George mumbled to himself, “No injuries recorded.”

  “What madness is this?” Grendel screamed as the last of the bedazzled and smoldering imps edged back into the Enchantment. Yet, hundreds of pairs of eyes seemed to gleam back out of the open portal, which made Aaprin shiver even as he realized his young friends were safe in Master Donnialt’s able hands.

  Hyram and Fitzgerald hardly breathed as they glanced at Abernathy seated beside the Imperial Archmage, who had quite simply seen enough and yelled, “Enough, Imps! Begone or Forever Lose Thy Sanctuary!”

  There was a great cry from within the Enchantment and the peering eyes vanished. Archmage Regis waved his free hand, his other still cradling the trembling wisp. The great doors immediately, resoundingly, swung shut.

  George took a deep breath before turning to face the pedestal upon which Master Stenh stood calmly watching the triumvirate of mages seated above and before them all. The wizened silver haired Archmage Regis frowned at him, while the gray haired Faeryn elder, Abernathy, beside him actually grinned back.

  Stenh heard the gasp that next passed through this Hall of elfblooded mages. He chose to smile warmly and bow his head respectfully.

  “By the Empress, he’s Human!” someone cried.

  Master Stenh swallowed uneasily, “Uh, did I forget to mention that?”

  Part Four:


  Petitioner’s Challenge

  1

  “Human,” echoed across the Hall.

  Revit and Terus glanced back as they ascended the steps beside Master Donnialt, then stared at each other. “Keep moving,” the master muttered in warning.

  Kolter of Hayden grimly pointed at the staff bearing human before them, “Get that thing out of here! Stenh, you have overstepped yourself!”

  The dean of the Academy shrugged nonchalantly. “The petition stands... Archmage Regis, in the Highmage’s stead, I present the— human mage, Je’orj du Bradilee.”

  The elderly elf frowned, “Human mage?”

  “He has passed the Enchantment, has he not?” proclaimed Abernathy at the archmage’s left. “Surely, that should settle that issue, at least.”

  Senason rose, gazing down at the man before him, “Perhaps the staff he bears is talisman enough to allow him access.”

  George chuckled as Raven growled at the handsome elf. “Perhaps I am something beyond your experience, as well.”

  “The staff is magical,” the enchantress Lady Mother Lorianne announced abruptly stepping down from her tier. Her elvin canted eyes were half closed in the fashion of Imperial Scryers, of which she was an acknowledged Master of the Art, as she intoned, “The staff has been touched by powers unimagined... The man, however, radiates destiny. Fate plays his enemies for fools.” Then as if from the greatest distance, her voice became that of another.

  Grendel’s eyes widened in shock. Archmage Regis paled. Elfbloods gasped while their Faeryn brethren whispered within Aaprin’s hearing the word, “Prophecy.”

  The timbre and lilt of Highmage Alrex’s voice carried across the Hall. “To this man does the very earth cry out for succor. The Great Enemy tests our strength and delights to find us wanting... Yet fear this one’s gifts, his teaching of things long forgotten to Man and the Empire that rose from their defeat.

  “Harken, the first of the Human Mages has returned to the world. Bane of Ancient Elfdom he is. Man boon, Dwarf friend, and Lord of a distant Land— recognize his right to be among you or chose the Dark as your Master.” Lorianne fell silent, her eyes filled with tears, as she stood directly before the human in their midst.

  :Fascinating,: Staff whispered in his mind as George bowed his head in respect.

  The elfblooded silver haired seeress shook ever so slightly as she looked deeply into Je’orj’s face, then gestured to the glowing staff in his hands. “I am honored to welcome you, both.”

  Sianhiel, the elf at Senason’s side, muttered, “Both?”

  Gazing warily at the staff, Senason softly replied, “We shall see.”

  Grinding his teeth, Grendel rose, “My dear Archmage, this is most irregular! Are we to depend upon the aegis of Faeryn and Seer’s tricks to judge this creature’s presence in the Guild’s very Hall!?”

  Annienn of Tane rose huffily, “I must concur with Grendel in this! A human has no rights here! No claim to be acknowledged!”

  Stenh smiled, “The Enchantment has acknowledged his gifts— hence his arrival.”

  “His most irregular arrival!” shouted Meltran, at Grendel’s right.

  Raven edged forward, tense, the rumbling in her throat most eerie. “Shh, calm down,” George vocalized.

  “How did that thing get in here with him, anyway?” a mage mused darkly.

  The beast shimmered, sprouted wings and burst aloft, to instantly settle on the rim of the booth where the voice had emanated from. “A shapechanger!” gasped the same voice as his compatriots in the booth edged back in surprise.

  Master Stenh chuckled, “You saw a beast before you— now a falc, a creature of purest power in our world.” He gestured at Je’orj, “Here stands a man...”

  Raising the staff high, George demanded, “By the laws of your Guild a foreign mage needs must be recognized. I ask no more of you than that right.”

  Abernathy turned to the disconcerted elvin Archmage, “Cousin, the Dean of the Academy stands for him. The Faeryn will as well... Grant him his due.”

  Regis’s aged face smoothed as he continued to stroke the glowing wisp. His mutter of, “So, what do you think?” to the wisp drew anxiously looks from every full-blooded elf in the Hall. Keenness of hearing had that ability at times.

  Regis glanced about the Hall. He had noted the presence of the human lad. The imps had failed in their task to prohibit entry— perhaps, the Human Mage had done something to the Enchantment that opened a possibility, where none had ever before existed.

  Then again, there were Lorianne’s words— in Alrex’s voice. He knew that was not the trick Grendel and others might wish. At least, not the trick they thought was being played. Highmage Alrex! What game are you playing!? If you have the strength to orchestrate such as this, why leave him to preside over this meeting? The Guild was simple enough for an Archmage to oversee, but the Highmage had, until his recent debility, always presided.

  What was the truth here?

  He met the gaze of the human and sensed a strength of purpose, a trace of power that no human had the right to possess. Magic ran in the blood of elves— not in humans!

  The wisp quivered, ‘That’s what I thought!’

  Regis grinned at the wisp. “You’ve had a terrible fright today, Little One... But haven’t we all.” Glancing up at the assembled, “Very well, Master Stenh, I acknowledge this one’s ‘right to petition,’ but nothing further.”

  Nodding respectfully, Stenh replied, “That is all I ask. It is for the Petitioner’s Challenge to prove his mastery in any case.”

  Staff glowed a little more brightly. :George, I don’t like the sound of that.:

  His human counterpart could not help but frown. Mages were beginning to smile mischievously all across the Hall. George’s heart felt as if it were sinking. ‘Alrex, what have you gotten me into?’

  Grendel actually smiled as he rose; his supporters throughout the Hall instantly expectant. “Do this right,” whispered the aged Kolter of Hayden in a low chant. His words filled only the younger mage’s ears. “They offer you their game. Now show them they are fools.”

  If possible, Grendel’s smile grew even broader—and malicious as he addressed himself to the Archmage, Regis.

  The human was a fool, Senason thought, realizing that this strange turn of events was threatening his dream of being the next Highmage. Grendel could win a great deal of future support with a bit of daring. He had to find a means of turning matters away from such advantage even as Grendel spoke the words Senason most feared.

  “Archmage, comrades, if this human is to be in any way acknowledged a ‘right’ to be within our hallowed halls, then let him be put to the test.” Grendel gazed down at the Human as if he were an unpleasant insect nibbling at his favorite fruit. The man had the grace to ignore Grendel completely, which truly angered the elfblood mage.

  That anger gave Senason the means he sought. Rising, he said, “Archmage, I must agree with our brother. The human most certainly must be tested— and it is to be the ‘Right of Challenge.’ That answer should be made by he who first voiced complaint as stated by the Guild Articles.”

  There was a gasp that echoed across the chamber. Senason was careful not to gloat as he humbly returned to his seat as both Grendel and the Archmage glared at him.

  In the faeryn booth, Aaprin muttered, “A challenge?”

  Fitzgerald groaned, “It’s been centuries since the last one.”

  “But Faeryn held his own and ended the charge of Heresy brought against him,” Hyram whispered, glancing at the startled, but pleased, look upon Abernathy’s sage face. “Master Faeryn seems almost delighted, don’t you think?”

  Fitzgerald grimaced, “Care you nothing for the human’s fate?”

  “Actually, it is Grendel’s fate, if I judge Lord Senason’s wit correctly,” Hyram replied, noting the look on the adolescent apprentice’s face. “Oh, Aaprin, I realize you must think us mad, but it appears you are here to witness an event that few will ever forget.
”

  “Do you intend Challenge, Mage Grendel?” intoned the Archmage and Senason carefully grinned, meeting Grendel’s hot gaze.

  “I do, Lord Mage,” he responded.

  “Oh, this is just lovely,” George muttered enrapport.

  :Well, it certainly could be no worse than walking the Enchantment’s gauntlet to get here,: Staff replied.

  Raven was the only one able to hear the quiet interchange, spreading her wings, feeling a tangible pressure. She could not leave her disconcerting perch. An elderly mage appeared beside her, “You will not be harmed— or permitted to interfere. Challenge has been called. Oh, do not look at me that way. The booths are screened. We are all as harmlessly constrained as you until the Archmage deigns to release the Challenge’s wards.”

  She squawked and settled her wings back. There was nothing else to be done. Se’and would have her head when she found Je’orj stood to face whatever vile plans that elfblood mage schemed.

  “Claimant and Challenger, enter your runes,” announced the Archmage.

  The pedestal upon which George stood descended through the floor of the Hall, then halted, allowing him to disembark. Two areas on the floor now glowed. :Rune wards,: Staff commented, probing for hidden meanings or dangers.

  George approached cautiously, pausing before striding across the rune’s outline. The mage, Grendel, hesitated not at all upon entering his rune below what George had come to consider his judges. He was surprised to note that Master Stenh had now taken a seat to the Archmage’s right. Stenh nodded to him confidently. “He must know something we don’t,” George muttered, then heard Raven squawk from her perch.

  :It appears she has been barred from interfering.:

  “You know, I have often wished for that ability myself— maybe there is something to this magic stuff, after all.”

  “Right of Challenge has been called. A Champion of the Hall has been appointed by the Articles of Wisdom,” the silver haired elf proclaimed. “By the Articles, hear now Claimant, who would be recognized by our Guild: three tests shall you face, death may come upon either of you as fate decides... Should you survive, none may gainsay your right and privilege among us or throughout the Empire. Human though you art, mage shall you be— should you survive unscathed, anything less will mark you as beneath our notice forever hence.”