by Eric Vall
“I am not,” Aurora remarked with a smirk. Cayla and I looked at the half-elf in disbelief.
“You knew?” Cayla asked with a frown.
Aurora shrugged. “I knew you must be someone of nobility. The way you spoke and held yourself gave you away. Though I will admit, I had assumed you were simply a lord’s daughter, not the king’s.”
“Well, thanks for telling me,” I muttered a little petulantly at the blue-haired elf maiden.
“It was not my secret to tell,” Aurora replied simply.
I sighed as I rubbed at the back of my sore neck. “I guess you have a point. Let’s not keep secrets from each other anymore, alright? I think I’ve had enough surprises over the last few weeks. Like this damn basilisk for one.”
I looked back to the corpse several feet away. “I’ve been working in that mine for days now. To think that it was down there that whole time…” I trailed off and shivered.
“I do not believe it was,” Cayla remarked.
“What do you mean?” I asked with a tilt of my head. “We couldn’t see it directly, but I’m almost positive it came out of the cave’s entrance.”
“Well, yes,” Cayla conceded, “perhaps it was in the cave today, but I do not think that it lived there.”
“Why do you say that?” Abrus questioned, and I turned to look at the Lux Mage to find him wearing his patented unreadable expression.
“Because, from what I have read and heard, basilisk do live in caves, but only typically around the coast,” Cayla explained. “They make their homes in the seaside cliffs.”
“Illaria’s western border meets the sea in many places,” Abrus rationalized flippantly.
“Yes, but that border is the farthest from here,” Cayla pointed out, as she looked back to the carcass. “The chimera that ravaged Cedis was also a long way from its territory.”
“Here in Illaria, too,” Aurora remarked with a frown, “all the beasts I have encountered should not have been where I found them.”
“There has to be something that we are missing,” Cayla mused as she pursed her lips. “Some larger picture that we cannot see.”
“Perhaps the body will have some answers,” Abrus observed as he leaned on his staff. I hadn’t noticed before, but sweat beaded on the elder mage’s brow and bald head, and I wondered when the last time he’d actually seen true combat was.
“Yes,” Cayla nodded. “Let us inspect it for clues.”
The long-legged woman then stepped forward and crouched beside the basilisk’s body. I walked over to join her even though my stomach roiled at the grotesque carnage of brains and blood that still sizzled against the grass about the beast’s head.
“Be careful,” I cautioned as Cayla leaned forward. “Apparently all its bodily fluids are lethal.”
“I know,” the raven-haired beauty replied as she reached down along her thigh and pulled a thin but wicked-looking knife out of the top of her boot.
Godsdamn, that was sexy as hell.
“I might be a princess,” Cayla said with a smirk, “but my father was of the mind that I should be well-rounded. I had tutors on topics ranging from politics and etiquette to dangerous beasts and self-defense.”
I held up my hands in surrender. “My apologies. I’ll make sure not to doubt you anymore.”
“Good,” Cayla responded with a satisfied nod. “Now, let us see what this scaly bastard can tell us.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the vulgar word. It sounded so foreign in her mouth.
“I’ll follow your lead,” I said with a grin.
Cayla smiled and then we both turned back to the basilisk. As I had observed before, most of its head was gone, blown off by my rifle. Its lower jaw was obliterated, barely more than a red and gory stump. The upper jaw was partially intact though, and yellow fangs as long as my forearm were still attached to its black gums. I remembered what Aurora said about its venom and steered clear of those.
“You have incredible accuracy and precision,” Cayla observed as she prodded at the basilisk’s skull. “I believe I count seven holes from the rifle. You struck true each time.”
“Yeah, well, I was incredibly motivated,” I chuckled.
“Hmmmm,” Cayla suddenly hummed as she inspected what was left of the back of the beast’s head.
“What?” I asked as I leaned over to see. “What is it?”
“I-I can’t be sure,” the black-haired woman replied with a frown. “There is some blood in the way. Do you have a canteen on you?”
“I do,” Aurora responded as she walked over to join us. She squatted beside me and then extended her hand out with the container of water.
“Thank you,” I said with a grateful smile, and then I scooted closer to Cayla. “Where do you need this?”
“Here.” Cayla indicated a spot right behind the hinge of the basilisk’s jaw. The scales there were slathered in bright green blood, but I thought I saw something underneath. I leaned forward and upended the canteen over the area.
The water steamed as it struck the blood, but there was enough of it to wash away the thickest parts of the green goo. Cayla and I leaned closer and squinted.
“What the hell?” I asked incredulously.
A mark was branded into the basilisk’s thick hide. The red lines were slightly distorted by blood and damage, but it looked similar to the mark on the back of my hand except this one kind of seemed like tree roots.
Something tugged at me. Had I seen this mark somewhere before?
I looked to Cayla to ask what she thought, but the raven-haired maiden was frowning severely. Her ice-blue eyes were also deeply troubled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked in concern.
“T-this mark,” she said hesitantly, “I-I’ve seen it before.”
“Where?” I questioned as I furrowed my brow. “In a book a tutor read you?”
“No,” Cayla replied with a shake of her head. “Branded into the forehead of that farmer who massacred his fellow villagers with a hatchet. It was thought that he had done it to himself, caught up in his own madness, but to see it here…”
“But what is it?” I frowned as I looked back at the mark.
That feeling tugged at me again, the feeling that I had seen this somewhere before, too, but where?
“It’s elvish,” Aurora said quietly, and I turned to look at her in shock.
“Elvish?” I repeated. “Are you sure?”
Aurora gave me a deadpan look, and I cringed.
“Right,” I said, “sorry.”
“What does it say?” Cayla asked intensely.
The half-elf shook her head. “That I do not know. It is an ancient dialect. Those runes have not been used for centuries. I only recognize them because I tried to learn elvish as a child, and there was a historical section on the evolution of runic writing.”
“But why would these beasts and that man have these runes branded onto them?” I questioned. “What purpose could they serve?”
“It is elven magic,” Abrus suddenly intoned. I looked up to find the Lux Mage hovering over us with a fierce and angry expression on his face.
“What?” I asked in confusion.
“As I’m sure Defender Solana has informed you,” Abrus explained with a poignant look at Aurora, who ducked her head, “elves, like mages, also have magical abilities. However, unlike their human counterparts, the magic of elves is rooted in their blood and in runes. This means that they can control more than a single element. With the right runes and enough strength, they can do anything. They can raise the dead and topple kingdoms.”
“The Nalnorans are a peaceful race,” Aurora suddenly argued as she frowned at Abrus defiantly. “They are our allies.”
“Apparently not,” the Lux Mage sniffed as he looked down his nose at the half-elf. He then turned to King Temin, who had stood by and listened to us silently as his expression had slowly darkened. “Sire, I tried to warn you about the Nalnorans’ false intentions. They mean to weaken Illaria. Th
ey’ve already hobbled Cedis. This is an act of war. We must retaliate.”
“We are not even sure it is the Nalnoran elves,” Cayla argued as she came to her feet. “Someone else could be orchestrating this.”
She was right.
Someone else really could be orchestrating this.
Someone else…
A memory struck me like a bolt of lightning.
It was Abrus and me back in Ogder’s workshop that first day I tested my metal mage abilities. As we worked, a strange crimson amulet had slipped from the Lux Mage’s robes. I remembered asking him what the strange design on the gem was for.
I sucked in air so fast it burned, but no one seemed to notice, and the conversation continued.
Abrus went ramrod straight and turned to the princess with a sneer. “With all due respect, Lady Balmier, the affairs of Illaria do not concern you. I advise that you return to your own kingdom, or rather what is still left of it.”
Cayla went red in the face and opened her mouth to retort, but I was no longer looking at her.
I was looking at Abrus.
I slowly came to my feet beside Cayla and put myself an inch in front of her.
“I think what Cayla said has some merit,” I remarked casually. “I think someone else is orchestrating these attacks. I also think that I’ve seen this mark before. In fact, I know I have.”
“What do you mean?” he scoffed.
“The amulet you wear,” I growled. “Pull it out so we can see it.”
“Amulet? What are you talking about?” He raised a gray eyebrow.
“In the workshop,” I continued as I took a step toward him. “You wore an egg-sized ruby amulet with a mark that looked exactly like what is branded onto this monster.”
“Abrus, is this true?” the king said, and the Lux Mage’s eyes bounced between the two of us.
“Of course not, Your Majesty,” Abrus sneered and flicked his two-toned eyes to mine. “I don’t know why he--”
“Show us the damn amulet,” I snarled.
“Mason--” Aurora gasped.
“Fucking pull out the amulet, you lying asshole!” I shouted as I gathered my power to me.
We stared at each other silently for a moment, like a standoff at high noon, and the air filled with tension heavier than the monster I had just killed.
Then Abrus’ two-toned eyes suddenly glowed with red light.
But I was ready.
I dragged my depleted magic to the surface and threw everything I had at the Lux Mage. I knew how formidable he was. I needed to beat him as quickly as possible.
Before anyone could even blink, a spike of rock shot out of the ground directly where Abrus had been standing. The elder mage had anticipated my move though, and he jumped backward out of the way, but I had expected that too. As he dodged, he stepped right into a coffin of stone I summoned out of the earth behind him, and with another blast of magic, I encased him in a cocoon of rock.
“Mason, what are you doing?” Aurora gasped in horror. She darted forward and grabbed my arm. “Stop!”
Before she could say anything else, the zap of building magic filled the air an instant before the stone cocoon exploded in a blast of blinding white light.
The force knocked all of us off our feet. Temin and the guards flew off to the side, but Aurora, Cayla, and I were blasted back into the workshop wall. The air was forcibly ejected from my lungs as I smashed into the rock, and I wheezed as I collapsed onto the ground, half in the workshop’s doorway. I dazedly glanced to my side and saw that Aurora had been knocked unconscious, and Cayla could barely lift her head as blood gushed from a cut on her brow.
“You couldn’t simply leave well enough alone, could you, Mason Flynt?” Abrus snarled as he advanced toward us. A thin line of blood snaked down the side of his face from below his white eye.
I summoned my power again, but the blow to my head had dazed me, made it hard to concentrate. All I managed to do was sink the Lux Mage in quicksand up to the ankle before he used his staff to shoot a bolt of white light at me. It hit me in the chest with the force of a battering ram.
“Hhng,” I grunted in pain as the light didn’t relent. It was like a ten-ton weight on my chest, and gods did it fucking burn. I was pinned with one hand crushed beneath my hip and the other outstretched over the workshop’s threshold. I could barely lift up my head to watch Abrus kick his way out of the sand and approach.
Think, Mason, think. There had to be something I could do.
A Hail Mary of a plan came to me, but it was my only option.
“My plan was perfect,” the Lux Mage spat as he came to loom over me. Utter rage and hatred twisted his already gaunt features as the hem of his robe brushed the soles of my splayed feet. “If you had not come along, Temin would have been none the wiser. He would have listened to every word of advice I gave him. He would have gone to war with those savages, the Nalnorans, with barely a qualm.”
“Gods, if you’re… really gonna… monologue,” I strained to rasp, “could you do… me a favor and just… kill me first?”
Abrus gnashed his teeth and the pressure on my chest increased, but he took the bait.
“Impertinent cur,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “I would have seen you hung or run out of Illaria already if it weren’t for that mark on your hand. Now, tell me the truth. How did you come about it? How did you obtain these powers over metal? And spare me that drivel about the gods.”
“How did you obtain yours?” I spat as I tried to keep him talking. My chest felt like it was on fire and black spots were rapidly encroaching on my vision, but I had enough strength left to send out one last tendril of magic into the workshop as I threw my Hail Mary.
“Your stubbornness will not help you,” the Lux Mage tsked, and then the pressure of the light on my chest increased again. A scream bubbled up my throat, but I locked my jaw to keep it in. “You either tell me how you became a metal mage or my master and I will pick apart your body and discover your secrets that way.”
“Who’s… your master?” I gasped. I could feel my magic do my bidding but it was so slow, and my vision was darkening along the edges. “I thought your mission… was to protect… Illaria.”
“And why should I protect these filthy, weak peasants?” Abrus sneered. “Why must mages serve at all, when we should rule? That ancient mage who made a pact with Illaria’s first king was a fool! He should have seized the throne for himself.”
“It was… for the good of the… people, both… magical and non-magical,” I hissed as I dumped every last shred of energy I had left into the tendril of magic I sent into the workshop.
This was it.
If my plan didn’t work in the next ten seconds, I was going to pass out or die, and this prick was going to win.
I couldn’t have that.
“You are as blind, stupid, and naïve as that ancient mage,” Abrus said as he shook his head in disgust. “We have all the power, Mage Flynt, and yet here you are, wanting to give it all away, give these weak, pathetic ingrates a gods’ weapon, make them our equals! It’s abhorrent. I should have killed you before you left for Edhil, before the king even knew of you.”
“Yeah,” I rasped as my hand scrabbled on the workshop floor, and something bumped against my fingers. “You should have.”
Before Abrus could say another word, I used my last ounce of strength to kick out against his leg. His ankle gave with a snap, and he screamed. As the Lux Mage buckled, the light keeping me pinned to the ground wavered, and the pressure lessened. That was all the chance I needed.
While Abrus fell to his knees, I hauled myself upright and brought the revolver I had summoned from the corner of the shop with me. Abrus’ two-toned eyes went wide with fear an instant before I thumbed back the hammer, squeezed the trigger, and put a bullet right between them.
Blood spattered against my cheek, and then the Lux Mage pitched backward and crumpled into the dirt.
I sat there panting, propped up agains
t the workshop threshold. The air sawed in and out of my lungs and my heart pounded like a drum in my ears. Slowly but surely, my vision began to clear of those flashing dots and colors.
I looked down in contempt at the dead mage before me. Scarlet blood seeped from the back of his head into the dirt and formed an expanding halo. His face was still frozen in shock.
“I always knew there was something off about you,” I rasped at Abrus’ corpse. I spat blood and saliva onto his now less-than-pristine white robe. “Bastard.”
“I thought he was disconcerting as well,” Cayla said, and I whirled around to see the princess slowly push herself upright. She winced as she touched the gash on her brow, but when she looked at me, a weak smile flickered over her mouth. “I merely thought perhaps he had a secret perversion.”
I couldn’t stop the dry laugh that barked out of my throat even though it burned and set off a bout of coughing. When I caught my breath, I glanced back at Cayla through watery eyes.
“Are you alright?” I asked hoarsely.
“Mostly,” the princess replied as she palmed her forehead. Blood dripped slowly through her fingers. “You?”
“Never better,” I said with a smile. It probably came out more like a grimace.
Movement beyond Cayla caught my eye, and a moment later, Aurora bolted upright, her green eyes wide with terror. There was a bruise high on her cheek, and her lip was split, probably from when Abrus exploded my rock coffin and sent debris flying everywhere. The half-elf looked otherwise fine as she glanced from Cayla to me, and then her eyes went to Abrus’ corpse at my feet.
“W-what… what happened?” she asked in horror as her voice cracked. I saw the moment she noticed the bullet hole in the mage’s forehead, and then her eyes jumped back to me. Hurt, confusion, anger, and betrayal warred in their emerald depths. “Mason… what have you done?”
I opened my mouth to explain to the blue-haired maiden that I had just cause to kill her mentor, but King Temin beat me to it.
“He saved Illaria. That is what he has done,” the king declared as he and his guards approached us. I hadn’t seen where they had landed, but they looked relatively fine. The guards had some dings in their armor and Temin’s clothes were dirty and torn, but no one was bleeding.
