Kastori Tribulations (The Kastori Chronicles Book 3)

by Stephen Allan

  “Good day with the council?” he asked.

  “Typical of any day,” she said wearily. “In some ways, I suppose that’s a good thing. I need the distraction and routine.”

  “Did you ask?”

  “Ask… Oh.”

  She probably didn’t. Of course not. Why would she? Go against the great and mighty tradition of the council. No room for exceptions there! Not even for your only son!

  She slowly took a seat on the side of his bed, her face taut and tired. Typhos sat up, resting on his hands, and faced her with an intense gaze.

  “I did, believe it or not,” she said. “It went as I expected, Typhos. People are uneasy about it.”

  Hmm…

  “Uneasy, or blatantly against it?”

  Now his mother took the time to consider it, and a nervous smile followed.

  “Uneasy. Do I want to ask why?”

  For the first time all day, Typhos felt good interacting with his mother. It felt to him like playful banter and that they’d finally gotten on the same page.

  “If they are uneasy, it means they are leaning toward a certain way, but they are not committed to that way. They could be persuaded. Some might understand where we are coming from—”

  “Where you are coming from.”

  Typhos didn’t want to hear her interjection and continued as if he hadn’t at all.

  “—and could see what we want and change their minds. So, let me ask this. Can I talk to the individual council members and make my appeal to them?”

  His mother emitted a hearty laugh, one of the first such laughs that Typhos had heard from his mother since his father had died. It felt like a laugh unburdened by stress, and that alone made the question worth asking.

  “I have to say, son, I love your ambition and how you just don’t take no for an answer. You’re going to do amazing things someday—let’s just hope they are beneficial things for the Kastori and not selfish,” she said. “There’s no rule that says you can’t talk to the individual council members. So I suppose I can’t really say no. I will warn you, though, not everyone will be receptive. If you are going to make this work…”

  She hesitated for several seconds, ambivalent about whether or not to help Typhos. She eventually shrugged and proceeded.

  “Make sure you talk to people in the right order. This is the political side of the job, Typhos. Who knows? It might be good practice for you someday.”

  Someday, we won’t need politics. It’ll just be the strongest. Despite the disagreeable thought in his head, the boy jubilantly reached over and hugged his mother for giving him the sliver of possibility that he had so craved. Finally, I’ll get to see the council up close and personal.

  “One last thing,” she said as he pulled back. “No matter what you agree upon with councilors, the only way you get to shadow me is through an official vote. So even if four councilors agree to support you during private talks, if they change their mind and decide not to let you in… you have to accept that.”

  “I will,” Typhos said.

  But it’s not going to happen. They’re good people—they will live by their word. “Will you be one of the voters?”

  “If it is split, then technically, yes, I would.”

  She got up as Typhos asked his next question.

  “Which way would you vote?”

  At first, Aida didn’t answer, choosing to crouch by the soup. She grabbed an empty bowl and carried it outside. Typhos thought of chasing her down and asking her but held off against creating a scene. He waited with arms folded. Can’t hide from the question forever.

  “Well?” he asked the second her foot struck the ground inside the tent.

  “Well, what?”

  “In that spot, who would you vote for?”

  She wouldn’t possibly say no to me.

  “I don’t know,” Aida said, which felt like a cop-out lie of an answer. “I really don’t know. I would like you there, yes, but the council is serious business, Typhos. We can’t just ignore the traditions of it.”

  “Says who?”

  His mother looked at him with unexpected anger.

  “You will understand as you get older,” she said as she grabbed a roll of paper and began reading, walking toward her bed. Typhos knew better than to speak back at that point but swore that the only thing he would “understand as he got older” was that the most powerful and most influential would rise to the top.

  And the most powerful and influential is me.

  14

  The next morning, once more, Typhos woke to see his mother leaving the tent without so much as a goodbye. She really doesn’t want me around. I can see it now. He groaned loudly, enough to draw her back in, and she came over and knelt before her son.

  “Are you OK?” she asked, surprisingly sounding unrushed and genuinely concerned.

  “I just thought you would say goodbye,” Typhos answered honestly, more at ease by his mother’s tone.

  “I’m sorry,” she said as she placed her hand on his head. “I’m just used to going so quickly in the morning… I’m sorry Typhos. Old habits. I will do better.”

  She hugged him tightly.

  “I do have to go. We have fallen behind matters because of me, but know that I will come home by the time the sun sets. In the meantime, why don’t you practice the magic your father bestowed upon you? Hunt in the forest. Practice out in the ocean—that’s what our most powerful Kastori do. As his only son, you undoubtedly have some immense powers that you haven’t even realized.”

  Powers that no one else could match, possibly? If it came from Dad…

  Thanks, Dad, Typhos thought with a devious grin. Maybe I won’t need politicking sooner than expected. I won’t hurt anyone—just show them what I’m capable of and be so good, they’ll have to make me chief.

  “Will the rest of the council be coming back at the same time as you?” Typhos asked as his mother stood up.

  “They should be. But not all councilors will want to speak to you at such a time. You may just have to wait until we have a shorter day or not work at all. A councilor’s work isn’t easy.”

  If you say so, Typhos thought.

  “Bad news for them, talking to me isn’t either,” Typhos said.

  He punctuated his statement with a laugh, but his mother did not reciprocate. She instead continued to the entrance of the tent, pausing just before she left.

  “Remember, Typhos, when you’re trying to persuade someone, you don’t overwhelm them with your presence. You match theirs and make them feel like their concerns matters most.”

  She left without another word, hustling outside and disappearing from the outpost within seconds.

  After eating breakfast with a relatively tranquil mind, Typhos headed for the ocean, teleporting as rapidly as he could—a spell that worked rather well when he didn’t have to account for the trees of the forest or the different elevations of the mountains. He came to an unoccupied beach with dark gray sand and gentle tides. The sky above him had no clouds, and the sun above provided a warm, radiant heat. Black or red first? Red. See if my weaknesses have improved.

  He decided to test his ability to control the water and held his hand out. He closed his eyes and felt the water at his fingertips as if he could mold it to his own desires. He briefly opened his eyes and saw that the water had risen to his expectations. He tossed it to the side, and it shot out like an aviant skydiving for its prey. If I can do that with water…

  Typhos tried again but did not have as much success. He let the water go and felt exhausted from casting the spell. He could pull off some great red magic feats, he realized, but only in spurts—it remained a weakness for him relative to his other spells, if not necessarily in comparison to other Kastori.

  He decided to cast the largest fire spell his mind could muster. He closed his eyes and imagined the biggest fireball he could produce. He opened his eyes and, to his pleasant shock, had created a flame that could have destroyed his outpost. Typho
s laughed as he harmlessly dropped the flame into the water.

  Giddy at his new powers, he went for a third spell and decided to change the weather as his father had. He concentrated on creating a great storm. Within seconds, he didn’t need to open his eyes—he could hear the booming thunder above. He tightened his hand into a fist and commanded greater forces and winds. The thunder became deafening, and the lightning blinded him, even with his eyes closed. He was knocked out of his concentration when a wave crashed into him, knocking him to the ground.

  Once he had shaken the water off him, he laughed at his new skills. I don’t even need class anymore! This… this is what I’m talking about. More power, more capability. Travel to new worlds. Save lives. Be the real savior. Make up for past failures…

  He slowly rose and felt a kick to his stomach that reflected his hunger. Eager to try his new powers out in a hunting setting, he headed toward the forest. He did not see any ursuses for several minutes and grew frustrated. Shouldn’t they be out by now? Dumb. They—

  He laughed at himself when he realized he could just use his sense powers to search for them.

  He climbed a nearby tree for safety and, after ascending about twenty feet, closed his eyes. He immediately found an ursus about three miles away. He discovered not only could he sense the presence of the ursus, but he could also see it through its eyes and mind—he could feel its emotions, its pain, and its desires.

  “So cool,” he said to himself with a grin.

  He tried to dive into the mind of the beast, but found he could only do a superficial glance—he could not see any memories of the ursus or anything beyond the immediately expressed feelings. Typhos felt annoyed at the limitations, but his hunger pushed him into action. Before he approached the ursus, though, he commanded the creature to remain still.

  An hour later, when he arrived, Typhos stared in awe at the perfectly still monster. It breathed and still lived, but it had not moved from the spot Typhos had planted it at. Typhos closed his eyes and cast a strong fire spell to cook the monster—too strong, as it turned out, because when Typhos opened his eyes, he could only laugh at the lack of a monster. He had incinerated it entirely.

  “At least it’s a good story,” he told himself. “The day I realized my true power.”

  But he quickly swore and moved into panic mode when a few of the surrounding trees caught fire. He cast powerful water spells to douse the fire and succeeded before the damage got too severe. He had not saved all the trees, however, as a few had incinerated entirely or, at best, accumulated obvious burn marks.

  “Council’s gonna come down on me for that,” he said.

  They’ll probably make me do some work or something. Abuse of magic or something silly.

  But to do that, they’d have to call me in. And if they call me in, it means that they’ll have to bring me to the peak. And once I’m there…

  Maybe it is worth the mischief and mayhem. It’s what I do best!

  Nah. Not yet. Only if the councilors ignore me. But it’s nice to have as an option. Nothing crazy. Just a little dangerous work.

  Typhos refocused, still hungry, and found another ursus moments later that he cooked correctly and ate. Full from the meal and with plenty of meat still left over, Typhos used his red magic to bring the food back to his outpost. It was a significantly easier task than the last time, as using his red magic felt less like work and more like holding the feather of an aviant. Power of being super strong.

  He placed the beast in the middle of his outpost. He headed into his tent and spent the next several hours reflecting on his magic. He went through his parents’ old rolls of paper, trying to study the different spells.

  Almost all of them, though, consisted of degrees of the primary fire, water, ice and electric spells. Nothing seemed to catch his eye at first, though he had gleeful thoughts at the idea of freezing an entire ocean.

  Then he saw one that caught his eye.

  “Void.”

  It talked about destroying the reality in a given area and controlling whatever anyone experienced. The notes stated that such a place existed near the peak of the mountain and that one should only approach a void with complete confidence in their powers.

  Maybe I’ll try such a thing someday. Cast my own voids.

  His eyes continued down, and at the bottom, no longer in alphabetical order, with its own special entry, was “Ultimus.”

  “This is a non-elemental spell no one has been able to cast,” Typhos read. “It is the greatest power a Kastori could conceivably cast. It would wipe out anything in the area, and only those strong enough to cast a barrier would survive—and even they would be weakened. Ultimus could destroy worlds just as easily as it could destroy enemies.”

  That’s the kind of power I need, Typhos thought with a laugh. Who needs a council when you can just destroy the world that they are on?

  He lost himself in many of the other texts, continuing to absorb material until he heard someone walking by. He quickly peered out and saw an elder Kastori walking to his tent. He didn’t care about the elder, but it meant the sun would set soon, and the council would return. He hustled to the top of the hill and patiently waited for Garron, his first target, to return.

  Pagus’ father appeared within minutes, and the boy ran to meet Garron.

  “Typhos,” Garron said, surprise evident in his voice. “You seem to be in much better spirits today. True?”

  “Very much so. I got to practice some of my new skills and studied some just beyond my reach. If ever there was a silver lining…”

  “No doubt,” Garron said quickly, the better to distract from the negative thoughts that would have entered Typhos’ mind otherwise.

  “My Mom, how is she?”

  Garron sighed, which made Typhos feel hopeful. They see her pain. They know I can help. This is good. If she’s good, I’m not.

  “Still suffering, I hate to say it. I hope you are spending as much time with her as you can.”

  “I am.”

  “Good. Sometimes, she doesn’t even seem to be there. At her best, she’s engaged, but not with high energy. To be honest, Typhos, I think your mother needs time away.”

  Couldn’t agree more.

  “She’s a Kastori first, a mother tied for first, and then chief far beyond that. But she insists on coming to work. I won’t stop her, but…”

  “You think she needs me,” Typhos said as a confident statement of fact.

  Garron nodded.

  “She especially. To lose him so suddenly, I can’t even… when I lost my wife, I knew it was coming, and—”

  “Garron,” Typhos interrupted, not wanting to go down the trail of tragedy once more. “I agree. Mom especially needs my help. Which is why I want to ask you a special favor. This might sound crazy but you seem to understand better than most the need for flexibility in such matters. I want to know if you would allow me to be with her for the next couple of weeks while she is at work.”

  Garron’s eyes widened in shock, and Typhos swiftly moved to soften the surprise.

  “I know it seems crazy. But this is a crazy time. My mother depended on my father for just about everything, and now he’s not there anymore. It’s brutal. I’m not saying let me be there forever. That would make her dependent on me, or vice versa, and I don’t want that. But for a little bit… it will help you all out. A more engaged chief is a better chief.”

  Garron still seemed surprised, to the point of struggling to form an answer.

  “You said it yourself, the Kastori in her comes first,” Typhos pushed on. “That side won’t get better unless I’m there. I can help. I won’t be a distraction. I’ll leave during critical moments. I won’t blab about anything. If you wanna say no… I’ll get it. But I think you get that my mom desperately needs some help.”

  Garron sighed, gave a short laugh that Typhos couldn’t place, and looked into the boy’s eyes with a smile.

  “You’re not just gifted in magic, son. You have an incr
edible persuasiveness that is somewhat unfair. We’ve never done this, and we’ve had some pretty crazy spots in our history. But…”

  He laughed as he hesitated to speak.

  “OK, fine, I give my support. But only my support. Nothing more. I do not speak for anyone else, and I reserve the right to change my mind. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” Typhos said, unable to hide his smile.

  “Also, understand, if this gets to an official vote, and no one else supports you, I am not going to be a martyr for your cause. I will only publicly support you if others do as well. So—you’ve got work, but you have something you can start with.”

  Typhos couldn’t contain himself as he reached over and hugged Garron. Pagus’ father gave a hearty laugh and laughed even harder in response to something Typhos couldn’t see. He turned to see Pagus looking at them confused, and Typhos joined in laughing.

  “What… what is going on?” Pagus said.

  “Your dad is awesome,” Typhos said. “That’s all.”

  With that, wanting to keep the momentum rolling, Typhos left his best friend and his current favorite person behind, preparing to persuade the next councilor.

  15

  It’s not going to be so easy this time. Fargus isn’t just going to give it to you.

  May not give anything, in fact. But you gotta go. Can’t give Garron time to change his mind.

  Typhos walked past the last Kastori outpost with more than one tent and continued down the trail, past Mount Ardor, and toward the far side of the mountain. The night’s arrival meant he had to watch more carefully for arachnia in the area. Howls of hunting lupi filled the sky as well.

  He came to the tent as the last of the sun’s light flickered out, leaving nothing but the black sky and sea of stars up above him. He listened carefully at the edge of the tent, but heard nothing.

  “Fargus?”

  No one responded. Not really one to respond much anyways. He waited at the outside of the tent for several seconds, awaiting the quiet appearance of the most powerful red magic user in Anatolus, but Typhos soon realized he was waiting for someone who wasn’t there.