Red Mage Ascending: Book 1 of Tournament of Mages

by Cleave Bourbon

  Hana felt a measure of relief. At least two of the children survived if she could believe anything Sarren said. “Let Thessa go, she is innocent.”

  “She is an accomplice.”

  “To what, murder? You know full well what happened. I demand to talk to the Warden of Talt, where is he?”

  Sarren opened his black cloak to reveal the black and grey uniform of the Warden of Talt. “He passed on not long after you killed the Sepheras. I am Warden of Talt now.” He motioned to one of the wardens closest to Hana, “Take her.”

  Hana pulled her dagger and the wardens stopped.

  “I said to take her!” Sarren commanded.

  One of the wardens moved to seize her and she sliced at his hand. Another warden sneaked up behind her while she was fighting off the first and took her by her arms. She used the dagger to pierce her palm. She would show them what she could do! She realized when she summoned her power that she could not sense the two wardens attacking her. They were turned or something.

  Sarren strolled up to her with a smug expression, “Trouble?” He snapped his fist into the air and Hana felt woozy.

  Hana awoke in a cell with straw scattered about the floor. There was no furniture of any kind. In the cell next to her was Thessa. She was in her animalistic form attacking the cell door.

  “Calm yourself, Thessa.” She said groggily. “You’re just going to hurt yourself.”

  Thessa calmed at Hana’s words and went to the side of her cell, grasping the flat iron bars, “Hana! Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. I have all this knowledge now and I failed to use it. I fell back into the same patterns I used before.”

  “You let Sarren get to you and surprise you.”

  “Aye, I am a fool to get us caught like this.”

  “We have to get out of here. I heard one of the wardens talking about hanging us.”

  “Aren’t we entitled to a trial?”

  Thessa cocked her head, “How goofy did Sarren’s spell knock you? He’s the Warden of Talt, We walked right into his trap. There will be no trial. We are already guilty in the minds of the townsfolk.”

  Hana tested the flat bars. They burned her flesh when she touched them, “he was prepared for me. He knows my powers better than I do.”

  “No, he doesn’t.”

  “He did before Gwade. Now, he’s using it against me. He knows exactly what I was doing in Adendalind. He isn’t taking any chances with me now.”

  “Your magic isn’t working?”

  “My magic relies on living blood and the nature of life. He is death. He has coated these bars with the blood of the dead he has turned.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “I don’t know, Thessa.’ She whispered. “Let me think about it.”

  Sarren rounded the corner, “I’ll tell you what you will do. You will hang this afternoon.”

  “Sarren, you know as well as I; that won’t happen. I am the Red Mage and I know you are the Black Mage. You can’t kill me before the tournament.”

  “Now, I’m the Black Mage, huh. Are you quite certain about that? Maybe I work for the Black Mage and killing you will make me the Red Mage so I can yield to my master!”

  “You are the Black Mage,” Hana said with confidence.

  Sarren leaned in close to Hana’s cell, “Then what is to stop me from having one of my loyal servants hang you and become the Red Mage?”

  Hana’s jaw dropped. “That’s your plan. Kill me and have one of your cronies yield to you. Eliminate your most challenging enemy.”

  “Is it? Now that you mention it. I may have to try that. If only you were my most challenging enemy.”

  “You are the Black Mage!” Thessa said with a hiss afterward.

  Sarren grinned at Thessa and then his face turned sour. He raised his hand and Thessa flew bodily back into her cage, “I never said I was one way or the other, but one thing is certain. I have command over the likes of you!” He turned toward the exit. “I grow tired of you both.” He left the cells and returned a moment later with the other wardens. “It’s time to end all of this right now. Take them to the gallows!”

  The wardens opened the cell doors and took Hana and Thessa. They were led through the dungeons and out into the courtyard of the warden’s office. The townspeople cheered when they saw them being lead to the hangman’s noose.”

  Hana felt a sharp pain in her head and she stumbled. I’m coming, hold tight! Asleth’s voice sounded inside of her head.

  “For the crime of murder! I sentence these two to hang until dead!” Sarren shouted from the gallows. “Justice for the Sepheras will be served this day!”

  The crowd burst out in approval. “Hang the murders!” A woman shouted.

  “Hang them, hang them!” the crowd chanted in unison.

  The nooses were right in front of Thessa and Hana but were not yet put around their necks. Three wardens stood over them both so they couldn’t run. Hana tried to use her magic again, but Sarren had covered the entire gallows with tainted blood, she was helpless.

  Chapter 17 – Turnabout

  A fourth warden stepped on the gallows to the chants of the townspeople, he moved to place the nooses around the necks of Hana and Thessa.

  Where is Asleth? Hana thought. The air around the gallows began to crackle and it became difficult to breathe. Two loud cracks deafened the crowd as if lightning struck the ground nearby. There was a flash of light and Asleth came issuing forth from it directly into one of the wooden beams of the gallows face first. He fell flat on his backside with a huge gash in his right cheek.

  “Dammit!” He said looking up at Hana. “I told you it was dangerous.” He felt the blood flowing from his cheek. He grinned and tossed his blood to Hana. She smiled back as the blood suspended in midair, directly in front of her face. She cut her eyes to Sarren. The head Warden of Talt’s face contorted into sheer terror as the blood lit up with red light. Sarren threw a dagger or knife and Hana dodged it. The dagger found one of the warden’s chest behind her instead. He toppled over. More blood saturated the man’s tunic. Hana snapped the warden now holding her from behind off the gallows with great force. She seized Sarren in a cascading rain of power and suspended him in the air. The townsfolk began to panic and frantically run for the exit.

  Asleth used his magic and soothed them. They stopped and turned back to look at him, “Behold, you have all been deceived.” He held up a green gem. “I have here a gift from a friend that will force your Warden to reveal his true nature. I’m sure he has much to tell you all.” He threw the gem at Sarren and as soon as it got near him it burst in a green light. The guise of Sarren melted away to reveal a woman with jet black hair and a sour expression.

  Asleth gasped, “I wasn’t expecting that!”

  Hana nodded, “Nor was I, my friend.”

  The crowd also gasped.

  “Sarren is a woman and a sorceress. He…er…she should be the one you seek justice from. She killed the Sepheras and she will kill you! Speak Sarren!”

  “I won’t be forced to confess by a trinket of the Green Mage.” She said.

  “Burn her!” one from the crowd shouted.

  The other, dubious wardens bolted from the gallows and the wardens under Sarren’s control rallied to her. Asleth and Thessa ran to capture the fleeing men.

  “You have doomed the children!” Sarren said to Hana. “Without me, they will die!” Sarren yelled to Hana as the crowd surrounded her. Two burly men seized her, “You think you have me? You believe you have won!” She looked one of the men in the eye and he released her and began screaming. She took a dagger from her belt and stabbed the screaming man directly in the eye. The other man, who had her by the left arm fought her for control of the dagger. Another man standing nearby joined in on the fight after seeing his friend mortally wounded. It was when the dead man stood and began fighting them that they realized the error of their actions.

  Hana decided to use the situation to her advantage. The ma
n was bleeding profusely from his pierced eye socket. She used the knowledge gained from Gwade and turned the power of the blood into bolts of lightning. The electric shock knocked Sarren to the ground. The men renewed their attack and took Sarren by the arms again. This time, Sarren pulled free and turned to run. One of the men tripped her. Hana used her magic and wrapped Sarren in a cocoon of red light. The men dragged her away to the Warden’s office and the cells. Hana followed to make sure she could keep the magical cocoon intact.

  “You have learned a few new tricks since we last met,” Sarren said. “So much the better. I had long sought to keep you in the dark, but a little bit of illumination can’t hurt. Just remember, there is a difference between knowing and doing.”

  “Shut up your nonsense!” Hana demanded. “As if you have had anything to do with my life or how I’ve lived it.”

  Sarren smiled but said nothing.

  One of the townsfolk slammed the cell door and locked it. Hana scratched her head, “What now?” She said to the makeshift guard. “Once I leave, she will easily escape, even if you put her under heavy guard.”

  “What do you suggest?” The man asked.

  “Lend me a few moments alone with her.”

  The guard opened the cell and Hana went in to speak with Sarren. “You and I still have business.” Hana removed her dagger.

  “Mistress, what is your plan?” The guard said with alarm.

  Hana sliced Sarren’s arm. The guard rushed in but Hana used the blood from Sarren’s wound to put him to sleep. He fell short of the cell door.

  “You see, you have learned some magic.”

  “Shut up Sarren, You’re not going to like this.” Hana concentrated on the blood from Sarren’s wound. Inside of the mage’s body, the blood had its uses but was more under the control of the host, but outside the body, Hana had learned from Gwade that it could tell her much, like the location of the remaining Sephera children.

  “I know what you’re doing, Hana. All you had to do was ask. I would have told you where to find the two remaining children.”

  Hana froze. How did Sarren know what she was doing?

  “You seem to be forgetting. I am not lost with my power. I know what I can do, do you?”

  Hana felt a moment of hesitation. She knew Sarren was trying to get to her but she was convincing.

  Sarren’s twisted amusement abated and with clenched teeth, she broke Hana’s holding spell. “It was foolish of you to put the guard to sleep.” She moved with haste, knocking Hana to the side. “You know where the children are now. You used my blood to tell you where to find them. I wonder. Did you also see my plans? Did you see what I have in store should this town turn on me as it has?” She took a step toward the cell door. Hana was still frozen in place. Another trick from the mage of death, she had turned the blood Hana had collected from her into a rancid goo, which had a paralyzing effect. “The darkness comes, Hana. You are not ready for it.” She left the cells.

  Hana slowly returned to normal. The paralysis was temporary. She had seen where the Sephera children were. They were hidden in an underground cave beneath the warden’s office.

  Asleth and Thessa rushed onto the cells, “Where is Sarren?” Asleth asked.

  “She escaped. If I had any doubts about her being the Black Mage before they are gone now. She has the children in a cave under the warden’s office next door.”

  “Good work, let’s go get them,” Asleth said.

  “There’s more. I don’t know where she recruited them from, but the cave with the children is also filled with blood feeders. As soon as the sun goes down they will rise up against the town.”

  “How do we stop them? Can you turn them like you did with Thessa?”

  “Thessa is the only one I have ever successfully turned back. It doesn’t work on the others.”

  “We have to warn the townsfolk! Come on.” Asleth took Hana’s hand and helped her to her feet. Out in the main room of the jail, Thessa stopped suddenly, “It may already be too late. I can feel them stirring.” She shivered with fright and disgust. “They are gathering together, waiting to be unleashed.”

  The guard Hana had put to sleep came stumbling out rubbing his head.

  Asleth lowered his pack from his shoulder and found a place to tuck it out of the way, “What was your name again, friend?”

  “Jon.” The guard said.

  “All of you, leave your things here except for any weapons you may possess. Hana, Thessa and I will fight them off while you round up the townsfolk and get then as far away from here as you can.” He produced the green gem he had thrown at Sarren earlier. “I met the Green Mage in Craessa. Her name is Teoni. She wasn’t able to leave Craessa but she gave me this gem. She called it the Well of Life. It has healing properties. If anyone gets hurt including yourself, use it on them.”

  “But what will you do if you are hurt? You and Thessa are doing most of the fighting.”

  “If this goes as bad as I think it might, you will be doing your fair share of the fighting too, besides,” he held up another gem, “she gave me two.”

  “Is there anything special I must do for it to work?”

  “It seems to know what to do on its own. The Green Mage warned me that if it’s touched by the taint of the blood feeders it will cease to work. Don’t let them see it or touch it. It is also of limited use so only use it for the worst wounds. You don’t want to waste it on scrapes and scratches.”

  “Asleth.” Hana stopped him as he turned away. “Luck be with you!”

  Asleth nodded, “Luck be with you.” He looked at Thessa excitedly. “Ready?”

  Thessa grinned, “Always!”

  Chapter 18 – Blood Feeders

  When Hana left the jailhouse, the sun was still shining its light over the town. She estimated that whatever attack Sarren had planned would wait for at least a half hour. Asleth and Thessa would find the cave entrance and be waiting to get rid of the blood feeders as they emerged. She sensed that the Sephera children were still living. Sarren must have had them separated from the blood feeders.

  The guard Asleth told to warn the townspeople stumbled out still disoriented from Hana’s spell. “Mistress? Where’s the witch? What did you do?”

  “You passed out and she escaped,” Hana told him.

  “Mistress?”

  “Never mind, do you know what a blood feeder is?”

  “Vampyres?”

  “That’s the Adendalind name for them, aye! Well, Sarren is one and she has a whole lot more of them in a cave under the warden’s office waiting for the sun to go down. Do you know what they can do?”

  “Aye, once of them attacked my father when I was young while we were on a hunting trip in Adendalind.”

  “You begin here and go south, I will go north. Warn every household and get them out of the town. We don’t have much time.”

  “Aye, I will.” The guard ran to the nearest home. Hana started toward the first house to the north before she noticed men working at the gallows. They were still helping residents traumatized by the earlier attack, and bundling up the dead. She decided they were a good place to begin her warnings.

  “You men, go home to your families, gather them up, and get out of town. Don’t pack anything just get out!”

  The men looked at each other for a moment before breaking out into hardy laughter. “Woman, you were just today on these gallows. You get out of town!” One of them said. “Go home before we decide to hang you again, loon!” Said another.

  Hana backed away dumbfounded. She began to think of her abilities. Was there anything she could do to convince them to leave. She came up with nothing. These people were not going to listen to her. She looked to the horizon as the sun’s light began to fade. She decided to try once more, “Please listen. There are blood feeders, vampyres, coming! The sun is setting; get your families clear!”

  “Go away!” One of the men shouted. Another chunked a rock at her. She headed up the street to the north and stopped at
the first door. She beat on it furiously. Someone appeared at the window but the door did not open.

  “Please, you are in danger!”

  “Go away!” was the muffled reply through the door. “We don’t want your kind here.”

  Hana backed away from the door and peered to the horizon again. The sun had gone. The final vestiges of light illuminated the sky. She briefly wondered how the guard was doing, but the lack of anyone on the roads told her he probably wasn’t convincing anyone either. She ran to the Warden’s office and circled around until she found Asleth and Thessa.

  “What are you doing here?’ Asleth asked.

  “Warning these fools is useless. They won’t listen. I thought I could do more good here helping you.”

  “We traced the cave entrance to this cellar door.” He pointed to the ground level wooden door.

  “Get ready,” Thessa said. “ I can hear them coming.”

  The cellar door began to rock and shake. Asleth readied his sword. The door flew opened to horrific creatures clawing over each other to get out. Asleth began his dark hacking with his great sword. Thessa, who was now in her animalistic form, jumped into the fray, ripping and clawing everything that moved into her path.

  Hana found her ruby-handled dagger and searched her mind for anything that might help magically. Sarren was right, knowing and doing were two different things. At last, she took the tip of the dagger and pricked one of her fingers. She smeared the blood all over the blade of the dagger. I hope this works! She thought. She threw the dagger into the hordes of writhing bodies. She felt the power of the blood on the blade as she moved it with the motions of her hands. The dagger whistled as it sliced through the blood feeders one after the other. To Hana’s surprise, it returned to her when the blood was depleted and only the tainted blood of the feeders remained. The feeders managed to push Asleth and Thessa back. Some of them escaped from behind. Hana saw Asleth’s power at work when a couple of them turned back and attacked their own. He was controlling their feeble minds.