Red Mage Ascending: Book 1 of Tournament of Mages

by Cleave Bourbon

  Two of the feeders made it out and ran full force toward Hana. She summoned the blood inside her to her fists as the feeders came near. The resulting percussion from her punches knocked them back, but they soon gathered themselves back up and ran off toward the town. They were only interested in fulfilling their mistress’s wishes and getting at the townsfolk. Hana was about to chase after them when she saw the guard and several men had rallied and stopped the feeders with steel. In fact, the men she tried to warn had joined in with Asleth. They must have heard the commotion and realized she was telling them the truth, or so she chose to think.

  The way into the cave cleared enough for Hana to get inside. “I’m going in. I have to rescue those children.”

  Asleth nodded. “Be careful, we don’t know how many more are down there.”

  “There’s another opening behind the jail! No one’s there to stop them!” One of the men shouted.

  “Go! I’ll be fine.” Hana said. Asleth nodded and followed the men. “You too, Thessa.”

  The girl grunted and loped off on all fours. What did I turn her into? Hana thought. She made her way into the pitch dark cave, feeling her way along the jagged walls until the light of a sconce up ahead gave her enough light to see. Once she reached the light source, she took the torch from the sconce and continued into the cave. The smell of it assaulted her senses with the stench of earth and death. The floor of the cave was covered in blood, but it wasn’t particularly useful to her except for a faint, underlying sense of power. She continued on, fully expecting to run into Sarren. She came at last to a large opening with many lit torches lining the slimy walls. The floor of the place was covered in a combination of blood and water. Her sense of power grew much stronger here where the blood was obviously fresher. She rounded the final corner where she could see into the entire cavern. It took her eyes a moment to adjust but when they did and she registered what she was seeing, a sick feeling pitched around in her stomach. Suspended from the far wall, was the boy Terad and his sister Gwendrel’s half eaten bodies. Entrails spilled out to the waiting mouths of two blood feeders.

  Wave after wave of anger pulsed through Hana’s body. She no longer thought of what to do with her magical abilities, the knowledge flowed to her as if Gwade were whispering what to do in her ear. The bodies of the two children ignited in a fireball. The feeders were done feeding! They screamed and then noticed her behind them. The two feeders screeched and turned to attack. There was no fear, there was no terror. Hana slowly raised her hand and the feeders heads exploded. They collapsed into the goopy sludge. Hana rose out of the bloody water and floated above it. She turned back toward the entrance and floated like a spectre. She held out the torch ahead of her and with her free hand, she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. She drew from the tainted blood all over the cavern, changing it into her lifeblood. At some point, she realized she could see in the dark and she dropped the torch. It sizzled as the wet extinguished it.

  She continued to float above the ground when she exited the cave. She willed herself to the nearest sign of commotion. A feeder was feasting on one of the dead men. She flicked the fingers of her right hand slightly and the feeder’s head exploded in a ball of fire.

  “Look, what is that!” One of the men said. He ran toward her with sword raised. She flicked her fingers and he flew backward, away from her. Another two feeders saw her and charged, they didn’t get far.

  “It’s the witch!” Another of the men shouted.

  “No, that’s Hana!” she heard Asleth say. “Stand clear. She has finally found her power.”

  She touched the ground and began to walk slowly down the main street, dropping feeders whenever they charged her or crossed her sight. The men and women of the town stopped fighting and rallied to her, cutting down the straggling blood feeders she missed along the way.

  When the way was clear she addressed Asleth, “Any sign of Sarren?” Asleth stood before her with a half grin, impressed with the display she had put on. “Well, have you?”

  “There is no sign of her. Where did you get this red cloak?” he asked feeling of the cloth she wore.

  “What are you talking about? This is the cloak I came with.” She looked at her cloak closely in the flickering light. It had turned to a deep blood red.

  “The children?” Asleth asked.

  Hana shook her head.

  “I’m so sorry, Hana.” He reached out to give her a hug but she stopped him.

  “Later, I need to find Sarren.”

  Thessa, covered in the remains of her handiwork approached, “I think I know where she went. When she took as from Ag Caderan, she had us in a cavern near the river Tama. It’s within an old tomb at the center of a canyon there.”

  “What makes you think she went there?” Hana asked.

  “She has a throne at the center where she rules over the hordes she creates. I think it is her lair.”

  “It’s worth a try.” She looked to Asleth.

  “I can get you to the river with mystic-door, but if I take you that far I can’t help you with Sarren. Traveling that distance will take me days to recover. I would be useless to you.”

  “Then we travel the old fashion way. Can the townsfolk spare any horses?” She asked.

  “Even by horse, it will take at least a week,” Asleth said.

  “How in the hells is she supposed to get there so quick then? She just left here. Can’t we catch up with her?” Hana asked.

  “Aye, we can try to track her,” Asleth said. “I will see to the horses.”

  “You can see to them after we get cleaned up and provisioned for the journey.” She began to walk toward the town’s lone inn,” These people owe us that much!”

  Chapter 19 – The Truest Path

  Asleth directed his horse to and outcropping at the edge of the canyon in Ag Caderan. “is this it?”

  “Yes, I recognize it,” Thessa said.

  “How do you want to do this?” Asleth asked.

  “I think we should all go in. If Sarren is in there, I want you both by my side.” Hana said.

  “All right.”

  After finding a spot to tie the horses, Hana, Asleth, and Thessa traveled through the narrow canyon to the ruins at the center. An eerie grey fog rolled over the ancient, crumbled stone closest to the ground. The walls still standing were dark and ominous, like sentinels guarding some forgotten keep. Hana wished Asleth had come with them as they closed in on Sarren’s hiding place. He would be able to see what they faced beforehand.

  “The way inside is over there.” Thessa pointed through a broken stone archway.

  “Wait, before we go in I want to ask you a question,” Hana said.

  “What is it?”

  “Did you know Sarren was a woman?”

  “I had no idea. She never revealed her true self. Now, if you don’t mind. Can we discuss it at a later time?”

  “Yes, of course. Lead on.”

  They moved to a crypt-like entrance complete with engravings and likenesses of the six gods.

  “This is it,” Thessa announced.

  Hana looked over the entrance, “Typical. A blood feeder hiding in a crypt.”

  “Sarren isn’t a blood feeder,” Thessa said. “At least I don’t believe she is anymore.”

  “I know what she is; she is the creator of blood feeders.”

  Thessa lead Hana through a series of catacombs and passageways. Hana followed but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was outnumbered and headed into a place where she definitely had the disadvantage. Fear crept up her spine as she passed stone sarcophagus after stone sarcophagus, presumably with corpses within and Sarren was the supposed to feed off of death and the dead.

  Thessa held out her hand for Hana to stop, “Up ahead is the main chamber where all the blood feeders and Sarren should be. This is the last chance for you to decide this is a really bad idea.”

  “It’s already too late for that,” Hana said. She felt into her pocket to make certain
the Well of Life from the Green Mage was still there.

  “I’m going to hang back from the main chamber. I will back you up.” Asleth said.

  Hana and Thessa entered an entranceway with two stone stairways on either side of a putrid stream of rancid rainwater. At the top of the stairs was a rounded chamber with a hole in the top where a constant trickle of water poured in to feed the stream. It was also the chamber’s source of light. Hana followed Thessa up the right-hand side. There were three doors leading from the round chamber. Thessa took the center path. They walked a short hallway into a monumental cavern with a red velvet throne fixed in the center. A statue of Cassany, the winged goddess of Ag Caderan, loomed over the throne. Scones and braziers, placed around the perimeter, lighted the room.

  “Brave of you to come here. I didn’t think you would be so foolish.” Sarren stepped out from behind the throne. She waved her hands in the air, “We are surrounded by an army of the dead waiting for my command to raise them to fight.”

  “I thought we might settle this one on one Sarren,” Hana said.

  “Yet, you brought your pet,” she pointed to Thessa, “or is she my pet?” She grinned as Thessa began to change into her animalistic form.

  “Thessa, fight it. She doesn’t have a hold over you anymore.”

  “Hana, I can’t, she’s too strong.”

  “Stop this, Sarren. Thessa has nothing to do with all this.”

  “Doesn’t she? You brought her here.”

  “No, I turned her from you. She is loyal to me!” She took her dagger and pricked one of her fingers. The drop of blood it produced disappeared as soon as it appeared as Hana wove her spell. Thessa turned back into her sickly looking self.

  “I can see I must up the stakes for you. I have been the shadow at your side since before you left Sheth’s Cradle in Vestia. Did you ever wonder why your father never found you, why no one ever came looking for you?”

  “I assumed he let me go.”

  “Oh no, I had to kill them. I killed your mother and father.”

  “Sure, Sarren. I believe you.”

  Sarren’s eyes narrowed.

  “Is that anger, Sarren?”

  “I had Thessa kill the Sepheras.”

  Hana rolled her eyes, “Pathetic Sarren. You’re not getting inside my head. I saw who killed the Sepheras. You didn’t know that, did you!”

  “Oh, I think I will get inside your head.” She clapped her hands, “Come Tovo.”

  Out of the murky goop of the floor, a figure began to rise. It was a man but it wasn’t until he stepped into the light of one of the braziers that Hana and Thessa could see him.

  “Father!” Thessa yelped. “What have you done to him? Is he dead?”

  Hana dropped to her knees when she saw his face and heard his name. She looked at Thessa with a stabbing feeling in her heart.

  “Hana? What is it?”

  “Tovo,” she said weakly, “took my baby away. He pretended to marry me. He is your father?”

  “Ah, now it all comes clear,” Sarren said. Her cackle reverberated in the cavern.

  “NO!” Hana leaped to her feet and charged toward Sarren. The Black Mage raised her hands with blinding speed and tens of dead raised from the murky floor in Hana’s path.

  “Why so upset, Red Mage? It’s a family reunion.” Sarren said. “Besides, you have no blood to call upon, unless you want to spill your own, or your child’s.”

  Hana did not halt her rush. She could hear Gwade’s voice in her head telling her she was full of blood. She didn’t have to spill it to use it. Her arms each lit up with an eternal light of brilliant red. With super strength, she plowed through each of the corpses throwing them in every direction. Sarren took a worried step back as Hana approached her. The Black Mage began casting some spell but Hana didn’t care; she reached Sarren and took her by the throat, her hand still glowing red from the inside.

  “You can’t kill me! And you can’t control your daughter while you attack me.” Sarren said in between gasps for breath.

  Hana turned to see Thessa running for her with dagger drawn, She let Sarren go and checked frantically for her own dagger. It was gone, Thessa had taken it from her at some point.

  “Thessa, stop!”

  Thessa stopped and dropped the dagger with a look of utter horror. “What is happening to me?”

  “Don’t stop, you fool girl, kill her, kill her! Do as I say!”

  “This was your plan, Sarren? You can’t kill me either so you will have Thessa kill me and become the Red Mage in my place, someone you thought you could control?”

  “I didn’t anticipate you would have some way to turn her back. You’re not supposed to be able to have any sway over her!”

  “How did you even know I was the Red Mage all those years ago?”

  Sarren smiled wickedly, “You don’t recognize me. I didn’t think you did but I wasn’t certain until now. It’s the doom of the noble class. They never bother to look into the face of their servants. You never bothered to look at me.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I was your mother’s handmaiden. I watched you. I set up your meeting with Tovo. It was me! I did it all! I followed you to Talt and to the Sepheras.”

  “That’s why you disguised yourself as a man.” She looked at Thessa, “You have failed Sarren, you can’t turn my own blood against me.”

  “I never put all of my eggs in one basket. You should know that by now!” She lurched forward and stabbed her twisted dagger into Thessa’s stomach. “I may not be able to kill you but I can have another do it.” Hana fell to her knees. “Get the dagger from the girl.”

  Hana looked back to see Thessa dive for the dagger as a young man beat her to it. Thessa grabbed the boy by the waist.

  “Let him go, child,” Sarren said. Thessa began to change again and the boy was freed from her. Hana started to crawl toward Sarren but she easily sidestepped her.

  “Kill the Red Mage!”

  The boy began to stab Hana in the back repeatedly. Hana felt no pain and it was then that she remembered the dagger was her own. It was the ruby-handled dagger of the Red Mage, it wouldn’t hurt her. Thessa ran up behind the boy and attacked him by the throat.

  “No, Thessa, that’s my dagger!” Hana pleaded.

  Sarren screeched with glee until she realized what Hana was saying. Thessa now had the dagger and she was inches away from Sarren.

  “No, Thessa, that dagger can’t hurt me!”

  It was too late, Thessa plunged Hana’s dagger into the heart of Sarren. The blade of the Red Mage, which had no effect on Hana, was deadly to Sarren. Hana watched in horror as the life force drained from Sarren and entered Thessa. A black fog rolled out from Sarren’s body as she fell with Thessa still gripping the dagger. Thessa looked at her mother with terror. Her eyes turned red and her facial features contorted while she collapsed onto Sarren. Hana went to her still holding the wound of her stomach. She took the blood from her wound and began smearing it on the now unconscious Thessa.

  “I can turn you back.” Her tears began to flow, blocking her vision. “Please, I can turn you back!” The blood burned Thessa’s skin rather than help her. Thessa began to whimper and Hana began to wipe the blood from her. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She took the Well of Life stone from her pocket and rubbed it over her wound. The green light from the stone healed her. She tried to use it on Thessa but it too burned her skin. She moved away from Thessa and her eyes caught sight of Tovo, who was still standing near the throne. He gazed forward with a catatonic expression.

  Chapter 20 – Journey of the Chosen

  The Ocularius Magnus flickered as Tourney Master Ephaltus let the image through the great lens fade. “So, the story of the Red Mage is quite tragic.”

  Marlee, the Tourney Master’s apprentice nodded. She did not speak because she knew she would not be able to contain the tears she was currently holding back.

  “You’re not about to cry are you?” Ephaltus
asked.

  “Yes! Marlee said as her face squinched up and the tears came. She fanned her face with her left hand. “Isn’t there something we can do for her?”

  “Certainly, I can make damn sure the knowledge Gwade left her is a major part of her training. She still needs to learn how to use what she was given before the tournament.” He stepped off the Ocularius Magnus platform and descended the metal stairs. Marlee followed him to the cellar-like door to the Well of Consciousness. He opened it and interacted with something inside. A few moments later Ephaltus closed off the musty smelling room and clapped his hands together, “As I thought, Gwade is the voice inside Hana’s head, excellent. His voice will continue to stimulate and train her for the tournament in a few years.”

  Marlee stood behind him in curiosity, “Why wasn’t she trained like that earlier?”

  “I sent an order for her training out through the well, but it returned unfulfilled. It seems one or more of the gods had other plans, and now I know those plans included the old Red Mage Gwade. She has an advantage rarely bestowed on new mages, the knowledge of the old one.”

  “Anything could happen between now and the tournament,” Marlee said. “How long have you been awake, and already two mages, who were born to be mages, have changed. Why train them at all? It doesn’t seem to be worth it.

  “We must proceed as if the current mages will remain the same. Any changes will have to be dealt with one a case by case basis. This is how it all works with the Tournament of Mages, nothing is decided until the last mage is officially defeated.”

  “But, it’s unfair if you were born to be a mage and it is taken away from you!”

  “I know what happened to you was traumatic. But it must be that the mages can be killed and another take their place. It can be influenced by either politics or fate or both. It isn’t our place to question it. We are the Tourney Masters, and we have a job to do, an important job.”

  “What will happen to Hana now?” Marlee asked.