The place was dark but the sword let him no they were sleeping, i.e. not a threat. Tanner stared hard into the darkness as his eyes suddenly shifted, allowing him to see light it was almost daylight. Tanner turned around and gave the signal to stay quiet and stay put, Jorg quickly understood as he closed the tent flap and only let in the half man. The wizards were spaced out in the tent and seemed like they hadn’t a care in the world despite being in a warzone. The sword instantly let Tanner know where to strike that would not alarm or wake the others, the attack was quick and brutal, no words or cries were heard, just the sound of metal parting flesh. Suddenly the tent became too bright, Tanner turned around to see the half man walking around and looting the corpses. Tanner’s sight switched back and could see the half man barely had enough light to see by, he spent his time collecting wands and even one staff. The sword of ages was ecstatic; every time Tanner killed a wizard the sword gained more power, power it shared with him. The sword wanted to be bathed in wizard blood; its former owners hated wizards with a passion and wanted them all dead. Tanner tried to get the ugly thoughts out of his mind as he let his power drift to the other tent, instantly he felt sick.
Multiple wizards were awakened, far too many for it to be anything other than for a fight. Tanner cut a hole in the tent he was in and quickly made his way over to the other tent expanding his anti-magic field as far as he could before cutting a slash in the side of the offending tent and bursting inside. Tanner could see men in varying stages of undress as he took his first opponent in the back. The sword screamed in delight as it wanted more. Tanner slipped and cut his way until he was in the midst of them, cutting men down like wheat before a scythe. A cry went out as fire, water and wind swirled around the room. Without proper weapons and no way to attack the enemy in their mist the wizards were falling by the dozens. Suddenly men poured into the tent, cutting from all sides as Tanner canceled out all magic.
The aftermath of the fight saw all the wizards dead, not even one of Tanner’s number had been harmed. The wizards were busy trying to attack Tanner and failed to notice the enemy at their backs. The wizards were stripped of valuables, Jorg insisted whatever riches lay inside the first tent was Tanner’s entirely. Tanner went back to it, the half man had only taken wands and such. Tanner searched and found many jewels and gold and laughed, what pompous ass would take a fortune to a warzone? In the end he made off with a small sack he had acquired filled with the riches of dead men and affixed it on his back. If he could somehow get this back he would be a very rich man. Tanner went outside the tent and could see many of the prisoners were now dressed in the garb of the wizards.
“Alright Tanner” Jorg said as he gave him a once over. “You are covered in blood, there is no way you will fit in like that, maybe you should take one of the wizard robes, I can show you how to put a little hole in them so you can draw your weapon”.
“Maybe that’s best, but we only have at the most two marks before the sun starts coming out, we need to leave now” Tanner said as he heard the sounds of horses riding hard coming from the direction of the main camp.
“Shit we are in it now boys, we don’t have the weapons to fight them off” Jorg replied as he could now see riders galloping towards them.
“Maybe they are here for something different, we have gotten this far on subterfuge” the half man said. “Most of you go inside and try to act normal, there looks too many to fight anyway. With any luck we will just be taken prisoner again”.
Jorg nodded at Tanner to get inside the tent with the rest of the men. Tanner did so and let his gift wander; there were no wizards in the group and Tanner could not get a feel on their number. Tanner gripped the sword of ages and tried to feel around the tent as far as he could, in the distance he felt 12 wizards approaching from behind. They wouldn’t get here fast at the pace they were traveling, but that is not what had Tanner worried. He could tell the Wizard Zavor was amongst them and that meant trouble. The wizards with Zavor were likely instructors from his elite academy; the only wizards allowed to go were those who already had shown prowess at killing multiple people. Nullifying lesser wizards was easy; doing it to 12 of the best Tavor had to offer meant many of the men Tanner had just fought alongside of would die. Tanner was trapped and he could hear the horsemen had just arrived.
“I was sent to have you wake the wizards and follow me, the Ketians are staging a counter attack led by what has to be every wizard in Ket” the horsemen said quickly.
“You will take us to the front line, I will teach them not to mix magic with their betters” Tanner could hear the Half man say.
“You are a wizard?” Tanner could hear another soldier say.
“Why don’t you draw your weapon and find out” the half man replied. “Now if you are done get the horses ready, we will be ready in a few minutes.
“Do you want me to wake the other tent?” A solider asked.
“You will do no such thing, me and my men can handle whatever these Ketians” the half man retorted. “Get your asses out here, the Ket want to play”.
Tanner moved out of the way as the false wizards started filing out of the tent. Tanner quickly through a robe over himself and walked outside to where he could see many horses tethered together only led by a few men. Tanner quickly hopped aboard one making sure his bag of riches was still and pulled the half man to ride in front of him in the saddle.
“Show me these Ketians that want to die” the half man said as the Tavorian soldiers started cutting the tethers before they pulled away.
“Zavor is almost here” Tanner whispered to the half man. “You are still wearing his robes, he will find us out”.
“Are you scared Mage Breaker?” the half man whispered back.
“Hell yeah I am, aren’t you scared him and his goons will fry us like a pig on feast day?” Tanner replied. “Fuck, they are almost right up on us, they must have had picked up their pace”.
“Halt!” Tanner heard a loud voice behind him say. “Halt in the name of Master Zavor, head wizard of the Black Hand”.
“The Black Hand!” a Tavorian soldier riding alongside of Tanner and the half-man said.
“Yes, the Black Hand and we are looking for…..” the man never had a chance to finish as the half man in front of Tanner cut him off.
“We are in the middle of a battle, tell Zavor there will be plenty of time for chatting once the Tavorians are defeated” the Half man said careful to hide himself from view by using Tanner’s bulk.
“Who dares defies the Black Hand” The man said indignantly as Tanner could feel Zavor and his group was practically right up on him.
“Someone who holds little merit for fancy titles and puts more weight in great action” the half man said in a tone so snobbish it caught Tanner off guard. “If the Black Hand really is here then Ketian Wizards will be no problem for them to mop up and you can cry about whatever it is you came to talk about. Come men, we have wasted too much time with these fools while our camp burns” The Half Man finished as Tanner spurred the horse into a gallop.
Tanner could hear Zavor say something but the beating of hooves drowned him out as all of the false wizards followed suit. Tanner was amazed that the horses didn’t lost their footing in the dark but instead kept a steady pace. Tanner grabbed the sword of ages and although it was eager to kill, for once it held no answers as how to escape from this predicament. Tanner slowed his horse as a Tavorian soldier waved him through shouting something about the camp being breached. Tanner could see fires off in the distance as the camp was in chaos. Tanner could see many heavily armed cavalry riding towards him, in the middle of which was a greyish white haired old man who had to be Tanner’s target. Tanner could do nothing as the man stopped, gave directions not to go pass the command tent since there were many archers set up, waiting to draw the Ketians into a killing field. It was there he wanted the wizards to help out to finish them off. The general himself was retreating to the wizard tents to await the outcome.
Tanner had no choice
but to go where he directed and rode off, he could tell Zavor had to be no more than two horses away from him and to his disappointment was following the rest of the wizards. Tanner had no problem finding the place; unfortunately it made his heart fall. Archers were set up in great hiding spots, they would be impossible to hit because of their cover and concealment from the area the Ketians would be marching down. The plan was easy to see, members of the Tavorian army would break ranks and run full sprint towards where Tanner would be hiding along with the Tavorian archers, the small band of archers facing front would engage and kill off many, this would draw the Ketians in. They would gather in force and push, ignoring the enemy on the sides until it was too late, then Tanner and the rest of the wizards would be called into action to finish the job. Tanner lifted the front of his robe slightly and covered the half man with it as he rode down in a section farthest from where Zavor was. Tanner got off his horse carefully, it was a little tricky with the small wizard clutched to him but he was sure none of the Black Hand had seen him. As Tanner had got into place, he could see the Tavorians running from the battle with fire flying all around them, most of them made it, those that didn’t lay burning on the ground.
The Ketians were fast, most of their wizards were on horseback, they seemed more intent on destroying property rather than people, and they were systematically destroying the camp. Tanner could see regular soldiers were also present among his countrymen; they carried great shields that looked like it took two arms to handle. Tanner figured their job was to protect the horses while the wizards rod up high so they could inflict damage. The call went up as the decoy archers started firing into the mass, their attacks seemingly having no effect on the heavy shields. Tanner looked closely and could see the King Tazor was on the field, directing fire as he strode along.
“We need to fight” Tanner told the wizard hiding in his robes. “When I let you out, expect violence”.
Tanner lifted his robe so he could draw his sword as the half man tumbled out. The sword identified multiple targets as Tanner went to work. He cut the head clean off the archer next to him and connected with the four closest Black Hand wizards he could find. Tanner felt a surge of energy from the connection as he drained them as fast as he could while hacking away along the line. Other false wizards through their robes aside and Tanner could feel two of his connections had broken as those members were most likely surprised and then killed. The sword told Tanner to duck, he felt an arrow fly over his head. Tanner turned around to deal with his assailant and could see the half man had exploded a fireball in his face, the man wouldn’t die Tanner thought but he definitely wouldn’t be shooting arrows anytime soon. Tanner turned back around and could see the black hand wizards had figured out what was happening and started fighting back, killing at least two men directly in front of Tanner. Tanner stopped leeching magic and instead expanded his anti-magic field and took off at a dead sprint, one hand holding the sword, the other holding the half man. Tanner ran as fast as he could, to his surprise no arrows had followed. In front of him the Ketian wizards let out all manner of spells towards him, their payload dying when it got close. Tanner could see King Tazor himself let a bolt of lightning rip from his staff which also died before it could reach. Tanner ducked and rolled with the half man as arrows from the side started flying at him and was back on his feet at realization hit King Tazor’s eyes. Tanner could not hear what was being said but the Ketians stopped their advance and instead started setting up their own perimeter using the heavy shields, just outside of the ambush. Tanner ducked and dodged and could now feel spells being flung from behind him, his field no longer working on stopping the wizards from doing magic since he had ran so far. Strong spells were being directed at him, that much Tanner was sure as he stole a glance and could see ice raining from the sky along with lightning and powerful flame spouts. Tanner was happy to see he hadn’t lost everyone at least ten of the men he had killed the Tavorian wizards with were behind him. Tanner was within 20 feet of the line when the sword let him know too many arrows were coming, he was about to get shot. Tanner dodged the death dealing ones but felt intense pain as his legs were riddled with shafts. Tanner went down hard in pain, his anti magic field shrunk to its normal size as the pain made it difficult to keep it up. The half man grabbed Tanner by the back of his neck and pulled, but it was no use.
“I need to use my magic” the half man said as he pulled out his wand. Tanner shrunk the field as the half man started raining whatever spells he knew all around. The Ketians started firing on the places where the arrows had come from, although they could see no one.
Tanner got to his knees and expanded his field through great difficultly just as one of those running behind him was almost clipped by a lightning bolt. Tanner struggled to his knees as the Ketian line parted and a heavily armed figure ran into the madness. Tanner had not seen him in months, and never in this uniform but he knew his best friend when he saw him. Golden closed the distance quickly and hauled Tanner to his feet placing one of Tanner’s arms over his shoulder and took off back towards the line.
EPILOGUE
Tanner had been back in the capital for less than a day and was resting comfortably in his own bed in his own house. The riches he had taken was not the cause of it, the King was true when he said he had a place for Tanner to live, it wasn’t very big compared to the massive homes around him, but it was extremely well made in the rich section of town. King Tazor had led Tanner straight to the place, it wasn’t far from the sun palace at all, in fact there were only two homes between his and the King’s. Tazor was shocked to hear what Tanner had to say, and deduced right away one of his healers had to be the cause of the assassins. The Princess and cut herself sometime back and that must have been how her blood was taken. Tazor sent word ahead of him to reassign all of them, they would help out in the city where they couldn’t do much damage until he could determine who the culprit was.
Tanner also told the King about the sword of ages, although the sword let Tanner know in no uncertain terms it would kill anyone other than him who attempted to wield it. The wizard blood it had spilled made it a thing of destruction. King Tazor seemed infatuated with the blade but was far from a fool, he placed the blade in the center of a group of captured Tavorians and watched in awe along with Tanner as the first man picked up the blade. His eyes instantly went white and cut his own throat with the blade. This happened to two more Tavorians before they refused to touch it, saying it was cursed. The King wanted nothing to do with it after that, at least not for a weapon.
Tanner told him all about the brews the wizard Zavor had, and that the half man knew one of the recipes. The half man was kept prisoner at first, until Tanner requested his freedom by personally saying he would watch him. When the first disguise brew made and was successful, the King agreed and smiled about his fortune. It was quickly discovered only a wizard could impersonate, for normal people nothing would happen.
“Well Mage Breaker, I was wrong about you” the half man said. “My name is Stephen Day by the way. Well that is what I am calling myself instead of my given family name”.
“What name is that?” Tanner asked. “If you are going to be living here I’m not square not knowing who I took in”.
“Small” Stephen replied. “My family comes from a small town on the border of Tavor and the Kiley mountains. We are known for our trapping and furs, many of the stuff we make is around the shoulders of the noble wizard class”.
“Do you know anything about hunting?” Tanner asked.
“Hunting is not my storing point, I can make traps though with the best of them. I have caught so many rabbits that my family got tired of rabbit stew. When I was found to be a wizard I was taken to the capital. I am much better in the family business than I am being a mage”.
“Well then Stephen I aim to make you prove it” Tanner replied. “I am a Tanner by trade, I deal with hunting and tanning animal hides. I don’t really go after small game, unless it is for a special
order or I need fur for warm clothing. If you are as good as you say then we can make some real money out here”.
“Real money?” Stephen replied. “I saw all the riches you brought back, you don’t need to work ever again”.
“I won’t sit on my ass like some pompous noble” Tanner replied. “I prefer to work, besides, my soon to be will try to kill me if I stay home all the time”.
Tanner heard a knock at door, then the sound of the door opening and closing. Stephen for his part pulled out a small wand and was ready for action. When the intruder made himself known Tanner should have known only one man was so bold.
“You going to lie about all day like a pregnant woman?” Golden said with a laugh. “You know when word came back that you were killed on the battlefield I was actually inconsolable. I wrote home and my family was likewise brokenhearted. One of them was invited by her Royal Highness herself to come live in the palace. I told her to move on and find someone not so smelly but she wouldn’t hear of it”.
Tanner’s eyes widened as he struggled to his feet, Stephen providing what little help he could as Mary came into the room. Tanner had not known he could miss someone so much and hobbled over towards her as she gave him an embrace. Tanner looked down and could see tears in her eyes as she held him closer.
“I know I’m not the prettiest fellow like the blessed one over there but I didn’t know I was so ugly I made girls cry” Tanner said as he held her close. Mary looked like she was about to say something when Tanner cut her off. “I know love, I missed you too”.
Tanner heard a grunt and looked down to see Stephen staring up at him.
“Um hello” Mary said unsure how to proceed. “Hi I am Mary”.
“So you are the girl he was just going on about” Stephen replied. “I am his bodyguard, and I guess yours too”.
“Well not until he proposes properly and my mother and father are around to witness the nuptials” Mary smiled I am not that kind of girl.
The Sword of Ages: The Mage Breaker Book 1 Page 13
