The Sorcerer's Ring (Book 1)

by Julius St. Clair

  “So now that you’re here, and you’re supposed to be some Legendary Sage, that means we’re going to be okay, right?”

  “I wish,” she said solemnly as they climbed the castle steps and headed into the foyer. “But the truth is, we have no idea what Cimmerian will throw at us next. As sad it is to say, they are far more organized than we are.”

  “So we just keep facing the hordes and hope we come out on top?”

  “Until a leader emerges that can organize us efficiently, it looks that way.”

  “Weren’t you a Queen?” he asked as they navigated the halls. The way Catherine took the lead, it was apparent that she had been there many times before.

  “I was once,” she said. “But that’s old history. Why?”

  “Couldn’t you be that leader?”

  “It wouldn’t work. Paragon already has leaders. Whether they can get the job done or not remains to be seen, but they are there. Not to mention that many Dejas would rather have someone that’s also a Deja leading them.”

  “Hence why we’re the ones who wait for Paragon’s lead,” Tyuin said, coming from behind them, “and not the other way around. Catherine’s right on that account.”

  “Come to join us in interrogating the prisoner?” Catherine asked him and he sighed heavily.

  “It would appear that way. I’m unsure of what to do next. I still have 2/3 of my guard intact but I lost a dozen of my best, and all to one man. That doesn’t put me at ease.”

  “I don’t want to get your hopes up. More than likely, we won’t a learn a thing from Dominic.”

  “I realize that.”

  “Okay,” she said, ending the conversation awkwardly. Once they reached the dungeon, Catherine lifted Remi from off her shoulder. “If you don’t mind,” she said to Kace. He took Remi and held her in his arms. She was immediately embarrassed, feeling like a little kid for being passed around so frequently and easily. But she kept silent. Whatever was coming, she wanted to be involved.

  “Oh my,” Dominic said once he got used to the light. “I didn’t expect this.”

  “Hello, Dominic,” Catherine said, stepping into the dungeon. Her dark robe kept most of her from being visible, but the light in the background highlighted her curls. That alone was more than enough to reveal her identity to him.

  “Why are you here?” he demanded, as if he didn’t already know.

  “I want to ask you what Cimmerian intends to do next.”

  “I assume you already took out the army outside.”

  “If you can call it that.”

  “Then you already know what to expect.”

  “You know what I mean,” she said, folding her arms. “What are they going to send specifically? There was an eight armed man outside for example. He wasn’t an ordinary citizen of Cimmerian.”

  “I don’t decide what they throw or do not throw at you.”

  “But you let yourself be captured. There has to be a reason. You’re too proud to let it actually happen. You would rather die.”

  “If it wasn’t for the fact I would cease to exist, perhaps that’s true…and yes, I did allow myself to be captured. But only to learn more...about her.” All eyes in the room fell upon Remi as she fidgeted in Kace’s arms.

  Her?

  “What about her?” Catherine asked, not having a clue to what he was talking about.

  “I wanted to see what all the fuss was about so that’s why I’m here. I thought that I would have to get the information on her out of Tyuin alone, but then I got to meet her. That certainly changed things. And I don’t get it.”

  “What is she to Cimmerian? Other than a mark?”

  “Not just a mark. She’s one of Cimmerian’s most coveted weapons. That’s the whole reason we’re even here in the first place. Or why the waves of armies won’t stop. It’s all for her. Yes, we planned on making a move against Allay, but she was the catalyst we needed to get started.”

  “Why?” Tyuin asked. “Why is she so important? I know you’re stalling, but know that if you take too long, I’ll have to resort to torture.”

  “Please, I’m not afraid of you.”

  “Tell me, Dominic,” Catherine said. “So that we know what we’re dealing with.”

  “What do I care what happens to you?”

  “You may not…but if you don’t, we will be forced to kill you. And I know you don’t want that. I know you want your revenge against all those who hurt you, including me.”

  Dominic mulled over her words.

  “She’s one of the weapons. One of the seven sorcerers created her.”

  “What?” Remi shouted, her voice echoing off the walls. Her sudden outburst caused a tremor to reverberate down her spine, and she leaned her head back down into Kace’s arms. “Please tell me what that means,” she said. “How could I be a weapon?”

  “You really think the Seven Sorcerers would create these all-powerful weapons and just hand them over to simpletons like us? No, they are more resourceful than we think. I don’t know the reason behind it all…but I do know that the weapons Paragon and Cimmerian gained from them aren’t as game changing as we may think. A weapon is a lot like a tool. It’s only as deadly as its wielder.”

  “How do you know she’s a weapon?” Catherine scowled. “That couldn’t have been easy to figure out.”

  “We knew that the Sorcerers were playing games the moment we inspected the weapons decades ago. Paragon probably didn’t even check theirs as they have always been cautious and reverent when it comes to power, but in Cimmerian, they were immediately field tested. While they were impressive, in essence, they were no different than a Sage and its eidolon. The weapons were useful in the hands of some, and pointless in the presence of others. And so, we began an investigation. Not to find the Sorcerers because we didn’t want them to wipe us out, but to definitely see what else they were up to.”

  “And you learned that Remi was a weapon?”

  “We eventually destroyed the weapons given to us. We experimented on them, dissected them and tried to figure out how they worked down to the very last molecule. We soon found a signature of sorts within each of them. An energy signature that tied to each of the seven sorcerers respectively. It was thought that they still have a hold over the weapons because of this, and that they are able to cause them to destruct at a moment’s notice.”

  “Why would the Sorcerers do that?” Kace asked and Dominic scoffed at them.

  “Because it ensures that they’re still in control. No matter who is winning in the war, they can alter the outcome to their liking. We’re not certain how this might come into play, but I’m sure we wouldn’t find all of that out until the war is well underway.”

  “So you’re playing into their hands then,” Tyuin said. “By starting and continuing this war.”

  “No, it’s a fog to hide our true intentions,” Dominic said. “We’re secretly looking for the other weapons…just like her.”

  “They could know your plan from the beginning,” Catherine said. “They could know your true intentions just from saying it out loud at this very moment.”

  “It’s possible, but Cimmerian doesn’t think so. If they don’t know our plans, then we have an advantage. If they do know, they probably won’t intervene until a certain point. The key in that scenario is to find enough weapons to have leverage and remain unimportant, and then strike.”

  “There are others like me?” Remi asked aloud, still reeling from one of his earlier comments.

  “Seven of you. All different I’m sure, but you’re the first one we’ve found. Maybe the others discovered what they are somehow and are staying hidden. I don’t know. We’ve only started the search in the past year.”

  “How…how do you know I’m a weapon though?”

  “The signature,” he said, looking straight into her eyes. “Your eidolon…it has the exact same signature as one of the weapons given to us. You might have been born into this world, but your parents didn’t make you. We were crea
ted and then sent out. You are one of the Sorcerers’ secret weapons, and one of our greatest assets in not only winning the war, but maybe beating them at their own game.”

  “But what if I had been killed? Wouldn’t I be useless then? Why would they give me a body that’s—”

  “—that’s the point,” he interjected. “They gave you the weakest, most unintimidating body I’ve ever seen. I mean, look at you, you can’t even stand up on your own. You’re so insignificant that no one would even take the time to kill you. People pity you. You’re pathetic. Who would think that you actually matter? It wasn’t until you left your camp that we even knew that you existed.”

  “So there are six others,” Catherine said with a sigh. “Thank you for the information.”

  “I gave you nothing,” Dominic snickered. “You can’t find them without the signatures, and you won’t get that without sensitive knowledge that Cimmerian possesses.”

  “We could go to Cimmerian and get it.”

  “Yeah, good luck with that.”

  “We can find the seven.”

  “No, you can’t. They look like you and me. They’re ordinary people until they reveal their signature in some way. Just because Remi is weak, it doesn’t mean they all are.”

  “We know they were born here on Terra.”

  “You don’t know that. These are the Sorcerers we’re talking about. They could have infused it into someone or created someone for their purpose. You have no clue. And we’re still coming. All you can do is scramble for answers while staving off attack after attack from my people. Until we kill you one by one. See, that’s the beauty of all of this. If I killed you right now, I don’t have to see your hideous, aged face ever again.”

  Catherine turned away from him and looked at Remi, still in Kace’s arms.

  “We have one of the seven,” she said. “And that’s a start.”

  “Cimmerian will take her,” he said matter-of-factly. “There’s nothing you can do about that.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “You will all die trying to defend her.”

  “If it comes to that.”

  “She’s not worth it.”

  “We’ll see,” Catherine said, walking out of the room entirely. “You can shut the door if you like. I have nothing more to say to him.”

  All they heard as the dungeon door clanged shut was his laughter bouncing off the walls.

  Chapter 18 – Is She Worth It?

  “You think he’s lying?” Tyuin asked as they entered his meeting room. Catherine slapped her hands on the table and leaned into them.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Then what are we dealing with here?” Tyuin sat down in his personal chair and bowed his head as Remi and the rest piled into the room and took a seat respectively. Remi felt confident enough to walk on her own accord and so she did with confidence. It was a false bravado, but she had to do something to alleviate their minds. Dominic’s insults had stung the most, even more than her objectification.

  She had started coming to terms with her illness, but now she had to deal with the notion that she might not even be human. Not a Deja. Not a human. Nothing. Just a weapon under the control of her masters. As far as she remembered, everything about her was normal, as much as one could say it was. It’s not like she received any signs as to her origin. No mysterious person ever contacted her directly. There was no spirits watching her from the town line. No guardians in the night or visions of other worlds.

  Her life was as mundane as it could get, and that’s exactly why she left. There was nothing for her back at home. If the Sorcerer who created her wanted her to be a good little girl and stay put, then they should have made her more content. Unless…

  “I don’t think they control me,” Remi blurted out. Tyuin raised his head.

  “What do you mean?”

  “If Dominic is right, and I was made into a weapon, I don’t think my entire being was formed by the Sorcerer. My body maybe, but not who I am as a person. My personality was untouched.”

  “How does this help us?” Catherine asked, sitting on the table and examining Remi meticulously. Remi shifted her weight and cleared her throat.

  “Well…it means that they’re not all-powerful. They can’t just make a person from scratch.”

  “But how do you know you weren’t?”

  “Because of how unsatisfied I was,” she said. “My parents were horrible people. My childhood was either boring or abusive. My illness kept me from having fun or gaining friends. My future looked bleak and I had little aspirations. I had no choice but to look for a better life.”

  “Or the Sorcerer devised those conditions so that you would stay put, and they would know where you were at all times. Assuming you can be tracked of course.”

  “Even so, if they had all power over me, they would have tweaked my personality so that I was more docile when the opposite couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m not weak. I’ve wanted to run away from my camp as far back as I can remember but I didn’t have the knowledge or strength to do so. As soon as I was old enough to weigh the pros and cons of leaving, I made a decision to go.”

  “And so what does this all mean?”

  “It means that I can find the others,” Remi declared, glancing over at Kace momentarily. “At first, I wanted to find the Sorcerers in order to be the best, but I see now that’s not what I should do. I should find the other weapons like me and bring them to our side so that we can defeat Cimmerian, and in turn, remove the Sorcerers’ hold over us.”

  “We don’t know why the Sorcerers did what they did,” Tyuin said. “There might be some kind of balance involved. Not to mention that we’re still going off of the word of our enemy and a murderer.”

  “That’s why you should leave it up to me,” Remi replied, patting her chest. “I’ve got nothing to lose, and if any of the other weapons are self-aware, they might even contact me.”

  “On the contrary, you have everything to lose,” Tyuin said. “If Cimmerian was able to unlock the secrets behind the weapons that the Sorcerers gave us, who’s to say that they can’t do the same for you? They will hunt you down.”

  “And the Sorcerers will notice,” she replied. “The alternative is to either fight Cimmerian wave after wave like Dominic said, or actually be proactive with this. Paragon doesn’t have to be involved and I hold no real allegiances anyway.”

  “Any objections?” Tyuin asked Catherine, who in turn shrugged her shoulders.

  “It’s not up to us what Remi can and cannot do. But we should still be cautious about our next move. Dominic might not be lying about all this, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t holding back some of the truth. There could be more to the story.”

  “You think the Sorcerers had something to do with your illness?” Kace asked.

  Remi frowned at the floor. “I suppose. I guess it would be a way for me to stay put.”

  “There’s the possibility that they could make it worse.”

  “I’m willing to take that risk.”

  “For what though?” Kace asked, his face scrunched up in worry. “Why would you risk your life so casually?”

  “Because there’s a reason I exist,” she said, grabbing Kace’s shoulders. “I was wasting away in that camp, wondering why I was as useful as dirt. I had nothing to look forward to. Nothing to believe in or strive for, and so…I took a chance. I tried to make a life for myself in the outside world and while it didn’t pay off in the way I thought it would…I did find more than I imagined. There is a reason I exist and now I understand my purpose. I may be frail and tired and I can’t do much to help in battle…but I am important. I can make a difference, as small as it may be.”

  “But what do you think you can accomplish? Pissing off the Sorcerers, fighting Cimmerian…hoping that the other weapons will talk to you if you even find them…what are you striving for?”

  “Awesomeness,” she said, and Kace couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

  �
��Awesomeness?” he snickered, putting a hand to his mouth.

  “Yes, awesomeness,” she replied, giving him a huge smile. “The exact opposite of how I was living and who I was. Death…has never scared me, because I was sitting by its doorstep every day. So now, while I’m still breathing, I’m going to live it up. I’m going to fall in love and kill some bad guys. I’m going take down giants and learn new techniques. I’m going to see the world and make new friends and learn how to tell great jokes. I’m going to be the life of the party and the rock of the group I’ll create. That’s who I’m going to be. I’m the new and improved Remi.”

  “I can get behind that,” he laughed. “But where do I fit in all this?”

  “In my bed,” she said and Catherine and Tyuin burst out laughing.

  “Goodness,” Catherine laughed as Tyuin tried to keep himself from shaking.

  “You are certainly interesting,” Tyuin said. “That’s for sure.”

  “I’ll be with you wherever you go,” Kace promised. “As long as I can grow with you.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Us weaklings have to stick together.”

  Kace groaned. “My people would kill me if they heard that I was called a weakling.”

  “It’s okay. We get our asses kicked together.”

  “Hooray,” he said flatly. Catherine and Tyuin cracked up laughing again. The door opened suddenly and Catherine leapt from the table, rushing over to the two ladies that came in. One was a short older woman with mouse-like features and long hair. She walked in with an air of authority and even with Catherine’s outburst, she remained stoic for the most part. A smile did erupt from her lips for a second, but it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

  The other woman was young, only a little older than Remi, and she had wild, dirty blonde hair and a playful look in her eye.

  “How did it go?” Catherine asked them. The stoic one with the small eyes allowed a smirk to come upon her face.

  “Easy,” she said. “Our training has certainly helped.”