The Rise of a Dark Mage

by D. L. Harrison

  Two of the doors had wards on them, the last on the right, and the one at the end. I didn’t attempt to get past them and sent the elemental on to the other side of the corridor and worked my way back. I found two more room suites that were similarly dilapidated.

  The next door I went under made my eyes open in shock, and I had double vision for a moment which was disorienting. I closed my eyes again and looked at the room, my stomach sunk in horror at what I was looking at. Forget Zual, this was truly evil.

  Three of the four walls were filled with bookcases. They were blackened, and I could see other indications there had been a large fire in the room. There were only about ten books packed into one corner. Not only do they keep their pet mages under the threat of a sword, they also highly limited their knowledge of spell craft.

  With a heavy heart, I picked up the books one at a time through the elemental, and flipped through the pages. It was all basic light magic. There wasn’t one book that was advanced, or even held a harmless ritual. I felt tears in my eyes as I dismissed the elemental. I was disappointed about not finding what I was looking for. I would not find great power here, any advanced magic I might have found here was gone long ago.

  But the tears weren’t for that, I wouldn’t give up so easily on my quest for power. It was that I couldn’t believe they’d destroyed knowledge like that. I felt anger surge in me. Even the blackest of dark mages in Zual would never destroy a book. I almost stormed out and left right that moment. They were narrow minded foolish people. I doubted even Daniel would show remorse for such a crime.

  I shook my head, because it was a little ironic. In the back of my mind I’d considered that running a kingdom like Lethia had to be a huge headache. I had wondered if maybe I could run things from behind the scenes. Kind of like a power behind the throne. That way I wouldn’t have to deal with the day to day minutia that Marie was going on about earlier, which she and her family dealt with all the time.

  It would be easy too, just a simple mind control spell. If those books were all the magic the court mages knew, it would be child’s play to take them over too.

  So ironic, because I wasn’t ready for anything like that, I wasn’t even sure I wanted that anymore. I was after power, not necessarily rule. Still, I wasn’t sure how I could stay now, even though the thought of leaving without spending more time with Daniel bothered me.

  It really shouldn’t. Not just because he was bigoted toward mages, but because I was letting thoughts of him get in the way of my goals. That didn’t change the fact that his presence made me feel warm, and wanted.

  In the end I decided to stay, mostly because I had no idea where to go next even if I did leave. Was the information lost? Did the power wait to be rediscovered? I tried to put myself in the mage’s position who’d created this magic, would I have kept all my secrets in the palace mage library? Well, I knew I wouldn’t, I’d have had a secret stash. But I was paranoid, the mages in Lethia hadn’t been, had they?

  I wondered what that mage would think of the current Lethia, and the evil that his or her achievements have caused to come to pass. Whoever it was, hadn’t thought beyond their own lifetime, or had foolishly trusted that their inventions wouldn’t be abused.

  Maybe I should examine one of the enchanted objects, recharging enchantments without a mage wasn’t the power I was looking for but maybe it would give me a clue…

  There was a knock on the door which interrupted my speculation. I wiped my eyes and checked in the mirror. A quick spell and I was refreshed, as if I hadn’t cried after getting out of the tub. I went and opened the door.

  Daniel stood there in dark blue breeches, and a fancy white tunic. He looked both really good, and odd out of his knight uniform at the same time.

  He smiled and I lost track of what I’d been thinking about.

  “I thought you might want to see the gardens before dinner? Cassandra, you look amazing in that dress.”

  I smiled and my heart skipped a beat at the way my full name rolled off his tongue. It was as if he’d caressed it.

  “I’d love to take a walk with you.”

  I slid a hand around the inside of his arm and he led me toward the gardens.

  Chapter 8

  Daniel asked, “How is your room?”

  I sighed, “Adequate I suppose,” and tried to keep my smile hidden.

  He chuckled, “Fine, dumb question. Did my sister talk your ear off?”

  I shook my head, “No. Marie was wonderful. She told me all of your secrets.”

  He snorted, “I bet.”

  Why did I enjoy teasing him so much?

  We rounded the corner and walked out through an archway. The gardens were huge and filled with blooming flowers, vines, bushes, and even small trees. It was beautiful, and I’d never seen anything like it.

  “Seriously, she’s great. A little naïve though, she thinks your wonderful.”

  He laughed, “Hey, the ego can only take so much.”

  I sighed and looked up at him, and said a little breathily, “I suppose I’m a little naïve as well.”

  The desire in his eyes as he looked down into mine took my breath away and heated my whole body. I felt both invincible, and incredibly vulnerable, as he started to lean forward. Then he stepped away when we heard footsteps coming this way. I seriously wanted to scream, and I devised several painful and drawn out deaths for the person who interrupted us.

  Who turned out to be a woman in her forties. She looked a lot like Marie. Same long curly brown hair and warm hazel eyes. Their faces were very similar as well, and I could only conclude I had just been planning regicide, since this must be the queen.

  Daniel said, “Mom, this is Cassandra. Cassie, this is Maria, my mother and the queen.”

  She smiled, “It’s nice to meet you Cassandra, you can call me Maria except at formal dinner and in the throne room.”

  I smiled, “It’s nice to meet you too.”

  Which was both the truth, and the blackest lie. It was this family that had killed countless mages, and worse, burned down a library of priceless knowledge. Yet, Daniel and his family seemed like good people otherwise. Genuinely caring people. It was a paradox. What caused them to be so… unreasonable about magic?

  The queen winked, “I’ll leave you two alone, I just wanted to meet you quick before dinner tonight.”

  She walked off, but the intense moment between Daniel and I had passed, so I took his arm and we walked around the garden and we chatted about palace life. He was trying to prepare me for the stares I would get at dinner, especially from all the women that were jealous I’d managed to take Daniel off the market, at least temporarily.

  The truth was I wasn’t worried about it at all. It couldn’t be nearly as tense as sitting down with a master and twenty apprentices that all wanted you dead or under their control.

  I couldn’t have been more wrong of course. It was worse than that. At least the enmity in Zual was honest, the ladies of the court were catty, and pretended to be nice while sharpening their blades. I was probably exaggerating, but not by much. At least the food had been good, as well as Daniel’s company.

  Marie had been welcoming too, which made me even more hated by the court hangers on.

  I courted a prince and had the ear of the princess on my first day in the city? They all scrambled for cover, figuratively speaking, as if I cared?

  As for the heir Timothy, he’d been coldly polite. Maybe he’d warm up later in a less official setting, I wasn’t sure, and honestly didn’t care that much. The only thing that really bothered me was the that the court mages clearly hadn’t been invited. I tried not to dwell on it.

  As we turned down into the guest wing my stomach came alive with butterflies. I had to admit, I hoped we’d finally get that first kiss. I’d been curious and intrigued since he’d mentioned it outside the city. In Zual I’d never been with anyone, not for lack of their trying, but I’d managed to avoid being forced into bed.

  The slow wooing
that Daniel had done over the last few weeks had accomplished what force could never do. I actually wanted him to kiss me, and probably a whole lot more than that.

  I turned to him in front of my door. I was aware he couldn’t join me, Marie had filled me in on those rules. I’d come to the conclusion that nobles in Lethia worried overly about such things as purity.

  Daniel smiled down at me and said lightly, “Good night Cassandra.”

  I shivered in pleasure. My full name on his lips had such power of me, and I was afraid to over think that too much.

  “Good night Daniel,” I said softly as I stepped a little closer.

  I heard an amused coughing sound behind me and frustration filled me.

  Marie needed to die.

  My body actually trembled in need in a way I’d never felt before, I was warm, flushed, and wanted him to… I wasn’t sure. Anything he wanted to do to me I’d imagine.

  I turned and looked at Marie.

  “What is it?” I asked her rather pointedly.

  She smirked, “I’m here to ensure your person is unsullied. Looks like I got here in the nick of time.”

  I frowned, “What’s so sullying about a kiss goodnight?”

  Daniel laughed, “Well said Cassie. Well sis? How about it? What’s so sullying about a kiss goodnight.”

  She shook her head, and then giggled, “You two are impossibly cute,” she added rather pointedly herself, “Goodnight brother.”

  Daniel sighed and gave me a look filled with heat, and then squeezed my hand in lieu of the kiss I’d wanted.

  “Night Cassie.”

  I sighed, “Night Danny.”

  He snorted, and left down the hall.

  I accused, “I don’t like you anymore.”

  She smiled apologetically, “It really is important. Political scandals aren’t a joke. Better to wait for that sort of thing when you’re dating a royal.”

  “I guess I just don’t get it.”

  She looked around the hall for a minute, “We’re held to a higher standard. We can’t have royal bastards running around. Which means we wait for marriage. Kissing probably is okay, but it’s still frowned on. Obviously it leads to other things. What’s it like?”

  I shrugged, “If you’d given us another minute I could have told you.”

  She made a chagrined face, “Sorry.”

  I sighed, “It’s fine, you probably saved me from myself anyway. You want to come in?”

  I opened the door and waited for her decision.

  She smiled gratefully and came in the room.

  One thing was for sure, if I had to wait for marriage to kiss him, then it wouldn’t ever happen. I’d hide who I was during this search for what I was looking for, but I wouldn’t do it for the rest of my life. I followed her into my room, and we sat in the small room on the couch.

  I had fun talking to Marie, but I realized she was very innocent and sheltered. Most of what we talked about was the various men in the keep, who was cute, who was a rake, and the list went on. I wondered what she thought about the way the mages were treated. She seemed innocent, but so far I’d seen no indication that anyone in Lethia thought it was wrong. I decided not to ask though, I was afraid of her answer.

  I was a dark mage who had killed and even tortured. I’ve summoned the dead, consorted with demons, and have ground my enemies to dust without the slightest trace of guilt or remorse. They’d all deserved it.

  How was it that I was the only person to see how messed up this kingdom was? Why were they so afraid of mages? Sure, I could take over the kingdom right now, go and mind control the queen. But I wouldn’t be able to do that if they had real court mages. Not as easily anyway.

  Or perhaps I couldn’t. Did the royal family retain enchanted protections as well? I decided it was possible, and even likely. Hypocrites.

  When Marie left for bed, I got to work on my plans.

  Chapter 9

  I casted another air elemental and sent it out on a search mission for magical enchantments. A lot of the magic, except for the swords, seemed to be hidden just like mine, so I specified to examine everything for glyphs. Basically, I turned the elemental into my little spy.

  Elementals were extremely fast. It wasn’t long before I knew where the spare swords were held, as well as the spare communicators, and the communication room with all the ones in use. The elemental did verify that Timothy and Daniel wore ornamental daggers with an enchantment. Based on the runes, it was a mix of protective magic and a fire elemental, though I couldn’t gauge exactly what it would do, because I could only read the glyphs, not the intent behind the glyphs.

  Marie also wore a necklace with protections, but it had extra glyphs I’d never seen before, which made me angry about the library all over again. The queen herself didn’t have any enchantments that my air elemental could find, which raised my estimation of the queen quite a bit. Obviously she gave her children a higher priority than herself.

  I wondered for a moment where the king or prince consort was. I supposed if he was killed by a mage it would explain the dichotomy of their attitudes, but I had no way to prove that. I wasn’t sure if I should ask Daniel about his father or not, but either way that would have to wait for another day.

  I dismissed my air elemental and summoned a small earth elemental with hidden magic. One small enough to fit in the walls and floors. Then I sent it to grab one of the communication pairs stored away. I hoped no one would miss it while I examined them. Something told me this was part of the power I needed. At the very least, the way the enchantments were charging themselves were why the defenses still stood in the passes to this day.

  A few minutes later, and the elemental came out of my wall, and dropped the enchanted objects on one of the dressers. I brought up a hidden magic glyph as usual, and paired it with a detect magic glyph. My spells failed, I was blind to its magic, the hidden magic glyphs were doing their job.

  I examined the communicators and found the common rune, which I didn’t recognize. It had to be the charging rune. I also identified one of the glyphs I’d never seen before until I saw Marie’s necklace. That was interesting, and meant the necklace was originally for both protection and communication.

  I didn’t think I could do more, at least, not without breaking the hidden magic rune. I thought it would be possible to do so without breaking the rest of the enchanted runes. If I could feel how the magic flowed, perhaps it would give me a clue to how it works.

  Of course, the guest wing wasn’t that far from the court mage wing, and I wasn’t sure how strong the communication enchantment was. If I broke the hidden magic glyph here, they might just feel it and come investigate. I’d also need to reinstate the glyph if I was to eventually return them to hide the fact anyone had been in there.

  The longer I kept them, the greater the risk someone would notice.

  I sighed, and hid them in a draw under some clothes, and then turned in for the night. I’d head out to the city tomorrow and do it there. I could stop by the business office as well so I’d have a valid reason for leaving the palace.

  I tossed and turned for a while, feeling conflicted about a lot of things, but sleep eventually found me…

  It’d been easier to get away than I’d expected. Both Daniel and Marie had to be in morning court, where apparently the nobles and commoners would get to ask queen for changes or help. It was an odd concept for me, if they wanted something they should do it themselves, not go and complain to who was in charge.

  Regardless, I made it out through the gates and down to the city, but the place was packed. I decided it would be just as safe out in the open, and brought up hidden magic along with the glyph to break an enchantment. It wasn’t the same as dispel magic, which wouldn’t work in this case. Dispel magic drains the magic out of spell, which for an enchantment wouldn’t work, it would only go dormant for a second.

  I put my hand in my pocket and thumbed the glyph, and casted it while I directed it down my body and out thr
ough my thumb. The magic broke. I found the glyph again on the companion piece and broke that one as well. The rest of the enchantments didn’t have a huge aura, but it was respectable enough that I was glad I waited.

  Then I casted detect magic again, this time I felt the flow of magic between the two.

  I reached in my pocket and touched one, and I could feel the flow increase as the communication enchantment started to work. Then I let go and the enchantment faded back into a quiescent state. The strange part, was I was feeling some kind of echo. It had me frustrated for a few minutes, until I realized it wasn’t an echo, but a second connection, and it wasn’t connecting them together, they were both connected to something else.

  A third piece.

  I frowned, why would there be a third piece? And where was it?

  I tried a glyph to trace the magic, but while I’d broken the hide magic glyphs on these two pieces, the third piece must still be hidden. So it didn’t work.

  I examined one of the communicators more closely and picked apart the flows more carefully. The one that linked them both went through the communication glyph. The extra link didn’t, it went to the charging glyphs.

  Which meant… what? The third connected piece was responsible for charging?

  Which was probably right, but I still had no idea where it was. Obviously somewhere well-hidden and at least I knew it wasn’t in the palace anywhere. I asked myself, if I wanted to keep charging a secret, and needed to hide a third piece, where would I put it?

  I looked to the south over the buildings in the city, and out at the mountains. Crap.

  It had to be though, right?

  I sighed, at least I figured out part of the mystery. All the artifacts, from the communicators to the swords, must be connected to another piece, one that kept it charged. But talk about finding a needle in a haystack, and no doubt the secret stash of magic was hidden from both magic and probably casual observation.

  I brought up the earth elemental glyph, and the hidden magic glyph and cast an earth elemental. Then I thumbed the hidden magic glyph on the enchanted objects in my pocket one at a time, and restored the broken enchantment. I looked around and no one was looking at me, so I dropped them on the ground.