“Good Lords, isn’t it obvious? Arran, Teoni is the green mage. She is technically your most dangerous enemy.”
“That’s absurd. I would have known. You’re jealous! I know you say you’re not but I have seen you watching us.”
Fia rolled her eyes, “Oh yes, that must be it.”
“How could I not see it?”
“She has tried to reveal herself to you a few times and I think you have ignored the signs.”
“No, are you sure you aren’t just saying this because you don’t like her? I have seen and heard you two arguing.”
Fia threw up her hands and began walking again.
“I think I would have known if she was the green mage. Besides, I didn’t see her using any magic.” He hurried to catch up with her.
“Two hells, love is actually blind!”
“Fia, I know her.”
“Like you know me?”
Arran sighed, “What are you going on about now?”
Fia took a deep breath, “What is wrong with you?”
Look at her, she thinks you are stupid!
“What are you saying? Do you think I’m stupid?” Arran asked.
Yes, that is exactly what she thinks!
“I don’t think you are stupid,” Fia said.
Liar!
“Are you lying to me?”
“Something is not right with you. That thing talking in your head has made you blind to the truth and I ‘m going to see if I can fix it once and for all!” Fia said. She began to hum a cheerful tune.
NO! don’t let her sing!
“What are you doing? Stop, don’t hum.”
Fia began to sing softly in a foreign language Arran couldn’t understand.
Stop her! She will use her voice to cast a spell over you!
Arran liked the sweet melody and then, quite suddenly, it became clear to him, Fia was the white mage, “So, that’s what you were trying to tell me. You are the white mage; you use song and dance to work your magic.” Soon, Arran could see patterns of colored light swirling above Fia’s head. “You see, I’m the white mage and now you know I speak the truth. Teoni is the green mage.” She sang, weaving the words into her melody. “Tell me now what secrets dwell inside you.”
No! Don’t let her get to you. Don’t expose me!
“I…I have the…”
Don’t you tell her!
“Shut up, I already told her about you! How could I expose you further?” He turned back to Fia, “The fire demon dwells inside my head. It has possessed me!” Arran blurted out. “I thought I had gotten rid of it when that witch Flamina tried to get into my head, but he’s back now.” Arran raised his hand and a column of fire erupted before Fia. Startled, she took a step back. It also interrupted her spellsong. The fire moved toward her as a wall of heat. She screamed and the barrier of sound from her voice hit the column of fire dissipating it.
“Sound can do that?” Arran asked, “Impressive.”
Fia whirled in a gyrating manner and tossed her head to the side, moving her hands gracefully over and then under with her fingers pointing to Arran when she was done. Arran was struck by an invisible force and he lost his balance, falling to the ground. He felt a pressure on him holding him down. She continued to weave her song in and out of a catchy melody on which she built upon. Arran was glued to the floor as Fia began to get into his head.
Arran’s eyes grew wide with fear, “Stop Fia! Don’t get into my head. This is how he possesses you. If you build a bridge between our minds he will cross into yours. Stop!”
Let her come, hahaha! The demon’s laugh was maniacal.
At the last moment, before Arran could feel Fia had entered the recesses of his mind, she listened to him and dropped the spell. Arran breathed out in relief, “Thank you, by the gods thank you for stopping.”
“It wasn’t you who stopped me,” Fia said. “I saw her coming, look.” She pointed down the road. Teoni strolled toward them. She kept dipping her head down and looking at the road with a somewhat sheepish expression.
She walked up to Arran, “Can we talk? Alone?”
Arran nodded and turned to Fia, “Do you mind?”
“Yes, I mind, but I will still give you some privacy.” Fia put some distance between her and them by walking fast up the road a ways.
Teoni absently scratched at the top of her hand, “I need to tell you something important.”
“I already know why you ran off, Fia told me,” Arran said.
“What did she tell you?” Teoni asked.
Arran thought it was a silly question because it was very likely she already knew the answer, “I know you are the green mage. You knew all along who you were and what we are to each other. It had to be your grand plan to make my training more difficult so you could have the advantage.”
“Are you listening to yourself? Have I ever stood in the way of your training since you have known me?”
It’s a trick! How would you know what she was trying to do or if it was successful?
“You must have started out with a plan,” Arran said, trying to ignore Tas’moth’s frantic words.
Teoni frowned, “I may have but it quickly changed after I got to know you. You must have believed in me at some point too or you would have sent me away.”
“I didn’t know who you were back then or I might have done just that!”
Fia watched the argument while leaning against a tree. Arran noticed Teoni kept cutting her eyes at the white mage as she spoke to him.
“What is your part in all this?” Teoni asked her finally, “You were the only one who knew I was the green mage. You were the only one who could have told him. I know you are close enough to hear us. You never really get out of earshot!” She turned back to Arran, “Why aren’t you mad at her for knowing all this time and keeping it from you?”
“Don’t try to turn your deceptions onto Fia. She was stuck in between the both of us.” Arran said.
“Unbelievable!” Teoni said.
“Hey, what you don’t know is that while you were gone, mired in your well-deserved guilt, Fia and I had it out.”
Teoni reacted with more pouting.
She only cares for herself. You should tell her to be on her way! Look at her pathetic pouting. You can’t believe anything this crybaby says!
“You know what I’ve had enough of this and I’ve had enough of you,” Arran said angrily. He wasn’t sure if he was lashing out at Teoni or telling Tas’moth but he knew it was Teoni who would get the brunt of it, “Why did you bother to come back. I think you have done enough damage. You should leave.”
“Arran, you don’t mean that, do you?”
“I certainly do, get out of here Teoni. I will see you in the tournament when you are trying to get the better of me, at the tournament when you are trying your best to hurt and defeat me. There is no other way for us to be together. How did you think this would play out? We’re opposites, enemies!” He glanced at Fia, who was smiling from ear to ear, which angered him even more, “and you watch yourself too, Fia. We may be allies but from what I understand we don’t have to be!”
Teoni opened her mouth to say something more but soon closed it instead and turned her back on him. She gathered herself up and headed east into the woods. Arran watched her go.
Good! you told her to go and off she went. You will be much better off without her.
Arran closed his eyes and began knocking his fist against the side of his head, “Shut up, shut up. Shut up!” He opened his eyes to Fia standing before him holding his fist back so he could no longer use it against his head.
“He’s still in there?”
Arran nodded. “Where would he go?”
“That’s it, our next step is to find a way to fix this. Forget going south, I think it’s time we visited the tourney master at the arena. I doubt you are supposed to have a demon possessing you when you compete in the tournament. Maybe he can help you.”
Arran nodded, “It’s worth a try.
” He looked into the woods where Teoni had gone before he followed Fia down the road. “I thought you said I needed to meet someone and you had a plan to get rid of Danton?”
“I do. We have some time before all that. It’s all in the works, don’t worry about it.”
Chapter 16 – Fortitude
Fia was unusually quiet for the next couple of days and Arran wondered why she even stuck with him. He could go to the arena by himself. He didn’t need her to show him the way or to help him. He felt grievously guilty for sending Teoni away. In his mind, he knew it was the right thing to do in spite or whether Tas’moth approved or not, but in his heart, he secretly ached for her touch. He desperately hoped he had the fortitude to listen to his head and ignore his heart. Who was Fia saying he needed to meet/ She sounded like it was urgent with at the magistrate’s office. Now she acted like it was no big deal. He would never understand the white mage.
On the third day, Arran was glad to see the high walls and glistening pillars of the arena looming up ahead. The tallest trees of the forest surrounding and penetrating the arena didn’t even reach halfway up the mighty walls of the place. It was truly a place built by the gods.
When they reached the outskirts of the forest, Fia pointed out the scampering here and there of the child-like dryads that took care of the forest, the arena, and the tourney master. They appeared to Arran to be a smaller version of human women, especially since they had many different hairstyles consisting of many different hair colors. One of them stopped them on the road leading up to the entrance to the arena. She was a blonde-haired dryad with green and brown clothing.
“State your business here.” the dryad said.
“We have come to see the tourney master,” Fia stated.
“And who are you to disturb the tourney master in his preparations?”
“I am the white mage,” Fia said, “And my traveling companion here is the blue mage.”
The dryad conveyed the information to another who ran off into the forest.
“Wait here a moment while we consult with the master.” She said.
An old man with a long, brown wooden staff stepped out of the woods onto the road ahead and the dryad stopped before she got too far, “There is no need to consult me, thank you. You may go about your business.” He said and the dryad bowed her head slightly and disappeared into the tree line. “I am Ephaltus, tourney master, at your service.” He bowed slightly with his arms outstretched to his sides.
Arran and Fia continued on to meet him in the middle, “I am Arran and this is Fia.”
Ephaltus bowed slightly again, “What may I do for you blue mage and white mage? I am at your service.”
“Do you have somewhere private where we may talk?” Arran asked.
“Why certainly,” Ephaltus said. “I hope you don’t mind if I ask my apprentice to join us? Any experience she can get is good experience, besides, your fates may depend upon her after I retire.”
Arran looked at Fia and they both shrugged, “We don’t mind.” Arran said.
“Good, good, I will send for her at once.’ He pointed at the massive gates of the arena, “This way.”
Arran marveled at the immense size of the arena and he briefly wondered what was expected of all the mages set to fight inside it. He glanced at Fia who was looking around just as wide-eyed.
Ephaltus led them into a large dark room and then into another room adjacent that Arran surmised by the rows and rows of books as being the library. Several dryads appeared and lit the lamps and then disappeared just as suddenly. Ephaltus pulled out a chair at the center table for Fia and gestured for Arran to sit opposite her.
“So, what brings you to the arena?” Ephaltus said after taking his own seat.
Before Arran could answer a young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes entered. She took a seat next to Ephaltus. Arran was speechless, she strongly resembled Teoni. Once glance at Fia and he could see she thought so too.
“This is Marlee, my apprentice. She will be the new tourney master after I retire at the end of this tournament cycle.” Marlee nodded to them both.
“I was wondering about the rules regarding the mages,” Arran said.
“What, like one mage can’t kill another before the tournament? Things like that?” Ephaltus asked. “You better be careful around the other mages. You might not be able to kill your rivals but you may, in certain circumstances, end up changing places with them instead and end up having to train all over again the in the opposite magic skill set.” He shook his head, “You wouldn’t want to do that.”
“That’s good to know,” Fia said.
“No, it’s not that. I have another potential problem.”
“Will your problem interfere with the tournament in any way or your performance in the tournament?” Ephaltus asked.
“Yes, potentially. It stems from my training using the book left behind by the blue mages of old. The book was guarded by the –”
“Fire demon.” Ephaltus finished his sentence. “Didn’t you know it was a trap? Tas’moth the demon, was put there on purpose to enter the mind and possess any blue mage trying for the book. King Thaegar wants his line to continue to rule. He has trained and prepared his son since birth.” He addressed Marlee, “You see what I have been saying now? If it’s not the gods trying to set up one of their own it’s this sort of thing.” He turned back to Arran, “Who told you of the book and the training?”
Arran began to see the pattern, “Helda, the seer witch.” He glanced at Fia, “Oh no. She tried to attack me right afterward.”
“You man, you have fallen right in to the king’s trap,” Ephaltus said.
“But Fia, you showed me where the Burning Rocks were.”
Fia shook her head, “Don’t you go blaming me. I was just told you wanted to find the Burning Rocks and I knew their location. I had nothing to do with the trap. I had no idea about any of it.”
Arran felt faint at the news, “What do I do about it now, Ephaltus? Surely, I am not able to fight in the tournament like this.”
“No, you can’t and the king knew that when he saddled you up with that demon. I’m sorry but if you came here to get help from me there’s nothing I can do about it, of course.”
Do you have any idea of what he should do.” Fia asked.
“None, The king has done his research, apparently. The only way out that I know of is to die and let another take your place, exactly as the king has planned. However, I could be wrong. I don’t know much about such things. The witches of the citadel could probably help you, but oh yes, they are gone too.” He said with a hint of sarcasm.
“There has to be a way,” Arran said. “There has to be a way to get this thing out of my head.”
Ephaltus scratched his beard, “You could try the priests down south, in Craessa. There are men in Sheth’s Cradle at the southernmost point where the borders of Craessa and Vestia meet, that claim to be able to do some pretty amazing things. They may have a remedy. But, you had better hurry. The longer you take running around looking for help, the less time you spend preparing and training for the tournament. Don’t run yourself out of time.”
“I have no choice but to try,” Arran said.
Ephaltus clapped his hands, “Well, mealtime approaches and I have had the dryads include you in the preparations. Have a bite to eat before you take off. I won’t take no for an answer.”
Arran had trouble eating. His appetite just wasn’t there but he forced himself to eat anyway. He had to keep his strength up and he didn’t know when he would have another hardy meal. His mind kept wandering about the solution to his demon problem. Tas’moth also taunted him mercilessly. Finally, after saying their goodbyes, Arran and Fia were on their way from the arena heading south.
“Why are you still with me, Fia?” Arran asked suddenly as they walked. “Shouldn’t you also be off training somewhere?”
“I am training. I have already spent my early years learning to sing and dance. When my magic b
egan to manifest, I was subjected to rituals and ceremonial dance and chanting. By the time I was fifteen, I had mastered the mundane components of my art and magic. The elders sent me out into the world to assess the enemy and ally with the blue and black mages.”
“The black mage?”
“Yes, I met the black mage before I came to the bandit camp, you know, where I met you. It was the completion of my formal training to go and find one of my allies. I found her first.”
“How? What is the black mage?”
“I have a song. It’s called the song of the underworld. You might say it leads me to places where death and destruction are at a height.”
“That’s an awful song.”
Fia shrugged, “It worked. It led me straight to the black mage. She is the master manipulator of death. We are fortunate to have her on our side. She can conjure up blood feeders and other undead creatures at will.”
“Can she manipulate demons?” Arran said hopefully.
“I don’t think so. They’re not from the realm of the dead, decay, or dying.”
“Can you find her again?” Arran asked.
“I can, easily.” She lowered her head.
“But? I feel like there is a but at the end of that sentence.”
“She’s not very friendly, hence why I chose to stay with you instead of her. When last I saw her, she was having an explosive fit about being abandoned for the second time by her mother. She was apparently new to being the black mage and not very happy about it.”
“I would like to talk to her. Can she resurrect the dead?”
“I’m sure she can but I think they are all either blood feeders of some other grotesque thing. Besides, if you are thinking what I think you are thinking, she can’t kill you. And, if someone else kills you they will become the blue mage and you might come back as some horrible monster. You still won’t be able to have a relationship with Teoni because she will be the green mage.”
“You’re right. But, if something should happen to me go find her, promise me.”
“I promise.”
Blue Mage Equinox: Book 2 of Tournament of Mages Page 8
