“There will be plenty of gold to go around,” Greyson said.
“There had better be,” Master Belltar remarked.
Greyson considered killing the mage, but Master Belltar was well known for his abilities. It wasn’t worth the risk. Not when they had come so far.
All eyes suddenly turned and an eerie silence descended over the group as Drakaran General Crowl appeared seemingly out of thin air. The only sign of there being any magic used in his sudden appearance was the slight sound of crackling energy.
His red eyes stared at the men as he marched toward them, his obsidian armor somehow completely quiet. Greyson was sure the Drakaran were not of this world. They were far too powerful to move about the world with the snap of their fingers. He’d barely seen their true power and it was far more than any mage he heard of.
“The crystal,” General Crowl demanded, holding out his gauntleted hand expectantly.
Greyson kept his eyes on the General as he reached into his saddle bag and removed a cloth bundle. He unrolled it to show the crystal was there and handed it to the man nearest him.
“You bastard,” the man whispered to Greyson as he wished anyone else would go near the Drakaran. He reluctantly stepped closer to the General and handed it over.
General Crowl inspected it and nodded. “Well done. There is your reward.” He pointed toward a set of trees not too far away. “Behind the trees. And remember, we may call upon you again in the future. I expect you to answer right away. There are things set in motion in your world that will need resourceful people such as yourself.”
Chapter 10
Lance walked into the yellow robe training room in excitement. Not only was the prospect of moving up so fast in the ranks an amazing feat, but news of the Dark Ones successfully hunted down and eradicated was the revenge that helped ease some of Master Lenora’s passing. Apparently the army received a tip revealing almost all locations of the Dark Ones. Thank heavens someone saw the need for justice. Whoever it was, they were a hero in Lance’s view. If he ever found out who it was, Lance would make sure to pay a visit and thank them personally.
The new room was slightly larger than the last training room, but only just so. There were more students here than before. He had seen some of them while walking around or in the cafeteria, but Lance didn’t seem to recall any of their names.
His new Master was a tall man. His mere presence projected power. Master Lenora told Lance that he would learn a lot from this man and that he was excited to work with Lance. The Master had been sick for a few days and was only now returning to training. He cleared his throat and addressed the yellow robes.
“I am sure many of you were happy to have a break from training. I am feeling much better. We are fortunate to have several new members join your ranks while I was out. Please welcome Quincy, Charlotte, and Lance to the yellow robes.”
The thirty-five other yellow robes clapped.
“This class assumes you already have all the basics down,” he continued. “I will teach you to challenge yourself and push the limits of your now limited understanding of your own powers. We will also venture outside the palace several times to gain real world experience. You may refer to me as Master Belltar and I will not take it easy on you, especially since I am retiring soon.”
Lance was more excited to learn than the fear of the man before him. Master Lenora had seemed strict at first, but she turned out to be extremely kind and looked out for his best interests. Lance fully intended to learn everything he could from Master Belltar.
* * *
After a full day of grueling lessons, Lance made his way slowly up the tower steps and wondered the entire time why the training couldn’t be on the same floor as the rooms. Master Belltar put them through more drills than when he was with the red robes. His leg was throbbing by the time he opened the door and plopped onto his bed. Not only did the drills and training require him to stand most of the day, he had to make it back to his room. Although, admittedly it was tempting to sleep outside the training room just so he would be there already come morning. He would have thought his leg muscles would get used to the climb, but the pain only seemed to be getting worse.
Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, there was a knock on the door.
Lance moaned and rolled onto his side in order to sit up. The knocking came again.
“I’m coming!” Lance grumbled, half-asleep. He stood up and staggered to the door. Swinging it open, he was surprised to see Quincy standing there.
“What do you want?” Lance asked.
“We need to talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Lance replied. “I’ve left you alone like you asked and I’m just minding my own business. Especially with everything going on and Master Lenora’s death, you would think you would leave me alone too, at least for the time being.
“I’m not here to talk about you,” Quincy said in a low voice. “Let me in. We need to talk.”
Lance placed himself in the entrance, blocking entry. If Quincy really wanted to get in, there was no way Lance could physically stop him, even if he wasn’t so exhausted.
“I don’t trust you,” Lance stated.
Quincy nodded. “I don’t blame you. I’ve been kind of a jerk to you since you got here.”
“Then why do you want to talk to me?” Lance asked, maintaining his stance in the doorway.
“Because, oddly enough, you are one of the only people I can trust with this,” Quincy explained. “I might have been jealous of you and treated you like horse piss, but I know you tend to do the right thing.”
Lance looked at Quincy and saw an expression on his face that could be nothing but genuine. Something was clearly causing him great worry and if he came to Lance for help, that meant he was desperate.
“Okay, come in,” Lance agreed.
When they both sat on the edge of Lance’s bed, Quincy sighed. “Trust me, I didn’t want to come to you at all, but there was no other choice. I can’t exactly go to the Masters without definitive proof, and of what I don’t know exactly.”
“I’m not following,” Lance said.
“I’m saying I saw something suspicious that I’m not sure is anything wrong, so it would be a terrible move on my part to cause a commotion without there really being anything. Our new Master, Master Belltar says he was out sick, but that’s a lie. I snuck out to visit town,” he said while leaning closer to Lance. “That stays between you and me, got it? I do that sometimes. Anyway, last night I was going to visit the tavern and get a drink when a wagon started coming down the road. Since I wasn’t supposed to be out, I took to hiding in the woods. From there, I saw Master Belltar, as healthy as could be stop nearly in front of me and get out to stretch. He walked around to the back and peeked into two chests, each filled to the brim with gold. After a few moments, he rode off. I was too shocked to move for a long time. I didn’t know who to tell.”
Lance scratched his head. “You’re right. You can’t go to Master Sellius or someone else with that story. For one, you’d get in trouble for sneaking out, and for another, aside from lying about being sick, it’s your word against his. Plus faking sick isn’t exactly a crime.”
“But why all that gold? He’s got to be up to something,” Quincy asked.
“Good question,” Lance replied. “The only thing I can think of is to find out for sure where that gold went. If something is wrong, then we can go to the other Masters with real proof.”
Quincy nodded. “He did say he was retiring soon and maybe he’s sneaking gold out of the storage.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Lance advised. “Let’s meet tomorrow night and see if we can take a look. Maybe he had business to attend to and needed the time off. Point is we don’t know for sure. In the meantime, we can think about an action plan that won’t get us into trouble.”
Quincy nodded. “You’re not an idiot after all,” he said with a smirk.
* * *
General
Crowl stepped through the portal and into a clearing. Ravens fluttered out of a nearby tree, startled by his sudden appearance, and took to the sky. The short-lived, remaining magical energy crackled around him.
“Where are you?” Crowl asked, looking around for movement.
It wasn’t long before an elderly Drakaran, wearing a light cloak wrapped about her frail frame appeared from within the recesses of the trees. She stepped forward with an air of superiority despite her physical weakness. She held a staff made of bone in her gnarled hand, aiding her balance as she ambled forward with careful steps. Her skin was as pale as the moon and as wrinkled as a rhinoceros. She was ancient; older even than any of the trees around them.
“I hope you bring me good news,” the woman said. She stopped a few paces from Crowl and gave a smile, the few remaining teeth she had left sharpened like a canine.
Crowl held out the crystal and the woman’s face lit up in excitement. She waved her hand over it and closed her eyes, humming the ancient dark arts of her people. She opened her eyes with a sour expression.
“This is good, but it is only a start,” she explained. “I will need more to open a portal to our world.”
“I only know of this one,” Crowl replied. “It proved difficult to procure. Where might I find others, Mallagan?”
Mallagan closed her eyes and accessed the power of the crystal to see things a great distance away.
“I… cannot find the crystals directly,” Mallagan admitted. “Their location is shrouded in fog. There are not many of them left in this world, but there is a young man who knows of their location. It is where this crystal was found and it is he who knows where they lie. Look for the crippled in the mage tower. Find him and you will find your crystals.”
* * *
After another grueling day of training under a Master who Lance did not trust now, Lance made his way outside and into the courtyard. It was better than hiking all the stairs back to his room.
Lance was already waiting there with arms crossed.
“Took you long enough,” Quincy said. “I was starting to think you were chickening out.”
“My leg’s cramping up,” Lance replied.
“Have you thought about taking a trip to the healers at the cathedral?” Quincy asked. “They do some pretty remarkable work.”
“I don’t have the money for that sort of thing,” Lance replied. “The people there quoted me around ten gold and they said it was very unlikely it would be successful due to the severity of the damage. They thought it was a miracle I was still able to walk.”
“Well, maybe one day when you’re rich,” Quincy said.
Lance laughed. “Yeah, that will happen.”
“What is going on?” A familiar voice asked from behind them. Both men turned around to see Charlotte standing there. “Are my eyes playing tricks on me or are you guys like best friends now sharing jokes?”
Quincy sneered. “We’re not best friends. Hell, we’re not even friends.”
“Could have fooled me,” Charlotte said with a playful smile.
“We’re just talking,” Lance added.
Charlotte gave him a knowing look. “What are you guys really up to?”
Quincy and Lance looked at each other and when Quincy shrugged in indifference, Lance said, “If we tell you, you need to keep it between us.”
Charlotte’s smile disappeared. “Yeah, of course.”
Lance looked around to make sure no one was within earshot and then said, “Quincy over here thinks Master Belltar is involved in something. He caught him lying about being sick and was riding back from somewhere with chests full of gold. We were going to investigate.”
“Are you both out of your minds?” Charlotte asked. “It’s none of our business. We have no idea what jobs the higher-ups delegate and snooping where we don’t belong could get us in trouble. I don’t know about you, but I gave up saying goodbye to my dying father in order to stay here and I don’t intend to get kicked out for some silly paranoia.” Her face was flushed red by the time she was finished and both men looked at each other with uncertainty, their sails of conviction deflated considerably.
“We were just going to look around,” Lance said.
“Well, count me out,” Charlotte said and stormed off.
“Great job,” Quincy said, punching him on the shoulder.
Lance rubbed at his arm. “It was your idea. Where do you suggest looking first?”
“I was hoping you had an idea,” Quincy admitted.
Lance looked around the courtyard. “Well, we can’t exactly break into his bedroom and look around, but if he came in on a wagon like you said, he may have hid the chests in the stables. It’s worth a shot, especially if he didn’t want to risk being seen dragging the chests inside the palace.”
Quincy nodded. “You’re as dumb as a pile of rocks when it comes to women, but you make one hell of a detective.”
Chapter 11
They waited until the stable attendant left for the day after he ensured the horses had plenty of hay and water. With the extra time, Lance started to second guess their plan as Charlotte’s words of warning sank in.
“Maybe Charlotte is right,” Lance said. “Maybe we should just mind our own business.” He shifted his position. It wasn’t so easy for him to crouch down. They crouched behind a pile of barrels around the corner from the stables.
“Don’t listen to her,” Quincy replied. “She’s just being cautious. We’ll be fine. It’s not illegal to walk around.”
Lance supposed he was right. Plus, he couldn’t concentrate on his lessons with his professor there and not knowing if he was up to something wrong.
“Alright, let’s go,” Lance finally said.
The pair made their way toward the stables and entered through the side door. Several of the larger stallions looked their way and snorted or gave out low neighs.
Most of the stalls were empty. Lance suspected it was due to the fact that more patrols had been sent out after the recent attack. Everyone was on edge.
“Look!” Quincy whispered.
Lance followed where he was pointing and saw a stall with a wagon in it. The back was covered in a large canvas.
“That’s got to be it,” Quincy said.
“Hurry up,” Lance said, grabbing one end of the canvas and waiting for Quincy to help him with the other. Just before they pulled it off, the stable door opened at the far end. Lance and Quincy fell to the ground and rolled under the wagon, peering out from underneath.
It wasn’t long until they heard footsteps in the muddy ground, coming their way. If they were caught, it would be hard to explain themselves. Lance could feel his heart thumping in his chest and wished he knew a spell that would help conceal them. Trying something unknown would be too risky right now, especially with only the iron he had in his blood. He was tired enough as he was and draining his limited resources to possibly make the situation worse with a miscast spell would not be a good move.
“Stay still,” Quincy whispered harshly. “You’re squirming like a tadpole. Just stay quiet and don’t move,” he warned.
Lance tried to stay still, but the more he thought about his limbs, the more it felt like he was moving them. The person’s boots came into sight and then stopped right in front of them. It was impossible to see who they belonged to without risking being spotted.
There was a loud noise above them as if something heavy was being moved, and then the stable door opened again. A crackling sound filled the air.
“You!” An unfamiliar, commanding voice yelled. “Where is the crippled?”
The boots in front of them turned to address the newcomer and Lance recognized the voice of Master Belltar.
“I’m done with you,” Master Belltar said. “I gave you what you wanted and you paid me. We’re done here.”
“Tell me where the crippled is or I will cut out your tongue,” the newcomer replied.
“I can’t do that,” Master Belltar said. “You are
not allowed to come here and my students are off limits.”
“I don’t have time for your human games,” the other said. “I’ll find him myself.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Master Belltar asserted. “Leave here at once.”
There was a loud sound as two strong magics clashed against each other.
“You… are stronger than most…” the newcomer said over the noise of energies crashing against each other. Sparks flew and bolts of energy whizzed by their hiding place. It sounded and looked like an epic battle.
Then there was a flash of light and the struggle was over. Master Belltar fell to the ground, his eyes peering at them with shock, blood trickling out of his mouth. He mouthed the word, “Run”, and then passed away.
Quincy and Lance stared at the dead Master in shock. Whoever killed him must be terribly strong. They were too scared to move, especially with the dead body of one of the most powerful mages lying right next to them, his lifeless eyes a strong reminder of the threat.
New, armored boots appeared in front of them, black obsidian plated.
“I do not make idle threats,” the voice said.
Lance and Quincy trembled as the stranger walked off. Neither wanted to move for a very long time even after the stable door swung open and closed again.
“Who the hell is after you?” Quincy finally asked.
Lance shook his head. “The Dark Ones are gone, so this must be someone else… I think it’s time we speak with Master Sellius. I’m scared.”
“I’d be a fool if I said I wasn’t scared too,” Quincy whispered.
Underdog Mage Chronicles Page 6
