Fallen Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (15 page)

She pushed him away just enough to break off the kiss, but not to end their embrace. Her piercing blue eyes stared into his. “Do you love me?” she asked heavy with emotion boiling just under the surface.

“
I do,” he said without any hesitation.

This time it was Alia that kissed him longingly. There was an unspoken promise in that kiss of desire and devotion. Finally the kiss ended, but Alia held onto Byrn’s hand and led him into her room. The door closed softly behind them.

Kellen paced back and forth in his surprisingly clean cell. As dungeon’s went, the Collective’s was the most comfortable the knight had ever seen. The renegade magicians used one of the cells as a secure space to transport into. Their leader, Alia Necros, was adamant about security and harbored a fear that one of the few magicians loyal to the kingdom might chance upon one of the Collective’s runes. If any magician were to transport into the cell, then he would find himself stuck in a cell and anti-magic runes would activate draining the magician’s energy. Of course, most magicians would have enough strength to immediately cast another transportation spell and escape, but the point was to protect the Collective more than to capture a kingdom magician. The cell was used enough that the magicians here wanted to keep the area clean.

Nevertheless, Kellen guessed a powerful enough magician could transport into that cell next to his, blast the cell door off its hinges, and rescue him. “Sane, where are you when I need you?” he exhaled deeply. His body was still tired and he hurt all over. When he jumped into Byrn it was with the intention of disrupting the transportation spell and taking the magicians captive, but Byrn managed to complete his spell and the result nearly killed Kellen and, he suspected, the pair of magicians.

The cage door rattled as Kellen shook it, testing its strength with his own. The effort made his arms feel like they were on fire forcing him to rest against the cool stone wall. He wiped the sweat from his brow and allowed his body to slide down to the cobbled floor.
I must rest and save my strength,
Kellen counseled himself.
One day the chance to escape will come and when that happens I will need all of my strength.

“
You are a big and burly fellow,” it was the one called Tomlin. He was a slippery young man able to come and go without anyone being any wiser, but Tomlin was also the only member of the Collective willing to speak to their prisoner or at least he was the only one willing to speak to Kellen who was not trying to get information from him. “Try as you might, those bars will not budge.”

“
If you return my hammer, I will show you how wrong you are,” the Kellen suggested.

“
A tempting proposal, but I think I will have to decline,” Tomlin settled into his preferred chair and stretched out leisurely.

Nearly an hour passed as they sat in silence, then Kellen decided to take a gamble on Tomlin. “You do not have to be a party to this, Tomlin. I am not your enemy,” Kellen told him in a hushed voice. Awkward seconds seemed to stretch out as Kellen waited for the magician to answer, but if Tomlin was going to say anything he was cut off when the dungeon’s door effortlessly swung open.

Tomlin was greeted by the arrival of the Collective’s masters with Xander Necros leading the way. Following closely behind were Alia, Ryonus, some other masters Kellen had not yet had the “pleasure” of meeting, and bringing up the rear was Byrn. Kellen had to hold back a biting comment at the masters’ arrival. His silence was his only weapon and his only protection against them.

The prisoner moved to the back of the cell. If any of the masters wished to enter the cell, then they would be subject to their own anti-magic runes carved into the walls and floor. The effect would not be absolute or instantaneous, but it would caution them from entering the cell to interrogate the Kenzai whose own abilities were unaffected. Kellen stood defiantly. His posture dared any of the magicians to enter his cell.

“
There is fight left in this one,” Levak let out a strong, guttural laugh that sounded amused. He stroked his red moustache that curled around his mouth and down to his chin. “I have always wanted to test my mettle hand-to-hand against a Kenzai fighter. Tomlin, be a good lad and open up this cell so I can teach this one a lesson.”

The bard looked to Alia, but she shook her head discreetly. “That is not what we are here for, Levak,” Alia’s tone was a little harsher than she intended, but the master of physical manipulation gave her a slight bow like he did not notice. Turning her attention back to their prisoner, Alia pushed her thoughts at Kellen, “You know why we are here. Tell us about Baj. How is the prison laid out? Where are the strongest magicians held?” Most enchanters, like Tomlin, had to use hypnotic suggestions to create an illusion to get their subjects to do what they asked, but Alia passed this limitation long ago. Through sheer willpower she could force someone to do whatever she wanted, but Kellen had been able to resist her efforts. He had proven to be equally as strong willed and as a master of the Kenzai Order could resist many forms of magic.

“
No!” Kellen shouted as he pushed back with his own mind fighting against the compulsion to tell Alia everything that he knew. They wanted his knowledge about the prison so they could stage another breakout, but on a far grander scale. Over two hundred of the kingdom’s most violent magicians were kept there under lock and key.

“
Tell me!” Alia shrieked like a banshee as she pushed her thoughts on the man again.

Resisting her thoughts was like standing against a raging river. Every second was like a rush of water threatening to sweep Kellen off his feet and drown him in the woman’s control. Kellen did the only thing he could. He endured and hoped the enchantress’ will would break before his own.

Alia grabbed at the bars to steady herself as she pushed harder, unwilling to admit defeat. Kellen likewise braced his own physical body in reaction to the mental contest that played out before the onlookers.

Eventually, the waves of suggestion stopped as Alia was forced to rest giving Kellen a break as well. The knight fell to one knee, but kept his mind focused in case of another mental attack.

“
Tomlin, open the cell,” commanded Xander. Again, he looked to Alia who was now leaning against Byrn. He held Alia by the waist in a way that spoke of their closeness, but no one else seemed to notice. Their attention was still on the defiant Kellen. “Do not look to her for guidance, son. Open the cell door now!” This time Tomlin did as he was told without hesitation and hastily stepped aside wishing to draw no more ire his way.

“
Good. Now, Ryonus and Levak, convince Kellen to be more… malleable.”

The two masters of physical magic entered the cell and the runes all around them flared with blue light at their approach, but neither man seemed to mind as they flanked Kellen. Taking the initiative, Kellen swung at Levak on his right and caught the man on the side of the face forcing him to the floor with the raw strength in that blow, honed from countless battles. The knight spun on his heel and raised his forearm up to deflect a swing from Ryonus on his left. Magic coursed through Ryonus’ body so that his blow was enough to push the large knight against the rear wall, but Kellen delivered a jab forcing the magician back a step.

Levak was nearly back on his feet when Kellen delivered a sound kick to his gut forcing the air out of Levak and flipping him on his back.

Kellen’s bare fists burst with blue fire and he lunged for Ryonus, grabbing at his neck. The magician choked and the blue flames rolled up Kellen’s arms as he drained Ryonus of his magic and tossed the master magician to the floor.

“”
Enough of this!” exclaimed Xander. He pointed a finger at Kellen and a dark tendril of energy shot out and lodged into the knight’s chest. Kellen groaned as he felt the very essence of his life being drained from him. Four more tendrils extended from Xander’s finger and each grabbed a limb wrapping around them like so many black snakes.

The dark tentacles lifted Kellen into the air and drew him out of the cell. Once he cleared the cage’s opening, Xander swung his arm to one side and sent Kellen sailing into a wall. “I have not tasted another’s life force in a very long time,” the grandmaster scowled at the prone warrior, “Pray that I can control myself and do not drain you dry.” He extended his other hand to Alia and touched her gently on the shoulder as he transferred Kellen’s strength into her. “Care to try again, my daughter?”

Reinvigorated, Alia stood over Kellen who was still pinned down by Xander’s tendrils. “Gladly,” she told him.

As the enchantress began her questioning again, it became too much for Byrn to handle. “Xander, stop this! You are going to kill him!” He moved to stand between Kellen and Xander, but it was the former priest, Skynryd, of all people, who stopped him.

“
Please come outside with me,” Skynryd asked placing a hand on Byrn’s shoulder. He led Byrn out of the dungeon and up a flight of stairs until they stood at a small landing. Kellen’s screams of denial as he tried to resist Alia’s mental attacks while Xander assaulted him physically continued as Skynryd tried to calm Byrn.

“
I know this is hard for you to witness,” Skynryd began, “You are not accustomed to making this kind of difficult decision. To stand and watch as another is tortured, even when it is done for the right reasons, is a very difficult thing for any man to take, but this is necessary.”

“
Let me talk to him,” Byrn begged, “Maybe I can convince him to help us. Kellen is not a fanatic like the others of his order. If he understood what we were trying to do; that we only want to make a place for magicians to live free from oppression, then he would surely help us.”

“
Remember what happened at Lion’s Landing. Think of your friends lost there. Picture their faces, and then tell me that we are going too far.” Byrn had no response for that. Skynryd added, “I do not like it either, but sometimes you have to do things that you may disagree with for the greater good.”

Tomlin approached them from the dungeon below that had gotten decidedly quiet. When he reached them, Tomlin said, “He feinted under the stress.” To Skynryd, he said, “He will probably be fine, but you may want to have a look at him. Kellen is as stubborn as a drunken mule. I think his body might break long before his spirit does.” Skynryd huffed as he made his way back down to the dungeon.

“
For what it is worth, I heard what you said to Old Skynryd and I think you are right in a way. Perhaps a friendlier approach can succeed where an aggressive one has failed.”

The first volley of boulders soared through the night sky before they came crashing down inside Everec’s walls. Clouds of dirt and stone spattered into the air from the impacts as the stones smashed into the earth, the stonework of the walls, and a few of the buildings that were too near the wall. Sane was troubled by the frailty of the walls. They were built to withstand, or more accurately deter, bandit attacks, but this kind of punishment was probably never considered when the city’s was built some hundred years earlier. A few more volleys like that and the southern wall where most of the orc host, which far outnumbered the defenders, was assembled would be in tatters in a matter of minutes.

“
Sane- the catapults!” yelled Sari from the top of the wall as she loosed arrows amidst the rest of the archers. She could have been safer firing from one of the kill windows, but Sari thought she could be of more help coordinating the men on the wall. Sane always admired her for that. No matter the danger, Sari could always be found where she thought she could do the most good.

The sorcerer made his way to the top of the staircase so he could see the catapults. Below him was a mass of orcs ranging down the gently sloping mountainside. Many of them were staying back out of bow range for now, but there were other formations rushing forward with ladders and shield bearers intent on scaling the wall. The catapults were five or six hundred feet away and would be difficult for a focused magical attack to hit. Instead Sane took aim at one of the ladders and threw balls of flame at it until it caught fire. The orcs in the middle of the ladder let go, but those in the front and rear kept running forward as if nothing was wrong. To their credit, the orc fighters were well disciplined and would not be deterred. Sane targeted several other ladder carriers and the results were the same.