Fallen Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (19 page)

Scouring the study Kellen found his armor sitting on a long table surrounded by various other items, mostly jewelry and rings of a magical nature that could be easily carried around. His warhammer was propped up in a corner.

The knight put on his padded clothing followed by his shiny plate armor and strapped the warhammer to his back. The plate fit like a second skin and for the first time in weeks he felt whole again. Kellen allowed the magical armor to absorb the energy he had taken from Tomlin further enhancing his own natural resistance to all forms of magic. He was about to leave when he turned back and scooped up several of the enchanted rings depositing them in a small pouch. “Spoils of war,” Kellen remarked. Not knowing what any of them did it would be too risky for him to use any of them, but whatever he took could not be used against him later.

The study’s door opened and Kellen looked for a place to hide; seeing none he readied his warhammer and prepared to strike as a black-robed figure entered the room. He brought the hammer down on the magician with all of his strength in a blow that should have crushed her skull, but she saw some movement in her peripheral vision and leapt back so that the weapon smashed into the stone floor instead leaving it chipped and cracked from the force of the swing.

The magician’s hood fell back to reveal Alia Necros staring at the armored warrior in her office with surprise, but not fear. “Byrn!” she yelled never taking her eyes from Kellen.

The Kenzai swung his hammer in a horizontal arc that Alia would not be able to dodge in such a confined space, but she erected a magical shield that deflected the blow although her shield shook from the combined impact and natural magic absorbing properties of the warhammer.

Instead of swinging again Kellen reached out with his free hand and pressed it against the barrier, which immediately lit up with blue flame as it ate through the shield in a matter of seconds. As the shield faded Alia began to center herself and cast another spell, but it was too late. Kellen grabbed the enchantress and drained her power with the same efficiency that he drained Tomlin.

A large gust of wind blew in from the interior door knocking both Kenzai and magician off their feet. However, unlike Alia who was knocked down flat, Kellen in his heavier and magic resistant armor was only forced to his side and was able to roll into a crouching stance.

The person standing before Kellen who had created the great wind was Byrn Lightfoot as he expected. “Stand down, Kellen,” Byrn told him firmly. The young man Kellen met four years earlier was gone and replaced by this coolly confident and deadly magician. Byrn held his hand out toward the floor and the stone moved to obey. It rose up toward Byrn and changed shape elongating and growing sharper until Byrn held a stone sword in one hand. Then flames sprang from the stone weapon combining two elements into one spell; a difficult trick for most magicians, but one that Byrn appeared to pull off with a casual effort.

“
I will ask only once more,” Byrn warned, “Stand down while you still can.”

“
What makes you think you can best me?” Kellen asked rising to his feet, weapon in hand, “We are both masters of our disciplines, but I have faced many masters like you in the decades since I first joined the Kenzai Order. How many masters of my order have you faced? I have hunted magicians since before you were born.”

Byrn’s response was in the form of an attack as he charged Kellen with his sword at the ready. It was a sloppy move and one that Kellen easily avoided sidestepping around Byrn so that he was now behind the magician.

Kellen drove the head of his warhammer into the small of Byrn’s back, but his weapon bounced off harmlessly as an invisible magical shield deflected it. How could Byrn wield so many different types of magic at once? It was nearly unheard of in modern times. Even Sane would have difficulty with such a feat and he was a master of multiple magical disciplines.

Byrn turned to face Kellen swinging his sword high and the knight ducked underneath it before giving Byrn a plated punch to the gut that once more spread the blue flame across Byrn’s barrier dissolving it as he had done with Alia’s shield. However, doing so drained much of the magical energy he had absorbed from the enchanters. He guessed he would only be able to negate one or two more spells before he would be out of energy.

The rock-fire sword glanced off of Kellen’s armor at the shoulder as Byrn slashed the weapon back across the other way. It forced Kellen off balance so that he ended up standing over Alia. He cursed himself for even considering such a dishonorable tactic even if it was to save his own life, but the knight lifted the woman off the ground and created a blue flame in one hand and held her tightly with the other. Kellen brought the flame near enough to her face to give Byrn pause to stop his attack without putting her in immediate danger.

“
You don’t want to do this,” Byrn said inching his way toward Kellen and Alia.

“
Let me go!” Alia shouted angrily trying to push her mental thoughts at the Kenzai, but with her magic temporarily robbed it was a futile effort.

“
Sorry, enchantress, but your spells will not work on me.” To Byrn he added, “I will set her free, but I need something from you first.”

Byrn looked into Alia’s stunning blue eyes made all the more brilliant by Kellen’s magical blue flame reflecting in them. In this woman he saw himself as he wanted to be: strong, decisive, and always putting the needs of others before his own and he knew in that moment that he could not stand the thought of being without her. “What do you want?” he asked.

“
Safe passage. Agree to transport me out of here and I will release her,” Kellen demanded.

“
Done,” Byrn agreed showing no signs of hesitation, “but I need a rune first. I only have a few left that survived the fire, but one is all we need. They are up in my room.”

“
Then that is where we will go. Now do me a favor and carry my warhammer for me since my hands are full.”

Byrn discarded his rock-fire sword and the weapon dissolved back into the floor from whence it came. Then he collected Kellen’s hammer and led the way slowly up to his room. They came across several other magicians on the way there including Ryonus and Levak, but Byrn told them all to leave Kellen alone so that no harm would come to Alia. However, that did not stop any of them from following at a safe distance with staves or grimoires at the ready.

When they reached Byrn’s room it did not take long for him to find an undamaged rune. He held it out for Kellen to see. “This will take us to Everec. My mother will undoubtedly treat you well during your time there and I will not be accosted when I try to leave.”

“
Turn it over,” Kellen ordered and Byrn obeyed revealing the name Everec written across the back of it in his chaotic handwriting. Satisfied, Kellen agreed to let the woman go if Byrn would take her place as his prisoner just long enough to transport them to Everec.

Byrn looked to each of the magicians that were crowding outside of his bedroom doorway, but their expressions revealed nothing. He, then, looked to Alia who told him not to agree. “He is grasping at straws,” she said ignoring the fact that Kellen held her life in his hands, “Do not let him use me as a bargaining chip,” but Byrn could not risk harm coming to her.

He placed the knight’s hammer against a cupboard nearby and said, “Very well. Take me instead.” Byrn held his arms out to his side so that Kellen could clearly see he was not up to anything.

In the briefest of moments Kellen released Alia and immediately grabbed Byrn now holding the blue flame to his face. Ryonus and Levak moved reflexively to intercept Kellen, but he grabbed Byrn too quickly. He pulled the fire master back until they were near the cupboard where Kellen ordered him to take the warhammer without making any sudden movements.

“
Now get us out of here,” Kellen ordered and a moment later they vanished into the air like they were wayward spirits.

Alia turned to Ryonus. If he expected to see sorrow or panic in her face, then he would have been surprised to see only cold determination instead. “How quickly can we get to Everec?” she asked.

Byrn and Kellen rematerialized in the magician’s tower overlooking the manor house and the city below. Kellen held onto Byrn from behind by the stomach with his left hand and held his other hand to the magician’s face still brandishing a bright blue magical flame. The heat from Kellen’s flame felt warm so near the fire master’s face, which was a surprise in itself since Byrn thought he had transcended any weakness to the elements within the last few months. He tossed Kellen’s warhammer to the floor where it let out a sharp clank, as it struck stone.

“
My part of our bargain is complete. Now release me,” Byrn told him bitterly; fueled with the discomfort of being under someone else’s control. When the knight did not loosen his grip, Byrn repeated more harshly, “Kellen, release me!”

Instead, Kellen tightened his hold on Byrn and said, “No, you will stay with me and be brought to justice for your crimes.” A sense of moral superiority could be heard clearly in the knight’s voice.

Byrn began to concentrate on his body focusing his internal energy and preparing to release it in a burst of fire. “This is how a knight of the kingdom honors his agreements?” Byrn ventured in an attempt to keep Kellen distracted from what he was really planning.

“
Our agreement was that I would release your girlfriend,” Kellen shot back, “Letting you go was never mentioned.”

“
That is how you justify your actions?” Byrn sneered.

Kellen squeezed him even more forcefully in anger. “You want to talk about justifying your actions,
knight-magician
?” Kellen spit out the title. It was ironic that the last person who called him that was Alia and she did it at that time with all of the venom that Kellen now possessed. “You- who ran off with a group of rogue magicians and broke into Baj.”

“
I can no longer support the kingdom. That was before…”

“
Before what?”

Before Lion’s Landing. Before he watched people that he loved like family die. Before he held Turshyn’s dying body in his arms even as a crossbow bolt was buried deep in his own back courtesy of a Kenzai assassin.

The magical energy he had been building was released in a fiery burst that threw Kellen away from Byrn, pressing the knight against the wall, but saving him from falling down completely.

Ready to fight, Byrn spun around to face Kellen, but the Kenzai warrior already rebounded from the attack and was charging at Byrn with his palms open and out. He grabbed Byrn’s arms and Kellen’s hands began to glow. Byrn struggled to get free of the larger man’s grip, but found Kellen’s hold to be too powerful to break. In less than a half minute, Kellen had drained the magician of all of his magic.

Knowing that Byrn was no longer a threat, Kellen released him and Byrn stumbled backward, catching hold of a nearby chair to keep from falling to the floor. Kellen retrieved his hammer from where Byrn had tossed it and was about to say something when he suddenly stopped. Something from outside the tower’s window caught his attention.

“
My goddess,” Kellen whispered. He starkly stared out the window leaving Byrn all but forgotten for the moment.

For a split second Byrn considered running while the Kenzai was distracted by whatever he was seeing outside, but curiosity got the better of him and he peered over the larger fellow’s shoulder. What he saw shook him to his core. Everec was in shambles. As far as the eye could see homes and shops were destroyed or ransacked with only a few of the larger buildings still standing, unmolested. In the distance Everec’s protective wall was little more than a mess of rocks strewn about the landscape. The main estate where Marian resided was thankfully untouched, but the grounds and much of the city where inns and other large buildings still stood were occupied by gray-skinned figures dressed in primitive garb milling about.

“
Orcs,” Kellen hissed, “What was happening in Everec when you were last here?”

A pang of guilt attacked Byrn as he looked over the destruction. Once more, he failed to be where he was most needed. Perhaps if he had been here, whatever this was never would have happened.

“
The local ranges were being plagued by bands of orc raiders when my mother and I were assigned here by Warlord Nightwind. She was to investigate and put an end to the raids and I was stationed here to help as I saw fit whenever the warlord had no need of me.”