Fallen Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (2 page)

Then one night I had a vision. It was of you being killed by Mantellus Firekin. As you know, Mantellus was also one of my cellmates in Baj and to this day I still do not know how he managed to escape. This part of my story you know. While I was learning to master magic, you were learning the ways of the ranger under Sari and becoming a master in your own right. The two of you were investigating the disappearance of Lady Tian Nightwind, daughter of Warlord Ethiel Nightwind, and you were captured and tortured by Mantellus. In my vision, I learned where you were taken and using a borrowed transportation rune came to the capital city, Mollifas, to rescue you.

Mantellus was a dangerous man to the weaker people he liked to prey upon, but he proved to be little trouble to defeat thanks to all my training and we took him to the king’s castle so that he could be put under the custody of the Kenzai who could effectively prevent him from using magic and return him to Baj. What happened next was completely unexpected and I still cannot fathom their reasoning. King Kale and Warlord Nightwind were so appreciative that they ignored my past and made us both nobles under the warlord’s command.

We came to Everec to serve Warlord Nightwind and find out why the orcs of the Dread Marsh have been raiding his southern mountain territories, but my friends at the magician school were dealing with a more immediate threat. This morning my sprite-friend, Lauralee, came to me and told me what has transpired at the school since I left them. Even as I write this, my friends are under attack by a large force of Kenzai assassins and they need my help. By the time you read this I will be gone and I may not survive the encounter. Kenzai are dangerous to magicians and can drain the magic from our bodies as well as weaken our spells. I expect that if I do not kill any of them in order to avoid the goddess’ curse, there will still be many among their number willing to take my life. Either way the end result will be the same for me.

If I never see you again, then I want you to know that I love you and do not wish to go, but this is something that I must do. I cannot ignore the plight of my friends and live with myself knowing there was something I could have done to help them. I hope you can forgive me for leaving like this, but do not know if I could go if I had to tell you all of this face to face.

Love Always,

Byrn

Sari took a swig of the house wine as she waited. For an elf of over sixty years of age, she was remarkably impatient. She flexed her leg muscles as she sat on the large boulder to keep her limbs from getting stiff or falling asleep.

The sky was a serene blue with barely a cloud to be seen. From her vantage point Sari could see the undisturbed splendor of the mountains for miles. Somewhere a bird chirped and the thought of the little winged creature flapping happily made her smile. “Free as a bird,” she said to no one. The picturesque scene lied out before her could not have been more peaceful. So why did she feel so uneasy sitting there alone? Sari took another swig of the wine.

Thoughts of running through the woods beyond Mollifas crept into her mind. It had not been so long ago since the last time she had hunted big game, a wolf pack that had been terrorizing chickens and their owners in some farmland a few days travel to the north, but she was already beginning to feel uneasy in the manor house since returning. Sari was raised in the Red Tree Forest with her brother-and-sister-elves, but she did not mind the cities and enjoyed the company of humans that possessed a strange dichotomy of being closed off from nature and its gifts, but possessing spirits freer than any elf she had known. Still this waiting for something to happen, waiting for word of the orcs, was maddening. Sari took another drink and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.

“
Are you planning to save any of that for the rest of us?” asked a jovial voice from behind.

Without turning, Sari answered playfully, “I was hoping to finish before the rest of you returned, Donovan.”

Donovan was a handsome and well-muscled ranger-captain who grew up in the mountains. Sari guessed that he was in his thirties from his appearance. They looked to be about the same age, but since elves tended to live twice as long as humans it meant that the man standing before her was half her age. Donovan took a few running steps and digging his right boot into an indentation in the boulder vaulted himself to the top grasping for a small handhold. Sari almost offered her hand to help him up, but stopped herself. Human men were more sensitive creatures than they appeared and many would consider it a slight to accept aid from a woman. Instead, she flashed a disarming smile at Donovan as he made his way up and sat down beside her unceremoniously. Sari offered him the bottle of wine and he took it wiping sweat from his brow.

“
Was there any sign of the orcs?” Sari asked as Donovan put the wine bottle to his lips and partook of the mildly refreshing drink.

He shook his head. “I prefer a nice beer or ale given the option.” He handed the bottle back to the elf before answering her question. “All of the scouts have reported from the west. There have been no sightings of orc raiders in the area. Have you heard from our men to the south and east?”

This time it was Sari that shook her head in the negative. “You were the first to return. I am glad to see you by the way, but I have had an uneasy feeling all morning. It is good that your men are well, but I fear for the others’ safety.”

Donovan did not know what to say to that so he just sat by Sari’s side and scanned the horizon along with her. They passed the wine back and forth for a while until it was empty, and then they simply sat together and watched the horizon in hopes of seeing the scout leaders from the south and east return.

Two weeks ago a messenger bird arrived in Everec warning of a vast orc horde heading toward Silverton. Marian wasted no time in putting the other neighboring mining towns on alert and ordering them to be ready to evacuate to Everec, where she commanded, should the reports turn out to be accurate. Up until now the orcs were only attacking the mining towns in small colonies. It was believed to be the work of small bands, but Marian feared that there was more to these attacks than appeared at first glance.

Few humans had ever had dealings with orcs and as a result did not understand their nature. Two years ago, Sari and Marian found themselves in the southwestern region of the continent investigating some reports of livestock disappearances. It was commonly believed to be the work of bandits as unknown humans had been seen skulking about the outlying farms prior to the disappearances.

Sari and Marian were hired by a local knight-lord to investigate and put a stop to the disappearances. Through circumstances that led them further outside of the human territories the pair ended up in the area called No Man’s Land. No Man’s Land, as the name implied, was a region that humans were not welcomed in and was split between the green-skinned goblins who were short in stature, but long in intelligence and the grey-skinned orcs who were war-like savages living in small communities. It was during this time that they got to know a bit of the orcs’ culture and learned that although the orcs were indeed brutish as people believed they also stuck to a very strict code of honor. Marian believed that the raiding parties were there to serve another purpose. She confided to Sari that she thought the raiders may have only been testing the region’s military might and, finding it lacking, was now becoming increasingly aggressive, but she was unsure to what end they were progressing.

Marian was determined to lead the ranger scouts in their expedition, but her advisers in Everec’s city council were in an uproar fearing that the mission would be too dangerous for their new Commanding Dame to lead the small force required for swift reconnaissance. To appease both sides, Sari volunteered to take the scouts and learn if there was any truth to the claim while Marian oversaw the emergency shelters and food stores for all of the refugees that would be on their way if her hunch was right. For more than a week the scouts headed south towards the Dread Marsh that stood between the orcs and humans searching for any sign of an orc horde. Every day they would search the nearby area and finding no sign of orc raiders moved farther south. They did this twice more and Sari secretly hoped to see Marian Lightfoot coming down the mountain behind her to take charge of the forces so recently placed under her command, but Marian never came. How could she? Sari’s former apprentice traded the freedom of the traveler for the luxuries and responsibilities of the nobility. How boring.

“
They should have been back by now,” Sari said, in an admission that was more to herself than a comment to Donovan.

“
Do you hear that?” Donovan asked suspiciously. He lied down with his belly flat on the boulder and began eyeing the tree line far below them where the soil was rich enough to grow vegetation in the low-lying areas.

Sari perked up and listened intently. “I do not hear a thing,” she said and looked to Donovan who raised an eyebrow as if the very silence itself was a question. Then the silence bore down on her like a heavy weight and she understood what Donovan meant. The birds were no longer chirping. Something had spooked them.

The elf took a laying position next to Donovan and they watched the tree line below for any sign of passage. Minutes passed without the pair seeing any sign of orcs coming and Sari was about to suggest they go down and investigate when a trio of humans emerged and began making their way toward Sari and Donovan. It was the southern squad leader, a young, but talented tracker by the name of Lechance Swiftstride, known as Chance to his friends. He struck Sari as a charming fellow, but a bit more confident in his abilities than he should have been. The men with him were members of the units under his command for this mission. Only the squad leaders were supposed to report to Sari’s position while their rangers established a perimeter. If some of his men were with him, then something must have gone wrong. Sari resisted the urge to run down the mountainside and compromise her position.

“
Reporting in, Captain,” Chance said when he reached Sari with a curt salute born of weariness rather than disrespect. They must have been running non-stop for some time. “We have spotted the orc raiders and they are more than just some bandits trying to exploit poorly protected settlements. There looked to be about four hundred orcs heading our way. Two of my men, Handy and Dagson, fell victim to their advance scouts as we withdrew. They drew the orc scouts away so we could escape unnoticed and deliver this message to you.”

“
Handy and Dagson were good lads,” Donovan said sympathetically, “They will be missed.”

“
And their sacrifice will not be in vain,” Sari added resolutely. Handy and Dagson were both sixteen years of age, barely old enough to be considered men. For ones so young to perish was truly dispiriting to the elf. She knew that her own people’s long lived nature was often envied by the other high races, because to humans, dwarves, and the other races this seemed like an advantage, but they never saw the sparsely populated lands of Raiden or the Red Tree Forest. They failed to understand that elves did not have children as often as other races and so they felt every premature death of their kinsman especially the young ones that much more deeply. “Chance, take your remaining men and head back to Everec. Tell Lady Lightfoot what you have told me so that she may prepare her men to march to battle. The city’s guards and the militia will be pressed to handle a force of that size and the smaller towns will have no choice except to retreat to Everec, so it will be paramount that she is ready for the refugees that are sure to come to Everec.

“
Donovan, return to your men positioned to the west and take them back to Everec as well. I will head east in search of the remaining scouts and will return with them.”

“
Yes, ma’am,” both squad leaders answered in near unison. Donovan looked as if he wished to add something, but instead began heading west as commanded.

Chance and his remaining men were about to do the same, but Sari stopped them. “Chance, is it possible that Handy and Dagson could have eluded their pursuers?”

“
We did not see them cut down, Captain, but I think it unlikely that they survived,” Chance admitted, “Still they were headed east-”

“
Then I will watch for them as I travel east myself,” Sari concluded. The elf worked her way down the mountainside on an eastern path. It was as Marian feared; a small army of orcs was headed towards Everec, but why? If their goal were to raze the mountainside, then the humans would be unable to stop them without reinforcements, but if the orcs marched on Everec, then the city’s military stood a fair chance at victory. Deep down Sari had a feeling gnawing at her that something was very wrong about what was happening.