Fallen Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (20 page)

“
It appears that the warlord’s faith was misplaced,” Kellen commented dryly leaving Byrn to wonder if the dig was against his mother, him, or both of them. Deciding to be the bigger man, Byrn did not pursue the comment further.

“
So now what do we do?” he asked. “We cannot hope to fight our way out especially without my magic.”

Raising a questioning eyebrow Kellen looked Byrn squarely in the eye, “What makes you think ‘
we
’ are going to do anything together? You have made your loyalties clear and they are not with the kingdom. If all you wanted was to live your life in peace, then you know I would have supported that, but I will not turn a blind eye to what you are doing with your Collective.”

“
You’re wrong!” Byrn protested more loudly than he meant to. He continued more quietly, “That is what we want, but even something as simple as living is denied us. We fight for our freedom and nothing more.”

Kellen shook his head, “Nothing more than words. I have half a mind to turn you over to these orcs and be done with you. They do not deal with magicians as kindly as we do in Aurelia.”

Byrn grabbed Kellen’s forearm. “I need your help. My mother is here somewhere and I cannot find her on my own, not powerless like this. I would not even know how to begin,” he pleaded searching for any hint of sympathy behind the knight’s eyes.

Finally Kellen relented. “If I help you, then will you agree to come back with me willingly to Baj to answer for your crimes?”

“
You’re asking me to trade my life for my mother’s?”

“
I am,” Kellen nodded sternly. “Of course, I could continue to deplete your magic as it regenerates and drag you back to Baj
without
helping your mother.”

A minute passed as Byrn considered his decision. “It seems I have little choice,” he admitted half-heartedly.

“
Give me your runes,” demanded Kellen with an extended hand.

“
What? Why?” asked Byrn.

“
If you truly intend to give yourself up once we find your mother, then you won’t need them,” Kellen plainly told him, “Unless you were planning to betray your commitment once she is safe.”

Unable to argue with the knight’s logic, Byrn turned over the two runes he had on him. One of which would lead back to the Collective’s castle in Wolfsbane. He would have to get it back from Kellen and either use it or destroy it, but for now he had to do as Kellen asked.

Kellen put the runes in the same pouch as the rings he stole and said, “Now we wait and watch. We need to learn what the orcs are doing and see if they move any prisoners… or bodies. It is important to establish a pattern of behavior to determine a way to infiltrate them unseen and find a way to rescue any captives they me be holding.”

***

The hours passed slowly as Kellen and Byrn watched the orcs go about the city collecting supplies and leaving them in certain locations throughout the city. “See how they are massing some food stuffs near the manor and the inns where most of the orcs are staying, but most of it is being placed closer to the city’s borders? They are planning to hold Everec, but are also resupplying much of their army to move out. It looks like they are planning to go farther west probably into the dwarven mountain ranges.”

“
Why would they come through the human lands and make an enemy of us?” Byrn asked him, “Surely they could reach the Mainor Mountains by traveling through the Dread Marsh.”

“
Can’t say. I have never been into the Dread Marsh myself, but maybe they had a score to settle here first.”

***

The watch continued in silence for a few hours more and night fell over Everec. The danger of the orcs was ever present in Byrn’s mind, but another concern had been bothering him. “When will my magic return?”

At first, it seemed like Kellen would not answer, but eventually he did respond to the magician’s question. “It usually takes a day, but the stronger magicians tend to recover more quickly.”

“
How is that possible? The runes in Baj and the Kenzai I faced before could not do anything like that.”

For the first time in weeks Kellen smiled and it was the genuine smile that Byrn remembered from the first time the two men met years ago. “Well, you never faced me before,” he boasted, “I am a master of my art just as you are of yours. Like with magicians, Kenzai masters are rare, but extremely deadly. Just as a master magician can do things that an apprentice would find impossible, so can a Kenzai master wield abilities beyond our students. However, our skills are geared toward you and your kind so we are not considered dangerous to the general populace.”

“
How nice for you, not having to be locked up just because of how you were born,” Byrn said sarcastically.

“
Life is not always just,” agreed Kellen, “but we live it as best we can.”

Then the knight put a finger to his lips calling for silence. He pointed down below and Byrn leaned his head out the open window. A party of four orcs was entering the tower.

“
Now what?” asked Byrn in alarm. He held his staff with the spear end facing out. He tried to remain calm, but his hands still shook nervously. He had not fought in hand-to-hand combat since he was seventeen years old and knew little more than how to defend himself. Not to mention there was Ashura’s curse to consider…

Seeing the magician’s shaking spear, Kellen told him, “We hide and only fight as a last resort. Bringing the full force of thousands of orcs down on our hands would be a bad idea.”

“
Kellen,” Byrn began uneasily, “if it comes to a fight, I can’t do it.”

“
Nonsense, you are an able fighter,” the knight tried to reassure him, suddenly realizing that his life could be in the hands of this young man within the next few minutes. “You are just unaccustomed to fighting without magic anymore. Don’t forget I saw you take down an ogre with nothing more than a sword and bravery before you became a magician.”

“
You fail to understand,” Byrn began, but Kellen cut him off in mid-sentence.

“
They’re coming,” warned the knight hastily.

The pair scrambled for hiding places as the sound of orcs tromping their heavy boots up the tower’s stairway. Byrn hid under a small table that was pushed up against a wall. It had a dull brown tablecloth lying on top of it and over the sides. Pulling down carefully, Byrn shifted the tablecloth so that it draped farther down and hopefully would better hide him from view.

Being a bigger man by a head and wearing full plate armor, Kellen’s options to hide were far more limited making the only possible hiding place an oversized armoire that was used to hang nice dress clothes. He unstrapped his warhammer as he closed the armoire from the inside.

The sounds of searching could be heard from the level below them as the orcs haphazardly turned over chairs and opened doors before slamming them closed again. It would not take long for them to reach the room where Byrn and Kellen were hiding. Byrn silently hoped that the orc’s inspection was routine and that neither he nor Kellen had done anything to draw unwanted attention that would result in a more thorough search. They had been so careful to make sure that no one could see them from any of the tower’s open windows. No one could possibly know that they were there. Could they?

The rough chattering of orcs got louder as they clattered up the stairs. The language was incomprehensible, but sounded angry as they entered the small room. One of the orcs stopped close enough so that Byrn could have reached out and grabbed his leg. Their gruff tongue continued unabated as the orc party searched the room carelessly. For a moment Byrn thought their chaotic examination would not discover either of the humans. Then he heard the fast creek of the armoire being flung open.

The shouting grew louder and impossibly angrier as the orcs discovered Kellen. Byrn risked a glance out from his hiding spot and saw Kellen swing his hammer in a wide arc to keep the orcs at bay. His back was to the wall forcing all of the orcs to face him from the front. After a few feints and parries on both sides Kellen struck an uneasy stalemate with the orcs where they would stay out of the range of his hammer, but would not retreat any further.

Should I get involved
? Byrn wondered. He could scramble out from underneath the table… and then what? These were trained fighters and Byrn was a magician lacking any magic and who may or may not have a curse on him preventing him from killing. If he were to reveal himself now all he would accomplish would be to get killed.

Like a lightning strike, the memories of that fateful night at the school sprung to mind. It was all so vivid! Byrn conjured that great ring of fire trapping all of those Kenzai assassins within it. He could have burnt them down to the bone. He could have destroyed them all then and there, but he didn’t. Instead he held back allowing them to flee to the clearing to be dealt with by others so that he could keep his hands clean and avoid Ashura’s curse, preserving his own life.

Ten magicians died that night and deep in his heart Byrn knew he could have prevented it. He witnessed three of them die firsthand. Minnie was only fifteen years old, but she fought with all her heart and little thought for her own safety. Avelice was a mentor and a friend and she died trying to protect her students when all hope had already been lost. Turshyn was his best friend. He held on to the end, but eventually succumbed to his injuries. Byrn would have been dead too if not for Alia showing up at the last minute.

Byrn could not hold back the shout of defiance as it escaped his lips. Raw power, so great that the sudden rush was nearly overwhelming, surged through him boiling his blood and giving his body boundless strength. His fist struck the top of the table he was hiding under and it flew into the air crashing into the ceiling. Everyone stood still, or at least that was how it seemed, as Byrn leapt to his feet and, slashing his staff, struck the nearest orc in the face with the blunt head. His next strike was a low upward arching swing that brought the blade end of his staff up another orc’s leg. The second orc began to fall to one side and time started to speed up a little as it approached its normal flow.

The third orc who stood nearest Kellen lunged for Byrn, but a well-placed blow from the knight to the orc’s unguarded back sent him to the ground with a wail that was cut short as his head met the floor.

The last of the orc patrol stood between the humans and the doorway leading to the stairs. Time returned to its normal passage and Byrn felt a little dizzy from the exertion, but the final orc did not try to take advantage of the momentary lapse if he noticed. Instead he let out what sounded like a curse word and fled down the stairs shouting a single orcish word, “Magikan!”

“
Orcs don’t retreat. He is going for help!” Kellen told him.

Byrn ran after the orc moving his legs with swiftness he had never known before, but he barely noticed. His full attention was on the fleeing orc. They raced toward the bottom with Byrn gaining ground, but he would not reach his query before the orc would make it to the courtyard.

The orc burst through the tower door and yelled for all too hear. “Magikan! Magikan!” he shouted followed by a few other words in orcen.

Orcs came from all directions surrounding Byrn as he erupted from the tower. His heart was beating with such ferocity that it felt like it would rupture in his chest. The exertion- the exhilaration was nearly overwhelming!

Raising his arms and his staff high in the air, Byrn called the wind to his aid, bending the currents down from high in the sky where it blew the wildest and forced it to rush around him. At first, the orcs surrounding him found it difficult to hold their ground, then it became hard to stay on their feet. Finally after a few minutes the rushing wind became so powerful that the orcs that had come to face the master elementalist were forced to flee to the safety of buildings or risk being swept away by the wind like so much dust.

Kellen screamed something at Byrn, but he could not make out what the Kenzai was saying over the roar of the wind. Despite the swirling gale surrounding him, Byrn felt flush and his earlier fit of dizziness returned forcing him to his hands and knees.

“
We need to escape while we have the chance!” Kellen shouted over the dying gusts as they returned to their normal flow and place in the sky. Lifting Byrn, Kellen propped up the magician and held him by the waist. “Can you walk?”