Fallen Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (28 page)

Byrn buried his head in his hands. This is utter foolishness. He was no prince. Why would a king give his son up for adoption? Then a thought occurred to him, but before he could give it voice the room’s door opened.

In one fluid motion Sari was up from her seat with her bow in hand and an arrow notched, pointed at the door. Sane entered raising one hand palm out in a universally accepted symbol that meant “peace” by showing that he was unarmed. The elf relaxed and set her weapon back on the table.

A green robed priest entered behind the sorcerer. Sane owed him an explanation for much, but Byrn dared not speak freely in front of a stranger.

“
It is good to see you up,” Sane told him as he offered the younger magician a hand off the floor. Byrn’s legs felt a little wobbly after days of inactivity and accepted his elder’s help into a seat at the small table opposite Sari. He cautioned Byrn to silence with a look and turned his attention to the priest who was aghast at the sight of the elven woman in his presence.

“
An elf,” the young priest stammered, “You are the ones the guards are looking for.” He took a step back and was about to run when Sane grabbed the bone staff off the table and placed his other hand on the priest’s arm. “Be at peace, Brother Murph. This is not the elf the guards are looking for. She is not even an elf.”

Magic passed from Sane into the priest. Byrn wondered that he could never see this before. Magic was all around them. It was in all things to one degree or another. Murph laughed as he looked at Sari again, “My pardon, dear lady. I don’t know what came over me.”

“
No worries,” Sari replied casually, “You are not the first to gaze upon my lithe frame and mistake me for one of those mysterious beauties.” Sari stretched her arms over her head in such a fashion that it accentuated her breasts causing the priest’s face to turn a deep red.

“
Yes… well,” was all he managed to get out before Sane directed him to Marian who lay on her belly. Her tunic was blood stained at the lower back and the priest lifted the shirt and gently removed the bandage. He examined the wound carefully, “Fine bandaging,” he mumbled.

“
Thank you,” said Sari, but Murph appeared not to notice with his attention fully on his patient.

“
She is lucky to be alive,” Murph told them. He lifted his staff and held it horizontally over Marian, “Blessed Mother, grant me the strength to help this woman. May your grace and love sustain her and make her whole.” Healing energies flowed from the priest into his staff and trickled over Marian falling like drops of rain. However, it was evident that Murph did not understand that the magic was coming from him and not from the goddess of life, so he was not trying to push his energy into his patient. The end result was some minor healing. This is what Skynryd meant when he would talk about healing magic not being a gift from the goddess and this was the secret to Skynryd’s awesome healing talents. He understood that priests were just another form of magic user and that healing was a discipline just like elementalism or manipulation. The healing energy started to pool around the injury and fill it. The effects were too small to see with the naked eye, but Byrn thought that he could sense the body stitching itself back together. Marian’s eyes fluttered for a moment and then opened groggily; Murph withdrew his staff and let out a sigh. “She will need another healing session soon,” he told the group and extended his hand expectantly to which Sane was prompt to put a few silvers in and make arrangements for the priest to come back in a day.

Sane was about to show Murph out when Byrn stopped to shake the priest’s hand. “I can’t imagine what it must feel like to feel the goddess’ energy pass through you,” Byrn probed.

“
It is a true blessing,” Murph told him, “to feel her serenity and pass it on to another. There is no greater peace than to feel her love.”

Once the priest was gone, Marian spoke softly, “Byrn,” was all she said as a smile covered her face before falling back into unconsciousness.

“
Lend me your staff,” Byrn told Sane. It was not a request. Sane hesitated and Byrn reminded him, “I no longer need a device to wield magic, but it would be helpful to have greater focus for what I plan.”

“
And that is…?”

“
Healing magic,” Byrn answered. The sorcerer looked shocked, and Byrn added, “When I became the fire beast I had a breakthrough in my understanding of how we use magic. I can even see the flow of magic around us when I have a mind to. I will explain later, but for now hand me the staff.” Sane handed it over with some mild misgivings. Byrn took a stance over his mother similar to the one Murph had taken. He centered his mind until he reached a state of calm and feeling of complete peace as Brother Murph had described. Then Byrn focused his energy into the staff and pushed the magic down into Marian. The prayer that Murph had spoken was not necessary. Byrn understood it for what it was. All the magic words, symbols, and artifacts were just ways for magicians to focus their minds and energies. Any spell could be cast with enough power and firm concentration.

The wound began to stitch itself back together before their eyes so that within a minute the only trace of the stabbing was a light scar. This time when Marian opened her eyes she was able to sit up as if nothing had happened. She reached at the small of her back and felt the faint scar. “Thank you,” she said to Byrn who sat on the bed beside her. “I missed you,” she added as if Byrn had been away on a trading route rather than fighting his way through Kenzai assassins and orcs since they last spoke.

He hugged her and simply said, “I missed you too,” as if that was all that needed to be said between them and maybe it was.

Sane went down to the common room of the inn to order some food for the group and came back not long after. “We have much to discuss,” he told them when he got back. “First of all, I would like to know what happened in Everec,” he said to Byrn wishing to know about the fire golem.

“
Fair enough,” Byrn agreed, “but when we are done, we will discuss my sudden status as a prince.” Sane looked surprised and glanced at Sari who nodded to that and Byrn began his story beginning with the burning at the stake.

“
I struggled against my restraints as the orcs surrounding me laughed and cheered at my impending demise,” he told them, “The fire grew higher and threatened to consume me. It licked at my boots and climbed up my pants until I was consumed.” Marian sucked in a breath unconsciously and Byrn took her hand in his before continuing, “Then something miraculous occurred and I realized I felt no pain and no heat from the flames. As my skill with fire improved over time, I had noticed that I built up a resistance to fire magic and was completely unaffected by my own spells. I also learned to control flames that were not of my own making like when I battled Mantellus and sent his own fire back at him, but it was only once I saw those flames surrounding me and knew they could do me no harm that I began to understand that they were connected to me in some unseen way.

“
The blaze raged around me, but I did not call out. The irony of the situation was that although the burning pyre would not harm me, once it died down the orcs would see that I still lived and would spear me through the chest. So I began reaching out for the fire. It was utter foolishness, because I knew nothing would happen without a staff or grimoire to focus my magic, but I did it anyway. I concentrated harder and harder and called to the flames to heed my summons with no effect. Then I heard the sounds of battle. It was you and Kellen,” he said to Sane, “fighting through the orc horde hoping to make it to me. The flames were up over my head by that point, but I could see you casting elemental spells as you tried to come for me. Then I could see the magic itself as it flowed from you and manifested in the forms of your spells. In that moment, it all came together and I understood that magic imbued the earth. It was in all things living, dead, and otherwise. All I had to do was reach out and it would answer me, nourish me, and bend to my will.

“
I drained energy from the orcs around me taking a little from each one similar to accessing the blood source, but without the risk of death to whomever is fueling the spell. Then I took power from the earth and the wind, fore they held magic too and used that power to feed the flames. They shot into the air and for a moment it felt like nothing existed except for the fire. I shaped it as I had done so long ago with the flame whip under your tutelage, but instead of a weapon I made myself a new body and willed my human one to be carried to its center. I existed in two frames of mind as both the man and the golem, but with the rushing of magic power came something unexpected: an influx of knowledge.

“
As I channeled the magic around me I became absorbed in a euphoric state of being and in that state new information that I had no way of knowing became available to me.”

“
Like my visions?” Sane asked engrossed by Byrn’s explanation.

“
Not exactly. I had no knowledge of future events as you have described them. It was more like I could see all of the possibilities in the world around me. I understood that the orcs took the city in an act of vengeance and occupied it, because they planned to amass their forces there during the winter and then strike at the dwarves in the mountains during the coming spring. I began to destroy the city so that they would be unable to use its resources, forcing them to either advance on the dwarves now with a smaller army and risk defeat or fallback to their own lands south of the marshes leaving the human lands abandoned for the winter.”

“
A wise tactic,” interjected Sari with a nod of approval.

“
Then I heard Sane call out to me and saw him through the golem’s eyes surrounded by orcs. I wrapped him in a cocoon of earth and did the same with Kellen. I could not risk accidentally killing any of the orcs and fled the city.” Byrn paused for a moment expecting someone to ask why he was unwilling to kill any orcs, but when no one did he looked to Marian.

“
Please, continue,” she told him, “We are all up to speed on Ashura’s curse.”

“
When I fought the Kenzai in Lion’s Landing I found I was able to sense them in a large area by their body heat alone, but as the golem everything I saw was through the spectrum of heat and I found I could sense things from miles away. I felt people fleeing and began heading that way, but stayed west of the woods to prevent an accidental forest fire. After some time, I found a presence traveling among the others. It was similar to a human, but distinctly different being a little cooler. Again the possibilities flashed through my mind and I guessed, rightly so, that it was the heat signature of an elf.”

“
And you figured that wherever Sari was I would be as well,” Marian concluded.

“
The two of you have been nearly inseparable for the last four years,” Byrn joked.

“
Amazing, simply amazing,” Sane sounded astounded, “How can you
see
magic?”

“
I don’t know. It just happened.” The sorcerer looked disappointed, but seemed to accept the answer.

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. Sari’s hand went to her bow once more and Sane opened the door so that whoever was on the other side would have a limited view. He thanked the barmaid with their food and took it from her before she could come inside.

The group ate hungrily especially Byrn who had not eaten anything in a week.

“
Now it is your turn,” Byrn told the sorcerer as he took a bite of pork, “why do people think I’m a prince?”

“
Prince?” asked Marian in surprise.

“
It is true,” Sane told them apologetically, “I did not figure it out until after you escaped from Baj and frankly was not sure if I should ever tell you.”

“
Then why is it coming to light now?” Byrn asked somewhere between anger and confusion.

“
Because things have gotten much worse and Prince Janus is the cause. He means to see us all enslaved or dead and when he becomes king he will be able to do just that. For magicians to survive, we need someone who will support our cause when King Kale passes away and you are the only person remotely in a position to do that.”

“
The general populace would never support a magician king,” Byrn protested.

“
They did in the past. King Fantyn was a magician. Magic runs in your family’s bloodline. How do you think the Aurels rose to power in the first place? If you promise to support the nobles, they will do the same for you. They would fear losing their status far more than they would the prospect of serving a magician king. If you offer the people assurances of safety and security instead of the distress they currently feel at the mention of magic, then I know they will back you as well.”