Fallen Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (8 page)

“
We both wanted to help our fellow magicians, but mother chose a path of nonviolence while I understood that the only way our people would be free from oppression was if we carved out our own place in the world and protected it with every weapon at our disposal.” Her eyes studied Byrn's expression closely looking for any hint of defiance, but found him difficult to read. “Knowing what I intend to do, you are honor bound as a knight of the kingdom to try and stop me. Will you do so?”

Byrn thought for a moment, “After what happened I cannot turn my back on my fellow magicians again. I thought I could help them from a position of power as a member of the nobility, but now I know better. The Kenzai have always been united against us and we must be ready to do the same to challenge them.”

Alia smiled. This time it was genuine and warm. “Spoken like a true leader. We could use more magicians like you around here. Except for the masters, most of the magicians here are younger like at my mother’s school and are still learning.

“
If you wish, you will be returned to Lion's Landing or you may use one of your few surviving transportation runes to go wherever you wish, but if you desire to make a difference for your brother-and-sister-magicians and avenge those that have been lost, then I hope you will choose to stay and fight alongside us as a member of the Collective.”

Alia rose from her seat once more and came to stand before Byrn without waiting for an answer. She reached down and unfastened the collar removing it from Byrn's neck. “I will not lie to you. It will be dangerous and you, more than any other magician, would be putting your life at risk given your... situation, but you have a taste of what the kingdom could do with those collars and your friend, Turshyn, understood the extent of our peril well. We are on the verge of a great war and the lives of every woman, man, and child with magic in their blood depends upon us.”

Four years had passed since Byrn first learned that magic literally flowed through his veins. In that time he was a prisoner, a fugitive, and a knight. Now he had a life far grander than he ever imagined possible as an apprentice courier. He was a land holding noble, or at least his mother was, and one of the most powerful magicians in all of Aurelia. For the first time in years he had his entire life ahead of him. Was he really willing to give all of that up?

The master of fire stood so that he was eye to eye with the enchantress. Her eyes were the deep blue of the ocean and as he looked into them he found himself getting lost in those eyes. He was suddenly keenly aware of her closeness and the heavy beating in his chest.

Alia stepped back and Byrn suddenly felt the connection, whatever it was, broken. “You may stay in the castle for one day. Look around; talk with the other magicians here before making a decision,” she told Byrn without turning to face him. She felt it too. Alia opened the door to her office revealing an eavesdropping Tomlin who fell into the room landing at the lady's feet.

Byrn stepped over the prone Tomlin and exited the room, but turned to speak to the enchantress once more. “I never thanked you for saving my life.”

“
Maybe you can return the favor someday, if you decide to stay.”

Tomlin got up from the floor as adeptly as he could; hoping the two master magicians would ignore his nosiness mere moments earlier. “That sounds like a ‘yes’ to me,” he said extending his hand to Byrn who awkwardly took it, “Come! Let me show you around the castle. In addition to Old Father Skynryd, the Collective boasts a wide variety of obnoxious people you just have to meet to believe.”

Tomlin dragged Byrn off almost before he knew what was happening. He looked to Alia wanting to say something more, but could not find the words. Instead she waved him off and bid him good day as the men left her office.

“
You know I was just kidding about that whole ‘take no prisoners, we might kill you’ thing, right?” Tomlin nudged Byrn in the ribs with his elbow.

“
Tomlin!” shouted a stunned Alia who was out of view as they turned a corner a moment later.

“
Let’s go this way,” Tomlin said, pointing down a seemingly random hallway. He turned to look for his master behind him, then added, “I think we should walk a little bit faster.”

The castle’s garden was cool with morning air as Byrn meditated to draw and focus the magic that flowed in his veins. He sat in the grass with his legs crossed and held a new staff in his hands. It was a plain weapon without a spear tip or decoration of any kind and it was, at the moment, decidedly not magical at all. The only thing of interest about this staff was that it was covered in light streams of the magician’s blood as his hands bled over it.

Byrn fully concentrated on the weapon as he pushed his energy into the staff, infusing it with the magic needed to make it an acceptable device to channel his energy. His old staff and grimoire were destroyed in the fight at the school; when in his grief and pain he unknowingly began to release the that dwelled within him burning everything nearby including his magical weapons and much of his clothes. It was only through the quick thinking of Alia Necros that he was stopped when she placed him under a sleep spell and rescued him from the battlefield where he would have bled to death if left to his own devices.

“
You are not accustomed to asking for help, are you?” Byrn opened his eyes to find Alia standing before him. Instead of her usual black necromancer robes, she was wearing a simple blue dress with a light brown shirt that was more typical of a laborer than a Lady. Alia seemed more relaxed than usual as she watched Byrn enchant the staff.

“
My lady?” he asked unsure of her meaning.

“
There are nearly forty magicians in The Collective with a half dozen masters of various disciplines. No one questions your ability as an elementalist, but I understand that you are not as skilled in enchanting as some of us.” Alia held out her hand for the staff and Byrn gave it freely. “Tomlin, I, or any one of a dozen others could make a far superior staff and grimoire if you were to simply ask.” She hefted the staff and seemed to sense the magic infused within. “Nevertheless, you appear to have some
small
amount of skill,” she teased.

“
Small
amount?” Byrn suppressed a smile and grabbed for his staff, but Alia pulled it away.

“
Did you know that a skilled weapon enchanter can not only infuse an item with greater amounts of energy, but can give it special properties as well?”

Byrn nodded. “Yes, based on their abilities with the other disciplines.” Melani, the senior enchantress at Avelice’s school, gave him a similar primer on the basics of enchantment when he first joined them, as did Sane before that.

Alia continued unperturbed, “But a master enchanter can also channel another magician’s own affinities into an item. Like with your natural affinity for fire we could empower your staff to be more conductive of elemental spells in general or fire spells in particular. I saw the fire circle you created at my mother’s cabin. Imagine what you could do with a properly attuned staff.”

“
That spell…” Byrn began, “It just came to me. I don’t know any other elemental masters… except Sane and he never taught me anything so advanced. I cannot guess what kind of magic lies beyond that spell.”

“
There is only one way to find out,” Alia said as she wiggled the staff at Byrn like a dog being baited with a meaty bone.

Byrn stood so that he was eye to eye with Alia, “What must I do?”

Alia produced her own short staff that was hanging from her belt and for the first time Byrn noticed the rather large pouches hanging on either side of the belt. One would hold Alia’s grimoire and the other probably held rune markers and who knows what other magical items. She held the rod high, near the simple bauble on its top. “Hold onto this below my hand,” Alia told Byrn and he did. “Now place your other hand on your staff in the same way so that we make a circle between us.” Again Byrn did as he was told and when the circle was formed Alia began chanting. A small wave of energy passed into him like a sudden jolt of lightning from his hand holding the staff and traveled through his body until it came out and traveled through Alia’s staff.

Another larger wave passed through him again, but Byrn was better prepared for it and found that he could endure its energies more easily. A third, fourth, and fifth wave passed through the magician until Byrn was lost in a constant overwhelming swirl of power and could no longer differentiate one wave from the next. He wondered if Alia, whose expression was one of deep concentration, was experiencing the same sensation and felt as lost in these waves of magic as he did.

The staff grew warmer under Byrn’s grip and the energy now coursing through him did as well. He looked to Alia who was now beginning to sweat. She was experiencing the same flow of heat as Byrn, but her body was not conditioned as his was to conduct the elements.

“
Alia?”

“
Shhh…” she whispered softly. “I am fine…” The enchantress did not want to break her concentration or her efforts would be wasted. “We are almost…” Byrn grew more concerned and was about to break the connection. “…Done.” The surge of energy abruptly ended and Byrn felt suddenly empty from the missing sensation. Alia stumbled at the sudden release of magic and fell forward into Byrn’s arms.

The magicians’ staves thumped thickly as they landed on either side of Byrn. He could smell the combination of sweat and flowers on her skin in a strange, but not unpleasant aroma.

“
Thank you, Sir Byrn,” Alia said, a bit embarrassed as she got back on her own footing.

“
Just Byrn will suffice.”

“
Nonsense,” protested Alia, “Surely you desire some recognition for all that you have accomplished. Byrn Firemas, Master of Fire, has a nice ring to it, or perhaps simply Master Byrn?”

Firemas was the title bestowed upon master of elementalism with an affinity for fire magic; to call himself that felt somehow wrong.

“
Who is to say I am truly a master?” he countered, “I have never met an elemental master save one and I never saw him wield even a tenth of the power that I imagine he is capable of, so I don’t have a fair comparison.”

“
You don’t truly believe that any more than I do. What is the real reason you shun being called a master?”

Byrn picked up his staff from the ground; he did not answer right away, but finally admitted, “I do not want to dishonor my father by refusing his name. Surely that is something you understand, Lady Necros, or are you a grandmaster of necromancy?”

“
Point taken,” Alia held her hands up in surrender, “but don’t you think your father would be proud of all you have accomplished? Embracing the future does not mean you must forget about the past.”

Tannys was proud of him. He had said as much himself that night in the garden not so long ago when he summoned his father’s spirit. “Perhaps,” was all Byrn said in response.

Byrn measured the weight of the new staff in his hands and felt a strange connection to what had only minutes ago been nothing more than a stick. It was not as if the weapon held any magical energy of its own. It felt more like he was connected to it as if the staff was an extension of his arm.

Testing the staff Byrn willed a small flame into existence at the end of his weapon and found he could maintain complete control over it with hardly any effort. He pushed the spell a little further and grew the fire that was now expanding into a ball hovering above the head of his staff. He held the ball in place for over a minute and felt only a little drain of magic. “This is amazing! It is a truly impressive weapon.”

The enchantress smiled, clearly pleased with her handiwork. “I am glad you like it,” Alia paused not sure how to continue. Eventually she just decided to ask the question that was most pressing on her mind. “Byrn, your letter mentioned escaping Baj and you happened to find your way to my mother’s school. I have to ask: did you know my father, Xander Necros?” Alia could not mask the hope in her voice.

Byrn silently chastised himself for being a fool. He knew that Avelice was Alia’s mother and assumed that Xander was her father, but somehow it never occurred to him that she would be interested to hear how he was fairing after being apart for at least a decade according to Xander’s telling.