Rogue Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (14 page)

“
I
am not a killer… At least I did not mean to kill anyone. It was all an
accident.”

“
How
so?” asked Xander. If the sorcerer, Sane, was involved there may be more to his
new friend than he thought. It was not unheard of for a newly awakened magician
to accidentally hurt or kill someone soon after discovering his or her gift,
but for the king's pet sorcerer to take a prisoner under his wing there must be
something special about this boy. Of course if magicians were not treated like
criminals and monsters simply for existing and were allowed to identify and
train the younglings openly, then this sort of thing would happen much less
often.

Byrn
told them of the night the ogres attacked and the tragedy at the temple. As he
told his story Xander saw an opportunity to ingratiate himself further into
Byrn’s good graces.

“
The
same thing happened to me long ago,” Xander told him. “For me it was a group of
bandits that attacked my village. We were a small community and the bandits
thought we were easy pickings. We fought back at first. Our numbers were
greater, but we were unorganized farmers with pitchforks and scythes against
well-armed, trained fighters. They overpowered us and killed many outright. The
rest they rounded up and planned to make an example of for daring to fight back
at all.

“
One
by one, they killed us until they came to me. I was only thirteen at the time
and the bandit tasked with ending my life hesitated for a moment before he was
to strike. I begged and pleaded for him not to kill me. Tears ran down my face
and he pushed me to my knees and made me turn around so that he did not have to
look into my face as he took my life. In that moment of despair I felt
something deep within me spring to life. I saw an image in my mind that I would
later learn was called a rune and a cold rush of energy shivered through my
body and exploded outward or at least that is how it felt. My dead comrades and
family began to rise all around me.

“
Killing
a live man is one thing, but killing one already dead is another matter
entirely. The bandits were now the ones becoming overwhelmed. Some fled
immediately and they survived to tell the tale. Most were not so lucky...

“
When
it was over and the village was saved the few survivors looked at me as if I
was a monster. They feared me and honestly, I could not blame them. I feared
myself for what I had done. Like you when I first used magic I did so by
unknowingly sacrificing innocent people drawing on the blood of the wounded and
those nearly dead. It happens often when a previously undiscovered magician
first accesses his power in a life and death circumstance. Without the
knowledge and training of an elder magician a youngling can be quite
dangerous.”

“
That
is awful. Is that why you are here?” asked Byrn.

“
No,
that was a long time ago and I never told anyone- not until now. I am here for
altogether different reasons.”

“
I
am not planning on going anywhere,” Byrn told him. Xander imagined the boy with
a wry smile.

“
Time
tends to get away from us in here, but I think it was ten or so years ago. My
son, Jynn, was murdered for being a magician. He was my eldest, twenty-six
years, when he died. Some thieves sought to recruit him. They had found out
about his magical talents and wanted his power for their own, but he would not
have any part of it. So they killed him.

“
My
eldest daughter, Risa, begged the city guards to bring justice to the thieves.
I warned her that it was a pointless task. The guardsmen did not care about our
kind, but she refused to hear me. They denied her justice and would not act
against the band of thieves. Instead they arrested Risa as a rogue magician and
called the Kenzai to get the rest of my family.

“
We
were gone by the time they arrived, but my daughter had been taken out of my
reach. I never saw her again. I hope they moved her to a domain, but she could
be somewhere in this prison for all I know.

“
Grief
overtook me following the loss of my eldest children and I determined that it
was time that magicians fought back. Most do not realize that there is a cycle
to the conflicts between magicians and normal people going back thousands of
years. Magicians rule over their lessers, but the masses rise up and overthrow
the magicians making them as slaves. In time the magicians grow stronger and
overthrow their oppressors starting the cycle anew. I decided that I could no
longer sit back idly and do nothing.

“
It
became my goal to unite the magicians of Aurelia. Whether to the end of
overthrowing the kingdom or carving out our own place away from the lessers, I
did not care. I began a resistance, but found myself unprepared to make
sacrifices of my own men when called for, forfeiting military might to protect
my followers. The kingdom crushed my small rebellion and I ended up here with a
life sentence.”

“
At
least you tried, grandmaster,” said Tell reassuringly.

“
Thank
you, Tell.”

“
I
have not heard of any magician rebellions since the great uprising and that was
long before any of us were born,” said Byrn questioning if not outright
disbelieving.

“
Do
you think the lords and ladies of the kingdom would let word of that spread?”
Xander scoffed, “No, they would squash any rumor of it with prejudice rather
than let it be known that magicians were capable of fighting back. A single
magician can be as powerful as fifty warriors. Imagine if all of the magicians
in the kingdom rose up at once. We would be unstoppable... and places like this
would be things of the past.”

Some
time passed before Byrn next spoke. It was a risk telling Byrn about his
rebellion, but he had to know. If the young one closed himself off to Xander,
then his hope of escape may be gone. If not, then he may have made a valuable
ally that would be free in less than a decade.

“
If
you had been successful what would you have changed about the kingdom?” Byrn
asked curiously.

Xander
smiled to himself. It seems he had made a new friend after all.

Byrn
Lightfoot spent the next year in intense training. Life in the prison was
incredibly dull, but teaching their youngest member gave the members of
Xander's cluster something to do. Sane taught him fundamentals while Xander and
the other prisoners explained to him more advanced techniques in secret. There
was no way for him to practice these advanced methods, but the theory and knowledge
of his cellmates allowed Byrn to make surprising advances when he could
practice with Sane. In a year's passage, he progressed as far as most pupils
would in five years.

“
When
you become a bit more skilled at manipulation you'll be able to travel great
distances in an instant,” Ryonus told him one day while discussing some of the
more advanced techniques of his chosen branch of magic.

“
A
great deal of good that has done you,” laughed Mantellus. “Why not just will
yourself right out of here?”

“
Shut
your mouth,” warned Tell. “You know full well why he can not- why none of us
can do that. Stop acting like a fool.”

“
None
of us can use magic in here,” Byrn added helpfully.

“
It
is more than that,” Ryonus explained, “while basic spells can be cast simply by
holding a staff and willing it. The truly advanced spells require more effort
and can be dangerous to the caster if done haphazardly. Some require special
rituals be performed and others require special tools. The skill of
transportation requires one such item and a little preparation.

“
With
practice moving from one place to another can become as second nature as
walking, but it requires some raw power. You would literally be removing your
body from this world and placing it in another realm of existence for an
instant. Being from this world your body will be naturally drawn back and when
it returns to our realm your body can be placed in another location.

“
The
problem lies in choosing the destination you want to return at. It is
impossible to concentrate enough to reliably control where you go when you
return so we use rune markers to choose a destination.”

“
What
is a rune marker?” asked Fredrik Thunderkin. Next to Byrn he was the youngest
and least experienced of the group.

Ryonus
audibly sighed. “A rune marker is a small piece of wood with a rune carved in
it. The caster enchants it at the location he wants to be able to return to and
the same symbol is burned into an object at that location usually a large stone
or wall. Something that cannot be easily moved and the rune cannot be easily
marred either by others or nature. That ties the rune marker to that location
and when the caster uses the spell with the rune he is drawn to that location.”

“
I
have seen some of those,” Byrn told them, “sometimes when Sane is fumbling
around with his backpack looking for something I will see him move around small
pieces of wood like that. He also told me how he could move great distances in
little time when we first met.”

“
You
should steal one,” joked Mantellus, “pop yourself right out of here during your
next training session with the old bone sack.”

Joke
or not his words made sense to the young magician. Byrn wondered if it could
really be that simple. “If I got a hold of one of those how would I activate
it?” he asked. His voice was hushed for fear that one of the guards might hear
him.

“
Are
you serious?” asked Tell. “If you try it and they stop you, you will be dead.
If you get away you will be a fugitive. The Kenzai will hunt you and if they
find you, you will still be dead. The best you could hope for is to get away
and live the rest of your life in hiding always looking over your shoulder.”

Byrn
considered his options. He could spend seven more years locked in his cell
without sunlight or fresh water and have nothing to eat except for bread and
cheese most days, or he could live his life on the run with nowhere to go and
no one to turn to for help. It was a dismal choice either way, but then Xander
said something that gave Byrn a ray of hope.

“
Have
you heard of Lion's Landing?” the grand necromancer asked. “It is a large port
city to the south of here about three week's travel. My wife, Avelice, and my
youngest daughter lived there to the last of my knowledge. If you made it there
and found Avelice, told her that I sent you, she would surely help you. She may
even be able to help you practice some of these spells we have been teaching
you.”

“
It
is a tempting idea,” Byrn conceded. The thought of freedom was too tempting not
to consider no matter what the consequences were.

“
Just
promise me something. When you have become a master magician you will remember
everything you have learned here and what it feels like to be imprisoned here,”
Xander told him sincerely. “Promise me that you will work to unite magicians of
the kingdom under one banner and bring an end to our oppression. You will find
a way to come back here and make all of the prisoners in Baj free.”

“
What
say you?” asked Ryonus to Byrn. “It is a tall task for a young magician, but if
you are going to take such a great risk, you should resolve to do something
worth while with your freedom.”

“
You
speak true, Ryonus. Teach me the spell,” said Byrn resolutely. “I will take up
your cause and do whatever I can to free the magicians of the kingdom.”

***

The
next few days until Sane's return felt like the longest ones since Byrn first
woke up in his cell. When the guard next came for him Byrn felt like a cat
about to jump out of its skin. Whether it was the same guard that took him to
his sessions or a different one each time he could never tell. Byrn never
attempted to get to know any of them and they made no such attempt with him. It
was for the best, because he feared if he did have to make any sort of small
talk he would exhibit some sort of nervous behavior and they would find him
out.

Down
the twisting halls they walked. Byrn noticed long ago that the path they took
changed regularly so that he was not quite sure that he could work his way from
his cell to the training ground on his own. He had a general idea that the training
ground was in the northeastern area of the prison from watching the sun during
training sessions, but was unsure of where his cell was relative to the
grounds.

They
reached the main hall and proceeded to the grounds where they found Sane
rummaging through his bag. “Good day, Byrn. How are you this morning?”

“
Same
as ever,” Byrn replied. He tried to sound nonchalant. Being locked in a cage
with nothing to do for days on end did not lead to any interesting stories and
at some point the response became his staple answer when asked how he was
fairing.

“
What
are you looking for?” Byrn asked a second later in an attempt to keep the
sorcerer engaged.

Without
looking up Sane told him as he continued searching through the cluttered
contents of his bag, “With the progress you are making I thought it was time we
tried something more advanced. Considering your natural affinity for fire magic
I thought we might try a fire construct.” Byrn was familiar with the idea of a
construct if not the actual practice of creating one. It was a technique most
commonly associated with the elemental arts. The more advanced spell casters
were said to have such mastery over the elements that they could make weapons
or armor from them.