Rogue Magician (The Magician Rebellion) (29 page)

“
Do
you know of the Lady Tian Nightwind's disappearance?” Marian asked taking her
seat.

Gilkame
nodded, “Yes, another investigator came to see me after it happened. That was
the day my shop caught on fire. I saw the girl driven into the alley by the
fires, but that was all. I was too busy trying to save my wares.”

“
How
did the fire start?” Marian asked. Her eyes darted to the book on enchanting.

Seeing
her look, Gilkame pushed the book toward her offering Marian a look and said,
“I am investigating some revolutionary ideas in weaponry and armor. Magicians
have been placing enchantments on items as far back as anyone can remember, but
that does not mean that enchanting is strictly limited to magicians as most of
us think.” The dwarf tapped the side of his skull as if to reinforce his point
then added, “But that is not true. The Kenzai can enchant their weapons to
drain magic and I believe that it is possible for other normal people to
prepare other sorts of enchantments as well… under the right circumstances.”

“
I
am not sure I understand how someone who is not a magician can use magic,”
Marian confessed. Gilkame was about to answer, but Marian stopped him. “Perhaps
we can speak on it later, but for now I need to focus on the young Lady Tian's
abduction. Back to the fire...”

“
It
is a shame you do not wish to know more. Enchanting is a fascinating topic and
a great unexploited weapon against the plague of wizards.” Gilkame shrugged and
started stroking his beard absentmindedly. “I believed the fire was an attack
on my person before I heard about the young lady's disappearance. Truthfully, I
am not entirely convinced, even now, that I was not the target. Not all of my
projects are magician friendly.” Gilkame opened a drawer in his desk and pulled
out a pipe and tobacco patch. “Do you partake?” Marian waved off his offer and
Gilkame continued as he packed some tobacco into the pipe. “The fire must have
started by magical means, because there was nothing flammable at my booth.
Unlike my work here there is nothing dangerous for sale in my booth. It was
filled with simple gadgets and jewelry that I make a modest living on.”

“
This
massive workshop and all these guards are paid for from your little shop? I
find that hard to believe.” Marian told him, but Gilkame gave her a knowing
smile.

“
I
do have some generous benefactors, my lady, and once my inventions and theories
are made public knowledge I expect to be a very rich dwarf,” Gilkame told her
as if she should already be aware of this information.

There
was more to Gilkame Axebeard than met the eye, but so far he had done little
more than confirm her suspicions and corroborated Draker's story. “Did you see
anyone unusual around your booth prior to the fire? Anyone that seemed out of
place specifically people in positions of authority like a noble or a
guardsman?”

Gilkame
shook his head. “I see my fair share of nobles in the markets, but none that
seemed out of place,” He paused taking a puff from his pipe as he thought, “Now
that I think about it, the only thing odd was that a priest was looking at
watches, but he moved on to another booth before the Lady Nightwind’s entourage
arrived.”

Leaning
forward Marian was suddenly curious. She had not considered a priest, but that
could explain why there was no struggle. Priests were generally well regarded
and trusted in the kingdom. When she first met Sane he was disguised as a
priest. It was likely that other magicians had the same idea. “Another
merchant, Draker, showed me one of your watches. It is an interesting device.
Why would it be strange that a priest might want one?”

“
A
watch is an expensive item and priests do not have any money of their own,”
Gilkame considered, stroking his beard again. Then he added, “In fact there is
nothing at my booth that a priest would want. Beyond their mystical implements
and robes, priests have no personal belongings.”

“
Have
you ever seen that priest before?”

“
Well,
I am a devout worshiper of the goddess,” Gilkame said proudly, “He is a newer
priest. I think he has only been with the temple for a year or two. His name is
Mantellus.”

***

Once
she knew who to look for finding Priest Mantellus was fairly easy. Barely two
hours had passed since she left Gilkame's workshop and now Marian was stalking the
priest like a wolf might stalk a deer.

Tracking
a person in the middle of a large city was much different than tracking one in
the forest. In the forest a hunter can rely on tracks, trampled grass, and any
number of other miniscule clues so that the tracker can still find their prey
hours or even days later, but in the city tracking was a much different talent.
In the city keeping the target in site was key, so that even a few seconds
amongst the twists and turns of Mollifas' streets was enough to ensure that a
wary or even lucky target could lose their pursuit with minimal effort. Marian
watched the priest making seemingly endless rounds through the city as he
greeted worshipers and festivalgoers alike. The festival of Sunshillah was now
into its second day and the priests had taken to the streets to make merry with
their flock now that all of the sermons had ended.

The
sun was nearly setting as Marian, hidden amongst the growing shadows and
crowds, followed the priest leaving the crowded streets and moving into the
warehouse district. Up until that point he had played the role of sanctimonious
priest without a hint of anything peculiar about him, but as he headed farther
into the district it became clear that Priest Mantellus was hiding something.
He began to walk at a brisk pace and took to looking over his shoulder every so
often, but to one used to running over branches and leaves without making a
sound avoiding the furtive glances of a wary priest was a simple trick.

Before
long he entered a small closed down warehouse. After a few minutes when it was
apparent that the priest was not coming out Marian approached the building
cautiously making note of points of entry, as she was apt to do. The first rule
of being a ranger was to be aware of your surroundings. Sari always said,
“Knowing the battleground better than your opponent was a tremendous advantage
that could turn disaster into success.” Marian hoped that was true. She did not
relish the thought of facing a magician, especially alone.

She
opened the door to find the warehouse barren except for an office at the far
end. The faint sound of talking got louder as Marian crept next to the door
keeping out of sight of the shuddered window for fear that Mantellus might
decide to peak out of it at any moment. The ranger pulled her long dagger from
its scabbard and clutched it tightly in her hand.

“
If
you let me go, I will not tell anyone,” said a young woman's voice weakly. The
voice undoubtedly belonged to Tian Nightwind.

“
You
know that is not true as well as I do, my dear,” the priest said in an oddly
soothing tone, “Now shall we get started again?”

Tian's
screams were immediate and intense causing the ranger to jump in surprise. She
nearly cut her leg by accident, but the leather armor she wore protected her
from the glancing scratch. She knew the smart thing to do would be to find Sari
and Sane or go directly to Warlord Nightwind who would surely mobilize every
available knight at his disposal to save his only daughter. Magicians were
notoriously dangerous even to the Kenzai that watched over them and the idea of
facing one in close combat especially one as disturbed as this Mantellus
appeared to be frightened Marian greatly. Every intelligent thought in her head
told her to leave and get help, but her motherly instincts would not allow her
to abandon this young girl as she was being tortured. If Marian left for help
and returned to find Tian dead or gone, she would never be able to forgive
herself.

She
listened intently for the sound of Mantellus’ voice over the girl's shrieks of
pain. It seemed like the torture went on for a long time, but the ranger
guessed it was probably only a few minutes before Tian's voice gave out.

“
Done
screaming already?” Mantellus asked his voice thick with condescension, “I expected
more from you. Your will is all but broken and things are only just getting
interesting.”

Marian
tested the doorknob and found it unlocked. Swinging the door open she sprang in
the direction of Mantellus' voice and was halfway into a thrust before she
fully saw him. Her body crashed into his with the force of a grizzly bear and
just as much ferocity. The blade of her dagger bit into his fleshy belly
spitting blood over her finely crafted leather gloves.

The
crazed magician gasped in air as if he was a fish pulled from a river. Marian
twisted the dagger in his gut forcing the killer to scream just as much from
anger than true pain. Mantellus' free hand grabbed at his assailant while the
other held his staff with a death grip until it found the ranger's throat and
he began to squeeze. Marian's throat felt hot under the magician's grip as it
quickly tightened causing her vision to go dark for a few seconds and her grip
lightened. Knowing that she was about to faint, the ranger forced herself back
to full consciousness and delivered a kick to the priests groin causing him to
lose his grip and forced both combatants to fall to the floor.

The
bed shook frantically as Tian tried to free herself by feverishly twisting her
wrists against the ropes with such intensity that she rubbed her wrists to the
point where they began to bleed. Her feet kicked at the priest's head just
inches out of reach. Tian watched in horror as the priest pulled the knife free
and tossed it away focusing his malevolent stare on Marian Lightfoot.

Marian
got into a crouching position and pulled her hunting knife from her belt. It
was not as sharp or well balanced as her dagger, but could still kill a man
when needed. She lunged once more at the prone magician this time aiming for
his heart, but Mantellus raised his hand as if he was going to tell her to stop
and a wave of flames shot from his palm throwing her against the wall and
smacking her head with an audible thwack.

***

Mantellus
sat on the floor panting for a minute waiting to see if his attacker would
rise. When she did not he set about mending his wounds by turning his mental
focus inward, soothing the pain screaming in his head and repairing the damaged
flesh. It was long believed that magicians could not use the healing arts and
therefore anyone that could heal was not a magician, but as Mantellus learned
years ago when his tired and broken body was dragged into the temple of Ashura
he was living proof that this was a lie. It was just one more way that the
kingdom used magicians to their own ends and discarded them when they became...
inconvenient.

Several
minutes passed before the magical knitting of torn flesh was complete. Still
not strong enough, to stand Mantellus crawled until he was sitting next to the
body of the woman who attacked him. Her neck was badly burned and her head was
bleeding. There would no doubt be a nasty bump, but she lived at least for the
moment.

Smiling
at Tian wickedly Mantellus said, “We will need another bed for our new friend,
Tian.” The young woman began to cry hysterically at having her chance at
salvation dashed. “Do not be sad, child. It looks like you are going to get a
break for a while. I have a new toy now- at least for a while.”

The
spirit of Tannys Lightfoot raged at Priest Mantellus. He could sense the death
and pain coming off of this man echoing all of the wrong he had done in his
life. Tannys reached out with ghost hands and attempted to strangle the
monster, but they passed through the priest ineffectually.

Fits
of anger and frustration washed over Tannys as he racked his brain looking for
a way to hurt the dark priest and help his former wife lying at the mad man's
feet. As a spirit he was unable to have even the slightest effect on the world
and was only able to take a solid form when summoned forth by a magician... as
Byrn had done.

Tannys
closed his eyes and allowed himself to be pulled back to his rightful place in
the underworld long enough to refocus his attention on another point at the
opposite end of the kingdom and pulled himself free to roam the world for a
little while longer.

This
time he found himself in the courtyard of the magicians' school outside of
Lion's Landing. When he left Marian's side night was approaching, but now it
was midday. Such was the passage of time in the underworld that the briefest of
moments in the land of the dead was no different than hours or days in the
realm of the living.

Not
seeing Byrn on the grounds Tannys entered the sizable cabin. There were three
boys playing a game unknown to him that involved spinning a small wooden ball
on their fingers. The game must have been magical in nature fore the balls
would spin for a half minute or more before falling to the ground. It was a
small feat, but one unimaginable by normal means.

“
That
is good, Rion,” said an older voice sitting off to one side. It was Byrn
intently watching the younger children. “Rather than holding the ball in place
with your mind, try doing it with your finger. Project a small amount of energy
from your finger flowing through the ball like the stick in a globe. Then spin
the energy to make the ball rotate.” His instruction complete Byrn leaned back
in his chair making a show of not caring what the children were doing. It was
clearly a game designed to be instructional and Byrn's feigned disinterest was
meant to keep the boys from figuring out that they were learning something.