The Sorcerer's Return (The Sorcerer's Path) (31 page)

Carl the blacksmith watched Daebian depart the sparring field and head toward the gates to go run around in the woods as he often did. The boy was a natural with the blade
; it was about the only thing natural about him. He had spent the past several months memorizing the moves and routines of the major players on this gigantic chessboard. The mundane days of playing the blacksmith were nearly at an end. Finally, the king was soon to depart the field. That would be when the Rook made his move, taking first the prince, followed by the queen, and when the king finally reached the apex of his grief and failure…checkmate.

“Carl!” Ken shouted at the man’s back. “We have too much work in here for you to be taking extended breaks.”

The Rook turned toward the source of the castigation. “Yes, sir.”

The Rook looked back for a moment and found himself locking eyes with Daebian. The boy stood near a postern gate
staring right at him. Daebian smiled, waved, and exited through the gate. The Rook stood a moment, dumbfounded. Could the boy know what he was, what he intended? No, that was impossible. He had probably just spotted him watching the sparring matches as he often did and waved to a familiar face.

“Carl, let’s go!”

It was a good thing this charade would soon be at an end. If he had to take orders from Ken much longer, he might let slip his character and feed the man’s body to one of his forges. After consuming his soul, of course.

Daebian
jogged across the open field and into the forest. He had several traps and snares set within the woods. The live animals he caught he fed to Klaraxis to shut him up for a time. The first trap was not far into the training field and was set along a rabbit trail running from the field into the forest. Something had tripped the spring snare, but no animal was present.

He followed the path another quarter mile into the forest and located his second trap. It too was sprung but empty.
When his third snare showed the same results, he began searching the area and found what he expected, a large wolf print. Wolf never left a sign of his presence unless he wanted to, but Ghost was not as concerned apparently. Wolf was obviously aware of his predation and was not pleased with it. Daebian could care less what the wildling thought. Everything needed to eat, including demons.

Daebian had set some new snares farther from his usual hunting grounds the last time he came out. With any luck, Wolf had not found those yet.
It added an hour to his circuit, but his investment paid off when he found the rabbit struggling against the cord cinched tight around its rear leg. He grabbed a fistful of fur and skin behind the rabbit’s shoulders and neck. The unfortunate creature made an awful keening as Daebian slid his blade beneath the animal’s skin without touching any of the vital organs. Klaraxis grudgingly accepted his tribute and drank in the rabbit’s life essence. Klaraxis whispered a warning through the gem.

“You k
now, it’s rude to spy on people,” Daebian said without looking up.

Wolf and Ghost separated from the shadows of the dense shrubbery. “It is more detestable to needlessly torture an animal. If you think yourself a hunter, then have the decency to kill it swiftly and eat it.”

Daebian threw the carcass at Wolf’s feet. “You eat it if you are so concerned about it. I eat from a plate prepared by cooks like a civilized being.”

Ghost stepped back from the rabbit and growled. Wolf gripped his bow tighter and fought back his mounting anger. “You are far from civilized. There is something very wrong with you.”

Daebian shrugged. “I prefer to think there is something wrong with everyone else.”

“You’re insane.”

“Probably, but can you blame me? My father is a demon and the gods know what my little brother is. They both think some ancient gods are coming to wipe us all out, including your precious rabbits probably, and spend all their time turning my home into a huge military camp where they indoctrinate everyone into training so fiercely they practically kill themselves. Hell, some have already died, and you’re worried about a few rabbits and squirrels.”

“Stay out of my woods,” Wolf warned.

“Your woods? My father owns all of this. He might entertain your insistence on squatter’s rights, but I do not. I will go where I wish and do what I please. Now, unless you truly want to try and stop me,” Daebian said as he shifted his grip on his dagger, “I have more traps to check.”

“I won’t let you keep torturing these animals!”

“Then go tell my father on me and see if he cares any more than I do. He probably will, but don’t expect him to take the time from his busy schedule to actually do anything about it. He has too many other concerns to worry about what his son is doing to a few vermin out in the forest.”

Daebian turned his back on Wolf but used Klaraxis’ presence to keep a wary eye on him. He doubted the
half-elf would attack him, but he was not foolish enough to leave himself unguarded to anyone. Daebian was many things, but foolish was not one of them.

You should kill them. The animal in particular has a powerful spirit and will satiate me for a long while. Far better than the rodents you feed me.

“I told you before; I kill only when doing so furthers my own goals. Wolf and his dog play no part in those goals, at least not yet. Should they begin to interfere beyond being inconvenient to you, then I will revisit my options.”

Wolf and Ghost shadowed him through the forest as he went in search of his other trap.
Daebian wondered if he could use Klaraxis’ power to lose his spy, but he doubted it. The two forest dwellers were acutely aware of just about everything in these woods. Let him enjoy his pathetic voyeurism. It would not deter him from doing what he needed to do.

The thrashing of wings and the noisy cawing of a crow alerted Daebian to another success
ful trapping. He pushed through the thick foliage and found a large crow beating at the brush with its free wing and noisily vocalizing its displeasure. It looked at Daebian with those intelligent black eyes that were so much like his own. It ceased its squawking and thrashing and studied the human with more curiosity than fear.

“Hello there,” Daebian called out to the crow as he approached. “You are not what I was looking for.”

He bent down and saw that the crow’s wing had been damaged by the snare. The bird squawked a loud accusation for its plight and demanded to be freed. Daebian slipped a finger beneath the wire noose and worked enough slack in it to slide it over the bird’s wing.

“There we go. We’ll have to splint that wing, but I’m sure you will be right as rain soon enough.”

“You slaughter rabbits and other animals without remorse,” Wolf said from the cover of the brush. “Why is the crow’s life more valuable to you than that of the other animals?”

“Because I find myself fond of the crow. I could not care one whit about the other animals. Their deaths served my purpose. The crow shall serve another purpose.”

“I cannot understand what purpose the sadistic slaughter of those animals could serve.”

“Of course you can’t. No one understands. It is
beyond the limit of their feeble minds, their inability to see beyond their reach. They will understand one day, and they will all regret their shortsightedness.”

“You really are insane.”

“You are redundant, and I find redundancy tedious.” Daebian looked at the crow sitting quietly in his hands. “I shall call you Gloom. Let me take you to your new home and patch up that wing of yours.”

***

“Have you seen Daebian with that bird of his?” Miranda asked while she and Azerick ate their breakfast together.

“I have. I think it is good he found something to care for. Perhaps it will help
him build a little more empathy for others.”

“Perhaps, but
the thing gives me the creeps. How long will you be gone?”

“It will take a week
and a half to reach Brelland. I cannot say how long it will take to align and join the stones. It could take another week, or even two, to get the three gates working.”

“Why so long? Did you not make one to Southport in a night?”

“Although the distance is only a little farther, these gates are vastly more complex. The one we made here was designed to accommodate a handful of people. These must unerringly move the population of the entire city. The slightest flaw could result in disaster for hundreds, maybe thousands, of people.”

Miranda entwined her arm with Azerick’s and leaned against his shoulder. “I will miss you.”

“I do not see why. I have not been pleasantly social since I returned.”

“I am the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of North Haven. I understand the difficulties of leadership.
This is a challenging time, and you must consider the welfare of a nation, not just your wife. But know this, mister,” Miranda warned as she poked a finger into Azerick’s shoulder, “your pass expires when this is all over.”

Azerick smiled at his wife. “That certainly sounds ominous.”

“I have made a list of the things you are going to do to return to my good graces. I must warn you, it is extensive and growing daily, so I do not recommend you dawdle in defeating these false gods.”

“With encouragement like that, I shall go strike them down before lunch.”

The Rook watched the sparring matches from the shadows of a distant building. The sorcerer’s abominable son was making short work of a slightly older boy, a boy Daebian would exceed in apparent age in a matter of months. In the several months The Rook had been working in the guise of a lowly blacksmith, the boy had aged nearly two years.

The task tested the limits of his patience, but the sorcerer was too powerful to risk a direct confrontation. Killing a man is easy and rarely takes a great deal of imagination, but to destroy someone without shedding a drop of blood was a true art form. His contract was to kill the sorcerer, but the Rook figured his employer would not object to a more painful end. Now that Lord Giles had left the school with his other monstrous child, he would kill the boy. It was none too soon. Already people were inquiring about his rapidly deteriorating health as he consumed this shell.

The Rook considered killing the wife too. Would it cause the sorcerer more pain to lose them both at the same time, or would experiencing the woman’s grief over her son cause a greater amount of pain? To delay her death could cause undue risk to himself. No, let her grief rain down upon the sorcerer and drown him in their shared sorrow. Once the sorcerer experienced the full impact of his loss and failure, the Rook could move against him directly. Even if the sorcerer managed to destroy him, the Rook’s soul would be at peace knowing he had succeeded in destroying his target.

He watched the sun’s slow decline with the attentiveness and patience
any enemy required. The Rook counted his heartbeats, tens of thousands in number, before stealing out of the bunkhouse he shared with a dozen other men. No one sensed his departure, just as no one would detect his return.

The Rook approached the tower under the cover of darkness, carefully noting the roving guards’ positions. He was not too concerned with them. Even without his abyssal
skill in manipulating shadows, his lifetime of being a preeminent assassin ensured he would go undetected. The wards protecting the tower were a greater problem, but only marginally.

His skill in disabling wards allowed him to breach the foyer of the new tower
with a moderate amount of exertion. Subtle magic like illusions and unraveling the spells of other wizards had always been his strongest magical ability. Hurling balls of fire and turning his enemies to ash with powerful strokes of lightning were never his forte.

He had spent months learning the rou
tines of everyone who went in or out of the tower or patrolled the grounds. His humiliation at being brought down by a pathetic goblin would not be repeated. The creature called Grick had been an unexpected variable, one that his overconfidence had allowed to become a critical factor. He might still decide to kill the creature after this was done. But doing so would acknowledge the goblin as being worthy of his attention. It was a choice made difficult by his overdeveloped pride and ego.

The Rook reached the landing to the woman’s suite of rooms. It would be a simple matter to creep in and slit her throat, but he decided to leave her for now. Let her tears rain down upon the sorcerer and drown him in her anguish. Only then would the Rook finish dissecting the sorcerer’s world and take away everything he held dear.

He crept up the stairs to the floor above. Daebian’s rooms were to his left, the abomination’s to the right. He was with his father and would pose no unexpected variables this night. The Rook had watched the creature on the practice field. He knew Raijaun wielded powerful magic and would be an insurmountable foe if not taken completely by surprise.

Both rooms had supremely well-made wards upon the doors. There was a foreign element to them that made him think the demonic freak had crafted them, or at least modified those placed there by the sorcerer.
It was a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. All magic had its roots buried within the same Source, no matter how deviated a path from which it may come. A lock, no matter how masterfully crafted, was still a lock and could be picked given enough patience and skill.