The mage from nowhere, p.51
The Mage From Nowhere, page 51
Callie asked Tienna, “What is your range?”
“It was lD to lAm when I started.”
“Oh, very narrow,” Callie said.
Tarak had to remember conversations with Charlie to understand Tienna’s range, but Michael spoke before he could figure it out.
“Yeah, but it has already increased to Low-Lower B at her lowest and now Lower A at her highest. I have never heard of someone extending their range that much that quickly.”
Tarak’s range was easy to remember because he used his lowest and highest notes together all the time. He could not reach below Lower C or above Upper C.
“Oh, your range is very low,” he realized aloud. “Your highest note is only slightly above my lowest.”
“And I seem to be casting in a tree unfamiliar to everyone,” she said. “It makes training difficult.”
“Cast something here,” Tarak suggested. “See if we can feel anything.”
“Try Lower C again,” Michael suggested.
Tienna shrugged and extended her palm.
Tarak felt nothing. Eventually Tienna let down her hands and shook her head. “I cannot seem to make anything with Lower C. I have to learn to cast multiple notes first. I think I have nearly mastered Lower C, Lower E, and Lower G, but I am failing to grasp how to cast more than two of them at the same time.” She put her hand on top of Michael’s as he opened his mouth. “Michael has been very descriptive in his attempts to explain it. I am sure it is all my fault.”
“No, I’m not a good teacher. It was too long ago I cast my first spell of wind.”
“It is the splitting of my mana that I find impossible,” Tienna said.
Tarak noticed her looking at him. He figured he was the least equipped to offer advice seeing as how the splitting of mana came so naturally to him, but he gave it a shot.
“Try not to think of it like splitting your mana into three separate notes but combining those three notes into one thought.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think of three shapes: a square, a circle and a triangle. Now imagine the challenge of envisioning those three shapes next to each other. Start with two, just a circle and square side-by-side. Not too hard, right? But as you start to picture a triangle next to the two of them, you start to lose the circle, then the square. You focus on them again, the triangle disappears. It is hard, right?”
“Yes, extremely.”
“Now put the three shapes together in a familiar way. Imagine a face but instead of eyes, there are circles. Instead of a nose, there is a triangle. And instead of the mouth, there is a square. Now can you picture these shapes all at the same time?”
Tienna closed her eyes and smiled. “I can!”
Tarak noticed others closing their eyes as well.
Callie gave a short laugh. “I have had countless sorcery lessons, but that is the most fascinating way I have heard of casting multiple notes at the same time.”
“You are separating your mana into three notes,” Tarak continued, “but you are also combining those three notes together again and pushing them out of you. You should be able to bend your mana into shapes in your mind, and combine those shapes into something familiar. I usually use some semblance of a face because it is the easiest to picture. With my spells, I think of C outlining the face, and the other notes make up the features. I think I may be able to cast four, even five notes consistently one day with that method. Use it if it helps.”
“That has to be the smartest thing that’s ever come out of your mouth,” Michael said.
Tienna held her eyes shut, her hand extended. She suddenly opened her eyes to find everyone staring at her.
“I can try later.”
“No,” Michael said. “If you think you might be able to cast, do it now.”
“Definitely now,” Callie encouraged.
Tienna nodded. She resumed her position. Everyone sipped on their drinks and waited patiently.
A few minutes past, then Tarak felt a boost to his mana, like he could cast indefinitely. He didn’t seem to be the only one.
Michael jumped up. “Did I imagine that?”
“No, I felt it, too,” Tarak said.
“So did I,” Callie added.
“What?” Aliana asked. “Am I really the only one who felt nothing?”
Tienna displayed a proud smile. “I cast! I felt it.”
“What did you cast?” Michael asked.
“lC, lE, lG!”
“Yes, but what did that do?”
“I have no idea!” She left the table and stood up. “I cast a spell!” She grabbed Callie and began jumping in excitement, though Callie was more amused than worked up.
“Wait, do you hear that?” Tarak interrupted.
There was no doubt about it as everyone quieted. Someone was shouting from the courtyard, loudly enough to discern his words even within the great hall.
“Leon and his lady are in dire need of help! Arrest me, fine, but you must help them immediately. Leon is in Luther’s library. Gwen has been captured in her own home!” There was a pause. Aliana jumped up and went for her weapon as the man continued. “Why are you not listening to me? I am Tedson Faulk and would not come here and let myself be arrested unless someone’s life depended on it!”
Aliana sprinted out of the great hall with her bow and quiver. Tarak was right behind her.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Tarak did not know who Tedson Faulk was, but he looked like a man who was genuinely afraid of the things he was yelling about. A few guards escorted him through the courtyard. Besides continuing to shout about Leon fighting for his life in Luther’s library and Gwen being held hostage by Wolf in her home, Tedson also revealed that he had come here of his own volition. He knew they would arrest him, which is why, he said, they had to take him seriously.
“Are you telling the truth about my mother?” Aliana demanded, and Tarak was shocked. He did not know Gwen by her name. Now Aliana’s urgency made more sense.
Tarak recognized the three guards, two of whom he knew by name, Rick and Randy. “Better tell the king,” Rick told his cousin, and Randy hurried to the keep.
“There’s no time to fetch Nykal if he’s all the way up there.” With his hands bound, Tedson could only gesture with his eyebrows. “A plan needs to be formed right now. As soon as Wolf sees anyone but his trusted people, he will kill Gwen and escape.”
Michael, Callie, and Tienna caught up.
“Tarak, let’s go,” Aliana said as she jumped on Tarak’s back.
“Are you certain?” Tarak asked.
“Yes, take us to my house but stay back so Wolf cannot see us. I will direct you.”
“What about a plan?” Tarak asked as Aliana squeezed her thighs against his sides as if he were a horse refusing to move.
“Wolf is ready to kill my mother!” Aliana said. “We will think of a plan on the way.”
“Leon needs help as well,” Tedson explained. “In Luther’s library.”
“I’ll head there now,” Michael suggested.
“Take me,” Callie said as she moved behind Michael and put her hands on his shoulders as if to climb on his back.
He turned and took her hands off him. “No way. I have never carried anyone before, and I sure as hell am not going to start with a princess.”
“Then I will meet you there.” She made a dash across the courtyard, no doubt toward the stables.
“Princess!” Rick called, starting after her but turning back to address the last guard remaining with Tedson. “Make sure he is imprisoned.”
The guard gave a firm nod.
“I’ll go with Callie,” Tienna said.
Michael grabbed her arm. “You aren’t ready for combat.”
“Let’s go, Tarak!” Aliana said, thrashing about on his back.
“Make sure that others come for us,” Tarak told Michael.
“Tienna,” Michael implored.
“I’ll inform them.” She dashed toward the apartments and shouted, “Sorcerers! We need you!”
Michael, meanwhile, sprinted toward the wall and made a sweeping motion with his hands. A gust of wind picked up Michael and launched him up over the wall.
“That way.” Aliana pointed in a similar direction. “Go.”
Tarak made a sphere of gravity as he ran. It picked his feet up from the ground and stayed an equal distance above and in front of him as it continued to pull him and his passenger up over the wall.
The night-fallen city spread out before them. He let his spell weaken so as to float over buildings without continuing to rise, the sphere continuing to pull them faster and faster.
“My house is not far,” Aliana said. “This way.”
Tarak was still waiting to hear a plan but didn’t want to risk a slip by trying to speak. He pulled them along over rooftops.
Aliana muttered a curse, and then Tarak noticed the same thing. Black smoke came up from a few streets over.
“It must be the library,” Aliana said. “Leon can fend for himself. Set us down here.”
This was the hard part. Tarak moved his sphere of gravity overhead as he put even less force into it. They descended a little too quickly at first, but he strengthened his spell just the right amount to slow them steadily.
He set his feet down. Aliana jumped off. “Follow me,” she whispered as she weaved down an alley.
He followed. She suddenly stopped and turned around with her finger to her lips. Then she pointed at the side of a home where wooden shutters were closed at a level with Tarak’s shoulders.
Aliana whispered, “Make an illusion to distract him, and I will shoot him through his neck.”
“What illusion?”
She flailed her arms in frustration. “I don’t know! Something distracting.”
“What is he most scared of?”
Aliana finished loading an arrow. She paused, then looked at Tarak. “Abandonment.”
Tarak lifted his hand and was about to open the shutters as he prepared the illusion spell, but he stopped.
“That does not help me at all!” he whispered.
“It was your stupid idea to ask!” she whispered back.
“Wait.” He put his arm in front of her as he heard footsteps. “I think he heard us.”
Aliana shoved Tarak away and aimed at the closed shutters.
Wolf opened them from the other side, then let out a little screech and ducked as Aliana shot.
Tarak shoved Aliana out of the way to jump inside through the opening, screaming in aggression. He landed on top of Wolf, but also on top of a dagger.
He groaned as he rolled off Wolf and clutched the handle sticking out of his rib cage. A high-pitched wheeze squeaked out with every agonizing breath as he went to his hands and knees. He checked on Wolf, then Aliana. The ranger looked as if she had tried to jump through the open shutters after Tarak, only to get slowed down halfway as she struggled to get her knees over. She met Wolf’s steely gaze.
“Oh shit,” she muttered as she pushed herself back out the way she came. A dagger flew through the open window.
How many daggers does he have left?
There was a whole damn table of them! Beside the table sat a roped up woman who must be Gwen. Tarak had dived into a small dining room. A lamp sat on the table, illuminating the knives but failing to penetrate the dark corners of the cluttered area. Chairs, a dresser, and a wardrobe took up the wall space.
Tarak chose the dresser as Wolf picked up a bunch of knives with sorcery. There were more than four, and that’s when Tarak stopped counting. Tarak stumbled behind the dresser, at least hiding his upper half as the knives came at him. One sliced him good.
“My arse!” he wheezed.
He put his hand back there, but the blade seemed to have gone through his pants and flesh without sticking. He pulled out the dagger that was in his rib cage.
Every tiny breath was agony. He needed more air to heal faster, and he needed to heal faster to get more air. He poked his head up over the dresser to see Wolf walking toward him with two more daggers floating.
“I don’t want to kill you,” Wolf said. “But you are not leaving me much choice.”
Tarak grabbed one ceramic cat out of about ten of them on the dresser and tossed it at Wolf. Pain shot through Tarak’s ribs, but at least the cat hit the sorcerer, bouncing off Wolf’s forehead with a satisfying thunk.
Wolf stumbled back and put a hand over his head as he shouted a curse. Tarak was about to throw another ceramic cat—what was with Aliana’s mother and ceramic cats?—when Wolf grunted in anger and the entire dresser slid out of the way. Tarak shrieked as if someone had yanked his pants down.
Mid-throw, Tarak froze as he noticed Wolf putting up a shield of almost clear energy. Tarak continued to motion like he would throw the ceramic cat as he made his way to the vanity.
Eventually Wolf pushed his shield of energy into Tarak, pinning him against the wall. Wolf turned back and picked up one of the daggers from the table. Tarak had regained much of his strength and was about to cast a gravity spell that was sure to throw not only Wolf around the room but all the furniture as well, but Aliana kicked open the front door and released the arrow she already had ready. Wolf moved his energy shield to absorb it. The arrow became stuck halfway through, then fell as Wolf let his spell come to an end.
Wolf spun and drew a dagger to his hand with sorcery. “Leon disobeyed me.” He stomped toward Gwen. “This is his fault.”
“No!” Aliana shouted.
Tarak made the most powerful gravity spell he could muster in the short time available. The sphere took shape near the low ceiling between Wolf and Tarak. It pulled the two of them together in the air, as well as nearly all the furniture and the chair Gwen was tied to.
They spun as if stuck in a tornado, Tarak pelted by wood as he put his arms up near his head and hoped for the best. It was the daggers he was most worried about. He felt one cut his thigh, but he heard Wolf scream as well, which made it worth it.
Tarak could not hold his spell for long. His mana could not support this much weight. He had already prepared his next spell as he fell among Wolf, Gwen, and all the knives and furniture. He was cut again, down his arm this time, but he did not pay much attention as his illusion came to fruition.
It was a small enough area for this to work. Everything disappeared; the furniture, the knives, even the walls and the roof. It was like they stood in utter darkness. Tarak grabbed where he last saw Wolf and found the leg of Wolf’s pants. Tarak reached his other hand over and got a firm grasp, but then he took a boot to the nose.
“Arselicker!” he shouted as Wolf squirmed out of his hold.
His illusion faded. Wolf rushed for the door. He tossed his hand to the side, throwing Aliana out of the way with sorcery as she quickly prepared an arrow. He made it outside and took off like a bird.
Tarak started running after him.
“Where are you going?” Aliana asked as she began to cut the ropes holding her mother to a now broken chair.
“He might be going after Leon now.” Tarak halted.
“Or he could come back for me!”
Tarak looked outside to see more than a dozen of the king’s guards nearly there, Eden and Tienna among them. “Support is here. I will check on Leon.”
“Good, go.”
Tarak took off. He had lost sight of Wolf, but he just needed to follow the smoke. The library was not far. He landed in front of it. Arthur and Callie were here, but only Arthur could douse the flames.
“Where is Leon?” Tarak asked Callie.
She pointed at the door. Reuben and Michael were carrying out Leon, who was shouting about getting to Gwen.
“There were three enemy sorcerers here when we arrived,” Callie said. “They just fled. How is Aliana’s mother?”
Leon pushed away the two sorcerers helping him walk. “Gwen?” he asked Tarak.
“She is fine.”
“Thank god.” He turned and had a look at the library. “Arthur, put out the last of the flames inside. Let me deal with those high on the walls.”
“Yes, sir.” Arthur rushed inside.
“Tarak, I need a better angle. Get me high up.”
Tarak stepped in front of Leon and crouched to assist Leon onto his back, but Leon stepped away.
“Your ass is hanging out!”
Callie snickered as Tarak looked behind him to see a flash of flesh.
Tarak resumed the position. “Are you getting on or not?”
“Goddammit, I’m not about to let this library burn down but this is humiliating, Tarak.” Leon got on Tarak’s back. “Do try to keep your goddamn ass in your trousers where it belongs!”
“I just saved Gwen’s life. The least you could do is thank me.”
“Yeah, fine, thank you. And Wolf?”
“He escaped.”
“Take me up. I will worry about him later.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
It had been a few days since the incident with Tedson storming the castle with news about Leon and Gwen. Callie had not been herself, not so much because of what happened after Tedson arrived—she had not needed to fight—but what was said beforehand. There was one thing she could not get out of her head. The more she thought about it, the more true it felt. It was what Michael had uttered casually as if completely unaware of how much it might affect Callie.
“None of us knows what we are doing. We just learn a little more each year.”
Considering this in addition to Tarak’s story about how easily he was taken advantage of—Tarak, who seemed like nothing in the world could change the way he thought or acted—really had begun to make Callie wonder.
Am I being taken advantage of?
She had never thought about what her situation would be like if she were older, say Aliana’s age of twenty. It was hard to picture Trevor or even her father telling a twenty-year-old what to do. She had never felt very young at sixteen considering how much she had been through in the past two years, with the war and such, but she had to admit that Michael’s words did not seem like much of an exaggeration. He and Aliana seemed unsure of themselves when it came to relationships, and Tarak certainly seemed so, and he was close to Callie’s age.
