Fallen Magician (The Magician Rebellion) Read online

  Marian was quiet for a time as she considered Sane’s role in Byrn’s life and was torn between anger and gratitude. For years the sorcerer knew where Byrn was. He knew her son was safe for all of that time and he said nothing. However, his silence may have saved Byrn’s life during the years that he spent in hiding.

  The rain started to fall more heavily and threatened to put out the funeral pyre that the Kenzai had just finished lighting. “Byrn is not here,” Sane noted, “He is not among the dead.” Turning to the group of Kenzai preparing the funeral pyre, he called, “Are these all of the deceased? Are there no more?”

  “It is, Sir Sane,” replied one of the men as he approached the pair, “There was one survivor. He was one of our men by the name of Bertran. He suffered some severe burns to his face, and I doubt he will be up and about for some time. Bertran also reported that two of the magicians escaped. There was a young woman in her early to middle twenties who showed up at the end and single-handedly convinced a dozen of our men to kill each other. Then she put the other magician, a young man of about the same age who was the one that scarred Bertran, under a sleep spell and they vanished.”

  “Vanished?” Marian asked.

  “Transported away to places unknown,” Sane told her, “Just as we traveled here.”

  “Most likely,” the Kenzai agreed.

  Marian grabbed Sane’s sleeve to get his attention. “Then how do we find my son?” The sorcerer met her gaze and he could see the hope in her eyes. It pained him a little to crush that hope.

  “He could be anywhere in the world, not just the kingdom, but the entire world. I do not even know where to start.” Seeing Marian’s heart about to break before him, Sane turned away from her. Instead he settled his gaze on the bodies of the magicians before him. Avelice was in her mid-sixties and the rest were all children and young adults of varying ages. They were hardly a fighting force to warrant such a brutal assault. To the Kenzai hunter he had been talking with earlier, Sane asked, “You mentioned a surviving member of the attack. Where can I find him?”

  The rain fell harder and froze on contact as it landed on the magician and those around him. For the first time, Sane felt the cold that had been making everyone else uncomfortable, but he did not mind, because it was his magic; it was his desire that called the cold and the ice that swirled in the sky above him. To have that power at his command reassured the sorcerer that he could make those responsible for this travesty pay no matter what the personal cost.

  Chapter 3

  Sari hid amidst the branches of a tall oak as a squad of orcs passed below her. In addition to being excellent warriors orcs were known for their prowess as hunters as well, making the elf’s trek all the more perilous, since the orcs were nearly as knowledgeable in wood lore as she was. When the squad moved far enough away Sari continued to travel east, leaping from one tree to the next to avoid placing any tracks on the ground.

  Hours passed in this manner and Sari found she had to take longer breaks as she waited for more and more orcs to pass. She was well behind their lines by midday and saw no sign of either the eastern squad or the missing boys, Handy and Dagson, but her time was not being wasted. Either Chance’s estimation of four hundred orcs was low or the bulk of their army was marching on an easterly path. To the east the mountains were sheer preventing an army from passing that way meaning that any soldiers heading in that direction would be forced to head to Everec eventually.

  Yet another squad of orcs roused Sari from her thoughts, but this group was hauling an elk. Most of the orcs that passed were traveling north as their army was undoubtedly heading towards Everec. Right now the humans’ only advantages were that they knew the orcs were coming and the slow pace that the large force would take to get there. However they were unaware of just how large the enemy army really was and although Sari knew it was larger than the four hundred fighters that Chance had seen she had no idea how much larger.

  When the squad got a safe distance away and Sari was sure that they were headed back to their camp she began to follow. In addition to being scouts, the orcs traveling through the forest were hunters and would be bringing back food to the rest of their army who would be setting up a makeshift camp as they advanced. Following the orcs back would be the only way to find out their force’s true numbers and, she hesitated to even consider getting her hopes up, but if her own missing scouts were taken prisoner then they would be back at the encampment too.

  She followed for the better part of two hours, keeping a steady pace so that she could avoid being heard, but without losing sight of her query. Night was starting to set in when they finally reached one of the orc’s perimeter camps. The hunting squad began to skin and dress their elk.

  Sari did a quick count of the campfires. Six. That meant there were about forty orcs in this one camp. This was why Chance guessed four hundred. He and his men came across one of these camps and guessed that half of their fighters would be in the main encampment with the other half spread out amongst smaller camps. An estimate of five camps around the perimeter would get to four hundred, but during her observations Sari counted twelve four man squads pass by. That was forty-eight orcs hunting near her meaning that their outer camps were packed much more closely together. There could be a thousand orcs marching toward Everec and if that were true, then the humans would be in for a fight even with their city walls to protect them.

  The elf slinked around the camp and continued further south until she was well out of earshot before breaking into a dash between the trees. It only took ten minutes for Sari to find another orc camp a little to the east, then another to the west. This was not good.

  Turning to the west where she guessed the base camp might be, Sari took a deep breath and headed onward. She navigated as best she could by the stars that she could see through the canopy of trees. It was commonly believed that elves could see in the dark, but that was just a story that humans tended to pass around to explain the elves’ keen senses and unsurpassed wood lore. However, a similar tale was told about the orcs and Sari found herself wondering if it might be true as she approached a much larger campsite.

  From her vantage point, she was able to count nearly thirty fires. Two hundred more soldiers, she thought with a little hope. Maybe Chance’s earlier estimation of four hundred was the correct one and she was overly worried.

  Sari snuck to the edge of the camp to try and overhear some gossip about her missing men. The orcs paid no heed of the shadow that shifted and flitted around their camp. They were far too secure in their own numbers for that. Instead, they drank and ate and sang songs that involved vanquishing their ancient dwarven foes, but there was no word spoken about any human captives.

  Disheartened, Sari left the encampment as quietly as she arrived. She knew the chances were small that the boys would still be alive and even though she cautioned herself not to hope, Sari still could not help feeling disappointed.

  Her journey took her west as Sari began her hike back to Everec. She hoped to investigate a few more of the smaller camps before clearing the forest and returning to the greater mountain range on the off chance that Handy and Dagson were in one of the smaller camps.

  It was not long before she found the signs of more campfires and made her way to the source- a camp of much greater size than she had anticipated. This latest camp was equal in size to the one she had just left. A stunning revelation came to her as she once more counted the campfires. The last two camps, though larger, were not base camps. Somewhere yet farther south would be a much larger base of orcs. Their numbers could easily be in the thousands. Everec had about a hundred active guards and their militia boasted another two hundred fighters of varying expertise. Without reinforcements from the warlord’s main army, the city and the region would fall before another month passed.

  Logic told the elf to head immediately north. She needed to inform Marian what she had found and ensure that reinforcements were requested from Silvering, where Warlord Nightwind sat, before i
t was too late. However, her feet led her farther south, deeper into orc territory and toward what her gut told her would be their true main fighting force.

  Weariness began to set in as she approached the main camp some time later. Sari was unsure just how much time had passed since leaving the last camp, but she knew she had spent at least the last eighteen hours behind enemy lines. She would need to find someplace to rest soon or risk death or capture, but as she took in the full extent of the orc army she knew sleep would be unreachable for some time to come.

  The scene before reminded her more of a small city than a camp. Here there were rows of tents set up wherever there was room among the trees that were lighter in this area than most of the forest. Siege weapons were arrayed throughout the camp as well. This was no simple land grab. There were easily a thousand orcs in this base. She had to get back to Everec, but she could not allow herself to leave, not without looking for the missing scouts. This would have been utter foolishness for any human to attempt, and a big part of her doubted her own ability to remain hidden among so many orcs that could tell at a glance that she did not belong here. The information that she held, information that could save the lives of hundreds, was far more valuable than the lives of a few scouts, but she crept into the enemy base anyway.

  It was late now and most of the orcs were sleeping in their tents or near the fires except for a scarce fifty or so that patrolled the night. They obviously did not expect anyone to make it this far. After all, who would be crazy enough to try and infiltrate this place?

  Finally, Sari chanced upon a likely candidate for a prisoner tent. Two guards in their scant tribal armor that barely covered an orc’s groin and straps of leather across the center of the chest stood before a small tent. One paced back and forth in front of the tent while the other leaned against his pole arm as they tried to avoid the boredom that was setting in.

  Sari found a safe path through the shadows that allowed her to slip behind the tent and, watching for any prying eyes, she ran her hand across the tent’s bottom. It was tight. There was no way she would be able to slip in underneath the lip. Instead, she used her hunting knife to cut a tear in the sewn animal skins that made up the wall. The elf winced at the thump that accompanied her knife penetrating the hide and again at the tearing sound that came from making a slit that she could slip through.

  “Did you hear that?” a deep, animal like voice grunted. It was one of the guards.

  “Check it out,” grunted the other guard and Sari slipped back into the shadows and the night several tent lengths farther down. She replaced the hunting knife with her sharper dagger used for fighting and held it ready to strike if the need arose.

  The guard appeared seconds later to investigate. He paced about behind the prisoner’s tent before walking around a bit surveying the area, but finding nothing returned to the rear of the prisoner tent. He stood with his back to the slit that Sari had made, but did not notice the slash as it was buried in the moon cast shadows. For excruciating minutes the guard stayed in that spot. He was probably enjoying the change of scenery, Sari mused.

  The elf slowly tensed and loosened her various muscles. This allowed her to keep from getting cramps as she hid motionless and gave her something to do to keep her mind from drifting off and fight back the sleep that threatened to encroach upon her.

  Eventually the other guard came around to see what was holding up his partner. Finding the first guard just standing there he growled, “What are you doing back here?” The first guard was about to say something, but the second shoved his hand in the first guard’s face, “Just get back into position. I’m about to fall asleep up there and the commander would have our heads if we were caught napping or away from our post.”

  The first orc followed his comrade out of Sari’s line of sight and to, she hoped, their post in front of the tent. She took the opportunity and returned to the prisoner tent and slipped through the slit she had made with all of the fluidity of a dancing shadow.

  Inside the tent was pitch black and it took her eyes a few seconds to adjust, but once they did she found a human boy. He was sitting on the ground and his hands were tied around a pole that was sticking out of the ground. It was Handy. His face was bruised and covered in blood and sweat, but somehow the young man managed to find sleep or…

  Sari risked checking his pulse and her heart skipped at learning that Handy was alive, but he did not stir at her touch. Switching back to her hunting knife she cut his bonds and tried to wake him. She gently shook Handy, keenly aware of just how close the guards were. A wall of animal skin was all that separated her from them. If they were to raise an alarm now, she would have no chance of escape.

  “Handy,” she whispered with her lips to the boy’s ear. “You need to wake up, so we can leave this place.”

  Handy’s eyes grew wide and Sari instinctively covered his mouth tightly with her own. She scowled at him and held a finger to her lips that demanded silence if he wished to survive this ordeal. As the situation dawned on Handy’s suddenly waking mind, he nodded his head and Sari pulled her hand away.

  “Can you walk?” she whispered.

  Handy nodded and Sari showed him the opening in the rear of the tent. She pressed gently on the hide wall so that she could look out without drawing any attention and seeing no one there stuck her head out to make sure they were alone. She pressed the wall more heavily and signaled Handy to squeeze out. He did so and Sari soon followed suit.

  She led him back to the spot where she hid before and felt safe enough to talk if only in whispers.

  “Did they capture anyone else? Dagson?”

  “I am all that is left,” his voice shook as he spoke, “Dagson was killed when I was captured and they dragged me here. They smacked me around a bit and asked some questions about our defenses and troop placements, but soon left me to stew thinking I might reconsider after a while.

  “I thought it foolish at first, but within a few hours they came back with another prisoner.”

  The second prisoner was undoubtedly one of the eastern squad. “Go on,” Sari told him.

  “This fellow, he was caught by some other orcs, cause they didn’t know about me. It turns out orcs don’t take more than one prisoner at a time. So they took this other guy and put him up in front of me.

  “Then one of them held a knife to his throat while another orc held one to mine and their commander came out all big and tough with a giant sword strapped to his back and said ‘One of you will answer my questions. Tell me how many human warriors you have, where they are, and anything else that might be of aid to me and mine and you will live. The other one of you will die.’

  “I was so scared,” Handy whimpered, but had the sense to stop from sobbing and attracting unwanted attention, “I didn’t know anything, but I didn’t want to die either. I started blabbing right there, on the spot. I told them we had two thousand men, all seasoned fighters, stationed around the mountains. It was a lie, I know, but, gods help me, I was just trying to save my own skin.”

  “It’s alright,” Sari said soothingly and Handy fell into her arms. He sobbed quietly as she stroked his hair as a mother would a child.

  “They killed him in front of me,” Handy told her, then laughed desperately, “The funny thing is that once that other guy was dead they tied me up and their leader said that once he cleared the mountains of all other humans that I would be set free and I think he meant it.”

  Sari did not bother to tell him that that was true. Though considered to be brutal, orcs had a certain moral code and if their commander gave his word that he would allow Handy to live in exchange for his knowledge, then his men would honor that agreement. It would never even occur to them that Handy might be lying about what he knew. The thing that worried Sari the most was that Handy told them that the humans had two thousand men, when the actual number was close to three hundred, and they still intended to go through with their invasion.

  Chapter 4

  Traveling wit
h Handy was proving to be a greater endeavor than Sari had bargained for. Their progress was slow, as they had to stay on the ground since humans lacked the dexterity to bound through the trees, which provided more cover from the orcs in the area. Likewise travel during the day was too risky with so many orcs about forcing them to travel at night and hide during the day. This also made sleep difficult since they were at risk of constant discovery and though they had a few hours head start, orc trackers would be looking for them even now. On her own Sari could have made it back to Everec within a day, but at their current pace it would take four days to reach the city.

  A gentle shake woke Sari from her nap. She was greeted by the sun high overhead shining through the forest canopy and a smell of sweat and dirt on the breeze. They were downwind of some orcs.

  “Orcs are coming,” Handy told her when he saw her almond eyes open, echoing her thoughts.

  The breeze carrying the orc scent was coming from the southwest, but a quick glance around did not reveal any of them within her line of sight. Sari rose to her feet and began moving northeast. “This way,” she told Handy with a quick look back to make sure that he followed her. The route would take them off course from the main road they were heading for; that would have been the fastest path to Everec, but there was nothing that could be done about that now.

  Handy followed as hurriedly and quietly as he could manage, but Sari cringed after every twig snap or leaf crunch that came from behind her, and when Handy did move without making any noise Sari turned back once to compliment him in the hopes of providing him some motivation, but she saw that he was leaving half-boot prints in the softer earth and occasional mud. Instead she told him, “We need to move more swiftly,” and tried to temper her irritation. She had to remind herself that this human was still quite young and that greater skill would come with age.