Questing Sucks! Book II (17 page)

Cah’lia sat down on the nearest bed and scolded herself for getting her hopes up. She should’ve known Sehn would disappoint her once again. On some days she wondered why she even liked him. There were times when he glowed with a magnificent aura, and she felt unavoidably drawn to him. Yet times like now, all she could do was shudder at the embarrassment of even knowing him.

Sehn’s face paled. “That’s…umm, I knew that.”

“You knew that, Sehn?” Shina asked. “Really?”

“Y—yeah! Of course I knew it. I knew it before
you
knew it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Because you’re not smart enough to understand the Great Sehn’s logic. My magic still works here, unlike yours. I’m just not using it, uh, because I don’t feel like it.”

Cah’lia resisted the urge to remove one of her boots and throw it at Sehn while he attempted to rationalize his stupidity. Sehn and Shina argued back and forth, and Cah’lia tuned them out for fear of getting a headache. She felt the bed sink and then realized that Orellia had sat next to her.

“He’s a colorful one, your friend.”

“Who, Sehn?” Cah’lia asked. “Colorful isn’t the word I’d use for him.”

“Rambunctious?”

“Closer, but not close enough.”

Orellia patted Cah’lia’s knee with motherly affection. “I’m sorry you came all this way to rescue us only to have this happen. I wish I could promise you things would work themselves out, but I can’t.”

“I understand, Orell—ah, Mistress Orellia.”

“Orellia is fine,” she said. “I only require those who serve under me to refer to me as Mistress.”

The arguing grew louder, and even with Kellar wrapping his arms around Shina’s stomach, holding her back, Cah’lia feared the siblings would go at it and hurt themselves. Shina practically foamed at the mouth, while Sehn called her a variety of names and egged her on.

“Prove it!” Shina demanded. She struggled to take another step towards Sehn, her fists drawn, but Kellar, laughing, kept her in place. “Just for once, back up what you say. This is just like the time you told me you could change the world so that every time someone looked at their own reflection, all they would see was you. You couldn’t do that, or any of the other nonsense things you always say you can do.”

“Of course I can!” Sehn shouted back, restrained by both Benjamin and Iona. He shook a fist at his sister. “I merely choose not to.”

“Oh yeah? Then prove it! Just this once, prove it. If you’re so powerful that you can use magic in an anti-magic zone, then show me—no, show
us
. Otherwise, I’m telling everyone my brother’s a big phony who isn’t half as powerful as he says he is.”

“Fine!” Sehn shouted. He shook wildly, freeing himself from the clutches of the two mages. Before they could again restrain him, he stepped to the side and extended an arm towards the cell door, palm-open. Unlike before, Cah’lia knew that, this time, he was bluffing. A bead of sweat trickled down from his hair, sliding over his eyes and then nose before falling to the floor.

Here we go
,
Cah’lia thought.
He’s going to fail
,
and then he’s going to say he planned to fail all along
.

Sehn released a nervous laugh. “Are you sure you want me to embarrass you, sister? I am such a generous God that I would like to spare you the humiliation. How about you just agree you’re wrong and pay the wrong-tax and then we can all relax? Oh, and I will be requiring that money up front, since Nero isn’t around to keep track of your debt.”

Shina held firm. “I’m not giving you squat, Sehn, and I know you’re full of it. Go on, then, do it—if you can. But you and I both know you can’t. You’re gonna look like an idiot in front of everyone here, and then we’re
all
gonna laugh at you.”

Sehn growled. He looked away from his sister and focused his attention on the cell door. Cah’lia almost wanted to look away; she could feel the embarrassment in his place. Sehn inhaled and closed his eyes. “We’ll see about that…”

“
Remmos Salas
!”
he shouted.

As a bright flash of orange left Sehn’s fingertips, even Orellia’s mouth dropped open. A ball of flame lit up the darkened cell and slammed into the steel bars. The flame disappeared immediately upon impact and was then replaced by a thick column of smoke.

“I…don’t believe it,” Shina mumbled. “Howu…?”

“Quick!” Orellia shouted. “There’s no time to ogle. We can worry about what just happened in a moment, but for now, grab some pillows and fan out the smoke. We can’t let the guards know what’s just happened!”

Cah’lia jumped to her feet, confused, and rushed to the other end of the cell with a pillow in her hand. She, along with all but Shina and Sehn, did their best to fan the smoke in the direction of the cell’s sole window, which was sealed by steel bars and allowed a fresh breeze to trickle into the room.

She had no idea what had just happened, but from the looks of things, Sehn had done the impossible. The prisoners occupying the nearest cells had observed the use of magic, and they mumbled among themselves. Cah’lia worried they’d let what they’d seen slip, or worse, purposely tell the guards in hopes to gain freedom.

“They’ll be fine,” Orellia whispered, as if sensing her worry. “They’re on our side; they’re all mages who accompanied us to Hahl and were unlawfully imprisoned following our return.”

When the smoke had vanished, Cah’lia examined the steel where Sehn’s fireball had struck—it was undamaged.

“It’s magic resistant,” Orellia said. “In addition to the anti-magic warding, the cells have a second layer of protection. Not that it matters—it would take a far stronger spell than that to melt steel.” Orellia took a deep breath. “Sehn, what did you just do?”

Sehn’s face was blank, and he looked down at his hand in shock. The expression only lasted an instant, because not a second after, he pointed at Shina and barked a laugh. “Hah! I told you, fool! The Great Sehn is always correct, and I can do everything I say I can do! Yes!
Yeeeeees
!
I win! I win and you lose, sister. All hail their God-King!”

Orellia walked over to the bed where she’d taken the pillow and then dropped it back on top of the sheets. Then, calmly, she made her way to Sehn. She mumbled something—Cah’lia assumed a spell—and when nothing happened, she peered into Sehn’s eyes.

“I just tried casting a spell to see if they perhaps let their ward down. Of course, it was of no use. So tell me, then. How did you do that, elf?”

Sehn snorted. “Is that a serious question? I am Sehn. I can do all.”

“Awesome!” Kellar cheered. “Hey, Sehn, I’ve got no clue how ya did that, but could you be a pal and mix a fire and wind spell together for us, please? That’ll make an explosion big enough to break through the wall behind us, and we can escape that way.”

The same look returned to Sehn’s face as when Shina had challenged his ability to use magic, the look that told Cah’lia he was either bluffing or about to be. He nodded.

“A-Ah, of course I can, foolish boy. Fire and wind? Pssht. Fucking cakewalk. The Great Sehn can do fire and wind while juggling earth and water.”

“So, can you do it, please?”

“That will require the prison-breaking fee, which I doubt you can afford. The Great Sehn requires at
least
twenty gold coins to—”

“Here ya go,” Kellar said. He reached into his pocket and removed a satchel. “There’s thirty in here.”

Sehn’s face reddened. “Did I say twenty golden coins? I meant twenty
thousand
.”

Kellar’s lips curled in disappointment. “Can I owe it to you? My dad’s a king.” His disappointment turned into sadness as his voice cracked. “Was a king,” he finished. He shook his head, returning to his usual sturdy self. “Get us out of here, and I’ll give you thirty-thousand golden coins and your own estate.”

Cah’lia gasped. Was the boy serious? Sehn seemed to believe his words, because his eyes widened and his ears became rigid and shot out like daggers.

“Thirty-thousand gold coins?” Sehn whispered. “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely,” Kellar said. “I’ll make sure you get an estate, too, and a title in our kingdom. You will be Lord Sehn.”

“That’s more than double the reward Patrick had originally promised for even setting out on this Gods-cursed fucking journey in the first place! And me? A
lord
? So, not only would I be
the
Lord, but I’d also be
a
lord, too?”

Sehn licked his lips and turned around to face the wall and away from everyone. He mumbled something to himself and then after some time he spun back around. He smiled at Kellar.

“I, being the great and powerful mage that I am, know all the spells in existence. But just to see if
you
know them, too, what’s the magical bullshit whatever I need to say to make an explosion happen?”

Kellar scratched his head. He walked over to the corner of the room with the window and ran his hand down along the wall. “It’s not very thick, but it’s magic resistant, so…I wanna say go ahead and use
Remmos
with the conjugation
MAHR
, but keep that as your lead-in and then tag a follow-up
Sellos
with the conjugation
RAHL
. Those two should do it.”

Sehn bit the corner of his lip. “In elven society, it is considered a sign of respect to say things twice while inside of a prison.”

Cah’lia rolled her eyes behind Sehn’s back—and so did Shina—as Kellar repeated his explanation a second time. Cah’lia prayed that whatever it was that’d allowed Sehn the use of his magic would also allow him to break them free.

To her right, she heard Shina whispering spells, confusion in her voice. The girl had moved away from Sehn and now stood on her own in the corner of the cell as though trying to see if she, too, could cast magic. For whatever reason, she could not. Eventually she gave up and rejoined Cah’lia and Orellia.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Orellia whispered.

“What do you mean?” Cah’lia whispered back.

“I don’t know by what miracle that elf is able to resist this ward, though I suspect it has something to do with him being cursed, but then Shina…?” She trailed off, speaking mostly to herself.

Cah’lia tensed at the reminder of Sehn’s fate. Orellia shook her head as if snapping out of whatever had pulled her so deep into her thoughts.

“Regardless,” she continued, “I can tell a rookie mage when I see one. Your friend isn’t going to be able to do what Kellar is asking him to do.”

“But he must try, Orellia, for all our sakes.”

“Which is why we’re going to have to teach him.”

Cah’lia sighed. “That won’t be easy. Sehn hates learning.”

“Well, everyone hates learning, but I’m sure if it’s a matter of—”

“No, you don’t understand,” Cah’lia said, then followed her words with an apology for interrupting. “But you have to understand: Sehn
really
doesn’t like learning.”

“Well, that’s too bad, because he’s not going to have a choice. Now, cover your ears.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

It seemed Sehn was finally ready to try breaking them free of the cell. Now, he extended an arm to the window after Kellar had patiently finished his explanation for the third time. Looking around, Cah’lia noticed that Shina, Benjamin, and Iona all had their hands clasped over their ears. Kellar kept one hand to his side and, with the other, he gave Sehn a pat on the back.

“Okay, get us out of this hellhole, Sehn.”

Sehn grinned. He took a breath and then roared, “
Remmos…ah
,
Remmos…
”

Kellar laughed. “It’s, ‘
Remmos MAHR
Vi
Nara Sallos RAHL
.’”

“I knew that.” Sehn cleared his throat. “
Here we go!
Remmos MAHR
Vi
Nara Sallos Rah—oh
,
fuck
!
”

Even with her hands over her ears, Cah’lia yelped at the sound of a tremendous boom, which was followed by a brilliant flash of light. The volume of the blast alone would’ve shattered an ordinary glass window. Cah’lia could just make out the sound of Sehn’s terrified cry, and she could see the outline of his body as he appeared from beyond the golden light then literally flew across the cell as if picked up by the force of a hurricane. He slammed back-first into the steel bars in the front of the cell, then slid down onto his butt, all while a painful ringing from the blast caused Cah’lia’s head to ache. This time, there was no smoke and certainly no damage done to the wall Sehn had attempted to break through.

After several seconds, Cah’lia could hear the sound of guards running down the hall; she could see the look of amazement crossed with disappointment in everyone’s eyes. As the guards scrambled up and down the cellblock, probably unsure of where the sound had originated, Sehn coughed and let out a moan.

“I meant to do that,” he croaked. “It’s part of my overall strategy. The
fuck
are you looking at, Shina?”

Poor Orellia
,
Cah’lia thought.
Y
ou’ve got your work cut out for you
.