Questing Sucks! Book II (23 page)

Cah’lia turned to Shina and Orellia. “You two: find where they’re keeping our confiscated weapons and bring them back to us.” Then she spoke to Benjamin and Iona. “And you two begin stripping the dead guards of their keys and freeing the prisoners.”

Everyone did as they were instructed, and within a half hour, Sehn had his elven blade back in his own hands, the very same one he’d stolen from Calen in what seemed ages ago. Cah’lia appeared just as relieved to be wielding her coveted daggers. She slid them into her tight, leather hide pants, and smiled at Sehn.

“We’ve got the mage-boy, and we’ve got our weapons back, Sehn. Now let’s get out of here and put an end to this war.”

Sehn shook his head. “No. First I need to meet the son of a bitch who hit my sister.”

Shina blushed, while Orellia—and several dozen stern-faced mages—surrounded him. “Absolutely not, Sehn!” Orellia said. “This isn’t a game here. Duncan is
our
problem. You will accompany us to the ruling council, where they will then send you swiftly out of Magia and towards the Item hidden away in the Pillar of Hope.”

“The where?” Sehn asked.

“The Pillar of Hope,” Orellia repeated. “The Kingdom’s capital.”

So that’s what it’s called
.

There were murmurs of agreement from the mages surrounding Sehn, and even some from Cah’lia. Sehn didn’t like to be ordered around, and as his strength continued to return to him, he refused to continue putting up with it. He was the only one capable of using magic while within the confines of this place and he wouldn’t let them tell
him
what to do.

He growled at the mages. “I shall do nothing for you imbeciles until I know that Kellar has retaken control of the Drashians and ordered them to stay away from Elvar.”

Kellar nodded. “I agree. I know you’re all against me on this, but Sehn deserves to have peace of mind. Besides, if we travel by gryphon, it’s not too far out of the way. I’ll return home, save my little brother, and get this whole mess sorted out. If a score of mages show up with me to liberate my brother, whoever is holding him captive will surrender.”

Orellia frowned at Kellar. Then she sighed. “In the end, this talking gets us nowhere. It’s up to the ruling council to decide our course of action. Our priority right now is getting to them. Come, it’s time we left this place.”

As one big group, Sehn followed Cah’lia and the rest of the mages as they exited the hall and made their way down the winding staircases together. There was a cellblock at the bottom of each flight of stairs. All were empty, which meant this place probably hadn’t been used in years. It was no wonder there were so few guards and a pushover warden. Fortunately, they found a functional kitchen area halfway down the prison.

Sehn stuffed his face with everything he could find. As he bit off a piece of salted bread, not even bothering to butter it, he noticed Cah’lia watching him with both confusion and surprise in her eyes. Yet she seemed relieved. Sehn paid her no mind. He returned to gorging everything he could get his hands on. How the hell did food taste so good? And why had he ever stopped enjoying it so much?

The other mages were cheerful. Many exchanged hugs while they dined, and several times they tried to thank Sehn for his part in their rescue. Sehn refused their admiration, asking instead for gold and trinkets of value to show how grateful they were.

Mages are stingy
,
he thought with a grunt, after none of them gave him anything of worth.

After the short meal, they made their way to the prison’s entrance: a wide, grand hall with dusty old furniture, cobwebs, and an empty reception area. The cell block they’d been kept seemed new and smelled of fresh paint; the floors had been polished and cleaned. But this place appeared
so
old as to be a relic from an ancient time. Just how long had it been out of use?

“Odd,” Orellia said, as if thinking aloud. “It’s almost like Duncan was trying to restore this place piece by piece. But what would a man like that need with a millennia-old prison?”

An unsettling sensation tickled the back of Sehn’s mind. It made him uncomfortable, and he had to fight the urge to squirm. It reminded him of the way the Champion had felt, only darker and without life. Eventually the feeling faded and Sehn shrugged it off.

They were free now. Elvar would be saved.

The prison’s gateway stood taller than five men stacked on top of one another. Thick, rusted iron bars sealed off the entrance, and two equally rusted chains positioned at each side of the wide gateway were needed to raise and lower it. Sehn, for the first time in his life, decided to volunteer for something after Orellia asked the group to raise the bars. With pain no longer crippling his body, he was all too eager to stretch his muscles, something that only an hour ago would’ve had him on the verge of tears.

He and four others took the left chain, which controlled four out of the eight bars sealing the entrance, while three others—led by Cah’lia—worked on the right. As he used his full strength to yank on the metal, he felt the return of his old self: energetic, powerful, and Godly. He knew the pain would return eventually, but if what Kellar had said was accurate—and Sehn had no doubt that it was, because the boy was clearly wise beyond his years—all Sehn had to do was let out some of the magic trapped inside his body every so often.

The bars screeched as they rose to the top of the gate, until with a click they remained in place. It was morning, and the fresh air from the outside world revitalized Sehn. Looking out, he could see a grassy, circular courtyard that ran around the floating chunk of land. Far in the distance, he saw one of the giant spire towers that protected Magia. He couldn’t make out the rest of the city; it was too great a distance.

“We’re really on the outskirts here,” Cah’lia observed, releasing the chain and wiping her hands on her pants. “Is this place technically even part of Magia?”

“It is,” Orellia said, “though only by technicality. If you were privy to some of our…concealed knowledge, you’d be surprised to find that there are floating islands all over the world that belong to us. Most stand alone, isolated, and not part of any other cluster, but regardless of where they are, they’re still part of our territory.”

Sehn barked a laugh. “Foolish mage. Before I depart from this place, I shall have you give me their location. Then they shall become part of the Great Sehn’s domain. I plan to conquer your pathetic nation someday. Oh, and I know you’re stashing one of your precious ‘Items’ here. Don’t ask me how, but I can sense it. I shall steal that from you, too.”

Orellia flashed a look of alarm, and she seemed on the verge of responding, but Cah’lia put an arm on her shoulder and shook her head.

“Just ignore him,” she said. “Sehn doesn’t like it when other people own land or any kind of property. For some reason he gets jealous. It’s annoying, but it’s something you get used to—eventually.”

Sehn gritted his teeth at her disgusting lies. He was jealous of no one! After all, why would he care if a bunch of mages controlled some stupid, beautiful, sky-island paradise that always held a summer breeze and had gardens, observatories, and places where there were roads paved in silver and gold? And so what if after he’d defeated this wretched curse—and he
would
defeat it—he’d need a place to bring Cah’lia and the kids so they could live out their lives like royalty?

Her point? Sehn shrugged off Cah’lia’s ridiculous accusation. Him? Jealous? Hah!

They are the only jealous ones here
.
I should kick them in the face
.
Both of them…in the face
!

He decided to drop the matter, though. There was no sense in starting a fight over nothing. He rolled his shoulder muscles and delighted at the lack of pain. With the entryway opened, he wanted to be the first one to step outside. Before he turned to leave, he heard Cah’lia whisper his name.

“Wow, did you see that, Shina?” she asked, speaking loudly enough that Sehn knew she wanted him to overhear what she was saying. “He’s got nothing to say back to me. That means he’s in a good mood.”

“Yeah,” Shina said with a laugh. “Sehn’s happy about something.”

“Am not,” Sehn growled. “My anger burns with the fires of hell! And my blade thirsts for your blood, little sister.”

Sehn wanted to say more, but the wonderful feeling of relief forced him to turn his back on Cah’lia so that he could smile without anyone seeing. It wasn’t a real smile—the Great Sehn did not show such pathetic displays of happiness—but rather, he was only smiling to make sure that the muscles in his face were still working properly; it was important for any warrior to ensure he was uninjured after a battle.

He whistled as he strolled through the entryway and into the morning sun, resisting the urge to skip.

Gods
,
help me
,
Sehn prayed.
Because between the sunshine and the fresh breeze
,
if I see one
more pretty
thing I’m going to do a fucking cartwheel in front of everyone
.
But not because I’m happy
!
Grr
!
I am NOT happy
.
Mine rage doth scorch the world
!

Before Sehn had taken a dozen steps out of the prison, he heard sighs of pleasure from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder. Six mages had already exited, and more were following behind. Each time one walked into the open, they inhaled, sighed, or widened their eyes.

“Gods be praised!” one shouted. “I can feel my magic return.”

There were cheers of agreement as mage after mage stepped into the courtyard and announced relief at finding themselves able to once again cast magic. Sehn realized he needed to stay on guard; he wasn’t the only one capable of blowing something up now, and he worried the other mages would try to boss him around.

The sooner I get out of here the better
.

Sehn stared off into the distance, and a wave of confusion hit him. He spun around in a circle, scanning his surroundings. Biting the corner of his lip, he searched his mind for what had him perplexed—then he realized it.

“How do we get off this Gods-cursed island?” he asked aloud. “I don’t know where my gryphon is, and I’m willing to bet neither do any of you.”

“Good point,” Benjamin said. The old mage scratched his white hair. “In my excitement over being freed, I forgot about how we’d return to the main city.”

“I have that all figured out,” Orellia said. “We’ll return to the surface, enter Hahl, and use one of my contacts to send a message to the ruling council. Then we’ll wait for them to come pick us up.”

“Are you mad?” one of the mages asked. He was a thin, ugly-looking elf with big ears and a pointy nose. “What if Duncan intercepts it? We’ll be trapped in some filthy human city for the rest of our lives. Not to mention it’ll take a week or more to travel through the valley of Hahl on foot.”

Orellia glared at the elf who’d spoken. “If you wish to disagree with me, Bara, then have at it, but do not insult me or call me mad. What I have suggested is our only realistic course of action.”

The elf, Bara, stood his ground. “There are other options. We could try to create an air bridge and walk across it.”

“That’s far too dangerous,” Iona said. “If someone makes a mistake or breaks a link, we’ll all plunge to our death.”

The two began arguing, and Sehn watched, amused, as more and more mages joined in on the debate. Quite a few sided with Iona and Orellia, but most agreed with Bara’s idea. Cah’lia exchanged confused looks with Shina and the other mages, while Kellar and Orellia whispered something off to the side. The spirited debate grew in volume and, Sehn, becoming bored, took a seat on the grass and crossed his legs. He knew this would take a while.

Gods-cursed mages always pulling this shit
, he thought, grunting to himself.
How dare they keep me waiting
?

Sehn twirled a blade of grass between his fingers while the mages had at it. It amazed him how all had different solutions to the same problem of getting off the island. They all seemed to agree that their gryphons would be secured in a complex too far away to reach with something called a “Fetch Summon” but that was about
all
they agreed on.

Sehn saw shadows moving along the ground, and he looked up to see Kellar and Orellia standing in front of him, with Cah’lia and Shina to his left and right side. Most of the other mages appeared too involved in their argument to notice, but a good few did keep their eyes on Orellia, who lowered her voice before speaking.

“Sehn,” she whispered, “we need to leave now.” Sehn wondered why there was such a strong sense of urgency in her voice. “The four of us have been talking, and we think things in the city are far worse than we imagined.”

“We need to get out of here,” Cah’lia agreed. “Before it’s too late.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Sehn asked.

It was Kellar who answered. “It was something you said to Mistress Orellia. You said that you knew Magia was stashing away an Item…that you could sense it.”

Sehn nodded. “And? What about it?”

“Well, the thing is, Sehn…” Kellar sighed. “Magia doesn’t have one of the Items. If we did, the Hawk would’ve attacked us for it a long time ago. There’s only two unaccounted for, and one of them is in the Pillar of Hope, and the other is in Elvadin. The Hawk has all the others except the Champion.”

“In other words,” Orellia continued, “if you’re telling me that, right now, there’s an Item here in Magia, then there’s a small chance the ruling council is either dead or incapacitated, and we need to get you out of here just in case.”

Sehn, for a moment, admired Orellia with a begrudging respect. Her worry and fear was plain on her face, but despite the possibility that her home had been conquered, she kept her voice commanding and her resolve steady.

“I…think I feel it too,” Shina said. “I’m not sure why I can also feel it, but I didn’t say anything until now because I wasn’t certain if it was just me.”

For the first time since meeting him, Sehn could see genuine hurt on Kellar’s face. Only then did Sehn make the connection: whatever cursed him must also have cursed his sister. But if so, then why couldn’t she retrieve the Items? Why couldn’t she use magic while within the cell? There was much Sehn still didn’t know. But most importantly, did it mean that Shina was also destined to die?

No
,
Sehn thought. He was certain that wasn’t the case, though he wasn’t sure how he knew. Something told him Shina’s life would be spared, even if he had no way to prove it.
Nothing will happen to her
.

“What do you plan to do?” Sehn asked.

“Go along with my original plan,” Orellia said. “The truth is that even with the inherent danger of crossing over to Magia, I can see where this argument is going. The other mages will soon decide to build a bridge out of air and use it to return to the city.”

“What are we waiting for then? The Great Sehn fears no danger.”

Orellia crouched down and lowered her voice until it was barely audible. She whispered into his ear. “It’s not as simple as that, Sehn. Kellar told me in secret that you know the truth now, though Cah’lia and your little sister don’t know you know. Regardless, everyone here is aware of what you are, and they won’t be so quick to let you leave their sight. Their duty to Magia comes before all else, and since you’re the only one who can retrieve the Items, they’ll die before letting you leave.”

Louder, Orellia said, “Cah’lia has a way out of this, but she thinks only you can do what needs to be done.” Orellia grinned. “You call yourself the Great Sehn, do you? I need your skills.”

Orellia’s words were music to Sehn’s ears. Finally, someone was acknowledging his greatness. Sehn was intrigued. He let out an appreciative grunt.

“Go on. I’m listening.”

“We need a distraction,” Cah’lia said. “And the four of us think you’d be perfect for it. In fact, if there’s one thing in this entire world I’d trust you with more than anything, Sehn,
it’s
creating chaos.”

Sehn felt his eyebrows rise to the top of his face. “Are you giving me permission to do something fun, Cah’lia? Not that I need it.” Sehn rubbed his hands together like a demon planning an invasion of the heavens. “Tell me I’m not mishearing you.”

“We don’t care what you do,” Shina said, “as long as no one dies or gets seriously injured.”

Cah’lia and Orellia nodded, while Kellar laughed. “We need to get back to the others,” Orellia said. “If we linger too long they’ll get suspicious. Think of something quickly and then do it. Once they’re done arguing—and I suspect they will finish soon—they’ll be ready to create the bridge and they’ll inadvertently lead us right back into Duncan’s waiting hands.”

“I understand,” Sehn said. “Now go and let me think of something.”

The four of them left and rejoined the others. Sehn spent the next five minutes sitting by himself on the grass while he watched the mages debate over their course of action. His mind raced with ideas, and he filled with excitement. Cah’lia was right: when it came to creating chaos, he was an artist. Sehn ran through the delicious possibilities one at a time before settling on an idea. He snickered to himself while he observed the mages, their tempers still rising, near the peak of their argument. This would be the perfect time to act.

When Sehn was sure no one was looking his way, he felt around the grass behind him and searched for a pebble. He wrapped his fingers around a coin-sized rock, and with a quick flick of his wrist, he threw it at one of the mages. It hit a young woman who was arguing with the elf Orellia had called Bara, striking her in the back of the head. She spun around, rubbing the spot where it had hit.