Secrets of Arkana Fortress (44 page)

              ‘Whatever happened to just killing them and going?’

              This was good – they were arguing among themselves. Byde deduced that there was some sort of rift between these two mages, and it was working to his favour.

              Blaigen grunted, jaw jerking sideways. ‘Now is not the time for fucking disagreements, Vicana.’

              ‘While you two are arguing… may I take my friend and leave you to it?’

              Vicana and Blaigen quietened; glaring at Byde’s statement as it tangibly hit them.

              ‘We’re not going to let you leave,’ Vicana said matter-of-factly, lifting her staff in front of her, a ball of black light appearing at its peak.

              Byde sighed. ‘Then it’s the hard way.’ His arms shot out from his sides, glowing blue, and unimaginably strong jets of water hurtled out of his palms.

              Vicana twirled her staff elegantly to create a shield in front of her, the water falling to the floor as it hit. Blaigen elevated his hands and began to evaporate the aggressive magic with a ball of fire that had grown in his own palms.

              A surge of fervour and determination intensified the water, producing a more powerful shockwave that travelled through its body. Byde let his head fall into his chest as he tapped into more of his power.

              ‘Ah shit, he’s powerful,’ Vicana shouted above the din of the water, her hold against the magic buckling.

              Blaigen laughed heavily. ‘For you it is, but not for me.’ He twisted his hands and made his defensive ball of flame bigger and bigger. ‘Come on, Byde, show me what you got.’

              Byde moved his left arm in a circular motion, twirling the water jet into a round shield that held Vicana at bay. He brought his other hand around to conjure another stream of water in Blaigen’s direction in an attempt to disperse the fire.

              ‘That’s the stuff,’ Blaigen leered, enjoying the chance to use his magic with its full force for a change. The air grew thicker and thicker as power built up around the battling pair, a standstill ensuing

              Blaigen’s face twisted as he opened up the full depths of his magical prowess, the spherical heat growing quickly in his grip.

              ‘You will not win this,’ Byde growled, his arms aching underneath the weight.

              Blaigen laughed as the fire engulfed the air in front of his face, the temperature posing no hindrance to him whatsoever.

              Suddenly his legs buckled; something hard and thick smacking the back of his knees. He yelped out of surprise as he fell forward.

              What none of them had noticed was that Mikos had regained consciousness and moved behind Byde’s attacker, grabbing a large sturdy branch from the floor as he had gone. He swung his makeshift weapon once again and struck the mage in the back of the head. His body flopped forward unconsciously; blood splattered over the back of his white hair, rusting it up like an unkempt sword.

              Mikos’s chest heaved as he stared down at the mage, a wild look in his eyes, untamed. His features were sharpened by the feral air now around him, a sweat breaking out on his head. ‘Where’s the female mage?’ he seethed.

              Byde was taken aback by the change in his friend’s manner, but decided to forego the questions. He turned around.

              Vicana watched the watery shield collapse in front of her. It was then that she saw Blaigen’s body sprawled out on the mucky floor, the tinge of deep red staining his hair. Her eyes went upwards to meet the glare of the man she had knocked unconscious, his hands wrapped tightly around a hefty branch. She felt the pit of her stomach grow empty as she locked into his gaze, something compelling her to do so. Her body was frozen on the spot as she stood there, her head growing light. What was this?

              A thickness grew in the air like a malignant cloud of despair, suffocating Vicana; smothering her like a pillow to the face. She found it hard to breath momentarily before her eyes forcibly shut. She screamed inside; her soul feeling like it was trying to claw its way out of her body, completely tortured. Pain gripped her body, growing with intensity and heat.

              This all happened within a few seconds.

              She opened her eyes, her breath staggered. The caster and his companion had gone, and Blaigen was still out cold on the floor in front of her. It was just the two of them now.

              ‘Where the hell…?’ She trailed off, realising that she was talking to herself.

              A groan rumbled from Blaigen as his hands started to creep to his head injury.

              ‘Blaigen? You OK?’ asked Vicana, still on edge.

              ‘Erm…’ He winced at the pain throbbing in his head. ‘Bastards.’ He looked up at Vicana. ‘Where the fuck did they go?’

              ‘I don’t know. Something happened to me and they disappeared.’

              ‘You let them escape?’ he snapped.

              ‘I couldn’t do anything… something about that caster’s friend froze me in my place. I… I can’t explain it.’

              ‘Probably a bloody mage. Come and help me up.’

              Vicana strode over to her fallen partner and helped him to his feet, his weight proving to be no issue – he was probably lighter than she was.

              ‘Can you do that shroud thing again? Or is the injury too great?’

              Blaigen hummed, screwing up his eyes. ‘I… think so.’ He exhaled and concentrated, gathering power.

              Mikos looked at Byde. ‘I’m assuming I’ve done it again.’

              Byde nodded gently, a small smile on his lips. ‘Looks like they can’t see or hear us,’ he mused.

              ‘So what the heck are we doing? Shouldn’t we go?’ Mikos felt weakened suddenly.

              ‘Just wait a moment.’

              Blaigen gasped from the pain. ‘I should be OK, I think.’

              Vicana closed her eyes, ready for the weird feelings again.

              ‘Stand next to them,’ signalled Byde.

              ‘What?’ Mikos looked baffled.

              ‘Just do it!’

              Mikos moved in next to Vicana. ‘What are we trying to achieve?’

              Byde raised an eyebrow. ‘If I’m right, then we should soon be on our…’

              A black veil sucked the four of them up, and they were gone.

Chapter 30

The room they had ended up in was a cold stone space with all the charm of a mortuary. The place was crudely carved out, more than likely with the careless use of magic – the walls were jagged and burned; the ceiling uneven and sharply contoured. Small pools of water had collected in the grooves that ran haphazardly through the floor.

              ‘That was a fucking risk, wasn’t it?’ Mikos blurted out as he lay on his back, unsure whether or not to be angry.

              Byde blinked sluggishly, a look of pure wonder on his leathery face. ‘I didn’t actually expect that to happen; it was just a farfetched theory on my part.’

              ‘Well you just proved it correct, professor.’

              ‘Wow.’ He sat up and peered round.

              ‘I bet you have no idea where we are.’ Mikos groaned from the aching.

              Byde looked about the room expectantly. ‘I can only imagine we’re in some sort of cave or castle on that island the shrine showed us.’

              ‘So basically… we won’t have a clue unless we go out of this room? And who knows what we could find… more evil mages? That dark spire you talked about?’

              ‘The spire…’ Byde zoned out, his eyes glazing over as if something evil had touched his soul. ‘We need to find it and destroy it.’

              Mikos stood up, brushing off the patches of water on his black tunic. ‘How do we do that then?’

              Byde scratched his chin and rolled his eyes around. ‘I’m… sure I’ll think of something when we find it.’

              ‘Oh that’s great news…’

***

Blaigen swore loudly, his curses echoing around the main hall. ‘Those bastards… those little bastards.’ He clutched the back of his head.

              Vicana tapped his shoulder as she stood over him applying some lotion to his wound. ‘Will you keep still?’ She rubbed more on, the thick pink goo absorbing easily.

              ‘I’ll kill them both; rip out their hearts and feed them to the birds.’

              ‘Oh shut up.’

              ‘Do
not
tell me what to do, Vicana. I am your superior.’

              ‘Not right now you ain’t.’ She had to smile at that.

              Blaigen grumbled, gritting his teeth.

              ‘A bit of damaged pride never killed anybody.’

              ‘Don’t spout your philosophies to me.’

              ‘Sorry for the pun, but don’t be such a sore head.’ She stifled a laugh.

              ‘How the fuck can you find this funny? We just got ourselves beaten by a caster and some kind of mage.’

              ‘We still live, and they’re all the way back on Bolsil. Even if they do make it here they won’t succeed with just the two of them.’

              Blaigen said nothing and pursed his lips, a troubled expression creasing over his face.

              Vicana massaged the last of the lotion and stepped back. ‘There we go, you’re good as new.’ She looked at him. ‘What’s wrong now?’

              He rolled his eyes up to look at her. For once his eyes looked much more human, which Vicana found surprisingly endearing. ‘It didn’t feel right,’ he uttered with a croaky voice.

              ‘What didn’t?’ Vicana noticed the sudden onset of worry gripping her as he continued to look at her.

              ‘When we used the shroud to come back… it felt like I was shifting more than just the two of… us…’ His voice drifted off into the distance like a retreating storm. His expression changed from troubled to instant realisation. ‘I can’t believe it,’ he blurted out, standing up too quickly for his head to take. He wobbled backwards and sat back down. ‘Them… they must’ve been with us.’

              Vicana shook her head. ‘Your injury must be quite bad.’ She wandered over to Blaigen and inspected his head again, only to be batted away by his flailing arms.

              ‘I’m not fucking delirious, woman,’ he boomed angrily, an inferno building inside him. ‘That mage, or whoever he was, must’ve tricked us both.’

              ‘And you’re sure of this?’ asked Vicana, hands on hips.

              Blaigen looked at her squarely and twisted his mouth. ‘Order a search of the fortress to be on the safe side.’

              Vicana knew that even Blaigen did not trust his own judgement at the moment, but every realm of possibility had to be explored; the uncertainties always had a slim chance of becoming a reality. She reluctantly nodded and strode off with a lump in her chest, leaving her fellow mage to wallow in his self-doubt.

              The room had suddenly fallen silent, nothing more than an eerie clicking in the distance to distract Blaigen from his muted contemplations. The weight of responsibility was visibly weighing down on him from a great height. His task for the Providence was so close to fruition that he did not need tedious obstacles such as a rogue caster and his magical friend.

              ‘You need to be more vigilant.’

              Blaigen shot his head around the room at the sound of the hazy, yet familiar, voice. He saw nothing and no-one.

             
‘What is it about you, Blaigen? You have corrupted yourself and that lovely woman. Vicana, was it?’

              ‘Why have you surfaced?’ he asked wearily.

             
‘You know the score – I’m always here, inside your mind. You put me here for your own twisted gains.’

              ‘Last thing I need now is you butting in when you should be dead.’

              The voice let out a shrill laugh, one of borderline madness.
‘Dead? Dead? Is that what you call it? Trapped in here like a wild animal at a circus?’

              ‘It isn’t yours anymore to control.’ Blaigen started smacking his head with his palm. ‘Go back to sleep.’

             
‘You’re the intruder here, not me. The time will come.’

              ‘Oh yeah? When will that be? Amuse me… please.’

              ‘Blaigen?’

              He looked up at Vicana as she re-entered the room with a swagger.

              ‘Oh… yes?’ he asked, startled.

              ‘Were you… talking to yourself?’

              ‘I was… erm… thinking aloud, if you don’t mind.’