The Sorcerer's Quest (14 page)

“What do you mean the city was gone?”

“I mean there was an open field where the city was
supposed to be. I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s true nonetheless.”

I groaned and let my head fall to the bar next to my
plate. I wasn’t trying to curse the people, but I wasn’t trying to save them.
Apparently, even my neutral magic was white magic.
Maybe that’s what’s
bothering me
. No, it was something bigger.

“Take some bread with you,” the man behind the
counter said, setting a loaf of bread wrapped in a thin cloth on the table.

“Thank you.” I picked it up and started to put it in
my bag… and froze. I had gotten books from Livia’s library, so my bag should
have been heavier than when I got to her castle. I quickly removed the books
and set them on the table. Only then did I see what had been bothering me so
much.

The syrus was missing. I knew I had it when I left
Livia’s castle, and that just made me sick to my stomach. The only time I could
have lost it was when that boy in the city bumped into me and caused my bag to
spill open. I replayed the event over and over but I couldn’t remember seeing
it to pick it up. There were other people around; it must have rolled out of
sight.

“You just became pale as a ghost,” the man said.

“I tried to get ahead of my brothers by trapping them
temporarily, but I’ve just realized I forgot something I really need and now I
have to go back to my brothers who are going to kill me painfully and slowly.”

“Do you have another friend who can help you?”

“I did, but I kind of got mad at him for betraying me
and left him.”

“Well, that wasn’t very smart.”

“I know. When they get free, my brothers are going to
come through here. They’re not like me; they’ll hurt people and destroy things
just for fun. You might want to shut down for the next couple of days.”

“Thank you for the warning.”

I gathered the books back into the bag and went to
the door, but when I opened it, I froze. Merlin was sitting right outside,
looking very displeased. “What are you doing here?”

“
Did you honestly think I was going to let you get
yourself killed
?”

“So you still don’t think I can defeat Magnus on my
own? After everything we’ve been through?”

“
I never said I did not believe you were capable;
I just did not believe you would go through with it. Had I known you were the
seventh son of the seventh son, that you had such a rare power, I would never
have promised to teach you to be a sorcerer, because that was unfair to you
.”

“How was---” I was cut off as one of the two men who
had been talking in the inn pushed me out of the doorway. “Sorry.” My apology
was unheard, because he ran away as soon as he spotted Merlin. I started
walking south, since going after Magnus without the syrus was a waste of time.
“How was it unfair to promise to teach me to be a sorcerer?”

“
Because what you are is more important.
Encouraging you to just be a sorcerer is repression
.”

“But I just want to be a sorcerer. I want to be
successful at it, but I would rather be a sorcerer than… not anything. What am
I supposed to call myself now?”

“
Why must you call yourself something
?”

“Because people ask. Twice just yesterday I’ve been
asked whether I’m a wizard or sorcerer. I don’t know what to say now.”

“
Then find something you want to be called and
excel in that. You grew up believing that curses and manipulating people was
your only future. Did you ever wish you could do something else
?”

I thought about it, and found myself grinning. “I
like books. I like traveling, too. I could travel around and collect books. I
could get a house and people could come and borrow books from me and then bring
them back so others could read them too. I mean, it wouldn’t be fair to have
all the best books in the world and never let anyone else read them. What would
that be called?”

“
A librarian, Ayden
.”

“I like that. But no, that couldn’t happen. No matter
how much I may screw up as a sorcerer, I am still a Dracre, and my mother would
never let me live as anything else.”

“
Then you are determined to be a sorcerer
?”

“I’m determined to try. I’ll defeat Magnus and my
brothers if I have to. I will be a sorcerer, but not like my family, because
I’ll choose when to use sorcery and when not to. Maybe I’ll use sorcery in a
wizard way. Like, I would only help people when it benefits myself.”

“
I foresee no terrible consequences deriving from
that idea whatsoever
,” he said sarcastically.

“You’re not a seer. Besides, I’m still mad at you for
betraying me.”

“
Then I will make it up to you. In the meantime,
can we change your hair back now? It looks so odd
.”

“No. It pretty much saved my life when I ran into my
brothers at Red Rock.”

“Why are we going back the way we came from?”

“Long story. I forgot the syrus in the city a day
south of here, and before leaving, I locked the city in an invisibility spell,
which stopped my brothers from getting out. Now we have to go get it and
probably face them. Then I found out that the city was about to be invaded and
I ended up saving them from that.”

“
Somehow I feel you just made the story much
longer and more complicated than it would have been had you not shortened it
.”

We got back on the road and began the long journey
back to face my brothers. “Thanks for coming after me and for facing my
brothers with me.”

“
Well, I admit it would have been easier had you
not snuck out, but friends help each other, even if one of said friends forgets
to act his age and locks himself in a room sometimes
.”

*          *          *

We walked and walked. I told Merlin about what
happened at Red Rock and then, with nothing else to do, we passed the time by
telling fairytales. It occurred to me we should have been talking about Livia
and what I learned, but I didn’t want to get upset again.

When the sun was low in the sky, we finally reached
the hill that overlooked the field where I knew the city was. “There it is.
Well, it’s there, but you can’t see it. I’ll have to break the spell, but
first, a plan would be nice. The box will be in the middle of the road unless
someone took it. Anyone in the city could have it. Furthermore, my brothers are
there, and they’re after me. I have no idea why or how they got so close.”

“
It is most likely a blood call. Siblings are
drawn together. As for a plan, I have one. I can sniff out the syrus the same
way I found you. Watch for your brothers because I do not know their appearance
.”

“They’re hard to miss. I’ll make us both invisible.”

“
Tread carefully with such magic
.”

“I know.” I used both my wand and staff and
visualized the two of us becoming invisible along with my bag, staff, and wand.
My magic stirred slower than usual, as if it couldn’t believe I was encouraging
cooperation between the wand and staff. The magic was blue and trickled gently
into both Merlin and me. I felt my skin tingle right before Merlin vanished. I
reached out, unable to see myself at all, and felt his thick fur.

“
Because you cannot follow the sound of my voice,
if we get separated and you need me, call out my name and stay still
.”

I raised both my wand and staff again and focused on
the spell I had put over the city, although it had not been my intention to
make it invisible, it worked out in their favor. If my mother ever found out, I
would be so dead a necromancer wouldn’t even be able to resurrect me.

I felt the spell easily and since it was my own,
breaking it was as simple as calling the magic back into me. There was a
definite stain. My brothers had tried to break out. They didn’t try very hard,
or they would have broken it easily, but they tried nonetheless. Maybe they
were distracted by arguing with each other. I had always wondered what they
would do if I weren’t there for them to torment.

“Why are my brothers even looking for me?” I asked.

“
I suspect your mother must have sent them when
she found out you left. Perhaps they don’t know you’re going after Magnus
.”

“No, she wouldn’t risk the chance that someone would
tip Magnus off. My brother’s aren’t very fast or wise; I’m sure they’ve told
everyone they passed that they’re going after him, and my mother knows that.
She would tell them not to waste time until after they’ve defeated him.”

“
Well, we should be off before someone leaves with
the syrus
.”

I let my magic flood my wand again and white light
wrapped around us. When it cleared, we were right back where I had been when I
transported myself out. I was suddenly out of breath.

“
You are using a lot more magic than usual
,”
Merlin warned. “
You have to build your endurance along with your magic
.”

I nodded, which I then realized was a waste because
he couldn’t see me. “Go look for the syrus. I’ll keep an eye out for my
brothers,” I whispered.

“
Be safe
.” I didn’t hear anything else, so I
assumed he had left.

A moment later, dread welled up from deep inside me.
It must have been my magic sensing my brothers’ magic. A cruel laugh turned my
blood cold, and then a spark in front of me caught fire. The fire spread to
create a wide circle around me, only as high as my knees. It wasn’t meant to
burn me; there would be something worse trapping me inside.

Zeustrum, Bevras, Gibus, Febarin, Mikron, and
Thaddeus all exited the tavern and surrounded me. Invisible or not, I was
caught.

“I told you he’d come back,”
Thaddeus said.

He didn’t look directly at me, though; none of them
did. They couldn’t see me. By then, everyone else in the city had shut
themselves into their homes or businesses. Whether the Dracre reputation
reached these lands or not, everyone recognized a sorcerer duel when they saw
one.

Of course, this was more like a sorcerer execution.

“Why isn’t he there?” Febarin asked accusingly.

Gibus rolled his eyes. “He obviously learned a spell
that makes him invisible.”

Zeustrum and Bevras shared a glare. “That is
illusionary magic. Impossible. Ayden, explain yourself,” Zeustrum demanded. His
tone promised the beating of a lifetime if I didn’t instantly obey.

“He must have picked up an enchanted item or
something. It doesn’t matter; he can’t hold it for long.”

I was so distracted by the fact that Zeustrum was
right— invisibility was illusionary magic and therefor impossible for a
sorcerer to do— that I didn’t realize what Gibus said until I felt the lethargy
start to drag on my magic. This was one of their favorite curses; the circle
would draw on my magic until any spell I cast was broken, including my
invisibility.

I sighed and allowed the magic over me, my bag, my
wand, and my staff to fall. To my brothers, it would look like I gave up, but I
really just wanted to put all my strength into keeping Merlin hidden for as
long as possible.

Bevras’s eyes widened. “Your hair! How did you get
your hair to stay black?”

“Never mind that,” Zeustrum dismissed. “You are in a
lot of trouble, little brother.”

“Why were you looking for me?”

Thaddeus scoffed. “Are you serious? You thought you
could go and warn Magnus about us and we wouldn’t stop you?”

I gaped. “You thought I was trying to warn Magnus you
were going after him?!” My screech of outrage might have been a little
hysterical. They did everything they could to humiliate me and torment me just
because I wasn’t like them, but it never crossed my mind that they would think I
was a traitor.

Zeustrum’s eyes narrowed. “Why else would you have
run away the night before we were sent to defeat him?”

“I was going after him myself! I wanted to defeat him
alone to prove to Mother that I’m just as powerful a sorcerer as you all!”

“Alone? Are you insane?” Mikron sneered. “Not even
one of us could defeat him alone.” Zeustrum and Bevras glared at him. “Okay,
maybe Zeus and Bev could, but certainly not you. You could have just begged
Mother to let you go with us.”

“Oh, yes, like I went with you on that hunting trip
last summer?” They all laughed at the memory and my face flushed. They made it
a game to see which of them could kill me first until I managed to escape and
return home. Mother ridiculed me for days and then tried to send me back to
them. To my surprise, Mikron and Thaddeus were faking their laughter. I turned
to my oldest brother because he was the only one the others would listen to.
“Zeus, please, just let me go.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

An idea was forming in my head as the words came out
of my mouth. “Because I have something you want more than me dead.” As if it
knew my plan, the crystal on my staff pulsed with a deep, dark red glow. All my
brothers’ eyes fixed on it. “This is not only the most powerful sorcerer staff
that has ever existed; it can also show you the way to Magnus.”

“How?”

I lowered it to point at them, but none of them
flinched because their faith in the circle around me was absolute, unlike their
faith in me, apparently. However, I had enough magic left since I dropped my
invisibility. When I pointed the crystal to the north, it pulsed. Zeustrum’s
eyes lit up with interest.

“And why shouldn’t we just take it from you and kill
you?”

“You can’t get it without dropping your circle. If
you let me go, you can always come up with a way to use me later as bait, a
decoy, or whatever. Drop your circle and take the staff. Just look away for a
moment so I can run.”

Thaddeus went up to him and whispered something in
his ear. His expression showed utter shock for just an instant before he
schooled it. “Alright. Give me the staff and run. Run as fast and as far away
as you can and never return. If I ever see your nuisance face again, it will be
the last time.”

Curiosity burned inside me; Zeus never changed his
mind. Whatever Thaddeus had said, it was huge.

The circle fell and Zeustrum stepped forward. I held
my wand in my left hand and handed my staff to him with my right. Zeustrum
would never take my wand for himself, but he also wouldn’t consider it a threat
worth disarming me of. As soon as he took the staff, Bevras and Febarin each
grabbed my arms to restrain me.

I didn’t fight them. “Dishonest to the end. You may
end up on top, but you’ll be alone.”

He smirked. “That never once mattered to me.”

“You really don’t want to do this.”

“I really do.” He aimed the staff at me and pure
black magic burst from the crystal.

At the same time, white magic was drawn out of me,
through the wand, and into the staff. The black magic and white magic were one
for just an instant, each swirling around each other in a stream between the
wand and staff. It was Zeus’s magic, but it was my staff, and a magic staff
would never hurt its true master.

The magic struck Bevras and Febarin like black
lightning and through the staff, it simultaneously spread down the length of
the staff to reach Zeustrum. He convulsed, like the two beside me did, but they
collapsed onto the ground and he only went to his knees. The magic then spread
to Gibus and Mikron. Thaddeus was nowhere to be seen.

Once all my brothers except for Thaddeus were
unmoving and unconscious, the magic stopped. I picked up my staff, oddly upset
by the fact that the crystal was pure black. Apparently, my wand was
disgruntled as well, because it sent a painful spark up my arm, through my
heart, down the other arm, and into the staff. I shuddered, but the crystal
lightened considerably, so it was worth the physical discomfort.

“
That was quite the display of bravery
,”
Merlin said.

He was still invisible, so I didn’t bother looking
for him. “Not hardly. I would have let him go if he hadn’t tried to kill me.
That’s weakness.”

“
Mercy is not weakness. You knew the staff would
reverse the attack and you tried to talk him out of using it. Showing yourself
to them was bravery, and maintaining the spell over me when you needed the
power most was friendship. You proved you are a better man than any of your
brothers, sorcerer or otherwise
.”

“Did you get the syrus?”

“
I did
.”

The battle was over and people began peeking out their
doors and windows to see how much damage there was. Since it would look to them
like I was talking to myself, I dropped the spell. Merlin appeared right in
front of me with the syrus at his feet. “Was the invisibility spell even
helpful to you at all?”

“
It was very helpful. A merchant had found it and
tried to sell it. I had to sneak into his shop and take it back. When I
returned, I considered stepping in, but by then, he had already taken the staff
and I knew how the situation would play out. I think you did very well
.”

At that moment, people started returning to the
streets, seeing my brothers on the ground, and cheering. They were cheering
because they thought my brothers were dead. I couldn’t stop the anger from
welling up inside. “What is wrong with you people?” I asked. “What could you
possibly have to be happy about seeing them on the ground like this?”

Confused muttering replaced the cheering. “They were
threatening the city,” one woman said.

“How? Other than being obnoxious hooligans, what did they
actually do?” I saw no damage to the city, no piles of bodies, and no rivers of
blood.

The crowd looked even more confused. “Well, they were
sorcerers.”

I felt… much less shocked than I should have. Yes,
that kind of thinking was rare where I was from, but Merlin seemed to be of the
mind that people didn’t like sorcerers. There were some places where people
were suspicious of magic-users, and some where they only liked particular
magic-users, but on most lands, everyone was considered equal.

The people of Akadema never shunned wizards, but
there were no wizards living there, so the people turned to sorcerers like my
family or another magic-user. Sorcerers were shadier, but people went to them
for help more than wizards because, if nothing else, sorcerers were more
trustworthy. Sorcerers would always be willing to get their hands dirty for the
right price, and they valued repeat business. Wizards never accepted coin, so
they only helped someone if they felt it was their duty.

“
I
am a sorcerer! Sentence people for their
actions, not for being alive! If they’ve done something to you or your family,
you can cheer when they fall. Otherwise, act like people instead of
bloodthirsty animals and show sympathy for a fallen man.” The villagers looked
properly chastised and I was about to continue when Zeustrum started to move.
“That being said, they’re dangerous and angry so run and hide!” I picked up the
syrus, stuffed it into my bag, and then transported us back to the hilltop.

“
We must hurry; they will be able to follow us.
How far can you transport us
?”

“I’m okay to transport us to somewhere I can see. If
I can’t see where we’re going, we could end up anywhere.”

“
Can you see the previous city in your memory and
take us back there
?”

“I’m not sure. It would be dangerous to try.”

“
More dangerous than your brothers if they catch
up to us
?”

“No.”
At least, I really hope not
. I closed my
eyes and focused on the inn I had stayed at. I focused on the bar, the tables,
and the comforting scent. The only reason I didn’t think of the owner was
because I didn’t know if he would be there or not and I didn’t want it to mess
me up. Unfortunately, I still hadn’t recovered from all the magic I used and
the circle that drained what was left.

I sensed that something went wrong, so I wasn’t
surprised to open my eyes and find myself alone in the dark. “Merlin?” I
whispered. No answer. I knew my magic had transported him because I felt it, but
there was no telling where he was. Or where I was, for that matter.

Even though I was almost painfully exhausted of
magic, I still managed to push enough into my wand to light the tip and bathe
the room in a dim glow. It was a small study filled with books of all things! I
knew then why my spell went wrong; I needed more than magic to defeat my enemy.
I started searching the shelves for anything that could help me.

“
Ayden, are you okay
?” Merlin asked.

Once again, I answered without thinking about it. “
I
seem to be. What about you
?” It was a very strange phenomenon. I thought
the words so strongly that I could hear my own voice out loud, yet I hadn’t
opened my mouth.

“
I am safe for the moment, only
…
I appear
to be in a young lady’s bedroom and she is very upset to see me, quite possibly
because she has no clothes on. Furthermore, it is difficult to open the door
with paws
.”

I saw a book on magical monsters. Since Livia said
there would be a monster at Magnus’s castle, I grabbed it, shoved it into my
bag, and left the last of my gold jewelry on the shelf in its place. Then I
focused my magic into both my wand and staff to transport me to Merlin. The
first thing I saw when the white magic faded was a very naked woman. She
stopped screaming when she saw me.

“Hello. I’m Ayden.”

“
Open the door
!” Merlin demanded.

“Sorry, I’m just here to get my wolf.” When I opened
the door, Merlin rushed out. I followed reluctantly, but not so slowly that the
woman had time to respond.

We were now out on the main road of the city. I knew
it was the right city because I recognized the inn I had stayed at the previous
night. And then I suddenly felt so sick that I had to rush over to the side of
the road and throw up.

“
You are going to cripple yourself if you continue
doing magic without food and rest. I suggest we stop for the night
.”

“But my brothers…”

“
They most likely have no idea where this town is
and will therefore have to walk. I also suspect that they will not travel at
night
.”

“Alright.” I really didn’t want to argue. All I
wanted to do was go to sleep. “Where should we sleep?” Lightning crackled in
the sky right before it opened up and dumped heavy rain. “That’s just what we
need.”

“
You need to be in a bed and out of the weather.
We do not know how many more days our travels will take and you need to be
well-rested for what we will soon face
.”

“We have no money.”

“
After a night of rest and some food, you should
be in good shape. You of all people should know that everyone could use some magical
assistance. With sorcery and wizardry, surely you can find someone with a spare
bed who would accept something other than money in return
.”

I thought about it and nodded. “We might as well try
the innkeeper.” We entered the inn to find the same man as before behind the
bar. I wondered if he was there all day every day.

“Welcome back,” he said kindly. He pulled a small
towel from somewhere behind the bar and handed it to me.

“Thank you.” I used the towel to dry my hair. It
wasn’t terribly cold outside and it was warm inside, so I wasn’t worried about
getting sick. When I started trying to pat-dry my clothes, I noticed he was
staring at my hair. “What?”