Vegenrage: The Magic User (5 page)

“He certainly looks dead.”

“Take him to Mournbow’s court and let Mournbow know we have returned.”

“Yes, Corksez.”

Corksez turns back and looks up at the three-story wall. The wall goes a mile to the left and to the right before it ends flush with the mountainside. There are four guard towers to each side of the wall. For any kind of army to sneak up on this fortress would be impossible, and unauthorized entry would also be impossible. The layout of the fortress built into the side of the mountain and the size of the protecting walls make a forced takeover of this castle all but impossible. Corksez heads to the castle.
It’s good to be home.

The plateau that this castle is on stretches about three quarters of a mile back, and then there is a huge home built right into a half-mile high cliff that grows straight up. There is amazing aqueduct work here. Water flows down the mountain cliff into channels built right into the ground, forming half-circle ovals from the cliff wall, expanding outward to the castle wall. There are walkways that allow men and beasts to walk over the fresh flowing water. There are channels built into the oval channels, leading water to pools and drain throughout the castle in such a way to preserve the strength and integrity of the whole castle structure.

There are high arching walls and monuments along the walkway that Corksez is walking under right up to the castle home. There are bunkhouses to the left and to the right; this must be to shelter the castle army, which is quietly unseen and unheard at the moment. There is a balcony high up the mountain wall, which Mournbow uses to see the village of Valvernva and the Terrashian grasslands along with Uromwell Forest off to either side of the village at the base of the mountain.

The Mourbarria Castle is beautiful and awe-inspiring; to look at the steps leading up to the castle built into the cliff face is amazing, and true workmanship goes into the building of this unique fortified castle. There are two heavily armored guards standing at the top of the stairs. They are armored head to toe in solid black armor. They each hold one very tall spear, you would think of black knights just by looking at them. They are well aware of who Corksez is and let him pass without a word.

Corksez enters the main hall, an enormous room with a very high cathedral ceiling. This room is carved right out of the mountain, as is the rest of this castle. The room is lit by torches that hang on the walls. There is a stairway leading up to the left and into the mountain and one to the right as well. Corksez walks straight, passing through an arch leading to another room much smaller than the room he just passed. There are tall, slender doors, one to the left, one to the right, and one straight ahead. The door to the left is open, and Corksez walks through it. This room is empty with Robert lying back down on a table. There are four crystals high up one on each wall glowing a white light illuminating the room. There is a bell on the wall to the left of the door that Corksez enters through, and he rings it once. A very tall man, about seven feet tall, enters the room wearing a wool vest, exposing his very strong shoulders, arms, and neck. He is wearing wool pants tied by bail twine, and he wears moccasins for shoes.

“Yes, Captain Corksez.”

“Belron, please tell Mournbow I am here with the magic user.”

“Yes, Corksez.”

Corksez looks at the golden-colored tapestries trimmed in blue covering the walls, and in a couple of minutes, Belron returns.

“Corksez, Mournbow will be here shortly, and he asked me to wait for him with you.”

Corksez nods to Belron. Another man walks in the same door Corksez and Belron entered from and closes the door behind him. This is a much shorter man carrying a thick, heavy wooden staff that starts to twirl around about three feet from the ground and twirls around to its full height of four feet eleven inches, the same height as the man carrying it. The staff gets thicker all the way to the top and looks like driftwood, only much heavier and stronger looking. The man wears a thick woven cloth cape that covers his whole body from the shoulders down, and he has thick bifocal glasses on. He doesn’t even look like he has the strength to be carrying the staff but moves with it with ease. He looks like he is seventy-plus years old and excitedly approaches Robert’s body.

“Is this him? This is the magic user?” He looks at Corksez. “I did not expect him so easily defeated.” He walks up to Robert and looks him over. “What, he has no weapons? None of any kind?” He looks at Corksez.

“No, this is all he had all you see here.”

“No! No! No! This can’t be right.”

“Inglelapse, calm yourself. This is all he had. We found him walking through Terrashia, and when we started to question him, he used some kind of magical force, knocking Rowann from his Graybazelle, and Johans stuck him with an Andalonian-tipped arrow. I was surprised how long he held on, seeing how the arrow went through his heart, but soon enough his pain was over.”

“Corksez, you fool, this man is not dead.”

“What are you talking about?” Corksez walks up to Robert, and Robert waves his hand in front of Corksez’s face. Corksez’s eyes flutter as he steps back, slowly sinking to the ground and falling asleep. Robert sits up then stands up, shaking his head, shoulders, and whole body. His skin and clothing crumble and shred like a piece of paper being cut by fifty scissors at once. Robert snaps still as all the particles of his concealed image vanish. He points his right hand to the door they all entered in and his left hand to the unknown door to the left and extends his fingers at them then pulls his closing fists to his shoulders. The doors lock from the inside. He points his left hand at Inglelapse, and his staff floats to Robert’s hand. He slams the staff on the ground, making a loud thud as though the staff were solid brass.

Robert looks at Inglelapse. “A Staff of Power, very nice.”

Inglelapse looks at Belron. “Belron, now would be a good time to do your stuff.”

Belron looks at Robert and roars as he starts to transform. His feet turn to bear feet with enormous claws, and his legs thicken and grow hair like a bear. This transformation starts at his feet and grows up his legs to his hips, which are already five feet off the ground. His abdomen becomes more slender and much less hairy like that of a hairless wolf. His arms remain human but grow very long, slender, and enormous. Claws grow from his fingernails. His head grows into a wolf head with a long snout with enormous, terrifying teeth and bright yellow eyes, with tall ears a mucky darker color to his whole body.

As Belron is changing, Robert is yelling to Inglelapse, “Tell him to stop, Inglelapse, tell him to stop. I don’t want to hurt him.”

“Let’s see what you’ve got, Magic User.”

Robert looks at Inglelapse with a mean look and looks at what Belron has become. “Great, a Changenoir.” Robert begins to transform himself. His muscles begin to bulge and grow along with his height. He takes the form of himself, only with unreal muscle growth along with his height. The staff grows with him. Robert grows until he is the same eight feet as the Changenoir.

The Changenoir looks absolutely terrifying with its disemboweling claws and its teeth that can easily slice through flesh. Robert looks very intimidating, like a gigantic barbarian that could crush a skull with one blow from his enormous club. Robert slaps his left hand with the staff. “Call him off, Inglelapse.”

“Belron, tear him apart.”

Belron roars and charges at Robert. Robert swings the Staff of Power from left to right, impacting the Changenoir on its right rib cage under its right arm. The Staff of Power does what it is supposed to do, increasing the strength and power of the impact by four times, crushing four of the Changenoir’s ribs and sending it violently into the wall over the table. Robert grabs the table with his right hand and throws it to the end of the room, out of the way. He then uses telekinesis to move Corksez, who was just missed by the falling Changenoir. He moves Corksez gently to the corner where Inglelapse is watching. The Changenoir grabs the right side of his rib cage with his left hand and caresses it, standing up. You can visibly see the right side of its body crushed in where the staff struck it. The Changenoir raises its arms up and howls, and its rib cage pops out to its normal appearance, healing itself right in front of Robert.

Robert swings the staff over his head, coming down right on top of the Changenoir’s skull, crushing and flattening it. He pulls the staff back over his head and continues a windmill swing, coming up with the staff hitting the Changenoir under its jaw, sending it into the wall again. There is nothing timid about Robert’s actions at all. He is decisively powerful and brutal, using all his strength and power. Robert in this form can easily lift over a ton with each arm and could kick a small car through the air like a rubber kickball with his massive legs.

Inglelapse is more than surprised and a little shocked how quickly Robert adapted to his staff and commanded its power. Robert could easily lift a four-foot-wide tree out of the ground, roots and all, and the staff increases his strength four times—a very impressive combination for this most brutal magic user. Robert points his right hand at the apparently dead Changenoir and chants, “Anterna Leigh Blemsteen Ann Baganna Nee Flumstein!”

The Changenoir goes up in flames like gunpowder, burning fast and gone. Robert turns to Inglelapse, who starts to tremble as Robert approaches him.

“That was very impressive, Magic User. You command my staff like it was your own.”

“It is my staff, Inglelapse, it told me so.” Robert shrinks down to his normal size. “Now tell me where Mournbow is. Better yet, take me to him.”

The door that has not been used yet opens, and a tall man wearing brown leather pants, brown leather boots, and a sparkling black shirt walks into the room. He has a noticeable
X
on the left side of his neck, like he has been branded.

“So, Magic User, surely you can bring Belron back to us. He was—is—my best servant.”

“Surely you have other servants.”

“Yes! Yes, I do.”

“Mournbow, he is much more powerful than we expected.”

“Yes, Inglelapse, yes, he is. I have never seen a Changenoir defeated so completely.”

“Mournbow, we should not have brought him here.”

“Calm down, Inglelapse. It is I he is looking for, and there’s no need for him destroying my home looking for me. So, Magic User, you come to my home, you kill my best servant, you scare my less-than-capable magician, and you ask for me. Well, here I am. What can I do for you?”

“I am looking for Xanorax. Tell me where he is, and I will be on my way.”

“Xanorax. Are you sure you want to find him? He is most unpleasant when disturbed.”

“I am sure we will come to an understanding.”

“I’m sure you will, Magic User, I am sure you will. He is in the Pinegrow Forest at the base of Mirrimya Mountain.”

“Mournbow, he spoke the ancient Noireen language and executed its magic. He is very dangerous.”

“Then better to befriend him, Inglelapse, than to provoke him any further.”

“Mournbow, do you have a map of this world? I would love to see one.”

“All-knowing but blind. I have what you are looking for. Follow me.” Mournbow heads out the door he entered from.

“Magic User, what about Corksez?” says Inglelapse.

“Wake him,” says Robert.

Mournbow and Robert leave the room, and Inglelapse stands over Corksez, looking confused.

Robert follows Mournbow into the next room, which has a very large table in its center, with many tall chairs. There is a fireplace at the front of the room, with a blazing fire warming the room. They walk around the table and enter another room. This is a trophy room with the heads of many bizarre creatures hanging on the walls. There is a nice fire warming the room from a fireplace in the wall, and nice chairs with small tables between them line along the walls for socializing.

Mournbow walks to a wall. “I believe this is what you are looking for.”

Robert looks up to see a huge woven tapestry, a map of the world of Kronton. “Oh, this is exactly what I am looking for.” Robert looks the map over and points to Mytek Mountain, which is clearly drawn on the map. “So we are here on Mytek Mountain,” and he then points to Pinegrow Forest. “And Pinegrow is way over there, half a world away, and there is Mirrimya right next to Pinegrow Forest.”

“So, Magic User, what is your name? Or do you just like to be called Magic User?”

“My name is Robert, for now.”

Mournbow looks up at the map. “Robert,” he says, shaking his head, “you sound as if you are going to Pinegrow to see Xanorax.”

Inglelapse walks into the room with Corksez. Robert waves his hand, and Corksez stumbles to the ground, again put to sleep.

“Hey, what did you do that for?”

“Inglelapse, come here.”

“What do you want?”

“I just want a piece of cloth from you.”

Inglelapse’s cloak is very shoddy but covers him more than completely with dangling pieces of cloth all about him.

“I want my staff back.”

Robert sticks his right index finger out and swipes it in a half-circle motion, and a piece of Inglelapse’s cloth cuts away from his cloak, a very small piece, and it floats to Robert’s hand. “I tell you what, Inglelapse.” Robert stands the staff on the floor and moves away from it. The staff stands upright on the floor, motionless. “If you can take the staff before I leave, it is yours. If not and if when I leave it is in my hand, then it is mine.” Robert turns to the map of Kronton. He blows on the piece of cloth, and the cloth grows and grows until it is the same ten feet by ten feet size of the map on the wall.

Mournbow watches Robert make his magic happen as Inglelapse pulls and pushes, struggling to regain his staff. Robert raises his hands a little higher and wider than his shoulders, and the cloth fits over the tapestry perfectly. Puffs of smoke rise from the cloth as the artwork of the map burn through the cloth Robert has made. The cloth pulls from the tapestry, an exact replica of the map of Kronton. The map shrinks and folds into a handkerchief-sized cloth, and Robert puts it in his back pocket. He looks at Inglelapse still struggling to pull the staff from the ground.