The Jade Mage: The Becoming: Volume 1 (13 page)

Hilary curled up next to Tartum. Her naked body against his was so soft and wonderful, he thought he’d never want for anything again as long as she was beside him. They talked about running away together. About Tartum buying them a home and them getting married. When Tartum asked her why they didn’t go now, she simply kissed him on the neck and told him she wasn’t ready yet, that she couldn’t leave Mama until she repaid all her kindness. That she hadn’t saved up enough money yet, but she promised that soon she’d be ready. Just like she always told him when he asked her that question.

The way she kissed his neck and purred her soft rejection, was like the sweetest honey to Tartum’s senses. He accepted her answer without further argument, and together they laid in each others arms, enjoying their closeness.

After about an hour of laying together, finding comfort in their embrace, the bar suddenly went quiet. There was a loud murmer, that sounded like men arguing, and suddenly, a crash. A woman’s shrill scream sounded but was cut unnaturally short. Then there was the sound of battle erupting. Tartum and Hilary knew the sound well. A fight had begun, and from the sounds of it, the entire brothel was involved.

“Isidor!” Tartum said, and jumped up from the bed. Quickly putting back on his clothes, he mentally prepared himself for a fight. His thoughts were racing, but above all he wished he had brought his staff! He wished he had brought his spell compenents! His mind filled with the thoughts of Isidor being pummeled and broken by the mob, that surely must be causing the racket outside the door. Fear for his friend fueled Tartum’s rising panic, and cleared the drunken ecstasy of Hilary from his mind. His focus was honed to one purpose. He must save his friend!

Opening the door, Tartum discovered his initial evaluations of the noises were correct. The entire bar was alive with fighting. Mugs, chairs, tables, and people were flying all over the place. He couldn’t see Isidor anywhere, and the knowledge terrified him. “What if I’m too late!?” he thought. Hilary was screaming at Tartum, to close the door and come back inside. Tartum turned to look at her.

“I must save Isidor!” he said to her, and threw himself into the fight.

He fought with the savagery of a man that was defending his family. Strangers that he’d never seen before, he punched full in the face, knocking them to the floor, senseless. He broke a table leg across the back of one of the girls that got in the way. There were no friends in this melee; there were only those who were getting in his way. All his training, with his forty pound staff had made Tartum quite strong, and his martial prowess granted him skill with his fists and feet as well. He was easily a match for anyone foolish enough to get into his way. He side-stepped a clumsy blow from a drunken, burly man, and thrust his fingers into the man’s throat. As the man went down to his knees, he grabbed at his neck trying to breathe; Tartum finished him off with a vicious blow to his face, knocking the man out cold and sending three of his teeth skittering across the floor. One of the working girls must have liked that man, because she threw herself at Tartum, trying to claw his eyes out. Tartum caught her by her arms and held her close, trying to reason with her to stop her attack. Seeing he was getting no where with talking, he put his head into her face, twice, to get her under control. Her body went limp, and he dropped her without a second thought. He needed to find Isidor!

Tartum was hit from behind and knocked to the floor. Everything went fuzzy, and he felt something warm trickle down his face. It itched, so he scratched at it. He saw blood on his hand. His blood? He didn’t know. He couldn’t think. It hurt to much to think. Hilary was at his side then. Tartum saw she had gotten dressed and must have come after him. His heart sang with the knowledge, that her love for him was now making itself manifest in her rescue attempt. She helped him to his feet and was saying something to him. His head was pounding, and the commotion from the fighting drowned out any hope of hearing what she said.

A dagger flew threw the air and cut the rope holding the chandelier up. It crashed to the floor, scattering furniture and people alike. Most of the candles that decorated it, went out with the fall. The few that remained lit, barely left enough light in the room to see. Hilary held onto Tartum tighter. Her fear of the dark overwhelming her concern over anything else.

Tartum’s head cleared up. He was still dazed, but at least he could think again. He could barely see. The light was dim. He could see Hilary, the terrified look in her eyes told him her fear of the darkness was beginning to overwhelm her.

“Don’t worry, my love. I will light up the darkness for you.” Tartum said. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out one of his Light Orb scrolls. He tried to always keep one on him, for a situation just like this. Unraveling it, he squinted at the page to make sure he could still read it. Something inside him screamed not to do it, but he shook his head to clear his mind. He needed to focus and couldn’t have weird feelings clouding his focus. The commotion around him seemed to be miles away. No one seemed to really be fighting anymore, now that the light was almost completely gone. A few people continued, judging by the sounds of grunting and punching, but nothing that compared to a few moments ago. This, Tartum decided, was a good time to cast his spell.

Taking a deep breath, Tartum opened himself to the magic and felt it flow into him. It was a bit more difficult to control, he noticed. Tartum assumed it was getting hit in the head that was causing it, but was confident he could fight through the difficulty. He had to bring light to the darkness for Hilary! He didn’t want to fail her. The little voice in the back of his head was wailing, begging him not to continue. For a moment, Tartum almost decided against casting his spell, but one look into Hilary’s terrified eyes was all the encouragement he needed to banish all doubt of his current actions. He would light up the darkness for her!

Tartum held up the scroll and began to channel magic into the parchment, as he had done many times before. The scroll lit up, as the magic infused it, and Tartum began to recite the spell.

“
Heh-Ro...ro...rrr...roniz Tu...”

Isidor was on the floor inside the bar. When the fighting had first started, a large man...or men, it was hard to remember, had picked him up and threw him over the counter. His landing had been a hard one and knocked the wind out of him completely. Once he had recovered, he had decided that the melee was getting way out of hand, and staying right where he was, was a good way to wait this fight out without further injury. He heard the screaming, the threats, the crashing and breaking. He saw men and women beating each other with hand, foot, and chair. He saw a man drunkenly throw a small dagger, and then heard the chandelier crash behind him and most of the lights go out. It got quieter as darkness enveloped the room, so Isidor continued to listen. It was then he heard what sounded like magic words being chanted. It was then that Isidor saw the glow and heard Tartum begin to stumble over the words.

“
TARTUM! NOOOOOOOOO
!!!!” Isidor yelled, but he knew it was already too late. Tartum had botched the spell, and the scroll was beginning to turn red and shake in his hands.

“
GET RID OF IT, YOU DAMNED FOOL! THROW IT, TARTUM! THROW IT!
” Isidor dove across the bar and tackled Tartum to the ground, just as he dropped the scroll.

Isidor knocked Tartum down behind a an overturned table, the impact knocked Hilary down and spun her. Isidor covered Tartum with his own body, and braced himself for what he feared would happen.

Isidor’s fears were well warranted.

The scroll shook violently as it fell to the floor, the contained magic desperately seeking an outlet. As it pressed the medium it was trapped in, the reality of the parchment and the surrounding few inches around it, began to flux and expand. The words blazing, with a deep, forbodeing red light. The parchment fluttered towards the floor. When it touched the worn wooden planks...chaos erupted.

An explosion, unlike anything Tartum had felt before blew over him. The table Isidor had knocked him behind, slammed into them and sent them both flying through the glass window that made up the face of the brothel. The force of the explosion broke every glass and piece of wood inside the bar. Rooms were devastated. The doors were blown to splinters, that shredded anyone unfortunate enough to be taking refuge behind them. The people nearest the blast were either completely vaporized or blown to pieces, in a shower of pink mist. As Tartum flew through the air, barely comprehending what was happening, he saw Mama flying through the air nearby. She was missing half her face, and both her arms were a mangled wreck. He thought she was looking at him with her remaining eye, he thought the look she gave him was familiar. His last thought, before his impact with the ground twenty feet outside the brothel, was that she was going to make him buy her a new eye. Mama always made him pay for stuff he broke.

The force of the impact with the street, knocked him out.

...

He woke up. He could hear screaming. Men and women were calling out for help. Some were just screaming in pain or in panic. The smell of smoke and death hung in the air like fog. Tartum opened his eyes and forced himself to sit up. The scene before him was one out of his nightmares. The brothel was literally torn in half. There was a fire roaring inside the wrecked establishment. People were running out of the flames screaming for someone to help them. A few of the truly unlucky ones were crawling out of the flames, only to die horribly, before reaching the outside. Glass, broken furniture, wood, and body parts were scattered all over the street. People from the nearby homes, were running towards the carnage, in an attempt to stop the flames and to save what few survivors there were.

Tartum saw Mama again. Her body had hit the ground with such force, that it had ripped her arms the rest of the way off, and the wreckage of her face was twisted into a mockery of a smile. She looked truly horrifying. Tartum couldn’t help himself. He retched. The purge helped him get a handle on the situation. He couldn’t fully grasp what had happened. He didn’t remember how he got outside. He was unharmed, other than a splitting headache. The last thing he remembered was Isidor knocking him down...ISIDOR!

Frantically, Tartum seached for Isidor.

“Isidor! ISIDOR! DAMNIT ANSWER ME! ISIDOR!!!!”Tartum screamed into the chaos.

“Shut up, you idiot, I’m right here.” came Isidor’s voice.

A broken board shifted behind Tartum, and Isidor stumbled out from behind it. Tartum sighed his relief. Isidor appeared to be ok.

“Isidor what happened?” Tartum asked in a daze.

“You happened, you Gods damned idiot. You tried to cast a spell, using a scroll, while drunk and it misfired. What the hells were you thinking!?!” Isidor screamed.

“I was trying to cast the Light Orb spell is all! Hilary was scared of the dark and...Oh my Gods, HILARY! HILARY!!!!” Tartum panicked. He went tearing through the streets, looking for his love. He had to find her! Isidor called after him, but Tartum wasn’t listening. He had to find her and make sure she was ok. She had to be ok...she
HAD TO
!

He tore through the debris and gore that littered the street, screaming for her until he was hoarse. He found body after body, and each time the body was a woman’s, his heart stopped. He checked each one, with fear in his soul. Relief washed over him everytime it turned out to not be her, only to be immediately replaced with the fear that the next body would be hers. He was beginning to think she was still inside the brothel, which was completely consumed in a roaring fire, when he spotted a shock of blond hair coming out of a pile of broken rubble.

Throwing himself at the pile, he threw the debris out of his way. His only concern was digging out the body. Isidor was at his side, helping him to remove the heavier pieces. Having his friend with him gave Tartum renewed hope. Finally, after Isidor helped him move a huge wooden beam, Tartum found Hilary. She was face down and not moving, but other than that she was unblemished. Pulling her from the rubble, Tartum lost his reason with the relief of finding her.

“It’s going to be ok, my love. I’m gonna take care of you now. Nothing will ever hurt you again. I’m so sorry for this. I was just trying to help. I never meant to hurt you. I love you, Hilary! I...” Tartum looked up at Isidor and saw that all color had drained from his face, and his mouth was moving as if to say something but no sound would come. He was staring at Hilary. Looking down at her body, Tartum saw what had stricken his friend speechless.

From her stomach down, there was nothing but a jagged string of entrails, that had left a terrible trail of gore, from where Tartum had pulled her from the wreckage. Tartum’s arms went numb, and the intensity of the scene before him was too much to process. Looking at Isidor, Tartum uttered one word before he passed out.

“Hilary?”

...

Isidor was shaking him. Tartum didn’t want to wake up. He didn’t want to face the reality that Hilary was dead. That HE was the one responsible for her death. He refused to open his eyes. He pushed Isidor away from him.

“I want to die!” Tartum said.

Isidor threw himself at Tartum and punched him across the face. The suddeness of the attack snapped him out of his self loathing.

“Get up, you pathetic wretch of a boy! I did not raise you, teach you everything I know about magic, just for you to throw it all away because of some whore! I swear to the Gods, if you don’t get up, I’ll destroy your spell book, destroy your staff, I’ll take everything magical away from you! You’ll see all of it destroyed before you die, I promise you that!” Isidor screamed his fury at him.