The Mage of Orlon: The beginning (8 page)

The Dark Queen rose out of her bed with a shriek, the mage has been found!

More death and destruction will follow, she had been lucky up until now.
No one ever counted the orcs when they went into a village or when they came out.
The whole no prisoners thing was her late husband
’
s mantra not hers.
She was as much a prisoner of her title as the lands she held, but with the mages came the invasions.

The Dark Queen became troubled.
Her hands clenched the furs on her bed tightly.

“
Chama!
”
The queen bellowed.

“
Yes my lady.
”

“
Summon Mordock at once; there is another mage in Orlon who means my destruction!
”

“
Yes, my lady.
”
Chama replied.

A few moments later Mordock stepped out of the shadows.

“
Mordock, there is a new mage!
Go about your work, gather his soul so I may use him like the others!
”
She ordered.

“
As you wish, my queen.
”
Without another word Mordock vanished into the shadows.

So now there is a new threat.
I felt his power only moments ago, he wielded fire as if it was his personal property. He is more powerful than the others.
So he will be the next to join my collection of mages. Tirana thought ruefully.

So far, all the mages she had faced where in her dungeon working to reverse the curse on her.
The mage slayer was a fierce weapon, but no one knew that it was actually a tool to capture, not kill the mages.
That is except for Zorn, something had interfered with the arrow.
It should have drained his life force, and returned to Mordock.
The arrow did not return immediately, it took until morning to return.
They had unburied Zorn
’
s lifeless body, but when the arrow was plunged back into the body instead of bringing Zorn back to life it did nothing.
The Queen had checked the arrow three times after it had failed, because Zorn was the key to lifting the curse on her.
She found nothing wrong with the mage slayer, so her key mage was denied her and the curse would plague her for the rest of her life or so it would seem.

A thought occurred to Tirana, if she could get the newest mage to join her, maybe he could break the spell!
A thin grin fell upon Tirana
’
s face, she had to have him!

“
Nate, Nate, wake up Nate, your task is not through yet.
”
The voice was so beautiful, so serene; surely to wake from this place would be a crime.
The slap came fast and hard rattling Nate
’
s teeth in his head.

“
Ouch, what the hell Lela!
”

“
Sorry, but you have been unconscious for some time.
I was afraid you were not coming out of it.
Nate what did you do?
”

“
What do you mean Lela?
”

“
Do not play coy with me Nate you killed a pack of howlers using fire.
Did you invoke a charm, chant a spell, what did you do to have that kind of power?
”

“
I don
’
t know how I did it.
”

“
Nate do not lie to me, that is powerful magic, Zorn could not wield fire like you did, and he was powerful by mage standards.
Did Crolin put some enchanted item in your pack?
”

“
No, Lela I don
’
t know how I did it.
I
’
m not even sure I could do it again, but it scared me.
It was like I wasn
’
t me.
I felt cold, full of hate and rage.
I should have cared what I did to those animals, but honestly the howlers could have been people and I don
’
t think I would have done anything different.
Lela I
’
m scared.
”

The tone of Nate
’
s voice convinced Lela that he was telling the truth.
He was all powerful when he killed the howlers, but then he passed out, what a strange human.

The night passed by slowly, but quietly, the forest seemed to be regrouping for another attack.
Lela stayed up keeping watch and went over the day
’
s events.

Nate had come back for her, but he was dripping power.
The energy had flooded the clearing.
Lela could actually taste it in the air it was so thick.
Nate was scared of the power, and could not recall how he had gained magic that even the most powerful mages were unable to do.
The strange thing was it was like the final attack on the last howler had drained him of all his power, or had it?
He was not lying he was scared of what the power did to him.
That was probably a good thing, if he had the ability to learn advanced magic he might be a bigger threat to the elves than the Dark Queen herself!

The morning was bright with the hope of a new day.
The adventure that yesterday had held was more than Lela or Nate had wanted.

“
Lela, do you think that the howlers were the only thing roaming this forest that could hurt us?
”

“
I do not know Nate.
Honestly most people do not make it this far, except for Lex.
”

“
When we get to Lex
’
s house, we need to find out how he does that.
”

The sound of the brook was close; it babbled and splashed with the promise of water to slack the most powerful thirst.
The brook was clear and beautiful.
It cascaded over a small hill making a miniature rainbow.

“
Lela, let
’
s stop and get a drink, I am so thirsty.
”

“
Wait Nate, I need to see if the water is enchanted or not, it would prove foolish of us to survive a pack of howlers only to be poisoned by a creek.
”

Lela produced a clear jar and scooped up some water being careful not to touch it.
She dumped in one tube of red liquid and one tube of blue liquid.
The water and colors swirled in the jar going from red and blue streaked to black then light blue.

“
The water is safe to drink Nate
”

“
Thank goodness, I don
’
t think I could wait any longer.
”

Nate dipped his empty water skin into the clear water.
The water turned black, with two golden eyes staring back at him.
Nate fell backwards, at the same time the nymph leapt from the water.
Her golden eyes never wavered from Nate
’
s, she had green hair the color of Spanish moss.
The knife was placed at Nate
’
s throat as a grin split the water nymph
’
s face.

“
I should kill you for stealing my water.
You should be careful whose home you place your hand in; you never know if they want might want to keep that hand as a trophy.
”

The sword rang as it was pulled from its sheath.
The nymph cocked her head and smiled evilly at the princess who was holding her sword.

“
Careful, if you take one step towards me he dies.
I have had plenty of practice, the right nick in the right place and he bleeds out quicker than any magic can heal.
”

“
What do you want vile creature!
”
Lela snapped.

The nymph
’
s eyes turned back to Nate
’
s face, the irises were a pale yellow with a hint of cruelty in them.

“
Your girlfriend seems to care a great deal about you.
How about I relieve you of your packs and coin, and I give you your boyfriend back unharmed.
”

“
A thief!
You want our valuables, for what?
You live in a brook in the middle of the forest.
What possible use could you have for valuables?
”

“
That is my business!
So do we have a deal or do you get to hold the corpse of your lover because you would not part with a few trinkets?
”

The packs were thrown barely out of her reach, the nymph stretched out to grab the packs, but now her attention was not on Nate.
Nate grabbed the hand with the knife and twisted with everything he had.
The nymph screamed in furry and pain.
She drove her knee into Nate
’
s ribs trying to get him to release her wrist.
Instead Nate twisted and wrenched her arm up nearly dislocating her shoulder.
The knife fell from her hand at the same time her foot came off the ground connecting fully with Nate
’
s jaw.
The nymph had the knife in the other hand, when the sword slid under her chin.

“
Okay maybe a new deal is in order.
”
The nymph said through a painful grimace.

Lela stood with a sneer on her face
“
How about I just cut your head off and call it a day?
”

“
That is one way you could go, or I could help you in return for sparing my life.
”

“
You will just escape, and probably after you have killed us.
”

“
No, I will behave, I promise.
”

The look on Nate
’
s face looked like he was actually considering this.
Lela glared at Nate.

“
You are not even thinking about letting her go, are you?
We are in Cravenwood, remember?
Everything here is trying to kill us.
She will lead us into a trap and leave us for dead!
”
Lela snapped.

“
Your right Lela, she will betray us the second she gets the chance.
So if betrayal is what she wants, let us play a game.
”

Nate tied the nymph
’
s wrists and hoisted her up against a tree.

“
The game is simple, only one rule.
”
Nate said with a grin.

The nymph looked around it did not look good for her plan on escaping.

“
What is the one rule?
”

“
Survive.
”

Terror seized the nymph, this was the cursed forest and she was a water nymph.
Out of the water too long and she would die, that is if something didn
’
t come along and tear her apart before that.

“
I can help you really!
Please, don
’
t leave me here!
If you want to kill me, let your girlfriend do it.
She looks like she can handle a blade.
Please, give me a warrior
’
s death!
”

Lela and Nate stopped.
Lela spun around and threw the knife the nymph had held at Nate
’
s throat.
The knife hit the rope above the nymph
’
s hands dropping her to the ground in a heap.

“
Go, and never approach us again, if you do, we will leave you for the forest to kill.
”
Lela hissed through the cool air.

“
I can
’
t leave without trading you something.
I wronged you, and you were within your rights to leave me for dead, but you are letting me go.
It doesn
’
t make sense.
You could command me to be your slave until I paid back the debt I owe you, but you are just letting me go.
I have something that would be useful to you, please take it.
”

The nymph produced a small pouch and placed it on the ground.
As she backed away from the pouch she turned and started for the water.
She called over her shoulder,
“
It
’
s sleep powder, just toss it on whoever you need to and they fall asleep for three hours.
”

As Lela approached the pouch she stopped, eyeing the parting gift suspiciously,
“
Why didn
’
t you use this on us in the beginning?
You could have won the fight, killed us both, and had our property.
”

“
There is only enough for one person in that pouch, yes I could have put one of you asleep, but the other one would have finished me off while I was dosing the other.
And where is the fun in that?
”
With a quick jump the nymph disappeared into the brook.

Lela picked up the pouch and returned to Nate.
Nate looked at Lela.

“
There are some strange people in this realm.
”

“
Tell me Nate, would you have left her there?
”

“
No, I just wanted scare her enough not to try something else.
”