The Sartious Mage (The Rhythm of Rivalry) (2 page)

The wall was the usual translucent, emerald green color of Sartious Energy. It was only about the height of a horse but long enough to stand between two trees that must’ve been twenty feet apart. It didn’t matter that the wall was paper-thin, the horses were scared anyway. They whinnied and stopped suddenly, turning and colliding with each other while flinging their riders from their backs.

The wall was far too wide to control for longer than a few seconds, so I let the SE break into a green cloud of mist, which seeped out to blanket the chaos of panicked horses and thrown men. Just from that one spell I was nearly spent. SE was not easy to manipulate, but I was almost done.

Now, it was time for some heat to send the horses fleeing the other way. Bastial Energy was needed for that and was much easier to control.

When enough had been gathered, I shot a torso-sized fireball from my wand. It burst into the ground just in front of the green cloud of SE. The force of the swirling yellow and orange fireball sent the SE fleeing back the other way so that it slowly wafted after the dozen horses now storming off to leave their masters behind.

I’d never killed anyone, and didn’t plan to, either. However, the men chasing after Harwin didn’t need to know that.

“Next time my fireball won’t miss,” I threatened, doing well to mask my exhaustion. Of the few who’d picked themselves up already, I found baffled looks across their faces. I figured I would be confounded by what had just happened as well if I were them. It’s not every day you see a young man cast a master level Sartious spell.

I turned my horse to gallop after the rest of my group, my breaths quick and heavy. The wind felt soothing against my sweaty forehead. Yet, suddenly I couldn’t help but think of the attack I was going to get that night from my darkness. The more SE I manipulated during the day, the worse it was at night.

To make a Sartious wall twenty feet long was going to cost me. Usually, that terrorizing thought would send a chill up my spine, but knowing a cure awaited toughened me. If one more night was all I had to endure, I could handle any attack.

Chapter 2: Rage

It was my second time in the Takary Palace, the first being when I was suspiciously detained by guards and tossed into the throne room before King Danvell Takary. That was when he’d explained this kidnapping mission.

There were three promises the King made then: Prince Harwin wouldn’t be harmed, the purpose of taking him was to prevent war, not escalate it, and I would receive the cure to my darkness. When I asked him to put those vows in writing, King Danvell burned me with a fierce gaze. I thought he was trying to intimidate me into taking back the request, so I gave him the same look right back.

There was no crime in a harsh stare. At least I hoped not. I’d had little experience with nobility.

Only after he agreed, and our group of five was leaving the palace, did I find out about King Danvell’s reputation with promises.

“Read that contract carefully, Jek,” a tall man warned me. “The King keeps all his promises but sometimes a bit more cleverly than one would expect.”

Even though I didn’t know who he was, there was something about the way this stranger spoke that made me want to trust him. His voice was smooth and confident, like every word was preplanned. However, his hair was straight and black, covering his forehead and ears like he had something to hide.

I found out later that he was Micah Vail, the King’s top adviser. I had no idea why he wanted to help me, but I took his advice and read the contract once again, very carefully. With doubts at the ready, I did notice something that I hadn’t before. My reward was listed at the bottom of the scroll and all it said was,
“When the mission is complete, Jek Trayden will be awarded a remedy to his darkness.”

When we first spoke, the King made it clear my darkness could be cured with a potion, so I figured that’s what the remedy was. But the more I thought about it in the days after speaking with Micah Vail, the more I worried there was something else his highness had in mind.

Now that I was finally about to deliver Prince Harwin to him, my doubts had become so heavy I no longer could convince myself to trust the King as I had before. I even began telling myself I shouldn’t have agreed to do this. It put me in an aggressively pessimistic mood, making it hard to be patient as I waited with Harwin in the palace’s grand lobby.

I hated how magnificent the palace was, even at its entrance. In the center of the white floor, royal blue marble swirled into the shape of two soaring wings—the Takary family insignia. Two curved stairways came down from the second floor, wrapping almost entirely around four velvet chairs, two of which were being used by Harwin and me.

“Jek?” He began with my name, as usual.

I sighed, holding in a grumble. “Yes, Prince Harwin?”

“Never mind.” He folded his arms, obviously irritated with my sigh.

I apologized. It wasn’t his fault I was in a bad mood. Everyone else with our group already had been taken to the King for his reward, while I was to wait here with Harwin. I hated waiting when I didn’t know how long it would be.

“Please, what would you like to ask?”

He kicked his legs back and forth in the velvet seat that was too high for him. “I was just wondering…you said my father wanted me to come here…to Goldram. Is he going to meet me here?”

I couldn’t tell if the little guy was starting to have doubts or still believed everything he’d been told. I couldn’t think of what to tell him, but saying nothing probably would’ve been better than what I revealed.

“This trip to Goldram is very important for not just Zav and your father, but for Goldram and
all its people
as well.” I moved my hands in a silly rainbow-like motion to emphasize the many thousands of people I was trying to describe. “I’m not sure if your father will meet you here or you’ll see him back in Zav, but you being here is going to help a lot of people. You can help us save their lives.”

“I’m not ready…I mean, Father says I’m not ready to fight.” Harwin had misunderstood me. “He says I’m still too young.”

“You’re not here to fight…” I stopped myself to choose the next words carefully. I wasn’t sure exactly what his father had said to him about this upcoming war. If I told Harwin he was here to stop the war, he probably would ask how, maybe even why. Then there would be no forgiving way to explain that we were using him as leverage until his father moved back his advancing army and agreed to peace.

As much as the Prince wanted to know the truth, he wasn’t ready. To find out it could be weeks, even months before he saw his father again would devastate him. The deceit would throw him into a fit of rage—suddenly I realized how similar our situations were. I didn’t feel ready for the truth either, in fear it would devastate me. If I was lied to and used like Harwin…I shook my head. I couldn’t even think about it without rage already balling my hands into fists.

“Then how am I going to save lives?” His question brought me back. I took a slow breath to let out the anger that had begun to build from my thoughts.

“Because being the Prince of Zav gives you more power than you could ever wield with a sword.”

“What kind of power?” His eyes widened like I was about to reveal a glorious secret.

The power to stop a war,
I almost said.

I wanted to tell him. It felt so right. I was starting to believe he might understand if I explained it correctly. But the sound of two guards coming down the stairs stopped me.

“Come with us, please.” One guard lowered his head at Harwin.

The boy hopped off his seat. I stood as well.

“Not you,” the guard said, lifting his palm to my chest, even giving me a slight push back into the chair. “King Danvell isn’t ready to see you yet.”

As I hadn’t been quite on my feet when he’d pushed me, I fell back into the chair hard, nearly toppling it over. It didn’t hurt, but the unnecessary force made me angry. I wanted to take out my wand and send
him
off his feet with a strong gust of hot Bastial wind. The image of his startled face under his steel helmet tumbling backward was tempting to see. That may have been smarter than what I decided to say instead.

“If the King thinks I’ll let him see Harwin without me there, he’s mistaken.” Sitting beneath the men I was threatening made my words feel petty, so I leaned forward to get off my seat. But before I could even lift my rear, two swords were poking into my chest and pushing me into the velvet backrest.

“
You
are mistaken,” the second guard said, “if you think you have any power over when you see the King or who you bring into his throne room.” He jabbed his sword another centimeter into me. I noticed a crackling sound and realized it was the rolled-up contract for the cure I’d put in my inner shirt pocket.

Either these men hadn’t heard of me or they had and didn’t believe the rumors. I wanted to tell them they were talking to the person whose magic was strong enough to get five men into the stables of an enemy castle where we knowingly found the Prince of Zav for his weekly riding lesson, convinced him to come with us while his riding coach was distracted with horses scared by Bastial heat, and got him out of Zav with master-level Sartious spells to stop those pursuing us.

They were talking to the youngest Sartious mage—the one who thousands of people had come to see when he worked at the greatest blacksmith’s forge in The Nest, back when he still thought a reputation was a good thing to have.

And they were on the verge of destroying the most important possession he had—the contract for the cure to his darkness.

I could feel myself phasing out of my body the more I considered using magic on them. I readied myself to watch the event unfold.

But then I noticed Harwin’s gaping mouth at the sight of the swords pushing into my chest. The boy was too ready to be traumatized. I held myself back.

When the guards left with him, I was thankful I hadn’t done anything. I had a bad habit of acting first and planning second. Even now that I had time to think about it, I still didn’t know what I would’ve done after knocking the guards over with Bastial wind. I had no idea where the King was, if the cure was with him, and how many men stood in my way.

I must’ve waited nearly an hour before I eventually fell asleep. Luckily, I didn’t dream. Sometimes I could sleep half the night before the darkness took shape in a nightmare.

I woke to someone shaking my shoulder. “Jek Trayden?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll take you to see the King. Come, and please hurry.”

I recognized his smooth voice and black hair. Why was he here instead of a guard? “You’re Micah Vail, right?” I eyed him curiously as I started following him up the stairs.

“You’re wondering why the King’s top adviser is taking you instead of a guard.” He stated it like a fact. Surprise hit my face before I had a chance to decide if I wanted to reveal it or not.

Before I thought of something to say, he guessed something else. “You’re also curious why I spoke to you about the King’s promises before you left to get Prince Harwin.”

I stopped at the top of the stairs. “So what number am I thinking of?” I asked jokingly.

Micah Vail waved me forward. “You should be thinking of two, you and me. I’m your friend, Jek. And friends like me are important to keep.”

There was an unsettling silence as he waited for two guards to pass us. We were walking down a long hallway with floors of the same white marble as the lobby. I wondered why the Takary family would need such an enormous palace. We passed many closed doors, and I thought I heard voices among other indiscernible sounds from behind them. I kept expecting Micah to say more, but I was beginning to realize he was comfortable leaving his statement cryptic.

I wasn’t, though. “And why do you wish to be my friend?” I asked.

“I don’t wish to be your friend,” he corrected me with a smile. “I
am
your friend.” He turned his gaze back to the hall just as we came to another flight of stairs. “Whether you like it or not.”

“You have a strange concept of friendship.” I kept my tone cheerful. Although I was confused, I had to agree that he seemed like an important friend to keep.

When we reached the throne room, I realized my new friend had somehow escorted me the whole way without ever explaining anything at all. He took his place to the right of the King, standing with his wrists crossed.

My stomach twisted when I met eyes with King Danvell Takary. He held no smile. Even with his indifferent expression, though, I still felt that his face was fatherly, with his combed gray hair puffing out from his crown and his small, concerned eyes.

Like the other Takarys, his skin was the golden brown of bronze. It even looked as if a touch of oil might’ve been wiped across his arms, for they glistened while sitting on the armrests of his throne.

It was this fatherly face that I’d always thought of when I wanted to trust him, when I wanted to believe he wouldn’t deceive me. But I was void of trust now as I stood silently and waited for him to speak. My doubts had crushed all optimism.

Chapter 3: King’s Promise

Danvell Takary first gave an obvious look to the side wall, where ten guards stood like statues.