Wizard Tournament: Chapter 120 (Patreon)

Index | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter 

          “I’m… Nowhere?” Draevin questioned the nothing all around him. “I don’t understand. I thought I was being transported to Tel’Andrid.”

          Is that where you’re going? Tenna’s voice spoke into Draevin’s mind. That’s a curious trick. How did you figure that out? No offense, but you never struck me as being that clever.

          “Wait. Am I actually moving? I can’t feel anything. I can’t even see anything!”

          Oh right, you’re still limited to a mortal mind. Maybe this will help.

          Draevin’s eyes started working again. He found himself flying through an empty void with a dazzling display of stars all around him. They were providing just enough ambient light for him to see Tenna flying next to him. She had a body made of pristine ice that sparkled in the starlight. “Is this what’s really happening?” Draevin asked.

          Tenna put her hand to her mouth and let out a little laugh. “No, silly. I sort of made it up for your benefit. I felt you entering Nowhere so I came by to see what you were doing here.”

          Draevin looked back and saw a bright ball of light that might have been a star. That was where he’d come from. Up ahead he seemed to be getting closer to another smaller ball of light. He pointed to it. “If it’s called Nowhere then why am I clearly going to something?”

          Tenna cocked her head. “Yeah, that part I’m not so sure about. We Tuan’diath are bound to the source of magic. We can’t enter the physical realm once we ascend. Yet here you are. Apparently ascended yet not ascended, and on your way back to one of the physical realms. How are you doing that?”

          Draevin shrugged. “Hell if I know. Apparently it’s some kind of artifact that Archmage Caladin made. Don’t think for a second I’m actually in control of this.”

          “I see, well listen. I know you won’t remember this, but we’ve talked before. I tried to warn you about a catastrophe that’s—”

          “Yeah, yeah. Leyline Collapse. I remember,” Draevin waved her off. “I don’t know what you expect someone like me to do about it, but I’m trying to rescue Peter right now. Without him there won’t be a wish this year. You said that was bad, right?”

          “Yes, very bad… Wait! You remember?” Tenna locked eyes with Draevin. “Draevin this is serious. No wonder Caelnaste has been trying to kill you! Whatever you do don’t—”

          Tenna was cut off rather suddenly. The star-scape Tenna had provided for him cut off too. The next thing Draevin was aware of there was a shock of pain through his body like a lightning bolt. His vision flashed with light so bright it caused physical pain.

          Draevin squinted around. No, the light wasn’t bright; his eyes were just being sensitive. It looked like he was in the same room he’d started in. Or at least a very similar one. The wooden table and chairs that had been destroyed in the fight was back and all his friends were gone.

          “He’s coming to,” a voice said.

          “Wha? Wer im eh?” Draevin tried to say. His whole body felt numb and strange and he couldn’t quite form words. He craned his head around to try to see who was talking. There was a man dressed from head to toe in a suit of solid gold armor. It had to be the most extravagant thing Draevin had ever seen, and as his eyes regained their focus more and more exquisite detail began to emerge.

          The man yanked on something and Draevin heard a clinking sound, followed by the sensation of being lurched forward. It took him a moment to realize that the man was pulling on a chain… Draevin followed the chain down and saw that it attached to a pair of shackles around his wrists. Both the chain and shackles were made entirely of gold, with an intricate rune pattern weaving all over the surface.

          “Come along,” the man said. He gave Draevin’s chain another tug. “The Guild’s going to be thrilled to see you. Maybe they’ll even stop their bickering for a few seconds.”

          “Guild? Wait. Where’s Peter?” Draevin asked.

          “Don’t even get me started on that nosy human,” the man said with a casual sort of annoyance. “He’s the one who started all this.”

          His new situation gradually became more clear to Draevin as the man in golden armor led him from the room. They passed a few more golden-armored men with shackles in hand at the exit. Behind him, Draevin heard a sudden buzzing sound. “Here comes another!” one of the men said. He rushed past Draevin with the clink of chains.

          “Just take this next one directly to the holding cell,” Draevin’s captor instructed. “They only wanted to see the other contestant when he came in.”

          “Contestant…” Draevin wondered to himself. He tried to look back and see who was coming in and how. He saw what looked like a large silver box with a doorway in it, above which a hulking mechanical structure was mounted. The structure looked to be made of silver and it covered most of the wall on that side of the room with moving gears and pipes connecting different parts together. The doorway flooded the room with light and Sylnya’s form stepped through, made all of pure white light. While the light faded from Sylnya’s body a pair of men in gold grabbed her limp arms and pulled—

          Draevin was jerked around by a yank on his shackles. “No gawking! Hurry up.” his captor warned.

          He’d been captured immediately. Of course he had. Why had they even expected anything different to happen? Draevin had never even had a chance to fight back! He’d hoped to at least get that much. Some rescue this was turning out to be. Now all of them would suffer the same fate as they came through, one at a time. Even though he knew it was probably pointless, Draevin tried to summon his magic. His shackles got painfully cold and he was forced to give up before he hurt himself.

          When Draevin hurried to catch up he stumbled and found there was another set of chains connecting his ankles. He had to walk with short, quick steps to not fall on his face. Two more gold-armored guards fell into place beside him.

          “You know,” Draevin said while shuffling to catch up to his captor. “It would be a lot easier to hurry if I didn’t have these shackles around my ankles.”

          “We’re not removing them,” the captor holding his chains answered. “They said you gave the duress signal. We were told to take the male eldrin with dark eyes up to the meeting, so that’s what we’re going to do. It makes no difference to me if you walk or we drag you.”

          “Ummm… duress password?” Draevin asked. “There has to be some kind of mistake.”

          The man in the golden armor shook his head. “The only mistake was yours. You Outsiders always seem to think so little of us. What makes you think we wouldn’t have protections in place in case someone tried to force one of our agents to let them Inside?”

          The man behind him shoved Draevin in the shoulder. “Get moving,” he ordered.

          “I’m not the guy you’re looking for, though,” Draevin pleaded. “I’m not an eldrin. I do have an eldrin friend but he wasn’t with me. You should probably wait for him instead.”

          “You look like an eldrin,” one of the guards beside him said.

          “But I’m not! Just look at my eyes.” Draevin tried to gesture to them despite his chains.

          “Yeah,” his first captor with the chains said matter-of-factly, “like an eldrin, but with dark eyes. You’re the right guy.”

          The golden procession led Draevin to the chamber entrance. Just like on the Eldira side, an enormous set of golden doors barred the way. The first guard held up a hand and the doors swung open of their own accord with no indication of any hand signs.

          Draevin whistled. “That’s some impressive magic,” he complimented. “I can see why the Guild put you on the A-team. Does everyone here get to wear suits of golden armor like yours?”

          One of the guards beside Draevin just laughed. “Outsiders,” he said, as though that explained everything.

          The captor in front that still had Draevin’s chains in hand gave them a little flick and Draevin followed after him before he had to yank them again. “We don’t work for the Guild,” he said, “they work for us.”

          Before Draevin had a chance to process this new information he was hit full-force in the face with a breathtaking view. Beyond the golden door was a bustling city like none Draevin had ever seen before. Spires of sparkling gold rose out of the ground in delicate shapes that didn’t look like they could support weight despite clearly doing so. Many of the buildings were even connected with causeways that, from a distance, appeared to have people on them. No space was wasted. There were spires on top of spires. At the edge of the city the buildings came to a sudden and complete halt, beyond which was only formless blue sky.

          Every one of these buildings would have been a masterpiece in Eldira and would have drawn crowds from all over just to wonder at the beauty of it. What’s more, each one of them was taller than any building Draevin had ever seen. Even the central spire at Eldira Savings and Loan didn’t compare to these, and most people agreed that the bank had only built it so high as a way to needlessly flaunt their wealth. And theirs wasn’t made of solid gold! Some movement caught Draevin’s eyes way up in the sky. Was that somebody flying up there?

          “Hurry along,” the guard leading him said in a bored tone. “You’ll cause a scene.”

          Draevin stopped. “What if I want to cause a scene?” he asked.

          “You don’t. Trust me,” the guard answered. One of the ones behind him gave Draevin a rough shove, but he stood his ground.

          “Tell me where you’re taking me. Tell me where Peter is,” Draevin demanded. As long as he had leverage he intended to use it. “I can’t use magic, but I’ll start screaming until the whole city sees me if I don’t get some answers.”

          Draevin’s guard just let out a heavy sigh. “The human with the glasses?” he asked. “I’m taking you to see him right now if you would stop being such a pain.” He gestured to his companions. “Look, we couldn’t care less what your little Guild does. I’m just following orders.”

          “If you don’t care, then you can just let me go,” Draevin suggested.

          The guard shook his head. “Elder’s orders. You used the duress password so I gotta take you to the clubhouse. In chains.”

          A blue-skinned creature flitted by in the air, then stopped and flew back around to flutter a few spans above the ground and look down at the group of them. “Hoi Draedinavaur,” the creature said in the softest voice Draevin had ever heard. “Al’tas et andro por amon?” When it became clear that the new guest didn’t speak the same language Draevin stopped listening and studied it instead. It was roughly the same size and shape as a human, but had pale blue skin and hair that floated weightlessly in a halo around its face. As it spoke it sort of swam in place to maintain altitude.

          Draevin’s captor spoke with the blue guest for a moment, then it flew away.

          “Great,” Draevin’s captor said after the creature had flown off. “Now Aularai is suspicious. Do you know how often something new happens in this city? Basically never. She’s such a gossip, too. She’ll have the rumor mill going at full force in a matter of minutes. The Elder’s gonna be pissed!”

          One of the other guards groaned. “Happy now, you dumb Outsider?”

          “Suspicious?” Draevin asked. “Suspicious about what? Are you doing something you shouldn’t be?”

          The guard gave Draevin a shove, and this time he complied. “None of your business,” the guard said. “I just need you to be somebody else’s problem as soon as possible.”

          The ground they walked on was mostly gold with a few stones here and there to form walking paths. Draevin’s captor led them to a squat domed building that managed to look remarkably boring compared to its neighbors. This despite being constructed of what looked like braided gold wire. They came to a set of golden doors and Draevin’s captors handed him off to a pair of tall guards with the wide noses and bushy beards of dwarves after exchanging a few words in their language. These new guards were also dressed in golden armor.

          “This one’s really annoying,” the first guard said as he handed over the chain. “Careful.”

          “Hey!”

          His new captor just grunted and led Draevin inside. Once they crossed the threshold he could hear shouting echoing from the next room. His new captor wasn’t a talkative type and just looked bored as he led him across the entryway to the next set of doors. Draevin listened to the conversation that filtered through.

          “…overdue! We’re two points behind!” a voice was shouting. Draevin thought he recognized the voice as belonging to that of Dag, the dwarf judge.

          “It’ss a moot point if we can’t change hiss memoriess,” another voice responded. That would probably be Srazux, the lizard-kin judge. Draevin’s guard shoved the door to the chamber open. The sound of the door opening caused all the talking to cease. Everyone looked in Draevin’s direction.

          The room was outfitted with the usual Guild amenities as well as large national flags lining the gilded walls of the room. Draevin’s guard had called the place a clubhouse, but in Draevin’s opinion it was more like a conference room. The room was divided by nation with attendants and guards from each of the nations crowding around their respective flags. There was a raised dais for each of the five judges to sit.

          In the center of the room—next to a corkboard filled with notes—stood Peter.

          Peter was wearing the same shackles as Draevin, but otherwise seemed no worse for wear. He even had both arms. He smiled and waved in Draevin’s direction when he spotted him.

          “What’s Draevin Getano doing here?” Dag asked. The way the acoustics of the space were designed he could be easily heard without needing to yell.

          “Don’t look at me,” Haenor answered. The elf judge held his hands up defensively. “I didn’t call him here.”

          The eldrin judge, Fonia, pointed accusingly at Haenor from the opposite side of the room. “Lies! This is another plot of his!” she shrieked. “This whole year has been a clusterfuck and Caldenia is behind it! Couldn’t wait your turn like the rest of us so you think you can just steal the championship, huh?”

          “I don’t get paid enough for this,” Draevin’s guard muttered under his breath. He cleared his throat and announced more loudly. “Draevin was caught using the duress password a few minutes ago. You want him here?”

          “Yes, yes,” Dag answered. “Leave him here. We’ll take care of it.”

          “At least I know where Peter is,” Draevin muttered to himself as he marched into the room. Peter was seated in the center of the room. He still wore his usual brown robes and glasses, but the sleeve of his right arm was missing. It looked like the Guild actually had fixed him up after taking him here, so that was a small relief at least. Peter gave him a friendly wave when he saw him and beckoned him over.

          “Gentlemen, please!” Haenor shouted over the room. “I think there’s an obvious solution to all our problems.”

          “Eh? And what’s that then?” Dag asked.

          “If the human’s mind can’t be tampered with, we can just use Diana on Draevin instead of Peter,” Haenor said. “Then we can just have Draevin kill Peter in the finals.”

          Peter’s excited smile melted away.

 Index | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter