Wizard Trials: Chapter 153 (Patreon)

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          “What do you want?” Alex asked.

          The child calling himself Brorn grinned. “Mana,” he said. “I want a constant supply, and I want to be guaranteed my independence after—” he waved his hand in the general direction of the arena as a whole “—whatever it is you knuckleheads are trying to do.”

          “We’re trying to—” Alex stopped himself. He still wasn’t sure about this new “root” problem they’d been trying to tell him about, but he and Peter had their own plan going and he wasn’t about to share that with a literal stranger. “It’s complicated,” Alex stated.

          The well-dressed child claiming to be an ancient and infamous lich smiled. “Of course it is,” he agreed far too easily. “I’m not here to disturb whatever you people have planned. I can adapt to whatever world you try to make. All I ask in return for my assistance is I be left out of whatever you’re planning and given access to some of the abundant mana resources you’ve gathered for yourselves.”

          Alex was aware of the engine from Truntstown that was pumping out mana at a prodigious rate. It was being used at the moment, but in theory there would be more than enough to go around when all this was over. “Fine,” Alex said. “You can have all the mana you want. We could use your help. What magic are you capable of? Can you help us with these demons? They set up three more hell rifts just like that one over there.”

          Brorn frowned. “That is not how our deal will work,” he insisted. He gestured around him to the corpses that littered the ground outside the Northern gate. “This I did as a gesture of goodwill and to demonstrate my value, but if you want me to help you any further I will need more than a promise of future mana. It will cost me mana to help you, so I will demand my payment up front. I will spend half of the mana you give me on your defense, and far more efficiently than any of you are spending it, I might add.”

          “I can’t just give you mana,” Alex said. “Most of what we have is being used right now.” He pointed to the sky. “On the moon thing.”

          “Quite alright,” Brorn said, “you can just pay me twice as much after the Conflux. I’m sure you’re good for it.”

          Alex narrowed his eyes. “If you came here asking for mana, how are you supposed to help us if you don’t have any of your own?”

          “Who said I don’t have my own mana? I just came here to get more.” He reached into a pocket in the breast of his jacket, Alex kept a close eye on his movements. “Look, pure mana has gotten hard to come by these last few years. Not that tainted stuff you lunamancers pull from the void, the clean mana.”

          “You… know about void mana?” Alex asked.

          “Every harmonic has some version; I’m just not stupid enough to use it. And you shouldn’t either. You’ll be dead in a week at the rate you’re going.” He pulled his hand out of his pocket, revealing a shard of polished metal, which was corroded along the edges with a sort of black rust. “I have been draining wish-made artifacts like this one,” he explained. “This used to be the Mirror Shield of Ketak’an. Have you heard of it?”

          Alex shook his head. “No.”

          “Well I assure you it was quite a bit larger than this when I started using it,” Brorn said. “I am willing to consume the remainder of it in your city’s defense in exchange for a far larger store of mana.”

          “That… sounds acceptable,” Alex agreed hesitantly. His suspicion levels were on high alert. The whole thing just felt too good to be true. They were getting overwhelmed by demons and a child necromancer just showed up, promising to take care of everything? “What’s the catch?” he asked.

          Brorn blinked. “Catch? There’s no catch! Payment for services rendered is all I ask. We used to have global economic systems built on the concept. Now excuse me, I’ll get started right away.” He patted Alex on the arm as he made to move past him.

          “Wait,” Alex said, grabbing the child by the shoulder and stopping him. “I never said you could come inside.”

          “Nonsense! How am I supposed to help from out here? Just get me up on the walls so I can see the enemy and I’ll make quick work of them.”

          Alex didn’t know what scheme this kid was after, but it was obvious he just wanted inside the city gates. “No,” he said firmly. “You said you can help? Help from out here. Use up that shard of Ketak-whatever and you can come inside to wait out the rest of the battle.”

          “Oh please, when I’m done there won’t be a battle. I just need to—”

          “Take another step,” Alex warned, “and I’ll kill you.”

          Brorn stopped, raising both hands in surrender. “Fine,” he agreed. “You want me to waste all my mana before you’ll let me inside?”

          Alex crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s the deal. Whatever help you want to offer us, you can do it from out here.”

          “Very well.” Brorn held up his shard for Alex to see, then dissolved it to ash and dust before his eyes. “Done,” he said, “can I come inside now?”

          Alex looked around. “Done? You didn’t even do anything!”

          “I assure you I did,” Brorn insisted. “Check with your men. Check your defenses. I have solved your demon problem.”

          “Just like that?”

          “Just like that. They are demons, being easy to kill is one of their hallmarks.” He shooed Alex away. “Go on. Go check. But I expect you to make good on our deal. I am as defenseless as a pitiful child out here.”

          “Somehow I doubt that,” Alex said. He kept his eyes on the child as he backed through the Northern gate.

          “What did he say?” the gate captain asked. “Is he going to help?”

          Alex pointed to a group of soldiers sitting near the gatehouse. “Close the gate,” he told them. He looked back at the gate captain. “Don’t open it again until I say so. He says he already helped. You didn’t see anything, did you?”

          “No,” the captain answered, “should I have?”

          “I’m not sure,” Alex said. “I don’t trust this guy.” He looked at Ryan. “Did anything… happen?”

          “Like what?” Ryan asked. “I’ve just been sittin’ out here waitin’ for—”

          “Message for Alex!” a runner yelled. Alex looked over to see a young boy running his way.

          “Out with it,” Alex demanded as the boy skidded to a stop in front of him.

          “Demons on the West wall are dropping dead for no reason, sir!”

          Alex looked at Ryan. “You did say he already handled it,” Ryan reminded him.

          “I didn’t even see him do anything!” Alex objected.

          “Uh, sir?” the boy asked. “What should I tell my—”

          “Report!” another messenger shouted. It was a smaller boy this time, a head shorter than the first; his cheeks flushed bright red from exertion.

          “Go on,” Alex prompted.

          “Demons on the East wall, sir, they’re droppin’ dead. Cap’n Hodge doesn’t know why!”

          Hodge was one of Alex’s resistance fighters. He wouldn’t make up a story like that. “East and West?” Alex said to Ryan.

          Ryan shrugged. “It’s possible,” he said.

          Before Alex could even decide what to tell the two winded boys waiting for a reply a third messenger ran up. It was the orc girl he recognized from before. She was at least a head taller than both the boys and seemed to be handling the stress of all the running around a good deal better. “Report from—”

          “The South gate, I know,” Alex interrupted her. “That is where you were stationed, is it not?”

          “Yes, sir,” she confirmed.

          “Are they saying there are dead demons and they don’t know why?”

          The girl shook her head. “No, sir. Mystic Thrandian says there is a wall of invisible fire around the arena burning all the demons when they try to cross it. He told me to tell you that’s what’s killing them.”

          The girl’s words were too perfect… “Come here,” Alex said, beckoning the orc girl closer. She stepped closer, an inquisitive look on her face.

          Alex softly patted her face, then leaned in and gave her a sniff. “Uh… sir?” she asked, leaning away from him uncomfortably.

          “Sorry,” Alex said. “Just making sure you’re real.” Never could be certain, with magic like Peter’s around. He wasn’t the only one who could use illusions after all. He turned around. “Open the gate,” he told the Northern gate captain.

          “You’re letting the… boy in?” he asked.

          “I am,” Alex confirmed. “He held up his end of our bargain. Do you have a mystic assigned to your gate?”

          “Yes, sir,” the captain confirmed while the gate clicked back open.

          “Assign him to watch this kid,” Alex ordered. “If he so much as twitches a finger wrong, they’re to kill him.” Alex walked over to the gate and peeked his head out. “Come on in,” he told the well-dressed child.

          “I told you it was done,” Brorn said as he made his way through the gate.

          “Yeah, well we’ll be holding you in irons,” Alex told him. “Until the Conflux has passed. For your own protection, of course.” The way Alex saw it they’d just traded one security liability for another. Hopefully this one would be easier to control. Alex was certainly getting unsettled with how quickly and easily Brorn just seemed to agree with every restriction he tried to place on him.

          Brorn smiled. “Of course,” he agreed. “For my own protection.”

          “If you try to pull anything, I’ll kill you myself,” Alex promised.

          “Of that I have no doubt,” Brorn said. “I just want the payment I was promised when this is over.”

          “You’ll get it,” Alex said. He pointed a finger at the watch captain before turning away. “Don’t let him out of your sight,” he ordered. “I’ve got someone I need to go talk to.”

          “You sure this is fine?” Ryan asked.

          “I’m not sure of anything,” Alex said, “but the Conflux will be here soon, so maybe it won’t matter. Put the soldiers on standby, you know where to find me if you need anything.”

          “Gonna talk to Istven?” Ryan asked.

          “Something like that,” Alex said. He walked away, heading to the center of what used to be the arena’s combat field, where Istven was currently drawing on the power of the PME—with Peter supervising—to move the moon into position in the sky. He glanced overhead briefly just to confirm it would be starting soon. The moon was nearly on top of the sun. Not long now.

          As he walked past wounded soldiers, Alex couldn’t help remarking on the silence that permeated the space. The screeching of demons, the pounding against the gate, it was all gone. All that was left was the moaning of the injured as orc mystics and mundane healers moved among them to try to do what they could to help.

          The gardens at the center of the arena had been cut back to make room for Istven’s new command tent. Some of his new soldiers had established a buffer zone around it, but they let Alex through on sight. He had been told not to disturb Peter and Istven except in case of extreme emergency. This wasn’t exactly an emergency, but it still seemed like the sort of thing he ought to inform them of. The demons were no longer threatening their walls… and, oh yeah, he also let an infamous necromancer inside the walls. No big deal. Alex planned to see if he could pull Peter aside. He didn’t really feel comfortable talking to Istven unless he had to.

          Inside the perimeter, Alex passed Grrbraa curled up outside the tent. He hopped up, tail wagging, as soon as he noticed Alex approach. “What are you doing here?” Alex asked him.

          “I have a very important message for friend-Istven,” Grrbraa said. “I am waiting because friend-Istven said he could not talk. He said to come back in one hour, but I waited one hour and he said it had only been ten minutes, so I said I would—”

          Alex waved him to silence. “I get it, Grrbraa,” he said, “you don’t have to tell me everything. What is your message? Maybe I can pass it on for you.”

          Grrbraa’s ears tucked back. “Friend-Peter tried to say that too, but I can’t. I promised I would only tell friend-Istven. He is inside there. I can smell him. I will wait until I can tell only him. I promised friend-Moz who said he talked to…” His ears drooped down even more and he looked at the ground. “I can’t say that either,” he said. Then in a smaller voice he added, “Sorry.”

          Alex patted Grrbraa between the ears. “No need to be sorry,” he said. “If I get a chance, I’ll remind Istven you want to talk to him.” He stepped past Grrbraa and cracked the flap of the tent open. It wasn’t actually a tent, since it had no ceiling, but from the outside it looked that way. There were two people inside: Peter and Istven. Istven was looking up at the sky, jaw fixed determinedly, his skin glowing with light. He had one hand placed directly on the box of the PME, the other stretched forth to the sky. Peter had his goggles on, shaded dark while he studied the PME. He noticed Alex and held up a finger to let him know he’d be right out.

          Alex closed the flap and waited a few seconds for Peter to emerge. As he did he noticed Grrbraa had wandered, which seemed strangely out of place considering the rambling speech he’d just tried to give about the “promise” he’d made.

          Peter stepped out, leaning side-to-side to stretch his back.

          “Are you guys done?” Alex asked.

          “Almost,” Peter said. “We’re just doing final adjustments now. The alignment needs to be perfect. Unless something changes, The Conflux should be starting in just a few minutes.”

          “You don’t seem very excited about it,” Alex commented. “Isn’t this what we’ve been working for all this time?”

          “I am… exhausted,” Peter said. “We’re so close, but the worst is yet to come. I still don’t know if Sylnya’s going to be able to pull off her part of this. I should really go check on her soon. How are the defenses holding up without us?”

          “That’s what I came to give you an update on,” Alex said. “Things were looking bad, but then Brorn showed up.”

          Peter blinked. “He’s dead,” he said simply.

          “That’s what I said,” Alex agreed, “but he told me he’s some kind of copy or something? I’m not sure. He has Brorn’s power though, that’s for sure. He and I made a deal. He agreed to help in our defenses in exchange for a supply of mana and… political independence, maybe? That can get worked out later, I think. He erected a wall of Soul Fire which is currently keeping all the demons at bay. I don’t trust him, but he made good on his promise so far. I thought you should know.”

          “You’re right not to trust him,” Peter said. “But we also can’t afford to turn any allies away. If I had to guess he’s probably planning to make a play at stealing the Conflux. I can keep an eye out for that, don’t worry.” Peter glanced around. “Is Grrbraa still here?” he asked.

          Alex shrugged. “He was, but he just left. Not sure where.”

          “Good,” Peter said, “I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to give up. Listen. I have something I need you to do for me. It’s more important than anything else that’s going on.”

          “Even those roots that keep trying to grow in under the dirt?”

          “Yes, even that, though I’ll still need you to make sure those are cleared out before the Conflux starts.”

          “I can do that.” Alex said. “What else did you need?”

          “I need you to have someone… taken care of."

          Alex frowned. It wasn’t the sort of favor he wanted to hear from his nephew, but he also knew he wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important. “I’ll do whatever needs to be done.” Alex told him. “But if this is going to be anything like that frame job we did on Shea, I don’t think it’s a good idea. That backfired about as badly as it could have.”

          Peter shook his head. “No, that was different. We just needed her out of the way. This time it’s got to be permanent. Dead.”

          Alex let out a sigh. With everything he’d been through recently he was starting to lose his appetite for that kind of killing. “I can do it for you,” Alex promised, “but this is the last time. And don’t think you’re going to feel any better about it just because you weren’t the one holding the knife.”

          Peter pursed his lips. “I know,” he said. “I’ve had to do some pretty awful things already. It’s necessary. I’m doing what has to be done. My mistake last time was holding back out of a misguided sentimentality. We can’t do that this time. It has to be all the way or not at all. This can’t all have been for nothing.” Peter had a faraway look in his eye.

          Alex put a hand on his shoulder. “I know,” he said. “I just don’t want you shouldering all the guilt. Your mother…” He trailed off. The words were too hard to get out.

          “My mother is dead!” Peter said. “So are lots of other people far better than you or I. The old world killed them, and if it didn’t this new one we tried to create finished them off. We can’t let it stand. They have most of the blame, but we have a lot to carry too. Are you going to help me fix things, or not?”

          Alex knew what “they” Peter was referring to: the elves, the eldrin, all the various groups that conspired to build a world of haves and have-nots on the back of slavery through magical superiority. “Yeah, I’ll help you,” Alex said, not really feeling that old spark of hatred as hotly as he once had but trying to force it for his nephew’s sake. “Just tell me who to kill.”

          “About that,” Peter said seriously. “When I tell you who, you’re not going to like it. I’m going to need you to trust me though.”

          “With my life,” Alex vowed. And he meant it. Every word. At this point trading his life for his nephew’s would just be a cathartic release.

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