Questing Sucks! Book II (58 page)

“This isn’t funny, Kellar!” Shina snapped at him.

“Sorry, it’s just that any true Drashian knows to laugh at his own stupidity. It is better to be the first to laugh at it, because others surely will. And, to be fair, we were very stupid. Ah well. If we die, it’s on us.”

“Sadly, I agree,” Patrick whispered.

“Iona!” Orellia cried. “What’s going on here?”

“I’m sorry, Orellia,” Iona said. “I swear to you…I did not want this.”

All on its own, the large metal door leading into the hall slammed itself shut with a tremendous bang, causing Cah’lia to yelp and shuffle forward away from it. At the door’s closing, the place dimmed, now lit only by the sparse sunlight seeping inside from the cracks in the drawn curtains.

“Such is my luck,” Patrick said with a moan. “So be it.” His eyes opened wider, and with a murderous intensity, he looked at the Archmage. “Duncan! I will kill you myself.”

He drew his blade, as did the Champion. Simultaneously, Cah’lia reached inside her tunic and removed her dagger. Shina wiggled her fingers, and lightning began dancing between her fingertips. Kellar slowly made for his weapon as well, but he failed to get a grip on it due to his giggling fit. Iona and Benjamin merely looked at one another with tears in their eyes before both of them turned to regard Orellia.

“I am so sorry,” Iona said again, using the sleeve of her robe to wipe away the dampness in her eyes.

“Why?” Orellia whispered. “Why would you do this to us?
How
could you do this?”

Rather than answer her, Iona whispered something to Benjamin, who nodded at her then spun back around to face Archmage Duncan. “We did what you told us,” he announced, his voice submissive and meek.

“So you have,” Duncan replied from across the room. The Archmage sat with his chin resting in his palm and his staff lying horizontally on the table in front of him. Cah’lia eyed the weapon fearfully. She recalled that it was one of the Items, something Orellia had confided in her a few days after Iona had returned with news that Sehn still lived.

“Yes, we have done exactly what you wanted,” Benjamin said. “So please remove it now. I beg of you. Please, please remove it from us.”

“Remove what?” Orellia asked. “Benjamin, why have you done this to us? How could you?”

“Our heads!” Iona screamed. “That’s why!”

The sound of terror in her voice was enough to make Cah’lia want to scream along with her despite not understanding what she was talking about. The note of desperation in her voice alone was enough for Cah’lia to be sure that something awful must have happened for her and Benjamin to betray them.

“Your heads?” Orellia repeated. “I don’t understand.”

Iona pointed to her skull. “He put magic in here. If we didn’t obey, it would have burst and killed us. He said he’d remove it if we did what he wanted and brought you all here.”

Orellia scowled. “Is this true?”

“I swear it. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I…I was so scared. I was…” Her voice trailed off to sobs.

Orellia turned her eyes on the Archmage. “You animal!” she shouted at him. Rather than answer, he merely observed in silence from where he sat across the room. Benjamin, meanwhile, dropped to his knees, interlocked his fingers as though praying to a deity, and looked pleadingly at Archmage Duncan.

“We did what you asked. So please. Please, remove it.”

For a moment or two, Duncan said nothing. He merely sat there, peering out at them through the eye slits in his bandages while he watched Benjamin beg for his life. Then, with a sadistic slowness, he lifted his right hand, slithered it across the table, and slowly wrapped his fingers around his staff.

“As you wish,” he said.

Without picking it completely up, he lifted one end of the staff off the table and then clicked it back down against the wooden surface. Less than a second later, there were two intense, shrill screams, followed by the sound of something eerily similar to a foot crushing an eggshell—only louder—and then Cah’lia felt something warm splashing over her eyes, nose, and forehead. She wiped it away and glanced down at her fingers, discovering they were now stained red.

At first, this confused her. Then it startled her as she wondered if it was her own blood or someone else’s. It was only after she saw the mess on the floor and the even bigger mess on the nearby wall that she realized what had happened. Iona and Benjamin were on their backs, and both were headless. Blood poured out from the empty sockets where their necks should have been.

This seemed to convince Kellar to take things more seriously. His laughter cut off and he succeeded in drawing his blade. Shina and Orellia both had tears running down their faces, but they too appeared willing to fight. But it was the Champion and Patrick who proved themselves to be the most eager of all.

Together, they charged down the hall, hopped up on top of the nearest section of the table, ran across it, dropped back down off the other end, and then continued dashing their way through the hall, past the podium, and straight for Duncan. All this before Cah’lia even had the chance to blink let alone join them in their charge.

Things were ending up exactly how she feared they would. If nothing else, she now understood that expecting the worst was not the same as preparing for it. Never again would she trust someone on blind faith alone. Really, she had only herself to blame.

Archmage Duncan was fast for an old man. Then again, could one truly consider him a “man” any longer? Cah’lia didn’t know. What she did know was that he showed great confidence in his abilities. This was made clear from the way he continued to sit casually at the table without moving a finger even as the Champion’s broadsword was just a few inches away from slicing through him. As though completely sure of himself, he waited until the last possible moment to react.

In one fluid motion, the Archmage went from leisurely resting his cheek in his palm to quickly snatching his staff off the table while springing backwards off his chair and into a roll across the floor. He was just fast enough to avoid the Champion’s blade, which upon impact with the table, caused the entire section where the Archmage had just been sitting to explode, sending wooden chips in every direction and scattering dust up into the air.

The Archmage was quick in getting back to his feet, but not quick enough to avoid Patrick, who followed up the Champion’s attack with one of his own. The prince swung his blade horizontally, likely hoping to decapitate the mad Archmage the way the Archmage had done to Iona and Benjamin.

For just an instant, it truly seemed like Patrick would have the man’s head. But then, with a flick of his wrist, Archmage Duncan parried Patrick’s blade using nothing more than his staff. Even more surprisingly, the moment the staff and Patrick’s sword made contact, the prince’s blade was broken into two pieces. A large fragment split off and flew across the room, and then a second later, a metallic clang sounded from the opposite corner of the hall where the broken-off piece of metal banged against the wall.

Now, Patrick stood before the Archmage holding nothing more than a bladeless hilt with a fractured, unsharpened, and uneven clump of metal attached to it. He looked down at his broken sword, his mouth agape and his eyes wide in shock. Cah’lia was shocked too. How could the Archmage’s staff be capable of shattering a steel blade? Shouldn’t the opposite have happened?

It’s an Item,
she recalled.
Maybe that’s why.

“My sword,” Patrick whispered. “How can it have been…?”

Patrick’s words fell silent as Archmage Duncan began laughing at him. “I will have to try very hard not to kill you,” he said. “Everyone is waiting for you, Prince Patrick Vasilis. You, above all, were the one I most hoped would come here.”

Patrick slowly looked up from his broken blade, which he then let drop to the floor with a clatter. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Before answering, the Archmage chanted something. The Champion, who was once more charging at him, came to a sudden halt. He groaned, bared his teeth, and fought against whatever was keeping him from moving.

“Shoo,” Archmage Duncan said, scorn in his voice.

Using his staff like a club, the Archmage took a swing at the empty air in front of him. Even without making physical contact, the Champion was sent hurtling in the opposite direction at a dangerous speed. Kellar grabbed Shina with one hand and Orellia with the other and pulled the two of them out of the way as the Champion’s large body soared right past where they’d been standing. With a loud crunch, he smashed through the wall behind Cah’lia, creating a massive hole that caused the hall to brighten from the sunlight it allowed inside.

“Now, where was I?” Duncan asked. “Ah, right. You see, very soon, I am going to announce a spectacular event at the city square. It will draw quite a crowd.”

“
Wh-
why?” Shina blurted out.

Duncan set his eyes on her, and though Cah’lia could not see his lips behind the bandage, she imagined he was grinning. “For a public execution, of course. All except for…
you
.” It dawned on Cah’lia rather quickly that the Archmage was referring to her and not Shina. “You are still needed,” he continued, “and you’ve been promised to someone else. But as far as the rest of you are concerned”—he laughed—“you will help me establish myself once and for all as the Holy Magus. Through you, it will finally be understood that my rule is absolute.”

Patrick backed away slowly while, at the same time, Kellar, Shina, and Orellia began inching their way forward, eventually overtaking him so that they were now closer to the Archmage than he was.

“What do you mean when you say you hoped I would come here?” Patrick asked him, his voice unsteady and fearful.

“Isn’t it obvious? When the people of my new kingdom see that I have executed the prince-heir to the Kingdom of the Seven Pillars, it will put me in a very, very powerful position. Your death will be exactly what I need to get through this ‘slump’ I’m in. You see, while none in Magia are foolish enough to oppose me outright, they all revile me too much to obey without question. I have yet to truly be accepted as their new Holy Magus. As it stands, I am tolerated only out of fear.”

“And what do I have to do with that?”

“You really don’t get it, do you?”

“No,” Patrick said, “I don’t.”

Duncan’s eyes seemed to glow with just a little more menace as he explained. “Well, to begin with, the prince-heir of the Kingdom of the Seven Pillars has personally attacked Magia.” The Archmage looked down at the hilt of Patrick’s broken sword, which lay near his feet. Then he tsked. “And after my people went down to the surface and assisted you in your war! Oh, this betrayal will not be taken lightly, and following this grand execution, the people will finally see that I will spare no mercy to Magia’s enemies. That
I
, Holy Magus Duncan, am the only one fit to protect them. Eventually, I will offer Issius and the others the chance to serve by my side or else suffer an eternity in a world of nothing. And that, Prince Patrick, is how my rule will be established.”

“Not if you’re dead!” Shina shouted at him.

Duncan narrowed his eyes at her. “Hmm? What are you doing, girl?”

Shina raised her hand above her head, her pointer finger extended. She began circling it in the air, leaving behind a blue streak of light that trailed behind her finger during each revolution. Her motions became faster and faster, creating a sparking, spiral-shaped bolt of electricity that continued to grow both in size and in brightness.

“Duncan! This is for Iona and Benjamin.
Ahhhhhhhhhh
Shina the Lightning Goddess Level-Eight Super Special Demonic Ultra-Power Maximum Charge Lightning Blast!
”

Shina threw her hand forward, and then without any warning, a bright flash of light filled the room. It was so intense that, on instinct, Cah’lia raised her forearm, ducked her head, and bent her knees as she felt a small jolt travel through her body.

Slowly lowering her arm, Cah’lia watched in fascination as, at a speed not even an elven eye could follow, the bolt of electrical energy Shina had created uncoiled and stretched all the way across the room: a bolt that ran from above her head, over the table, across the hall, and all the way to the Archmage’s chest, where it struck at him—and all at a speed so great it appeared instantaneous.

Then the electrical bolt vanished, and Duncan lowered his eyes, glancing down at his chest where it had hit him. “Not good enough,” he said. A single, sadistic chuckle followed his words. “Are you trying to stop my heart, girl?” With another chuckle, he asked, “What makes you so certain that it was ever beating to begin with?”

Shina backed away a step, likely out of fear. What should have stopped the heart of an ordinary man—if not turn him into a crispy, burnt piece of human flesh—did not appear to cause the Archmage any harm at all.

“Shina, watch out,” Kellar said. He took two steps forward, then held out the palm of his hand, extending it in the direction of Duncan. In a loud voice, one far deeper than that which he normally spoke, he chanted, “
Remmos
Vi
Sellos REHL.
”

There was another flash, though this one not nearly as bright as the last, and then from the mage-boy’s palm emerged a massive, cone-shaped bolt of fire that streaked across the room and headed directly for the Archmage. Cah’lia followed it with her eyes, though it was difficult, as it crossed from one end of the hall to the other in less than a second.

“Not good enough either,” Duncan said. A moment before impact, he bent his knees and swung his staff diagonally upwards at the cone-shaped mass of flames, and just like that, it vanished, leaving not even smoke behind in its wake.

“Dammit,” Kellar growled. He took several steps forward, moving towards Duncan while still extending his palm out in front of him. With an even louder, deeper voice, he shouted, “
Remmos
Vi
Sellos REHL. Remmos
Vi
Sellos REHL. Remmos
Vi
Sellos REHL
!”

Three more of the projectiles left his palm, all blazing their way across the room at Archmage Duncan, who with a relaxed posture showed no indication that he found them threatening. This time, he did not bother to use his staff. He merely stood where he was, waiting for the boy’s fiery magic to hit him.

“Pathetic,” Duncan mumbled.

All three of the cone-shaped flame blasts came to within inches of striking him. Cah’lia held her breath, hoping something would finally take down this animal who called himself a man. But her hopes were dashed.

Based on how they flew towards him, the flames seemed poised to slam into his head, chest, and his right shoulder. But in all three of these locations, a red, cloud-like mist appeared abruptly, and like a wall, all three of Kellar’s magical projectiles were repelled, vanishing upon impact with the cloudy mist.

“A barrier?” Kellar whispered. “When did you have the time to put one up?” He spat on the floor. “Know what? Screw it. Don’t even care.”

As if deciding to abandon the use of magic, the boy dashed forward, hopped up, over, and off the table, just as Patrick and the Champion had done, and then launched himself forward at the Archmage, resorting to doing battle the old-fashioned, non-magical way. Using both his hands, Kellar swung his blade, going for Duncan’s throat. But once more, with a dismissive swipe of his staff, Duncan repeated his earlier feat, both blocking the strike while also breaking Kellar’s weapon into two uneven pieces and leaving him with a useless stump for a weapon.

“No more games,” Duncan said. “I’ve entertained you children long enough.”

He spun his staff several times in front of him. Then he lifted it high above his head before driving it down into the floor with enough force to crack through it. Before Cah’lia understood what was happening, she felt something cold wrapping around her hands and ankles. To her horror, she realized that chains had literally sprouted from the floor and had begun wrapping around her. The same was true of the others as well. Everywhere she looked, including at Kellar, who was closest to the Archmage, there were magically summoned chains binding their limbs while additional, longer chains wrapped around their chests and linked each one of them together.

Eventually, it wrapped tightly enough around her right hand that she was forced to drop her dagger. She stared at it longingly as it fell from her grasp. Surprisingly, despite everything going on around her, there was only one thing that stuck out in her mind at this moment: one thing that mattered to her above all else.

“Does this mean that Sehn and the children are dead?” she yelled at him. “Tell me!”

“No, girl,” he said. “They are not dead, but their time is coming.” With a smile, he added, “Yours will come first. When Ghell gets his hands on you, I am certain that you will wish you had perished together with your friends. For now, however, you will just have to settle for watching them die.”

Cah’lia recoiled in disgust at the thought of ending up at the mercy of Commander Ghell, the one man on earth she could think of who was more repulsive than Archmage Duncan. With a growl, she fought against her restraints to the point of pain, using all her strength in an attempt to tear her limbs free of the magically summoned chains. She hoped that, due to their magical nature, they would not be as strong as actual shackles. Unfortunately, they felt even more solid.

“Cowards!” Cah’lia shouted at him. “Let me out of these chains and fight me. Or are you afraid of a girl?”

At this, Duncan released a hearty laugh. “Quite so, actually. I think I’d fear you most of all, dear elf. You are quite vicious.”

Cah’lia wondered if she was being mocked, and as though to prove he was quite serious, Duncan, ripped his staff free from where it had been lodged into the floor, then immediately slammed it back down. Now, an additional set of summoned binds appeared from below her, these wrapping around her elbows and further securing her arms behind her back.

“You may enter now,” Duncan said. “Take them!”

There was a loud screech, and then the room brightened. Cah’lia could not turn around to look, but it sounded like the large door had once again been opened behind her. Judging from the shadows along the floor, four men and one woman were entering into the hall, and each were making their way towards Duncan.

Orellia did not look pleased to see them. “I should’ve known you five would support this monster. You are a disgrace to the High-Mages.”

“Quiet, Orellia,” a woman’s voice purred. Cah’lia could not see her, but she could tell from the disdain in her voice that she and Orellia had not been friendly with one another even before all this had happened.