The Mage's Tale Read online

  “They’re deserted,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve passed by this hill a hundred times, and I’ve never seen anything moving on it.”

  “But you’ve never entered the circle, either,” said Morigna. “Come, let us be on our way. The deer will bleed out eventually.”

  “I wounded the deer,” said Nathan, “and it is my responsibility not to leave it in pain. Anyway, I don’t think the deer could have made it much farther.”

  He kept going, and Morigna whispered a curse and followed him. To her alarm, the trail led up the side of the hill, towards the black menhirs.

  “We should turn back,” she said, her unease growing.

  “Once we’ve found the deer,” said Nathan. He shook his head. “Animals usually avoid this hill. The poor beast must have been maddened by pain to come here.”

  “And we are mad to follow it,” said Morigna.

  They reached the crest of the hill, and Morigna grabbed Nathan’s arm.

  “Don’t go any further,” she said. “Not another step. Don’t enter the circle. You can’t sense the dark magic here, but I can. It’s not safe. Damn the deer, Nathan. Let’s just go.”

  “I think,” said Nathan, his face tight, “that you might be right.”

  She followed his gaze and flinched.

  A massive bloodstain marked the ground just within the outer circle, and Morigna saw bits of fur and meat and bloody bones lying here and there, a grisly trail leading to the inner circle. A low earthen mound rose within the circle, supporting a massive altar of black stone. Upon the altar rested the deer’s head, its dead eyes gazing into nothingness.

  Someone had torn the beast apart with brutal power.

  “We should go,” murmured Nathan. “Now.”

  “That is what I have been telling you,” said Morigna. “We…”

  She saw the rippling from the corner of her eye.

  Morigna whirled and saw the air at the base of a menhir ripple, the distorted blur coming closer. She summoned power and flung out her hands, a column of acidic mist swirling around the blur.

  A snarl of fury filled her ears, and the distortion resolved into a hulking black shape, a ghastly mixture of wolf and ape, its fur bristling, the talons on its paws razor sharp, its harsh crimson eyes fixing upon Morigna with malice and hatred…

  “Urvaalg!” said Nathan. “Run! Go!”

  He pushed her, and they sprinted down the hillside, pebbles and pine needles scraping beneath their boots. Morigna risked a glance over her shoulder, and saw the urvaalg bounding after them with terrible speed, its muzzle twisted into a snarl. With horrifying clarity she saw that they would not make it, that the urvaalg would overtake them before they could get much farther. Morigna gathered power for another spell, intending to turn and attack the urvaalg so Nathan could escape…

  Instead, he shoved her.

  Morigna stumbled, barely keeping her balance as she tumbled down the hill. At last she caught her balance and spun, watching as Nathan charged the urvaalg with his hunting knife. The creature sprang upon him with a snarl, its massive jaws clamping around his throat.

  Crimson blood flashed, and Morigna screamed. She gathered her power and drove her will into the urvaalg’s mind, commanding it to release Nathan, to flee and trouble them no more.

  The urvaalg dropped Nathan and looked at her, his blood smeared across its misshapen muzzle. She felt its rage and hatred through the mental link, its realization of her as the greater threat.

  The creature bounded down the slope toward her, leaving Nathan motionless upon the hill. Morigna watched it hurtle towards her, watched her death run toward her down the slope.

  A slope wrought of rocks and earth she felt through her magic.

  Morigna screamed in pain and fury and cast a spell, all her power reaching out to claw at the hillside.

  The side of the hill exploded as tons of earth and stone ripped free and cascaded onto the urvaalg. The creature had time for one startled roar, and then disappeared into the avalanche, dust billowing everywhere.

  Morigna took one step forward and blacked out.

  ###

  When she awoke, her head throbbed and pulsed. She had never used that much magic at once, and it had taken a physical toll. Then she remembered the urvaalg, and scrambled to her feet in a panic, half-expecting to feel the creature’s jaws close around her throat at any moment.

  A pile of broken stone filled the ravine, ripped from the side of the hill by her spell. A pool of dark slime spread from its edge, and Morigna saw one of the urvaalg’s paws jutting from beneath a boulder. Normal steel could not harm the creature, but apparently that protection did not extend to a dozen tons of rock.

  Nathan’s knife had not hurt it…

  Morigna raced up the torn slope, her heart hammering. Surely the urvaalg had not hurt him that badly. She had lured it away before it could hurt him much…

  Nathan lay upon his back, gazing at the sky. He looked calm.

  Or as calm as a man could with his throat and parts of his chest missing.

  For a long time Morigna stared at him.

  Then she fell to her knees and sobbed.

  ###

  Some days later, Morigna watched the pyre burn, the smoke rising into the night sky.

  A boot crunched against the pine needles, and she was not at all surprised to see the Old Man step into the firelight.

  “Come to gloat?” she said, her voice thick.

  “Actually,” he said, “I came to see what started the fire. If you’re not careful, you’ll burn the forest down.”

  “Good,” said Morigna. “Let the world burn.”

  They stood in silence for a moment.

  “If you say one word,” said Morigna, “one word of gloating, one word against him, I swear that I shall…”

  “Why would I do that?” said the Old Man. “I am not a complete monster, you know. I am…sorry for your loss.” The admission sounded grudging.

  But he had said it nonetheless.

  “You’re going to teach me more,” said Morigna.

  “Am I?” said the Old Man.

  “Yes,” said Morigna.

  “As you wish,” said the Old Man, a faint hint of a smile on his lips.

  He was teaching her for some purpose of his own, she knew, but Morigna did not care. She would use his teachings and his magic to make herself strong.

  So strong that no one would ever hurt her again.

  She watched the pyre, and made that vow as the fires consumed the body of Nathan Vorinus.

  THE END

  Thank you for reading THE MAGE'S TALE. If you liked the story, please consider leaving a review at your ebook site of choice. To receive immediate notification of new releases, sign up for my newsletter, or watch for news on my Facebook page. Turn the page for a bonus chapter from the first book in the FROSTBORN series, Frostborn: The Gray Knight.

  Bonus Chapter from FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT

  A letter to the surviving kings, counts, and knights of Britain:

  I am Malahan Pendragon, the bastard son of Mordred, himself the bastard son of Arthur Pendragon, the High King of all Britain.

  You know the grievous disasters that have befallen our fair isle. My father betrayed my grandfather, and perished upon the bloody field of Camlann, alongside many of the mightiest knights and kings of Britain. Before that came the war of Sir Lancelot’s treachery and the High Queen’s adultery, a war that slew many noble and valiant knights.

  Now there is no High King in Britain, Camelot lies waste, and the pagan Saxons ravage our shores. Every day the Saxons advance further and further, laying waste to our fields and flocks, butchering our fighting men, making slaves of our womenfolk, and desecrating holy churches and monasteries. Soon all of Britain shall lie under their tyranny, just as the barbarians overthrew the Emperor of Rome.

  My lords, I write not to claim the High Kingship of Britain – for Britain is lost to the Saxons – but to offer hope. My grandfather the High King is slain,
and his true heir Galahad fell seeking the grail, so therefore this burden has fallen to me, for there is no one else to bear it.

  Britain is lost, but we may yet escape with our lives.

  For I have spoken with the last Keepers of Avalon, and by their secret arts they have fashioned a gate wrought of magic leading to a far distant realm beyond the circles of this world, certainly beyond the reach of the heathen Saxons. Here we may settle anew, and build homes and lives free from the specter of war.

  I urge you to gather all your people, and join me at the stronghold of Caerleon. We shall celebrate the feast of Easter one final time, and then march to the plain of Salisbury, to the standing stones raised by the wizard Merlin.

  The gate awaits, and from there we shall march to a new home.

  Sealed in the name of Malahan Pendragon, in the Year of Our Lord 538.

  ###

  The day it all began, the day in the Year of Our Lord 1478 when the blue fire filled the sky from horizon to horizon, Ridmark Arban returned to the town of Dun Licinia.

  He gazed at the town huddled behind its walls of gray stone, his left hand gripped tight around a long wooden staff. He had not been here in over five years, not since the great battle against Mhalek and his horde of orcs, and then Dun Licinia had been little more than a square keep ringed by a wooden wall, an outpost named in honor of the Dux of the Northerland.

  Now it was a prosperous town of four thousand people, fortified by a wall of stone. Ridmark saw the towers of a small keep within the town, alongside the twin bell towers of a stone church and the round tower of a Magistrius. Cultivated fields and pastures ringed the town on three sides, and the River Marcaine flowed south past its western wall, making its way through the wooded hills of the Northerland to the River Moradel in the south.

  Ridmark’s father had always said there was good mining and logging to be had on the edges of the Northerland, if men were bold enough to live within reach of the orc tribes and dark creatures that lurked in the Wilderland.

  And in the shadow of the black mountain that rose behind Ridmark.

  He walked for the town’s northern gate, swinging his staff in his left hand, his gray cloak hanging loose around him. When he had last stood in this valley, the slain orcs of Mhalek’s horde had carpeted the ground as far as he could see, the stench of blood and death filling his nostrils. It pleased him to see that something had grown here, a place of prosperity and plenty.

  Perhaps no one would recognize him.

  Freeholders and the freeholders’ sons toiled in the fields, breaking up the soil in preparation for the spring planting. The men cast him wary looks, looks that lingered long after he had passed. He could not blame them. A man wrapped in a gray cloak and hood, a wooden staff in his left hand and a bow slung over his shoulder, made for a dangerous-looking figure.

  Especially since he kept his hood up.

  But if he kept his hood up, they would not see the brand that marred the left side of his face.

  He came to Dun Licinia’s northern gate. The wall itself stood fifteen feet high, and two octagonal towers of thirty feet stood on either side of the gate itself. A pair of men-at-arms in chain mail stood at the gate, keeping watch on the road and the wooded hills ringing the valley. He recognized the colors upon their tabards. They belonged to Sir Joram Agramore, a knight Ridmark had known. They had been friends, once.

  Before Mhalek and his horde.

  “Hold,” said one of the men-at-arms, a middle-aged man with the hard-bitten look of a veteran. “State your business.”

  Ridmark met the man’s gaze. “I wish to enter the town, purchase supplies, and depart before sundown.”

  “Aye?” said the man-at-arms, eyes narrowing. “Sleep in the hills, do you?”

  “I do,” said Ridmark. “It’s comfortable, if you know how.”

  “Who are you, then?” said the man-at-arms. He jerked his head at the other soldier, and the man disappeared into the gatehouse. “Robber? Outlaw?”

  “Perhaps I’m an anchorite,” said Ridmark.

  The man-at-arms snorted. “Holy hermits don’t carry weapons. They trust in the Dominus Christus to protect them from harm. You look like the sort to place his trust in steel.”

  He wasn’t wrong about that.

  Ridmark spread his arms. “Upon my oath, I simply wish to purchase supplies and leave without causing any harm. I will swear this upon the name of God and whatever saints you wish to invoke.”

  Three more men-at-arms emerged from the gatehouse.

  “What’s your name?” said the first man-at-arms.

  “Some call me the Gray Knight,” said Ridmark.

  The first man frowned, but the youngest of the men-at-arms stepped forward.

  “I’ve heard of you!” said the younger man. “When my mother journeyed south on pilgrimage to Tarlion, beastmen attacked her caravan. You drove them off! I…”

  “Hold,” said the first man, scowling. “Show your face. Honest men have no reason to hide their faces.”

  “Very well,” said Ridmark. He would not lie. Not even about this.

  He drew back his cowl, exposing the brand of the broken sword upon his left cheek and jaw.

  A ripple of surprise went through the men.

  “You’re…” said the first man. He lifted his spear. “What is your name?”

  “My name,” said Ridmark, “is Ridmark Arban.”

  The men-at-arms looked at each other, and Ridmark rebuked himself. Coming here had been foolish. Better to have purchased supplies from the outlying farms or a smaller village, rather than coming to Dun Licinia.

  But he had not expected the town to grow so large.

  “Ridmark Arban,” said the older man-at-arms. He looked at one of the other men. “You. Go to the castle, and find Sir Joram.” One of the men ran off, chain mail flashing in the sunlight.

  “Are you arresting me?” said Ridmark. Perhaps it would be better to simply leave.

  The first man opened his mouth again, closed it.

  “You think he made the friar disappear?” said the younger man, the one who had mentioned his mother. “But he’s the Gray Knight! They…”

  “The Gray Knight is a legend,” said the first man, “and you, Sir…” He scowled and started over. “And you, Ridmark Arban, should speak with Sir Joram. That is that.”

  “So be it,” said Ridmark.

  A dark thought flitted across his mind. If he attacked them, he might well overpower them. Their comrades would pursue him. Perhaps they would kill him.

  And he could rest at last…

  Ridmark shook off the notion and waited.

  A short time later two men approached and spoke in low voices to the first man-at-arms.

  “You will accompany us,” he said.

  Ridmark nodded and walked through the gates of Dun Licinia, the men-at-arms escorting him.

  ###

  Calliande opened her eyes.

  She saw nothing but utter blackness, felt nothing but the cold stone beneath her back, its chill soaking through her robes. She took a deep breath, her throat and tongue dry and rough. Something soft and clinging covered her face and throat, and she tried to pull it off. But her shaking hands would not obey, and only after five tries did she reach her face, her fingers brushing her cheek and jaw.

  She could not see anything in the blackness, but she recognized the feeling of the delicate threads she plucked from her face.

  Cobwebs. She was pulling cobwebs from her jaw.

  A wave of terrible exhaustion went through her, and a deeper darkness swallowed Calliande.

  ###

  Dreams danced across her mind like foam driven across a raging sea.

  She saw herself arguing with men in white robes, their voices raised in anger, their faces blurring into mist whenever she tried to look at them.

  A great battle, tens of thousands of armored men striving against a massive horde of blue-skinned orcs, great half-human, half-spider devils on their flanks, packs of
beastmen savaging the knights in their armor. Tall, gaunt figures in pale armor led the horde, their eyes burning with blue flame, glittering swords in their hands.

  The sight of them filled her with terror, with certainty that they would devour the world.

  “It is the only way,” she heard herself tell the men in white robes, their faces dissolving into mist as she tried to remember their names. “This is the only way. I have to do this. Otherwise it will be forgotten, and it will all happen again. And we might not be able to stop him next time.”

  She heard the distant sound of dry, mocking laughter.

  A thunderous noise filled her ears, the sound of a slab of stone slamming over the entrance to a tomb.

  “It is the only way,” Calliande told the men in white robes.

  “Is it?”

  A shadow stood in their midst, long and dark and cold, utterly cold.

  “You,” whispered Calliande.

  “Little girl,” whispered the shadow. “Little child, presuming to wield power you cannot understand. I am older than you. I am older than this world. I made the high elves dance long before your pathetic kindred ever crawled across the hills.” The shadow drew closer, devouring the men in the white robes. “You don’t know who I truly am. For if you did…you would run. You would run screaming. Or you would fall on your knees and worship me.”

  “No,” said Calliande. “I stopped you once before.”

  “You did,” said the shadow. “But I have been stopped many times. Never defeated. I always return. And in your pride and folly, you have ensured that I shall be victorious.”

  The shadow filled everything, and Calliande sank into darkness.

  ###

  Her eyes shot open with a gasp, the cobwebs dancing around her lips, her heart hammering against her ribs. Again a violent spasm went through her limbs, her muscles trembling, her head pulsing with pain.

  Bit by bit Calliande realized that she was ravenous, that her throat was parched with thirst.

  And she was no longer in the darkness.

  A faint blue glow touched her eyes. She saw a vaulted stone ceiling overhead, pale and eerie in the blue light. The air smelled musty and stale, as if it had not been breathed in a very long time.