Chapter 23-Dangerous Deep Magic
A few minutes later, and they were all back in the castle and once again seated around Aristotle’s table. It seemed no one had left except for André and Thomas, so really only Helen needed to be accommodated with a spot around the table. Irgen and Idus sat at the head of the table, precisely where André and Thomas had just presided. The seats of those around them; however, changed dramatically. Helen and Jennifer sat facing each other on either side of Irgen and Idus, and next to them, sat Gregory, whom the twins considered to be an intimidating companion. Everyone else was seated, no longer in a position of dominance, or of prominence, but by whom they were best acquainted with. Small conversations broke out among the Knights as each group told stories of what they had been doing over the past few months.
Idus stared blankly at the many faces which surrounded him. His mind was whirling. When he had awoken just minutes before, his mother had excitedly hugged him in a crushing embrace, and then had bombarded him with facts about what had happened and what was going to happen now that he was awake. He did not take in most of the things she was saying, but he did manage to discover that he had been unconscious for six days, and more than that he had discovered from her embrace, that his body ached more than it ever had before. Even now as he sat there in the cool room, he felt as though his body was going to explode within him. Every movement he made, even just flicking his eyes to look at something made his very innards groan with agony.
He thought now that perhaps he should have listened to his mother’s advice to stay in the hospital wing and wait for everyone else to come to him, but he decided instead, that he would try to impress Irgen with his sturdiness. So he decided that surprising him would be the best thing, and he felt that he had accomplished his goal better than he had expected, but now that it was over; he felt the best thing would be for him to go back upstairs into his soft, warm comfortable bed, but once again he could not find a way to ask to go back upstairs without arousing a sense of pity from his brother, or sending out a signal that he was in a pitiful, helpless state.
Of course, his fears were largely unfounded, for he did not yet realize the gravity of what he had done, and the fact that no one else had ever survived such a display of magic without first training years for such an occurrence. He did not yet understand that he had already shown how independent he could be. If he managed to arouse a feeling of pity from his brother, he warranted it, from sheer dumb luck and an ominous display of his own splendor.
But not knowing any of this, Idus stuck to his decision to not show any actual weakness. As he decided this, he heard his mother begin talking.
“Now since you two have both finally come back into the world of the living.” She smiled happily. “I can finally tell you about the rest of what happened, and why it is important as to why you are here.”
“Firstly, I am greatly saddened from the fact that your father is not here to tell you the tale himself.” A look of surprise registered in Irgen.
“What? I thought he was going to tell us everything once Idus woke up.” Now Idus looked surprised.
“But I thought he was either dead, or captured and had been missing for a couple of days.” Those listening to the conversation smiled at this statement. On the other hand, smiling was the last thing on Idus’ mind, as his jaw muscles felt as though they were going to burst into flame with every increment movement, and his tongue felt as though it were on fire, or as though it was the very fire itself.
“Well, Idus, I guess I’ll just start from the top, with what happened to us after you lost consciousness.”
“You will remember that Thomas sent up a flare to alert the other Knights that the fortress was being attacked, well when you passed out, the fight had only been going on for a couple of minutes. So right after your conjured lightning bolt killed the two Tenebri, those who were teleporting to the battle arrived. Unfortunately for us; however, it was not just Knights who were entering the fray. Other Tenebri arrived at the same time. For every one Knight that appeared, at least another three Tenebri arrived to join their comrades.”
“Where they got their numbers, I’m not sure, but it appeared as though the unthinkable would happen and the battle would be lost, and one of the fortresses of eternity would finally fall. But then something happened which no one expected. Your father André materialized in the middle of the field of battle riding upon a great white steed. He was truly magnificent; he stood tall and defiantly in the saddle, with his great sword raised high above his head. All attention turned to him as many of the Tenebri began to bear down upon him. At that moment of great turmoil and doubt, your father spurred his horse forward high into the air, and cast an extremely advanced spell.” She had a stern tone in her voice now.
“Throughout the eons of history I think it has only ever been cast twice because of the enormous effort and skill it takes to cast it. It takes a tremendous toll on the soul of a person, and if deep magic like this goes awry, or if the spell is too much for the caster, then their very soul can be divided from their body. It is a fate few have ever chosen to meddle with, because it would be a doom worse than death, for death splits the soul and the body temporally, leaving a place and a time where the two parts can once again be reunited, but this splitting of the soul, because of magic that shouldn’t ever be meddled with, does not. It leaves a rift between you and your body, so that you will wander aimlessly, never able to touch, never able to smell, never able to satisfy any of your bodily habits, for lack of that same body. It is a horrible doom, and few would ever want to take that road. If I had known your father was about to do that, I would have---”
“--Now Jennifer be calm, there’s no need to get angry, and André’s fine. He knew what he was doing.” Gregory patted Jennifer’s hand in an attempt to cool her temper.
“Hmmmph, maybe you’re right Gregory, but still…” She snorted in a helpless rage.
“André took a chance, and it saved our lives, let bygones be bygones.” His wise knowledgeable voice seemed to calm Jennifer a little. Jennifer took a deep breath before smiling weakly at Gregory. The she turned back towards the boys.
“As I was saying the spell is part of the deep magic used by very few throughout the life of this world. What your father did was extremely dangerous, but it is what saved us. Remarkably, he had just escaped from where the Tenebri were holding him captive. There they tortured him, seeking information regarding the two of you.” She looked stonily at the two of them, “He gave them just enough to escape, which was the position of our fortress---”
“---Wait! Our father was tortured… by mages?” A horror-struck look appeared on Irgen’s face as he thought of how terrible his father had looked. The remembrance of the blood spots that covered his arms, the gashes in the deformed face, all came flooding back to him. Of course he had not assumed that the wounds had just appeared there by themselves, but he did not expect that anyone could be so inhumane, to torture a man like that.
Jennifer tried to give a weak smile at Irgen’s naivety but instead a slight grimace appeared on her face.
“Yes, Irgen. He was tortured. And torture by mages is no laughing matter. Mages know what spells can inflict the very most pain on a person. They know how to maneuver a person to the very edge of life, all for the sake of a little bit of information; it is cruel and painful agony, one which every mage including you must be prepared for.” A tear fell down her tender face. “Fortunately for us, Irgen, it is very difficult to keep a mage in prison. Merely our ingenuity is enough to get each of us out.”
“Now what your father told them was not in itself very extraordinary because we think they have long known where our fortress is, but he also gave them false information in that we were much weaker than we really were. So they attacked and left a diminished guard to guard him. Seizing his chance, he broke free and got here just in time to do the one thing which would save us.”
?
??In a sense, he offered his own doom as a sacrifice for our lives. I still do not think that it was a wise thing to have done, but as Gregory pointed out, it was his decision.” She faltered on her last words.
“Go on Mother.” Irgen said attentively, not willing to be robbed of the story he had waited six days to hear.
“Your father… created a vortex in the atmosphere surrounding the Tenebri. This vortex in turn sucked each one of the Tenebri into it, transporting each of them to some distant and remote place in the world, but the best part is that once in a vortex, it is impossible to hang on to anything, so every man loses his staff in the mix, and they in turn are transported somewhere else. I know you have seen Thomas summon his staff, but this can only be done when in close proximity to your own staff. Therefore most Tenebri now no longer have their staffs, and cannot therefore teleport back to their castle. Hopefully it will take them years to reassemble. Tomorrow most of the Knight’s will set out to track down the Tenebri while they are divided. It is our time to attack.” She looked at Irgen and Idus.
“But won’t that be cold blooded murder just tracking them down and killing them like that.” Idus asked astonished.
“You forget that every mage is still a conjurer. You know how dangerous you can be, they are no different. No they are not weaponless; no, they are still very dangerous and are waiting to kill each of us in turn. But we must press our advantage while they are divided. There is a war raging Idus. It is a war that began centuries ago, and still it drags on. It is a war that vies for the domination of the very human race. Millions of woeful, mournful cries have beset the skies through the centuries because of it. Each has ascended towards heaven in vain, until now, until the two of you were born.” She looked sadly at the two of them.
“I never finished the story of Alecto, nor the story of the other brothers. They are very much intertwined with the tales of your own lives… but at some other time you will understand all.” She lifted a soft white hand and pointed towards Gregory.
“This is Gregory, he will help train you. It will be a combined effort between your father, Thomas, Gregory, Me, Alex, Harold, Brown and you, Helen.”
“M-m-me…” Helen managed to stutter as she pointed to herself, too excited to believe what she had just heard.
“Yes you Helen.” Jennifer said in an exasperated voice. “Tomorrow we will commence, and my sons, you will begin your training and your very journey to greatness, and perhaps to immortality!” The twins did not catch the significance of the last words, but for the first time in days they felt excited again.
“Now you two need your rest. Let’s go back upstairs, away from this ruckus where you can get some.” And with that they went back, painstakingly climbing the stairs until finally they felt themselves enshrouded in those same soft white sheets, which truly felt like home.