Bellatrix: Swords of Chaos, Book One

CHAPTER 22

  Gidas and Lazerek made good time traveling north, arriving at the Argoth Plains in a scant day and a half.They circumnavigated Rommel and sat on the edge of the valley, looking down on the city. The sun was high in the sky, making the city dazzle in the cool day.

  “Send three men into the city. I want to know the status,” Lazerek told Gidas.

  Gidas gathered three men and sent them into Rommel. He also told them to gather a few people for the mage to question.The riders were off in a rush.

  Gidas ordered the rest of the men to rest.He dismounted and stretched for a while.He was growing restless. Something needed to happen. He had been on the road with this mage for too long. They were apparently making good time, but Lazerek was getting more and more irritable.The trepidation of losing Bellatrix was very real to the old man. The two-hundred year old man. Lazerek had spent more than two lives searching for the Swords of Saddig.It would be funny, if he almost obtained them, but they slipped through his fingers. Gidas would like to see that. Maybe he’d write a book on it.

  Gidas turned his thoughts elsewhere, like getting some food. He walked toward the cook’s fire.Lazerek was already there, getting a helping of stew. This cook was fast.One of the sentries rode up in a fluster of hooves and dirt.”Sir, we’ve got three riders approaching.”

  “Are they running a flag?”Lazerek asked.

  “No sir.”

  Lazerek looked at Gidas.”Let us meet them.”He took one bite and set the bowl down.He wiped his mouth with his hand and made himself presentable.Gidas knew something fun was about to happen.

  The three riders were soldiers from the watch on the west side of the valley.Their approach was full of boast, even though they were outnumbered one hundred to three.

  When they rode close to Lazerek they pulled up their horses in a subdued act of defiance. Riding dust swirled about the mage and his camp.

  “Are you the mage, Praeceptor Lazerek?” the leader asked.He had a rat face, but carried himself like he had just eaten a big bowl of pride.

  “Who is asking?”Lazerek said.Gidas could sense the tension rising in the old man. This could be fun. These men were just arrogant enough to spark the fire of Lazerek, and he was just crazy enough to do something about it.

  “The King, Rexillion of Rommel.He demands you return to his castle and make reparations for the destruction wrought upon the city. I am to escort you back.Shall we leave now?”It was a command, an arrogant, presumptuous command.Gidas nodded. This was going to get good.

  “Take your men and tarry along,” Lazerek said, dismissing them with a wave. The mage turned his back on them and made for his bowl of stew.

  The leader seemed to choke on his tongue for a moment.His words tumbled around in his mouth before anything escaped.”Perhaps you do not understand, sir.King Rexillion, The King of Rommel desires your presence.”

  Lazerek turned toward the man, his cobalt robes ruffling thickly.A breeze had kicked up from the north causing the mage’s hair to whip across his face.

  “Tell your King he is lucky I don’t come back to his palace and bring it down around his ears.No King in this entire land will tell me when to come and when to stay.Make certain he understands that. You are arrogant my young friend, perhaps you have not been taught the proper way to respect your betters.”

  And with that, the leader was picked up off his horse as if by an invisible hand.He was dropped on the ground.

  Now it starts. Gidas felt flutters inside. The other two horsemen stood and watched in shock.Lazerek’s men filled in the gap around the small party of action, blocking any escape.

  The leader got a hold of himself and stood up, clearly not one to let the workings of a mage undo him.

  The other two men were both picked up by the invisible hand and placed on the ground next to the leader.

  “Now, we will learn some new things,” Lazerek said with relish.”We will teach you manners. But I will not teach you…” he said, pointing to the leader with a blade for a finger.“No. Not at first.I will teach your friends first, and perhaps, by watching them, you will learn as well.”He clapped his hands together merrily walking around in a small circle.

  Gidas was laughing inside.Oh the games these mages played!

  “First, a person who is stationed above you, expects their due respect!Why?Well, let’s not get into the why right now,” he said, holding his hands out and frowning for a moment.”Let us instead get into the how.Oh yes, the how is much more fun.Who understands those strange magic users or kings anyway, right?So what do you do then? You show your respect.”The first guard was suddenly standing upright, rigid as an oak.

  “You must bow first, and then, you must prostrate yourself, like this!”He lifted his hand and pointed to the standing man.Suddenly the man’s eyes got horrendously huge and he fell to the ground in a heap.

  Lazerek snapped his fingers”Pick him up!”The man’s colleagues reached down to pick him up, but they could not.

  His bones were gone. Every bone in his body was gone.His arms were like noodles.His head was a sloshy bag, slopping around.He was trying to scream, but his throat would not open up to let the yell out, and his lungs would not expand.His eyes and nose were pressed in and rolled about like water.Strange smacking sounds emitted from his mouth.

  “Ah that is better,” Lazerek said like a teacher. The man’s colleagues stood up, white as ash.Neither dared move. The man on the ground continued his gurgling, mushy sounds for a few more moments, and then was silent.

  Gidas stood in the background watching the mage work his magic, uncertain of his own reaction to the antics.It was still fun to watch.

  “Now what else do your betters want from you?”Lazerek said tapping his finger on his chin, looking at the now afternoon sky.”Ah yes. I know.They want you to give all of yourself to them.It is a shame they cannot see all of you. A shame,” he said, shaking his head.”Or perhaps they can…” He regarded the soldier next to the leader.”My friend, you are going to get to show your betters all you have to offer.”

  With a flourish he motioned toward the man.The man let out a horrific scream that lasted about as long as a finger snap, before something came pouring out of his mouth.

  His leader looked on with abject horror at the disgust erupting from the man’s mouth. It was not liquid formlessness that erupted, but something with impossible form.As he looked, he could see the feet of his companion roll up into his calves, and then his calves disappear into his thighs, and then his entire hips disappear into his sternum in a complete and utter perversion of magic.Gidas almost hopped up and down. He had to choke back a sick giggle.

  As the body parts continued to disappear into the man, the disgust spewing from his mouth continued taking on form.The leader of the soldiers stepped back in revulsion as he realized the man was turning inside out and that he was seeing the man’s insides on the outside.

  Fear gripped him and he bolted.Three of Lazerek’s men flew onto him and pinned him down.

  Lazerek laughed,”Let him go!He shall live a life of repudiation now.I will be surprised if he is even sane.Tell the King what you have witnessed. Tell him I had better not be harassed during my tenure in his region.” He paused.”And remember, respect your betters!”

  The three men released the soldier and he darted through.

  Lazerek milled about thoughtfully for a moment.

  “Master, is there something troubling you?”Gidas asked.He really didn’t care, but it certainly made his life easier to keep up with the mage’s mood swings.

  “If the guards and soldiers are here, then the city must still stand.He must have somehow…wonder.”He paused,”We will await the return of our scouts.”He moved back toward his bowl of stew.

  Gidas ordered the clean up of the two dead men, wondering what did happen to the city.

  After the sun had set, the men Gidas had sent to the city returned.They had four people with them. One was a woman, and two were men.One was a young waif. The woman was
unconscious, and the two men were roped up. The boy waif was tied up as well, but not as tight as the men.

  His men brought them into the campfire and dropped them on the ground in front of Lazerek, who was wrapped up in his robes, smoking a pipe and lounging about in the cool night air.He leaned forward catching the purple in the robe of the woman, and his voice caught in his throat like a hiss.

  “This woman is Platen!Why did you bring her here!” he said, standing. The soldier who had led the group into the city was suddenly lurched into the air by an unseen force.

  “Sir, she was unconscious, it was dark!We were unaware she was Platen! Should we do away with her?”

  Lazerek let the man fall to the ground with an oomph.Lazerek leaned over the Platen woman, inspecting her carefully.After a moment of grunting to himself, he stood up and looked at no one.

  Gidas piped up.”Master?”

  “She is on what the Platen people call, a Dream Search.Her mind is not currently in her body.”

  “Once her mind returns, we could be in great danger,” Gidas said.

  “Thank you for stating the obvious, but I will not let that happen.There are ways to stop even the Platen.Their power is not absolute.”He tapped his pipe against his chin in a moment of contemplation.

  Gidas watched.Lazerek was an enigma, the apotheosis of a dying breed of mages who had been tempered with untold arrogance.And this one seemed to do the strangest things at the oddest times.Gidas didn’t care if the mage was insane or not, it had been a long time since he’d had this much fun.

  Lazerek perked up, his finger shaking at the clear night sky.”I remember the procedure.” He went to his pouch and fished around for a moment.He returned with a golden necklace.”If the king can use necklaces, so can I. Adjutant, watch and learn!”He settled his old bones by the woman and put his pipe down.Gidas watched as he pulled the magic into him.A great amount flowed into the mage.After a few moments of gathering, he began to form it and mold it into the necklace.As he gathered in the force of power, a warm orange glow began emitting from the palms of his hands and into the necklace.He whispered a few words of focus and let his power coalesce around the woman’s sleeping form.As the light formed around the necklace and the woman, Lazerek placed the necklace around her neck.The mage slowly brought his hands up and let the magic slip from him.Gidas saw him take a deep breath to steady himself.

  “Binding the Platen is a task,” he said wearily.”Their power is inherent.”He stood up and moved toward the fire again.He fetched his pipe and dumping the weed out, stuffed it somewhere into his robes.

  “Will she wake?” Gidas asked, sitting next to Lazerek in front of the dancing fire.The night air kicked up a brief draft that tossed Gidas’s hair about his head. He raised the hood of his robe and pulled it tight.

  “Yes.However, when she tries to use her powers to lash out at us, she will get a surprise.”

  “Are they gone?”

  “No, even I cannot remove the power from a Platen.It is impossible for her to use her power outside of herself.If she attempts it, her power will backlash and cause her great distress.Whatever she weighs against another will be returned to her. I control her power now. I control her.”

  “Could she kill herself?”Gidas asked.

  “No.Somehow the shield I erected absorbs some of the power unleashed.Her mind will lash out ferociously, but it will not return with quite as much punch.”

  Gidas nodded.”I see.”

  “Did you watch carefully as I manipulated the magic?”

  “Aye, it was quite powerful and complex,” Gidas said.

  “Let us question the prisoners.”

  The soldiers brought the two men forward and dropped them to their knees. The waif stood behind them, silent.The first man was large and healthy looking. He was towheaded with a clean-shaven, square face.The second man appeared to be a soldier from the Kings Army. Lazerek smiled. The soldier was black-haired and more abused than his companion.

  Both men had the haggard look of someone who had just been betrayed by their best friend, and then beaten by him with a large rock.

  Lazerek regarded them with a wrinkled eye.

  Gidas walked up to the square-faced man.”Explain to the Praeceptor what has transpired in the city for the past few days.”

  The man sat back on his heels but said nothing, defiant as stone.

  The man was stubborn, but stupid. Gidas almost pitied the fool.

  “You simple peasant.Answer the questions or feel pain.I am certain you understand what the Praeceptor can do.”

  The man sat stubbornly still. The sweat popping out on his face contrasted the cool night.

  “It could have been painless,” Gidas said, stepping back and letting Lazerek step forward.

  Lazerek pulled some of the magic that flowed through the area into himself.He struck the man vehemently across the face with a blow of white-hot magic.The man reeled over onto his side, cringing.Smoke ebbed from his cheek.

  He pulled the man back up with his magic and then beat him back down into the dirt like a dog. He did this continually for half an hour, beating the man about his body in a flurry of flagrant dispassion.

  “Fool!” he cried in a moment fury.He rocked back and forth between the two states of certain neutrality and requited hate.

  After half an hour the man was brought about again.

  Through lips that were swollen and bloody, he spewed,”I deny your authority, evil ones. May Ooln strike you down.”

  Lazerek seemed to lose all coherence.In a bellow full of rage and fire, he leveled power at the man’s midsection.

  The man crumpled over, but was still alive.

  Lazerek spun on the soldier who knelt beside the man.

  “Do you desire to feel my unleashed power, soldier of the king?”

  The soldier was apparently no idiot.

  “What do you want to know?” he said flatly, looking at the dirt. The other man spit in the soldier’s direction.

  Lazerek backhanded the soldier viciously.The guard took the backhand and swung his head around.Tears streamed from his eyes.

  “What would I care to know?I would care to know a great deal,” Lazerek said in a voice tinged with power.“Tell me of the beautiful city of Rommel.I wish to learn of the health of the king and his royal family. Speak!” Spittle flew from his mouth.

  The soldier hung his head down.”King Rexillion and his family are well.The city fares well.”

  “How can that be?Was there not a plague of beasts upon the city not two nights ago?”

  “Aye, there was but the king’s men vanquished those wicked beasts.” A plague of what? Gidas knew of no plague of beasts. At least no plague that could be called down with…he did not like this.

  Lazerek danced about for a moment in unleashed anger.He gathered himself together again.”How is that possible, were they not full of fear?”

  “Aye, but a small band of men fought their way through the beasts and inspired the king’s men to do battle with the plague of man-eating demons. The band of men used Ooln’s oil on the beasts and it worked. So the king had an entire batch created and all the king’s men doused their weapons in it.”

  “Who?” Anticipation hung off his tongue like desperation.

  “I do not know. They were a band of three men.One was Zmarly.”

  Gidas could see Lazerek mull this over. They group they were looking for had a Zmarly in it.

  “When was this?”Lazerek asked the guard.

  “Two nights ago.”

  “Where are these men now?”

  “They have left the city.”

  Lazerek rubbed his hands together. Finally the old mage stopped and looked at his four prisoners.

  “We will take them with us,” Lazerek said.He stopped and looked at the boy, the waif. Gidas saw something on the old mages face. Something he’d never seen before.”Let the boy go.” The mage ordered. He gave nothing else to explain this. Lazerek walked to the boy and handed him a bag
of coins.”Take this. Keep it hidden. Only reveal one coin at a time. Never tell anyone you have it.”

  The blunt-faced man lulled about groggily.

  Gidas ordered the boy freed, and then turned to Lazerek,”Master? Take them with us?”

  Lazerek looked at the almost night sky.”My simple student, I have many plans about which you are ignorant.Did you really think that locating the Swords was the only goal? It is just the beginning.Truly just the beginning.”

  Gidas watched the old mage go. He was not certain on how to digest this new nugget of information.He would shelve it for now and withdraw it later for inspection and classification. Sometimes Lazerek baffled even him.

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