The Stones of Magic
A.W.Chrystalis
Beginning to The End of Old Ways
A Tale from The Empire Seas
Amergin Chrystalis/A.W.Chrystalis
Copyright © 2013 by A.W.Chrystalis
All rights reserved
DEDICATION
I dedicate this to my wife for always listening to my wild ideas for new novels and to my two girls whose boundless energy helped spur me into writing every day.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to give a special thanks to David Anglen for reviewing my work and always giving me his advice and encouragement throughout the process of writing and editing this book.
I also wish to give a special thanks to Stephanie Lee, a good friend that has critiqued my work and edited my novel in a way that gave me insight to my own skills and together these two people have made me a better author.
Chapter 1
It was early in the morning, and with the dawn, a thin mist from the sea had rolled in. Mach opened his light gray eyes and searched the skies outside his window for any possibility of a storm moving in. All looked clear and not a hint of bad weather was in sight. All for the good so far as he was concerned. The first of the three suns was rising out of the west and shone brightly into his room, its bright orange light gave off the usual morning glow on the roofs of the little town of Selane.
Normally, he would take his time getting out of bed. Doing whatever he could to postpone his daily chores. However, this morning was different. This morning was one of the few days he enjoyed each month. Merchants would be coming today and they would allow him to walk their ships, which was normally a taboo among sailors. No outsiders were allowed aboard, espionage and treachery were far too rampant in these days.
It seemed that all the sailors knew of Mach’s father before he had died more than ten years ago, and they all had the utmost respect for him and his family. Some of the sailors had even been heard saying that, if they had not liked his mother and father so much, they would have kidnapped him and taught him the ways of the high seas. The wide-open seas and the salty air were thick in Mach’s blood. He knew that as well as he knew the next day would come.
He had been tempted to leave with the sailors on more than one occasion, but he was only just turning seventeen. That was the age in which a boy became a man and it was the age in which apprenticeship was offered. What he wanted to do was to travel the world like his father, learning all that he could of the different races, and seeing all the spectacular sights.
Hell, just the simple adventures themselves would be amazing.
Though he had thought of leaving many times in the past, he doubted he would ever actually do it. Selane had been his family’s home for more generations than people could remember. This very home had been around since as long as anyone alive could recall hearing about. People spoke of his family’s home as one of the first here, some three hundred years ago. They whispered of the place as though it had sprung up by magic, which was surprising in itself. Magic had been outlawed long ago and was thought to be taboo to speak of in most cases.
A long time ago, Mages had been commonplace. Villages full of them could be found almost anywhere among the lands of the Five Empires. However, after the Great War, they were hunted down and executed. Any Mage not in the custody of a great lord or king was subject to execution without any kind of warning. Any Mage that knew the combative magics were slain on the spot, regardless of their ownership. The Damnation had wrought havoc on the Mages and only a few still lived today. Most that did were nowhere near normal people.
Yawning, he slipped out of bed and hurried to his wardrobe to get dressed. The wardrobe used to belong to his father when he had been Mach's own age, and his father before him. Some of his father’s old clothes fit him well enough. He was almost as tall and broad in the shoulder as his father had been. Standing around five and a half feet, Mach was average in height to most people his age, not too broad in the shoulders, but not scrawny either. At least that was what some of the villagers here in Selane would say about him. “Just like his father.” All of them said it would be a shame if he did not learn the arts of the master swordsman.
His father had been a full sailor before he had died out at sea and he had known how to handle a blade better than most. Mach never found out exactly how his father had died, only that he had. The memories he could remember vividly of that day were of his mother crying at the news when the men his father had been sailing with came to town with his body wrapped in the white death wrap used for burial. Mach had only been six years old, but he remembered enough to know his father was never coming back.
His father would often take him out at times on short trips around the bay before he would leave on a journey. His father had wanted to take him out on longer trips out to sea when he returned from his last journey. Things had not worked out the way any of them had hoped.
However, today was going to be a great day. The merchants would be here just after the rise of the second sun and he would be on the waters for least a while once again. This time maybe he could convince one of them to head out and circle the bay before they left. That way he could be on a moving ship.
They should go for the idea after all it was his birthday. With Mach's love of the sea, he knew what he wanted to do. It was just saying goodbye to his mother and his home that was going to be the hard part.
He left his room and went down the stairs, passing by a mirror in the process. He took a long look in it. Everyone always told him he looked like his father in many ways. The nose for instance, which was slightly pointed but short, his eyes were just like his father’s as well which were a silver gray, like misty clouds over the sea. However, the hair was different. His hair was far more like his mothers, bright gold like the second sun at sunrise.
He always wore a smile that dazzled the girls in town, as his mother’s would dazzle the men. He winked to himself and continued down stairs where he found a plate of cheese and bread with fresh fruit and a pitcher of fruit cider waiting for him on the kitchen table.
“Bless you mom.” He muttered aloud as he picked from the plates. Always taking care of me. Normally they ate together in the mornings but she was nowhere in sight this morning so he started in on his meal without her. She must be out in the garden already.
He ate quickly, and carrying the last pieces of his breakfast with him, he left for their garden at the back of the house.
The garden was normally Mach’s job, had been for a few years now. However, on the rare days like this when the merchants would come, she would always go out of her way to take over his chores so he could enjoy the day. Even in the past, before his father had died, she would do this so he could meet the ships when they would dock in case his father would return home.
That, above all else, was the one thing that would make it the most difficult for him to leave. His mother’s heart was so large but still so fragile and he was unsure of how she would be able to handle him leaving home. Not to mention leaving that kind of love and warmth would be almost unbearable.
Well, almost.
Mach walked briskly, heading to the back garden where he knew he would find his mother, picking through the garden for vegetables and fruits that had turned ripe enough for the picking.
“Off already, Hun?” her voice came from ahead before he had even rounded the corner of the little house.
He stopped at the corner and looked for her. She was kneeling amongst the tall corn plants, picking weeds. If it were not for her movements, he would not have seen her. Not that she was hard to spot her beauty was simply amazing. But the golden yellow of the corn and the thick stalks hid her golden hair and the rest of her body so well sh
e might as well have been invisible.
She, like Mach himself, had the golden hair that was so unusual in this nation. Unlike him and his father, she had brown eyes and a slightly suntanned complexion. She was tall as well, at least a head taller than he was. She had a kind and beautiful face that made many of the village men long to have for their own. Just like Mach, she was usually seen smiling. Her soft eyes made you feel as if she could see deep into your very soul and hug it. A slender beauty that was somewhat exotic, as though she were from a different land.
“Yes mother and thank you for breakfast.” He said as he rushed over and kissed her on the cheek. “I gotta run, I will see you later.”
“Alright, be safe now.”
He turned and left her to her work and walked quickly down the main road to the docks on the southern shore. The thin mist that had come in the night was vanishing quickly under the bright sunlight. He rushed passed the villagers who were on their way to work or to begin a day of shopping. Many of them waved hello to him. He simply ignored most, others he just waved to if he could not ignore them. The first sun had completely risen over the western hill across the cove, and the first signs of second sunrise were approaching.
Any moment now and they will be here!
“Mach!” a deep, bellow-like voice hollered from behind him. “Get over here, lad!”
Stopping in his tracks, he looked around and saw who it was. He turned to the man he knew for almost as long as his own father. “I’m in a hurry George, can this be quick?”
George was a tall man. He had a slight gut, but Mach had the impression that was a false look. No blacksmith he had ever heard of was fat, the work was just too intense for even the healthiest of eaters to gain much fat. The blacksmith had a scruffy look to him, his black beard was graying slightly as was his black, untidy hair. His brown eyes crinkled in a smile as Mach got closer.
George had been like a surrogate father to him since his father had died, perhaps even before. It had been George who had taken up the mantel of watching over him and his mother. Making sure they were both fed well. That every day they were getting by as well as one could with such a loss.
But he had never been overbearing. He had never once tried to take advantage of either of their emotions, or ever tried to seduce Mach's mother and for that he respected and loved the man as much as he loved his own father.
“I got something for you in the shop, wait here a sec.” George stepped into his shop for a moment and came out holding a leather bundle. “I know how you want to ride the high seas, lad.” He said handing it to Mach, “Norm, the armor master, and I wanted to give you this. Happy birthday, lad.”
He took the bundle and opened it with excitement to find a lightweight scimitar, a newly sown sheath, and a book entitled 'Mastering the Sword'. For the briefest of moments, he was saddened by the fact he had never learned how to read very well but that was quickly overcome. With a little patience, he would relearn everything he had forgotten in no time.
“What do you think? Figured something like this would help you out no matter what you do. More so if you were to get your apprenticeship soon.”
“It is perfect, George. Thank you!” Mach said already tying the sheath to his side and fitting the blade within it.
“Happy seventeenth, but don’t forget the wrapping now.”
Mach looked again at what he thought to be an ordinary leather wrap. As he unfolded it, the wrap turned out to be one of the high grade, thin leather cuirass that was from Norm’s shop. By the looks of it, it was just his size. It was thin and light, the kind of armor a sailor or scout would wear. Light enough for easy mobility and the least exhausting to wear of all the armor he had ever seen.
It was perfect for someone his size and stature. He slipped it on over his shirt and it fit perfectly. Snug but not too tight, exactly how the armor master had always told him it should be.
“This is amazing George, thank you.”
“Now don’t forget to thank Norm when you see him, tell him what you think of it. Got it? Believe it or not, that vest is made from two layers of leather with a thin chain mail in between. Don’t look that thick, does it? Together it should block most arrows shot at you. Won’t do much for a heavy blade, but it is light enough to be worn over or under the smaller plate mail without overburdening you. Now get down to the docks already, looks like they are just turning into the bay.”
He turned quickly to look down the road and saw a fleet of ships sailing into the cove. No sooner did he see them that two things happened within a single beat of his heart. One, Mach got a dreadful feeling and a chill of fear shot through him like somebody pouring frozen water down his back. It felt like the ground had fallen out from beneath him and the entire world had gone missing. The second, was the church across from the weapons shop exploded, along with what sounded like several other buildings not far away. He could not take his eyes off of the ships. Several black puffs of smoke were rising from the ships as booming echoes came over the bay.
“My gods,” He could hear George say over the sound of booms coming from the distance. “Those are mortar shells!”
Mach turned and could see George’s face turn from surprise to fear to rage in the span of a heart beat. A moment later, the blacksmith had ran into his shop and came out with an axe across his back and a long sword in hand.
“What in the hell you think you are doing, boy,” George yelled at him, anger and fear etched onto his face. “Get your mother and you take her and your scrawny behind out of here, head up the hill to Madtu.” Mach turned away but could still hear George growling over the din of explosions. “...good gods who the hell do they think they are!”
Realizing slowly that he needed to get moving, he ran back to his home, yelling at people to get away as he went. Panic reigned all around as people ran this way and that. No one knowing what was happening.
When he reached his front door, the mortar shells were hitting farther into town. He could see smoke curling up in the air, thick and black blocking the sun rising in the distance. Several buildings were on fire now and over the explosions, he could hear the crackle of the fires destroying what the shells left standing. It gave him a feeling of utter terror. A knot formed in his stomach that tightened even more as buildings around him exploded into flames.
He had begun to turn the door handle when an explosion behind him made him duck. He glimpsed his mother coming out from behind the back, a look of terror frozen in her eyes. She froze completely as she saw the devastation being wrought on the village. Already the smoke had thickened and now it hung low to the ground. He ran to her, his head low and his hands over his head and gripping her tightly by the hand he led her toward the village exit.
Most of the village was in full retreat by the time he and his mother made it to the town gate. His mother, having snapped out of her daze, was now running full pelt beside him.
“Look,” Mach yelled to his mother beside him “we have to get far away from here, we need to get to Madtu fast. Mother, stay close to me alright.” He gripped the handle to his new blade and rushed out into the fields outside the village walls.
As they ran, he looked back at his home to see the fires of destruction burning his whole life away. Tears formed in his eyes as he watched more shells exploding throughout the village. People were running this way and that. He could clearly see the bay in which his home sat next to. People were daring the waters to reach safety. “Come on, mother. We need to get moving.”
Mach only had time to see his mother nod and that was the last thing he saw before all was turned upside down. Out of nowhere, the ground between himself and his mother was hit by something that threw him like a rag doll. He landed heavily several feet away, the wind knocked out of him. Unable to breath, unable to hear a single sound, Mach looked up into the bright blue sky that quickly turned opaque, than pure white followed by darkness.