The Mage of Mages 2 Read online

  CHAPTER 1

  “Sawyer just listen to what I am saying” Elena said as she looked at her husband.

  “I listened to you, I am just not going along with it” Sawyer replied. “I have no reason to, I like you Elena, I really do. But let’s not pretend our relationship was built on love or anything else. I saw a chance to help someone out and make a bit of money and you saw yourself getting out of a marriage with the Hauls.”

  “My family helped you when you had nothing” Elena began.

  “I was doing okay by myself, it was you people who brought me here against my will” Sawyer replied.

  “We made you a Duke” Elena shouted. “If you were doing so well then why don’t you go back to Haven and be a good little mage.”

  “You didn’t make me anything” Sawyer replied. “I was going to be king, the way I see it is that I am just reclaiming my birthright.”

  “If you go there then Alana will take away your title” Elena screamed. “No more Duke of Harold, No more Duke of Jales. You will the king of pig farming and that is it, you will have no ties to Sale at all.”

  “You stand to make a lot of money and gain a lot of power” Sawyer replied. “You would be the Queen of Aft, you really want to toss that away?”

  “The people of Aft is our enemy” Elena replied. “They want the five kingdoms back whole again, how long would it be before they try and take over Sale? What will become of Alana? She is Queen right now and a damn good one. I can’t be a party in deposing her from the throne, she is my sister.”

  “Aft has always been an ally of Haven and Sale” Sawyer replied. “They sent troops into Colten when they were attacking and fought just as hard as everyone else. It is because of them Colten is no more and split between the Sale, Aft and Haven. The other two of the kingdoms, Montes and Perdomo are gathering together for war. You know Aft will be there to back up Sale. Besides it was you and your father who pushed me to meet with the Aft anyway. It was you who had visions of a crown dancing around in all of your dreams. Now that I have met with some of them you want me to spur them?”

  “That was before we recognized their plans” Elena replied. “They are our future enemies once this war thing is over and done with.”

  “I am going Elena and that is final” Sawyer replied. “A lot of things were taken away from me, I have the opportunity to make things right.”

  “I forbid you to go” Elena replied. “The King of Haven just loaned you to us, technically you are still a Havenian. If you leave our soil it is to go right back to Haven.”

  “I am not going back to Haven” Sawyer laughed. “Are you daft or something? What would I do there, stay under King Wayne’s thumb or study at the tower or something? Maybe they would try to pry my father’s spell book away from me and parade me around like some fop? I am never going back to that place, Haven was just that for my family, a safe haven. Now we have money though I see no need to ever go back.”

  “The only reason you are here is because you married me” Elena replied. “I already have documents signed for our divorce and documents stripping you of both titles. They are signed by the Queen Sawyer, if you leave then these become legal. Your entire family will have to be uprooted and moved.”

  “So this is how it is” Sawyer replied. “Alana wants me out, is that man of hers in on it too?” Sawyer asked.

  “Alana doesn’t want you out” Elena replied. “If you don’t listen to reason then maybe you will listen to force.”

  “And what?” Sawyer asked. “I am supposed to pretend everything is normal? I am supposed to parade around with you like nothing happened even though you have all but divorced me? I am leaving and I will make sure my family is out of these lands as well.”

  “You will be stripped of all of your money” Elena replied. “You will be left penniless.”

  “And Aft will know how the people of Sale think of them” Sawyer replied. “A bunch of pig farmers with no brains.”

  “Aft is no match for us” Elena replied. “They have very little mages and almost no industry other than farm animals and food. Our duchy alone has more wealth, why would you leave this for them when you don’t even know them? Should you be angry at me? Fine, have your anger. You already have everything you need here. You have fame, you have respect, you have money and you have power. Our divorce is only applicable if you make it so. Aft will still help out in the war, it is sandwiched between Sale and Haven. Aft gets most of their weapons and things from trade with us or Haven. If there was a war then Haven would stay out of it entirely, it would be just Aft versus Sale and we would win. You would get the same treatment as your real parents, when the war is over.”

  “You went too far” Sawyer said turning around. “I’m leaving, enjoy being single.”

  Sawyer grabbed his staff and left, over the last three weeks his life had been extremely hard. It was hard enough for him to wish he was back in Baron Holguin’s fields, at least there he didn’t have to deal with politics. Sawyer thought back to his birthright, he was once the crown prince of the Kingdom of Mast before the coup and his mother and father, the King and Queen of Mast were killed. A laundress in the king’s employ grabbed Sawyer before he could be killed and she ran, on the way she met up with a traitorous guard. That guard was one of the King’s personal guard who believed the King could watch his own back and now felt guilty, guilty enough to see to Sawyer’s safety. They ran to the neighboring kingdom of Haven where they raised Sawyer, they were very poor but did the best they could. Not once did they lie to him about his birthright but wanted him to keep everything secret. Meanwhile Mast was having civil war after civil war and most of the mages were hunted down and killed. The wars were so great Mast eventually split into what was known as the five kingdoms, Aft, Sale, Colten, Perdomo and Montes. As Sawyer grew, the five kingdoms realized they probably needed mages inside of their borders again, the only problem was that not many were found. Powerful Mastian mage bloodlines had been killed off entirely. Sawyer was found to have magic which wasn’t unexpected, his adopted parents had told him both his father and mother were extremely powerful mages. Sawyer was taken for training, upon graduation the King of Haven promised his allies that they could have access to his mages in return for support during the war. The King of Haven wanted the mines in Colten and promised he would agree to every match made from the year’s graduating class of mages and officers. Sawyer’s big mouth let Elena’s father, Duke Jales know his parentage. Jales made a deal with the king and against Sawyer’s wishes he was spirited away to the Kingdom of Sale. Once there he helped beat back the Colten advance and even helped settle a civil war, as a reward he was married to a duchess and given his own duchy as well. Elena’s father used to be Duke Jales, he could have been king but gave up both titles to be regent and put his daughter on the throne. It was Jales who wanted Sawyer to meet with the Aft after Colten had been conquered. He had visions of both of his daughters being Queens but soon changed his mind. Aft was filled with royalists, these were the poor people who like the old king, Harold the Kindhearted and wanted to see Sawyer on the throne. They wanted all of the remaining kingdoms united under one banner, their hopes would eventually bring them into conflict with Sale.

  “Don’t say you weren’t warned” Elena replied. “We could have had something special and I tried to hold out as long as I could. You know my father Sawyer, he is willing to do anything to see his children safe.”

  “That is bullshit” Sawyer replied. “Even if this worst case scenario of yours comes to pass do you really think I would kill your sister?”

  “Others might” Elena replied. “It would solidify your hold on the kingdom. It is too bad we haven’t had any kids or that I am not expecting, maybe a son would have
convinced you to stay here. You could have stayed here like a Duke instead of a criminal, I have your parents already Sawyer.”

  “You what?” Sawyer said as he grabbed his staff and leveled it at her. A gust of wind came from the side and blasted him clean out of the window. The attack was so surprising Sawyer felt stunned for a moment as he started falling from the three story home. Sawyer lashed out with his tendrils and drew from a magic well he was familiar with, it was Flynn Guire, one of the strongest mages in Haven and now romantic interest of the Queen. Sawyer ripped the magic away from Flynn and used the air magic to slow and stop his fall. Sawyer landed easily and pointed his staff up to the window and expected either Flynn or Elena to stick their head out but none did. Instead a lot of soldiers started coming at him, these were men Sawyer had fought alongside of that were now the enemy. Sawyer put his staff towards the ground while still having a grip on Flynn’s magic reserve and used a powerful wind spell to blast the men coming at him backwards like they walked into a tornado. Sawyer looked at the men and was struggling trying to figure out what to do. He could seriously injure them or even kill some of them but he couldn’t hold up the horde for too long. Not while he was unsure of what was happening to his family, that had to be his first priority. Flynn and Elena were hiding somewhere inside of his former home, he could still feel them but they had retreated, probably to his safe room so he couldn’t get to them. Sawyer stepped forward and knocked an arrow out of the sky before sending a big gust of wind at the archer. Sawyer’s aim was to grab a horse which was easily done and he started riding. His family chose to live in the town closest to his home and he had to see if they were okay, Elena and her father would have been stupid to snatch up his family without being absolutely positive that he wouldn’t agree to their terms. Sawyer could feel the horse getting tired from the hard running and started feeding some of his own energy into it, the horse picked up speed and went right through the main gates. The guards there looked at him oddly but said nothing as he passed through and continued going until he reached the main square. His parents lived inside of his father’s shop there, when his family wasn’t helping him run the duchy they ran the shop.. His father Marlon taught the sword on the bottom floor and on the top floor is where everyone lived at. Sawyer could see his father was outside fighting off three men who were armored while he only had a simple short sword. Other guards where around that never saw Sawyer coming as he grabbed on to their vitality and used it to send a weak wind spell to scatter some of them.

  “Any man who touches my father will be put into jail” Sawyer said as he hopped off his horse.

  “The Queen has spoken” one of the men who Sawyer did not recognize said.

  “Sawyer they have your mother and sister” Marlon said as he parried a blow and returned to strike a man in the crease of the elbow where he was unarmored.

  “I said stop this” Sawyer yelled as everything started happening in slow motion. First it was one arrow, then two sprouted from his father’s chest, Marlon went down to one knee as Sawyer looked up to see archers. To Sawyer it felt like someone else was in control as he sent a lightning bolt at one of the archers, the man practically exploded from the spell as Sawyer used wind magic to jump towards the roof. The other archer fired but hit a wall made of pure magic, Sawyer was on him as he threw up his hands in surrender. Sawyer launched a fire spell at the man and set him on fire then blasted him off of the roof to the men below. The archer screamed in agony as Sawyer lowered himself down as angry as he ever been.

  “Any man not wishing to die horribly leave now” Sawyer said as his enemies froze but not for long.

  Marlon had climbed to his feet and stabbed one of them through the back, the armor was thin but unfortunately held tight to his sword. Sawyer aimed his staff at the shocked men who first started retreating then stood their ground as more soldiers started surrounding them. Sawyer used one of his more devastating spells, it looked like thick fog but was in reality super-heated steam and sent it at some of the incoming horde. He could hear the men scream as they were cooked alive and went to grab his father.

  “Get out of here Sawyer” Marlon replied. “I don’t think I am going to make it; all I can do is slow you down.”

  “I can’t leave you, come on we can make it” Sawyer replied.

  “No we can’t” Marlon replied. “Your horse is already dead and we would have to travel by foot. Now go, I will protect you and buy you some time.”

  “I am the mage father” Sawyer replied. “You should go, I can protect you.”

  “Sawyer you are future king and I am a traitorous guard” Marlon replied. “Me dying means nothing to no one other than you, your sister and mother. You can show people hope, hope that shouldn’t be snuffed trying to save an old man. Now I said go!”

  Sawyer was about to argue when Marlon pulled himself to his feet. Sawyer wished life magic taught healing but it did not, if it did he could have saved his father. Instead he watched his father charge head first into a horde of men, Sawyer wanted to stop him but was so shocked at his father. If Sawyer stayed and helped then his father could have been killed for no reason when that amount of people eventually would have took Sawyer down. Instead Sawyer used his magic, it was magic given to him by his real father that made him a deadly weapon on the battlefield. Dead guards started getting up and shambling towards the fight, they would only last about ten minutes or so but was given direction to kill everything other than his father. Sawyer took off towards his steam cloud, staff and sword in hand. The cloud was dissipating but left a nice path for him to run through. There were dead men on the ground, Sawyer ignored them as he took off out of town, stripping off his clothes that had his insignia all over them in an attempt to blend in. Sawyer made it outside of the city as a plan began to form in his head. He could run to Aft, most likely though there would be people waiting for him, people he would have to kill. Even then it was not guaranteed he could make it there and back safely. What he needed to do, where he needed to go was somewhere none of the Jales family would suspect. He needed to hide out in enemy lands.

  CHAPTER 2

  Getting into Perdomo turned out to be easy, Sawyer had stolen a horse and simply rode the old main road which spanned the old kingdom of Mast. Sawyer originally wanted to stop in Montes, it was closer and the kingdom sat on the land that used to make up the capital of Mast and much of its surrounding area. Sawyer had decided though if he was going to run then he was going to go all way, Perdomo was the furthest away and it was unlikely anyone had heard of him there. Sawyer stopped in the first big city he came to, he was dirty and didn’t really care. Sawyer wanted to grab something to eat and view the city, if it was compatible with what he was looking for then he would stay. As Sawyer entered the market place he had an odd feeling like he was being followed. Sawyer turned around and couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary but made sure his staff was in his hand instead of across his back tied up with the modified sheath he made out of a shirt he had stolen.

  “You there, stop” Sawyer heard a voice come from behind him. Sawyer gripped his staff tightly and turned around, a spell was already in his mind ready to cast. In front of him stood a girl of about sixteen, at least Sawyer thought she was based on her fresh face. The girl was blond and had hair in ringlets, her blue eyes were nice to look at but none of that is what caught his attention. She was wearing a blue robe and had a staff held out in front of her, unlike the bone staff Sawyer was using hers was made out of wood and looked to have been carved by a master. Sawyer’s own staff was bone that looked poorly made compared to what the girl had but Sawyer knew its functionality. The staff belonged to his father King Harold and was said to be made from dragonbone, no one had seen any evidence of a dragon even existing but Sawyer believed in it, it was the only way some things could be explained. A staff was used to help a mage concentrate, the denser the wood, the better the concentration. Bone could also be used but it was much harder to concentrate with, that is the reason most mages
used dense finely carved wood. However bone could be bonded, any mage could cast with any wooden staff but bone could be locked out to any other mage except its first user, with the exception of anyone from the mage’s blood line. Her blue robe marked her as a water mage, the fact she had an affinity had to have made her somewhat famous.

  Every mage could use raw magical power to accomplish some things, like creating a shield. Any spells using raw magic though required intense concentration and had a steady drain on a mage’s magic reserve. There were also affinities, most had either water, fire, air and earth. Affinities were rare, they allowed a mage to conserve energy and the spells casts did not require any concentration after they were cast and would not continuously drain power the way using raw magic would. Sawyer looked her up and down before he began to speak.

  “What do you want?” Sawyer asked looking at the girl.

  “You are a mage” the girl stated looking at Sawyer. “Where did you come from.”

  “None of your business” Sawyer replied as he went to turn around.

  “I am a mage in service to Queen Matilda” the girl replied. “You will turn around and face me.”

  “Or you’ll do what?” Sawyer replied.

  “I’ll take you down” the girl said leveling her staff at Sawyer. “Whoever trained you obviously didn’t know what they were doing, you are carrying bone when you should be carrying wood”.

  “What do you want?” Sawyer said irritated.

  “I want to know what a mage is doing here in Aston” the girl replied. “And why didn’t you come forth when the call went out to find mages? Who are your parents, do you have any siblings?”

  “It is not illegal to be here” Sawyer replied. “Now are you done?”

  “Mage Candace, is this man giving you trouble?” said a man dressed in a red uniform. Sawyer noticed the man was carrying a sword and Sawyer placed his free hand on the pommel of the weapon he was carrying.