Mar tossed the simply wrapped package around in his hand. He held it up to his ear, but heard nothing. For a moment, he was tempted to connect it to his aura again, like he had before but that wouldn’t be smart. Thinking back to last night, he wonders how he could have possibly thought it would be a good idea to connect an unknown enchantment to draw power directly from himself. The little grey stone had exactly matched his mana regeneration rate. If the stone’s draw rate had been ever so slightly more, it very well could have killed him.

And yet for some indiscernible reason Mar couldn’t help but feel the nearly irresistible need to touch the stone. To feel it’s cool weight on him. And maybe just give it the tiniest bit of mana…

No. Mar realized that’s what Yavin sealed the stone in wax for. He had to remind himself that this was a warlock’s totem. Inside was a fragment of a powerful and malevolent spirit that would do anything to control him. If anything was casting mind magic, it was this stone.

Yavin clearly didn’t want him to touch the stone itself. That’s why she wrapped it in paper and sealed it with wax and her own thumb print. She’d know if Mar opened it.

Mar pocketed the stone. Grob had glanced up from his paper making briefly to glance at him.

“Why would Darrik offer to help her?” Mar mused to himself. “He isn’t exactly the generous type.”

Grob, thinking Mar was talking to him, shrugged his shoulders. He’d just learned that human gesture and was using it a lot. “I no know, chief. Maybe he’s not helping her? Maybe he helping himself.”

Suddenly it clicked with Mar. Thinking back, Darrik had seemed to be somewhat enthralled by the warlock’s totem. But even Darrik wouldn’t be stupid enough to go warlock. The inquisitors would hunt him down for sure.

Or maybe he was stupid enough to do just that. Suddenly a thought sprung to Mar’s mind. What if he gave Darrik the warlock’s totem? And then shortly thereafter once he used the thing Mar would rat him out to the inquisitors, who would get him out of Mar’s hair forever. It was a tempting idea, but Mar realized it was just a fantasy. He wasn’t the kind of person who could plot and scheme like that.

For some reason Mar couldn’t stop thinking about Yavin and here upcoming meeting with Darrik. He was so stressed he pressed far too hard with his pen while writing, causing ink to spill out everywhere all over his page. Mar had to throw it in the trash, which annoyed Grob slightly, seeing as how he had just made that sheet of paper.

Mar reached for his ink bottle, but then remembered he had just used the last of it.

“Damn it, out of ink. I’ll be right back Grob. Lock the door and don’t let anybody in except for me. And Yavin I suppose. I’m trusting you not to burn the place down.” Normally Mar wouldn’t have left the goblin alone with an open fire like the kind normally used to heat the cauldron Grob was stirring his paper pulp into, but Grob had managed all day without any guidance from Mar. It seems the creature was as good at making paper as Mar himself.

“Yes chief. All will be well with Grob in charge.” Grob jabbed a stubby thumb at his own hunched chest.

“Alright. Time to buy ink.” Mar muttered to himself as he walked to the edge of the academy. He stepped onto a circular disk that was part of the Floating Path network around the city. It quickly brought Mar up to about two stories above the ground.

“The golden pen street.” Mar instructed, and the spell obliged.

Normally Mar bought his ink cheap at Dirtflea market at heavily discounted prices, but that wasn’t always a reliable source. In a pinch, Mar would use the shops downtown or suppliers from the scribe’s guild. The golden pen street however was somewhere he’d only ever window shopped though. Virtually everything sold there was far outside his price range. His clothes alone would look out of place walking down the street. Not to mention arriving on the Floating Paths to a place where virtually everyone had private carriages.

The real reason Mar was headed to the golden pen street was that it was just a short walk from the Floating Paths drop-off point to the Pyrastern family estate.

Mar glanced to his left where the ink makers store was, but his feet had already carried him past it.

“What am I doing…” Mar mumbled to himself.

It wasn’t long before he came to outer gates that the truly wealthy put around their homes. It was like a palace, complete with gardens, towering spires, and armed guards.

One of those armed guards glanced at Mar. He jerked his head to the side meaningfully, as if to say, ‘Get out of here’.

That was almost the end of it, but Mar could see vaguely though the gates that a carriage had recently arrived and a young woman in a familiar jacket was being escorted by haughty butler. That was Yavin.

Mar approached the guard, who glared menacingly at him.

“Excuse me.” Mar said.

“What business do you have here?” the guard demanded. The faceless, mask like helmet bearing the Pyrastern family crest was quite intimidating.

“Ah, err. Well I have a—” Mar stuttered.

“I wasn’t informed that were to be any visitors.”

Mar calmed himself. This was just like all the other times he had lied growing up. Being an orphan of the state, Mar could lie to civil servants as well as most children to lie to their parents.

“This isn’t something to trouble one of the Pyrastern’s about.” Mar said. “I was hired by one of the branch family heads. To do some scribes work, you see.”

The guard looked Mar up and down. He noticed the splotches of ink on his clothes and fingertips and nodded to himself.

“Ah yes. Actually, I do think I remember the captain saying something like that.”

Mar hid his surprise at his own good fortune.

“Come along, follow me.” The guard demanded. “Walsh, cover my post.” Another guard took the place the original guard had been standing in. “This way to the armory.”

Mar followed. The guard opened the door leading inside a dimly lit building.

“Right then. This is the outer armory. It’s were all the lower ranked guards store their equipment. Everything that isn’t fit for duty has been marked. You’re to take inventory and catalog everything in here. Turn your work over to the captain when you’re done for your payment.” The guard turned and left.

Mar looked around at the dark, dimly lit armory. This wasn’t a very good situation to be in. He was fine for now, but when the real scribe showed up there would be some awkward questions. Mar wondered if he could just do the work as the guard had instructed him, and then leave the estate as if nothing had happened. He dismissed that thought though. Luckily the guard hadn’t noticed that Mar didn’t have a pen, paper, or ink on him.

Then he saw rows of uniforms on the wall, complete with the faceless helmets. Mar tried one on. It fit quite well. He examined his reflection in polish surface of one of the bucklers on the wall. Mar looked exactly like the guards out front. Nodding to himself, Mar took a cautious step out of the armory. He looked around. Nobody was so much as glancing at him. And why would they? A guard coming out of the armory was perfectly commonplace. Nevertheless, he would have to be certain to steer clear of the other guards, since they might realize something was afoot. Leaving through the front entrance would be impossible.

Mar had to step out of the way as an identically dressed guard hustled by him. Mar briefly wondered why he was in such a hurry but shrugged it off. He had to find Yavin.

It didn’t take long for Mar to find the door that Yavin and the butler had disappeared into. Luckily it was a back entrance that led directly to a flight of stairs going downward. Mar followed it and came to a sudden stop when a hand grabbed him by the arm and pulled him behind a stack of barrels.

“Hope you had a nice leisurely shit, the parties about to start. Keep quiet. Targets coming through.”

Mar kept quiet. This was the second time in the last hour that somebody had mistaken him for somebody else in the last hour, and he wasn’t about to test his luck. Mar copied the other guard and peered through a gap between barrels. In the corner, ahead of him he spotted Darrik Pyrastern scribbling away at something with a pen on his desk.

Just then door flung open. “Apologies for the wait young Miss Yavin. Master Darrik is just around this corner.” The speaker was the haughty butler who Mar had met earlier, though he was acting considerably more civil now.

“Welcome Yavin” Darrik said jovially. He clapped his hands together. “This is my little workshop. It has everything we need for me to repair the seal on that warlock’s totem of yours.” He held out his hands, waiting. Yavin reached to the pouch around her neck and withdrew the smooth grey stone Mar had watched her place there. Yavin put the stone into Darrik’s waiting hands.

“Wonderful. This will accelerate my plans immensely.” Darrik cackled, the friendly persona he’d put on sliding off his face. “Good. Now get rid of her.” Darrik waved his hand without paying attention.

Mar noticed that the guard next to him had a crossbow pointed through a gap between the barrels. He held it steady and was just starting to breath outward to steady his breathing before he pressed the trigger.

Mar leaned over and gave the man a shove just as he was about to fire. The crossbow bolt shot off, missing Yavin by a wide mark and embedding itself between two cracked wall tiles. Yavin jumped back in surprise.

“You blasted idiots.” Darrik yelled. “Can’t even aim properly from ten feet away with a clear shot. Roy, you’re up.”

Yavin glanced at the quivering crossbow bolt, then back to Darrik. She reached out and slapped the stone out of Darrik’s hands.

“What are you waiting for Roy! Use your damn magic!” Darrik commanded.

Stone shot up from the floor beneath Yavin, binding her feet to the ground. She struggled briefly. She turned to Darrik and taunted “You think you have the power to tame that stone? Ha, it will devour you before the night is through!”

Darrik had an annoyed expression. “I meant kill her Roy. She’s of no use to me. I can’t even force her to teach me her spells. Druid mumbo jumbo is primitive and impossible to learn.”

Yavin was muttering something under her breath. Suddenly the ground beneath her quaked and the stone that had grown over her feet cracked. She thrust out her hands at a surprised looking Darrik and he was blasted back towards the wall. When he struck it there was a painful cracking sound.

Darrik’s eyes widened in surprise. He opened his mouth and howled out the words to his spell

“Harkavach nitarochess!” The guttural hissing words would sound like nonsense to most but to those familiar with fire magic knew it to be the old language of the flame elementals. Darrik took a deep breath, chest puffing out. With a snarl, he opened his mouth. out of it spilled torrent of fire. Mar ducked behind the barrels but even there he could feel the burning heat. He could only imagine how Yavin was faring in the heart of the blast.

When the torrent died down though, Yavin was unfazed. She met Darrik’s hostile gaze and shouted the trigger words to one of her own spells.

“Reehaaa Va’hatar!” Yavin shouted in a breathy voice that sounded almost like wind passing through tree branches deep in the forest. Two of Yavin’s fingers began to glow with a pale swirling energy as wind wrapped around them. She curled her hand into a fist and took a step towards Darrik, but was stopped in her tracks when she looked down and realized that the earth at her feet had turned to mud which was rapidly crawling up her legs.

Yavin grimaced and with an open palm stretch the air by her waist as she released the power of the spell. A gust of wind shot from her hand, blowing the mud off her legs and from around her and scattering it all over the room. Mar had to duck to avoid getting a clump of it in his eyes. The guard next to him who was furiously reloading his crossbow wasn’t so quick.

Her counter-attack spent, Yavin was vulnerable. Darrik hadn’t been idle and between his fingers arched streams of electricity. He splayed his fingers outward and the electric energy grew brighter. Then he shoved them in Yavin’s direction, where they streamed menacingly through the air. Yavin desperately began casting a defensive spell. She crossed her arms in front of her as the lightning bolt struck, scorching her arms, but still standing.

“Don’t just stand there! Shoot her” Darrik demanded, a slight note of desperation in his voice. The guard on Mar’s right leveled his crossbow at Yavin, preparing to fire.

Just then another guard stumbled in, helmet still in his hand. The same one who had rushed by Mar just a few minutes earlier.

“I’m back. Am I late?” He glanced at the scene in front of him “I’m, late aren’t I?” He asked nobody in particular. “Hey, wait, who the hell are you?” The guard demanded of Mar.

Mar replied by stripping off his own helmet and bashing it over the top of the surprised guards unprotected head. The man stumbled for a moment in a daze before tripping over his own feet and falling to the floor. The other guard turned his loaded crossbow at Mar’s now unprotected head, but just as it was about to connect Yavin flicked it out of the way with magic.

With another flick, the wall of stone started moving with a horrible screech, forming into the shape of a giant open stone claw which grabbed the guard as he tried to scramble away, crushing the crossbow into broken splinters as it wrapped around his torso and pinned him to the ground.

Then Yavin turned to Mar in his disguise. For a moment, she seemed like she was about to use her magic on him at first but then she hesitated. Her angry grimace faded a little and it seemed like she was about to ask a question.

Yavin looked around, her eyes locking on an empty patch of wall. She activated the spell she had used to free herself, causing that portion of the wall to crack and crumble. Out of it stumbled a dizzy looking Roy. She reached down and grabbed him by the scruff the collar of his shirt with strength that proved her beastkin heritage. She lifted him into the air and threw him over a pillar that sprang from the floor on her command.

Roy had a panicked look on his face. He tried to mutter something under his breath but Yavin directed the stone pillar to jerk violently from his gut, punching the air from his lungs.

Yavin surrounded him with stone, pinning him to in place just as he had tried to do to Yavin moments before. Then she turned to face Darrik, but to her surprise there was nothing but empty floor. Darrik had vanished in thin air. Some sort of short range teleportation magic.

“Coward.” Yavin mocked. “Soon as the battle starts going south he fled.” She turned to Mar.

“Mar? Is that you?” Yavin asked.

Mar turned to face her.

“You came!” Yavin smiled.

Mar shrugged. “It was really more of an accident than anything else, I just sort of stumbled in here. Not really sure how it happened. Besides it sure didn’t seem you needed any help. I should take back what I said about you being a second order mage. For that level of spell manipulation, you’ve got to be fourth order!”

Yavin “I’ve never really understood the classification system city mages use, but I’ll assume that was a compliment. But as nice as your compliments are, we need to get out of here.”

“Already ahead of you.” Mar replied. He was stripping the uniform off the guard that he had hit with his helmet. He tossed the wrinkly uniform to Yavin, along with the helmet. “I walked right in here in this uniform. Hopefully we can walk out in the same.”

Yavin sniffed the uniform and held it at arm’s length in disgust. Nevertheless, she put it on while Mar switched out his helmet for one without a forehead-shaped dent.

“I will teleport us out of here.” Yavin stated.

“Teleportation magic? That’s fourth order spellwork. I don’t think we have the time for a ritual.” Mar replied.

“No ritual. I just need a minute of focus.” Yavin furrowed her brow in concentration.

Mar was surprised to find out his suspicious were right. To be able to cast a fourth order spell without a ritual meant that Yavin was at least a mage of that caliber, if not stronger.

But then Yavin let out a defeated sigh. “It’s not working. I think they have the estate warded against teleportation magic. Once we get outside the walls though we should be able to take us halfway across the city.”

“Alright.” Mar said with a nod. “We’ll just have to get out of here the mundane way.”

Mar grabbed Yavin’s arm as soon as she finished dressing herself in the downed guards uniform. “This way. Darrik may have chickened out of fighting you but he’s a petty bastard and I’d wager it isn’t long before he sounds an alarm.”

Just then, a loud ringing noise sounded out above them. As Mar and Yavin opened the door to the outside they were greeted hurried chaos as Pyrastern family guards ran across the estate grounds while servants and housekeepers rushed into the nearest buildings to wait out whatever the cause of this commotion was.

There was some sense in the chaos though. It wasn’t unheard of for other families playing on the same level of politics as the Pyrasterns to hire assassins or thieves to hurt their rivals. Apparently though it had been a long time since these particular guards had to deal with such things, otherwise Mar would never have been able to sneak in.

“This way!” Mar repeated. He had to let go of Yavin’s arm so they wouldn’t look strange, but they were making good progress. Thank the gods that the Pyrasterns invested in faceless helmets for their household guards. Tinted enchanted glass wasn’t cheap but had a built-in mana visualization enchantment so even mundanes like Mar could tell when spells were being cast. More importantly though, it had the wonderfully convenient effect of completely obscuring the wearers face. Nobody looked twice at Mar and Yavin.

Mar and Yavin were almost to the front entrance. Mar’s heart lifted in his chest when he noticed that the guard keeping watch over the entrance had abandon his post to see what all the commotion was about. Just as they were about to slink past however a familiar voice rang out.

“There they are! Those two guards! Stop them” Darrik shouted from two stories up in the air. He was pointing right at Mar and Yavin.

One of the Pyrastern family guards leapt off the head height walls surrounding the estate, clearly intending on jumping on Mar’s back and bringing him down. Mar was just a barely fast enough to dodge the incoming collision, a. The guard landed on the ground, where Mar quickly kicked his feet out from under him. The man tried to draw his short sword while he scrambled to his feet, but Mar planted his foot firmly in the center of the man’s chest and tore the guard’s short sword out of its scabbard and into his own hand.

Yavin was not idle. She was chanting the words to a powerful shielding spell. She created a wall of partially transparent crystallized earth that stood twice Mar’s height. Just in time too, for a moment latter another one of Darrik’s fireballs plowed into it, sending waves of heat scattering in all directions. Another guard tried to approach from the back. He leapt out from behind cover with a crossbow readied and aimed at Yavin’s back. He was clearly intent on taking out the magic caster while her attention was diverted. Mar leapt on him and tackled him to the ground before he could fire.

The man struggled desperately, but to his surprise Mar found he was overpowering the slimly built guard. He must be stronger then he thought. Mar grinned as he tore the crossbow from his opponent’s hands and grinned wildly as the knocked the guard out with a punch to the face.

A short sword in one hand and a loaded crossbow in the other, Mar leapt to his feet and took a position to guard Yavin’s back. Three guards were approaching in a group now, with somebody who looked like they were a minor branch family mage standing behind them in a protected position. The mage tried to cast a spell, but Mar leveled his crossbow at the man. The words caught in the mages mouth, but with a stutter he restarted. Mar tried to get a clear shot, but two of the guards in front had position their shields in front of the chanting mage.

Mar couldn’t get a clear shirt. He glanced back behind him briefly to realize that Yavin was holding off Darrik and to more unknown fire mages in a defensive battle of magic. It looked like she was doing all she could to hold her position, so Mar couldn’t expect any aid from her.

Mar shot his crossbow. As expected, the bolt hit one of the guardsman’s shields with a thud. What they didn’t expect though was for Mar to follow up his initial shot with another projectile, which hit the guard directly in the face. It might have done some serious damage if not for the fact that he was wearing a helmet with a full faceplate. Mar had thrown the crossbow itself at him.

While the guard was still recovering from the thrown crossbow, Mar rapidly closed the distance. One of the guards lunged at Mar with a spear with speed he didn’t know he had he dodged to the side. A clumsy sword swing from the other guard was easily blocked. Mar lunged, his sword point first. It collided with a raised shield with a metallic ding. Mar dodged the return strike, then closed the distance further until he was within grappling range. The man dropped his shield and tried to grab Mar, but Mar twisted and writhed until he had impaled the guards hand with the blade of his short sword. The guard howled in pain. Mar quickly withdrew the weapon and a fountain of blood strayed him. Mar reached behind the wounded guard and smacked him on the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. He collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Mar ran forward, dealing with a second guard using the same technique. It felt so natural to him, the movements as simple as breathing. He turned to the spellcaster. Before the man could finish his chanting and activate whatever spell he had been preparing, Mar ruthlessly slashed him across the chest with his short sword. While not immediately fatal, that was certain to leave a nasty scar. Seeing the mage and his comrades’ down, the third guard turned tail and ran.

Mar grinned viciously. Why had nobody ever told him that fighting was this much fun? He felt so exhilarated. He’d just gotten the better of four opponents by himself! If Mar had known he was so talented before he would have left Orlem to join an adventuring guild, rather than staying at the school and becoming a historian.

Mar felt an acute burning sensation in his pocket. He reached inside and found the grey stone was hot to the touch, despite the paper Yavin had wrapped around it. The ink sealing the paper shut had melted and was dribbling down Mar’s leg. Mar adjusted the stone slightly and then hefted his short sword. It felt so natural in his hands, and he wasn’t sure why, but he liked it.

Mar turned back towards Yavin, who was still desperately holding up her shield against the Pyrastern mages. Mar had cleared the way forward. While the Pyrastern’s could do as they wished on their own private estate, the public streets of Orlem were a different matter and randomly attacking citizens was frowned upon. Mar had no doubt that the Pyrasters had the influence needed to bring Orlem’s own defenders into this, but he was confident the red tape of bureaucracy would slow them down enough for him to do something. Besides, Mar realized that he’d been wearing the helmet for most of the time he was there. Only the two guards at the gate had seen his face and they would probably figure that the scribe had fled at the first sign of danger, as scribes were prone to doing. Once they were out in the city he could lose them.

“The way is clear, let’s run!” Mar shouted to Yavin. She turned to face him, and the moment she took the slightest bit of attention of her magic shield spider web cracks began to form in it. Yavin ignored her failing spell, and began running towards Mar. It would hold for a few seconds more. Long enough for them to get out of there.

“I will cast the teleportation spell! We just need to get clear of the walls!” Yavin shouted as she abandoned her wall of crystallized earth. The cracks spread halfway across the wall and Mar could tell it would only buy them a few seconds more. Mar had made it outside the walls, but Yavin was a few steps behind.

Nearing the edge of the Pyrastern estate, Yavin closed her eyes and whispered, preparing to activate the trigger for the teleportation spell she had prepared.

Just as Yavin had one foot across the threshold, a burst of magic so powerful even a mundane like Mar could feel it. Somebody had just teleported inside the walls of the estate, overpowering the wards.

“Who dares attack my home!” Sounded a loud and imposing voice.

“Shit.” Mar whispered. He’d heart that voice before. He’d given the commencement speech during Mar and Darrik’s first year and he was one of the senate’s most prominent members. It was Darrik’s uncle, Lord Pyrastern. Member of the High Senate, and a sixth order mage. His kind were called exalted mages for a reason, there were only five other mages of his level in all Orlem, and Orlem had the densest population of powerful mages in all the world. In any other country, that kind of power would be enough for him to crown himself king.

“Uncle! They stole something from me. A black stone!” Darrik called out to his uncle, who was hovering in midair as electricity streamed from his fingertips.

Lord Pyrastern looked their way.

Yavin crossed the threshold and finished the final words to her teleportation spell. She grabbed Mar’s arm, preparing to teleport them away.

“I think not.” Lord Pyrastern commanded. Instantly both Mar and Yavin were frozen in place.

Yavin started shaking. It took her a few moments, but she was able to hiss a word out despite the paralysis spell. A rock lifted unsteadily from the ground and shot lazily towards Lord Pyrastern.

“You’ll have to do better than that, child.” Lord Pyrastern said as he held out his hand, smashing the stone to dust in an instant.

But that was only one part of Yavin’s plan. The stone was unusual in composition. More compact dirt then stone. The dust spread throughout the air, obscuring vision and buying Yavin a few moments to work herself free from the paralysis spell.

Suddenly, Mar felt his pocket grow warm and the paralysis spell around him seemed to weaken as if it were falling apart. Mar found he could move his lips.

“Can you teleport us out of here?” He whispered to Yavin.”

“Not us.” Yavin replied with a sad smile. “Give me the stone.”

Mar reached into his pocket and pulled out the stone, still wrapped in paper, the same as when Yavin had given it to him. She tore the paper open and plucked out the stone.

He held it up to her lips and it began to glow with power. “Just one last time. Help me do this thing. Yes, the deal is struck.”

There was a whirring in the air and through the magical sight provided by the helmets visor, Mar was able to watch as Yavin’s aura was twisted unnaturally, instantly changed to a new configuration in seconds rather then days. When it was finished, Yavin had only a single spell equipped and at her disposal. The swirling complex patters of the spellweave were too complex for Mar to understand with his limited understanding of spell theory, but he could tell at a glance that it was very powerful. The intangible runes imprinted on Yavin’s aura hummed with energy, which flooded from both the stone and her center, eveloping Mar.

“Take good care of that Mar. You wouldn’t believe the damage it can sow in the wrong hands. It will tear your mind apart and turn you into a puppet if you let it, so don’t use it unless absolutely necessary. I’ll find you if I can, if not… then you’re the stone’s keeper, until you can pass it on to someone else. It will be more dangerous then ever before, now that the seal is fully removed.”

Yavin gently placed the gray stone in Mar’s hands. It was hot to the touch.

“Take good care of that stone Mar. I can tell it’s taken a liking to you. Just remember it wants to eat your soul!”

“Wait Yavin no-” But Mar was cut off. Magic swirled around him for a moment. Then suddenly he was somewhere else completely. Yavin had teleported him away.