Chapter 8: A Kind of Magic

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper. It is just science that we don’t understand yet”

-Imperium Genesis Vol. 4 – On Magick.

The young dragon boy kept digging the large pit that would soon serve as a grave for his companion’s late mentor. He was making good use of his powerful legs and sharps claws to swiftly remove large amounts of dirt from the hard highland soil with amazing ease. No wonder why the imperials wanted him as a slave.

Meanwhile, the teenage priestess couldn’t hide her admiration for her new friend’s physical prowess; the dragon and that inhuman strength of his made short work any endeavor he undertook. If only he wasn’t so reckless. Nina certainly wouldn’t have minded if her savior was a handsome knight instead of the not at all appealing beast. What am I thinking? Those stupid books really rub off on me; of course, the Gods must have had their reasons! She lamented. The young girl was feeling confident about the future, nevertheless; after all, they together just managed to do the impossible: beat a wizard in his own game.

But what was with this magick that this wizard wielded? Nina thought. The young girl kept thinking about it while at the same time, marveling at the exquisitely polished metal frame of the Fire Mage’s spellcaster that was gleaming with a bluish hue. Just a few minutes ago, she was dreading to even touch the contraption, fearing that her hand would fall off or something of the like. She managed to hold it; however, after Rudo showed her that the device was perfectly safe and only goes off on command.

Speaking of the device, Nina couldn’t help but feel a profound respect for it; even though the dragon reassured her several times that the weapon was not magical in nature. The girl could only stare at the appeal and extraordinary beauty of such a magnificently crafted piece of mechanical engineering. It looked like it was made of several parts, all of them fit perfectly, leaving no noticeable gaps in between.

The grips were made of gorgeous ivory with a strange-looking design engraved into it and screwed firmly into an extension of the frame, which provided easy access for the hand to all the controls. To ready the device, the girl just needed to pull the main lever at the reach of her thumb, which even for her small hands was not a difficult task. That action also caused the entire mechanism to rotate, indexing each container with the barrel in perfect alignment. Then she could be able to detonate each container, each of them holding a small metallic cylinder with a powerful spell inside, with the single press of a trigger, at the reach of her index finger.

Nina contemplated for a moment the repercussions that such a formidable artifact could have; it allowed anyone with the knowledge of how to operate it, including an otherwise helpless teenage girl, to maim or kill even the most experienced combatant with the ease of simply lifting the device and the pull of a small lever. The mechanism allows repeating the process until the container has been depleted, mowing down as many opponents as the storage capacity allowed. And after witnessing its power firsthand, she was sure it could also be able to defeat even the heaviest armor.

Such power! Within reach of the hand! It’s terrifying! This is indeed a formidable weapon!

It is diabolical.

And to think that the dragon managed to dodge those blasts with that impressive speed of his and that the wizard that was able to outsmart and outmaneuver him, despite that. Both of them, the dragon and the Mage, and herself too, could very well be part of some grand fantastic tale written on a book like those she used to read.

But this is real, Nina, and people are dying because of it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Rudo grabbed Verkan’s body by the shoulders and gently dragged him towards the grave he had just dig out. Nina quickly jumped from the spot where she was sitting and hurried to help the dragon, even though Rudo was perfectly capable of carrying the body on his own, Nina insisted on helping.

Together, they gently lowered Verkan’s body in the grave; the girl couldn’t help but tear up again but tried her best to fight the tears back, even though she knew it would be a lost battle. The sight of the girl crying was one that her late mentor disliked the most, that was the reason why he always went to extreme lengths to try to cheer her up and make her laugh with that apparently unending repertoire of jokes of his.

Nina then took the sword Verkan was found with and put it on his hands to be buried with him; she grabbed a handful of dirt from the rather large pile next to the grave and tossed it, giving the dragon the clue to fully bury him, whom he promptly did, using his legs to swiftly fill the grave full. The boy was shocked when he saw the girl collapse on her knees next to the recently filled grave, but could bring himself to say or do anything to alleviate her pain.

The girl clasped her hands together for one last prayer:

“Merciful Father, creator of all,

Please, open your arms and receive this soul,

Forgive the sins he might have committed in life,

And guide him back to the afterlife,

Where his ancestors wait for him,

Where they will rest on endless fields,

Until the day they will be born again.”

“Selah”

The pair remained silent for a couple of minutes until the girl stopped crying and spoke again, breaking the silence.

-“You know, Verkan told me he used to be a warrior in his youth, but I only knew him as a caring, honest, and selfless man”

-“He loved teasing me and making jokes, he had a natural talent for it! Sometimes, he would get me so flustered that I couldn’t stand the sight of him for days”

-“But he always meant well”

-“He was not only my teacher; he was my friend, my only friend, he was closer to me than even my father”

-“He couldn’t live a warrior’s life, but he died a warrior’s death, giving up his own life to save the life of another”

-“Goodbye Verkan, I’m going to miss you”

The girl stood up, feeling relieved from at least some of the load over her shoulders. She turned and gave the boy the warmest of the smiles; she then took one of his hands with both of hers as a form of thanks for helping her out, which took Rudo completely by surprise. He wasn’t prepared for such a reaction out of her, the contact of her hands with his and the look on her eyes made him feel weird and increasingly embarrassed, as the dragon had never experienced this kind of contact before. However, even if he would not dare to admit it out loud, it also made him feel strangely comfortable, it was the first time he saw the girl smiling like this since the two of them met, and man…

It was truly a sight to behold!

Their little moment was interrupted, however, by the distant groaning from the wizard that they had previously defeated and then restrained, reminding both of them of their current task at hand. Nina’s smile instantly vanished and was replaced by a frown that looked so foreign on the girl, when they looked in the mage’s direction. She then let go of the dragon’s hand, clenching her own pair into tiny fists.

-“Now there is only one thing left to do”

-“What do you suggest to do with him?” Nina asked.

-“You defeated him, you decide” the boy replied.

-“I was afraid you were going to say that, I’m not very good at making decisions!”

-“Should we get rid of him?” the girl asked again.

-“I don’t really like kicking people while they’re down, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll do it” the dragon admitted.

-“I need to ask him a few questions first, could you…”

-“Could you please come with me? I’m scared” the girl asked.

-“Sure”

The girl then turned and began walking towards the Mage that was lying on the ground, a few yards away. Her heart filled with a wide mix of feelings that made a knot on her stomach and threatened to force their way out. She was very scared for the imminent face-off with the wizard, even though he was restrained and stripped off from his weapons; the man gave off a frightening aura that she was unable to ignore.

She disliked talking with strangers or any sort of confrontation, deep in her heart; she hated the idea of facing Verkan’s murderer but as much as she wanted to just run away and leave everything behind, she wanted, needed to know exactly what they wanted with her. If this man troubled himself by coming all the way here, to look specifically for her, in the middle of the Highlands, there ought to be a reason.

Nina could feel the cold sweat coming down her face and over her hands, inside her gloves, and her heart was pounding hard, like a march in a war drum. She took both of the mage’s weapons and put them on her belt behind her body, just in case the Mage managed to activate them somehow. The girl took a deep breath to calm herself down, and watching Rudo walking by her side helped a lot, giving her some very much-needed reassurance.

The Mage finally awakened from the blunt-object induced slumber, courtesy of the teenage priestess, after drifting back and forth from a state of unconsciousness, only to meet both the teenager and her dragon companion whom he had battled against just minutes ago, staring down at him. He soon realized his predicament, finding himself tied on hands and feet, unable to move and completely at their mercy.

Boy… this is gonna suck.

The priestess slowly extended her arm toward the wizard’s face, trying to remove his mask and see the man hiding behind it, but a dreadful feeling in her heart made her relent, deciding against it in the last instant. Rudo, however, wasn’t frightened, and after watching his new friend backing off, he took matters into his own hands, ripping off the piece of cloth covering the lower half of the mage’s face.

Nina gasped loudly at the sudden reveal; the girl was still very wary about the wizard’s magick and was taken aback by the dragon’s boldness and fearlessness. It was made clear to her that Rudo wasn’t the superstitious type.

But what really left her completely astonished was the man behind the mask. The mage gave a stern look at her when they locked eyes for the briefest of instants before looking away to study the rest of his face. The man looked tough and seasoned, perhaps in his mid-thirties, and his clear emerald green eyes stared back with frightening intensity. His sharp features, dark grey short hair, and square jawline with gritty-looking stubble quickly gave away his foreign origins.

The girl cursed internally, first the northmen, now the wizard. Why do the bad people always have to look so good?! The only ugly one was the boy helping her. Nina felt as if the Gods were punishing her for her previous misbehaviors and not so pure thoughts, but most especially, for reading those forbidden books she enjoyed so much.

It serves me right; I’ve been such a jerk.

-“Can you hear me, wizard?” the girl asked after shooking her head side to side to get rid of silly thoughts and concentrate on the current task, trying her hardest to look at the wizard in the eyes and keep her composure. Even tied and in defeat, the mage was still intimidating.

-“My head...” the mage complained.

-“That's not the only place that will hurt you if you don't answer my questions” Nina threatened.

The priestess glanced at her companion, to make sure if Rudo had her back, the boy nodded his head in return, which gave her the confidence boost she needed.

You got this, Nina

-“Seems I underestimated you, little priestess, I didn’t think you would be able to pull that off” the mage replied.

-“Tell me your name, wizard” the girl demanded.

-“It is really that important?”

-“For me it is!” she insisted.

-“Folk calls me White Feather, you know, for the feather in my hat I suppose, but Mage is fine, for short”

-“What do you want from me?” the girl asked.

-“Why would you want to know?” the wizard asked back.

-“Don’t try your tricks on me, Mage! I ask the questions here!” Nina countered, visibly upset. Her patience was running low and she was trying her hardest to keep face in the wizard’s presence.

-“Why are you after me? Respond!” she required again.

To say the young girl was pissed was an understatement. By this point, it was made rather clear for the Mage that the little priestess in front of him meant serious business. It was undeniable that both the girl and the dragon were in league with one another, trying to put them against each other seemed pointless.

A change of plans is needed, the mage thought. He witnessed the dragon’s unnatural strength and what he was capable of; the boy seemed to have a soft spot for the girl, and she could simply request him to put a premature end to his career. The wizard decided that it was in his best interests to play it safe and submit to her requests.

That is if he truly wanted to get away in one piece, of course.

-“I’ll answer your questions, girly, on the condition that I won’t be harmed”

-“That will depend entirely on your responses, Mage” Nina replied.

-“Alright then, first, I'm only accountable for these eight men your dragon just beat”

-“And second, I’m just doing my job” the mage declared.

-“Your job?! What do you mean? The northmen, they tried to...”

Nina paused for a brief moment to take a deep breath to calm herself down a bit before trying to finish the sentence. The young girl was having a difficult time trying to keep herself together. It was hard enough in its own right and the mage’s elusive responses didn’t help at all.

-“…they tried to rape me last night!” the young priestess managed to convey, despite the choking knot on her throat.

-“What the northmen did or tried is their business, not mine!”

-“I handpicked these eight specifically because they were the best of the bunch!”

-“Those who tried to… take advantage of you, must have been someone else's” the mage replied.

-“Someone else's?!” the girl asked back.

-“Did you think I was the only one looking for you?”

-“Then who send you?!” Nina asked in return.

-“Nobody sent me, girly; someone put a bounty on you” the mage response startled the poor girl quite a bit, leaving her awestruck.

-“A bounty?!” Nina asked in shock after hearing this rather surprising revelation. The girl turned towards Rudo, who could only shrug and give her a confused look in return.

-“That's right; that means there is a reward, which means I'm not the only one interested, which means there are also other people after you” the mage told her coldly.

-“Who else is looking for me?!” the girl asked again.

-“How could I possibly know? But my guess would be probably every mercenary and bounty hunter here in Midland”

-“They gave an accurate description, and knew your approximate location, so others are probably closing in as we speak”

-“I wouldn't trust anyone if I were you” the mage replied.

Shit! This is bad! Think Nina, think! The girl began to give in to panic and despair after hearing the mage’s response. As much as she hated to admit it, he was spot on.

-“What does the bounty say?” she asked.

-“Look in my pockets”

Nina extended her shaking arm hesitantly, not willing to even touch the Mage but did so nonetheless. As terrifying as her situation was, the girl was craving for answers. She looked inside one of the many small leather pockets on his bandoliers and among other things; she found a small paper rolled into a thin scroll with a small red seal on it. She extended it, and upon reading it, her jaw dropped. She could not believe her eyes.

-“One thousand gold coins! That’s insane!”

-“That's a hefty lot of money if you ask me, just for taking a little girl back to Dawnfall, it seemed easy enough… or so I thought”

-“Dawnfall? Why there?” Nina asked again.

-“It’s where everyone gathers lately, girly, the closest to a capital this dump yard has” replied the mage.

The teenage priestess recalled visiting Dawnfall briefly when she was still a child, many years ago. Perhaps way too briefly to see anything but the city docks before sailing again towards imperial lands on another continent in a voyage several weeks long. A huge urban and commercial center, it was located south on a very strategic spot, watching over the bay. And although technically part of Clan Malcroft territories, in practice, it was completely autonomous.

-“Are you done with him?” Rudo asked, interrupting her thoughts.

The girl found herself unable to reply. She knew that when the interrogation finished she would have to make a choice, a difficult one. Whether to let the mage live or to ask Rudo to kill him and as much as she wanted justice to be served… Was she really willing to kill?

-“Before you get rid of me, would you be kind enough to send something for me back to Teberas?” it was the mage’s turn to ask, again snapping her off her thoughts and back to the real world.

-“I need to send something to the Imperial University?” he added.

-“Imperial University? What’s your deal with them?” Nina asked. First, he mentioned Teberas, capital of the Empire, now he was also naming the Imperial University? Maybe the wizard was just rambling around, trying to buy some time, but still, she had to know.

-“I teach there, girl, besides occasional… bounty hunting I’m also a professor, even though I don’t look like your typical scholar”

-“You certainly don’t, but if that’s true, what’s your field then?” she asked again.

-“Alchemy, also Engineering, and Metallurgy, among others, as you can see, I’m a multidisciplinary scholar”

-“There is a bunch of people that’ll be… upset for my demise; I'd like to let them know of my passing”

-“Unless you let me go, of course” the mage commented.

-“Why would I want to do that?” Nina replied aggrieved.

-“I’m just a bounty hunter, I hold nothing personal against you or your dragon pet, I’m just doing my job”

-“Well, you just killed my best friend, Mage, so for me is damn personal!” the girl countered fiercely, clenching her fists.

-“If that’s how you feel, then finish this already” the mage dared to say. As much as he wanted to get out of there in one piece, he wasn’t going to beg either.

-“Maybe I should! After what you’ve done to Verkan!”

-“I did what I had to do! The old man fought bravely and he had an honorable death. Don’t people here crave for that? If I haven’t ended him, the northmen would have! They would’ve taken their sweet time butchering him and then you wouldn’t have a body to bury! I did him a favor!”

The wizard snapped, perhaps that was probably the last thing the poor girl wanted to hear but by this point, he had enough of it. The mage was pretty sure that the girl would only resort to killing him if she had no other choice.

But watching her crying silently instead of showing her wrath as he had expected moved something deep inside his heart, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy for the girl. The mage found himself regretting his words and spoke again in a much tender tone.

Damn it!

-“If it makes you feel better, he was valiant to the very end. I gave him a quick and painless death”

Nina wiped her tears with her sleeve and could only babble in return. She was so overwhelmed with emotions that she was unable to speak. They looked at each other for almost a full minute, and then Nina took a deep breath to reply.

-“What I’m supposed to respond, Mage? Thank you? What would you do in my place?!”

The mage hesitated for a moment after being put on the spot like that. It was made clear that the little priestess hasn’t grown under the clans’ culture. She would not be familiar with the values and code of honor that the highlanders held then, and he would need to come clear if he wanted to persuade her.

-“I can’t respond that either”

What was she doing here then? Normally, he wouldn’t give a damn about his targets or his clients, but again, it wasn’t too often that he found himself in the receiving end of the beatings. He would have to play by her rules.

-“Listen, I really didn’t come all the way here just to spite you, or the old man for that matter, it was just business”

-“It’s easy for you to say that!” the girl replied.

The wizard could only sigh in response and remained silent; Nina kept looking through his belongings until she found a small silver medallion that she recognized immediately.

-“Why do you have an Imperial Seal?” the girl asked.

-“Because I’m an Imperial citizen, girly, why else?”

But after watching the girl’s reaction, the mage realized, much to his relief that he could capitalize on it. It’d be worth a shot.

-“Do you realize what is going to happen if the Empire finds out one of their citizens perished?

-“In the middle of the Highlands, no less”

-“Yeah, that’s what I thought” he commented after the girl failed to respond. Nina couldn’t help but feel indignant for the man’s arrogance but had to admit begrudgingly that he was in the right.

-“You leave me with few other choices, Mage!”

-“I’ll make it easier for you, girly; you could take me with you to the nearest town as your prisoner, then you can file a formal complaint to the nearest Adventurer’s Guild office if that pleases you” the mage offered.

-“You want me to send a letter and then wait weeks for a reply? I would rather wait for the Clan Lord to return than to fight against the Guild’s bureaucracy!”

-“But you could make them lift the reward that way, and your troubles with it”

-“I might just dig my own grave as well for when the northmen come back” the girl countered.

-“Looks like we can’t reach a middle ground, girly”

Indeed, they couldn’t. Nina was still extremely reluctant to give in to her desire for vengeance. Was she truly pondering killing another person? Even if she wasn’t the one who dealt the killing blow it would be the same in the eyes of the Gods. But even if they got rid of the Mage, the northmen were still roaming around, led by someone who knew about the bounty, besides, there were other bounty hunters also looking for her. It would change nothing. And with all that in mind, would it really be worth it getting blood in her hands?

How would I feel after killing him? Just thinking about it was making her feel uneasy; Nina couldn’t even begin to imagine it, but she would rather not have that horrible feeling in her heart. I haven’t even done anything and I feel this bad already! How can anyone live with this?

Verkan wouldn’t approve. He wouldn’t want this.

-“So, how it’s gonna be? Are you ready for your vengeance?” the mage spoke, interrupting her thoughts.

The mage took the girl by surprise; she truly wasn’t ready, not for such a bold statement neither to strike him down. Was the mage now ready to accept his fate? This has to be a trick.

-“That won't be necessary” Nina replied, making the mage raise an eyebrow in response.

-“I have decided I'm not going to kill you, Mage, but I will take these contraptions of yours and leave you here, tied, I won’t be taking any chances”

-“I've read there is a Nord tradition that says ‘You keep what you take’ am I right? And I’m pretty sure Lord Nero of Clan Irfis will want to have a word with you about what happened to the village and his people”

-“I'll leave your fate up to him”

-“That could take days; I personally arranged a diversion to keep him busy elsewhere” the mage complained.

-“Then I hope you have had a good breakfast!” the girl retaliated fiercely.

-“That’s not the issue girl! It would be who is gonna come first, other bounty hunters, the northmen, or the Lord? Whose you’re gonna bet to?”

-“I won’t be able to persuade the northmen, and the other bounty hunters will certainly not share the reward. Are you really willing to risk your neck to find it out?”

-“If I were you, I would get away from here as fast as I could” the mage replied grinning.

The nerve he had! But again, as much as she hated to admit it he was right, again. There was no guarantee that Lord Nero would be coming anytime soon, and with the northmen still lurking around it was simply too risky to stay in a single place. They couldn’t afford to take the mage with them either.

-“We better go, Nina” Rudo interrupted.

-“Yeah, tie him to the well, please”

The dragon grabbed him from his clothes and dragged him to the well, in the middle of the plaza, tying him tightly against one of the well’s wooden shafts using the well’s own stretch of rope. He wouldn’t have to worry about being under the sun for long, or at all, as the grey clouds barely allowed any sun rays to pass.

-“Sorry, nothing personal” the boy commented.

The mage could only smirk at the irony, the dragon proved to be a formidable adversary; he had defeated powerful opponents in the past, from skilled warriors and cunning hunters to elusive animals and fearsome beasts, but nothing like the dragon boy.

A beast powerful enough and smart enough to defeat him, yet naïve enough to let him live.

-“Hey kid! Just one last question”

-“You saw the visions too, didn't you?” the mage asked.

The boy didn’t reply but nodded affirmatively instead, making the mage’s face lit up in delight. "That explains his knowledge and probably his capacity to speak too" he thought. He could count with the fingers of one hand the number of people that recognized his magick for what it really was and now both the dragon and the girl were among them. He would have to retrieve his weapons and get even with them later if he wanted his secret to remain a secret.

After all, vengeance is best served cold.

-“I hope we meet again, kid!”

Meanwhile, Nina was looking through the razed buildings; she identified the one where she and Verkan stayed. She quickly located their room since the stone walls were still standing and looked for her belongings under the bed. Her heart was filled with relief after finding her and Verkan’s still intact leather bags, having survived the fire due to being luckily placed under the bed’s wooden frame when the flaming roof collapsed.

Inside her bag were her medical supplies, made up of several leather flasks, each with different medicinal beverages, a few potions, and ointments in small wooden tubs. Her empty water skin was also inside, she would fill it later. But most importantly, a pair of books that she secretly carried, disguised as tomes of the Imperial Encyclopedia. Nina knew she would probably not have the time to read them again anytime soon but it was a relief that they weren’t lost.

Verkan’s bag carried the same medical supplies as hers, plus a notebook that he used to write down relevant observations when they were needed. His water skin was missing, however, so she would have to share her own with the dragon.

The girl left the building, finding Rudo finishing tying down the remaining mercenaries, just in case any of them decided to chase the pair down. Nina walked towards the well to fill her water skin and have some final words with the Mage before departing. She couldn’t help but feel it was her duty to give the mage some water to drink in case that whoever was coming first took some time.

But she also couldn’t help the sudden rage she felt, so she slowly took off her right glove and gave the mage one last slap in the face, that although did almost nothing, at least vented out some of the steam out of her heart. He had it coming.

-“That was for Verkan! I dearly hope we never have to see each other again, Mage”

The mage, however, hoped for the exact opposite.

The pair walked down the trail that passed through what was left of the village and headed to the next village that was located who knows how many miles away. The trail was the longer path but also the easiest one. She was unsure whether to follow the trail in the open during daylight or moving through the shorter path through the forest, but at least she was sure the trail would lead them true to the nearest village. She could always ride on Rudo’s back in case the northmen or the bounty hunters appeared.

But they would walk meanwhile, to allow the dragon some rest and save some of his strength for when it was really needed. She had a lot to think about anyway.

-“You decided not to kill him” Rudo commented, snapping her back to the real world.

-“Yeah, I really wanted to, but… that wouldn’t be the right thing”

-“And… that’s not what Verkan would have wanted”

-“I just hope that guy doesn’t bite us in the arse later” he retorted.

-“Yeah, me too, but at least we took his weapons” the girl replied while inspecting one of the mage’s spellcasters. Even though the mage somehow managed to break free, or if Lord Nero did not show up in time, he couldn’t do much harm without his weapons, right? So Nina thought it was one less thing to worry about for the moment.

They would have to seek refuge in the nearest village for the time being. Hopefully, it would be protected by Clan warriors and she would be able to seek Lord Nero’s help from there and prevent him about the northmen’s incursion and these so-called adventurers. Pff, Adventurer, what a way to say murderers!

She thought briefly about the mage’s advice from earlier; filing a complaint to the Adventurer’s Guild in Dawnfall to get the bounty off from her head sounds like a solid plan, but that wouldn’t change the fact that there was someone out there, someone with power that put a price on her.

And whoever it was, it wouldn’t stop until finding her.