The City of Wizards Read online

  We both remained silent for a while.

  So that's the truth of my father's death…

  “Repeat after me...” Martell said heavily. “I swear to Mag'reb ...”

  “I swear to Mag'reb,” I repeated.

  “That I will be… the protector of all living...”

  “That'll be the protector of all living...”

  “Wizards… and humans…”

  “Wizards and humans!”

  “I ... Syr’dan ... son ... of Gael.”

  “I, Syr’dan, son of Gael.”

  Martell's lids narrowed with pain.

  I felt tingling vibrations throughout my body which grew like thunder. The doors at the top of Mag’reb opened up. That strange feeling flew right from there. I fell to my knees with my hair in my face as my mind filled with the images of thousands of wizards and humans, their desires, joys, and sorrows from the very beginning of time, and then the everlasting eyes turned to me.

  “Remember your oath, Syr’dan...” It said. “And do not follow the mistakes of your predecessor.”

  “I will not.”

  And that was it.

  Mag’reb had accepted me.

  I became a Warlock.

  ♠

  Only a lonely wind and the wounded wizard stayed with me when the morning sun appeared.

  Martell barely moved his lips. His face was all black, only his eyes remained white and calm.

  “Did you see... the Eyes?”

  I nodded.

  “Then you are... a Warlock now... I saw... just contours...”

  I realized he should have been a Warlock instead of Ver’del, but a strange twist of fate deprived him from the post...

  I knelt beside him.

  “You don't deserve to die. I could...”

  His head shook in dismissal.

  “Save your power... for more important issues...” He interrupted me with a ragged voice. “Create a new...a better... Averot’h. Elisa must wait...”

  “Will I find her?”

  “You can move... the sky... you moron...” He sounded amused. But then he grimaced in pain again. “See how... a wizard dies... But first... You must... clear a nest of vipers...”

  “Nest of vipers?”

  “Ka’tan...”

  And it was his last word. The word spilled into sand as well as his lips, nose and cheeks, followed by his shoulders and the rest of the body.

  The wind picked up the grains and blew them into all of the corners of the world.

  Martell's tephir approached his former lord. He stood in the air silently as a rock, but I could feel his grief.

  “My lord was a true master of magic,” the tephir spoke to me. “He was a man who had made a wrong decision in the past, but his heart was always good and pure. He was the last and only dam keeping the evil flood from the Council and the Warlock at its limits. Even Ver’del feared him. If not for Martell, the city would have died a long time ago.”

  “I know that.”

  “Perhaps you do not know how much he had suffered after the death of Illara. He didn't want to live without her anymore. But he couldn't leave the city at the mercy of the Council and the Warlock. That's why I'm not crying now. We both knew his end was coming. And at least one of his enemies is dead as well...”

  “He had a daughter,” I reminded him.

  “Yes, but Lady Elisa avoided my lord. She blamed him for her mother's death.”

  We stayed in silence for a while, and then the tephir moved.

  “I'm Beheimon, Your Excellence. If you need help, just call my name.” And with that, he was gone.

  I looked around Averot’h. The devastation was overwhelming. I couldn't find a single house, wall, or bridge undestroyed, except for magnificent Mag’reb. Here and there fires started, and the sky turned black with smoke.

  Though I felt deep sorrow for the city and its inhabitants, I averted my gaze from the doom.

  I have work to be done...

  ♠

  My tephir came to my feet.

  “What's your name, my friend?” I asked when I stepped onto his horny skin.

  The soles of my feet clung firmly to his surface, as the tree roots tethered it to the ground.

  “Kwazzo, my lord.” The voice replied.

  “Are you a male or a female?”

  “I'm both, my lord.”

  That surprised me a little.

  “I'm sorry,” I apologized for an inconvenient question.

  “That's all right, my lord. You can consider me a male. Where do you want to go?”

  I pointed a finger into the sky, where a slim ash-like tower protruded dark clouds.

  “To Ka’tan!”

  The tephir accelerated and arched toward the Grey spire protruding high above the desolate plains which once constituted a fabulous city.

  I'm going to destroy the Tower and scatter the Council to the dust, I swear! I'm going to restore Averot’h to its past glory and then I will leave the city.

  CHAPTER 8

  A new beginning

  We approached the seat of the Council in a long, arched trajectory cutting through small clouds of dust. The Councilmen inside the tower had to guess my intentions, because a ka’tan with a white negotiation staff moved off toward me. He wore yellow headband, white coat, and his hair was almost blue. I recognized Master Ol’wen, one of the oldest and also least important members of the Council.

  An envoy...

  I slowed down.

  “Your Excellence, welcome to Ka’tan,” the wizard bowed respectfully. But his eyes revealed something else: hatred, aversion, and even fear...

  “The Council wishes to expresses gratitude to you for overthrowing the tyrant, and congratulates you on achieving the power of a Warlock. Together, we...”

  But I was not in the negotiation mood.

  I was in the warrior mode instead...

  I applied Martell's trick on him, I stole a tephir from under his feet...

  He was falling wildly whilst casting deadly spells which were passing me innocently. He met the ground a few moments later. Deep underneath, a tephir wailed in grief. Now, there were only seven ka’tans left...

  What to do first? Demolish the tower or kill the Council men?

  Fortunately, I didn't have to decide...

  Ka’tans threw at me like a swarm of wasps...

  ♠

  They flew under my feet and circled overhead, dressed in black flowing robes, similar to dragons, ancient rulers of the sky. They approached me closely in feigned attacks and then spiraled away again, releasing their deadliest spells in the process. The spells pierced the air in a form of sharp-edged darts with various colors according to their nature. Stabbing spells were pale as steel, burning spells red as a furnace, and cutting spells blue and spiky as a saw.

  I entertained myself by deflecting the stabbing spells to other ka’tans. One of them got hit right into his chest and limped over his tephir, his body dissolved into fine grain and began pouring slowly over tephir's bony crest. Another deflected sting-spell tore a grey-white tephir on my right into shreds, and his master headed toward the earth in uncontrolled somersaults.

  The fun ended when one of ka’tans surprised me with a savage maneuver resulting in a head-on collision. I burnt him into ashes soon enough to smash through a stinking cloud of dust that reminded the ka’tan only by his gloomy dye.

  I have almost forgotten how malicious they can be...

  A ka’tan with a brown headband and a ginger beard circled me from above and attacked my tephir by a tricky cutting spell that tore Kwazzo's left side apart before I could intervene.

  My unfortunate friend shivered with immense pain but kept me in the air, though he tilted slightly to the left.

  Anger filled my hands, and I struck the ka’tan into his face with a power that broke open his headband as well as his forehead. Crimson blood and parts of his brain sprayed his tephir's belly; the tephir gave out grief wailing that ceased abruptly after his bones we
re crushed into pieces by another spell released from my left forefinger.

  The air became dense of deadly magic. But there was something more, silent howling from two remaining throats that I have never heard before.

  “It's a Song of a fallen ka’tan, my lord. You should be careful as much as you can... ”

  “Thank you, Kwazzo.”

  I healed his wounds and strengthened an invisible shield around us.

  ‘Blessings to you, my lord, I feel utterly reborn...’

  The song intensified. Its plaintive melody was full of doom and pain, bass tones prevailed.

  Suddenly I understood.

  They are preparing for the last attack. The assault of both of them at one moment...

  And that was my last thought before the world around me flared up with lethal magic.

  ♠

  The ka’tans threw at me like hawks in one gigantic mess of limbs, coats, and tephirs. My sphere shield fended off the onslaught, but I got hit by one of the burning spells in my right shoulder. The pain stimulated my wrath to a level that I had considered unattainable. The shield was afire now, fed by my anger, and blazing in blue.

  I lost my patience.

  That's enough...

  I crossed two fingers on my right hand and the sphere exploded in a flash that could outshine hundreds of suns.

  There was no tephir's wailing or wizards' groaning anymore. No bird singing too.

  Just dead silence.

  Even the wind hid in a corner and was afraid of blowing.

  I briefly counted my enemies.

  All ka’tans were dead.

  Except for one.

  ♠

  I approached the Council Tower without haste.

  The last ka’tan, Master Cid’rel, appeared at the top of Ka’tan, a green figure standing firmly on his tephir.

  I recapitulated what I knew about him. He was born in a village on the coast of the Great Sea, and arrived to the city with a caravan when he was just a child. Raised by some tea merchant, he entered an elite wizard school at the age of six. He worked his way up in the wizards' hierarchy ceaselessly until he became the Council man. He was smart and tricky, and preferred to act from the background.

  I slowed down.

  He was dressed all in green as usual, a golden brooch on his chest being only decoration. His eyes were calm white, but his face expressed displeasure.

  “You've destroyed the Council. Are you satisfied?” His voice brimmed over with hatred.

  “I haven't destroyed the Council yet,” I replied quietly.

  A shadow of fear flickered through his eyes.

  “Tell me one thing. Why are you doing this? Do you want all the magic power for yourself?”

  “No, I don't. I just want justice.”

  “I see. You are the one who decides what is good or bad. You are a moralist and a judge in one person,” he replied with a sour grimace.

  “And I didn't know you are a philosopher. Not mentioning your modest role of a felon... It was you who proposed to feed tephirs with human flesh and to abuse human women to the Council.”

  Anger flashed through Cid’rel's eyes. “We had no choice if we wanted to survive! By the way, my proposal was approved by all the Council men. It was a common will!”

  “Not all of them. Martell was against it.”

  He laughed bitterly. “Yeah, the Burned one! I have almost failed to remember the Traitor...”

  I realized he didn't know the truth about the duel with Gael. It was not important either.

  My fingers started to tremble with power. “Your words cannot stop me. I swore to destroy the Council, and I'm going to fulfill the vow.”

  Cid’rel nodded slowly. “Then you should know I'm not the last ka’tan.”

  Shivering of magic in my hands faded a little.

  “We had a special gathering last sunset,” he explained, “As you probably know, the Council sustained some losses recently, so, according to our codex, we approved a new Supreme, me, and a new member, who successfully passed the Trial of the Three Elements.”

  They approved a new ka’tan? Is it true?

  I was not sure.

  One or two ka’tans... Does it make a difference anyway?

  I remained silent.

  “I would like to introduce you to this new member of our noble council,” he continued and his eyes changed color into turquoise contentment.

  He raised his right hand, and in the dark entrance high at the Tower a silhouette on a tephir appeared.

  I almost yelled out loudly when I recognized new member's identity.

  Cid’rel screwed up his face with pleasure.

  Great perverse pleasure...

  Ahhhh, noooo!

  ♠

  “How are you, Syrdan?” A fresh Council man smiled at me in a very familiar way that reminded me of my previous peasant life at a distant farmhouse.

  “You won't believe that, Syrdan, I became a ka’tan! And you had doubted it...”

  Lokmi...

  Damn! I had warned you! I had told you to leave the city!

  I was left speechless.

  Cid’rel slowly moved to Lokmi's side with a cunning grin. Meanwhile, Lokmi was smiling idiotically with no idea what was going on.

  “Which of us are you going to eliminate first? Me or your brother?”

  ♠

  Think fast!

  There must be a way out of this!

  I recalled what I had heard about the Trial. Lokmi couldn't succeed, I was confident about it. The exam comprised three tryouts corresponding to three main magic elements: earth, fire, and water. Aspirants for a Council seat had to demonstrate capability of mastering all of them, and a failure was penalized by a candidate's death.

  I scrutinized Lokmi. He wore a long-coat in his favorite plum colors, a clasp under his chin with an emblem of the Council seemed genuine as well as his ceremonial staff.

  He always dreamt of being a Council man...

  “He is not a ka’tan,” I said. “He would never pass the Trial.”

  “You underestimate your brother, sir. He did succeed,” Cid’rel insisted.

  At the same moment I sent a ball of fire toward Lokmi. He opened his eyes wide and almost fell down from his tephir as he attempted to move aside clumsily. He was not able to control even elementary occurrence of fire, as I suspected...

  I was right. It is a charade, a ruse...

  “He is not a ka’tan,” I repeated firmly. “He has no real power.”

  Lokmi gave a scream.

  I was so focused on him that I had failed to notice Cid’rel sidled behind him, pulled out a dagger, and stabbed him right into his back.

  Lokmi collapsed to the tephir's crest without uttering a sound. His staff fell off the tephir, and his face under honey-brown hair turned to me accidentally. I looked into his half- human and half-wizard eyes. They were open but could not see me. Not any more...

  My brother was dead.

  ♠

  The Last ka’tan moved off with a red blood dagger in his hand.

  “Let's finish it,” I heard through a mist that shrouded my consciousness.

  It must be a nightmare! I have to wake up! Lokmi cannot be dead! I have to wake up...

  It was my tephir who saved me at the last moment.

  “My lord, gather your wits quickly! He is coming!”

  I fended off the dagger and stroke back with a repulsive spell.

  Cid’rel staggered and stepped back.

  His plan was as brilliant as it was simple and fiendish: to take me by surprise, when I am paralyzed by my brother's death. And it almost worked! If not for Kwazzo, I would face the same sorrowful destiny as my brother...

  Now the element of surprise was gone.

  I promised to look after him but I have failed. I betrayed my mum's trust awfully...

  I recalled a surprise in Lokmi's face when my mum opened a paper box and removed a magnificent birthday cake decorated with marzipan and small candles. He complete
d nine years that day. Three days later he fell from an apple tree and broke his left ankle. I had to take over his duties for almost four weeks...

  I suppressed the reminiscence immediately.

  The mourning and compunctions must wait...

  It was my turn to show Cid’rel some really deadly spells.

  ♠

  Magic is made out of power. The more spells are generated, the less power remains, it is a simple law of magic. I wasted a lot of it with an explosion that killed six ka’tans therefore I was not able to destroy Cid’rel in the same manner. Instead, I adopted delaying tactics that might lead my enemy to a wrong conclusion that I am exhausted already.

  We spiraled face to face in wild arcs under the clouds. Cid’rel was attacking with an arsenal of spells, some of them I have never seen before. I was responding with spells that seemed dangerous but consumed little of my strength. My shield fended off his magic with patience, while power in my fingers steadily grew to a point necessary for a lethal counterattack.

  The wind and gusts of combat took us above the Arena.

  Is it a coincidence that the last wizard fight takes place right here, where thousands of wizards were fighting since the beginning of time?

  I should have been more cautious...

  Cid’rel used a rare spell that filled the air with the dust. I could barely see my own shoes. When the cloud dispersed, the ka’tan was gone.

  ♠

  I revolved around the Arena.

  Where is he?

  “I can feel him, my lord.”

  “Yes, he cannot be too far,” I agreed.

  I surveyed row of seats and barriers at the top, with no result. I moved my weight from one foot to the other slightly, and the tephir turned to the dragon entrance. We flew around the giant ribs like in a bizarre wood of trunks without branches and leaves.