Magium Read online

  Magium

  The mage tournament

  Book two

  Chris Michael Wilson

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Afterword

  Disclaimer: This is the second book from the series called Magium: The Mage Tournament. In case you downloaded this book without knowing about the first one, I encourage you to start with the first book in the series, since the second one continues the story from where the first book left off. The first book can also be found on Amazon, and it can be read for free, if you have Kindle Unlimited. Otherwise, you can flip to the next page, to begin the story. Enjoy!

  Chapter 1

  “Our first objectives?” Hadrik asks. “Did I hear him right?”

  “That’s right, you heard me!” Golmyck, the gnome king says, as if he were responding to Hadrik’s question. “I am now going to announce the objectives of the tournament’s first round, so you’d better pay attention, because I’m not planning to repeat myself. Are you ready?”

  Golmyck makes a short pause before he continues.

  “Very well, then!” he says. “Your first objectives are as follows. You will need to each find a glowing pinecone and bring it to the city of Galamir. Glowing pinecones grow only on the continent of Varathia, so most of you may not know much about them, but they basically look just like regular pinecones, except they start glowing brightly when you take them in your hand. There is no time limit for completing these objectives, but the earlier you bring the pinecones to their destination, the quicker you can begin your next objectives, which will give you a head start, compared to the latecomers. Lastly, I would like to mention that in this round you will be allowed to form teams with other participants. A team can have as many members as you want, and if you all confirm that you are part of the same team when you reach Galamir, you will pass the first round together, as long as you have at least one pinecone with you. That would be all for now. Good luck!”

  “What?!” Hadrik shouts. “He can’t be serious! How can they even call this a mage tournament with objectives like that? What’s next? Are they going to tell us to go pick some flowers?”

  “Hadrik…” Daren says, with a very dark look on his face. “I honestly could not give less of a damn about the tournament’s objectives right now.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot something very important!” Golmyck says. “Daren, the healer in armor, and all the members of his group are to present themselves at the gates of the royal castle of Thilias in exactly five hours. This includes the dwarf, the artificial mage, and the lessathi. Failure to do so will result in their disqualification from the tournament. The little girl that travels with them may also join them if she wishes, but she is not required to. Thank you all for listening! Have a nice day!”

  The gnome then presses a button and the transmission gets interrupted, while the holographic screens in the air start to disappear slowly, one by one.

  “Wait, how did he know that Barry was a lessathi?” Hadrik says. “Didn’t Barry himself only find out about this recently?”

  “The fact that the king of Thilias knew both about Barry’s and Kate’s true identities strongly suggests that he’s been keeping an eye on us for a while,” Illuna says. “He must have spies that inform him of everything that goes on in his kingdom. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he knew about my existence as well.”

  “Ah, crap,” Hadrik says. “If that’s the case, then maybe he also knows about me being a giant. Maybe they’re calling me to the castle to kick me out of the tournament.”

  “They’re summoning us because of what happened with the noble yesterday,” Daren says. “They even have bounties on our heads. We shouldn’t be too surprised that they’d want to interrogate us. Come on, let’s head towards Rose’s house. Going to the hospital now is out of the question without Rose to guide us, and it would be prudent to get our backpacks before we head towards the castle.”

  Daren pauses.

  “One of us will also have to deliver the news of Rose’s death to her siblings when we get there,” he says.

  I remain silent for a while after hearing Daren’s question, and so does everybody else. Kate and Flower are both looking towards the ground, as Hadrik is scratching the back of his head uncomfortably.

  “I’ll do it,” I say, eventually. “I’ll try to break it to them as gently as possible.”

  Daren gives me a long look for a few seconds. He doesn’t appear to be very comfortable leaving this matter in my hands, but he doesn’t seem to want to be the one to deal with it either, and neither does anyone else, by the looks of it.

  “Alright,” Daren says, finally. “Barry will be the one to give the news to the kids. Any objections?”

  Everybody else stays silent, as Kate and Flower are still looking towards the ground.

  “It’s settled, then,” Daren says. “Let’s get going. We’ll take the same route that we took when we came here, to avoid getting lost. Follow me.”

  “Can I have Arraka back, please?” Flower asks Hadrik, as we start heading towards the mansion.

  “Actually, I think I’d rather hold on to her a little longer, if you don’t mind!” Hadrik says.

  “Well, okay…” Flower says. “But make sure you keep an eye on her.”

  “Don’t worry,” Hadrik says, as he starts to spin the amulet again. “I’ll be sure to give her all the attention she needs!”

  We all follow Daren and go back the way we came, as we slowly begin to leave the slums behind us, and to enter the richer district that Rose’s house is situated in.

  Nobody said a single word while we walked down the alleys, not even Hadrik. Kate in particular seemed to be the most affected by what had happened, and the expression on her face was very painful to watch. Amidst the silence, an enraged Arraka would occasionally start showering us with a variety of insults and threats, as Hadrik ignored her and kept spinning her amulet despite her never-ending complaints.

  “Will you shut her up?” Daren says, after a while. “I’ve already had enough of Arraka to last me for a week. I don’t need to hear her constant yammering the entire trip.”

  “Oh, right, sorry…” Hadrik says, as he closes the amulet and then continues to spin it by the chain.

  Arraka’s shouting is still audible, but it’s more of a mild annoyance now that the noise has become muffled.

  “I think my wrist is starting to go numb from all the spinning,” Hadrik says, a few minutes later. “Barry, what do you say? Do you wanna give this a try? I assure you it’s a very rewarding experience!”

  “I think I’ll pass, thanks,” I say.

  “Suit yourself,” Hadrik says. “But seriously, you don’t know what you’re missing!”

  “I’ve been thinking,” Kate says, all of a sudden. “Could Rose perhaps not be completely dead? Could she still be somewhere in there, inside her body?”

  “Kate…” Daren starts to say, but Kate continues to speak, this time raising her voice a little.

  “Maybe there’s still some way to bring her back!” she says, looking at each of us in turn, seeking our approval. “Maybe if we defeat that follower of Ulruk who stole her body, we can bring her back to normal. We can’t know until we try!”

  “Kate, please…” Daren says, as he stops and looks Kate straight in the eye. “Don’t make me say this again. Rose is gone. You can’t bring back the dead, no matter how hard you try.”

  “But how can you know for sure that she’s dead?” Kate says, with desperation visible
in her eyes. “You heard what she said before she left. You all heard her! She told us to take care of her siblings. Why would she say something like that if a part of Rose wasn’t still in there, somewhere?”

  “Revenants are born with the memories of their hosts,” Illuna says. “Because of this, it is common for them to be confused at first, and to have a bit of an identity crisis, as they struggle to differentiate between their own thoughts, and the ones that they inherited from their hosts.”

  “Then maybe we can still—” Kate starts to say, but Illuna cuts her off.

  “Even if they may sometimes choose to uphold some of their old host’s values and principles,” Illuna says, “the revenants are still completely different entities than their bodies’ previous owners. A revenant cannot be born if their host is still alive. The very fact that this revenant came to be is proof that Rose was already dead when the servant of Ulruk took hold of her body.”

  “But…” Kate tries to argue again, this time with a lot more hesitation in her voice. “But… maybe if we…”

  She stops when she realizes that she no longer has any valid arguments to bring to the table. Instead of continuing her train of thought, her gaze turns towards the ground again, and she doesn’t say another word.

  “I’m sorry,” Daren says, as he turns back and he starts to walk towards Rose’s house again.

  We all follow him one by one, with Kate being the last to move from her spot. The rest of our journey towards the mansion was spent in complete silence. When we got closer to the mansion, Rose’s siblings noticed us from afar and came running to greet us.

  “Where’s Rose?” Suzie says, after looking around for a few seconds. “Did she stay behind at the hospital?”

  Everybody looks towards me, as I step forward and clear my throat nervously.

  “What’s wrong?” Suzie asks, starting to get concerned. “Did something happen to Rose?”

  “Yes,” I say. “We were attacked on our way to the hospital. We thought that Rose would be safe, but she…”

  I pause, not knowing how exactly I should deliver the news to her without causing her a shock.

  “Oh gods,” Suzie says. “Is she…”

  She stops for a second before she continues.

  “Is she dead?” she asks.

  Her direct question takes me by surprise. Before I get the chance to answer, Daren steps in front of me and he kneels in front of Suzie, with his head bowed down.

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “It was my fault. I promised I’d protect her and I—”

  “Oh, it’s okay,” Suzie says, forcing herself to smile. “Rose told us long ago that we should always be prepared for this to happen. She taught us how to cook our own food, and how to clean the house, and everything else we needed to know, in case she never came back from one of her journeys.”

  While Suzie talks, her brother is trying hard to hold back his tears.

  “We promised her that no matter what happened, we wouldn’t cry,” Suzie says. “We promised her that we’d stay strong and that…”

  She stops talking for a second to rub her eyes with her sleeve.

  “And that we would always remember her with a smile,” Suzie says, with a much shakier voice than before. “And that we would keep living our lives and be happy, and… and…”

  The girl can’t contain her tears anymore and she suddenly breaks down crying. Her brother, who was also at his limit, starts to cry as well, in a much louder voice.

  “Hey, now,” we hear a man’s voice coming from behind us. “What kind of monsters would make such a beautiful girl cry like this?”

  As we turn around, we see that the man who spoke is almost as tall as Daren, with a well-toned muscular build, wearing a shirt that is half-unbuttoned, with long black hair that reaches his shoulders, and a bristly moustache covering his whole upper lip. On his left hip, he is wearing a golden scabbard that appears to be holding a rather expensive sword, at least judging by the multitude of gems decorating its hilt. The man stops in front of Suzie, and he wipes her tears gently with his right hand.

  “Did these mean people upset you, my dear Suzie?” the man asks her.

  “Uncle Enrique,” Suzie says, barely able to control her voice. “It’s Rose. She…”

  The girl struggles to get the words out of her mouth, as she is drowning in tears.

  “She’s dead, uncle,” she says. “Rose is dead.”

  She then hugs her uncle as hard as she can, while she is still trying hard to contain her sobs.

  “Rose is… dead?” Enrique says, with a mixture of both pain and shock in his voice.

  His look then gradually darkens, as he looks towards us.

  “Are they the ones responsible for this?” Enrique asks, as he starts to slowly pull his sword out of its scabbard.

  “No!” Suzie shouts. “It wasn’t them! They tried to protect her! They’re her friends!”

  “I am the one who let Rose die,” Daren says, as he steps towards Enrique and bows his head before him. “I promised I would keep her safe, but I’ve failed her. I cannot even begin to express my apologies…”

  After seeing the pained expression on Daren’s face, Enrique slowly calms down, walks over to him, and then places a hand on his shoulder.

  “There’s no need to apologize, my friend,” Enrique says. “It is I who should apologize, for jumping to conclusions earlier. It’s clear that you’ve suffered a great deal from this as well.”

  Enrique then walks past Daren, and he takes a good look at each of us in turn.

  “Cheer up, my friends!” he says. “Why all the long faces? Rose would not have wanted to see you like this. She would have wanted you to smile. We should not be mourning Rose’s loss. We should be celebrating your safe return. And as Rose’s friends, you are all my friends as well!”

  He turns towards Suzie.

  “Suzie!” he says. “Bring me the finest bottle of wine from the cellar. The one that we were saving for a special occasion. You know which one I’m talking about, yes?”

  “Yes, uncle,” Suzie says, as she wipes her tears with her sleeve again, and she stops crying all of a sudden. “I’ll bring it right away!”

  “Now, then, friends of Rose,” Enrique says, as Suzie goes rushing towards the house, “Before we toast, I would like to hear your names. It would be unfitting to not know the names of the people I intend to share a drink with!”

  “Is this really the time and place to have a drink?” I say, after we all just look at him, dumbfounded, for a couple of seconds.

  “What are you talking about?” Enrique says. “It is always a good time and place to have a drink! Drinking brings people closer together. Just ask your dwarf friend. Dwarves are renowned for their excessive drinking habits, and yet they are one of the most united people in the world.”

  “Aye,” Hadrik says. “Although there is a common theory that the only reason why dwarves don’t carry grudges is because they’re always too drunk to remember what they did on the previous day. My name is Hadrik, by the way. Pleased to make your acquaintance!”

  Hadrik then shakes Enrique’s hand and he introduces the rest of us in turn.

  “This here’s Barry,” Hadrik says. “This is Daren. Over there we have Kate, and the little girl’s name is Flower. Oh, and we also have two banshees. The one inside the girl’s body is named Illuna, and the one in the amulet I’m holding is named Arraka.”

  There is a barely audible mumbling sound coming from the closed amulet, as Hadrik stops talking, but nobody pays it any mind.

  “Two banshees?” Enrique asks, a bit shocked. “And Rose was friends with both of them?”

  “Well, not both of them,” Hadrik says. “The one in the amulet is more our prisoner than our ally, really, but Illuna and Rose were definitely very good friends.”

  “Well, in that case she will always be welcome here, banshee or no,” Enrique says. “Ah, here comes our wine!”

  Suzie is now hurrying towards us with a bottl
e of wine in her hands, while behind her, we can see Ella, who seems to have fully recovered after last night, and who is carrying a plate that has several wine glasses on top of it. When the two of them arrive, they place both the plate and the bottle on a picnic table next to us, and then Suzie starts to open the bottle.

  “By the gods,” Enrique says when he sees Ella. “My eyes have been truly blessed to bear witness to such beauty!”

  He then bows gallantly and kisses her hand.

  “If my heart didn’t already belong to Rose for all eternity, I would have likely fallen for you in an instant!” Enrique says.

  Ella is looking a bit confused after hearing Enrique’s words, but instead of answering him, she decides to bow elegantly, and to introduce herself.

  “My name is Ella,” the girl says. “I’ve heard from Suzie what happened to miss Rose. I am sorry for your loss.”

  For a moment, there was a glimmer of sadness in Enrique’s eyes, as he heard Ella’s words, but he quickly forced back a cheerful smile on his face, before he spoke again.

  “There is no reason for you to apologize, my dear!” Enrique says. “You had nothing to do with this.”

  “I assume you are the new master of this house,” Ella says. “I believe I owe you an explanation for my being here. You see, Rose has only just hired me yesterday to work as…”

  Ella pauses for a few seconds before she continues, as she slowly lowers her head.

  “As a slave,” she says. “I am well trained in house cleaning and cooking, and I also know how to read and write. If you will have me, I promise that I will serve you as faithfully as I’ve served her.”

  “I’m going to stop you right there, Ella,” Enrique says, as he gently lifts the girl’s chin with his hand, so she can look directly in his eyes. “You should not be telling such lies. The Rose I knew would never have hired a slave to work for her. No matter what your past may have been, once you became a part of this family, you did so as a free woman, and not as a slave. As long as you work in this house, you are prohibited to call yourself a slave any longer. Are we clear?”