Wielders of Magic, Book 1: A Spell Binding Tale

Edowain awoke in a castle, a small one but still it was a fortress with red curtains and strange tapestries. A bag had been placed over her head when she was kidnapped and she was tied up like a mummy, brought to this terrible place by a band of strange men. She struggled a little before a thought zoomed through her head.

Why haven't they killed me already?

"Ah, the wife of that retched magic user." A deep voice said behind her. She cringed as a rough hand slid across her smooth neck and wondered who these people were. The man came around and sat in the dilapidated thrown before her, his eyes looking straight into her soul. "After observing you for a while, we found that you had no magic yourself. Unless you hide it that is."

"What do you want with me?" Edowain demanded.

"I want you to tell me everything about your husband, where he is at, and where the rest of your little friends are." He rested his head on his hand, staring at her casually. "My name is Tiranous, and I have been tracking all of you for a while. But I had some business to clean up and I lost your trail."

"I will tell you nothing! You killed all of our people!" She spat on the ground in front of her. "You are a murderer and you have no love in your heart!"

"Right, I don't. I don't give a rats ass either." He got up and walked over to her, grabbing her chin and squeezing her face. "Want to tell me some other things about myself?"

She glared at him in return.

"I will not hurt you. You are not a witch, but that does not mean I will treat you well. You will be put in a dungeon with no food except a chickens bone, and you will live out all of your days until you waste away into nothing." He backed away, sitting upon his throne. "The dungeon has no windows, open doorways, or light. You will be in complete and utter darkness for the rest of your worthless life, and the key will be thrown into a well, where it shall never return. Tell me where he is, or this shall happen to you, and everyone I find that was in league with him."

Edowain was starting to seriously ponder weather or not she should tell him their last location. She stared at the floor, wondering which would be worse: to be a traitor, or waste away as a faithful ally?

"I know he loves you, but . . . do you love him as much?" Tiranous looked her up and down for a moment. She was a beauty, but tainted by magic users. If only . . .

"I left my people for him." She said softly.

"Well, true love at its finest. But, darling, you do not have magic. He lives and breaths it. How does that make you feel? Being around all of those 'talented' beings and knowing that with a thought they could destroy you?"

Edowain tried hard to push his words out of her ears. She loved Rentham, he was her soul mate, her lover she had picked over a thousand others her father had offered to her. She picked him because he was faithful, daring, wise and loved her with all of his heart. He was an honorable man, one she looked up to and respected, and she knew he did the same to her.

But the magic. Always with the magic. Some new spell he would ramble on about, like he was rubbing it in her face that she didn't have the gift of magic. She would listen because she loved him, but the fact always remained that she would never have the wondrous talent that she so longed to have.

Edowain couldn't discuss magic with him, she couldn't practice it with him, she couldn't do anything in that area of expertise. It made her hate herself for not being born with the wonder, hated herself for not being able to help him in that field.

When they had sided with Jackson, Drusilla and Rey she had her self loathing intensified, seeing them all use magic as he did and wonder at how she was never born with it.

Why was she chosen to be mortal . . .

"Tell me where he is located; where they are located." Tiranous repeated, leaning forward, seeing his seed of doubt take root and sprout within her shuddering form. "You can be beside me, you can destroy them with me, you could show them that one does not need magic to be powerful."

"I am sorry Rentham." Edowain looked up at him, her eyes full of tears. "You may not kill him! I will help you in every way but that! If you turn against your word, I will kill you."

He thought about it for a moment, licking his lips and laying a hand on his chin. "Why not?"

"Because I love him still. He is still my husband."

"Awe, darling you can't have both." He got up, telling his two cronies to untie her bonds. "He will know he has been betrayed, and he will betray you as well."

"I . . . know. That does not mean I want to see him killed." She got up, stretching her arms.

"Find her a quarter staff. At least, that is what I think you use is it not?" He turned and looked at her for a moment.

"Yes, it is."

Tiranous walked towards her, his face becoming as serious as the grave. "I want you to swear to kill all the magic users we come across, not one left behind."

"Except Rentham."

"Yes, except your husband." He nodded. "Swear to me."

Edowain paused. If she crossed this line, she would never return to her old life. She could still be faithful, still wait for her husband to find her one day soon while she stayed in the dungeon.

Or . . . she could side with the enemy and help them. Help them destroy the magic users that always put her in her place. She could show them that one didn't need magic to be powerful, show them that they were not better than her mortal form.

"I . . . swear to you." She said softly.

"Good, than we shall get you some armor." He slapped her shoulder and nodded. "You will be my partner. Come on." He started to walk out the doors, which made her sigh with slight regret and follow. She could never go back.

Never.

Jackson and Rentham both stared at the strange tracks on top of the mountain side, wondering how someone could vanish like that and leave not a trace behind.

"The other got up and left with a surprise visitor . . ." Rentham said as he walked in the foot steps. "That way." He pointed South, down into the forest once again.

"Should we follow?" Jackson asked, his chocolate brown eyes scanning the forest floor for anymore clues.

"Yes, I think we should. It will take at least a day to get back to camp from here, and I bet they are doing alright, so lets go now. If these tracks deviate too far from the area, I think we should head back. What do you think?"

"Yes, I believe you are right." He nodded and looked to the swiftly darkening sky. "Wonder how they are doing right now. What if something happened? What if they got attacked? What if-"

"Peace my friend, I am sure they are alright." He laid a hand on his comrades shoulder, a grin spreading across his face. "And I am sure Drusilla misses you."

"I am sure she doesn't." He said under his breath as the fallen king turned away. His eyes kept staring at the stars, imagining that one time she had had her wings, wild and free and just glided in the air above him, staring at the wondrous lights.

She had always loved the stars . . .

"Jackson!" Rentham called, a few yards ahead of him. "Are you coming?"

"Oh yes, sorry!" Jackson took one more look at the stars than bounded after his partner.

"I will not forgive her." Drusilla growled at Jaden, her eyes raging with fire. "She killed Arthur, without a second thought. How can I trust or forgive that!?"

"I am not asking that of you, I am just simply asking you to except her presence." Jaden replied. "She is truly sorry, Drusilla. Please, do not treat her terribly. Her life has meant nothing to her for the past three hundred years. Please, do not condemn her."

The Red Witch stared at him, her eyes hard and unmerciful. She eventually softened though and looked over at Lilith, who was sobbing her eyes out as her new found brother Rey was trying to comfort her. "I will . . . try. Because you asked so earnestly."

"Thank you." Jaden smiled and sighed a little. "So you said I could stay . . ." His voice trailed off.

"Yes, of course. I will make sure you have a tent and things to sleep in." She got up, looking around. "Well, just as soon as Jackson and Rentham get back. I don't know what the plan is until than."

Jaden sat with his swords on his lap, wondering what to do with himself. All he could do was sit, he didn't know any of these people really, and the only person that had really talked to him was Drusilla.

But she looked like she had things to do anyway. He had seen her run around fixing things the whole time he was there, and wondered if she really did anything else. If she wasn't fixing she was studying her magic. Did she ever have time off?

The Red Witch picked up a few blankets that were around a fire and started to fold them, looking off into the darkening sky and freezing in her tracks. She always stared up at the stars when she was lonely, because she knew that someone else was staring as well. At least one other person was, and she didn't know who, but it never failed her.

It comforted her when no one else was there for her.

"Name of the Abyss Jackson, where are you?" Drusilla whispered to the night. "Its been two days, for heavens sake come home!"

"Are you alright?" A voice asked behind her. She turned to see Jaden, a slight look of concern crossing his face.

"Oh yes, certainly." She forced a wide smile and walked past him, finishing the blankets and laying them back in the spot they were before. "Do not worry about me, I am a lost cause."

"Don't say that." Jaden followed her. "Your the only one who has really been talking to me this whole time and you have been very kind to me."

"Thank you Jaden." She smiled a little sadly and entered her tent, hoping he wouldn't follow and talk to her some more. She wanted peace, that was all.

After Rey calmed Lilith down enough to sleep, he and Jaden both slept in his tent as well, all tired and weary themselves. Soon they were all taken by their minds and thrown into a different world of the slumbering, not even conscious of what the outside world was doing.

Which was a perfect opportunity for the predator, that had hid in plain sight the whole time, to make its move.

Five sticky strands, like tentacles, slowly slithered through their camp, feeling the things around the fire, wondering where all the life went away to. They made their way to the tents and pried their way in, finally wrapping themselves around the adventurers feet.

Drusilla screamed as she was pulled out of her bed, being dragged across camp by some unknown tentacle! Her hands found the cold steel handle of a dagger beside the fire and she ran it into the slimy thing, making it recoil with a shriek from a few yards away.

"Rey, normally I would scold you for leaving your knives around, but not today!" She looked at the wavy bladed dagger and smiled thankfully.

"What is going on?" Jaden, Lilith and Rey all pored out of their tents, wearing their messy bed clothes and weapons at the ready.

"Something grabbed my foot and I don't know what it was." Drusilla replied, handing Rey his knife. "I stabbed it with this."

"Oh yeah, I left that out last night. Whoops." He put it onto his belt with an apologetic smile.

"What . . . what is that?" Jaden asked, pointing behind the Red Witch. She turned and saw a very tall, one eyed creature with five long tentacles whipping around in the air.

"Roper!" Rey shouted, drawing his dagger once again. "Damn where is my magic when I need it!?"

"Tell me more." Lilith replied to him. "I have no idea what this thing is."

"They have strength sapping tentacles that can stick to you like glue. They have one eye, and a round, teeth filled mouth. They like to feast on adventurers, or whatever else stumbles upon their path." They all stared up at the tall, tree stump like beast as it roared and spat with anger. "They like to disguise themselves as tree stumps, and or rocks."

"Have any magical abilities?" Drusilla asked, a thousand spells running through her mind as she levitated a book over to her.

"I . . . don't know." Rey tilted his head to the side for a moment. "It might, well besides the fact it can sap your strength."

Jaden let out a small shout as he ran at it, his feet nimble and quick as he leaped at the beast, missing every "rope" that was flung at him. His boots magically shot him double the amount of feet into the air that a normal being can jump, and his two, steel bladed Katanas dug deep into the things wooden-like flesh.

It was Lilith's turn next, dodging the Ropers strands and severing one from its base, digging a knife from her belt into the things eye. It screamed and its tentacles all fell upon her, wrapping around her with layer upon layer until she fell to the ground in a weak heap of armor and flesh.

Drusilla spat her fire magic into the air and formed a ball of flame as big as her hand, throwing it at the beast with such speed it engulfed the thing as soon as it came in contact.

Rey stood back and wondered how he had become the useless one in the group. He had had magic more powerful then them all combined, and it had been taken away from him.

He realized then he would have to learn a new skill.

Jaden ran his sword down the beast, splitting its hard form as his steel blade magic kicked in, making them sharper with every inch they cut. He soon found himself being slightly roasted with the fire Drusilla had put upon it, and decided it was best to let it burn.

Jumping from the beast, he took a few steps back, all shouting in triumph as the thing said its last roar, burning to a crisp.

"Oh Lilith!" Drusilla cried and ran up to the blaze, cutting the former witch hunter from the tentacles and dragging her back to the group. "That was close."

"Yeah, you just saved her." Rey said with a grin. "I thought you would of let her burn."

"Well I . . ." Her voice trailed off as well as her fiery hair and fists. She had found that the element of flame was strong with her soul, and that she wielded it best, though other spells she could wield just as well, the fire was more powerful. "Shut up Rey."

"Hey look." Jaden said, walking over to the fallen Roper and kicking its ashes across camp. "Gold."

Drusilla and Rey darted over to the place and found that it was true. The beasts stomach was full of jewels, gold, jewelry, daggers and knives; it was like a treasure chest found in the depths of the sea!

"Name of the gods we are rich!" Rey cried, sticking his hands into the treasure.

"Why was it full of this? Does it have a taste for metal?" Drusilla asked, picking up a silver ring with a emerald embedded into it. She smiled and put it on her finger.

"Adventurers wear these things, notice the knives and magical charms that help inhance speed and agility." The former warlock picked up a dark metal star pendent. "This thing reeks with magic. I can almost taste it."

"Oh, I know how to find out what it does too!" Drusilla took it, calling her spell book to her and resting it on her lap.

"This one is the same. Oh, as well as this." Jaden said, picking out a few more tokens and setting them down in front of the Red Witch. "I clame these ones. Would you please find out what they do?"

"Sure." Drusilla replied, staring at her pendent with interest.

"I claim everything else!" Rey shouted, still at the burned ashes of the Roper.

"No wait!" Jaden replied, running back over to the spot and out of Drusilla's line of vision.

"Osfinas, kendrion, merundila secreton . . . mendesi mendesi, cretiranio." Drusilla recited out of the book, the pendent glowing with a luminous blue light.

"Tell me your secrets." The Red Witch said softly, the language of magic still flowing through her words.

"Stone skin is my protection, and fire and water do not harm you for ten minutes of constant interaction." The voice sang, a tune that made Drusilla smile. She didn't know that it sang when it told of its abilities.

"Ah!" Rey jumped at her and took the pendent from her hand, throwing it far into the bushes. "Thank the gods you didn't put that on!"

"What?" Drusilla growled angrily. "That was a valuable piece of-"

"It was dark magic you fool! No other item will sing of its abilities!" The former dark warlock said, placing his hands on his hips and looking down at her. "Don't you know anything about the dark arts?"

"Well, at least I have magic at the moment." Drusilla replied, standing up and looking him in the eye.

"That was not my fault. I didn't choose to lose it."

"Yes you did. You used dark magic, for years, and now you decided you were done with it so you got rid of it. You don't have magic because of a choice you made, to use dark magic, and it is nobodys fault but yours." Drusilla tilted her head and squinted her eyes, staring at him for a few more seconds before backing away. "But that's none of my business." She smiled and sat back down, beginning to "scan" the other items for their magical abilities.

Rey mumbled under his breath and walked back over to the stump, taking a hand full of the trinkets and stuffing them into his pocket. "Stupid ginger witch!" He growled and walked out of camp.

"I think you really made him mad." Jaden said with a slight grin. "Is it true, that he did use dark magic?"

"Yes, it is. I was with his little brother Jackson, in Reys house when he used dark magic. He contacted his dead wife in the Abyss than chased me up a flight of stairs that scared five years off of my life." She shrugged. "Later I learned it wasn't him exactly, because in reality he is a nice man, but with the dark magic he is a monster that no one can persuade. Maybe that is why he got rid of it . . ."

Lilith slowly sat up behind them, her breath coming in short gasps and her eyes flickering open. She felt as weak as if she had had the plague for a month, and doubted if she could even sit up. She persevered though and slowly picked herself up, sitting on her knees as her hand reached for her sword, it laying beside her.

"What happened?" She asked, starting to put the blade away.

"Drusilla watch out!" A familiar voice said as a figure came bounding into camp, tackling the former witch hunter and holding a knife to her throat. "How did you not see her there?"

"Jackson!" The Red Witch jumped up from her seat and ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I missed you! I thought you would never return!"

"I told you." Rentham said as he passed, looking down at Lilith and watching as her eyes rolled back into her head.

"Oh, and you can get off Lilith." Drusilla said, pushing him off. "Everything will be explained in time. She is an ally."

"Whoa." Jackson said, looking over at the pile of gold at the edge of camp. "Where did that come from?"

"We defeated a Roper." Rey shouted, coming back into camp. "I heard you voice, little brother, and I need to tell you something. Come with me please." He reached down and broke a chain with a small vile from around Liliths neck, leading Jack away from everyone.

"Whats wrong with her?" Rentham asked, kicking Liliths limp body.

"She had most of her energy sapped out of her by the Ropers tentacles." The Red Witch answered. "But she kept the strands at bay wile me and Jaden defeated the beast. He fought well, I say."

The young assassin looked up from his scrounging and smiled at her. She would be a good friend to him in the future, he could sense that a mile away.

Drusilla explained everything to Rentham as Rey did to Jackson. The brothers had found their long lost sister, one that had erased their memories to try and forget her past.

Now she was here, after aiding a Witch Hunter, and helping to destroy most of their peace and happiness. After killing Arthur, after killing countless of their kind.

"She is truly sorry, brother mine." Rey said as Jackson started to go into denial. "Truly. This is not some game she is playing. I have seen her cry until all of her tears were spent, seen her break down in the cold night and wonder how she could be such a person. I have seen her slowly come back to the world, I have seen our sister slowly come back to us."

"How can you ever know that she means it!?" Jackson shouted back, tears streaming down his face. "After father left, after mother was killed, we had no one left, and if she had staid with us, maybe . . . maybe we could of been more like a family."

"Please, brother, give her a chance." Rey smiled a little and wrapped his arms around his little brother. "She . . . she does look a little like mother. Her eyes are hard and cold, merciless, yet soft in a way. I don't know if that makes sense but if you remember-"

"I do. Mother always looked at us like that." Jack replied. "We used to be scared out of our wits when we did something wrong. And it wasn't because of the punishment."

"No, it was because we would have to suffer under that gaze." Rey looked at the ground, a painful grin still on his face. "But you know what? I miss it."

"Me too."

"Come on." Rey looked towards camp, holding the small vile of memories in his hand. "There is one left. Could it be . . ."

"Mothers?" Jackson tilted his head to the side.

"It very well could be." Rey put the thing around his neck, unconsciously fusing the chain back together with a small self heating spell one could do with a thought. He placed it around his neck, hiding it benieth his shirt.

"Oh, I see you have your magic back." Jackson slapped his brother on the back as they made their way back to camp. "That is wonderful."

"No I don't you-" Rey froze in his tracks. "I have my magic back!"

"Yes . . . you do." Jackson stared at him strangely.

"Go on into camp. I have something to do." Rey turned around and walked deeper into the woods, leaving the light of the camp fire and entering the black forest of the unknown.

"Asfenois, craditoria ferinoci crasios, mendonatia crestio!" Rey said, speaking the old and familiar words of magic that set his soul on fire! He could finally be himself again, finally be his powerful, strange, dark self!

Blue fire streamed from his fingers and caught the trees as he laughed. He didn't need dark magic to control him anymore, he was invincible, and he could do whatever he pleased!

He cast another spell and shot into the air, flying high into the sky and seeing the twinkling stars flourish above him, making his soul even more alive! Nothing could stop him, nothing could hold him back!

Rey whooped as he shot back for camp, flying through the air without wings. He had his power back, and he could stand by his comrades side and fight with the rest of them.

Lord knows they would have to fight in the future.