Outlaw magic, p.1
Outlaw Magic, page 1
The Last Magus 5
Outlaw Magic
DB King
Copyright © 2021 by DB King
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
v003
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Contents
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Contents
Series by DB King
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
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Free progression Fantasy Novel!
About the Author
Series by DB King
Dragon Magus
Dungeon of Evolution
Kensei
The Last Magus
Mage’s Path
Shinobi Rising
War Wizard
Chapter 1
Alec Diamondspear had never seen such beauty before.
He’d seen beauty in his life, certainly. In fact, compared to most young men of his age, he’d been positively privileged. He’d grown up in the stately halls of the Archon Temple, raised with the monks in their ancient monastery, and been sent to the Royal Academy of Magic to learn to wield the elements. In his short time in the world, he’d seen magical beasts fly through the midnight sky, watched a dragon evolve right in front of his eyes, and fought his own reflection in a hall of mirrors.
But he’d never seen anything quite like the Haunted Isle.
Alec stood at the side of the Titan’s Claw, the magically controlled airship created by the inventor and magician known as Maimonides the Shadebringer. He stared down at the enchanted island. Strands of the magical mist that shielded the island from normal discovery enshrouded the coasts, covering the golden beaches and reaching to the bases of the green treetops. Despite the name, the Haunted Isle appeared to be quite green—a veritable jungle paradise, the air balmy and warm against his Academy robes. Small birds flitted from tree to tree, filling the air with exotic calls and songs.
Alec smiled. On his lips, he could still taste the kiss he’d just shared with Eleira, his beloved. The elf girl stood a few feet away, chatting with Maimonides and Alison Raleigh—the latter of whom called this island her home. According to Alison, it was the hideout of a group of rebels known as the ‘Inscribers’: a cadre of commoner mages dedicated to stealing the grimoires of the noble houses and spreading magical ability to the masses. To most of the kingdoms of men, Alison and her friends were criminals—but they were the only ones who would give Alec and his group of friends refuge now.
Everyone aboard the Titan’s Claw was a traitor to the crown.
Oh, not by choice, of course. Alec had never thought of rebelling against his so-called betters: like most lads his age, he tried to think of the ruling classes as little as possible and live his own life. But thanks to Dean Jonas Wolfe, the emeritus of the Royal Academy, Alec and his friends had all been branded as terrorists. The fact that the Dean of the Academy was himself secretly a spy for the forces of Chaos seemed not to matter a whit: without hard proof, it was Alec’s word against the Dean’s. And once the magical world learned that the heir of House Diamondspear freed the traitor Alison Raleigh from the Academy’s dungeons…
That ‘traitor’ walked across the deck of the Titan’s Claw now, beaming down at the sight of her homeland. Had Alec been thinking clearly from the beginning, he would have realized something was up with Alison Raleigh from the first time they’d sparred. The girl didn’t fight like the rest of the mages from the Academy—and she didn’t think like them, either. If she hadn’t tried to kill Alec and hadn’t poisoned his friend Rawiri, he’d have considered her a great friend and ally.
He’d been trying to forgive her for those evil deeds. But attempted murder was hard to forget.
“The Inscriber’s hideout is at the dead center of the island,” Alison was explaining to Maimonides. Now that they’d penetrated the mists shrouding the island from casual scrutiny, the gnome seemed almost as excited as Alec himself. “There’s a landing pad for airborne vessels just outside of our city. They’ll see us coming—a welcoming party ought to be there waiting for us by the time we land.” The blonde beamed, showing even, white teeth. “My parents will be among them!”
“How wonderful for you,” Eleira said, sliding a hand around Alec’s waist. Having the elf girl next to him always made Alec feel comforted, more like a man and less a boy. On reflex, he glanced down at the elf girl’s left hand, searching her finger for a ring that wasn’t there.
I’ll have to buy her a big one, Alec thought giddily. I still can’t believe she said yes…
Though they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it until long after the war was over, Alec had proposed to Eleira Leafwalker. And she’d said yes. He wore no ring, and neither did she, yet their hearts felt linked all the same.
The elf girl followed Alec’s gaze down to her hand, then flashed an enigmatic smile.
“We’ll take care of that as soon as we can,” she assured him, resting her head against the hollow of his shoulder.
“I know we will,” he said, watching as the churning waves gradually gave way to the shoreline. “That’s not what I’m worried about, Eleira—not at all.”
A giggle spilled from the elf girl’s lips. “Perhaps you should be,” she said, gently nudging Alec with her body. “You didn’t even think to ask Tanuin before you proposed. He’s going to be so irritated he didn’t get to be part of this. You two are going to have so much catching up to do the next time you meet…”
Alec hadn’t thought about that at all. His childhood friend was still out there, ranging among the wild places of the world. He wondered what old Tanuin had heard about their escapades—and whether he believed the lies.
He wouldn’t, Alec decided. Tanuin was no fool—he knew Alec didn’t have a wicked bone in his body. Even if the elvish ranger decided Alec really had gone over to the Inscribers and rebelled against the noble houses, he’d know his best friend had a very good reason.
Before Alec could ask Eleira anything else about Tanuin, a door on deck swung open. In the stairwell leading down to the cabins within the Titan’s Claw, Alec saw a female figure standing and bracing themselves against the side of the doorway.
“Could you please,” Jolenta said, sounding more seasick than ever before, “hold this vessel steady for just ten minutes at a time?”
The young woman strode hesitantly across the deck, one hand clinging to her stomach as she made her way on unsteady legs toward the front of the longboat. Behind her came a handsome man with blonde hair wearing the robes of the Royal Academy in a dashing cut: Jolenta’s boyfriend, Vodalus. Both students had defected from the school along with Alec and Eleira, having understood the Academy was full of spies working with the forces of Chaos. Alec couldn’t quite understand their drama filled antics or the fluid nature of their relationship, but the two of them were the best friends he had at the Academy. They’d all been members of a secret society, Poicstesme, which met in the Academy’s cellars.
“We’ll be touching down soon enough,” Alison explained from the bridge. “It’s not a long trip to the center of the island—and things should be significantly smoother once we’re over land.”
“Can’t happen soon enough for me,” Jolenta murmured, gripping the railing as she took her place next to Alec and Eleira. The woman’s face was even paler than usual, setting a shocking contrast with her black lipstick and raven-dark locks. “I’m still seeing myself failing all of you every time I close my eyes. I know that monster that attacked us wasn’t really Dean Wolfe, but if I ever see the man again, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind…”
Despite the relative safety of the moment, a spike of panic filled Alec’s guts. He knew exactly what Jolenta was talking about—and could see that despite their smiles, the reminder shone darkly behind the eyes of his companions. The phantasm creature that tracked them over the ocean, wearing first the face of Dean Jonas Wolfe and then Uriel Diamondspear’s wayward son Baldir, had shown him and his friends failing to save the world from the forces of Chaos. Each of them were having to shake off visions of themselves losing—and not in an honorable way, but with a cowardice that shamed them.
“It was just a vision,” Alec said, meeting Jolenta and Vodalus’s eyes in turn. “It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t have to be the future unless we allow it to happen…”
Both students looked a little surprised, then nodded. “Tell that to poor Imogen and Rawiri,” Jolenta said then, a smirk cutting through her anxiety. The woman looked a little bit like her old self again. “I feel so bad for the Igneous boy. Imagine spending so much time recuperating in the Academy’s infirmary, only to be made bedridden again a day after breaking free of our school…”
Alec, who’d spent more time in the Infirmary than most students, understood completely. “Once we’re among Alison’s people, we can take a rest,” he assured his fellows. “Archon knows we need it!”
“Land ho!” Maimonides shouted, cupping a hand around his mouth.
The Titan’s Claw had no flag at its prow announcing the vessel’s colors, but the gnome’s wardrobe could easily have sufficed as a signal at any distance. The Shadebringer wore outfits in color combinations that made lesser men’s eyes water—bright reds and yellows clashing with magentas and browns, as if the gnome had dressed himself after an explosion in a garment factory.
“Strange that there’s no welcoming party here to greet us,” the gnome said. “Do your Inscribers not have floating vessels, Alison?”
“Our people prefer to keep to themselves,” Alison explained—yet Alec couldn’t help but notice the worry lines around the blonde’s eyes. Clearly, this wasn’t what the girl had expected from the Haunted Isle, either. “That said, the shore does seem rather barren…”
They were passing over it at that very moment. The Titan’s Claw soared over the sand, the blue runes inscribed into its silvery sides glowing and dimming in turn as Maimonides expertly guided the craft over the island.
“It’s lovely,” Alec said, feeling the words insufficient to explain the way he felt. He’d just been thinking that when he and Eleira finally tied the knot, that there’d be no better place in all the kingdoms for them to spend their honeymoon. “Are there normally more people out here, though, Alison?”
“There’s fishing boats…” the blonde whispered, leaning further over the rail and scanning the horizon on both sides. “Why is there no one out and about?”
Something more disturbing occurred to Alec. “Eleira?” he asked, a catch entering his voice.
The elf girl’s hand squeezed his. “What’s wrong?”
“Firemane,” Alec said, naming Eleira’s familiar. The massive dragon never strayed far from her side; it had followed them through the wall of mist surrounding the Haunted Isle, copying their motions to make it through the barrier. “He’s not behind us any longer!”
Eleira gave a start. Her hand left Alec’s as she raced across the deck, heading toward the rear of the craft to verify Alec’s claim—
The Titan’s Claw tilted to the side as something collided with it.
Alec was thrown from his feet. The railing that had been a steady presence at his side suddenly lay near his knees, turned from horizontal to vertical in a sickening lurch of a moment. He kicked out with a foot, tangling an ankle beneath the metallic bar to keep from falling overboard.
Eleira tumbled past him. The elf girl had been mid-stride when something crashed into the vessel—unlike Alec, she wasn’t lucky enough to have something to hold onto. He watched her pass him by, her reaction so delayed that her face was only filled with surprise, not fear, as she went over the side of the Titan’s Claw.
“No!” Alec screamed, leaping from his safe spot. He jumped into open air, colliding with Eleira as they both dropped like stones toward the churning waves below. The elf girl clung to him tightly, both of them turning end over end as they fell.
Staring up at the sky, Alec could see what he’d been blind to before—the thing that had hit their vessel was Firemane. The dragon had his claws wrapped around the Titan’s Claw and appeared to be dragging it back out to sea against the wishes of everyone remaining on board. No one else had fallen, thankfully—Maimonides and Alison Raleigh clung to the bridge, while both Jolenta and Vodalus had managed to get themselves tangled up in the rigging near the mast.
“Firemane!?” Eleira’s voice was barely audible over the wind. “He’s gone mad! What is he doing—”
An explosion rocked the air. A chill shot down Alec’s spine—Firemane hadn’t done that.
The shockwave rippled through the clouds, nearly tearing the Titan’s Claw from its perch in the sky. Had Eleira’s dragon not knocked the longship off course at the last moment, the explosion would have happened right on deck. It would have killed them all, or at least blown Maimonides’s longship to smithereens. As it was, it very nearly did the job. The Claw’s sails lay in tatters, the masts broken and splintered by their nearness to the explosion.
Far off in the distance, a ball of blue energy rose over the jungle. It distorted in mid-air, becoming an oblong shape like a missile, then streaked toward the Titan’s Claw with the force of a firecracker. Trails of glowing blue magic trailed behind it, distorting the view of the clouds. A horrifying, high-pitched whistle filled the air as the projectile came closer, aimed directly at the Titan’s Claw’s new position.
“By the Archon, we’re under attack!” Alec screamed, still toppling. He knew he had only moments before he and Eleira hit the water—and that from this height, they’d probably smash into the water with enough force to break bones.
Hugging the elf girl tightly, he activated the Bloodcloak.
The crimson garment around his shoulders required neither a verbal nor gestured signal. As the last and most powerful of the Archon’s gifts to Alec—not to mention the least understood—it responded to sheer need, wrapping itself tightly around the Alec and Eleira as they fell.
As the fabric closed out the world, the feeling of plummeting straight down vanished, and Alec found himself teleported upward. As the fabric retreated, the pair found themselves standing atop the cabin of the Titan’s Claw, as safe as it was possible to be as the longboat shot out to sea.
The Bloodcloak normally remained silent when not in use. But recently, it had spoken to Alec with far more than the whispers he normally heard whenever he activated the Archon’s tool. When he and the monster wearing Wolfe’s visage clashed beneath the waves, Alec had felt something else emanate from the crimson garment—a fury that had seemed offended to find itself in the presence of such an abomination. That level of rage had shocked Alec, and it had seemed to drain the Bloodcloak itself as well. The fabric had gone limp immediately after the battle, as if it had needed a break.
A second explosion rocked the longboat backward. The shockwave nearly knocked Alec and Eleira off their feet; the deck lurched beneath them dangerously, tilting nearly sideways before the painted runes along the sides restored the craft’s equilibrium.
Firemane let go of the longboat and roared. The dragon’s wings flapped toward the open sea; the creature appeared to be making it known that it wanted them to get far away from the center of the island, as quickly as possible.
Alec understood almost instantly. “Back us up!” he yelled, gesturing to Maimonides as the deck resumed its horizontal cast beneath him. “Get us away from the island! Reverse the longboat!”
Maimonides’s fingers were already working at the controls. The glowing blue runes along the side of the silvery craft sparkled like fireflies as the vessel reversed, as rapidly as the gnome could give the commands. A rumble echoed through the craft’s frame as it moved back, the front end of the Titan’s Claw tilting backward to momentarily obscure the island in front of them. Far off along the horizon, more magical projectiles shot into the air, seeking targets.
These, however, did not approach the ship. As soon as the Titan’s Claw reached the open water, the explosions ceased. Alec and the rest of his friends stayed low to the deck, grabbing onto anything tied down tightly enough to keep them on board if the craft suddenly went vertical a second time.
