He’s angry at me.It reallywasa prophecy. A feeling of awe came over me as I stared at the Librarian.A Keeper! An actual Keeper had lived here the whole time!How did we never know?
I frowned a bit at the thought and filed the information away for me to dissect later.
But before my thoughts could continue to run away, the Librarian spoke.
“There is nothing for you here, turn and go.” His words were seemingly directed at the Mages and their Vessels, but his eyes were still fixed on me.
The Mage in front of him scoffed.
“Nothing for us here?Youare here. Illegally. All Keepers are required to report to an office to register their location and their business. You have not done so. Lord d’Refan requires that for such a breach of law, you are to be taken back to Vespera.” She was practically spitting at the end of her rant.
The Librarian said nothing else for a minute, but he pushed his head forward toward me, as if telling me to go inside. I quickly shook myself out of my stupor and backtracked the few steps into the inn, shutting the dooras I went. I didn’t turn around to greet Sharol, the innkeeper and my mentor, or even set my box down. Instead, I walked a few paces to my right where a large section of iron framed windows looked out onto Market Street.
The inside of the inn was just as quiet as the street outside, and although I could see the Librarian’s mouth moving and the Mage’s angry posture, I couldn’t hear anything.
Damn Air spelled windows.
“You might want to look away, Fay.” Sharol’s soft voice startled me and the purchases in my box rattled around as I jumped. I turned slightly to my right and saw the innkeeper, not much older than me, standing like a sentinel at the same window, hand pressed to the glass. Her eyes held a faraway look, like she wasn’t focused fully on the scene outside, and her mouth turned down slightly at the edges.
I shook myself and cleared my throat.
“No but thank you. I think I’ll watch.”
Her gaze turned to me then, briefly, before she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the window. “Suit yourself.”
“You’re standing here watching, I don’t see why I’m any different,” I grumbled.
“Because I’ve seen it before. And it’s not something you ever forget.” Her voice was even quieter, if possible, and my stomach sank like a rock.
Sharol knew a Keeper before, and something happened to them. Something she saw and can’t forget. For all the time we’d spent together, she’d never once brought something like this up.
Though much of her story was still a mystery, come to think of it.
The Mages and their Vessels suddenly gathered around the steps to The Curious, their movements purposeful and coordinated, designed to intimidate. But the Librarian never faltered, he simply stood in the doorway, waiting for something. He went eerily still for a moment, and I thought I saw his eyes take on that milky-white appearance, but I strained to see them through the distorted glass. I blinked and it was gone.
All at once, the Mages started channeling, their Vessels’ hands pressed firmly to their Mage’s back, arms, or neck—anywhere within reach. My eyes scanned the line of Mages, quickly taking stock. There were at least four Elemental Mages—a dominant for each element—and at least two PainMages, if the contorted grimaces of their Vessels were anything to go by. What remained a mystery was the affinity of the leader.
A Destruction Mage? Surely not.
Suddenly, the Elementals attacked as one, the Air Mage sent a blast at the Librarian, trying to knock him off the top step, but his attack seemed to melt around its recipient. It gusted around, ripping the sign from The Curious and flinging it down the street. At the same time, the Fire Mage threw small balls of fire to rain down on the roof of The Curious in an attempt to burn the Librarian out, but she didn’t factor in the Air Mage’s diverted attack and suddenly small fireballs were blown from their intended target and began to land on the surrounding buildings.
I gasped as the fire landed and the thatched roofs of nearby businesses lit up immediately, their occupants pouring out onto the street, forgetting or ignoring the Mage’s threat from earlier. A few other people exited the safety of their hiding spots inside to help put out the rapidly spreading fires. Steam and smoke rose, tangled together from the roof of the building after a few Water Mages used their power to subdue the flames.
While the townspeople were occupied, the two Pain Mages left their post by The Curious. The Earth Mage was now doing his best to move the steps where the Librarian was standing, with little success, and strode toward the commotion. I saw an elderly woman raise her hands and frantically wave them at the building on fire, but her motions quickly turned into a jerky seizure when one of the Pain Mages turned his power on her. Seeing the woman convulsing on the ground, villagers rushed about, some back to the safety of their stores, others to try and help the woman. Those who came close were ultimately caught up in the net of power the Pain Mage had cast. I watched in fascinated horror as the elderly woman slowly stopped convulsing, her limbs twitching every so often until she lay perfectly still. The others who had tried to help her soon followed suit.
I couldn’t look away, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the Elemental Mages stop their attack on The Curious, and I ripped my gaze away from the dead and dying to focus on the Librarian. His eyes were glued to the bodies scattered on the ground surrounding the feet of the Pain Mages, and he quickly took assured steps down from the doorway, saying something to the first Mage that caused her to back out of his way, until he was standing on the street.
No one moved, it seemed like no one breathed, then everyone reacted at once. The Air Mage coiled a whip of air, stealing the breath from the Librarian’s lungs while the Earth Mage called vines from below the street to protrude forth and wrap around the Librarian’s ankles and wrists, binding him to the ground. The Fire Mage quickly made a ring of fire around the stuck Librarian and what I assumed was a Destruction Mage.
The Destruction Mage waved her hand at the Air Mage, and the Librarian gasped for breath. He spat words at the Destruction Mage, which earned him a sharp fist to the mouth. I sucked in a breath, thankful I couldn’t hear the sound of her fist hitting flesh.
The Librarian shook his head for a moment before spitting a few bloody teeth down at the feet of the Destruction Mage. She squatted down until her face was level with his, as a Pain Mage who had just entered the circle through a gap in the flames, pulled his head back roughly by his hair. The female Mage traced a finger along the column of the Librarian’s throat before squeezing tightly. Restrained as he was, all the Librarian could do was try and gasp breaths through her grip, but his face quickly turned a shade of red, then purple, as he slowly suffocated, bubbles of spit, tinged pink with blood, gurgling out of his mouth. The Destruction Mage abruptly ripped her grip from his throat, but the Pain Mage never released his grasp on the Librarian’s hair, which forced the Librarian’s breaths to come shallower and slower than they normally would.
My assumption of the female Mage’s affinity was confirmed when I saw her dark grey, almost black wisps of magic flecked with what looked like embers, pool in her hands.
How do I know what Destruction Magic looks like? And why do Iknowit’s Destruction Magic?I’ve never seen that type of magic used before, it was incredibly rare, yet somehow, I could see it, and I knew exactly what the female Mage was before she revealed her power.
I set those thoughts aside to catalogue and dissect them later as well.
