Anagha Baheti

I didn’t look his way, afraid to give up the element of surprise. The tyrant started to mime a spell that I knew would be my end. Out of options, I spat out about twenty icicles of different sizes in the tyrant’s direction. I expected him to dodge them all. Though it was waste of magic, I needed time to prepare. The pages of my grimoire turned frantically and showed me the spell. I mimed it, and a thin stream of poisonous liquid shot through my fingers. My opponent dodged, but the liquid caught his right hand. His movements became slow as the poison spread through his body.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a vial of red liquid appeared in his hand and he chugged the contents. He threw away the vial, eyes focused on me with a rage I hadn’t seen before. His grimoire turned a page, and I knew what was coming my way. Spikes of metal shot through his fingers towards me, but they passed by without a single scratch. That’s when I realised, I hadn’t been flying for some time. I looked down, and noticed a disc holding me in the air. Justin was helping me after all.

With that problem handled I turned my attention back to my enemy. I prepared for my next spell, and that’s when I ran into a much bigger problem. I was almost out of magic.

“Take me to him.” I whispered to Justin through the stone, turning my head sideways so the tyrant wouldn’t notice. The disc carried me to my destination, and disappeared. As I fell, I pulled out a long dagger from my belt, and held it out towards my enemy’s head.

He received it on his own sword. When had he pulled it out? How was he so fast? I rolled away from him, careful to stay away from the magma, and raised my dagger to my chest.

“You are pathetic.” The tyrant spat out.

Another round of metal spikes shot out of his fingers and tore through my body. The pain was blinding, but it didn’t last too long. Just as quickly as my body had been torn apart, it knit itself back together. My mind became clear just in time to raise my dagger. The tyrant’s sword smashed into my dagger and the force threw me back about twenty paces. Had Justin healed me? Why? Why was he wasting his limited magic on healing spells when he could attack? I could see the surprise in my enemy’s eyes. For a second. Then, the rage was back.

“Play all your silly little tricks, Mage. They won’t save you. You will die today.”

“See, the thing about that is…”

He didn’t wait for me to finish. A wave of fire erupted from the tyrant’s fingers. I jumped and rolled out of the way, but the stream of fire followed me. I knew I couldn’t roll away fast enough. I accepted my fate and prepared for the pain of the burn, but a strong wind threw me far out of harm’s way. My body slammed against the castle walls, just far enough for the tyrant to drop the spell. I was pretty scratched up and bruised, but suffered no burns. I jumped to my feet and held up my dagger to defend myself. Just then, Justin stood up from behind the bushes.

“That’s enough. Time for this drama to end.”

The tyrant looked shocked. Then, his eyes fell on Justin’s book. He smiled. Then he laughed. His loud, hearty laughter was the only sound hanging in the air.

Justin’s fingers mimed a spell, and dark clouds gathered above our enemy’s head. Ice shards started falling from the clouds. They tore through his shield, causing the tyrant to bleed through hundreds of tiny cuts. Though his skin was covered in blood, he continued to laugh like a maniac. Still laughing, he rose his hand and mimed the spell for magma again, aimed directly at Justin’s head. I screamed out to him.

Justin’s grimoire turned to a fresh page and a new spell appeared on it. He mimed it, and his shield became metal. The magma eroded the outer layers, but it stood. I couldn’t believe how lucky Justin had been.

The tyrant followed it with a volley of metal spikes that dug into Justin’s shield, but didn’t harm him. He threw the shield away, and a new spell appeared on his grimoire. One new spell mid battle was luck, but two… that was unheard of. Just how strong was he?

As Justin finished miming his spell, a tornado started to spin around him. It picked up chunks of magma and shards of metal as it spun towards the tyrant. I ran towards the bushes as fast as my feet could carry me. My fingers curled around the branches just in time. I felt my shoe being pulled off my foot by the force of the winds. As I turned my head towards them, I saw a brief glimpse of the tyrant’s sword move. The tornado was gone.

“Did he… cut through my spell?” Justin’s voice whispered in my ear through the stone. My head automatically turned towards him. His mouth was open in genuine shock. “Why didn’t you tell me he has the Sword of the Wind?”

“What is that?” I asked through the stone.

His hand slapped against his forehead. The tyrant raised his sword and ran towards Justin. Pinned between the running mage and the pool of magma, Justin hastily mimed the spell that appeared on his grimoire.

I didn’t see him move. By the look on the tyrant’s face, neither did he. One moment, Justin was standing in front of me, the next moment his hand was wrapped around the hilt of a long knife. The other end was buried into the tyrant’s torso. A trickle of blood escaped his lips.

“Did you… time magic is forbidden.” My voice was louder than I intended.

“What choice did I have?”

Justin kept his gaze towards the horizon. The tyrant’s eyes met mine and a sad smile crept upon his lips.

“You are such a fool! How could you not know who you brought into my kingdom? The thickness of his grimoire… The tattoos… The new spells appearing mid-battle… How many hints do you need? He is…”

“Chaotic.” My eyes were widened in surprise. “That can’t be… They were all…”

“Eradicated?” Justin smiled. “Not all of us.”

“Answer me this, Chaotic Mage.” The tyrant coughed and spat out blood. “Are you good?”

“Yes.”

“Then my crown is yours. As is my sword. Take care of my people. Unlike me, I hope you don’t get lost along the way.”

What? That wasn’t part of the deal. We were supposed to kill the tyrant and then… I hadn’t thought of that far ahead. I assumed someone would take over. How did we end up here?

“Thank you, friend. It was an honour fighting you. You may rest now.”

Justin picked the crown off the dead tyrant’s head and placed it on his own. Then, he unfastened the Sword of the Wind and tied it around his waist.

I coughed. Justin looked at me with a blank expression. He didn’t say anything, but I felt the hair on my neck stand.

“It’s nothing. It’s just that I was promised a reward for killing the tyrant. I know you killed him, but I would like to think that I contributed. So…”

“You may collect the reward from the guards. Then, leave this village and never return. Oh, and I hope I don’t need to explain what happens if you recount the events of this evening to anyone. I hope you know by now the mediocrity of your skills. Don’t make me hunt you.”

I nodded.

I had so many questions. The only way to stay alive was to never seek the answers. And I was very determined to stay alive.