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Authors: Rain Oxford

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The Sorcerer's Quest

BOOK: The Sorcerer's Quest
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The Sorcerer’s Quest

 

The Sorcerer’s Saga Book 1

 

 

 

Rain Oxford

The
Sorcerer’s Quest © 2016 Rain Oxford

All
Rights Reserved

Cover
art by Brooke Gillette

 

Chapter 1

“Please just let me tell you---” I stopped because I
was suddenly talking to a door. I sighed and started back down the road. Dread
and hunger were wearing on me. A man stepped out of the forest, followed by a
huge, overweight, slow-moving animal with black and white spots. “Excuse me,
sir,” I said, giving him as much excitement as I could muster up.

“Yes? How can I help you?” he asked. He was a kind
looking man and although he wore shabby clothes, his face and hair were clean.

“I was wondering, would you be interested in buying
some magic beans?”

He frowned and shook his head. “Sorry, I’ve just
traded my own magic beans for this beast.” He indicated the animal, which was
eating the grass. “I would be willing to trade the beast for your beans,
though. I really don’t think I got the fair end of that deal.”

I pulled out the handful of beans from my pocket and
studied the beast. “I… I’m sorry. My mother would kill me if I did.” That was a
lie, but I couldn’t live with myself if I subjected an animal to her.

“I understand. Good day to you.”

“And you.” He hurried on his way and I sighed.
At
least he didn’t notice my family seal embossed on my dark green robe.
That
might have been due to the fact that I had my robe inside out. This was on
purpose.

After the fifth door I knocked on where nobody
answered, I had reversed the robe to hide the gold needlework. It worked;
people answered the door only to slam it in my face. Still, it was better to
appear as an idiot than a member of the Dracre family. Dracre was a name people
feared even speaking aloud and nobody was foolish enough to open the door to
us. My mother in particular was known as the most vindictive sorceress of all,
a title which she boasted every time I screwed up.

And I screwed up an awful lot. For example, all I had
to do was sell some cursed beans. I spent three days traveling the land,
scouring every hill and valley for some poor fellow who would buy them, but the
only people who would even open the door were in fact, poor. It wasn’t that my
family needed money; there was never a shortage of people who needed curses and
potions. My mother just wanted to make sure I was doing my part in spreading
mayhem.

I sat down on a large boulder beside the road. My
feet hurt. The unfortunate truth was that I should have been able to sell the
beans to someone, but I was a very lousy sorcerer. I pulled out a lump of clay
and my wand.

It was a perfectly straight wand made of rosewood
with elegant sigils engraved in the handle. My mother threw away my first three
wands and made me make proper sorcerer ones, like hers. Her wand was sinister
and twisted, made of ebony with powerful carvings all over it that moved
randomly. Unfortunately, no matter how much I tried to make one like hers, it
just transformed into this every time I used it. It was a source of great
amusement for my six older brothers.

Standing, I tossed my robe aside, both in shame and
because it was a hot summer day. I carefully set the clay down on the rock and
waved my wand at it, trying very hard to transform the mass into a hunk of
bloody steak. Instead, energy shot through me, into my wand, and changed the
clay into… an apple and broccoli. I groaned.
Why must I be a vegetarian
?
All my brothers could conjure meat. I had to rely on hunting for meat, but
every time I attempted it, I couldn’t bring myself to shoot an animal.

“You shouldn’t have that, young man,” a voice
startled me from my misery. I looked up and saw a man with a nice, beige shirt
and blue slacks. From the decent condition of his clothes and his well-styled
brown hair, I knew he was a traveling salesman. They had all the best
possessions. He pointed to my robe, on which the family crest was very clearly
displayed.

“It’s my family’s mark,” I said, trying to sound
fierce.

He frowned at me with disbelief, undoubtedly due to
my blond hair and blue eyes. Every Dracre had black hair and burgundy eyes.
“That is the Dracre crest, and I know they don’t have any wizards.”

I flinched. “I’m not a wizard! I’m a sorcerer!”

The man scoffed. “With blond hair? Impossible.” He
left, shaking his head and muttering about wizards trying to be what they
weren’t.

I sighed. My brothers teased me every day, saying
things like that Mother stole me from a wizard family, or worse— a mage!
Wizards were as anti-black-magic as they could get, whereas no decent sorcerers
would ever lift a finger to help another person. The only people my family
considered worse than wizards were mages, which were healers and quest makers.

Because wizards were known for their blond hair and
all sorcerers had black hair, I would never be accepted into my family. I ate
my apple and broccoli, then sighed and started heading home.

 

*          *          *

 

I arrived at a dark shack in the middle of the forest
right at sunset. It was made of gray stone and covered in blood-colored ivy.
The trees all around it were dead, which warned anyone passing by that it was a
house of dark magic users. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I
sighed and knocked.

“Mother? I’m back.” When there was no answer, I pulled
out my wand and waved it at the door handle. The metal answered with a harsh
burst of energy that burned my hand.

The door opened to my oldest brother. Zeustrum
sneered, making his sharp, angular features stand out more than usual. “I
knew
you were a wizard.”

“Get out of my way,” I said.

“Say please, wizard.”

“Move!” I yelled. His black hair was braided down his
back, as usual. He was so proud of his hair that he never once cut it. I wanted
to cut it short and watch him cry. When I was little and he tried to practice
his torturing methods on me, I could only get him to leave me alone by pulling
on his braid. Alas, he had learned my tricks, so I wouldn’t even risk it this
time.

He just smirked. “Mother said that if you didn’t sell
the cursed beans, you were not allowed in.”

“It’s not my fault! You have no idea how hard it is
to sell magic produce these days.”

“You are such a disappointment to the family,” he
said before shutting the door in my face. I waited a moment before turning the
knob and entering.

The inside of the house was easily ten times the size
of the outside. The kitchen was the heart of the house with the communal area
circling it. Only a knee-high stone partition separated the kitchen and the
living space around it. The partition also served as a very long table on which
we prepared the ingredients for the potions. There were many pots, stirrers,
and measuring tools that my family used to make poisons, potions, and curses.

The living area was mostly used for entertaining
guests and planning. When wizards no longer offered curses, the Dracre family
had a huge surge in clientele. On the north end, a winding staircase led to the
second floor, where our bedrooms were. I headed for the stairs, only to hit
what felt like a solid wall.

“Ayden, Zeus said you failed at the easy assignment I
gave you,” my mother’s voice came from the kitchen. I hadn’t seen her when I
came in, but I should have known better.

“Good evening, Mother. I wouldn’t say I failed
exactly. Did I get money for them, no, but it was because---”

“Did you give them away?” she asked.

“No.”

She was a very tall and thin woman with straight
black hair, cold burgundy eyes, and prominent cheekbones. There was nothing
gentle or warm about her appearance. Even her long nails looked more like claws
than the flat nails that other people had. I knew from experience that they
were very painful.

“Go to your room. I will deal with you in the
morning.” Her voice was soft, which was as feminine as it got and told me
without a shadow of doubt that I was in serious trouble. If I had given them
away, at least I would have accomplished her goal of brewing chaos.

I ran up the stairs, down the circular hall to the
last door, and shut myself in my bedroom. My room was the smallest in the house—
barely large enough for my small bed. I pulled the storage chest out from under
the low bed and changed my black shirt and pants for a more comfortable,
short-sleeved tan shirt and brown pants.

There was a reason I didn’t have a mirror in my room;
as if being the only one in my family who didn’t enjoy causing chaos wasn’t
embarrassing enough, I was also the runt. Along with my blond hair and blue
eyes, I was small and thin for my age. As I started to roll up my robe, I heard
several of my brothers talking outside my door.

“Do you think Mother will finally kick him out?”
Thaddeus, my youngest older brother asked. Thad never instigated anything on
his own, preferring to stand back and let everyone else fight, then side with
the winner. Basically, he followed Zeustrum around.

“I hope so. Maybe then we could get a brother who is
worth something,” Bevras said. He was my second oldest and easily the most
violent. Zeustrum and Bevras were twins and always backed each other up.

“Mother would never let him go,” Zeustrum argued. “She
wouldn’t let someone ruin our good name. I heard her telling father that this
was his last chance. My guess is that she’ll get rid of him for good.”

For good? Mother wouldn’t
… Yes, she would.

“So he’s not going with us to destroy Magnus?”

Magnus
? Mother was sending them to defeat
Magnus
?
The wizard was well-known throughout all Akadema for his great power and
selflessness. Not even the most powerful sorcerers could get into his castle.

“Of course not. Ayden would never stand a chance
against a wizard as powerful as him.”

My heart sank as I realized what I had to do. I
wasn’t born cruel like my brothers and it was obvious I wasn’t just going to
grow into it. The only way I was going to be accepted by my family was to do
something drastic. If I could practice by causing some mayhem along the way,
all the better for my reputation.

I gathered everything I owned into a small bag and
waited for it to become quiet again. Soon, I opened the door, found that my
brothers were gone, and snuck down the hall. When I reached the bottom of the
stairs, I hesitated, but I didn’t see anyone. Sneaking out the front door was
almost too easy.

I paused at a huge willow tree I used to hide in as a
child and looked back at the house, certain this was a trap of some kind… but there
was no one watching, waiting to stop me. Then I turned and jumped with a loud
squeak. I slapped my hand over my mouth to hush myself. My father, who was
standing right in front of me, just looked sort of sad. “Please don’t tell
Mother,” I whispered. I would have cursed myself if I could for thinking I
could escape my fate.

He put his finger to his lips in a gesture of
silence. He did that sometimes when only I was around, and I always thought it
was odd. My father wasn’t like my mother. Yes, he was a sorcerer and therefore
only used magic for selfish gains, but he was never cruel to me or my brothers.
If I thought a sorcerer was capable of it, I would go as far as to say he felt
sorry for me.

Although Kille Rynorm did not have bulky muscle like
a warrior, he was much stronger than a normal sorcerer needed to be. His hair
was black and short, adding to the severity of his face. His jaw was angular
and always closely shaven. What people noticed first was his eyes, which
changed colors, supposedly with his mood. They were usually a very dark rust
color, but on this night they were gold.

He never raised his voice and never lost his temper.
He didn’t need to. When he was around, people just wanted to keep their head
down and behave. Although I never met his family, I imagined they were the
same.

His family were dragon trainers and extremely
successful at it until my father married my mother. She tried to take over
without any knowledge of dragons. After several were killed because of her
improper treatment, they let the rest of the dragons go free. My mother often
told me that dragons all went extinct before I was born, but I liked to think
they were just hiding from her.

In their rooms.

Like I did.

Instead of letting his hand fall to his side, he set
it gently on my shoulder. “I’m not going to tell your mother. You should have
left ages ago.”

“Zeus said that Mother will get rid of me. Does she
plan to kill me?”

“Yes. Your mother has always been far too ambitious.
To her, children are akin to slaves. Run while you have the chance. I am not a
seer, but I know you will learn so much on the journey you have ahead of you.”

I nodded. “Will she be mad at you for letting me go?”

He smirked, which utterly shocked me. I didn’t think
my father was even capable of that. “I will deal with her. For today at least.”
His grin faded. “Eventually, she will come after you.”

“Then I will prove myself to be the strongest
sorcerer in Akadema before she does.” As I started down the dark road, my
resolve strengthened. I knew I could become such a powerful sorcerer that not
even my brothers could dispute it. That, or I would never return.

 

*          *          *

 

By the third day, I was regretting my decision.
Akadema was a great place to live in a quiet village or alone in a cabin in the
woods, but there wasn’t much else. There were a few castles, yet even those
were small. Basically, we had an abundance of forests, dirt roads, flat fields,
and hills.

Although I passed plenty of travelers, none were
interested in anything but trading and I had nothing of value. On the major
roads, I normally passed four or five villages a day. Since they all looked the
same, I could really have done with a change of scenery.

I was just about to turn back and head home when I
heard a commotion from the right. There was some screaming and cries for help,
so I decided to check it out. After all, there was always something a sorcerer
could do to aggravate a problem.

BOOK: The Sorcerer's Quest
13.27Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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