The Sword of Ages: The Mage Breaker Book 1 (16 page)

“What do you mean you have a map memorized?” the blond soldier said warily.

“it’s just like I said, I know the map” Tanner began as he started putting on the clothes of one of the dead soldiers. “The half-man has knowledge the king wants, anyone who harms him will face his wrath when we get back. Now here is the plan, pile those dead folk in the cages, we will pretend to be slavers and dump them outside of town. We will continue until we reach the border, once we are there its every man for himself to get across without being killed. Half-man you said you needed rest, you can get it inside one of these cages. Now let’s use this straw to cover up all of this blood”.

~

              Tanner and his makeshift crew had been on the road for a week now, trading horses whenever they could and sleeping in the cages in shifts, all frightened at the fact that the Tavorian at the capital should be sending someone to chase them down. The blond soldier he had gotten into it with turned out to be a capable leader, Jorg was his name and he was in charge of the other 6 Tanner had freed. He had been in the army for a while and was actually ranked much higher once, he lost his rank due to disobeying an order he thought would get his men killed. Tanner and Jorg struck up a friendship despite the difference in age, the Tavorian wizard though was a different matter. Tanner still did not know his name and the half man had said little since the fight that killed his countrymen, the only time he had spoken was to bargain for horses or other such things. At the last stop Tanner made, he let it be known they were very close to the border and that the last of the money had been spent that they took off the dead soldiers and wizards. That was yesterday, in a couple of hours they should reach the frontlines.

              “I’m getting nervous now we are getting close” said Devin one of the captured soldiers.

              “What is going to be our plan, we can’t just split up, that would be suicide” Jorg replied as he looked at Tanner.

              “Well I sure in the pit didn’t run this far to be stopped now, me and the wizard have a date with the king” Tanner said with a smile.

              “I was thinking about that” Jorg replied. “Now I saw you beat the fella that used to own these Red robes I’m wearing, how I don’t know. But what’s to say when you bring the wizard in the presence of the king that he won’t murder the king right then and there.  Yeah most likely he will die immediately afterwards, but the damage would be done”.

              “The Mage Breaker has nothing to worry about” the half man replied. “If you were smart you would watch yourself around him Jorg, they are known for being secretive”.

              “What are you on about?” Jorg asked as he turned to the wizard.

              “Mage Breakers are spoken of in some circles, they are assassins, murderers who kill once they have no use of you” the Half man replied looking at Tanner. “The mage breaker is not even 17 summers yet he is built like the most powerful of men. You saw him fight with your own eyes, who kills four men including a wizard that quickly without a scratch?”

              “Listen here you tosser, if you have something to say then say it and stop talking in riddles” Tanner said as he stopped the caged wagon.

              “I have heard all about your type, the stealing and siphoning of magic” the half man said warily. “You can stop magic completely, but siphoning it makes you faster, stronger, more focused. Whychara had told me about the last Mage Breaker in Tavor, he killed many wizards and many more normal folk to keep his ability secret. I think you allowed yourself to get caught; Zavor’s magic wouldn’t work on you anyway. You did all of this to gather the secret of disguise, now you are heading back to your King with me as your prize. What boy not of noble birth has the ear of their ruler? Your King would want this all kept secret, I will be silenced along with every man who knows your real secret”.

              “Are you daft?” Tanner said as he started the wagon back up. “I didn’t have a name for what I am but I admit I can stop magic and do all that other stuff you said. As for seeing you folks murdered why in the pit would I do that after we have helped each other get so far? Now once we cross over you are more than welcome to leave at any time once you give me the recipe. I’m not worried about you lying because I think a half man would stand out and easily found by someone who is looking for him, especially one that sounds like a Tavorian”.

              “I have saw you fight Tanner” Jorg said in a tone that seemed like he was thinking. “I can’t let this opportunity go if you are some type of reverse wizard. The Tavorian wizards think they are better than the common soldiers and always have their tents separate in the rear. When we were captured I saw them, right next to the tent we were kept in. The Tavorians put too much fluff and self-importance during their war making. The wizards are all in flamboyant robes and their tents are much nicer than the standard troops and they are a reddish color. If we can find these tents you have to dispose of them, me and my men will do whatever we can to help you slay as many as you can, this could change the tide of war or at least give Tavor a black eye”.

              “Did you see where their command tent is?” Tanner said hopefully. “Before I got conked on me noggin I was supposed to find and kill some General”.

              “That is a prize you have no chance on doing” Jacob said, another soldier in Jorg’s squad. “The general isn’t a stupid man, he will be at the center of camp and he has guards on top of guards around him. The wizards don’t have any posted, the only regular soldiers close enough are those in the slave tent keeping watch”.

              “What about the wizard?” Devin asked pointing at the half man.

              “We will take him with us” Tanner said. “I’m not worried about him doing anything crazy, Zavor is likely to kill him on sight on principle alone. But I am guessing there are at least a hundred jinx flingers running about, how are we gonna get them all?”

              “Well when we were taken the Tavorians were in Ket, not too deep but deep enough” Jorg began. “The wizards were far back from the line, I would say it would take half a mark just for them to reach the encampment where the rest of the troops are. I say wait for night, cancel out as much magic as possible and me and the boys will kill as many of those bastards as possible. If more than two of us fall, we should run like hell”.

~

              Tanner had been slowly edging forward on his stomach along with Jorg and Devin. The wizard tents were not easily missed, Tanner was expecting just on but it turned out there were three. The rest of the soldiers were hidden in the woods with a cache of arrows, whenever they saw a Tavorian they were to fill him with arrows. Tanner was happy the Tavorians wizards were so cocky, who lights a fire in the middle of a war? They had lit several torches leading from their tents to a smaller tent that Jorg had told him was an outhouse. Currently there was one person in the outhouse, a soldier from a much smaller tent that Devin had told him held prisoners to be sold as slaves.

              “Okay, change of plans” Jorg said quietly as he held his arms out to signal everyone to stop. “I can spot no one that would challenge us, we are going to pull the slave wagon right up to the tent. “We are going to walk right in like we belong and hopefully kill the guards before an alarm could be sounded. From there we will free the slaves then assault the wizards en masse”.

              “You have given us a plan to kill, how are we going to escape?” the half man asked.

              “I haven’t gotten that far yet” Jorg admitted. “I figured we can steal clothes and pass ourselves off as a wizard, it has worked well for me so far”.

              “Your plan has a bunch of holes in it” the half man remarked.

              “Yes it does, but we can’t pass up this chance to kill off battle wizards” Jorg said as they all started inching back.

              Tanner was nervous as the slave wagon rumbled loudly on its way to where the prisoners were kept. Long before they reached their target, one of the Tavorian soldiers was out of the tent with arrow nocked as they came closer.

              “Damn am I happy to see you” the soldier said as he lowered his bow. “We just captured a fresh batch not even half a day ago. You are going to need more cage than that though; I have 30 men piled up in there and only me and Gunther to watch em. Come on in and let me at least give you the worst of the bunch”.

              Tanner took in everything he could with his eyes and his heart almost stopped as he saw a lone wizard stick his head out of their tent, give the wagon a once over then apparently went back to sleep. Right now Tanner was siphoning magic off of 12 wizards, but he had a hunch that something was a little off. Tanner stopped his siphoning and started being more precise, the tent he was probing had 80 magic users inside of it, that he could tell. When Tanner probed the next tent over though, he could determine it contained less than ten despite being the same size. This is where the top wizards were, Tanner would have to get to them first. Tanner received an elbow in the stomach from Jorg, apparently he could see Tanner wasn’t paying attention.

              Tanner walked into the slave tent and was accosted by the smell. These prisoners were not allowed to shit or piss except on themselves. There was another guard at the far end of the tent with holding some type of club, at his feet was a soldier moaning in pain.

              “Aye Guther, we can finally get rid of some of these pieces of shit” the guard said as walked over towards the other guard. “They only got room for about six though, who are the biggest trouble makers we –“ the guard never got to finish his sentence as Tanner saw Jorg run him through with a well-placed stab to the back of the neck while arrows sprouted from the other guard’s face. The prisoners figured out quick what was happening and started jostling each other awake with words of silence. It had taken no time at all to find the keys and slowly release the prisoners.

              “We need to attack the far tent first” Tanner whispered to Jorg. “It is big but doesn’t have a lot of people in it, I think that is where the more powerful wizards are kept”.

              “Then lead the way” Jorg said as he pointed towards the door.

              Tanner walked outside as grasped the sword of ages, instantly he was hyper aware of his surroundings. The sword begged for more wizard blood, after Tanner had killed the wizard with the red robes the swords thought had started to become clearer. Those without weapons were hidden all around the other wizard tent, if any of the wizards stirred their job was to put them down quickly. Tanner took a deep breath and ran into the tent.

              The place was dark but the sword let him no they were sleeping, i.e. not a threat. Tanner stared hard into the darkness as his eyes suddenly shifted, allowing him to see light it was almost daylight. Tanner turned around and gave the signal to stay quiet and stay put, Jorg quickly understood as he closed the tent flap and only let in the half man. The wizards were spaced out in the tent and seemed like they hadn’t a care in the world despite being in a warzone. The sword instantly let Tanner know where to strike that would not alarm or wake the others, the attack was quick and brutal, no words or cries were heard, just the sound of metal parting flesh. Suddenly the tent became too bright, Tanner turned around to see the half man walking around and looting the corpses. Tanner’s sight switched back and could see the half man barely had enough light to see by, he spent his time collecting wands and even one staff. The sword of ages was ecstatic; every time Tanner killed a wizard the sword gained more power, power it shared with him.  The sword wanted to be bathed in wizard blood; its former owners hated wizards with a passion and wanted them all dead. Tanner tried to get the ugly thoughts out of his mind as he let his power drift to the other tent, instantly he felt sick.

              Multiple wizards were awakened, far too many for it to be anything other than for a fight. Tanner cut a hole in the tent he was in and quickly made his way over to the other tent expanding his anti-magic field as far as he could before cutting a slash in the side of the offending tent and bursting inside. Tanner could see men in varying stages of undress as he took his first opponent in the back. The sword screamed in delight as it wanted more. Tanner slipped and cut his way until he was in the midst of them, cutting men down like wheat before a scythe. A cry went out as fire, water and wind swirled around the room. Without proper weapons and no way to attack the enemy in their mist the wizards were falling by the dozens. Suddenly men poured into the tent, cutting from all sides as Tanner canceled out all magic.

              The aftermath of the fight saw all the wizards dead, not even one of Tanner’s number had been harmed. The wizards were busy trying to attack Tanner and failed to notice the enemy at their backs. The wizards were stripped of valuables, Jorg insisted whatever riches lay inside the first tent was Tanner’s entirely. Tanner went back to it, the half man had only taken wands and such. Tanner searched and found many jewels and gold and laughed, what pompous ass would take a fortune to a warzone? In the end he made off with a small sack he had acquired filled with the riches of dead men and affixed it on his back. If he could somehow get this back he would be a very rich man. Tanner went outside the tent and could see many of the prisoners were now dressed in the garb of the wizards.