Page 4 of The Dark Mage
Master Lilith balked, and Master Mirilen looked hesitant.
“I cannot, Master Jure,” Ren’wyn replied, her eyes on her shoes, hating the conflict.“No one deserves todie.”
“Not even the imperial scouts?Not even those who killed your little wight in the catacombs?They deserve mercy and long life?”The accusation in his voice cut at her resolve.
“I do not want to, Master Jure.Please,” she repeated, her stomach churning at the thought of ending another’slife.
“But you will.We have decided that it istime.”
Ren’wyn looked to Lilith and Mirilen, hoping for encouragement, but found only their sad, resolved expressions.
“Very well,” she nodded, swallowing her tears.
Under Jure’s strict eye, Ren’wyn raised unsettled dead, shadow forms, frost, and wind, wielding them like weapons.The brutal exercises made her feel sick, but Ren’wyn mastered each one with chilling efficiency, retreating into a disassociated version of herself she barely recognized.
In the bleak midwinter, Master Jure told her to dress warmly.They loaded into a carriage in the dead of night and traveled for hours north to an ancient battlefield, arriving as the sun rose.Master Jure was as cold as the air, as unfeeling as snow and ice.Ren’wyn suppressed her nerves as he handed her down the carriage steps and led her to the center of the frozen plain.
Brome bent under snow, filigrees and drifts stretching across the vast expanse toward the eastern horizon.The clouds promised more snow, and the rising sun pierced through like a coral sword before disappearing again behind the gray blanket.
“Today,” Jure began in his dark rasp, “you learn to kill.You will kill effectively and quickly with your power, stripping your enemies of life.Wield your power with intention, Ren’wyn, and show it who masters it.”
Who could ever master the Dead?Her hands shook.
With that, he turned his back.Shades burst forth as he moved, an army of black silhouettes creeping in on a shivering wind.They clawed and howled in rage, clinging to Jure’s wrists like black ribbons.
His eyes were black as night when he looked over his shoulder.
“Raise your magic, Ren’wyn,” he hissed, his tone sending every hair on her body standing on end.“I’m going to try to killyou.”
His darkness wound around her, seeping into muscle and marrow.Clawed hands grew from shadows, sinking into her legs.Ren’wyn screamed as terrible pain burst through herbody.
The Void responded in an explosion, bubbling from the earth and rushing out like a frozen hurricane.On her scream, the dead wheeled toward Jure.Bands of night sprang from her wrists, but she had no desire to attack him.Instead, the shades froze, caught between the two mages.
Jure’s power demanded their release with enough force to make Ren’wyn shake.He wrestled for control of the shades, and death beckoned her ever closer.
“Jure!”she screamed, shadows bursting along the boundary where their powers clashed.“I will not killyou!”
With one swipe of his hand, both their magics dissolved.Ren’wyn collapsed to her knees, the darkness dissipating like dust in the winterair.
“Your weakness will cost you everything,” Jure said quietly.“You’re too soft.If you won’t fight for yourself, who will you fight for?What would you die for?Your power?Your safety?The continuation of ourkind?”
Only the wind answered as his words stripped her to thecore.
“I don’t want to fight.I don’t want to kill,” she whispered.
“Raise the dead army,” was his only response as he turned away again.
With no choice but to obey, Ren’wyn stretched her arms out, summoning the Void around her.Death and will curled from her hands, spreading far and wide.The restless, tormented souls were both ancient and angry.Would they ever pass on, or were they bound forever to this place of violence?
“Good,” Jure stated.“Call them toyou.”
Hours passed as Ren’wyn raised and banished the army over and over.Jure opposed her magic with his own, training her without outright conflict.It was brutal.Jure didn’t break for food, offering water only sparingly.The cold seeped through every layer of clothing, and her movements grew ragged as the elements sapped her stamina.
“Try harder,” Jure growled.
Ren’wyn choked on an angrysob.
“If you won’t stand for yourself and kill that weakling who hurts you at home, if you won’t run and make something of your unique power, at least have the strength to defend someone who might need it.Stand for something outside yourself, Ren’wyn.”
