Chapter 19

Lymlock

     Chapter 19

     I laughed when I heard. I wasn’t part of the fight, but I was getting there as fast as I could. I had to make sure that Maher, my contact from Lospem, had gathered sufficient sorcerers to final capture the four of them. You know who I’m talking about.

       I had gotten a unicorn to ride. Most magykans, even sorcerers, don’t like to try to control unicorns, even if they can. They worry about losing control. The unicorns, of course, would kill them if they had even the slightest chance. I’ve never been worried about losing control of them, though. Why should I be? I have enough magyk to hold onto one.

       But anyway, the thing got me across the kingdom fast. Unicorns can build up to amazing speeds. It takes a good distance to get up to it, but they can go nearly the speed of light. Because of this, I could get across the kingdom in less than a day.

       When I got to the border forest, I paused a moment. Even though I had a unicorn under my command, and it would kill whatever I wanted it to kill, there were a lot of things in there that hardly anybody knows about, and nobody wants to mess with. But after a few moments I laughed and forced the unicorn to continue. Magyk trumps everything, after all.

       I got through the forest at light – well, almost light – speed. It took hardly any time going straight through.

       Once officially in Melzult, I cast a tracking spell on Maher. Because I knew his name and what he looked like, I could easily find him. Tracking spells are one of the only spells that work from a distance, and one of the most fun. If the tracked person is a magykan, of course, he can feel the spell on him, but he won’t know who cast it.

       I guided the unicorn toward Lospem, following the map in my head. The map stopped at a place where the ground was covered in leaves, with no buildings in sight.

       “What the –“ I started. The unicorn snorted and pawed at the ground. I rolled my eyes, realizing what this was. Maher was really that stereotypical?

       He was. I enchanted the leaves to move and blasted open the trapdoor on the ground, not caring that I was destroying his camouflage. He could fix it in a heartbeat. That was what magyk was for.

       I entered. Although I passed other sorcerers, none tried to stop me. Some recognized me, I could tell, but others just looked away, bored, as I passed them in the thin hallways of Maher’s underground hideout.

       As I kept walking, there were more and more sorcerers passing by. I assumed that I was getting closer to the center, and this was confirmed when I got to the end of the hallway and came out into a place that resembled nothing more than an octopus.

       There were about a dozen hallways branching off of the main center, with a room in the middle. I entered, assuming this would be where the leader was. Maher was one of the most powerful (both in terms of magyk and influence) sorcerers in Melzult. He would be the one running the show.

       Sure enough, as I entered, I saw a line of sorcerers looking like they were about to complain, all leading up to Maher, who was trying to appease three sorcerers at once.

       I nearly laughed. Didn’t that look familiar. I faced crowds like that every day.

       I walked by the line, ignoring their questioning stares.

       Maher glanced up and saw me. He looked surprised, then understanding.

       “Excuse me for a moment,” he said to the angry magykans yelling at him. I wouldn’t have been that polite. I would’ve said something more along the lines of, “Get out of here.” But then, my sorcerers knew I was in charge, and they didn’t protest.

       He pulled me into a separate room.

       “Give me good news,” I said in a warning tone. If there wasn’t, I had gone all that way with a unicorn. I could still feel it through the connection, holding it in place up above. I might as well use it, especially if I got disappointed.

       “There is good news,” he responded. Still, though, I didn’t dare to hope. Others had failed trying to accomplish the same task.

       “We have them. The three. The wizard, the human, and the traitor.”

       “The centaur?” I asked.

       “There was no centaur,” he replied. I raised an eyebrow, and he hurried on with his explanation. “He wasn’t there at all, and I believe he ran away when he saw us. I wouldn’t doubt it. Centaurs may be benevolent, but they know when they’ll be beaten.”

       “Where are they?”

       “They’re all separated. The wizard and traitor are in separate caerthin cells, and the girl is in a normal one.”

       “The boy…!” I said, remembering a certain detail from our conversation. “Do you have a guard on him?”

       “No, why?”

       “He’s immune to caerthin.”

       Maher’s eyes widened, then he shrugged. “It shouldn’t matter anyway. He’s been out cold for a while now. He ran himself out of magyk. If he were awake now he would have a little bit, but it won’t be enough to do a lot of damage with.”

       “Good. Give me the keys and show me where they are. I’ll need some supplies, too.”

       “We’ll get them,” he said.

       This would be fun. For the first time that day, I smiled. Revenge would be sweet.