Michael

It took a while to find the brigands; according to Kiran they had used wind magic to hide their tracks but with three great trackers they managed to follow them without footprints. It took them half a day nonetheless, even though the bandits weren’t actually camped that far away in the first place, probably overconfident with their past success and magical support.

They had found them shortly before nightfall and Lord Rowan had decided to wait till dark. Lord Rowan would then attack the camp first and after they had gained the attention of the brigands a second group led by Sir Godfrey would attack from the other side with a smaller group and devastate them.

“Repeat again what you are going to do,” Matthias ordered Michael with a strict expression. Michael made an annoyed face; he had repeated his orders two times already.

“I will move up with the rest of you, once we reach the border of the camp I will stay there and watch the fight. Geron and Kiran will join the offensive and Eydis will stay with me to protect me from anyone who manages to wiggle through. I will not intervene unless absolutely necessary and I will fall back and report to the next larger town should the attack go sideways.”

Matthias studied him for a moment longer and then nodded, “Good.” He then smiled and patted Michael’s shoulder, “Stay safe, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Michael smiled back, “You stay safe too, and good luck.” Matthias turned around after a focused nod and sneaked forward to his father’s side.

It wouldn’t be long now; it had been dark for a couple of hours already and the noise from the brigand camp had died down. Michael was wondering how they stayed hidden so long with the ruckus they had made.

Michael breathed slowly, the custom chain vest he wore was uncomfortable while kneeling. His sword was still in its sheath and his small wooden shield was strapped to his left arm. All bore the insignia of House Rowan and Michael was proud beyond comprehension to stand beside his idols while wearing it. In this situation, it was more like behind them, but it counted, at least in Michael’s mind.

Lord Rowan raised his hand and signaled his men to advance, and they began to move toward the camp as silently as possible. It was not easy for the knights but at least they had wrapped their armor in cloth to reduce accidental noises.

Michael kept close to the man in front of him, and now the moment was starting to get a hold of him, and his heart started beating faster. He tried to take deep breaths but the clump in his throat didn’t help.

He wanted to push some mana into his body, it made him uncomfortable to have no mana circulating, but they weren’t allowed to, if their mages were any good and awake, they would notice the change in mana immediately and know they were coming.

They were close to the camp when the guards spotted them, “ATTACK, ENEMY ATTACK!”

Michael let his mana flare up at the same moment and the knights dashed forward. Lord Rowan was the first to reach the lookout and rammed his sword into the surprised man.

The second guard was similarly quickly killed as the first when a torrent of water blew his head off.

The knights were right behind their leader and broke into the camp. This fight would be a short one, they had the element of surprise and were already there while the enemy was still scrabbling to get up.

As Michael reached the corpses of the first guards a shiver went down his spine and suddenly a flood of black rolled over the camp.

Surprised calls began to echo in the darkness as Michael came to a sliding halt, “DARK MAGE!”; he was blind and confused. It reminded him of the shadow crusher in the capital, but this darkness was deeper, it was night, and there was no residual light left in the forest to weaken the dark. Michael instinctively tried to conjure a light but failed, he couldn’t gather enough light.

Panic set in as the screaming intensified and his heartbeat was so loud that he thought he would go deaf.

Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum

The darkness began to push in on Michael as if it had physical weight. I have no light. They are fighting in the dark. What am I going to do? Why am I panicking like this?

A hand touched him on the shoulder, and he nearly had a heart attack; he jumped away and wanted to slash at the person, but his mind was faster and told him that it was Eydis, which was supported by the whistling noise that she always made to catch his attention.

“We need to help them,” Michael whispered to her, not knowing why he was whispering. He couldn’t see her, but he felt her close to him. She pulled him back, away from where the camp would be, but he dug in his heels and ripped free. “No! We need to help!”

There was no way to see what she was signing, so he just turned around and thought. Her sudden interruption had cleared his mind somewhat, he felt her hand brush against him again as she tried to find him. “Don’t worry I won’t run in, but I need to do something against these shadows.”

He raised his hands and concentrated. I need to gather some light, just a little bit from outside of the darkness. His mana spread out and grasped at every little part of light he could grasp. A small light began to materialize in his hand but the amount of mana he had to spend on even illuminating his own hand was great.

He kept concentrating but he couldn’t find enough light, and the screaming grew louder. “STAY TOGETHER, LISTEN TO YOUR SENSES, PROTECT YOUR BACKS!” That was his father’s voice.

Michael gritted his teeth and focused harder when suddenly a small spark appeared a couple of meters in front of him and vanished a moment later.

Michael knew what that was and put his hands together and waited. The spark reappeared a moment later, but this time Michael was ready. He dragged as much light as he could from the spark and bound it in front of his constructing sigil. It was a simple spell he was creating, just a single line of symbols formed in a circle before his hands.

He needed one more spark, so he waited for another spark two seconds later, he dragged all the light he could from it and added it to his spell.

“You screwed up,” Michael said with a grin and activated his spell. The circle began to spin and glow, not really giving off any light.

After spinning up to its maximum speed the sigil vanished and four large light orbs appeared; they shot forward into the camp, each of them illuminating a small area around them.

The orbs broke the darkness a little, it was not much but Michael could at least see the knights only four meters away.

It had only been a couple of seconds since the lights went out, but three knights had already gone down, the rest were fighting off the brigands; they seemed way more comfortable fighting in the dark.

Just as the light illuminated the battlefield another fireball formed in the hands of a man in the back. The moment it did, a torrent of water enveloped it, extinguishing it on the spot.

Michael could see Kiran weaving a sigil in each hand and Michael was in awe for a moment how that man could concentrate on multiple spells at once. The right-hand one was a ball of water directed at the fire mage. A stream of water was connected to the other sigil and spanned over the ranks of knights and brigands, moving like a living creature while being bombarded by an invisible force. It was a continuous spell that was still being controlled after casting and raised Michael's respect even further for the wielder.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The fighting parties stopped for a split-second as they were bathed in the sudden light; Lord Rowan was again the first to react, barreling down on the man in front of him but to Michael's surprise he blocked the attack. "IDAS IS WITH US, HIS LIGHT SURROUNDS US, PRESS FORWARD!" The knights pushed with renewed vigor and the brigands began to fall, robbed of their advantage.

Michael ripped his gaze from the bloody melee and tried to find the dark mage; his lights wouldn't last for long, but he doubted that the enemy could hold up his darkness for long either, even with such favorable conditions. While he was still scanning the camp the darkness suddenly vanished as the second part of the attack approached, with Sir Godfrey at their helm dragging a struggling man at the throat behind him. His five accompanying knights charged past him into the fight. Their approach had been masked by the yelling and clashing of steel, so they took the bandits by complete surprise.

The fire mage died a moment later, he got distracted by the sudden flanking attack and paid for it with a blast of water crushing his chest. After defeating one, Kiran was able to concentrate more on his fight with the air mage and pressed his attack. Michael couldn't make out the other mage from behind the front as he was way less flashy than the fire mage but when the water stream crashed down to a short scream, he was sure that Kiran got him.

Most of the bandits threw down their weapons after losing their magical support. The only one still standing was a burly man, an untended forest for a beard and fire in his eyes. The knights formed a ring around him and Lord Rowan, while others bound the prisoners and Michael stepped closer to see the fight.

"I will not live to see the noose, you noble scum," he yelled and charged Lord Rowan.

"If you want to die right here and now," he replied and raised his sword over his head.

The brigand slashed before he reached Lord Rowan and a bright silver mana blade detached from his sword.

Lord Rowan's sword began to glow as he let it crash down, right through the mana blade and at the same time shoot his own at the brigand. The man blocked it in the last moment with gritted teeth, but Lord Rowan was right behind his attack and with a swift but powerful strike chopped the brigand leader's head off.

It hit the ground before his body did and the knights cheered in victory.

"Take care of the wounded, bind the captives, and gather the stolen goods," Lord Rowan ordered, not missing a beat.

Michael walked through the battlefield trying not to throw up from the guts and corpses but still trying to get used to them. He got nods of thanks from multiple knights he came across.

"Michael," he turned around and saw a bloodied Matthias walk his way with a smile, "Good job with the lights, I thought I was a goner there."

"Are you hurt," Michael asked him concerned, and tried to see through the blood.

Matthias waved him off with a smile, "Nothing serious."

Michael relaxed a little more as he also saw Geron help an injured knight up.

"The light seemed a little useless after Sir Godfrey grabbed the dark mage right after," Michael said with a shrug.

"Oh, don't be like that," Matthias punched his shoulder. "One guy nearly took my eye out, sneaky fucker, but I saw it coming at the last moment because of your light."

"Is that right?" Michael's voice got higher as he looked at his brother with renewed concern.

"Ehhh no. That was actually later but it might have come in clutch for one of the others," Matthias laughed at Michael's annoyed expression.

Michael sat his brother down and inspected his wounds like Sola had shown him; they were not too much trouble just a bruise and a shallow cut on the arm.

"You should have seen the other one," Matthias joked, "Oh wait you can, it’s that guy over there without a shirt on." He pointed at a corpse with a gaping split in his torso and Michael had to breathe deeply not to hurl. "Oh sorry, forgot this is your first time. You are handling it well; I had a mental breakdown even though I didn’t even fight."

Michael looked up from his work when he heard horses approach; they had left them behind at the edge of the forest to not give them away and they shouldn't be here already. With the horses were two men - they had only left one behind - and one of them approached Lord Rowan, Michael knew him, he was a knight of their house who had stayed behind in Reen.

He bowed and gave him two letters. They exchanged some words while the lord read, and Michael watched intently. After a while, Lord Rowan turned around and spoke with Godfrey for a moment before he called, "Michael, come over here."

Michael looked at Matthias surprised and then just walked over while the other knights gathered as well, intrigued about what was going on.

"What is the matter, Father?"

The count said nothing and so they waited in silence until Sir Godfrey returned with a prisoner in tow. Michael recognized him to be the dark mage; he was easy to tell apart with his pale skin, contrasting black hair, and skeletal figure. His hands and feet were bound, and he looked miserable.

Godfrey threw him on the ground in front of Michael and he looked at his father with confusion.

"Kill him," Lord Rowan simply said, his expression was made of stone.

Michael blinked, looked at the man on the ground, and then blinked again. "Pardon me?"

"I said kill him," his father repeated with not a hint of emotion in his voice.

The silence in the camp was giving this situation a near dream-like atmosphere as everyone just looked at Michael or his father in confusion.

"I, ..., he is a prisoner," Michael stammered; his father was serious, and he knew it.

"I am the lord of these lands, I sentence him to death for murder, waylaying, and a dozen other things. Now, kill him."

"Father, what are you doing," Matthias protested.

"No one will interfere," Lord Rowan growled and a small shock wave pushed against the onlookers.

Michael stared at the man lying in front of him. His heart pounded, his hands got sweaty, and his mind raced. What is Father thinking? Is this a test? What should I do? I can't simply kill someone!

"What are you waiting for?" The calm voice ran down Michael's spine and he looked up at his father in shock. "What is the problem? You don't want to kill a bound man? Is it that?"

He drew his sword and cut the man’s bindings. "Stand up!" The man did so, and their audience shifted uncomfortably.

"Why, Father?"

"You need to learn to kill. Kill him."

Michael stared at the man as the seconds passed, he didn't know what to do; this man would die anyway but something inside of him told him not to kill him.

"I don't have time for this," Lord Rowan said and pulled out a knife, throwing it in front of the dark mage, "Kill him and you will be free."

"What?!" Matthias yelled and Eydis moved forward but was stopped by the hulking Sir Godfrey. Geron just stood there in shock and Kiran inspected the knights around him, who in turn looked at the mage with concern, remembering the spectacle in battle. "What the hells are you doing, Father?!" Matthias was livid but he was also stopped by a knight from going forward.

“Are you for real,” the dark mage asked, even more, confused than anyone else present.

“I am.”

“Hells, even if you are not, I am gonna murder that light brat,” the man picked up the dagger with a smile.

“No magic, darkling,” Lord Rowan warned him and then stepped back. “Defend yourself, Michael, or die.”

What is going on? Michael’s mind was overloading, out of the corners of his mind, voices began to echo, too quiet to understand.

He drew his sword with a shaky hand and lowered into a fighting position. He breathed heavily even though he had not done anything yet. His head drummed in the tact of his heart.

Then the thug attacked, he was clumsy, and definitely not used to fighting. Michael could have easily struck him down where he stood but he hesitated and had to block the strike with his shield. He slid back from the impact and noticed with a curse that he had lost his grip on his mana.

“STOP THIS,” Matthias yelled but Michael couldn’t hear him as the voices in his head began to get louder and louder.

“Kill him, defend yourself!” “No, there are other ways!” “Kill and survive, protect your loved ones!” “You need to be better!”

The thug swiped at Michael again, distracted by the voices, and without his mana he was slower than he had ever been, the dagger chipped his nose, and he tumbled back with a scream.

“FATHER!”

Michael was tumbling back, the pain numbed by the voices yelling to drown out the other.

“FIGHT! SURVIVE! PROTECT!” “THIS IS NOT YOU, MICHAEL!” “YOU CAN’T CHANGE ANYTHING IF YOU DIE HERE!” “HOW CAN WE CHANGE THINGS IF WE ARE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!”

The dark mage’s face came into Michael’s view, drawn out of shape by a devilish grin, Michael saw the knife blink in the dark, it was coming for his throat, but he couldn’t move. Every time he told his arm to block, he told it to attack at the same time; every time he told his legs to move back, he told it to advance.

Either would have worked but in his panic, he did the one thing that meant death, he simply did nothing.

“NOOOOO!”

The thug was pushed back by an invisible force. Michael fell on his backside still in trance.

“I won’t have enough mana to save you again, defend yourself, or perish,” his father’s voice cut into Michael’s brain.

“YOU TOLD ME TO KILL HIM AND NOW YOU INTERVENE,” the brigand screamed like a madman.

“I never said I wouldn’t but as I said I don’t have enough mana to do that again.” His cold voice was barely hearable with the sounds of struggle from Eydis and Matthias who gave it their all to get past their respective obstacles. “MICHAEL, PLEASE FIGHT! HE IS NOT GOING TO STOP.”

Why? Why? Why? Stop, please. STOP, TALKING! He wanted to scream but no sound left his mouth, he wanted to grab his head, but his arms didn’t move.

“YOU WILL DIE!” “YOU WILL HATE YOURSELF IF YOU DO THIS! “WHAT IS A LIFE WORTH IF YOU DON’T DEFEND IT!” “PLEASE, WE CAN’T, WE CAAAAN’T!”

“FIIIIGHTT!!!” “NOOOOOO!!!”

Michael’s eyes focused, the thug had made it halfway toward him already. Michael’s mana flared up high and he was on his feet in an instant.

It took him two steps to close in on the man, whose face was a mask of surprise. He raised his dagger to defend himself, but he was too slow, and a dagger not suited to protect him.

Michael pushed himself off the ground and body-slammed into the man with his sword pointed straight at his heart.

The man just stared Michael in the eyes as his life faded and what he saw were eyes filled with tears. As the man dropped so did the salty drops from Michael’s face. He just stood there his mind cold, a feeling of pride and disappointment ringing in it.