Binko appeared on the roof and found the two men.
“Hark, were you the one screaming Segi’s name just now?” She asked. “Nice work dumbass, now everyone is agitated.”
“Binko, Hark says Segi just waved to him now, but she couldn’t finish what she was saying before the wave link cut off.” Lakan said.
“Then wave back?” Binko replied. Lakan and Hark looked at each other.
“Okay.” Hark said, then he brought out a wave spell and dropped it on the ground, then invoked it. The paper ignited and the heart beats began to thud. Hark crossed his fingers. After a few moments, the heartbeats cleared and Segi’s heavy breathing came into focus.
“Yes!” he exclaimed quietly. “Segi what’s going on?”
“This is not Segi.” A man’s voice responded, shocking Hark. “You’re probably wondering how this is possible.”
“How did you intercept a wave link?” Hark asked. The faces of Lakan and Binko went into bewilderment upon hearing that question.
“I thought you wanted to know what was going on with Segi?” The voice asked in a mocking tone?
“What have you done with Segi?” Hark asked, shaking with fury.
“She went snooping around into issues that were none of her business.” The voice replied. “Besides, she's a useful intelligence asset, so she’s with us now.”
“I swear if you touch a single hair on her head…” Hark began…
“Actually I have my hand full of her whole head of hair now.” The voice said. “Wanna keep talking so I can make her choke on my balls?”
Hark was taken aback by the obscene talk.
“Segi is an Elite Mage.” Hark said as slowly and calmly as he possibly could. He glanced at Lakan and Binko who were looking expectantly at him. “How did you capture her?”
“Being an Elite Mage means nothing if you can’t use magic at all. Isn’t it?” the voice said in return.
Hark quickly put two and two together and hazarded a guess.
“Arcanite poisoning?” He said tentatively, there was a pause on the other end of the wave.
“Those traitorous Nobles actually confessed to you people?” The voice said.
“No,” Hark said quickly. “We figured that out ourselves.”
“Hahaha, Don’t kid yourself. Not even Aku’anda is close to that level of Magic yet. They told you, and they’re going to regret that.” the voice said, chuckling.
“What do you want?” Hark asked.
“If you step one foot in Saymor, I will personally kill this woman and deliver her head to you. I’ll even stick a long rod in her mouth to add insult to injury.” The voice said cheerily. Saymor was the capital of Seyrule Kingdom.
“You vulgar ruff--”
“Are you sure about that? Tough guy?” The voice interjected. “I haven’t banged in an entire week and there’s a helpless damsel right here, ripe for ravishing. Do you want to help me make a choice?”
“How can we get her back?” Hark asked, trembling as he struggled to keep his growing rage under control.
“We’ll torture her for any useful information we can get in the next 24 hours, then we’ll dump her, alive in Sorough. You can get her there if you’re a patient puppy.” The voice replied.
Sorough was a small town on the outskirts of Seyrule kingdom, near the borders of Aku’anda.
“Any other questions?” He asked.
“Where is Ganz and what are his plans?” Hark asked.
“And why the fuck would I ever tell you that?” the voice said back. “Good bye, Aku’andan.”
The wave faded away, Hark looked at Lakan and Binko who were expecting answers.
“For goodness sake.” Hark said. Sitting on the roof floor.
“So what happened?” Binko asked.
“The nobles were right.” Hark said. “They poisoned Segi with Arcanite and took away her magic.”
Lakan frowned in bewilderment. “They took her magic away? How is that possible?”
“I’ve never heard Segi that scared before.” Hark said. “She must have been completely defenseless.”
He went on to relay the news to Lakan and Binko who reacted as one might expect. Just below them, the priest finally pronounced the couple as one and loud dancing music had begun to play as the couple danced toward their honeymoon getaway vehicle.
“Something is not adding up here.” Lakan said. “Ganz isn’t… He has standards, his men were one of the most organized forces I’ve ever seen in my life.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“The voice wasn’t Ganz. It must be a new recruit. His accent was Seyrulan.” Hark said. “Ganz lost some of his men in the Sungan attack.”
“What a vile henchman to pick.” Binko said in disgust.
“We can’t go to saymor.” Hark said. “Let’s just go to Sorough and wait for her there.”
“Are we just going to accept their demands?” Binko objected indignantly.
“Well, do you want them to use Segi’s head as a prop in some sick sexual joke?” Hark asked indignantly.
“We can’t just acquiesce to criminals.” Binko argued.
“I will NOT risk Segi’s life.” Lakan said. “We head to Sorough, Binko.”
Down on the ground, Shuma and his newly wedded wife zoomed off in their bright blue and chrome Hovercoach to their honeymoon.
--
“We should have told the Lord Mages about this.” Binko said.
Binko, Lakan, Hark and Regar were now speeding through the forests towards Seyrule. They soon got to a small town near the border called Tayinadar. They didn’t stop there, but continued to the border.
It was night-time when they arrived at Sorough, it was a sizeable town with about a thousand people. The mages arrived to looks from everyone. They went into the local inn and requested for a single room and multiple beds. They then slept sprawled along the floor of the room.
Hark was shaken by his conversation with the voice, but he nevertheless forced himself to sleep, albeit after some tossing and turning.
The following day they waited until about afternoon, and then they headed towards the town borders in case Segi showed up, and indeed, she did. At dusk, she showed up, wearing a gray shirt and her standard trousers, limping. Regar found her first because she came in from the west where he was situated. They quickly took her to the inn and gave her some tea, bed and blanket, then they gathered around her, staring at her every move.
“You rascals.” she heaved with great effort. “Thank you.”
“So what--” Lakan began.
“No bloody questions, Lakan.” Binko interjected. “Let her rest.”
“Oh, that’s fine, actually.” Segi said in a weak voice. “What do you want to know?”
“So you have no magic now?” Lakan asked.
She chuckled. “Well that’s not quite how it works. I eventually figured it out.” Segi replied. “They poisoned me with Arcanite, breaking my link to my spells. I couldn’t trigger them anymore.”
“Past tense?” Lakan noted.
“Yes, the arcanite scrambles your intrinsic link to your spells.” Segi said. “But you can just figure out your new link structure and create new spells. It’s pretty difficult though, it’s like having your dominant hand broken and having to relearn with your other hand.”
“Wow.”
“I need someone to get this arcanite out of me.” Segi said. “I have hundreds of spells I’ve bounded over the years. I’ll be damned if I have to start over again.”
“What did they do to you?” Binko asked.
“Torture, mostly.” Segi said, smiling weakly. “I’m sorry guys, I broke…”
“That’s fine. What did you tell them?” Lakan asked.
“The names and addresses of every Elite mage I know in Aku’anda and the other nations?” Segi said with a light chuckle, Alarming the others.
“Okay that’s fine…” Binko said, suppressing her urge to rant. “We’ll just tell them to relocate and take precautions…”
“I’m sorry guys…” Segi said, suddenly bursting into tears. “I really tried to hold back… I just… I’ve never felt that kind of pain before. I’m so sorry!”
She started wailing. Lakan and Hark were completely unequipped to handle the situation, Binko was a bit better but ultimately Regar was the one who calmed Segi down and got her to sleep.
“We are so fucked.” He said later, “I’ve never seen Segi that vulnerable before.”
Hark rubbed his forehead, desperately wondering why Ganz had chosen his generation to manifest into the world. Lakan rubbed his forehead, wondering why the Sungans hadn’t just let sleeping dogs lie. Binko rubbed her forehead. Desperately wondering where she was going to get the money to afford a new rental on short notice.
The four stood in silence, engrossed in their own personal problems as Segi slept. They had spent the past four hours talking to dozens of Mages from various kingdoms, alerting them.
“Do you think this is a good time to finally tell the Lord mages?” Regar asked.
“Right.” Binko said. “You’re the one who got to break the Sungan attack news to Lord Daron. I got to break the news to Lord Defon, and he fainted on me.”
“None of them are equipped to deal with this.” Lakan said. “They’re scholars and councillors. We’ll probably have to elect a Prime Mage.”
“Lord Daron was great, actually.” Hark said. “If we ever have a Prime Mage, it’ll be him, I think.”
“Well I guess Lord Daron is an exception.” Lakan admitted. “I frankly don’t see a point announcing this at a council meeting. Let’s take it directly to the man.”
“Agreed.” Regar said. Hark nodded.
“We’re officially at war, gentlemen.” Binko said.
--
Two days later, they were back in Aku’anda and took Segi to a healing center. Then they went to Lord Daron’s house. He was playing chess with his son, Dodi when they entered.
Having four Elite War Mages visit your house out of the blue was never good news, and Lord Daron knew immediately. He conceeded the game to his son and quickly led them to his study. They greeted his wife, as they went into the room.
“Gentlemen… My Lady, I apologize, I don’t have that many chairs in the study.” Lord Daron said.
“That’s fine.” Lakan said, jumping into the only other seat in the study. “Hark, please, tell Lord Daron.”
Fifteen minutes later Lord Daron had his head in his hands.
“And how is she now?” He asked.
“She is critically injured and poisoned with Arcanite.” Regar said. “She pretends to be fine, but she only narrowly escaped death and will be out of service for the next few months at least.”
“More if we don’t find a way to extract the Arcanite.” Binko added.
“Knowing that Ganz’s mission remains alive, but not knowing where it will proceed next, is immensely troubling.” Lord Daron said. “And if he could root out Segi, he can root out any spy.”
“Despite that we must--” Lakan began, but he was stopped by Lord Daron.
“Apologies, I have a wave incoming, please allow me.” He said.
They waited as Lord Daron picked up the wave link and listened for a few seconds. Then he chuckled.
“Of course.” He said. Looking at the mages. “Ganz has attacked Odan, the Sungan Capital.”