Amie sat alone in her cell. She couldn’t see the swirling colors anymore. It must be the cell. It was common knowledge that there were specialty prisons that held mages. She hadn’t expected anything to actually work. All she did was follow a diagram from the beginning of the portal book that let her sense various streams of mana. It was labeled as a beginner formation.

She didn’t have her tome, nor the quartz crystal. There wasn’t any sense of time in the mage cell. She had worried about her husband at first. He was out trying to find a suitable location to expand the family business. Having his wife appear in the mage prison wouldn’t look good. She just hoped that no one put two and two together.

She paced around her cell. She had an excess of energy that she needed to burn. Lying on the bed had proven ineffective. It wasn’t exactly comfortable and she found herself fidgeting too much. She wished she had her tome. If she had it, she would at least have a book. There was a clank. She swiveled her head to look in the direction of the sound. A multicolored stream of mana was sucked in while a food tray was pushed in. She tried to call out, but the slot was immediately closed. The mana dispersed quickly, individual threads being sucked into the walls.

The meal wasn’t really any good. There was a puck vaguely flavored of meat and some kind of steamed vegetable portion. There was also an empty paper cup. She ate the food slowly, just to have some kind of nutrition in her body. As she chewed she found that the food contained a small portion of mana. She realized that she could feel the faint trace of mana enter her body. She still had her internal energies. She looked around the room while she gnawed on the puck. The mage cells were supposed to strip all mana from every source, but for some reason she still could sense her own.

She closed her eyes and focused on the traces of mana that she had inside. The ease that she could visualize her internal system was impossible. Her father had been a grandmaster of the tower. He had admitted that he had an imperfect view at best while he was trying to prepare her for the tower. The fact she could see the mana allowed her to strip the substance from her food. She hadn’t been hungry for the food but adding the mana to herself seemed to fill something she lacked.

She turned on the water and filled her cup. There was again a faint trace of mana that came in. The mana was a bit more sluggish but she found that the substance was drawn and taken in by the walls. Her cup was filled with water but there hadn’t been a trace of mana that had remained.

“I see,” she said to herself.

She positioned herself between the wall and the small trace of mana. The test was to see if she could be hungrier than the wall. She was. The small strand tried to flow around her, seeking the shortest route to the wall. When it had contact with her skin Amie had to force it into herself. She felt like an Amie shaped void. There had been a headache that she hadn’t noticed. The mana was a slight relief. The slot opened again. Amie shut off the water.

“Place the tray in the slot.” A male voice said.

Amie saw the strand of mana. It was far greater than the stream from the sink. She put the tray into the slot. The mana that had contact with her skin gave her far more relief than did the sink. In an instant, however, it was gone. Amie started counting for the next meal. She spent time by the sink absorbing what she could from the water. She probably had lunch, but it could have also been a dinner. She had started her morning early but had been passed out for an unknown period of time. When the next meal arrived it was the same as the first. She was able to establish a pattern. She didn’t exactly have an end goal. She only had one spell engraved on her soul at this point as her father had purposely avoided training her due to her water affinity.

As she absorbed the mana she started to go over what she had learned from the small red book. The concepts of magic that she had been introduced to were so foreign that they barely made sense. There was a little about the soul engravings that were preformed by wizards of the second tower. All she could find however seemed to mock the practice as inefficient and wasteful. There were certainly advantages that weren’t considered, but she hadn’t read enough to make the choice for herself. She had done something stupid and was paying for it.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

A new sound came from the door cutting off her thought. It was probably morning the next day. Amie hadn’t felt tired and stood between the sink and the wall almost the entire time. She hurriedly turned off the sink and made her way to the center of the cell. The blast of mana from the corridor outside caused her to stagger.

“Get on your knees,” commanded a guard, “and present your arms.”

Amie complied and the guards quickly shackled her wrists together. The metal started to feel warm when it came into contact with her skin. Amie was sucking the mana from the shackles. The guards didn’t seem to notice and pulled her up to her feet. Another guard fixed shackles to her ankles and then fixed a band around her middle. The pain in her head started to subside. When they entered the hallway it had vanished all together. She could see two auras swirling around

The guards walked her to a room where they put her in a chair which she was promptly chained to. The door on the opposite side was opened and Mirabelle walked in. A dark aura surrounded her. Amie thought it looked like the night sky, scattered with stars. Mirabelle’s eyes flashed a color. A shocked expression was suppressed by impatience. She turned and glared at the guards in an effort to make them move out of the room faster. When they left Mirabelle looked at Amie.

“What did you do?” she hissed.

——

Corin marched into Sedna. There had been a token force that rode to greet Corin’s men. Corin thought he would have to kill them, but they quickly surrendered. The men were itching for another fight with equal numbers. The soldiers seemed to be a bit more bloodthirsty than they had been previously. Corin paid it no mind. When they arrived into the small settlement he picked out a small squad to follow him.

The token force lead him to a small and unassuming building. The leader from the token force lead Corin and Amil into the building. Two elderly men and one middle aged woman sat at a table. The man that lead them into the room quickly departed after introducing the two of them. The three of them glanced nervously at Amil, obviously terrified.

“So you’re the one that’s been disrupting the caravans,” the man in the middle said.

Corin nodded.

“Are you going to kill us?” asked the woman.

Corin blew out a breath and shook his head.

“No, you’re important,” Corin said.

He nudged Amil with his arm. The wight pulled out a scroll and slid it across the table. The first man picked up the scroll, fumbling with the seal a moment before reading. His eyes grew wide and his mouth opened as he made a strained sound. The other two at the table shared similar expressions as they read the terms.

“Don’t worry, that was if we would have had to take this by force,” Corin said.

The elders slumped in their chairs.

“What will you have us do?” asked the woman.

“For now, I want you to fly the banner of The Venerable Razors,” Corin said, “I’ll have a few of my aides come in and go over the fine details.”

“We’ll fly the banner,” the second man said.

The other two were quick to agree.

“I’ll also have you burn that scroll,” Said Corin, “I’ll be sending a new document in the next few days.”

Amil pushed a white banner toward the elders, “Put this somewhere prominent.”

“We’ll be camped outside the oasis for now,” Corin said before he exited the building.

The banner was set in the center of town. It was three red blades grouped together inside a red band set on a white background. Amil had ordered two wights to guard the banner. It remained unmolested as they stood guard, unmoving.

The mages started their work with converting the standing force into the enhanced soldiers of Corin’s army. Caravans were once again permitted to enter the oasis and trade their wares. The caravaneers were captured and enhanced before being released with specific orders. There had been almost no noticeable change for the day to day life of the average resident of the oasis. The local mages were quick to adopt the way of the venerable razors.

“Amil, This went far more smoothly than I anticipated.” Corin said.

Amil stood silent. Corin ignored the lack of response. He had the leaders of the company write another proposal that would help the oasis develop. It would be a good place to train mages. It was out of the way and the people seemed loyal. He needed a way to reward loyalty.

“Amil, Can you find me one of our original mages? I have a few questions.”

The wight exited the tent with a nod. Corin liked how straightforward wights were, but the lack of speaking was starting to get to him. He decided to spend a little more time with the living to help balance out the time he spent with the dead.