Triumph of the Artificer Mages

By Meyari McFarland

There had to be a spell to kill his enemies.

Juraj and Besim fled the Concordance of the Hearts of Magic, clinging to the hope that there was a solution. The question was what it would cost Juraj and Besim.

They weren't strong enough to free the world by themselves. Besim feared that it would take Juraj's death.

Juraj and Besim needed a miracle if they were to save to world and set everyone free.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MDR Publishing
• Release date: Dec 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311536518

Meyari McFarland

Meyari McFarland has been telling stories since she was a small child. Her stories range from SF and Fantasy adventures to Romances but they always feature strong characters who do what they think is right no matter what gets in their way. Her series range from Space Opera Romance in the Drath series to Epic Fantasy in the Mages of Tindiere world. Other series include Matriarchies of Muirin, the Clockwork Rift Steampunk mysteries, and the Tales of Unification urban fantasy stories, plus many more. You can find all of her work on MDR Publishing's website at www.MDR-Publishing.com.

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Triumph of the Artificer Mages

By Meyari McFarland

Other Books by Meyari McFarland:

Matriarchies of Muirin:

Tales from the Dana Clanhouse

Repair and Rebuild

Storm Over Archaelaos

Coming Together

Facing the Storm

Fitting In

Mages of Tindiere:

Artifacts of Awareness

Transplant of War

City of the Dead

Running From The Immortals

Hearts of Magic

Debts to Recover:

The Nature of Beasts

The Manor Verse:

A New Path

Following the Trail

Crafting Home

Finding a Way

Copyright ©2015 by Mary Raichle

Cover Image © Boris1264 | Dreamstime.com - Islamic Sunset Photo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be emailed to [e-mail]

This book is also available in ebook format from all major retailers.

Dedication:

This story is dedicated to my father, gone but never forgotten. I would never have become what I am if it weren't for you.

Table of Contents

1. Misdirection

2. Price of Defiance

3. Torture

4. Hunted

5. Running Away

6. Into Tredaire

7. The King

8. Great College

9. Discovery

10. Mating Frenzy

11. Revealing the Truth

12. Leaving Tredaire

13. Midnight Argument

14. Discovering the Truth

15. Attacked From Behind

16. Makela's Heart

17. First Love

18. Spider Mountain

19. Uncle Raj

20. Battle Joined

21. Town Square

22. The Fall

23. Web of Charms

24. Aftermath

25. Freedom

Transplant of War

Afterword

1. Misdirection

Rain drifted down over Juraj, the droplets so small that it felt like mist even though it was too big to hang in the air properly. Everything smelled wet, heavy with the rain that never seemed to let up in Edge City. Moss covered the road, so thick and lush that it domed over each cobblestone. Juraj had to keep himself from twitching at the moss covering an old signpost. Or was it a signpost? He couldn't tell and that was nearly as nerve wracking as actually coming on a grove of acid-dripping borjaz back home.

The moss wasn't alive and predatory here. It was just moss. Juraj knew that and yet his instincts screamed that they needed to leave, needed to get away from the moss and the looming bamboo fronds over their heads that would hide white-bellied spiders as big as his head. But no, there were no spiders here other than the regular ones that grew no bigger than a thumb.

Still, it would be such a relief to leave.

As green and alive as Edge City was, cut into the cliff walls that gave the city and the country its name, the place felt wrong. Off. Juraj didn't know if it was his instincts, honed past the razor's edge by Elder Danek's constant hunting for him, or if it was something deeper that his magic was trying to tell him.

People in Edge, Takeo and Jun most certainly included, were so strange. They did not touch. At all. And yet their temples were sex clubs where the wildest, most abusive of practices were considered acceptable. Even appropriate. Their streets wound and twisted like a ball of string knotted up by a kitten. Even their buildings were different, lacking the chairs and tables that Juraj had thought were necessary for civilized life.

They didn't seem to need heat in their homes either, despite the constant rain that fell over them all, chilling them to the bone. Or at least chilling Juraj and Besim. Takeo's bare feet made him think that Takeo didn't feel the cold at all.

True dark had fallen as he followed their guide, Takeo, and Juraj's new and very unwelcome slave, Jun, through the bamboo forest. Despite the bright mage lights that Besim had cast floating over their heads, the wider world outside of the mist, the bamboo, the circles of light, was hidden. That was probably what had him so uncomfortable as he passed the reins of his horse to Besim.

Anyone could be watching them in the darkness and Juraj wouldn't know.

There's no one there, Silence, Besim murmured. I'm watching.

Thank you, Juraj said mentally as the Blood Binding on his shoulder and the many silence charms tied into his hair made it impossible for him to speak aloud. I wish we hadn't had to take Jun.

I know, Besim sighed, switching to mental communication as he shifted to tuck a hand along Juraj's waist. He's so broken inside. I don't think he's ever set foot outside of Edge City. He's scared and lonely and hurt and I just want to hug him until he feels better. But it won't help.

I meant because of his lover Takeo, but yes, Juraj agreed. That, too.

They'd only just met Takeo but he looked at both Juraj and Besim as though they were monsters who might at any moment turn against Jun. Which made no sense. Why would anyone want to harm Jun?

Except for all the ways it did make sense.

Lord Alarick, Jun's previous owner, had told Juraj outright that Jun was the smartest person in the world, possibly, and that he was being targeted for Blood Slavery by one of the Immortals. Juraj's stomach turned at the thought of bright, shy Jun turning into a shambling idiot who couldn't be relied upon to remember his name unless the Immortal who enslaved him focused on him.

That was what Juraj had escaped when he'd run away from home. That's what his parents, his brothers, were right now. So many people, thousands and thousands of them across the world, were nothing more than puppets for the Immortal's plans. And now Jun had been targeted to become one of those puppets. There was a good possibility that Takeo had, as well.

Both of them showed signs of having been cursed. They carried little talismans on them that glowed with Peace Magic. Juraj could tell that they were designed to turn people's eyes away, to prevent them from being noticed. The spells weren't strong enough to be effective but there was an interesting little curl to the spell that seemed designed to force people to back away if they got too close. Or perhaps only those who had links to another mind.

Juraj couldn't tell without handling one and there wasn't much likelihood of Takeo allowing that.

When Juraj glanced his way, Takeo's fingers tightened on the reins of his and Jun's horses. His whole body stiffened as combined anger and fear swept through him. Juraj looked away again. No, he wouldn't be asking to work with those talismans anytime soon. Honestly, he wasn't sure what it would take to get Takeo to trust him. Or if he wanted Takeo to trust him.

We'll need to gate as far and as quick as we can, Juraj murmured to Besim. Lord Alarick said that one of the Immortals was targeting Jun and I think Takeo might have been targeted as well.

Oh, that's not good, Besim said with a wince that drew Takeo and Jun's puzzled stares. How do we protect them?

I have more silence charms, Juraj said as he rummaged through his saddle bags for the braided bunches of beads that were his most effective method of hiding from Elder Danek's attacks. I can alter the spells on them so that they're versions of that Look Away spell that Lord Alarick showed us.

Besim smiled brightly, clutching Juraj's arm. That will be wonderful! It should work perfectly.

Juraj grinned and pressed a quick kiss against Besim's lips, laughing, silently as always, when Besim giggled and rubbed his face against the scratchiness of Juraj's beard. He still found it hard to believe that Besim was twenty-two. Bearing a baby Heart of Magic had blessed Besim with an open heart, the enthusiasm and energy of a teenager and the face of a fourteen year old.

It had also given him more magical power than anyone else on the entire planet but Besim had as much control over that power as a newborn baby had over their body. He was doomed to spend his entire life with nearly infinite power and near total inability to control it. Which was how they'd met months ago. Juraj had gone far to the north seeking mages who could break Elder Danek's hold on him. Besim had gone to the north seeking mages who could teach him to be great at spellcasting.

Neither of them had succeeded.

But they'd met and now they were going to find solutions to both of their problems, even if the whole world arrayed itself against them.

Which brought Juraj's thoughts right back around to the problem of Jun, Takeo and how to conceal them from whichever Immortal sought to consume their souls. A Look Away spell was a good place to start but Juraj would have to make several versions of it to ensure that he'd calibrated the thing correctly. Too strong and it would hide them so that no one could see them, not even each other. Too weak and it wouldn't work at all.

In the meantime, Juraj needed something that would distract Elder Danek from their progress through the gates towards Tredaire.

What are you doing? Takeo demanded when Juraj pulled out several pieces of paper. Besim immediately pulled out the traveling pen and ink set he'd made sure to tuck into his saddle bags when they left Lord Alarick's home.

Can you tell him that I want to create a series of distractions, things to make the Immortal chasing me think that we went in a different direction than we did? Juraj asked Besim.

Can you do that? Besim asked. He blinked and then nodded to Takeo, cheeks red and then pasty pale in the face of Takeo's suspicious glare. Um, he's going to create some, what? Decoys?

Juraj nodded. He wasn't at all sure that they would work but Lord Alarick's Look Away spell could be reversed fairly easily. At least he hoped it could. It should work. Everything that Juraj had learned about the runes and power involved said that it would.

The only way to know for sure was to cast the spell. Juraj carefully drew the runes onto the paper with simple black ink. No reason to get fancy when they still had mist drifting down to blur the ink as it dried and make the paper slowly go limp in his hand. He really didn't care about that. The paper charm was supposed to be short-lived. If it lived too long then it could give Elder Danek another way to draw on Juraj's magic and torture him from a distance.

The first one smudged, ruining the spell's framework. Juraj shook his head and give it to Besim who pouted. Surprisingly, Besim ran his hand over the piece of paper and the ink came free. He flicked his hand and the ink splattered down to the disturbing moss by their feet, staining it black and making it even more creepy than it was before.

Juraj's second attempt was much better, the runes formed perfectly and the ink only spreading a tiny bit in the misty rain. He carefully filled the runes with magic, imbuing the charm with a sense of his magic touched with a bit of Besim's to make it more believable. It glowed slightly in the night, faintly red compared to Besim's pure white mage lights overhead.

That should do it, Juraj murmured.

I can't stop staring at it, Besim said. It's like another version of you.

Exactly my goal, Juraj said, grinning proudly. I'll drop it when we go through the gate the first time and it should make the Immortals think that we stayed there. Then we'll move onwards as quickly as we can.

Oh, that's wonderful! Besim exclaimed.

He clapped his hands and then flung his arms around Juraj to kiss his cheek while bouncing on his toes. Juraj laughed quietly but he shrugged a little so that Besim would let go. Getting ink all over the two of them wouldn't help, even if Besim could do that wipe the ink away trick. Given Besim's lack of control, Juraj wouldn't want him to try that on living beings. There was too much risk of injury.

Juraj let out a long, slow breath. This probably wouldn't work for very long but if it gave them a head start then Juraj would be satisfied. Though how they could get a head start when the Immortals had Blood Slaves spread all across the world acting as extra sets of eyes and hands, Juraj didn't know.

Even so, he'd try. Juraj would try anything he could to find freedom, anything other than sacrificing Besim, Jun and Takeo.

2: Price of Defiance

Red. Takeo narrowed his eyes as Silence bent his head and cast some sort of spell over the paper talisman he'd created. That was a new color for magic. Over the last few months Takeo had seen golden magic, almost entirely from foreign mages who were far too liberal with their curses inflicted for common sense behaviors, and white for the mages from Edge City, but never red as blood.

It was an oddity that Takeo had never had cause to examine. Why would magic have different colors, consistent colors it seemed? Was there a connection between the sort of magic a mage did and the color it took on when visible?

It wasn't a question that Takeo felt secure asking Silence or his boy-lover Besim. He didn't feel comfortable asking Jun, always presuming that Jun knew the answer. There was every possibility that Jun would know given his studies of everything under the sun but frankly, Takeo wanted nothing more than to kidnap Jun and run straight back to Edge City, to hide in the low part of the city until Silence and Besim went off on their mad quest.

Even Takeo knew that wasn't possible. Jun would not allow it. It would be a stain upon his honor, Takeo's honor, and that was something that Jun would never permit no matter how much it would benefit him personally.

The strangest part of the mad pair of mages was that they appeared to be able to talk to each other without using words. Besim cocked his head, peering over Silence's shoulder as they reviewed the paper talisman Silence had created. His mouth didn't move but his head did as if he was asking a question. There was the little frown, the cock of the head to the side, the way Besim's lips pursed thoughtfully.

And Silence nodded thoughtfully as he held the talisman up, casting another spell over it. It must have been a less powerful spell because this time the red glow was much fainter, almost invisible. Besim smiled like the child he clearly was and turned to put the ink and foreign pen into his saddle bags. He looked over his shoulder as if he'd just said something bright and cheerful. Silence laughed.

Absolutely no noise came from him, not even the huff of air expelled from his lungs.

Matches his name, Takeo murmured to Jun.

Yes, Jun whispered back as he pressed against Takeo's side. It is so strange. He might be a ghost drifting through the world rather than a human. Why would he do that to his horse, though? The horse is just a horse is it not?

He is hunted, Takeo replied. He once again resisted the urge to throw Jun over his shoulder and run off into the bamboo. And owned. That mark on his shoulder is a brand. Whoever owns him will not let him go easily. Perhaps being completely silent allows him to evade those who would see him returned to his master.

Jun shuddered and nodded. He didn't quite press his face into Takeo's arm but it was close. Takeo could feel the heat of Jun's body, feel the way he shivered as if cold despite the relative warmth of the night.

It made Takeo fiercely uncomfortable to think that they now had enemies that they knew nothing about. Immortals, perhaps, mages, certainly. Takeo knew so little about magic and how mages were trained that he could not hazard a guess as to what they would face during this trip across the continent.

Silence tucked the paper talisman way and came over to them with something in his hand. They turned out to be charms, abjectly traditional braided silk charms similar to what Takeo's grandmother used to make before her fingers twisted too much with arthritis.

The knots were different and the beads had strange designs that didn't look anything like the ones his grandmother had used but it was still a charm of sorts. Jun took his hesitantly but Takeo refused to take the one Silence offered to him.

Not letting you take my voice away too, Takeo growled in his poor Vorenic. He was tempted to curse at Silence but he had never learned more than basic Vorenic, enough to communicate with their clients and foreigners who came to Edge City. All his best curses were in Pensric which Silence and Besim might not understand.

Oh no, it's not a silence charm, Besim said in his oddly accented Vorenic. He blinked at Takeo with so much surprise that he looked like a child, not the twenty-two year old man that he claimed to be. It's a shield charm. Silence is very good at charms. It will protect you against magical and physical attacks, up to a certain point. No charm ever covers everything.

Shields, Takeo said as a terrible sort of hope, full of desperation at the many curses that had come his and Jun's ways, bloomed inside of Takeo. He tried to stomp it down, mostly unsuccessfully. Really.

The words came out with a bit more scorn than he'd intended them to. No surprise then that Silence bristled and turned to Besim who nodded, giggled, nodded again and shrugged. When Besim turned to Takeo and Jun, his eyes were dancing with amusement even though he wrung his hands is if terribly nervous about speaking to them.

Silence really hates that neither of you can hear him, Besim said, surprising Takeo, which really doesn't matter. He can't talk and that's that. We know a sort of sign language we can teach you later. He said to tell you that he understands why you don't think they're useful. I mean, most charms aren't. But he's an Artificer Mage so his charms are generally a lot more powerful than a normal charm would be.

Takeo's jaw dropped open. Artificer Mage. Even he with as little interest in formal education as he had knew of the Artificers. It was said among the Riggers and construction companies that an Artificer Mage had been the one to protect the citizens of the country that Edge had been in the Wars Before. Ouchi had said, quietly, privately, over drinks and long slow sips of thick winter soup with leeks and shreds of chicken, that the entire bay had once been land. Somehow, supposedly, during the Wars Before all of it was destroyed, rendered down into dust and then further than that.

An Artificer Mage had protected people's lives. She had found a way to build homes into the cliff walls. She had given them bamboo and rigging and brought the word of Pensri so that people could find a new, moral, healthy way to live in a world destroyed by the madness of the Unspoken and their wild grabs for power.

The Immortals enslaved the Artificer Mages, Takeo whispered.

Jun gasped and clutched Takeo's arm, eyes wide with horror. Silence nodded grimly. Besim bit his lip, knuckles white with nervousness as he clenched his hands in front of his lips. So much power must be bound into Silence.

It will not take my voice? Takeo asked of Silence and only Silence.

Silence nodded once so grimly and determinedly that Takeo took the charm and tied it around the base of his braid where it wouldn't get in the way. If Pensri was pleased with them then it would actually protect Takeo, allowing him to protect Jun. That was what mattered.

And perhaps this mad quest was more possible than Takeo had thought. An Artificer must have greater power and knowledge than a regular mage. Maybe there was hope for their mad quest after all.

Silence nodded an apology before carefully tying the second shield charm to Jun's collar. The knot was a complicated one and the silk cords glowed slightly as he tied it in place. Takeo did his best not to bristle at Silence laying claim to Jun. Wearing the charm on his collar would declare to all with eyes to see that Jun belonged to a mage. No one was fool enough to challenge or harm a mage's slave.

Th-thank you, Master, Jun whispered.

Takeo rested a hand on Jun's shoulder because, despite his thanks, he looked as though Silence had just stabbed him in the gut. Jun smiled at Takeo despite his wobbly bottom lip. To Takeo's surprise, Besim looked nearly as upset by it as Jun.

We don't intend to keep you as a slave, Jun, Besim said. Silence nodded so firmly that Takeo was tempted to believe him despite their obvious insanity in challenging the Immortals. I mean, we sort of have to until we have the information we need. We can both tell that Jun would stay right here if we didn't own him. But, um, once we have what we need Jun will be freed. Really. Silence hates slavery after what happened to his family. He'll free you as soon as he can, I swear.

I, um, thank you, sir, Jun said, shivering and fidgeting a little.

That is not as reassuring as you think, Takeo sighed. We will be far from home if Jun is freed immediately. It would almost be better to keep him as a slave slightly longer if only to see him home.

Silence's head reared back a little but Jun didn't see it because he was staring at the ground instead of meeting anyone's eyes. After shaking his head at the sheer thought of it, Silence stepped back and then went to the gate. He gestured as he walked, saying something that only Besim could hear.

Oh, good point, Besim mused. We really can't jump straight there.

Silence nodded and did something with the gate that made it begin to glow. Takeo edged backwards, unnerved. He'd never seen the Old Gate functioning before. There were a few people with the gift of activating it but the rulers of Edge had forbidden its use in his grandparent's days. That apparently didn't apply to mages or their companions because Silence worked with the gate with what looked like total confidence. His fingers brushed over the runes, cleaning out bits of moss that always grew on it in the rain of the bamboo forest. By the time he was done tending to the runes the Gate was humming quietly and glowing as brightly as the mage lights still floating over their heads.

We're going to do our best to get to the Tredaire Strait as quickly as possible, Besim explained while Silence activated the gate. That means we're going to spend the next couple of hours going gate to gate. Hopefully we'll manage to get there in eight or nine jumps at most.

Fine, Takeo said.