The Water Mage

By T.J. Ripley

Eliot Johnstone is an extraordinarily average sixteen year-old, until the day that a strange package arrives on his doorstep. He is transported in time to a medieval world full of magic and strange creatures, where he befriends an imp named Emmid who teaches him how to be a water mage.
As they battle the evil forces of a powerful death mage intent on capturing him, Eliot uses his knowledge of the modern world to enhance his magic in new and exciting ways. While the mystery of why he has become one of the most powerful water mages in this strange new world eludes him, he nevertheless makes friends and enemies and learns tough lessons about good and evil, life and death, and most importantly, himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Feb 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9781779412263

T.J. Ripley

TJ Ripley is a first-time author who sincerely hopes that you enjoy reading this book as much as he enjoyed writing it. His inspirations are too many to list, but for him it all starts and ends with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. He is also a big fan of such authors as George R.R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, J.K. Rowling, and Robert Jordan, just to name a few.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. The Council of Grand Mages

Chapter 2. The Mysterious Package

Chapter 3. A Lean Wolf and a Calico Cat

Chapter 4. The Mage Blade

Chapter 5. Battle with the Bands

Chapter 6. Gone Fishing

Chapter 7. The Most Honourable House of the Tunarimi

Chapter 8. Trouble with Rats

Chapter 9. Apprenticeship

Chapter 10. The Snorkel Apparatus

Chapter 11. The Battle of the Dragon’s Eye

Chapter 12. Video Game Mode

Chapter 13 . Quicksand Was the Plan. And the Plan Was Quicksand

Chapter 14. The Princess in the Chaos Garden

Chapter 15. Sir Eliot, Knight of the Realm

Appendix A. Map of the Lands

Chapter 1

The Council of Grand Mages

Notwithstanding the immensity of the room and the many tall windows that lined the south-facing wall, the Chamber of the Dominus had a gloomy feel that mirrored the mood of its current occupants. The dark wood on the walls and the large oval table in the centre of the room did not help. The white marble floor might have brightened up the room, but it was covered with crimson carpets with patterns in rich browns and deep greens. Like the nerves of the attendees at this particular meeting, the carpet was becoming frayed.

While ostensibly listening to the report from the Grand Mage of the Elves, Gorvill’s eyes scanned the walls, looking at the portraits of his predecessors. He stopped at Grand Mage Marnock. The Elven Fire Mage, who was his immediate forerunner, would never have chaired a meeting like this one. His meetings always matched his personality, which in turn matched his magical abilities as a fire mage. He was, for lack of a better term, fiery. He would have cut short all talk that bored him, which was most of what was said by people who were not him, and he would have commanded the group to act immediately. If the endeavour involved even a whiff of adventure, he would have led the party into reckless and immediate action himself. His epic battle against and ultimate defeat of Arbrax, the Lord of the Dragons, resulted in an entire mountainside being turned into molten rock that eventually cooled into a smooth granite face. The location, notwithstanding that it was nearly impossible to reach for more than half the year due to the heavy snows that fell in the mountains, had become a monument to the mage’s greatness, and it was often visited by upstart fire mages looking for inspiration.

Alas, fiery would be one of the last words one would use to describe Gorvill. He preferred to gather all the information he could and then act only when necessary, with cunning and precision. While he admired Marnock greatly, he would never be Marnock. His cold and calculating approach was as distant from fiery as one could get.

Gorvill’s mind turned from the portraits on the walls to the mages assembled before him at the annual meeting of the Council of Grand Mages. Most of them looked as bored as he was himself. A hawk flew past the window, and it immediately caught his eye. However, the hawk did not enter one of the open windows to deliver a message to him as he had expected. Instead, it flew on over the grounds of the Citadel.

The Citadel was a sprawling complex in Candar’s capital city of Torut, which held the offices for the Candarian Mage Guild. In the heart of the Citadel was the Mage Palace, the massive structure where Gorvill presently found himself. It included, among others, wings devoted to the administrative staff of the guild, to the academic arm of the guild responsible for magical research, and to the mage scouts who were responsible for identifying newly manifested mages. Surrounding the palace were many other buildings, including a healing hall, housing for some of the servants who worked in the Citadel, and a compound with barracks, stables, and training areas for the Mage Warriors, the military arm of the guild. Next to the palace was an immense dining hall lit by hundreds of chandeliers that cast the hall in a warm light. In the hall, which served as the primary meeting and eating venue for the residents of the Citadel, food and beverage selections from all the lands were served. Attached to the hall was a complex of apartments, ranging from small and simple to large and ornate, to house all resident and visiting mages. The grandest of the apartments appropriately were reserved for the grand mages.

Each nation, namely Frunland of the elves, Tunarim of the imps, Deklorian of the dwarves, as well as Amordia and his own Candar of the humans, had a grand mage. Each grand mage was the head of the Mage Guild in their respective nation. Among themselves, the grand mages chose a leader, called the Dominus, who became the highest-ranking mage in all the lands. Typically, the Dominus also was the most powerful in terms of magical ability. That was Gorvill. He was indeed the most powerful mage in the lands. For that matter, he was likely the most powerful life mage of all time, at least in recent times, and certainly since the mythical Lord of Chaos himself. If he had truly existed, the Lord of Chaos would have been the only mage with power over all seven of the sacred realms of magic: earth, air, water, fire, life, death, and time. Indeed, as far as Gorvill and the other mages knew for certain, the Lord of Chaos would have been the only mage with power over more than one of the sacred realms of magic. Of course, there had been occasional reports of mages with powers over multiple sacred realms, but none in the last few centuries and none that were ever confirmed by the Mage Guild.

Gorvill watched Grand Mage Fresna chatter on as wisps of blue smoke from her pipe curled in the air above her. Gorvill had a preference for elven tobacco, and the scent of Fresna’s pipe on that day was truly enticing. He would ask her later to have some of that lovely tobacco sent to him. However, at that very moment he wished for nothing more than the air mage to take a long pull on her pipe so he, or anyone else for that matter, could get a word in edgewise. While she had been a dear friend for more than a century, she loved the sound of her own voice more than a kitten loved a saucer of milk.

… the Empress of the Elves herself has taken the matter to heart and increased the funding to the Elven Mage Guild by 30 per cent to assist in the Guild’s search for untrained death mages. While Her Majesty was initially reluctant, we were able to convince her based on several persuasive arguments, including the following … droned Fresna.

Miraculously, it seemed to Gorvill, she actually did pause briefly. Before her pipe even reached her lips, he jumped at the opportunity to interject by stating, Yes, Grand Mage Fresna, we appreciate the efforts of the elves, and all the other nations have managed to obtain similar increases in funding, but the real concern is the fact that, in the past few years, our mage scouts have found next to no untrained death mages in their travels, even with increased funding and numbers of scouts. We have gone from annual findings of ten to fifteen across all our nations to finding only a few in each of the past few years. In Amordia, the situation is most dire, as nary a one has been found for these past six years. At the same time, we are observing a significant increase in reports of improper use of magic by untrained mages, at least some of whom appear to be death mages.

As his words sunk in, Gorvill looked around the table at his assembled colleagues. To his right was Fresna and her elven entourage from Frunland. Thankfully, Fresna had accepted his interruption and was now busy getting herself a glass of Nordvik water, which came from the famous spring of the same name in the north of Frunland. The water was purported to contribute to the longevity of the elven peoples.

Next to the elves was Grand Mage Milldon, an exceptionally clever and powerful water mage from Tunarim. Gorvill liked the old imp and trusted him, but his fellow imps at the table, seated one on each side of him, were essentially unknown to Gorvill. All he knew was that they were both accomplished air mages. Most of the mages from the seafaring nation were either water or air mages. That was beneficial to their sailors for obvious reasons. The reputation of the imps as sailors was paramount, but they were also well known for their excellent intelligence organization. Indeed, it was the only spy network that rivalled or perhaps even surpassed Gorvill’s own. When the currency was information and not coin, he had no better trading partner than Milldon. At that thought, he glanced at the imp and watched him casually peruse the room, missing no reaction or stated word from any of the attendees. Gorvill knew the imp had the hearing of a bat and could read lips in all the relevant languages, so little ever got past him. For his part, Gorvill made sure that his Candarian colleagues knew to cover their mouths and lower their voices when they wished to speak privately in his presence.

Further around the table was the delegation from Amordia. Amordia, like his own kingdom of Candar, was governed by and primarily populated by humans. Moreover, the royal families of each kingdom were distantly related. Unfortunately, Amordia’s Grand Mage Jolex had been unable to attend, supposedly due to failing health. Gorvill did not trust this report. A life mage with Jolex’s power should be able to use his magic to comfortably live free of illness for at least several centuries, and he was coming up on only 165 years in the realm. He made a mental note to look into this after the meeting.

As it was, the Amordians had not even sent their next most powerful mage, who Gorvill would have expected in the circumstances, Mage Flink. Instead, the delegation consisted of three relatively unknown and unproven youngsters (as Gorvill was wont to consider any mage under the age of 50). These young folk had exhibited significant political aspirations but little in the way of intelligence or even common sense so far, at least in Gorvill’s estimation. Still to come on the agenda was the report from Amordia. He was interested to hear their perception of the gravity of the issues in that kingdom. He would have questions for the greenhorns.

The final delegation that he considered as his eyes swept around the table was the one from Deklorian. The dwarves native to that democratic nation were known for being amicable, even kind, but also intelligent, and they preferred a no-nonsense approach to most any issue. Their leader, Grand Mage Rockwin, was a powerful earth mage who embodied the stereotype perfectly. His younger colleagues who flanked him at the table looked up as he began speaking.

Dominus, we Deklorians share your concerns in this regard, and we would add that we have several reports that suggest the involvement of the Shadow Guild.

Gorvill’s face darkened almost imperceptibly at the mention of the name. The Shadow Guild was a council of dark mages who were motivated by their desire to see mages rule over all the peoples, whether human, dwarf, elf, or imp. They believed that only those with magical abilities deserved to govern, and they looked down upon those not gifted with magic, who they called the unworthy. Sadly, little was known about their secretive organization. They hid from the authorities and worked in the background, subverting others to their will as required. Somehow, they usually were one step ahead of the Mage Warriors, the part of the guild that was tasked with policing mages in general. Not without reason, Gorvill was concerned that the Mage Guild had been infiltrated by the Shadow Guild, but he did not yet have sufficient proof on the point, so he generally kept these ponderings to himself.

All mages, including death mages, were essentially like any other person until they came into their magical powers. Typically, that occurred during childhood and often at the time of a momentous event, whether good or bad, in the individual’s life. If it did not occur during childhood, it took place at puberty. As such, rarely did powers manifest past the tweens or early teens, except in the case of the long-lived elves, where it could be as late as the early twenties. The one constant, as far as everyone knew, was that never did magical powers manifest after puberty.

It was the job of the mage scouts to work with local mages within the Mage Guild to scour the lands and identify new mages as their powers were first observed. For the family of a newly discovered mage, it typically was a boon. Not only did the family receive a generous payment of gold, but the youngster was admitted into the academy of the mages, simply called the Academy, where their powers were nurtured under the tutelage of experienced mages until they themselves became full-fledged mages. The Academy was located northeast of Torut in idyllic forested countryside on the shores of Lake Ottarid. The headmistress was none other than Gorvill’s niece, Mage Trilla. Gorvill had been planning to visit the Academy in the coming weeks, but he now feared these plans would have to wait.

The sudden and unexpected appearance of magic in a new mage often was cause for celebration, especially with life magic. However, the same was not true for death magic. When a death mage came into his or her powers, usually that meant the death of a family member or friend. If they were lucky, perhaps only a family pet or farm animal perished. The family was still compensated with gold, albeit with only half the amount, but the child then had to be cleansed of their evil powers. That meant that they were taken to a life mage for the magical eradication of the death magic. If the local life mage could not perform that function, the child would be taken to a more powerful life mage for another attempt at cleansing. Occasionally, the most powerful death mages would have to be cleansed by Gorvill himself. He did not like to think about what would have to be done if a death mage came to him and he could not perform the cleansing. Thank Chaos, that had yet to happen.

The concern at that moment was that the Shadow Guild was finding newly manifested death mages consistently before the Mage Guild and spiriting them away to train them as death mages. An army led by death mages could be unstoppable. Gorvill could only imagine a battlefield of troops cut down by an army of undead supported by the curses of powerful death mages. There were rumours of children being kidnapped or families being paid to release their children to strangers, but only in a handful of cases was there evidence that the children taken may have manifested death magic. Nevertheless, it seemed reasonable to conclude that the Shadow Guild was somehow finding and taking away the vast majority of the untrained death mages before the mage scouts could find them.

In response to Rockwin, Gorvill said, I share your concern, my friend. My question to you, and to this group as a whole, is ‘How are they doing it?’ How are they able to locate the death mages before we do? And how can they abscond with them without us knowing? Presumably, they would need a life mage or a death mage to identify the use of death magic, since they are the only two types of magic that can be used for this purpose. While we do not yet fully understand the link between death magic and life magic, I nevertheless do not believe that they have the resources to locate the vast majority of the newly manifested death mages before our own mage scouts. I cannot fathom how they could perform this function over the broad expanse of all our nations. So, I ask you, do any of you have any explanation or even a scrap of helpful information to share?

The assembled mages looked on blankly. None of them had any answers. Of course, none of them were death mages, and as far as they knew, only Gorvill and Fresna had ever encountered a death mage beyond the untrained level. The hairs on the back of Gorvill’s neck stood on end at the memory of that day when he and Fresna had faced a powerful death mage. However, he had no time to consider that now.

Facing the silence of the room, Gorvill added, I would like to propose an envoy to Amordia, where the issue seems to be most dire. But first, let us move on to the next item on the agenda. Since that item is the report from Amordia, it is possible that some light may yet be shed on the matter.

Gorvill slowly turned to face the youngsters from the Amordian delegation and with a polite wave of his arm, he turned the floor over to them. The spokesperson for the group turned out to be the woman on the left, perhaps the youngest of the three. Mage Monicia began her obviously prepared speech in the slightly too quick stammer of one who was nervous. Many questions were put to her, and responding to those inquiries served to help her settle into a more relaxed demeanour. With the to and fro of questions and answers, Gorvill learned the following:

As in the other nations, the numbers of mage scouts in Amordia had been increased over the concern that no death mages were being found. That had been done by order of Grand Mage Jolex but had needed extra funding from King Turpin. However, several months prior, the grand mage became ill and no longer able to perform his duties as head of the Amordian Mage Guild. Temporarily, those duties were assumed by Mage Flink. As much as the pompous fire mage annoyed Gorvill, Flink was competent and a powerful mage in his own right. At the same time that Jolex fell ill, the extra funding surprisingly was cut by the king, and the numbers of mage scouts was reduced to a level even lower than before the funding increase. That was certainly troubling. Gorvill himself posed questions about the rationale for that as well as the mysterious ailment afflicting Grand Mage Jolex, but the answers did not satisfy him, or anyone else around the table by the looks on their faces. The youngsters did not know much. With respect to Jolex, he learned only that the grand mage had gradually become feeble of both mind and body and eventually had received no visitors except for his own servant, Mage Flink, and the seneschal of the royal castle, who occasionally brought documents and discussed matters on behalf of the king. More recently the visits from the seneschal had stopped altogether and were made to Flink instead.

Gorvill sensed that trouble was brewing in Amordia. He addressed the assembled mages. Thank you, Mage Monicia. Your information is disconcerting indeed. I am aware that Candar’s own King Jamis is sending a trade envoy to King Turpin in two days’ time. I am going to join the envoy with a view to visiting my old friend, Grand Mage Jolex, and to personally investigate the issues of death mages and the Shadow Guild in that kingdom. Is there anyone around the table who may wish to join?

Immediately, one of the other Amordian mages, a stocky man with an insignia of three red stars on his shoulder, which identified him as a senior-ranking mage warrior, piped up, Obviously, we will be headed in that direction ourselves, so we would be pleased to join such an illustrious group of travellers. Monicia smiled along with this statement but inwardly frowned. At least she would be able to tell Flink that they were able to keep an eye on Gorvill, because Flink would not be happy in the least about the meddling Dominus visiting Amordia for the purpose of investigating matters best left to Amordians. As Dominus, Gorvill’s right to investigate the Shadow Guild was not hindered by such trivialities as national borders. However, that did not mean that Flink would be thrilled by the news.

Gorvill had expected this. But as he watched the other groups discussing the issue, he could not help but wonder who else might be tempted to go. His subordinates in the Candarian Mage Guild likely would fight over the honour of accompanying him. He was not so sure about the others. The elves generally considered themselves above such matters, particularly ones involving Amordia. Thus, he did not expect them to volunteer. The generally neutral imps typically kept out of the matters of the other nations, so they too seemed an unlikely option. The dwarves were perhaps his best bet.

In sync with Gorvill’s thoughts, Grand Mage Rockwin spoke up. Dominus, we have discussed the matter, and while I and most of my fellow dwarves will be returning to Deklorian in short order, my esteemed colleague, Mage Bomaline, has volunteered to join you on your journey.

Gorvill looked at Bomaline, who was seated to the right of the Rockwin, and tilted his head in a courteous nod. It will be my pleasure to have you accompany us, Mage Bomaline. An earth mage of your prowess will undoubtedly be of great benefit to the group. She smiled and graciously returned his nod.

As Gorvill turned his attention back to the others, Grand Mage Milldon volunteered, Dominus, while we would be honoured to accompany you on your journey, we have a number of business meetings set up here in Torut, and then we must continue on to Fenholm for similar meetings with the elves.

The imps were, for the most part, the shippers of goods in the collected lands. They were centrally located with a vast coastline between Frunland and Amordia, which served well their large fleet of ships, which could easily reach the coastal regions of Deklorian and even some of the major cities of the landlocked Candar via the Greater Azura River. As a result, they had business dealings with virtually every type of merchant and manufactured good in the lands, including the high-quality metal products of the dwarven smiths, the fine fabrics and rugs of the elven weavers, the wide array of agricultural and fabricated products of the humans, and of course the fine leather and other quality goods of their own impish craft persons.

Safe travels, my friend. I wish you every success in your business dealings, said Gorvill with sincerity.

We too have other matters that require our attention, volunteered Fresna. We will be meeting with King Jamis on behalf of the Empress in three days, and after that we are required to return home to Fenholm.

Grand Mage Fresna, in light of the fact that you are unable to accompany us on the journey, I wonder if I might speak with you privately after the meeting? requested Gorvill.

Of course, Dominus. I would be pleased, replied Fresna warmly.

Eventually, the meeting wound down and Gorvill and Fresna retired to Gorvill’s apartments. The two chatted amiably while they walked through the corridors of the palace until they reached the staircase that wound its way up the Dominus’ Tower. At the top of the tower was Gorvill’s apartment complex. It included his living quarters, office, and laboratory. The tower was one of the tallest in the city and gave Gorvill spectacular views in every direction.

Turning to Fresna, he lightheartedly proffered, A boost in exchange for a boost up the many steps? Of course, he knew her answer, but it would be embarrassingly impolite to use magic on another, particularly another mage, without requesting permission. She readily agreed and he immediately felt a strong breeze at his back created by the air mage that assisted them up the many steps. At the same time, he boosted the life forces of both himself and his elven friend. The result was that their feet barely touched each step as they quickly ascended the long stairway. Moreover, they felt not even a modicum of tiredness, notwithstanding the hundreds of steps and their advanced ages.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he decided to enter his office instead of his quarters. This visit would involve serious discussions and therefore merited the office in his opinion. Upon entering the office, though she had been there many times, Fresna still admired the beauty and simple elegance of her surroundings. The room was a perfect quarter of a circle with two inner walls that met at a ninety-degree angle on the inside of the tower. The outer wall curved around to join the other two and housed seven large windows. Light streamed in the seven windows through ornate stained-glass panes. Each window depicted a mage locked in combat with a mortal foe. Mages from each of the seven sacred realms of magic were illuminated, one per window, in battles against various dark foes, such as dark-clad death mages, majestic fire-breathing dragons, cruel-looking demons, and hordes of undead.

On the inner walls was a vast collection of portraits. One section of portraits was dedicated to the royal family of Candar and generations of their predecessors. Another section was dedicated to the current rulers of the five nations. Finally, one section had portraits of all the prior grand mages of Candar, going back just more than seven hundred years to when the Citadel was first built. All the spaces in between, save for the wall sconces containing lanterns, were covered in dark wooden shelves that were completely full of all manner of books, scrolls, and manuscripts, interspersed with beautifully crafted wooden statues of various animals. Fresna saw ferocious-looking creatures like lions, bosruses, and crocodilians, graceful horses and unicorns, simple farm animals such as gorlims, hogs, and fowl, and evil-looking creatures, including great lizards, krakens, serpents, and dragons.

In front of each window was a table, some small and some large, that held a variety of plants. There were plants with gorgeous flowers in an array of vivid colours. Others were creeping vines that wound around the nearby window frames. One of the tables had a collection of ugly leafy plants topped by giant snapping traps that looked like blood-red mouths framed by rows of spiny green teeth. As Fresna looked on, one such trap closed sharply with an audible snap on an unsuspecting bee that probably had been on its way to gather nectar from one of the flowering plants. Throughout the grounds of the Citadel, Gorvill and his assistants tended to the hives of many different types of bees, so Fresna did not concern herself with the fate of one lone drone that would not return to its hive.

In front of the corner between the two interior walls was a giant wooden desk. The desk was itself a wonder to behold. It was undoubtedly the desk of a grand life mage. No other could create or maintain a desk of living wood such as this. The four corners of the desk were tree trunks that sunk into the marble floor as if it were made of soft, fertile earth. As they rose, the trunks gave way to branches that wound around each other to form the body of the desk. On the other side of the desk, Fresna knew there to be great drawers that would open for none but Gorvill. As the branches grew from the trunk, they gradually gave way to smaller branches and finally great broad leaves of a brilliant green that formed a leafy bed across the top of the desk. Over that lay a great sheet of glass that formed the only non-living component of the desk. Gorvill used the desk as he would any other, but when his business was finished, he always left the top bare to allow the leaves access to the sunlight they craved. Occasionally, prolonged cloudy periods forced Gorvill to supplement the life force of the trees with his magic, but the desk always appeared vibrant to Fresna.

Gorvill’s chair, situated behind the desk, was similarly made of living wood, with a seat made of a many-layered bed of leaves that recalled the delicate layered pastries favoured by the imps. Fresna knew it was as comfortable as any chair in the lands. In front of the desk, were two chairs for visitors. While they were made of gorgeous dark wood and polished to gleaming perfection, they were just ordinary chairs. The cushioned arms, seats, and backs were decorated with intricate depictions of plants and animals in stunning hues of luminous greens and earthy browns. Fresna sat in one of these chairs.

Gorvill sat in his living chair and reached down, opened a drawer, and pulled out a bottle of akvitz and two glasses. Akvitz was a rare and enticing whiskey made by the elves from Nordvik water, barley from the very best farmlands east of Fenholm, and a special strain of yeast cultivated and kept by the Elven Master Distiller. It was distilled in special copper kettles smithed by the most gifted dwarven earth mages. The distilling was done in a secret location over fires fueled by peat from the Helig Bog in northern Frunland. The bog was said to be inhabited by the ghost of the first master distiller who refused entry to the bog to all but the current master distiller and his or her servants. The whiskey was aged in barrels made from fallen branches of the tree of life itself.

Gorvill, like all life mages, had made the pilgrimage to the sacred tree found in the famous Muskor Forest. As a result, he understood better than most the value of using such magnificent and magical wood. Due to the scarcity of the ingredients, only one batch of akvitz was distilled every decade or so. Fresna noted