I knew he was telling the truth that other victims had gone to the guards. Word had even reached the king about the terror these dark mages and their consorts had inflicted on many people in Newhaven. I didn’t know what happened to these people. The king didn’t tell me or the other sorcerers everything.
I looked behind me. I hadn’t heard Jacob leave the room, but he was coming back now with a tiny hand ax in one hand and a small hammer in the other. He started to hand the hammer to Shaw, but Shaw reached over and grabbed the hand ax instead. Neither tool was designed for fighting, each far too small, but both were more deadly than the small blade in my pocket.
“Set all the coins you have on the table,” Shaw ordered.
I didn’t like the positioning, two of them on one side of me and the dark mage on the other, but all I had to do now was get out of here.
They thought themselves to be wise, scaring me into an agreement for wine so that I had no evidence against them, but Shaw luring me into the house of a dark mage was all the evidence the king needed.
It wasn’t Shaw himself who threatened the king and the kingdom he ruled over. It was men like the one standing between me and my escape. These dark mages were planning something, and they were using men with corrupted morals like Shaw and his friend to see their plan to fruition.
I had no doubt Cason Clay was involved. He was said to be more powerful than all the other sorcerers of dteria. He was the one who had recruited the one hundred soldiers and sorcerers from Rohaer who we’d intercepted in the forest. This small army was supposed to meet Cason in Koluk and help him take the city by force. One who we’d taken prisoner had eventually talked. Cason wasn’t finished, not even close. He wanted all of Lycast, not just Koluk.
This was a good first step—finding the house of a dark mage. I made sure to memorize the man’s beady eyes and double chin as I started to plan my escape around him, but his confident stare was starting to irk me. I was certainly not the first person he had coerced into handing over his coin. The gall of these dark mages. Nothing scared them anymore. Threatening someone in his own home demonstrated just how far his mind had gone because of the dteria.
Had they any idea what I was capable of, they would’ve planned this very differently. They were giving me far too much space right now as I held up my hands.
“I’m not going to ask again,” Shaw said. “Take out your coins.”
CHAPTER TWO
“Why the hell are you smiling?” Shaw demanded.
“Because you set a trap for a mouse, but you just caught a wolf.” I threw the dinner knife at the dark mage. He screamed as it stuck into his arm, and the sword dropped out of his hands.
I ran for it, but he swept his hand in my direction and a thick sheet of clear energy slammed into me. I was ready, however, hardening my body and mana to resist it, but the force of the spell still stopped me for a breath.
The dark mage stepped on the sword as I grabbed it. He cast the Dislodge spell again, throwing me back, but my grip on the sword was too strong as I took the weapon with me from under his foot, dislodging him onto his ass.
I swept my hand to the side, rolling the rotund man out of the way of the door with a strong push of my dvinia.
“He’s a dark mage!” he yelled as he rolled.
I knew I didn’t have time to unlock the door and open it before Shaw and Jacob got to me, but I at least threw the lock open before I spun around to face the two large men.
Shaw came at me first with the small ax. I ducked as he struck the door behind me.
Jacob swung the hammer at my ducked head, forcing me to roll toward the long table at the center of the room.
Jacob helped the dark mage up as Shaw pulled the ax out from the door. The three of them faced me, all blocking my exit.
I didn’t mind so much. I had gotten myself a sword.
“He’s no dark mage,” Shaw said. “We would’ve come across him before now.”
“Didn’t you just see him cast?” the dark mage retorted as he yanked the dinner knife out of his arm and set it down on a dresser. Then he fixed his silk shirt to cover his exposed belly and held his hand over his bleeding wound.
“Who are you?” Shaw asked me.
“Someone who’s going to make your lives much worse if you don’t let me out of here.”
“If he is a dark mage,” Jacob said, “then he’s rogue. Cason would pay well for his death.”
So that was why all the dark mages seemed to be working with one another. They either supported Cason or died.
“One thing’s clear,” Shaw said. “He never cared about the white wine. He’s here for us.”
“All the more reason to kill him.”
Jacob rushed me.
I threw the man back with a wide force of dvinia. He yelled out in shock as he landed on his rump and slid across the floor, his back banging against the door.
“This is your last warning,” I said. “You will let me leave, or I will have to
