Mageborn The Line of Illeniel, Michael Manning [best ebook reader for laptop txt] 📗

Balinthor was swallowed up, to be crushed within the earth’s bosom. His death released a powerful blast and what remained of the region was torn asunder, leaving a great chasm that was soon filled by the sea.

This was the event known later as the ‘Sundering’. Once the god had been slain the remnants of humanity destroyed his servants, dark beings known as the ‘shiggreth’. Creatures of unlife, the shiggreth were difficult to root out but eventually they were all undone. Humanity was safe once more.

Civilization slowly rebuilt itself, but there were no archmages left alive and few mages of the great lines remained. The new religions had gained numerous followers during the war against Balinthor and their power grew among the rulers of the new nations. Jerod’s action in unleashing the dark god upon humanity was not forgotten and people grew fearful that another wizard might repeat his mistake.

An accord was reached, between the rulers of that time, the new churches, and the remaining wizards of the great lines. To safeguard against weakness and human fallibility each wizard with the strength to potentially create a world-bridge would form a magical soul-bond with another person. The bond would shield their minds from undue outside influences, such as the dark gods, and if they should betray mankind by voluntarily giving themselves over to one of the dark gods the bond-mate would be able end the life of the offender. The bond would link the life of the wizard with his bond mate; the death of one would ensure the death of the other.

In time the bond bearers were named Anath’Meridum which meant ‘Pact Bearer’ in Lycian. They were the final protection against another tragic mistake. After that time no new archmages arose and the great lines dwindled. The bond meant that any powerful wizard was twice as likely to die due to accident or illness and they were much more vulnerable to assassins, despite the Anath’Meridum’s legendary combat abilities.

My head was swimming with the information I had just read. The creation of the Anath’Meridum was the result of some sort of treaty? It sounded as if the remaining wizards left after the sundering had been at a serious disadvantage politically. Even more important, it was clear that wizards had been around for a long time without needing the bond to save them from madness. More and more it was becoming certain to me that the reasons for the bond revolved primarily around the threat of a repeat mistake and the political necessities of the time.

Another thing that truly fascinated me was the term ‘archmage’. I had no frame of reference for it, but it sounded as if hearing ‘voices’ was not such a bad thing after all. From my experience before my bonding I had clearly been able to identify one of the voices as belonging to what I would have described as the earth itself, if so did that mean I was potentially an archmage? Again I found myself cursing the fact that my biological father had never lived to teach me anything. I had no clue what the implications might be if I was, I was still figuring out what it meant just to be a wizard.

That also left me wondering about the stone-lady. She had been very different from the other ‘voices’ I had heard and I now suspected she might be the archmage mentioned in the book. “Moira Centyr...,” I mused aloud. If only the book had given the name of her lover. It had said that he was of the Illeniel line, but if his name had been the same as mine I could have been sure that she was one and the same person as my ‘stone-lady’. If she really was some historical archmage; still alive after centuries of living within the earth itself... I couldn’t begin to imagine what knowledge she might have.

A knock at the door forced me to return to the present, I found Marc standing outside. “Come in,” I told him. “I haven’t seen much of you the past day or two.”

“After I delivered your message to Arundel I found myself called upon minister to the sick,” he replied. “There were several there who had suffered injuries during the summer.”

“Oh,” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“I thought you should know however, Sheldon returned yesterday evening in a terrible humor. You really made a great impression on him.”

I smiled grimly, “The feeling was mutual. What did he say?”

“I won’t waste your time with most of it. He’s not a very inspired orator, the closest he came to an original insult was ‘pig-lord’,” Marcus smiled at me for a moment before his face grew serious. “Of more concern is that fact that he is already making preparations to winter in the capital.”

“He’s leaving already?” I was surprised he had moved so quickly. “What did he tell his people?”

“Nothing, it would almost seem to be a normal trip abroad, except for the fact that he’s taking all of his fighting men with him... and packing up every valuable possession he owns.” My friend shook his head, “He plans to leave them behind Mort.”

My poor opinion of the baron had lowered even more; his sheer indifference to the fate of his people irritated me more than I could say. “Has he left yet?”

“He was still there when I left. I think he plans to start out in the morning.”

A plan began to percolate in my head. It probably wasn’t the wisest thing I had ever considered doing but my conscience wouldn’t let me do otherwise. I went downstairs to make preparations for the next morning.

Chapter 24

The good baron was just leaving his manor when we arrived. I think he was surprised to see me, and not pleasantly so, which suited me just fine. Penny rode beside me to my right, while Marc sat upon his palfrey to my left. Behind us were ten men of the Washbrook militia.

“Lord Cameron, I had not expected to