Revenge of the Raven

Chapter 5 - Ashes to Ashes

Barth asked as the soldier reached our group. They were all looking at me curiously, except for Barth. He was the only one of us, besides myself, who had been taught the subjugation spell and he had a bemused smirk as he watched me.

I usually didn’t tell lower level students of spells of this power because, almost always, as soon as a student found out about a powerful spell they were anxious to learn it as fast as possible.

In that haste, most would try to rush through the basics so they could learn the higher magic. And if you tried to attempt one of the higher spells when you didn’t have the basics down perfectly, it never ended well. But, I suppose in these circumstances I didn’t have much choice.

“Everyone, this is the soldier, or commander I suppose, of the soldier’s who attacked us. He was the one who was supposed to kill me. I put him under what is known as a subjugation spell, it basically makes them subservient to the caster. Frankly, I forgot I didn’t kill him. But, since he’s still here I think we can use him.”

I turned to the commander who was still staring at me with his blank, misty gaze.

“What was the next stage of your attack? After killing us, what were your next orders?”

The smile instantly dropped from his face as I reminded him that he was supposed to kill me.

“After the attack we were ordered to burn down the building with the bodies inside. It- It was supposed to get rid of the evidence as well as destroy anything in the building to prevent it from being salvaged. But, I would never hurt you master, never. You know I only want to serve you. I-”

I waved my hand putting a silencing charm on him. I despised that side effect of the spell. The smell of the fire was getting stronger so I turned to face the last of my coven.

“We need to get out of here. Barth, go to the library and get as much as you can. And not just the destruction magic. Aspen and Asher, you take Eshe with you to the kitchens and get us supplies. Imani, I need you to go to the alchemy storeroom and gather prepared potions as well as materials in case we need to make more. And all of you grab some clothes. Not much, just enough to get by for a while.”

I quickly summoned a few bags and cast a spell on each of them.

“Each of you can take one of these. It’ll shrink anything you put in them so hopefully we can fit everything we need.”

They hesitated and Asher looked at me like I was crazy.

“Uh, not to question you or anything but... why? You know we can put out the fire. It wouldn’t even be hard.”

I sighed, not wanting to bother with any more explanations.

“Yes, obviously we could. But it would only be a temporary fix. If we put out the fire, the king would know we survived and would keep sending his men after us until they kill us. And, until I find out exactly how he made these bracelets and what else he has that he could use against us, we’re better off with him thinking we’re dead. That gives us time to find out what’s going on, what weapons he has, why he attacked us, to rest and recover, and to find allies. And before you ask, none of you are to do anything to interfere with the fire. If we stop it or freeze it or anything, even temporarily, we run the risk of him knowing someone survived. Now, no more questions, let’s get what we can and get out of here. We’ll meet up at the clearing where the ceremonies are held.”

They all finally got moving, grabbing bags and teleporting out to their assigned tasks. Aspen took a second longer to explain to Eshe how teleporting would feel before they vanished as well, leaving just me and the captain.

Part of me wanted to tell him to stay put, to let him burn to death in the fire that would destroy everything I’d built. He’d do it, the spell wouldn’t let him disobey. But as much as I hated it, we could still get some information out of him. I grabbed him and teleported us to my room. I made myself one of the bags and started casting spell after spell to take down all the different barriers that hid countless things throughout my room.

I moved quickly, smoke starting to fill the hallway and making me cough breathlessly. I cast a quick spell that would put a ball of oxygen around myself before sighing and casting one around the soldier as well. I sent a quick message to the rest of them that they could use that spell as well. It was a basic one they’d all know and since it was cast on ourselves there wouldn’t be any evidence left behind.

Taking a large breath from the clean air, I went back to my task. Quickly but carefully starting to fill the bag with all my most valuable treasures. I tried not to think about what all this meant and everything I was giving up. I spent countless years building this place. Trained countless mages, and everything I built is currently being burnt to a crisp.

I sighed and shoved the sadness down deeper and went back to packing. I placed each item in carefully, trying to avoid breaking or ruining any of them. By the time I placed the last scroll in the bag, the smoke had thickened to a dark ashy color.

Throwing open the doors of my wardrobe, I grabbed an armful of clothes and stuffed them into the bag. I paused for a brief second but decided to keep packing away my clothes. I knew it was stupid to be concerned with losing my clothes after everything that had happened. But, my wardrobe was something I took pride in and I’d spent a long time and a lot of money to have these clothes custom made and I’d be damned if he took them from me too.

After dumping the last of the clothes into the bag I glanced quickly around the room, peering through the thick cloud of ash as best I could to see if I’d missed anything. My eyes landed on the painting above my headboard and I shook my head as I hurried over. I dissolved the protection charms and pulled a single large book from within.

This book wasn’t necessarily irreplaceable, it contained all of the spells I had created over the years. All of which I knew by heart, but you never know when you might need it. Tossing it in the bag as well I tied it closed and handed it to the soldier.

“Carry this. No matter what happens, do not let it go.”

He nodded eagerly and clutched it to his chest tightly. I rolled my eyes and went to cast the teleportation charm and froze. My gaze landed on the empty bed and I cursed myself that I’d almost been so careless.

The king would likely know which room was mine and if the building survived, by some chance, I needed him to think I was dead. He wouldn’t notice the other’s empty beds as we always had a large number of vacant rooms. But mine stood out like a sore thumb and if it didn’t burn completely, there needed to be a body and bones in the bed.

I pressed my lips into a thin line and moved quickly out the door and across the hall. I paused in the doorway to the room of my closest friend and tried to ignore the sight of her slaughtered body. Pushing the disturbing sight to the back of my mind I quickly teleported her into my room and onto my bed.

As I went to leave the room I stopped and walked quickly to her nightstand where her necklace was lying, it was her most treasured possession and I couldn’t let it get destroyed along with everything else.

I picked it up carefully and slipped it into my pocket before striding quickly back to where the soldier stood. I grabbed his arm roughly and immediately teleported us out of the building.