Darkness of Magic (Soul of Magic Book 2)

EIGHTEEN

Engerd stood on the mountain with the evening sun to his right, looking down into the valley below where his men spread out across the landscape; they were looking for the Soul of magic and her friends who had somehow managed to escape his clutches. He still couldn’t fathom how she had resisted the Bloodstone and done what she'd done. But whatever power had backed her up or whether it resided within her, he wanted it and wouldn’t stop until he had it; and the Lord of the Anti-magicians always had whatever he wanted.

Just then, he heard a horse galloping up behind him. Turning, he saw that it was Sylvestron, the great dark wizard who had gotten him involved in the situation to begin with.

Despite the fact that it was a hot evening, Sylvestron had opted for a very long black cloak, pulling it tightly round his body and even pulling the hood up to shield his face wither from the sun or the Anti-magicians as he rode.

"I got your message," he said when he got to Engerd and dismounted a few feet away from him. He removed the hood to reveal a face devoid of any readable emotion; but there was still a sense of urgency about it that reached the Anti-magician as he came. "What is it?" he asked.

"I made contact with the Soul of magic and her friends today," Engerd replied, making sure Sylvestron had reached his side before adding, "Unfortunately, they escaped before I could do away with them like you wished."

There was a moment of silence as Sylvestron gave no response to what the Anti-magician had said, prompting Engerd to look at him for a response after some seconds. Surprisingly, there was still no emotion on the dark wizard's face, his lack of response only because he had shifted his attention to the scenery before him which admittedly was beautiful as the mountains turned crimson and the valley gold under the light of the setting sun; that sort of thing would definitely had rendered anybody quiet.

"Where are they now?" the dark wizard suddenly asked, startling even Engerd with the suddenness.

"They escaped into the valley," he replied, using his chin to point to Sylvestron which area of the valley he was talking about; more than fifty Anti-magicians were spread all over the place looking for the escapees’ trails. "As you can see, my men have been searching the area all morning but they’re still yet to pick their trail. The Soul of magic must have cast some kind of spell to cloak them. She’s also the one who aided their escape, conjuring up a very massive power even though she had been hit by our weapons twice."

Sylvestron listened to Engerd give him a report of what had transpired between his men and the Soul of magic, nodding as he noted every detail. He had to agree that the girl was really powerful, which was no surprise since she happened to be magic itself in human form. But her resisting the power of a Bloodstone was something else entirely. In truth, no wizard ever should have been able to do it.

Nevertheless, after listening to Engerd, the dark wizard opened his palm and a shimmering purple ball of energy appeared floating on it. He muttered a few words and after a few minutes opened his eyes and ended the spell "They’re no longer in the valley below," he said, turning away and walking back towards his horse as he said it. “They're in the Valley of Shadows now.”

“Wait, what!” Engerd was more than surprised at Sylvestron’s declaration. “What do you mean they’re in the Valley of Shadows?”

“Exactly what I said, Engerd. The Soul of magic and her entourage have been swallowed by the Valley of Shadows,” he returned.

“But that’s a good thing, right?” the Anti-magician pressed on. “I mean, if the valley really does exist, then so does the life-thirsty souls that reside in it. They’ll do our job for us. Surely, the Soul of magic can’t be more powerful than death itself.”

“There’s lot more at work than just the fate of the Soul of magic, my friend.” Sylevstron looked calm but it was obvious that he was deeply disturbed by something. “But we have other things to address before we revisit the matter of our escaped quarries,” the dark wizard suddenly shook the disturbance away.

"And they’re what exactly?"

"Stamping our authority over this realm, of course," Sylvestron replied as a wide grin spread across his face. "And we'll be starting from the stronghold of the realm itself. The great kingdom of Cyrian."

“I’m sorry, what?” To say that Engerd was surprised by what he'd just heard would be a great understatement; he was absolutely stunned.

It wasn’t that he had any doubt in his own fighting capability or anything like that; and he knew that Sylvestron was one of the best there was in the realm. But attacking a great kingdom like Cyrian head-on and on a whim was nothing but psychotic suicide. "I’ve heard some crazy plans in my lifetime but this is by far the craziest, Sylvestron," he said to the dark wizard, unable to keep the astonishment from his face. "I mean, you do know that you can't just up and wage war against Cyrianes, right? We'll be pummelled!"

"You worry too much, Engerd. Victory is not really about who your enemy is but how you fight him," the dark wizard replied as he put a reassuring hand on the younger man's shoulder. "We won't be fighting Cyrianes from the outside in. In fact, our attack has already begun from inside the great stonewalls themselves."