Mage Knights: The Leave Taking

Morning

Yawning, Kashé rose and walked in on Sage, who was doing pushups on the dirt floor. Blinking, she rubbed her eyes. “How long have you been up?” she murmured sleepily.


“I never went to sleep.” Sage answered, finished exercising. “Crowlin couldn’t sleep either. He spent the night reading. I went out and got supplies and horses as soon as dawn started to come.”


“Horses? How did you have enough money for that?” Kashé asked as Sage rose and tugged a cloth out of the washbasin, toweling himself down.


“Crowlin gave me money, two full deols.” Sage answered, wringing out the cloth. “He called it pocket money. He’s still got more in his purse. Yow, that’s cold water.”


“He calls deols pocket money?” Kashe said, tossing Sage’s shirt to him. “Pocket money for a king, mayhaps.”


“He does come from a prestigious family.” Sage replied, tugging his shirt on. “But he doesn’t flaunt it, and it’s his money that’s gotten us what we need, so I see no reason to complain. Are Coriko and Deviån awake?”


“I can wake them.” Kashé exhaled, stretching, and catching Sage watching her. “Oi. Eyes off.”


Sage waved a hand as he buckled his sword on. “I’m just admiring the inherent perfection of elvish architecture.” he demurred.


“I’ll have you admiring the inner architecture of the village well if you keep looking.” Kashé threatened, leaving to get ready. “Coriko! Deviån!”

Mage Knights: The Leave Taking

Puzzle Pieces

“Are the others sleeping?” Crowlin asked.


Sage nodded. “Deviån’s out like a light. Coriko’s tossing and turning.”


“You left out Kashé. Which means you were watching Kashé sleep.” Crowlin assessed.


Sage was glad the relative darkness hid the color that rose to his face. “It does not mean that at all!” he protested.


“You should keep your voice down. Kashé’s part elf, and elves sleep lightly.” Crowlin teased.


“Never mind you.” Sage muttered. “Myrrdin told you to bring that book you’ve been carrying around. What importance does it have?”


Crowlin opened the tome. “It tells me where the mask on the dead man came from. The mask itself is the Kahu Ifera, one of a set of six masks from a far eastern culture, all infused with dark magic. That was as much as I’d read before you and the others burst in on me.”


“There were six attackers during the ambush in the Courtyard.” Sage recalled. “All of them wearing masks. Not a coincidence, I think.”


“Agreed.” Crowlin concurred. “They were probably wearing the other five masks in the set. There’s an entire section on those masks in this book.” Tapping the page, Crowlin looked up. “There’s a sage that lives over in Wayward who studies eastern magics. He might have deeper information on these masks.”

Mage Knights: The Leave Taking

Sleepless

“You should really get some sleep, Crowlin.”


Crowlin looked around. Sage was standing at his doorway.


“I tried.” Crowlin said, turning to stare out the window into the night once more. “But I can’t.”


Sage came over and took a seat beside Crowlin. “Aye, I know the feeling.” Sage said heavily, then smiled. “It’s the reason I’m still awake.”


Crowlin stroked the book in his lap. They were in one of the villages around Arcanis, and would stay there till morning. Bands of armed civilians were roaming the streets of Arcanis, searching for Crowlin, but wouldn’t find him since he wasn’t in the city.


“The people won’t look kindly on me for running.” Crowlin said quietly. “They’ll think I’m guilty of what I was accused of.”


“I would say you didn’t have a choice.” Sage replied.


“I hope Myrrdin’s fine.” Crowlin said, setting the tome aside. “What were you and the others doing? You said you were planning on leaving Arcanis. . .”


“Oh. That.” Sage said, lacing his fingers together. “An emissary from the Archsage met with Deviån, Kashé and I. The Archsage wanted us to track down the group responsible for the massacre and stop them. We were allowed to invite three others with us on the mission. I was going to invite you.”


“Looks like I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Crowlin stated grimly.


Sage smiled. “There’s always a choice. Some of the options are just less pleasant than others.”

Mage Knights: Childhood's End

Chase

The mage knight pulled himself from beneath the pile of books and lashed out at Myrrdin. “Sorcerous cat!” 

Myrrdin hissed, dodging the sword. “Fool. Did your mother never teach you not to meddle with black cats?”

Elsewhere in the library, Sage and the others made for the back entrance. As Crowlin stumbled along with them, book in hand, he caught sight of the mob pouring into the Great Library, some of them bearing torches. Letting out a strangled cry, he came to a dead stop.

“Torches!? They dare bring open fire into the Great Library? Vandals! Bandits! Brainless lugs, if you even so much as singe any of these books, I’ll have you-”

Kashé grabbed Crowlin, clamping a hand over his mouth as his scholarly indignation gave away their position in the Library. “We need to get out of here right now!” she hissed to Sage as the mob closed in on them.

“This side door should take us out onto the street.” Coriko said, opening a narrow exit crammed between two bookshelves. Deviån slipped through first, and Kashé dragged an indignant Crowlin through next. Sage ushered Coriko through the door, then went through himself, closing the door behind him. The mob was at the door in moments, but found themselves restricted and bottlenecked by their sheer numbers.

“I would very much appreciate knowing where we’re running to.” Crowlin said breathlessly.

“We just know that we’re leaving Arcanis.” Sage replied as they slipped down side streets with the sound of the mob growing distant. “In truth, we were hoping you could tell us where to go.”

“Save it for later, gentlemen.” Kashé growled as they were forced to take an unexpected detour. “It appears there’s more than one mob loose in Arcanis tonight.”

Mage Knights: Childhood's End

Fleeing

“What?” Crowlin said, shocked.

“A mob, looking for your head!” Kashé repeated, pulling him up. “Up on your feet!”

“Do you have your sword? Excellent.” Sage said.

“Wait, why?” Crowlin demanded, confused.

“It is believed that you helped orchestrate the massacre.” Kashé explained. “The late-night drunks have carried the conspiracy theory even further, and they can’t be reasoned with.”

“I can hear them!” Coriko said, looking to the front of the Great Library. The faint mutter of discontents was filtering to them.

“They’re here!” Deviån hissed. “We must go!”

“Go where?” Crowlin asked.

“Away from here. Out of the city. With us. We were leaving anyway, but this’ll just move our departure forward a few days.” Sage answered.

There was the sound of doors being forced open, and the angry rumble of the mob poured through the Great Library. Myrrdin mewed. “Crowlin! Take it with you.” he said, placing a paw on the tome Crowlin had been looking at.

As Crowlin grabbed the book, one of the mage knights assigned to Arcanis stepped in on them, and instantly shouted out. “He’s back here!”

“Away!” Sage hissed, grabbing Crowlin and yanking him along, with Kashé, Deviån, and Coriko following up the rear.

“The mask!” Crowlin shouted, throwing out an arm. “I can’t leave it behind; it’s dangerous!”

“Not as dangerous as an angry mob that even respected mage knights have been caught up in.” Sage replied, drawing his sword. “This is insanity. Mage knights are supposed to be levelheaded, not brainless mob lugs!”

Back at the table, the mage knight moved to pursue the fleeing companions, but Myrrdin hissed at him.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay put.” the mage cat threatened.

“It talks!” the mage knight gasped, drawing his sword.

“Oh, it does much more than talk.” Myrrdin growled. His eyes flashed, and a horizontal cascade of books flew out from the nearest shelves and hit the knight, bringing him down.