Ghaleon silently lowered the strength of the barrier around the wizards, only leaving enough power to keep the ceiling from collapsing on them. He looked carefully at Sadoul, his face thoughtful. The Magician of Fire had surprised him.
"If he just wasn't fighting the Magician of Water he might have had a chance," Kazyr commented, negating his shield magic so that only Ghaleon's remained.
The former Magic Emperor nodded solemnly, slowly walking over to the two fallen wizards.
He knelt between them. The ice slab had slid back, exposing Sadoul's neck and head. Ghaleon placed two fingers against Sadoul's throat, and found a faint fluttering beneath them. He smiled. "I have to hand it to Sadoul, he just doesn't want to die."
"So what about the other wizard?" Kazyr asked.
Ghaleon shrugged and turned to face Solon. He likewise checked for a heartbeat in the Magician of Water. Ghaleon's mouth tightened, and he pulled Sadoul's blade out of the wizard's chest. Blood gushed at the sword's exit, coming out in strong little pumps. "We can save him if we bandage him immediately," said Ghaleon. "Solon's heartbeat is still strong, but he's loosing a lot of blood. Sadoul can afford to wait. He's not in danger of death."
Kazyr nodded, believing that he understood Ghaleon's line of thinking. He pulled a long thick cotton scarf from his pouch. "Here. It's clean. You can use it to staunch the bleeding. I have plenty more."
The former Magic Emperor took the proffered scarf and tore away Solon's robes from his chest. The wound redoubled its bleeding efforts as the forming clots were disturbed once more. Ghaleon glared tight-lipped at the severity of the incision, but noted that the sword managed to miss the heart, with probable damage to Solon's left lung. But Ghaleon doubted the injury to the lung would cause any lasting illness to the wizard. The bleeding needed to be stopped. Sadoul's sword had struck a major artery.
The electric shock from Sadoul's weapon probably hurt Solon more than anything else. But, that's what he gets for being the Magician of Water , Ghaleon thought as he wrapped Kazyr's scarf tightly around the dying wizard. He wound it around twice before running out of cloth and then tied it snugly so that it wouldn't slip.
Ghaleon turned to Kazyr. "We need to keep pressure on the wound. It'll aid in the clotting; prevent him from loosing any more blood."
Kazyr frowned. "And how do we go that? Put a rock on it? I think I have a nice heavy one in my pouch but..."
Ghaleon chuckled. "I have yet to see anyone apply pressure to a wound with a rock. Actually, if you have a small throw pillow in there, that might work better."
"Sorry, I don't," Kazyr sighed. "It's not like a throw pillow seems like something worthwhile to take. How people do you see carrying throw pillows during long journeys? Not very many I'd wager!"
"By that same token, I've never seen a person carry as many handkerchiefs as you do before. You have virtually everything and anything stored in that little sack of yours."
Kazyr huffed and looked away.
"Anyway, there is something you can do. Just use your hands to apply pressure to Solon's injury, You probably have a better idea of how much weight to use than a rock does."
"At least you grant me that much intelligence," said Kazyr, flouncing down beside the unconscious Magician of Water.
Ghaleon shifted his position closer to Sadoul. "Yes, I do, Kazyr."
Kazyr paused at hearing his name, suddenly realizing that it was the first time he had ever heard Ghaleon use it. Had Ghaleon finally acknowledged him as an equal? He glanced furtively over his shoulder at the silver-haired warrior mage, but he was not facing him. Kazyr sighed, lowering his gaze, and turned his attention back to Solon.
Only miles from the eastern shore of the continent sailed the largest battleship Vay had ever seen in known history. Hundreds of meters in length, the steel-plated warship maneuvered ever closer to the seaport of Penzance. The Charnel had once been captured by Prince Sandor in his quest to prevent Sadoul's ambition from becoming a reality. But through some skillful political maneuvering, Jeal managed to retrieve the stolen warship and place it back into Danek hands; where it belonged.
"Your imperial majesty," said the soldier as he knelt behind his lord.
"Yes?" asked Jeal, casually looking over his shoulder. The view from the window of his private quarters afforded a much more interesting perspective than that of the bridge proper.
"We're due to dock at Penzance within fifteen minutes."
Jeal nodded.
"I'm just letting your grace know."
"And you have." He waved a hand as he turned back to the window. "You may report to the captain now. Tell him to assemble the dragons and their riders on deck."
"Yes, sire."
The soldier's booted footsteps sounded up to the door, which clicked shut behind him.
Jeal allowed himself a grin. Sadoul's lightning magic would prove fatal against a wing of mecha. However dragons posed another problem. They had no special weakness against electricity, and indeed proved strong against fire. Hardy beasts, they would take several sword blows to fell, and Jeal didn't intend to loose a single one of the magnificent wyrms. The battle would not last long. When a castle full of Danek soldiers couldn't stop the trio of wizards, Jeal would see how they would fair against an entire flight of dragons. He looked forward to personally leading the attack.
The Danek emperor turned and strode across his quarters, picking up an old set of riding leathers. It had been too long since he had properly flew. That display he gave Sandor only weeks ago couldn't hold a candle to what would happen when he found Sadoul.
And once Sadoul is eliminated... perhaps Jeal could even visit Segazz. He had heard of the Segazzi's plight, that they only possessed a single dragon now in their entire village. How was it that when Jeal chose to live predominantly by his Danek heritage, his Segazzi half should show up more than ever? The main continent's dragons may have died. But those on Danek and Ossyk obeyed him as they would any dragonrider. And providing they'd be willing to relocate from their island homes, Jeal would see to it that the Segazzi and their traditions survived. He owed his family members there at least that much. The mother of Segazz's sole remaining dragon was killed when Danek invaded.
Jeal laughed slightly to himself. Well, he couldn't hope that all would be forgiven. Half Danek, half Segazzi; he had as unlikely a heritage as any. But benefits would be reaped wherever they lay.
He changed into his flight gear and proceeded outside to the top deck, where the dragons would be lifting off. Jeal had asked that Mythril come along and be the one in the lead. The silver-eyed blood dragon was only too pleased to offer his services.
"Now, Sadoul, can you tell us what this is all about?" Ghaleon asked gently, propping the Magician of Fire into a sitting position against the cavern wall. "Apparently you're not all the domineering maniacal megalomaniac that you want us to think you are."
Sadoul smirked, head lolling to one side. "Couldn't hide forever could I," he stated. He leered in Solon's direction. "Bastard." Sadoul chuckled lowly. "If not for him I could have put it all past me."
"What all past you?" Kazyr knelt beside Sadoul, blue eyes attentive.
Solon rested behind the white-haired wizard, still unconscious. And he would likely remain so for many hours yet.
Sadoul snickered. "Well, I suppose I may as well tell you. I don't have the heart to kill Solon. And when he wakes he'll likely tell you himself. Only he'll probably slam my actions in any way possible."
The blond wizard sighed as Ghaleon began to peruse the library. Although intent on finding any information on Lucia's tower, Ghaleon kept his pointed ears alert, and listened carefully to Sadoul's tale.
"As you know, a millennia ago I became known as the Magician of Fire. Along with the Magicians of Water, Wind, Earth, and Soul, I sealed the ancient Armor of Vay that threatened to destroy our world. Well, the Magician of Soul was a woman; Elynthia. Solon and I both loved her dearly." Sadoul lowered his head in remembrance. "Our competition to win her love was never violent. The first who would escalate such a battle would certainly be the one to loose. In the end, she chose me. Solon didn't begrudge my fortune, for in the end it was Elynthia's choice. All he asked was that I promise to protect her enough for the both of us. I did. And he disappeared not long afterwards.
"I thought nothing of that occurrence, as all the Magicians of Vay had disbanded after our battle. With the exception of Elynthia and I, we rarely saw each other anymore." Sadoul sighed, lifting his head again. His eyes remained focused ahead of him, but his gaze lay in the past.
"Elynthia and I spent a few years together. We never married. But one day I got the urge to explore. I wanted to see if there were other lands on this planet besides this continent and the Danek Isles. I wanted to find the tower of Lucia and thank her for giving us the chance to fight for our world. Elynthia thought it was a wonderful idea."
Sadoul looked Kazyr in the eye. "I never did find Lucia's tower, as you probably can guess. Rather than take a ship to search for the tower, I used replica of the Armor that nearly destroyed our world. This second Armor was inert when I found it. And I thought I had finally discovered how to reactivate it and command it according to what I wanted it to do. I was wrong.
"The Armor took me on an insane cruise across the planet and I think I actually wound up on the moon a couple of times. It took me forever to get back Marwick and the shrine at which Elynthia lived. Sometimes the Armor would break, and the navigation system would go haywire. Sometimes it would stop working for apparently no reason at all. By the time I returned, two decades had passed.
"I saw Elynthia, now known as the Eternal Lady because her beauty never faded. But I didn't make my presence known to her. Though I was no longer with her, I saw that she could live happily enough without me. And I didn't want to intrude."
Sadoul rose to his feet, still sore from his battle, but unable to simply sit quietly while telling his story. He paced anxiously around the cavern floor as his tale passed into his present. "I took up a new desire; to fully understand the technology that this Armor of Vay possessed, and to understand what I didn't know that prevented me from returning to her for so long. But I didn't have the years left in me to do it. I discovered the rejuvenation spell, the same one that allowed Elynthia to remain young. And I used it to my advantage.
"For almost a thousand years I studied and learned all I could from the Armor. I learned incredible things; things I knew could benefit the world. But I couldn't just come out at the world and say it." Sadoul swung his arms about angrily. "The world resists change. Like it or not, people are skeptics. And showing them the benefits of an alien technology was no easy task." He sighed. "Of course the Danek saw the benefits immediately. For all Jeal's arrogance and occasional stupidity, he's an open-minded man. So," --Sadoul shrugged-- "I gave the Danek the technology and used them to try to take over the world."
Kazyr nodded slowly, hoping he was at last understanding Sadoul. "So what happened to Elynthia?" he asked.
"Elynthia," Sadoul murmured. "I wanted to revive the old Armor, the first one we found. Much as I learned from the second one, my own creations didn't have the same power as the originals. There's still a lot I don't know. I tried reviving the first Armor. And to do that, I needed all of the elemental orbs that the five Magicians of Vay sealed its power into. Each orb had a guardian that must die before the orb could be taken. Elynthia was the Magician of Soul... So she sealed the orb inside herself.
"No, I didn't kill her," Sadoul said quietly. "Though I enslaved her mind, I could not kill her. And I had no idea that she carried the orb inside of herself at the time.
"When Prince Sandor and his friends brought the other four orbs into her presence, she regained her memory and willfully gave up her life so that they may have the fifth orb and defeat me." Sadoul shook his head, lowering his gaze. "I shudder to think of what she'd say to me now."
Kazyr stood up quietly beside Sadoul and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "How about 'I forgive you'?"
Sadoul met Kazyr's eyes, and for a moment the white-haired mage could see the man that had been Ardor.
"But why?"
"I can't say. I do not know her. But if she loved you once, and you did her, there may still be something left to hold on to. You can't live trapped in guilt-ridden walls that may have no right to exist. I know that for myself."
Kazyr smiled gently. "Why don't you go outside and get some air? There shouldn't be any more undead around. And I'm sure that Ghaleon and I can search the library ourselves. Besides, you might not want to be around when Solon wakes up. Ghaleon and I will try to talk some sense into him before letting him go."
Sadoul nodded slowly. "Thank you," he murmured.
The Magician of Fire walked away from Kazyr as the white-haired mage dropped his hand from his shoulder. Sadoul nodded again to Kazyr and then exited the library.
Sadoul sat quietly on the grass outside of the cave. The sun had set, leaving only the blanket of darkness pinpricked by stars in the cloudless night. That, and the hovering orb of the moon Ghaleon called Lunar.
The Magician of Fire looked up at the moon, fancying that he could just make out the borders between the land masses and the oceans. He wondered if that world had as many troubles as Vay. Sadoul sighed. Well, at least Lunar didn't have a renegade wizard that used to fight on the side of good. Sadoul smirked almost instantly after completing that thought. Or did they? There was Ghaleon, imprisoning his goddess and whatnot. Perhaps Vay wasn't that badly off after all.
Sadoul laughed to himself, and laid back on the grass. He definitely felt better now. Nothing like the night air and looking up at the darkened sky. By the Immortals, it had been years since he had done this.
He stared up at Lunar again, wondering if he could try making out some cities. Of course, unless they were incredibly big, he doubted he could see them without a telescope. But then, that's what magic is for.
As he began to mutter out the words to a spell, he saw a light form against the rim of the moon. Sadoul frowned. Could the sun be coming around the horizon so quickly? He swore it just set, although he couldn't be sure since he hadn't witnessed it himself. Bereft of any sort of clock, Sadoul had guessed at the time from the position of the stars in the sky. Granted it had been some time since he last tried that, he felt he was pretty accurate. It had been mid afternoon when Ghaleon and Kazyr took him into the cave. He didn't think he'd been unconscious for that long.
The light gathered itself into a bulb and fell from Lunar, down towards the horizon like a shooting star.
"A bad omen," muttered Sadoul.