The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 35

After Iris finished breakfast, Char helped her out to the living room. Kelnor and Rath had left the sofa open for them. Rath's blue eyes narrowed slightly when he saw how stiffly Iris was moving, but he didn't say anything. Nobody said anything. They needed to know what the mage - Micah - had done, but Char, for one, was not looking forward to hearing it.

"Sorry," Iris said after she settled on the sofa, as if she had any reason to apologize for her slow movements. "It takes a few days to recover."

The fairies brought another cup of stolen tea to her. Char made a mental note to ask around the barracks about it so he could replace it.

"Thanks," she said to them, taking a sip. "My voice gets better after a few days, too."

"So, the king's mage. Micah," Kelnor prompted her.

"Micah," she repeated with a heavy sigh. "He does talk a lot when he's confident, because he likes to brag about himself, and he likes to shock people and make them suffer with the things he says. I tried to keep him talking, and when I couldn't talk anymore, I tried to stay conscious to catch as much of it as possible."

"Conscious?" Rath asked, his brow furrowing.

"The extraction process isn't very pleasant." She took another sip of tea, her eyes downcast to the amber liquid. "I don't think he's actually a very powerful mage on his own, but he's very smart, and he's obsessed with getting more power. He's been studying how to extract magic from other sources since he was a child. His first human victim was his little sister."

"You're kidding," Rath choked out, his blue eyes wide with shock.

She shook her head. "He was the oldest child of three. Micah, Jonah, Alana. They were all mages, but Alana was too young to fight back, and she trusted him. Their parents caught him torturing her, so he killed them, too. Jonah escaped and came to Father John. And Micah kept experimenting, kept perfecting the process."

"Why didn't anybody stop him?" Kelnor asked angrily.

"He said himself that he's a master of deception and trickery. I'm sure his family never knew anything was off about him until that day. To most people, he's a powerful, dedicated mage. Only his victims know the truth, and they never escape. By the time he got to the magic school, he was so strong that nobody dared to question him."

"Makes sense, unfortunately," Kelnor said. "Which brings me to my next question. Why were you able to escape?"

"To tell you that, I have to explain the extraction process first. Without interruptions." She looked around at them all anxiously, and they nodded. Char steeled himself for what was coming next. She took another deep breath and closed her eyes.

"He learned from using his sister that permission and trust are key to making the process go smoother. So, he finds a way to get that from the subject before he starts. He coaxes them into drinking a potion that immobilizes them and keeps them alive. Without that potion, they would die instantly. He straps them down on a table and starts the extraction. It's extremely painful. If there's a lot of magic, he has to stop before they pass out, give them time to recover, and then do it again, as many times as needed to get all the magic. If not, he keeps going until he kills them."

She stopped, opening her eyes to meet the three pairs of flashing eyes around the living room. "That's what he did to Jonah. He said it took about thirty minutes to extract his magic and kill him. Then he took Jonah's place, so Char and I would trust him. That first night, after I fell asleep, he came to my room and cast a spell on me. It allowed me to be aware of his presence, but unable to wake up, and it made me sick in the morning. Then he came back as Jonah, and I was terrified of being left alone, so I basically begged him to take me with him to his study. He had to carry me there because I was so weak, and he gave me the potion, telling me it was something to make me feel better. So I drank it, and that was it. Permission and trust."