The Mage Wars

Evanath

9 Astris of the year 13004

The past seven days have been spent in the forest, we left Mount Annola a few days ago. Now I sit on watch. I have another hour before I wake Altair.

In the silence of the night, hooves are heard in the distance. Oh shit.

I kick Kaelen in the side hard. "Wake up!"

"What?" He groggily sits up. I place a finger on my lips. Kaelen listens for a moment before scrambling to wake Galen.

I  shake Altair. He stares at me before noticing Kaelen. Altair must think if Kaelen's up, this must be important. The captain wastes no time breaking camp.

"Riders are approaching," Kaelen growls at Galen. Galen nearly topples over, and Kaelen catches him. The General looks half asleep. "Listen,"

We fall silent. The sound of hooves and men yelling. Kaelen and I glare at the General. Spirits, he's not a morning person. Who am I kidding? None of us are, not after this.

We pack onto our horses. Minutes later, we're racing through the forest and to the castle of Evanath. The home of Uncle Carys.

"How far are the riders?"

I focus on the thundering hooves. By the loudness of their sound, my guess is an hour. Altair's Gods, Evanath, is three hours away at least. "I'd say an hour behind us. Evanath is a good three hours away,"

"Let's pick up the pace." Galen nods. We urge our horses into canters.
_____

"Run 'em down!" One of the riders yells when they break through the tree line. Altairs Gods, they caught up.

"Please! Their father is the King of Vespera," Galen yells at the guards. We've been arguing for at least five minutes.

This will not end well.

"We don't have time for this," Altair growls unsheathing his sword.

I remove my sword from its saddle sheath and ready myself.

The kingdom is on a soft hill. That same hill gives us an advantage. The guards protest. They can't see the riders yet. "Lay down your weapons."

I charge my blade to glow light blue. Lightning is a powerful advantage of being a light mage.

My feet take me toward the riders. The moment I cross blades with one rider, he's blasted back. His horse continues to run. Good. The man doesn't get up quickly. He grunts and runs for Galen.

Good luck with that.

Kaelen grins as another one goes flying past me, and I know that Kaelen is using the same spell, only his blade is a light chestnut colour. Sliding between a guy's legs, I tap one leg, and he goes flying. I get up and keep running through the riders.

Another bold soul crosses my path and is blasted back. His friend looks me up and down, then runs for his horse.

I turn to the guards, who look like they just shit their pants. Galen walks up to the guards. They look between us and scramble to open the gate. We remount our horses and head for the royal stables.
_____

Uncle Carys' throne room is similar to Father's. Only no platform or table. The walls are covered in jade and bronze tapestries. Evanath colours. Murals depict the fall of the old kingdom before the splitting of the two continents.

It's beautiful.

"Where is King Carys?" Kaelen questions the guards by the entrance. Spirits and souls, does he really think our Uncle is awake? It's three in the morning.