Nethermost Realm: Prisoner of Arlunn

Chapter 56

Please note: I am updating this draft of The Prisoner of Arlunn. The most important change is that the main character's name has been changed from Philip to Rian.

56

He woke half-naked laying on a cold stone table. Had he awoke here before, or had that been a dream? Details slipped away, but he knew that he was in an Arlunni dungeon.

Anger burned in his mind and hatred, which caused a terrible headache.

Still, he couldn't remember his name.

His mind reached out for the magic-spawn but he couldn't feel it. He could sense a containment sphere around him, preventing him from doing magic.

Weak, he struggled to sit up. He was no longer bound. He picked up his tunic which lay on the table and put it on. Two Arlunni castle mages stood guarding the door.

He didn't know what the Arlunni wanted with him, but he knew that they had tried to mind-link with him. His mind felt so jumbled. His thoughts were incomprehensible. Had they tried to alter his memories? Why?

He couldn't remember the crime he'd been accused of—but he had no doubt that he was guilty. The fact that his memory had been tampered with—this worried him.

It wasn't long before more guards arrived to escort him out of the room. The containment sphere moved with him, keeping him powerless. Even without the magic-spawn, there were spells he could cast. He could probably kill a few guards and wound or disable the rest, at least temporarily, if it weren't for the containment sphere.

They led him upstairs to a large audience chamber, where a number of Arlunni had gathered. A woman, obviously their leader, spoke to him.

Already in the room, stood his magic-spawn, patiently waiting. Would they kill them both? What was their plan?

"Have you recovered your senses yet?" the woman asked.

"What have you done to me?" he demanded.

"You did this to yourself," she said. "I should never kept the magic-spawn here. I knew he was tainted," she said solemnly.

He cast his mind back through the memories immediately available to him, but had no idea what she was talking about. He attempted a spell, lashing out at her. Killing her would give him some satisfaction, but he couldn't break through the containment sphere.

"Can you tell me your name?"

There had been a name, what was it? Now he couldn't remember. "Are you going to destroy us?"

"I should," she said. "Instead, I'm sending both of you to the Nethermost Realm."

He stared at her in disbelief. "You're letting us go? Why?" It seemed too good to be true. Sent home, to the Nethermost Realm? But he felt an unreasonable sense of panic about this. His mind felt like it was tearing apart; his head was pounding with pain.

Again he tried to cast a spell at her but it failed.

"That's for you to figure out," she said.

They led him and the magic-spawn out of the castle and across to the Mage college, where they entered a large arena. The place felt familiar, like he had been there before, but he couldn't remember when.

The few students in there scattered when he was brought in, followed by a number of people who followed from the castle. And soon more students poured in from elsewhere to watch.

Up on a dais, they stopped. The Arlunni woman spoke loudly, for the benefit of the others in the room. "It is for the good of the Realm with whose safety I'm charged, that I banish both of you to the Nethermost Realm."

She dropped a black sword and scabbard at his feet. "I won't send you there defenseless. I have no doubt that this sword is cursed but it is suitable for you. It was taken from Molan when he was captured, years ago."

He felt a shock of recognition--he knew this sword. Molan, was that his name?

"I'm sorry," said the woman, as if apologizing to him, which he thought was odd.

With the other castle mages, she set the teleport spell. Through all of this, everyone else in the room watched silently.

An urgency to break free took hold of him, born of an unseen terror, a lurking knowledge of the dangers to which they would be sent. He reached deep inside himself and found a pool of anger. He tried to draw energy from it to burst the containment field, but the field was too strong.

Desperate, he reached out with his mind and found the Paravescea, but when he tried to draw power from it--it resisted.

All he could do, was to cause the building to shake and tremble, but it elicited a response of terror from those in the room that felt refreshing to him.

By then, the teleport spell was ready. It only required a few words from the High Enchantress to complete. She spoke those words now and he fought uselessly as the spell took hold of him and hurled him down into darkness.

In all this, he couldn't feel the mind of the magic-spawn anymore. He searched for it desperately as he blindly fell into oblivion. All the while, he cursed the treacherous Arlunni.

+ - + - + - + - + - + -

If you liked this chapter, encourage me to writemore--please click "vote."