The Blood Mage

Zhang, Zor Empire. As/A: 3084.

The fiery waves bashed itself against the rocks of the shore, forcing her hands upon the sands of the beach and leaving the golden beads of earth clothed in salt, as zephyr commanded her tides, and drove about the swirls of her cold breeze.

"A song, a cry, a plea, no one knows. Nobody has ever lived long enough to tell the tales of the maiden's graceful chords. The irresistible heightened pitch and sonorous chimes which are best avoided and left unheard --"

A long braided maroon beards dangled from his chin, patting his bare chest and frolicking in tune to his nodding head. Some of his toe gnawed through his boot, escaping to the surface and across the edges of the flipped over iron bucket his short plumped feet settled on.

"Cmon man! Ladies that splendid are found in palaces, not within the salty seas."

"Just ignore the bloated fool, he rants on and on about this whenever anyone is about to set sail."

"-- I pray thee my good merry men, even the winds and the starry sky points to the horrors beneath the Colchian waters."

His pants hung loosely on his waist above his ankles, as he projected his short limbs, leaping off the platform he created and landing on the ground.

A few men heaped around him, lashing out scornful chatters and laughter, while throwing empty cans and bottle corks at him, but their requited attempts to end his squabbles only propelled more of the short man's preachings.

Geoff Hustenut, the crazy drunken dwarf of the caverns in Cidar, never fails to deliver his prompted tales by the harbour. Talentless in swordsmanship, but skillfully mans the ropes of navigation with sincere dexterity, as well as his amassed experience. But his fables and tales, still remain a mystery to many, truly, no one's ever lived long enough to prove them.

"Well there mate --" a kinder tone, and a rigid palm clamped Geoff's right shoulder. "-- How would you like to go on a trip above these same water you speak of?"

Geoff turned to meet a meekless smile directed at him from the man who ditched him years ago.

"What are you doing here Kramper?"

He grumpily asked.

"Kramper? You gotta quit the nick names Daisy --" his faux smile slowly became a wide jawed grin. "-- do I need to spell out Milen for you?"

"Where ever thee goest Kra-Milen, you drag along the dreadful claws of trouble by thy side."

"At least this time I dragged along a beautiful lady and a handsome price."

Milen's eyes were safely tucked into its socket, with a grin hovering on his face.

"What ever it is, I am not interested."

"Even if you're paid in gold?" Milen gave his pocket a few taps, while looking into Hustenut's bulging gray eyes.

"How much gold are we talking about?"

The dwarfs ears caught on a rare sound, the slithering song of tiny pieces of heavy metal clasping together.

"Five hundred gold pieces." Milen replied.

"I will take seven hundred." Geoff debated.

"Three hundred!" Another word attack escaped Milen's mouth.

"Four fifty!"

"Four hundred and fifty! Deal!" Milen's foxiness paid off.

"You slimy snake!" Geoff's wrinkled face exhaled displeasure.

"A deal is a deal. Here's half --" Milen brought out a bulbous leathery purse, poured out some of its contents, and handed him the tiny black sack of pointy surfaces. "-- you'll get the rest once we reach our destination."

"And where would that be?"

"The wonderful --" posing with a dramatic tone, Milen dazzled his reply. "-- peaceful, beautiful and magical Colchis." He knew his reply was the direct opposite, except the fact that Colchis indeed is a haven for especially dark sorcery.

"Impossible!" Geoff tried dissuading him "No mere mortal can find the island of sorcery, --" But changing the sly fox's mind will require more than just facial expressions. "-- for an ancient magic shields it from the eyes of the ordinary. Normal folks like you and I, cannot even cross the dangerous Colchian streams, talk of finding its exact location."

"That is why I have as a partner, a Magus, one whose blood flows with the very essence of the dark city." Milen smouldered confidently.

"Hello, I'm Amelia."

Geoff's leapt away startled from the petit goldie lock waitress. He took a second glance at her: studying her features, then walked to her, took up her right hand and placed his sun baked dry lips against the back of her palms.

"It is always a pleasure to meet a lovely lady."

He said, while looking into her beaded walnut eyes.

"Don't let the pig fool you --" Milen scoffed. "-- he's not charming in any way."

"When do we set sail Mr Dwarf?" Amelia eyes still fixed on Geoff's retinas and his thick furry brows, she shot a question and broke away from his crispy-dry-hard palm.

"Right now Milady, if thou please." Geoff responded, still enchanted by her presence. He inhaled deeply, basking his nose in the lemon and rose fragrance the air around her wore.

"Follow me, its time I introduce you to the Cinder Barrel."

"That's what the crazy midget calls his ship." Milen whispered into Amelia ears, which made her chuckle.

___

"All aboard?"

A dirty slender scalawag screamed and slid down a thick brown braided twine. The wind that followed him as he swung past, reeked of beer and rats. He repeated the same oscillatory motion, until he jumped from the rope and landed in front of the only passengers: Milen.

His yellow scattered molars glistered as he smiled in acknowledgement to the lady beside Milen.

"Get back up that mast --" Geoff's growl snapped off the hobo's examining eyes. "-- we raise those rusty anchors in five minutes."

"Aye!"

The thin tattered man scurried back up to his office.

"We depart in five minutes dirty pigs, man those..." Geoff completely ghosted Milen and his little miss extra, barking orders while waving his tiny hands and short arms in the air.

"At least he doesn't have hooks for hands right?"

Milen faced the blonde bartender, letting forth an outburst laugh.

"Are they... Pirates?" Amelia's frowning brows accompanied her scanning eyes all through the ship.

"These filthy skinny drunken horde? --" He paused midway, and cried forth another laughing round. "Not with this raft for a boat."

"You are a very strange man."

Amelia upon ending her final statement, walked away from Milen.

"And I'm also dashingly handsome --" He screamed at her back. "You know that's a very rare combo right?" He halted his statement and ran after her.

"So, would you mind telling me what made the all sexy enchantress leave her home, and choose to settle in a kingdom as lowly as Zhang?"

His flattened face from laughter, became rigid and serious.

"It was a decision, --" Amelia turned her face to the screamed which stroke her already awkward conversation, and then to the chains scraping one side of the jolly roger they were yet to ride. "-- nothing more." She turned back to the unsatisfied Milen.

"Alright! I'll have your word for it."

She knew clearly that he only relented because there will be plenty of time to ask on their supposed voyage. To ease his doubt, she decided to give him a chip, hoping it would end his prying lips.

"A banishment spell."

"What?" Milen's curiosity became aroused.

"The supreme sorceress, as punishment for certain crimes, chooses to curse, rather than inflict physical damage."

"One part of the story," she thought, "just one should make him shut up."

"Punishments are for offenses. What exactly happened?" Well he did not shut up like she planned, and she was thrown into the corner she would rather not choose to stay.

"Have you heard of the Blood moon ritual? A ritual done by the supreme sorceresses of Colchis?" Amelia was hesitant, but she felt an urge to continue her story. "It is a tradition, that has been passed on through generations of blood witches dwelling in Colchis, a ritual that chooses ten new born babes, who are to be drained of blood, and offered as sacrifices --"

Each part of her dreaded the memory of that day, but she couldn't force herself from saying them.

"-- to the sorceress. Each babe's blood is sucked out by an incantation, which also slowly crushes the tender bones of each child, until all that is left is nothing but their pale pink rubber skin."

She could not force back the tears rolling down her face.

"I couldn't... I couldn't stand doing such inhuman act to my only child. I had to run away... to save my poor baby, but I couldn't. They caught me, took her away, and I was charged with treason, and banished from Colchis."

She wiped her eyes and sniffed back in the lingering liquid at the base of her nose.

"This ritual, why the blood of babies?"

Milen had her within his arms, but comforting her meant she would have to pay the price of answering to his curious mind.

"An elixir." She jerked from his the blankets of his body. "The purer the essence, the more effective."

"A little suckling's blood for an ordinary elixir?"

Milen's felt surges of anger. "What ever reason it might have been, torturing an innocent child just for self satisfaction, is totally unacceptable."

"Immortality!"

"What?!"

"You may be well aware of the unique ability -grace -of blood witches, and for centuries our high sorceresses have pushed further beyond mere healing, to actual longitivity." She knew she was also guilty of this act too, as she had once promoted it, and denying it will only be useless.

"On a blood moon which appears once every hundred years, the high seated warlocks and wizards, use these babes to create an elixir, one specially meant to extend the length of their life."

"They technically steal the life span of ten children, to last them another hundred years, in time for the ritual?" Milen's displeasure became heightened with questions. "What do they aim to achieve? Nobody extends their life for nothing. I mean, who loves this dirty, bloody and sad world these powerful men created."

" I never realised that --" She was vaguely applauding him for catching on so fast. "-- that is a plausible explanation for their every gruesome act."

Milen shrugged, and then took a different route on their conversation.

"So how do you plan on breaking the banishment curse and getting us in?"

"A potion." She eagerly replied. "I cooked up a potion for the occasion. Let's have our fingers crossed that it works."

"And once I return to Colchis, Migera and the blood coven will have to pay for all their atrocities...."

Amelia's attention, away from the smart lecher behind her, her head heeded the wind of the salty ocean, as each hasty pull dragged each yellow strand of hair back. She closed her eyes, and inhaled the icy air, while letting in the soothing splattering sound of water against the sides of Cinder Barrel.