Wielders of Magic, Book 1: A Spell Binding Tale

Jackson and Rey both walked side by side, not saying a word, nor exchanging a glance. Rentham was in a bad mood, and there for everyone was in a bad mood. Most were starting to doubt their dream of a peaceful world, and some where wishing to just abort the mission and stop chasing the witch hunters entirely, for it wasn't getting them anywhere.

"We will set up camp as soon as I see the sun go above those trees. Someone alert me when that happens." Rentham said back at them, over his shoulder, before turning back around and walking solemnly again.

"Well he needs to lighten up." Rey mumbled under his breath. It was the third day since his cleansing, and there was no sign of a magical return. Maybe it was gone from him forever? Maybe he would be doomed to be a stub, a fire-less match?

He hoped not. Maybe the gods would have mercy on him and give him his magic back, but all he could do was hope.

"Hope is not reliable." He snapped at himself. "You are going to have to do something about it yourself."

"What?" Jackson asked.

"Oh shut up and leave me alone!" Rey replied, pulling his dark cloak around him tighter. He wasn't looking so hot, according to Jackson, who noticed the dark circles under his eyes, and the dull look in his brothers usually sharp, icy blue orbs.

He leaned in closely, his eyes darting around. "Have you gotten your magic back yet?" his voice was barely above a whisper.

"No! Now leave me alone!" Rey snapped and walked ahead of Jackson, obviously distressed. He had enough problems on his mind, and one was not explaining them to his brother!

"Rey please!" Jackson shouted with a sigh. "I was just asking . . ." His voice trailed off into a groan, which made everyone turn their heads a little.

Everyone was getting annoyed at everyone, and they weren't very pleasant company at the present, all snapping and biting at each other; they were all tense and hurt, that was all they were, world weary and beaten back by life.

Apparently they made due with the lemons life had given, so it started throwing rocks instead. Every body enjoys rocks don't they dear reader?

"Stop!" Rentham commanded, drawing his sword in a flash. His sharp, slightly pointed ears picked up on a song in the wind. "Do you hear that?"

They all listened for a minute.

"I do." Drusilla replied. "Sounds like a flute."

"Yeah." Rey and Jackson said at the same time, both glaring at each other for doing so.

"Should we search it out?" The Red Witch asked, going up to stand beside him.

"I don't see why not. The witch hunters are far ahead anyway." He waved his gray skinned hand around for a moment and than walked away from the path, following the sad sound of the flute.

They all followed after that, the music getting more dramatic and pulling as they got closer with each step. Drusilla felt like crying, and so did the rest of them, but they didn't, for the sake of less conversation. No one wants to talk about why they were weeping in public.

They stumbled upon a small pool surrounded by large trees, one with clear water that shown like a lightning bug and in fact, had the little things flying over the top of it.

A lone figure sat upon a little hill across the pool, playing to the lightning bugs with a wooden flute she probably made herself. She was small, had nut brown hair and the most golden eyes any of them had ever seen. Rentham and Jackson thought she was a Werewolf for a moment, but pushed the idea to the back of their minds and decided on listening for a bit.

The piper moved with her music, leaning forward at times only to return to her normal position and than to the sides and such. She was very pretty, they thought, and wondered what race she could be. Something as wonderful as her could not be a simple human or elf, they had to be some other kind of race.

The races of Drusilla and Rentham were yet to be found anyways. No one had really asked them, but they knew that neither could be human. They just didn't fit the part.

Jackson and Rey were both Half Elves, their mother being the elf and father the human. He had left when they were very young though, and they couldn't even remember his face. Their mother said something about her having magic was the problem, but secretly they had made of their minds that them two were the ones who their father had left behind. They had more magic then their mother, and he had left because his children were "corrupt" as well.

That thought in the brothers cut deeper than a knife, and left them empty in a place they thought they would never fill. A father is essential in his sons life, and theirs left because he despised them. You can only imagine the pain one feels when that happens. The children never forget, they just deal with the pain all of their life, getting used to it, getting pain killers and swallowing them every chance they get. They are taught to be strong, they are taught to be brave, but when the pain is inflicted by the parent, how can a child be resilient? Knowing that no one in the world cares for them but themselves?

The flute player stopped and put her pipe down, looking out into the pool and sighing. "Dear, sweet, lightning bugs, why can't you talk to me? We would be great friends if you could talk, but you can't, curse the gods who made you so." She sighed again and rested her head on her hand.

"She looks like a Druid to me." Drusilla whispered to Jackson. "Plays the flute, talks to lightning bugs, lives in the forest and wears its fruits. Yup, she is a Druid."

"Who is there?" She shouted suddenly, getting up from her hill as two wolves galloped up to her sides.

"Name of the Abyss, can you talk any less loud?" Rentham hissed at the Red Witch, rage spread across his face.

"I said who is there?" She growled now, her large golden eyes flashing.

"No one just a few . . . travelers." Jackson said, walking out of the shadows with his hands up. "We heard you flute and thought it was wonderful."

"Oh . . . thank you." She smiled and laid a hand on one of the grey wolves head. "That one was called Black Heart. I wrote it for the uh, hunters out here."

"Yes, they are terrible beings." Jackson nodded, putting his hands down. "I do like your wolves though, they are beautiful animals."

"This one is Greyson, and the other is Black Heart, that I named the song after." She beamed with pleasure. "Its sad because he was chased by hunters and had an arrow in his back when I found him. I helped him back to health though."

"You are a Druid are you not?" Drusilla asked, coming out of the shadows as well. "I am his friend and I was wondering if you were."

"I am." She seemed more suspicious of the Red Witch than she was of Jackson. "May I ask you a question?"

"Yes."

"Are you his woman?"

"Name of the gods no!" She laughed, slapping Jackson on the back of the head. "You can think of me as his sister."

The warlock licked his lips and folded his arms. "Well, I don't think of you as a sister so-"

"Shut up Jack, no one asked you." Drusilla hissed. "By hunters, do you mean witch hunters, and game hunters?"

"Yes, they are unpleasant beings." She nodded sadly. "Many lives lost to those terrible beings, living off destroying others."

"Yes, we pity them as well. Thank you for the song." Rentham leaned out of the shadows and grabbed his two followers, dragging them behind him as he went back the way he came.

"We do not have time for talk. We have to set up camp and go after them." The fallen king said, letting them go when they were a good ways away. "We need to pick up the pace and destroy those people! They killed everyone! EVERYONE! They destroyed my people! I will not have mercy on them, not for one second!"

"Why don't you and me go after them, while the rest stay here? We could move faster and more efficiently." Jackson suggested. "It is a good plan is it not?"

Rentham turned, looking back at his party. "Drusilla, Rey, how to do you feel about this?"

"Well, we can protect ourselves if that's what your asking." Rey replied. "Go ahead, go kill whoever, I don't care anymore."

"Same." Drusilla said tiredly and grabbed Jacksons things from him, slinging them over her shoulder. "We will set up your tents for you."

Rey reached out and grabbed Renthams things and than followed Drusilla, who was searching for a relatively clear spot.

"Alright lets go." Rentham said to Jackson, a slight smile on his lips. "Lets go kill those sons of bitches like I promised so long ago. For my people, and for my lost Edowain. She would of liked to have known they were dead."

Edowain crawled out of the mud with a gasp, her strength sapped and her quarter staff lost in the swamp somewhere. The hags didn't go down without a fight, and she had defeated them, but that was after their strength sapping touches had come in contact with her. She did prove victorious though, and was glad that she had some strength enough to get to dry land.

"Can't . . . stay here much longer. Others." She gasped, trying to flick the mud off of her hand. "Need to find Rentham."

After a moment of rest, she got up and slowly started to gain speed, running over the dry land and trying her best to dodge every mud puddle in the place. It was thinning out, she could tell, and relief was starting to replace her fear. The woods weren't a safe place either, but at least you could get your footing down and not have to worry about falling into swamp water.

"Damn hags took my damn quarter staff!" Edowain cursed, running through bushes as she passed through the dark forest. "Damn dragon took my damn crystal!"

"Shush, you are disturbing the peace of the forest." A strange voice said from up above. She sucked in her breath and looked up, fists ready to fight.

"Who is there?" Edowain asked.

"I am no one. If you keep going like you are right now, you won't like the consequences."

"What consequences!?" She screamed, on the verge of insanity. She was separated from everyone, her husband, her friends, everyone was dying around her, and now some old person was telling her to be quiet!?

"This." The voice said right behind her. She felt the tip of an arrow against the back of her head and froze. "Move, and I run it through your skull."

Lilith awoke from the sound of cracking thunder, sending a blinding white flash before her lids and startling her enough to cry out a little. She looked across camp and saw the assassin, sitting under a wide leafed tree and cleaning his swords. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah. Where are we exactly?"

"Well, this is where the magic wielders last camp was, and they moved. We are going to track them the rest of the way today, but I was waiting for you to wake up."

"You could of just awoken me." She rubbed her head and stood up, stretching. "What time is it?"

"Can't tell, no sun." He shrugged and got up as well. "I packed everything for us."

"Good. Hey, its raining. Do you think the winter is finally coming to an end?" Lilith stared up at the sky with a slight smile, spreading her arms out and letting it fall on her upturned face.

"I hope so." The assassin threw her a pack of things to carry. "Your name is what, by the way?"

"Lilith. And yours?"

"Kyle." He answered.

"Alright Kyle, lets get a move on than." The woman's armor clinked as she walked by, ruffling his dark hair with her long, slender hand. "Thank you by the way for . . . er, yesterday. I wasn't very nice to you, and I was angry at you when I should of been thanking you."

"Its alright." He nodded and tried to straighten his messy hair before putting his hood back on.

The two headed north, following the broken branches and frost covered foot prints that Kyle had noticed. Lilith had some training in tracking, but that was usually Tiranous' job when they were still partners, so she left it mostly to her new friend.

It was strange being on the side of the magic users, and the assassin kind of lessened the blow with himself not being a magic user . . . well that she knew of anyway.

"Tell me; why are you on the side of the magic users?" Lilith asked, walking beside him.

"Because, I am a little like them." He replied. "I use magic in a different way but I use it none the less. I use it through my swords, so no one notices."

"How does that work exactly?" She looked down at her own sword hilt, her voice sounding a little hollow through her jagged helmet.

"I can use any steel blade I set my fingers around. Perfectly, without flaw, but I have to be very concentrated and I tire easily." He shrugged. "I am still practicing on my endurance level."

"Steel huh . . . is that a natural thing or can you gain that kind of magic?" She tilted her head to the side, obviously interested. Apparently there was a "middle", an "in between" when choosing between sword play and magic. She never thought that was possible.

"You have to be born with magic at first." He squinted a little, wondering how he would explain it. "Okay, so I was born with the kind of magic you use for swords. I can use only steel swords with my magic, but you might have a different sword material that you can connect with. It all depends upon the magic user."

"So I might connect with a different type of sword, one that isn't necessarily steel but a different metal?" Lilith asked.

"Yes, if that makes sense." He nodded, stopping and looking down at a set of foot prints. "They turn here."

"Are we getting closer?"

"Yes, I believe we are." Kyle looked to the sky and let a few drops fall on his face. "I hope they have some water with them as well, I am getting a little thirsty."

"Eat some snow than." Lilith pushed past him and started to follow the tracks faster, her purple cloak whipping him in the face as she passed.

"Snow is dirty. I melted some a month ago, in a large bucket for water and there was at least two inches of sand settled at the bottom." Kyle said, picking up a hand full of the stuff.

"Whatever princess!" She shouted back at him, a slight laugh chiming along with it. He sighed and guessed he should probably follow, they were about a miles radius away from the magic wielders camp, and he wanted to be with her when they entered. No doubt they had seen her before, killing their friends, and who knows? Maybe they would kill her were she stood?

He hoped they wouldn't. He was getting a little attached to her. Maybe he could reason with the girl who had the pink hair? She wanted him to stay, that was clear, so maybe she would listen to him?

Kyle caught up to Lilith and stopped her as she was about to walk through a bundle of trees. He held her back and looked through them first, not knowing exactly how close they were to their camp and not wanting to startle anyone. That could end in disaster.

"There they are." He pointed one of his gloved fingers through the trees and his companion squinted her eyes, wondering what he was pointing at.

"Where are they?"

"Right there. Can't you see them?"

"No."

Kyle burst through the trees, turning and staring at her for a moment. "Don't move from here until I talk to them first. Alright?"

"Sure. Thank you for your help." Lilith replied.

"Your welcome." He nodded, a slight smile being hidden under his dark blue scarf. Kyle turned back around and casually walked towards the camp Lilith still couldn't put her eye on. What was he pointing at anyway? There was nothing there.

From what she could see, he froze and put his hands up. "You can decloak for a moment, its me, Jaden."

Jaden?

The area around him started to swirl like smoke, eventually a camp appearing before him.

"How in the word did he see that?" Lilith questioned.

"You have returned!" There she was. The one she had tried to kill with her former witch hunters so long ago, wrapping her arms around her new assassin friend. She snorted in disgust.

"Why have you returned? Have you changed your mind for my invitation to join with us?" The girls pink eyes lit up with a smile as she straightened a thin, white, fur lined dress in front of Kyle . . . or Jaden. She didn't know which to call him now.

Why had he given her a different name?

"That, and I think I have someone else who wants to be in league with you all." He turned and looked at the trees were Lilith was hiding. "But you have to swear to hear her out."

"Who is she?" The girl asked, looking over his shoulder with interest.

"Lilith, you can come out here now." Kyle shouted back at her.

Lilith took in a deep breath and got up from her crouch position, pushing through the bushy trees and walking slowly towards them. They wouldn't trust her, she knew it, and why would they? She had killed most of their friends in the first place.

"Rey!" The Red Witch cried, her hands lighting on fire and her hair as well. She stood in a defensive position. "Stay back hunter, or I will kill you were you stand!"

The one she had called came out of his tent with a large dagger in his hand. "Do not come any closer!" He demanded, lunging forward and placing his blade on the throat of the assassin. "Why did you bring her here you traitor!?"

"You said you would hear her out!"

"We don't listen to those you killed our kin!"

"She is your kin you fools!" Jaden drew a knife on his belt and traced it along the thick red material around Reys torso. "Listen to her or we all die."

Liliths hands slowly went up to her helmet, removing it and placing it under her arm. "Kyle - I mean, er, Jaden is right. I am your kin. I have had the gift of magic ever since I could remember."

"Than why were you hunting us?" Drusilla asked, taking a step towards her, her eyes blazing like her fists and hair. "Why did you massacre king Renthams people!?"

"I was a fool. I was a terrible fool. I could not face the fact that I had magic, I could not face all of you and say I was the same. I could not say that I was your kin and be hated by everyone I ran into. How could I own up to something everyone wanted to drown out of the world? How could I be despised and hunted at every turn?

"Clearly the best place to hide was to be against my kind. To kill and destroy all of you, but not knowing that I was destroying myself as well. I was not the one who destroyed your camp, that was my former partner Tiranous, and the only person I killed there a sorcerer who challenged me. I left you all a warning, Tiranous told me to do so, and he made me take that sorcerer and . . . write that message to you. If I did not he would of killed me."

The fire witch had a fleeting thought that passed through her mind, shaking her very core and fueling her fire. "What magic wielder? Who was the one that you killed?"

"I do not know." She shook her head, looking down at her helmet now, sadness and horror of her own actions making her turn away from the jagged thing. "He-he had a wide brimmed hat and . . . spoke like everything was a game. That is all I can remember."

The Red Witch shrieked and went for her, rage and hate spread across her face so intently, Lilith screamed as well and put her arms up over her head. Her attacker hit a shield, hard, and flew back to the forest floor.

"Stop!" Jaden pushed Rey back and tacked the raging woman with the pink hair. "Please stop!"

"Curse you! Curse you to the Abyss!" She cried, trying to pry the assassins arms from her as her fire slowly began to diminish. "You killed Arthur!"

Rey slowly put his dagger away. "You will never gain her trust, witch hunter. You may be sorry for your actions, and you may live among us, but you will never be trusted. Your history can never be undone." He shook his head. "But, neither can mine." He walked forward and stuck his hand out, Lilith taking it hesitantly and wondering where he was going with it.

"Welcome to the camp of the magic wielders. You are not the only one with a terrible back story you are not proud of." He looked to the ground and than stuck his hands in his pocket. "Do you use dark magic?"

"No, I just kinda . . . do whatever. I don't know anything about it."

"Well that shield you just produced was quite powerful. Are you from a family of magic users?"

"Yes, I mean I was. I don't know if you have heard of them or not but they are the Spellbinders . . ."

The rest of her words were dround out as he stared in realization. "You-you are a Spellbinder!?"

"Yes . . . did you know them?"

"How is that possible?" Rey almost fell to the ground. Lilith reached out and held him steady, wondering what all the fuss was about. "Lady, I am a Spellbinder."

The former witch hunter placed a hand over her mouth.

One looks like you in the camp . . .

She slowly put a shaking hand into her blouse and drew out a small bottle; glowing blue mist dancing on the inside. "Here." She opened the cork and held it in front of his face, a little of the stuff wafting out of it before she put its seal back on.

Rey sat there for a moment, the stuff absorbing into his eyes and disappearing. He sat there, staring into his own mind and watching the memories that had just been returned, tears coming to his eyes. "My sister . . ." His voice trailed off into a flood of emotion. "Why . . . why did you leave us!?"

"I am sorry." She wrapped him in a hug, the tightest she could give, as he stared in shock over her shoulder. "I loved you and Jackson, but I could not stay. I am so sorry brother mine. So sorry." She tried to beat back the memories; the hunting, the killing, the blood on her hands.

The fact that she had hunted and tried to destroy her own family.

If I had ever known before . . . Oh may the gods forgive me! I had almost killed my baby brothers! The Red Witch was right, I deserve the Abyss. I always deserved the Abyss.

"Rey can you ever forgive . . .?" She started to sob, not expecting that much emotion to even exist inside of her. She crumbled to the ground, her legs turning to jelly beneath her.

"Always." Rey wrapped her in another hug and started to lead her back to the fire.

"That is what family does."