Per’tirith Empire
Great North-Western Forest
17 years ago
The forests of Per’tirith were still vast and untouched despite nearly three thousand years of people inhabiting the land which was surrounded by four high mountain ranges that were only broken by one large pass in each direction.
The empires philosophers and sages had long speculated that a huge inland sea once existed where the empire now stood long ago to explain the passes along with the exceptional fertility of the land it’s self.
The great forests of Per’tirith which once covered much of the the basin now mostly existed in large swathes at the foot of the mountains that surrounded it, while they carefully logged each year most of the forests were untouched and not deeply explored.
Within the great north-western forest lurked many mysteries one of which one cloaked & hooded figure has just found as they came to edge of a small clearing thru which a small river flowed ending in a tiny lake on the south eastern side.
The figure stood in the shadows of the forest edge, the figure pulled back their hood revealing flowing shoulder length red hair, the woman let her eyes adjust to the noon day sun as she gazed out upon the scene before her.
The clearing contained several small fields along with animal pens and dozen rough wooden buildings with a central large building at the center which looked to be slightly fortified with wooden walls and spikes, likely built to deter some of the forests more troublesome creatures.
The hooded figures deep blue eyes narrowed as she took in the view, noticing some small troubling details, she looked to have seen nearly 30 winters of age with sharp features. She would of been a stunningly attractive woman .. if not for the scars that marred her face.
The right side of her face bore a long scar running along the jaw line and on her left she had five scars running down her face across her left eye socket that was clearly made by the claws of some beast. Her face had a few smaller scars scattered about which told someone who lived a dangerous life.
Her name is Verlania and she had indeed lived a dangerous life up until now, which had now brought her to this peaceful settlement nearly ten days journey into the forest The village she thought likely had maybe a population of around a hundred people at most, he eyes narrowed as she took in signs disrepair, the outer fields & houses looked like they had been abandoned.
Her eyes narrowed even further as she noticed the jerky movements of people moving about, with one hand she reached into a large pouch hanging from her belt and removed a small spy glass which she placed to one eye.
Verlania’s face tightened and took on a grim cast as she took in a closer view of the village, not long ago it might of been a thriving little settlement of forest folk, now much of the fences, fields and buildings were showing a lack of maintenance. When she turned the spy glass of the figures moving about the reasons for the villages disrepair became much clearer.
The figures moved about jerkily some plowing the fields closest the main building, one would easily mistake their dirty bedraggled figures as corpses raised by magic to do basic labor .. it would of been better if that was the truth.
Verlania sighed and though back to what had brought her here, she had stopped to stay the night in the town of Kalis which lay on the edge of the forest she now was within. It’s economy was based on lumber, hides & herbs gathered from the forest.
She had been just passing thru when she had entered the main inn, when she had asked about any interesting news the barkeep had told her about one of his roomers who was a hunter who had appeared a month ago out of the forest with a girl who was nearly catatonic.
The hunter had told a story of how he had come from a forest folk village deep in the forest but had been wandering the empire the last few years and had only returned recently to discover his village had been taken over and something terrible had happened.
Luckily he had been smart enough to notice that there was something wrong early and had initially hidden upon his return only to grab his younger sister when the chance came only to find to his horror that his sister was unresponsive. She was still alive and still breathed but there was no life in her eyes or expression. She had tried to walk back into the forest not long after they arrived but then collapsed in a fit before becoming catatonic.
When Verlania met the hunter he looked like he had aged ten years by grief and frustration, apparently he had gone to the authorities in town but they had been unable to help, the town guard were neither trained nor equipped to help and the nearest imperial legion outpost was a weeks journey away.
Verlania had spoken to the man and offered to help him, after all the organization she served was settled up to deal with maters like this, the man had begged her to help his sister. Verlania had examined the girl and had her suspicions confirmed, the girl had been a victim of a mind control enchantment.
Such spells & enchantments were strictly controlled in the empire and while they far from rare, they were mainly used in geas spells used in new mercantile contracts to make it so neither side breaks faith with the other or to compel people to speak the truth in court or via interrogation by agents of the empires justice ministry. The most contentious use of the magic was in the case of any mage of noble blood inheriting a title had to under geas before the emperor accept an enchantment to never abuse their powers on the people they would govern.
Only mages specially trained & rigidly controlled by the imperial government could be Geas mages and they themselves were compelled to under geas enchantment to now abuse their position or abilities so strictly are they regulated.
But there were other forbidden mind control enchantments, which had been banned on the pain of torturous death, such things brought back terrible memories for the people of the empire of the terrible civil war five centuries ago.
Verlania had known the enchantment used on the girl it was sadly not as rare as she wished but it wasn’t an easy spell to learn & master, in a lot of way it was an incredibly useless. The brother had begged her to break the enchantment on his sister, Verlania had told him bluntly but not unsympathetically that even if she broke the enchantment his sister would likely never return to him and was almost certain to die once the enchantment breaks.
He had looked taken back for a moment before he steeled himself and grimly asked her again to break to enchantment, she agreed. The memory of having the girls brother holding her down as she broke the enchantment, the girl had thrashed and screamed incoherently, frothed at the mouth before collapsing and then expiring.
The hunter had looked shattered in the aftermath, when Verlania asked for the location of his village he had created a map, his parting comments of wishing he could come with her when she left but needed to bury his sister which was accompanied with a smoldering burning hate in his eyes.
Her organization would need to make contact with him in future she mused, he would be a useful agent she thought. The magic used on his sister & village was a clear violation of Emperor Relarn’s edicts that placed strict rules on the us of magic & the powers of the nobility and factions of the empire at large.
The enchantment allowed a mage to control and issue simple commands to one or more people .. the problem lay not in the question of the morality of magically compelling people but in the fact that this magic usually ends up destroying the recipients mind.
People ended up going insane in their own bodies under the mind control basically becoming catatonic, if a person has the enchantment broken within a month of the casting they have a sixty percent chance along with a lot of help returning to a some what normal life.
The hunters sister had sadly been under it much longer than a month and was beyond any help, Verlania sighed, she knew what it was like to be rendered helpless by rogue mages, she closed her eyes and reached deep for the anger & rage that was now one of her key weapons in her life.
Verlania opened her eyes and pulled out the curved short sword from it’s scabbard and then made a quick low dash out into the clearing aiming for the wall of the nearest farm house.
She spent the next hour slowly circling village making her way ever inwards only stopping to quickly & quietly dispatch the poor mind controlled village folk, by the time she reached the central hall with it’s wooden fortifications she had taken out at least a dozen of them.
The large burned mass in one of the fields where she easy identified two to three score of burned skeletal remains there was likely very few left in the village outside of herself and whoever this rogue mage is.
At the gate to what would of been the villages communal hall and defensive position she noticed the gate was barred, her eyes narrowed on the elaborate symbol painted in what looked like blood and faintly glowed with power.
I guess the hunters sister was missed, Verlania thought, ignoring the magical ward she quickly scaled the gate, for anyone without the unique abilities the organization she served had given her they would of likely meet a grisly end touching that gate.
Verlania dropped into the inner courtyard her eyes taking in all unused storage and barrels that would of been used to feed the villagers in an emergency, her eyes ended their survey on the halls main door and the two ill kept twitching figures standing before it.
They took a few moments to notice her but once they did they both let out incoherent shrieks and charged towards her armed with a stone sledge hammer and a hunting spear. Verlania met their charge evading the mind controlled villagers clumsy swings before decapitating one and stabbing the other thru the chest.
The two villagers weren’t meant to be guards they were meant to be an alarm .. which they had well succeeded at their task. Verlania quickly made for the door listening carefully as she inched slowly open when she heard the faint arcane mutterings she swiftly thrust herself away from the doors and to the ground as a massive explosion erupted blowing the doors, frame and a good portion of the wall to bits.
Verlania quickly got back to her feet brushing the wood debris away and reading her blade she watched as from the smoking shattered hole a figure appeared. He was dressed in finery befitting a noble although judging by the stains & disheveled nature had seen better days.
The mans face wore an ill kept blonde beard and hair streaked with some grey, he must of been at least in his fourth decade but his wild eyes and poor hygiene made him look much older.
The mans eyes focused on her, they looked bloodshot & crazed “IMPERIAL SPY!” he spat at her as he pulled a once finely crafted scepter with several crystals embedded within it’s gold & platinum shaft. “You won’t take me Imperial spy !” he ranted leveling his scepter at her.
Scepters, wands, staves were used by mages as focuses for their powers, usually made out of precious metals, woods and crystals that have affinity or ability to channel magic, they were also able to store certain spells for use at a later time.
Verlania grit her teeth and closed her eyes reaching deep within her channeling all her rage and hate to the surface, she felt her body shudder as the rogue mage unleashed a massive blast of fire upon her. Verlania felt the heat pass over her but nothing else as she opened her eyes the scorched earth around her which came to and end several inches from her feet where the ground remained undamaged.
The rogue mages eyes bulged in their sockets and he took a step back from the hole, “IMPOSSIBLE !!” he cried, Verlania smiled reaching inside her belt pouch she pulled a small circular plate made of silver, she threw it at the mage.
The rogue mage ducked aside but after seeing the thrown object did nothing he carefully prodded it and then picked it up. Beautifully etched onto one side of the plate was a emblem showing a bloody sword cutting a crossed mage wand & staff in two.
Verlania watched as the mage’s face turned white & his eyes darted to her and expression of terror taking it’s place of his face, Verlania smiled hungrily as she meet the mages eyes with her own.
“The Mage Killers send their regards, you have been a very naughty mage.” naming the organization she served. The mage let out a cry of terror dropping the silver emblem and running inside the hall.
Verlania swiftly moved to chase him, stopping only momentarily to pick up her emblem before pursuing, she found him in a room he obviously had converted used as his study & bedroom.
The rogue mage wasn’t alone, a boy who looked at least 10 winters old was being held by the mage as a shield before him. The child had a sullen expression on his face and was naked with the exception of a dirty loin cloth.
Verlania’s eyes widened as she took in the sight of the boy, his nose looked like it had been broken more than once and looked nearly flattened, his hair had been shaven off and his body was a mass of scars made by blades & burns by fire.
Blood Verlania though, taking in the mess of old & new scars and burns on the boys body, a persons blood could be used with magic for powerful effects but much like mind control enchantments was strictly controlled. A person could sacrifice some blood to help a mage with a healing talent to heal another, but this was only to be done in the most desperate & dire situations.
A persons blood could also be used for other less pleasant magics .. such as mind control Verlania mused, although why he had gone thru such efforts on a single boy who now that she thought about it was mind controlled like the other villagers by his angry / unhappy expression.
The mage was almost shuddering in fear as he held the boy against him for protection, “You don’t think that boy is going to save you mage scum ?” Verlania said coldly, she would prefer the boy to live thru this but she was prepared to kill him if that is what it took to kill the mage.
The mage looked even more terrified by her words nearly choking the boy in fear, the boys dark eyes met her own there was a moment of connection where she knew the boy understood what she might have to do. There was a look of acceptance in the boys eyes but that was quickly replaced by feral rage, the boy smiled savagely at her briefly before he opened his mouth with it’s broken teeth moved his head slightly and sunk his teeth into the the flesh of the mages arm.
The mage screamed at the bite and the boy thrashed his head about tearing at the flesh he had just bitten into, the mage violently dropped and pushed him aside while falling back against the wall. Verlania quickly raised her short sword and prepared to finish the mage off, but before she could move more than two steps the boy was up off the ground mouth covered in blood he snatched up nearby wooden stool and swung it into the mages midriff knocking him back against the wall with a crunch.
Slumping to the floor the mage held his stomach his eyes meeting Verlania’s a wild look of desperation before returning to the boy before him who was heaving the solid wooden stool over his head. The mages look of terror as he cried out was obscured as the boy slammed the stool down on his head, there was meaty crunch, Verlania winced at the sound, she stepped forward only to stop as the boy was not done yet he continued to swing the stool over and over into the mages skull and body.
For several minutes the only sounds were the crack of bones and the sounds flesh being violently pounded, Verlania stood back and watched as the boy vented his rage upon the rogue mage, wondering how long he been prisoner.
Verlania’s musings were broken by the loud sound of the stool hitting the floor, it’s edges covered in blood, bones and bits brain matter, the stool looked like it was about to fall apart. The boy was panting raggedly from the exertion as he turned towards her and she was again taken aback by his scars, there was intelligence in those eyes .. and rage .. so much rage.
The being that tortured him might be bloody mess nearby but his rage still burned, Verlania nodded internally, with such rage he might be useful to the Mage Killers in future she thought. “What is your name boy ?” she asked, the boy looked at her for a moment before whispering to himself before slightly slurring answering “Ortikas” he replied.
“What will you do now ?” Verlania asked, the boy was quiet for a few moments before replying solemnly his forest folk accent starting to become clearer “everyone is dead, village is gone, might go out into the forest and find forest drake to fight, wasn’t right that I’m the only on left and the only one who was left aware.”
Verlania smiled, fighting forest drakes alone was a bold but suicidal thing to do even for seasoned warriors. “What would you say if i told you there is group that would raise & train you to fight scum like him ?” she asked motioning towards the rogue mages broken corpse. The boy look thoughtful for a moment, he looked so much older in mind than a boy his age should be .. but this is what tragedies like this do to children Verlania though remembering long ago when she was around his age and was a child slave to the criminal underworld in the empire destined for the whorehouse before she was saved.
Ortikas meet her eyes and she could see the angry fires that burned in them he opened his mouth to reply but Verlania interrupted him. “Before you reply, you should know that accepting this offer may get you killed and in one particular case will definitely end in your death and it isn’t for those without a strong will.”she said.
The boy meet her gaze and the anger in his eyes flared higher for a moment before he responded “Without the village my life is nothing. If you people can give me a goal that will allow me to kill shit like him ..” he says momentarily to bloodily spit on the rogue mages corpse “Then that is a life worth living, a violent death sounds like a fair trade off.” he finished.
Verlania looked deep into his eyes noting the anger and commitment there, she then smiled warmly saying “Welcome to the Mage Killers Ortikas, now lets get you cleaned up.”, “that sounds great.” he said in reply even surprising her with mischievous smile before his eyes suddenly rolled up in their sockets and he collapsed to the floor in exhaustion.