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  Plus Ultimate

  Ultimate Mage book 2

  Simon Archer

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  9. Eldred

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  17. Eldred

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  32. Eldred

  A Note from the Author

  This book is dedicated to my fans and readers. I write these for you guys and gals!

  Let me especially shout out to Josh Kurtz, Rob Boatner, Blaine Hopkins, Richard Hill Davis, and Joe Anderson!

  1

  “Leo!” Marinka called when she saw me from the top of the steps leading up to the royal castle, the building’s tall, white architecture with golden trim looming over us standing on the bright green grass customary of the world of Eviorah. Before I knew it, the kingdom’s princess and greatest young scholar rushed down the steps and threw her arms around my neck, the silky texture of her flowing off-white mage’s robes soft against my skin. I was glad to see her again, even if it meant that the kingdom was in danger, and we would need to go on yet another quest.

  “Hey!” I grinned as I pulled back to look her in the eyes, my long human arms still around her small elven waist. “It’s good to see you, too.”

  We stared at each other fondly for a few moments before Marinka seemed to remember that we weren’t alone. Shaking her head slightly to clear it, she released me and moved to greet Nadeine and Bernsten, the formidable military siblings who had accompanied us on our great quest to recover the kingdom elves’ magic from an evil excommunicated servant of Marinka’s ancestors.

  “I trust your time at the training grounds was fruitful after I left you,” she said as she grasped Nadeine and Bernsten’s arms in turn, then bowed her head in the kingdom elves’ customary greeting.

  “Indeed,” Nadeine began. She bowed her head in return as Marinka released her and moved on to Bernsten. That’s when Nadeine’s gaze shifted to me. “Leo is an excellent teacher.”

  “Of course he is,” Bernsten’s voice boomed throughout the yard in front of the castle, drawing the attention of some other elves walking on the cobblestone path behind us. “I never would have doubted it.”

  “Well, you’re pretty fast learners,” I said, feeling heat rush to my face at the praise. I’d probably never get used to it, but it still felt nice to be well-liked and looked up to even if I responded to it awkwardly.

  Ever since I’d arrived in the kingdom through a magical portal from the piano bar I worked at in Queens, the kingdom elves had looked up to me as some kind of savior figure, here to recover their magic and restore their lost powers. It turned out that their magic was based entirely on musical theory and music itself, something that my own knowledge of music from back on Earth made me eminently qualified for. Thankfully, I had lived up to the hype so far.

  “Oh,” Marinka cried as if remembering something, “I had almost forgotten. This is my dear cousin, Godfried.” She rushed back up the stairs and gestured to a young elven man, probably in the Eviorahn equivalent of his late teens, standing uncomfortably off to the side of the royal castle’s great double doors.

  I shook my head in a start. I hadn’t noticed the kid at all, I’d been so focused on Marinka, and the dark yellow of his mage’s robes blended in with the color of the doors.

  “Greetings,” the young man said, waving a hand slightly at us. Then he shifted on his feet and stood up straighter, squaring his chest as he seemed to make a decision. He walked down the stairs towards us, closely trailed by Marinka, and reached out his arms to greet us each in turn. His grip was surprisingly strong., and his voice, though young and still carrying a hint of a crack from puberty, was deep and confident. His hair was dark and his eyes green like the other kingdom elves, though his locks were shorter and curlier than Bernsten’s. “Forgive my silence. I have yet to go on an official quest and must admit to being rather nervous. I am pleased to see you again, Sir Bernsten, Dame Nadeine, and very pleased to make your acquaintance, Leo Hayden.”

  “Uh, you too.” I shot him a half-smile before turning to Marinka, “Is this the cousin you told me about?” She told me, when I first talked to her, that she didn’t wish to join us on our last quest and had been hoping that her cousin would be of age in time to accompany us instead as the representative for the royal family.

  “Oh, yes!” Marinka glanced at Godfried. “He is my uncle Noham’s son. Now that he is of age, he will be accompanying us on our quest, should we choose to accept it.”

  “You’ll be coming too, then?” Relief rushed through me as I asked the question. I couldn’t imagine traveling out into the realm again without the princess’s steady guidance and support.

  “Oh yes,” Marinka said, giving me a wan smile. “If you will have me, of course.”

  “Of course we will,” Bernsten boomed, walking over to Marinka and draping an arm casually around her shoulders. “We would have it no other way.”

  “What is this quest then?” I asked. “Did you figure out what the message we found in Viktor’s fortress said?”

  Marinka had left us behind at the training grounds weeks ago to return to the royal castle and work on interpreting the message with the castle’s scholars, the one we had retrieved from the evil kingdom elf Viktor’s fortress after defeating him. It was then that we had discovered that Viktor was a mere minion, operating on the orders of an ancient mountain elf, a race long thought wiped from the face of Eviorah.

  “Indeed,” Marinka said, nodding as her previously bright expression grew darker, “but I believe there is more to it than that. We will meet with the council first and then go to the library to converse with the scholars.”

  We turned and followed her through the great castle’s double doors, our robes flowing behind us. It was weird seeing all of the kingdom elves in robes like mine after seeing them in heavy armor for so long. I had gotten used to it at the training grounds since we had been practicing magic there all the time, but after Nadeine, Bernsten, and I had left that bubble and traveled out into the kingdom once more, the sight of so many everyday people completing everyday tasks in the same flowing robes as I was odd. One thing I did note through the weirdness of it was that no one had yet advanced enough in their magical ability to have the extra designs on their robes like mine.

  I was still the only mage in Eviorah with skills above the most basic level.

  On top of that, not everyone even had the basic robes yet. It had only been three months, and not everyone had gotten the chance to travel to one of the castles or to the training grounds to be fitted for new robes or properly trained. Still, many had made the time in the excitement of having their magic returned to them.

  Bernsten, Nadeine, and Marinka had been the first to receive robes as an honor for completing our last quest with me and getting the kingdom elves’ magic back. Bernsten’s robes were blue like mine but much darker, almost a navy color. Nadeine’s were a forest green that really brought out the color of her eyes.

  Marinka and her cousin Godfried led us up the winding staircases of the royal castle and into the room at the ver
y top where the high council met and discussed the kingdom’s most important business. All around us in high chairs, almost thrones, sat the elder leaders of the kingdom elves. In the place of the long white gowns that I remembered were new mages robes, mostly of light colors like Marinka’s in contrast to the deeper colors of Nadeine, Bernsten, and my own robes. Dalibor, Marinka’s father and the king, sat in the chair in the middle of the circle in front of us, his light blue robes flowing down below his dangling feet.

  “Welcome!” he said, holding out his arms to greet us and smiling broadly. “It is excellent to see you all again. As before, we remain eternally grateful to you for your service to our people.”

  Those of us who were on the last quest bowed our heads in thanks. Godfried stood off to Marinka’s side, standing up straight and gripping something at his side. I realized that he, like Nadeine and Bernsten sometimes did, despite their access to magic now, gripped the hilt of a sword at his side. It would probably take quite some time for the kingdom elves to transition back to using magic as their only means of defense if they ever did so entirely.

  “Thank you, Father,” Marinka said as she raised her head to look up at Dalibor. “We received word that you wish for us to embark on another quest.”

  “If you should choose to accept the call once more,” Dalibor said, nodding at his daughter.

  “We received word from the scholars that you have interpreted the message that our unknown enemy left for Viktor,” Magdalina, an elderly woman and second in the council’s leadership chain after Dalibor, began, and we all turned to face her to Dalibor’s left. “And we thank you for your service and your studiousness, Princess Marinka, but unfortunately, the message did not reveal as much as we hoped about this new enemy. Should you choose to accept this new quest, you will go to discuss the message with the scholars in the library.”

  We nodded. Though Marinka had revealed as much already, it was disappointing to hear that the message hadn’t revealed much.

  “Perhaps of more concern is that we have also received word from our newfound allies among the forest elves,” Dalibor said, his voice forlorn. “They believe our enemy has begun to conduct some kind of experiment or nefarious magic of which we understand little.”

  “How do they know this?” Marinka asked, her brows furrowing together in worry.

  “They report having witnessed distressing flashes of light and heard unnatural sounds emanating from the mountains near the edge of the forest,” Magdalina explained. “Our historical records, as well as the forest elves’ own oral histories, tell us that such incidents were rare even when all of the mountain elves still lived. These sights and sounds only came when the mountain elves were preparing a particularly difficult and dangerous feat using their orbs.”

  Dalibor shook his head sadly before he continued. “We know not how this ancient enemy of ours still lives, or what he is planning, but we do know that we cannot leave our allies in the forest to fend for themselves in the event of a strike against them. We will not repeat past mistakes, and we could very well find ourselves in need of the forest elves help in the near future. Thus, we hope that the five of you will accept our call to return to the forest and venture into the mountains in search of this enemy of ours.”

  At this news, Marinka, Godfried, Nadeine, and Bernsten looked around at each other in visible disbelief, their eyebrows collectively raised.

  “But Father,” Marinka stammered after a few moments had passed, “our people have never once ventured into the mountains before.”

  Dalibor’s voice was grave now. “I know, and I am deeply sorry that it has come to this. But as I said, we will not repeat our old mistakes. No doubt, our enemy hopes to take this fight within our own borders as the mountain elves intended to do before. This means that he will venture first into the forest. We cannot allow the forest elves to suffer on our behalf once again. Our best hope is to take the fight to our enemy first.”

  “After all,” Magdalina added, shifting in her chair to cross her legs and causing her peach-colored mage’s robes to rustle, “we believe this enemy to be a lone actor. Though even one mountain elf is the foundation of our people’s nightmares, we now have our magic back, thanks to you, Leo.” She nodded to me once again in thanks and recognition of my achievements on our last quest. “Though, of course, we understand if this is too much for any one of you to undertake, and there will be no shame should you choose not to accept the quest we lay before you.”

  “I will accept this quest with a heavy heart and a clear mind,” Godfried called, his voice echoing throughout the council chambers as he rushed forward to kneel before Dalibor and Magdalina, his barreled chest puffed out and his back almost painfully straight. His hands remained clasped along the hilt of his sword. “It will be an honor to serve my family and my kingdom.” His voice cracked slightly on his last word, and I couldn’t help but find the scene kind of funny. Godfried struck me as a little kid playing at war, reenacting a scene from a movie he liked to watch. My eyes searched his face closely, and I noticed that there was an ever so slight twitch in his eyelid. The kid was acting his part well, but he was still scared.

  “That’s my son,” another member of the council, Noham, Dalibor’s brother and Godfried’s father, cried, his whole face breaking out into a wide smile. “He will bring glory and victory to our family and our kingdom.”

  “Do not be so hasty, brother,” Dalibor said, holding out his hand to silence Noham and looking down at Godfried with a concerned expression on his face. “Do you understand the gravity of the task before you, nephew? You could perish on this quest. You are still very young, barely of age, and you speak of venturing where no kingdom elf has dared venture before. No one will blame you should you choose not to proceed. Your cousin would still remain to represent the council and the royal family on this quest.”

  “I wish to represent my family and my people, Uncle,” Godfried said, looking straight ahead of him instead of up at Dalibor. “I have trained for this my entire life. It is my duty and my honor.”

  Dalibor still looked unconvinced, and he exchanged a knowing look with Marinka.

  “You would be the youngest member of any quest party in many centuries…” he began, his voice trailing off as he chose his words carefully, but Noham interjected, clapping his hands together in excitement.

  “Then all the more glory to him, brother,” Noham said, still smiling. “It is decided then. Godfried will be a member of this quest party.”

  Dalibor opened his mouth to argue some more, but closed it again, seeming to decide against it.

  “What of the rest of you? Do you accept our call?” Magdalina asked, holding out her hands to both Noham and Dalibor in an effort to diffuse the tension and change the subject. My friends and I looked around at each other.

  “I don’t see why not,” I said when I realized no one else was ready to speak. “I think it’s right to take this new enemy on in his own territory instead of letting him hurt the forest elves first. They’ve done a lot to help us, and we should return the favor.”

  “I agree with Leo.” Marinka nodded. “We owe this to the forest elves.”

  “Agreed,” Nadeine proclaimed as she stepped forward next to Godfried, who was still kneeling on the ground in the same rigid position. “We must meet our enemy where he least expects it, no matter what the cost.”

  “If Leo Hayden accepts the call, so do I” Bernsten stepped up to me and placed a sturdy hand on my shoulder. “I will go where he goes.”

  “Good,” Magdalina said, nodding. Dalibor and Noham were still glaring at each other. “Thank you all once again for this great service to our people and to our realm.”

  “Where will we go from here?” Marinka asked, her voice steady. Still, I knew her well enough by now to be able to hear the hesitancy beneath her tone.

  “You will return first to the training grounds to continue your training and retrieve supplies from the libraries and forges there for your journey,” Magdali
na explained. “Then you will head to the center of the forest. There, as we understand it, some of the forest elves will join your party and venture with you into the mountains.”

  I perked up at this news, thinking of my friend, Freyja. “Do we know who will join us?” I asked hopefully.

  “I am uncertain.” Dalibor shook his head as he rejoined the conversation, though he continued to glance down at Godfried’s rigid form with wariness. “You will speak with Amaka in the center of the forest. She will update you on what they have witnessed in the mountains from the edge of the forest, and then you will proceed as per her instructions. You are to consider her and her allies as an extension of this council’s own voice.”

  I nodded. I had known that the forest and the kingdom elves had mended fences a bit and remained in contact since our last quest, but I was glad to hear that they were cooperating even more closely than I thought. If our last experience in the forest had taught us anything, it was that the two races of elves needed each other.

  “From there, you will go to the scholars,” Magdalina said. “You will meet with them, and hopefully, they will decipher our enemy’s message for you. When you enter the mountains, we encourage you to collect any artifacts or other messages you can for further study here at the royal castle. Princess Marinka will lead this effort.”

  Marinka bowed her head in assent. “It will be my honor.”

  The council members all nodded in thanks.

  “It is our understanding that only one mountain elf survives,” Dalibor said, “but we did not even believe this much a few short months ago, as you know. Should you discover that we are once again incorrect, we ask you to retreat back into the forest and get in contact with us before proceeding. However, if our current assessment of the situation is accurate, there should be ample opportunities for you to study the mountain elves, more than our people have ever had before. This could be invaluable research for us.”