Magicians duel

The academy was vast and Kalen was soon hopelessly lost. He had been wandering for what seemed like an eternity and the utterly dark stone passageways seemed to press upon him. He held his guttering lantern up against their gloom, then he a saw a light and hurried towards it. As he drew near he saw that the passage led into a large courtyard. He stopped within the shadow of the passage and peered out into the open area. Before him the scene was one of bright sunlight and shining marble. The square courtyard was bare, the ground pure white marble with a raised octagon platform of black marble in each corner some fifteen feet high and surrounding the area was a high black wall. The doorway he was standing in appeared to be the only exit. In the middle of the square stood two immaculately dressed figures all in black wearing loose pants and shirt that had been tailored with superb style. Two young magicians stood on opposite platforms dressed in their white student's robes. They were surrounded by silver bowls apparently floating at waist level all around them.

    From his position one of the magicians was blocked from view but he had a good view of the other and could see the figures in black clearly. The sun was beating down madly and he wondered how they could stand it. As best as he could tell at twenty yards they seemed perfectly relaxed, their white faces showing no sign of emotion. Without warning the mage in his view leapt into the air. He began viciously twirling and convulsing in a violent dance. His hands plunged into the bowls flinging handfuls of garishly colored powder into the air. The powder did not settle to the ground but continued to spiral around the different colors coalescing. Then the magician stopped, the powder continuing to move above his head. Thrusting both arms dramatically in front of him the mage directed the spinning cloud at the motionless black figure nearest him. With a screeching howl it descended upon him. Kalen gasped, taking a step back. The dust swirled around the figure and was quickly disappearing when a howl erupted from the other side of the courtyard. The other magician had finished his dance. The powder from the first magician was nearly gone and Kalen saw that it was disappearing into the mouth of the black clad man it surrounded. Then it was gone and the man still stood perfectly still. The other cloud finished entering its host and again everything was quiet.

    Kalen noticed that the all three of the men he could see seemed to have their eyes closed. For an interminable period silence reigned then the first magician swayed slightly moaning. The man that had consumed his cloud opened his eyes. They were like red coals burning and searing the flesh of his face, a long sword hung at his waist and he drew it flying at the other in black. His feet were impossibly swift and from his mouth came a demonic shriek that chilled Kalen to his core.  The other stood silent his eyes closed. Then at the last moment when the blade was swinging towards his neck they opened burning and evil as the other’s. The man’s hand snapped up his sword simultaneously flying into it of its own accord. The block was just in time and metal clashed three times before the attacking figure leapt back. They began to circle each other blades at the ready. Kalen’s eyes flicked between the fighting figures and the magician. Up on the platform the magician’s arms were outstretched, his fingers crooked, every muscle tense. It seemed that his hands were twitching slightly pointing this way and that.

    Kalen stiffened when he sensed two strands of power tying the magicians and the fighters together; they were like manikins on strings he realized. His eyes were drawn back to the fighters as they came together again. Both lunged smashing together, one's sword broke and he was knocked to the ground. The man who was still armed swung at his opponent’s throat but the damaged blade simply broke against his neck leaving him miraculously unharmed. For a moment the two stood still one with arm outstretched holding a broken sword the other prone before him. Then the man with the broken sword turned and looked straight at Kalen, his breath caught in his throat. The other seemed to follow his gaze then they came at him so fast their feet hardly touched the ground. Red eyes coming rapidly closer Kalen turned and fled up the passage. He had left his lantern on the ground and he couldn’t see a thing outside its circle of light. They were upon him and he fell in his headlong rush to get away.  The one who had seen him first was slightly ahead of the other and he tripped over Kalen’s body apparently rushing by. The other leapt over the two of them and seized a war axe from a weapons rack on the wall hidden in the gloom.

    He swung the weapon down its blade gleaming red in the light of their eyes. Smash! The skull of the red-eyed man on the floor collapsed under the force of the blow. The sound was not of grisly death as Kalen expected but that of wood like splitting a log. The victor stood looking down at him holding the axe in hand. The cloud that had filled the dead man was rising out of his neck and the other was drawing it into his open mouth eyes burning brighter and fiercer all the time. When he had finished he looked at Kalen for a moment then dropped his weapon disappearing back towards the courtyard. Kalen lay on the floor unable to move for several seconds before daring to retrieve his lantern. Still shaking he bent over the body of the loser. He lifted his arm by the wrist and saw that the hands were fastened to them by pins. Examining the head Kalen saw that the man was in fact a puppet, a wooden man with a thin sheeting of metal on the outside and wax covering to make him look real. The center of the man’s head was hollow and seared, apparently by what had filled that hollow. Until then Kalen’s immense curiosity had held him there but unable to discern anymore he hurried up the passage.



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