Magus in chapter ten! I swear!
Chapter Seven – The Otherworld"Where am I now?" Kelke wondered. "Ah. Tarkyn, that's right, swiftly followed by Tarreiz."
"Save thy breath for the journey, Mage," Frog advised, scanning the landscape ahead in an attempt to choose the easiest way. He was leading now, although he liked to check regularly that Kelke was still with him.
"No way. I couldn't possibly keep quiet for that long. Besides, aren't you curious about the whole thing about Tarkyn and Tarreiz? Most people are."
Frog hesitated. "I will admit to some degree of curiosity," he said finally.
"Well, let me satisfy it by telling you a nice little love story. Once upon a time there was a boy named Tarkyn. His people were wanderers, but they always wandered somewhere in the north of the land and they liked to stay near the large and mysterious forest. They considered themselves its caretakers, or something like that. Anyway, Tarkyn was pretty much happy with his wandering life, along with his parents and a younger brother. One day, Tarkyn wandered all the way into the forest and found a special place all for himself. His people never saw him again, and soon enough, nobody saw his people, either. Nobody knows what became of the others. Perhaps they bred themselves into some other group. Maybe they just died. Whatever happened to them, Tarkyn was left all by himself. He didn't mind, when he eventually found out that they were all gone. He was enjoying his solitude."
Kelke paused for a moment. Frog heard him breathing hard and carefully slowed his pace in a manner that the Mage didn't notice. After a moment, Kelke continued.
"Tarkyn was called to the Grove long before he was called to Altrisiac. I couldn't say how long he lived by himself, he certainly took no notice, but on the same morning as he finally felt the call to travel to Altrisiac, a random girl appeared in the Grove. It was love at first sight, I hear. Tarkyn could have lived out the rest of his life with his lover in the Forest, but that was the problem. He knew he was something different, that he would never age and die whereas his girlfriend surely would. He ignored the call for almost a year, which is far longer than most of the rest of us, but then he knew he had to go. He broke it off with the love of his life – who didn't take it at all well – and then moved to Altrisiac. Imagine, if you can, his mixture of surprise, shock, and horror when Tarreiz herself showed up there barely two weeks later."
Frog could see where this was going. "She never forgave him for leaving her."
"Got it in one. Tarreiz had already been very old when she first met Tarkyn, although she didn't look it. She had been a princess, the heir to the throne, of part of the country in the south. An only child. Her parents probably looked at the child they got and decided not to have any more in case they turned out as weird as the first. Her parents were killed in some tragic accident and Tarreiz took over as their Queen at the age of sixteen or so. She was liked. Respected. Very wise, and good at her job. However, someone with more battle experience, not to mention more war-hardened troops, that Tarreiz could ever throw at him in return, invaded her kingdom. In the end, she surrendered on the conditions that her people would not be slaughtered or enslaved and that they could continue to live in the fashion that they had all of their life. Her kingdom was very rich, which was why it was being invaded, and the invader couldn't see a reason to change anything provided all of the profit was going to him. He really should have killed her then, to squash any resistance from the people. Luckily for all involved, particularly Tarreiz, he recognised her talent for magic even then and let her go free."
There was another pause in order for Kelke to get his breath back, this one significantly longer. Frog asked, "Would thou like to halt for a rest?"
"No. I don't need a rest."
'Like hell you don't,' thought Frog privately, but said nothing.
After a moment, Kelke continued. "She wandered, picking up all sorts of magical abilities, including some sort of second sight and very advanced telepathy. She was a very powerful sorceress in her own right and already knew that she would end up the Mage of Vision when she wandered by mistake into a very pretty part of the Forest – as in, the Grove – and met Tarkyn. They loved each other very much. They still do. Unfortunately, Tarreiz is too proud to admit how much he hurt her by breaking it off then, too proud to forgive him, and Tarkyn doesn't know how to say sorry. That's all they have to do. Just say sorry. You'd think it would be easy, but it's not. Definitely not for Tarreiz, who came to Altrisiac when the others needed her the most. She single-handedly taught them how to use their Mage-power. No wonder she's a little haughty at times. Tarreiz is, for me, the easiest to get along with. We share a common bond as the properly trained magicians of the group, both of us Sorcerers. Well, okay, she's a Sorceress, but you get my meaning. She also taught me a lot of things I didn't know. And if you tell anyone that, especially Magus, I swear I will hunt you down, roast you on a spit and then devour you with great relish, you nasty, jumped-up little amphibian."
"I am awfully fond of thee, too," Frog remarked dryly.
"Yeah, whatever."
There was a short pause. Frog finally broke this by saying, "We are approaching the mountain."
"We've been approaching the mountain ever since we started out, what makes this any different?" Kelke lifted his eyes from the path before him for the first time for a long time. "Oh. I see. Shouldn't be long now, then. Actually… it'd be easier to do it here."
"To do what here?"
"What did you expect to do once we arrived at the foot of the mountain, more correctly a cliff? You can't climb it. The walls are too smooth, too… vertical. What we need, my green friend, is a set of stairs. Courtesy of myself."
Without further ado, a set of stairs appeared in front of Frog, stretching all the way to the top of the cliff and therefore the way out of the Otherworld. He eyed them suspiciously. "They are black."
"I'm the Mage of Shadow," Kelke snarled back. "What colour were you expecting? Pink?"
Frog had to accept this point. "Are they solid?"
"No, I thought I'd make transparent stairs just for a laugh. Ha ha ha ha. Of course they're solid! Take them or leave them, but I'm warning you, it's the only way out of the Otherworld."
"In that case, I will take them. I thank thee, Mage, for creating this path out of the Otherworld."
"Hey, I want to get out of here every bit as much as you do," was Kelke's response. "So? Are we going?"
"We art going."
"Not long now at all, then," commented Kelke cheerfully. "Not long until you can see Altrisiac, and meet the others as well. Besides Tarkyn and Tarreiz, of course." He paused, then gave a short laugh.
"What is so amusing to thee?"
"Just our names. They come in sets of two. Tarreiz, Tarkyn. Jhyskar, Jandegar. Kerrelei, Kelke. And Ciaruse." Kelke paused as though to let this sink in before he continued thoughtfully, "I wonder how the Eighth Mage's name will be spelt?"