3 Magelord The Spellmonger Series Mancour Terry by Terry Mancour

Author:Terry Mancour [Mancour, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-09-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Censorate of Magic

I was screwed.

I was on the other side of the fairgrounds from my camp. My people were scattered all over the place. I wasn’t wearing a mageblade. I hadn’t brought a warwand, only my dagger hung from my belt. Banamor was likewise unarmed – he was a commoner, not entitled to wear a sword, and they were discouraged on the fairgrounds anyway.

He looked at me, his eyes wide in surprise and nascent terror. I’m sure I looked the same way. Because there are only two entities that could legally act in the name of the nonexistent King of the Five Duchies, and I doubted I was being accosted by a glorified lighthouse keeper.

That meant it was the Royal Censorate of Magic who was trying to arrest me. The Censors were enforcers of the Bans on Magic, which I had studiously and decisively overturned last year . . . only some of them were clearly ignoring Duke Rard’s decree on the subject.

According to their own codes, they were not bound by Ducal decree. They did not answer to any higher authority than their sworn oath, and there were some powerful Censors who were rebelling against the leadership of the repentant Censor General Hartarian.

To them, my mere existence as a High Mage was a violation of regulation. There was a reward on my head, as Sandoval had warned me. Banamor was an unregistered footwizard – he had been running from the Censorate his entire professional life. Being confronted with them unexpectedly, in a crowd of people in broad daylight, was disconcerting.

I controlled my breathing and stopped in my tracks. I sent a mind-to-mind shout to Tyndal, summoning him to come with help. I doubted he’d get there in time, but it couldn’t hurt to have him aware of our situation.

I turned around, slowly, as did Banamor. I had nothing in my hand but a new pipe, which had conveniently gone out. Behind us stood three large armored men in boot-length mantles of black and white checks. The one in the middle held a staff and a dagger. The one on the left had an axe, and the one on the right had a mageblade. There was motion around the edges of the crowd that suggested they weren’t alone.

“Oh, holy shit,” whispered Banamor, his face pale.

“Pull it together,” I whispered back. “You’re a High Mage now,” I reminded him. “They don’t know that.”

“I’m scared shitless,” he replied. “They probably know that.”

“I am Sire Minalan, the Magelord of Sevendor,” I said in a loud voice. The crowd quickly split the way that crowds do when something violent or entertaining is about to happen. To emphasize the point, I nudged my oversized sphere of irionite loose from its bag and magically pushed it into the air. It took a little effort, but it was worth it for the dramatic impact alone. When the sphere emerged, it was the Censorate’s turn to go pale. There was no mistaking what it was . .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.