Chapter 12: Rescue

The magicians spent a week trying to sort out the Palatines at Spur.

As Markus had predicted, it was a mess. Some wanted to stay, some want to go. This included both slaves and invaders. Some of the women wanted to keep their man others emphatically didn’t. Then there were the kids.

The magicians had arrived en masse and Storm had them do a blanket spell to remove the bad spells that were on the people in the valley. They had agreed to put a temporary spell on them so that they couldn’t hurt each other while things were being sorted out.

They called a town meeting to tell the people of the change of ownership. The Palatines that were still here were not happy to find that they were now the invaded. Many bitched about the loss of their slaves.

Ulu told them they had three options; they could swap places with them, leave or make the best of the new rules and learn to live together as a new people. The Palatines didn’t wish to swap with their slaves, giving them two options. Several decided they didn’t wish to live with Ulu’s people as equals, which left them only one option.

Ulu telling them that they would no longer be paying taxes to Palatine swayed quite a few to his option of staying and making a go of the new situation.

The fact that the slaves that had been abused were to assist with determining the punishment of the abusers wasn’t well received either. Ulu told them they had one week to decide before the punishments were to be carried out.

He suggested the two peoples get together and discuss what was to happen. If they made a decision sooner, then they could register their decision with the wizards. Any slave, who didn’t wish to stay with the Palatines they were with at present, while they sorted out an amicable solution, could temporarily move to the farms or houses of the men who had died.

Quite a few Palatines didn’t find it a pleasant week. Their people on the ship had a bit longer to think about what they wanted. But even so, they had their wins and losses, once they confronted the people they had enslaved.

Storm had dropped in at his home to check on his staff. He was pleased that Iron Hills was a happy place these days. He dropped in to visit Hugo and Will the two Master Mages in Trenton. They too indicated that things were settling down and they had had another eight medallions and a dozen rings return to the vault.

They found that one of the medallions and three of the rings had come from slavers that had been on their way back into Trenton. As soon as the harbour was ice free, they would take the people who had been captured, back home to their villages in the north. Storm fixed the items, and they went back on the shelves for new owners.

He then received a mental call for assistance. When he got back to Spur, he told the others that the people here were their problem to sort out as he had another mission he had to go on.

Loko wished to stay with Robert, and as soon as those who wanted to go home were ready, they would drop them off on the way back to Brina. Storm said to Lindell and Kim that they had to go visiting. He said he would explain when they got there.

When they popped into the courtroom at the Bagada Palace, they caused a storm in a teacup. The five Clerics were furious when about two seconds after Storm identified them, they found themselves immobilised.

Storm even spelled one to shut him up. He, Kim and Lindell then bowed at Regent Papak IV. “Greeting your lordship, sorry about dropping in unannounced, but I received a call for help.”

The goggled eyed Regent stammered out, “A call for help?”

Storm grinned at him, “Yes, I understand that you have some friends of mine being held against their will.”

“You are a witch, too?” he asked.

“No, I’m a Lord Wizard,” Storm said and turned his bling on. The court all gasped as one. Many dropped to their knees. They held up their Yani to ward him off and started praying. Storm wasn’t impressed.

“Sorry, I understand that works for devil wizards, not Lord Wizards,” he told them.

The Regent yelled out, “Guards, arrest these people, arrest them.”

The guards didn’t move, nor did more enter the courtroom. Storm waited a bit, so the Regent and the rest understood this wasn’t going to happen. Some also found that they were a captive audience as the doors were locked.

Storm borrowed three chairs and placed then in front but to one side of the Regent, and they sat down. He then had the five clerics shuffle over on their knees and sit in the spot he had left them.

“Now I understand that some friends of mine had the misfortune of trusting you people. They came here offering friendship, and you locked them up and tortured and abused them,” he said conversationally.

“They are witches, the Clerics proved they were,” the Regent stammered out. A young man pushed through the people and stood between the wizards and the Clerics.

“If they are witches, then so am I, father. I promised them they would be safe here. I gave my word, is the word of your son, worth so little?” he said furiously.

Papak had been at his wit’s end. He had come back from the ship and found his friends had been carted off to the cells. He had hurried back and told Doc Avon to get his people back onto the ship. He had some influence, he would do his best to get Kale, and the Captain released.

The crew on the ship were not happy at this turn of events, but they did as he asked. Papak told them to keep the ship near the northern entrance. If a ship came in from the southern entrance or out from the river and headed towards them, then they were to flee as fast as they could north.

He recommended that they hide in a tiny bay that they could find if they looked carefully. It was up the coast about 5km. If he couldn’t free their people in three days, then consider them dead and flee home.

He had tried everything he could think of but to no avail. When he tried to speak to his father, his face would go blank, and he would say, “What visitors?” He felt a deep wrongness in his father.

It worried him, as much as Kale’s pain. He could feel some of what they were doing to him, and he was greatly distressed. He called to the Gods to help him. What the Clerics were doing was wrong. He knew in his soul that it was.

These men were supposed to be God’s representatives. But they were the ones who felt bad to him. Even being near them, made him feel sick. He had to be careful as they started looking for him. Thankfully, Roshanak helped him stay away from them.

Roshanak learnt that the witches were to be burned the next day in a public execution. The Clerics were then to perform a cleansing spell on the city. Everyone had been told that they had to attend.

Roshanak told him that many of the worshippers of Keltria had fled the city for the hills when the Clerics ship first turned up. They didn’t wish to be cleansed. Many of the Lords had also slipped out of town and headed home as fast as their carriages and lankys could take them.

The Clerics had told the guards to shut the city up to stop people leaving when they realised people were fleeing. Roshanak said they were dumb fucks, it had taken them two days to work out people were even gone.

No matter how hard Papak tried, he couldn’t get near the cells. Only the Clerics were allowed to even enter the dungeon. He thought of dressing as a Cleric to get in, but Roshanak said they had told the guards that if the person didn’t have a ring or medallion, then they were to be arrested.

When Storm had appeared in Roshanak’s room where Papak was hidden, he had damn near had a heart attack. Storm had drawled, “You called?”

Papak had stupidly asked, “You are a God?”

Storm had grinned at him, “Sorry son, a God I am not. I’m Lord Wizard Storm. In your distress, you screamed into the magical ether, and I got your message. I also then felt the distress of two other magicians near you, so I had to come.”

Papak quickly told him about Kale and the Captain. Storm’s face looked like a storm as far as Papak was concerned. Storm told him to stay in the room until he got back. Storm was even less happy when he appeared in Captain Strong’s cell.

The man’s arms were chained across the middle of the room. He was on his knees, and irons locked his ankles in place. He slumped into the chains. Blood ran down his legs, back and chest from his abuse.

Oddly, they hadn’t touched his face. The parts of his body that could be covered by clothing were a different story. He had burns and shallow cuts on many parts of his body including his scrotum.

They had even cut off his nipples. His pointer finger on his right hand had been cut off to remove the ring he had worn. This upset Storm as he could grow back flesh and knit bones, but he couldn’t grow new bone.

He placed his hands on Rick’s cheeks, “You are as strong as your name implies, you poor bastard. They will pay for this.”

Rick croaked out, “Kale, they spent longer with Kale.” Storm had to admire that he was more worried about his friend than himself. “I’ll do him next, let’s get your body at least repaired, I’m afraid I can only mute the mental effect.”

Rick nodded his head and moaned as the healing spells engulfed his body. He tingled and itched all over at once. Then the feelings subsided, and he found himself being hugged gently by the big man. Storm picked him up, and when Rick blinked, he found he was being lowered onto a soft bed.

Papak dropped to his knees beside him, “I’m so sorry Captain. I didn’t know they would do this to you.” Papak could see the pink splotches over the Captain’s body where he was still healing. He could only imagine what Storm had seen.

“He needs food and water. Only little bits of each at first,” Storm told him. Papak nodded and hurried to comply. He carefully pulled the blanket up over the Captain and then went for the food.

Storm blinked to Kale’s cell. If he thought Rick had it bad, the sight of Kale made him gag. He didn’t know what they did to get past the medallions shields, but he would find out.

Kale was on his back. They had his arms tied out to the sides and his feet up and out to the sides in what he assumed were birthing stirrups. His arse was on the edge of the table so they could fuck him better. He must have just missed who had last used him, as he had cum and blood still dribbling out of his arse.

Going by the mess on the floor, he had been fucked a lot more often than the Captain had. Kale giggled, “Hey jump right in. I’m still nice and wet, you fucking twisted bastard.”

The boy had a blood soaked cloth on his chest. When Storm lifted it, he found that a square patch of skin was missing from his breastbone where the medallion must have been sitting.

They had burnt the edges of the skin in an attempt to stop the bleeding, and the blood had pooled over the bone and solidified. Storm could smell the corruption of the skin.

Kales body was also covered in the small burns and cuts. He had a lot more cuts than Rick did. One nipple had been cut off and the other burned off. His testicles were swollen, and Storm guessed it was due to them being squeezed hard.

Kale was covered in bruises that looked like someone had pinched and twisted his skin cruelly. Someone else liked to bite, and he had bloody gouges in his skin on every part of his body from sharp teeth.

He didn’t know exactly what they did to his cock. It looked like someone had been chewing on it. Storm surmised that they had tried to circumcise him but weren’t very good at it. He bet that pissed off the guy that liked to ride.

He had thick dried cum at the base of his cock, so he was sure that the boy had often been ridden until whoever had played doctor on his cock. “Come on,” Kale said. “I haven’t come for a while, are you guys getting tired or something?”

Storm walked up to his head and looked down on his face. The boy stared sightlessly at him. One of them had slid a hot thin rod into his eyeballs and burnt them. He had gack glueing them up. But he couldn’t blink because the eyelids had been sewn open.

“Fuck me, when I find out who did this, I’m going to castrate the bastard, rip his eyes out and make him eat them and then shove his balls in after them,” Storm growled. He was furious.

Kale cackled, “Man, I’d love to see that, that skinny little prick wouldn’t choke on his tiny balls, though. Who are you? You’re not one of them. You feel ... you feel lovely.”

“By the Gods, how have you kept your sanity man?” Storm asked him.

“Tell me who you are, and I might just tell you,” Kale replied.

“I’m Lord Wizard Storm. Your friend Papak was very upset, and he called for help,” Storm told him as he laid his hands on him and started healing him. He did his chest first as that was the most critical. He then did his rectum and genitals.

“Oh fuck, I’m gunna come if you keep doing that,” Kale groaned. Storm looked at his cock. It was rigid, and as the head healed, he saw it pulse. He didn’t bother replacing the foreskin. He didn’t miss his and didn’t know what the boys had looked like before.

Kale groaned in delight and then grunted and blew. Storm chuckled, as the boy certainly knew how to blow. Kale sighed and said, “Thanks, that’s the best come I’ve had since the Doc last sucked me off. Those guys were the worst lovers I’ve ever had. They fucked like those rats we dosed up with the juice.”

“Juice?” Storm questioned, as he placed his hands over Kale’s eyes.

“Yeah, we found these little berries, and when we fed it to the rats, they fucked furiously and often. If they got too much, they got really aggressive,” Kale answered.

Storm removed his hands, and Kale blinked several times and looked up into his face. “Wow, you’re a real spunk aren’t yah.”

Storm grinned at him, he was a nice looking boy, and he could guess why other men found him desirable. He reminded him of Kim. He had a similar sex appeal that oozed out of him. His cute curly dark blonde hair and the sexy grin would drag them in. Women, too he would bet.

“I’ve got to heal the rest of you now,” Storm said.

“Can you let me up first,” Kale asked.

“Sorry, yes, I’ve done the internals. I just need to pretty you back up a bit more for the girls,” Storm said and waved a hand at the straps releasing Kale.

Kale pulled his legs off the stirrups and swung around to sit on the edge of the table. “Thanks, the medallion was beginning to dig.”

Storm looked at him, and Kale swung the medallion around from his back and placed it back over the new skin on his breastbone.

Storm raised his eyebrows to the grinning Kale. “When they were tossing me on the table, I had told it to go down my back. Then I created a glamour. I had fun making it look like the blood they dripped on it, was running off of it.”

“When they cut the skin off around it and lifted it, the medallion disappeared. They were very careful not to touch it, so it worked. It really pissed then off, and they asked me where it had gone.”

“I told them Lord Hugo had said that if it couldn’t feel my heart beat, it would return to the vaults in Galina. I told then all the Galina medallions and rings returned if they thought the wearer was dead or they were stolen. It was to keep them safe from arseholes like them.”

“That really pissed them off. The one they called Jerome, he was wearing the most bling, he asked me about Lord Gazan. I told them that he was dead. It was weird, I felt him die that day you freed the medallions. Then when we got to Botham, they told us it was true.”

“Jerome did the blood magic thingy, but he wasn’t the worst of them. I think he and the other old guy preferred the Captain. The Younger bloke kept apologising while he rode me and he got pretty pissed when the Biter chewed on my cock.”

“You seem very level headed about the whole torture thing?” Storm said amazed.

Kale shrugged, “I’ve been raped before, and since I had the medallion, it helped numb the pain. I told it to let me feel just enough, so I reacted as they expected me too. It didn’t want to, but I convinced it that it had to if I was to survive.”

He picked it up and kissed it, “Thank you, my friend, you did a brilliant job.”

Storm had to smile, as he heard the medallion sing back. It must have been very hard on the medallion to let Kale suffer. He touched it gently, “Yes you are a very brave medallion and served your master well. Will you be too upset if he upgrades?”

They both felt the medallions sadness. Storm had an idea, “Actually how about I just add the rest? I will need you to be into the box for the final spells, but you will go back to Kale.”

They both laughed at the medallions happiness. Storm blinked them upstairs, and since Kale had mentioned it, he left glamour’s, so they appeared to still be in their cells.

He then went and got Kim and Lindell.

Storm looked idly at the Clerics kneeling on the floor.

He identified the man Kale had said wore the most bling as he had both a medallion and a ring similar to the one that Otho had. He assumed they were set out to enforce the churches wishes. He got up, and walked over to them and sniffed them.

Kale had told him the juice smelt like off meat. When he got to the top cleric, he smelt it. “Hum, not happy to just use compulsion spells,” he said.

He waved his hand over the man so he could speak. “You don’t frighten me devil spawn, the Prime Bishop will take care of you,” he said with confidence.

“Oh, and what as he got that I don’t?” Storm asked seating himself again.

“He is the chosen, he is the most powerful representative God can send to us, he is the storm that will come and will bring the people together under one God,” the man said with conviction.

“Is he a Lord Wizard?” Storm asked with interest.

The men all looked at each other. The first answered, “There is no Lord Wizard, his items of magic were destroyed in the war, it is written.”

Storm turned his bling on, “So does his diadem have all six jewels?”

They gasped, as they knew their history and only one wizard, had all six gems. Two of the four men laid their heads on the floor. “Divine Being, we are your servants,” they chanted.

This surprised Storm and his family. Kim looked at him and grinned, “Yes, he is divine.” The all heard a soft chuckle behind them where Rick and Kale were standing cloaked.

Lindell chuckled, “I have to agree, my husband.”

The four men looked up at Lindell. “She must carry the prophesied child,” the second Cleric said in awe when he lifted his head.

Papak thought about what they were saying, “Oh by all that’s holy! You’re the Storm of the prophecy. Do you know who the Starman is?” he asked, that line had always intrigued him.

“What has a man from the stars have to do with the prophecy and what is the prophecy?” Storm asked.

The middle Cleric recited:

“To make the five lands one,

So the people can again be one,

Five feats must be done,

The devil wizards must be defeated for one.

The dark man must not turn and run,

The Starman must defeat the cursed one,

The healer must cleanse the children of the sun,

The man of light must declare his love of one.

When the storm is done,

The people will again be one,

Their King to come,

Gods will, will be done.”

An older well-dressed woman stepped forward. Angrily she said, “No, no. That is not the prophecy.”

The Cleric sneered at her, “It is so.”

“No like your Book of Truth, it has been altered. The last two lines are, ‘Their Queen will come’, and the last line is, ‘The Gods will, will be done’. The Keltrians have always been matriarchal and have always had six Gods.”

“Your Prime Bishop knows this. Why do you think gifted men must become Clerics and under his control and gifted women are always hung as witches?”

“You blaspheme, witch,” the cleric screamed at her.

She sneered at him, “I do not, since my own mother was the oracle who told the old King the prophecy. Did your Prime Bishop tell you how he lost his wizard’s box?”

“He didn’t lose it, he wears his God blessed items,” the oldest cleric stated.

“Tells me how much you know, and you one of his faithful advisors Cleric Jerome. He may have his diadem and the medallion, but the ring and wand are false. He only managed to keep the first two items by shoving my mother’s head into the box to stop it from closing when he was trying to rape her.”

“She said that when he realised they were deserting him, he smashed her in the face and shoved her head in, so she bled into the box. He then used her blood to bind the medallion and diadem to him.”

“This is the most hideous practice imaginable, to a wizard’s box. It shut once he had released her, but he didn’t get the ring or wand back. He also couldn’t touch her again. The box had somehow put a protection on her. This is why he hates gifted females.”

“Ask him,” She said as she pointed to Storm. “To show you how the gem in his ring swirls and get him to demonstrate how his wand works. Lord Storm, show the man how they are supposed to work.”

Storm was wondering how this interrogation had gone off track. He heard Kale snigger beside him, and then the boy patted his shoulder and pushed it slightly forward indicating he want to see too.

So Storm stood. He flipped the wand from his side and rolled it between his fingers slowly, as it moved it started extending until on the third rotation, it was at its full length, and the gem mounted in the end glowed brightly.

He then whirled it around between his hands crossing it over his body and back several times and altering its length as it moves. He rolled it over his shoulder at full length and then reduced the length as it came back underarm until it was presented in his hand at its normal length.

“Charlatans trick,” the youngest cleric said with a derived laugh.

“So is this one,” Storm said. He moved forward and half extended the wand. He touched it to the man’s ring and then on top of his head. “May you find peace,” he said. He held out his other hand, and the Cleric’s ring appeared in it.

The other Clerics all gasped, as did the people close enough to see his actions. The young man whimpered, shivered and clutched his now unadorned finger. “Only a blessed Cleric can remove the ring from another,” he stammered, as he shook.

“No, only a wizard who knows the person had been doing the wrong thing, can remove a magical item,” Storm said.

Kale appeared beside Storm and then placed his hand on the kneeling man’s head. He ignored the many gasps around him. “I forgive you for your sins, Raymond. You have been taught to find love by force. You have been used as badly as I have. May you find peace in your soul and learn what it is, to be truly loved,” he said to the young man.

The stunned man felt very strange, as his body tingled all over after Kale had placed his hand on his head. He felt a calmness and clarity that had been lost to him for a long time. He looked at Kale and realised he had removed the spells holding his mind in a cage.

Kale had gone one further and uncaged his soul. He had also felt a wellness of his body and his bruises didn’t hurt, his arse didn’t hurt either. The constant ache in his spine, his kidneys and his balls from the thrashings, had also disappeared.

“What have you people done to me?” he said in awe.

“They have played with your wits, boy. Don’t believe anything they tell you, you are a sworn Cleric of Laos,” Cleric Jerome growled at him. He could see the glow on the boy had brightened as if some hidden part of him had come to life. Going by the wonderment of the boy’s expression, he guessed that it had.

Jerome scowled and knew he had just lost a promising disciple and bed partner. He was also powerless to stop the proceedings, as he couldn’t break the immobilisation spell. Nothing he tried worked.

He watched as Kim had Lindell got up from their seats and started wandering around the crowd and touching people. This didn’t bode well for them taking control of this region either. His boss wasn’t going to be happy. He was distracted by Storm.

Storm waved his wand over the ring, and it sparkled brightly. He then held it out to the boy. “Please touch it for me,” he asked softly.

Raymond gently touched the ring he had been so proud to own. He had loved how it sang to him before the initiation ceremony. It had never sounded quite the same after and he now knew why.

He stroked it gently, “I’m sorry my friend, I believe we were both deceived. I hope you can forgive me for not protecting you.” The ring seemed to sigh and sang softly to him.

“If I give it back, it will not behave quite the same as it did in the past. If you do attempt to do something it disapproves off, it will burn you. If you carry out the actions knowing they are wrong, it will desert you and not come back next time, do you understand?”

Raymond nodded his head. “Yes, I understand. Must I leave the church?” he asked.

“No, your faith is your own prerogative, but I think you need to stay away from Justini until we sort out the problems there,” Storm suggested.

The old woman came close and looked deep into the boy’s eyes. She then looked at Storm and Kale and nodded in approval. “He isn’t a bad boy. I don’t even think he knew he was doing bad things. I felt some very tight binding spells on him, but they are gone, and his head is clear. You boys did good,” she said as she patted Storm’s arm.

She turned back to the boy, “How would you like to read the original book of Truth? We’s got a little place you can have in our village. There are some still faithful to the old teachings of Laos who would be happy to have a true clergyman.”

“You’d let me come even though it’s not your faith?” he asked in surprise, as she helped to his feet and tucked her arm in his to lead him away. She had got what she had come for. She waved at the wizards and answered Raymond, as they walked away.

“Son, that’s half the fun of faith. It would be boring if we all believed the same thing. Who knows if you’re right or I’m right? The hardest thing to learn is that we have to be tolerant of others beliefs. As long as those beliefs aren’t directed at bringing harm to others, then people are entitled to them.”

Storm smiled at Kale, and he said, “I like that woman whoever she was. I think Raymond is in safe hands.”

Kale grinned back at him, “I think she is an Oracle and she came here expressly to collect Raymond.”

Storm nodded in agreement. He had felt her strength when she touched him, and she had mentally thanked him for the protection spell and the healing spell he dropped on her. He turned to the next young man and tightened his brow.

He said to him, as he touched the ring and then his head with the wand, “You sir are not going to be so lucky. The first spell will deaden the separation anxiety but the second is a hex.”

The man shivered and then scowled at Storm as the ring flew from his hand. Storm winced as his hand closed over the ring. “Damn, you’re a real prick. You’re certainly not going to like my hex. If you physically or mentally bring harm to another, the pain will be reflected tenfold on yourself.”

Kale didn’t touch him, “Sorry, I can’t heal what is wrong with you. I hope you enjoy what it feels like to be bitten.”

The next Cleric received the same fate and Storm had to drop a sleep spell on him to give the first spell a chance to take. Neither of them had released these men from the immobilisation spell. Storm would remove them to one of the Cleric’s ship later.

This left the two with medallions. Storm asked Rick to appear as their punishment also concerned him. They both gasped when he did. Storm looked at the oldest of the men. He was worn down. There was a defeated air as if he had got to point where he went through the motions of livings but didn’t really live.

“You have fought so hard for so long, it is time for your reward,” Storm told him gently. When he retrieved the medallion, the man didn’t scream. He sighed as if a great weight had been taken from him and then burst into tears.

“Thank you, my Lord. For some reasons the binding spells didn’t work the same when used on me, and I have tried to be true. But it has been very hard. I’d have taken my own life, but the binding spell stopped me,” he said through his tears.

He then looked at Rick and Kale, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t control myself near you both, it was if my mind got locked up while my body used you. I tried to force my body to be as gentle as I could. I think that’s why I kept fainting.”

Kale looked at Jerome then back at Cleric Bono, “I know. My medallion could feel your conflict with your medallion. The reason you had to screw us was the drug that Jerome gave you. I think he knew you fought the bindings and gave you the drugs to bind you to him, even if you didn’t wish it. It’s an insidious drug; you should see what it does to rats.”

Rick and Storm smiled at Kale, they knew about the rats. Kale then placed his hands on Bono’s head, and Bono shivered under them and smiled a beautiful smile. Kale stepped forward and gently kissed him, “Feel better?” he asked.