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Cassida Rane stood before Ascalon’s pyre. A dozen other pyres had been erected for the dead in a circle atop a hill, it seemed a paltry death toll for such a world shattering battle. Each had a close friend, family member, master, or apprentice standing ready with a torch. Had the Mage Hunters lost… Cassida didn’t think about it. The flame from his torch danced in the breeze berating the hills behind the Castrum. All the Mage Hunters and regulars stood at the foot of the hill, Athena foremost among them.
Cassida looked to the woman on his left and man on his right, an unspoken agreement flowed between them and they lowered their torches. Soon all the pyres were burning, consuming the shrouds, and Cassida Rane stepped back but did not descend the hill. He watched the flames until the crowds had thinned and the sun began to rise. The pyre was naught but kindling then, the fire struggling to carry on, the bodies of the dead mere ash.
Athena appeared had his side, ‘Master, the Chapter Commanders have assembled in the main hall, Galahan has requested your presence.’
Cassida Rane nodded, watched the last ember of Ascalon’s pyre fade, and began the descent towards the Castrum. Regulars stood guard at the low gate he chose to enter by, they straightened as he passed by, something he’d noticed many of the soldiers and even some of the hunters do when he walked by. He was glad to see the hidden gates and lesser known entrances being actively guarded, even if in doing so made them more obvious to potential threats. He wormed his way through the labyrinth of passages and across courtyards and training squares until he reached the main hall. He had avoided the main gate, he’d avoided it for days, the thought of it disquieted him.
Six regulars stood to attention before the doors to the main hall, their spears gleaming. They saluted in unison and four broke off to open the double doors. Cassida Rane stepped through and the doors were sealed behind him. Kristof Galahan was waiting at the front of the dais sitting on a chair, ‘I have no business being alive,’ he croaked with a grin.
‘Nor I.’
Galahan laughed and shook his head, ‘I was stating fact while you are being needlessly modest. I’d stand but…’ he tapped his legs. ‘The excitement finished half of me off,’ his wrinkled face wrinkled some more with a smile.
The hall was empty save for the crescent table at the back of the dais. Four other men sat there, all much younger than Galahan, three of them younger than Cassida Rane. ‘Where is everyone else?’
‘This is all I could find. The filth downstairs is yet to speak,’ Galahan spat, then coughed. The Chapter Commander nearest the far end of the table got to his feet, his chair scraping the stone. Kristof Galahan shot out a hand, ‘I’m fine. Mere old age, it’ll come for you too one day, if you’re lucky.’ He wiped phlegm from his lip. ‘We believe some where in league with him, along with hunters like Eviren and regulars too. All of them have likely fled but the next Grand Master will need to investigate the Order thoroughly, and swiftly, there is a mage army over the mountains and who knows what it will now it has lost its Archon.’ Galahan sagged in the chair, leaning heavily on one of the arms and panting. He waved to one of the men behind him.
The oldest of the four others stood, ‘Master Rane, I am Gaius Relnor, this is Ulys Kome, Perinar Strait, and Ven Hrig.’
‘I haven’t heard of any of you, how long have you been Chapter Commanders?’ Cassida Rane ignored the formal address that only Athena used for him.
‘Not long, we all predate the last… errr… we all were appointed by Grand Master Orontius before his unfortunate passing,’ Gaius Relnor said, there wasn’t a hint of white on his head and only the faintest of lines around his eyes. Cassida revised his assessment of age and judged them all to be his junior by at least a decade.
‘How did you attain your positions?’
‘The late Grand Master placed us under expert tutelage of now also deceased Commanders with the intent that we would grow our respective Chapters from the nascent forms they are in,’ Gaius answered, his voice grew firmer.
‘I see. Well when will the election be, I presume that is why you have summoned me? Though why me, I do not know.’
‘There will not be an election,’ Gaius said.
‘Excuse me?’
‘Or rather, we had an election and you were chosen,’ Gaius bowed his head.
‘Kristof,’ Cassida Rane regarded the living relic with scorn.
‘It was not my idea,’ Galahan said, unconvincingly.
Cassida Rane approached the dais and clambered onto it right in front of Kristof, ‘Why are you sitting here and not over there?’ he gestured behind the table.
‘I wanted you to see a friend before seeing strangers, it may not have been my idea but I support them in it. The Castrum, the entire Order needs a skilled hand.’
‘You are more skilled than all of us.’
‘And I am three steps away from my own pyre.’
Cassida Rane felt a chill down his spine, he did not want to imagine releasing another wise soul so soon.
‘The Order needs a young hand, you won’t be the youngest Grand Master ever but certainly close, though I am sure someone will let you know, and the Order needs you to survive a long time to recover.’
‘Of course, and if I refuse?’
Kristof turned around, his chair creaking from the effort. Gaius peered down at a scrap of paper on the table, ‘I suppose we offer the rank to Naran Ulgar? I know the name but naught else.’
Cassida Rane rolled his eyes, ‘A fine scholar but…’ he remembered the man’s injuries in the fighting, his poor form, his unhappiness at being with the resistance. The man was not capable of the burden the rank of Grand Master would be. ‘I accept,’ a change washed over the room, the Chapter Commanders, and Cassida himself. A confidence filled them all, a sureness of path ahead of them, the return of hope.
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Many thanks for reading The Mage Hunter, I thoroughly enjoyed writing this the whole way through, something that is not always the case when I write novellas. The delay was caused by a seismic change in my day-to-day life, taking on the full time parenting which is more fulfilling and more exhausting than I ever expected.
This SubStack will change in the new year, something I will share more on in the last week of 2025. Till next time.
A very good story. I hope to read more like this in the future