Snippet #2650855

"Hey, Magus. Got a letter for you and a gift from an admirer," a boy interrupted Antius' previous musings by shoving a scrap of parchment in his face before he set down a bottle of wine. The boy was a slave who had the fortune to be employed as a messenger by the powers that be. His name escaped the young Mage, not that it really mattered much. He smiled slightly at the gift and roll of parchment. It wasn't uncommon for people to shower their favorite gladiators with gifts: coin, spirits, women, men, etc. It was still strange that the same crowd that booed him and railed for his own death now saw him as a sort of hero or something. Such was the life of a gladiator, he mused.

"Thank you, my friend," he began, but the messenger had already left to attend to his other deliveries. As he opened up the scrap of parchment, he felt his heart compress at the familiar handwriting.

Antius,

I am sorry that I was unable to meet with you when it happened. I confess that I was too afraid to meet with you. No one wants to be named a traitor. I realize now that it was a mistake. I am being hunted and I do not know where else to turn. I need your help. I am hiding near the port, but I can't stay long. If you can use this to escape and find me, please do. In the name of our past friendship.

Lir Syoelle

Lir had been a bright spot in his life at the Academy of Aetumnas. Brilliant, clever, and powerful, and stunningly beautiful, he had been smitten, but before he could voice his feelings, his family had fallen from grace and he had been reduced to a form of glorified slavery that he had been unable to escape. But now she needed his help.

He picked up the bottle and sniffed it, inhaling a bittersweet odor that he knew was familiar, but couldn't place just where he smelled it before. He examined the label on the bottle, smiling slightly when he saw two elegantly drawn rune of a man and the sun. Things suddenly clicked into place.

Lir, you magnificent bitch.

Magi's Bane was a powerful elixir banned for a very good reason in the Empire. After ingesting it, a Mage could gain inhuman levels of mana and mastery for 12 hours in exchange for a single year of life and a violent bodily reaction reminiscent of the body purging itself of years of alcohol. In addition, it would kill anyone without adequate mana. It was a high-risk, high-reward concoction and not one he would have been willing to try in his previous life.

He shook the bottle experimentally, hearing the liquid swish around inside the bottle. Enough for a single glass.

Well, he was going to need to escape soon, preferably this very night, but he couldn't do it alone. Magi's Bane would give him enough of a boost to break through the wards and barriers keeping gladiators from leaving the amphitheater, but his magic would be unstable and he wouldn't get that far before the penalty kicked it.

He needed allies. It was a good thing he happened to be in a place filled with deadly fighters.