by Clark Bolton
“Ohhh … he wants me to write and maybe come meet with him personally if I can get my father’s permission!” Onaleen then proceeded to bounce up and down a couple of times. “I will I will!” Onaleen squealed loudly again.
The girl at the door brought her hands to her ears in annoyance. “Ahh!”
“I’ll bet he’ll like that miss!” The one at the window said as she stopped pouting. “Why don’t you write a reply and we’ll take it back to him.”
“Oh, ok but my father mustn't know!”
“Hold on!” The one at the door interjected. “We have not the time to stay!” She said in a lower voice than her twin.
Onaleen thought the girl sounded very masculine compared to the other girl. “Oh, I don’t even know your names! Now how can I repay you! Oh you will wait for my reply, won’t you?”
“Sorry, we have to be going, just leave it on the table at your next lesson from the Vis Mage-Councilor. Now step out and count to twenty, we have something else to show you!” The girl opened the door and gently nudged Onaleen out into the corridor. “To twenty now!” She then closed the door.
Onaleen looked around quickly to make sure her father was not near then she slipped the letter into her pocket as she started to count. “One, two, three …”
The room was empty when she opened it, which she found odd as there were not too many places to hide in it. Looking under the bed and then in her wardrobe she brought her eyes to the open window.
“But we are on the third floor!” She gasp as she stepped quickly to the window and looked out. She did not see anyone though, not even on the street below. “Oh my!” She said as she sat upon her plush bed and proceeded to read the letter … over and over … and over again.
“Castor, good to see you!” Autbek called from the courtyard as the boy rode in behind one of the guards. The kid still hated to ride and so just assumed ride behind someone else he noted again.
The sun was setting and he had been watching Murac dance about for some time now while waiting for Castor to return from his meeting with Berdtom. Apparently the man practiced various martial arts daily, including the elaborate sword form he was demonstrating now for Haspeth.
“Still got your butt!” Haspeth called out to Castor as he continued to watch Murac in fascination.
“You finally find something you might be good at!” Castor replied as he jumped down and headed toward Autbek.
The two looked in good spirits, Autbek decided, as he waited impatiently to get Castor alone. “Did you deliver it?” He asked softly.
“Yep.” Castor replied as they walked into the tower.
“And her response … did she read it?”
“Yep.”
“But her father didn’t see you right?” He demanded to know.
“Nope.”
“Ok … ok … Castor tell me how it went!” He said, getting impatient again now.
“Fine, I gave her the letter personally and waited for her to read it.”
“And then?”
“Then I left.”
“Castor! Damn it … was she happy … was she sad … did she throw things at you? What!”
“Aren’t you going to ask me how my meeting with Berdtom went?”
Autbek clenched his fists then forced himself to relax. “Ok. How did your meeting go?”
“She squealed.” Castor said mischievously.
“Huh?” Autbek gasp, now a bit confused.
“Onaleen, she squealed in joy.” Castor said with a smile.
“REALLY!”
“Yes, it’s amazing what a woman will say in front of two innocent little girls.”
“Two?”
Castor just shrugged and smiled innocently.
Autbek lost his train of thought just then as he pictured Onaleen squealing. Then he pictured her squealing naked with her shoes on as he had seen her at the palace, but then he forced himself to stop. Gods she has the most beautiful breasts, he thought before again trying to focus on Castor.
“So she’s happy to get a letter from me then.” He stated as he stared off into space.
“Yep.”
“Great!” He muttered as he thought about what to do next for a moment, then remembered Berdtom. “So Berdtom give you hell?”
“Nope.”
“Really!”
“We came to an agreement … and we even accomplished something together.”
“Oh, what was that?”
Castor shrugged and replied, “Can’t say … spy business and all.”
That brought a furrow to Autbek’s face, but the kid would say no more so they both went down to the courtyard to watch Murac again.
“You need a healer or some strong potions, as I was saying to Haspeth.” Murac called out as Castor and Autbek came out of the tower. The man then continued some fancy moves with the long sword he had gotten from the men-at-arms, who were also watching him closely.
“Oh why is that?” Autbek called back as they walked closer.
“Injuries … battle wounds … rot-gut!” Murac replied as he whirled about sweeping with his legs as well as his sword arm.
“Afraid we don’t have one yet, but we are working on it. Potions neither!” He replied sadly. Not even in Runeholden had he seen much of such things. Though he did recall several times when an uncle or aunt would provide healing salves. He wondered now if those had been of a magical nature.
Murac stopped his work out and pondered a reply before asking, “Cannot any mage learn such craft?”
“Wish that were true, Murac, but it’s not as far as we know. Healing is a rare discipline among mages I’m told, and I can’t say I’ve ever heard the name of one.” He had read as much he was sure, though come to think of it illusionists were supposed to be even rarer than healers.
“Well, I’ve seen one or two in my travels, though none in Astrum.” Murac replied. “Don’t know where they studied though. Far south I would guess.”
Autbek stared at Haspeth for a few moments pondering the chance the fellow could learn some healing spells. He had to admit he was not even sure they had any in the library, though he had been meaning to find some in hopes one of the girls would show such a talent.
“Don’t look to me O’t!” Haspeth exclaimed, noticing Autbek’s stare. “I’m a battle mage for sure!” He boasted.
“A battle what?” Castor replied incredulously. “Maybe a battle sweeper!”
“Better than a mock lizard now is it not!”
“How so! Unless they are shooting mock arrows you’ll be bleeding pretty fast out there.”
“Enough!” Autbek said with a whine, as he pondered further Murac’s idea. He then wondered if Onaleen could be the one, she had expressed interest as had the other two girls. “Guess we need more mages.” He said aloud.
Chapter 16
“O’t, tell me something.” Berdtom asked as he sat down at his own desk in the mage tower. He had one placed there since he stopped by every other day or so now.
“Yes, Tom?” Autbek asked as he continued to study a scroll.
“This Onaleen girl, one of your students, does she write often?”
Autbek pulse quickened as he wondered how Berdtom had gotten wind of her. Maybe Castor had told him. Anyway he thought best not to deny it as Berdtom likely knew much already. “Ah, no.”
“But she does write?” Berdtom pressed.
“Yes, well her father has written before.” He said as nonchalantly as he could.
“This one is from her I think.” Berdtom said holding up a letter. Then he sniffed it theatrically. “Yes, I would say so.”
Autbek stood and walked to the man with a grin on his face. “Let me see!” Grabbing the letter from Berdtom he read her name on the cover and then proceeded to quickly open it as he wondered why she had not waited until their next lesson to hand it to him.
“No explosive runes I trust.” Berdtom said with a chuckle.
“Nope!” Autbek said as he read the letter. He assessed imm
ediately that she was distressed. Apparently her father was not at all cooperative.
“Problems?” Berdtom asked, as the look on Autbek’s face was not one of happiness.
“Damn him! Her father will not let her meet with me outside class, not even in the palace. And he has forbidden her to even write to me!.”
“Did you write to her O’t?”
“I may have.” He said avoiding Berdtom’s gaze.
“Ah, then you wish to see her alone. Is it personal O’t, or is this business I should be aware of?”
“It doesn’t matter!” He exclaimed in frustration. “Says here she will not see me but in class because her father forbids it. She even had to sneak this letter out!” He was angry now he realized.
“Does the lady suggest the next course of action?”
“Huh? No, she just says I can’t write to her anymore and that her father will refuse any letters I send to her!”
Berdtom thought for a few moments as he watched Autbek fume about the room. “O’t, if a lord, and officer of the court, were to ride up with say a half dozen men-at-arms in formal dress accompanying him, to a certain household … and then send in his second … say Haspeth … with a formal request for an audience with the father, said father would fall all over himself in his haste to comply, I assure you!”
“Really?” Autbek said as he thought about it. He could do that he decided, and Onaleen’s father be damned!
“Yes, but do we really have time for romance O’t, and with a student no less? You and I have many tasks these days, not least of which is training the two apprentices you have already. If you bring another into the tower...and one as beautiful as Onaleen, I don’t see how you hope to keep things running smoothly.”
“Well, I did not really think to do more than question her.” Autbek said defensively.
“Really, O’t! I know you better than that, not to mention your face is red and you’re prancing about like a rooster.”
“What! No … I mean yea I would like to see her. I mean the Dieknotkow picked her, he even picked her before me. Should we not have her come here, and be a proper apprentice … she has after all studied enough to show her potential.”
“If you’ll calm down and stop yelling at me for a moment I’ll agree to this to a point.” Berdtom crossed his arms and stared at the boy to get his point across.
Autbek took a deep breath and then finally sat down. “Ok, ok!”
“Now, it seems clear that one and only one of two things should happen. O’t, you should either woo this girl like the lord and gentlemen you are, or you should bring Onaleen here solely, and I do mean solely, as an apprentice.”
Autbek sat and stared at the floor for a while. He did not want this to go badly he decided, and with everything else he had to do it seemed foolish to say he was wooing her. “Alright, apprentice it is!” That made him think how he had suddenly risen above the class of apprentice. I’m not a mage, he told himself.
“Are you convinced you can do this O’t?”
“Yes.” He replied with an exhale. He would see her he told himself. No need to really make a final decision until he had her in the tower. He then found himself imagining Onaleen with just her shoes on again, and he also while teaching her to cast … things. Gods that girl is beautiful.
Autbek looked at the latest runes the Dieknotkow had scratched out with its toes upon the wooden floor. He could never identify them and Neustus never mentioned them, but each time he adjusted the location of the rack a little he would find them there the next day.
Walking around the rack he started to sense there was a pattern of some kind. “Neustus, is there a pattern here? Is there something I should see or do with these?”
The man-bird issued clicks and squawks as if giving an answer, then whispered, “ways of luna...”
He did not understand but was starting to see the runes in groups now though he found them too crude to read. Perhaps if he applied a spell for deciphering languages he thought, though they were so poorly written and many seemed to have been written over others he doubted it would work. “Best try I guess.” He muttered as he headed for the library.
Returning with scroll in hand he cast the moderately simple spell and then gazed at the floor. Nothing at first made any sense. Walking about and then trying to look at it from Neustrus’s point of view did seem to help. One set seemed to say “quarter moon”, and yet another said “quarter moon” also.
“Neustus, are these lunar cycles you have written here?”
The man-bird circled its head in an odd fashion and whispered, “tides of joy.”
“I don’t understand, Neustus.” He asked as he continued to try and read them. Neustus seemed a little agitated now so he tried again but could get no more from him.
He called down the stairs to Haspeth and Castor to come up, having seen them there when he retrieved the scroll. When they arrived he filled them in and showed them what he had figured out so far.
“So you think he is trying to tell us something about the moon?” Haspeth asked as he studied the runes.
“Don’t know, but it seems important to him I think.” Looking at Neustus now, he found him calm and seemingly unconcerned by the two apprentices as they jostled his rack as they moved to study the runes.
“Not seeing anything.” Castor commented.
“Well it takes a spell to read them.” Autbek replied.
“We should come back in the moonlight.” Castor suggested.
“Now that’s not a bad idea!” Haspeth told the boy in all seriousness.
Autbek was lying in bed half asleep thinking of Onaleen and how her breasts would look when dyed other colors than blue, when Castor shook him awake.
“O’t … O’t get up!” Castor demanded.
“Hmm.” Autbek moaned as he slowly sat up.
“I’ve figured out part of it!” Castor said as he scooted Autbek’s boots over to the bed.
“Hmm, yea?” He said as he scratched his head and looked around for his clothes.
“Yea, come on … I’ll get Haspeth.”
Autbek started dressing as he heard a thump followed by a yelp from Haspeth in the next room. “Castor!” He muttered halfheartedly trying to scold the kid but deciding he did really care at the moment.
“Why!” Haspeth yelled out, apparently now fully awake.
“Just meet up in the tower!” Autbek called out as he dressed.
When Haspeth was ready the two of them lit a lantern and headed out into the courtyard and toward the tower. Only the third floor windows showed any light.
“What’s up!” Murac called from the barracks where he normally slept. He was only partially dressed and was carrying a sword in sheath in one hand.
“Nothing much … just something we are working on … sorry to wake you.” Haspeth replied as they walked into the tower.
When they got to the third floor they found Castor sitting cross legged on the floor next to Neustus’s rack. Spread out all over the floor and illuminated by several candelabras, were single pieces of parchment, all were sketches of the runes that Castor had apparently recently made.
“Wow, you been working hard to figure this out it looks like.” Autbek complemented the boy.
“Finally did it too I think. See this, it’s the twelve lunar months, and those there on the floor are eleven of them. I figure he has not drawn the twelfth one yet.”
Haspeth studied the drawings for a moment then commented, “They don’t look like any of these on the floor!”
“Not at the moment they don’t”
“It was moonlight then?” Autbek asked excitedly.
“Nope!”
“Ok, what makes you think you got them right?”
“You give up?” Castor asked.
“Yes! We bloody well give up!” Haspeth said loudly. “Now tell us so we can go back to bed!”
Castor ignored him as he reached into his tunic and pulled out one of the magic chalk pieces they had found. He had
drawn countless sketches with them and was even using them to paint illusions on his face. This time he used them to trace the runes Neustus had drawn.
Smiling with pride Autbek watched the kid work. After tracing one set of runes Castor waved his hand over it and the runes started to glow and shift.
“Behold, the new moon!” Castor exclaimed.
Sure enough, the runes had transformed into the common sign for the first day of a lunar month. Castor then went on to do the same with the other ten, until all but the full moon symbol was visible on the floor.
“There is more though.” Castor announced. “Neustus has scratched three more lines here and two here, and three here.”
“Meaning what?” Haspeth asked.
“They designate days within the current cycle.” Castor replied.
“I think you're right, but now what does ‘tides of joy’ have to do with this?” Autbek asked as he walked slowly around to each of the glowing rune sets.
“Beats me.” Haspeth mused. “Don’t know much about tides … best ask a sailor I guess.”
“Hmm.” Autbek muttered as he tried to guess what the twelfth rune set would look like.
“I don’t think the next one will have any lines in it.” Castor said as he surveyed his work.
“Hey, I wonder if Murac would know?” Haspeth suddenly said.
“Know what?” Autbek asked.
“Tides, O’t. He’s a sailor isn’t he?”
Autbek gazed at him for a second with furrowed brow. Before he could say anything Haspeth was headed for the door.
Castor and Autbek waited for Haspeth return while they studied the runes some more. When he returned without Murac they seemed disappointed.
“I was right!” Haspeth announced. “He says it’s simple, the ‘tides of joy’ are the low tides. It’s when the shellfish are easiest to find and when the enemy can’t land their ships!”
