by P. Tempest
“Do your duty mage,” I said to myself.
I didn't know if I said it to remind or mock, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Chapter 33
I couldn't sleep, Lyphia was laid next to me her deep breaths sounding loud in the darkness. I pulled myself out of bed and got dressed. I picked up my boots and carried them out the door with me. In the main room I put them on my feet and I left.
I hadn't found Jase, but I'd managed to get some dried meat and oddments to travel with.
I walked the streets of my home, the white light of the moon casting brilliant light onto the streets. I saw no one, it was very late. My eye caught on the road to the foundry district. My feet led the way.
At the site of my largest failure there was nothing to see. Smooth stone covered the marks of what had happened, I tried to avoid seeking the bodies of the dead that hadn't been recovered. I didn't need another thing to haunt me, the victim of my failure resting in a tomb I'd built for them, cold stone kept them from the warmth of the earth, I sunk to my knees and did something I hadn't done since I was I child. I prayed to my ancestors.
“Fathers that walked before me, hear my call,” I whispered
“Mothers that birthed me, feel my woe,” I placed my hand on the hard stone.
“Children that play no more, come to me,” I lifted my face to the night sky.
My voice hushed as it was still echoed over the empty space. I could feel eyes on me. This feeling always happened, part of the reason I hated prayer.
“I have much to do, much that I have already done. I've done things. Things I'm not proud of in the course of my duty. Now I'm filled with doubts and fears.” The watched feeling intensified in tingles down my back. The previously unnoticed sounds of the night tapered off, the silence now echoed, a heavy sense as if the air was pushing down on me. The earth didn't move, but it warmed beneath me.
“I have to leave my apprentice, my child in the care of others while I do my duty. I don't know what I will have to do but the thought of leaving here fills me with fear. I was told a mage is everyone servant and I've made my peace with that, but is there no room in that for what I want?” I asked the night.
“What do you want?” came a voice.
I stood and spun. Behind me was the priest, and his god Vesic, glints of light flickered around him.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I asked first.” A toothy smile accompanied the words.
“I don't know, but it’s none of your concern.”
“I wouldn't be so sure about that, you called me, you asked a question.”
“I most certainly didn't call you.”
He laughed. “You did. Do you have no clue as to your heritage? We gods are mothers and fathers, children of you. We are your ancestors in all the ways that matter. Did no one teach you?”
“Clearly not. You are the first god I've met, and even that I'm doubtful about.”
“We are those who go before and those that come after, we aren't all there is but we are the most mortal. We are the ones that walk the beat of the world. Know your question before you ask it, not all are as kind as me.”
“Vesic, I'm sorry if I offended you before.”
“I'm pleased you are, it shows wisdom. That will serve you well where you are going. Get some rest, you will need it.”
“Do you know anything about where I'm going?”
“I know many things.” The flickers of light around him died as he turned and walked off.
I stood in the moonlight watching him go, he passed through a deep shadow and was gone.
I wanted to follow him but I had a feeling that it might be a bad move.
I was left standing in a once thriving part of the town, now reduced to smooth stone. The clouds passed over the moon, and the darkness closed in around me. Vesic left me alone, but the dark didn't touch me. I didn't know if it was his words or something else but I felt lighter, clearer. My way forward was through duty. Service, even to a bastard, was what I had signed on for, there was no honour in breaking my word. I looked around me once more as the clouds scudded by the light shone down on the white stone. Smooth, unstained by the events that led to its creation, anything could be built upon this. It was awash with future possibilities. There was something in that, that I felt deeply, maybe the reasons don't matter in the course of events. I wouldn't let my anger and resentment at being sent away take from me the chance of a future.
I walked back to the academy, I had a journey to prepare for.
(----)
The dawn found me, as ready for my journey as I was going to be, I'd said my goodbyes to Sophia and Airis Lyphia had got a different but very satisfying farewell. All of them had gone back to their rooms, I didn't want to prolong the moment and make it harder than it needed to be. I made my way down to through the halls and corridors. I was stopped by a very sleepy looking receptionist, a different one. How many did we have here? Surely by now I would have seen a few enough to recognise them, currently they were all this faceless blur of desk people.
She noticed me, and called out, “Sir, sir I've been expecting you. Master Jase asked me to hold you for a moment.”
“Why?” I asked as I walked over to the desk.
“I don't know sir.” She yawned widely her face scrunched up, and she did an odd little twitch on the end that made me smile.
“I get it's early, you don't need to remind me.”
“Sorry sir,” she said with a sheepish smile, her hands rested on the desk fidgeting.
“Tristan, there you are. I was worried that we would miss you,” Jase's voice came from the front door.
“Jase what is this about? You know I have to be gone before dawn hits, I'm cutting it close as it is,” I said as I turned to him.
He wasn't alone.
“I would like you to meet Vesic and Brendon. They will be accompanying you on your trip.”
Stood next to him was the god’s vessel there was no sign of the god’s presence though unlike there had been last night.
“Why? Not that I'm questioning that having a God and his priest, is priest the right name?” I looked to Brendon at this.
Brendon nodded, his previous arrogance was missing, Vesic may well have given him a lesson.
“Not that I'm questioning that having them around will be useful, but I would like reasons.”
“Well he asked to come, and he has offered to train you. Companionship always makes a journey seem shorter.”
“Jase I spent all yesterday afternoon looking for you. I don't have time for surprises now.”
“Tristan my boy, just do as I ask. Come back to us safe and still you. Please guard yourself out there, many a mage has gone into the wilderness and come back less than they went. Don't let that be you.” Jase said softly in my ear as hugged me.
I couldn't hug him back well, my hand was full with my bag. The sword strapped to the side kept it rigid and awkward.
“I will be fine Jase, it can’t be that bad.”
He let go of me and stepped back, his blue eye intent, the glimmer of tears making them shine.
“Tristan this isn't a light matter. Just... don't listen to the whispers.”
“Umm okay, I won't.”
“Off you go then, you had best be on your way, dawn is here.”
“Thanks, I know. I will be back. Keep the kids safe and look in on Lyphia for me. I know she is tough but I worry.”
“I will. Now go before someone reports that you are still in town.”
I went. Brendon fell into step beside me and we walked into the dawning light of day.
The streets were empty of all but the most dedicated workers. Most of the farmers lived on the farmsteads outside of town. The scents of baking bread and that cool morning smell, that despite all my years of training I still didn't know what it was, filled the air.
We headed to the nearest gate to the south. It just so happened to be the direction we needed to go, but that wasn't the reason we were go
ing there. Orb could access the travel posts. He would be able to find out my departure time if Rysan asked. I didn't think he would, but I didn't need to look like I was disobeying.
We hurried without a word spoken between us.
Outside the gate was the travel post. A small building made of the same stone as the rest of the town. Inside there should be someone.
I knocked on the wooden door, it opened slowly.
A woman was behind it, she was middle aged with short dark hair shot through with grey.
“Yes?”
“I need to make a long journey and I need transport.”
She opened the door wider and allowed me in.
The interior wasn't anything special, a simple stone room, a counter jutted out of the wall in the corner with an accounting book on it.
“Where to?”
“Nelar.”
“I'm sorry you must have mumbled could you repeat yourself.”
“Nelar, for myself and my companion.”
“We don't have an outpost there. It's outside of duchies.”
“None the less, I need to get there.”
“Did you not hear me? There are no outposts there. This is the closest you can get through relay. I can't help you.”
I took a deep breath, trying to contain my frustration. It was a limited success.
“Look I understand this may be difficult for you, but I've been assigned there and I need transport now,” I said in a strained voice, the urge to rip the building down and take what I wanted threatened to overwhelm me. I forced it down with clenched fists and teeth. It wasn't me, it was other.
“Don't take that tone with me Mage, I've heard about you. I know what you're capable of, but I don't fear you. So watch your mouth and open your ears. We don't go there. No one goes there.”
“Just give me a horse or something.”
“We don't use horses here, I have a few golem horses but you can't take them to Nelar. They don't work there.”
“I don't need to take them all the way but it's a bloody long way to go on foot.”
“Fly, for all I care. You can't requisition anything here.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but she spoke before I could.
“No. Please just leave. I have waiting customers.”
I looked around, the room was empty.
“No you don't. Just give me something please.”
“Leave.” She walked over to her accounting book and ignored me.
“Come on its urgent. I need to get there quickly.”
She continued to ignore me.
I walked out.
Brendon just looked at me a faint smile on his face.
“Don't ask. It looks like we are walking.”
“How the mighty have fallen, the mages of old never walked anywhere.”
“I'm not an old mage, I'm barely a mage at all.”
“You will think of something. Vesic has faith in you.”
“How do you know? I don't understand the bond between you.”
“Now isn't the time and I'm not the best person to ask. I don't owe you answers although I do owe you thanks.”
“Thanks? Why?”
Brendon gestured with his hand.
We walked along the broken road. The early sun showing its face to our left, just peeping over the horizon. Light like honey slipped over the farm land, the glow from the fields as it hit the green growing plants was comforting, like many mornings when I'd been a child. I'd walked everywhere. Walking wasn't going to kill me.
“Our little encounter. I've been god ridden for year but I thought it meant something else. The punishment that Vesic gave me was to learn. I have access to all his years but none of his power. The things he has seen are…. I don't know how to describe them, but they are an experience I wouldn't have had if not for you.”
“I guess you’re welcome then. Do you have any ideas about how to speed up our journey?”
“I have many ideas, but I don't have magic the same way as you do. I can't put it into practice. Maybe we don't need to rush the journey.”
“We might not need to rush the journey but the thought of walking all the way to the mountains doesn't delight me. I can't even see them from here.”
“So magic up a way. It's what you mages do.”
“Very helpful. Thank you.”
Brendon just nodded the faint smile unchanged.
I could smell the scent of the earth waking up, the light of the sun warming it. The traces of moisture in the air lingered, not quite burned away yet. I could even hear the rustle of grass in the gentle wind.
I could feel a tightness in my chest easing, just being out here in world. Not trapped in the town and the academy. My responsibilities were mainly behind me. The next ones ahead of me but here and now I was as free as I was going to get. The frantic beat of my heart, which I’d barely noticed within the walls of Westhaven, slowed. I felt a smile forming on my lips. I was free. Just for a little while, but you don't realise how much things weigh on you until you are suddenly freed from the burden.
My bag in hand, weighed still, but it was a different sort of weight. I could feel the fibres of the fabric strap scrape against my skin. I moved it so it slung over my shoulder, across my body. The sword made it hang just right along my back. Then I did something I haven't done since I was a child.
I ran. Not in fear. Not to get somewhere. Not in a hurry. I ran just for the joy of it. My booted feet pounded on the hard stone cobbles. Each impact sharp but solid. I pushed myself to go faster. The wind pushed my hair back, made water form in my eyes. My lungs heaved each crystal clean breath in and out.
I was soon past the close farms. Out into the fields that lined the road. I put my hand out, it brushed against the still green wheat. For a moment I forgot everything but the simple joy in just doing. There were no consequences to this. I soon reached the end of the stone road, where it turned into a hard dirt track almost a mile out from the town.
I slowed myself to look around for Brendon it wouldn't do to leave him behind.
He was still just walking without a care in the world.
I took the time while waiting for him to regain my breath. I felt far better.
“You know I didn't mean to leave you behind.”
“Think nothing of it. There will be a lot of running during your training, I just wanted to give you a chance to adjust to your new situation before we began.”
“What training?”
“Master Jase mentioned it this morning.”
“He did, but he didn't say what it was.”
“I will be training you in the sword and the ways of combat.”
I fell into step next to his as he finally walked by me. He didn't look like anything special physically. But what would I know? Magic was my thing. The physical stuff wasn't where my training lie.
“I can't argue that I don't need training, I really do but I'd hoped the need for it had passed.”
“That is idealism, just because you don't want to fight doesn't mean you won't have to. Being prepared is better than not. Your life isn't going to get easier. Being a mage makes you a target. For all sorts of things.”
“Care to elaborate on that?”
“Not right now I'll let Vesic do it.”
“Okay then, let's move on what's it like having a god in your head?”
“I've never known any different. I have nothing to compare it to.”
“Isn't it strange having another being in your head?”
“Not really, he has been with me my whole life. If was only when I blossomed that I knew I was different before then I'd felt like an outsider. I learnt quickly. I could read and write while the other children were learning their letters. I became arrogant.”
“Have you always lived in Westhaven?”
“No, I moved here after the waves with my family, we came from haven but that got destroyed.”
I avoided looking east, the ruins of the city were clearly visible even from this
distance. Shadowed stone towers that looked as if a giant had taken bites out of them. I'd been once just before I'd entered the academy. It hadn't been a fun experience. I occasionally had nightmares about it.
“Anyways we moved here, it's a nice town, but it’s just coming into its own as something other than a farming community. That is causing tensions. The fall of the nobles and the ineptitude of the wizard has caused others.”
“Ineptitude? You are going to need to explain that comment.”
“Pricked your pride did I? You will see the reasons for my opinion soon enough, I'm surprised that you don't have reasons of your own already.”
“They might not be perfect but they are better than the nobles.”
“Better? I'm not going to argue better with you, but I'm going to give you something to think on. The wizards have taken over but how often are they seen? How often are they serving the people?”
“That’s what we are for, that's why there are mages.”
“No it isn't. Mages are a step on the road to wizardry, they are not servants of anything beyond the magic's will. The wizards have set themselves up as the saviours of the people and while I will agree that life is generally better for the common man. How much of that is the wizards doing?”
I opened my mouth to respond, then I closed it and concentrated on the path, thinking about what he had said.
The wizards didn't do all that much, they set laws, they governed trade, and they drove this nascent empire from the top. Each move calculated and thought through. But their power wasn't in law, it was in magic and they didn't use it.
We Mages were the hands of the Wizards, the magic behind their actions, we were the ones that bled for the laws they created. It was us that made the advancements that pushed the empire forwards.
Just being without the nobles and letting the people go their own way was an immense improvement, no conscription no tribute. People are industrious, they will work for their own benefit without guidance. Yes there might be missteps along the way, but the world turned and the beat of progress went on.
We had come far since the mage king.
Once we were tribal living in huts, farming had been an unknown. There wasn't much point in cultivating fields to feed maybe fifty people, when a quarter of those could produce crops overnight if they expended a large amount of effort. Needing to be near water became negligible when you could summon rain in the desert. We hadn't settled because we didn't have a reason too. The mage-king saw more, a future in which we grew we built, and it was founded on blood like so many other things. The golem army woke terrors in all who heard the stories, it was part of the reason I chosen the form for Airis it would make people think twice before crossing him. But that age had ended with the nobles, people forced into towns and kept there to be used as a breeding ground for the next generation of soldiers in the never ending wars that they perpetuated. Our neighbours didn't touch us because we weren't worth the effort. We had magic, and they didn't. We didn't touch them because we had other things to worry about, like the constant conflict between nobles. The mage-king has set his sights on owning the whole world, he died before he could cross the sea. The nobles built trade between nations using the name of the mage-king, which ended with the waves. In the last ten years nothing had been heard from over the sea. Not a ship had been seen. For all we knew the world ended at the sea now.
