Due to recent events I have been compelled to document the meetings and my relationship with my dear friend, Raphael Relógio. It was quite some time ago, and apart from our far too irregular intercourse by letter, I have not heard from him much about his adventures. But I am getting ahead of myself, permit me to start over to recount certain events of my past.
During my studies of the ancient texts regarding the origin of wild magic and dragons, its most marvellous users, I happened to rest in a forest. Since it was a nice day and I had my writings with me, I sat on a rock in the sun and pursued my studies there, surrounded by peace and quiet. The place I chose was in close vicinity to a path, so I could not stop travellers from passing by every now and again, but it seemed to be quite removed and not a popular route, so I wasn't disturbed quite as much as I would have been in an inn. I made quite respectable progress, immersed into my scrolls when I was approached by a stranger.
'Hello there, handsome,' he said and gave me a most radiant smile. I studied his face and looks for only a moment before returning to my scrolls. It was quite a curious combination. He was clearly human, of average height for a man of his age as far as I could tell and quite well built. His clothes resembled those of the gnomes I had contact with, a waistcoat in bright colours and a wonderful pattern, a cravat and even the magnifying goggles on the top of his head I hadn't seen outside a gnome's workshop until now. His long curly hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and out of his angular face with a short beard, his blue eyes pierced straight into my mind.
'If you have no business with me,' I replied in my usual tone. 'I'd appreciate it if you were on your way, sir.'
There was silence for just a moment.
'Not a response I usually get,' I heard the man chuckle to himself. 'I guess I'm losing my touch.'
I tried my best to ignore his presence, but the shadow he was casting on my papers made it harder and harder for me to focus. After only a few more moments I had to abandon my reading and with a sigh I once more addressed myself to the individual who had so rudely interrupted me.
'Sir, if you wouldn't mind, I'd much like to get on with my studies.'
'I'm afraid I can't let you.'
The tone of his voice made me frown. Something about him was quite pleasant to me, and the way he had said it was kind and perhaps a little sad, not even a hint of malice.
'And why is that?'
'Because that would put you into grave danger, and I could not allow that to happen.'
I felt struck with a sense of admiration. This was the first time in my memory someone insisted on saving me, and that even before I had gotten myself into serious trouble in the first place. I was quite capable of getting out of most situations, but this man seemed to care a great deal even though I would not even consider us acquainted at this point.
'Good sir,' I started once more, and the grin I saw flash across his face put me off my beat for a moment. Was my polite expression amusing? 'Would you care as to tell me why I would be in danger here? There is not a cloud in the sky and the path is nice and quiet.'
'There is a reason why it is quiet,' the young man explained and hefted his weapon, a large hammer, which looked to have more cogs and wheels than any other contraption I had seen before. 'There is an orc war band coming. I was trying to avoid them for some time now, but they are headed this way.'
'A war band?,' I gasped and dropped some of my scrolls. I hastened to pick them up again and only found about half. When I looked back up I saw the stranger holding the rest of them in his arm.
'I'll help you carry those, if you like,' he offered with another bright smile. 'But I'm glad we're on the same page now.'
He was quite correct. If there was a war band coming, no matter what species, I should better get out of there. I stuffed the remaining scrolls into my satchel, the only possession I had next to the clothes I was wearing, and needed as far as I was concerned. When I tried to get the remaining documents back, I saw that the stranger had already continued walking further down the path without returning them.
'Would you mind?,' I asked, one hand extended towards them when I caught up. 'Those are quite valuable.'
'I can tell' he said with another smile. 'What are they about?'
'This doesn't seem like the right time for academic discussion,' I replied and tried to snatch them from his arms, but he held them too high for me and walked on, laughing. 'And if I recall correctly, you said there are fighters headed this way. Perhaps we should try and be a bit more quiet?'
'I'm not the one jumping around,' the man responded and walked on. I had no choice but to follow his lead. It was clearly the only feasible way for me to get my scrolls returned to me. I could not tell how far we went, but I could hear heavy steps in the distance behind us, and that gave me great strength and speed. Then another noise caught my ear and I reached out for the man's shoulder. He stopped and turned to face me.
'It appears they cut us off,' I told him and gestured towards the path up ahead. 'I just heard two goblin voices around the next corner.'
The man's face twisted in anger.
'You're sure? Yes, of course you are,' he muttered to himself. Then he put an arm around my shoulders and hurried me off the path and into the bushes. 'We better hide then,' he whispered, but made no attempt to move quietly over the dry branches. I struggled in his grip but I could not get free. His hand wasn't hurting me in any way, but it was simply impossible for me to go anywhere he would not allow me to.
'If I may lead,' I murmured. 'We might have a bit of a better chance.'
The man stopped and his grip loosened. I straightened my shirt before I led him through the branches, pointing those out he should try and avoid, heading for a particularly dense bush, which I hoped would prove to be hollow on the inside. When I pushed through the leaves I saw that my suspicion had been correct. Once we were both inside I looked back and saw with relief that the path I had chosen had left little track of our passage, and with some luck and perhaps a little distraction, nobody would find our hiding place. However only moments later I once more heard heavy footsteps heading in our direction. Through the leaves I saw lumbering shapes make their way through the bushes, sniffing the air and grunting to each other in a strange tongue. I gasped when I recognised them by their grey skins and tusks to be orcs. A hand clamped over my mouth from behind and another arm grabbed me by the waist and pulled me deeper into the bush.
'Not a sound,' the stranger breathed into my ear, and the feeling of his words on my neck and my body being pressed against his distracted me from the rather life-threatening events around us. It only took me a moment to gather my wits once more and I fumbled in my material pouch until I knew I had a bit of sheep's fleece in my hand. With my other hand I drew the magic sigil into the air and directed it towards a bush a fair distance from us. There was a cracking noise and the orcs' heads shot round. As they approached what they now believed to be our hiding spot, a deer jumped out from between the leaves and fled away from the pursuers. The orcs, being the simple-minded creatures that they are, gave chase immediately and I sagged with relief, still in the stranger's arms. He removed his hand once the noise of steps had died away in the distance.
'Lucky for us that deer made a noise when it did,' he remarked, still in a low voice, and put me back down.
'Luck had nothing to do with it, my good man,' I informed him, pride dripping off every syllable. 'The noise was me.'
'You?' He stared in disbelief.
'Indeed.' Now it was my turn to grin. 'Although I do agree that Timora must have been watching, had the deer not been in that bush, the distraction would not have been nearly as successful.'
'What's your name, my friend?,' the stranger grinned and held out my remaining scrolls to me.
'I am known as Lysander,' I informed him and took them without a second thought. 'And who might you be, my good sir?'
'Raphael Relógio,' he said with the broadest smile yet and bowed, making the branches shower us in leaves. 'And if I could be anyone's good sir, I wouldn't mind being yours.'
