Chapter 28
Aemun awoke several minutes later. His body felt drained from the new magic and from the vision. He struggled to get to his feet. Then, realizing what he had just seen, jumped immediately into action.
"Patrick!" he shouted. "Your Lord, where is he?"
Patrick's response to his question was a scratch on the head. "Huh?" he asked, the mark of a very well educated man in a confusing situation.
"Your Lord, my vision, he is in terrible danger!"
"How much danger could he be in?" asked Patrick skeptically. "He's in that house over there. What could possibly happen to him in a well-built house?"
Aemun didn't stay long enough for him to reply. Despite his fatigue, he sprinted over to the door of the house, and, using a powerful burst of wind, pushed a noble looking brute out of the middle of the room, where he sat polishing his axe. A moment later, the entire ceiling fell down to the floor, and a large spike of wood impaled itself on the chair where the man had been sitting just moments before.
The entire room was silent, staring in shock at the thin, road-weary mage that had just wandered in and saved their Lord's life before one of the guards decided that some form of action in the current situation was prudent. The said guard's chosen course of action, however, was to grab Aemun's arm and twist it painfully behind his back.
"Who are you?" demanded the guard. "Are you an assassin? Speak, damn you!"
"Easy there," said Patrick. "After all, what way is that to treat a hero?"
"He could be an assassin!" responded the guard indignantly.
"I know better," replied Patrick. "I was just talking with him a moment ago. He is a friend, I believe. And his incredible magic prowess has just saved Lord Hector's life. Let go of him."
The soldier glanced around, and then at the wave of a hand from the man with the axe, whose name was obviously Hector, let go of his arm, which was followed by a sigh of relief from Aemun.
"Magic, eh? I don't understand you types. I only keep Patrick around because Oswin highly encourages me to. Bah. I wasn't expecting that. I guess I owe you my thanks though. You did just save my life."
"My Lord, if I may be so bold, this young boy is the most talented mage I have ever seen. He is quite proficient in all three of the magical arts."
Hector blinked, the universal body language for "What?"
Patrick rephrased himself. "This boy's talent is akin to a soldier who can wield an axe, a sword, and a lance at that age. And he saved your life with a vision. This boy must be taken to Ostia to study."
"I agree with Patrick, my Lord," came a soft, powerful voice from the entrance of the door. In the doorway stood a man who might as well have been a giant. He wore the largest suit of armor that Aemun had ever seen. He had a large chin, and a well-chisled body that came from years of service in that same armor, which itself was covered in memoirs of previous and untold battles.
"You too, Oswin? Alright then, mage, what is your name?"
"I am Aemun, sir."
"Good. If it pleases you, then I hereby extend to you a formal invitation to study magic in Ostia." There was a slight pause while Aemun thought his decision over, but his thoughts were rudely interrupted when Hector again began to speak. "What, didn't I do that right, Oswin? Are you coming with us or not?"
"Peace, Hector. Well, boy, how about it? You will learn things there that you never dreamed possible."
"Very well then. I graciously accept your invitation."
"See, Lord Hector, why can't you do that? For all of the time that goes into teaching you manners, you don't seem to retain it very well."
And then they strode out the door bickering and growling at each other the whole way. Patrick chuckled to himself and shook his head before heading out the door, beckoning Aemun to follow him.
Chapter 29
Kara entered the party with the thought that she would be the only one to leave with her sanity. She knew what she had to do. First, she would create a distraction outside, causing the guards to lock the doors. Then, she would slowly make her way to the life of the evil man who hated the Fang. First, a distraction. She decided that the easiest way to cause a distraction was with fire. Now, the hard part was getting the fire outside without leaving herself. She pondered her current predicament, before she had a brilliantly simple idea. "Why not just set fire to the upper floors of the castle? That way, everyone will go downstairs until the get the blaze contained. That will be the perfect opportunity to strike. Besides, I have an advantage. I'm just a young girl. I'm the last person anybody would suspect." With that, she began to decide how to disguise herself. She wandered the back hallways of the castle, avoiding the guards by keeping in the shadows and ducking into adjacent hallways when necessary, until she found a door standing slightly ajar, and in it were several conveniently laid out uniforms for servants to the cook. She took one of the uniforms and then waited for someone to enter the room. About fifteen minutes passed before anyone wandered to the secluded corner of the castle that led to the basement. She hid behind the door, grabbed a large wooden broom, and waited. Then, when the unsuspecting servant entered, she took the handle of the broom and smashed it with such force upon his neck that the handle broke. With that, she left the unfortunate servant lying there to wake up to a very unfortunate headache.
Then, she began to set her plan into action. She went down the hall until she found some bedrooms. She entered a room, lit all of the candles, and the knocked one over on the bedsheets. She hurried quickly back downstairs to the party, and then, when she noticed the smell of smoke, she leaned over toward one of the other servants and said,
"Hey, do you smell anything?"
The other servant sniffed the air for a moment. "Yeah, I do. I hope the cook didn't burn anything. The master wouldn't like that at all."
"Yeah, I hope nothing's burning in the kitchens either. I was just supposed to sit up here until the guests wanted something to drink."
"Well, you got off eas…..wait a minute! It smells stronger now! By St. Elimine, I think there's a fire!" Then, Kara noticed her originally small pyrotechnics making their way down the stairs. She widened her eyes to give the appearance of fear, which did a fair job of covering her secret delight that her plan was working. Now, the part that she hadn't worked out yet. How to make sure that her target ended up in the dungeon, where she could get to him. She saw a nearby bucket, which she supposed was filled with water, until she got up close and saw that it was oil. Thoughts of fire raced through her head, and she said to the guard, "I'll get some more help. You try to put the fire out."
Just as she had thought, the man immediately went for the nearest bucket, which happened to be the one filled with oil. Then, the man released the incredibly flammable liquid, expecting to quench the flames. Needless to say, at the beginning of the next chapter, he would be lethally disappointed.