Chapter 2 -:o Promise of the future o:-

"I would like to become a great and powerful wizard, just like you father!"

Ged's declaration seemed to please Gorion, but inside he felt a jolt of sudden fear. They were standing on the ramparts of Candlekeep, watching the sun set in to the Sea of Swords and turn it red. The mournful cries of sea birds and the mighty crashing of waves were the only sounds that could be heard, the fortress was quite silent after eight o' clock.

"Would you now? And why is that?" he inquired his adopted son, stroking his rapidly whitening beard.

Ged was already twelve years of age. Besides doing his chores at the fortress, he had proven to be a able assistant to the amnesiac wizardess Phlydia, the busy priest Tethtoril, the various priests of Oghma and other monks not to mention Gorion himself. The boy had a good head for figures and a great memory (especially helpful for Phlydia). He was also naturally curious and imaginative.

"I want to create beautiful things for myself and for others!" the boy exclaimed with flourish.

"Perhaps you should became an artisan or a painter? That way you can create beauty for all your heart desires." Gorion retorted.

"I also want to help other people and fight wickedness and foul all those foul Zhents you've told about in your stories!" Ged answered him, making several theatrical casting gestures and launched his imaginary FireBall over the walls in to the sea.

"Become a warrior then, or even a paladin. Better yet, join a priesthood and you'll be able to serve some great god or goddess and heal as well as fight." Gorion smiled back at the boy.

"I want to travel to wonderful new places and see and experience all those things you've mentioned! The Savage Frontier, Calimshan and even the Underdark. Perhaps I will visit the other planes of existence, once I'm as good as you are..." the boy pressed on, undaunted.

"Well, become a traveling bard or a sailor." Gorion suggested.

"I want to do all of that, by myself! I want to create without tools, help people without being a servant of any god, fight any evil without a sword, travel where ever I want without a horse or a ship!" the boy shot back, grinning proudly at his own cleverness.

"Very well. I and the others here shall teach you. I am sure you will succeed, but you must know that it will be a hard road for you to travel." Gorion told the boy, who gave a cheer and a made a small jumping dance of victory at his words. Gorion hid his fond smile behind his hand.

"You must study countless hours before even the simplest Cantrip becomes understandable to you. It will be frustrating and at times, even dull. You will be cooped up with foul smells and unpleasantness while Imoen and Dreppin cavort outside, free as birds."

"I don't care! I will have plenty of time to play with them after my studies. Won't I?" the boy answered, though a bit of anxiety had crept in his voice.

"We shall see!" Gorion said a bit more ominously than he had meant, even though he could see Ged was currently flying high on his own imaginations on what the life of a wizard was.

They shared a moment of silence, watching as the sun dipped lower and lower, just listening at the sounds of the sea and breathing the fresh, salty breeze.

"Father... Gorion?"

Gorion closed his eyes, and swallowed the sudden bad taste in his mouth. It was coming, once again. There was only one question the boy ever asked like that. He turned to face his adopted son.

"Will you... will you now tell me of my father?" Ged asked him in a small voice, not meeting his eyes. All his previous mirth had seemingly vanished into thin air.

The question stung Gorion. It stung him because he loved the boy and hated to cause him pain. But he couldn't tell him what he knew, not now. Not while he was so young and vulnerable.

"Ged... Oh my son. I cannot." he answered the boy, trying to keep his voice steady.

A tear trickled down the boy's cheek. He reached his hand to wipe it off, but the boy grasped it with both of his small hands and looked him in the eyes his mouth trembling.

"Why won't you tell me?" he pleaded.

"Why not? Please, I-" then his voice gave away and he cried bitterly. Gorion held him close and comforted him.

As the boy's crying slowly subsided, Gorion let him from his embrace and moved to face the sea once more. It was starting to get dark and the birds had all but quieted down.

"Father?"

"Yes, Ged?" Gorion answered without turning.

"Will you finish the story you began today?"

Gorion smiled, it looked like the episode had passed. For a time.

"Certainly, remind me where it was we last were? Had Bulda already drunk that potion?"

"You and Dermin had fooled that Dragon into thinking that the ruby ring Bulda had stolen from it was hidden in that pile of rocks!" Ged answered him eagerly. He and his two friends loved Gorion's stories, and this was shaping out to be one of the very best.

Gorion smiled in fond memory.

"Oh yes! Well, this dragon was, I think, quite capable of killing us all so we had to use a little cleverness in tricking it. Bulda, being a halfling, had a passion for good food like I've told you. Every halfling has his different tastes and Bulda was no exception: She loved-"

"Spices! I remember, exotic spices!" Ged blurted out, excited.

"Yes, Dear Bulda loved hot spices and she had emptied a pouch of her hottest Chultan peppers on that pile like we had agreed in the short time he had before the wyrm showed up." Gorion smirked, enjoying at seeing Ged so enraptured.

"The arrogant wyrm taunted us as liars and said he didn't smell his ring there and was going to burn us all into a cinder if the ring was not produced quickly. Dermin swore he had placed the trinket there and suggested that the beast take a closer whiff, just to be certain. I was sweating profusely at this time, trying to think of a spell, any spell! Then it hit me. It would depend on whether the dragon took the bait..." he paused for effect.

"Well... Well? Go on father please!" Ged pleaded.

"The dragon peered closer..." Gorion continued, "and took a sniff!" he clapped his hands together triumphantly.

"That horrendous sound of retching and screaming made me deaf temporarily but I stood my ground and waited for the perfect moment. The beast was teetering dangerously close to the edge of the cliff and if he tipped over and fell I would have my chance."

"But dragons have wings..." Ged suggested.

"Yes, and they are quite resistant to magic as well, when they know they are being cast at. I had readied a Hold Monster spell, one that would paralyze the beast and cause it to tumble down the mountainside. Because of the pepper it would be suffering from quite a bit of discomfort and thus much more likely not to resist my magic." Gorion answered and smiled at the boy's amazed expression.

"What happened." Ged asked.

"The dragon teetered closer and closer and I began my casting. Dermin was running away and calling for me to follow but I knew the dragon had to be dealt with, at least temporarily. Otherwise it would hunt us down and that would have been the end of your dad and his merry companions! But the blessed Mother of Magic was with me that day, and my spell went off just as the beast literally sneezed itself off the cliff. My spell worked, and with a terrible crashing the dragon rolled down the mountain. I run to take a quick look and saw the mighty beast in a crumpled heap, bleeding profusely."

"What happened then, did you go and finish it?" Ged asked, his voice full of wonder.

"No, there was no time and as you remember, Cirriq and Wachma were grievously wounded. We had to flee. But we had humiliated that beast and Bulda and Dermin had snatched quite a few valuables from it's hoard." Gorion finished his story.

"You battled a dragon and won! Wait until I tell the others, WOW!"

The boy ran off and Gorion watched him go with a wistful smile. He remembered his friends, those who had fallen on that final, dark task. The one where Ged had come to his care.

He stayed up there, alone, long after the moon had risen and the stars become visible.

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"A dragon! No! What color was it, not a red one by the Lady! Those are the meanest one's of them all!" Imoen gasped.

"It was... A red one!" Ged whispered hoarsely, trying to imitate Gorion's storytelling dramatics.

"Oh no! What did they do then, I bet Gorion or Dermin had a plan! Did Cirriq take his bow, the one only he could draw and shot out it's nasty eyes! Tell me already!" she squealed, her large eyes wide.

"I'll tell you the rest tomorrow, there's a bit to go still and I'm feeling tired." Ged told his friend, stifling a yawn for he really was feeling drained. They were were sitting on the stairs of the keep, where Ged had found Imoen after he had rushed off to tell her Gorion's tale.

Imoen looked ready to argue, but thought better of it when she saw Ged yawn again. They sat for a minute in complete silence.

"Are you really thinking of becoming a mage?" she asked him.

"A wizard, yes." Ged sighed, rising to his feet.

"That's nice I guess, but really too much trouble for my taste! I shall be the best rogue and the most daring cat burglar Faerun has ever seen, when I grow up. I will steal from the rich and the wicked and give to the poor! I'll keep the prettiest jewels and magic trinkets of course. Only a few years more of this mundane dullness and I shall leave." Imoen rambled on, a dreamy look in her eyes.

"You and Dreppin will accompany me, of course. You shall be my wizardly partner in crime and Dreppin will be the valiant warrior he's always dreamed of becoming. We'll visit Waterdeep and Calimshan and-and Kara-Tur, maybe! It will be SUCH fun..."

Ged smiled at her fantasy. He knew that the girl had already developed some decidedly roguish traits, responsible for some of the "disappeared" items that several visiting noblemen had missed. Not that she was greedy, she merely liked the thrill of sneaking into locked places and doing "daring" things. She was always the one who climbed the highest trees or jumped from the steepest cliff into the water below. He himself was more subtle and careful and Dreppin, for all his brute strenght and size was rather timid when the push came to shove.

He was spending more time with Imoen these days than Dreppin, who being rather dimwitted and slow, drew most of the menial tasks and duties Reevor and the other taskmasters could think of. Imoen knew a hundred and one hiding places and Ged, being the son of Gorion was held in higher regard than Dreppin, son of Dripp 'The Younger'. Nevertheless, when the trio managed to be together they were inseparable. Their favorite pastime was re-enacting the varied stories Gorion had told them and assuming the parts. Ged was always Gorion, the wise and powerful wizard. Imoen was sometimes Bulda, the mischievous halfling rogue-warrior or Dermin, the rakish bard. Dreppin loved to think himself as Cirriq, the noble ranger whose simple morals he thought mirrored his own.

He bade his friend good night and entered the keep, where his and Gorion's sleeping quarters were located on the fifth floor.

"Perhaps she's right." he mused to himself.

"Perhaps one day we shall leave our mark on the Realms like Gorion or Drizzt or the Knights of Myth Drannor."

"And perhaps one day," he whispered aloud as he climbed the stairs. "I shall be a powerful wizard and use my powers to find out who my real parents were."

The darkness gave no answer.