AUTHORS NOTES
David Arcwing: Thanks for the favorite! Don't forget to follow to get updates when I post chapters!
Archer1eye: I'm really happy with how this turned out, there will be some continuation of the fallout from the bath incident the night previous. Yes, the practicality of the country town / farmer life. Honestly, merely with Shard beside her she could be content anywhere. Ooh, something rotten? Just wait and see... as for your other ponderings... read on fair reader :P
Slyksylva: Oooh... someone *may* have!
Chapter 7225th-28th Day of Middle Spring 768 n.c
We were woken by a knock on the door slightly after dawn.
"Time to get up Sharein," Malkarov said through the door, "get your bag packed and meet me down at the food hall."
"Okay!" I called out as Shard and I got out of bed. We dressed quickly and my pack was filled in even less time.
When we found ourselves in the hall; eating plates loaded with fried bread, potato cakes, sausage, bacon, eggs and drinking our choice of beverage I let out a sigh, "I think I am going to miss these breakfasts. Although there is something to be said for the gratification of eating a breakfast that you have prepared, and prepared well… it is still quite nice to be able to eat without having a hand in the preparation."
Malkarov chuckled, "it's the reason I so often take advantage of the talents of Missus Rose."
We had just about finished when Jossa entered, I gave her a wave in greeting but her eyes passed over me as she continued into the hall.
"I'm sure she saw me," I whispered to myself as I frowned.
"Is something wrong?" Malkarov asked.
"We were talking in the bath house last night and they asked me how I was doing with my apprenticeship, so I told them how I had just learned Major Image" I explained, "things got a little awkward after that and now Jossa seems to be ignoring me."
He looked at me in concern, "they probably don't believe you and think you are lying."
That surprised me but it made sense with their reactions, "but, why would I lie about that?"
"Maybe to make yourself sound better and more advanced than you are?" Malkarov offered and then smiled slyly, "why don't you cast Major Image now? Make yourself appear next to her?"
I did exactly as he suggested. One moment Jossa was standing by herself, filling a plate with scrambled eggs from a bowl; the next, I was standing right next to her.
I made the illusion say "Jossa," and watched as she jumped, dropping the entire plate into the bowl. She turned to my illusion and whispered something harshly at it, but I could not hear her from where I sat. I made the illusion put its right hand up to the side of its head, finger crunched into a fist and then made it push the fist into its head until the 'hand' was inside the head. We all heard her scream from where we were sitting, in fact everybody in the hall heard it (although the hall was mostly empty).
"No, no no," I made the image say, "sorry, I shouldn't have done that."
I had the other me withdraw the hand and then point back towards the real me. Jossa spun around, eyes wide and mouth open ready to scream again. I gave her a little wave and dismissed the illusion. Her head jerked back, only to find that the illusion was no longer there and with that a horrified expression came over her face. She ran right past us and out of the hall!
"What?" I asked nobody in particular, entirely confused at Jossa's reaction, "why did she just run away?"
"She just realised how she was treating you," Malkarov said, "and she realised that you are powerful. Sharein, if you can learn to cast Major Image," he paused to think for a moment, "in about three months, what else will you be capable of? Could you, perhaps, end up as the Grand-Master Wizard? She's terrified that she's made an enemy of you."
This confused me even more, "but, I don't want her to think that I'm her enemy! I want to be her friend!"
"Then go and find her and talk to her?" Malkarov suggested, "meet me out in the gardens once you're done."
I nodded to him and gave Shard a kiss on her cheek as I too ran out of the food hall.
I had no idea where she might have gone, but as I reached the stairs I saw Taura and Venn. They both looked a little confused and were whispering to each other. When they spotted me, their eyes widened and they suddenly looked very afraid. They both stepped back and pressed themselves against the wall behind them. I didn't really like how they were looking at me, but I had to admit to myself that I much preferred it to being ignored, or having them laugh at me.
"Did Jossa pass you?" I asked.
Venn didn't say anything, but Taura nodded and pointed up the stairs.
"Which room is hers?" I asked.
"Two…. two nine," she stuttered.
"Thanks!" I said as I hurried up the stairs, leaving them behind.
I found room 229 quite easily and knocked on the door. The padlock was off, so I guessed that she was in there, but it took a little bit before I heard her say, "yes?"
"It's Sharein," I said to identify myself, "I'd just like to apologise."
The door opened slowly and Jossa stood there, or slumped rather. For someone who has been so cheerful and outgoing, she looked almost… defeated.
"You want to apologise?" She asked incredulously.
"Of course," I told her, "I should have thought more about how you might react to what I had my Major Image do. I'm sorry."
"No!" She said very forcefully, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I shouldn't have doubted you, I shouldn't have made fun of you."
I hummed, "well then. How about I'll forgive you, if you forgive me?"
Her eyes widened and her head jerked up in relief and excitement. I noticed the tracks of tears down her cheeks and held out my hands so that we could hug, it seemed the best way to show her that I held no hard feelings against her. She eagerly leaped forward to engulf me in a hug. I had kind of forgotten about our height difference, for her smothering hug had the awkward consequence of smooshing my face into her rather ample bosom. When she released me, I was likely blushing so brightly as it felt like my face was on fire.
"Well…" I said, "I didn't want to leave things badly between us, as we are heading back to Easthaven today and I'm unsure when we will be back."
Jossa wiped her cheeks ungracefully and gave me a weak smile, "we will miss you both then. Please, feel free to write to me. If there's ever anything you need, I owe you."
I nodded, slightly confused as to what I had given her for her to owe me.
"I'd best be off then," I said, "Malkarov wants to leave early."
I stepped back and gave her a little wave, which she returned.
I turned to leave but heard Jossa ask for me quietly, "Sharein?"
"Yes?" I asked as I turned around.
"You… you weren't holding your staff," she said.
"When?" I asked, confused, "I haven't finished it yet."
"How did you cast Major Image without a staff?" She asked tentatively.
"I don't need to," I said simply, with a shrug, "I don't need it for any of my spells."
She just nodded, absentmindedly, so I turned back around to continue on my way. My steps back down the stairs were much lighter than the ones I took up.
Malkarov and Shard were sitting on a bench in the gardens when I left the accommodation building, Malkarov had remembered to get my pack that I had left in the food hall.
"All fixed?" Malkarov asked and I nodded in return, with a big smile.
Shard stood and gave me a hug, "Taura and Venn came up to me just after you left," she whispered as she stepped back, "and asked to talk to me," she frowned a little, "well, they asked me to talk to you. They wanted to apologise for not believing you."
"Oh good," I said, "well, that's that then. I suppose that we are on our way now?"
"Just one thing," Malkarov said, "that I wanted to show you before we left."
We followed Malkarov into the administration building attached to the tower and through a number of passages until we came to a hall. Beds lined opposite walls of the hall, in total there would have been about thirty of them but only about ten were occupied. Seven people on the right hand side were asleep peacefully and three rested on the left hand side.
"This," he said quietly, "is the Magical Accidents Recovery Ward. Those on the right are suffering from exhaustion and will be taken care of until they awake. Those on the left have suffered more permanently."
I looked more closely at the wizards on the left hand side and became aware that the man closest to me was missing most of his right arm! I covered my mouth to prevent an audible gasp.
"Yes," Malkarov said quietly, "that's what… usually happens, when you cast a spell without the necessary material components.
Malkarov walked forwards and we followed, until he stood in front of the bed of the third person on the left. The man there was extremely old and emaciated. He was clean shaven and his white hair had been cut very short. His skin was thin, papery, wrinkled and splotchy. He was asleep and looked to be resting peacefully.
"This," Malkarov said, taking a deep breath, "is my Master Kendara. He's been here, like this, for about twenty years now."
"Why?" I whispered, looking for, but unable to find any physical sign of magical sacrifice.
"We don't know," Malkarov replied, "he was battling orcs, defending a fort from what was apparently a minor skirmish. They apparently had reserves that we didn't know about, including some war wizards of their own. Kendara cast a spell, we don't know what though, and even as five separate Elemental Explosion spells went off amongst the ranks of orcs; he collapsed. We think that he may have sacrificed himself to link those spells altogether somehow, but nobody is sure."
I looked again at the old man, in a new light. Lying in front of me, completely comatose, was a hero of the orc wars who had basically sacrificed himself. There were stories told by travelling bards that copied that theme. The actors who had last visited Easthaven had, in fact spun a tale similar.
I heard Shard ask from beside me, "Do you have any spells that can freeze time?"
"Well," Malkarov answered, thinking for a moment, "one of the most powerful spells in existance is the Time Stop spell. But only the most legendary of wizards would have had the power to cast such a spell."
Malkarov went into a silent pensiveness before whispering, "do you really think?"
Shard nodded, "yes, it seems most likely. Could he have, perhaps, reached further than he was capable to cast a truly legendary spell in order to save everyone else he was with?"
"It has happened in the past," Malkarov said, "but very very rarely."
Malkarov knelt down beside his once-master and whispered something in his ear. He took the elder's hand in his and gave it a quick squeeze before standing up again.
"Okay," he said, "now we can go."
As we were walking through the hallways of the administrative building Shard stopped and hugged me close, "I'll head off now, call me to you tonight?"
I nodded and looked around quickly to ensure that nobody else was near before giving her a kiss goodbye.
Malkarov had already asked the stable servants to prepare our horses and so they were there waiting for us when we came out. We made our way steadily out of the city, it was quicker to exit than to enter. As we were riding through the outer circle I noticed a blind beggar engaged in a conversation with another beggar missing a leg. The clopping of our horses hooves could not have attracted his attention as there were other horses passing by as well, but he looked up and with white sightless eyes stared straight at me. I gave him a nod and he drew a circle on the cobblestones in front of him with his finger and placed his open hand over his heart with all five fingers and thumb splayed. Tenebrae would be pleased.
We stopped by the village of Isk before lunchtime and found a group of villagers sitting around the mine entrance eating stew from a large pot.
"Headman Gar!" Malkarov shouted and the man stood up to greet us in return.
"A pleasure, a pleasure!" He called, "you are returning home now? You must stop and share some of our stew!"
"It would be an honour," Malkarov said and once we had tied up our horses in a patch of grass, he pulled out from his pack two large loaves of crusty bread.
We each ripped off a small chunk and passed the rest along, the villagers appreciated the sharing of our bread and I had a feeling that Malkarov didn't want to take away food from people who were obviously not so well off. Once we were sat next to the Headman and had taken our first spoon of stew, Gar began to tell us what happened after we had left.
"They lost quite a number of soldiers and that wizard was carried out about halfway through on a stretcher, but they managed to collapse a large section of a tunnel on the other side of the town down there," Gar told us. "It's been a boon for us, as we now have better access to the copper stream, but there is also iron ore off another side tunnel. I remember my grandpappy telling me when I was young, 'copper, iron and gold are siblings. Where you find two of them, the third will be also.' So we hope that we might find gold ore nearby as well. We hope."
"Good news indeed!" Malkarov said, then hurriedly corrected, "about the mine at least," he shared a quick look with me, "tell me, what happened to the wizard, do you know?"
The Headman made a warning sign, "as the soldiers told it, nothing seemed to go right for him from the get go. He stopped to lean on a brace, but the brace wasn't set properly and fell, with a large rock falling straight on his head just after. Then when they got through into the goblins village, he'd cast a spell on them and miss and at some point he got turned into one of those spear backed ant-eaters. Shot full of arrows they tell me. He's alright, or so they say, but they had to take him back to Iskashire castle to be healed up by the priests there."
"Oh!" Malkarov said, sounding completely sincere, "I do hope he's okay. It's a shame we won't have time to stop in and visit him on our way home, we do need to hurry."
I nodded my agreement and echoed his, "a shame."
We made it back to Easthaven without any further troubles, in only three days. Immediately upon entering town we were waylaid by Mari who must have been waiting for us for who knows how long.
"You're back!" She exclaimed, running up to us.
I dismounted Aloise horse, painfully, and gave her a big hug as soon as she got close.
"And not a moment too soon," she added straight after the hug.
"What? Why?" I asked, feigning confusion.
"Well, I had surely begun to believe that you would not make it back in time!" She said in a rush.
"In time for what?" I asked, trying very hard to hide my smile.
"My wedding of course!" She exclaimed, "it's set for the fifteenth…" She stopped when she noticed my smile and let out an exclamation of frustration, slapping me on the arm, "Sharein Askilain! You should not fret my nerves so! Of course you would know, but I worry and worry that you would not be back in time!"
"Well well," Malkarov laughed, "before you collapse on the street, perhaps you will allow us to buy you some lunch at the Inn to settle your poor nerves? Just let us put our things away in my tower and tie up the horses and we shall meet you there?"
"That's not…" Mari began, but Malkarov cut her off, "nonsense! Just get us a table and we shall be with you shortly, it's just come upon lunch time and I'm sure we are both sick of travel rations." I looked at him strangely at this, we hadn't eaten travel rations at all, in fact Malkarov had ensured that if we weren't stopping at an Inn for a meal then at least he would have an Inn prepared meal to eat on the way.
In any case, Mari relented and we were able to catch up with her once we had safely stowed our packs in our rooms (and made use of the in-houses!)
