Chapter Fifteen: My Dad Is Going To Hate You

By first bell, Zuglah was waiting by the entrance. He suddenly worried that he would appear to be too eager, showing up so early, but just then Chayah and Stuglas showed up. He was surprised to see the surly High Elf, seeing as how Chayah had made such a big deal about it just being the two of them. Then, Stuglas handed him a wicker basket, and stood looking at Chayah. “Thank you Stuglas.” He did not seem displeased to be leaving.

The basket smelled delicious. There was a roasted bird of some kind inside, and from the weight of the basket, a lot of other things besides. Zuglah did not know what to expect, but he was definitely surprised when she led him two floors up and into The Glout’s library. It was the largest number of books that Zuglah had ever seen, but Chayah assured him that the real treasures were stored elsewhere.

They were led to a private room with a number of maps and charts on boards and walls. The shelves contained atlas and map books, almanacs and weather graphs. A tall, distinguished Human took the basket from Zuglah and began setting down lunch. Zuglah told the geography scholars about the Stanish Crypt and the dungeon that was there. He had a hard time describing the location to them, because he couldn’t mention the field with the hot springs and mineral baths. But after a couple of pointed questions, he told them that someone from the Adventurer’s Guild had been running lower level people through this particular dungeon.

As soon as he told them this, they departed, bowing to Chayah. Embarrassed, she explained that her father was paying the school a lot of money, and she had worked out with these men that they could say that they were tutoring her in the mathematics of celestial mechanics, and she would agree with them. Her father would toss them bags of gold if he thought she was becoming interested in something that involved staring at paper or books all day.

“Even better if the books themselves are about boring topics as well. After all, he wouldn't want me getting any ideas. Stuglas beat twenty other wizards for the opportunity to study at this school. My father is paying him, too. And his tuition.”

“To keep you safe?” Zuglah asked around a mouthful of leafy salad. He had been right about the bird, large and golden brown. It was stuffed with berries and breads and cubes of cheese as well as olives, capers and something sweet that he could not identify. There were hand-sized meat pies, two long, thin loaves of fresh bread, milk, mead and wine.

It was all so distracting that he was caught off guard when she said, “Yes, that and spy on me. Mostly spy on me. Make sure I don’t do anything to embarrass him.”

“Like having lunch with a Troll? What happens when Stuglas tells him about me?” Zuglah tried one of the meat pies. The gravy inside was rich, with a tangy bite that he loved. He went from a delicate bite to stuffing the rest of it into his mouth. It was somehow still hot. He could have eaten ten in a row.

Chayah laughed. “Eat, for mercy’s sake.” He motioned towards the pies, but could not do more to urge her, because his mouth was full. She shook her head. “I have my salad, and my berries for dessert. I will have some of the bread, and the wine. But the rest is for you.”

“What?” Some food fell out of his mouth, but he didn’t think she noticed. He hoped not.

She explained that she was a vegetarian, so he looked over his shoulder to where the scholars had gone. Laughing harder, she explained that she had brought all of this for him. He had another meat pie while he decided what part of the bird to attack first.

She wanted to know about the non-instance side of the dungeon. He told her about the skeletons, and the Spectre, the room with the tomb and its zombie ambush. She sounded sad that she couldn’t experience it for herself.

“Yeah, you would have destroyed it. You have so many spells.” She blushed, and said that she probably wouldn’t have.

The scholars came back before they could finish eating. One of them carried a new book. He placed it on the table, but well away from their food, and opened it to a large map that unfolded outwards. The top of the map was marked, “Hallowbail,” and it showed a large city in the top corner. Most of the map was plains and riverlands, and mountains below the city of Hallowbail. And up in the top corner, represented by barely three drawn oak trees, was the Ardent Glen.

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It was in something called Hallowed Mills, a province in the Western half of Preyd, the country known for its agriculture and huge tracts of farmland.

It was also on an entirely different continent.

Zuglah felt distraught. He hadn’t realized quite how far they had gone from his homeland. Somehow it had always felt as though the field of flowers, and Ugly Tree Hill were just around the corner, just a quick portal trip away. There were other clans of Trolls and Orcs and a band of Taurens that migrated along the river during the summer months. The Drow city of Inndreak was only a month’s walk to the South.

He asked Chayah to show him where they were now. She had to use an entirely different book of maps. When he saw where they were, his blood ran cold. They were in Loud, a Human city in the Nation called Pree. Nothing but Human cities. A small nation of Gnomes called Sfivlinguitt and even an entire city of Dwarves! If anyone hated Trolls the most, it was definitely the Dwarves.

There was a huge forest that covered a thousand miles. A city was marked in the middle of it, but not drawn. Further south was an island that seemed to be one big city. It was Feydaeillyn, her home. “There is a Troll district in my city. Called Szand’ aught. ‘Second Hearth,’ right? Perhaps we can go there someday. I would love to show you my city.”

Zuglah went back to the other map. He didn’t know where he’d been born, so he said nothing. “I don’t think a map this size has Manor Houses on it.”

Chayah agreed. “Plus I believe that we will need to find a much older map. I suspect that the Stanish Manor faded from memory a long time ago.” They talked for a while about how the family could have possibly fallen under such a curse, and how long they might have been trapped in that Instance. Ulbarth had remarked how he thought he had only been there a couple of hours.

The next step, Chayah announced, was to make their way to Hallowed Mills and find a local scholar, preferably someone noble. Zuglah was skeptical about that last part, but said nothing. As they were departing, Zuglah left the three men each a gold coin. They were surprised, but delighted to accept.

He walked with her back to their floor, where she said she was very happy that he had come to learn wizardry at the school. She made him promise not to go looking for the gronnibox without her. “I’d like to know exactly what a gronnibox is.” He told her that she would be welcome if he ever figured out where it was. He rushed to get to his class.

Slorric had told him that his mornings would be occupied with wizardly pursuits, but the afternoons were for rounding out his education. There were classes in how to group up with other party members, and crafting all kinds of things. From leather armor to clothing, blacksmithing to archery, they had lessons on everything.

Over the next few weeks, he acquired all twelve of the level one spells, even if he could still only keep about four straight in his head at any given time. A strong choice for favorite new spell was Magic Slippers, which created an envelope around one’s self, outside of which sounds could not be heard. So he could hear himself close a door, or drop a cup on the ground, but nobody else would be able to. Unless the cup bounced outside of the envelope before smashing.

There was also Boon Companion, a small, demonic-looking homunculus that could be tasked with simple commands. The first assignment was always the most understood, with each subsequent request being carried out less and less precisely. And they always replied to Zuglah’s orders with a salty tongue and a quip, which he quite enjoyed.

But it was difficult to beat Desperate Measures, both for utility and in terms of pure fun. Desperate Measures, was what was referred to as a “panic spell,” in that one could instantly cast it to buy themselves upwards of thirty seconds of respite from their current circumstances.

How it worked was simple; upon execution, it wrapped the caster in a large, tear-drop shaped encasement of enchanted ice. If anyone or anything should so much as touch the ice, it would instantly shatter, creating an outwardly expanding ring of hoarfrost that immobilized everyone and everything in a five foot radius. If nobody touched it, the ice shattered after thirty seconds without exploding. Either way it did no physical damage, so Zuglah felt free to use it whenever he wanted.

The only person who could reverse this spell on him was another Wizard that had The Ice Blade memorized. If someone hit him with The Ice Blade when he was a block of ice, both spells detonated instantly, and he would take a massive amount of damage from The Ice Blade. Fortunately, he did not intend on fighting many Wizards.

For some reason, his conversation with Slorric kept coming to mind; Humans really didn’t like letting Trolls become Wizards.