Chapter Five: A Sea In The Sky
Caldwell wanted him to wear his new robes and shoes, but Zuglah was worried about making a fool out of himself. He was nervous about the shoes, because he had been wearing them all day and he kept tripping. Caldwell encouraged him to keep practicing, although he did urge him to wear his green and blue robes, so he wouldn’t get grass stains on his fancy ones.
He was impatient to be off, so he settled on the simple expedient of a couple drops of Leap. He then spent the next hour bounding about the fields and meadows near to their tree. Sometimes he would blink from the apex of his leap, the distance he was able to see being ridiculous. Once, he blinked into the air and tried a soft landing, but it really hurt instead. He was still feeling the Leap, so that meant he was only immune to fall damage that he himself generated with leaping. Good to know.
By the time the potion had worn off, he was ready to Caldwell’s satisfaction. He changed into his nice robes. He wished he could don the boots as well. He carried an empty script at Caldwell’s behest, but had not been allowed to carry any money. He supposed that he was ready.
Caldwell was resplendent in a fur-trimmed grey and red set of robes. He wore no hat, and his staff was a slender walking stick that barely reached his shoulder. He was every inch the gentleman wizard.
“I am very happy to share this moment with you, Zuglah Glun.” He smiled. Zuglah would have needed a long time before he could articulate to Caldwell exactly how much his teachings had meant to him. He had a feeling that he didn’t have that time, so he instead concentrated on what the man was saying.
“The Elves call it Taida Marr, the Upside Down Ocean. To us, it is the City of Wizards.” He raised his arm the way Zuglah had seen him do countless times. The portal that opened was larger and square, and it led to a fenced off area where portals seemed to be opening and closing all the time. Zuglah hurried through.
A middle aged, portly human ushered them through the courtyard and out the other side. Zuglah followed as closely behind Caldwell as he could and still see as much as possible.
The city seemed to be built to a whimsical standard. There were towers and spires and minarets everywhere. A plain square building would randomly have a tower climbing out the side of it, hanging over empty space on the side of a cliff, preferably.
There was no Bazaar, because the entire city was one big bazaar. Shops were everywhere, and they all seemed to have some magical bearing. There were buildings filled entirely with glass instruments used in the making of alchemy. A nearly identical shop nearby, however, was dedicated to the study of the stars in the sky.
Shops claimed to sell unstoppable magical weapons and invincible armor. There was more than one potion shop on every street, and it seemed to be the most popular type of business. That is, if one didn’t count drinking. There were bars and pubs, restaurants and nightclubs. Strip bars, dens of ill repute and sometimes just guys walking around with a bottle selling shots of liquor. Wizards were a thirsty bunch.
They were also diverse. The wizard class, having been invented by a Human, was mostly populated by them. The High Elves, and indeed Elves in general, tended towards megalomania anyway, so they were naturally drawn to it as well. But almost every race had embraced it to some degree. There were Halflings and the occasional Dwarf. The Gnomes were shockingly good at it. He saw more cat people and bull people, and tiny critters dressed better than he was and carrying tiny parcels. And he saw several Orcs, too. For some reason, the Orcs scared him more than anybody else. In fact, he could not think of anybody else that scared him, but Orcs sure did.
The ones he saw were heavily muscled, and carried cudgels instead of staves. They had piercings all over their faces and tattoos on their bodies. And those were the wizards! He couldn’t imagine seeing one in full armor swinging a sword at him. His stomach hurt just thinking about it.
Caldwell had no more interest in the Orcs than he did. He quickly led them away down another alley. Thankfully, alley did not seem to mean urinal in this particular city. An improvement that Zuglah was entirely in support of. Finally they came to a large street with trees in the middle and large estates on either side. It was very tranquil here, very serene.
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His teacher took him to one such estate. Of course, it was also a shop. Inside was the very definition of opulent. Everything was gilded. Even the wood smelled expensive.
The person behind the desk had yellow hair that stood up straight in the middle, but over her ears it was shaved. She was a Half Elf. Wood Elf and Human. But also… something more?
“Zuglah, this is Jaxa Windhaven. I’ve known her for many years.”
“Hello, Zuglah. Whatcha smellin’?” She smiled.
“I’m so sorry. He just started doing this.” Caldwell said.
“Is it Halfling?” Zuglah finally blurted out.
Jaxa smiled at him. “Wow, look at you. My grandfather was a Halfling, yeah.”
Caldwell pulled him aside. “Zuglah please stop smelling people. It’s not polite.”
“Sorry Jaxa.”
She leaned on the counter and winked. “It’s okay, honey. You can smell me. But he is right, though. Some people smell so bad that that big ol’ honker of yours will fall right off.”
It turned out to be a spell shop. They had every kind of spell available, all in scroll form. Just about anybody could execute a scroll’s magic, but then that scroll would be used up. A wizard, however, could inscribe that spell into his own spell book and cast it as many times as he wanted.
He stopped in front of a glass case and read a list of the spells. The list was marked Cantrips. He saw some spells that he definitely wanted to try. There was an Illusion spell, and Mending. Sleep and Mage Hand. He really wanted that one. Of course, there was Blast of Frost and Thunderclap too, but he was less interested in those. He went over to the counter to see what Caldwell was looking at.
It was a spell book. More specifically, it was his new spell book. And it was stunning.
It was not as thick as it first appeared, being only twelve lambskin pages. The back half of the spell book was in fact a wooden box containing a writing set. It was complete with sand, wax, a blotter and candle. The ink was stoppered tight and wrapped against spillage. In all, it looked expensive.
On the counter beside the book were three scrolls; Dancing Mana, Mage Armor, and Detect Magic.
“How come you were looking at the Cantrips? Did you accidentally get a teacher who was too old to remember his Cants? We had to lock up all the Cantrips because all the old farts would just come in and read them. Refresh their memory. That’s why I have this available for rent for one silver crown.” She pulled an old, tattered stack of scrolls onto the counter. They were loosely held together by a hole punched through the corner of each, with a piece of red yarn tying them all together. Caldwell sighed, and tossed her a coin. “It’s another, if you want to take notes.”
He almost pulled another coin out, but instead asked, “Can I dictate?”
She answered without looking up from the ledger she was referencing. “Not until you’re done reading. Sorry.”
Caldwell picked up the stack of pages and flipped through them very quickly. He handed them back to her, and gave Zuglah his quill and ink. He started writing as the wizard recalled.
“Sleep, Shocking Grasp, Mage Hand, Blast of Frost, Mending, Mage Hand.”
“You said that one already.”
Caldwell raised his voice slightly, “Illusion and Thunderclap.”
“Oh my god, that spell is so useless.” Caldwell, apparently tired of being spoken over top of, snapped his fingers. A booming peal of thunder shook the whole room.
“Always a pleasure, Jaxa.” They left the store via portal.
When they were back at the big tent, Zuglah was suddenly overcome with the need for sleep. He carefully stored his new belongings in the extra storage room, and was looking forward to a solid night’s sleep. Caldwell stopped him.
“You know, Zuglah. I didn’t want to bring this up before, because you are clearly an independant type of person. But if you are going to be my apprentice, then you should consider doing so full time. Here.”
He was cautious. “You think I should sleep here?”
“Yes, absolutely. And when we’re done with the crypt, you should come to the Guild Hall, too. Once we’re fully on the road together, your talents will grow at speeds you will not believe. But first, the crypt until you learn these three. Then, it’s off to school for a quick year.”
This part was new. “Off to a what for a year?”
“You are behind, Zuglah. You don’t even know how to transcribe a spell into your book, or how to join a party. School will teach you all the things I’ve overlooked. Trust me, it’s like using chicken pistules on your wizard career.”
“Well, when you put it like that…”