I had asked Bathory to point me in the direction people would usually travel to go to Targis when whilst we were sharing a drink, and he said that as long as I followed the road west out of the city of Meran then I would have absolutely no trouble finding my way there. His information did not prove to be entirely accurate however, the road was nothing more than a path after only three days of travels, and since I could orient myself somewhat in relation to where I came from, the road seemed to turn at times from being westerly or southerly, or something in between. An approximate map of the eastern part of Euphelia had been forming in my brain for many months now, but it was at times like these when I was beginning to doubt that the road I was heading on was correct that I realized how bad things really were.
After about a week of traveling at a steady speed with Des sometimes from dawn till dusk did I begin to think that I had ‘taken a wrong turn’ somewhere along the way. Unlike the first few days of travel when many other caravans and travelers would be visible on the road a few times a day, I had not seen a single living soul for some days already. I decided to risk it and take a detour at the next fork in the path and see if I could find someone to ask for directions. The calmness of the surrounding greenery was starting to creep me out a little bit, although his would be a welcome sight most of the time, after multiple days of travel and only seeing the odd animal flutter away from sight at the first sign of me did not inspire confidence that I was going the right way. The weather was turning warmer and the nights were no longer as cold in the absence of a fire, the higher temperatures would mean that soon I would be able to wash myself in streams and rivers with less hassle, something which made me very uncomfortable on the first stretch of my journey.
During my escape from Jenusia I didn’t manage to clean myself even once properly until I reached the city of Strus, where there was a barrel of water I could submerge myself in up to my chest. The body begins to itch and sore a lot more in the absence of proper hygiene, and I began to wonder how I would even manage to travel long distances in the winter should such a situation spring up again, this was extra motivation for myself to be able to at least refine my fire sorcery to an acceptable level, as being able to heat up a pot of water that I could then dip my cloth into was a preferable alternative to turning into a barbarian whose stench would send friend and foe alike into shock.
I was unable to do more than start a small controlled flame with which I could light a fire, but anything more than that would make me lose control, something that was liable to hurt myself or Des should I attempt it. Wind sorcery was going along nicely, and whenever I was finished practicing the intermediate Sylrift forms for the day I would practice using the wind in conjunction with my sword strikes and lunges, something that made me feel like I was more agile than ever before. I thought that this was what Gaspar must have felt like, being able to dash something like five meters in less than a second, and delivering a strong strike with his sword, his moment pushed on by unknowingly using sorcery.
Since I was aware that sorcery was in fact what I was using, I thought that at least in this aspect of swordsmanship I would be able to one day surpass Gaspar. My persistence was paying off, as even with the added load of the leather armor on my body, I felt that I was moving even faster than without it a few weeks ago. I had luckily avoided any encounter which would require me to unsheathe my sword ever since the attack of the bandits on myself and the other students, but I knew that while I was beating the odds for now, this was not something I would be able to avoid in perpetuity.
As I was having these thoughts a very run-down village came into view from behind some trees on my left, this was clearly an inhabited place as I had noticed the smoke coming out of the lit fireplaces some time earlier. This was what had led me to make my way in this direction, and I approached the village on horse while trying to show the presumably unarmed farmers that I wasn’t a threat. Surprisingly my approach was noticed quite early, and at least half a dozen armed men came out of one of the larger houses, with their intentions not entirely cordial intentions.
I thought it best to not enter the village proper, and waited just outside the entrance for one of them to approach me, and it was not some elderly man who came forward but one of the more heavily armed men who made the first move. He walked a few steps towards me and shouted.
“Who are you and what do you want with our village?” He asked loudly, his hand gripping his spear tightly.
“I am Lev, a mercenary traveling towards Targis. I do not know how I ended up at your village but if you could give me some directions so that I may make it to my desired destination then I would be forever grateful” I answered honestly, hoping they would understand my peaceful intentions.
“You expect us to believe you made your way all the way from the main road to our remote village? Cease your lies and inform us of your true purpose!” Shouted a different armed man, it seems that my lack of traveling expertise has made me make a larger mistake than thought possible by common sense.
“I speak no lies, I truly have lost my way and all I ask is that you share your knowledge of the local roads to send me on my way. I need not even enter the village for such a purpose, what harm can come to your village from sharing such information with a stranger?” I elaborated, trying to convince them of the validity of my story.
“And you expect us poor villagers to share such a thing out of the kindness of our heart? You must be the greatest fool this side of the world to believe in the good of the common man” The man with the spear countered, making an implication as to the cost of such a thing.
I reached into my pouch with my left hand while still on horseback and pulled out a silver crown that I tossed towards the man with the spear, he however did not make any move to pick up the shiny coin on the ground, perhaps thinking that this was just a ruse to make him drop his guard. He cocked his head slightly to the right, a signal one of his armed friends took to pick up the coin for him. After examining the silver for a few moments, and confirming its authenticity he nodded to his spear-wielding friend.
“Have you no shame? This is not enough to even purchase one meal for all of the villagers…” He argued, hoping to weasel more money out of me.
“Not enough? One silver is enough to buy at least two bags of grain, with which you can bake enough bread to feed one hundred hungry souls for at least a few days. Also, since when is it the responsibility of lost travelers to provide you with coin?” I countered, showing that I was at least knowledgeable enough to not be misled by the ‘prices’ the armed man quoted.
He wasn’t exactly pleased with my response, and a silence blanketed everyone at the entrance of the village for a solid minute as we both stared each other down. Eventually he decided that my payment of a silver was sufficient and told me that if I headed along the path I just came from and stayed to the left at the first fork in the road that I would make it to a town from where the path to Targis would be evident to anyone who wasn’t a complete imbecile. I thanked him for this information, and pulled on Des reins and turned around, before galloping away at speed. I decided it best to check if the armed men were still at the entrance of the village right as it was about to disappear from view.
They were no longer standing in the same place as I remembered, nor were they anywhere near the entrance which aroused my vigilance. I suspected that even though the road they directed me to might indeed lead me to a town, it might also be a convenient place to place an ambush. They did not have any horses that are visible in the village, nor a building that looked like a stable either. This was the reason for my haste, and I encouraged Des to ride with speed, even trying to motivate him that I would buy him some oats the next city we passed through, not that he could understand me.
The left-hand path at the fork actually led me closer to the village again, which was somewhat inconvenient for me, but it just made it clear that the expected attack would come from the left rather than the right side of the path. My thoughts were confirmed as an arrow came flying towards me, hitting me in the right side of my chest. My prior purchase of leather armor was coming in handy much earlier than I had expected, but the fact that I only felt discomfort rather than a searing pain made me feel a lot less urgency about the situation.
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Des was in his element, and didn’t even so much as flinch when the screams of the men who came out from their concealed positions reached his ears. They tried to run in front of us to try and prevent us from escaping, since the arrow that was still lodged in my leather cuirass didn’t manage to dismount me. To their chagrin, the speed at which Des galloped was too quick for them to catch up with, and I rode away from the site of the ambush at a very fast speed.
My horse was not a pack horse, or a workhorse. Who while having superior stamina couldn’t even dream of reaching the fast speeds of Des, something they were now realizing as my figure was becoming less and less clear. Bathory’s warning that there was danger at almost every corner outside the more ‘civilized’ vicinity of Jenusia, proved correct. The danger that I was sure to encounter was a trade-off for the relative freedom I felt no longer being bound to the whims of others. The thought of how my friends were doing came to the forefront of my mind, but such things would only worsen my mood and I forced these idle musings back where they belong. I could only hope that they were doing alright, and that the consequences of my escape were not far-reaching.
***
Max and Louis were brought before the beautiful princess of Jenusia for the umpteenth time for another round of discussion, which was a fancy word for what they both understood was an interrogation. Due to them being the two roommates of Leon who had disappeared on the return journey from Volde, they were the focus of the investigation conducted by the crown to ascertain what exactly happened, and obtain clues as to the current whereabouts of the renegade ‘messenger of the gods’.
They were already becoming accustomed the the line of questioning from Kuvira, as she would ask them questions that while sounding different every time would result in the same answers from them, something which did not exactly satisfy her inquiries, and the wrinkles on the upper part of her face seemed to become more accentuated every time. They suffered through at least an hour of recycled questions before being allowed to head back to their rooms, which is where they spent most of their free time these days, a consequence of Leon’s departure.
They were both too tired to even discuss the day’s events with each other, but their thoughts were more alike than either of them would have thought. They were recalling the feelings they both had felt as they watched Leon fight with the Jenusian soldiers against the bandits, while they both felt that he was slightly better than them in swordsmanship, and had transformed from a very unfit and overweight teenager to one who regularly exercised even during his free time over the past few months, they had sorely underestimated how proficient with the sword their roommate had become.
In hindsight it was clear that Leon was trying to hide his abilities from others, and that was the reason for their misconceptions, but after realizing that he had been hiding his abilities up to that point and only decided to reveal them when his friends were in danger. This actually made them value Leon even more, disregarding the fact that he had left entirely, even though his decision puzzled them for a time.
This confusion did not last long however, as the conduct of the Jenusians following Leon’s disappearance made it entirely clear that should he have stayed he would be subjected to similar constraints as they were now. As soon as they arrived back in Krilos and the guards were informed of the attack and the subsequent disappearance of one of the ‘summoned’ the whole city was put on lockdown, as they originally thought he would be making his way back to the city where the rest of the people he knew were.
The relative freedom with which the students and teachers at the compound were treated vanished, and their actions became tightly controlled similar to how the people from Earth at the Magisterium lived. The normal citizens at the capital thought that the reason for the restrictions was that a murderer was on the loose, and such a thing had precedent in the minds of the common folk. A few years prior, a noteworthy noble was poisoned while visiting the capital, and the city was likewise shut down to prevent the man from escaping. Such a state of affairs lasted for over a week at which point the man was finally caught, he could not hide in one place forever and noticing that the soldiers of the garrison were combing the whole city block by block he was caught while trying to hide in a place that was already searched.
The four surviving soldiers that were with Leon’s group were placed under arrest, as those with more authority thought that they were not being truthful with their version of events. Disregarding the fact that 12 guards and one student who had only been learning swordsmanship for less than a year managed to defeat 20 who had the element of surprise, the disappearance of the student without a trace was another point of contention.
The guards claimed that they combed the surrounding forests for a long period of time on the day that they found out the student who had aided them in the fight the previous day was nowhere to be found, and they brought back valuable information that some horses were found set loose in the forest, with one presumably being taken by Leon himself. At other times they would have remained in the forest for yet another day, but due to being attacked by bandits the leader of the guards decided to prioritize the safety of the other ‘summoned’ and led them to the safety of the closest city walls.
As soon as the news that the planned attack by ‘bandits’ failed to achieve any tangible results, and that it had actually resulted in one of the students vanishing, Kuvira began issuing orders for the garrisons of every city in the vicinity to send out search parties to search for the missing man.
The soldiers dutifully followed her orders but ran into a multitude of problems along the way, due to the changing weather a lot of the ground was not suitable for movements by large search parties, with horses getting stuck in mud becoming a frequent sight.
Another issue was an unexpected encounter with a Creanite, a very dangerous beast. The squad of two dozen horsemen fully armed and armored was completely wiped out to a man, causing great fear around the surrounding villages and towns. Creanites were very rare creatures, which could best be described as a furry beast the size of a horse with a face similar to that of a snake or lizard, with fangs to match. What such a dangerous beast which was normally found further south was doing this far north was a moot point, and the nobles in the vicinity had to concentrate their forces in order to finally put down the beast with certainty.
With the presence of a Creanite, some people including Grant Woodsbane suggested that Leon might have perished to it just like the soldiers who were sent to search for him. Kuvira was difficult to convince however, and she claimed that as long as a body was missing it was very likely that the young man was still alive and kicking. Much to Leon’s amusement, had he known, the focus of the search was then moved to the West, where the closest border of the Jenusian Empire lay.
While there were hundreds if not thousands searching for Leon within the Jenusian lands, Kuvira also employed the wealth and prestige of the crown to pressure the mercenary guild to place a wanted notice matching the man’s appearance, along with making confidential diplomatic overtures to the surrounding states to keep an eye out for someone with Leon’s appearance making their way out of the empire.
The next moves Kuvira made were to gather all of the students and teachers who went to Volde and begin to find out if Leon’s actions were premeditated, or just a consequence of his abilities being revealed prematurely. Kuvira lamented the fact that such a capable pawn had escaped her grasp, but his mindset was clear in the fact that he had escaped the moment he knew the crown would find out about his competence, meaning he would have been difficult to control regardless.
She could remember Leon’s appearance even though they had never spoken in person, she remembered the quiet boy’s eyes, ones that did not gleam over when seeing her appearance. She had not paid him any attention, which was normal considering how many others she had outright ignored in a similar fashion. She would have to redouble her observational efforts of the other young men and women, who knew how many ‘diamonds in the rough’ would likewise be found among them.
Today she was visiting Magister Kenner, to ask for his aid in understanding the phenomenon of a student who had failed the aptitude test many months ago suddenly being able to use sorcery, and chantless sorcery at that. It took Kuvira four years since the beginning of her magical journey to be able to perform a spell without chanting the words, and her pride was slightly hurt knowing someone without any guidance at all had accomplished such a feat in less than a quarter of the time.
She entered the office of her former master respectfully, hoping that their discussion would settle some of the trouble that she found in her heart.
“Good day master” She greeted him, when entering the room, before swiftly sitting down on a chair within.
“Likewise girl, so with what can a man so treasured by the crown help you with today?” He returned the greeting, but only after she sat down.
“As I’m sure you are aware, one of the summoned escaped the previous week. That in and of itself is not a situation you can help us resolve, but those who witnessed the summoned fighting with the bandits that attacked that group claimed to see him using sorcery in the fight. How does someone on whom you performed the aptitude test perform sorcery while at the same time fighting with a sword?” She inquired, hoping the magister would be able to respond to what was both a genuine question, and an accusation of his incompetence.
The magister did not appreciate his former disciple’s tone, but decided that it would be best to ignore it rather than engage in a useless feud with the princess. He closed his eyes and thought on the question, before trying to visualize the face of the boy who had escaped. What should have been a very difficult task, came quite easily to him, as he remembered exactly the face of the boy who had shown ‘not’ to possess any aptitude for sorcery.
“Does the summoned who escaped slightly overweight, with brown hair and brown eyes?” He asked, surprising the usually calm and collected princess.
“Yes, or at least that matches his description at the time of the aptitude test. Do you perhaps remember him?” She continued, hoping the magister would elaborate.
“Oh yes, even though he actually managed to resist my overwhelming arcane power that I channeled into him, he only did so for a brief moment. After that he let it pass, which was a first in all of the tests I have performed” He replied with a chuckle.
“But if he showed promise, why did you say that he had failed it?” She asked, not understanding the old man’s line of thinking.
“Why would I bother imparting my knowledge to those who do not even wish to succeed in something as simple as the aptitude test?” The magister responded resolutely, with his hand on his chin, deep in thought.