The first day of training ended with seventeen tired and bruised villagers, and one exemplary abused wizard. His battering outside of the pub had motivated the people to listen to Serril's advice, achieved through fear or some other similar emotion. By the end of that day, the people were confident in their ability to smack a wizard with a stick. Their teacher had declared he wanted an understanding of what they could do before he started showing them anything. That meant that Murphy was pitted against men he was half the size of. The villagers for the most part were heavy industry workers, doing jobs like farming or masonry. Murphy was all too aware of his physical stature, being more suited to a merchant's life than a hauler. He'd hoped his time in the smithy would lend him the strength he needed, but after several years of neglect to the craft, the physical strength of his youth had faded. He wondered how smug his old friends would have been to find that out. Coil was particularly competitive in that area after all.
He slumped into the stall next to Elltrell, feeling the pleasant burn of muscles resting after a straining exercise. The bird ignored him at first, but eventually decided to take a seat next to him. The evening was cold, so the both of them were grateful for the warmth. He started into a story about the day's events, Elltrell being an unwilling but ultimately captive audience. He was launching into his victorious exploits as Oats entered the barn.
"I had the whole village in silent awe of my magic, nobody was even mad I spilled the mead" Murphy said, scratching his mount behind the ear.
"Until he ended it all with only one punch" Oats laughed, catching Murphy by surprise with his presence.
The strange man walked into the stall and sat against the wall opposite Murphy. The Warlock watched in silence, not sure what to say to the friend he had wronged. Eventually, he decided a direct approach would be best.
"So you’re not mad at me now then?" He asked, a hint of trepidation in his tone.
"No, I was just a bit shook up is all. You didn't break any promises to me and Sausage. I wish you had told us you didn't know what to expect out here, but there's not much sense in dwelling on it" Oats said kindly.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry I got you into that mess."
"It's worth something, but I doubt that's the last mess we'll be in. In fact, I doubt that's the last mess I'll see thanks to you."
Murphy grimaced. "I'd like to settle your doubts friend, but I'm afraid you're probably right."
"You'll probably have to try a little harder to win the favour of Serril back. The big man used some nasty words to describe you after the forest, I'll tell you that."
Murphy sighed, and slumped into his spot. "I think that ship has already left the pyre" he said, looking melancholic.
"Well you still have me and Sausage. That's half the party on your side."
There was a flash of light next to Murphy, and Uundah quickly took its place in the rodent form. He cleared his throat and looked at Oats. "I'm not sure I'm completely on his side, but with me there's more than half."
Oats held up his hands in an apologetic gesture. "You’re right of course. It's easy to forget you're there when you're a stick so much of the time."
Uundah squinted at the man. "I'll assume you didn't mean any offence by that."
"Assume whatever you like. It's not up to me how you think" Oats said dismissively, prompting an even more intense squint from the O'jin.
"Before you two launch into your racial debate" Murphy said, interrupting the argument before it started. "Perhaps we should eat," he said, patting his stomach.
Oats smiled widely. "I was waiting for you to bring that up. I can count on you to remember your stomach, that's the truth". He stood, and gestured at the door. "If'n you follow me sir, I can see to your growling guts."
Murphy and Uundah listened keenly, and followed the strange man out of the barn.
~~
They sat in front of an open fire towards the centre of the village. Oats had erected a tent underneath a thick tree, ensuring himself a comfortable spot for the coming weeks. Sausage greeted them with excitement, making sure to get the appropriate amount of pats from the Warlock.
Oats took the heavy lid from an iron pot resting in the fire, wafting the teasing smell of salty broth throughout the camp. Peaking into the pot, Murphy could see the stew glowing faintly. He raised an eyebrow at Oats, questioning the glow wordlessly. Plenty of things in the world glowed. It was impossible to walk through a forest anywhere without seeing a glowing plant, or a luminous rodent. This was the first time he'd seen glowing food though, the light was usually a good indication of poisonous plants.
"It's a recipe I learned from a goat farmer when I was in the mountains of Aeiryoth" Oats said, scooping a bowl into the mixture. "The glow comes from a fungus called 'Hal-Hi-Fruun', it only grows in the poo of a Hal-Biradan, or a laughing bird as most know them. Don't see many laughing birds in this part of the world. So you can imagine how happy I was to find that orange light in the ferns back there. I thought it might have been a dream thanks to those nasty buggers out there, till I found it in my gathering pouch and realised it were real after all. Happy as the day I got my first shoe I was". He plunged a spoonful of fungus and rabbit stew into his mouth to finalise his explanation.
Murphy pondered the loaded reasoning as best he could. Oats had always been strange, but it didn't strike Murphy until then, that he might also be rather knowledgeable.
"It sounds like you've travelled quite a lot for such a young man. You know a fair deal about your plants and such too, the edible ones at least" Murphy said with a curious tone. He scooped his own bowl of stew, hoping the cook actually knew what he was talking about.
"You should know by now that looks can be deceiving. At a glance you're handsome, but you have all the charm of a ship hand if you look closer" Oats said, stopping to laugh at his own joke. "I'm older than I look, I'll have you know sir. Been a good few places in my time to be sure."
Murphy stared at his friend wordlessly, a look of expectancy filling his gaze. By now, he was used to the strange man telling stories, so he'd learned to assume a listening post readily.
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"I was born many astra from these lands, so far in fact I'm not sure exactly where" Oats continued, satisfied he had an appropriate level of the Warlock's attention.
"It was just me and my mah for a little while. I was near full grown once Sausage here came along. He gave mah a sense of the hells as a little one, kept both of us up all manner of nights. Farmer near stopped coming by he was that much a biter. Never once bit me though, we always had a special bond the two of us. Wasn't until Sausage was near full grown that the merchant showed up in our barn. The farmer was a good man to be sure, but he didn’t have no special love for a few donkeys. I couldn't tell you what he was paid, though I don't often see a man that happy unless it's from a bag of coin, or a bag of women."
"Did you just say a few donkeys?" Murphy questioned, desperate for an answer to a question in the back of his mind.
"Do you want to hear the story or not?" Oats asked. "I could just as easily go back to my cooking if you want to interrupt," he huffed.
Murphy held one hand over his mouth and the other up in a placating gesture, receiving a doubtful scowl from his companion.
"We boarded a ship for the first time after that. Sausage here was excited for it, but I couldn't think of anything worse. It's not right for our kind to fly I thought, though I still had to get used to it that's for sure. Spent a lot of time on different ships after that first one. We went hand to hand for a long while, beasts of burden and all that. We said goodbye to mah in one of those exchanges. Never heard Sausage cry so hard since the old butcher paid that silver, though I'd be a liar if I told you I kept brave. We spent a long time with just the three of us, and she was a good mah.
It wasn’t till we met a man named Sadar the Curious that we settled into long care. He was a Warlock like you, except a bit older. I couldn't tell you how much older, you lot are hard to get a read on like that. Nonetheless, he was nice enough at first. He had a bit of a temper on him, but he never aimed it at me or Sausage. Sadar took us all around the constellations. The people we met and travelled with alongside Sadar were more often something really special. I learned about the people of the world that way, I'll never look down on that to be sure.
We grew close to Sadar over those years. I couldn't say exactly how long we spent wandering, I didn't have the sense for years back then. He was a kind master, to us at least, but over that time his temper took more hold of him than he'd ever care to admit to me. It's a sad thing when a kind man does a horrible deed, even sadder that we got used to it. He tried his best to keep his nasty pleasures away from us, but after the pipe he'd always whisper me his secrets. He trusted me with everything, and I thought I had a home, no matter how dark it could be.
It wasn’t a peaceful life, but it was one I was happy with… until the O'jin showed up.
That damn monkey poisoned what was left of poor Sadar's fading mind. As selfish goes, that monkey could've won ribbons. He didn't much care for anyone but himself and Sadar. As for the wizard, he changed under the influence of stronger desires. The shadow in his heart grew darker while he gave into his temptations. One thing that never changed through the whole thing though, was his kindness to me and Sausage, especially me."
He paused to stock the fire, not saying a word for at least a minute.
Murphy remained silent as well. The atmosphere had grown heavy, enough so that he could feel the sorrow in the air. He was bursting with questions of course, but his better judgement had managed a victory over his inquisitive nature, for the time at least.
Oats took a deep breath, and fixed his eyes on Murphy. "Okay, so for the next part. It's going to be hard for me to say, and even harder for you three to hear" He stated, looking at everyone around the fire, Sausage included. The donkey had wandered closer once Oats had started the story. He was close enough to Murphy for the Warlock to smell his breath. Murphy was surprised to find it wasn't entirely unpleasant, smelling of cut grass and pulverised berries. Murphy remained silent, and nodded for Oats to continue.
"It doesn’t have any parts about kissing does it? I hate when people tell their kissing stories" the confident voice declared.
Startled, they turned to see young Cardic sitting against the base of the tree. He was picking at his nails with a crude knife, looking through his brow at the men around the fire.
"How long have you been there for?" Murphy asked with shock.
"I followed you here from my barn, you lot didn't even see me once. Don't take it personal though, you had the best tracker in Broken Cart on your tail" Cardic boasted, finalising his statement by pounding his fist on his own chest. He joined the men at the fire, making sure to scratch the donkey on his way past. "Well don't let me stop you" he continued, taking a seat. "Go on and finish the story."
Oats gave Murphy a questioning look, to which the Warlock responded with a simple shrug.
"Maybe another time lad" he said awkwardly. "Not much of a tale for a boy I'm afraid."
"I'm not a kid anymore" the boy scoffed. "I know about all sorts of things I shouldn't."
That prompted a soft laugh from the rest of the camp's occupants. "And if it was a kissing story?" Oats asked with a wide smile.
Cardic made a gagging noise and blocked his nose. "Never mind then, I don't want to hear about you and a ladies butt. Doesn't matter how old I am."
Oats laughed, and handed the boy a bowl of stew. "Your people might get a little worried with you palling around with a couple of strangers at night," he said with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not worried," he replied around a chunk of rabbit. "They’re probably more worried about you".
"How's that then?" Murphy asked, struck curious by the child's confidence.
"I'm going to be a wizard one day. My magic is probably stronger than yours".
Amused, Murphy kept prodding. "What magic do you know, great wizard?"
Cardic squinted at him, then traced his gaze across everyone else at the fire, settling his stare on Uundah. "Same as you I'd imagine" he said with clear agitation. "Don't all Warlock's have the same power?"
Murphy kept a straight face, and looked as innocently as possible at the members of the small group. "I wouldn't know that," he laughed awkwardly.
"Subtle…" Uundah thought to him sarcastically.
"Bull drop" Cardic snapped. "You’re a worse liar than my uncle when he says I'm not getting my supper. I know you’re a Warlock, he told me so" he said, pointing at Sausage.
The donkey visibly blanched, and awkwardly refused to meet Murphy’s confused stare.
"Am I the only one that doesn't speak donkey?" He scoffed. "Count on you to keep my secrets," he complained to the smelly beast.
"I don't know why you're so worried" Cardic chimed back in. "I think it's really something. Aunty says all the best wizards are Warlocks. When I'm grown, I'm going to adventure with the Tavern like you."
"You don't want to go around telling people that" Murphy cut in with concern. "Not many people out there like us a whole lot. If your town found out about it, they might just run you out".
Cardic seemed to ponder that for a moment before speaking. "Well they haven't yet. A few of them even ask me to use my magic from time to time" he stated, confused by Murphy’s concern. "They've all known I'm special as long as they've known me".
Murphy sat in stunned silence for a moment. His experience had been wildly different to that of the boy in front of him. He couldn't help but to feel a modicum of envy towards the child.
"Well let's see some of your magic then" he said, hoping the boy was bluffing.
A twisted smile crept its way across Cardic's face. He clapped his hands together and sprung to his feet.
"I thought you'd never ask" he said, as he strode proudly to the far side of the fire.
Oats made sure to get his distance quickly while the rest looked on with intensity. The boy closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Slowly, he spread his arms apart with his palms facing the fire. They stared in silence for a moment, before the fire began to grow. It was subtle at first, but soon enough it started to rise in height, growing to the height of a Demai in a matter of seconds. Murphy watched the flames closely, noticing the aspects he associated with fire pulsating in a wild storm. He wanted to reach out and touch it, but its ferocity told him it was a bad idea. The aspect was so wild it scared him, he knew he would have no hope of taming it.
"That's quite impressive," he said, a hint of worry in his tone "why don't you bring it down now."
"I've got more than that," Cardic said, clenching his fists tightly. As his fingers curled, a rush of wind drew in towards the fire, gusting from all sides. The fire consumed the air greedily, bursting into a pillar so tall the top licked the leaves of the giant tree looming above. The show of power continued into the nature around them, lifting stones and whirling wind. The aspect was so abundant that Murphy didn't recognise a lot of what he was seeing. He watched as the wild clouds of magic collided with one another in a violent storm. Through unregulated entropy, new aspects were born, empowered immediately by the unrelenting flow of Daions pouring from one little boy.
"You've made your point lad," Murphy yelled over the wind. "Why don't you bring it in now."
Cardic ignored him, and started to float gently above the ground instead. The wild magic intensified as he rose.
Murphy attempted to gain control of their environment in a similar way, but the boy's Daions resisted him with a force he couldn't overcome. The rest of the fire's occupants had already fled to find cover, perhaps already conditioned to the circumstances.
The boy hovered in place, just a few inches from the stirring dirt. Murphy feared what might happen if he let the storm continue. Dreading what he might have to do, he called to Uundah in his mind. The O'jin responded quickly, scurrying towards him to take the staff form.
"What are you going to do?" Uundah asked, leaping into Murphy’s hand in a flash of light.
"I don't know…" Murphy thought back. He gripped the staff nervously and watched the aspect broil. Just as his fear reached its peak, a voice broke through the chaos.
"Cardic!" The deep voice of the Kir boomed through the night.
The boy's eyes shot open. He dropped to the ground in an instant, the storm of magic subsiding just as quickly. The sudden shift caused the fire to leave behind an off coloured smoke as the fire snapped back into its original state. The smoke cascaded down, crashing into the camp, blanketing the small hill in a thick and sulphurous cloud.