Victor held his hand out palm up, inhaled, and a small sphere of flames burst into being above his palm. As the fire hissed in the air, Victor let go of his breath, sighing, maneuvered the handle of the door with some difficulty, as his book was in his other hand, and pushed the door open. Inside, there was a large room filled with large sacks from the recent grain harvest. Many were burst open, sitting next to the large stone grindstone in the middle of the room. Sitting away from the loud grindstone, about twelve people were sitting in a circle. Victor’s eyes immediately focused on the only woman in the group. A familiar perfume smell hung in the air, and she looked up at victor as if she’d seen a ghost.
“I Wouldn’t go about doing much in your shoes, right about now,” Victor said, badly mimicking the lilt he remembered, “no sudden moves and we’ll see about lightening your load, hmm?”
As Victor spoke, several of the bandits started to scramble to their feet before the red haired woman harshly spoke, “Don’t do anything ya idiots. Haven’t you heard a grain fires?” The woman held her hands placatingly towards them, before looking back at Victor. “Don’t do anythin’ harsh, ye? There’s a kid in here.”
Victor nodded slowly, before snapping his fingers. The bandit flinched, and the fire above his palm went out. “I’m here for one thing. My ring, the one you stole, where is it?”
The woman looked between the others, most of which looked confused, and started whispering to them. While the mage couldn’t hear what was being said over the grinding stone, they were clearly beginning to panic as one of them loudly stated “I dunno what fucking ring he’s talking about Lisa! We didn't have time to steal nothin.”
The redhead, Lisa it seemed, spoke carefuly and loudly towards Victor. “Sorry, sir mage, we never stole nothin’ from you. You uh, threw us away before we could.”
Victor’s neutral countenance darkened, his eyes narrowing as he didn’t believe a bandit who’d stolen from him only days before. “Child,” He spoke while looking towards Limbas, who looked terrified, “You should leave.”
As he said that, several of the bandits started clambering to their feet, shouts of “No, Wait!” and more than a few expletives filled the room. In response, the mage turned his gaze back on the rest of the group and roared out, “SIT. BACK. DOWN.” A flame burst into being once more as he stepped dangerously into the room, to many protests, as the majority of the group fell back to the floor. Lisa, however, was standing firm, glaring back at the man. The sheer vitriol of their gaze towards each other could have melted iron. “Don’t test me, bandit,” The mage spoke the last word as if it were an insult.
Lisa, with her hand firmly on Limbas’ shoulder to keep the boy in place, spoke back in the same tone. “I told you once, mage. We don’t have your ring.”
“Perhaps,” Victor replied, “Or perhaps one of you already sold it. I intend to find out, and I’m not leaving here until I do.”
“Bah,” Lisa spat to the side, “The mage shows his true colors, just like the rest of your kind. We should have slit your throat the first night you came here.”
The ex-warmage took another dangerous step inside, and the people inside shied back away from the fire which threatened to turn the whole place into a fireball. “I don’t care what you think, thief,” He sneered, “I’ve killed your kind before, so unless you want to join the list of names i’ve forgotten, sit the fuck back down.” At that, the woman’s eyes narrowed and she put a hand on the knife at her hip. The two of them tensed, before a loud shout cut the tension.
“I HAVE IT.” Limbas, the innkeeper’s kind shouted. He pushed the shocked woman’s hand off of his shoulder and ran forward, stepping in between Victor and Lisa. “I took it while you were distracted writing on the ground.” he looked up at Victor. “So don’t do anything to them, they didn’t do nothin.”
“You aren’t just lying to keep them out of danger, are you?” Victor’s skepticism leaked into his voice.
“No, I swear it!” The boy looked him in the eyes, without wavering in the slightest. “‘Besides, they live here, so if i were lying, you could just find them again.”
Sighing, Victor snapped his fingers again. The fire vanished, and he turned around. “Follow me then, child. We can talk outside.” Not bothering to check to see if he was following, Victor walked out of the grist mill.
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A few minutes later the mage, who Limbas had no idea could be so terrifying, was sitting on a tree stump a short ways away from Peter’s watermill and Limbas was fidgeting nervously in front of him. Limbas hadn’t expected the man to find the greenwood bandit crew, but it was a good thing he was there for it. He shuddered, thinking about what could have happened if he hadn’t been there today. In front of him the man sighed and rubbed his eyes. His spellbook was once again secured in his holster and Limbas had to suddenly refocus as the mage spoke.
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“Allright, kid. Sit down, I'm not going to hurt you.” his voice was a calm monotone, the same way he usually spoke.
“Really?” Limbas replied, not completely convinced. Only minutes ago he had looked furious. The only time he had seen the mage emotional at all was when he was working on that weird spell at the bar. Limbas preferred the calm man in front of him, but wasn’t sure anymore if that was an act. “Cause earlier you looked-”
“Yes, really.” Victor cut him off. “Those were all adults. Each of them are old enough to have made a better choice. You’re still young. I don’t know what possessed you to join a group of bandits of all things, but I would suggest not doing it again. Others might not be as understanding, especially your lord’s men.”
Nodding, Limbas sat down, crossing his legs in the grass in front of Victor. Ever since those soldiers had come and taken away all the men and women of age and health, things had been sparse for most people. The only people left were either too old, too young, or too weak to do much of the work. “So, uh, mister mage-”
“So where did you put my ring then?” The man cut him off again, something he was starting to expect. Limbas thought for a moment, deciding to go ahead with his plan.
“Well, sir,” He began, talking carefully and thinking over his words, “I asked the merchant who left just this morn to deliver it to a friend of mine who moved to Rothchester two years back.”
The mage ran his fingers through his hair, before sitting up and focusing on Limbas with a piercing stare. “Well, that’’s nearly a month away. Why should I believe you?”
Limbas, who was expecting that question, grinned. “Cause I’ve got the receipt right here!” Reaching into his shirt pocket, he unfurled a small parchment written by the merchant that detailed and showed proof of purchase with a small wax stamp. The man gestured and Limbas handed over the paper. After almost a full minute of him reading it, Limbas was starting to get antsy when Victor spoke again.
“I see. It certainly isn’t your handwriting, so unless you’ve become a forger along with a bandit, It's real.” As Victor spoke, a cold sweat went down Limbas’ back.
“How, uh, do you know my handwriting sir?” he looked innocently up at the mage.
“The notes you left me.” He replied evenly, though Limbas could see just a twitch at the edge of his mouth. The kid’s mind raced, trying to come up with an excuse, but as he started to speak he was interrupted again. “Don’t bother denying it, kid. Though I would recommend not doing that to another mage. They might take it as a threat. I almost thought it was a threat, myself.” With that, he stood up and started to walk off towards the road leading away from the village.
“Wait!” Limbas called after him, “Where are you going?”
Turning to look back at him, Victor stopped and replied “To Rothchester of course. I need my ring back.”
Limbas was not expecting this, and he realized that the address was on the receipt. Thinking quickly he called out “But wait! He won’t give it to you! He doesn’t know you.”
This did cause the man to stop, but he continued walking a moment later stating, “I have the receipt, that’s proof enough.”
“But it’s my name on the receipt! I’ve known Greg all my life and I send letters to him every week! He won’t give it to you!” At this, the mage stopped again, before turning around and stalking back to Limbas, who was suddenly getting very nervous again.
“What do you want kid.” The man spoke simply, clearly wanting this over.
This was the moment, exactly what Limbas was looking for, he grinned and stated: “Take me on as your apprentice!”
“No.”
The instant denial caused Limbas to physically rock back. “Wh-what? Why not?”
The man held out a hand and began counting, unfurling a finger with each reason stated. “First, you’re young and I would need permission from your father. Second, I’ve got places to be and can’t be bothered to stick around in some village for the years it would take to train you properly. Third, I have no idea if you have any talent for magic so it might take even longer to teach you. Fourth, it’s incredibly dangerous and fifth,” The mage held up his palm, towards Limbas, all five fingers outstretched, “I don’t want an apprentice. So, is there anything else you want, kid? I have money if that’s what you’re after.”
Limbas crossed his arms, and resolutely said “That’s fine. I don’t care if it’s dangerous, and I can travel with you so you don’t gotta stay around here.”
“You’re forgetting about your parents. I’m not going to kidnap you from your home.”
“Then how about this? You ask my da, and if he says yes then I’ll travel with you, you’ll train me to be a magic user. If he says no, I’ll write a letter for you to give to Greg, and you’ll be on your way.” Limbas smirked, confident.
The mage raised an eyebrow, before responding “Certainly, I’ll accept that deal. There’s absolutely no chance your father would let his kid wander off with a strange mage he met only a few days before.”
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Victor was annoyed. Certainly he was along the road back to Caria once more, unfortunately he had picked up some extra baggage along the way. Looking at the kid who was practically skipping along next to him, Victor couldn’t help but feet like he’d been set up. The innkeeper was perfectly happy to let his son go off with a strange man on nothing more than a promise he would return safely. But it was the look on Limbas’ face that made Victor realize that the kid had already gotten his blessing. He’d even been packed as if he was planning for this from the beginning. Victor sighed yet again today, because it would be ridiculous to get annoyed by a kid. At least he could walk in silence for now.
“So, mister Victor, should I call you master? Or teacher? Or archmage? Or what?”
It was going to be a long walk home.