Sandoron woke slowly, feeling groggy and sore and looks around the room. Except for the burns etching across nearly every board in the room in the shape of runes it’s like nothing has changed. Except, why’s he tucked in like a child? And how did he get in bed anyway? The orb, and his grandparents!

He jumps out of bed, swaying and shaking his head trying to clear it. “Grams, Gramps!” he shouts heading for the door. It’s light out, is it still the same day? He rushes downstairs and nearly runs Grams over as she hauls a stuffed hiking pack tot he front door. “Grams! What happened? Why don’t I remember anything after Gramps told me he was a Wizard?” Wow, that still felt weird to say. “And what about you are you secretly a priestess of Shaelayna?” he asked laughing.

Grams stiffened briefly, before smiling. “No dear, I’m just an old elf. You know how your Gramps and I met. There was nothing untrue about it, we led an exciting life but I kept to the shadows for the most part.” She looked down at the hardtac in her hand “All this hardtac has crumbled, must be mites… You will have to check any before you eat it for more bugs.”

He wasn’t sure what she meant, he had definitely seen her grind it to dust, which to be frank was frightening, that stuff is hard enough to chip teeth. “Uh, sure Grams… What do you mean before I eat it, and why are you packing anyway?

“You and Gramps are going into town while I look after the farm. With everything that’s happened you need to get out and see more of the world and we think a good place to start is for you to visit the temple and learn more about the divinities.” She said.

“Ok? So just a trip to town? Why so much stuff?” he surveyed the table covered with what looked like the entire contents of their larder. It was a lot, and it wasn’t all going to fit in the two admittedly oversizes packs his grandmother was stuffing full.

“Oh, just trying to sort through and make sure we are using the oldest supplies some of what I’m sending might not be the freshest but it will get you there and back. I’ll return everything once I’ve finished inventorying it.”

He nodded, unconvinced. “Sure, want me to take this pack you’ve already filled out to the wagon then? I assume we’re leaving today since Gramps isn’t here helping you pack?”

“Before lunch, actually I’ll have lunch ready to go for you before he has his things settled.”

“Oh, “ he paused picking up the bag “oof this is heavy. Uh, I have some questions about, “ he paused “this morning?”. He braced the bag against the table looking over it at his grandmother. “Was it this morning? And… why is the last thing I remember is you yelling at me to sleep?”

She grimaced, “I had really hoped you had forgotten that part…” inhaling deeply before continuing “Your grandfather’s wards were breaking down and it wasn’t safe for someone who isn’t used to magic to see something like that when it was so overwhelming. So he put you to sleep.”

He gaped, “He… used magic… on me?” he looked up “AWESOME!” he yelled. “He’s always refused to let me play with his magical contraptions. Do you think he will let me poke at some now?”

His grandmother shook her head. “Boys will be boys….” Chucking “ I think we can convince him to let you have a bauble or two of your own even. In addition to learning more about the world, the incident with the wards made us both realize you need to be properly tempered to mana to prevent burns and mana induced mania if you are going to be out in the world more.”

“Yes!” he shouted, before lugging the pack over his shoulder and trundling out the door. “Gramps! Where do you want all this food?”

“On the wagon of course fool boy. Where we always put our packs.” He replied gruffly grunting as he struggled with a harness larger than he was. “Oh the fool with it!” he yelled throwing the harness down. “em yas ho etativel draug ria” he said pointing at the harness and it began to float in the air in front of him. “There’s no sense in not using my magic with the cat out of the bag. And it will help temper you to higher mana anyway.”

Sandoron dropped the bag, staring as his grandfather cast magic for the first time he could remember and actually see the effects. “That’s amazing” he ran over, waving his hand under and above the harness “wow!”

Gramps swatted him away, jaw dropping as the harness moved and smashed his grandson into the wall breaking his concentration and the harness fell harmlessly to the ground. “Are you all right!?” he shouted running over to Sandoron to help him up.

“Ooof!” as Sandoron felt the harness slam into his chest he had a moment to appreciate how powerful his grandfather was before he hit the wall behind him and crumpled. “Oww, wow Gramps you pack a punch.” He said as the old gnome rushed to him waving away his efforts to help him get back to his feet. “I’d only end up with you on top of me and another bruise if we tried that he laughed.”

He brushed the dirt off himself wincing as he did so to his chest. Definitely bruised. “Gramps you weren’t even trying, how do you did you send me flying?”

Gramps looked contrite, shuffling his feet. “Uhh, it must be the ambient mana instability… Yeah… It’s just so wild right now. That must be it. I’m sorry boy I didn’t mean for that to happen I’ve not cast in so long I guess I forgot to be careful with my hand gestures.”

“It’s fine.” He said stretching a little. “I’m just so excited to see so much more magic than you usually use. I’m glad you finally stopped hiding your secrets.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Gramps scratched his head, looking away sheepishly. “Yeah…” was all he said.

After a minute “Well, we should finish this. Can you grab that harness so I don’t accidentally plaster you to the wall again and get it on Banya while I go talk to your grandmother?”

He nodded, reaching down and grabbing the harness heading into the barn.

—

He watched his grandson walk into the barn before turning and heading toward the house. Walking into kitchen he found Grams filling a small bag with the last of their food stores from the larder, the bag appearing almost empty despite the frankly ridiculous amount she was still shoveling in, at times having to stretch the opening around a larger box or can.

“This is going to be difficult you know, I can’t spin to truth to save my life. Why can’t you be the one to accompany him and I will follow behind.” He asked.

“Silly old fool, “ she said quietly glancing at the door. “You know I’m the only one who can stay near enough to help without being seen. We talked about this, one sneeze and even with invisible you’d be found out.” She sighed dramatically, “You know we have to do it this way, just stick to the facts of where you are currently going, the bare minimum about why you are going there, and turn contemplative to avoid saying anything at all if he presses.’

“Fine, fine, but what about when we reach the temple. He’s going to know something is up when Shaelayna descends and bestows her gifts on him anyway why not just tell him now?”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll circle around and get ahead of you and have a word… “she paused, running her finger over the blade of a knife she was getting ready to pack “with our dear goddess so she will know to keep her mouth shut. We’re going along with this to get him the power to protect himself if something comes but he is not going to fall prey to petty divine machinations.”

He sighed, pushing from the table “All right, I’ll keep him outside until we are ready to leave, you should have waited to pack this all away he’d know something was up if he came in for a snack and the cupboards were bare.”

She handed him a small cloth sack, “Not an issue, here’s your snacks and lunch for today. Dinner is packed at the top of the smaller bag” she gestured to a pack by the door. “I asume you can manage that one. Without levitation magic?” she eyed him grimly.

“Ah, so you uh saw that did you?” he grimaced before pulling on the pack and heading out the door quickly.

—

The sun was only barely starting to pass over head as Sandoron gave Banya a nudge with the lead stick and set them and the wagon off down the dirt path off the farm. He leaned over to Gramps speaking a little louder over the noise of the Cronkose clumping along and the jingle of tack and wheels. “So, I’ve not made this trip with you since I was little. How long will it take us to reach town?”

Gramps tugged his beard, “As long as there are no obstacles we can make it to town in less than half a fortnight. We’ll camp at at least three nights before we see town and another before we reach the gates.” He shrugged continuing, “If there’s a bridge out or tree along the road maybe a whole fortnight. But divinities willing we won’t find any issues along the way.” As he finished he looked up, almost as if he was speaking to the divinities instead of his grandson.

“Don’t you worry about your grandmother while we are out either, she’s a tough bird and will keep the farm running while we are away.” He added into the silence grimacing at the end. Muttering a moment later, but the only thing clear over the noise of the wagon was the word “Alaphon”.

“What about the Alaphon farm? Didn’t you say their mill broke down this year?” Sandoron asked.

“Huh, oh nothing. And yes we said that.” His grandfather said reaching for a book his vest pocket and staring at it’s pages intently.

—

It was nearly dark, and they had decided on a small clearing on the side of the road to camp, a spot marked an old fire pit which had clearly been used for many years for the same purpose. “You know, “ Sandoron started “I haven’t seen a single other road how far until we reach the road to the town instead of just the road leading up to the farm? And why has no one else settled out here the land looks prime for anything, logging, farming, even trapping.” Gesturing around them widely as he asked.

“Well, there’s the road to the “Alaphon farm we’ll pass tomorrow, but it’s just us and them out this way until we reach the ring road around the town. Not much draw this far out. And as to why no one has settled, well… It’s all owned already.”

“Wait, by who? The King? The Temples? You’ve never mentioned any other nearby landholders.”

“Uh… well that’s because… drat… That’s because it’s us, we own all of this.” His grandfather finished weakly.

His head shot to the side, staring at this man he thought he knew “Gramps… What do you mean ‘we’ own all of this land?”

The old gnome coughed, fitfully, sputtering “Uhh, well, darn it all. You know the farm is nice, and we don’t need for much. A few years before you were born we we received it we didn’t have to buy it all we’re not barons or royalty or anything like that who could afford it.”

“You mean, an inheritance? You inherited all of this?”

“Erm, well something like that, why don’t you get a fire going while I look for the dinner your grandmother packed for us?”

—

She strode to the door, knocking smartly and yelling out “Ho, the farm” waiting briefly before adding “It’s urgent Alaphon”

A burly man opened the door, glaring momentarily before switching to a smile. “Aelene, it’s been too long to what urgency do I owe the pleasure of a visit from a dear old friend?”

“I don’t have time for your usually prattling Alaphon I’ve got to make it to the road before nightfall. We have a problem. The Call has started going out, and we had a visit from Shaelayna…” she trailed off taking a deep breath.

“No… Not you and Kasner you’ve al-” he trailed off going pale. “Sando” he finally whispered.

“It’s worse than that.” She went onto explain about the wards and incomplete magics.

The house shook Alaphon’s fist hammering into the door frame. The pained expression on his face mirrored by Aelene as she finished her story.

“The divinities have been known to prefer to trace the lineages of heroes, and who living would have a stronger tie to so many?” she slumped. “In the end our efforts to protect him from it only made the matter so much worse.”

“I have to reach town before they do, and they’ve already set off. This detour is going to cost too much time as it is. I just came to ask you to watch over the farm. I know you can’t leave with a child on the way. However we’ll need someone to watch the farm if I’m to be their shadow.” She asked.

“Of course, I’ll send my eldest, he can stay in the spare room. I assume the protective magics are still keyed to allow him in?” she nodded and he continued “I know this is hard, and you and Kasner are probably blaming yourselves but you have done everything for the boy possible. His parents would be happy you are his wards.”

She nodded weekly, thanking him before turning to the road and dashing into the shadows of the trees.

Alaphon watched her go, slumping against the door frame. “Not again, if you take him too I won’t stop at renouncing my vows.”