“Get down!” The man said as he grabbed the bandit’s shoulder and pushed him away.

The bandit yelled to the sound of hail or large stone objects that flew in a wind flash that made them accelerate like a powerful series of slingshots. When he looked back he saw two of his companions having got up to their feet. The lead bandit was levitating a series of stones up in the air with his hands, while the second bandit used his wind magic to guide them to their target. Fortunately, the man they were after had managed to get away, having suffered a few shots of the powerful stone shots tearing his cape.

“Keep him busy!” The lead bandit called as he reloaded his collection of stones.

By now the first bandit had retrieved their knives and handed them to the second bandit. Once again they tried to attack, but using his jagged blade, he managed to parry them out of their hands and dropped them to the floor with a power back kick. The first bandit was out, but the second band used his wind magic again, flapping his arms like wings to brush more wind against his foe. Instead of resisting, he simply ran away in the direction of the lead bandit leading the wind toward his gathering collection of floating stones, lined up in front of him.

“You idiot!” He called when the wind turned in his direction.

He was pelted with his own stones bludgeoning and beating him until he felt the pain of sharp paint hit to the right of his jaw. It came not from a rock but from the cloaked man’s palm slamming against his chin that sent a jolt to his spine and caused him to collapse. He then turned to the second bandit, who despite all his best efforts could not seem to summon his own breath. He couldn’t even defend himself as the man quickly ran toward him with the hilt of his blade and knocked him across the right temple knocking him down the floor. With the bulk of the group effectively down, he then turned to the man he saved whom throughout all this, had simply been watching with awe.

“Are these you friends?” The cloak man asked as he stared at the crippled men on the floor.

The third bandit quietly nodded, not knowing what the stranger would do next.

“Find some new ones.” The man said sheathing his knife and then slowly approaching him.

“Look stranger, we were just hungry is all.” He pleaded for his life.

“I believe you kid, but you're so called friends...” He then recalled each little detail that he gleamed in the midst of battle, leading the bandits' eyes to look and confirm his assumptions. “I can catch the smells of booze on your leader's lips or the fresh leather of your other friend’s feet, and the crumble of bread on his left pants pocket.”

“W-what?” He confirmed every detail, though they were so minute that even in these dark surroundings he wondered how he could even spot them.

“You must be new to this outfit, so I’m assuming they told you that they didn’t make enough money to feed you, when really they pocketed most of it to pay for their own luxury. They’re treating you no better than a wild dog keeping hungry and desperate so that you’ll fight more fiercely.”

The young bandit practically dropped to the floor again trying to rationalize a retort, but instead he just sat there looking at his so-called friends and realized he had been used this whole time.

“Look, if I were you, I’d find new friends...” The cloaked man pulled our five gold coins from his pocket. “...or you might want to leave town tonight, maybe make it to the next town by dawn, and make an honest wage.” He placed the coins in his hands and closed his fist around him and whispered a stern warning. “The choice is yours, but being desperate is no excuse for being ignorant. You might wind up dead or worse.”

Then the man put on his coat and walked away into the night, leaving 3 injured and one very confused bandit. He never even gave his name, but he gave the young man some good advice, so within a second thought he took his coins and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the man’s path, hoping he wouldn’t see him or his old buddies ever again.

The night had been rather restless for the stranger, but the morning was nice and bright. On the outskirts of the slums where vast wilderness and farmlands reside, he traveled by foot to parts unknown except to him. If the intelligence he received from the old shopkeeper were true, then soon he would find his intended target, a healer of some reputation in and around the slums.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

He had spent the last two years on the trail of this one person, hoping to find her, but every time he came close she always seemed to be moving in one direction or the other. The Duchy was a large place and slums were more often than refined cities, so there was probably work to be done for healers, especially for those who could hardly afford it. Around dusty trails and hills he traveled until he arrived at a little house on the edge of a hill.

It was old and weathered, hardly being kept but smoke from a worker behind the house gave hope that someone could be living there. The stranger knew that if he had to approach this cautious as the residence was known as a recluse, so if suddenly approached she might run or even fight. Now, it was a matter of waiting to confirm if the resident of this house was indeed the one he was searching for. He snuck around the trees and shrubs as quietly as he could to sneak around the back to find the source of the smoke. There, bent around a campfire in an old tattered red shaw he saw her.

Her hair was gray, but with hints of red and from her younger days when it supposedly shimmer like a great bonfire. Her hands were as bony as a living skeleton, tied together by a long patchwork of dress that draped down to her feet in this warm and summer climate. Her eyes that at one time must have been a bright hazel flame, were now bloodshot and darkened like a dying ember. As she leaned over a roast of some small wild animal she had splayed on a stick above her campfire, she poked the meat with a small iron knife to test the texture and tenderness of its flesh.

She sliced a piece of her roast and chewed on its savory flavors as the stranger crept closer, still unsure that this woman was who she was looking for. When he stepped on a trig, he felt the light heat of a large light hit the top of his head. As the light died down he saw he had shrunk to the size of a pen, allowing him to adjust his sight to see where it came from. The old woman, using her one free hand, used her index and middle finger to manifest a small beam of light. Her thumb was at the ready, arranged like a sight ready to deliver the final command if it was to take even one foot out of place from his current state.

“Take one step forward and I’ll turn this light into a torch that will burn a hole right through your head, kid.” The woman held her fingers straight with her knife at the read beside her.

It was then that he knew that he had found the right person, for the look in her eyes was that of a veteran mage, one of years of training and commitment. He knew it was true for the next level above Flashlight technique was Holy Light, an ability that could burn holes through trees, brush and trees. If he did not do as she said and surrendered he would be burned as well as the roast still stuck on the open flames, its meat bodily juice simmering in the fires of the pit fire below.

“I mean you no harm, madam.” He stood up and raised his hands. “I’m just wondering if you are the healer known as Zoe Gaia.”

“If you’re not sick or hurt, then what business is that of yours?” She noticed no visible wounds on his body, aside from a few bruises and tattered cape.

“Are you the same professor Gaia who taught at the Pro-Kinetic Institute of Mage Craft in Farad?”

“Are you here to collect a debt?!” She stared with eyes more intense as he felt the heat of the lamp grow slightly hotter, but the man stayed completely calm.

“My name is Anthony, I come from the house of Erebus.”

Upon hearing that name she dismissed the light on her fingers and got into a more relaxed casual manner.

“I have done enough for the house Erebus for one lifetime, son.” She returned to her roast making sure it was not completely burnt as she took it off the fire. “Tell you master I have no interest in teaching pampered pups to become trained guard dogs no matter how much he is offering.” She limped to enter the house with her food, completely ignoring the man.

“My mother’s name is Orsa, from the village of Ekes.” He watched as she stopped in her tracks before she could reach the door. “I believe you knew her.”

She turned around to get a closer look as the man stepped out of the brush and stood before her. He was tall, but scrawny gentleman, but with leather gear that had been worn and used repeatedly. Although he carried a coin push in his possession it seemed vastly depleted for the son of a nobleman. From the color of his ebony hair and look of his hazel eyes she could definitely see some resemblance.

“You’re Orsa’s son?” She scrutinized his features to make a comparison between him and the Orsa she once knew. “You look more like your father, but you’ve got your mother’s eyes.” She scoffed. “You also have you father’s stubbornness?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know you could have just knocked instead of sneaking around like some roughing creeping around in the bushes.”

“Oh...” He could have slapped himself at his less than common approach, but completely retorted. “My apologies, I’ve been in the wilds for quite a while...”

“...Yeah, yeah, tell me all about it, inside.” She opened the door to the house.

“There may not be enough meat on this rabbit for two but I wouldn’t feel polite without offering.”

“Of course Lady Gaia.” He nodded in politeness.

“Enough with the lady, just Zoe is fine.” She opened the door wide and entered.

He nodded again making a mental note, with a smile. He had finally found her, an eccentric genius of Pyro-Kinetic Institute, his mother’s teacher and former master. The one who tried to push the boundaries of modern mage craft until she was retired to the Duchy, Zoe Gaia. Whether she would share an ounce of her wisdom with him, was the biggest question yet to be answered.