‘You must travel to Kent,’ the professor had told him. ‘It will be a long journey. Once you get to Stronghold, follow the road to Borivan. Then take the northern road to Lorne. From there you go to Austen and follow the road east and then south to Kent. Do not leave the road if you can help it. A boat will be here to pick you up soon. Good luck.’
Thayne stood on the sand, feeling lost. He didn’t know how long he had to wait and unless he sat on the sand there was nowhere to sit, so he just stood, looking about himself for something to do, though the scenery was uninspiring. Just rocks and sand. Suddenly he noticed a shape in the darkness and he squinted, hoping it was the boat Professor Globulus had said would come for him. Horrible visions of a schooner carrying the Supreme Mage’s oak emblem and an inquisitor doing a surprise examination, danced mockingly in his mind. He was relieved and disappointed as it was revealed to be a small fishing boat. He was going to be wet as well as cold before the crossing to the mainland was over.
The boat stopped clear of the shore and when Thayne didn’t move, the occupant beckoned to him energetically. He removed his boots and socks, tied the laces around his neck and stuffed his socks in his boots, before reluctantly wading out to the boat, holding his robes out of the water. He was grateful for once for his long, thin legs, that the water only reached his knees. Still, his leggings were soaked through. He heaved the pack off his shoulder but it was too awkward to swing it up into the boat and as it cleared the side he lost his grip on his robe. He groaned as the hem hit the water and sank. After a couple of jumping starts he managed to get up enough momentum and heave himself face first into the bottom of the boat. A course brown material that smelt of fish was thrown over him and as he pushed himself up and lifted it, he realised it was a cloak. It was large, long enough to conceal his school robes, but way too bulky for his frame. It would look ridiculous.
“Put it on,” the fisherman said shortly, as he started them away from the island and towards the mainland.
“But it’s way too big! And it smells!”
“You can’t go around like that, can you?” was the gruff reply. “A young wiz’d travlin lone this time a’year? You’d b’sent strai’ back. Questions be askt. Trouble.” He glared at Thayne as if daring him to speak again.
It was obvious he wanted as little to do with Thayne as possible, so after Thayne had shrugged on the cloak the rest of the trip was spent in silence.
Thayne’s expectations of the trip proved accurate. He jumped out of the boat into the surf, his hair matted, his face frozen and his legs chilled from his wet robe. But the cloak had kept most of him dry, and he was grateful for that. After passing Thayne his belongings, the sombre fisherman expertly turned the boat around and started back out to deep water with never a word said. Professor Globulus had told him he would be put down a kilometre west of Penn. He had to reach the town before nightfall, so he had twenty minutes. Plenty of time. Penn was a small fishing and trade town located on a peninsula. They had been larger and had traded with Psyhne once, but that was before. Selling magic to the Untalented was forbidden now. On the day that law had been put into effect, Penn’s economy had halved and eventually, so had its population.
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Thayne would have to go into Penn and hire a horse. It shouldn’t be a problem with all the money Globulus had given him, so he should have no problems getting to Kailim. Perhaps he could become a sailor once he had delivered the book, leave everything behind and live as the Untalented did. Kent was a coastal city after all. That thought lacked appeal, but if he could never be a wizard what else could he do?
As he left the beach, he pulled at the cloak tugging it back onto his shoulders. It had slipped down to his elbows as he had been preoccupied getting ashore. It started slipping as again as soon as he had it up so he slung his pack onto his shoulder hoping the weight would be enough to hold it in place. His feet were caked with sand so once he had cleared the top of the dune, with a few curses as the short spiny scrub poked him, and made it to the rocky path, he wiped them as best as he could and replaced his footwear. He was glad he didn’t have too far to travel as the grainy feel of his socks rubbed against his feet. His feet safely in his boots he started his walk to Penn, jumping and rubbing his limbs every few steps to warm them up and keep the blood flowing. It was more trail than road, rocky, narrow and uneven. He came across a wheel with broken spokes and wondered why anyone would risk a wagon on such a rough road. It was a fleeting thought abandoned as he went through what he would need for the journey.
“A horse, provisions?” He thought for a moment, but nothing else came to him. “Okay what provisions? Travel rations shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. Cooking equipment. Oh, and a weapon of some sort. Blankets, pillow, I wonder if I can get a mattress?” he squirmed at the thought of having to sleep on the hard ground, “hmm...”
His musings was interrupted by a whinny and he looked up to see a horse galloping towards him.
The horse skidded to a halt and pranced nervously over to him, offering its already occupied back. It was a huge, magnificent creature and its dark coat shimmered strangely. Thayne looked up at the rider and immediately felt unsure. The horse was disconcerting enough but the rider’s pale and waxen face and the sweat running down her nose frightened him. What had happened to her? The hood of her cloak had fallen back and she leaned dangerously towards him, he didn’t understand how she was still in the saddle. As he looked up at her, she slipped further and he stepped back in his surprise as her head almost touched his own. It was obvious she needed help but what could he do? He needed to find Kailim; he had no idea where to find a healer.
He took a few steps away and in the direction of Penn but he stopped even before he heard the horse’s distressed whinny. He didn’t know how or why the girl was in such a condition, for all he knew she was a rebel with militia after her or worse, inquisitors, but despite the danger he couldn’t leave her. Not when she so obviously needed help. His mind made up, and feeling like he was being suckered somehow, he pushed her upright and pulled her foot out of the stirrup. She started to slide again as he put in his own foot and mounted behind her, painfully landing on the back of the saddle. He attempted to move the girl forward in order to get more comfortable and discovered the rope holding her in place.
She twitched violently as Thayne leaned forward to find the ties and his chest was poked by something. He leant back and looked down to see the shaft of an arrow.
“Ow, sorry.” He winced at the thought of the pain he must have caused. He wasn’t going to be able to ride with her unless he could move her, and he couldn’t untie her from where he sat, he couldn’t reach the knots while trying to avoid putting pressure on the arrow. He was about to dismount when he was overcome with giddiness and he felt a strange sensation of falling forward as he lost consciousness.