Adalwulf, or Tarold as his new name was, woke up. He dizzily looked around and noticed Arianna looking out of the window. She had opened the curtains, which was most likely the thing that awakened him. But that’s not possible, was his first thoughts. How could I fall asleep before a stranger?  How could I be so careless? Did she cast a spell on me? No, I would have noticed. He thoroughly searched for all possible scenarios. He finally settled on a mix of tiredness between the possession of this body and the backlash of the spell earlier. This body seemed even weaker than he expected.

She finally noticed that he was awake and made and apologetic smile. “Sorry. I hoped it wouldn’t wake you up.” She then looked out of the window. “But we will soon arrive. It has been quite a while since I was here last time, so I wanted to see our lands. I have been studying in the Citadel for a year, to obtain the wand.”

To obtain a wand, you would have to relearn all your previous spells that you knew how to perform with a staff. A wand made the toll on the body easier when you used magick, and your spells slightly more powerful. But it was mainly for the first reason that mages would seek a wand, for being able to cast more spells could be a crucial factor in a duel or battle.

“That’s impressive. You must have had great teachers.” Who were probably paid by her father who was a Duke. It was the highest rank of a lord, standing over Counts and barons, and must therefore have a great territory with many villages and mills. The latter were actually much sought after, as all peasants had to mill their crops and pay taxes of them as it was forbidden to do it at their homes. This gave a sturdy source of income to the landlord, and was an efficient way to keep control over the peasants and the crops, because the lord could close the mill and thus make the population starve if it rebelled against him.

“And great talent. But you self are quite impressive. How did you become so good at magick at such a young age?” She asked ignoring the little verbal attack.

He mischievously smiled. “I have great talent too, and an extremely talented grandfather who taught me.”  He was twelve years old right now. This meant that he couldn’t be the son of the Adalwulf who supposedly died twenty years ago. But he had a daughter, who was nine years old two decades ago, so she was seventeen when this body was born. He would just claim to be her son, and therefore with the support of the Gaëlla Order he would bring the Gorlean Empire back, with him as the Emperor. That was more or less his plan, which made him the grandson of himself.

Arianna couldn’t really see why he was smiling, so she shrugged it off. “Anyway, we will soon be at my father’s castle. I will find some better clothes before I present you to him.”

Tarold nodded and they kept the silence for the next hour or so, until the carriage stopped, and the small door opened. A servant stood there, with his hand open, palm towards the sky. He had a red tunic, with yellow hoses. With a ladies-first gesture, Tarold made a small courteous bow. She made a light smile and took the servant’s hand, and slowly stepped out, followed by Tarold.

When he was out of the carriage, he looked around. He was standing in the bailey of the castle, surrounded by tall walls on every side, with five corners that each had a large square flanking tower. One of the towers, although it had the same form it was much higher and bigger than the other towers. It was the keep, where the Duke lived with his family.

In the courtyard, or the bailey, there were a lot of people. You could hear horses neigh, and the sound of a smith hammering somewhere. Servants were walking in many and different goals and a few soldiers were guarding the entrances of the towers, and standing watch on the walls.

This was a small castle for a man with the position of a Duke, and it looked very new. He must have risen in rank and build a new castle.

“Welcome to the territory of Gorlak.” Arianna said with a proud and true smile. “It is a small but sturdy new castle.” This was where she had grown up.

Tarold froze. So that was why. The old castle of Gorlak must be in ruins, and this lord took it when he  died, and thus became a Duke. Gorlak was afterall one of the richest, if not biggest territories in the western provinces. He managed to hide his illogical anger. He knew that somebody was going to take care of it. But he hadn’t wanted to check it out, knowing he couldn’t do anything about it.

“Is that so?” He responded slowly. “Do you know how your father became the Duke of Gorlak?” He asked, trying to feign an indifferent tone.

She looked at him, finding the question strange. “The Nothars gave us Gorlak. And in exchange we pay them tribute, every year. That’s common knowledge…”

Tarolf felt disgusted. In his opinion, they had collaborated with one of their enemies, who were partly responsible for his and the Empires fall. But he repressed and buried those feelings of anger and betrayal deep inside, so they would not disturb him in the present.

Arianna told him to follow her and so he did. They went into the keep, with a few servants and two soldiers serving as guards. The knights had all gone to their chambers to rest after the long ride in their heavy armor. They eventually showed his chamber. It was small, with a bed in the corner, a small slit opening which allowed some light to brighten the room a little. A huge chest was in another corner, were he was supposed to stuff his belongings in, though he didn’t really have anything besides his wand.

Another servant arrived with a stack of clothes in her arms. Arianna threw an appraising look on them and nodded. “This is your chamber.  Put this clothes on, they will do for now.” She told him. “I will go talk with my father. A servant will inform you when you can get an audience.” She walked out of the small room.

Torald waited until he couldn’t hear their footsteps anymore, and then he closed the door. He put the clothes on the bed, inspecting them. It was a simple green tunic of linen, with an intricate pattern surrounding the opening for the neck. There was also a leather belt, pale light green hoses, and a pair of leather boots reinforced with wood to keep water and mud out. A little disappointed that it wasn’t silk, he nevertheless understood that they couldn’t just give silk clothes to every guest in the house.

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Silk was the most luxurious fabric available, and it was so costly that only the nobles and rich merchants could afford it. While its beauty made it a highly-prized status symbol, silk has practical aspects that made it much sought-after. It had excellent dyeing properties and was very comfortable and light, yet strong.

He put the clothes on. The boots were a little too big, and the hoses and tunics were the right length but too large. But as Arianna said, that would do for now. It was better than his former rags anyway. He waited a few minutes for the servant, but then he sat down cross-legged on his bed and closed his eyes.

Projecting his mind, he grazed a lot of people of the castle. Unknown to him, they would get the feeling that they were being watched and grow anxious. But in this invisible form, he couldn’t see material things, not even bodies, only life forms and their minds, so he was oblivious to it. He could hear some of their intensive thoughts and strong emotions. The first time he had done this he had been overwhelmed, but now, he could cut them off and even slightly influence them. But he did none of these things, and simply scouted the people in the area. Overall, it seemed that the people here were living well. Sure there were many negative emotions, but there were more satisfied and positive ones.

He returned to his body and inspected it from outside with his mind. It seemed like his soul where stable in its new body. That was good. He had been afraid that when his mind travelled the soul would have been destabilized, because of its attraction towards the mind. That was actually the first thing an apprentice learned in the Way of the Mind: to split the soul and the mind apart, so the mind still had a connection to its body. If both the soul and the mind left then it was extremely difficult to find it again, and attach the soul to it. Sometimes people would wander around searching for their body until their soul slowly dispersed, killing them in the process. That was one of the reasons few people attempted The Third Way.

He spotted a life form approaching his body. He quickly returned to it, and as soon as he regained his senses he heard someone knock on the door, and a female voice that was calling him. Not one he recognized though.

“I’m coming.” He said as he got out of bed and put his wand in the belt, and then he opened the door. A servant stood on the other side. She told him to follow her. She brought him to a large hall, where long wooden tables were installed and many people sitting. The tables were arranged in a reversed ‘U’ form, with the Duke sitting at the end.

Arianna sat at his left, and she had tied her hair up in knot since he last saw her. Next to her sat a middle-aged man, probably in his forties, who had a slight under belly forming but still looked strong. He had short hair and high cheekbones, and a small nose. He had gentle but lazy looking brown eyes that swept across the hall, with a satisfied little smile.

At his right sat a woman, who looked like she was a little over thirty. She had thick and straight eyebrows, which were a little darker than her blonde hair. Her hair was tied into a knot, with braids surrounding it in a circle, and then falling down in her back. She had observant blue eyes, and a high forehead. She was quite pretty overall, like her daughter.

The brouhaha slowly died down as the herald stood up next to Tarold.

“I announce Tarold, aspiring court magician!” He cried out. All eyes were now on Tarold, but he didn’t seem like it bothered him. The Duke then called him out and urged him to come closer. He had a raspy voice.

“You are indeed a young one. You know the deal, right? You swear loyalty and obedience to me, and I will house you and feed you, and guarantee not to misuse you.” He said it slowly, while chewing on a piece of meat. His teeth were a little yellow, but fine otherwise. Because when you had money, you could pay a magician to clean and repair them.

“Yes. I know.” He just answered. Duke Redfyr stopped chewing.

“Well? What do you say?”

“I accept.” Tarold put one knee on the cold stone flour, and bowed his head. “I swear that I will serve you, and I swear that I will remain loyal and obedient to you for the rest of my life.” He said with a solemn voice.

“Excellent!” He waved at a vacant seat next to his daughter. “Rise, and come over and sit, and let us eat to our hearts content.”

As he sat down, Arianna send him an approving look, and then returned to a conversation, with a young man. He shrugged, and grabbed a piece of chicken, but when he was going to tak a bite, he noticed something. In the palm of his hand, a purple mark had formed. It was small, the size of the tip of his little finger, but still unnerving.

But Tarold ignored it for now and took a bite of the chicken. It tasted fine extremely good, and the flavor invaded his mouth. It was probably the first time this body had eaten something so delicious. So he satisfied the hunger he had been holding back until now.

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Author's note :

Tell me any mistakes, or anything on your mind about this chapter.

Thanks!