Adalwulf was frustrated. He had walked through the whole village but found nothing interesting; only peasants doing their daily jobs. But it wasn’t important, he would just walk to the nearest town, he should be able to reach it before nightfall. It still irritated him though.

He asked a young man with a growing beard who was working at the corner of a wheat field, which way there where a town.

”Just follow that road, boy.” He said, happy to have an excuse to hold a little break.

Adalwulf thanked him politely, and noted the strange look the man gave him. He hurriedly walked away, following the road.

After he had walked quite a while, the road split in two. Adalwulf just stood there, trying to decide which road looked like the continuation of the first one, and finally settled on the one going left.

”Useless peasants...” He muttered as he resumed his trip. “Just follow the road he said.”

As he got farer and farer away, his feet began to irritate him. Nothing serious, and although the former host of this body had ran around a lot on his bare feet, he was walking kilometers on a stone road.  Endless grass fields and sometimes cultivated fields were at each side, only interrupted by the occasional groups of trees, until he entered a light forest, where there were many more.

After a few hundreds of meters more, he heard something coming from behind. He quickly turned around, and as he expected, a caravan had appeared not that far away, which seemed quite big. He put the hand clenching the wand behind him, not wanting them to know about his magick powers.  He decided to wait for it, hoping to get a lift. When it got closer he saw six heavily armored guards riding before the carriage in formation. This was no trading caravan.

All of the guards wore chainmail and barrel helms, with clothes outside their chainmail which showed their red and orange colors. They had swords at their side, and some had war hammers hanging in their saddle. The first guard on the right carried a long wooden lance which ended in a steel spearhead, and had a banner attached to it. It displayed a red fire surrounding an orange sword, on orange background. The guards had already seen him of course. They didn’t stop though because they were expecting him to move out of the road at their approach.

But Adalwulf didn’t move, and remained where he was standing, right in the middle of the road. When the guards began to realize he wasn’t moving, they hesitated, and within few meters of him they slowly stopped. The guard at the front, the one next to the banner man, took the word.

“Move boy! I won’t say it twice!” He shouted, though his voiced was muffled by his helmet.

“No. Not unless I get on the carriage.” He couldn’t see the face of the knight, but he guessed that he must be quite irritated right now.

“We are knights at the service of the Duke Redfyr, escorting his daughter and magician Arianna. We will remove you with force if…”

“Why did we stop?” A head appeared from within the carriage. As the only visible face, Adalwulf took a good look at her. He was also intrigued, as magicians were really rare, and normally didn’t have to travel much. She was light brown-haired, almost blonde, and her hair was hanging freely. She had a small mouth with full lips and a straight nose. Her eyes were brown, and were now fixated on him. She didn’t look like she was older than seventeen, but she had little curves, even though her breasts were pushed up by the dress she wore, which was a quite simple but beautiful red and golden colored one.

Adalwulf removed his hand with the wand from his back, so all could see it. He didn’t point it at anyone though, as he didn’t want things to escalate into a fight. He had almost zero chance at coming victorious out of a fight with half a dozen knights and a mage, and only an average chance of escaping uninjured. But he was confident that he could take a few down.

“I only seek a small favor. It is not that troublesome, is it?” He simply said.

“We will not tolerate such…” The knight started to talk, but was once again cut off by Arianna.

“You can do magic, child?” She smiled. “If you can shoot a lightning bolt in one of the trees behind you, you can come with us.”

Adalwulf frowned. Lightning was some of the very difficult spells to cast, and master. She didn’t have any intention of making him come in her carriage, yet. He turned half around and pointed the wand at a tree. A light emerged from the tip of his wand, which slowly became brighter. A few seconds later a lightning shoot out of the wand and hit a tree almost instantly. It fried the tree at the place where it hit, but didn’t do that much damage. But to a humanoid, it could have been deadly.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Arianna’s eyes widened and he saw a few knights that slowly moved their hands on their swords hilt while moving anxiously in their saddles.

To her merit, Arianna quickly recovered and put on an indifferent expression.

“You can come.” She said, and then began to move back in her carriage. “And please use your magick to cleanse yourself. You look filthy, and probably smell awful.” She added before she went inside.

Adalwulf agreed with her, although he didn’t like her tone. He used water and wind spells to wash his body, while Arianna was furiously thinking. She had only received her own wand at the Citadel less than a week before, and was now returning to her father’s castle.  And he, who looked like a thirteen year old, not only did he already had a wand but he had also mastered difficult spells with it. She needed more information about him, and why such a successful boy was wondering around looking like a beggar.

It took Adalwulf ten minutes to get the deed done, after which he walked over with half-wet hair and entered the carriage. It was a beautiful one, made of carved wood, with banners hanging down at the sides. A soldier served as a driver for the horse driven carriage, and now that he looked he noticed dozens of soldiers hid behind the carriage before, as well as wagons with supplies.

Inside the carriage, it was dark. He could still see, but the red curtains were keeping most of the sunlight out. Arianna had a soft smile when he sat down in front of her. They felt the carriage beginning to move again.

“You have great magick skills it appears. Wouldn’t you be interested in serving our House? I will personally take care of you.“ She said with a sweet smile. Of course when she said personally, she meant that her own servants would take care of him, and she would supervise it herself…

“I am very thankful, but I only need a ride to a town, so I must decline your offer.” She lifted her eyebrow slightly, surprised by the refusal, and his manners. She hadn’t really expected a peasant looking boy to have any knowledge in that area.

“Oh. That is a shame.” She made a sad expression, and then looked at him again.”But where are you going to sleep? What will you eat? Do you even have any money?”She asked with a amused smile. She was sure that he didn’t have any money.

Realization dawned for Adalwulf. In truth, it was the first time he was truly on his own, without money and a noble status. In his previous body, he had been born in a small noble family. But even so, it wasn’t like him to forget something as crucial as money. Actually, now that he thought it through, it wasn’t like him to act that reckless at all. He guessed that it was the childish body that made him impulsive. Bu there was no way he would ask Dobarn for help. His pride wouldn’t allow him to that.

“Well?” Arianna asked, impatiently.

He realized that a moment had passed. “Actually, your offer doesn’t seem that bad now that I think about it.” He said with a smile. The Sylvestan Kingdom could wait. He had around six years before his coming of age after all.

Arianna giggled. “Oh, by the way, you know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

“Pardon me. I am Tarold.” He marked a slight hesitation before the name, although he had already found it beforehand.

“Tarold. May I call you Tal?” She asked. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.” It didn’t seem like she had noticed anything. She smiled and raised her hand to touch his cheek, and caressed it. At first he was uncomfortable, but he quickly relaxed. He enjoyed the first human contact he had felt in years, and almost closed his eyes.

She giggled and smiled sweetly, although she was confused that she had such an effect on a child. He must be in dire need of love, the poor child… Is what she thought. But that suited her just fine.  Magicians were rare. If she could get one for herself, she would gain a lot of status. Even more so as he was quite young.

The Tarold had fallen asleep.

"The future looks promising." She whispered with a gleeful smile.