Prospero returned the next day, stirring from his unconscious state just as the roosters in the town began crowing. As he dressed himself, he stopped short of returning his spellbook to its holster. He opened the dusty-looking tome to find many of its pages blank. Only the first twelve pages were filled. Each spell formula looked like a series of geometric shapes laid over at least one central circle. Then there were symbols and runic text and notes in the margins about what sorts of things you actually needed to have in hand to cause the spell to activate.
This isn’t going to be as easy as having a list of spells in a menu somewhere and activating them with a mere thought, is it? Prospero lamented. Instead, he spent some time reviewing the spells he had, and how they were supposed to be operated. Alas, the clamor in the living room told him that his hosts were up and about. If he didn’t want them to think he was unconscious, he needed to show himself.
He pulled his long coat on over his wizardly accoutrement and wrapped his shawl around his neck. No sooner did he get the door open than did he find Sadia excitedly waiting for him, sitting on one of the living room folding chairs that she’d turned toward his door to watch for him.
“Prospero!” she cheered, which prompted her parents to turn and do the same. They each bowed graciously to him.
Prospero returned the gesture. “Good morning, my most gracious hosts. I thank you for letting me stay the night in this place. I dread to imagine what it would have been like to camp outside in the cold last night.”
“You shall never want for bed or brazier here, friend,” Olin said proudly. He chuckled and gestured for Prospero to come and sit by the living room’s brazier, whose hot coals radiated heat in defiance of the chill morning air just outside.
“So I shant, thanks to you and your family,” Prospero agreed with a smile. “So, we are to meet with your village’s headman today? You said he is the distant cousin of a noble house?”
“Yes. His name is Izra Eurytus, and he is as close to a ‘powerful’ person as lives in Canthari. I know that he is old friends with the elderly Duke of Vitex, Laramie Roark. Duke Roark is a just ruler, whose fief is vast and wealthy. If you can meet him, you will be able to accomplish incredible things.”
Prospero scratched his chin. “Though I am knowledgeable about certain things, I am not a student of recent political and military affairs in Vallon, nor am I a particularly powerful mage. I had planned to take my time, moving slowly to make certain I was ready for bigger challenges. This is a difficult quandary.”
“I beg you to do whatever you must do to prepare yourself with all haste, Master Prospero. Each day, rebellion and warfare, famine and pestilence, plague and rot, they kill more and more innocent people.”
Prospero’s face paled as Olin spoke truth at him. He really didn’t have the luxury of taking his time. What Olin didn’t know was that nine people like Prospero were also here in this Kingdom now, and at least some of them would be racing as fast as they could to become the tyrant lords of this realm.
“We should leave immediately. I will meet with Headman Eurytus now.”
Olin nodded. He clapped his hands onto his knees and pressed himself up off of his folding chair. He went to the door, opened it, and gestured for Prospero to follow. “Let us make haste.”
The two traveled across the center of town to one of the larger buildings Prospero had noticed when he surveyed the landscape the day before. The marketplace in front of this larger building was alive with activity, where hundreds of these sapient beings were loudly peddling, haggling, and purchasing. Prospero even made note of a young boy quietly stealing. The child’s eyes met Prospero and widened in a panic as if he’d been caught in the act, but Prospero only smirked at the boy and gave him a conspiratorial wink. Your secret’s safe with me, kid. Eat up.
Olin led the way through a gate into the walled garden of the largest home in Canthari. Here the paths were not just trampled dirt, but flat flagstone laid with mortar, perfectly smooth, flat, and clean. A handful of servants went about sweeping leaves and dust off of the garden paths, while others maintained the plants, and others still rushed forward to meet the two. They bowed reverently to Olin and Prospero.
“Welcome to the Eurytus Estate, good sirs. Whose names shall I announce to my Master?”
“Tell him Olin has brought a guest from afar, an itinerant mage named Prospero come down from Avinstown in the war-torn North.”
The servant bowed and took a few steps back before turning and hurrying off toward the main building of the residence. Prospero stood at the center of the walled garden, looking around at the stunning level of sophistication and wealth on display. Izra lived a completely different sort of life from his neighbors, even as close as some right next door.
“Rank sure has its privileges,” Prospero said quietly.
“You’ve seen nothing yet, Young Master Mage. If you should come to know Duke Roark, then you will have an idea of the privileges of rank.”
The thought did not sit well with Prospero. As they waited, the same servant returned from the house. “My master has just awoken and is getting dressed. He will formally greet you in the audience chamber. Please come this way! We will offer you food and wine.”
Prospero followed Olin, who followed the servant, into a long open-concept dining hall, where two rows of small, low tables lined a pathway leading up to a raised platform at the head of the hall, where another low table was. Prospero knew the lore of Unity Online well enough to know how this worked. The servant ushered him to sit at the first spot on the right-hand side of the hall, the station for the guest of honor. Olin sat to his left, and the two waited a long time in awkward silence.
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Eventually, fancy bronze drinking cups were brought forth, filled with warm red wine. Prospero took a sip and was surprised by the quality of the flavor.
Olin looked apologetically at Prospero. “I’m sorry for the long wait, Prospero,” he whispered. “Not many from outside the village ever pay us visits, so he tends to, ahem-“ he coughed quietly and trailed off, taking a moment to form a diplomatic phrase, and didn’t come up with one in time.
A middle-aged man appeared wreathed in an air of his own self-importance. He walked, chest puffed up, gut sucked in, all the way to his spot at the head of the hall, then flipped his dangling sleeves with a wave of his arms and sat down. He took a drink of wine and savored it for longer than was necessary before turning to regard Olin and Prospero for the first time. Prospero and Olin bowed where they sat.
“Olin,” Izra said. “For years, you have avoided visiting me here.” He spoke the words in such a way as made it impossible for Prospero—and by the look on his face, Olin—to judge if he was offended or not. Then the man laughed and gently slapped his hand down on his little table. “You must visit more often, my friend! You old soldiers, always so reticent to make friends with officials.”
“A-ah, my apologies, Master Eurytus. Every day, I am covered from head to toe in the dirt of the fields. I do not dare to present myself before you like that. You are a man deserving of more illustrious guests than I.”
Prospero did his best to keep how impressed he was with Olin from showing. The guy sounded less like a rural farmer, and more like a court dignitary. This was some top-notch flattery on display.
Olin left that last phrase opeopen-endedllowing Eurytus the opportunity to question the elephant in the room. “More illustrious guests,” he mused, nodding slightly while stroking his beard. “This is Prospero, the mage of Avinstown?” Izra looked Prospero over with keen eyes—at least, they looked keen. “You look much younger than I expected.”
Prospero chuckled and nodded once in answer. “You are right to expect someone older, Master Eurytus. I am only a young mage. There are countless magical secrets in this world, but I,” Prospero said, as he set his spell book on the table and patted it twice. “-only know a scant few of them. Still, I have traveled here in search of a purpose. If there are any troubles that your village faces, I would offer my aid and counsel, even if my magics should fall short.”
Izra frowned thoughtfully and leaned back slightly, still stroking his stately beard. “Even a junior mage must know something good. Come! Show me an example of your magics, and I will tell you if I have use of you.”
Prospero bowed his head and stood up. Oh boy, moment of truth. Probably should have practiced this before coming here, he thought, as his anxiety mounted.
He collected his spellbook from the table and came to stand in the middle of the audience chamber. Headman Eurytus now leaned forward again, wine in hand, watching with interest to see what would happen.
Prospero opened his book, and gently, reverently ran his hand down the soft vellum page of a spell. As he did, the spell began to glow.
“Ohhhh!” Izra murmured with enthusiastic delight, even though nothing had happened yet.
Next, Prospero reached into one of the pouches on one of his belts. He produced a small piece of balled up fabric, which began to glow in his hand as he steadily traced out the image in his minds eye. The fabric was like a pen, drawing a line of illusory blue light in three dimensional space, that lingered as he moved and went.
Olin and Izra were both out of their seats, staring with fascination at the shape Prospero was constructing. When he was done, the lines Prospero had drawn flashed, and they solidified into a realistic, high-fidelity illusion of Eurytus’ own Estate in miniature.
Prospero looked up at Izra with a smile. “Come and look, Master Eurytus. I will bet that you have never viewed your home in this way.”
The middle-aged headman made an exasperated sound, then hurriedly got up and walked down the steps of his platform to where Prospero stood at the center of the dining hall. Olin came over too, marveling down at the 3D rendering of the estate.
“We can examine it as it would look to a bird,” Prospero said, rotating the image so that they looked down on it from directly above. “But if we wish to see inside the audience chamber, for instance…”
Prospero waved his hand, dismissing the roof of the audience chamber in a cloud of illusory smoke. The three men now saw the audience chamber as if viewed by a bird AND as if its roof did not exist. They saw the rows of tables, the host’s seat, and indeed, they saw three little humanoid shapes clustered around a brighter glowing point of light. This made Izra look up in fear, as if he expected to see some sort of magical eye floating overhead.
“I-incredible. Show me the inside of my residence!” Izra said excitedly.
“Ah, that I’m afraid I can’t do.” Prospero said. He brushed away the main house’s roof just as he had the audience chamber, but only a vague swirling mist was left beneath it. “I have never been inside your house, Master Eurytus. I am conjuring this imagery from my mind.”
“Incredible,” Izra breathed. He clapped his hands in delight. “Good! This is very impressive! But, eh, besides being impressive, what is the use of such a spell?”
“There are as many uses as you can imagine,” Prospero said fondly. “But to give you an example, let’s say you wanted to re-design your beautiful flower garden. You might draw out a rough idea of a plan on parchment, or discuss it with your gardeners, but you wouldn’t know what it will look like until an incredible amount of work has already been done, yes?”
Izra hummed, nodding. “I see. You are saying this can be used as a tool for making plans?”
“It can indeed,” Prospero said. He waved his hand over the space with the garden, and rearranged it to look more like a plant nursery. He added a small water pond with a gazebo at its center and a small wooden bridge adjoining to the garden. “Like so.”
“This might save builders a lot of time. Or even those clearing the land for new fields,” Olin offered.
“Indeed. With something like this, we could make things run smoothly around here. If Canthari looked better and produced more,” Izra murmured. Then he stopped voicing his thoughts, and slowly worked himself into an excited mood. “Prospero!” he shouted officiously.
“Yes, Master Eurytus,” Prospero answered dutifully, lowing his head in a bow.
“Henceforth, you shall be my personal guest. If you will help me to make Canthari a wealthy and prosperous place, I shall make you a wealthy and prosperous man.”
“You humble me, Master Eurytus. I wish only to help the people. I will happily accept your gracious offer.”
“Good! And Olin, for bringing such a fine guest into my service, I shall reward you with a plot of land and four bolts of fine cloth.”
Olin’s eyes went wide. His estate had just doubled, and an obscene amount of wealth had just fallen into his lap, just for making one introduction.
“Servants!” Izra shouted.
Two men shuffled foward and bowed their heads. “At your command, Master.”
“Prepare our finest guest room for Master Prospero. He will be staying with us henceforth! Make sure he wants for nothing!”
“We shall!” they said curtly, before turning and rushing to make arrangements with the rest of the house’s staff.
“Master Eurytus,” Prospero said. “You are being too kind. Allow your servant to get to work immediately. What works would you see done in Canthari?”