In Pursuit Of Wisdom (Book 1) (20 page)

“I do,” said Magi.  “I just don’t like to see good people taken advantage of, Master.  But I will leave this in your hands.”

“Good.  Thank you, Magi.  And now you must begin preparing to leave once again.  We will be departing to see the Ol’Shakoor soon.  It is time for your prophecy to be read.”  He stood up and showed Magi to the door.

“I will.  Thank you for taking the time to see me, Master.”  He departed, thinking to himself,
a terrible liar indeed,
as he smiled and turned toward Ragor’s house.

~Magi~

It was dusk, Magi’s favorite time.  The sky was purplish-blue. 
Gorgeous. 
The orange-hued moon was visible in the early night sky as he walked across the wide, dirt trails through the village to Ragor’s barracks.  He, too, lived with several other boys.  Magi was friends with a couple of them—he was friends with most in the school, actually.  They all despised Ragor.  He knocked.

The door was opened by Skylar, a small boy for his age.  Ragor’s best friend, if you could call it that. 
Lapdog is more like it. 
“Is Ragor in, Skylar?  I’d like to speak with him.”  Magi asked.  “I’m alone,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

“Ragor
!” he hollered behind him.  “Magi wants to talk.”  He heard some muffled voices.  “Ragor says he’ll see you in some other time.  He’s studying.”  Skylar went to shut the door.

Magi placed his hand on the door.  He was extremely muscular for a magic-user, almost as big as the lumpy Ragor
himself, and every bit as strong.  “Please.  Just a quick word.”  He looked down on Skylar and smiled.

“Ah
…sure.  Come in.”  Skylar turned again and yelled.  “Ragor, Magi came in!”

Ragor emerged from an adjacent room.  He was larger than Magi by a couple inches, but nowhere near as well built. 
Nugget’s right…he’s just plain ‘thick.’ 
His dark hair was cut short and poker straight, cropped just above his ears.

“What you want?
” Ragor asked.  “Come to bitch about your friend?” He narrowed his eyes in a manner that would have made him look menacing if Magi was prone to intimidation.  He wasn’t.

“As a matter of fact, yes.  Just one question.  Why?  You had him beat.  Why almost kill him?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

Ragor hesitated.  “Mr. Composed…” he began.  “You ever want something so bad you just sort of lose it?”

“Sure, we all have.  I have a hard time believing you just ‘lost it’ though, Ragor.”  Magi crossed his arms.

“Right.  Just like you didn’t lose it when you nearly crushed your pal Kyle.”

“That’s different, Ragor.  My intent was never to hurt him, and you know it!”  Magi took a step toward Ragor, pointing.

Ragor backed up a step, but didn’t back down.  “And mine was?  So you’re a mind reader now, eh?  Think you know a person’s intent.  Your arrogance is unbelievable.”

“Arrogance?  It’s not arrogance, Ragor, it’s common sense.  Only a fool would equate these two events.  Kyle was still defending himself—he even cast his spell.  It wasn’t strong enough, but he was still competing.  Tarsh was defeated, hands over his head, ready to yield.  And you put ten missiles into his chest.  And while we’re being honest with one another, it’s not as if this is exactly out of character for you, either.  You disgust me.”

“You finished?  Let me know when you’re off your high horse, because last I checked a mage with hands over his head could still cast spells.  You think you’re so wise, don’t you?  The ‘wonderkid of Brigg,’ raised by a True Mage.  You’re not as smart or as wise as you think, Magi.”  Now Ragor took a step forward, sucking in his gut and straightening his back to his full height.  “And you disgust me, too.”  He looked directly at Magi with no hint of remorse, but no hint of malice or fear, either.

“And you tripped me.” 
Which am I more upset about?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Ragor said without even a whisper of a smile. 
An honest lie, if ever there was one.

Magi hesitated this time.  Then he asked, “What did Marik say to you about this?”

Ragor flinched and lowered his head to stare at the floor.  He relaxed his shoulders and stepped back again.  “We discussed how the tournament ended.”

Magi pressed.  “And?  I can’t imagine our Master letting this go unpunished.”

Ragor picked his head up and looked directly at Magi and gave a hollow, cold laugh.  “Oh, you don’t need to worry about punishment.  It doesn’t concern you, Magi.  Go mind your own business—I’ve got studying to do.”  He stared Magi down for a brief moment, then turned and left without another word.

Magi
also turned and left.  Skylar sat in the next room, eating a tiny slice of roasted pork with a small apple.  He looked up and curled his finger at Magi, who came closer to the small boy.

“He dreams
,” Skylar whispered.  “Last night, and every night of his life from this point on, he’ll dream of Tarsh filling his own chest with those magic darts, and will awake full of pain.  He’ll suffer for his lack of restraint from this day forward.  Now go, and let us get back to our evening.  We both have studying to get done.  You can see yourself out.”  He wiped some grease of his mousy face and headed to his room.

Magi shut the door behind him and headed back, pulling his cowl up over his head as the
night wind blew in his face. 
Fitting
, he judged. 
Judged…
he smiled under his hood. 
Marik knows me well.  He said I wanted to sit on the ‘Judgement Throne’, and he was right.

Leaving Ragor’s house, Magi wasn’t so sure that he still deserved a public whipping, however.

~Xaro~

Xaro had spent a long day haggling with Elves in Shinty-Moore for a large shipment of wood.  The men Tar-Tan had left behind had many tasks, including continuing their training.  But their most urgent need at the moment was the repair of several towers around Sands End
. 
Elaborate scaffolding and bracing would be needed, and for that, they needed strong wood, and lots of it.  Almost all of his wood had gone toward the construction of ships capable of bringing back 50,000 men.  He needed new supplies, and had been teleporting back and forth across the Ajax Mountains that cut across Ipidine to meet with various trading groups all day.  He was tired—not physically—but mentally, having used a non-trivial amount of energy in his spellcasting throughout the day.  Yet one more spell was needed.  He had a final appointment this evening…on the other side of the world.

He could not teleport there; there was no magic that could send him across the vast sea.  It was a limitation on the physics behind the spell itself.  There was something about large bodies of water that simply absorbed the energy
into which a mage transformed in order to facilitate the teleportation.  Over land this wasn’t an issue; mountains and rivers and forests had no effect on the spell.  Across a continent, a mage was only limited by the depth of their own energy reserves.  But across a large body of water…that was different for some reason, and the problem had plagued spellcasters for centuries.  Many a mage had tried without success to create a new spell that would eliminate the need for sea travel.  Invariably their energy was lost at sea, perhaps manifesting as a solitary wave or a lightning strike unseen in the middle of the ocean.  It wasn’t quite the same as drowning, but the effect was the same.  If any
had
succeeded, they’d never put their spell in writing.

But there were other ways of communicating across the vast distances of Tenebrae.  Summoning his energy, Xaro focused on the elaborate incantation that would summon the shade of another person.  Drawing complex
runes in the air and chanting flawlessly, he completed the spell with a flourish of black powder that he tossed into the air.  As the dark dust settled, it formed into the outline of a man.  The outline began to shimmer, like a reflection in a calm pool of water.

“Nathaniel
, I appreciate you agreeing to meet.  You look well.  How is business?” asked Xaro.

“As you know, the Guild does well…but not nearly as well as it should.”   The mist smiled.  He was an unremarkable man in most every way.  Some would perhaps describe him as too thin, but many in this Dark World looked thin, unable to eat their fill.  He gave the impression that he was more athletically thin than malnourished, however.  Light brown hair was cut short to his head, and his eyes had a slight tilt to them.  Xaro looked at his face again, and did think his nose was a bit hawkish, but again—hardly remarkable. 
Just as he would have it, no doubt.

“Well, if you can’t keep your thieves from stealing from you, perhaps that is a sign you train them too well.”  Xaro laughed, as he took a seat opposite the shadow he had summoned.  “But perhaps I can do my part at helping enlarge your coffers.”

“That is what we are here to discuss, I believe.”  Nathaniel smiled patiently and politely back.

Probably not the first time you’ve heard that joke
, thought Xaro.  “Yes indeed.  Let me proceed to the point then.  I am in need of a Master Thief, and I will offer the Guild a contract for his services.”

“There are several potential candidates we could consider.  What do you have in mind?”

“I need your best.  I want the top of Guild.”  Xaro crossed his arms.

“I see.  That will not be an inexpensive contract.  Perhaps if you could tell me a little more
—”

“I can’t.  Or rather, I won’t.  You understand.  My contract will be through the Guild of course, for I value your recommendation.  But the work shall be between me and the Master Thief we agree upon.”

“I do understand, of course.  But for such a contract, you never know.  I may join you myself!”  The shadow of the mist smiled greedily at Xaro.

You will join me eventually regardless.  But have some tact, Xaro.
  He laughed good-naturedly.  “I wouldn’t dream of taking you away from the important work you do.  Someone must ensure the secrets of your Guild are judiciously passed along.”  Xaro stood up.  “But come.  Let us talk of your best.  Who has earned the top spot in your Guild?”

Nathaniel’s shade seemed to ripple as he paused before answering.  After a moment he said, “How long will you need our services?”

Xaro took a step forward, “Until the job is done and then longer.  I am not hiring this person for a job.  I am hiring this person…period.”  He continued to move toward the image of the Head of the Thief’s Guild.  “This person will not steal for anyone else.  Ever.  Now let me be direct.  Do not waste my time with a lesser thief, figuring they may die and therefore I’ll come back to you with another contract.  If this thief fails, I will find another thief, of course.  But I will find you first, and we will revisit this recommendation
in person.
  Do we understand one another, Nathaniel?”

The Guild leader took a step back, but the shade remained where Xaro had conjured it, so the effect was that the Mist
looked smaller next to Xaro.  “We understand each other, Xaro.”  There was an awkward pause, which Xaro did not disrupt. Finally, the Mist continued. “I have a recommendation for you.”

“Go on.”

The Mist put his hands together, and Xaro noticed how long his fingers were.  “For 10,000 in gold, I will release Trevor Blink to your care and assignment.  He is a new Master, but unquestionably the most talented in our Guild.”

“How so?”  Xaro asked.

“Are you familiar with the jewel some call the Purple Sun?”

“Vaguely.  Supposedly an Elvish pendant.”

“Correct.  An Elvish pendant worn by their princess, the Lady Elyn.  For his final test, Trevor stole this amulet.”

“And that makes him top of your Guild?  What did he do, club her on the head and take it from her neck?”

This time the Mist walked forward, smiling, which caused his image to enlarge until Xaro could see every line in his face.  “As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what he did.  In the castle at Thalanthalas.”

Xaro raised an eyebrow.  “Arrange a time for us to talk.  You shall have your price if I like him.”

~Tar-Tan~

Tar-Tan was prepared for lookouts, sentries, scouts, or watch towers.  It’s what he would have had in place, were he governing the island.

There were none.  Clear water reflected the blackness of the sky as it lazily lapped onto the fine sand of the beaches, carrying all of their boats onto the shore.  The islands were not large, and Tar-Tan had fanned his troops out to attack on multiple sides, cutting off any chance for retreat.  Given that
he would not have to fight his way to the shore, it appears not only would he have the advantage of surrounding these men, but also the element of surprise.

With a word, he put in place the elements of his plan that he felt would best work if surprise was still on the table.  Roughly 150 newly branded True Warriors were deployed on all sides across ten different isles, each unit tasked with a single over-arching objective:
capture the women and children.