by Allan Joyal
The courtyard itself was not quite big enough to play a football game, but I guessed that you could easily set up three basketball courts in the area and still have space to walk around. Several trees stood in the courtyard, their leafless branches a testament to the oncoming winter.
The man reached the trio waiting in the stone circle. Immediately they turned their gaze upon the doorway. It was an intense almost tangible attention, and I stepped forward, walking the short distance to the circle. I came to a stop just outside the circle and waited.
The three men were all very similar in appearance. Each had gray hair, and a long gray beard. Their outfits made them look a bit like some sultans from some tale out of the Arabian Nights. Baggy pantaloons covered their legs, and their shirts were billowing and bejeweled creations made of a light cloth that looked like silk.
One of the men stepped forward. Despite his apparent age, he stood upright and walked with ease as he crossed the circle. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"I was given the name Ronald Dawkins by my parents. Since I came to Jord, I've gone by Ron," I said.
"You are one of those that arrived in the magic boxes?" the man asked.
"I'm not sure I consider an elevator a magic box," I said. "But it is true that I have been in Jord less than fourteen days, and I was somehow brought here by magic."
"A non-answer," the man said with a snort. "Werlyn, Sespatovol, should we explain to this man and his companions what we know?"
One of the other men stepped forward. Like the first man, who I was now guessing to be Cerlonin, he showed no weakness or slowness as he approached the edge of the circle. He looked me over, taking time to stare at my garments.
"Can we be sure he is one of those who came from the magic boxes?" he asked. "The shirt is homespun and the vest clearly of dwarf manufacture."
"The clothing I was wearing was never meant to last for two weeks without washing," I stated. "We acquired clothing while in Linktrum. It seemed wise to wear it when we arrived here."
"Wise, but can we be sure that you are who you say you are?" the man asked me directly. "What proof can you offer us?"
I sighed. "Unless you have already met someone who arrived in the elevators, it would be impossible for me to prove it. Just like it is now impossible for you to prove that I didn't. The fact that I'm aware that three elevators brought people and dumped them in the mountains above Linktrum should be enough to convince you. From what I understand, we made the journey from there to here about as fast as someone can walking."
The man's face turned stormy. "Cerlonin, I don't like this one."
The first wizard merely shrugged. "I doubt we will like any of them. Asvertin was an angry lad before he left the Academy, and if he truly attempted to curse that little village, it's very unlikely the people his spell brought would be easy to like."
The man snorted and turned away. The third wizard had approached the edge of the circle. He then stepped out of it and walked up to me. "Sespa and Cerlo will probably argue for the next candle," he said conversationally. "Asvertin was Cerlo's apprentice, and he's very unhappy that one of his students created such a stain on the Academy's prestige."
"Is that the problem?" Lydia asked, walking up to join us. "I'm not sure that what Asvertin did will really be that much of a blot. No one actually saw him cast a spell. Our own information about what happened is mostly guesswork."
The wizard looked at her and then at me. "Do you agree?" he asked me.
"I didn't even know the name of the wizard who cast the spell that we believe brought us here. After we'd been on Jord for more than a day, we learned that a wizard had a spell go wrong in the village Hencktor and Kariy grew up in. At that time, the thought that a wizard might have somehow cast a spell to bring us here made sense, but we had no way to confirm it."
"So the reputation of the Academy is safe," the wizard said. He seemed to be mildly disappointed, but looked me in the eye. "So why are you here?"
"Can you send us back to Earth?" I asked bluntly.
The wizard did not blink. "No," he said curtly. "The burst of magic released at Asvertin's death is far more than any of us can summon or control. We cannot send any of you home."
I nodded. "That's what we guessed, but if we had not come and asked, we would have had greater regrets. In that case, may we stay in the city while the snow flies and leave once temperatures rise?"
The wizard called Sespa squawked. "We don't offer anything without payment!"
I fumbled at my belt and pulled out a pouch. It took a moment to untie the knots I had set up to hold it closed, but a moment later a small glass jar tumbled into my hand.
Holding the jar out to the wizard, I looked at him and spoke. "We aren't completely without resources. I understand that this jar of glow weed is valuable to wizards. Would this be worth putting us up for a few days?"
The wizard frowned. "Where did you get this?"
"We had an opportunity to provide some information to dwarves from Clan Skyve. During the discussion, they offered a few goods they said you might find valuable. I thought that you might be willing to trade them for food, lodging, and some goods we'll need once we leave here," I said.
Cerlonin scowled. "You cannot stay in the Academy. Only wizards may be on the grounds at midnight."
"Fine," I said. "I'm sure there are taverns that have rooms for travelers, or perhaps you might know of an empty house we can use for the winter."
Cerlonin growled. "Not for one simple jar of glow weed!"
I smiled and pulled another pouch from the side of my pack. This one I opened a bit more gingerly before folding the fabric back and revealing the small lumps of mithril contained within.
The trio of wizards gasped. Cerlonin reached out towards the bag. I hastily pulled it down to avoid his grasp. He watched intently as I closed the pouch and slid the ties onto my belt.
"Mithril! I must have it," Cerlonin rasped. "Where did vagrant wanderers like you obtain it!"
"A gift," I replied. "We had an opportunity to do a favor for Clan Skyve, and they gave us this in return."
The wizard Sespatovol hissed in surprise, but put a hand on Cerlonin's arm. "Don't!" he whispered loud enough for me to hear. "If they are truly friends of a dwarf clan, we cannot afford to act in haste. Let us obtain a room for them at the merchant inn for tonight while we discuss what we shall offer them."
Werlyn waved the two wizards away. "A merchant inn! Such would be an insult. We own the Kertrib estate. It will allow these people to live comfortably for the winter. They could even help maintain it. The only costs to us will be food and maybe clothing. We can definitely afford that."
The other two wizards ignored the comment, continuing to argue over the mithril I was holding. I slid the pouch inside my shirt and looked at Werlyn.
The wizard had a knowing smile on his face. He winked at me and then stepped past me, walking toward the door we had used to enter the courtyard. "Come," he commanded.
We followed. The other two wizards continued to argue behind us as we left the courtyard. The wizard did not stop in the first room, but made his way to the main door and exited into the street.
Once in the street he paused, looking at the door. I glanced back to find that everyone was directly behind me. "We're all here," I said.
"Good," Werlyn said. "The other two will be arguing for the rest of the day. I'll guide you to a house the Academy uses when nobles drop by. Normally it would be shut down for the winter."
"That should work," I said. I pulled out the jar of glow weed I had shown earlier. "Can I give this to you as a deposit towards the full payment? I'm sure we'll have to negotiate for hours before we agree on the value of the mithril."
Werlyn shrugged. "I have a couple apprentices that can learn quite a bit with a small supply of glow weed. It's worth quite a bit."
I smiled. "I'm sure it is to your apprentices, but we don't know how to use it. So trading it for some help over the winter is fine."
&nbs
p; Werlyn nodded. "Very well, but come. I need to get you into the house so I can come back and calm down Cerlonin and Sespa."
He plucked the glow weed from my hand and then started walking down the road. His powerful strides forced me to jog to keep up. The others quickly fell in behind as we followed him through the streets of the city towards the house he promised we could use for the winter.
"What do we do?" Steve asked me as the wizard led us back towards the entrance to the city. "And how does he know that a storm is coming."
"Long ago the wizards of the empire did something to the weather. The first storms of winter are very predictable," Werlyn said almost absently. "As for what you do, that is for you to decide. You'll have a few days to think about it while you ride out the storms.
With those words we stopped asking questions and followed the wizard. It was clear that we had received no real welcome in the Wizards Academy and would soon have to strike out across the plains again in search of a place to call home.
Appendix
Character List
Ronald Dawkins –He worked as a salesman for Hughes and was in Daytona for the semi-annual sales meeting.
Lydia Huff - young, personable and pretty, but skittish around strangers. She was raped while on a business trip for Hughes. After that she worked hard to learn to defend herself while providing sales support from the main office
Heather Volmund - She was a coed on the same elevator as Ron and Lydia. She slender and pretty with long blond hair, but also insightful and caring.
Natalie Ginn –She was a botany student and in the elevator in Daytona.
Esme Leland – Esme grew up in France before returning to the United States to enter into a nursing school. She was enjoying spring break and was in the elevator with Ron and the others.
Albert (Al) Davidson – Al was in the Daytona Elevator. He knows he lacks many of the skills for Jord and has largely remained in the background.
Victoria Healey – She was in the Liverpool elevator. In the UK she was a shopgirl for a woman’s boutique and she’s seen class discrimination in action.
Steve Johnson – dashing, handsome and smart, another salesman for Hughes who was in the elevator.
Lisa Little – young secretary from the NYC elevator. She seemed intimidated by the others in particular William Tuttle and Elizabeth Martin who arrived in the same elevator.
Dave Chase – He worked at Hughes as a salesman. He refused to join the group when they left the initial clearing and was killed by the creatures that attacked when the spell collapsed.
Edward (Eddie) Hughes – eldest son of the owner of Hughes Engineering. Was placed in charge of the sales department because his four employees were all self-starters who could normally ignore him, but he demands that they attend his semi-annual meetings so he can write off his travels as a business expense.
Martha Lewis – another coed who was in the elevator in Daytona.
Jennifer Hamilton – another coed from the Daytona elevator. She's remained quiet and in the background most of the time.
Lisa Rhodes – another coed who was in the elevator for spring break. She later accepted the nickname Dusty to distinguish herself from Lisa Little.
Elizabeth Martin – She was a corporate lawyer and in the New York City elevator. She clashed quite a bit with Ron, but eventually began to relax and allow him to lead
William (Bill) Tuttle – He claimed to be a wealthy and powerful man, but the coeds disliked him and he left the group voluntarily after just one day.
Hencktor – He met the group in the first village they visited. As a young man he witnessed his father being killed by a collapsing mine tunnel and after that he refused to enter any cave. The village struggled to find work for a young man unwilling to mine. His aunt asked Ron and the group to allow him to join. The man has grown tremendously. Lydia claimed him as her husband a fact that appears to embarrass the young man to no end.
Kariy – She grew up in the same village as Hencktor, but while Hencktor was helped by the village, it was the “mayor” of the village that used the indenture laws to enslave a young Kariy to the owner of the one inn in the village. Ron and Elizabeth worked together to force the man to free her, and she left the village with the group for her own protection. Despite the group not wanting to take advantage of the young woman, she insists on cooking for them and has not sought to leave when the opportunity was available.
About the Author
Allan is one of those people who has lived multiple places and worked for many companies during his time on Earth. During his travels he discovered that he loved to write tales of adventure as a way of forgetting the stress that comes with everyday life. The only problem is that Allan has discovered that the characters in his books rarely want to keep to the original outline.
Allan can be found on Facebook, or you can e-mail him at [email protected]
Upcoming books by Allan
Journey on Jord (Jord Book 2)
Pioneering on Jord (Jord Book 3)
Homesteading on Jord (Jord Book 4)