by Clark Bolton
Berdtom reassured the boy there was nothing to be overly concerned about as they stopped and waited for the man to approach. He hailed the man, “Good Day sir.”
“Greetings to you sir.” the guard replied in a friendly fashion as he pulled up to Autbek. “You’ve been marked I see.” He stated unceremoniously. “You’ll need to come with us.”
“What need for this?” Berdtom replied, trying his best to keep the conversation cordial as two foot soldiers ran into view. They slowed to a walk to catch their breath and appeared not to be in a hostile mood.
“Orders from the Mage-Councilor I’m afraid.” The soldier went on to say it was nothing to be alarmed about but that it was mandatory and that the Mage-Councilor acted through the authority of the Earl himself. Anyone marked as Autbek was must appear before the Mage-Councilor immediately.
They asked for time to secure a room at an inn and to get Autbek cleaned up, particularly if he was to appear before an officer of the Earl’s court. The guards seemed sympathetic but in the end they insisted on direct travel to the palace.
Pulling up to follow the mounted soldier they preceded toward the palace as the two foot soldiers followed behind. “Since when was there an office of the Mage-Councilor?” Berdtom ask of the soldiers as they slowly wound their way through the city. He was very familiar with the city as he often did business here about for the Runeholdens and knew there had never been such an office, at least not in his lifetime.
The one on horseback replied, “Not long, a few months only. His lordship hired a mage from the western lands, a lord Tenric. It’s him you will see likely as not.” The group wound its way through the city to the eastern gate, which was the main entrance to the palace grounds. Rather than proceed through the gate the soldier took a small alleyway to the north at the last moment that lead to the much smaller and lesser trafficked northern gate.
Autbek and Berdtom parted from the three who had escorted them here and found themselves being led off into the bowels of the palace after a stable hand took charge of their horses.
Tenric, The Mage, recently hired by the Earl of Astrum as the Earldoms first court mage in over a century was being extraordinarily well paid and to his credit was holding back no effort to impress his new benefactor. In fact he believed he was about to accomplish something that no mage had achieved in his lifetime and likely many before that. To do so he had brought with him to Astrum a living totem or a Dieknotkow as it called itself. A spirit bird locked in the body of a man-bird that appeared mostly human but had a face not unlike a parrot and its arms were feathered, as were other parts of its body. The totem could not fly and in fact could barely walk and so required several stout men to assist it. Speech was limited, though Tenric suspected that was mainly by choice, but no matter he was convinced it was a priceless find on his part.
With this talented creature Tenric hoped to identify future young mages to which he would draft into his yet to be founded school of sorcery. The school was to be founded here in Astrum through the patronage of the Earl in exchange for the mage’s services. Recruitment had begun a few days ago in fact and he had just received another report of a suitable candidate.
Walking hurriedly through his offices in the palace he strained to catch sight of the next blue child as he referred to them. Already three girls had been found which kind of annoyed him since he had no use for them currently as he had planned to start his school with males only. He decided to release them and have them sent home for now. They could always be contacted later.
“Ah good!” he exclaimed as one of the apprentices, Sterncast, who had accompanied him to Astrum came forward followed by a young man who was as expected quite blue.
“Master, this is the latest one to be found. It was only a couple hours ago that he was marked.” Sterncast said, obviously excited to introduce the boy to his master. He gripped the young man’s upper arm and pulled him toward Tenric to distance him from the boy’s escort who insisted on coming.
Autbek found the Mage-Councilor to be tall and slim and somewhat middle aged and looking very much the part. The mage looked him directly in the eyes for a moment then slowly sized the rest of him up before stating. “I know you will find it an honor to join us. Now what is your name?”
Sterncast quickly offered it up, “It’s Autbek master.” Before he could say more Berdtom who had been in the rear of the group that had formed since they arrived in the Councilor's offices stepped forth to add.
“This is Autbek Lairestor Runeholden, fourth squire of Runeholden, my lord Councilor.” Berdtom could feel and see the boys unease at the use of his title and it was certainly not the first time the boy had shown displeasure when Berdtom used it in public. Autbek thought it contrived and way over blown to have a title that was basically the lowest of the low as far as nobility went.
Tenric looked put back at Berdtom’s introduction for a moment but managed to reply politely, “Oh, a lord are you … well that is to be commended.” Turning now to Sterncast he instructed his apprentice to take Autbek to another part of the offices where he could be examined later. Turning his back to the group he remarked, “Your companion will have to return another day, you’re going to be very busy.”
As the Mage-Councilor exited the chamber Autbek was urged by Sterncast to follow him through a side door. Though still somewhat bewildered Autbek followed while thinking that perhaps he had just been looked down upon and perhaps even slighted by the Councilor and for no good reason. Not that he was ever going to say anything about it as his upbringings by a very strict and proper mother forbid that.
Berdtom took a minute to talk with him before being forced to leave. “I don’t know what is at the root of this situation but they do seem determined.” Holding up a hand to keep Sterncast away he added, “I will get us a hearing with the court’s judges at least … or perhaps even the Earl. So be patient this may take until tomorrow. I’ll be in touch. There is no way they can force you into service like this!”
“Ok, just don’t leave me in here too long” he replied while glancing about at the high ceilings and ostentatious furnishings. He most certainly was not going to be comfortable here though he supposed it looked much like a few of the other palaces he had been in previous to this one. The Earl’s palace was certainly deserving of its name for a palace it truly was.
As he was led away in one direction and Berdtom in another it dawned on him what Berdtom had just mentioned. “Service … what service?”
Chapter 2
Autbek had been led into the room some time ago and though he had been provided with drink and some cheese and bread it still felt a bit like confinement to him. One of the other apprentices had some water and towels brought in after which he instructed Autbek to add one or two drops from a small bottle he handed him so as to facilitate the removal of the blue dye. It was clear the fellow was familiar with the stuff and so after he excused himself Autbek gave it a try.
Removing the stopper carefully he waved his hand over the mouth of the bottle to safely mix the odor from the bottle with the surrounding air before taking a small sniff of the stuff. It smelled like orange oil and perhaps something else but certainly not very caustic he concluded. Years of training as a maker of enchanted leathers exposed him to many concoctions and to his family’s credit it appeared to be useful knowledge here in the outside world.
When the towel was soaked with the mixture of water and some drops from the bottle he proceeded to try and remove the blue dye from his face. They had provided a small hand mirror and so he began dabbing at his checks. He found the stuff inadequate, though it helped remove the stuff it was clear it would take some time and a much greater number of towels then he had.
Thinking of doing the cleaning cantrip again he walked to the door to listen for a second for the sounds of someone close. Hearing nothing but the far off sounds of the palace he considered locking the door but realized he had no way to do so and certainly putting the table or a chair against it could seem insulting to the
Councilor’s staff. He figured the next best thing was to move a chair nearly to the door so that if someone opened it without knocking first they would at least bump the door into it which might give him enough time to hide his actions.
Holding a mirror and casting spells on one’s face turned out to be really difficult. He finally managed it by propping up the mirror against the wash basin so he had both hands free for casting. In four or five casting he had half his face free of the stuff. But now his heart was racing, which he was not sure if that was from over use of the cantrip or from the fear of being discovered casting it.
His tutors in the town of Runeholden had been very clear about excessive exertion when it came to spell casting. Though cantrips were considered the safest spell casting there was, he just was not sure how many times in a row was too much. After a moment's rest he muttered to himself, “onward through the fog” and proceeded to cast again.
By the time Sterncast had returned and sat at the table and the towels and water had been cleared away by the serving staff Autbek was spotless. He calmly greeted Sterncast with a “Hello sir”, while wringing his hands under the table. Though the man was trying to set him at ease Autbek just wished he would start spitting out answers.
“I see you’re cleaned up now, good.” Turning to one of the other apprentices who remained standing in the room he remarked “the potion worked pretty well this time I’d say.” Turning back to Autbek he began a long monologue. “Well now I know you're wondering why you’ve been selected to join in our service to the Mage-Councilor. First let me assure you this is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity as our master is a mage of some consequence and his lordship the Earl of Astrum is most pleased with us...”
Autbek sat quietly taking in as much as he could while trying to make mental notes of questions he would ask when the chance arose. However, his mind kept racing as to what was truly going on and if they really believed the potion they gave him had somehow removed all the dye. “Damn!” he silently cursed himself for using the cleaning cantrip as surely they would figure it out. After all was not their master a great mage.
“... now I’m going to test you on some things to determine your aptitude with respect to arcane languages and the like as we need to confirm you have enough talent to join master Tenric’s staff.” Sterncast then paused to allow Autbek to reply for the first time in several minutes.
“Um, a test you say sir.” Autbek asked. “I’m not clear on that, a test about what?” He was truly confused and now concerned that he might fail the test and come across looking like an idiot. He was nearly always the number one student in any classroom endeavor and worked tirelessly, as his mother would attest, to remain at the top.
“The test involves language identification and a general feel for recognizing symbols and working with them.” Sterncast told him then asked with concern, “You can read can’t you?”
“Yes sir, I can. I’ve been in school now since about six I think.”
With a quizzical look Sterncast ask him, “Are you still in school than? I would think you would be out by your age.”
Autbek was sweating now as he realized it sounded like he was just a schoolboy and thus ignorant about the outside world. “I’m still under the tutelage of my school master but mostly do independent study now … on things.” He decided to cut his answer short as family secrets could be touched upon if he continued. No need for anyone to know the inner workings of the Runeholdens, something his family had hammered into him since he had begun his training in the craft, which was how the family referred to their business.
“Ah, well see if you can make any sense of some of this.” Sterncast then spent a moment finding the correct bookmark he wanted attached to a rather large book he had previously set on the table. Opening the book and removing the bookmark he then turned the book around and slid it slowly over to where Autbek could read it.
Autbek looked briefly at the page and then glanced at the two apprentices before taking a closer look. The book was a concentrated bit of work with small notes having been written in all the margins in various ink colors and it was obviously well used as it had various stains and smudges about the pages. The book itself was written in arcane-script, a language only used by adepts for the purpose of conveying precise instructions or information as for spellcraft and the like. It had been one of the first written languages he had shown a talent for.
“Now don’t be concerned if the letters seem to move and twist … that’s normal for most people and if after a while you learn to deal with that well then you’ve got some talent.” Sterncast remarked as he watched Autbek intensely.
“Um…yea, it talks about breath control and tongue to lip placement and stuff like that.” Autbek replied as he read a little more of the page to himself. He was not quite sure of where the text was heading but it looked like pretty boring and simple stuff.
Both apprentices seemed a little confused by his answer until Sterncast turned the book around to allow himself a better look at the page. “By the gods, you can read this!”
Not sure if that was a statement or a question Autbek just raised his eyebrows and looked from one apprentice to the other. After a moment of watching the two men confer with each other using only body language he added, “Yeah, I’ve been reading this stuff since I was about six.” Now that was a bit of an exaggeration on his part he knew, but it was somewhere around then.
To confirm this Sterncast had him read aloud from the book and from several others he had brought with him until the two apprentices were absolutely convinced he was fluent in arcane-script. Both seemed shocked and perplexed that Autbek had been formally trained and let him know that he was indeed more than talented enough to become one of Tenric’s apprentices.
After letting that set in for a moment Autbek became concerned that his father was not going to like this and that a big misunderstanding was taking place. He was committed to the family business and all his training was for work within the “craft” and that was it. He never saw himself doing anything else and his family considered him potentially the most talented crafter they had seen in a generation and in fact considered him a bit of a prodigy with respect to the enchanting of materials used in the “craft.”
“Let’s go show you to your new quarters, shall we,” Sterncast said as he absently waved his hand at the small chandelier that hung above the table. All the wicks on all the candles there suddenly burst into flame. Until then the room had been lit only from the window but as the sun was setting the room had just begun to darken.
“Wow!” Autbek exclaimed staring up at the chandelier as he stood. Sterncast answered with only a small smile as he gathered up his books. Never had Autbek seen anybody use magic so casually nor to use it to light candles so openly. Maybe there was something interesting about service here he decided.
The quarters they mentioned turned out not to be quite in order yet and after standing about in a hallway for a while and trying to keep out of peoples way Autbek determined that Sterncast and the other apprentice, a young man named Lusric, both did not want him as a roommate. They had the serving staff moving things about at the last moment. Finally they cleared a space in a room big enough to place a small bed into which they did by securing one from one of the other quarters. As he watched the palace staff work he found their rigid hierarchy interesting.
A short older man, well groomed and well dressed in the livery of the palace, called out instructions to several young men who were dressed in a simpler version of the livery. The young men did all the heavy lifting of the furniture and the like and moved away once that was done. Then the maid staff moved in which was all female and they had their own leader who seemed not as important. This lady actually assisted her staff as necessary. Watching for a while Autbek concluded the well groomed man was the senior official on site, which was a phase he heard often enough within the business offices of Runeholden.
Things moved along fairly quickly and it looked like he was a
bout to be offered a chance to make use of his humble new quarters when things got complicated. A scribe appeared wearing some fancy livery and carrying a very small portable writing stand that he set down upon a table. He proceeded to dip a quill he had into a bottle of ink set in the little stand he brought and after writing a bit turned to ask who the new tenant was. When people indicated it was Autbek he turned to him and began asking questions.
“Your full name sir?” the scribe asked.
Autbek stepped forward and replied with his first, middle, and last name hoping that was all that was needed. He was tired and hoped this was just a quick formality.
“Runeholden, of the town of Runeholden?” the scribe asked as he paused from his recording.
“Ah yes, that’s correct. That is where I live.”
“Good. Have you any titles?” The scribe asked nonchalantly as he began to record again.
Autbek felt his blood rise to his head as he prepared for the inevitable reciting of his degrading title. “Yes, the fourth squire of Runeholden.”
The scribe stopped writing immediately and stared down at the piece of parchment he had been recording. Then he rolled his eyes and took a deep breath after which he turned toward the well groomed man who promptly walked to stand beside the scribe.
“He can’t reside here now can he, master Roystance.” The scribe said in very soft voice to the man beside him.
Autbek was about to say something as these two were about to become insulting he figured. His family was very highly regarded where he came from and he was not about to stand silently by. The room was not up to his normal standards but he was not about to settle for something less, unless they gave just cause.
“Hmm, you are correct sir.” Roystance replied. He turned to signal Sterncast who was standing in an adjacent room. “Master Sterncast, I’m afraid these quarters won’t do. A lord must be housed in an appropriate suite outside these quarters.” He gestured about with his hands to show his apparent disdain for this area of the palace.