by Aaron Thomas
He lay shocked and checked himself over. He assured himself that he was, in fact, uninjured. “That was way too close, and I’m glad I’m done hunting for a while. I think I’ll have nightmares of that for months.”
Bowie dismounted and retrieved an arrow jutting from the deer’s eye. It was broken, the arrow head must have lodged into the skull bone. The stag’s neck was broken as a result from the summersault. The deer was relatively easy to lift, which surprised Kilen. They loaded it up on Charger’s back and tied it down so they could take it into town. Bowie fussed about making sure no blood got on his saddle; this was an everyday reminder when you hunted with him.
They continued to walk towards Kilen’s house, but he didn’t speak the rest of the way home. Bowie reminisced how he saw the buck leap, and how he took a wild shot striking it in the eye just as it lowered its head in the charge. The buck’s antlers stuck in the ground, throwing it end over end and breaking its neck, laying it to rest right beside Kilen. It was one of those stories that, by the end of the night, would have the town’s folk talking about how Kilen tried to wrestle a stag while Bowie shot arrow after arrow into it. He was sure that Bowie would help the stories along once he got back to the tavern.
When they approached Kilen’s house, his mother was in the yard gathering the wash from the line. She greeted Bowie and looked the deer over. “I see you boys managed to break its neck to make sure the meat stays moist, not a thing easily done. Won’t you come in for some lunch and sit for awhile Master Crescent?”
Bowie, taking off his hat, made a formal bow, making him look almost noble. “Why thank you m’lady, I would love to join you.” She gave them both a wink, and then they saw that the stew was already prepared. Loaves of bread were sitting on the table in a basket.
“I thought you would be home earlier. I told Master Jay not to keep you as long as the others. I knew you wouldn’t be able to concentrate all day. I believe you have some supplies. You need to get into town to gather the rest before it gets too pricey. We can finish lunch and head right in. I have a gift I need to take to the mayor.”
Bowie spoke up, “Actually, I’m almost finished; I had a big breakfast. I need to get the stag to my dad before the sinew starts to mess with the meat’s taste. I do thank you again for the lovely meal, m’lady. I wish to reserve a dance this evening, if I’m not being too forward.”
Kilen let out a laugh. Sahera laughed. “You know that I have a heart for only two men, Master Crescent, and you are neither. I shall see you, Mr. Everheart, at the town square shortly after the music starts. Assuming you aren’t dancing with another lady when I get there.”
“I will be there. There isn’t any other woman to compare to your beauty within leagues, mother.”
“Keep talking like that to women and neither of you will make it out of Basham without a wife and kids to feed. You had better just let me meet her before you go and get yourself married, you understand, son?” Kilen nodded his head.
“Do you mind if I borrow some meat cure from you, Mrs. Everheart?” Bowie was already reaching in the cabinets looking for it when he asked.
“You know you are always welcome to my stock. Kilen, come help me get your father’s chest down from the top of the wardrobe,” she said as she left the room.
The chest was full of his father’s old war souvenirs and his armor. He’d seen his father polish, package, and place each item before he set out on his quest nearly ten years ago. When Bowie came back into the house he was carrying a large slab of meat and had his sleeves rolled up as to avoid getting any blood on them. He often showered Kilen’s mother with gifts. He had told Kilen it was to gain her favor so he could get him out of the house anytime he needed. “I am off to my father’s. I’m sure if you will hurry along, you will find me there. I need to get Charger into his stable and that stag off his back.” They acknowledged his leaving by waving, and turned to begin unloading his father’s chest. Sahera took out a small velvet pouch with a gold drawstring and set it on the table. Kilen cleared out all the armor and leather straps and his mother commented on how they reminded her of his father. At the bottom of the chest was a leather bundle a little longer than the length of Kilen’s arm, she removed it and placed it on the table. She repacked all the armor and leather straps leaving the bundle and pouch on the table.
“Come and sit. I want to tell you this before your sister gets home.” He sat across from her at the kitchen table and wondered what was in the bundles. “Your father wanted me to wait to tell you this before you left on your adventure. You already know that he was a soldier and that he was very good at it. He did not want me to portray him as a hero, but I disagree with him, and I know he is one. You are very likely to hear about his life if you ask the veterans in the Earth Kingdom’s army. He wasn’t just a soldier. He was a scout for the Earth King’s wizard advisor. Many of the tasks he was asked to do in silence and without being seen. He left us to do one of those tasks ten years ago. He left us his armor and rings to sell as they are imbued with earth magic by Wizard Calvin.” Kilen was awestruck at the secrets his parents kept from him. She opened the velvet pouch onto the table and spilled two large rings with a chain strung through them into her hand. Both rings were plain polished silver with no marks besides a tree etched into the metal inside the band. “Kilen, do you know the difference between magic wielders?”
“I thought that they were all the same.”
She held one of the rings in her fingertips, “That is what they want you to think. The small piece of ignorance gives them an advantage. A wizard can summon elementals, imbue weapons, armor, and other objects. They can wield the magic to the limit of their abilities, which grows in strength over time. An armor bearer wears a piece of imbued armor and gains the ability to wield magic, but isn’t able to summon elementals or imbue other pieces. A weapon bearer can summon elementals and wield magic, but cannot imbue armor.” Kilen nodded his head showing that he understood what she was telling him. “Armor and weapon bearers’ strength in magic doesn’t grow unless they collect more armor imbued with magic. A wizard’s strength will always increase until they imbue something. They then decrease in power a little.”
“So dad was a wielder?” he asked. She nodded her head and handed him the ring she was holding.
“These are earth magic rings. Today you are to meet the wizard riding in to bless our town during springfest and request he restore the rings to power. He will charge for this, but the rings will be worth a year’s earnings of gold when sold to the Earth King. You can sell it to the Mayor in Basham for a fraction of the price the King would buy it for, but you should be able to live off of it for a long while if you spend it carefully.” She opened the leather bound pouch to reveal a short sword and sheath. The sword was a glossy gray color and the sheath was black with silver coils spiraling down the length, it was of far finer quality than any sword he had seen before. “This is also your father’s. It is the blade he has had the responsibility of owning. He used this to kill many people, many people that he knew. He always said it was a burden to own a blade that carried this much pain. I thought you would like to see it at least once in your life. This blade is the reason he cannot be with us, the rest is a story that only he can tell.” Sahara looked at the blade and sighed as if she wanted to reveal more, then rewrapped it. She took her coin purse from a pocket in her skirt and took out three gold crowns. “Your father’s armor has kept us wealthy for a very long time, and we still have a lot of armor to sell before we have to look for other ways to support ourselves. Your children should see the last profits of your father’s sacrifices. Take these and give the wizard what he asks to restore the rings and whatever is left over is yours to spend on everything else you will need for your journey.”
Kilen picked up the rings and held them in his hand, looking at the tiny trees. Sahera watched him as he turned them around in his hands. When he finally felt her eyes on him, he looked up and spoke quietly, “What if I don’t want to sell them?�
�
“It would be your choice whether or not to sell them, but I feel it would be a very short journey if you didn’t. The rest of the armor is to support your sister and me.”
“I didn’t mean I’d want any more armor, but I don’t feel as though I could let a piece of my father’s history go like this. It’s just, I think I’ll hold on to them as long as possible. I have a bit of coin saved up of my own from helping Bowie hunt. I still want to go on my journey, but I don’t want to sell a piece of my father’s history just for my own adventure.”
“It’s your choice son, but let me warn you that the jewelry is dangerous to hold on to. Once the magic is restored it will enhance the wearer’s strength and stamina, but will make you stubborn. It alters the way you would normally go about your day. Others will want them, so keep them a secret or you shall bring unwanted problems to yourself. The elemental rings can change a guard’s status, the wealth of a town, or even give the strength for an old man to keep plowing his field long after he should have stopped. Everyone will be tempted by those. Even those in our town will want them. That is why I give them to you just before you leave.”
Kilen turned the rings over a few more times before looking up to his mother. “I’ll keep them safe,” he said flatly. He looked at the sword that was wrapped in leather before getting up from the table to head into his room. He had wasted enough time. The best of the town’s supplies had surely been sold to the peddlers by now. Kilen would have to buy the scraps or buy from the peddlers at a higher price. He went to his room and pulled up a floor board, like his dad had taught him, and pulled his coin purse from underneath. From his hunting and his mother’s three crowns he now had about twenty-three crowns worth of gold. “This will be enough to get me halfway to Kelten and the Earth King if I wanted.” In his mind he assured himself it would be enough. He snatched his coin purse, put it in his pocket with the velvet pouch, and ran for the door. He stopped and glanced at his father’s sword still in its sheath, and then turned and ran toward Humbridge.
Springfest is the one day of celebration in Humbridge all year but Bowie couldn’t drink to passing out. He had a coin purse busting at the seams from the quick sale of the stag and his arrow supplies, and he had nothing he needed to buy. Daniel would drink his share for him and all Bowie had to do was get the barkeep to keep his friend’s mug full. Bowie was only here to hear the news from the King’s messenger. Bowie listened intently sitting at the bar with Daniel, his back to the rest of the tavern. The Mayor, Chester Bingham, his son Chit, and the messenger sat at the hearth talking about the year’s taxes.
The messenger read from a book, “The year’s taxes shall be paid in full with a town person’s voluntary entry into the king’s military arms for a period of no less than one year. If that person resides for an additional year, taxes will be cut in half for that town. If no volunteers are present in a village, they shall pay a price of no less than twenty gold for the upkeep and protection of the Earth King’s military.” The messenger looked up from the book, “have read what I have been asked. Do you have a volunteer this year?”
“I will volunteer to serve the army for my village,” Chit boasted. He tipped up the mug, finished it, and called for another before he set it down on the table.
The small puffed up messenger stood, “Great, you must present yourself to the wizard after the blessings.”
Chit laughed loudly, “You actually think someone from this town can afford to buy a blessing from the wizard?”
“Chit you will be respectful to the king’s man,” Mayor Bingham demanded. “I will announce the wizard as I have done in past years. Is there a name and title I could announce him with?”
“Your town will be graced by Water Wizard Twilix. She will be here shortly. Please arrange any ceremony now so she doesn’t have to wait. I will warn you, she is not what you would expect in a wizard. Nonetheless, she is a wizard and a powerful one at that.”
The mayor looked at the messenger a while before saying, “We shall treat her as every other wizard we have received in the past, with the dignity and honor they deserve. Please relay my heartfelt thanks to the King for sending us a water wizard. It has been years since they have been seen this far into what was the Water Kingdom.” The messenger got up from his meal, grabbed his message book, and walked out the door for the next leg of his journey. Bowie knew he would keep traveling all night, stopping at every city to gather money for the King’s army. He wouldn’t stop until he reached the ocean. The wizard would come and accept money for giving blessings to the town’s people. Wizards could set their own prices, but were not allowed by the King to imbue any armor or any weapon. These blessings were the reason for the Springfest celebration. The cities would get to hear news from their King and see a powerful wizard. Bowie decided he had nothing more of interest to learn here in the pub and could stop spending his money on Daniel’s ale.
“Let’s get out of here and find Kilen. He’ll want to know about Chit leaving.” Bowie whispered to his inebriated friend. As he stood up, he was knocked from his feet landing face down on the freshly swept tavern floor. He got up red faced, covered in ale and tobacco spit. Standing in front of Chit, he stood a head and half taller than Bowie and twice as wide. Chit was the Mayor’s son. He had grown up a privileged and provided life. His father was a pompous and gloating man, and Chit was no different. Chit was one of the largest men in town and used his strength to pinch women’s bottoms and beat down any man that might try and protect them. He had been known to drink his fill and then some on his father’s tab. He thought that because his father was Mayor, he would run the town one day. Bowie guessed that today would be a rude awakening for Chit.
“What did you say about me, pretty boy? I don’t like people talking behind my back in my town. Especially on my big day. Now tell me what you said so I can use that shirt of yours to clean my boots before I leave.”
Daniel finished his ale slammed his mug down and stood up. He spoke softly with his back toward Chit. “You’re one to talk. Look at the pretty green shirt you’re wearing. Did your mother pick that out for you to impress the messenger boy? I’m sure he’d like a kiss. If you hurry I bet you could catch up to him.” Daniel turned to face Chit. They were about the same size, but Daniel had worked in his father’s stables his whole life and didn’t receive much school. He often only wore his leather vest as not to dirty his wool shirts. He spent his days tossing grain, loading mules, and fetching saddles. His build was as solid as stone. He had been kicked enough times that the entire town knew just how tough he was. No one wanted to get into a brawl with him.
Chit stood eye to eye with a wavering Daniel and then straightened his jacket. He gave one glance to Bowie, warning him not to get in the way, and walked out the tavern door. Bowie wiped off his shirt. He would have to change before the wizard showed up and the dancing started. He helped steady his friend as they made their way for the door.
***
The town was the busiest it was going to be all year with festivities and selling of their wares. Kilen had already been stopped to ask how he managed to get so close to a deer to wrestle with it. Another gentleman asked him if he had to run it down before snapping its neck. Bowie had obviously worked quickly. Bowie couldn’t be found at the butchers so Kilen knew his next stop would be the tavern to spread rumors. When he approached the front stoop, a man in a green riding suit with black polished boots came out of the tavern, followed by the Mayor. Kilen watched as he mounted and brought his horse to a canter through the town’s main road. He turned back to see Chit come out upset about something. The look on his face was murderous. Kilen turned to avoid Chit’s gaze. He didn’t need any humiliation today, he already had one near death experience. Chit passed him and Kilen turned back towards the tavern and saw Bowie leading Daniel out. Bowie smiled and stuck his chin out at Chit, and Kilen knew the reason for Chit’s angry face.
“Hey Daniel, who was the guy in green?”
“The messenger for
the King. Chit is finally leaving for the King’s army!” Bowie was always ready to let Kilen know of any good news he had heard about Chit. “He’s only been saying it for two years now. I guess he’s finally run off enough of the local girls that he needs a new playground.”
Kilen waved off what Bowie had said. He wouldn’t believe that Chit was leaving till he watched him ride out of town. “Daniel, does your Dad have that horse, the one that could pull the carts forever?”