“Sure. I’ll go ask for directions. We can go together, if you don’t mind my tagging along, Zdenka,” he replied.
Later that afternoon, after the two had visited both a dressmaker’s shop and a tailor’s shop, each purchasing suitable attire for the dance, they were returning to the inn. The streets were rather crowded with townsfolk, many heading home for the evening. Overhead, Zoran spied a large hawk circling. Strange place for a hawk, he thought to himself.
A little further on, the two saw a thief snatch a money pouch from a well-dressed man. A knife flashed and cut its thong from the man’s belt. The thief deftly caught it as it began to fall, and then made a mad dash through the crowd, making his escape. Just at that point, the hawk began to dive. Both Zdenka and Zoran watched mystified by the suddenness of the bird’s dive. The hawk dove straight for the pick pocket, who was running away as fast as he could go, often pushing or shoving aside others who were in his way. In one perfectly timed swoop, the hawk snatched the pouch from the thief’s hand and soared into the sky.
“Now there’s something you don’t see every day!” Zoran exclaimed. “Did you see that hawk just take that money pouch from the thief? Or am I seeing things?”
“No, I saw it too, pretty incredible. Look, the hawk is coming down again,” she pointed out. The two watched as the bird came down and landed on a tall, thin man’s arm, releasing the pouch.
“Sir, your pouch,” the man caught the attention of the victim, handing him back his pouch. From this distance, the two could not hear what was said, though they did see the grateful man giving something to the tall, thin falconer.
“Come on. I want to meet that man,” Zoran exclaimed, having never seen such a feat before. “Excuse me, sir. I saw what your hawk just did. Fabulous training. Are you a falconer?”
“Damnable thieves,” he said angrily. Tall and thin, he had black hair and eyes, with a peculiar goatee. He was probably in his early twenties, Zoran guessed. “Yes, master falconer,” he corrected Zoran. “My card. Name’s Karel Ambrose. I patrol these streets about this time of day. Streets are not safe anymore, damn thieves anyway. Think they can just steal anything they want. Well, I am showing that they can’t get away with it!” The man was mad, no doubt of that. “Excuse me, but I need to patrol some more. This time of day is prime time for the pick pockets!” He launched his bird into the sky once more and moved on down the street. The two looked at each other and headed on back to the inn for supper. The dance was tomorrow evening.
At suppertime, the inn rapidly filled up with guests and locals. Once the dinner hour passed, a number came in to drink ale and chat with friends. Zoran spied a card game getting started. As he looked at the dealer, his inner sense kicked in — something was not right here. He decided to play a round. “Zoran. Mind if I join you?”
“More the better, Zoran. Hope you don’t mind if I take your money, stranger. New around here, haven’t seen you in town before,” the dealer said. “Name’s Bedrich.” Three other players introduced themselves, but Zoran’s attention was drawn to a black haired woman, who was watching them from a distance. She looked like she was trying to make up her mind about joining them. Her short hair was nicely brushed, and she was slightly thin. Then, she walked over to the table.
“Room for one more?” she asked calmly; her eyes darted from man to man, lingering on Zoran for an instant before concentrating on the dealer. She was twenty-two, four inches shorter than Zoran, and fairly attractive.
“Sure why not. Ladies always welcome. Hope you don’t mind my taking your money, little lady,” he said in a cocky manner.
“As long as you don’t cheat and play fair, I don’t mind,” she replied a little icily. He gave her a sideways glance, but continued shuffling the cards, then dealt them. Zoran got lucky on the first hand and pulled the few coins to his side.
Three hands later and the stakes were raised considerably. Sweat poured off of two of the other players. The dealer coyly asked, “Cards?”
“Yeh, three,” both men said. They had a substantial wager already on the table. Zoran discarded one and accepted a new one. He noticed that the woman had said very little all this time. However, she watched every motion that the men made.
“Dealer takes two,” Bedrich said matter of factly, rapidly placing two cards before him.
In a flash, the woman had a dagger in her hand and plunged it down into the dealer’s hand, sticking its blade on down into the table. Bedrich howled in pain. Zoran yelled, “What’s going on?” ready to knock the woman across the floor.
She snickered, “You almost lost your shirt to this card cheat. Look at the card he just dealt himself.” Zoran slid the card out from under the man’s bleeding hand. He was holding it tightly, trying not to move his hand. The pain was intense. Zoran flipped over the very Ace that he had just discarded.
“Hey, that’s the card I just tossed back in. You, Bedrich, are cheating!” The other players became quite angry, and the barkeeper came rushing over to the table.
“Caught him cheating did we?” the apron-clad man exclaimed.
The other three players angrily told the whole story. The barkeeper pulled the woman’s dagger out of Bedrich’s hand, but not gently, causing him to howl even louder. “You are lucky that I am not going to turn you over to these players. Get out of here. If I ever see you in this inn again, I will have you killed. Do you understand me?”
“Whataboutmymoney?” he screamed, running his words together.
“It belongs to those you tried to cheat. Get him out of here now!” Several strong arm dragged Bedrich out and tossed him into the street.
Wiping off the woman’s dagger, he handed it back to her, “Thanks, Jarka, well done.” He tossed her a small money pouch, which she deftly caught, a sly grin on her face.
“Anytime, Fredrich, anytime.” Zoran picked his coins that he began with off the table, while the other three men followed suit.
“Why don’t we split Bedrich’s coins five ways?” Zoran suggested, hoping to defuse the situation further. After doing so, the three grumbled and headed to get a round of ales.
“Jarka, Jarka Mitova,” the woman said, putting her dagger away.
“Zoran. Excellent work, Jarka. I sensed something was amiss, but couldn’t put my finger on it. So the barkeeper hired you to catch this card cheater?”
“Yes, he claimed he’s had a lot of customers complaining about Bedrich always seeming to win the bigger pots. So a couple days ago he hired me to investigate. Been watching him from the sidelines last couple of nights, saw him cheating. I figured I’d catch him in the act. After tonight, he’ll not ever again be so agile with that cheating hand. Stabbed him right where his nerves are at. Yes, it’ll heal, but he’ll find he has more or less a bum hand.” She snickered, “Serves him right, the cheat.”
“Well, you certainly have a very keen eye and a lightning draw, Jarka. Thanks.”
“So, Zoran, you new town? I’ve not seen you before,” she asked rather covertly.
“Yes, I just arrived late last night. This morning I helped Zdenka and Bernard capture some bandits trying to heist some wagons heading into town. Are things always this wild around here?”
She gave him a strange look. “This is the Wild Lands. Where are you from anyway? No, things are pretty tame around here, Archmage Oldrich sees to it.”
“Long way to the east. I’m here for the Picking, hoping to apprentice under the Archmage.”
She chuckled, “Well, good luck with that. I’m throwing in my hat this time as well. One never can tell who she will pick. Well, it’s still early; best be going. Lots of pockets to pick out there tonight,” she teased or did she? Zoran couldn’t tell.
As he picked up his coins, Bernard came over to the table with two mugs of ale. “Ah, I see you met Jarka. She’s a thief, you know. Good one too, by all accounts. Some say that she is in the Archmage’s pay, thieving back from the thieves, but who knows for sure. Kind of dull in here isn’t it?” he explained in
his boring tone.
As Zoran sipped his ale with Bernard, he began to miss his two friends that he had left back in Dorum. It just wasn’t the same drinking with Bernard. He retired early.
By the evening of the dance, Zoran was incredibly bored himself. Back at the castle, there had always been many things to do, sword practice or even taking off for a horseback ride. Here, he just sat around staring at the walls. He donned his new suit and satisfied himself that he looked presentable. He then knocked on Zdenka’s door. “Just a minute,” she called out and then opened her door.
“Well, you look — well just great,” Zoran replied, rather shocked at the transformation. Gone were the leather pants. In their place, she wore a light blue cotton dress. She’d let her hair down and had brushed it. Golden locks fell over her shoulders.
“Thanks, shall we?” she replied.
“Of course,” he offered her his arm and walked her out of the inn. Again, she noted the highly refined moves that came natural to Zoran, further convincing her that he just had to be a nobleman. Both enjoyed the dance, and she found that Zoran was an excellent dancer, ten times better than her father who had taught her. By the time that they returned to the inn, Zdenka was convinced beyond all doubt that Zoran was a nobleman in disguise.
All three sat around a table enjoying a long lunch the next day. What else was there to do except wait? Just after the noontime crowd left, two others walked into the inn. Both caught the trio’s eyes immediately. Both were teens, probably not much older than himself, Zoran thought, but his inner senses began working overtime, so to speak. They seemed to have a lot of facial features in common; he hazarded a guess that they may be twins. However, it was their skin color that most attracted his attention, a pale yellow, bordering on bronze or gold. He’d never seen anyone with such skin color, though he had heard of other races around.
One was a young man, who had jet black hair and the blackest of eyes that he’d ever seen. The other was a young woman, who also had the same black hair and eyes, though hers was quite long, reaching the small of her back. Their hair was rather thick and coarse. Neither looked like they quite knew what they were doing. He walked up to their table, since hardly anyone else was now here.
“Excuse me, can you tell me how my sister and I may obtain a room?”
“Sure, just go ask the barkeeper over there. He’s in charge,” Zoran replied, adding as an afterthought, “Say, once you two are settled, why not come down and keep us company? We’re all waiting for the Picking this Saturday. Come join us. Not much else to do but wait on the Archmage.”
The lad thanked him, and he and the young woman walked over to the bar. Zoran tried to listen in on their conversation but could only hear the lad say, “Which coin is it? We are new to Brn.” The barkeeper pointed the way to the stairs, and the two left to check out their rooms.
Once they were out of earshot, Zdenka whispered, “Those are the strangest people I’ve ever seen! Did you see the color of their skin? They must have come from very far away indeed!” Both Zoran and Bernard admitted they had never seen anyone like these two before. “Glad that you invited them to join us. Maybe they will tell us where they are from.” All three were very curious — none more so than Zoran, who was mystified by the pair.
Sure enough a short while later, the two newcomers came back down and over to their table. Zoran hastily got another chair and helped the woman get seated. Strangers or not, he minded his manners when it came to a woman. Zoran quickly introduced the three of them.
“I am called Emil Vogler. This is my twin sister, Renata. We have come a very long way to meet with the Archmage Oldrich,” Emil said in a rather aloof manner.
“Ah, so you are here for the Picking too. Say, where are you from?” Zdenka asked. Zoran watched the eyes of the two teens closely.
“We are from Voss, a very long way from here. I’m sure that you have never heard of it,” he replied.
“Say our clothes look so different from yours. How do we get clothes like yours?” Renata asked. The conversation got going well at last. Zoran was certain that he did not lie, but their eyes. There was something strange, foreign even, about them. He and Zdenka volunteered to take them to the tailors and the dressmakers. It would give them time to find out more about these two.
When Zdenka and Zoran had supper together, they had their first opportunity to reflect in private on these two newcomers. “They are the strangest pair I have ever met,” Zdenka began. “She had no idea how we put on dresses! Honestly this place they are from, Voss she said, must be the strangest place. I caught her in a slight slip — well I think it was a slip. I asked her what style of clothes she was used to wearing in Voss. You’ll never guess what her answer was, Zoran. She said, ‘We don’t wear clothes.’ But she caught herself at once and said, ‘I mean dresses like these. Ours are more different.’ I asked her about them, but she pretended to be more interested in how she looked. We also got her a leather outfit as well.”
“Good. She will probably need both. That sure is strange. Emil seemed to be easily confused about normal simple things too. He had a devil of a time trying to tie his shoe laces. But then I guess if we came from a foreign land, our customs would seem odd here too,” Zoran acknowledged. “Still, it’s their eyes that trouble me, Zdenka. I cannot put my finger on it, but their eyes intrigue me.”
“Sure are black, but I know what you mean. Still, both are friendly enough, actually bordering on naive might be a better statement. Oh well, I guess foreigners are just foreigners. Archmage Oldrich is famous, after all, and probably attracts all manner of want-to-be apprentices from all over the world,” Zdenka concluded conservatively.
“Well, tomorrow’s the big Picking day. We’d best turn in early. I wonder what her questions will be?” Zoran mused aloud. The two headed up to their rooms. Try as he might, he could not get Emil’s eyes out of his mind. Something about them fascinated him, but what?
Chapter 4 The Picking
Around ten the next morning, the inn was filled with all those who wanted to apprentice with the Archmage. To get the opportunity to learn magical spells moved one up in the entire society, either to Adept or even Mage status. Both earned one a vastly better living. Hence each year many came here hoping to be chosen this year.
Precisely at ten, Archmage Nadia Oldrich made her appearance, suddenly appearing in their midst. Zoran suspected that she had most likely used a teleport spell. She was old, seventy-five, with long white hair tied into a bun on her head. She leaned on a staff, probably magical, Zoran concluded. While her body was old, her mind was sharp as was her eyes. The barkeeper led her to a side table in one corner, where she would conduct her interviews. Unfortunately, she was now on the opposite side of the room from where Zoran and his new friends were sitting.
“Darn, we’ll be last,” Karel spat on the floor, a bit angry that he had not chosen a better location, closer to the Archmage. Zoran was beginning to think that Karel was often angry or at least was easily annoyed.
“Patience, Karel,” he whispered, straining to hear what the Archmage was asking a small boy.
“She probably has a quota,” Bernard commented in his usual monotone. “Hope it isn’t filled before she gets to us.”
“Look, she is definitely casting a spell on them after she’s finished with them,” Zoran pointed out. “You can see the tiny flash of magic.” All watched the next young man as he was interviewed.
“Right, I missed that,” Zdenka commented.
“Well, I see it too,” Karel added. “I’ll make it a point to tell her not to cast spells on me when I get my interview!”
“We saw it too,” Emil added softly.
Zoran was calm; either she would accept him or not. If she didn’t, why, he would just move on elsewhere. Yet with his new friends, he saw just how much they really wanted and needed to be chosen. Even the two strange twins were extremely eager to be chosen. Time passed as one by one the many others in front of them met with the old woman
and then peacefully left the inn. None that left seemed the slightest bit upset about not having been chosen, Zoran observed. He concluded that must be part of her enchantment spell, a wise move to defuse disappointment, anger, and resentment. More left. He began to wonder just how selective she actually was going to be!
By the time only their small group remained, only one woman in her mid-twenties had been chosen. With long brown hair and blue eyes, she was sitting over by the bar, patiently waiting. The look of utter elation told all that she had been chosen this year. When it was finally down to their group, Karel got up and rushed over to the Archmage, before anyone else could get up. Zoran smiled and decided that he’d go last. To everyone’s utter amazement, Karel punched his fists high into the air, calling out, “Yes!” He quickly joined the young woman by the bar.
Jarka quickly took his place, before the others could react. Zoran suspected that the thief, no matter her skills, was not likely to be chosen to become trained in magic. She would be his last choice. To his surprise, she too, grinned widely, and swinging her hips seductively, walked over to the bar, joining Karel, who punched the air with his victory fist once more for her sake. “Guess I might as well get it over with now,” Bernard said, rising and walking toward the Archmage. “Good luck to the rest of you.”
A minute later, one very surprised Bernard looked back at the tiny group and smiled, moving to join those at the bar. Now the twins took their turn, both going at once. Zoran suspected that the Archmage would chastise them for coming together. After all this was a one on one interview. Indeed, she appeared to be about to do just that, when Emil pulled something from his pocket and handed it to her. To his surprise, the Archmage motioned for both of them to step closer. They began talking, talking for quite some time.
Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town Page 4