by Paul Edwards
Chapter Four
Harry showed us the small apartment that he lived in which was in the history building, Shelley and I conjured up two beds that we could use to sleep on for the night. Harry still had two more lectures to give so Shelley and I decided to go out and see the city.
When we started walking through the streets we noticed numerous signs of magic, buildings constructed in a such a way that the materials used would not have normally been strong enough to support its weigh, lighting appliances that did not use flame or electricity and streams of water that had no pipes to supplying them.
"You said this is pseudo magic?" Shelley asked.
"It's a like spell I wrote for the City of Magic, it enabled my servants to construct mundane spells without giving them the knowledge of magic."
"Oh... so they could erect the buildings and do their jobs easier. How did it work?"
"It was a combination of a simple written language and command words, they could write the spells on whatever was available or they could just recite command words."
"This is the same spell?" Shelley asked.
"I think it's a vastly more complicated version of it, they appear to be doing some very sophisticated things here."
We walked into a large open area dominated by a beautiful spiral tower constructed of stone and wood, I could see a set of stairs winding around the inside made visible by large windows. I also saw what looked like an elevator car moving quickly up one side of the building.
I leaned back and shaded my eyes looking at the top of the tower, I saw what looked like the bottoms of three large wooden sailing ships. One of the ships slowly backed away from the tower then turned and sped away.
"Flying ships, I thought magic only worked in the city?" Shelley said.
"They must use real magic," I replied.
"I wonder where they go?"
"There must be cities like this all over the planet."
"Separated by wild untamed lands... the wilds," Shelley said.
We turned and walked across the open space and then down a narrow street, we soon came upon a small park about twenty feet across, there was a bench a fountain and a painted life-sized statue of a bearded man.
I stood in front of the statue and read the small hieroglyphic plaque at the statues base, it said:
Moses
Creator and Destroyer
He lost his way
I looked at the statues face, it looked eerily familiar.
"Shelley... look," I pointed to the statues face.
"Oh wow, now that's weird."
I used my bracelet to conjure up a film poster of the Moses movie I had slept through, I then unrolled it and held it next to the statues face.
"God they look identical... look he even has big pectoral muscles," Shelley said pointing to the statues chest.
"I always wondered about reincarnation... this has not been the first time I've seen someone from the past in the present."
"Well he wasn't Jewish this time around," Shelley said.
"It is odd though that he portrayed Moses."
"Ya... now that I think about it he played Jews in his two most successful films."
I dispelled the film poster.
"This exodus that Moses led, what was so special about it?" I asked.
"Um... well it kinda led to the creation of Israel... all the Jews were slaves and they left Egypt with the help of their god."
"Who was their god?" I asked.
"Well that's kinda complicated... there is a theory he originated from the god El."
"El... the bull god from the north... interesting... that was also the god of that bossy boots tribe leader who hated bacon."
Shelley stared at me, "what were you doing with this nomadic tribe anyway?” she asked.
"Um... nothing... I used to travel a lot looking for new ideas."
I saw Shelley's eyes narrow.
We continued down the street and walked past a small restaurant district, it was getting late in the afternoon so we decided to stop at a small quaint looking bistro. The place was still empty so we sat at the small bar on tall stools.
The bartender was a fiftyish looking gentleman dressed in a white shirt, he was polishing a glass with a table cloth.
"Hi, do you speak Egyptian?" Shelley asked.
The man turned and smiled, "Oh yes, one of the benefits of flunking many courses at the university."
"Wasn't that expensive?"
"It took a while for my parents to figure that out, what can I get you?"
We ordered some food and two glasses of wine, the bartender wrote our orders on a piece of paper and handed it to someone through a small square window. He walked back to us and then filled two glasses with a dark red wine.
"What brings you two to our fair city?" He asked.
"Just visiting, you're from here?" I said.
"Oh yes, all my life, ask me anything."
"The statue in the park near here, Moses, what's his story?"
"Well well, you are from out of town if you don't know that. He is one of the three creators along with Jannes and Jambres, they had a disagreement, there was a terrible war and then he fled with his people down the Reed, when Jannes and Jambres tried following him he destroyed the Reed.
"The Reed? What is that?" I asked.
He stared at us incredulously, "The golden thread... the path to the moon, are you blind?"
"Ohhh, that Reed, we have a different name for it where I'm from," I said.
"How did he destroy it?" Shelley asked.
"He opened a large hole causing all the air to escape into the void, no one really knows if this is a true story or not, the Reeds Wind Wailers haven't worked for centuries."
I decided not to ask him what a Wind Wailer was, I didn't want to make him any more suspicious. We looked enough out of place with our odd clothing.
Our food soon arrived, we chatted with the bartender as we ate a meal consisting of strips of meat and vegetables fried in oil. It was well cooked and steaming hot so we had no worries of getting food poisoning.
We started to discuss the fact that the city was spotlessly clean and didn't even have the odors normal for a modern industrial city.
"It must be all the magic they use," Shelley said.
"Are there sanitation sorcerers?" I asked the bartender.
"Well yes and no, it's a specialty of construction sorcery."
"Are there war sorcerers?" Shelley asked.
"No, that's kind of pointless since their magic only works inside a cities walls."
"Is there any magic that works outside the walls?" I asked.
"As you know the Wailers work, and I've heard of a few magic items... there are stories of powerful sorcerers but they're just fairy tales."
We finished our meal and paid with some money that Harry had given us, we said goodbye to the bartender and then headed back to the university and Harry's quarters.
We stayed up and chatted for an hour or two waiting for Harry to return, when he didn't we decided to go to bed.
Harry woke us up the next morning, he was dressed in a very odd outfit, it consisted of a frilly white silk shirt complimented by dark trousers stuffed into what looked like pirate boots. He had topped it off with a wide brim hat folded up on one side, a cape and a sword in a scabbard hanging on a belt around his waist.
He looked incredibly excited.
I handed Harry the folded piece of paper that Gwenora had given me, "could you find this pupil and bring her here," I said.
Harry looked at the name on the paper, "Ok, she has a class in the morning. Why?"
"We're going to need a guide, and she wants to see the world," I said.
Harry took off his sword, hat, and cape and then walked out the front door, Shelley and I used the time to conjure up and take a shower as well as some clean clothes.
We were sitting around Harry's dinner table drinking coffee when he and Gwenora walked through his front door. Gwenora was so excited her cheek
s had turned a bright red.
"God... you have coffee!" Harry exclaimed.
I pointed to the coffee pot, Harry quickly grabbed a large cup and poured the coffee into it.
"What's coffee?" Gwenora asked.
"Do your parents know what you're doing?" I asked her.
"I wrote a letter and gave it to Domin, he'll give it to my parents."
Harry gave Gwenora a cup and poured it half full of coffee, he put a cube of sugar and a little cream into it and stirred.
Gwenora cautiously put it to her lips and tasted it,"meh... it's alright I guess," she said.
"So what's the plan?" Harry asked.
"We will depart the city on one of the ships," I said.
"We're going to be on a Wind Wailer?" Gwenora's eyes were wide with excitement.
"Yes... and we'll let you buy the tickets," I said.
I had used a copier spell to increase the small amount of currency Harry had amassed, I had put the coins in a small leather sack which was sitting on the dinner table.
I picked up gave the sack of coins off the table and gave it to Gwenora, "will this be enough?"
She opened up the sack and looked inside, "I think so, can we take the elevator too? I know it's more expensive... but um... all the important people use the elevator."
I had no desire to walk up hundreds of feet of stairs so I said yes, I had a second bag of coins on my person just in case we were short of money.
We finished our coffee and got up from the table, Harry put on his cape and hat again, I picked up his sabre and examined it, it appeared to be an old cavalry weapon. I handed it back to Harry.
"It better be genuine, you may have to use it," I said.
"Of course it is, I bought it at a civil war auction."
"Do I need a weapon?" Gwen asked.
"Absolutely not," I said.
We followed Gwen out the door of Harry's quarters, Harry locked the door behind us. It only took us fifteen minutes of walking before we were at the spiral tower with the large ships moored at its peak.
Gwen led us over to a booth like structure near the base of the tower, she dropped the bag of coins on the booths counter and started talking to a uniformed person on the other side. They were both talking in the local language so we could not understand what they were saying.
After a few minutes of discussion Gwen dumped a pile of coins from the sack onto the counter and then counted out a specific amount and slid it over to the uniformed person, Gwen then received a folded piece of paper in return.
Gwen then picked up the sack and then turned towards us, she gave me the sack of coins back, there were only a few left, she also handed me the folded piece of paper.
"We're on the Jambres, it leaves in an hour, they still had a first class cabin available," she said.
"One cabin?"
"Oh don't worry it has bunch of rooms."
I unfolded the piece of paper and looked at it, it was covered in writing, I didn't understand the language and assumed it was the local dialect, it also had a large official looking wax seal at the bottom.
"Do we need identification papers," Shelley asked.
"What are they?" Gwen replied.
"Never mind."
We walked over to the elevators gate and waited for the car to return, I had noticed that the elevator car had no cables attached to it, the car was in a simple wood and stone frame attached to the side of the tower. I suspected that even without the frame the car would still operate normally, it was obviously magical.
The elevator car eventually reached the bottom, the gate opened and the operator put his hand out, I put our ticket in it. He examined it for a few seconds and then handed it back
We walked in and waited while he closed the gate and then pulled a large lever that rose out of the floor. The car started climbing smoothly and steadily and we were arrived at the top in a few minutes, the gate opened and we walked out into a large circular room.
I saw other gates around the perimeter of the room, there were lines of people in front of them a uniformed person was examining their tickets one at a time and then waving them through.
Gwen pointed out our line and we were soon walking on a wide gangplank onto the nose of the large airship Jambres.
The ship reminded me of a Mississippi riverboat except it was much larger and much more fantastic, I saw many decks complimented with grand balconies.
Gwen could barely contain her excitement as she chattered nonstop pointing out all the great ships features and architecture.
"Have you ever flown on a ship before Gwen," I asked.
"Oh no... but I've been on numerous tours."
We were soon walking into the front door of our first class cabin, I suddenly realized why we had used almost all the coins in the sack. I was staring at a large opulent room filled with beautiful furniture, I also saw that there was a well stocked bar against one wall.
The far wall consisted of large sliding glass doors leading to a huge balcony which had numerous lounge chairs scattered around it.
"Geez... this is nice," Shelley said.
"Ya... it sure is, was this the only room available Gwen?"
Gwen was wearing a very bad poker face, "well... um... getting four different cabins would have cost a lot too," she said.
"Not the sort of journey a hardened adventurer would take... huh Harry?"
"I'm sure there will be many hardships to come," Harry said with a disgruntled look on his face.
"God, I hope not," I heard Shelley murmur.
"So what else does our ticket provide?" I asked Gwen.
"Oh... everything food, drink."
"I see all-inclusive, are there shows and shopping too?"
"Oh yes!" Gwen clapped her hands together in excitement.
Harry let out an exasperated sigh as he collapsed into one of the opulent chairs, I walked over to the rooms small bar and grabbed a bottle of what looked like a strong liquor, I found a glass filled it full of ice from a bucket and then poured a couple of ounces of the liquor into it.
I walked over to Harry and gave him the glass.
"Have a drink Harry."
Harry grabbed the glass and sipped it cautiously."
"Hmm... whiskey," he said.
I used my bracelet to conjure up a large pad of blank paper and a pen, I set them down on a small coffee table sitting in the middle of all the furniture, I sat down on one of the sofas.
"Before we do anything we need a map. Gwen since you are familiar with the area could you do the honors."
Gwen walked over to the table, knelt down and then started drawing on the pad, she first drew five circles connected with lines and then a smaller circle near the edge of the paper. She labeled all the circles in Egyptian.
Gwen then drew what looked like forests and mountain ranges along with a few rivers and large lakes.
"We are headed for La fin du monde," Gwen pointed to the small circle at the edge of the map.
"The large circles they are cities?" Shelley asked.
"Yes."
"What is La fin du monde?" I asked.
"It is the last outpost before the wilds, there's not much there just a walled garrison along with a store that sells basic supplies," Gwen said.
"How long is the journey?"
"Five days, but we will stop over at the city of Shadowfield first, three days from now."
There was a knock at the door of our suite, Shelley walked over and opened it, I saw a young woman dressed in a uniform.
"Does anyone want a snack?" Shelley yelled over her shoulder.
Gwen asked for something in a the local language, no one else wanted anything, the porter reached back grabbing a plate from a cart and handed it to Shelley. The food on the plate looked very similar to cheese and crackers.
"There's lots for everybody," Gwen said as she stood up and took the plate from Shelley. I tried one of the hors d oeuvres, I was right it was cheese and crackers.