chapter three (fire)
Ted froze. The blade continued to
glint in the moonlight.
Then the harsh voice spoke
again. “Good, now be an obedient boy and
put your hands behind your back.”
Ted did as he was told. Suddenly a
huge amount of pressure constricted his arms so that they could not move.
The man behind him grunted. “There
we are, nice and tight. Now to see how Amariah is doing.”
Ted heard the man shuffle from
behind him. He then heard some whispering.
“Yes, Partha. I
swear, the man is a magician. I put the knife across his throat and he grunted,
but then he vanished. Poof! Just like that. I jumped back in surprise and
that’s when I heard it.”
“Heard what?”
“Footsteps. And I saw footprints.
Made by boots they were, but I didn’t see any boots.”
“So all we got to bring to Icarus is
a brat wandering around the woods? Great, he’ll have our skins for this.”
“Still, we can’t just leave. Remember
what happened to Rebia[1]?”
After that Ted heard nothing. Only
the far away hooting of an owl. After a few minutes of absolute silence Ted finally
fell asleep.
When he woke up Ted quickly looked
around. When he had gone to sleep, Ted
was on his side, staring at the dying fire. When he woke up, however, he was on
his back, staring at the rising sun.
“It’s about time you woke up. Now
tell me, are those the buffoons who tried to slit your throat?” Samuel asked,
amusement in his voice.
Ted sat up and looked at Samuel,
then he looked at the two men.
They were dressed head to toe in
gray cloth. Each one’s shoulders were spiked and sloping. Their faces were
covered in masks, somewhat resembling the one that Samuel had. One of them had
red gilding around his shoulders, wrist and boots.
Ted shrugged. “I didn’t really see
them, I only heard them talking to each other behind my back.”
“But, just for the sake of an
argument, if these were the men what would you do?”
“Well, I would just send them back
to their leader. Icarus, was it?” Ted responded, remembering their obvious
terror of him. Ted guess was instantly gratified by the masked men recoiling in
horror.
Samuel chuckled, “Well then, to
Icarus it is.” At this Samuel gestured with his hand and the men relaxed.
“Leave. NOW!”
The men jumped at the last part and began to
run east. Once they were far away the red gilded one turned around and shouted.
“THE ALLY WILL FIND YOU AND THEY
WILL NOT BE MERCIFUL!”
Samuel just turned around and began
to rummage through the saddle bags. “Blast it! They took all the food. Well I
guess we’ll just have to go to town.”
Samuel began to put the saddle bags
back on Rosemary and put the bit back on.
“Who were they?” Ted asked
“Socertan[2]
foot soldiers. The red one was a captain.” Samuel said in a matter-of-fact way.
“Why were they here? I mean, what
are armed men doing in the middle of Jeptus[3]?
And what is the ‘ally’?” Ted asked.
“Well, the Socerta is a group bent
towards the betterment of magicians, at least that’s what they say, so they can
wander wherever they want without being affected by local border laws. The Socerta
also has its own standing army, which makes them a force to be reckoned with. Socerta means ally so obviously, the
soldiers thought that they would be avenged for touching them in a hostile
way.” Samuel responded quickly.
Ted was still confused, “If they are
unaffected by local laws, but can impose their own, then how can countries
defend their magicians? And if they have their own standing army, what’s to
stop them from marching on the capital of Aros[4]
and waging war?”
“Numbers. Socerta cannot march on
the capital of any country, especially Aros, because they do not have the
numbers. They also can’t draft magicians, at least not openly. And only certain
countries allow Socertan magicians to wander in their land. After all, no
matter how big of a country you are, it is never a good idea to have potential
spies everywhere.” Samuel responded, a sad look in his eyes.
Samuel then finished packing up.
“Well, there’s no better time than the present to leave.” With that he took
Rosemary’s bridle and started on the path.
“Let’s go.” He called over his shoulder.
After an hour of traveling Ted could
finally see a small town in the distance.
“Prepare yourself.” Samuel called
over his shoulder, breaking Ted out of his thoughts.
“For what?” Ted asked, beginning to
get worried.
Samuel just smiled. “You’ll see.”
When they finally reached the village,
Ted kept a wary eye out for anything suspicious. Ted didn’t see anything as
Samuel guided Rosemary through the town square, looking for food vendors. When
they found an inn, Ted looked through the mess hall, but only saw some normal
looking farmers. That all changed when he saw the bar tender.
He was a cyclops. He was huge, well
over seven feet, was heavy set and had very muscular limbs. But the most
prominent feature was his face. It only had one eye set in the middle of his
large forehead. Everything spoke of great power of both mind and body.
“What’s your pleasure?” he asked in
a gruff bass.
“I think I’ll have a half-ale, while my friend
here will have a chorna.” Samuel said smoothly, not at all disturbed that a
one-eyed giant was staring at him.
“Of course.” The cyclops said
quickly, turning around to a multitude of glasses and liquids behind him.
Samuel gestured for Ted to follow
him as he walked towards a table.
“What in the name of Zeke[5]
was that?” Ted asked when they were finally seated.
“What do you mean? That was a
cyclops.” Samuel said simply.
“I thought they were only the stuff
of legend, you know, like the pegasi and the Chimera[6].”
Ted stated.
Samuel began to laugh. “No, not at
all. Both of those are not just the stuff of legend, especially not the
Chimera. But any who, cyclopes are not legends or myths, but are in fact a
prosperous race. Mining and metalwork are their main trades. Cycloptic[7]
steelwork is legendary, and even an average skilled cyclops can earn a pretty
penny.”
At that moment, the bar tender came
up with their drinks.
“Here you are, one half-ale and one
chorna.” He rumbled. “That’ll be a crown and a half.”
Samuel dug through his pockets and
put the money on the table. The cyclops grunted and went back to the bar.
“Did he seem like a myth to you?”
Samuel asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.
“Well… no, but,” Ted said
hesitantly.
"But you find it hard to accept
that the thing your parents scared you with at night is real. You always passed
the stories off as lies.”
A girl grabbed a chair from another
table and placed next to Ted. A girl with jet black hair sat in the relocated
chair. She had grey skin and jade green eyes. She wore a black jacket that extended
to her knees, as well as some torn pants and a shirt that puffed at the
sleeves. Ted also noticed that she wore black gloves that had the finger tips
reinforced with silver.[8]
“I’m Samuel and this is Ted. Nice to
meet you.” Samuel said kindly, extending his hand towards her.
“Yeah, whatever. So, I couldn’t help
but hear your conversation and I thought I might be able to contribute.” The mysterious
girl said, focusing her on Ted.
Samuel sat there, stunned. “Well,
you see, I think we are pretty much covered in the department of the cycloptic
race, but thank you any way.”
Katherine just shrugged. “so, I’m
guessing you guys were waylaid by some Socertan thugs who stole your supplies
so you guys came here. I’m also guessing Farm boy over here” at this she gestured
at Ted, “hasn’t been out of his precious farming village and his loving, world
traveling uncle” at this she gestured to Samuel, “took pity on his nephew and
decided to take him on one of his adventures.”
Samuel began to laugh. Ted stared at
the girl with a confused look, wondering where she got a story like that.
Samuel began to wipe a tear from his
eye. “No my dear, but I really wish it were so. I am, to my great disappointment,
not this boy’s uncle. Now would you like me to guess your past?”
“I’d like to see you try, old man.” She
said haughtily, while crossing her arms in defiance.
“Very well, I will try. Let’s see,
you ran away from your family due to your father, you deserted the Socertan army,
attesting that you can think rationally, and that you are currently in great need
of food.” Samuel said, crossing his fingers.
The girl bolted upright. “How did
you?”
“I also knew your father, Katherine Lyon,
and let me tell you that he was devastated when you ran away.” Samuel said
accusingly.
Lthe girl covered her face with her
hands and began to cry.
“As was I, my dear Kitty.” Samuel said
tenderly, ebracing the sobbing girl.
Here you guys go, chapter three, and on the blog! let's go. but any who, I'll try to get chapter four out as soon as possible. comment below on what you thought (or tell me in person). but until then, Adios!!!!
[1] Inkling’s note: Just so
you guys know, she had the bottom of her feet loped off and then made to walk
on coals. Just to give a scope of the Socertan government and how they deal with
deserters.
[2] I.N: Pronounced
SO-CHAIR-TAN.
[3] I.N: The country that Ted
and Samuel are in. I’ll try to get you guys a map, but Silew was on the
southern border of Jeptus, right next to Mineva.
[4] I.N: Another country,
bordering Mineva, known for their magical prowess. They were the first ones to
weaponize golems, but that doesn’t happen ‘til book 3. Until then, they were
just a small country you did not want to mess with. Of course, Ted doesn’t know
that. (he just thought that they were a small country)
[5] Hermes 2017
[6] My world shares pretty
much the same mythology as Greece and the ancient world. You may call me lazy,
but I really like those stories, so I’m going to keep them. After all, Cyclops
was Greek, sort of.
[8] Thank you, Sara, for this
character design. It was meant for a completely different plot, but I couldn’t
pass on such a character for this story! So once again, thank you.