The officer did not drown his grief in wine, did not blame his wife for negligence; nor did he beat the chest no, not at all. He came to see his soldiers instead and asked them a simple question of 'how long those damned witchcrafts will torture us?'
Then he talked for a long time with his soldiers first and then with the citizens who listened to him attentively. He spoke to them for so long that tonight the people led by him completely demolished the tower which was the place of the order residence and burnt all its dwellers as well.
Interestingly to note that none of the citizens had been killed; nor any of them had been affected with the curse. The wizards had been simply killed being stringed on poles and it was all.
Such news travels fast and the people who are sick and tired of fear comprehend whatever is good for them very quickly.
Fires started smoldering everywhere-in large towns, in small countries and in mountain and forest villages. People began killing magicians so fiercely that even failed to find out whether they were black or white. A wizard? Welcome to the hell through the fire.
At the same time internecine wars had been stopped with a wave of a magic wand and somebody began to wonder if the magicians had imposed them. Probably, that somebody was right.
Then the wizards of all denominations realized that they had to get untied and summon their general council which probably had happened for the first time since the Century of Troubles. All the squabbles and old disputes had been forgotten as the prospect of becoming endangered species had become rather visible.
On top of that, the human sovereigns had been invited to take part at the meeting as well. They were the very people who only recently ate out of their hand and now they had run so high that it was not so clear who the real master was.
And indeed, the people issued such an enormous bill to the wizards that they had either to pay or to seize their existence. Or, they had to put up with everything and not to claim anything in the world to let the humans allow them to live as an option.
The wizard chose the latter option, as they had been given no choice.
In fact, it was the end of the Century of Troubles. The kingdom borders were demarcated again and although there were more countries then before nobody paid attention to it. The kings of new families put on the thrones and the people became real masters of their continent. As for the wizards, they were granted a right to live, imposed a ban on taking any positions close to the real power and some duties they had no chances to ignore. That was the price they had paid for their ignorance and slow way of thinking and reacting.
On top of that, the Order of Truth was established. It was an institution which task was to watch those who possessed the magic gift to restrict its usage.
It was not the matter of total control over the wizards, of course. However, they always kept in mind that the door of their tower, castle or house can be broken any time and strong and silent people wearing black cloaks could enter through the empty doorway and that would mean the beginning of the end for them. Then a piece of thorny rope, unsmooth tree behind the back and the smoke bursting the chest making you coughing all the time was what they had to expect next with the pain that followed which would last until the moment of death. Nobody would listen to them as they would have nothing to produce sounds with-their tongue would be torn away as soon as the men entered the house.
Nothing could protect them from that execution. Although a wizard was rather powerful, he had nobody to support him and the humans were rather a numerous tribe. Even the skills of combat magic were useless as even in the worst case for the humans they would simply bury him under a pile of their bodies. Besides, what kind of magic could one use in a closed room with your hands tied and the mouth shut? That's what it was.
Several decades passed, life in the continent returned to its normality, the horror of the Century of Troubles became a thing in the past, the wizards recovered several socially important positions (although they had not been allowed to take any official position as that rule remained rock-solid) and the Order ministers became involved in some extra activities. They included opening schools for children of the poor, giving free food for the homeless and promotion of healthy lifestyle.
On the other hand, the mission task of the Order, the one it was established for, had never been forgotten and so the dark ritual, which the wizard had mentioned, could not be left unnoticed as the brother sleuths had their own ways to find out if something of that sort happened.
No wonder that he would be questioned by Father Prior of the mission about the his reason for killing these people and why he summoned the soul of one of them from the Dark Limits. He would also like to find out if he planned to organize an army of undead to attempt a coup.
'You are right,' sighed the wizard, 'I shall explain everything but it will take a lot of time of course. On the other hand, I have plenty of it now.'
'Master, how about speaking to that young man,' and with these words I was taken by the scruff of my neck and dragged from behind the pile of rotten boards which I used as a shelter when the wizard entered the barn. "I think he could tell us something, couldn't he?'
Agrippa was an unbelievably strong man. He was holding me with his stretched arm without making any efforts. Although I am not so fat as my friend Bubuka but I am not a weightless chicken feather either.
'Why not,' said the wizard and came up to me. 'Well, young man, could you tell me your name?'
'Boneburner,' I immediately replied. 'Boneburner from Port area. I was simply sleeping here at night and when those men came I immediately hid myself. I saw them for the first time, I mean it, indeed.'
'What is good about it Agrippa,' said the wizard to his companion, 'he is very, very self-confident and the speech manner…Confident, I'd rather say. Good boy.'
The wizard examined me from head to toe and I did the same in my turn.
The wizard was very old, much older than he seemed to be at first glimpse. He probably was two hundred years old or even older. The wizards normally could live very long. Preceptor Jock once said that they could live forever unless somebody killed them.
On the other hand, they die in the way ordinary people do if you blow them skillfully. You need to hit him to the heart or to the head. However, you must hit him to death to avoid casting a spell on you.
The wizard turned his eyes to examine my face again.
'So, who are you?' he asked me in a suspiciously friendly way. 'But tell me your real name. Let's not waste our time.
What is your name?' asked Agrippa sternly and shook me at the same time. 'What do you do?
Chris,' I murmured unwillingly clearly understanding that I shouldn't tell a lie this time. For some reasons I clearly realized that it would turn out badly. 'I'm Chris the Tout. I'm apprentice of code-bound thief Jock the Three-eyed.
What strange names you have,' said the wizard and sighed. 'Agrippa, where are these names in demand? In the Kingdom of Forcehade, in the very kingdom where two hundred years ago the great art of blank verse was born. The moral decadence horrifies me indeed.
It's good name, governor' I murmured, 'why don't you like it?'
'Shut up,' I heard the powerful voice from behind and was strongly shook without any sign of mercy.
'A discussion is not bad at all,' said the wizard and grabbed my chin with unexpectedly strong and cold fingers and penetrated me with his eyes. 'What did you kill that young man for? Who told you to do that? Who hired you?
Ain't the idea, governor!' I wanted to howl it to the top of my voice. I didn't know it indeed but couldn't give any evidence of that either. 'Go, the one who cursed you before his death told me to suck the lordling into the backstreet where he and his chapel folks greeted him.
Chapel folk?' asked the wizard and frowned.
'Yeap,' I replied turning my eyes around. 'Here they are, all the king's men… lying.
'The gang,' explained Agrippa, 'so many towns, so many names. Go ahead.'
I was given a shake once again. Holy Lionella, how strong he was. He'd been holding me in his stretched arm that long and didn't care.
'I lost dice to Go two weeks ago,' I started speaking slowly. 'I got my debt. I don't mind money, but this time it was deal, one deal. Gambling debt is holy matter and I had to pay the debt anyway. So I lured your guy to follow me to the backstreet. It's part of my job, I can do that.
The young baron was smart and cautious,' noticed the wizard. 'Besides, how can a ruffian like you make him interested? Not the whores of course, don't they?
I cut off his moneybag,' I confessed and sighed, 'and let him notice me. It's our usual trick when man chase you and run into a backstreet of Port area where he is…But I didn't know indeed that Go would kill him. I thought he would strip him off as usual and hit with a stick to his head to conk out. If I knew about the murder they planned, I wouldn't put my head on the block, not on your nelly, governor.
How about the gambling debt?' asked Agrippa laughing. 'It's a holy deal, isn't it?
They are different. I'm a thief and my business is to pick pockets and don't hit belly with a piece of iron. The Fat Go was a thief too and I don't know why he decided to do killing.'
Well, I was not so certain about the piece of iron and belly. No, I killed no one but if I happened to fight my enemy and one of us should die, who knows?
'Does that mean that you know nothing?' asked me the wizard missing what I said, 'apart from what you have just said.
True,' I nodded. 'They caught your baron, twisted his hands, clogged his mouth and brought him here. Along with me but I took to my heels though. Guess, if not you they will stub me too, so thank you very much for your help, governors.
He is cunning,' said the wizard and laughed. 'Did you hear that, Agrippa? It looks like we are his saviors and we are obliged to let him stay alive. Well, I really like him.'
The wizard came up to the dead body of his acquaintance and shook his head.
'What shall we do now? The baron is dead, all our plans have gone down the chute and besides, what shall I say to my colleagues?'
He picked at the puddle of the coagulated blood drained from the dead body with the tip of his high boot, bowed his head to the shoulder, examined the corpse and then turned to us and said,
'Agrippa put our new friend on the ground.'
Finally I felt the floor under my feet which was rather a pleasant feeling.
'The height is the same,' said the wizard thoughtfully and examined me from tip to toe. 'The face, it has nothing, nothing in common, but the height and the body-built…more than I had expected
It's an absurd idea, master, 'snorted Agrippa. 'The baron and the ruffian from the docs, what do they have in common? Such things you can't find even in woman's novels which are an encyclopedia of stupidity.
Don't read them then,' advised the wizard to him, 'the idea is rather dubious, I can admit it but it's better than nothing.
We still have some time to drop in Fox Wood,' said Agrippa and came up to the wizard. 'We shall find somebody better then him there. I don't think that your friend Antioch will deny your appeal.
And I shall have to be indebted to him,' said the wizard with a bitter expression on his face. 'The debt is only a part of the problem as he will know everything about my plans and will find out that he was not summoned to the Conclave and that's not all. If I borrow a disciple to use him in what we have planned…
He will first tell everything to master Antioch and only then inform you,' kept on reflecting Agrippa. 'I admit that I was wrong.
The trouble is not in him telling everything first,' said the wizard didactically, the trouble is that I shall receive the information Antioch allows me to and he will select it, that's for sure. Friendship becomes real only when people are on the same level and there is nothing which distinguishes anybody of them. Difference of any sort makes that friendship either patronage or competition.
That's very wise of you to say so,' I said sincerely, 'it stroke me to the marrow.'
'Stop that, lad,' advised Agrippa to me. 'My master is indifferent to flattering, just believe me. If he decides to send you behind the edge, he will do it and if he decides to let you go, you will be free. He will do it regardless your attempts to cozy up to him.
Yes, that is a part of my character,' said the wizard and looked at Agrippa. 'You see I tend to the thought of trying and using him.
Master, I am keeping on telling that he is as noble as I am a chapel-master,' said Agrippa persistently.
'Give your reasons,' suggested the wizard.
Here I suddenly realized that if Agrippa won, I would be most likely sent behind the edge. The phrase sounds exciting but its meaning was rather unpleasant for me. However, I was sure that it would happen so and the smart wizard would hardly reveal his plans at presence of somebody who would later be able to tell about them to others. He simply did not consider my presence, I meant it. Besides, who would reprimand him for the death of a homeless little thief?
'All right. Suppose the height and the body-built are not so important but how about the appearance?' Agrippa started the next round but the wizard folded his finger and immediately retorted,
'Who knows him by sight? Who actually saw him at least once? Or, let's put it like that, who saw at least one baron from Forest Region located in the blessed Duchy of Himmelstain where we were taking our friend who is dead by now? These barons are not known by sight even in the neighboring to Forest Region courts, let alone their offspring. And this one was not even the heir, just the third son, remember his father was ready to kiss my hands when I was taking him and was saying goodbye in such a way that it was clear that they would never see each other again.
All right,' said Agrippa and nodded, 'and how about the manners? How can you compare the baron and this one?
There is no great difference between them,' said the wizard sardonically. 'Barons who live in wild outskirts are hardly better than the savages. Your face became distorted indeed, when you saw how dogs licked their plates. And besides, if we ask ourselves whose manners are better, the answer seems not to be so obvious. I think that a pilferer from the capital of an enlightened kingdom knows more than a baron from a rural backwater. Well, but literacy is just the other way round, I mean it. Our confidant was able to read and to write but the very Mr. Tout …
Well, I can do that too,' I exclaimed and was about to clap hands. 'I can both read and write in the Сommon language and in Falcon and that's not all. I even know some of runes of the Ice Islands, not many of them but anyway.
Do you? asked the wizard with a note of excitement in his voice. 'It's interesting. Yes, I have to admit that King Egibert V looks after general education of the lieges. Even street thieves are literate there.
Well, it makes me more concerned than happy,' gloomily remarked Agrippa and I was grabbed by the collar. 'It's more or less clear with the Common language but where did that scoundrel learn Falcon, let alone the runes even not so many of them?'
Common was a real common language as citizens of the entire Ragellon from the South Ocean to Forest Area spoke it. However, Falcon was not so widely used as it was the language of the Elves who had lived in their separated from the rest of the world kingdom which was located in the easternmost tip of the continent since the year one. Besides, the Nordlig runes were not the most frequently used alphabet.
'Weeell,' said the wizard and meditatively looked at me, 'you are a prince in exile, aren't you? Or, perhaps, you were kidnapped from your ancestral home and your poor and disconsolate comtesse mother has been desperate in trying to find you? You see, I shall not be happy at all if, at the most important moment, I shall find out that you are a high-born offspring and the ancestors' blood urges you to accept the key from the ancestral castle.
Alas,' I replied in the tone saturated with bitter disappointment. 'I am rootless indeed and there's no doubt about it. If it were like you said I would claim my rights for at least a part of the property. Or would sent all my relatives to kingdom come to gobble up everything. I'm not greedy, I simply like money.'
That's yet another argument and weighty one this time,' said the wizard and looked at Agrippa. 'He has only few principles and has an itching palm.
He'll sell us as soon as he can.' It seemed to me that the strong man began to hate me already. 'By the way, you haven't answered our question yet.
I used to eat into a gentry house,' I started with a firm intention of telling the truth this time as the wizard seemed to have a gut feeling about a lie. 'Theirs son was taught different subjects and I was told to share the classroom to amuse him and to let him understand how smart he was and how dumb was me. I was allowed to listen but not to answer.
It's rather a progressive method of teaching,' admitted the wizard.
'It's a modern trend. I thought about something of that sort as your manner of speech is quite good and you can express your ideas more or less clearly. And how about you, Agrippa?
I admit that,' he agreed. 'There is one more thing to that. He is unlikely to know how to handle noble arms. He wasn't trained to do that, that's for sure.
I really don't know what else to expect from him,' said the wizard and looked at me with a glimpse of hope in his eyes. 'Can you handle a sword?
No,' I reassured him,' but I can fight with a knife and can do it well. I can also fight with a punting pole but I am not so good with it. And surely I can do fist fighting, that's the survival skill.
Poles,' said the wizard and clapped his fingers. 'It's something at least. We have some time, although not much of it. You'll show the basic standing positions of a sword fight on the way.
On the way where?' I asked to find out. 'I don't consider myself curios but…
On the way where we need to go,' said the wizard, came up to me and tousled my hair. 'All in good time.'
At that moment he pulled my hair so vigorously that tears gushed from my eyes.
'Don't ever think to get your life back, son,' he said to me in a very quiet, tender and fearful tone. '"I shall lend it to you and nothing more. It's not your life you borrow from me but the life of that lad, Baron Erast von Rut the third son of its baron decayed family. From that time on you are him. And for the sake of all the gods living here, on Earth, try not to disappoint or let me down even a little. I am a very, very kind man and that's your own problem. Wicked people simply kill the lads they don't like and the kind ones…Sorry for the big words but the kind ones extend the death to the limits bordering on madness.'