Alex heard movements outside the wagon at about ten in the morning. One crew member had gotten out of the main carriage and was walking towards the wagon as it was slowly stopping.
Inside the wooden vehicle, Alex waited beside Tina. The girl was in a great mood, her smile contaminating the other elf, almost making him forget the ominous words Ravi had spoken the last night. They were heading for real danger. They were walking towards a place uncertain even for these veterans.
Rel'Tir stood sitting and looking at the ground on the other side of the wagon. Since they had awakened, the boy hadn't looked at them once. He was moving the arm close to his wound from time to time, testing its movements. Alex was surprised at how fast the healing proceeded and wondered what Bogath could perform.
Tina coughed beside Alex, making him remember she was still sick, and that was the whole reason behind their debts with the chimeras back in Valinor.
"I'm going to talk with Bogath to see if he can heal you," Alex said and she nodded, widening her smile, "maybe this cough is holding you back,"
"That would be very nice. I'll accept the help. I must say I'm a little afraid of orcs now," Tina glanced slightly to the floor,
"Why? In my account, you are an orc slayer," he said, already turning and not catching the blush on the girl's face. Alex heard the wooden door opening and saw Bogath appearing on the other side,
"The one person I wished to see," Alex said, raising and walking towards the orc.
"Oh, that's nice of you, my elf friend. What do you want to talk about? Are you enjoying your reading?"
"I finished the book,"
"You what?!" Bogath asked in shock,
"Yes, I must say I didn't get some of the philosophy part, but it was a great read. I wish the author had written more about the specifics. What color of ore holds what amount of energy? What the hell are tokens, really? What's the runic alphabet? And other things…"
Alex passed the orc, who stayed there looking to the far end of the wagon in awe.
"I took one week to read the book for the first time, and I didn't understand it for another month!" Bogath shouted, turning to face Alex, who in his turn was facing the gigantic walls of FrontHold,
"We arrived yet?" Alex asked in shock, and Tina rushed to get outside of the wagon, a slower Rel'Tir following behind,
"Yes, welcome to FrontHold. The biggest city walls in all Tevia."
Alex didn't need to see the other city walls to know these ones were different. Alex contemplated massive walls made of what seemed to be concrete, shining in the sunlight. The barriers were raised at least seventy meters. It was the same size as some twenty-floor buildings he had in his early life.
Yes, the young man had seen other places as big as FrontHold walls, but the fact that this immense wall circled an entire city gave a strange awe. He wondered who had created such wonder and how much time it had cost to build it.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Bogath asked, walking to the front of the carriage,
"Yes, it is." Alex replied, following the orc, "How did we get here so fast? I heard that we would take two or three days,"
Bogath smiled at the man with playful eyes and replied,
"Magic…"
"C'mmon!" Tina protested, "Tell us!" but the orc was resolute in his silence.
"Go to Nightingale, study, and discover by yourselves. I can't teach you or talk a lot about magic, honestly. But I can't stop you from seeing if I do some magic eventually,"
"Okay…" Alex said, but he didn't need much time to think about what he would ask Bogath, "Tina is sick. She is using a medication, but it's taking too long to heal. Can you help her?"
Bogath scratched his chin, and Alex saw the orc's tusks were cut on the base. Alex wondered the story behind it. The orc had been quite emphatic about being different from the others, and now Alex understood why. Still, he seemed to be proud simultaneously, as he didn't want Alex to call him a man. Alex was becoming more interested in the world and the people around him with every minute. Magic, monsters, power, impressive cities, a school of magic.
It was a world replete with possibilities that Alex was ready to explore. After half a second and more thoughts, Bogath extended one of his arms towards Tina,
"Can you give me the medicine you're taking, girl?" Tina nodded to him, taking a flask from her dress pocket. The orc took it and removed the cork, smelling inside, his cut nose moving slightly. "It's the cough, right?"
"Yes, I'm way better. But I forgot to drink it two days in a row, and now I'm getting worse again,"
"Oh, that's actually good that you talked with me, then. You can't stop this medication at any cost, or the disease comes back stronger. Your shaman didn't tell you that?" Bogath was clearly pissed with the unknown medic. Tina only nodded, and the orc snorted in disapproval. "Without the mages, people are forgetting the ways…" The orc muttered to himself and removed something from his back pocket.
Alex couldn't identify what it was. But it seemed to be the piece of a letter. Bogath held the flask of medicine and the fragment of paper with one hand and smashed his staff against the ground with the other.
Bogath took a deep and loud breath. Alex watched in awe a red mist living the rock on the top of the orc's staff. Just like when the Devil's Hand was activated! The mage breathed the fog, and the paper in his hand suddenly ignited fire. Disappearing in one second. After that, strange letters appeared in the air, forming a symbol and disappearing in the next second.
The liquid inside the flask glimmered a different tone of blue. Alex somehow knew the energy had transpassed from Bogath's body to inside the flask. The young man couldn't contain his laugh as he looked at the medicine. When he glanced over his shoulder, Rel'Tir was as impressed as him, but as soon as he caught Alex's eyes, he glanced to the other side.
"Drink it now in one gulp, and you'll be cured," Bogath said, knocking on the carriage door,
"Nothing more?"
"Nothing more," Slowly, all the other guild members, alongside Val'Mari, left the carriage and walked towards the gates which stood closed,
"If I join the magic school, after how much time I'll be a mage?" Alex asked, and Bogath laughed hard,
"There are people inside the school for a lifetime, kid."
"The best ones can perform magic in how much time?"
"The best student the academy had was Vitorian III, the author of the book you read, and he became able to manipulate Arcanite Light and perform second circle magic in six months—"
"Good…" Alex let the thoughts wander in his head. Maybe I'll find the time to join the school,
"Don't be overconfident, Valther. It usually takes one year to break the first circle of magic." The orc said with a caring tone,
"I understand," Alex replied, smiling and joining the others.
The enormous gates became closer as they walked with the horses at their side. Ratamir asked to Val'Mari,
"The gates are normally closed this time of the day, my dear?" and the Elf nodded nervously and replied in a grave tone,
"FrontHold walls didn't have use in centuries. Today, they are more of a touristic sight than anything else. Hence, no… they are never closed."
Alex looked closely at the sky and could now see black smoke forming inside the city. The kind that only means one thing: the beginning of a big fire.