I originally wrote this as the first chapter of The Wolf Pack, but I had a comment from someone who read the book that it was too slow to start and so I eliminated the first few chapters. It has not been published before and so you will be getting a very first glimpse of the earlier time. before the actual story starts. I hope you enjoy it.
The half-elf leafed through the book he was studying. He was due to take the tests to end his apprenticeship soon. Mabryl, his master and adopted father had sent off to the Mage Tower in Hambara asking for the young man to be considered for the tests at the next opportunity.
He was a tall, handsome young man, just over six feet with shoulder-length auburn hair, a closely trimmed beard and eyes of an intense blue. He was sitting in the study at the home of Mabryl in Bluehaven, which was situated on the south coast of the land of Grosmer. With him were Mabryl's other two apprentices, 14 year old Tomac and 16 year old Emmienne. Tomac pushed a lock of his unruly dark hair out of his eyes.
'I think that's the Master coming in now, Carthinal,' he said. 'You'd better look as though you've been doing something instead of moping around waiting for that letter or you'll be in trouble.'
Just as he said this, the door opened and Mabryl entered shaking his cloak out as he did so.
'It's cold out there,' he said, 'and it's turning to snow if I'm not much mistaken. Unusual this far south.'
He turned to his three apprentices. 'Have you finished the tasks I set you?' he asked as he hung his cloak on a stand by the door. Carthinal stood up and walked over to the fire, putting a fresh log on to the flames.
'Come and get warm, and, no I've not finished. I can't seem to settle down to anything until I hear about whether I can take the tests soon. I think Emmienne has finished though. I can't say about Tomac.'
'Nearly,' replied Tomac, jumping down from his chair and carrying his workbook to his master. 'I was a little stuck on the moon phases though. It's complicated trying to work out both moons at the same time.'
'Stick to it, youngster,' Emmienne said from the window seat. She grinned across at the younger boy, the grin lighting up her otherwise rather plain face. 'I had problems too, but it comes eventually.'
Tomac groaned and went back to his seat.
'I've finished though, Sir,' she said. 'I've learned that new spell you gave me and am sure I can make it work. When can I try it?'
Mabryl laughed. 'Such enthusiasm. We'll try it out tomorrow, I think. In the meantime, I've made what I think may be a big discovery. Perhaps the most important one for many, many years. Look,' and he put an ancient looking book on the table. The three apprentices gathered round.
'I think it may be a spell book from before the Forbidding,' he went on.
Emmienne gasped. 'That is old, and if it is, we'll be able to find lost spells. You'll be famous, Sir.'
'Calm down, Emm. It may not be the spell-book of a magister, or even an arch-mage,' smiled Carthinal. 'It may have just the spells we already know and not any of the lost ones.'
Just over seven hundred years previously there had been a war between conflicting mages. It had caused such devastation and hardship to everyone that the king had forbidden the use of magic on pain of death and all spell books were ordered to be burned. Some, however, had been rescued and these came to light occasionally. During the time of the Fobidding, as it came to be known, much knowledge had been lost and there were currently mages working to try to re-discover the lost spells. If this book were to be of use, it would need to be taken to one of these mages.
Just then the door opened and Lillora, Mabryl's housekeeper entered.
'Sorry to disturb you, sir,' she said, 'but a bird arrived a few minutes ago. I thought you should know.'
'I'll come and look then,' replied the mage and left the three apprentices to their own devices.
Carthinal picked up the book that Mabryl had bought and began to leaf through it. He could understand little of what was written there. Firstly it was in an archaic script and language and secondly he was as yet only an apprentice and had not the knowledge to understand more than a limited number of spells.
He frowned as he tried to read the words on the page. He lifted the book from the table to take it nearer to the light when a loose page fell onto the floor. He stooped to pick it up and realised that he could read it, unlike the rest of the book, and that it was not a page that had fallen out, but a note that had been inserted. He took it to the window seat and sat down by Emmienne to read it.
'What's that?' asked the brown-haired girl, straining to read it upside down.
'I'm not sure,' replied Carthinal, wrinkling his brow. 'It fell out of this book that Mabryl has bought but it doesn't seem to be the same writing, nor is it in the same archaic script. It's a note of some kind.' He paused to read it.
Just then, Mabryl came back holding a piece of paper in his hand.
'It's good news, Carthinal,' he told the young man. 'There is a space for you to take your tests in the next batch, which takes place just before Grillon's Day. That's in about five sixdays time so we'll need to leave here in three sixdays to allow us time to settle in before your ordeal.' He saw that Carthinal was holding a paper. 'What's that you've got there?' he queried.
'It fell out of the book you bought,' replied Carthinal. 'It doesn't seem to be by the author of the book though. It's in a more modern script that I can read. It doesn't make much sense though.' He handed it to the other man who read it, then read it again, this time out loud.
'“When Kalhera descends from the mountains, and orcs once more roam the land,
When impossible beasts occur and the Never-Dying man is once more at hand,
Then the Sword that was lost must once more be found; only it can destroy the threat
And kill the immortal mortal to balance out his debt.”
Well,' he continued, 'it seems a rather strange thing to write and it doesn't make a lot of sense. How can Kalhera descend from the mountains? She's a god and the gods don't come down to Vimar.'
He turned the page in his hand and saw some more writing on the back. 'This says that it is a quotation from something that the writer heard and wrote down. The author says he visited the Oracle on the Holy Island and this was what he was told the oracle had said earlier in the day, but to no one in particular. Only the attendants were present it seems.'
He replaced the paper in the book on the table and turned to Carthinal.
'We must take this to a colleague of mine in the Mage Tower when we go,' he continued. 'She is working on finding the old spells, I believe, and this may be of use to her. The loose note may be a prophecy if it came from the Oracle, but who knows when it was made? It could be that it was centuries ago, or yesterday; and it could be referring to a time well in the future or even in the past. I think we should ignore it for now. Lillora says that our lunch is almost ready, so I suggest we go to the table before she gets mad.'
So the three apprentices forgot all about the book and the note as they enjoyed Mabryl's housekeeper's excellent cooking. After the meal they returned to their studies. Mabryl gave them all tasks to complete and then went out again to visit the Duke of Bluehaven, who was an old friend of his, taking the book with him.
Duke Danu of Bluehaven had trained at the Mage Tower in his youth. He had some talent for magic, but with the death of his elder brother in an epidemic, he had to take over the duties and prepare to become the Duke one day. He had never taken the tests to end his apprenticeship, but he retained an interest in magic and still practiced it in a small way. 'To keep my hand in.' he told people.
Today he was sitting in his study going over the accounts of the duchy when a knock came at the door.
'Arch-mage Mabryl to see you, sir,' said his butler.
'Send him in, then,' replied Danu, rising from his seat and walking over to clasp Mabryl in a hug. 'You've not been to visit in some while, my friend,' he scolded the other man. 'Busy with your three apprentices, I suppose.'
Mabryl smiled at the Duke. 'Yes, they do keep me busy. Carthinal is ready to take his tests and become a full mage now.'
'Is that so?' Duke Danu raised an eyebrow. 'Hardly seems any time at all when you took that scruffy little urchin in off the streets. Everyone thought you were mad, you know. Taking a street child to be your apprentice; and then adopting him. Well, it seems we were wrong. He's turning out all right.'
'Considering his background, yes. He still has his faults and I can't say there weren't times when I agreed with you that I'd done the wrong thing. But I didn't come here to talk about Carthinal. I've made a discovery and I want your opinion.' He pulled the spell-book out of a bag at his side. 'I'm going to take this to Yssa at the Mage Tower when I take Carthinal. She will be the best to decide how important it is.' He handed the book to Danu.
The Duke whistled. 'This is important, Mabryl. I can't read it, but it certainly looks like a spell-book to me. It's old and could easily date to before the Forbidding.' He picked up the note that was still between its pages. 'What's this?' he asked.
'A little note that was in the book. Carthinal found it. It doesn't seem to belong to the book though, and I've thought it could be a hoax. Someone putting a seeming prophecy in an important old book.'
'Maybe, but I don't think so. Some research I've been doing suggests that Grosmer is about to face some danger. This may be a prophecy about that. I would suggest you take it to Rollo in Hambara when you go. His library is much more extensive than mine is and he can find out more. I've been in touch with him about this possible danger so he knows a little of what I suspect.'
'I don't know Duke Rollo,' Mabryl replied. 'He may not believe me. I've heard he's a suspicious man. I think that this note maybe a hoax even if you don't. I'll need to prove that I've come from you.'
'I'll write you a letter to give to him,' Danu said going over to his desk and picking up his pen. 'I'll also give you this.' He picked up a small statuette of a trotting horse about three inches long and two high that sat on his desk. 'It’s one of a pair that we found in our adventuring days. He has the other. He'll know that I've sent you when he sees that, especially if you ask him about the other one. Now, sit down and I'll get some wine for us to drink while we talk about other things.'
So the two old friends passed the afternoon remembering past times and gossiping about the goings on in the city of Bluehaven as the afternoon passed into evening and the Duke's work lay unfinished on the desk.
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