Inexperienced Mage (Reawakening Saga) (12 page)

As soon as the princess left then went to one of the other small rooms in the sewers that he used to test any of his new ideas after he had accidently set fire to his makeshift bed. Touching the rune for fire made of stone steel and wood he focused his magic through the staff. A huge torrent of flame shot from the miniature staff. He tried each rune in turn and continued casting until his head began to throb. Even with the miniature staff and necklace made with cheap components his casting ability and strength had nearly doubled.

Next he pulled one of the glass balls he had purchased some time back and began filling it with magic. Unlike the gems the ball started to glow a light red growing darker as more magic
was poured into it. Once it was a dark crimson red he backed out of the room and threw the ball against the far wall as he took cover in the sewer main corridor. A loud explosion echoed throughout the sewers making his ear ring with a high pitch wine. Peeking back into the room he let out a low whistle as he surveyed the damage a fair size chunk of the wall had been blown apart exposing the clay beyond. It had worked a lot better than he had expected, he knew from his failed experiments that when a core holding magic was broken it violently exploded. Breaking a gem usually took quite a bit of effort especially since he took steps during the enchantment process to make them near indestructible.

After three trips to the market the sale of three more of his magical items and six days of work his staff and rune necklace were done and he was ready to track down the bandits that had been terrorizing
the roads.

He wore his disguise as he left the capital but dropped it as soon as he alone outside the walls. He found a quiet place and sat down unrolling the map the princess had given him of the Queendom with all the information she had on the attacks marked on it. They had started in the north and worked their way south their last two attacks were around Avael. He would have to travel east to Shiel the south to reach Avael at a fast pace he could be there inside nine days or so, if he had a horse he could make it in less but even after selling some of his magical items he only had a little over twenty gold to last him on this trip and he needed to conserve what he could. His main fear was not getting back to the capital in time to meet up with Monique bout she would be traveling to Avael and Shiel on her way back to the capital so if he was lucky he would meet up with her.

It took three days for him to reach Shiel, it wasn’t nearly as big as the capital but still was a fair size. Wearing his disguise he inquired about the bandits learning from a passing caravan that they had been spotted a few days ride south near the cross roads to Avael not long ago. Tired and weary from days of sleeping on the open road he went to the nearest inn and ordered a room, and a bath.

With his staff it was easy to stay in disguise but as soon as his bath was brought up and the slaves carrying it left he dropped it and let himself relax as the hot water massaged his road weary muscles. As soon as he was washed he donned his disguise and went down to the common room to eat and listen to the gossip.

When the sun began to wane more and more people filled into the inn and it soon became too loud for him to make one conversation from another. But what he could make out all the talk was about the attacks of the bandits who had hit many small farms around town a few weeks back, significantly raising the cost of food.

Thad decided he had heard enough, everything pointed out that the Bandits cared little for the common person and used their venomous fangs on anyone who crossed their path. Wanting a bit of fresh air before he lay down for the night he decided to take another stroll through the town.

As he walked into the poorer district of town a ragged woman who looked as if she hadn’t taken a bath in her life approached him. “Miss would you happen to be interested in buying a young girl, she’s healthy and a good worker?” At first Thad ignored the woman until she broke down and started crying. He turned back to lecture the woman about selling her own children then noticed that a young girl about the age of seven covered in as much dirt as the woman with rags that barely covered his skinny underfed body tried to help the sobbing woman to her feet. Almost uncontrollably he went to the woman and began to help her to her feet, but instead she grabbed ahold of his leg staring up at him with pleading eyes. “Please I have another child still on the tit and my husband was killed by the bandits not long back I don’t got nothing left to my name.”

Thad always hated his mother for selling him into slavery, but she had already been well off, this lady was just trying to save her other child that he could now see the little girl held. He went over to the little girl holding his hands out to her for the baby. After a few seconds she handed him the sleeping babe. The child was cute, and looked well, but what surprised him was that the child was a boy. Most families that fell on hard time would just drown a male baby.

The woman attached to his leg looked up at him. "Two gold." Her words shocked him he had gone for over three thousand. "One gold, five silvers." The woman countered thinking his silence was an implied no. Thad handed the sleeping infant back to its mother who he noticed took it lovingly fear still etched in her face.

“Before I pay I want to know why not be ride of the male child?” he tried to make his voice harsh, and he figured he done a fair job at it as the woman face fell.

“He’s just a babe, my baby.” She said the words quietly tears running down her cheeks.

Thad dug into his coin pouch and counted out five gold coins and handed them to the lady. It took the woman awhile to understand that he had paid well over what she was asking and thanked him through shocked tears. Not wanting to listen to the wailing sobs of the woman any longer he motioned for the young child to follow him as he made his way back to the inn.

As soon as he was back at the inn he walked up to the counter and asked for a bath and second bed be brought up for the little girl as well as a small blind for some privacy. The innkeeper looked down at the dirty child and flashed him a big smile. “Anna has been trying to sell her to every well off looking person who passes through but with the bandits about no one was willing to take her on even if she is a girl. Everyone in town has been helping out the ones the bandits devastated but there’s only so much we can do. The extra bed and bath are on the house, you just take good care of little Shariel there.

"I was wondering if there is a clothing shop still open, I don't want the girl to have to put on dirty clothes after the bath, and in all honestly those clothes should be burned."

The innkeeper gave a little laugh. “Marel is the lady sitting over in the corner booth the one wearing the light green dress with the matching bows in her hair. She owns the local tailor shop, tell her either she helps you or I won’t sell her another drink for a span.”

Thad made his way over to Marel with Shariel silently following along at his heels. “The innkeeper said you would be the one to talk to about getting this girl some clean clothes so I don’t have to smell these all night.”

Marel looked at him her face far from pleased until she noticed Shariel standing behind him. “I see Anna finally found someone to take her, such a sad situation she truly loved her children.” She turned to Shariel. “Let’s get you some clothes little bit.”

On the walk to the shop Marel continued to chatter on. “You know I offered to give Anna and her kid’s clothes, but she refused any charity except food. If you don’t mind me asking I’ve seen little Shariel here grow up and I’d like to know what you plan to do with her.”

Her question caught him off guard and he didn’t have an answer for her until they reached the shop. He was glad the woman wasn’t impatient or nagging, but he thought the woman deserved the truth and for that he needed to decide what he was going to do first.

Once inside the shop Marel went straight to work grabbing a tape measure and getting Shariel’s sizes. “Honestly I don’t know what I’m going to do with the kid. At first I wasn’t going to buy her, but with the current state of her mother I just couldn’t let her stay in this state. I can’t even promise you the child will be safe as I travel a lot, all I can really tell you is I’ll do my best to make sure she is well taken care of.”

“I guess that about as best as I could hope for, wish you could promise me she would be safe but with those bandits out there killing everyone in sight nowhere is really safe.” Marel said as she looked though her stocks looking for clothing of Shariel’s size.

Thad ended up buying Shariel four dresses, three pair of trousers, six blouses, two night gowns, ten sets of undergarments, and two pairs of shoes. Marel tried to refuse full payment but Thad insisted telling her she could use the rest to help the next family.

Now that the child had a bigger wardrobe than him they all headed back to the inn where the innkeeper informed him that the bed and bath were ready in his room, he asked that a couple plates of food be sent up for them.

Once inside the comfort of the room the little girl quickly shimmied out of her clothes and jumped in the tub causing water to spill over the side hitting the floor. Thad scolded her but it wasn't very effective as he was laughing the whole time as he picked up a towel and began cleaning up the water. The girl was having trouble scrubbing off the massive amounts of dirt that had collected on her, feeling slightly embarrassed about the situation he picked up a rag and tried to help the girl by scrubbing her back. A young waitress brought the food to the door and before she had a chance to leave Thad roped her into helping get Shariel clean by promising her
a silver.

Once the waitress had left and Shariel was clean
she finally looked human again, her hair that had looked a dirty brown turned out to be a light blond. Her face was also adorned with freckles that made her look cute. Knowing he needed to explain some things to her Thad brought her over to his bed and had her sit down. He could see her light blue eyes as they kept cutting over to the large plates of food waiting on the table. “We will eat in a minuet, but first we have to talk about a few things. Have you ever heard of magic?”

The little girl’s eyes light up. “Yep, papa used to tell me stories of mages who could call down lighting, and make the whole sky light up.” The girl said throwing her hands up into the air.

“Now I want you to listen well, I am a mage,” to accentuate his point he called a small ball of light to his hand gaining a gasp and happy clapping from the girl. “Now on this next part I need to stay calm, I’m not a woman, I’m a male.”

The little girl stopped trying to grab at the light for a few seconds and gave him a quizzical stare. “You look like a girl to me.”

Thad dispelled the light an illusion at the same time earning another gasp from Shariel. “See I’m a guy, but I dress as a girl when I’m around a lot of people, it’s hard to explain why.”

"Momma always said that some people treat men bad because they think they're bad people, is that why?" The girl said shyly.

“That’s close enough to the reason, so when I’m dressed like a girl call me Clair, when I’m like this call me Thad, ok.”

“Ok, can we eat now?” Shariel said looking hungrily at the food.

Thad let out a long hard laugh. “Sure, let’s eat.”

The next day Thad woke before the sun rose, and pulled out two leftover cat's eye gems and a few silver coins he had with him. After he had finished making two rings for Shariel, he donned his illusionary from and made his way to the common room of the inn and paid for two plates of food to be sent up to his room.

When he returned to his room Shariel ran to him giving him a hard hug with tears in her eyes. “I thought you had left.”

“Now, now calm down I was just getting us some food, and I also have a present for you, but you have to wait till after we eat to get it, ok.”

Shariel dug into the food as soon as it was sat down, attacking the food in a warlike fashion. She finished well before Thad and almost seemed to dance in her seat watching as he purposely ate as slow as possible while trying not to laugh. As soon as he finished his meal he slowly made his way over to his travel sack while Shariel danced around behind him trying to see what he was getting from his bag.

After making sure both rings were securely hidden in his hand he turned to Shariel. “Close your eyes.” She almost glowed with anticipation as she squeezed her eyes so tight he was afraid she would strain something. Taking her hands he slipped a ring onto the index finger of each hand.

As soon as the rings adjusted to her small fingers she opened her eyes and squealed with delight. “They’re so pretty.”

"Not only that but they're magical; the one on the left, if you say Lumanare, it will turn on and off a light, and the one on your right hand if you say Servo an invisible shield will protect you. Now I don't want you to play with the light in public ok, and the shield is only for emergencies, don't use it unless you feel like you're in danger. Do you understand?"

“So no bad men can get me like they did daddy?” she grabbed hold of him again and didn’t let go he could feel her shake as she softly cried and the wetness from her tears soon soaked though his shirt. He didn’t have any words for her so he just hugged her back.

Before leaving town Thad bought a nice palomino horse that
Shariel named Spots. While he didn’t mind walking he couldn’t bring himself to make Shariel walk all day long. After they were out of town Shariel began asking where they were going, Thad knew he had to tell her, but was afraid how he should go about it.