The immortal wizards were the most powerful humans ever to walk the planet Tharia, but the wars between them devastated the planet and the whole world breathed a sigh of relief when the last of them was killed. In an attempt to cheat death, though...
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The eight men, standing in a circle, each clasping his neighbour's hands, materialised in a busy street packed shoulder to shoulder with people and full of the sounds of commerce. A street market was in full swing and the air was full of rich smells. The reek of overripe vegetables rapidly going off in the heat of the yellow sun mingled with the exotic aromas of strange herbs and spices evoking thoughts of far off places with strange names. Colourfully dressed merchants standing beside their crowded stalls shouted about never to be repeated bargains and unbeatable offers, their voices almost lost in the babble of a thousand customers who were also having to shout to discuss their merits with wives and husbands standing right beside them.
A grey haired man in the white robes of a minor official picked himself up off the litter strewn ground where he'd been thrown by their appearance. "What're you thinking of, 'porting into a crowded street?" he demanded angrily. "You could've killed someone!" Seskip simply glared at him and the man scuttled away, muttering under his breath.
"You'd think people teleported in public places all the time," said Thomas in astonishment.
"Most likely they do," replied Zanda seriously. "There are four times as many wizards per head of population as there are in our day. That's soon to change, though. The Mage Wars are causing more and more people to hate and fear wizards, and about a hundred years from now it'll erupt in the Massacre of the Mages. We never have fully recovered from that, even in our day."
"Are we in danger?" asked Thomas, looking worried.
"Not so long as we all stick together. A careless wizard who wanders off alone and gets surrounded by a hostile crowd might get himself lynched, but the real violence is yet to come. No-one's going to bother a group as large as ours."
"Make sure your Necklaces of Vacuum Breathing are well out of sight," said Seskip, examining each of them in turn. "If they're stolen by a pickpocket you won't be going home."
Thomas checked to make sure his was tucked well down in his robes. Luckily his hair was long enough to cover the back of his neck, otherwise he'd have had to take it off and tuck it in a pouch, as the bald headed Seskip had done. He preferred to keep it around his neck, he felt it was safer there. It would take a really skilled thief to take it from there. Unfortunately, as Matthew reminded them, every big city had its share of really good thieves...
