Visions of Love and Heroes

Chapter 2

The putrid scent of old ale and urine hit me in a wave as I stepped into the tavern. I wrinkled my nose and considered my options around the room. It was fairly busy, the midday patrons that had been there since morning just starting to make way for a younger, more vibrant evening crowd.

I weaved through the patrons on my way to the bar, finding a seat next to a burly halfling. He grunted over at me in recognition before lifting his pint and downing it in one big gulp. Elves were known for their lithe physiques but whoever his human half had been, they had been no small creature.

I nodded, not bothering to smile as I pulled my traveling cloak tighter. It was warm, the press of bodies heating the room as humans and elves mingled. I tried not to stare. Having grown up in the shadow of Mandragon University my entire life, I had seen little of the other parts of Cascadia, especially elves. It's not that elves weren't allowed in our northern province of Witfrost where Mandragon City was located, but more of a preference.

Elves tended to prefer warmer weather and less mages. And the mages generally felt likewise.

Still, I had met elves before. Mandragon University, though famous for its powerful mages was also famous for the Trials. An annual tournament where graduating mages competed against each other to determine rank. Every year humans, mages, elves, and the other various species that lived in Cascadia all gathered to watch who the top five mages of each category would come out on top.

As a seer it didn't really pertain to me. We were too rare and there was no reason to compete. But for Brea and Erinna...

Erinna would have competed this year. She was favoured for top rank among the War Mages.

But with the Fading ripping across our lands not only had Erinna fallen, but many of her classmates had as well. The Trials for this year have been canceled until further notice.

Or rather, until I found a way to ensure my vision came true.

"What can I get ya?" The bartender leaned forward, using a dirty rage to wipe off my neighbour's old glass. His head was shaved clean with a big bushy beard obscuring the lower half of his face. When he grinned at me there was a flash of gold teeth. He filled the dirty cup up before putting it in front of another human man further down the counter.

"I'll get an ale." I put three silvers down. "An extra silver for a new glass."

He grunted, grabbing a clean pint from under the counter and filling it up from the barrel behind him. I took it, taking a sip, trying not to wince as I swallowed it down. It was old and stale, nearly flavorless. Nothing like the cool crisp ale Marta brewed at Mandragon Inn.

A memory of Erinna's arm, slung around my neck as we all sang a bawdy sailor tune just a few weeks past slammed into me. The brightness of her smile, the vitality in her body. She'd drank twice as much as me that night yet still had carried me home.

She had been nothing like the quiet, skeletal woman I had seen in her bed the night before I left. The Fading was progressing quickly. She'd been feeling the symptoms a whole week before she collapsed in the middle of training on the day of my meeting with the High Mage Council.

I drank back the rest of the ale, hoping it might chase away the memories. I grimaced as I put it down and scanned the other patrons surrounding the bar. It only took a few moments to find who I was looking for. He stood across from me, head tilted back as he chugged back an ale. He slammed it down on the counter as the bartender approached, wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist to reveal a lopsided grin.

"Another," he shouted, so loud I could hear him crystal clear from the other side of the room. "Add it to my tab, Gregor."

Theo Yaelmyr. The hero from my vision.

It was true, I had come searching for him, traveling all the was to Amersat, a port city on the west coast of Cascadia that was the last stop before the dangerous passing through the Wandering Mountains to the south. With its access to the sea and proximity to elf territory, it was a meeting point for all the different species of the land.

I frowned. I'd had an idea of what to expect of Theo. The power of Sight didn't just give me visions, but through scrying, I could focus on a place or person to see them through any nearby water source. For the last two months since the day of my vision had come and passed, I had been viewing Theo almost daily, often in this very tavern. I knew what his daily... activities entailed.

Theo leaned on the counter as the bartender, Gregor, poured him another pint. His body tilted, losing balance for a moment where I thought he might topple to the floor. It wouldn't be the first time.  He caught himself and then flopped his golden blonde hair off his face, revealing the fine pointed tips of his ears.

My frown deepened. In my original vision, it had not been clear enough at the time for me to see he was also an elf. It was a development I had chosen to keep to myself. 

Though I didn't share the same animosity as most mages did for elves, I couldn't help but be wary. Even though the wars between our people had been over for nearly a hundred years ago now, I couldn't help the ripping alarm that claimed me as I sat in a room surrounded by them.

Elves with their long life-spans and magics that were rooted in the natural elements had fought with mages for years over the southern lands where it was believed magic was the most potent. Ultimately, it had been the elves that had won, and they carried the blood of many of my ancestors on their hands. I knew the history of our bloody wars and with the Fading, I worried things might worsen.

Theo managed to resettle himself on his chair without falling and managed to drink his ale a little slower this time. He looked up with clear green eyes—like the moss that grew along the trees deep in the temperate forests lining the Wandering Mountains. For a moment I was stricken with the beauty of his features.

After I had gotten over the realization that my hero was an elf, the knowledge of his good looks had not been far behind. My hero was not only an enemy to mage kind... but a handsome one.

And a drunken fool who earned his living through...well. I pursed my lips thinking of what he got up to when he wasn't drinking. Even more details I had been keeping to myself.

I had always expected my hero to be a little more heroic.

Theo finished his ale, looking around the room with a new sharpness in his gaze, like he was searching for someone. I quickly averted my eyes, staring into the depths of the last mouthful of ale in my glass. 

He scanned over the bar, and for a moment I felt the weight of his gaze on me.

But just because I had come here, did not mean I wished to meet him. Not yet. For now, I wished to only observe and see if there was a way I could nudge him in the right direction.

Somehow, he needed to get south. And soon.

Theo's gaze drifted away from me and through the corner of my eye I watched as he stood, suddenly a little too spry for someone who had been in his cups moments before. He pulled on a black cloak, raising his hood. He tossed an extra silver in Gregor's tip jar and then weaved away from the bar.

Alarmed, I sat up, pulling up my hood. I felt along the chain at my neck, ensuring the small scrying crystal I wore was tucked away, less someone recognized me as a Seer and a Mage. I quickly exited the tavern into the darkened streets of Amersat, following after Theo.

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Word count: 1388

Total: 3765