The Shattered Path

Chapter 33 - The Lesson in Magic

Standing on the deck of the Seachantress, Alara adjusted her cloak over her new dress. The fabric was a deeper blue than any of her other dresses and the neckline was cut lower than her father had liked. She had taken advantage of his sympathy for having dragged her across the sea. It was unfortunate that she was as sad as he thought she was, otherwise she might have really capitalized on the situation.

Alara gazed at the lantern lights and cooking fires of Grandink, which seemed to continue into the blanket of stars in the clear night sky. The city was the capital of Minogradia and not much different from the last large city she had visited, Sylvestyr. Both cities had been constructed where a river poured into the Shimmersea. In Sylvestyr, a great domed building stood in the center where the Senate convened, and in Grandink, it was much the same except it was a walled castle where the King ruled. The rest of each city appeared to be sprawling streets with hundreds of stone and wooden buildings, though now they were cast in night.

The customs and fashion in both cities were similar, since they had both been part of the Empire of Minograd centuries before. History had never been of much interest to her, but she had heard Grandink possessed some of the last statues of Talon Seronis, the fabled Minotaur Emperor. She would like to see one of those statues. A fellow servant at the academy had once described how breathtaking and terrifying they were. She had never seen a minotaur. She didn't think they had ever been real. That didn't alter her desire to see a statue of one. And, minotaur or not, Talon Seronis had likely still been emperor once upon a time.

Alara was tired of being on the ship, though it was the largest vessel she had ever been aboard, having three decks below and three tall masts. The novelty had worn off quickly. The ship's captain, Kedamon, had told her more than she had ever wanted to know about sailing. She might scream if he told her again how his carrack had been refitted and was as seaworthy as any galleon. She wanted to go to the city, but her father had ordered — not asked!—her to stay aboard the ship while he had taken a rowboat to the docks. The only good thing was that he had taken the nature priest with him. That man and his chill made her uncomfortable.

There were over two dozen ships in the harbor, most smaller than the Seachantress. There were half-a-dozen galleons scattered among them, longer and wider than the Seachantress. Several times earlier in the day, Alara had enjoyed pointing out the size of the galleons to the captain, just to watch him get flustered and take a defensive stance. He was so proud of his ship. Toying with the captain's emotions was fun but a game that wore out quickly.

It had been four days since they had left Sylvestyr and the Seachantress had stopped at several small towns along the coast. Captain Kedamon was a very savvy merchant, preferring to deal directly and apparently never liking the first price offered. Alara had been surprised that such a cautious man of trade had allowed the three of them to buy passage. They had made no secret that they preferred to avoid various authorities, if they could. However, Captain Kedamon seemed agreeable when offered silver coins, and quite helpful. She suspected that he would turn them in if there was a reward offered, which there was not, as far she had heard. The Raujornians didn't like to broadcast their business, as the priest had pointed out, thankfully. It was the only thing he had ever said that hadn't irritated her.

Several times over the past days, Alara had thought about the strange man in the cage outside of the inn near Sylvestyr. His situation wasn't a real concern, since the fool should have run away when she had given him the chance. He deserved whatever fate that Brotherhood of Light imposed upon him now. She was bothered by the strange pulses of lhaeris and the visions she had seen. She kept telling herself it was silly to think that they meant anything, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they had meant something. They could have been dreams pulled from the man's head. She wasn't sure. Maybe this was the type of thing that happened to a wizard who never learned to control her magic. Her learning in lhaeris was fairly strong, she had thought. Yet, she had little experience with the dark spirit magic, saerh. Syrs had seemed reluctant to teach that. And the visions had been confusing. She wasn't going to figure it out standing on the deck of the ship, she knew. She would have to ask someone who knew about such things. Maybe Myla Ashaam in Sendora could help her understand what had happened. She hoped so, because she didn't want to ask the priest. He might know something, since he had claimed to sense something at the same time. But he had dragged her away from her home, so she definitely wasn't going to beg information from him. It was hard enough just squeezing their destination from his hairy face. She wouldn't give him the chance to dangle more answers out of her reach.