The Festival of the Azure Moon

Chapter 5 - Outlaws in a Foreign Land

Shalnark and Don rode through the night to create as much distance between them and Riverhill as possible. Don suggested they ride their horses at a slow pace, for the trails here were too rough to ride on at a gallop safely. Shalnark was continually checking over his shoulder, looking for anyone who may be pursuing them. "We need to get moving quickly. That Holy Knight could be upon us at any moment."

"Relax, my friend. Dusk will warn us if anyone is in pursuit," Don said confidently.

"You would put our lives in the hands of a mindless bird?"

"Dusk is far from mindless. He is an animal guardian. I'll have you know, that raven likely has more wisdom than the two of us combined."

Shalnark kept looking over his shoulder at the faintest sound that could potentially be a galloping warhorse. "Forgive me if I doubt the wisdom of a well-trained pet bird."

"That pet bird has lived almost five raven lifetimes without being killed by a single predator. If anyone can help us evade capture, it is him."

"There you go again with this mystical speech. I learned your empirical language less than a year ago, and you don't seem much better at it than I am. You're going to need to speak more plainly for me to understand. Magic is incredibly rare where I am from."

"My apologies. I tend to forget what I know is not common knowledge."

Shalnark glared at Don.

"Dusk is the eternal soul of a bird that died somewhere in this dimension. When animals die, their souls are taken to the First Gardens, where they can be reincarnated. I summoned his spirit from there, and he allowed me to bind him to my service."

"So, you brought a dead bird back from the dead and made it your slave pet?"

Don ran a hand through his hair. "When you put it that way, it sounds so sinister. I assure you, Dusk is not a slave. If he ever wished to leave my service, I would allow him to do so."

"What if he wants to leave your service, and you refuse?"

"Well . . . I would never do that."

"I can see why the Church of the Holy Trinity puts such a watchful eye on you magicians. If someone evil had your power, they could rob every vault in the empire and send an army of bears and wolves to devastate a village."

Don chuckled. "Even if I were to take a dark turn and wish to lay waste to the empire, it would not be as easy as you put it. We magicians have many limitations."

"Like what?" Shalnark scoffed.

"Well, you saw one yourself. I cannot use my spells infinitely. I am limited by my magic reserve, just as regular folk are limited by their physical endurance. Once my magic reserve is tapped out, I am completely unable to cast spells. Magic is far from effortless."

"My transformations are basically effortless. I can do them all day, every day without rest," Shalnark boasted.

"Is that so? Then my theory about your origin was correct!" Don grinned. "You, my friend, are a changeling."

"A what?"

"A changeling is a shapeshifter created by fairies to replace stolen children."

Shalnark laughed at the absurdity of what he just heard. "You are either making this up as you go or have gone completely mad."

"My sanity may be questionable, but my knowledge is not. A fairy crossed over into this world, stole the real Shalnark away from his parents as a babe or young child, created an exact duplicate of the child by creating you, a changeling, and finally left you in the child's place."