Journeyman (A Wizard's Life) (5 page)

“I was there,” he told the man. “What’s your name? I’m Benen.” He wanted to change the subject.

“My name is Timmon. Benen, I’m cold. Can you build a fire?”

“I doubt it would warm you,” Benen told the ghost, but he gathered wood together and set it alight using magic.

“What was that!?” The ghost sounded startled.

“I’m a wizard, Timmon. I lit the fire with magic.”

“I saw a brilliant flash of light for an instant.”

“Odd. I just created a bit of fire. I guess you see things differently in your state.”

“All of this is odd. I guess this is punishment for what I did in life.”

“Timmon, I think rather that something happened to you beyond your control. There was magic being used in that fight. Perhaps your state is a result of that.” It was as close to taking responsibility for Timmon’s state as Benen was willing to come for the moment.

“I don’t know. You’re the wizard. Is that possible?”

“Yes, definitely,” he assured Timmon.

“Can you cure me?”

“If you stop being a ghost, I don’t know what would happen to you. Regardless, I don’t know how I would do that, not right now anyway.”

“Do you mind if I stay with you until you figure it out? I feel more real around you, things are clearer and make more sense.”

Benen did not feel he had any choice, this man’s torment was his responsibility. He told the ghost he could stay with him and then bedded down again. Timmon went quiet to let him sleep but was still nearby; Benen could sense his cold presence.

This is a poor start to my heroics
, Benen thought before falling asleep.

#

In the morning, there was no sign of Timmon.

Benen tried calling to the ghost but there was no response; the cold presence was gone. He shrugged and got on with his plans. He could not think of a way to locate Timmon and even started to wonder if he had imagined the entire encounter.

I had better not be going mad,
he thought.

He cast the spell he had devised the night before; it was meant to locate any large concentrations of people feeling fear. It was a taxing spell due to how far he wanted the detection to be able to reach and after casting it he rested for an hour. He was not sure if it was working, he wasn’t detecting anything within the spell’s range.

Rested, he shape-shifted once again into giant eagle form. The change remained as unpleasant as ever, but at least the spell itself was becoming less draining to cast. He took off shortly after the change, carrying his things in one of his talons again.

Hunting as he went, he flew around the region of Estren south of the capital. He was hoping his enchantment would discover a group of scared people. He flew a search pattern, making his way south and east. By late afternoon he had confirmation that his magic had worked.

The sense the spell provided made him feel a tug in the direction fear was detected. He flew in that direction and as he got closer to the source, the tug became stronger. A village came into sight as the pull reached its highest intensity. It was the source of fear the spell had detected.

Benen landed a small distance away from the village, careful to remain out of sight. He changed shapes back to his human self and was again wiped by the effort. He had to lay in the grass for a few hours recuperating before he felt up to the task of getting back up on his feet and facing the rest of the day.

After having put on his clothes, Benen felt more able to tackle what lay ahead. He headed toward the village.

A sawmill with much industry around it made it clear to Benen that wood was the primary export of the place. Surprisingly, the village’s perimeter was guarded by men holding cudgels or clubs spiked with nails. He sensed great fear from all the villagers, but even more from these guards.

What are they afraid of?
he wondered.

The guards did not tense when they spotted Benen, he noted. They did keep an eye on him as he approached though. He was dressed in his middle-class finery and seemed quite the gentleman, he was sure. He doffed his hat to them when he was closer and introduced himself.

“Hello. I am Benen, I have come to help you,” he said. The guards’ looks of surprise quickly changed to expressions of doubt.

“What do you think you can do, sir?” asked one of the guards.

“That will be between myself and your village’s elders.”

“We have a headman here,” said the guard.

“Then it will be between me and the headman.”

The guards exchanged looks and then one of them escorted Benen into the village proper. He was brought to a large wooden house, the largest in the village, and directed to wait outside while the guard went into the house.

Benen waited patiently, rehearsing in his head what he planned to say to the headman. He decided it was for the best that the village had a single leader; it made convincing them to let him help that much easier. Councils of elders were often full of political divisions and petty grudges, preventing consensus.

He did not have to wait long. The guard returned and let Benen into the house.

It was a richly appointed dwelling that seemed to be used by the headman both as his place of work and his residence. Benen was escorted to the headman’s study.

“You say you can help us, stranger?” asked the man seated behind the desk. He was tall and blond, with a full, well-groomed beard and piercing blue eyes.

“I am Benen, your honour, and I am a wizard.”

This took the man behind the desk by surprise and he leaned back and away from Benen. The guard gasped and distanced himself as well. He was making warding gestures against evil.

“Sir, I am here to help,” Benen told them.

“We do not trust you, Wizard. We already have enough troubles, we do not need you bringing more.”

“Headman, if I deal with whatever it is that has you so worried, will you consider changing your opinion of wizards?”

Benen had chosen to help the most desperate people he could find, banking on their need for help to override their fear and mistrust of wizards.

It worked.

The headman admitted that he would be grateful for any help, even from the Adversary himself, should he offer.

He explained the problem to Benen: “The forest to the south, the source of the majority of our lumber, is no longer safe. Logging crews go into it and never return; we have lost three crews this way. I have stopped all logging until we have resolved the problem.”

“How were you going to resolve this before I came along?” Benen asked him.

He sighed and looked very grave. “We were going to comb the woods in force. I would have taken every able-bodied man, armed each with spear, club or cudgel and headed in there. Who knows what we would have found.”

Benen put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “You won’t have to do that now. I will go into the woods and find the source of this problem and take care of it for you.”

“Why would you do this? Alone?”

“You fear wizards — perhaps for good reasons — but I want to show you that we can be of help to you too. We are not the monsters you think us to be.”

“I think you’ll go into the woods and disappear like all the work crews have.”

“Then you will have lost nothing at all.”

The headman considered this and nodded.

It was agreed that Benen would stay the night at the headman’s house and go into the forest in the morning.

That night Benen ate at the headman’s table with his family.

The headman, whose name was Pol, turned out to be a widower with three daughters. The family had servants and supper was served to them, much like Benen had served the wizard during his apprenticeship. This was a level of luxury he had never experienced before and he found the food too rich, if tasty.

The dinner conversation was sparse; Pol’s daughters were shy around the young wizard. Benen hoped they were not afraid of him. He tried to engage them in conversation, but they would only answer his questions meekly. After dinner, the daughters retired to their rooms and Pol invited him for a drink in his study.

It was the first time Benen had tried any drink other than ale. His first swallow of whiskey made his eyes water and he nearly threw up. Pol laughed and relaxed. Benen gave his host a hesitant smile and sipped the rest of his glass slowly, growing accustomed to the liquor.

“It is my best,” Pol commented.

“The whiskey?” Benen asked. His host nodded. “I’m afraid its subtleties are wasted on me, sir.”

“I thought it fitting for your last night, to go with your last meal.”

“You don’t believe I’ll survive, do you?”

“I believe that you believe you will. Are you even really a wizard, Benen?”

“I am.”

“You seem awfully young.”

“I’ve only recently finished my apprenticeship, sir.”

“Oh? Is that how it works? How was that?”

“Horrible, sir, if you must know.”

There was an awkward silence then.

Benen decided to be bold. “Headman, we’ve established that you don’t believe I will live through tomorrow’s journey into the forest.” Pol conceded this was so. “How would you feel about a wager?”

The headman raised an eyebrow at this. “Do go on.”

“I have a purse of gold coins here, I propose to leave it with you when I go. The coins are yours to keep if I do not return.”

“Let us see this purse.” Pol examined the contents, his eyes growing large as he counted the golden coins. “Very well. And what happens if you should survive?”

“I get the hand of one of your daughters. And, of course, my purse back.”

Pol considered this for a moment.

“Which daughter?” he asked.

“I would have to decide after I return. I’ve not had a chance to get to know them yet.”

“Done.”

They shook on it.

#

The villagers escorted Benen to the edge of the forest and watched as he went in. Many were holding their hands in warding signs. He knew that to some of the villagers, sending him to be lost in the forest was for the best. This was exactly the sort of sentiment Benen was aiming to change by resolving their problem, thus gaining their trust and gratitude.

He put on a brave face going in and kept it on until he was out of sight, but inside he was terrified. He had no idea what he was about to confront in the forest, or how he was going to deal with it. He knew now he should not kill whatever he found using magic, he did not want to be responsible for another Timmon. How was he going to do this?

He delayed any planning until he had a clearer idea of exactly what he needed to deal with.

Exploring the forest, Benen kept himself alert for any sign of trouble. As time wore on and he found nothing, his wariness waned to the point that he did not notice when a creature started stalking him.

It slunk along the ground, six-footed and furred, mottled in greens and browns, like the forest around it. It was a long sleek beast, with a head like a panther and claws like a badger. It leaped onto Benen’s back, catching him completely unawares.

Benen found himself bowled over, landing face first onto the ground, the creature on his back. He knew he had to think and act quickly or he would be dead. His plan for dealing with potential injuries had been to call upon the powers of the moon to heal himself, since that body was in the sky at the time. But what he needed was something more ongoing and proactive. He cast, with no movements or incantation, a spell of regeneration on himself. It kicked in just as the creature started tearing at his back with its six sets of claws.

Casting the enchantment had turned his blood to pure pain, it was so bad that he nearly blacked out, but then the creature’s claws brought new pain as it dug into his back.

Can’t pass out. Have to get some distance.

Using the magic of the Pinnacle, he performed yet another spell. This effect he had mastered thoroughly enough not to feel much backlash from casting it without motions or incantations. He laid the enchantment of telekinesis on the creature, yanked it up and threw it away; he cared not where.

It did not go far, which surprised Benen. His spell should have had the power to throw the beast a fair distance. He got up shakily to his feet, his back already mostly healed.

That’s another thing,
he thought
,
the regeneration should have numbed the pain completely.
It hadn’t.

Confused but too busy to worry about such details just then, Benen looked around for the creature; he couldn’t see it anywhere. It had landed nearby, but it must have slunk away, he reasoned.

The next thing he knew, a large birdlike creature attacked him from above. Its talons raked him as it swooped down and then withdrew again.

Another creature?
Benen was feeling outnumbered. He needed to deal with these creatures fast before a third one showed up.