The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1 (37 page)

“No, but it doesn’t seem like that big a deal to me. Why all the secrecy?”

“As far as we know, no individual student has gotten the notion to find, hoard, or use a bunch of potentially dangerous magical objects and we’d like to keep it that way. Not to mention, if lots of students are running around a world going on quests like that and not always subtly, rulers could get involved and wars could be fought over objects that no one knows where they are anymore or if they even existed. Secrecy simplifies things.”

“Makes sense.”

“Good, I hoped it would, but I thought I should check. I don’t want to be starting a quest tomorrow with you mad at me.”

“I’m pretty sure you’d know if I was mad at you,” said Lucy with a half smile.

Justin smiled back remembering her anger at him when the announcement about the challenge first came out.

“I do have a few questions though,” started Lucy.

“Ask away.”

“Do we need to tell our teachers that we are leaving or do we just not show up for class?”

“I’m sure Eric will tell them what they need to know.”

“What do I pack?”

“Mainly clothes and anything else you think might be useful. I’ll take care of packing food and get you a water skin. Leave some room in your pack for the food.”

“What about blankets and things like that?”

“You should pack one. Gavin has a tent that folds up really small so we can sleep in that if we have to, but you should take care of your own blanket situation.”

“Horses?”

“We won’t be bringing any of the school horses with us. We might be able to pick some up once we get to Kinowenn.”

“Money?”

“For the trip? Eric gave me an allowance for travel expenses. Since we are working for the school, he may give us a stipend of some sort when we return. If you need any more clothing, and that might be a good idea since I don’t think I’ve seen you in anything new, other than that fetching dress the other night, since you arrived here, I’m sure you have credits from working with Ted that you can spend. Maya will take care of any potions ingredients, she thinks are important. Bring your knife belt, but wear it hidden, we need to be ready for any type of trouble, but we don’t need to invite it. I’ll get you a staff or a short sword if you’d prefer. You’re proficient enough at both.”

With that said, Justin left Lucy at her door to begin her packing. Lucy looked around at her stuff, and decided she might need some more clothing, and went to see Kyle. She didn’t explain all her reasons for the clothing she wanted, but Kyle didn’t seem to mind. She described what she was looking for, and he obliged. First, Lucy picked out a tougher pair of boots. It couldn’t hurt to have a spare. Also, she needed some more underwear and socks. She had once heard somewhere that you could never have too many pairs of clean socks on a road march so she decided she’d rather have a pair too many than a pair too few.

Then, she began trying on clothing. She wanted thicker, tougher pants and stuck with greens and browns. She wanted something that wouldn’t show dirt too quickly or stand out in an outdoor setting. Lucy also wanted some tougher tunics that were easy to move in and maybe something that came in layers so she could add them on if it was cold, or strip them off if they ended up in the desert. Kinowenn might not be the biggest place one could get sent to, but it had every major geographical climate from burning deserts to snow peaked mountains to swamps to rainforests. Remembering the last two items, she looked around for waterproof clothing as well. She looked over the selection they had and decided the better way to go might be to spell items to her preferences.

After the clothing store, she hopped over to the bookstore and found
The Mage’s Guide of Details to make the Necessary Traveling Bearable
. Lucy acknowledged that the book sounded like it was aimed for a less in shape traveler than she was, or hoped she was, but some of the spells looked useful. Some of them mentioned ideas that never would have occurred to Lucy but would make her travels more comfortable. There was a spell to turn a rock into a bar of environmentally friendly soap and back to a rock so you didn’t need to worry about packing or running out of soap or upsetting the natural environment if the soap you brought had additives that accidentally killed the local fish. There was a spell that you could use to heat water half a foot in each direction from your body so you could enjoy a warm bath without heating a lake or using a tub. Lucy also liked the spell that encouraged insects to stay at least a foot away from your body. It didn’t harm them in any way; it simply suggested to the insects that food was in the other direction if they got too near. There were many more spells that ranged from useful to absurd. The book was waterproof so you could use it in the rain, and the letters would glow in the dark if you asked them to.

Lucy finished shopping and returned to her room to pack. The first thing she did after consulting her book was waterproof her pack. She couldn’t think of anything more useful to do because she hated to be sopping wet if she wasn’t in the shower or swimming and she knew she would hate it if all her supplies were wet and in the process of molding. She also added a spell to make the insides larger than they looked, but not by too much. The idea was not to attract attention, and if she had to crawl inside her pack to find something, that would attract attention. Some of her items, like her spare pair of boots, she could use a spell on to make smaller. Lucy tried not to do this too often. If they ended up in a situation where they couldn’t use magic, it didn’t do her any good to have the items if they were too small. Magic was useful, but dangerous to rely upon for everything.

Lucy worked a few spells on her cloak as well. She made it waterproof, of course, and added more pockets. You never knew when you were going to need an extra pocket. She decided to make it reversible as well. It was tricky and time consuming, but she was finally able to give the underside a chameleon effect. It was not invisible, but if she turned that side out, she would blend into her surroundings. She could make herself invisible, but again, she was trying to think ahead and plan. It might be quicker to reverse her cloak, besides being less draining, and it wouldn’t alert anyone who could sense magic to her presence. The final thing she did to the cloak that she thought was a good idea was to make it strong enough that she could throw knives at it and they would bounce off. It probably wouldn’t stop a sword thrust, but it would help, and it probably would stop an arrow. It would be more useful than a shield without the weight. Lucy didn’t have the time to put spells on all her clothing, nor did she want to, but having a multi-purpose cloak could come in useful.

Lucy tried to go over things in her head. She did not want to overpack, but she did add some flint, a small moonstone that she could close her palm around, rope (people always needed rope if they didn’t have it), her potions from her test, an empty vial, a hairbrush, toothbrush, towel, blanket for sleeping (also waterproof), and her plant guide for Kinowenn. There was no way she was going to remember what every plant was, could do, and could be used for. There was a plant that had poisonous needles that it could throw at you. The needle’s poison needed to be treated within twenty minutes or it could be fatal. The antidote needed a crushed needle. That was not something Lucy was going to remember so she thought the book might come in useful. Taking notes from her guide (also packed of course) she made the plant book waterproof and glow in the dark as well. Plants didn’t disappear because it was dark outside.

Lucy looked out her window and noted that the sun had set. She didn’t feel like going to bed yet. Remembering her earlier conversation with Justin, she decided to go down and talk to Ash. Ash wouldn’t and in some cases couldn’t tell anyone else where she was going, and Lucy felt Ash deserved to be said goodbye to.

“
Hello,”
Lucy greeted Ash.

She shook her mane and replied,
“Hello, it’s late for you to be out here. Thinking about taking a late night ride?”

“
No. Besides, I could get in trouble. It’s dangerous to ride at night, and we were told not to do it unless we were undergoing training with an instructor.”

“
Did you come to talk then?”

“
Kind of, I came to say goodbye for awhile.”

“
You are going on a quest?”

“
Yes, and I can’t take you with me.”

“
I would be a good quest horse and keep you safe,”
said Ash with a slight note of pleading in her voice.
“I could come.”

“
I’m sorry. I know you would be the perfect horse for me, but what if something were to happen to you. I would feel it was all my fault.”

“
I wouldn’t blame you.”

“
No, but I would blame myself, and it’s not my decision to make. We were told not to bring any of the school horses.”

“
That’s ok. I like it here. But I will miss you.”

“
I will miss you too.”

They stood in silence for awhile, each taking comfort in the other’s company, Lucy grooming Ash. Ash didn’t need the grooming, but Lucy enjoyed doing it and felt like doing something that would keep her hands busy, and Ash wasn’t going to complain. Lucy finished and gave Ash a final pat.

“
Come back safe,”
said Ash.

“
I promise,”
said Lucy with a smile.

Lucy left the stables and started back to the school. She hadn’t gone very far when a shadow detached itself from a tree to her left. Lucy crouched and was ready to fight, run, or cast a spell. Then she realized it was Justin and straightened up.

“Your reflexes are getting better,” he said with a smile.

“What are you doing out here?” Lucy asked.

“Looking for you. I checked to see how packing was going, and you weren’t in your room.”

They began walking back to Lucy’s room.

“I finished packing and thought I’d come say goodbye to Ash. How’s packing going for you?”

“I’m finished as well. Gavin keeps trying to find ways to attach more weapons to his person and pack. I keep trying to convince him that if we walk around with enough weapons to outfit an army trouble will find us, and he keeps trying to convince me that he can take care of any kind of trouble. Maya is having the issue that many budding pack rats have. She wants to take everything with her, but there isn’t room. She has enough clothing for three of us but can’t see herself surviving without some of it. She can expand her pack all she wants, but she’s going to end up with a mess. Besides the clothes, she wants her potions equipment and half her books even though she has most of them memorized. While doing all this, she’s still mumbling about wild goose chases.”

“So, you thought you’d take a break from both of them and find me. Well, I’m all packed so you won’t have any arguments with me about not having room for things,” said Lucy.

“Good,” replied Justin. “I see you said goodbye to Ash. Did you say goodbye to anyone else?”

“Checking to see if our cover was blown?” Lucy teased.

“Something like that.”

“No, only Ash.”

“You can never be too careful about these things.”

“No, you can’t. However, you know very well, that the only person I’d want to say goodbye to is you, and you’re coming with,” said Lucy.

Justin looked slightly surprised and pleased by that statement.

“And what kind of goodbye would I get?” he asked with a grin.

“It’s irrelevant since you’re coming.”

“Yes, but now I’m curious. If I weren’t coming, what kind of goodbye would I get?”

“A fond one,” she teased as they reached her room, “Good night.”

“Good night? I thought we were talking about goodbye,” he said with mock confusion.

“I changed the subject. I thought you could keep up.”

“I can, but like I said, I’m curious.”

“Well, what kind of goodbye would you give me?” asked Lucy, trying to turn the tables on him.

“One you would never forget,” Justin said with conviction.

“You sound very sure of that. What exactly would that entail?” asked Lucy with a smile.

“You really want to know?” asked Justin all teasing gone from his voice.

Lucy noticed he had turned serious and paused a moment before replying. Suddenly she wasn’t sure if she did really want to know or not. She preferred the joking to the serious when it came to Justin. The joking was fun, but the serious sometimes seemed too intense.

“Since both of us are going, we shall both have to do without goodbyes, and settle for goodnights,” she finally said with smile.

“Perish the thought,” said Justin with mock drama.

“Goodnight Justin.”

“Goodnight Lucy.”

Lucy was calm when she went to bed, but she awoke in the middle of the night haunted by her fears. She had gone along with this and everything else that had happened to her since Eric emerged from her closet without thinking about the possible consequences. She felt safe within the school. During classes and even during challenges, precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the students. Now she was going off into a world with real consequences and motives and desires that were not in her best interest. A magic attack could be designed to kill rather than teach. Someone would not get up after a meal and announce that she had been poisoned. Weapons would be real, not practice.

Even though it was late, Lucy refused to lie in bed and let uncertainty and fear strangle her. She got up and began to pace the small room. Pacing should help. It was only nervous energy. She ran her fingers through her long hair. Three steps turn. Three steps turn. She was used to meals on time, a safe place to sleep every night, and clean clothes to wear. She was used to being able to push herself as far as she felt she could go rather than having to push herself to stay alive. Three steps turn. Being killed here was not a likely occurrence. Three steps turn. Suddenly, the whole experience began to sound rather insane. She answered an ad in a paper, and suddenly she was running around after mythical objects. Three steps turn. At least the insanity at the school was a safe insanity. The insanity on Kinowenn could be exponentially higher. Was she ready for this? There were so many classes she hadn’t taken yet. Her lessons had been fast tracked and sporadic. Three steps turn.