06-02-2016, 11:38 AM
The Sage lay in the bed, his hastily bandaged shoulder wound staining the unused sheets with salt water and blood. In his fevered dreams, the face of his father, slightly distorted and wavering, frowned disapprovingly from the other side of his desk. The Sage was back in his father’s office, returned from his foray into the study of magic. But he had returned in disgrace.
“So, you can’t even be a wizard…. It’s a shame really. You are enough of a bookworm for it. You won’t get far in the military at this age son. What was the point of reading all of those expensive books if you didn’t learn anything from them, eh?” The image of his father crossed the room to gaze out the window into the grounds below. “We’re going to have to get you apprenticed to someone important, and quickly too… time you learned how to get ahead in life… this will look bad if we don’t have it handled by the time your brother gains his knighthood. People will begin to talk…” He sighed and turned back to face the Sage, sitting in his chair. “It would have been so much easier if you were a wizard. Just look at you. What have you done with your life?” The Sage glanced down, and noticed the long gray beard flowing from his own chin. He looked up in alarm to find his father’s face mere inches away from his own. “you have SQUANDERED it!”
With a start, the Sage’s eyes fluttered open. It was nighttime, and a warm ocean breeze blew in from the window, the curtains fluttering pleasantly in the brisk wind. A strange light hummed in the ceiling, casting light in the room better than any lantern he was used to. He glanced down at his injured arm. And found that it had been bandaged with a fresh gause, the blood and salt-water soaked sleeve of his arm had also been cut away, so that the wound could be accessed. He tried moving his fingers, and was somewhat relieved to find that things still seemed to be in more or less of a working condition.
He was unsure of the nature of the weapon that had been used against him, but it reminded him vaguely of the fire-lances that the King’s weapon smith had been experimenting with. Those devices had been the size of spears and impractical to aim at a single target. The smith had claimed that the power behind the devices was beyond anything else in the king’s arsenal, but his majesty had merely scoffed; what was the point of a weapon you could not actually control? You would be as likely to kill the man standing next to you as you would be your enemy. Perhaps he would have found the Pirate’s weapons more to his liking…
There a noise off to his left, and the Sage realized that his mysterious healer was still in the immediate vicinity. The Sage glanced sideways, as the stranger drew closer. At first glance she seemed quite young, but the Sage realized that this was a hasty assumption, as one only had to see her eyes to understand that she had lost her youthful innocence long ago.
She had experience, that much was certain, and that was something that the Sage did not currently possess. He had travelled some in the past, but this was far beyond his experiences when it came to travelling. His grandest journeys had always been within the confines of the royal archives.
As she looked at him expectantly he realized that she had asked him a question, and he nodded.
“Yes, it would appear that I am after all.... I am thirsty though… hungry as well. Do you perchance have anything I could eat?” It wasn’t the most diplomatic of introductions, but the Sage could feel that he hadn’t had anything nourishing to eat for quite some time, and that his throat was quite parched. Still, he hadn’t had a good track record recently, perhaps he should be more tactful going forward. His father’s voice flashed though his thoughts, time you learned how to get ahead…
The healer was about to leave when he called out. “actually, could you instead tell me where I am right now? Who is it that lives in that tower in the middle of the island?”
“So, you can’t even be a wizard…. It’s a shame really. You are enough of a bookworm for it. You won’t get far in the military at this age son. What was the point of reading all of those expensive books if you didn’t learn anything from them, eh?” The image of his father crossed the room to gaze out the window into the grounds below. “We’re going to have to get you apprenticed to someone important, and quickly too… time you learned how to get ahead in life… this will look bad if we don’t have it handled by the time your brother gains his knighthood. People will begin to talk…” He sighed and turned back to face the Sage, sitting in his chair. “It would have been so much easier if you were a wizard. Just look at you. What have you done with your life?” The Sage glanced down, and noticed the long gray beard flowing from his own chin. He looked up in alarm to find his father’s face mere inches away from his own. “you have SQUANDERED it!”
With a start, the Sage’s eyes fluttered open. It was nighttime, and a warm ocean breeze blew in from the window, the curtains fluttering pleasantly in the brisk wind. A strange light hummed in the ceiling, casting light in the room better than any lantern he was used to. He glanced down at his injured arm. And found that it had been bandaged with a fresh gause, the blood and salt-water soaked sleeve of his arm had also been cut away, so that the wound could be accessed. He tried moving his fingers, and was somewhat relieved to find that things still seemed to be in more or less of a working condition.
He was unsure of the nature of the weapon that had been used against him, but it reminded him vaguely of the fire-lances that the King’s weapon smith had been experimenting with. Those devices had been the size of spears and impractical to aim at a single target. The smith had claimed that the power behind the devices was beyond anything else in the king’s arsenal, but his majesty had merely scoffed; what was the point of a weapon you could not actually control? You would be as likely to kill the man standing next to you as you would be your enemy. Perhaps he would have found the Pirate’s weapons more to his liking…
There a noise off to his left, and the Sage realized that his mysterious healer was still in the immediate vicinity. The Sage glanced sideways, as the stranger drew closer. At first glance she seemed quite young, but the Sage realized that this was a hasty assumption, as one only had to see her eyes to understand that she had lost her youthful innocence long ago.
She had experience, that much was certain, and that was something that the Sage did not currently possess. He had travelled some in the past, but this was far beyond his experiences when it came to travelling. His grandest journeys had always been within the confines of the royal archives.
As she looked at him expectantly he realized that she had asked him a question, and he nodded.
“Yes, it would appear that I am after all.... I am thirsty though… hungry as well. Do you perchance have anything I could eat?” It wasn’t the most diplomatic of introductions, but the Sage could feel that he hadn’t had anything nourishing to eat for quite some time, and that his throat was quite parched. Still, he hadn’t had a good track record recently, perhaps he should be more tactful going forward. His father’s voice flashed though his thoughts, time you learned how to get ahead…
The healer was about to leave when he called out. “actually, could you instead tell me where I am right now? Who is it that lives in that tower in the middle of the island?”
If history is to become legend, it first must be recorded.