Hows this please reply its my first
Chapter 1
Slavery
Aldronn could feel the griminess of the magical ink embedded under his fingernails and staining the skin of his hands. He wished for the thousandth time that day alone that he was allowed to freely work the magic that he wrote the runes for. Rather than just being allowed craft and create it. His master Toros constantly praised his work, even saying at times that it was better than his own and he was considered a master runewriter. But he also said that the inks and enchantments that were used to create the magic from the runes were way too expensive for a simple collared slave to wield or to use for lessons to practice with. That he should just stick to writing them for now. Unknown to his master, Aldronn had a couple hundred crafted rune works already written.
Hidden away in a secret location unknown to any but him and as soon as he sold a few more. Which he planned to do tonight, he would finally have enough gold to buy his freedom and become a free man.
Once he had his freedom he would let his hair grow long like a freeman. He wanted to travel to Sororia, his original homeland that he didn’t remember. He had been sold into slavery as a toddler from what he assumed were poor parents when it was revealed as a child that he had at least enough of a magical spark in him to write the magical runes that all used. He assumed this but actually he knew nothing of his own history. He did know where he had come from and that was where he wanted to go once he was free. Once he was in his homeland, he wanted to learn how to work the runes magically. To do so without having to rely on the use of paper and ink and only a Sororian rune wizard could teach him how to do that.
A drop of the bright blue ink fell off of the end of his feather quill and caused a slight blot on the thick parchment laid out in front of him.
“Ruin that page with your daydreaming of your homeland again like you ruined the last one Aldronn and it will come out of your monthly stipend.” Toros growled in his ear as he leaned over his shoulder inspecting the parchment. So close was he that his long beaded black mustaches brushed against his cheeks and rested on his shoulder. “No change that,” said the master writer, looking at him with glittering almost black eyes, “Ruin it anyway you want to and maybe you wont have enough money this cycle to buy your freedom and I will own you again for another seven years.”
Every seven years of a slave’s life they are allowed to attempt to buy their freedom. If they cannot come up with the asked for amount they must wait another seven years in their bonds before they can attempt to buy their freedom again.
Aldronn leaned his head to the side and met the look in his master’s dark eyes and said. “That won’t be Toros. It’s not that you are a bad master but I will not be a slave much longer. You have already had me for three cycles and that to me was one cycle too long.” On his twenty fourth birthing day, less than a week away he would pay Toros’s selling price of a thousand gold farens and finally be free to live his own life in his own way.
“You could still stay on here and work.” Toros offered with an almost pleading look in his eyes, “I will pay whatever price you ask for within reason Aldronn. Enough to make your life comfortable as a free man here in Cadzia for a long time.” He gestured with an elegant long fingered hand at the rest of the baldheaded scribe slaves bent over their parchments writing the magical runes saying. “You’re value is worth more to me than any four of these here and you and I both know it. I’ll offer you your own share in the business and you can even own a portion of your own slaves.”
Aldronn eyed the stooped shouldered black haired man with his long beaded mustaches, through his hazel colored eyes and said. “Toros, you’re a good man and I have learned a lot from you but the only thing I want of any value is that in five days for you to take my gold, remove my collar and give me my freedom.”
Toros stopped speaking then. Knowing that there was nothing else that he could offer the young man who had dreams about being a rune working wizard in his own homeland of Sororia. Grudgingly he laid his hand upon the other younger mans shoulder comfortingly as he stood back up and nodded his assent.
It wasn’t that Toros was a hard or cruel master, he was in fact one of the kindest masters that Aldronn knew of on the small island. But he knew he had to be free. Why, he wasn’t sure but he had been told once by a farcaster that he had a destiny. Also she had said that his destiny wasn’t here on Cadzia. She told him that he had a gift for runes and might even one day make a good wizard. That was the one thing that fueled him inside, the one thing he wanted to be.
Two more hours and their work was finished. Toros allowed his slaves some freedom after their day was ended to roam about the city. The master writer knew that there was no where that they could run or escape to on the small island, especially not a shaved and collared slave without sort of freedom papers. If one tried, they would be flogged for doing so and dragged back to their owner by the scruff of their neck.
After wolfing down a hasty supper, Aldronn fled into the city almost running through its streets to his secret hiding place. He had three more magical parchments hidden under his brown slave robes to add to his collection and was anxious to check on the rest. He had already made the final arrangements for their sale. This would give him enough farens for both his passage home and his freedom.
The small mountainous island city of Cadzia was almost completely covered from end to end with colorful buildings. They sat side by side one another or by cobbled streets that rose, fell and dipped at all levels and heights, in some places one could almost walk onto the roofs of houses themselves on lower streets from a higher street level and it was to one of these raised spots that Aldronn was headed.
A few twists and turns and he climbed up onto a low wall. He stepped along it then over onto a lower buildings roof. After climbing, jumping and scrabbling across several more of the multicolored painted tiled roofs, he reached his destination. Now at one of the highest points of the city he crawled into the one spot where he knew that he couldn’t be seen or heard by anyone on any of the surrounding rooftops. Looking about he moved up next to a broken chimney that had been replaced by a new one put in right beside it.
Aldronn slid a few of the old chimneys heavier bricks out of the way and uncovered a space between the two. Sticking his arm down deep into the dark gap he felt around with his fingertips until he found the two large water treated leather wrapped packages and brought them up.
Cradling both of the packages bearing his freedom to his chest, he turned and leaned his body back against the old broken chimney. Carefully he untied the first of the leather packages and unfurled the several hundred magically charged rune marked parchments, examining them. These sheets contained all sorts of general runes for many different types of magic, everything from healing to causing death and all sorts in between. Some of these were the ones that he intended to sell to Moretti Stith and his thieves. After he was satisfied with the conditions of the first sheathes contents Aldronn set it aside and opened the second and more important one.
These were the ones that bore his personal specialty runes. The multicolored sheets were created and crafted personally by him and were of his design of magic. Unknown to Toros or anyone else on the island, he had been practicing rune magic on his own secretly in this hiding place high above the city and its eyes for several years now and almost felt that if he had a little more training he could work the magic without the rune sheets.
All scribe slaves are taught to read at a very young age and Aldronn had become an avid reader of the old legends and magics of the world. One of the ancient rune writing books in Toros’s library had told about how in long ago times magic could be blended in its designs to create different sorts of effects than what it was originally intended for. But that this type of magic had faded away here on the islands and that there was very few people who knew how to create it or work it anymore. For the past seven years Aldronn had been studying everything on the small island that he could place his hands about the lost art and had finally figured out how to write the runes that would do exactly that blend the magic. He intended on taking these scrolls to Sororia with him and in exchange for their worth, find a rune wizard willing to take him on as an apprentice and teach him how to finish developing his own magical abilities.
The setting sun in the east turned red and lit the ocean sky with vivid shades of oranges, purples and pinks. Soon after it set, both of Asadera’s moons climbed up into the coming nighttime sky. Once Laure was bright gold and Urel was a deep shade of blood red he knew it was time for his meeting with the thief master.
Placing the specialty rune sheets back into their sheath and back into the hiding place Aldronn gathered up the other sheath and the sheets he intended to sell and headed back down across the tiled rooftops towards the docks.
The sharp piercing smell of dead fish assaulted his nostrils and let him know that he had reached his destination. Sliding down between a narrow space between two low roofed buildings he landed on the thick logs that made up the extended man made part of the city, its docks. Cadzia was not a large island but its manmade docks were huge and almost encircled the entire island, giving it a much larger appearance. Walking out of the small gap his hazel colored eyes went wide with delight as he spied one of the giant windships. Windships were powered by magic and swept across the great oceans and navigated the straights between the continents and islands. Aldronn smiled to himself as he relished the thought that soon it would be one of these graceful ships that bore him home rather than one of the filthy flat bellied freighters that carried him over as a slave. Stepping lightly and dodging around the people that were working on the large manmade wooden streets, he made his way towards the shabby looking warehouse where Moretti Stith conducted his business.
A wooden door that marked the entrance to the warehouse and he pounded loudly on the door with the flat of his hand. After receiving no response, he did it again and continued to do so for what seemed to him like several long minutes until finally a portal in the door opened. A greasy blond haired man that he had never seen before thrust his head out though the narrow opening and began shouting at him that they were closed and to go away.
Aldronn almost gagged at the accompanying smell of foul wine that assaulted his nose from the other mans fetid breath. Taking a small step backwards away from the rancid smell, he attempted to both speak and hold his breath at the same time saying that he had an appointment scheduled with Moretti for this evening.
The greasy haired man eyed him closely through glossy red veined eyes. He seemed on the brink of telling him to go away again and slamming the door in his face until he held up the sheath with the rune parchments and withdrew one and showed it to him. The other man said nothing as he pulled his head out and still slammed the portal on the door shut. A ragged sounding shout came from behind the door that was accompanied by a few others that answered him. Aldronn couldn’t make out what either response was. Finally the door opened again and the obviously drunken greasy blond haired man bowed mockingly to him saying in a slurred voice. “YYouu arre expected Mmaster rune writerr, pleasse enterr.”
As he stepped past the drunken man at the door Aldronn couldn’t help but notice how swiftly he fell in behind him as he moved across the open expanse of the poorly lit warehouse towards a group at one of its ends near what Moretti called his smugglers port.
A smugglers port was a hole cut into the floorboards of the building which was high enough up off of the water to let a small boat or skiff under it. Illegal goods or stolen merchandise could be moved into and out of the warehouse through the hole without the dock authorities being any of the wiser. Aldronn really wasn’t sure why that mattered, most of the dock authority workers were Moretti’s own men anyway.
Aldronn felt his breath tighten in his chest as he got close enough to the hole to see what it was that the men were passing up through it.
A bound and gagged young woman was being shoved up from a boat underneath the floor and in spite of the ropes tying up her hands and feet, she was fighting for all that she was worth. She bore the signs of that fight with marks showing clearly on her skin, two black eyes and a split bleeding lower lip. As the men beneath finally got her struggling form up through the hole and onto the wooden floor Aldronn noticed that the back half of her shirt was shredded and that part of it had been completely torn away. A large two tiered black cross was tattooed across her back that ran from shoulder to shoulder and down the length of her spine. Almost as soon as he saw the mark Aldronn felt a surge of fear rush through him. His hazel eyes bulged wide as recognized what it was on the young woman back and gasped loudly.
The tattooed rune cross on the young woman was the symbol of the royal family of Sororia, the mark of the house Paraxis.
A tall balding brown haired man with a tightly wound oiled beard that hung down to the middle of his chest, spun around at the sound and glared at him. His blazing light green eyes seemed to cut straight through him as he demanded to know if he knew who she was.
Moretti Stith released his hold on the beaten and bloody still fighting young lady. Moving closer to the other man he placed a comforting hand on the taller mans shoulder saying simply as he easily lied, “He is nothing but a simple slave with whose master I have a little business.”
Unseen by the taller man Moretti threw Aldronn a look that spoke of both fear and warning. Aldronn was surprised Moretti sort of ruled the underground activity of Cadzia, which due to the fact that there was a lot of smuggling here consisted of a lot of activity. To see him frightened by this man glaring at him so malevolently did nothing to lessen the feelings of fear that still filled him from the sight on the young girls back.
“What is he doing here!” hissed the tall man, “I thought I told you that no one else was to be here, that this was supposed to be a completely private sale.”
“He’s nothing but a simple slave Belarus, you have nothing to fear from him.” countered Moretti repeating what he had said a moment before, “His master might have a monetary interest in our little transaction here as well.
Belarus’ eyes fell once again on Aldronn’s own hazel ones and the dark look that was in them scared him more than the mark of the royal Paraxis on the beaten girls back.
He realized that he had intruded upon something he shouldn’t have and was probably just mere moments away from his own death. Turning his body slightly as if he was cringing under the weight of the other mans black gaze, he fumbled at the sheath’s catch that held the magical parchments.
“Maybe,” he thought to himself, “he could free one and it would be one that might offer him some sort of way out of this mess.”
“He’s a scribe slave you fool. I’m sure that judging by the look on his face that he recognizes who or what this girl is.” Belarus said in a contemptuous voice, gesturing towards the bound form on the wooden floor and then pointed at Aldronn’s shaved head and stained hands. Saying nothing more he made a curt gesture to the greasy haired blond man behind him. Aldronn tried to turn back to see what was going on when something struck him hard in the back of the head causing a flash of pain filled lights to explode in front of his eyes. Then the world around him went completely black and he felt his legs crumple underneath him.
Chapter 2
Rune Magic
Toros was sitting in his book filled study sipping on a glass of sea weed wine with a new book opened in front of him reading when he felt the magic of the slave rune ring on his left hand flare to life and turn hot. Immediately he knew that one of his twenty slaves was in mortal danger. The slave ring allowed him in a way to monitor all of the slaves that were his property through their rune marked collars which served as a link to the ring. And at seeing one of the twenty runes engraved in its surface glowing red he knew that something life threatening was happening to Aldronn. Sighing to himself at having to set his new book aside before he could even begin to really read it, Toros stood, drained the glass of pale wine, went over to the corner of his study, picked up his short iron ball capped walking staff and headed towards the door. He knew where Aldronn was. He knew of his meeting with Moretti Stith but if his rune ring was glowing the way it was now something must have gone terribly wrong with that meeting.
Unknown to his slaves, Toros was entirely aware that they pilfered the materials that would someday allow them to buy their freedom. This suited him just fine. A younger slave could write and produce a lot more documents than an older one. An older one who like how he was, started taking too much pride in his work and that slowed him down. Even if Aldronn only had a few days left as his slave, he was still his property and he wasn’t about to let any harm come to him. Not before he could see his dreams of freedom come true. Aldronn had way too much talent to stay as a slave much longer and deserved to be free.
Toros squared his stooped shoulders and with cane in hand set out across the island towards the docks, following the magic in his rune ring that would lead to Aldronn.
* * *
It was the sound of voices arguing vehemently above and in front of him that caused him to wake from his unconscious state. It took him a few dizzying moments to realize where it was that he was at and what it was going on around him. Then he remembered, somebody had hit him from behind with something very hard.
None of the men standing in front of him arguing about whether or not they should kill him now or take him out to sea and do so had even noticed that he was awake.
Aldronn saw a patch of bright blood staining the wooden floor next to him where his head had been and from the sharp stab of pain that covered the back of it, he knew that he had been hurt by the greasy haired blond man. Shaking his head as if to clear the cobwebs his eyes met those of the bound and beaten girl still lying next to the smugglers hole. They might have under normal circumstances been pretty eyes but right not they were full of panic. Rolling wildly in their sockets as she desperately pulled at the ropes in an attempt to find a way to escape. He knew from the look in them that she knew that maybe he wouldn’t be the only one dying here in the warehouse tonight.
Seeing that none of the others standing in front of him had noticed that he had roused, he let his eyes search for his leather pouch. “Maybe, if he could retrieve one of the parchments from it, he could still use it to invoke a spell that might free them or save his and the girls lives.”
All hope fled and left him completely empty inside as he spied the leather case dozens of feet away with a boot scuff mark on its side, probably kicked there by one of the arguing men.
The sound of steel being drawn above jerked his attention from the far away case and back to the men in front of him. Two of the men that he didn’t recognize and who he assumed was with this other man named Belarus had drawn out their swords. One of them was slashing at Moretti’s head, while the second was stabbing straight at the smugglers other man’s chest.
Moretti Stith was not an easy man to kill. He had grown up all of his life on the docks of Cadzia and had been fighting for most of it too. As the man who slashed at him came on, he threw himself backwards onto he wooden floor, the swing sword passing harmlessly above his head.
Kicking out with both of his feet from his place on his back Moretti drove both of his heels into the swordsman’s kneecaps. His assailant screamed in pain as his legs buckled underneath him, unable to support his weight he crashed heavily to the wooden floor. His other man though Moretti saw as he propelled his body backwards scampering like a crab wasn’t so lucky.
The greasy haired blond man with a look of savage glee on his face who appeared to have only been faking his drunken routine ran his sword completely through his body, all the way up to the hilt in one fluid motion.
Knowing that the odds were against him and realizing that to stay might mean his own death, Moretti kept scrambling crablike across the floor, hopped over the bound young woman and threw himself down through the smugglers port, diving deep into the black ocean water below.
The three men seeing that their other victim had fled and that the second was dead now turned their attention on him. Aldronn figured as he saw their eyes focus on him that after he was killed they would go on to the bound young woman with the royal mark of Paraxis tattooed across her back.
“So what do we do with you slave?” said Belarus eyeing him, his hallow cheeked face devoid of all emotion “Your mere presence here has ruined months of planning and preparation.” The coolness and calmness sounding now in the other mans voice scared Aldronn more than the anger and fury of earlier. Turning away from him, Belarus stepped towards the door and coldly ordered the two other men with him to first kill him then cover and bring the girl.
Aldronn watched as the two men, one with his bloody sword already drawn and the second limping slightly recovered his, both grinning in wicked pleasure begin advancing towards him. Quickly he looked back over his shoulder and wished that he had the parchment case in his hand or even better, the other that he had left behind in the chimney. Using the blended rune sheets magic that he had created he could easily do away with the two men or at least stop them. He knew of the perfect parchment back at the old chimney that would fit this situation and if he had it now he would use it to save both himself and the girl. With no other option left to save his life, Aldronn decided to take a chance. He scrambled to his feet and ran towards the parchment case. Halfway there he was knocked bodily to the floor by the blond haired man who tackled him from behind. Fear and desperation filled his body and he tried to thrust the other man from him. But he was face first on the floor and that gave the other man on his back a distinct advantage.
The greasy blonde haired man rolled him over and Aldronn caught a heavy boot to the face from his companion. He felt his head explode again with pain and his bottom lip burst open in a bloody spray that accompanied the impact of the boots hard sole. The greasy haired blond man let him fall to the floor and they both kicked him several more times in the ribs and sides.
Aldronn felt something crack inside of him. He gagged with the pain and tried to scrabble away from his attackers. Not sure by who, he felt his ankle grabbed and one of the men yanked his foot. His hands shot out from underneath him in a violent motion and he fell once again onto his face, this time cutting the soft skin under his eye and breaking his nose on the floor. The pair turned him back over and laughed. Pointing at him mockingly as he clutched at his ribs and watched the blood flow openly out of his mouth, face and nose and down onto his chest.
Aldronn felt a rush of fury fill him as he heard their mocking laughter and once again for some unknown reason he thought of the spell that was in his sheath on the roof top. He wished that there was some way that he could use it against these two to stop their laughter. Suddenly the same green and red colored rune that he had drawn on the parchment back at the old chimney burst to life in his minds eyes as clearly as if he had written just then. Without thinking, he said his name for it that he had created through his torn and bloody mouth and pointed a finger at the two laughing men.
Their mocking laughter died in their throats and the cruel joy on their faces fled as they saw his hand flare to life in a flash of brilliant green fire. Then the fire streaked across the short distance in the warehouse heading straight at them.
The emerald green colored magic encased both of the two men in what looked like a liquid fire. It spread out over their bodies like it was alive. They both screamed and dropped to the floor as it consumed first their clothes, then hair then skin. In vain it seemed, they attempted to roll about on the floor trying to put out the acid fire magic. The magic that had come from the rune that Aldronn had been thinking of. With a sick queasy feeling filling him at the sounds of their screams Aldronn knew there was no way to put out the bright liquid green fire until it consumed itself.
Still not quite able to comprehend what he had done, he watched in horror as the flames consumed the man with the hurt knees entirely. It left nothing behind but a bubbling green pool lying on the floor. The second man with the greasy blond hair did as Moretti had done earlier and threw himself through the smugglers port and into the black water below.
As he struggled to stand up, fighting the pain that filled his insides, Aldronn’s eyes fell once again on the bound and gagged beaten girl. He couldn’t help but notice the look of icy cold satisfaction in her dark eyes as she stared at the bubbling pool on the floor. That look sent another icy chill coursing through his body. He staggered and stumbled first in the direction of the rune sheath and after making an effort at retrieving it, he then went over towards the girl. He almost made it before he felt something give way inside of his body and he collapsed, crashing heavily again down onto the wooden floor.
The sound of the door being opened to the warehouse behind him was the last sound he remembered before passing out again into oblivion.
Iandra Piraxis, daughter to the ruler of Sororia, watched as a tall stoop shouldered man with long beaded black mustaches and walking stick made his way cautiously into the room, his eyes searching about frantically. At seeing just the pair of them, he gasped loudly and hurried over. In one smooth efficient motion he quickly cut the ropes from her wrists with a small knife that he carried at his belt. Next he motioned for her to help him carry the wounded younger man out of the warehouse. Together as one they carried Aldronn’s unconscious away from the docks.
As they moved across the wooden man made walkways a pair of hate filled eyes watched them closely from the waters edge glaring malevolently.
Chapter 1
Slavery
Aldronn could feel the griminess of the magical ink embedded under his fingernails and staining the skin of his hands. He wished for the thousandth time that day alone that he was allowed to freely work the magic that he wrote the runes for. Rather than just being allowed craft and create it. His master Toros constantly praised his work, even saying at times that it was better than his own and he was considered a master runewriter. But he also said that the inks and enchantments that were used to create the magic from the runes were way too expensive for a simple collared slave to wield or to use for lessons to practice with. That he should just stick to writing them for now. Unknown to his master, Aldronn had a couple hundred crafted rune works already written.
Hidden away in a secret location unknown to any but him and as soon as he sold a few more. Which he planned to do tonight, he would finally have enough gold to buy his freedom and become a free man.
Once he had his freedom he would let his hair grow long like a freeman. He wanted to travel to Sororia, his original homeland that he didn’t remember. He had been sold into slavery as a toddler from what he assumed were poor parents when it was revealed as a child that he had at least enough of a magical spark in him to write the magical runes that all used. He assumed this but actually he knew nothing of his own history. He did know where he had come from and that was where he wanted to go once he was free. Once he was in his homeland, he wanted to learn how to work the runes magically. To do so without having to rely on the use of paper and ink and only a Sororian rune wizard could teach him how to do that.
A drop of the bright blue ink fell off of the end of his feather quill and caused a slight blot on the thick parchment laid out in front of him.
“Ruin that page with your daydreaming of your homeland again like you ruined the last one Aldronn and it will come out of your monthly stipend.” Toros growled in his ear as he leaned over his shoulder inspecting the parchment. So close was he that his long beaded black mustaches brushed against his cheeks and rested on his shoulder. “No change that,” said the master writer, looking at him with glittering almost black eyes, “Ruin it anyway you want to and maybe you wont have enough money this cycle to buy your freedom and I will own you again for another seven years.”
Every seven years of a slave’s life they are allowed to attempt to buy their freedom. If they cannot come up with the asked for amount they must wait another seven years in their bonds before they can attempt to buy their freedom again.
Aldronn leaned his head to the side and met the look in his master’s dark eyes and said. “That won’t be Toros. It’s not that you are a bad master but I will not be a slave much longer. You have already had me for three cycles and that to me was one cycle too long.” On his twenty fourth birthing day, less than a week away he would pay Toros’s selling price of a thousand gold farens and finally be free to live his own life in his own way.
“You could still stay on here and work.” Toros offered with an almost pleading look in his eyes, “I will pay whatever price you ask for within reason Aldronn. Enough to make your life comfortable as a free man here in Cadzia for a long time.” He gestured with an elegant long fingered hand at the rest of the baldheaded scribe slaves bent over their parchments writing the magical runes saying. “You’re value is worth more to me than any four of these here and you and I both know it. I’ll offer you your own share in the business and you can even own a portion of your own slaves.”
Aldronn eyed the stooped shouldered black haired man with his long beaded mustaches, through his hazel colored eyes and said. “Toros, you’re a good man and I have learned a lot from you but the only thing I want of any value is that in five days for you to take my gold, remove my collar and give me my freedom.”
Toros stopped speaking then. Knowing that there was nothing else that he could offer the young man who had dreams about being a rune working wizard in his own homeland of Sororia. Grudgingly he laid his hand upon the other younger mans shoulder comfortingly as he stood back up and nodded his assent.
It wasn’t that Toros was a hard or cruel master, he was in fact one of the kindest masters that Aldronn knew of on the small island. But he knew he had to be free. Why, he wasn’t sure but he had been told once by a farcaster that he had a destiny. Also she had said that his destiny wasn’t here on Cadzia. She told him that he had a gift for runes and might even one day make a good wizard. That was the one thing that fueled him inside, the one thing he wanted to be.
Two more hours and their work was finished. Toros allowed his slaves some freedom after their day was ended to roam about the city. The master writer knew that there was no where that they could run or escape to on the small island, especially not a shaved and collared slave without sort of freedom papers. If one tried, they would be flogged for doing so and dragged back to their owner by the scruff of their neck.
After wolfing down a hasty supper, Aldronn fled into the city almost running through its streets to his secret hiding place. He had three more magical parchments hidden under his brown slave robes to add to his collection and was anxious to check on the rest. He had already made the final arrangements for their sale. This would give him enough farens for both his passage home and his freedom.
The small mountainous island city of Cadzia was almost completely covered from end to end with colorful buildings. They sat side by side one another or by cobbled streets that rose, fell and dipped at all levels and heights, in some places one could almost walk onto the roofs of houses themselves on lower streets from a higher street level and it was to one of these raised spots that Aldronn was headed.
A few twists and turns and he climbed up onto a low wall. He stepped along it then over onto a lower buildings roof. After climbing, jumping and scrabbling across several more of the multicolored painted tiled roofs, he reached his destination. Now at one of the highest points of the city he crawled into the one spot where he knew that he couldn’t be seen or heard by anyone on any of the surrounding rooftops. Looking about he moved up next to a broken chimney that had been replaced by a new one put in right beside it.
Aldronn slid a few of the old chimneys heavier bricks out of the way and uncovered a space between the two. Sticking his arm down deep into the dark gap he felt around with his fingertips until he found the two large water treated leather wrapped packages and brought them up.
Cradling both of the packages bearing his freedom to his chest, he turned and leaned his body back against the old broken chimney. Carefully he untied the first of the leather packages and unfurled the several hundred magically charged rune marked parchments, examining them. These sheets contained all sorts of general runes for many different types of magic, everything from healing to causing death and all sorts in between. Some of these were the ones that he intended to sell to Moretti Stith and his thieves. After he was satisfied with the conditions of the first sheathes contents Aldronn set it aside and opened the second and more important one.
These were the ones that bore his personal specialty runes. The multicolored sheets were created and crafted personally by him and were of his design of magic. Unknown to Toros or anyone else on the island, he had been practicing rune magic on his own secretly in this hiding place high above the city and its eyes for several years now and almost felt that if he had a little more training he could work the magic without the rune sheets.
All scribe slaves are taught to read at a very young age and Aldronn had become an avid reader of the old legends and magics of the world. One of the ancient rune writing books in Toros’s library had told about how in long ago times magic could be blended in its designs to create different sorts of effects than what it was originally intended for. But that this type of magic had faded away here on the islands and that there was very few people who knew how to create it or work it anymore. For the past seven years Aldronn had been studying everything on the small island that he could place his hands about the lost art and had finally figured out how to write the runes that would do exactly that blend the magic. He intended on taking these scrolls to Sororia with him and in exchange for their worth, find a rune wizard willing to take him on as an apprentice and teach him how to finish developing his own magical abilities.
The setting sun in the east turned red and lit the ocean sky with vivid shades of oranges, purples and pinks. Soon after it set, both of Asadera’s moons climbed up into the coming nighttime sky. Once Laure was bright gold and Urel was a deep shade of blood red he knew it was time for his meeting with the thief master.
Placing the specialty rune sheets back into their sheath and back into the hiding place Aldronn gathered up the other sheath and the sheets he intended to sell and headed back down across the tiled rooftops towards the docks.
The sharp piercing smell of dead fish assaulted his nostrils and let him know that he had reached his destination. Sliding down between a narrow space between two low roofed buildings he landed on the thick logs that made up the extended man made part of the city, its docks. Cadzia was not a large island but its manmade docks were huge and almost encircled the entire island, giving it a much larger appearance. Walking out of the small gap his hazel colored eyes went wide with delight as he spied one of the giant windships. Windships were powered by magic and swept across the great oceans and navigated the straights between the continents and islands. Aldronn smiled to himself as he relished the thought that soon it would be one of these graceful ships that bore him home rather than one of the filthy flat bellied freighters that carried him over as a slave. Stepping lightly and dodging around the people that were working on the large manmade wooden streets, he made his way towards the shabby looking warehouse where Moretti Stith conducted his business.
A wooden door that marked the entrance to the warehouse and he pounded loudly on the door with the flat of his hand. After receiving no response, he did it again and continued to do so for what seemed to him like several long minutes until finally a portal in the door opened. A greasy blond haired man that he had never seen before thrust his head out though the narrow opening and began shouting at him that they were closed and to go away.
Aldronn almost gagged at the accompanying smell of foul wine that assaulted his nose from the other mans fetid breath. Taking a small step backwards away from the rancid smell, he attempted to both speak and hold his breath at the same time saying that he had an appointment scheduled with Moretti for this evening.
The greasy haired man eyed him closely through glossy red veined eyes. He seemed on the brink of telling him to go away again and slamming the door in his face until he held up the sheath with the rune parchments and withdrew one and showed it to him. The other man said nothing as he pulled his head out and still slammed the portal on the door shut. A ragged sounding shout came from behind the door that was accompanied by a few others that answered him. Aldronn couldn’t make out what either response was. Finally the door opened again and the obviously drunken greasy blond haired man bowed mockingly to him saying in a slurred voice. “YYouu arre expected Mmaster rune writerr, pleasse enterr.”
As he stepped past the drunken man at the door Aldronn couldn’t help but notice how swiftly he fell in behind him as he moved across the open expanse of the poorly lit warehouse towards a group at one of its ends near what Moretti called his smugglers port.
A smugglers port was a hole cut into the floorboards of the building which was high enough up off of the water to let a small boat or skiff under it. Illegal goods or stolen merchandise could be moved into and out of the warehouse through the hole without the dock authorities being any of the wiser. Aldronn really wasn’t sure why that mattered, most of the dock authority workers were Moretti’s own men anyway.
Aldronn felt his breath tighten in his chest as he got close enough to the hole to see what it was that the men were passing up through it.
A bound and gagged young woman was being shoved up from a boat underneath the floor and in spite of the ropes tying up her hands and feet, she was fighting for all that she was worth. She bore the signs of that fight with marks showing clearly on her skin, two black eyes and a split bleeding lower lip. As the men beneath finally got her struggling form up through the hole and onto the wooden floor Aldronn noticed that the back half of her shirt was shredded and that part of it had been completely torn away. A large two tiered black cross was tattooed across her back that ran from shoulder to shoulder and down the length of her spine. Almost as soon as he saw the mark Aldronn felt a surge of fear rush through him. His hazel eyes bulged wide as recognized what it was on the young woman back and gasped loudly.
The tattooed rune cross on the young woman was the symbol of the royal family of Sororia, the mark of the house Paraxis.
A tall balding brown haired man with a tightly wound oiled beard that hung down to the middle of his chest, spun around at the sound and glared at him. His blazing light green eyes seemed to cut straight through him as he demanded to know if he knew who she was.
Moretti Stith released his hold on the beaten and bloody still fighting young lady. Moving closer to the other man he placed a comforting hand on the taller mans shoulder saying simply as he easily lied, “He is nothing but a simple slave with whose master I have a little business.”
Unseen by the taller man Moretti threw Aldronn a look that spoke of both fear and warning. Aldronn was surprised Moretti sort of ruled the underground activity of Cadzia, which due to the fact that there was a lot of smuggling here consisted of a lot of activity. To see him frightened by this man glaring at him so malevolently did nothing to lessen the feelings of fear that still filled him from the sight on the young girls back.
“What is he doing here!” hissed the tall man, “I thought I told you that no one else was to be here, that this was supposed to be a completely private sale.”
“He’s nothing but a simple slave Belarus, you have nothing to fear from him.” countered Moretti repeating what he had said a moment before, “His master might have a monetary interest in our little transaction here as well.
Belarus’ eyes fell once again on Aldronn’s own hazel ones and the dark look that was in them scared him more than the mark of the royal Paraxis on the beaten girls back.
He realized that he had intruded upon something he shouldn’t have and was probably just mere moments away from his own death. Turning his body slightly as if he was cringing under the weight of the other mans black gaze, he fumbled at the sheath’s catch that held the magical parchments.
“Maybe,” he thought to himself, “he could free one and it would be one that might offer him some sort of way out of this mess.”
“He’s a scribe slave you fool. I’m sure that judging by the look on his face that he recognizes who or what this girl is.” Belarus said in a contemptuous voice, gesturing towards the bound form on the wooden floor and then pointed at Aldronn’s shaved head and stained hands. Saying nothing more he made a curt gesture to the greasy haired blond man behind him. Aldronn tried to turn back to see what was going on when something struck him hard in the back of the head causing a flash of pain filled lights to explode in front of his eyes. Then the world around him went completely black and he felt his legs crumple underneath him.
Chapter 2
Rune Magic
Toros was sitting in his book filled study sipping on a glass of sea weed wine with a new book opened in front of him reading when he felt the magic of the slave rune ring on his left hand flare to life and turn hot. Immediately he knew that one of his twenty slaves was in mortal danger. The slave ring allowed him in a way to monitor all of the slaves that were his property through their rune marked collars which served as a link to the ring. And at seeing one of the twenty runes engraved in its surface glowing red he knew that something life threatening was happening to Aldronn. Sighing to himself at having to set his new book aside before he could even begin to really read it, Toros stood, drained the glass of pale wine, went over to the corner of his study, picked up his short iron ball capped walking staff and headed towards the door. He knew where Aldronn was. He knew of his meeting with Moretti Stith but if his rune ring was glowing the way it was now something must have gone terribly wrong with that meeting.
Unknown to his slaves, Toros was entirely aware that they pilfered the materials that would someday allow them to buy their freedom. This suited him just fine. A younger slave could write and produce a lot more documents than an older one. An older one who like how he was, started taking too much pride in his work and that slowed him down. Even if Aldronn only had a few days left as his slave, he was still his property and he wasn’t about to let any harm come to him. Not before he could see his dreams of freedom come true. Aldronn had way too much talent to stay as a slave much longer and deserved to be free.
Toros squared his stooped shoulders and with cane in hand set out across the island towards the docks, following the magic in his rune ring that would lead to Aldronn.
* * *
It was the sound of voices arguing vehemently above and in front of him that caused him to wake from his unconscious state. It took him a few dizzying moments to realize where it was that he was at and what it was going on around him. Then he remembered, somebody had hit him from behind with something very hard.
None of the men standing in front of him arguing about whether or not they should kill him now or take him out to sea and do so had even noticed that he was awake.
Aldronn saw a patch of bright blood staining the wooden floor next to him where his head had been and from the sharp stab of pain that covered the back of it, he knew that he had been hurt by the greasy haired blond man. Shaking his head as if to clear the cobwebs his eyes met those of the bound and beaten girl still lying next to the smugglers hole. They might have under normal circumstances been pretty eyes but right not they were full of panic. Rolling wildly in their sockets as she desperately pulled at the ropes in an attempt to find a way to escape. He knew from the look in them that she knew that maybe he wouldn’t be the only one dying here in the warehouse tonight.
Seeing that none of the others standing in front of him had noticed that he had roused, he let his eyes search for his leather pouch. “Maybe, if he could retrieve one of the parchments from it, he could still use it to invoke a spell that might free them or save his and the girls lives.”
All hope fled and left him completely empty inside as he spied the leather case dozens of feet away with a boot scuff mark on its side, probably kicked there by one of the arguing men.
The sound of steel being drawn above jerked his attention from the far away case and back to the men in front of him. Two of the men that he didn’t recognize and who he assumed was with this other man named Belarus had drawn out their swords. One of them was slashing at Moretti’s head, while the second was stabbing straight at the smugglers other man’s chest.
Moretti Stith was not an easy man to kill. He had grown up all of his life on the docks of Cadzia and had been fighting for most of it too. As the man who slashed at him came on, he threw himself backwards onto he wooden floor, the swing sword passing harmlessly above his head.
Kicking out with both of his feet from his place on his back Moretti drove both of his heels into the swordsman’s kneecaps. His assailant screamed in pain as his legs buckled underneath him, unable to support his weight he crashed heavily to the wooden floor. His other man though Moretti saw as he propelled his body backwards scampering like a crab wasn’t so lucky.
The greasy haired blond man with a look of savage glee on his face who appeared to have only been faking his drunken routine ran his sword completely through his body, all the way up to the hilt in one fluid motion.
Knowing that the odds were against him and realizing that to stay might mean his own death, Moretti kept scrambling crablike across the floor, hopped over the bound young woman and threw himself down through the smugglers port, diving deep into the black ocean water below.
The three men seeing that their other victim had fled and that the second was dead now turned their attention on him. Aldronn figured as he saw their eyes focus on him that after he was killed they would go on to the bound young woman with the royal mark of Paraxis tattooed across her back.
“So what do we do with you slave?” said Belarus eyeing him, his hallow cheeked face devoid of all emotion “Your mere presence here has ruined months of planning and preparation.” The coolness and calmness sounding now in the other mans voice scared Aldronn more than the anger and fury of earlier. Turning away from him, Belarus stepped towards the door and coldly ordered the two other men with him to first kill him then cover and bring the girl.
Aldronn watched as the two men, one with his bloody sword already drawn and the second limping slightly recovered his, both grinning in wicked pleasure begin advancing towards him. Quickly he looked back over his shoulder and wished that he had the parchment case in his hand or even better, the other that he had left behind in the chimney. Using the blended rune sheets magic that he had created he could easily do away with the two men or at least stop them. He knew of the perfect parchment back at the old chimney that would fit this situation and if he had it now he would use it to save both himself and the girl. With no other option left to save his life, Aldronn decided to take a chance. He scrambled to his feet and ran towards the parchment case. Halfway there he was knocked bodily to the floor by the blond haired man who tackled him from behind. Fear and desperation filled his body and he tried to thrust the other man from him. But he was face first on the floor and that gave the other man on his back a distinct advantage.
The greasy blonde haired man rolled him over and Aldronn caught a heavy boot to the face from his companion. He felt his head explode again with pain and his bottom lip burst open in a bloody spray that accompanied the impact of the boots hard sole. The greasy haired blond man let him fall to the floor and they both kicked him several more times in the ribs and sides.
Aldronn felt something crack inside of him. He gagged with the pain and tried to scrabble away from his attackers. Not sure by who, he felt his ankle grabbed and one of the men yanked his foot. His hands shot out from underneath him in a violent motion and he fell once again onto his face, this time cutting the soft skin under his eye and breaking his nose on the floor. The pair turned him back over and laughed. Pointing at him mockingly as he clutched at his ribs and watched the blood flow openly out of his mouth, face and nose and down onto his chest.
Aldronn felt a rush of fury fill him as he heard their mocking laughter and once again for some unknown reason he thought of the spell that was in his sheath on the roof top. He wished that there was some way that he could use it against these two to stop their laughter. Suddenly the same green and red colored rune that he had drawn on the parchment back at the old chimney burst to life in his minds eyes as clearly as if he had written just then. Without thinking, he said his name for it that he had created through his torn and bloody mouth and pointed a finger at the two laughing men.
Their mocking laughter died in their throats and the cruel joy on their faces fled as they saw his hand flare to life in a flash of brilliant green fire. Then the fire streaked across the short distance in the warehouse heading straight at them.
The emerald green colored magic encased both of the two men in what looked like a liquid fire. It spread out over their bodies like it was alive. They both screamed and dropped to the floor as it consumed first their clothes, then hair then skin. In vain it seemed, they attempted to roll about on the floor trying to put out the acid fire magic. The magic that had come from the rune that Aldronn had been thinking of. With a sick queasy feeling filling him at the sounds of their screams Aldronn knew there was no way to put out the bright liquid green fire until it consumed itself.
Still not quite able to comprehend what he had done, he watched in horror as the flames consumed the man with the hurt knees entirely. It left nothing behind but a bubbling green pool lying on the floor. The second man with the greasy blond hair did as Moretti had done earlier and threw himself through the smugglers port and into the black water below.
As he struggled to stand up, fighting the pain that filled his insides, Aldronn’s eyes fell once again on the bound and gagged beaten girl. He couldn’t help but notice the look of icy cold satisfaction in her dark eyes as she stared at the bubbling pool on the floor. That look sent another icy chill coursing through his body. He staggered and stumbled first in the direction of the rune sheath and after making an effort at retrieving it, he then went over towards the girl. He almost made it before he felt something give way inside of his body and he collapsed, crashing heavily again down onto the wooden floor.
The sound of the door being opened to the warehouse behind him was the last sound he remembered before passing out again into oblivion.
Iandra Piraxis, daughter to the ruler of Sororia, watched as a tall stoop shouldered man with long beaded black mustaches and walking stick made his way cautiously into the room, his eyes searching about frantically. At seeing just the pair of them, he gasped loudly and hurried over. In one smooth efficient motion he quickly cut the ropes from her wrists with a small knife that he carried at his belt. Next he motioned for her to help him carry the wounded younger man out of the warehouse. Together as one they carried Aldronn’s unconscious away from the docks.
As they moved across the wooden man made walkways a pair of hate filled eyes watched them closely from the waters edge glaring malevolently.
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