Diary of a Conjurer (18 page)

He glanced up at the bank, wondering what had
happened to the little people who had long since scurried into the
forest. “Where did the little ones go?”

“The Xylonites? They’re hiding. They’d be of
little help, anyway, if Hacatine showed her face. She crushes them,
steps on them. You can’t imagine her cruelty. I don’t blame the
Xylonites for hiding. In fact, I encourage it.” Silvio scowled as
he pointed a gnarly finger at Ivar. “You should be so
cautious!”

“If I hadn’t lost everything when my raft
floated away, I’d be able to defend myself. All I need are my
weapons or the chance to make new ones. If we camp in the woods, I
can craft another bow.”

Silvio grunted. “Better be magic arrows if
you’re shooting a sorceress.”

“I don’t need magic! I’m the best archer in
the village. Amleth even said so.”

The shoreline widened, the edge of the
forest stretched further south and the long flat beach spread out
before them. Silvio led Ivar inland, away from the rising tide and
toward the hills.

“Why do you think Hacatine wants to consume
my soul? Who am I to her? I mean the only reason she captured me in
the first place is because she found me entangled with a sea
serpent. I thought she was saving my life by pulling me from the
monster’s clutches.”

“Hacatine is a murderess.” Silvio spoke
softly as if in confidence, and a melancholy pout spread across his
face. “It was Hacatine who chased me from my home. She would have
killed me if I hadn’t fled. I wasn’t alone either. Hundreds of
other wizards on the island ran away from her.”

“You lived on Taikus? The Island of
Sorcery?”

“Taikus wasn’t always like it is now. Used
to be wizards who ruled the island. Reigned with wisdom, too.” He
turned his head and grabbed Ivar’s arm to catch his attention. “We
even listened to your Wind for guidance, just like you. Taikus was
a good place to live back then. What happened should never have
happened.”

“What happened?”

“Rebellion. The Sect of Sorceresses! Hacatine
led an army of rebels. Greed swept across the land like a tempest.
Evil she was; evil she is. Always will be and with everyone that
follows her. That Promise girl of yours is evil, too. Don’t let her
fool you. Evil!” He glared at Ivar.

“I don’t know about Promise being evil. She
risked her life to save mine. I don’t think making that kind of
sacrifice is evil.”

Silvio grunted a sound of disapproval, his
stride gaining speed.

“But I agree with you about Hacatine. She’s
bad! I won’t argue that. What makes her so wicked?”

The old man shook his head and moaned a
little. The lines on his face grew long. “Things were too good, too
lush, too easy.”

“What things?”

“Island things. People got lazy.”

“I don’t get it.”

Though the wizard still glanced at Ivar from
time to time with a sorrowful gaze, his spirit seemed to be far
away; perhaps back at Taikus in some distant era Ivar was too young
to remember. “Greed isn’t happy with what it has. Greed always
wants more. Hacatine looked for evil.”

Ivar laughed. “You can’t see evil!”

Silvio waved his bony arm at the sea. “Look
out there. What do you see?”

“What? That? I see the clouds and a storm
brewing.”

“You have man’s sight. A man sees what’s
practical for him. You see a storm because a storm is a threat.
It’s something you need to prepare for. Vision is different to a
person of magic because little threatens them.”

“How so?”

“A wizard would look out across the ocean
from the white shores of Taikus and see the sunset, the end of the
day, peace, and rest. He sees a job well done and is satisfied.
What did Hacatine see? Hacatine saw emptiness when she looked at
Taikus.” Silvio drew in his breath and sighed heavily, as if even
the thought of those days brought pain. “When she looked out across
the waters she saw more gold, more food, more comforts, more
slaves, more power. That’s what she saw. But the worse of what she
saw?” The old conjurer shook his head. “No. Better left
unsaid.”

“What? What was the worse?”

Silvio refused to answer.

“Well, then what do you mean by gold? Do you
mean the gold at Deception Peak? The gold at the altar of the
dragon? If Hacatine had interfered with the last war, would the
Kaemperns still have won?”

“I can’t answer that question. How would I
know what might have happened? You answer it. What do your legends
say?”

“They say the North Wind is more powerful
than any other force in the world, and Amleth says the winds were
responsible for ejecting the dragon. They and King Ian.”

Silvio grunted. “There’s your answer
then.”

The conjurer tucked his head to his chest as
he walked, his frown sinking into his beard. “Long before the
Kaemperns, the wind didn’t have magical power. Something happened
to change all that, but I’m not sure what.” Silvio mumbled to
himself allowing Ivar to overhear his conversation.

Ivar cleared his throat hoping to gain the
wizard’s ear. “Our people say the wizard Kaempie relinquished his
magic to the wind and that’s where the magic and the songs came
from. They say that’s what gave the Kaempern’s their Dragon
Shield.”

Silvio stopped, this news seemingly to have
sparked an interest. He lifted his head, his face beaded from the
mist on the air. “Kaempie?”

“Yes. Our Name’s Sake. The wizard Kaempie,
our Patriarch.”

Silvio inhaled and changed his focus from
Ivar to the sea. Salty spray dampened his hair adhering it to his
forehead. His cheeks and nose reddened. “

“You didn’t know the legend?”

“No. I didn’t know what happened to him. I
thought he had been swallowed up by the storm.”

“You knew Kaempie?”

Silvio nodded. “He was my friend. Years ago
Hacatine drove us from our home. We rowed away in a small boat with
two others friends. We believed we were the only ones left. But
Fate had the four of us part ways, and I never heard what happened
to any of them. Until just now.”

Ivar had a good look at the wizard then, not
only because the old man faced the light that was reflecting off
the clouds, but because now he saw the wizard in the light of the
Kaempern legends.

“I’m awed! You knew our patriarch, and here I
am talking to you?”

“Holderdash! Don’t idolize me. Listen to the
story so you learn from it.”

“Yes, sir.” A grin spread across Ivar’s
face. No Kaempern could have ever had a Crossing as exciting and
special as this one!

“The Sect accused the wizard council of
treason when the wizard King refused to send ships to invade your
lands.” He nodded in the direction of the mainland, indicating the
lands that belonged to the Kaemperns and the Meneks.

“My home?” Ivar asked.

Silvio scowled. “Before your time. Before
your people called themselves Kaemperns. Hacatine spread rumors to
further her cause. Soon, her wickedness spread over the island like
a plague. My mother heard the accusations, everyone did. Everyone
had an opinion and they weren’t all in Hacatine’s favor, but no one
tried to stop her. Maybe they couldn’t. Hacatine formed an army and
orchestrated a coup, gaining power by stripping the wizards of
their magic. One by one.”

Ivar shuddered. He had never been involved in
a war that he could remember, so the thought made him sick to his
stomach. “I’m sorry. It must have been hard.”

“Bah,” Silvio waved him off as quickly as
Ivar spoke. Silence returned and the two walked side by side.

By midday the landscape changed. Huge cliffs
lined the diminishing beach to Ivar’s left and forests covered
their crests.

“There! Up that way.” Silvio pointed to the
bluff that they now approached. Fir trees stood regally above them
and the steep incline seemed barely passable.

“There’s no trail.”

“Trust a conjurer,” the old man waddled
toward the cliff.

Shielded by boulders the color of ewe’s
cream, and with little effort Silvio slipped into a hidden passage
that switched back to the top of the hill. Ivar followed up the
stony stairway.

Once at the crest, Ivar looked out over the
vista. The clouds had been swept away by the constant wind, save
for a few white cumulus puffs that melted into the horizon. White
caps still stirred on the gray sea, but there was blue sky in
places where the sun peeked through. A dot on the ocean caught
Ivar’s eye.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Silvio squinted.

“Do you see it? It looks like a ship.” Ivar’s
heart skipped a beat.

“Foulflickers!” Silvio mumbled under his
breath. “If it looks like a ship than it is a ship.” He grunted and
turned inland, his feet shuffling as fast as they would carry him.
“And if it’s a ship it’s probably Hacatine’s. Hurry, if you know
what’s good for you. And I’m telling you what’s good for you.”

The ship’s course remained southeast. Either
it was sailing to the island of Taikus, or it would soon moor near
the Bandene forest. If the latter, Hacatine’s army would find the
campsite they had just left. They would find the statue.

“Wait a minute! Promise. Is she still stone?”
Ivar ran to catch up to the conjurer.

“Maybe.”

“Because if she is, what will happen to her?
What will Hacatine do to her?”

“What concern is that of yours?”

“She saved my life. Do you think Hacatine
will hurt her? Is what Promise did considered treason?”

“Treason? They’re all traitors. They have no
rules, nothing that binds them to one another save for their common
enemy. If Hacatine can use your Promise girl to get to you, she
will.”

“Common enemy? Who’s their common enemy?”

Silvio smirked and peered at him from the
corner of his eye. “Where have they been hiding you?” he asked.

Ivar felt the heat rise to his head. “What do
you mean?”

“You’re their common enemy! I am. The
Kaemperns. The North Wind. Anything that stands in the way of what
they want.”

“What do they want?”

Ivar’s question was answered with a
scoff.

“I owe Promise my life,” Ivar muttered,
fearing the conjurer wouldn’t understand. “I don’t know about
wizards, but to a Kaempern, it’s the noble position to take, the
Kaempern way. She risked her life to rescue me. Aren would insist I
owe her, and he’s right.”

“Why did she save you?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that saving me
from drowning isn’t something my enemy would do.”

“Bah.” Silvio played with his beard as he
walked. “You don’t know what her motive was. Maybe she just wants
to torture you later on. Those sorceresses, they do that. They’re
deceptive. First she’s sweet to you. Woos you. Heart all
fluttering, you can’t resist her. And then bah . . .” he shouted,
his green eye popping out at him. Ivar jumped back in surprise.
“She lures you into her den and devours you. Sorcery, I tell you.
You can’t trust any of them.”

Ivar glanced over his shoulder. “No! You’re
wrong. She had the chance to do me harm, and she didn’t. She could
have let me drown.” When Ivar looked up to see what Silvio’s
reaction was, he caught the old man staring again.

“The Kaemperns’ power, it’s a mighty force,
is it?” Still stroking his beard, he combed it with his long
twisted fingers. “Something your people commit to following?”

“Yes, we believe we have the force of
creation on our side. It’s a power we choose never to abuse or
neglect.”

Silvio grunted. “Hmpf,” he said. “And how
strong is your conviction?”

Ivar laughed. “My conviction?”

“That shouldn’t be hard for you to
answer.”

Ivar stuttered, his mind had gone blank. My
conviction? “To be honest, I’ve never been tested. I think that’s
what this Crossing is about,” he said.

Silvio nodded, his eyes pierced into Ivar’s,
his brow raised. “So it would seem. They must trust your loyalty
then, eh? Your Kaempern family that is?”

Ivar hesitated before he answered. He wasn’t
sure anyone at home had confidence in him aside from his hunting
abilities. Amleth had taken so long to consent to this trip, and
even after he consented, the leader had shown great remorse at the
final decision.

“The North Wind called me,” Ivar finally
answered.

Silvio’s eyes grew wide. “It did?” He
inhaled as if using his breath to filter the thought. “Yes. So it
did,” he whispered. He cleared his throat and continued, “Well
then!” He once more waddled over stones and logs on the narrow
forest trail. Ivar kept pace.

Who is this Boy?

“Now you, watch!” Silvio said to Ivar when
they came to a stand of oak trees. He whistled once and listened to
the rumble under the ground. “Good,” he thought for it sounded as
though everyone was there.

“What are you doing?” Ivar asked.

“It’s the end of the day. Time to meet up
with the Xylonites.” As soon as he mentioned Xylonites, little
people appeared from holes in the ground. “Come on, come on,”
Silvio bid them to join him at the campfire with a wave of his
finger, nodding and smiling a welcome as the miniature folk
scurried from under ferns. Soon the wizard was surrounded. “That’s
it? Is everyone here?”

A chorus of yeses and no’s sang in unison,
and Silvio scratched his head. “Well, go find them if they aren’t
here and hurry!”

None of the little people moved. “We’re all
here!” a voice finally crowed.

After they dusted their tunics, they
scurried about the forest where they rolled out beds of soft moss
for the wizard, and one for Ivar so the two could rest comfortably.
A dinner of vegetable broth brewed from herbs the little people
gathered, and water from a spring, completed Silvio’s day. He
nestled in his bed and closed his eyes. He pretended to snore,
peeking continuously at Ivar. Maybe the boy would settle down and
stop asking questions if he thought Silvio was asleep. Better yet,
maybe Ivar would fall asleep. The boy had better rest since he
might have to run, or hide, in the morning!