“So you’re heading north are ya?” said the rotund shopkeeper as they approached him.
“As a matter of fact we are,” replied the philosopher. “How much for the clothes?” The shopkeeper stated a price, and Studell dug into his bag of coins and paid the fee without haggling at all. Traven thought the price was way too high and tried to stop him, but the philosopher assured him loudly that he had plenty of money to cover whatever they needed.
“Are you sure you don’t need anything else?” the shopkeeper asked with a greedy gleam in his eyes. “It might be best to have an extra robe or two.”
“No thank you,” Traven replied as he hurriedly led Studell from the store. He could feel the shopkeeper’s eyes boring into his back as they exited the shop. The shopkeeper’s eyes had said that he wanted more than to just sell them some extra clothes.
“You need to be more careful with your money,” Traven told Studell once they were out of the shop. “This city seems a little lawless, and I think it’s unwise to mention to strangers how much money you’re carrying.”
“No one would dare rob us in the light of day,” Studell said dismissively.
Traven hoped the philosopher was right, but he noticed that the shopkeeper was watching them from the window of his shop as they made their way down the street and into another store. There they purchased several large water skins. The captain had been adamant that there wasn’t any water to be found on Faldor’s Watch. Studell said that the map showed where they could get water, but Traven didn’t want to stake his life on an ancient map. He wanted to carry as much water with them as they could. After getting the water skins and a few other supplies, they headed deeper into the city to find some food for the journey.
They found a shop where they bought some bread, cheese, and dried meat. At the suggestion of the shopkeeper they also bought a large quantity of nuts and dried fruit. They then searched for a shop where they were able to purchase extra feed for their horses.
When they finally had all of the provisions that they would need for the journey, they started to return to the docks. They had quite a load to carry with them, and after a couple of blocks the philosopher was winded and breathing heavily. Traven relieved him of most of the supplies that he was carrying, and they continued on. The sun would be setting soon, and he didn’t want to be left wandering the streets of an unfamiliar town in the dark.
Studell suggested that they take a shortcut down a small side street to save time, and Traven followed him. Halfway down the street Traven heard footsteps behind them. Glancing backward he could see that a man was indeed hurrying to catch up to them. He urged Studell forward at a quicker pace. It looked like they could reach one of the larger avenues of the city before the man caught up. He wasn’t too worried about one person following them but would rather avoid any confrontation. Studell began complaining that he couldn’t keep such a quick pace but continued onward at Traven’s urging.
Traven glanced over his shoulder again. The man was much closer now but was not coming quickly enough to catch them before they made it to the larger avenue near the docks. Traven let out a sigh of relief as they made their way out of the small side street and into the avenue. Studell stumbled across the road and slumped down against a building on the opposite side, out of breath. Traven set their purchases down beside the philosopher and smiled. He could see the ship from here, and there were plenty of people traversing this street. They could rest here for a few moments before returning to the ship.
He glanced back to the side street and watched as their pursuer emerged into the avenue. He was surprised to see that instead of stopping or merging with the people on the street, the man kept walking straight towards them with a menacing grin. Halfway across the avenue the man unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Traven and the philosopher. Traven could hardly believe what was happening. He was amazed that the man would be so brash as to attack them in full sight of so many people. Some in the crowd stopped to watch the scene unfold, but the majority of the people just continued about their business, giving Traven and the man a wide birth.
“Hand over all your money, old man,” the thief growled at the philosopher. “And you hand over your sword boy, and I’ll let you both live.” Traven stepped between Studell and the would-be-thief, shaking off his initial surprise. He cleared his mind. Out went the surprise, out went the fear, out went the excitement. He was focused and ready for whatever might happen.
“You might want to reconsider this,” Traven stated quietly as he waited for the other man’s move. The man stared at him for several moments before suddenly lunging at him.
Traven’s sword leapt out of its sheath and easily parried the attack. He continued to block the next several slashes with a minimal amount of movement. The attacker paused and took a couple steps back. He then lunged again with an increased amount of vigor. When Traven continued to block all of his attacks easily, the man disengaged and backed into the middle of the avenue, sheathing his sword.
“I now see why the old man was so loose with his tongue.” Their attacker then bowed respectfully towards Traven and disappeared back down the side street.
Traven looked around the crowd, confused. Many of the onlookers nodded to him approvingly before turning and continuing on their ways.
“Amazing,” Studell exclaimed, breaking the relative silence. Traven just shook his head as he sheathed his sword and offered the philosopher his hand to help him to his feet.
“What a strange city,” he muttered as he reached down to pick up their purchases. “See what I meant about guarding your tongue?”
“I think I agree with our attacker,” the philosopher said excitedly. “With you around why does it matter what I say? With your skills with the sword and your other unmentionable skills,” Studell said with a wink, “I think we are quite protected from anything.” Traven let out an exasperated sigh. “Okay, I guess it is better to be careful,” Studell conceded. “But, oh my, that was exciting!”
Traven tried to not let the philosopher’s praise and excitement have any effect on him as they continued on their way to the ship, but he couldn’t help cracking a smile. It felt good to be able to thwart attacks with such ease. It had seemed, to him, that he knew where each slash of the attacker’s sword would land before it actually happened. Maybe he was just getting to the point where his subconscious could tell by an opponent’s slight movements what would happen next. Blaize had always said the more he practiced and concentrated, the easier it would get to predict an opponent’s next move.
Then again, perhaps there was more to it than that. Ever since he had started practicing wielding the ambience, he had begun to sense things more acutely than he had before. He wondered if his increased skill with the sword was also a result of his newly discovered power.
His smile got bigger once they were safely back on the ship. His practicing with the ambience was going well. Using it to light a candle was no longer a challenge. He wondered what he would be able to do once he had as much practice with the ambience as he had with the sword. What would be possible?
4
Traven shielded his eyes with his hand as he glanced north in the early morning light. He could see the coast far in the distance. That would be the beginning of their real journey. The lookout still hadn’t spotted land, but Traven guessed it would take them a couple of hours to arrive at the coast. He smiled at the thought of being on solid ground again and headed below deck to his room. He finished packing his belongings as Studell began to wake up.
While Studell blinked away the sleep from his eyes, Traven sent the lantern bursting to light with barely a thought. He was happy to note that he didn’t feel any side effects at all from the now simple task. Studell grinned like a fool as he always did when Traven lit the lantern with magic. Soon he would be alone with the philosopher and would have the opportunity to practice more. He looked forward with both excitement and trepidation at the chance to experiment with the ambience and see what all he was capable of doing.
He informed Studell that land was in sight and set down his packed bags. Studell jumped up excitedly and began to get ready for the day. Traven headed up on deck to check the ship’s progress. He could see their destination more clearly now and stared at the coast, searching for the two jutting rocks that would mark the starting point of the map.
“Land ho!” the lookout finally yelled.
Traven was soon joined by several other sailors and the captain in staring north towards the distant shore. As they sailed closer, he saw the two rocks. He had been worried that they might be hard to find, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were hard to miss. Both rocks jutted high out of the ocean. Beyond them he could clearly see the small cove that would be the beginning of their journey on land. Studell was soon on deck and excitedly pointing out the two rocks to Traven. He smiled and took a deep breath. As the ship grew closer to the rocks the captain turned to Studell.
“We’ll have to ferry you to the beach from here,” he announced. “The water is too shallow for us to safely steer the ship closer. You’re sure this is where you want to be dropped off?”
“Positive,” replied Studell.
“I still think this is foolish,” muttered the captain. “We can take you back with us to Calyn if you want.”
“We’ve been through this before, Captain,” Studell replied with a smile. “You can’t dissuade us. We must do this.”
“Okay, but no one can say I didn’t try to stop you. Lower the boat!”
Traven watched as the small rowboat was lowered into the water. He was glad there was only a short distance to the shore. He didn’t want to be in something so small surrounded by so much water for very long. Thinking about the small size of the row boat made him wonder where the horses would fit.
“What about the horses?” he asked.
“We’ll tie them to the row boat, and they’ll swim to shore,” replied the captain. “It’s not very far.”
Traven now understood why they had told him not to saddle Pennon or load up the pack horse. Once the rowboat was in the water with two sailors to row them to shore, he tossed down all of the gear and supplies. After thanking the captain for their safe passage, he climbed down into the rowboat and helped Studell in. As soon as they were settled, the three horses were put into the water and the sailors began rowing to shore. Traven was happy to see that the horses didn’t appear to be struggling as they headed for the beach.
He looked past them and began to study the shore. Immediately behind the narrow strip of light, sandy beach, enormous cliffs rose straight up for several hundred feet. As far as Traven could see in both directions the cliffs continued along the coast. As they rowed closer, the cliffs swallowed more and more of the sky.
The horses were soon rising out of the water and were no longer swimming but walking. The horses shortly began pulling the rowboat forward. The sailors smiled as they rested their paddles. After a few moments the boat slid to a halt on the soft sand. The sailors immediately jumped out and pulled the boat all the way up onto the dry sand of the beach. Traven got out and gave Studell a hand as the old philosopher climbed onto the beach. The sailors helped as he and Studell saddled their horses and began loading their extra supplies on the packhorse.
As soon as everything was unloaded, the sailors wished them luck and headed back to the ship in the small rowboat. Traven stood on the shore, watching them row away. With the waves lapping against the beach and the imposing cliffs rising behind him, he wondered if the philosopher and he were making a mistake. As uncomfortable as he had felt on the ship, he felt even more uncomfortable watching the rowboat leave them on a deserted beach far from any civilization. The captain had promised to sail by this point in sixteen days. If Traven and Studell had any hope of returning, they needed to find what they had come for and be back on the beach before the sixteen days were up.
He hoped that the philosopher had indeed calculated the distances and times correctly on the map. If they weren’t back on the beach at the right time to catch the ship, there was no telling when they would ever make it back to civilization. In fact, if they missed the ship they might not make it back to civilization at all. He tried to shake the worrisome thought from his head and focus on what needed to be done.
He turned from the ocean and stared up at the enormous cliffs. They continued in an unbroken line as far as the eye could see in both directions. The steep cliffs looked impossible to scale. They would effectively keep anyone from leaving the beach and heading into the interior of the land. Traven wondered how long they would have to walk along the beach before finding the supposed break in the cliffs that would allow them through.
“And so it begins!” Studell announced excitedly.
Traven turned to see the philosopher holding the map high over his head as if it was a grand prize. Traven smiled in spite of himself as the philosopher lowered the scroll and carefully began to unroll the map. He walked over to the philosopher’s side to study it once again. The surrounding landscape put the directions on the map in a whole new perspective.
“We follow the coast to the west until we reach the break in the cliffs,” Studell said. “If I calculated the distance correctly, we’ll get there sometime tomorrow morning. From there it appears to be about a five day’s journey to the ruins of the keep. Let’s get moving!”
After finishing loading up all of their supplies, Traven helped Studell onto his horse and then mounted Pennon. He wasn’t looking forward to camping on the beach, trapped between the cliffs and the water. As they began down the coast, he listened to the rhythmic lapping of the waves and the calls of the birds that soared overhead in and out of tiny nooks in the cliffs. It was an interesting feeling to have the vast ocean stretching out to the horizon on the left and the towering cliffs rising unbroken to the right. He definitely felt trapped between the two.