Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn (11 page)

"But why Votl City?" asked Smoke. "Isn't Vona City closer?"
"For starters, Vona City is crawling with Cynar's spies," explained Jack. "Also, I have a powerful ally in Votl City."
"Really? Who?" asked Smoke.
"I doubt that you would know of him, Faux," conceitedly stated Jack. "No offense, but there is no way a person of your caliber would know of Lord Avilo Dawkins."
"Oh, Avilo? Isn't he the one who's always together with that old High Wizard... what was his name... Mouche, right?" asked Smoke.
"You know Lord Avilo?" asked an astonished Jack. The young nobleman scuffed and laughed. "Well, as expected of Lord Avilo. His fame really does precede him."
"How did you come to know of his name?" further inquired Jack.
"Oh, he told me himself," answered Smoke. "Or was it Mouche who introduced him? I'm not sure. I was more focused on watching the eliminations of the Magi Gagnant Tournament in Vona City."
"You sat next to Lord Avilo?" asked Jack in disbelief.
Then, it hit the young nobleman. "Oh, right. You had that bag of gems. But I thought you were saving it for a more pertinent purpose. Who would have that you would squander it on watching a tournament in an arena."
Smoke was about to argue with Jack, but he realized that he did indeed have a more important matter to solve, the debts of all the Avendre Mercenaries under them.
"Well, that was for research, but you were right. It was wrong of me to spend those gems for only seeing the games," agreed Smoke. "That's why instead of watching from the stands, I'll be watching on the side of the ring instead."
"You plan to spend even more money?" asked Jack.
"No, I plan to participate in Votl's Magi Gagnant Championship," answered Smoke. "So, I guess that's a yes for me. I'll take all of you to Votl City."
"Great! But first things first," warned Jack. "Your bag of gems is the only thing your getting from this loot. The rest of this belongs to Myself, Daniel, and the rest of us."
Smoke raised both his hands in surrender and nodded with a grin.
 

* * * * * * 

"Come on, Freifahrt, we're only five kilometers away til Votl City," Smoke said to his dirus wolf, trying to cheer him on.
Attached to the mount was Colere's rickety cart. Smoke did some modifications to it, allowing him to carry all six royalties on it.
When he was working on the cart, Smoke thought how easy it would have been if he only had his Transmutation ability. Sadly, it was taken away from him.
"Are we there yet?" abruptly asked a young aristocrat for the nth time, on this lengthy journey of twelve days.
In an attempt to shut Quengler up, Smoke shared a part of his story with them. About how he was in search for clues on the Magietrois, and how he needed to enter the Magi Gagnant Tournament to do it.
However, even this did not stop the annoying aristocrat from asking the same question.
"Shut it, Quengler, Faux is taking us there directly," reprimanded Jack. "You should at least remember how far Votl City is."
"Quengler, you're welcome to walk if you think you will get there faster," suggested Daniel.
Smoke quickly looked behind the cart and interjected, before another squabble between the royal pains broke out. "Don't worry, Quengler. According to my map, it should just take us twenty-minutes more."
As Smoke faced front, he was greeted with an upward road. "I'm sure this will be the last hill, Freifahrt," he said to the dirus wolf.
When they reached the top, Smoke saw a majestic vision. An amethyst city surrounded by three mountains with varying colors. One was brown, the other was red, and the last one was blue.
"Why is Votl City, purple?" Smoke asked Jack.
"Well, legend says that the Magietrois were doing a ritual," began Daniel, stealing Jack's opportunity to answer. "They supposedly filled those three mountains with their magic, and accidentally created the Amethyst City of Votl."
Not to be outdone, Jack hurriedly shed more light on the city's history. "Votl also means violet in Felinese."
"Felinese? What's that?" asked Smoke.
"The original language of the Lioumereans!" quickly answered Jack, before Daniel could.
"Really? Felinese, huh?" wondered Smoke out loud.
As they got closer, Smoke noticed several tall spires. There were nine outside the city's main walls, while the three tallest towers were inside it.
When they got to city gate, four Warriors asked them to stop.
"Halt, what is your purpose in Votl City?" asked one of the Warriors.
"I'm here to return these captured children," replied Smoke, pointing to Jack and the rest of the young aristocrats.
The Warrior then turned to Jack. "What's your name, boy?"
"Lord Jacques Dawkins, Twenty-fifth in line for the throne of Vitzytl," boldly answered Jack.
"Dawkins? Lord Dawson's son?" asked the Warrior in disbelief. "But Lord Hautain claimed that all of you were killed."
"And you people would believe someone like Hautain?" incredulously asked Jack. "Now, let us through before I have you punished."
"I'm sorry, but I need to have you verified," insisted the Warrior. "Who can I call of nobility to ascertain your identities?"
Jack looked pissed. "You really won't take my word for it?!"
Daniel grabbed Jack's shoulder and forced him to back down.
"Excuse him. You can contact Lord Avilo Dawkins," replied a calmer Daniel.
"Very well," replied the Warrior. "Wait here while we call him."
The Warrior went farther away, and called the Avilo.
"I just hope he gets here fast," said an exasperated Jack. "He's only just excited for Gagnant Tournaments."
Ten minutes passed and still no Avilo in sight.
Then, a HighElf girl of about eleven years old walked past them. She was carrying a basket full of flowers, and was headed into the city as well. She stopped and stared at Smoke and the young aristocrats riding in his rickety cart.
"Oi, beggar, did you kidnap these children?" asked the little girl. "Votl City is really harsh to the likes of you."
"Hey, Faux, isn't like that," defended Geisel. "Sure, his clothes are tattered, his mount is messed up, and this cart is clearly about to break apart, but Faux is a nice guy. In fact, he's the one who rescued us from our kidnappers."
The little flower girl clicked her tongue. "Listen, Kid, you don't know how tricky the world is. Who knows? Maybe, he was in cahoots with your kidnappers from the beginning, and now he's just out to get the reward your rich parents are going to give him."
"Who are you calling little girl? You're not much older than I am," interjected Geisel. "And like I said, Faux isn't like that at all."
"Suit yourself, Kid, but don't say I didn't warn you," said the little HighElf, as she walked past the Warriors and into the city.
Smoke didn't bother to join in the squabbles between children. He felt his ears had already bled out from hearing all of the mundane arguments children could fight over.
Finally, after thirty-minutes of waiting outside the gate, Avilo and Mouche arrived. Avilo went past the Warriors and ran up to Jack.
"Jack? Is that really you?" asked Avilo.
"Yeah, it's really me, Av," replied Jack.
"You really haven't grown at all," said Avilo and hugged Jack.
"Mouche, look, it's little Jackie," Avilo said to his High Wizard steward.
"Welcome home, Lord Jacques," said Mouche and gave him a small bow.
"What happened to you? How did you get here?" Avilo began asking a series of questions, all of which Jack could not answer quickly enough.
"It's a long story, but first I want you to help out Faux," said Jack, pointing to Smoke. "He says that he's registered in the Magi Gagnant Tournament."
"Faux?" asked Avilo. He then turned to Smoke. "Wait a minute, you're the one who traded seats with us in Vona City's Arena."
"Yeah, that's right," said Smoke, offering his hand to Avilo.
"Jack said that you're in the Gagnant?" queried Avilo. "How can that be? I haven't seen your name in the tournament roster."
"Oh, I'm a late entrant. Maybe, my name will appear after I register?" reasoned out Smoke.
"Here, have a look at my document," he said to Avilo, handing him Cynar's doctored paper.
Avilo scrutinized the parchment. He brought it close to his eye, and examined it from all sides. Next, he took a whiff of its scent, and even tried to measure its thickness with his fingers.
"I'm sorry, Faux, but this is a fake," said Avilo flatly.
"I don't know who gave this to you, but none of the arbiters would be fooled by such a cheap imitation," explained Avilo.
"What? Are you sure?" asked a surprised Smoke.
"I am as sure as this city is purple," replied Avilo with all sincerity.

"So, this document won't allow me to participate in the Magi Gagnant Tournament?" questioned Smoke again.
"I'm sorry, Faux, no matter how many times you ask me, the answer will be the same," replied Avilo.
"But, Lord Avilo, surely you could do something for Faux?" begged Jack.
Daniel also came rushing to Smoke's support. "If it was not for him, who knows what would have happened to us under Cynar?"
Smoke was doubtful that Cynar would actually hurt them, but keeping them hostage and working as thieves was still wrong of him to do.
"Lord Avilo, I have already insulted this most trustworthy man before," added Geisel. "Please help him, my Lord."
Shortly after, all the rescued nobles chimed in with pleas for Smoke to participate in the tournament.
Avilo turned to Smoke. "You truly are something else, Faux. To have earned all of their trust."
"Surely, as ninth in line to the throne, you have some sway in this matter," said Jack, playing on Avilo's hubris.
"Jack, you should know that I do not abuse my rank," answered Avilo. "However, there was an unfortunate tragedy that happened just recently."
"What happened? And how is that related to Faux being in the tournament?" asked Daniel.
Smoke remained silent as he only observed the conversation between the nobles. He decided to do so, as it was going favorably well for him.
"I don't know if you've heard, but the Ork tribes have greatly increased in power," began Avilo. "Due to this, the King ordered for the strongest Magicians, Wizards, and all other variants to attack them."
"How many of them were assembled?" asked Jack.
"The Kingdom gathered fifty-thousand Wizard variants and twenty-thousand Warrior variants," answered Avilo.
"Wow, that's a lot!" said Jack. "You don't usually see that many. I bet it must have been quite a sight!"
"It certainly was," replied a smiling Avilo.
'I guess fifty-thousand Wizards is sort of amazing,' silent agreed Smoke to himself.
"Can you imagine? Twenty-thousand Warriors!" Jack said to Daniel.
"I know! They must have sent all of the Warriors the other cities could spare," said Daniel.
"Wait, wait. Is it really that uncommon to see twenty-thousand Warriors?" asked Smoke.
"Definitely!" answered Avilo. "A city in Vitzytl usually only employs about five to eight-thousand Warriors," he furthered explained. "So, seeing that many assembled Warriors in one place is not an everyday thing."
It was only after hearing this that Smoke remembered how Vitzytl Kingdom was famous for its Wizards and not its Warriors.
"The life of a Warrior in our Kingdom is difficult," added Jack. "I used to want to be a Warrior, but finding any decent masters is next to impossible."
"Exactly, right. I remember that I used to be like that as well, but then I gave it all up and decided to follow in the footsteps of Prime Wizard Ouragan," said Avilo.
"Wait, you're going off topic already, Avilo," said Smoke. "What was the tragedy?"
"Well, the assembled Ork-Annihilation-Force did eliminate a total of fifty tribes of UrukHai," said Avilo. "And those are the strongest of Orks, but they did bumble up a bit."
Avilo let out a deep sigh. "One of the Warrior divisions failed to defend the main magical attack force against the charging Orks, and as a result, three of the participants in the Magi Gagnant Tournament were killed."
"And you can enter me as one of their replacements?" asked Smoke.
"Well, that all depends on you, Faux," replied Avilo. "I can get you to participate in another qualifying test, but you are going to have to win it yourself."
"Is it an elimination tournament like in Vona City?" asked Smoke.
Avilo shrugged. "I'm not really sure. I do not know the exact details, but you can overcome that as well, right?"
Smoke nodded, thinking about all the possible scenarios for the qualifiers.
"When is this?" asked Smoke.
"Two days from now," said Avilo. "For now, you and your mount should get some rest and I'll take care of reuniting all the rescued children."
"I think I'll do that," said Smoke. "I'll be sure to be back by then."
Smoke then got back up on his rickety cart and grasped Freifahrt's reins.
"Faux, wait," called out Jack, Daniel, and Geisel in unison.
Smoke got back down, and turned to face them.
"Thank you so much, Faux," said Geisel and gave him a hug.
"You may have bound me up in ropes, but I've never been more thankful in my life," said Daniel and hugged Smoke as well.
Then, the Dickinson siblings gave way to Jack.
"Hey, sorry about your gems, again," said Jack.
Smoke ruffled Jack's hair. "I told you to forget about it, but if you do mention it again, I'm going to ask you for 40,000 zecs."
Jack grinned. "Fine, fine. But seriously, Faux, thank you. We all owe our freedom, no, our lives to you."
Suddenly, a notification window popped up.
 

The rest of the young aristocrats lined up behind Jack, Daniel, and Geisel.
With his back turned to Avilo and Mouche, and only facing the children, Smoke removed his mask. He smiled at all of them, and gave them a respectful bow.
"Take care of yourselves and learn from this experience," said Smoke, putting back his mask on. He then got back on his ride again.
"Faux, wait. I have something to give you as well," called out Avilo. He then signaled his High Wizard steward to come over.
"Mouche, can you give Faux a permit allowing him entry to our estate," Avilo said to the old HighElf.
"At once, my Lord," replied Mouche, bowing down before taking his leave.
"That indicates that you are a guest in my estate. It should also serve as your identification papers," explained Avilo further. "You do not want to have a repeat of the encounter with the Guards."
"Thank you again," replied Smoke and left to explore the city.

* * * * * * 

The three tallest spires in Votl city, equally towered over the rest of the structures and were well separated from each other. Like all of the structures inside the city, they were all colored in purple. Only the streets gave out a contrast, which were lined with gray and black stones.
After Smoke left his dirus wolf in one of the stables, he decided to explore the city while waiting for the qualifying event to take place.
"Move it!" suddenly yelled a Sonstwelter Mage at him. He was surrounded by four OrkElves hired as personal Mercenaries.
Keeping a low profile, Smoke hurriedly stepped aside and accidentally bumped into somebody else.
"Hey, watch it, you ignorant hick!" shouted a Zectian HighElf. The middle aged man pushed Smoke a side, and scrutinized his appearance.
"Oh, sorry," said Smoke, as he tried to get a stable footing.
Smoke had been looking up, as he used his Telefax Vision to examine the spires. Unaware, that he was already blocking the road.
"How in the world did a hillbilly get in here?" asked the HighElf, blocking Smoke's path.
From his appearance, Smoke guessed that he had a variation of the Wizard Job and belonged to the aristocrats.
Smoke reached for Avilo's permit and showed it to him.
"Oh, you are Lord Avilo's guest," said the HighElf. "I am terribly sorry. I didn't know you were friends with him."
"That's alright," replied Smoke. "Who could guess from my appearance, right? But maybe you can help me?"
"Certainly, it is the least I can do as recompense for my rude behavior earlier," answered the HighElf.
"I was looking for the library, but all of the vendors I asked kept giving me different directions," said Smoke.
"Ah! Maybe they were confused as to which library you were looking for?" asked the HighElf. "Sir?"
"Faux. My name is Faux," answered Smoke.
"Good to meet you, Sir Faux. My name is Snobisme," said the HighElf.
"You see there are nine libraries in the city. We have the most libraries in the entire Sawtorn continent," said Snobisme.
"Oh! That is many," said Smoke.
"Which library did you plan to go to?" asked Snobisme.
"I had no specific library in mind, but perhaps the one with the most books about the Magietrois and also has Ability Tomes," said Smoke.
Snobisme shook his head. "You can't access any of those books from the libraries here. You would need a special permission from a Prime Wizard or someone of the same caliber to do to that."
"Really?" asked Smoke, dismayed.
"But perhaps you might find a few ability tomes in one of the Bookstores in the city?" suggested Snobisme.
"Alright, where's that?" asked Smoke.
"There is one only a few blocks away," said Snobisme.  "It is called Livres Ami. Head two blocks that way, and then take a left."
"Thank you," said Smoke, and headed for the bookstore.
Along the way to the bookstore, Smoke spotted a few Wizard Shops. He thought about giving them a visit as soon as he was done with the books.
TING TIDDING
A bell attached to the door sounded when Smoke opened it.
A middle-aged WoodElf greeted Smoke as soon as he stepped into the shop. She wore black clothes with long sleeves and straight-cut skirt which partially covered her shoes.
"Welcome, to Livres Ami. My name is Livres. How can I—" she started with a friendly tone, but it quickly turned to that of a stern headmistress when she saw his appearance.
"Get out! Get out, now!" yelled Livres.
Smoke let out a sigh. He started reaching for Avilo's permit, but was not given the oppurtunity to present it. With her thin arms, she forcibly pushed Smoke out the door.
"Hey! I can pay for your books," said Smoke, but Livres did not hear any of it. Instead, she placed another sign at the door.
 

'Looks like it's not only the HighElves that are haughty,' thought Smoke.
Rejected by the bookstore, Smoke decided to head back to the wizard shops he spotted along the way. He found a familiar name among the shops. It was called Perdant Wares.
This time, Smoke got out Avilo's permit in advance. He had learned his lesson from the previous store.
"Welcome, welcome, Master Elementalist," said a plump old man sitting on the counter. His wrinkled face and gray hairs looked familiar to Smoke.
"What can Perdant do for you today?" asked the plump man.
"Wait, you're Perdant? Perdant Marchand, right?" asked Smoke.
"Yes, yes I am! How did you know my name, Master Elementalist?" asked Perdant. "Did you use some sort of ability on me?"
"No, you were just recommended to me by someone," answered Smoke. He remembered how Sot, the chief of Banal Village, introduced them.
"Really? That's odd. I've only been here for three months and don't have any regular customers," said Perdant. "In fact, I've even thought about returning to Wysteria, since business hasn't been that good, and I'd like to see how the rest of survivors of Banal Village are doing."
"Huh? What do you mean? What happened to Banal Village?" asked Smoke.
"Why do you know about my home Village?" asked Perdant.
Smoke could not think of a response. "Never mind that, just tell me what happened to it?"
"Well, we were under attack by one of the terrible, terrifying Witches of Wysteria. She had an army of goblins. However, she was stopped by a great noble warrior named Master Smoke," began Perdant. "After he saved us, he asked us to migrate to their village. But since most of my fellow residents decided to stay, I foolishly followed them as well."
"And then what happened?" eagerly asked Smoke.
"Well, we were safe for a time. Master Smoke's well created walls defended us from most monster attacks, but then another Witch came to attack us. This time, she used an army of Therianthropes. Our small village stood no chance against her."
Smoke's heart felt like it was being squeezed from inside his chest. "How did you escape? Were there any more survivors? What about Sot? Did he make it out alive?"
Slowly, Perdant shook his head. "Sot remained with the few who decided to buy us some time to escape."
"Thankfully, Master Smoke created an emergency tunnel for us. I guess about thirty of us escaped together," said Perdant. "Most of us scattered to other villages, while there were some who searched for Smoke's village, but I don't know what happened to them."
"Smoke shouldn't have left you alone like that, undefended in your village," somberly said Smoke. "He knew there was still one Witch left. But don't worry. Your village has already been avenged. I heard from a reliable source, that Horrabelle is dead. Smoke killed her. Unfortunately, it was after she destroyed your village."
Suddenly, Smoke stood straight and lowered his head in front of Perdant. "I apologize in Smoke's behalf. He should have done better for you and your people."
"No, no, don't do that," hurriedly said Perdant. "Master Smoke was our savior. Even until now, he is still my savior. In fact, he's the reason I managed to survive all this time and even reached here."
"Yeah, how exactly did you reach Sawtorn?" asked Smoke.
"Well, Master Smoke paid me a ridiculous amount of money for some books and other junks I had leftover," said Perdant. "Before we were separated, I gave a few zecs to the other surviving villagers. As for the rest, I used it to buy goods and wares which I traded as I traveled."
Perdant paused. He looked out the window of his shop, as if reminiscing.
"Slowly, I built up a small fortune from Master Smoke's funds. In my travels, I reached a village named Havre. By the way, in case you were wondering, all of these places are in Wysteria."
Smoke nodded politely at Perdant. "Yes, I've heard of Havre Village."
"There, I saw a Miner who had a small pouch full of gems. He was headed into the village to sell them off. I immediately used all of my zecs to buy it. Unfortunately, I didn't know that he overcharged me," explained Perdant. "I went to all of the establishments in the village, and none of them would buy my gems for 80,000 zecs. This was already a lost at this point as I bought them for 70,000 zecs each."
"Wait, wait. Why are you losing when you bought them at a cheaper price than what you were asking for?" asked Smoke.
"Tsk tsk tsk. I say this with respect, but if you have to ask, then you clearly don't have a mind for good business," answered Perdant. "Anyway, I would not allow my small fortune to be squandered like that. Especially, since it was given to me by Master Smoke."
Although wearing his full-faced mask, Smoke still smiled and shook his head, amused at Perdant's logic.
"Then, I heard from one of the Sailors that Sawtorn has a bigger asking price for gems," said Perdant. "So, here I am."
"I see, and you've clearly done well for yourself," said Smoke, as he looked around the shop. "You don't mind me looking around do you?"
"Why would I mind?" asked Perdant.
"What with my clothes and all," said Smoke.
"Clothes do not make the man, but rather through his actions and words," replied Perdant. "Who am I to judge your appearance?"
Smoke nodded gratefully at Perdant and continued browsing his store.
"Um, Master Elementalist, you have obliged me to tell my story for so long, but I still don't know your name or how you came to know of mine," said Perdant, as he closely followed Smoke from at least a meter behind.
'He says he doesn't mind me looking, but his watchful that I don't steal anything,' surmised Smoke.
"As I've said earlier, someone recommended you to me," said Smoke. "As for my name, I'd like to keep it to myself for now."
"If you insist. But perhaps I could give you a bigger discount if I knew who you were, or who recommended you," said the stout old man.
Smoke did not answer and kept on looking around the store. Perdant's shop was filled with various Mage items. From wands, robes to even hats. He also had a small collection of books, but Smoke had already read all of them.
Then, he noticed a rare ear accessory and a Wizard's belt. He picked up the smaller piece first and inspected it.