Chapter 4 Part 1

Gage

Dylan’s trip back to the Academy resembled his journey home. Very little happened that was worthy of a second thought. Only the chance meeting with a traveling troupe of performers brightened the otherwise boring trek.

The troupe traded a performance for their food and the caravan was heartily entertained for the price of a bit of meat, stew and bread. Dylan was enraptured by music of an elven maiden who played a lyre while she sang a haunting tune about the legend of the Forester, a mysterious hermit that wandered the upper reaches of the Great Deep dealing out justice to the wicked peoples he encountered.

There was some scoffing by several of the caravan’s leaders as to the validity of the legend, but the maiden did not defend herself. Instead an old story teller rebuked the scoffer by swearing that the Forester was as real as the ground upon which they tread.

“There are many things that are difficult to believe by someone who has never seen them,” the old man pointed out. “Do you deny the fact that the meadows of Gly-ou-vogue were once a barren waste, or that there were once two suns?”

“Those’re documented facts,” the teamster pointed out. “No one’s ever documented the existence of the Forester.”

“Have you ever heard of a race called the Doyr?”

“Aye,” another teamster interrupted. “I’ve heard of them. Demon worshipers as I recall. Nasty folk, but scattered so thin as to be harmless.”

“They have not always been so,” the story teller informed them. “They once had a stronghold in the upper Deep. That is until they captured the Forester’s mate and killed one of his friends, a coyodiak. It is said that the Forester slew their demon queen and destroyed their city banishing them from his realm.”

“Who told you this, old man?” the scoffer demanded.

“Why, the Doyr themselves tell that story.” The story teller smiled. “Try to convince one o’ them that the Forester don’t exist.”

Dylan listened longer and the story teller eventually began to weave a tale of the great battle of Gly-ou-vogue. Being from the Teverak region, Dylan knew the tale well and always enjoyed it.

“And behold when the Abomination was destroyed, the Overlord faded into nothingness,” the old man told them. “No one knows what happened to him. He was the Creator’s lieutenant and maybe he still exists, but most folk prefer to think that the Creator changed the Overlord into the life that now dwells in the rich and fertile lands o’ Gly-ou-vogue.” The old man smiled and bowed as a polite round of applause rose from the listeners.

“If that’s so,” one of the other entertainers speculated, “that’d explain the reason why the once dead wasteland has become the most lush and beautiful meadows in the world.”

“Someday,” one of the teamsters offered, “King Rigel might allow that land to be settled. If so I’d sure like to be the plantation owner who moves into that meadow.”

The night wore on and the talk and song continued into the early morning. Dylan listened until his eyes began to grow heavy, then he excused himself and retired to his bedroll.
Not far away, the elf maiden had made her bed as well. She and Dylan talked only briefly to bid each other sweet dreams. She may have wanted to talk further, but as she made her place, she began to sing quietly and the clear music of her voice lulled Dylan deeply into a restful slumber.

The next morning, when Dylan woke, the entertainers were already packed and preparing to depart. Dylan bade farewell as did the other teamsters. He briefly inquired as to where the troupe was bound, and was told that they were headed for Keron, the home of the king. But that they would stop at Seron, New Aspberg, and several villages along the way. Dylan was a little disappointed that they would not be going to Allentown, for he wanted to take Cindy to hear the stories.

Two days later, Dylan was back at the Academy and returning to his room when Cindy met him in the hall. She threw her arms about him and gave him a big hug. “I missed you so,” she told him. “I haven’t had anyone to talk to and without you, Kayla’s been working me to death in my studies.”

“Well then make yourself useful, and help me get my things to my room,” He replied playfully. “At least that way I’ll have someone to talk to in there. Mally and her two sidekicks never go out of their way to talk to me.”

Cindy’s face went blank. “That’s right, you wouldn’t know yet,” she said quietly.

“Know what?”

“Mally’s in the infirmiry,” Cindy told him. “And when she gets out she’s going to be expelled from the Academy.”

“What happened,” Dylan asked in shock.

“Actually it’s all your fault,” Cindy smirked. “When you completed your studies so quickly, she couldn’t stand knowing that one of us had finished his first year faster than she had finished hers.”

“What did she do?” he asked.

“She applied for her Trial of Acceptance and failed miserably.” Cindy shook her head sadly. “She still had half a year left before she was expected to be anywhere near ready to take that.”

“Why’d she do it then?”

“She wanted to out do you. So she tried to advance to apprenticeship and failed her test.”

Dylan thought about what he had heard. “But the Trial of Acceptance isn’t dangerous,” he objected. “And failing on the first try’s not unusual. It certainly won’t get you expelled from the Academy.”

“It didn’t,” Cindy agreed. “But Mally was so angry that she’d failed, that she tried to prove that she was ready for apprenticeship anyhow. She stole a real scroll from one of her master’s journeymen and tried to cast the spell. It backfired on her and burned her badly.”

“That’s why she’s getting expelled isn’t it,” Dylan asked. It was strongly forbidden for initiates to work magic and even apprentices could only do so under supervision.

“They have her in the infirmary under restraint,” Cindy told him. “Since the accident, she’s tried to kill herself twice. Her master has had to send for her father to come and take her home.”

Dylan was silent for several long minutes. “I guess I’ll get a new roommate now,” he observed quietly.

“Yes you will,” Cindy told him as she stopped in front of his room. “I wish it hadn’t happened though. Mally wasn’t a bad person.”

“No she wasn’t,” Dylan agreed. He opened the door and stepped inside with Cindy in tow. They placed his things on his bed. The room was presently empty.

“Will you keep this bed?” she asked him. Dylan looked puzzled for a moment until he realized that he was now the senior occupant of the room, and had his choice of beds and furnishings. The other two occupants were nowhere to be seen, and the bed that had been Mally’s was stripped clean and abandoned.

“No,” he decided. “I think I’ll let the other two fight over who gets the bed by the window. I’ll stay where I am.”

“That’s your choice,” Cindy told him.

“Well hello stranger,” Kayla greeted him from the door. “I should’ve known that where I found one of you I’d also find the other.”

“Hello, Kayla,” Dylan returned the greeting. “Cindy tells me that you have been working her into the ground since I went on vacation.”

Kayla eyed Cindy curiously as the girl shuffled her feet nervously. “Oh she did, did she?”

“I was just trying to make Dylan feel as if we’d missed him,” Cindy admitted.

Kayla glanced at Dylan and winked. “Well you were missed,” she told him. “And Cindy missed you most of all. Not a day went by that she didn’t ask when you were returning.”
Dylan laughed. “Well I missed her too.”

“I’m so glad that you two get along so well together,” Kayla told them. “You’re going to have to very soon.”

“Really?” the two youngsters said in unison. “What’s going on?”

Kayla smiled. “You’ll find out tomorrow,” she told them. “Instead of your lessons, the two of you will be meeting with Master Tesron and Gage. They have something in mind for you.”

“Do you know what it is?” Cindy asked nervously.

Again Kayla smiled. “Yes, but I won’t tell. Don’t worry, all of Master Tesron’s initiates have to do this and you two’re the only ones who haven’t done it yet.”

“Please tell us,” Cindy begged, but Kayla only laughed and walked away.

“What do you think it is?” Dylan asked curiously.

“I hate not knowing a secret,” Cindy grumbled irately.

“Kayla knows that,” Dylan pointed out. “That’s why she didn’t tell us any more about tomorrow.”

“I’ll get her for that,” Cindy promised. “I don’t know how, but I will get her for that.”

Dylan laughed. “If you figure something out, let me know. I’ll help you.”

Cindy nodded. “Right now all I want is to get something to eat.” She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Are you for me?”

Dylan’s stomach growled and instead of answering, he just grinned. Then he took Cindy by the hand and together they left the room in search of food. The hallway was deserted, so no one saw, and it wasn’t until they were climbing the steps that it occurred to Dylan that he was holding the girl’s hand. It also occurred to him that she had not tried to get free of the clasp. Reluctantly, though necessarily, they released each other’s grip as they stepped into an occupied hall.

Though not entirely forbidden, it was discouraged for students to display affection above and beyond the level of cordiality. Dylan wondered at the fact that he had taken Cindy’s hand without forethought and how natural it had felt. The fact that she had not objected made him wonder at just how she felt as well. For a brief moment, Dylan thought of Sharon back at Sandy Cove and felt a pang of guilt at the things he had done with her. Given his choice, he would much rather be with Cindy than any other girl he could think of. They chatted as they ate, and Cindy told him about all the other goings on that had occurred around the Academy since his departure.

Dylan almost choked when Cindy asked if he had seen any plantation girls. There was absolutely no way he was going to allow that line of questioning to go on, so he redirected the conversation quickly. “And just how are your butcher friend’s kisses these days?” he asked innocently.

Cindy blushed and her eyes shifted nervously. “I really want to know what Master Tesron has planned for us tomorrow,” she responded. It was a lame attempt to avoid the issue, but Dylan let it pass. He decided that it was enough that the question made her uncomfortable.

In spite of the curiosity, the two young initiates had no choice but to await the following mornings arrival. The night for Dylan was a long series of broken naps with each awakening the result of wondering what the morning meeting with his master would bring.