A Journey Never Begun

Copyright (c) 2018 James Miehoff, All Rights Reserved.

This work may not be published whether for fee or free without this copyright.

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This is one of a series of stories set in the Land of Etherium, a place out of time where wizards channeled mana and a host of creatures we call fairy tales roamed the lands. It is said these tales occurred almost 27,000 years ago before a set of cataclysms shaped the face of the earth and the fairy folk retreated or we in our smugness, no longer saw them.

In any case, there are just stories after all, aren't they?

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This is part three of the journey of Muddle to find a new Master to continue his magical education. If you haven't read the first two parts, please do, things may make more sense if you are caught up. I'll wait.

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Muddle's head was swimming as he held the dryad. Not knowing what else to do he repeated, "What just happened? Why were your eyes whirling and your voice was so different?"

The nymph closed her eyes and said softly, "That was the voice of the First, the oldest of the oak sisters. The rest were the council of the dryads and the strongest of the sisters that could form the joining."

Her voice failed her and Muddle just held her.

Finally, she spoke again, "We have not made more than wands for over a thousand years, which is twice the lifetime of the First. "

Her voice took on a concerned note, "Thou must be very careful. Even wands are very dangerous because of what they can do. But none have been strong enough to make a staff since the last of the Great Ones perished. I fear that in my gratitude and feelings I may have betrayed us all.

"Please promise me thou willt be careful. I do not know what powers thy staff contains or what it may do, but in the hands of the Great Ones, the glaciers that threatened the world were defeated. The tales are full of the stories of the feats of the Great Ones and most of them were enabled by their staffs."

"As I said before," Muddle said, "My master had a wand and he was always using for different things. I tried to borrow it once but it didn't work for me."

"That is the bond of the triad", she said. "It is an unbreakable bond between the tree, the dryad and the wizard. Its powers seem to be in proportion to the feelings shared by all three. And I fear that my feelings for thee may have created a powerful staff indeed."

The dryad stood then and looked at Muddle and said softly, "Thou must go. Thou hast a great journey before thee and I can delay thee here no longer."

"Before I go you said something about a prophesy," Muddle said. "What prophesy?"

The dyad hung her head and the words came haltingly at first.

"A lone tree sits bereft of kin,

The Child of Destiny stumbles in.

A favor for a favor is the trade,

the Staff of Tomorrow is so made."

The words burning in his mind and ringing in his ears, Muddle grabbed his grimoire and prepared to write. As he bent his quill to its task on the top of a fresh page, it refused and moved of its own accord to the center of the page. There it inscribed the words of the prophesy.

As he closed his grimoire, the dryad reached out to touch the book. Her fingers pulled back as if burned and she stared at Muddle with unnaturally large eyes.

"Thou hast met the First," she said, her voice deep with reverence. "Thy book contains a living piece of her in the covers."

She made a quick sign with her fingers over her heart and bowed her head to Muddle.

Muddle stood up and looked down at the dryad, now the size of a young girl. He bent down a little, lifted her face with his finger under her chin and kissed her forehead. There was a welling of mana and for a second he could see a faint glowing spot on the nymph's forehead. Her eyes wide, the lady of the oak turned and ran into her tree.

"Curious," Muddle thought.

He stood for a second, then gathered his staff and walked to his camp to shoulder his backpack. A quick scan of the ground ensured he had not forgotten anything.

Not knowing what else to do, Muddle walked over to the tree and while hugging it said softly, "I will return someday and I hope to see you surrounded by your new sisters."

As he turned to go, he thought he heard a soft, "Fare thee well." But it could have just been the wind rustling the leaves.

Despite all the hubbub of the morning, it was not yet noon when he set out on the road.

About an hour later he passed the inn he had been hoping to find the first day. "Curious," he thought, "I must have been closer than I thought. I could have made the inn by dark, but I would have missed meeting such a gracious lady."

And with that, he walked on past the inn and continued down the road.

Nightfall found him well down the road but with no inns and seeing no lights ahead, he stepped off the road following a faint rut. Soon he came to an abandoned farmhouse. Most of the walls had fallen out and there was no door but the walls around the kitchen remained, along with most of the roof.

As he looked around the kitchen he spotted a candle in its sconce and a small supply of dry wood by the fireplace. Lighting the candle it gave off a faint but cheery light and he set about building a small fire in the fireplace.

A short time later after eating, Muddle sat back in a much better mood. "A full belly always puts one in a better mood," he thought.

Looking around to find a good spot for his bedroll, Muddle spotted a pair of eyes in the dark.

"Well come out my fine fellow. I have eaten and I mean you no harm," he called out to the eyes.

The eyes blinked slowly and a large bullfrog waddled out into the light.

"Well, either you are the fastest frog in the world, or I met your brother last night miles from here," Muddle said laughingly.

The frog didn't say anything.

Muddle laughed and said, "Well Mr. Frog I am going to assume you are the same friend as last night. Would you like me to continue my tale from where I left off?"

The frog let out a very deep, "Re-deep."

"I will take that as a yes," Muddle said grinning.

"If you will remember from last night, I had just been orphaned for the second time. This time, there was no bag of coins to buy me a spot at the orphanage so I was out on the streets.

"It didn't take long and I was recruited by a group of fellow orphans that called themselves 'Children of the Dirt'. It was a rather loose group that was about seven members when I joined. During my time we grew to twelve and shank to just 3 during a really bad winter. A really bad winter.

"It was just spring so it was fairly easy to forage food, which was the main stock in trade for us. It is hard to do anything else when your belly is empty. So we would dig through the trash and steal when we had to. It didn't take long to learn where the baker would put the extra loaves of bread or where the fruit seller store the fruit that was not perfect that he used to make juice. With practiced ease one or two of us would make a distraction while the fastest of us (which usually meant me) ran behind the store and stole what we could.

If we got caught, there was a beating and a threat to turn us over to the town guards to be thrown in the stockade. But we were tolerated, because we weren't a big nuisance and it was cheaper than having the town folks pay a tax to put us in an orphanage.

"I settled into a routine and the time flew by. When you are focused on where to get your next meal, keeping track of the date didn't mean much. I didn't bother going to the next few Apprentice Choosings until I realized that I would be 16 following the next one. That would be a problem. The town considered you an adult at 16. The minor thefts of food we had been doing to survive would no longer be tolerated and I would begin to lose fingers if I was caught. An occasional beating by the butcher when I would get caught stealing a sausage or two from his smokehouse or from the baker when I got caught stealing a loaf of bread was one thing. A beating and then losing a finger took on a whole new meaning.

"My only other option besides the Choosing was the army. I had heard enough horror stories about the army from Berek that the army was not an option. So I presented myself to the Magistrate and placed myself into the Choosing.

"The farmers passed me by because of my reputation of unluck due to Berek's untimely death. And I heard the baker talking with his wife but while she thought it would be good payback for the bread I had stolen to learn how hard it was to make it, they picked a smaller boy, probably because he would eat less.

"Finally, just before the Magistrate called an end to the Choosing and old man hobbled up and squinted at the four of us that were left. He turned to the Magistrate and coins changed hands. The Magistrate called out, "Muddle, you have been apprenticed to Delfim. Come assist your new Master."

"And that was that. I presented myself to Master Delfim. He looked at me, sniffed and said, 'Get your things, boy. And be quick. We have a ways to walk this evening.'

"I looked down on my new Master and said, 'I am ready to go, Master. I have nothing to go get.'

"He nodded, gave me his pack and we set off.

"It was hard at first slowing myself to his pace. But once we were down the road and got past the big bend so that we could not be seen from the town, my Master stood straight and stretched. 'Damn nuisance walking like that,' he said, 'But everybody expects a wizard to be old and frail. Come along now. Try to keep up.'

"And just like that he was off walking at a brisk pace that challenged me to keep up. I don't know if the pace was to keep me from asking questions or he just wanted to see if I had the stamina to keep up with him.

We arrived at his home after about two hours of walking that bordered on running. He waited for me to catch up. When I arrived he put out his arm to keep me from going any farther. Without turning he told me to stick out my right hand and make the same gestures he did. He then made a series of hand gestures that I copied as best I could.

"He waved me forward and I hit an invisible wall. He made a noise and then told me to make the hand gestures again. I watched his hands and copied his motions again and this time the wall was there but was springy like soft moss by the stream.

"This time his harrumph was plainly audible and he just said, 'Again.'

"I made the hand gestures and this time there was no barrier. From behind me I heard him mutter, 'Promising.'

"And that was my arrival to what would be home for the next few years.

"The next morning my Master woke me and said, 'Before we eat, we must get something to eat.' And with that he strode out the door not waiting to see if I followed.

"I scrambled out of bed and hurried to see him standing by where the barrier had been the day before. I practically ran up to him and he held out an arm.

"He said, 'Remember the ward, boy. Or you will knock yourself out until next week running at it that fast. Which is what would have happened to you had I been on the other side. Repeat the gesture of opening you learned last night and join me for our morning foraging.'

"With that he turned and with his back to me so I couldn't see, he opened the ward and stepped through. I stepped up and performed the gesture and walked into the solid air. I did something wrong.

"I rolled my mind back to yesterday when I did it correctly and ran through the gestures again. This time I felt something in my stomach but I could tell the ward would let me pass. I hurried through and caught up to my Master.

"'Master," I said. "Why did it feel strange in my stomach when I did the gesture of opening just now. And why do I feel weak.'

"He spun on his heel and grabbed me tight with both hands on my arms, pinning me. He looked at me like he was looking inside and then grabbed my hands and pulled them up to his face. Satisfied he dropped my hands and said, 'That was mana leaving you when you performed the gesture correctly.'

"And with that he strode off into the woods. As we passed by plants he would name them and sometimes give a brief description of healing or danger that each could produce. When we reached the place he was going, he named a plant we had passed and told me to get 12 leaves while he searched for the rest of our breakfast.

"When I returned to the clearing, my Master had a large rabbit and was speaking the words of the Blessing of Life over it before he broke its neck. I cleared my throat then and my Master looked up.

"'Have you ever dressed a rabbit?' he asked.

"He threw the rabbit at me and said, 'Please do so with reverence as he is giving his life for ours. Then meet me back at the house. I'll take those leaves and start the stew.'

"With that, he left. I only had my small pocketknife with me but I skinned and dressed the rabbit as best I could. I left the fur and entrails for the scavengers and hurried back to the cabin.

"My Master opened the door to the house as I approached. He squinted at the sun and then smiled at me and asked, 'You are back early. Did you retrace our steps or take a shortcut?'

"I hesitated and then said, 'I came straight back through the woods. If I had retraced our steps meandering through the woods I would still be walking.'

"He held out his hand and said, 'Let us finish preparing the guest of honor before the feast.'

"And so began my apprenticeship to the Wizard Delfim.

Muddle stretched and yawned. He got out his bedroll and laid it out on the floor near the fireplace.

He looked over and chuckling said, "Mr. Frog, I have had a very interesting day, but I am getting tired and I have more to walk tomorrow. I will continue to follow the road to the west for a couple of more days, so if you wish to join me in the evening, I will look forward to your company again."

The frog slowly blinked its eyes and with a "Re-deep" turned and waddled away.

So ends the third part of A Journey Never Begun.