Melody of Mana

As our caravan crossed through the local forests I learned that the man who'd teased me on the first day was named Sorn. He was in his mid twenties, with long black hair and a bushy beard. Sorn was a bit of a joker, but I got the feeling that he at least meant well. He told me that he was headed to the capital in a bid to start up a new business, since the war had caused so much destruction around his home. While I never told him all the details, I did understand that to an extent. His village, much like my own, had been destroyed, but in his case because of bandits in search of food.

"I didn't think bandits were that bad though? We had a few around us, but not nearly enough to take down a village," I told him when I heard how his home had been destroyed. We were walking with the caravan for a bit. The fresh air was nice, and stretching your legs every now and then was an absolute must because of the cramped wagon.

"Normally no, they aren't, but this looked to be about fifty men who'd deserted from the army. I wasn't there, but I'm told they hit hard."

"Did they get caught?" I hated to think that such men would be wandering around still.

"Yeah, an army contingent came and hung the lot of them. Scum like that don't stand up to much once they're against a real fighting force. Wish I'd been sent to help."

I nodded; once a group went bandit there wasn't much else to be done with them. They couldn't really go home, as they were wanted men. I hoped my dad hadn't gone that way.

"So, you said yer going to join up with an uncle lad?" He changed the subject rather than continue to talk about his own home.

"Yeah, dad got called out to go to the war, and he's not come back."

"Capital's a far way to go though; no friends or the like closer?"

"One, but a neighbor tried to contact her about a year ago, and I've heard nothing. So I'm guessing that there's nothing there for me. I'd go see her, but she lives out in Hazelwood, and I'm not going there." The story was close enough to the truth for me. I certainly wasn't planning to return to Hazelwood any time soon.

He sucked in air at the mention of Hazelwood. "Aye, I've heard some nasty rumors about that place here recently. Sounds like the nobility there has gone nuts and is kidnapping people, so I'd not wanna go that way either."

I was really impressed at how the bad rumors about them were spreading. Even the non-casters were hearing about it, that was something. "At any rate, what are you planning to do once you get up that way? You said you were starting a business?"

"Aye lad. I'm a cobbler, best you'll ever meet. If your uncle won't take ya in when we get there you come find me. You seem a good lad and I wouldn't have a problem takin' ya as an apprentice."

I smiled at his offer. I'd never need it, but he seemed genuine. "Thank you for the offer, I'll keep it in mind."

I did take a moment to look at his shoes. They certainly were nice.

"Even if I don't, I'll have to come find you for some boots at some point."

That got me a laugh, and before long we returned to the cart. This was not an enjoyable proposition for me. It was too cramped, and with too many people around for me to cast anything.

Nobody here knew I was a bard, at least as far as I knew, and I wasn't planning on telling them. There was too much mess to go with it. People would ask me to do stuff for them, expect it even, and frankly, I didn't want to. Was I being selfish and childish? Yes, I was. I would of course help them if they needed it, but I was just about fed up with being everyone's pocket spellcaster.

There were only a few small villages on our route between Istlan and the capital. I suspected that the leader of this crew knew that if he went to many large cities he'd end up spending too much time there. Regardless of his reasoning; our route steered around every other city of size until we got nearer to the capital.

Once we got too close though, that wouldn't be much of an option. The capital was huge, its lands quite a bit larger than the others. Around the capital's lands were the so-called, 'central duchies'. These were larger than the barony where I'd come from, and apparently had a lot of power in the kingdom. The dukes and duchesses who ruled there were far enough up the social ladder that I didn't need to worry about them, because we'd probably never meet.

There were several types of titled nobility in the kingdom, who all served pretty much the same role. Barons were in charge of small fiefs, perhaps one medium to large city, with a number of villages attached. Above barons were counts, who held a larger domain, including perhaps three cities with attendant villages. Highest were dukes, who'd be in charge of at least one major city. Dukes were generally only found at major hubs, or in the area around the capital, and were quite rare. There were a few others who had outdated titles, or had retained their titles from other lands, but these were the exception rather than the rule.

There were also a number of nobility who lived in, and mainly attended to, the capital and its immediate lands. These were generally given the title of 'Court Baron' since they held no lands of their own. Their placement in the hierarchy was unusual, since they did not rule anything, but were often very close to the royal family.

I knew almost nothing about the royal family. There was a king. His name was Erik the Third. He had at least a few children, but I had no clue who they were. I assumed he had a wife, or did have at some point, but I was unsure. Most of this also seemed unimportant for me to learn. I'd had to learn far too much about politics in my previous life, and I was frankly happy that as a non-noble, nobody cared if I knew anything about them at all.

We were still around a week out from the central duchies when I found myself one night sitting round a fire with Sorn. I'd taken to hanging around him a bit. He would often tease me, but he kept a smile on his face. Regardless of how bad things had been for him he somehow managed to stay at least a bit upbeat. It was all quite refreshing, as I'd seen enough pained people to last me several more lifetimes.

"Hey, Sorn."

"Aye lad?"

"You ever been to the capital before? I hear it's something to see."

"Once, when I was a lad my old man took me along with him to work with my grandad over the winter. I'm guessing you haven't then?"

"No, I've just heard about it. Lots of stories."

"It's something. It'll be bigger than anything you've ever seen."

"Sounds like a sight." I had my doubts, this society only had so much population. I would be absolutely flabbergasted if it compared to something like a modern city.

About that time I heard some shouting from over near one of the carts. They'd been formed in a half-circle with us up against a small cliff for protection. It looked like one was on fire, I could just see the flames licking up from the burning top.

"Sorn, fire."

He popped up, looking to the side. With a quiet *woosh* followed by a *thud* an arrow landed about five feet from us, sinking into the ground ominously.

"Bandits!" The alarm went up all throughout camp.

Sorn looked over at me. "After me lad!" He turned and ran towards one of the carts right by the cliff. I followed after as fast as my legs could go, pounding along behind.

We ducked into the corner, trying to make sure no easy angles of attack were open. I unclipped my mace from my belt and looked about, hoping to stay well out of this fight. Sorn for his part pulled out a large knife, nearly a sword. The arrows were luckily all falling towards the middle of the wagons, giving us a bit of a reprieve from that.

"Stay down lad, let the guards do the fighting." He moved like someone who'd seen a few fights. He probably had too, I assumed he'd been in the army to some extent, and the way he held himself seemed to confirm it.

"No argument here." We were well away from the actual fight, situated as we were at any rate.

Then I saw them, a half dozen men were charging towards our position. It seemed they thought, quite accurately, that this area was less defended. Their leader was a good twenty feet in front of his men. He was much faster, and I could see his light aura shining a bit as he flew forward. His blade out as he bee-lined it towards Sorn.

He was upon us before I got my scream out. I hit him with the focused blast full bore, laying right into his face. Physical magic or not, it hurt, and he dropped right in front of my friend. There was a satisfying crunch as I leapt forward, bringing my mace into his temple. Just as quickly I danced back, looking for his friends to sweep forward into us. I was already prepping another scream, hoping that Sorn could keep them off of me.

I was not disappointed as my cobbler friend stepped in front. He'd recovered his bearings and showed well that he could hold these men back. Between his front line work and my magic supporting two more fell before the others turned and fled.

The two of us went back to huddling behind the wagon. We had nothing to do against an arrow or crossbow quarrel, so that seemed prudent.

"You're a wizard!?' Sorn almost yelled at me.

"Bard." It was a bit annoying to be mislabeled.

"Wizard, bard, whatever, can you toss a bit of fire into the treeline? Might spook them a bit."

"Uh... no, not really."

"Well, how about lightning? Or one of those water blasts some do?"

"Nope, my combat magic is fairly limited."

"How limited?"

"Fairly."

"Great, we just wait it out then."

I nodded, that seemed like a good idea to me.

I couldn't help but look at the body of the man I'd killed. He was decidedly dead, the strike to the skull had broken something, and left a noticeable dent in the side of his head. I knew I might dream of this, but I didn't feel bad. I felt no guilt over him or any of the other bandits, they'd attacked us unprovoked, and had been ready to kill. Taking them out was unfortunate, but the right course of action.

A few of the other passengers joined us not a minute or two later, seeking the same shelter from the ongoing battle.

"Do you think they'll come this way?" A woman asked.

"Hopefully not, they want the goods, not us," Sorn answered, his eyes scanning the nearby trees.

It didn't take long for the attack to stop completely, the bandits fleeing off into the nearby trees. Everyone looked confused at this. They'd taken us by surprise, had even killed a few of the guards. Why had they just retreated?

One of the guards came over to check on us passengers after a few minutes of quiet had passed.

"Why'd they run?" One of the men with us was just as curious as I was.

"Don't know, a couple of them were yelling that we had a wizard. Seems like they thought they might get their little hiding spots set on fire. Lucky for us at least. We don't have a wizard with the guards. Is one of you one by chance?"

I decided not to answer. Sorn gave me a hard look, enough that the guard quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Um... I'm not a wizard exactly."

The leader of the caravan was less than enthused when he learned that I was a spellcaster.

"Why exactly didn't you tell me you could sling magic!?" he roared as the sun came up, causing me to back down a bit.

"Because if I did, you'd want me to spend a lot of my time and effort helping your people. Or one of the other passengers would. It would be a whole thing."

I could see the vein in his forehead bulging as he glared at me. "So what? You planned on just hiding it?"

"For the most part, yes. Unless there was an emergency, I planned on not casting anything anyone would notice."

He gritted his teeth. "I've got three dead men and you could have taken those bandits down easy."

"No, I couldn't have. I know almost no offensive magic, and what I do know isn't particularly strong."

"You could have..." he began again, but I would have none of it.

"How much exactly do you know about magic?"

"Well, I've dealt with a few wizards and the like every now and..."

"So almost nothing. I've been studying for years and I still only know a handful of spells, which I understand far better than you do. So do not tell me what I could and couldn't have done. If anyone is hurt, feel free to send them over to me, I can patch up most wounds. Attack magic though, is not something I can or will provide you with."

"What about those men on the side?" He was being annoyingly stubborn about this.

"I have a limited stunning spell, but because of how it works it's a last ditch defense."

"Why is..."

"I have neither the time, nor the patience to explain that to you." I was probably being sharper with him than was proper, but I had no intention of going into details with a man who wanted to tell me what my abilities could do.

He rubbed his temple. "Very well then. I've got a few injured, nothing major. If you can, please fix them up."

I nodded and went to go fix up the injured. I could be charging for this, but they were either guards, who were in charge of protecting me, or passengers, who I honestly felt bad for.

When I finally got back to the wagon we were riding in, Sorn looked over at me with a grin. "So, let's talk about your future as a magic slinging cobbler lad."