Chronicles of a Mage, Book One

Epilogue: Knighting

I woke up in an extravagant, queen sized bed. 

Is this the Ilhalas estate?

Yeah, there was no doubt about it. The architecture matches at least. The room I was also extravagant, bordering on garish. There was a chandelier, two bedside tables, a giant mirror. This went beyond garish, this is downright hedonism. "Who even has need for a mirror that huge anyway?" I said, but all that followed was silence. So I guess Eeuna's asleep right now. Damn, of all the times to fall asleep. I have a mountain of questions right now. Actually forget the mountain, I have a whole ocean of questions. Releasing so much power all at once felt euphoric, like taking a crap after you've held it in all day. Ok that was a gross analogy but the point is, I want to know just what the hell Eeuna's hiding. Though something tells me she's just as clueless as I am.

Questions aside though, I'm pretty sure someone must have taken me to some room after I fell unconscious. 

How much time has passed though?  

Well I won't find the answers by laying here, so I lifted the sheets, revealing the white pajamas I wore instead of my robes. As I roused myself, a knock came from the door, and it opened.

In came a maid with neat, chestnut hair, holding my adeptly folded robes "Good morning Sir Sorace. Did you sleep well?" She said in a humble tone.

"Yes." I replied calmly "Where am I? How long was I out?"

"You are in one of the many bedchambers of  the Ilhalas estate" My intuition was correct "and you have been unconscious for..." the maid took a second to think "4 days." Wow that was way longer than I expected. It was the 5th when first entered Gualmalon so that would mean it's currently the 9th of February "But I'm afraid we have little time to chat. His excellency, Count Mathra wanted you in the ceremony hall as soon as possible. Please wait here and get dressed while I inform his excellency." So Mathra became the count huh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He's the only child of the Ilhalas family, so obviously he'd inherit the title. 

After I dressed myself, the same maid entered the room, asking me to follow her, so I did. The estate was just how I remembered it 4 days ago. It took a surprising amount of damage and I could see workmen fixing up scorch marks and scratches in the walls, stuff like that. Eventually we came to a fancy double door made of bronze and the maid opened it and stood to the side, whispering to me "Go inside only when the count calls you. And kneel."

Past the doors was a red carpet leading up to a sort of stage where Mathra and an old man behind him wearing some sort of blue uniform (I found out later that was a retainer). Mathra was wearing an indigo outfit under a red cape, making him seem almost like his father, if fairly scrawnier. On either side of the red carpet stood all the staff of the Ilhalas estate, of which I could see there was a shortage of manpower. To the right the three knights and Celrith stood at attention and to the left was two maids and two butlers who stood similarly at attention. "Sorace. Step forward" Mathra said, so I followed the maid's advice, carefully moving towards Mathra and kneeling. "You have shown immense bravery and loyalty in service to the county Ilhalas and it's people. Such values are the core values of the Ilhallan knights and as such, I dub thee Sir Sorace, giving all responsibilities and privileges pertaining to thee. Doth thou accept thy title?"

The retainer was taken aback by this "Y-Your excellency! You can't be serious! Becoming a knight is a great honour, but to give such a title to some... low born mage, to which we know little about his origins is... it's simply unthinkable!"

"Were it not for this low born mage, none of us would be here. He could have chosen to ignore our plight and move on, but he chose to stay and fight with us. Should we not reward such service and sacrifice?" Mathra smacked down the old geezer with his words

"I... no, your excellency"

"Now then, doth thou accept thy title?" Mathra looked back at me expecting an answer

This is a pretty good deal if you ask me, I can get a stable source of income in a relatively safe and quiet part of Thele, even if it's not so peaceful at the moment. I can get a squire, some land and all the books I could want. That said, I shouldn't forget why I came on this journey in the first place. To find my uncle and aunt in a city that's a country and a half away from here. Being able to live out my days in service to Mathra doesn't sound so terrible, but I have other obligations as well. Which is why... "No. I must decline"