The Road To Kalbakar, Wyrms of Pasandir #1

CHAPTER 9 - JEM'S BOTTLE (Part One)

Naudin met me halfway to the throne room. 'You all right?' he said shakily. 'Great spell, mate. I saw what you did, but I won't ever be able to copy it.' He looked at me, his eyes wild. 'Was it hard?'

I didn't scream in his face. 'Let's get out of here,' I said and half dragged him back to the porch and the clear sunlight.

Naudin drew a sleeve across his sweaty forehead. 'All those dead eyes... gone?'

'They're bits and pieces,' I said, swallowing against a sudden nausea. 'It was...' I took a deep breath. 'Yes, they're gone.' I quickly told him about the king and his courtiers, and the girl in the bottle. 'I had to follow them, just as they had to obey their king. It must've been a strong compulsion, to linger on so long.' I couldn't suppress a shudder.

'Yet you felt it, while I didn't,' Naudin said, almost accusingly.

'It's the fault of those monsters Kellani and I fought. They woke something inside me.'

'More monsters?' Naudin's eyes were puzzled as he looked at me. Then he growled. 'Darn it, guy! You have visions. You use powerful magic. You look like my Vanhaari kin but different. Yet you were only a ship's boy, a... a swabber. Please tell me what's going on.'

I sat down on the base of a pillar. 'I will tell you what I can. Kellani knows it already, but you must swear you will keep it a secret from everybody else, even your dads and mum, until I say it's safe.'

Naudin frowned, but then he nodded. 'I swear by the honor of Maiwar Village.'

His expression told me that was a good promise, so I believed him. I told him about the Pasandir Peaks, the orphanage and the navy. I spoke of the monsters trying to kill me, of Teodar and my magic, and of my task to find out my past and things. I gave him the lot and like before with Kellani, speaking of it was a relief. After all those years, I needed guys my own age to talk things over with; I needed friends.

When I was done, Naudin sat in silence. I almost saw his thoughts working, processing what I had said and stashing it away. He had a neat mind, this young Jentakan.

'So you're not a beginner,' Naudin said with a crooked smile. 'Are you really a Vanhaari? You've this unfamiliar red undertone to your skin.'

I hesitated. 'I'm not sure. The orphanage people thought I was – and a very low-born one, seeing how vulgarly dark I am. They said I was a peasant. Not warlock-caste and totally insignificant.'

'That's silly,' Naudin said and he sounded angry. 'Without their tampering, warlocks would've been darker, too.'

'Didn't know that,' I said. 'You mean they make themselves lighter?'

'To look a higher caste,' Naudin said. 'Dark gray skin means you're a poor man, working the land or something. Lighter skin means rich, staying out of the sun.' He shrugged. 'Nonsense.'

'Easy for you to say; you're a rich kid.'

'I'm half-Jentakan,' he said. 'An inlander. Our Chorwaynie brothers consider us all low caste.'

'But you're the commodore's son. That makes you highborn.'

'Not everybody thinks so,' he said and his eyes were unreadable. 'Old prejudices die hard and many Chorwaynie still see us as low-born upstarts.' He grinned without humor. 'Being a mage helps, however. At least people are nice to me to my face.'

'Right,' I said on impulse and I held out my hand. 'Let's be misfits together.'

Naudin's face relaxed and his hand gripped mine. 'My fathers, my uncles, Aunt Maud, Kellie, they're all misfits. So we are in great company, mate.'