Arden (Mages of the Flame #1) FIRST DRAFT

Part 10: Morrigan

The four-wheeled cart trundled through the forest, rattling in and out of tracks carved into dry mud. Bronwyn held on with both hands. She was used to riding a horse, she knew the rhythm of canter and a trot and a gallop and how to sit accordingly. This hard wooden bench was uncomfortable and the shaking and rattling was completely random. She had nothing to anticipate, and so she held on.

The man next to her who had introduced himself as Morrigan seemed entirely at ease. His little horse knew his road and his pace and just kept moving forward with no regard for his passengers.

"He's not going to fast for you is he?" said Morrigan.

"I'm just used to riding, that's all."

"Well, don't let me stop you if that's what you would prefer."

A quick shake of her head made her blonde hair dance. "I'll be ok. Shanks deserves a break from carrying me anyway. She's worked hard the last few days. And thank you again for offering to take my saddle in your cart."
"Oh it is my pleasure young lady! Tell me, do you always put others before yourself like this? If this is how you treat your horse you must be very popular among humans."

Bronwyn gave him a wry smile. "The office I hold sometimes gets in the way of that."

"Ah. Yes, I understand not everyone is happy with the rule of Mages."

"I'm not sure I've met anyone," she muttered.

"It's a big world, Bronwyn. Don't judge it all by your own limited experience."

"It's not that limited. I have to govern eleven villages."

"Eleven, eh? That many? Do you know how many villages there are in Arden? How many towns?"

"No. Hundreds? Do you?"

"No. But it is a lot more than eleven, I know that much."

"So you don't know everything."

"Oh not even close. But I know that there is an awful lot I don't know, and I try not to make the mistake of thinking that the small part I do know is enough to judge the whole."

He spoke so gently that even though he obviously chiding her he didn't make her feel foolish. Besides, he was right.

"Does the study of history make everyone so wise?" she asked with a smile.

"Facts are not wisdom unfortunately. If they were then just knowing things would make us all a little wiser. Neither is history."

She laughed at this claim. "Of course history is facts. What else could it be?"

"Dates are facts, events are facts, history is the narrative that gives them context."

"You are like no history teacher I ever had."

"They were all Mages? Or did you have some schooling before your training began?"

Bronwyn braced herself as they hit a bump in the road.

"Only a little. Most of my education was at the college in Lorin."

"Where they taught you statecraft, law, civics, language and mathematics. And history."

"That's right. You know know about our training?" It was refreshing to speak to someone who understood her and knew something about Mages that wasn't rumour and malicious gossip.

"It's come up, in the past."

"Do you study only history?"

Morrigan glanced over his shoulder at the misshapen blanket in the cart which protected his books."