The Eight Pillars of Magic (The 8... of Magic Series 1)

Smoke & Sound

It was a simple road. Paved with stones, hay and manure. A street like you could find in every City. In itself there was nothing special about the street, only who was on it was special. It was the Stranger with his dark cloak, his reinforced leather hood and staff. Today he had arrived in Svobogan in the Vakreath region. Svobogan was not far from Vakreath's capital Fargograd, but the banners and coats of arms were almost more present here. The coat of arms and the banner showed pro pale ermine and silver, while three eagle heads came across Murrey. Baron Rivik ruled here. He was a Mountain Man, one of those rare jotunn. The Baron was about 2'11 "tall and weighed 34 pounds, with brown eyes, red hair, bronze-colored skin, a long beard and a bulbous nose. Rivik was dutiful but also soft-headed and vengeful, from the noble house of Hollowshadow, which is also here in Svobogan had their castle called Pike's Hollow, and their coat of arms was "argent, a thigh bone in Saltire Vert." Svobogan was a bustling town of seven thousand six hundred and twenty-five people.

The city had notable exports of leather goods and ore. The area consisted of sharp rock walls and thick forests. The stranger was here at the request of the baron, as the son of the Archmagus, it was his duty to comply with such requests. He hated it, but the archmage was lacking time, every day a bit more and so the Stranger met her wishes. Carefully he looked around first left then right. His ice-cold blue gaze followed the rows of half-timbered houses, along the street and finally towards the sky.

"There will be rain again but no snow. Spring is coming, "he muttered. Everyone in Ista from the smallest fisherman to the Archmagus feared the Spring. In Winter no one dared to attack the Double Kingdom of Neverending Winter. But in Spring the danger lay, thats when the glaciers melted and the air warmed up. Even the stranger, often only called by his job as a hedge-mage, was afraid of it. A long time ago, when the enemies of Dual Kingdoms had not yet learned from their mistakes, they attacked in winter too, but nowadays they only came in Spring. The Feiyrs, especially those from the kingdoms of Jaendus and Aesis tried again and again to conquer his home country. The Mysterious Stranger knew that the day might come, when he would have to cross the silver seas to speak to Emperor Aervumdas. Today wasn't the day.

So he walked through the streets, Svobogan was a beautiful city hardly to compare with his birthplace Gadryzyngrad, which was half as sleek. He had only returned to Gadryzyngrad once more, but there was nothing left. The city was built in one spring and destroyed in another. The trade lived here in Svobogan, it smelled of horses and fresh cow dung, here and there of salted fish too. The day slowly gave way to evening, the first lamps were lit, the first stalls packed up and closed. The stranger had never been here at night, so he was particularly tense. He couldn't clear his mind, there were too many distractions. But he continued to concentrate on what his teacher Bíramníngr had once taught him.

He passed an alley where a drow and two Indolay were mugguing a little jotunn. Something inside of him said he should go on his way but there was also part in him that said he should help. And so the stranger struggled with himself. He probably stood there for a while, because they noticed his presence. As always, the danger came to him, truth to be told it was just as often the other way around.

"What about you Fucker? Do you want trouble too? " asked one of the three thugs. The Stranger sighed, clenched his fists, and held his breath to quell his inner turmoil and fear. They let go of the Jotunn and casually but still kind of menacing approached the Stranger, who sighed again. Slower this time and as he pulled his sword from underneath his cloak. It was a fairly large, narrow, serrated titanium blade was held by a handle wrapped in extremely rare royal blue stingray leather.

Its sharpness ensured that it would slice, dice, stab enemies tearing them apart. The Insignia of the Stranger's noble house was engraved on a thick pommel, and no expense was spared on his beautiful weapon. The blade itself was engraved with ruvian runes. Religious symbols that had been delicately engraved on the sword, so the blade would surely adorn him one day in battle.

"Oh what a blade huh. Is that a sacrificial offering to us, because honestly this pretty thing looks better in my hands, "one of the Indolays sneered. The stranger dashed forward in a flash and pulled his sword diagonally upwards, giving one of the fiends a deep cut across the chest. The Thug went down screaming, while his companions cautiously took a few steps back. He didn't say anything to the others, just pointed his sword at them and froze them with his ice-cold blue eyes. So the Stranger patiently waited for the decision of the men and was relieved when they left. The beautiful sword disappeared again into the width of his cloak and he helped the injured Jotunn back on his feet.

"Thank you stranger, my name is Udri, the Sheathed Sword of the Hundredfeathers clan. How is your name? "asked Sheathed Sword. The Stranger, who had not yet spoken a word, opened his mouth: "My name today is Lao Oh, Blooming Viper and I don't belong to any clan. Why didn't you defend yourselves if you belong to one of the martial arts schools?" Udri heard something cold and metallic in the voice of Blooming Viper, and something else that frightened him. Shakily he answered the question: "Everyone in the Hundredfeathers clan swears to leave his blade in its sheath and not to defend himself against the forces of the earth. Every blow is not a humiliation but a humility. You see, there is a subtle difference between being humbled and experiencing humiliation. Everyone in my clan wanders around until they master the legendary eighteen weapons of the spirit. But even then most of them no longer use violence, because whoever masters his mind is superior to all others. And it would make no sense to fight." Blooming Viper said nothing to Udri, it was getting so uncomfortable and Udri was ready to leave the wanderer alone. But then his life-saver began to speak again, "You know there in lies your fault, it is not for us mortals to taste the eighteen weapons of the Spirit. The first level of swordsmanship - the sword and his swordsman must behave as one. The second level - the sword lives within the heart; The swordsman defeats his enemies even without weapons. The highest degree - the sword is missing in both hand and heart; Tolerance for all, Peace for all. We can philosophize about that later. Now we have to take care of this injured person."

"Why?" asked Udri. "I have my own oath after I live by" came from the stranger a bit curtly. "Open the shirt properly so that I can take a closer look at the wound," ordered Blooming Viper sternly, rummaging through one of his sleeves. Udri recognized it immediately when the stranger rummaged on, that Blooming Viper was a hedge-mage. Who started to brew a potion and carefully followed the steps:

- 3 teaspoons of Faun shield flower
- 1 batch of summer fenugreek
- 1 pinch of mountain salt
- 2 handfuls of Assassin Quassia
- 2 pinches of Sweet Bay Leaf

He mashed the faun shield seeds with his hands and put them in a cup. Added a dash of pre-boiled water to make a messy mix, then the Ragged Wnderer added the summer fenugreek all at once, then took it out and put it back in.
Somewhere out of his cloak the stranger pulled out a small pan. And he filled it with holy water, put the unstable mixture in the pan and slowly brought it to a boil. He had the substance reduced to a half before adding the mountain salt and the assassin quassia. For Sheathed Sword it looked like Blooming Viper just threw everything in.

He Gently warmed the currently disgusting mixture, mixed the Sweet Bay Leaf in and let it sit until the mixture was thick.

Finally he started pouring the mixture over the large flesh wound, it stank terribly and a green moss began to grow over the massive cut. The injured man screamed and tried to move. "Keep him put, I have to spread it over the entire wound down to the last drop," warned the Blooming Viper Udri. Half an hour passed, which was a sheer hell for all three. Then they took the crook to a healer. "That's a pretty good job and decent enough for the beginning I'll take it from here." The healer complemented the healing arts of the Stranger "You are a hedge magician right." The stranger covered himself in silence, threw a few pieces of silver on the counter and left the room, followed closely by Udri , Sheathed Sword.

"Where are you going, sire?" He asked.
"I'm on my way to Baron Rivik's villa."
"You are not very talkative eh?"
"No."
"But you can't just go in there without an invitation. I could help you? "
"No need," said the wanderer and took out a letter with the broken wax seal of the Hollowschadow noble house.
"Oh Wow. I see you are invited Blooming Viper."
"I would be honored if you would accompany me, Sheathed Sword."
"I think the baron still has a say in that."
"No." came again in this metallic tone from the stranger.