“I had no idea!’ I cried. ’Please, believe me, sir!”

“Don’t lie to me, kid,” he replied, sound ing as if he was going to yank my head off my shoulders. “I know what you are thinking and what your plans are. You’re ready to agree with everything I say, and then run away the first chance you get . And to steal my coin purse if you get a chance and are lucky enough.”

Well, he was wrong about the purse . I had planned to steal from Agrippa, not from him, I’m not that stupid. Other than that, he was right . All that I wanted to do was to get out of here and then disappear, well, like a thief in the night . Even the Royal guards had no chance to catch a thief in the Docks .

“You aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed, are you? ,” the wizard said in an almost fatherly tone . He let go of my hair but caught my arm instead. “I have seen many people like you ... I have seen so many scoundrels that you could fill an entire town with them. You’re all the same .”

A wave of sharp pain made my arm twitch when the wizard scratched my wrist with the tip of his dagger . I had no idea when he got it, but it was a really nice dagger . It was made of silver with red gems embedded into its handle. Rubies, I guess. I wished that I could touch it…

“Blood is a great thing,” the wizard said, smacking his lips and looking at the blade smeared with my blood. “It’s food for somebody and life for others… As for us wizards, it’s the most powerful tool and the most important ingredient. Do you know, Erast, that blood is the cornerstone of almost every ceremony and ritual?”

“Chris,” I timidly reminded the wizard. “My name is Chris, sir .”

The words barely left my mouth when my head turned to the side as the wizard slapped me across the face . He may have been old but he packed quite the punch .

“Your name is Erast,” he reminded me in a friendly tone , “Erast von Rut, the third son of Baron Joachim von Rut. You’ ll have some time to learn your genealogy by heart along the way. Also , Chris the Tout doesn’ t exist any longer; he died today , in this barn. Although he has a chance to resurrect someday provided that you do exactly what I tell you to do . Then again, chances are that you won’t want to come back.”

“Why so?” I asked in surprise . “I was named after Sir Christopher Robinson, a brave bear and boar hunter. I’ m quite proud of it.”

“It’ s the name of a thief and a loser, who dwelled in the slums,” the wizard said and gave an approving nod to Agrippa, who had started dragging the corpses to the middle of the barn. “You will spend the next year or probably more among those who’ re completely different from your current circle of … acquaintances. Believe me when I say that when everything is over, you won’t want to come back to your old life . Provided that you survive, that is. S ociety dictates the rules of life and moulds one’s personality to its needs. Having spent some time with those who are better and smarter than you are, and having reached the heights that they had , you’ ll be unwilling to return to the very bottom . I ’m not making it up, this is how the human psyche works. No one lives at the bottom of society because they want to... ”

Holy Miralinda, where does he plan to take me ? I wondered. I had a bad feeling about this.

“All right,” the wizard said. Having loosened his grip , he grazed my wound with the tip of his dagger . “While we were chatting, the blood had coagulated . We don’t need that . Don’t worry, stand still and you’ll be okay.”

Agrippa, who was busy throwing Caterpillar’s mutilated body onto Fat Go’s corpse, laughed loudly.

The wizard pressed my forehead with his right index finger, still holding the dagger with my blood smeared along its bla de in his left hand. He gave me a wink and uttered several words in a singsong voice in a language unknown to me. It was not Common or Falcon; nor was it the tongue of the silent dwarfs who dwelled under the Alinar Mountains, that I had heard at the market several times. I guessed what he was on about but I hoped that I was wrong . Last thing I needed was a spell being cast on me. The wizard’s words sounded more like magic formulas rather than the words that I remembered old toothless Rufus muttering as he told us about magic back at the docks . He was a man who knew everything there was to know about life . There were some rumors that he used to be a gentry and a courtier, that he reached a high position and gained real power in the kingdom, and ate from gold and silver plates in his palace. On top of that, he knew much more than he needed to. It was probably because of that that one morning he was found dead with his throat cut. His death shook me as he generously shared his knowledge with the homeless riff-raffs and many of the things he told us remained engraved in my mind . I had a good memory ; if I saw or heard something once, it would stay in my mind forever.

A spark of fire came shot out of my forehead . The blood on the tip of the dagger burned with a light blue flame ; I could feel warmth coursing through my veins.

“You are a strong boy ,” the wizard muttered approvingly, looking at me. “Your mental defense is perfect. That’ll come in handy for you.”

“ How so?” I asked . My eyes were focused on the dagger tip where the fire had lost its azure colo r and became bright yellow.

“ You will see,” the wizard said and uttered a strange word.

The fire changed its colour from yellow to red ; the roof of the barn started spinning like a merry-go-round in the main square during celebrations and I lost my consciousness.

***

“ I’m telling you, Agrippa, he’ s very strong.” The wizard’s voice was the first thing I heard when I came to . “He lost consciousness only during the third stage of the spell. And prohibited rituals aren’t weak, as you know, so keep that in mind .”

Based on the smell of leather and sweat I guessed that Agrippa was carrying me on his shoulder.

“What ritual ?” I couldn’t help asking . “ And what did you do it for, if it’s not a secret?”

“Oh, look at who’s up! ” he said and I immediately regretted opening my mouth.

Seeing that I was awake, Agrippa dropped me like a sack of potatoes .

“ You’ll continue on foot,” he said in a harsh tone .

“ All right .” I nodded, showing that I was willing to cooperate and that I had been wrong to poke my nose where it didn’t belong .

“Curiosity is a wonderful quality,” the wizard said and stretched his hand to me in an extremely polite manner. “So, you would like to know what the prohibited ritual is?”

“Well, yes,” I admitted and dusted my ass. “ How is it connected to me? M ister… ? What’ s your name? I know that he’ s Agrippa, but I don’t know yours.”

“ Nobody can pronounce it,” he explained . “Why should someone like you know it? Then again, I suppose it’d be polite for me to introduce myself . My name is Gaius Petronius Tullius, however you can call me Master Gaius. I’ m a wizard of the ninth level and belong to the Strengths of Life conclave.”

From all that he had said, I only got his name. Despite him speaking Common , the rest of his speech was a mystery to me e. I wasn’ t educated enough to understand all that.

“Don’t wrinkle your forehead,” Gaius said . “ All in its due time . I shall explain and tell you a lot. All that you need to know, to be exact.”

I liked to study so I felt rather grateful to him and even considered not legging it the first chance I got . He knew a lot and he seemed to be willing to feed me and give me a shelter. I doubted that he’d let me starve after all this effort to have me join them .

“You won’t be able to run away,” Gaius said . I gritted my teeth, thinking that I had loudly expressed my thoughts .

Agrippa laughed looking at me.

“I’m very old, young man,” Gaius said softly . “ Your face is like an open book to me . You will excuse the corny comparison, overused by the novelists of all ranges and ranks. There are some clichés that you just can’t help but use . Your poker face is … not perfect to say the least. We shall have to work on it. Agrippa, we’re in a bit of a pickle, my friend . We have a lot to do and are pressed for time.”

“’ I’ve got one more question ,’ I said, thinking that the situation couldn’ t become worse and pulled the sleeve of the wizard’s coat. ’ Why -?”

“- ...Why you won’t be able to run away ?” Gaius finished my question. Nodding understandingly, he produced a small measuring tube made of oriental glass from the pocket of his caftan. It was a very expensive trinket ; I saw some of them in the market. “Have a look.”

There was some sand in the tube, shimmering with all the colours of the rainbow. Staring at it, I suddenly felt cold in the lower part of my stomach. I don’t know how but I realized that my death lay within its beauty.

“Look, at how smart he is. I wish I hadn’t called you an idiot recently ,” Gaius said admiringly. “You don’t know what it is but you guessed that it’s not as simple as it looks . It’s all written on your face. Have a look .” He touched the glass with his finger and whispered something.

The sand inside the tube began to whirl and something like liquid fire stirred in the pit of my stomach.

“Now you see,” Gaius said and raised his finger. “I simply showed you what it’s all about. Your blood and your life are now in my hands. If you run away or do something stupid , I won’t scold or try to catch you. I shall simply make your blood boil .”

He touched the tube with his finger but this time it hurt even more . This time it seemed to me that my guts and veins would explode .

“You have some questions, don’t you?” Gaius asked and winked.

“Plenty of them,” I said in a trembling voice. My knees buckled but I was alive . ’The first and the most important one : will you ever give that thing to me or am I your slave forever?’

“Well, well… The street rat might be good for something, after all ,” Agrippa said. “At least he has some dignity. In fact, he’ s much better than the idiots in camisoles who are always trying to get something from you by begging.”

“He grew up in the street,” Gaius said and put the tube back into his pocket. “ Your options are rather limited there : either you grow a spine or you die. I know that from my own experience. As for your question, son, I shall give you your life back as soon as you do exactly what I need you to do. I swear ! More than that, if everything ends the way I want and you somehow manage to survive, I shall give you a reward. Believe me .”

A re ward wasn’ t a bad thing but the idea of laying down my life in order to get it didn’t appeal to me.

“We have to go, m aster” Agrippa said and looked around. “ The flames are getting big, so the guards will be heading here pretty soon no doubt . ”

I looked in the direction he was looking in and whistled : the barn that suddenly became the turning point in my life, looked like a bonfire . The fire was crackling merely, the flames danced sending puffs of bluish smoke and sparks into the air. It seemed to me that the neighboring barns joined the strange dance of flames as well. If it continued like this, nothing but smoldering ruins would remain of the entire block . In the worst case scenario, the fire would reach the town .

“A ttempted arson of the town property is punished with fifty whips and half a year of labour in the quarry,’ I informed Gaius. There was fear in both my voice and eyes. ’And for this … You could hang. Judge Adams is not an easy going person. Those who kn ow him personally told me so.”

“We aren’ t going to get in trouble with the Royal justice system,” Gaius said. “Besides, there’ s nothing else to do in this town. It’s time to go.”

With a smile, he headed through the crowded street full of petrified onlookers screaming “fire” and “someone call the guards”.

“ Where are we going?” I asked Agrippa who only chuckled .

“What the…?” Of course he didn’t finish that question. C hanging his tone to a normal one, Gaius said, ’ Pretty far away, little baron, pretty far away. As far as the Duchy of Himmelstain . Have you heard about it?

“Nope,’ I shook my head. “I guess it’s not far from the Western Ocean?”

“It isn’t ,” Agrippa confirmed.

“Woow,” I whispered .“I t’s a real shithole, isn’t it ?”

“A cesspool,” Agrippa replied and shrugged . “It’s a duchy, it isn’t even a kingdom.”

Once I happened to see a map of Ragellon and was surprised how much it reminded me of a patchwork blanket that a drunk tailor’s apprentice was trying to sew on his knee.

After the end of the Century of Troubles which had changed the way of life in Ragellon forever, the old borders were erased and the century-old orders and laws collapsed like a house of cards. From the ruins, new kingdoms of different sizes popped up like mushrooms after spring rain . Their size mainly depended on how many soldiers their rulers could recruit and what kind of inheritance the king received. And on the new ruler’s will, of course.

For example, Iront, which used to be a small state, due to King Lindus the First and the fact that the Order of Truth was established there, managed to get a great deal of land and was now one of the strongest kingdoms out there King Lindus the Eighth, who was ruling Iront at the moment, issued the Ragelloin policy basically by himself . Apart from the rulers of the neighboring countries , even the elves and the dwarfs had to take his opinion into consideration .

A s for Frotir, located near the Western Ocean which, before the Century of Troubles, used to be a state of a significant size, it was torn to pieces immediately after the plague that had sent the king and his family to their ancestors . Nobody had been able to unify the lost lands so they turned them into several kingdoms and more than thirty sovereign duchies.

T he rulers of these kingdoms and the sovereigns of the neighboring countries tried to conquer the independent duchies from time to time or at least to impose vassalage on them, but they were unsuccessful . The dukes, who weren’t on friendly terms with each other even in peaceful times, united during war times and stood up to defeat the tyrant that had been a thorn in everyone’s side . After that, they continued to dislike each other. Theoretically speaking, the duchies could be ravaged with fire and sword but who needed acres of burnt land without vassals? Nobody, of course.

On the other hand, Rufus, Gods bless his soul, theorized that this state of things would be over sooner or later and that somebody who would be able to conquer the duchies and the smaller kingdoms and proclaim himself the emperor would appear . He called this ”the genesis of power .” He was confident that the emperor’s name would be Lindus. Perhaps he was killed because of such ideas , who knows?

My mind wandered, but then I focused back at the matter at hand, we were going to one of those duchies.

We left my home town very fast as the raging fire threatened to swallow everything . I could still see the flames even three hours later when we came through the western gates. The residential area must’ve been hit too . Gaius philosophically commented on it saying that fire purifies and that new life will sprout from the ashes .

Having said that, he spurred his horse and rode ahead.

I was also riding on horseback . I had to as Agrippa forced me to do so. It was my first time riding and if it weren’ t for that big old warrior , I would’ve never done it .

My ass hurt as if I fell on it from a great height by the end of the first day ! And my thighs were sore too.

But I had to endure as Gaius wasn’ t kidding when he said that I’ d have to learn a lot. Little did I know just how much work awaited me .