Click Here to read the previous chapters and anything pertaining to my New Adult Fantasy novel “Forget Me Not, Father.”
Chapter 4
Laura awoke just as the sun was rising in the east. Quickly washing her face, she cleaned her teeth with a rough cloth and a paste consisting of mint and some herbs. Once done, she immediately launched into a set of stretches to keep herself limber. As she was stretching, there was a knock on her door and she said, “I’m awake, thank you.”
Whoever had come to wake her up left, presumably to wake up the wizard. The clothes that Hannah had taken to wash last night had been returned while she slept. She put on her primary outfit and then donned her armor before strapping the sword to her side.
Carrying her helmet in the crook of her left arm, she grabbed the travel bag and left the room. She made her way downstairs to the dining room where there were only a few early morning risers sipping coffee and eating breakfast. This time, her presence only warranted a cursory glance from the people there. Meanwhile, Barty’s two daughters were wandering around the room taking orders and cleaning tables.
Seeing the innkeeper at his customary place behind the bar, she walked over and Barty placed a sheet of paper, quill, and an inkwell in front of her and said, “The complaint I am sending to the local magistrate regarding the events from last night. Just need you to sign below since you were involved.”
Laura signed it. Grabbing the paper and writing materials, Barty took it back to the kitchen. Several minutes later he returned with a glass of orange juice, set it down in front of her and asked, “What would you like for breakfast?”
“Nothing. I need to get moving quickly once the wizard gets down here. I just came to sign the paper and settle the bill.”
As Laura went to reach for her money pouch, Barty held up his hand. “No charge. Like I said, we owe your father for the last 15 years of peace. May it never end. And we will take good care of him. You have my word.”
“Thank you Barty,” she said, shaking his hand.
“But there is something you can do for me.”
“What is that?”
“Say hello to my daughters,” Barty said, a grin on his face as he motioned for his daughters to come over. “This is Emiko and Ling. I wish you could meet my son, Rogelio, but he is off who knows where serving in the army.”
Emiko was a beautiful young woman who was in her early twenties, like Laura, but was also voluptuous. Ling was the opposite of her older sister. She was in her teens, was flat as a plank, and looked almost homely compared to her sister. For the next few minutes, they chatted about Laura’s armor and sword while both girls stated that they would never even think about being in the army.
During their conversation, Mel Muldoon, the self-taught wizard, finally arrived downstairs. He was wearing the same outfit from last night; a green tunic, white woolen pants, white shoes, and the staff in his right hand. However, in addition to all that he had a large backpack on his back and a book in the left hand. The same one he had been reading last night.
“Breakfast,” he inquired in a chipper voice, a hopeful expression on his face.
“No time,” Laura said. “I have some hardtack in my saddlebags that we can eat along the way.” She grabbed her gear and was just starting to say goodbye when Hannah emerged from the kitchen carrying a cloth bag.
“Hold on,” the innkeeper’s wife said in an imperious voice. She started shaking her finger at the young warrior, “You are not leaving without some food!”
Hannah forced the bag into Laura’s arms, hugged her, and said, “And if you see my Regalio, tell him he needs to write to us.” Before she drew away, she whispered in the young woman’s ear, “Don’t worry about your papa, we will take good care of him until you get back.”
“Thank you,” was the soft reply from Laura. Knowing that her father was being taken care of by these good people was a huge weight off of her shoulders.
Waving farewell, Laura and the wizard left the inn and headed to the large stables. The two-storied structure was painted red and, upon entering the stables, the smell of horses filled her nostrils. A young, blonde-haired stable boy ran up to them and directed Laura to where her horses were.
“I’ll meet you here,” Laura said to Mel as she followed the stable boy, assuming that the wizard’s horse was located on the opposite end of the building. She immediately spotted Stomper in his stall, who was easily the biggest horse in the stable. Next to him, in a separate stall was her horse, Barb. Barb whinnied a greeting as she asked the stable boy for her gear.
The little boy pointed her to where the saddles and gear were located. Quickly she saddled Barb, placing her spear in a leather sheath attached to the saddle, slung her shield over her back, and secured her travel bag and the sack of food. She had decided to leave Stomper here and was glad to be leaving him behind. She could do without the headache. As she started to walk away, Stomper gave a snort as if to say “good riddance.”
“Same to you,” she muttered to herself as she approached the entrance to the stable; Bard following behind her.
The wizard was still standing at the entrance, no horse in sight. “Where is your horse,” Laura asked.
“Err,” Mel shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t have one. Thought it was kind of obvious with this backpack on my shoulders that I walked here.”
With trepidation, Laura looked back at the stables to where Stomper was located. “Do you know how to ride a horse?”
“I am a very good rider, why?”
“Wait here,” she said. Bracing herself, she went back to where Stomper was. As she neared the stall, the white stallion noticed her and watched every move she made. Grabbing the saddle and blanket, the saddle being much heavier than her own, she approached the horse.
“Now,” she said. “You are going to behave.” She placed the blanket on the horse’s back only to watch as it immediately grabbed the blanket with its teeth and pulled it off. As she went to retrieve the blanket, Stomper took a nip at her.
Having expected it, she dodged quickly to the side and heard the snap of the horse’s teeth. She stood up as tall as she could, hands on both sides of the horse, brought it down to her eye level, gave it a hard stare, and said, “No more. Now is not the time for this. Your owner needs you and he needs me.”
Stomper’s ears perked up a bit and he gave a quick snort as if to say “whatever.”
Laura quickly saddled the horse, and adjusted the stirrups for her height. Grabbing the reins, she quickly marched back to the entrance to where Mel and Barb were.
Upon seeing the detrier, Mel whistled appreciatively, “That is an exceptionally beautiful horse!”
Barb nudged the wizard with her head, fishing for a compliment, “You’re beautiful too,” he added stroking her forehead.
With an expression of annoyance at the delay, she transferred her gear from Barb to Stomper. As she was transferring the gear Mel asked, “Would you like me to ride the white stallion?”
Laura snorted at the suggestion, “He would eat you for breakfast. You’ll be safer on Barb.” Stomper whinnied in agreement.
With that said, both of them mounted up. Or at least, Laura tried too. Unfortunately, her left leg could barely reach the stirrup. Looking around for a stool, there was none to be seen. “Could you help me up,” she asked the wizard. He got off of Barb, helped her mount Stomper, and remounted though she noticed that he shook his right arm slightly in pain.
“Hurt your arm,” Laura asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Must have hurt it when I hit that sergeant over the head,” the wizard replied, grimacing from the pain.
Finally, they urged their horses forward and rode through the gates leaving the Inn of the Rising Sun behind them. They were now on their way to the town of Burgos, travelling along the Southwestern stone highway. There was still a little bit of doubt in Laura. She couldn’t help but wonder whether or not it was a good idea to stop at Burgos on the slim chance that this self-taught wizard could come up with a potion to wake her father. Just for the hope of slowing down the curse’s effects.
*******
For the next couple of hours, Laura became accustomed to riding on Stomper. The destrier’s height and size took some getting used to, unlike Barb which had been a natural fit for her size. Though it did feel nice to have a better perspective of the surrounding area since she was higher up than normal. She had been alert and constantly sweeping the sides of the stone road as they passed through a large forest. It would not do to let themselves be set upon by that goblin raiding party.
The Southwestern Highway was one of several major roads within the kingdom. It was a wide, stone-paved road with drainage ditches on the sides as well as footpaths on both sides. The road itself was wide enough for four wagons to traverse side-by-side and it led directly to the capital with smaller roads branching off to towns and villages. It was a network that had been built over centuries as the kingdom continued to develop.
Laura looked over at her wizard companion. While she had been on the alert since they started their journey, he had immediately opened his book and started to read. It was unbelievable. That he could simply ignore everything around them as if there wasn’t the threat of goblins or thieves around.
Looking down at the bag of food Hannah had provided, she decided that it would be time to eat some breakfast. Opening the bag, the aroma of ensaimadas and roasted chicken immediately assailed her nose, with the ensaimadas causing her mouth to water. She loved the sweet pastries. There was a couple of red apples, half-a-wheel of cheddar cheese, and a roasted chicken. Quickly devouring one of the ensaimadas, which was a sweet bread, she looked over at her companion who was still oblivious to everything but the book.
“Wizard,” she called out, tossing one of the ensaimadas at him.
“Hmm,” was his reply as he looked up. He had quick reflexes, Laura observed, as he deftly caught the pastry but, in the process, accidentally dropped the book to the ground. With an “ah” of horror, he quickly halted the horse, slid off of Barb, and retrieved the book quickly and immediately started to wipe the dust off.
After he had mounted back up, he shot a sour look at Laura who simply said, “Let that be a lesson that you should pay attention to your surroundings.”
“Why should I pay attention,” said the cross magician. “You are the warrior, I’m sure that you are doing an ample job.”
“Because two pairs of eyes are better than one?”
“I would rather read my book than watch the road. You know how unlikely the goblins are to travel further inland?”
“Unlikely doesn’t mean impossible,” Laura said while eating one of the chicken legs. “And it wouldn’t be the first time that a large raiding party would have travelled inland sacking and looting villages and towns.”
“Oh? And how would you know that Lieutenant?”
“I’ve studied military history. Still do, whenever I can find the time and new reading material. And I survived the last one that happened twenty-two years ago,” she shrugged while continuing to gnaw on the chicken leg as her hips swayed with the horse’s movement. While feigning indifference, she had studied every military report about that particular raid. It had been the largest goblin party to hit the coast since the gobs had launched their attack on Murcia. What made this raid peculiar was because the group of gobs had struck inland rather than up and down the coast.
For months, the raiding party had been leading the Murcian armies on a wild goose chase while causing as much destruction as possible. Eventually, the remaining 100 goblins had been surrounded and wiped out.
“I’m sorry,” Mel said. His face was empty of all emotion as he stared at her.
“I was only two, so I don’t remember anything,” she added while throwing the chicken bone into the forest treeline. “My father was away, fending off a goblin invasion that was happening at the same time. My mother and grandparents were all killed.”
“I lost some people who were dear to me as well,” Mel said in a quiet tone.
“How old were you?”
Rather than answer the question, Mel shook himself and started rummaging through his backpack. After a minute he pulled out an old, leather bound book and said, “catch,” tossing it to her. “That was one of the books innkeeper Bai purchased for me. But my only interest is in books about magic. Though I’ll usually keep most of the books he finds for me.”
Catching it, Laura examined the book. It was very old but in excellent condition. The leather wasn’t dried and cracking and the pages were somehow still white rather than a faded yellow. But her eyes widened in shock when she finally saw the title,” Holy gobshite! This is ‘Gaining Mastery Over the Art of War’ by Liang Tzu!”
“And he is?”
“One of the greatest military minds in history,” Laura said with reverence.
“Keep it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, one of the positive things about having Bartholomew purchasing the books that go through his inn, is that he doesn’t really know their worth. Neither do most people who will sell to him. You’d be amazed at the magical tomes I’ve picked up.”
“Thank you,” was her sincere reply at the gift. She wrapped it up in her extra shirt and carefully stored it in her travel bag.
“You know,” Mel said with a sardonic smile. “You could read it while we ride.”
“I’ll wait until we stop for the night,” she said while gently patting the book where it was stored. “Besides, one of use has to stay alert.”
A smirk was all the reply she got from the wizard as he went back to reading his book.
*******
Night had fallen and there was a full moon out. The two travellers had camped off to the side of the highway. A chill breeze blowing through the leaves, making a rustling noise that added to the forest’s symphony of sound. They had travelled over thirty miles that first day and would reach the town of Burgos by tomorrow evening.
Laura had told the wizard to go gather wood for a fire as she rubbed down the horses. For Stomper, however, she had to stand on top of a tree stump when it came time for his turn. She had cut one of the apples in half, to give to each horse. Barb had accepted the treat with a gentle headbutt of appreciation to her shoulder. Stomper, meanwhile, had suspiciously taken the apple without trying to nip her hand, but headbutted her hard enough to make her fall to the ground as she started to walk away.
Grumbling words of revenge, she returned to where Mel was building the campfire. As she went to grab some flint and her dagger to get the fire lit, fire sprang up from the wizard’s right hand and he threw it into the stack of wood, which immediately caught fire.
“First lightning, now fire,” Laura said, as she took a seat by the fire where she had left her travel blanket and helmet. “Is there any other kind of magic you can do?”
“Learning the elements is one of the first things a wizard is taught,” he said. “Can’t do any big spells until you have learned the basics.”
“What other things did you learn at the college?”
Small tendrils of lightning travelled across his hand that he turned back and forth as he answered, “During our first year we are taught the basic rules and consequences of magic. But the very first thing we learned is that using too much magic will kill you if you are not careful.”
“What do you mean too magic can kill you,” Laura said, giving him her full attention.
“Well, the magic has to come from somewhere. You can’t make something out of nothing. In this case, the magic comes from inside the caster. The theory is that it is the soul that allows a person to cast magic. Everyone has a soul, but only a few have a soul, or inner power, strong enough to use it.”
The lightning that Mel had created was now being thrown back and forth between his two hands as he continued to speak, “But there are limits to that power. The stronger your inner power is, the more magic you can do. However, if you use that power too much, you will instantly die because your soul no longer exists.”
“So how do you know when you have used up that power,” Laura asked, a puzzled expression on her face. “Do you feel that power being drained? Are there any kinds of physical symptoms?”
“There are no physical symptoms. In fact, wizards tend to not feel any effects at all. Rather, the strength of the spells used to be an indication of a wizard getting low on power. But Barnabas the Great created a way for wizards to know when they have almost used up most of their soul.” At this point, the tendrils of lightning disappeared and he picked up his staff and fiddled with it. “That indicator is the reason why wizards and witches carry staffs or wands. When they have used up almost all of their power, their focusing tool will start to glow red. That’s when they know that the next spell could be their last.”
“Isn’t that rather frightening, not knowing when you’ve spent all of your power until you see that red glow?”
“It is one of the risks a wizard or witch gladly accepts in order to use magic. If you could do magic, wouldn’t you take that risk?”
Laura pondered for a while, stroking her scar as she thought of her answer. A wolf’s howl was heard in the distance while the hoot of an owl seemed to ask her “Who? Who? Who?”
“Yes,” she finally responded, a determined look on her face as she gazed into the fire. “If I could use magic, it would be worth the risk. I want to protect my country from the goblins and if magic could help me do that, then I would take that risk.”
“Can I ask you a question without causing offense?”
Laura smiled, softening her hardened look, “I will not know if it is offensive unless you ask.”
“Why are you a soldier? You are the first woman I have met who will fight, let alone enlisted in the military. In my experience, most women fight with words. Quite effectively, I might add.”
“My father is a soldier and all my life I looked up to him and wanted to be like him. I want to be just as good of a fighter as he is,” Laura looked up at Mel, her left had hand grabbed onto the hilt of her gladius and gripped it tightly. “And I want to wipe out every single gob for killing my mother and grandparents. For causing my father so much pain.”
“He loved your mother that much,” Mel asked in a soft tone, almost a whisper.
“Father rarely talked about her, but as I got older, I started to notice the pain in his eyes whenever I asked about her. I don’t remember what she looked like, but from what I have been told, she was kind and gentle.” Laura shook her head from side-to-side, trying to banish the thoughts. No longer wishing to keep talking she said, “Get some sleep wizard, I’ll take the first watch and wake you in four hours.”
He looked at her as if ready to say more. After a few seconds, he simply nodded his head in acknowledgement and headed over to his little tent to turn in for the night. She had thought it amusing that he travelled with a little one-person tent. He had offered to let her sleep in it, but she was used to sleeping on the ground, wrapped up in her travel blanket and hooded cloak. Though the smug smile he had on his face when she refused his offer made her suspicious; as if she was missing something.
Laura turned her back to the campfire and looked out into the darkness; letting her eyes adjust. She recalled the last time she had asked her father about mother. She had been twelve at the time and he had returned from a month-long training exercise with some new troops. Despite any major goblin incursions, the kingdom of Murcia was preparing as best it could to deal with an inevitable goblin invasion. She had been out in the garden attending to a small patch of forget-me-nots that she had planted shortly after he had left.
Never one for gardening, she loved the little flowers and had wanted to grow some. To her delight, they grew quickly, showcasing their blue petals. As he had returned, shouting for her and demanding a hug from his daughter, he had entered the garden and spotted her amongst the flowers. The slight falter in his stride had not gone unnoticed as she ran up to him. But his wide smile had gained a hint of sadness to it as she threw her arms around his neck as he knelt down to hug her, looking resplendent in his brightly polished plate armor.
She had asked him what was wrong when they had stopped hugging and his gaze had returned once more to the flowers. Looking at her, he had told her that seeing her among the forget-me-nots had reminded him of when he first met mother. She too had been among the flowers when he first laid eyes on her when they were both young.
As he had said that, Laura had seen the pain in his eyes. It was rare that he spoke about his wife, but at that moment, she had decided that she would no longer ask about her mother and would try not to do anything that would bring up those memories. It hurt her to see such pain in his yes.
When he had to leave again after a month had gone by, she had not said her regular goodbye. She had simply and formally said “farewell father” and had reached up to give him one last hug. He had asked where was his real goodbye and, quietly, she had told him that she didn’t want to cause him any more pain. He had looked at her with a soft and gentle expression and told her that it was alright to say it and that he expected her to keep saying it no matter what. Her mother had said it to him all the time while they were married and Laura had picked up on the habit as a child because, as far as she could remember, she had always said it to her father whenever he had to leave.
Laura looked up at the moon and saw that her shift was up. She went over to the wizard’s simple-looking bell tent which was a large brown fabric over a single, tall center pole with stakes in the ground around it to keep the fabric in place. He had used magic to set up rather than pound stakes into the ground.
“Wizard,” Laura said, standing outside the entrance to his tent. There was no response.
She lifted the flap to one side and stuck her head in, only to have her jaw drop as she exclaimed, “By the One!”
Rather than seeing the inside of a tent with a sleeping blanket in the middle, it was a sizeable room that was completely furnished. There was a small fireplace that didn’t produce any smoke and a mantle above it, a plush burgundy-colored chair next to the fireplace, a comfortable-looking bed in the corner, a small bookshelf stuffed with books of various sizes, a small kitchen, and a small round table with two chairs on top of a thick burgundy rug.
At her exclamation Mel had woken up from where he was sitting in the chair by the fireplace. He had fallen asleep while reading, the book laying open on his chest.
“What,” he said, startled by the abrupt interruption to his sleep.
“What do you mean what? I should be saying what, as in ‘what is this?’ And why didn’t you tell me?
He shrugged with a sheepish grin as he groggily said, “You didn’t ask and you seemed determined to sleep outside.”
“How,” she said, still shocked. She had only a limited knowledge of magic and had seen some of it in action, but mostly utilizing the natural elements. This was something she was not aware of aside from hearing about the odd magical trinket or a legendary item.
“Magic,” was the simply reply.
If looks could kill, the look Laura directed at him would have struck him dead instantly.
“A witch I know specializes in creating such tents for the nobility,” he said, seeing her expression and realizing she was not in the mood for any sort of jesting. “She can’t really do any other kind of magic, but she makes a fortune selling more elaborate tents. However, she doesn’t have a strong source of power, so it takes a while for her to make them. She is a kind of suffuser though, in this case, it is more complicated than that.”
“I am too tired to ask about anything further,” Laura said, though her curiosity was aroused. However, she needed to sleep and get an early start tomorrow. “I’m going to sleep and just wanted to wake you for your watch.”
“You can sleep in the bed,” Mel said before she could leave the tent.
“I’ll take you up on that offer.” Last night had been the first time she had slept in a real bed in a long time and she wouldn’t dream of passing up the opportunity. “Thank you wizard.”
As she went to get her things and bring them inside, Mel’s voice came through the opening of the tent, “Do I really have to stand watch? We are on a main highway and there is rarely any danger.”
“I’d rather batten down the hatches then be sorry and taken unawares because of complacency.”
Mel was grumbling to himself as she entered the tent with her stuff and made her way over to the bed. She quickly took off her armor and sword, leaving her regular clothes on, grabbed her blanket, spread it on the bed, and curled up in it.
As her head hit the pillow, her thoughts returned to her father and, as she started to drift off to sleep, the goodbye she would say to him, now seemed more apt as a prayer as she whispered the same phrase her mother used once upon a time, “Forget me not, father.”
The sound of the tent flap being put back in place was the last thing she heard as sleep finally embraced her.
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