Chapter Seventeen - Searching

A haughty figure moved down the Main Street of Grey Stone. He carried himself with great pride, and knew his status. Two guards flanked him on either side, in their black uniform that mirrored his own.

People avoided him and his guards, making way for him whenever possible. For he was a mage, and a powerful one at that. He was the Wisdom's personal mage, on hire from the Mage's guild for his renown and power.

He grew tired of the wandering though. For over a week he had been searching for a lone kid with a book, at behest of the wisdom. He didn't know why he only knew that it was of the upmost importance, and that his salary heavily depended on it.

He wouldn't have even taken the position if it weren't for that fact that he needed the coin to acquire a colossal mana core, so he could ascend to the next tier and rise in the ranks of the guild. But it was a generous sum for such an easy task, or set he thought.

He grew impatient of stopping snot nosed brats to question them and examine their mana. To see if they were anything special. It was all he had to go by. The wisdom did not give him any more information than a kid with a magical book.

He passed the square, with it's fountain. It was quite a small thing compared to those of the guild or cities elsewhere. The man wanted nothing more than to get out of the backwater of Grey Stone and return to the capital, to the luxurious quarters of the Mage's Guild Main Branch. The sub Branch in Grey Stone was paltry to say the least, and wasn't even lead by an Arch Mage.

He patrolled down a street and noticed a kid he hadn't seen before standing off to the side of the street, peering at a small baker's shop intently. He motioned for the guards to approach the black haired boy, in his simple garb.

They quickly strode up to the kid and he could see the mild fear in the boy's eyes. Followed by confusion. The guards waited for the mage who approached a moment later, and said, "Boy... be quick, do you know anything of receiving a magical book. Either you or your friends?"

The young kid seemed shocked by the question and said, "Uh... no..." this made the mage suspect. There was something off. It may have been lying or simply fear of seeing such an extraordinary figure before him, he could not tell. He decided to settle on checking the boy's potential. He took one step forward and placed a hand on the cowering boy's head, he sent a pulse of mana through his body and was surprised to find he had the lowest potential he had ever seen. In fact, the mana the boy carried in his body was so little it could not be traced.

"Poor kid..." the man thought, "such a lack of mana will leave him living a short life... not to mention he has no hand..." This made the mage back off, as he knew such a powerful tome would not fall into the hands of such a weak and decrepit lad.

"Right... have a copper for your troubles" to which the mage flicked a coin at the boy, who missed catching it and scrambled to get it off the cobblestone below.

"Umm... Thank you sir.." the kid mentioned, and the mage nodded, feeling good about himself and began to turn, when the boy said something strange, "would you happen to know... sir.. where the shop 'curious and baubles' is located?"

The mage stopped, annoyed at the question, as if he were some passerby to be asked directions. "Hmm child.. I am not from this place, and I know not of it's shops..." before he continued to walk away. He didn't stop to look back at the boy, having finished his business.

...

Alder stood perplexed, staring at the baker's shop. He swore that this had been the place. He had already asked several people about the whereabouts of the shop but no one seemed to know of it. Not even the bread selling old woman on the corner who had supposedly lived there her whole life.

He was very glad that the strange man who touched his head believed him about the book. It was apparent then that someone was looking for him. Someone powerful. He knew at first glance of the black attire of the men that they were powerful, elites of some kind. Especially the bearded man.

Alder assumes he was a mage, from the way he touched his head. He also felt a strange sensation at that moment like he was using a sense self kind of spell, without speaking any words at all.

He wondered then whether he should keep looking, and furthermore whether or not he should head to the mage's guild. To tell them he lost their package. Something about the idea man him shudder in fear. They probably would be rather cross with him on the matter, he may not have a hand by the end of the day if that were the case. Or worse, they make take his life, or put him into slavery to pay for it.

He'd rather not take the chance.

Instead, he sighed. Obviously the old man who gave him the book wasn't there. Neither was the shop. He wouldn't get any East answers as to why he was given it, or what it was about. He had so many answers, and he had to fight the urge to go straight to the Mages guild to ask them about mana and bring up the book.

The encounter he just had with the bearded man told him that he definitely shouldn't mention it to anyone. Especially Mages.

Alder rubbed his head and turned around, to make his way back to the plaza. He had to start working out. And opted to head out the gate that Laelia had mentioned before. Something about the prospect excited him. Progress. Moving forward. It was an odd sense of hope. That whatever was happening with his body, whatever the tome was pushing him towards, it involved getting stronger.

Maybe his dream of becoming a powerful monster slaying adventurer wasn't impossible.. maybe he could get revenge someday...

...

Laelia moved about the city at a slow stroll. She had a lot on her mind. The mysterious one handed boy had left her with a lot of questions. He had left the house in the morning without saying much, just mentioning training bShe she hadn't seen him since.

She wondered how someone who nearly lost their life could be moving around, let alone going off to 'train'. A middle aged man bumped into her and nearly knocked her over. He grumbled and began to curse at her but saw her age and merely continued on. His breath smelled of alcohol.

Scum. That's what those kinds of people were to her. drunk midday. Not even caring about where they were or what they were doing. She never wanted to reach that point. That low.

She may have been a thief, but she still had standards. Most criminals do.

As she wandered around she noticed the black robed man and his goonies. She quickly ducked down a small alley and waited for them to pass. She had managed to avoid them, and truthfully had no idea what they wanted, but didn't want to find out.

Moments later she was back on the street, mixed with the colorful cast of people. "Come, come and get yourself a fresh pastry. Handmade this morn!" A young baker yelled, his small stall busy enough for Grey Stone. But not enough so that he didn't have to advertise his wares.

The same went for all the struggling people she passed. The shine of greed in their eyes as they longed for a profit. Longed for an escape off the hot streets in mid summer. It was a craze, a passion she could understand.

Money is everything, that is the way of the world. That and power. She just happened to have neither.

She stopped in her tracks near the fountain, spotting a familiar small figure. A smile crossed her face and she quickly followed.

He was moving towards the gate, the same one she had told him about. He seemed motivated, and quite quick for someone that had been stabbed a dozen times just three days before.

Curiosity pushed her forward, and she made sure to keep back a ways, just enough to keep him in sight. She didn't want to disturb him, she wanted to see what he was going to do.

Ten minutes of walking and he was out the gate. She watched him from the massive stone arch as he turned and walked off into a nearby field. He began to stretch a little, and then he broke off into a run. Laelia stood in shock. How. How could the boy who struggled to live move like that?

He didn't stop either. She stood for a solid fifteen minutes watching him before one of the guards at the gate shooed her along. "Get out of here rat... I know your face... If I didn't have to stand here I'd be taking you in"

She took the queue and backed off, quickly escaping down a small side street.

..

Hours passed and Laelia returned to the small dilapidated building she called a home. She stepped in to see neither Alder nor Fenian were there. Quite strange. Surely Alder would have returned at least, it had been two hours at the least since he began his workout.

She decided to return to the gate to check on him.

Passing down wooden buildings and sticking to the massive stone wall that surrounded Greystone, she stayed out of the mid afternoon sun beneath the shade of the sentinel. She took just a peek through the gate and spotted him, off in the distance, still running.

"What is he doing?... how?..." she said out loud, loud enough that a decently dressed family passing by commented under their breaths about the 'crazy girl who is talking to her self'.

She didn't pay them any mind. Instead, she turned to go back to the house. Hunger pushing her to make some food. There had been a gambling man who walked out of a tavern with a handful of silver. She made quick work of taking a few coins. He never noticed in the drunken glee of winning so much.

That allowed her to go get some decent meat and vegetables from the market. Enough that she could make a meal for the trio.

Returning she got to work at a small fireplace, with a simple pot. Hoping the others would join soon while it was hot...

Night fell, and Fenian had long returned. She knew where Alder was but it perplexed her. Surely someone wouldn't need to work out so much. Surely he could rest a little. He still had to earn some money thieving after all.

Laelia and Fenian spoke on the day. On their gains, "I tell you Laelia, there was a pompous woman. The bitch. I took her whole purse.. two gold! Two!" He dropped the coins on the table.

Laelia exhaled sharply, "gold?!" It had been quite a while since they had earned so much. Fenian seemed happy under his hood. It was hard to see his expression but she could tell based off the way he spoke and the way he carried himself.

"We can get so much with this.. aah, I got 6 silvers today.."

"Not bad Laelia. Not bad... we aren't too much off our goal. Aah, Alder where is he?"

Laelia shrugged and told him about the training and how he ran for hours in the field outside the gates. "Strange..." he replied, "Well, training won't feed you after all.. hope he doesn't expect to free load."

"Me either.." Laelia said. Suddenly the door opened and Alder stepped in. They both looked in shock at the young boy whose face was covered in fresh bruises. His lip bleeding a little. "Aah... hey... I got a couple silver." He said, stumbling.

"Oh sit down! What in the world!" Laelia said angrily, shoving Alder into a seated position on a box. She looked over his wounds like a concerned older sister, to which he just sat there, mumbling, "sorry for the trouble.."

He told them of how he had stolen five silver from an adventurer who chased him down and beat him up. The man had said, "you put up not too bad a fight. One silver for your courage and another for your hand.."

Fenian laughed, until Laelia gave him a sharp glance and he shut his mouth. "Well don't go stealing from adventurers. And getting in fights stupid.. now.. tomorrow you need to follow me. I'll teach you how to steal."

Alder nodded and replied, "sure.. aah, but I need to train first."

"What is it with you and training?" Laelia said, rolling her eyes.

Alder looked at her seriously and said, "I'm going to be a great adventurer some day..."

She merely looked at him, unsure if it was a joke or not. Fenian took it as one when he broke out into laughter, saying, "you?... an adventurer?.. with your hand I suppose you could be half an adventurer someday.. hahaha..."

Laelia gave him another sharp glance and he quieted down, mumbling a "sorry" at her behest.

Alder sat quietly, though Laelia could see the frustration and anger on his face. "Don't wasn't about it... if that's what you are doing fine. Just be careful out there..."

Alder nodded, the anger fading from his face and exhaustion replacing it.

"Right.. well there's some food in that pot over there. Eat up and get some rest... there's two cots and a pile of hay.. first come first serve on the cots.."

Alder thanked her and went off to eat. Laelia watched him and fought back the urge to barrage him with question. Another time, she thought to herself, another time. She would let him get used to the place before getting to know him anymore...