Avish

Slowly Ben crept through the crowd of nobles, focusing on the silence of his steps. His breathing came slowly despite the fact that his heart pounded within his chest. In front of him stood the heavily guarded castle, and inside was wealth enough for him and his beloved to escape their life of poverty.

The plan was simple, almost too simple, but Ben didn’t care. Ben had one weapon that they didn’t; a weapon that was outlawed in the land. This weapon was not forged of iron or steal, but of wisdom, intelligence, and a gift of the Gods. Yes, Ben was a mage. All the other mages had left the land of Sypriss when King Jardek had outlawed the use of their gifts. Even the vile court mage, Tervius, had packed his bags and left… but not Ben. He knew he could use his now unique powers to his advantage, to give a better life to his wife. All he had to do was steal one piece of treasure, one valuable item that would sell anywhere and not be traced back to the king. Then, he could leave this miserable land and start a new and better life elsewhere. For weeks he had planned, mapping off the castle room by room and studying the rotation of the guards, the schedules of the servants, even the daily habits of the king himself. He knew exactly when to strike, where to strike, and how to strike.

“With careful planning one can do anything, and it can seem so simple” thought Ben.

Past the entrance and into the first corridor he went, without so much as a glance from the guards. “So simple.” The treasury was guarded by two guards at this hour, and those guard would be rotating soon, as soon as the tax collectors dropped off their daily delivery. He made his way up to the third floor, quietly sneaking past one guard after the next. On most nights he would smile to himself for his cunning, but tonight his face was grim, his mouth a thin straight line, as he crept closer and closer to his destiny.

Up ahead he could see the door, the same two guards outside of it, both of them anxious for their shift to change. In a few moments the tax collectors would come. Ben glanced at the door for a moment, then went down the corridor to the left. Past one, two, then three doors he went, and crept through the fourth. Then he waited.

Ten minutes later the two tax collectors came into the room. Both of them began to strip out of their robes, which bore the insignia of the king, and change into their street clothes. The first man, as always, changed quickly, handed the keys to the second man, and ran out the door. Ben had come to understand that this man’s wife was very demanding of his time, and just a few minutes of tardiness meant a few hours of arguing and a night sleeping on the floor. The second man, however, was not in such a hurry. As he had done every night for the past four weeks he took the keys and hung them on a hook, hung his royal clothes over the top of them in an effort to hide them, threw a towel around his waist, and headed to the royal bath. As soon as the man left the room Ben took an identical looking key ring from his pocket and swapped it with the keys underneath the man’s hanging robe, recast invisibility on himself so nobody would see them, then left the room. Further down the hall he went into another room, this one long ago abandoned. Quickly he dispelled and recast his invisibility. Now the original set of keys would be visible to the freshly cleaned tax collector when he returned from his bath.

Ben waited for the man to return, to make sure his ruse was a success. Soon he heard the familiar whistling and sound of wet feet walking back up the hallway. A few minutes later he saw the man exit the room with his street clothes on, counterfeit keys in hand. With the first part of his plan being over, Ben rested.

Three hours later he rose from his seat in the corner and slowly began to creep back down the hall. It was now 2:00 A.M. and almost time for the second part of his plan. As he exited the hallway and glanced toward the door he knew that everything was going according to plan. He made his way across the corridor and watched the guards. As usual the shorter guard on the left shifted uneasily, his overactive bladder beginning to take its toll after three and a half hours of standing in the same spot. In a matter of minutes he would leave to relieve himself, asking the guard on the right to cover him and promising he would be right back.

Ben waited, studying the anxious guard, “Go. Go. Go,” He thought to himself. A minute later he saw the guard turn to his left, say a few words to the other, then quickly rush down the hall.

Now Ben had to be swift. Quickly he crept towards the remaining guard, reaching for his waist as he moved. From within his pocket he pulled a small pouch. Untying the cord around the top he dumped a fine powder from the pouch into his hand and held it in a fist. As he neared the guard he walked slower and slower, until he was within a bodies length away. Ben reached back, aimed, threw the powder into the guard’s face, then stepped back a couple of steps to watch.

At first the guard made a startled sound, obviously surprised by the feeling of powder hitting his face. Much of it had gone into his eyes and he began struggling to wipe it out. Seconds later he was down, on the ground, sound asleep.

Ben quickly set the guard up into a sitting position against the wall, took out his key, unlocked the door, slipped inside, then closed and locked the door behind him. He was in.

Ben waited and listened at the door. Soon the shorter guard returned from his break and he heard him waking the other guard in hushed tones.

“Johnson, wake up! Hey! You’re gonna get us both fired!”

After a couple of minutes he heard Johnson reply, “Wha? What happened?”

“You fell asleep dinglenutz… that’s what happened. What are you trying to do to me?”

“But I don’t remember being sleepy. I felt something hit me in the face then next thing I knew you were waking me.”

“Something hit you in the face? Like what?”

“I don’t know, some sort of powder.”

“Powder?”

“Yeah, it felt like powder. It was all up in my eyes too”

“So some fairy dust hit you in the face and you fell asleep? Is that what we’re going to tell the King before our heads get chopped off?”

“Well, I don’t know what else to tell him!”

“You’re out of your mind Johnson. Get up and man your post and maybe I’ll forget about how you almost got me killed.”

“Well you’re the one who always has to take a piss every night!”

“Hey! We don’t talk about that ok! Remember?!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot you get embarrassed about your infant sized bladder.”

“Hey Johnson, if you don’t watch it then I’M going to hit you in the face and make you fall asleep, and this time you won’t wake up!”

“Oh yeah, well I’….”

Ben continued to listen as the two guard’s voices grew louder and louder, until finally he heard another guard come over and yell at them to keep it down. He couldn’t help but laugh to himself about what he had started. The king always picked the cream of the crop to do the nightshift…..

Now all he had to do was find something of value that he could carry, something the king wouldn’t miss. He would wait here until tomorrow night when the tax collectors would come again. He would unlock the door from the inside as they tried opening it from the outside, so as to fool them into thinking their key worked. As they walked in he would slip out behind them, past the anxious to leave guards, and into his new life. It was so simple. He just had to find something to take.

Methodically Ben went through the room. There was so much gold in here it was no wonder so many suffered from the same poverty as himself. The king and his tax collectors were thieves, stealing from those who were already poor, just to store it up in a room and sit on it. It was disgusting what they were doing. They deserved a much worse fate than losing an item or two.

As Ben looked through the room he came across a wand. Ben was a mage, and mages liked wands, so without thinking much of it he stored it away in his boot and continued searching. There were many items that he could take, but he wanted to find the right one…and he had plenty of time.

“Looking for something?” Came a voice from behind him. Ben froze, then slowly looked back. Nobody was there. Had he imagined it? Perhaps. Stranger things had happened. He started to look through the piles of gold again.

“I’m right here, mage. Can’t you see me?”

Ben froze again. He didn’t dare respond.

“Oh I can see you of course. Aren’t you advanced enough in your skill to see me?”

Knowing that being silent was futile at this point Ben quietly spoke.

“Who are you?”

“Who do you think I am?”

“I don’t know. What do you want?”

“Well, I could answer that, but I’ll let you choose which question you want answered first.”

“Leave me alone.” Said Ben, unsure of himself. “Obviously you’re a mage and you’re probably here for the same reason I am. So, just take what you want, I’ll take what I want, and we’ll both be on our way.” Ben hadn’t even convinced himself.

“I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple,” said the man, “for I’m not quite here for the same reason as you. I am, however, here because of the fact that you are here. I can’t let you get away with stealing those things that the king and I have worked so hard to take from you filthy peasants.”

“Tervius…” mumbled Ben to himself, the revelation hitting him like a ton of bricks. This was something he had not considered in his weeks of careful planning.

“Ah yes, now you’ve answered the first of your questions. Thank you for saving me the trouble. Now I will answer the second. You see, for the last few weeks I’ve been studying you. At first I was going to arrest you for using your magic, but I was too curious about what you were doing. Obviously my plan had worked and fooled you into thinking I had left my king. It was quite humorous watching you with so much arrogance trampsing around the castle, writing in your little notebook, calculating, planning. It was all very interesting. And I must say you did a fairly good job. Your plan was executed perfectly, and now here you are, inside the treasury, looking for who knows what. The only question I have is why. Why go through so much trouble to get in here? Why not steal from one of the nobles? Why choose the king when he can return the favor by stealing your life?”

Irritated, Ben replied “Because the king is a thief himself! He steals from everybody. A noble would notice a valuable treasure missing, but not so likely with the king. The king has stolen so much that an item here or there wouldn’t be missed. In his greed he has become blind, and in his blindness I can profit, save myself, and save my wife…” The last word seemed to fall out of his mouth as Ben quickly stopped talking, his face turning red. He knew he had made a big mistake. He knew what would happen to his wife if he were arrested. Now that they knew he was married it was too late. They would hunt her down, he knew this. All of these thoughts flashed through Ben’s mind in a second. Immediately he started casting, but it was too late. He felt a blinding pain hit him in as a flash of lightening passed through his body. Ben fell to the ground. He tried to cast again when another flash hit him. He was faintly aware of Tervius laughing as he fought to remain conscious. Suddenly a voice was speaking into his hear,

“Your wife you say? Very interesting…. VERY interesting…..”

Slowly the sound of Tervius’ laughing faded away. Then all was black.

***

when we left off the character ben had passed out after breaking into the treasury vault to steal something.  he was doing this so he could sell an item and get him and his wife out of the place they were living, under a persecuting ruler.  ben was caught by the mage tervious, who was supposed to have left the land when magic was outlawed.

the short of it is that ben is taken into captivity for many months and told he is being prepared for something.  during this time tervious frequently visits him to harass him.  ben secretly practices his magic during this time.  he eventually analyzes the wand he had hidden in his boot and discovers it's purpose.

after many months pass ben is awakened and told today is the day he has been preparing for.  when he asks what is happening they only ignore him.  they dress him in extravagent cloth armor and lead him away from the dungeons, blindfolded he hears a distant roaring as he's leaving, and it seems they are heading towards it.  soon he seems to be in the middle of thousands of cheering people.  when his blindfold is removed, after his eyes recover from the brightness of day, he realizes he is in an arena watching two men battle each other.  he immediately recognizes them as magic users, and they seem to be fighting to the death.  one of the mages eventually destroys the other.  suddenly tervius grabs ben on the shoulder and tells him he's next.  he is wisked away down the stairs and through many corridors to the entrance of the arena floor.  ben asks who he will be fighting but nobody responds to him. he was very scared.

the master of ceremonies announces the next battle as the mage ben, master thief, vs the masked warrior.  this fight would be a mage vs a fighter.  the final event. 

the doors open and ben reluctantly enters the arena.  he soon sees his opponent come out of the other door. his opponent seems very afraid.  ben notices 15 or 20 archers in the stands with arrows nocked on him and his opponent.  his opponent did not seem willing to fight, but instead was lazily approaching with their sword.  there was something very familier to him about the man approaching.

a small breeze came from behind his opponent, and then it hit him.  a flowery smell, light and airy.  ben's knees buckled as the realization hit him that his opponent was not a man, but instead was none other than his very own wife.  as they approached each other ben noticed the archers getting restless.  then he heard the words yelled from tervious "fight now or you both will die."  thinking quickly ben told his wife simply this, in words he knew only she could hear:

"I love you, and i promise one day to come for you.  our only chance of survival is if we both make this look real." her only response was "yes lover.  i am forever yours."  then her sword was raised.  ben quickly dodged out of the way.  she had obviously had some training, but her heart wasn't in it and she had purposely slowed her swing.  he closed his eyes and began casting.  a bright flash filled the arena, blinding any who were watching.

then ben pulled the wand from his boot and aimed it at his wife.  "i will come for you" was the last thing he said as he shot the spell at her and she was sucked into the earth by his entombment spell, dropping her sword as she fell. it was the only charge left in the mysterious wand.  "may andonias protect you"

ben stood in the center of the arena and waited for the crowd to recover from the flash.  he grabbed the sword and held it in the air as a show of victory.  soon the crowd was cheering.

a few guards came to the arena floor and took ben back to the corridors where tervius was waiting. 

"i know what you did mage.  she will be moved, we will cast the same spell on her, and you will never find her.  i will personally guarantee it."  then tervious took the sword from ben's hand and ordered the guards to hold out his arm.  after a small struggle ben was pinned to the ground while tervious hacked off his left arm.  he let ben bleed until he was about to die, then healed the wound.  "this is a reminder of how you failed to save your beloved wife.  i hope you never forget what a miserable failure you are.  i guarantee you she won't"

then tervius grabbed him and casted a spell, and everything went black.  when ben awoke he was in a strange land, which he soon discovered to be named alorian.  he spent the next 5 years on his knees praying to andonias to reveal to him the location of his wife.  he prayed so fervently that his face would bleed from pressing it into the ground.  many times he wanted to end his life, but he couldn't do it because of a promise he had made.  "i will come for you."

after 5 years he received a vision in the night.  andonias was looking down on him, but he seemed weakened somehow.  "i can't give you what you seek, for to do wo would be to interfere.  i can however give you this.  seek a wish."  then he was gone.  ben arose and splashed some water in his face.  looking at his reflection he saw a different man.  his face was scarred and ugly, and his back was hunched from 5 years of kneeling.  but he didn't care now becaues he had hope, however small it was.  the words kept ringing in his head, "seek a wish........... seek a wish.......... a wish.......... avish.