Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Chapter 5- the magic, the hero and the master of the tower

The town guards had let them through easy enough. Alastar was given some charity gold and left to wonder by the other two, as they each had things they needed to do before they continued. The place was weird, It was bad enough they had left the mountains and forests for the deserts and wastelands, but there were countless creatures around him that he had never seen before. Elves, dwarves, gnomes, hobbits, and more were around him, talking trading, laughing, as if nothing bad had ever happened. Well perhaps not all of them, to his right a minotaur was angrily trying to haggle down what seemed to be a black orc with red markings on his body like zebra stripes, only in a more random fashion, diagonal and horizontal. It was getting violent, and a few humanoid guards had gathered nearby, looking slightly fearful, knowing that both orcs and minotaur are creatures you don’t want to anger, but both were beginning to get angry. Alastar thought it was silly, it was over a small pendant, it probably would not fit the minotaur anyways. Alastar walked closer to eves drop on the argument, as if he needed to, “It’s Just a lousy pendant Grushnak! It doesn’t even have magic! You can’t get away with charging that much!” The orc snorted, “Like you can’t afford it you barbaric bull headed moron, if you don’t like it don’t buy it!”, “its not for me, it is for my beloved you moron! It would fit her, and finally win her heart over to me!” The orc made a fake laugh, “Another one? What is it this time, another hobbit? You don’t seem to understand how things like that work do you?” The minotaur if it was possible had a red face, “SHE, is not a hobbit, she is a dwarf, and I promise you, a dwarf like her isn’t too small for a bull like me.” With this a large grin spread across the minotaurs face as he pointed to himself, everyone around had a look of utter disgust, and Alastar nearly puked on the spot, “HA! I see now what your interest in the little folk is! They are the only ones you can pull your pants down and still look big around them!” The minotaur had nothing to come back with, a few girls around giggled, and without any other words from him he threw down a bag of gold and walked away with the small golden object, his head and shoulders held low, not from shame of the comment, but from shame that he couldn’t fight back with anything. “Well folks, looks like you will have to wait till my next grand adventure, and if you’re wondering, I was going to face Malaki inside his tower! So be ready for the grand stories that await, and when you come with those open ears, make sure you have open purses, as surely a wizard like he would have some grand and valuable artifacts of immense power!” The orc raised his arms in acceptance of the praise that came, the cheers, the hooting and the hollering, he then turned around and began walking in Alastars direction, causing a few females around him to swoon at his approach, children stared up, not in horror of an orc, but stared at him as a hero, a man with honor and courage, as if he were a shining knight.
The orc stopped beside Alastar instead of passing him, “You’re a new face in town, perhaps you’ve heard of me, The name is Grushnak Do’iknal, I am the best looking grag rock orc you will see in all the land, I am also probably the only bard that can’t sing and dance, but I can tell a tell that would grab your soul right out from under your heart!” It was true, this orc was the best looking orc around the town, and Alastar had never read about a handsome orc, only ones that were devilishly evil, that fought with the power of ten men, It was said that the gods of darkness had all banded together to create orcs in an attempt to overthrow the gods of good, an attempt that was said to almost succeed. Alastar saw no proof of that here though. “the real reason I stopped you though, uh…what was your name again?” “Alastar.” Alastar felt only giving his first name was adequate, as if the orc actually wanted something from him, he would need to earn Alastars trust, “Alastar right then, I stopped you as I wanted you to introduce me to that…lusty, bulbous, precious young girl you were with earlier. It was hard not to notice someone so…compelling…walk into town, and uh…why is your old friend heading towards Malaki’s tower? If he is another hero coming to take my glory, don’t think for a second I am gonna let him take MY credit. That is MY tower to topple, not his.” Alastar was surprised at both the request and the threat; he was not sure what to answer first. “I am not sure what Elias is up to, and Kristina should come around by the end of the day.” The orc made a thoughtful face, “Kristina, what a beautiful name, and here I was thinking she was a northerner, but with a name like that she could be from…hmm, but that body is hard to deny, northerners rarely come down south, and when they do their usually taken, and are on some important mission… I guess I’m stuck with you kido, as it has been a long time since I have bed a northerner, and I was thinking she would be the right girl to settle down with, have some Halfling children to share in my glory.” The rest of the day was long and annoying, the orc never shut up, he spoke of past deeds, lost loves, his plans, and things he wishes he could do. Alastar tried to ditch him a few times, but it never worked, and instead of taking the hint, the orc simply wrote it off as Alastars stubborn forgetfulness, and would give him a story of an old thief friend he had once, that tricked a dragon into given away all its gold, only to be eaten up by another dragon a few years later. Some of the stories were actually interesting, either that or it was the discounts he got for being with the orc at lunch and supper. The orc even paid for Alastars supper and got him some fresh pie to go with it, at the most expensive place in town. The orc had called it dining like a king, It reminded him of a less tasty version of Maria’s cooking. If that was the best the world had to offer, Alastar decided that Maria must have been the greatest cook in all the world, and perhaps as a bonus was that her amazing cooking was free.
Finally as the sun began to set he went back to where Kristina and Elias had left him, and only a few seconds later Kristina appeared, “Alastar, I have decided to teach you magic, then you will understand that it’s no myth, how you could have grown up with out…” Kristina stopped and looked at the orc, “Hello my dear lady, my name is Grushnak do’iknal, but you can call me Grush, or even Crush, I must say you are the most gorgeous human I have ever laid eyes on, and I promise you, these eyes have been across half the continent of Ailslund, Midgain and through the Medalian desert. There has never before been a better treat to see than you.” Kristina raised an brow, “flattered really…You’re a cragrock orc aren’t you? You speak great common though…perhaps that’s just paint on you instead, I know the Ancient blood orcs use a lot of body paint, yours looks like war paint…I have heard there are only three cragrock clans on this continent, which one are you from?” The orc scratched his chin, seemingly deep in thought, “Beats me, wasn’t even aware that there were clans on this place…I must say though, it is more rare than not to find someone who knows something I do not. Perhaps we could sit and talk over dinner tomarrow? I will pay naturally, heroes like me have troves of gold and platinum coins just laying around, waiting to be used, why I constantly am handing out gold, but the rewards from my quests are just too much for me to rid myself of, it almost fills like my honor is being bashed to pieces!” Kristina sighed, “No offense but I am not to keen on your attempts to woo me, If ya don’t not quit, I am gonna have to stomp ya? Got it?” The orc only grinned and leaned down so that he was eye level with Kristina, “Fiesty, gotta love em that way eh? Alastar?” Why did he have to bring Alastar into this? Why did everyone have to bring Alastar into their wooing attempts? Was it a pity check? Just knowing that a person is stuck with Alastar would probably bring much pity on that person, “I couldn’t care less what your tastes are, obviously she has no interest in you, and If I am going to learn about magic, I would much enjoy it if you left.” The orc looked taken aback, “how cold! After all I did for you today, perhaps though I will stay and watch your training, after all I have a few pointers that could come in handy” Kristina frowned, “Fine just don’t get in my way, or I will make sure you don’t ever get in anyone’s way again.”


A risin moon, a few hours, and a headache later, Alastar had learned a few words of magic, draconic Kristina had said, language of the dragons, the most powerful words a wizard could use. She said there were other magic languages also, fiendish like the sorcerers use, demonic like a warlock, celestial like the priests, and more. She explained that fiendish and demonic were not evil, as fiendish was created by man to fight the elves long ago, and the fiends of the world adopted it as they found the language to their liking, and demonic was created by an angelic race now extinct. Celestial is common in the realm of Celestia, were extra planar creatures of law abide, not all are good, one one third she said. In the plane of Celestia everything was even, 1/3 good beings, 1/3 evil beings, and 1/3 neutral beings. Celestia was also known as the realm of law, the land of judgment and order. Celestial is a language no being in existence can lie in, therefore priests find it the best language to convey their message in, as they also know that all Deities supposedly learn Celestial. Kristina explained that wizards unlike sorcerers are more focused and practiced, and it was rare for anyone to actually become a wizard unless they were to be studious as a scholar, and born with the innate talent. She explained that wizards focus in a less general area of magic, and she explained the different schools of magic that all magic fell into. He learned of abjuration magic, the defensive magics, conjuration, summoning magics, divination, the scrying magics, evocation, creation and destruction magics, enchantment, mind magic, necromancy, death magic, and transmutation, altering magics. Though he only learned a few actual spells, he went to sleep that night with a lot to think and dream on. The unfortunate part was his dreams only consisted either of Maria or the orc, Grushnak, who had bought them a place to sleep, and decided to stay in the same inn, his snoring could be heard a mile away it seemed. Earlier that day when Kristina was giving her lesson, Grushnak was sitting and listening intently. It seemed he learned a few things. It made Alastar happy to know he was not too high on his horse to drop a few hours for other people’s knowledge. Alastar rolled over, turning his thoughts to Elias, wondering where the old fool could be, and what trouble he must be causing.
The horse’s hooves thundered across the road, until it hit soft sand, the town was walked through so much that its roads were hard dirt, but the outer area was untamed and never would be. Elias pushed this horse as hard as he could through the dirt; it was bred and trained for such activities. He would make it to the tower before the sun set. His only problem was his mind would not leave the children. Well, thought Elias, they are not children, but still, Alastar knows very little, and he worries me so. I do hope Kristina will take care of him if I do not make it back. I do hope my old friend remembers me. Elias knew this would end badly, but hoped, for Alastar and Kristina’s sake that it did not. He rode hard, his thoughts revolving around the trouble the two would be causing alone right now. He pictured them sleeping outside of town when he got back early in the morning. It would not surprise him one bit, Kristina was head strong and Alastar was as stubborn as a mule.