Inevitable Destiny - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

        “I found the Earth Stone, my Lord,” Na-Loki said as he knelt down before Reulan, the Dark Lord of the Duroth.  “However, the Magi showed up before I could retrieve it.”
        “Your failure disappoints me, Na-Loki,” Reulan snarled.
        “It was not a total loss, my Lord.  Just before the Magi arrived I discovered a boy with immense raw power with magic.  More powerful than anyone I have ever encountered.  If we could get him to join us…,” Na-Loki offered, still kneeling with his eyes fixated on the floor.
        “Did the Magi find this boy as well?” Reulan questioned, pondering their options.
        “Yes, he did my Lord,” replied Na-Loki.
        “We must not let the Magi have him,” Reulan said.  “I want you to return to Rovallia and bring this boy to me.  I will have his power.”
        “My Lord, what if the Magi already have him?” asked Na-Loki.
        “Kill him,” Reulan answered.
        “As you wish, my Lord,” Na-Loki replied.

        After he left the Strife home, K’kar immediately began to weave strands of magic through his Elemental Stone and formed the Travel Way that he would use in order to return to the Tower of Elements in Cantori.  The air in front of him began to shimmer and ripple and K’kar stepped through.  Each time that someone used a Travel Way the experience was the same.  The world sped by in a blur of colors and textures too quickly for anyone to make out where they were at any given time of their journey, but it did not really matter.  It would be reckless and dangerous for anyone to attempt to exit the Travel Way before they reached their destination.  Aside from having virtually no idea where they would end up, there was no guarantee that they would come out on the ground.  The workings of the Travel Ways were not even fully understood by the Magi who used them.  They had been discovered by accident centuries ago by ancient Magi, before the Duroth had separated themselves from the Magi and started down their path of evil and darkness.  Quite a few Magi had met their ends attempting to learn how the Travel Ways worked before the Magi High Council had issued a proclamation halting all tests on them that involved Magi field-testing their theories.  What was known about the Travel Ways is that they moved the people traveling along them at incredible speeds and that the only safe place to exit them was at the final destination that the Magi who had created the Travel Way had established.  Some Magi scholars believed that the Travel Ways not only manipulated space to move people from one place to another, but also time.  Some believed that the Travel Ways manipulated time by radically slowing it down outside of the Travel Way while speeding it up inside, however no one had yet quite figured out how to prove that particular theory.
         K’kar stepped through the shimmer of air that was the end of his Travel Way just outside the city of Cantori.  It was safest to form the exit outside of any city’s limits in order to prevent someone from accidentally passing through the exit as it formed.  It had happened a few times and those people had been lost, never to be found again.  In some instances, however, exiting the Travel Ways inside a city, or even a building, could not be helped.  As the Travel Way winked out of existence behind him, K’kar looked over the city of Cantori.
         Cantori was home to the Magi.  The Tower of the Elements rose up from the center of the city at least ten times taller than any of the surrounding structures.  The Tower had been built first, and the city that surrounded it had sprung up as more and more people came to train with the Magi.  Most of the people who came to the Tower of the Elements in order to become Magi did not complete their training.  It was a grueling process designed to weed out those who were not strong enough to live the life of a Magi.  However those who did not become Magi were not simply thrown out to fend for themselves.  There was a lot of work involved with keeping the Tower running, and the city of Cantori had been born from that need.  Those who came to the Tower to train but did not become Magi typically provided the supporting work for the Tower, and in exchange the Tower provided them with a comfortable life.  The sun was still high in the sky as K’kar began down the road that led through the city to the Tower.  In the light of the rising and setting sun, the Tower shone with nearly every imaginable color which lit up all of the surrounding buildings.  The overall effect was to make the city of Cantori appear to be glowing from the inside out, and it left most first-time visitors to the city in awe.
         The streets of Cantori were filled with people on horseback, people in carts being pulled by entire teams of horses, and of course people on foot going about the day to day business of the Tower.  As K’kar made his way from the city gates to the Tower, the masses of people in front of him made way for him to get through.  Anyone in Cantori would recognize one of the Magi and they were given the respect that they deserved.  There were those who resented the Magi for casting them out of the Tower and not allowing them to complete their training, but those people either left Cantori nearly immediately upon leaving the Tower or very soon afterwards.  The crowds thinned as K’kar approached the outer gates of the Tower and the Magi Guardsmen that were posted at the entrance held a closed fist over the symbol of the sun that was worked into the chest plate of their armor as they let him through.  The Great Sun, with the six signs of the elements of the world contained inside, was the symbol of the Magi.  All Magi wore the symbol on their armor.
         K’kar made his way through the grounds of the courtyard to the Tower.  He walked past the stables where some 60 horses were housed with stable boys running about their various chores, and chuckled to himself as he watched a young stable boy attempt in vain to rein in a wild horse.  The courtyard was bustling with activity.  At one end, one of the Guardsmen was giving instruction to a new group of inductees to the Order of the Magi, while at the other end a group of students further along in their training was practicing using magic to levitate boulders of various sizes.  Usually K’kar would spend some time in the courtyard conversing with the various Magi Masters training their students; however he had much to do before returning to Rovallia to begin the journey with Cecil to the Tower so he continued on up the entrance steps and into the Greeting Chamber of the Tower.
         The Greeting Chamber of the Tower was a large, open room adorned with seven massive tapestries along the walls.  On either side of the carved oak double-doors that served as the front door to the Tower were three tapestries that each depicted the individual signs of the elements of the world; Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit, and Time.  Hanging on the back wall, and nearly three times the size of the other tapestries, hung the most ornate of the decorations.  The signs of all six of the elements ran along the border of the tapestry, while centered near the bottom was the Great Sun.  Above the Great Sun, and the main focus of the tapestry, was a picture of Vor’an, the High Seat of the Magi.  The High Seat was the leader of the Magi.  Although the High Seat of the Magi did not have an actual kingdom with established borders to rule over, he was generally accepted as more powerful and influential than any King, Queen, or any other type of ruler across the known land.  Directly in front of K’kar stood the room’s only furnishing; a large oak desk with carvings that matched those on the outer doors.  There were also doors at either end of the Greeting Chamber which led into the Tower.  Seated behind the desk was Orlana, a petite woman who usually wore her long auburn hair in two thick braids running down to the small of her back.  Orlana came to the Tower to train to be a Magi, but was not strong enough with magic to complete her training.  Her skills and training did not go to waste, however, as the Order of the Magi assigned her to work as the Tower Liaison.  It was her job to arrange the meetings of the High Council and any meetings between the High Seat and the rulers of any lands which required an audience.  She also saw to the day-to-day matters of the Tower and was, in K’kar opinion at least, the most informed and influential person in the Tower save for the High Council and the High Seat himself.  She looked up from ledger she was writing in as K’kar crossed the Greeting Chamber and smiled warmly at him.
         “Ah, K’kar, my favorite Magi.  You’re back much earlier than expected,” she beamed up at him as she put her quill down on the ledger of Tower finances she was working on.  “I wonder, is it good news or bad?  What brings you back to us on such short notice?  Something urgent, I take it, as we have not received any messages from you as to how your hunting of Na-Loki is going since you left.”
         “In that assumption, Orlana, you would be correct,” K’kar said as he reached into the enchanted pouch hanging at his side and pulled out the list of supplies he would need for his journey with Cecil and handed it to her.  “I am going to need all of these items, and I do not have much time.  I mean to leave again before nightfall, and I have much to arrange before then.  Would it be possible for you to collect the items on that list for me before I depart?”
         “Of course Magi K’kar,” she said as she read over the list.  “Let’s see; flint, opate ointment, cotton gauze, a mortar and pestle, salted pork…” She trailed off, not really speaking to K’kar or anyone in particular.  Orlana tended to think aloud as she organized her thoughts, and those who knew her well usually just ignored her ramblings and let her continue on un-interrupted, which is exactly what K’kar did.
         “Thank you, Orlana,” K’kar said.  “I will be leaving before nightfall.”
         “I will have the supplies you requested sent to your personal quarters within the hour,” Orlana replied, only momentarily glancing up at K’kar to flash him a friendly smile before returning to the task at hand.
         K’kar turned and headed towards one of the doors which led into the Tower.  Orlana was still scribbling away furiously at K’kar’s list as he opened the door and continued on.  The doors inside the Greeting Chamber were enchanted so that only a Magi could open them.  Not even one of the Magi Pupils, the beginning trainees to the Order of the Magi, could open one of those doors without being trapped in a cage of Air and bound in weaves of Spirit.  It was something of a rite of passage within the Tower to be tricked by some of the more advanced students into springing the trap on yourself during the first few days at the Tower.  K’kar’s boots clicked on the marble stairs which led from the Greeting Chamber to the Grand Library.  The Grand Library was a central office of sorts for the Magi in the Tower.  All of the walls were packed floor to ceiling with copies of very nearly every book ever written.  Housed along with the books were maps of every inch of the known world, as well as charts of the explored areas of the oceans.  It was in the Grand Library that most of the Magi did research for the various tasks and experiments that they were working on.  K’kar himself had spent countless hours seated in front of one of the four fireplaces used to heat the room researching and studying the Elemental Stones.  There were nine doors leading out of the Grand Library.  The two on the back wall led back down into the Greeting Chamber.  On the walls on either side of those were three doors, each with a different symbol of the elements carved into it, which led to the living and meeting areas of the different Magi Clans.  On the front wall directly across from the doors which opened up into the Grand Library from the Greeting Chamber, was a large oak door carved with the symbol of the Great Sun.  This door led to the antechamber, study, and living quarters for the High Seat along with  the meeting hall of the High Council.  The High Seat’s door was flanked on either side by two universal doors.  These doors were enchanted to go wherever the person who opened them wanted them to, within the Tower of course.  They were the only way to reach the numerous storerooms inside the Tower which housed the Magi’s many magical artifacts, as well as the only way to reach the Pupil’s areas of the Tower.  K’kar crossed the library, paying little attention to the handful of Magi scattered about currently absorbed by their work, and stepped through the High Seat’s door and into the High Seat’s antechamber.
         The chambers of the High Seat and meeting hall for the High Council were located on the top floor of the Tower, however not one stair needed to be climbed in order to reach them.  The doorway in the Grand Library which led to these chambers was enchanted, as were all of the doorways in the Grand Library which led to other areas of the Tower.  In fact there was only one set of stairs in the Tower, save for the two small flights which led from the Greeting Chamber into the Grand Library, and that was a narrow flight of access stairs which ran up the back of the Tower and connected to every floor.  The stairway was built by the craftsmen who built the Tower, used by them to reach each new floor as they built it.  The Magi had never intended to use stairs to climb the Tower, and now the access stairs were used primarily to humble young Magi whose heads had grown considerably too thick and conceited.
         Seated behind a desk in the antechamber of the High Seat was Roland, the Jijun of the High Seat.  The High Seat’s Jijun was a sort of secretary, personal assistant, and personal librarian all rolled into one.  Roland was considerably younger than Vor’an, and was appointed Vor’an’s Jijun because Vor’an had been friends with Roland’s father, Mikai, and had promised him that he would look after his son when Mikai died.  Vor’an had treated Roland like a son of his own, and Roland had long thought of Vor’an as a father.
         “K’kar! This certainly is a surprise,” Roland said as he looked over his list of Vor’an’s appointments to make sure that he had not overlooked an appointment with K’kar.  “What brings you here?”
         “I need to speak with Vor’an, and I don’t have much time,” K’kar told him as he sat down in one of the chairs opposite of Roland.  “I have to leave the Tower again by nightfall and have to speak with him before I do.”
         “I don’t think that will be a problem,” Roland said as stood up and turned to enter Vor’an’s study.  “Let me go and tell him that you are here.  I am sure he will be able to see you right away.”
         “Thank you Roland,” K’kar said to Roland’s back as he slipped into Vor’an’s study.  Glancing around the antechamber, K’kar noticed that Vor’an had changed the decoration of the room since the last time that he had been there.  Many of the tapestries that adorned the walls had been changed, as well as the door that led into the study.  The previous door had been blue and plainly cut with no carvings.  The new door which stood in its place was a deep cherry-wood color with an intricate carving of all six of the symbols of the elements running around its border and the Great Sun carved into the center.  While K’kar was staring blankly at the door, wondering when Vor’an had found time to change it, Roland stepped back out of the study and into the antechamber.
         “Vor’an will see you now, if you are ready, Magi K’kar,” Roland said while holding the door open for K’kar.
         “Thank you Roland,” K’kar responded as he headed towards the study.  “It was good to see you again.  When I return again we will have to have a drink at the inn and catch up.”
         “I would like that very much, Magi K’kar,” Roland said humbly, bowing his head slightly before closing the door to Vor’an’s study behind K’kar.
         Vor’an’s study was brightly lit by three enormous windows which took up one entire wall, with each window flanked by flowing, deep red curtains.  The walls opposite the window was stocked floor to ceiling with all sorts of books that Vor’an used on a regular basis.  In the center of the room was a large oak table which was covered with maps and charts with various marking which no doubt stood for the numerous safe-houses that the Magi used and the locations of Magi who were out on assignments from the High Seat.  Vor’an himself was seated in an over-stuffed leather chair behind a massive oak desk which matched the table in the room concentrating intently on an aged-looking scroll.  Vor’an looked up as K’kar entered the room and a look of concern crossed his face.
         “I am not sure if I should be pleased or concerned that you have returned to us so far ahead of schedule K’kar,” Vor’an said as he stepped out from behind the desk to greet his old friend.
         “I do not come bearing bad news,” K’kar told him as he grasped the forearm of Vor’an while Vor’an did the same.  The grasping of one another’s forearms was the traditional greeting between friends.  “I do, however, have a long journey laid out before me.  In the village of Rovallia, while hunting Na-Loki, I discovered a boy that quite possibly has the most raw talent with magic that I have ever seen.  Also, to complicate matters, Na-Loki witnessed the boy’s skill as well.  I have no doubt that the Duroth will be looking for him in order to train him and get him to join their ranks.  The boy’s name is Cecil, and Na-Loki attacked his older brother Edgar and seriously wounded him.  I have tended to his wounds and am confident that he will make a full recovery, but he is going to need protection from further aggression from the Duroth.  I told Cecil that we will look after his brother and his mother, Jolene, for a time while we train him as a Magi.  I plan to return to Rovallia by nightfall and set out with Cecil by first light tomorrow to bring him to the Tower.  I will also need a couple of Magi to stand guard over the boy’s family in Rovallia until Edgar is healed enough to be moved to one of our safe houses.  All with your approval, of course, Vor’an.”
         “And you are certain that the Duroth will come after this boy and his family,” Vor’an asked after thinking over the situation for a few moments.
         “Positive,” K’kar replied.  “With proper training, I believe that Cecil could become one of the most powerful Magi that we have ever seen.  I do not think that the Duroth will let the possibility of adding such power to their ranks escape them without trying to persuade him to join them.  I also believe that if they are unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade the boy that they will kill him in order to prevent his joining the Magi.”
         “If you are correct about the power that this boy possesses, we cannot allow the Duroth to acquire him, and the boy’s family will need protection,” Vor’an finally concluded after a few more brief moments of consideration.  “The Tower shall support you in your endeavor.  Take any supplies that you will need.  Orlana will gather them for you.  I would also like you to take Vander with you.  He should be able to help you avoid detection from any Duroth that track you from Rovallia.”  Vander was a Magi Guardsman, and an old and trusted friend of Vor’an.  Guardsmen served as protectors of the Magi.  Although they could not use magic, they were widely considered to be the best swordsmen in the entire world.  They dedicated their lives to the protection of the Magi and mastery of the sword, although most were highly skilled in the use of any and all bladed weapons.
         “Who will protect the Strife family, Magi Vor’an?” K’kar asked.
         “Raiza and Sabina will accompany you to Rovallia.  They will stay there with the family until the brother is well enough to travel.  They will then bring both the boy’s mother and brother to one of our safe houses and send word to you once they arrive,” Vor’an answered while scribbling away on a bit of parchment what was no doubt instructions for Roland to give to the Guardsman and two Magi who would be returning to Rovallia with K’kar.
        “As you wish, High Seat Vor’an,” K’kar said, bowing his head slightly before turning to leave.  “We shall leave by nightfall and will keep you posted with our progress.”
         “Please give this to Roland when you leave,” Vor’an said, handing K’kar the bit of parchment.  “I fear that it may be some time before we see each other again.  Take care of yourself and have a safe journey”
         “Thank you, my friend,” K’kar said as he opened the door to antechamber and stepped through. 
K’kar walked over to Roland, who was seated behind his desk reviewing Vor’an’s schedule of appointments, with the bit of parchment in his hand.  Roland looked up and smiled friendly at K’kar as he strolled up to his desk.  He took notice of the parchment which K’kar held and closed the leather-bound appointment book.
        “Instructions from the High Seat?” Roland asked as K’kar handed him the hand-written note.  The list of instructions itself was concise and to the point, so much so that it only took Roland a moment to read over the whole thing.  “It says here to give you as many silver pieces as you need.  And gold coins as well.  I take it you will be gone from the Tower for a while.  How much will you need?”  Silver pieces were most commonly accepted form of currency in most towns and villages.  It wasn’t that merchants did not want or would not take gold coins, just that one gold coin was worth nearly one hundred silver pieces and most of the things that one would buy from a merchant were not expensive enough to warrant the use of gold.  K’kar had to be careful with the gold as well.  Flashing around too many of the gold coins would draw unnecessary attention to him and quite possibly attract the attentions of the Duroth.
        “Two hundred silver pieces and ten gold pieces should suffice,” K’kar said after quickly doing a few calculations on the probable costs involved with getting Cecil to Cantori safely in his head.
“A bit more couldn’t hurt.  Better safe than sorry, I always say,” Roland chuckled, a bit more to himself than to K’kar.  “I will prepare a purse with three hundred silver pieces and twenty gold coins for you.  Where should I find you?”
         “I will be in the stables,” K’kar said.  “Would you please send word for Raiza and Sabina to meet me there once they have made their preparations as well?”
         “It would be my pleasure,” Roland said, getting up from his seat behind the desk and extending his arm to K’kar.  K’kar grasped his forearm and Roland did the same and the two smiled at each other.  “Have a swift and safe journey, K’kar.”
         “Until we meet again, Roland,” K’kar said.  He turned and walked out the door that led to the Grand Library while Roland headed back into the Vor’an’s study to gather the gold and silver which was kept in an enchanted safe there, only able to be opened by the High Seat himself.
         The Grand Library was now bustling with people.  It was nearly time for the evening meal and the Magi Pupil’s had a bit of free time after their afternoon lessons before they ate.  Scattered groups of them gathered in clusters around the library studying different things for which they had upcoming tests, such as Magi history or medicinal properties of naturally occurring plants, flowers, and roots.  Some of the Pupils were sprawled out on the over-stuffed reading chairs in front of the fireplaces reading various books of their own choosing.  There were no full-fledged Magi in the Grand Library save for K’kar.  The Pupil’s days were filled with rigorous training exercises and tests, so the Magi did their best to clear out of the Grand Library during the only bit of free social time that the Pupils had so that they could relax.  K’kar swept across the Grand Library past all of the Pupils and headed back down the marble steps to the Greeting Chamber.
         Orlana was still seated behind her desk in the Greeting Chamber, back to working on the ledger she was originally working on when K’kar arrived at the Tower.  In the short time that K’kar had spent with Vor’an Orlana had no doubt gathered all of the supplies that K’kar had requested and had them bundled and placed in K’kar’s personal quarters; her ability to accomplish tasks set before her promptly was one of the many reasons that K’kar enjoyed having Orlana work for the Tower.
         “I gathered everything that you requested and gave the bundle to the stable boys to pack your saddlebags, Magi K’kar,” Orlana said as K’kar walked over to her, grateful for any reason to take a break from working on the High Seat’s schedule of appointments.  “I take it your meeting with the High Seat went well and you will be on your way again shortly.  I hope that you won’t be gone from us for too long.”
         “I am not entirely certain how long my journey will take.  I plan on traveling as quickly as possible,” K’kar told her.  “The Duroth want the young man that I will be returning to the Tower with, so the sooner that I can get him here under our protection the safer he will be.”
         “I wish you the best of luck on your journey,” Orlana said sincerely.  “Although with you to protect him on his way here he should have very little to worry about.”
         “Thank you, Orlana,” K’kar said, bowing his head to her slightly.
         “You are very welcome, Magi K’kar,” Orlana replied.  “I will be looking forward to your return.”
         “As will I,” K’kar replied, then turned and headed back out the large oak double doors of the Tower and into the courtyard.
         The courtyard was quiet compared to when he arrived at the Tower.  The Pupils had all finished their afternoon lessons, so the only people moving about were the stable boys leading horses about from one end of the courtyard to the other.  The horses that the Magi kept at the Tower were walked about and exercised twice a day in order to keep them ready for long journeys at a moment’s notice.  At the opposite end of the courtyard from the stables was the Training Circle and Guardsmen’s quarters.  The Guardsmen handled all of the Pupils’ training in swordsmanship, archery, hand-to-hand combat, and any other bladed weapons that they wished to become skilled at using.  The training process to become a Magi Guardsman was nearly as grueling as the process to become a Magi, except that Magi Guardsmen could not use magic.  As a result, Cantori was home to a good number of people who had come to train to be Magi Guardsmen and failed.
         As K’kar headed across the courtyard towards the Guardsmen’s quarters the sound of metal striking metal filled the air.  Four Guardsmen were seated on a group of boulders just outside of their quarters watching a pair of Guardsmen spar against one another in the Training Circle.  K’kar slid silently up to the four spectators and took a seat on an unoccupied boulder to watch the sparring match between the two Guardsmen, both of which he knew.  The two Guardsmen who were sparring were Griff, a Magi of Time Guardsman, and Vander, a Magi of the Flame Guardsman.  Griff was a bear of a man, nearly twice the size of Vander.  They both fought with their shirts off, and their chests were sweat-drenched in the stifling late afternoon sun.  Griff fought with an enormous double-edged battle axe, grunting with each powerful swing.  Vander fought with a pair of razor-edged katanas, slicing them through the air so quickly that they became almost invisible.  Despite his being nearly half the size of Griff, Vander was quite terrifying as an opponent.  His chest and arms were covered in large, black, swirling tattoos, and his ears were pierced with large metal spikes.  The tattoos and ear piercings were traditional of warriors from his home land of Dubai.  Griff heaved his massive battle axe at Vander, who blocked the blow with one of his katanas and rolled off to his side.  He slapped Griff on the back with the flat side of his free katana and the four Guardsmen spectators to the sparring battle erupted in applause.  Apparently Vander had won the fight, and the two grasped each other’s forearms before Griff stalked off in defeat with his massive battle axe slung over one shoulder.  K’kar remained seated on his chosen boulder, waiting for Vander to acknowledge him.  Vander graciously received the compliments of his fellow Guardsmen until K’kar caught his eye and he walked over to the Magi of the Wind.
         “Magi K’kar,” Vander said as he approached.  He was not even breathing heavily despite the sweat that dripped from his forehead and rolled off of his chest.  “What brings you here today?  I haven’t seen you here on the Tower grounds in quite some time.”
         “I come with an assignment of utmost importance to the Tower.  An assignment from the High Seat himself,” K’kar said as he slid off of his boulder, landing in the soft dirt in front of Vander.
         “As the High Seat Vor’an commands, so I obey,” Vander said, holding a closed fist over a tattoo of the Great Sun on his chest just above his heart.
         “You will be traveling with me, and I expect it to be a bit of a lengthy journey,” K’kar told him.  “We will use the Travel Ways tonight at sun down to travel to the village of Rovallia.  From there we will be escorting a boy back here to the Tower for training.”
         “Ahh…,” Vander intoned, scratching his bald scalp.  “I take it that this boy is of high interest to the Tower to warrant a personal escort.  My participation can only mean that there will be, shall we say challenges along the way…Duroth perhaps?”
         “That would be a fair assumption,” K’kar said, sidestepping around actually telling him that the Duroth would be chasing them.  “Meet by the stables at sundown.  You need only bring your personal items and weapons that you wish to have with you, I have arranged everything else.”
         “Very well, Magi K’kar,” Vander replied, holding his closed fist over his heart once again.  “I must take my leave to prepare myself.”  K’kar slightly bowed his head as Vander turned and headed back to the Guardsmen’s quarters.
         The sun was beginning its descent in the sky behind K’kar as he crossed the courtyard and entered the stables.  The building which housed the stables was long and wide, with four rows each containing twenty individual stables.  The stables housed horses of all sizes and colors; however a few of them were empty.  Every Magi had their own horse and usually brought them with on long journeys that the High Seat had given them.  At the far end of the building a stable boy was saddling K’kar’s horse Domero.  Domero was a bay colored Lusitano that had just recently begun to grey with age.  He was a large horse, standing nearly sixteen hands high with a powerful neck and hindquarters.  Domero was a fiercely courageous stallion with great balance.  K’kar had rescued Domero from a life of back-breaking labor with the Duroth nearly ten years ago, and the two had come to rely on and trust one another over the years.  Domero neighed as K’kar walked up beside him and ran his hand over the stallion’s thin, fine skin.
         “He’s all set,” the stable boy said, pulling the leather strap on the bulging saddlebag closed.  “Domero here was the last one to be saddled.  The others are lashed to a post outside.  Magi Raiza and Magi Sabina are already out there tending to their mares.”
         “Thank you,” K’kar said, gripping the reins resting on Domero’s neck and leading him out of the stables.  Raiza and Sabina were outside as the stable boy had said, standing next to their mares, Tara and Sodder,  gently brushing their manes.  Raiza was a petite woman with long, flowing hair that was so black it was almost blue, while Sabina was a rather stocky woman with short, spiky blonde hair.  They both wore well-crafted wool riding dresses underneath their Magi breastplates.  Raiza’s dress and breastplate were both red, since she was a Magi of the Flame.  Sabina’s dress and breastplate, on the other hand, were both a deep green as she was a Magi of the Earth.  Worked into the center of both women’s armor were their Elemental Stones, just like K’kar’s Air Elemental Stone; however Raiza’s was a Fire Elemental Stone and Sabina’s was an Earth Elemental Stone.  Raiza also had a large, curved-blade sword hanging from a sword belt at her waist which had a Spirit Elemental Stone worked into the hilt.  Sabina wore a number of knives hanging from her sword belt.  K’kar had seen Sabina use her knives in battle before, and she was more deadly with four inches of steel than most people were with a large long-sword or battle axe.  Also, knowing Sabina, K’kar would not be surprised if she had a dozen more knives hidden about her body.
         “It is good to see you again K’kar,” Sabina said without stopping her brushing or even looking up at him.  “Been stirring up trouble with the Duroth again, have you?”
         “Not quite,” K’kar chuckled, “But I suppose that you could say that.  Have you both been informed of the situation we are facing?”
         “Yes,” Raiza answered, “By Vor’an himself.  This boy must be important to warrant a reaction of this sort from the Tower.”
         “Yes, I believe that he could be,” K’kar replied. 
        Jaks, Vander’s strong black Andalusian warhorse, began to trot in place anxiously as he saw Vander walking around the side of the stables to join them.  Magi Guardsmen were easily identified by the lamellar armor that they wore.  Lamellar armor consisted of a series of parallel armored scales which allowed for maximum mobility during battle while still offering exceptional protection.  The scales were enchanted to assume the colors, shades, and hues of their surroundings, which made it especially difficult to achieve more than a glancing blow when fighting a Magi Guardsman.  The method by which the Magi Blacksmiths created the armor was a closely guarded secret, known only by the blacksmith himself and his highest apprentices.  Vander’s hands rested on the katanas hanging on either side of his sword belt as he walked, as if he expected an ambush at any moment.  It was very difficult to surprise a Guardsman, let alone a Guardsman who was prepared for battle.
        “Magi Raiza, Magi Sabina,” Vander said, running a hand down Jaks’ neck to calm him.  “I hope that I have not kept you waiting long.”
        “Not at all Vander,” Raiza laughed.  “K’kar himself just arrived moments ago.”  Vander accompanied Raiza nearly every time that she left the Tower grounds as her protector, even though she was entirely capable of protecting herself.  Anyone who watched the two interact could tell that they had feelings for each other; however their relationship remained that of a Magi and her Guardsman.  Not for lack of trying on Raiza’s part; Vander believed that allowing a romance to develop between them would put Raiza at risk so he remained simply a Guardsman to her.
        “We best get going,” K’kar said and hooked his foot into one of Domero’s stirrups and swung into his saddle.  Raiza, Sabina, and Vander did the same, and Vander grabbed hold of the reigns to lead the unmanned horse which was for Cecil to ride.  K’kar took the lead of the party, and Domero set the pace at a steady trot.  The sun was resting on the horizon as the group rode out of the Tower grounds past the Guardsmen posted at the entrance, and the Tower had begun to shine in the sun’s final rays of the day.  The crowds in the streets of Cantori had thinned as most of those who lived there had either gone home to their families for the night or gone to one of the inns to begin drinking, so the party was able to maintain a steady trot all the way out of the city limits.  K’kar brought Domero to a stop just outside of the city at nearly the same spot that he had stepped out of the Travel Ways earlier that afternoon.
“We will use the Travel Ways from here,” K’kar informed the rest of the group.  He wove threads of magic through his Elemental Stone and the air in front of him rippled once again, opening up the Travel Way they would use to get to Rovallia.  K’kar turned Domero to the Travel Way and took one last look at Cantori and the Tower.  The sun had nearly fully set and the light shining off the Tower lit up the entire city.  It will be some time before I see the Tower shine over Cantori again K’kar thought to himself as the group stepped through the opening and entered the Travel Way.