The Forest of Allund Read online

  I got up and presented to Cleon a fine parchment filled with gold and silver threads and written in the most expensive inks. It was my diploma from the Mage Academy confirming my right to practice magik and my rank as Mage. Cleon took it and looked it over. He stopped, his eyes bulged, and he looked up at me in awe.

  "You have a first rank diploma in all three schools?" he gasped. The others in the room were also startled and stared at me.

  It is a rare accomplishment. Only one other graduate during my time at the Academy had a first rank in all three schools. Most only hold a first rank in one school and hold no rank or a third rank in the other schools.

  I humbly bowed my head. “Yes, Oligarch," I said in a humble voice. "I wish to let you know that I am willing to put those skills at the service of the polis if needed."

  Melina stared at me. "Why are you not teaching at the Academy, or working for the Ethnarch[15], or even working in the temple of Megas[16] Zeus?"

  "That is not what I wanted, my lady," I said. "I learned at the Academy, but I was not happy there. I always felt more comfortable here in Korpolis. It is here that I always wanted to come back to." I did not mention that in Lantia, many of the local students and instructors looked at me as little more than a semi-barbarian from the hinterland. It galled them to death that I did so well.

  "I understand," Cleon proclaimed. "I will present your certification to the Assembly Counsel when it meets.” Cleon looked at the certificate again. “Ye gods, even the archon[17] does not have such a mage working for him."

  Melina beamed at me. "Alexio, the polis is very proud of you. Even without the honors you have, you were always a good boy when we were children. The way you helped with Mother Areaus yesterday was magnificent. Phillipos told me himself he had never seen such skill in using the magik on an old person. It must be wonderful to have the power of the gods."

  That was what I was afraid of. People always think we are more powerful than we really are. "No, I do not," I said, rising. "I do not have the power of the gods. Mages can borrow a little of the power in the realms, but I cannot move mountains, cause quakes, divert rivers, or fly through the air. All of that is far beyond any of us. At best, I can help. Sometimes I can cure some sicknesses, or stop some evil from coming, but I am not a god. I would be guilty of extreme hubris if I said I was. I am merely a small man that has learned a few things that I am good at. I cannot rule a polis. I am useless with a sword, shield, and spear, as many of you know. I am worthless as a farmer, nor can I craft fine art or jewelry. All of us have talents we use to make this world a fit place to live in. I have my skills, the rest of you have yours. We all use the gifts the gods give us."

  With that, I sat down. Finally, Cleon stood up. "Yes," he said. "I see the smart little boy I played with has not only become a mage but a wise man too. Will you leave us soon?"

  "Tomorrow," I told him. "At dawn, I will go out to visit my parent's stele[18] in the necropolis. I will then leave for the forest."

  "Then until tomorrow, you are welcome to stay here," Cleon told me.

  I spent the day mostly by myself, wandering the streets that I ran through as a boy. Even now, many of the boys and girls still played those same games in the same streets. At least now, the children and their parents did not turn away from me as they did after my illness. The adults did look at me suspiciously as I walked down the narrow streets. Whether it was because I was a mage or they thought I was a foreigner, it did not matter. I looked like an outsider. I did notice the shops were open; business looked prosperous. The people, though still mourning the old oligarch's passing, looked happy. Nothing had changed here in the ten years I was away.

  That night, I looked out my window at some of the three hundred forty-two red lights that shined in the night sky. All things in the universe were in their proper place, and for the first time in a long while, I felt content.

  Crack, I heard. I turned and saw a column on the far wall move. I stood up and grabbed my robe. I thought it might be an assassin. I grabbed a short fighting knife and started charging my body to repel the intruder. Rather than a masked figure, the beautiful figure of a woman dressed in a slim white sleeping gown entered from behind the pillar.

  "Melina," I called in a whisper. "What are you doing here? Your brother would strangle us both if he finds us."

  "Since he knows I am here, I doubt that," she smiled. "Besides, my brother is now with two of the new servant girls." Her smile cut through the darkness like a lighthouse beacon.

  "I don’t understand. You are a maiden, what are you doing here?" I repeated.

  "No,” she said walking around my bed. Her ample body was plainly visible through the thin gown, even in the faint light from the palace. She came up and put her arms around me. More by reflex, I held her too. She was soft to my touch.

  "While you were gone, I married the second son of one of the tetrarchs[19]. It was a political marriage arranged by my father. He was distant, but he was nice to me. He loved hunting, so in the first winter of our marriage, he led an eight-man hunting party into the mountains for wild deer and boar. There was an avalanche. We never found their bodies until spring."

  With that, she dropped the flimsy gown and sat down on my bed. I moved away and sat down near her. I felt very uncomfortable with her being there naked. It wasn’t the fact she was naked. I knew well the human body, both male and female. At the Mage Academy, there were women that would provide sex to the mostly male students for a small fee. While visiting these women was not officially approved, it was understood by the Master Mages that men needed these services from time to time. I used the service as needed, but with my build and looks, I was always awkward around women. Many of my better-looking classmates had female friends, but no woman had ever approached me or showed any romantic interest in me.

  I was more surprised and shocked she was here considering the differences in our class. Melina was of royal birth. My parents and I were commoners. I felt very uneasy in the pit of my stomach at her being here. I moved further to the edge of the bed to put distance between us. I felt this was wrong. What would a noblewoman see in me?

  She slid over next to me and then slowly removed the robe from my shoulder and let it fall to my waste. Melina smelled fresh like a spring breeze. She pulled me close to her and kissed me openly and fully on the mouth. I responded again awkwardly, just grabbing her shoulder. She then laid me full out on the bed and removed my robe, and still smiling broadly, got up on top of me and lowered herself onto me. What passed next, I will keep to myself for personal reasons, but it was certainly a new and most interesting experience for me.

  We later fell asleep with her lying in my arms. We awoke in the middle of the night and, after emptying our physical needs, Melina again filled our passions. When I awoke just before dawn, she was gone. I got up just as the first show of Apollo's chariot appeared with the light of new day. I took a cold plunge bath, and then packed my bags and left the palace.

  After dawn broke, I was in the necropolis looking for the small stele that marked my parent's grave. They had died in the plague when I was nine. I had gotten it too, but for some reason, I survived. It did leave me scarred both inside and out, and it stunted my growth. I limped, and I was awkward for years. I could never be a big warrior like Cleon or Iolaos. That prevented me from ever being a soldier. That fact, plus being an orphan and lame, made me almost an outcast in the city. My brain was always quick, however, and I learned fast. Malcor took me in as an apprentice, and I helped him in the forest until I was fifteen when he sent me to the Academy. There, they did not seem to care as much about my maladies. Fortunately, I grew out of most of them.

  I finally found the stele with their names and I reached into my backpack, took out my mourning sash, and put it on. I knelt and prayed to let them know that I had returned and what I had done. Whether this does any good or not, I frankly do not know. Openly I pay homage to the gods, but in truth, I believe in none of them. I doubt if there is even an afterlife,
so what I am doing here may look like hypocrisy. It does make me feel good however and who knows, I could be wrong. After I finished, I stood up and ripped the mourning sash off me. I tied the torn ends together and placed it over the obelisk. It was then I felt a presence in my head. I could tell someone was watching me. I reached into my robe and fingered a fighting knife. I walked carefully toward the road. As I approached, there were Melina and Cleon standing together holding two horses. Iolaos and three guards were with them.

  Cleon held out his hand that I shook. Melina just kissed me on the cheek again. "We found out the thief you caught had also stolen two horses from a distant farm. He goes on trial today. Since we all saw the crime and we have at least ten witnesses, his guilt is beyond doubt."

  "Will you execute him?" I asked.

  "No," Cleon answered with a smile. "Instead I am going to condemn him to be a public slave. For the rest of his miserable life, he will work for the polis. A dead thief does no one any good. A working slave may actually do something useful. I think the first task I will assign him is to clean the market, starting with Mother Areaus' stall. I am sure he will enjoy that."

  I laughed with the others. "I see the wisdom of your father has found a new home," I told him. "May you rule as long and wisely as he did," I said and then bowed to them again.

  Cleon went on. "As for the horses he stole, it is far too much trouble to send them back so I decided to give them to you as a reward for his capture. It is more than a full day’s walk with your bags to Malcor's old place. The horses may make it easier."

  I smiled again, and Cleon helped me tie my bags to the back of the second horse. I tied its reins to the saddle of the first horse and mounted. I leaned over and shook hands with both of them again.

  "The gods go with you," Melina said and kissed me once more on the cheek.

  "And be with you," I said. I kicked the horse forward and with a wave of my hand, started on the next part of my journey home.

  CHAPTER TWO

  HOMECOMING

  The Forest of Allund is a strange place to the outsider. Even its name is strange. As best as Malcor (whose name is also unusual) could tell, this was its name as far back as anyone can remember, even back in the Days of Myth. The forest runs from near Korpolis and follows the Allund River for about a full day’s travel before it ends near the Central Mountains. The Allund River runs down from the White Mountains to the northeast, through the forest, and through the only large gap in the Central Mountains. It then empties into the wastelands to the west. It is in those vast unsettled desert lands that it dries up. The City of Dysiasty lies on the river, three days travel to the west of the mountains. Once past Dysiasty, there are no settlements or people except for the wild men of the desert.

  The road I am on we call the Salt Road because of its use by the salt merchants of Dysiasty and the merchants of Korpolis to trade salt and goods. People do not use it as much nor is it maintained as well as the main roads in the vasíleio[20] of Argina[21]. The salt trade into Argina is what started Korpolis and kept it alive until the area became a center for cattle, sheep, and farming. Now I had the road to myself. Salt and goods only travel by large caravans that contain many men and many more weapons to keep the wild men at bay. Such caravans are infrequent, and so is the use of the road.

  Even though I was alone, I was not afraid. The forest was dense and only clear for less than a stadion[22] on either side of the flowing stream, with the road running down the north bank of the river. On the south side, deer, boar, and other animals fed out in the open, unconcerned by my presence. They only moved back into cover whenever I came within bowshot of them. The other creatures ignored me, and I paid them no mind.

  The main reason the forest is empty is that people are afraid to come here. The forest has a reputation that people who wander around in here do not return home. That fact is true. In the chronicles, there are many stories about hunters who pursued game. None ever returned. People may gather wood along the edge of the forest but will not go into the deep and dark woods. This is not because of the desert men. Those wild men stay in the desert, the forest scares them more than us. Malcor used to say it is because powerful forces protected this forest. I never believed it until he showed me what some of those forces were.

  I rode openly until I came within sight of the old apple and cherry orchard Malcor planted. The trees were still there and looked in good shape. The trees were not my concern, however. The small column of smoke rising from behind the orchard is what concerned me. Iolaos was right; someone was here. I got off my horse and tied it to one of the apple trees. I walked into the grove, keeping out of sight until I could see the old wooden and thatched hut Malcor built and I helped him keep up. For a place not occupied for over five years, it looked in remarkably good shape. Someone had maintained the grove and the small fields that grew grain, vegetables, flowers, herbs, and healing plants. Malcor could be living there now for all I could tell. The outhouse we built over the stream was still there, the small water wheel turned, and the smokehouse all looked in good shape. The column of smoke was coming from the smokehouse. This was no barbarian squatter; this was someone who knew how to take care of a place and did.

  "Whoever is out there, stand in the open where I can see you," a voice yelled from the inside of the hut. The voice was higher pitch, almost feminine in tone.

  A warning can work in both ways, I knew. I summoned the magik to make my voice thunder. "I am no fool. I will come out into the open when you do."

  There came a rumbling noise from inside the hut and a few moments later, the wooden plank front door opened quickly. Out came a flash of white, gold and pink. The diving figure hit the ground, rolled to the right and then took cover behind some barrels near the front door. When it stopped moving I could see it clearly. To my shock, it was a woman: a very big woman.

  I am short and thin, so almost all men and some women are taller than I am. In fact, Melina was about a doron[23] taller than I am. This woman was at least a podi taller than I was and outweighed me by at least a talent[24]. She was young, blond, obviously very agile, wearing a white short tunic, and was now pointing a large war bow, with an arrow already strung, uncomfortably close to my location.

  "You have no need of the bow," I yelled. "If I were going to attack you, I would have done so by now."

  "That is what you say," the woman called back.

  "So be it," I said to myself. I focused my concentration and visualized a higher energy realm that felt easy to draw power from. I directed that power into my right hand and called out, "Pyra." The blue ball easily appeared in my hand. I directed the ball to fly away from me and toward, but not at, the woman. The ball of blue fire flew across the open ground and exploded with a thunderclap harmlessly away from the hut and its occupant. The woman dove behind the barrels at the sound of the blast but was unharmed. The arrow in the bow shot harmlessly into the forest. I waited until she came to her senses and got back on her knees.

  "Satisfied now?" I called out. "I am coming out. Do not string another arrow on your bow, or the next blast will come directly at you."

  I walked out from behind the apple tree and into the open space between the orchard and the hut. I had my arms up ready to cast if necessary. The young woman put her bow on the ground and got up. Her clothing was not the local style. At her side, she also wore a large leather belt from which hung two large fighting knives and a long iron sword. She approached cautiously. We walked toward each other until, as if by mutual consent, we stopped ten paces from each other.

  "Are you a god?" she called out.

  "A god," I laughed. "Tell me, would a god walk around in a puny body like mine?" I let that sink in before adding, "No, I am only a mage."

  "Like the old man who travelers tell me used to live here," she said. Her Greek was good but spoken with a heavy western accent.

  She did know something about this place. "That man was Malcor and he helped raise me and teach me. I have been gone these many yea
rs and just returned from the Academy on Lantis."

  "I have heard of the Academy on Lantis," she admitted. She seemed more relaxed. "I have met mages, but they were only from the lesser school on Syrina[25] where I am from."

  That explained the accent and clothes. "Then you are an Amazon warrior from the steppes of Syrina. I have heard many things about your people, but I have never met an Amazon before."

  Her broad shoulders drooped, "I was," she said weakly, "But no longer."

  She did not seem a threat to me, so I bowed slightly and introduced myself. "I am Alexio Sopholus, mage and citizen of Korpolis."

  She looked me over and did not seem impressed. "I am Philie of the Amazon Antelope Tribe."

  That was a mouthful. "You may call me Alex, as most people do."

  "Call me Philie," she answered.

  "Very well, Philie," I replied. "May I ask, what are you doing here?"

  "Living here," she said bluntly. "I came across the desert, through the opening in the mountains. I found this place abandoned. It looked nice, so I moved in. Now, why are you here?"

  "I am here because Malcor, the previous owner, left it to me in his testament. I was away when he died and only arrived back several days ago. I expected to see the place run down. It looks in good condition for which I am grateful." I bowed slightly as a token of respect for her efforts.

  She eyed me carefully, "You can prove this?"

  I nodded yes. "Malcor's testament is with the oligarch at Korpolis. If you wish, I will have him read it to you."

  "I can read," she said, obviously annoyed I thought she was illiterate.

  She was right; I had assumed as a woman and barbarian she was illiterate. I held up my hand as an apology. "I am sorry; I did not mean to insinuate you are uneducated. In that case, you may read it for yourself. I have no reason to lie to you."