Chapter 29: Chapter 28

Nym woke up in the middle of the night and walked back to the wall. He already knew that staying in the outer ring was a trap, and that if he wanted to claw his way upward, he’d have much better luck in the middle. He also wanted to have some words with that attendant who’d never mentioned to him that he needed some sort of identification to move closer to the center of the city.

Since he had no money and no way to get it in the immediate future, he used magic instead. Judging that there were too many unknowns to going directly over the walls, he flew up the mountain instead. There at least he was sure he wouldn’t be spotted by guards or caught by any magic that might have been placed there specifically to detect anyone trying to sneak over. He was in a city of magic, after all, and there was no telling what it was capable of.

So he skimmed the stone of the mountain, at times flying almost completely vertical, until he was a thousand feet outside the bounds of Abilanth. And then he just went a few hundred feet to the side and came right back down. His shoes touched down on the smooth stone of a middle ring street and just like that, he was back where he started. No one came running, no one started shouting at him.

 At least one thing had gone right. Not much else had for him since he’d gotten to the city. Just about all of his assumptions had been wrong, but he was more or less stranded now. There was no way he was getting a teleport back, even if he wanted one. He had no idea how far it was to the next closest town, he had no food or money, and living off the land wasn’t really an option. Everything he’d seen indicated that he was in a barren, rocky land, not conductive to scavenging a meal.

Nym found a new alley to rest. It wasn’t as sheltered as the one he’d left, but he considered it a small price to pay if it meant he’d have the run of the middle ring for the day. He tried to go back to sleep, but it eluded him and he was still wide awake when the sun came up. Tired and sore from the cold, he rubbed his eyes and tried to work the kinks out of his muscles.

His stomach grumbled, but he ignored it. It wasn’t the first time he’d gone hungry and it wouldn’t be the last. Of more concern was the scratchy dryness of his throat. It was getting bad to the point that he started mentally debating the merits of flying a few thousand feet up the side of the mountain to eat some of the snow painting the peak white.

It was obvious that the city survived on its magic. They probably imported all the food and raw materials they needed since they lived in such an inhospitable location. That made it a lot harder to survive on his own since there were no free resources up for grabs. The more he explored, the more he got the sinking feeling that he’d screwed up enormously coming to Abilanth.

His big advantage was his magic, but he’d come to a place where that was common. Maybe he was a better flyer than other mages, but it didn’t matter here. If he was going to survive, he needed to expand his magic. He wasn’t going to do that at the Academy. He’d have to teach himself, and he’d have to do it quickly before he starved to death.

With that thought in mind, he started hunting down bookstores. In a city with more concentrated magic than anywhere else in the country, maybe even in the whole world, there had to be plenty of books that he could study from. He would find them first, and then, one way or another, he’d get access to them.

Finding the bookstores wasn’t hard. They were everywhere in the middle ring, and they did indeed have the kind of books Nym wanted. The issue was of course that he was broke and none of the owners were interested in trading some labor. Worse, books were three or four times more expensive in Abilanth that what he’d found at the bookstore in Zoskan.

Nym cased out eight bookstores throughout the day, all the while trying to ignore how thirsty he was. They all had interesting books that he thought he could learn from, and they all wanted way too much money. He picked out two stores to revisit that night on the basis that the owner of one was a jackass and the other looked the least defended. It was near the wall on a street that had no guards stationed nearby and had a pair of second story windows that Nym thought he could gain easy entry from.

Once, when he was coming out of the fifth store, he almost panicked to find himself walking into a column of twenty men who looked like guards. On closer inspection, he upgraded them from town guards to professional soldiers. They looked grim and carried full packs as they marched in time. He watched them go down the street and people scramble to get out of their way. They turned towards the mage guildhall and disappeared.

Relieved that it had nothing to do with him and his scouting completed, Nym retreated to an alley to wait for it to get dark.

* * *

 The streets were empty and the night sky was overcast. Nym couldn’t ask for better cover. He floated in the air in front of the window, studying it using the spell he’d accidentally made when he’d attempted to make a dark vision spell. Everything was white and details faded into the background after a few feet, but he could see the outline of the shutters perfectly.

He discovered that he could see through the shutters like they were glass, which made it even easier to locate the inside latch holding them closed. A precision burst of air flipped it back, giving him access to the glass beneath. That wasn’t locked, and he just pushed it open to gain access to the bookstore. Nym closed the shutters behind him and paused, ears straining. Everything was silent.

Confident that he was alone, he descended to the floor. It was harder to navigate with his sight limited to a few feet around him and with the strange see-through outline quality everything had, but eventually he found the shelf he was looking for. At least, he thought he did. The weird white vision had another drawback he hadn’t initially realized: he couldn’t read anything printed on the books, and that included the titles.

He let the spell go, hoping there would be enough light to at least confirm he’d found the right books. That was not the case, and he was just as blind. Mentally cursing, he grabbed one at random and brought it up to the glass window to try to read the title. That didn’t provide the light he needed either. It was ironic how appreciative he was of that cloudy sky just a few minutes ago, and now that he was in the store itself, he couldn’t tell what he wanted.

There was no help for it. Unless he could whip up a true dark vision spell on the fly, he was just going to have to go by memory. He closed his eyes and thought back. The snooty manager had been standing by the table holding the book Nym wanted to know the price on. When he’d found out Nym couldn’t afford it, he’d put it back on the second shelf. Nym tried to mentally count how many books from the left it was.

He traced the shelf in question to the seventh book and pulled it out. It felt right, the right thickness, the right size. He remembered a gilt embossing on the title page and flipped the book open to check. It was there. Excitement coursed through him. If nothing else, he had found the one book he wanted. All he had to do now was fly back out through the window and close it behind him. Someone would eventually realize it was gone, but hopefully long after they’d forgotten Nym had ever expressed any interest in it.

If he read it fast enough, he might even return it and take another one before anyone realized. He laughed at the idea of treating the book store like a library. No doubt the owner would have a fit if he ever found out, but there wouldn’t really be any harm done.

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He reactivated his quasi-dark vision spell and spread out the books a little bit so there was no obvious gap on the shelf. Then, mission completed, he flew back up to the window and slipped through it. As soon as he passed through, the book in his arm started screaming. Nym was so startled that he dropped it. He quickly snagged it with a cushion of air and brought it back up to his hands. An aura of magic surrounded it, emitting the ear-piercing sound.

There was no help for it. He spun in place and chucked the book back into the store, hoping that would shut it up. Then he slammed the window close, noted that it somewhat muffled the sound but the book was definitely still creating a racket. He considered closing the shutters too, but it would take precious time to relatch them and he could already hear guards approaching.

Nym flew off, skimming the roofs and checking to make sure there was nobody nearby when he had to pass over streets. He spotted several patrols, but none of them noticed him in the dark. Over the next hour, he kept moving, putting distance between himself and the bookstore he’d attempted to burgle. Only once he was far enough away that he didn’t see active guard patrols every few minutes did he finally slow down.

“Well, that could have gone better for you,” a voice said from right next to him.

Nym just about fell off the roof in surprise. He spun in place to see a lanky man squatting down, looking out over the city. It was impossible to make out his features in the dark, and even then, Nym was almost positive he was wearing a mask under the hood of his coat. Whoever the man was, Nym hadn’t seen him approach, and he seemed to know about the burglary.

There was no reason to admit to a crime though. “Who are you? What are you talking about?” he asked.

“I mean your attempts to abscond with some valuable merchandise from the Quill and Bindings. I suppose you weren’t aware of the alarm spells set to go off whenever a book leaves the building without authorization. Rookie mistake, really. It could happen to anyone. Your entry and exit, however, that was good stuff. Very stable flight, and if I don’t miss my guess, fine control over a lock you couldn’t even see to open the shutters from the inside.”

Nym’s stomach dropped into his shoes. Whoever this man was, he’d seen everything. “Who are you?” he asked again.

“You can call me Valgo,” the man told him. “I have a… let’s call it a business opportunity for you. I could use someone with your talents to help with my work.”

“What work is that?” Nym was skeptical. He’d been all over the city looking for work, and nobody had been impressed with him. Whatever Valgo wanted, it was doubtful that it was something Nym wanted to be a part of.

“The same kind of work you do,” Valgo told him. “I know a bit of magic. You know a bit of magic. With a bit of training, we could get anywhere and take anything.”

“That sounds like a bad idea.”

“The bad idea was stealing from a bookstore without understanding the wards. Did you even know that they existed?”

“…no.”

“There you go then. You’ve got much to learn, my little lightfoot. You come work for me, and I’ll teach you all you need to know.”

This wasn’t the kind of education Nym had come to Abilanth to obtain. He wanted to learn magic, not thievery. The theft had been an act of necessity. He’d even been planning on returning the book once he was done with it! Maybe. It depended on how bad he needed money and if he could find a pawnshop to buy it.

When he didn’t say anything, Valgo told him, “You take a day or two to think about it. When you get desperate, come to the Ivory Haven on the west side of the Outer Ring and ask for me.”

Then the man was gone, disappeared into the dark while Nym fled to a new roof. He didn’t stop moving until the sun was fully up and he was sure that Valgo wasn’t still stalking him. How the man had seen everything, and then followed him from roof to roof for over an hour after without Nym ever noticing, that scared him.

What scared him even more was that he still hungry and very, very thirsty, and with each passing hour, his options were fewer. If he didn’t want to die in the streets, he might not have a choice but to work for Valgo.

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