Chapter 4: Kalcifer

Khorag followed the two men through the muddy streets, drawing curious and frightened gazes from the city folk. The word of a mage paying their city a visit spread quickly, especially since he displayed his prowess in front of such a large crowd.

Most people had never seen a mage, only hearing of their supernatural might being sung by bards and traveling minstrels. What they did know about them was that they were arrogant and petty. Never forgetting a slight against them, holding their power over everyone.

Of course, in reality, not every mage was like this. Only the worst of the worst would have tails spun about them. It was a case of a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch. Most witches and wizards either kept to themselves in their towers, or taught at academies spread across the different countries.

The muddy road eventually gave way to paved streets. The closer that one came to the mayor's manor, the better the condition of the roads and buildings. The people walking around were better off as well. None were shambling drunkards, they were well dressed and carried themselves appropriately.

The trio, including Dugong, soon arrived at their destination. The mayor's residence was one of the only stone buildings in the city. Quarried from a distance of one hundred miles, stark white marble stood out in contrast to the other buildings around it.

"Finally, something built by civilized beings. Much better than the shoddy huts I've seen so far." Khorag said, appreciating the architecture.

His two escorts bit their tongues, not replying to the insult to their city. They opened the front door for their guest, ushering him inside. There, standing in fine attire was a short and rotund man. He pulled out a handkerchief, dabbing the perspiration from his shiny forehead. Seeing his esteemed guest, he took short but fast steps, holding out his hand in greeting.

Eyeing the fat man's outstretched hand, Khorag kept his hands to himself. "You must be the mayor, correct?"

"That is true sir mage, my name is Antony Blumfield, Mayor of Sorkin." He stated, ending his sentence by puffing out his chest, straining his buttons.

"If you'd join me in my study, we can talk there."

Down the hall, two doors on the left, the mayor's study stood open, ready to receive its guests. A dark mahogany desk sat proudly in the middle of the room, bookshelves standing tall, surrounding it. A small table was under the window, holding several decanters of various liqueurs.

The mayor sauntered over to the small table, pouring himself a finger of brandy. "Would you like something to drink sir mage? If brandy isn't to your liking, I can have a maid run to the cellar for some wine."

Khorag didn't bother to look over to Antony, he was preoccupied with scanning contents of a book he picked from the shelf. "Wine, yes, wine would be fine." He said, absentmindedly.

"Sheryl, quickly run down to the cellar and get our distinguished guests some of our best wine." He said quietly to a maid that was standing by, giving her a pat on the butt.

"Now, sir mage, while we wait for your wine, could you tell me what brought you to our far flung city?" Antony asked, almost holding his breath for the answer.

Antony was not what you would call a good public servant. He was corrupt to the core, harassing his female staff, avoiding taxes, stealing from the city funds, taking bribes, he'd done it all. There was almost no reason for a mage to visit a city so far away from the capital. The only resources were the trees they harvested. So all he could think of was that the mysterious mage was sent to investigate him.

After waiting over a minute for a reply, Khorag was still thumbing through a large leather book, mumbling to himself.

"Uh, sir mage?" Antony spoke, wanting an answer, but trying to be respectful at the same time.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, yes. I'm just passing through, that's all." Khorag said, waving his hand, not peeling his eyes off the pages.

Relieved, Antony let go of the breath he was holding and once again pulled out his handkerchief to wipe away beads of sweat. All he had to do now was suck up to the man, taking care not to offend him. Maybe he could even pay him off to take care of some of his problems he had scurrying around the city.

"Sir Mage, what should I call you?" He asked, wanting to know the man's name before he asked him anything more personal.

For the first time during the brief interaction, Khorag lifted his eyes from the book and stared off into the distance. "My name? My name? Hmmm, what was it? I know it started with an R, no, a K, yes definitely a K. Let me think,hmmmm." He paused, rubbing his chin between his fingers.

"Kevin! No, that's not it. Karl? No, that's not right either. Kashmir? No, that's a city. How about Kalcifer? Hmmm, I like the sound of that. Yes, that's it, Kalcifer, Kal for short." Kal rattled out, nodding his head, not noticing the strange gaze he was receiving from Mayor Antony.

Clearly, the man in front of him was unstable. Mayor Antony decided against asking him for any favors, that would be a fool's errand. Now his plan was to just get him out of his house as quickly as he could, without angering him. There's no telling what a crazy wizard would be capable of.

Antony let Mage Kal browse through his collection of books, not daring to interrupt his incoherent ramblings. After the longest five minutes of Antony's life, the maid finally returned with a full glass of wine. She took it to Kal and offered it to him, dragging him out of his monolog.

Not bothering to even put the book down, he sipped the wine, sloshing it around in his mouth. The taste was much better than the ale he had at the tavern, sweet, but not too much. The flavors of the fruit stood out, with the dryness of the alcohol burning ever so slightly.

"This is much better than the swill I tortured myself with earlier." Kal said, taking another drink.

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"If you like it, I will gift you the whole bottle." Mayor Antony said, snapping at the maid.

She rushed out of the room, retrieving the corked bottle, then returning with it in hand. She handed it to the mayor, who in turned gave it to Kal with a small bow. Kal took it, before it disappeared into his storage ring, not even thanking the man.

"So, Mage Kal, how long will you be in our city?" Antony asked, finishing off his drink.

"Not long." He answered, putting the book he had in his hand back with a sigh.

"Your collection is lacking. I couldn't find what I was looking for amongst this drivel."

He'd been looking for anything that would tell him about the war from long ago, or anything about what had happened. The mayor did have history books, but they only went back so far, only a few hundred years. Although knowing the countries that had popped up was important, he couldn't care less about them at the moment. The next on his list was knowing about magic, or why there were so few magical beasts in the forest, maybe the mayor would know.

"You wouldn't happen to know of any magic tomes laying around would you?" Kal asked, not getting his hopes up.

"I'm very sorry Mage Kal, I know nothing of magic, or where to find any tomes." Mayor Antony said, pouring himself another drink.

"I didn't think so. How about the monsters in the forest, why are there so few?" He asked another question, pulling his pipe out of his ring.

"Surely you jest, there have never been hardly any monsters roaming the forest. Any there are, the adventurers cull them." He said, opening the window, giving the thick, pungent smoke a route to escape.

Kal took a long draw from his pipe, blowing it out in a thick stream. The mayor didn't seem to care much for the way the smoke smelled. It was harsh on the nose, burning with each breath, making him cough.

"Adventurers? Who are they?" Kal was curious, he'd never heard that term before.

"Well, they mainly clear out the dungeons, keeping them from breaking out. Sometimes they patrol the forests and wilds, killing any beast they find. It's a very lucrative occupation, but is exceedingly dangerous." He explained in between coughing fits.

"Dungeons? What are those?"

"Where the monsters are spawned. They are continuously born, filling up the dark chambers underground. If they aren't routinely cleared out, the monsters will overflow onto the surface, wreaking havoc." Mayor Antony said, taking a deep breath.

Kal had stored his pipe, the room cleared quickly with the window open. He was deep in thought, many of the terms the good mayor had told him were completely alien to him. There were no adventurers, no dungeons two thousand years ago. Monsters roamed the surface freely, not trapped underground, becoming fodder for humans. He was fascinated with the whole thing, eager to study the dungeons, figure out what had happened.

Mayor Antony waited patiently for Mage Kal to finish with whatever he was thinking. The questions he was asking was something that anyone would know. They weren't secrets, it has always been that way, for thousands of years. He was growing more uncomfortable by the minute, glancing over at the tall grandfather clock in the corner, watching the seconds tick by.

"It's decided! Where is the nearest dungeon?" Kal's sudden outburst made Anthony jump, his belly jiggling like jell-o.

"W-well, they're mainly located down south, many are near the capital." He answered.

"Good, very good, I'll be off then!" Kal said, not even looking at the mayor.

He took several large steps, then suddenly stopped at the door. Turning around, he looked at Mayor Antony who was still standing by the open window.

"Right, how do I get to the capital?" Kal asked, his tone flat.

Mayor Antony cleared his throat, wiping some more sweat away. "Well, you take the road south. It's a three week journey by horse, going through two small villages on the way."

"The best way would be to wait for a merchant's convoy to make a trip, but you just missed one the other day. Another should arrive within a month." He added truthfully, although he didn't want the eccentric mage to stay in the city any longer than necessary, he couldn't lie to him.

"Who would want to stay in this city for a whole month? I shall leave promptly, there's many things that require my attention. Fare thee well!" Kal shouted as he resumed walking out of the study, heading for the front door.

Mayor Antony waited a few minutes after Mage Kal had left. Once the maids confirmed that he did in fact leave, he poured himself yet another drink, downing it in one gulp. He'd met mages before, way back when he was going around the social circles of the capital. Mage Kal was by far the most outlandish one he had ever seen, at least he didn't throw around his power causing problems.. As long as he left the city like he said he would, Mayor Antony could go back to his simple life.

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