Published: 10 Oct 2019

Bowling Green – to – Barrone

Alexis and Rudy’s trip to Bowling Green is uneventful until they arrive. “Look.” Rudy bites off the word. He points to the horses tied in front of the smithy.

Alexis sees four horses. They are fine examples of the species, and almost certainly have at least some elven heritage. There are two stallions. There is also a filly, and a brown mare with white stockings on both nigh legs.

“They look very much like the horses described by Arthur and his companions, do you think?” Alexis asks.

“Don’t forget,” Rudy says. “I saw their horses only a few years ago during a blizzard, and helped groom them. Those are Arthur and George’s, for sure; and Gary’s, too. I think Larry has gotten a better horse since then, though.”

The door to the shop is closed, and does not open when Alexis tries the latch. “Over there,” he says. “That will be the entrance to the home.”

A boy responds to Alexis’s knock. “We have a letter for the family of Mastersmith Edgar,” Alexis tells the boy. “Are you Severus or Prius?”

“Prius,” the boy answers. “How could you know to ask that? I’ve never seen you, before. You are strangers in this town.”

“Because everyone comes here,” Rudy says. “And if we lived here, you would know us.”

“Yes,” Prius says. “And how do you know that?”

“Here is the letter,” Alexis says. “We are also looking for people who might be our friends. They ride horses like those, outside. They are Arthur, George, Larry, and your brother, Gary. Are they here?”

Prius’s eyes widen. “My brother Gary, whom I never knew, has come home, and now, people with a letter for us come looking for him! Please, wait here.” The boy scampers away to return a moment later with his father and another boy.

“Gary!” Rudy cries.

Gary rushes to embrace Rudy. After a few moments, Mastersmith Edgar interrupts their kiss. “I suss you know these boys, eh?”

Gary smiles. “I met Rudy ages ago, well, a couple of years ago.” He looks at Alexis. “I don’t know you, although I see that you are his companion.”

“This is Alexis, my forever-companion,” Rudy says. “He knows all about you and Arthur and George and Larry. And, he has a letter from James and Cooper.”

Gary stands on tiptoe to give Alexis a kiss. “Be then welcome, beloved companion of my friend.”

By this time, the foyer is crowded with boys. Mastersmith Edgar gestures them away from the door. “Shoo! All of you. Back to the kitchen.”

This is Arthur, Alexis thinks. He’s the oldest tween, and has silver hair. The tween across from him: black hair and violet eyes. That’s George. The tall boy with the brown hair. That would be Larry. The older tweens, they’re Gary’s brothers – Alan and Eddie. And that would be Severus.

George speaks first. “Rudy, where’s Sam? Is he okay?”

Rudy thinks for a moment before answering, “Yes, he’s okay. He’s on the farm where I grew up. Tomorrow he will bring a wagonload of produce to Barrone for First Market.” And will learn that I am missing.

“But why are you here?” Arthur begins, before the Mastersmith clears his throat. “Eddie, please read the letter to us.”

To our dear friends, from James and Cooper,

We are well, and hope you are, also. Duke Ivan remembers your hospitality when we visited Bowling Green, and asks us to thank you.

Ivan and Alan want to establish a smithy at the castle, and wonder if Allen and Eddie and maybe Davey would like to come here. There is a wonderful smithy that lacks only someone to operate it. We have to take horses a day south for shoeing, which is not only inconvenient, but also potentially harmful to the animals.

Cooper has taken on duties at the castle as greeter (and sembler, which is where his talent is taking him, even though he is years away from becoming a tween). He and Ivan spend a lot of time together. Although there are other boys here, Cooper and Ivan are the youngest, by far, and are of a similar age – and mien. They’re both scamps. Sometimes, I think they vie to see who can get the other deeper in trouble with their pranks.

I spend half my time at the castle and half at the town a day’s ride south, where we have established a second temple and school. A dozen boys have enrolled as probationers, and are learning the skills of warriors as well as how to read and write. One or two may become healers, and at least one appears to have magical talents.

The bearers of this letter are friends in whom I have complete confidence. They have told us many things about themselves and about the forces of Good and Evil that are currently threatening Arcadia and Elvenhold. Please invite them into your confidence. They have important things to tell you, and important information for Gary and his companions who are expected to visit you soon.

“How did he know?” Gary whispers to Rudy.

“When he finishes …” Rudy replies.

Alan continues to read.

A trade caravan is scheduled to come through Bowling Green at the time of the Bila First Market. If Alan, Eddie, and Davie wish to move to the castle, they could travel with the caravan. They will need to bring only personal items, as the smithy, like the rest of the castle, is completely stocked with tools.

“Ha,” Alan interjects. “As if I wouldn’t bring my own hammer.”

“Does this mean we’re going?” Davey asks.

Alan looks at his father, who nods. “Give me time to tell your mother,” he says. “But not right away. She’s so happy at Gary’s return.”

After supper, the Mastersmith invites all the boys into the forge. From a drawer under a charcoal bin, he pulls a jug and cups. “This is cider … frozen and concentrated last winter. Just a sip, especially for the boys. It has a kick.

“My family and my home have been a locus of events” he continues as Alan pours. “Some of those events have been magical. I told Arthur years ago I do not fear for Gary, because he was brought up in the Light.

“I still do not fear for him, even though Arthur said they will be pursuing a great Darkness. Still,” Edgar turns to Alexis, “I would like to know what is behind your visit.”

Alexis begins the telling. “A thousand lifetimes ago, there was born a boy who would become a mage and a storyteller. This boy lived many lives. In each life, he was a redheaded boy, a storyteller, and a powerful mage. His stories are recorded in a book, called The Book of Heroes. Tonight, he sits with us. His name is Rudy.”

Alexis pauses.

“You’re that Rudy?” George whispers.

Rudy nods, and continues the telling. “One is the story of Arthur and George, and their first visit to Bowling Green. The story is based on what they told me two winters ago, when we met on the Southern Mountain Road.”

Rudy looks to Alexis, who picks up the narrative. “Rudy wrote that story, as well as others in a book. George, you have a copy of the book. I have a copy, as well. In my copy, the story continues, and tells of your travels to Barrone and your stay at the College of Magic; of the attack on George and the dagger Larry intercepted; of the death of the gnome; of your departure from Barrone and of the two sounds you heard.”

George interrupts. “Your copy tells about us? Mine doesn’t!”

“That is correct, George,” Alexis says. “But yours does tell about Marty and Chandler, and their rescue, doesn’t it?”

George understands. “Your copy tells you what you need to know. So does mine.

“Awesome!” George concludes.

Alan adds what is missing. “We talked with Ivan and his friends about the sounds you heard. We told them that you seek the dark echo in order to counter it. They are most anxious that you visit the castle. They, too, believe the echo came from near them, perhaps the other side of the mountains.

“There are many other stories in the book. Some of them, we dare not tell, because they foretell future events. Some are hidden even from Rudy, who wrote them – or will write them.”

The Mastersmith uncorks the jug once again. “I remember telling Gary there wouldn’t always be small beer.” He chuckles. “It appears that small beer isn’t the only thing that may be hidden from our heroes.

“Yes,” he adds. “I know that Gary and his friends, and now you” – he nods to Alexis and Rudy – “are heroes. I’m happy that Gary has a place in this story; I hope that my other sons find their places, as well.”

Alexis responds. “You and all of your sons are remembered in The Book of Heroes. Not every hero wears a sword. Not every hero is a knight errant.

“Arthur, you once told George that you were, in an earlier life, a blacksmith whose life was spent making weapons and armor for soldiers of the Light and who died when defending his town from Darkness. You were then as much a hero as you are, today. The same, I think, applies to others.”

Arthur shakes his head. “We told that story to Rudy only a few years ago. We are glad to be in Rudy’s stories, but I do not think we are heroes.”

Alexis collects his thoughts. “I don’t know quite how to say this. Let me try.

“What is a hero?” Alexis asks, and then answers his own question. “A hero is an ordinary person who does something extraordinary, at some risk to himself.”

Alexis looks over the boys and tweens assembled in the smithy. “You all have done that. You and your companions. You,” he looks at Mastersmith Edgar. “You are willing to put your family in harm’s way because it is right. That makes you and your sons, heroes.”

“Rudy must return to Barrone, if only to reassure his friends, including Sam, that he is safe.” Alexis says.

“And because you are driven there?” Arthur asks.

I cannot tell him the last bit of the story. I cannot tell him about the mage who watched him and who may have guided him. I cannot answer his questions about destiny and whether he is a cat’s-paw. Alexis thinks.

“I do not know if we must go there because it is ordained,” Alexis says. “But I do know without question that Rudy left friends, there, friends who will certainly be worried about him. It will take us another two months to reach Barrone.”

“You could travel faster by boat.

“Hmm?”

“It takes a boat only a ten-day to reach the City of Arcadia; a boat from there to Barrone would need perhaps another ten-day. That would cut your travel time more than in half.”

“I cannot imagine Orion on a boat,” Alexis protests.

“Leave him here,” Arthur suggests. “For I believe that someday, you will return here and to the castle. There’s a herd of Clydesdales at a farm near here. They’re all mares. The owner – one of them, at least – is an old friend. He’s mighty secretive about where he got the horses, but I bet he’d like a stallion.”

“The farm of Master Granville,” Alexis says. “That is where my master bought Orion. He didn’t tell me about the mares. I wonder, I wonder if he foretold this.”

Arthur takes Alexis to the horse farm. Master Granville recognizes Orion, but is startled by Alexis’s offer. “Will you take Orion into the herd until I or someone I designate should have need of him?” Alexis asks.

“You wish to sell the stallion? I can offer you no more than—”

“Not sell, board with you in return for his services at stud,” Alexis says.

Master Granville stutters at the generosity of the offer until he realizes Alexis is serious. “I shall do as you ask,” he says. “He and the others I will hold in trust for you until there is need.

“I think,” the hyperion says, “I think destiny is at work, and I’ve been given a chance to do something important. Thank you.”

Alexis and Orion look into each other’s eyes.

“You will be happy, here,” Alexis says. “There are seven fillies of your kind.

“I think you are the father of a new race – a race that will become the destriers of this age. I think you and I will find one another, again.

“However, for now, we must part. Rudy and I have to reach Barrone quickly. We must take faster transport than you have provided.

“This is something boys say, but I think it means something between us, as well, If I do not see you again in this life, I will look for you in another.”

Alexis puts his face against Orion’s huge nose. The tween’s tears flow down the horse’s face. “I will be here when you need me.” Orion thinks. “Thank you for keeping my feet clean.”

Arthur’s estimate of their travel time is correct; the ship docks at Barrone only two ten-days after the boys leave Bowling Green. Rudy and Alexis walk back and forth on the quay to accustom themselves to ground that doesn’t rise and fall with each swell of the sea. Then, “Where should we begin?” Alexis asks.

“I must get a message to Sam. He will have learned by now that I am missing. He will be worried; but, first, we have to go to the college, where I am sworn,” Rudy replies.

The door of the College of Magic opens to a narrow hallway. A few feet from the door, a small table constricts the hallway. Behind the table sits a boy with yellow hair. He wears a blue tunic belted at his waist, and sandals. He smiles. “Welcome to the College—

“Rudy!” the boy interrupts himself.

“Petrus!” Rudy answers. The boys embrace.

“Where were you? Who is this? What happened?” Petrus asks. “I must tell the masters!” He repeatedly tugs the bell-rope.

People fill the hallway – robed masters, journeymen in tunics and smocks, and boys in a kaleidoscope of kinds and colors of clothing. “Silence!” The voice of Master Criticus cuts through the babble. “Please return to your studies. Petrus, show Rudy and his companion to my laboratory. And someone please find Marty and Chandler, and our newest visitors and bring them, as well.”

Marty and Chandler’s greeting is as effusive as Petrus’s had been. Master Criticus agrees to send a message to Sam. Rudy is beginning to relax when two boys burst into the laboratory.

“Mark? Kevin? Are you … are you really you? How…? Oh! You followed me!” Rudy grips Alexis’s hand, tightly. “Oh, you shouldn’t have! I shouldn’t have!”

Alexis grasps the situation instantly. “You followed Rudy through the gate he created.” Openmouthed, Mark can only nod. Alexis turns to Rudy. “You did nothing wrong, Rudy,” he says. “You are not in trouble.”

“You seem quite free dealing with an apprentice sworn to me, and who has been missing under unusual circumstances for several tendays,” Master Criticus says. “Yet you also seem quite confident you are justified in doing so.” He raises his eyebrows.

“I am justified in a way only a very wise man can understand and resolve,” Alexis says. “You see, Rudy and I swore eternal brotherhood about a month before he swore his oath of apprenticeship to you. That was also about three days after he swore that oath to you.”

Marty’s voice fills the silence that falls after Alexis’s announcement. “He speaks the truth as he knows it, Master.”

“There is only one explanation,” Chandler says. “Rudy went through a gate; the gate took him back in time where he met Alexis, and swore to him before he swore his oath, here.”

“Very close. Rudy went through two gates,” Alexis says. “One took him to Mark and Kevin’s world. The second gate brought him back to this world about two months ago. I was waiting for him, following instructions in The Book of Heroes. It took us less than a day to realize we were forever-companions and to swear to one another.”

Master Criticus asks the more practical question. “You say there is a resolution?”

“Yes, Master,” Alexis says. “But only you can make it happen. Please understand, I must be part of the solution. Rudy will become a great mage in this life. Even before he and I met, he was remembering, and he is using the great magic with precision and control. Still, there is much for him to learn. The best way is for him to be a student, here. It would not, however, be suitable to have this conflict hanging over his head like a sword on a thread that could break at any moment.”

Master Criticus understands instantly and speaks without hesitation. “Rudy, I release you from your oath of apprenticeship without prejudice. You are now free to consider and swear a new oath, if you wish. The new oath would in every respect and regard be subordinate to the oath you took with Alexis.

“Alexis,” the master continues, “we bring into apprenticeship boys who will become powerful. They sometimes lack gravitas. They will learn to create magic faster than they learn to control it. I must have a way to control them. I will not say discipline them, for discipline is an adult trait; I will not say punish them, for punishment seldom achieves anything.

“You are a tween and I see maturity in you. You are also a very powerful mage. However, there is a wildness about your magic. You have had some training, but could, I think, use more.

“That, too, must be part of the resolution. Alexis, if you and Rudy agree, you both will swear oaths. You will be responsible for controlling Rudy. If you are going to do that, you must live at the college; but, you must earn your way.

“I think I will make you Provost of the College and put you in charge of controlling all the boys and tweens. There will be other duties which we can discuss.”

“Master Criticus, if Rudy agrees – ” Alexis begins.

“I agree!” Rudy says instantly.

“Master Criticus, since Rudy has agreed, he will take a new oath of apprenticeship. I will take an oath, as well, to be a student and to endeavor by precept and example to keep the natural high spirits of the boys channeled in constructive paths.”

Master Criticus smiles. “We will make these oaths after supper in front of the entire body of the college, after which Rudy and your first duties will be to tell us of the adventure that took Rudy from here and returned you both.”

Chandler invites Alexis to exchange scrubs, and more, after supper. Alexis is happy for Rudy to be able to share with Mark and Kevin, both of whom scrub the boy amid a stream of giggles.

“Alexis, you led Master Criticus to the solution that suited your ends and is best for Rudy and, I think, the college. Perhaps, it is best for World. You are very clever. Are you a lawyer?”

Alexis stares at Chandler. “A what?”

Mark, Kevin, and Rudy share a bed and more. They aren’t sure who asks whom, first.

“You promised to look for me,” Rudy says afterwards. “I didn’t know that meant giving up your own world.”

“Rudy,” Kevin begins, “I wasn’t really looking for you. I was ready to try anything to escape.” He shudders. “I was going to kill myself – jump into the gorge – if this hadn’t worked.”

Mark gasps, and then hugs Kevin closely. “Oh, please, no! Please tell me you wouldn’t have left me!”

“That was long ago, my beloved,” Kevin says. “That was in a place where I was raped by my brother while my father stood silent. It was a place where the only alternative was child protective services, where I’d be put in a home or a juvenile center, where I’d still be raped. I couldn’t take any moret!

“Mark, I love you, and I really like it when we have sex – share, that is. I like it, because I know that you’re trying to make me feel good. When my brother raped me, he was trying to make only himself feel good. You know how to make me feel good. But mostly, I love you because I know you care.”

After the hug that follows Kevin’s words, Mark speaks. “It took me a while to figure this out,” he says. “But I know for my mother, I was only a meal ticket.”

He giggles at Rudy’s perplexed expression. “What I mean is she saw me as a source of income – money from the welfare people, more money than she’d get without me. As long as I ate less than the welfare people paid, she was okay with me.

“I don’t know what happened, but her welfare checks started getting smaller.”

Mark frowns. “Either that, or she found other ways to spend money. In any case, I’m pretty sure she figured out I was more a liability than an asset, and was trying to find a way to get rid of me.

“Kevin, if you had asked, I would have jumped into the gorge with you,” Mark says.

Rudy gasps, and then hugs his friends tightly. “I am so glad you didn’t do that.”

This book wraps up many of the stories of World, though we hope it is not the last from the fertile mind of David. Let David know you are reading: David dot McLeod at CastleRoland dot net. He deserves your feedback.

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