The Arcane Tides

Kael's rump bounced lightly in tune with the wheels plodding over rocks and sticks along the back roads leading away from Ashwood. He'd watched the rickety little village slowly sink over the hill as he and father sat at the back of a tradesmans wagon. Mother was up front, having relented to Kaels repeated begging for her to come along. He would not risk leaving one of them behind and losing the other to some fluke of fate- plus, if Baeli was born (the name of his younger sister), he wanted to make sure he and father were there for her. He could tell mother was close, but still a week or two out at least.

"What is she like, father?" Kael asked innocently, knowing much more about Lirael than he let on but wanting to keep up the act for appearances sake. His father pursed his lips. He was sitting beside Kaelan at the back of the wagon, their legs hanging off it as they rode along.

"I'm not totally sure- I've only heard of her, I've never met the woman."

Kael nodded, giving an "Oh..." and seeming to take that as that. The road they were on stretched for several miles along the Vale mountains, in the opposite direction of the Rune sea. If you were to look at Ashwood from above, to its right would be the ocean, and directly above the town was the mountains. They ran west for forty miles before curving upward, forming a sort of "C" shaped shield against the demon countries beyond them. The Vale mountains were home to rogue sorcerers, dragons and powerful magicked traps laid to protect bandits and pirates. Not many ventured there and returned. The forest ran to the west of the village for a few miles, then south all the way to the Deserted Scales, a wasteland of sea and sun. That was nearly a thousand miles away, though. The woods, called Downdrawn forest was well known throughout the continent. It too housed monsters and villains of various kinds- but they too held ancient ruins and various dungeons one could plunder, if you possessed the mettle for it.

Kael had a bad taste in his mouth at the thought- he'd ventured through some parts of that forest at one time, seeking weapons of magic and might to crush his enemies. Now that he had his family back...all of that could wait for someone else to hunt it down. He washed his hands of it.

His father, having stayed silent for a moment, continued much to Kaels surprise.

"I will tell you what I do know. She is an elf witch. An Archmage of the Kingdom of Auburn Vale. I know we call these the Vale mountains but closer to the capital they refer to them as the Reach. Remember that, so you dont insult some noble fool by referring to that dangerous place after our homeland." Kael was listening, nodding when needed as his father took a deep breath. "Thankfully, elves reside with humans in peace and have for as long as anyone can remember. The same can't be said for dwarves or demons- the dwarven people are extremely rough around the edge and unless you come with money or machination they really have to interest in us. And demons..."

Kael cocked a brow. So did Malakar.

"Demons come in different shades. We refer to all monsters and beasts as part of demonkind but honestly, that's not accurate at all. The ones we call demons are actually a race called Daemons (pronounced Day-monz). They'd probably find it incredibly insulting being called Demons, as most of them don't really have horns and pitchforks and tails. Now...the things that run on all fours and lack a mind of their own are actually categorized simply as monsters. Strictly speaking, there are no true demons on this plane."

Kael was blown away- nobody had ever corrected him on this, not his former master, not any of the demo- er, Daemons he'd killed and not Malakar. He sent a questioning signal into the ring and Malakar sniffed, brushing his metaphorical nose.

"We're not stupid. We know what you call us. There was a time we might have been annoyed by it but we've accepted it as the ignorance of the lesser races."

Kael snorted inwardly, careful not to let his father hear it. Jackson waved it off, though.

"Ah, well I'm getting away from the point. Point is, Lirael is an elf, and had been around for about a hundred years. As an Archmage, she is only outranked by the King of Auburn Vale, and nobody else. So she's a rather important figure, as are the other Archmages. Together, they work with the Grand Magus of the SOM to make sure all mages are cared for and looked after. Normally, we wouldn't even have a chance to approach someone like her but there has actually been word, even in Ashwood, that she has been seeking someone gifted in the use of Aether....so maybe we'd get an audience pretty quickly."

Peering back at them and adjusting herself in her seat, his mother turned and spoke up too. Clearly she'd been listening.

"Kael...Mages are....actually quite rare. There's more than a hundred million people in the Vale alone and yet, less than then thousand mages are known to exist among all three of our races. So...you're in a very special class of people, son."

Kael nodded, still mulling over his fathers words in his head. He didn't know that Daemons and humans and elves were actually relatively close together in physiology but when he looked back at the face of Ilyana, she looked human. The only difference between them were sharpened teeth and claws, and that looked like it might have been a forced transformation. It was no different than the ears of the elves of the small stature of the dwarves- it was simply part of them. He scowled to himself. He didn't like this train of thought. Thankfully, the sound of the driver behind him cursing snapped him out of it. His father turned back in his seat as the wagon rolled to a stop.

"Bandits."

So close to Ashwood? They were barely a day a way. Kael didn't like the sound of that. He snuck a peak over the top of the wagon, taking account of the five men who stood there with clubs, axes and a single crossbow. His father gently pulled him down.

"Quiet. Let the trader handle this."

The man in the seat had stood with a crossbow of his own, ready to face off with the men.

Kael watched and waited, ready with shields for his mother and father, should this go south.