Shaman Chronicles Ch. 02

Author's note: Hey guys! This is my second chapter of "The Shaman Chronicles" and I just wanted to tell you some things. I REALLY appreciate the feedback! And I WILL try to write longer chapters, starting with this one. It will be hard for me since my exams are due in the few months. Still you're positive feedback more or less made my whole week, so keep doing what you're doing and I am motivated to sit down and abuse my poor little keyboard some more!

I (and you should too!) want to thank A.L. for supporting me the way you did and for proofreading this little story of mine. You're the best!

That being said, enjoy the newest chapter of "The Shaman Chronicles"

Sincerely WorldWarWalther.

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Thorus just stared at the young boy sitting in front of him. Could it be true? Could his event have taken place right after his birth? What Jarko said made sense, but was still too phenomenal to be true. Snapping out of his stupor Thorus declared that they'd need to sleep now, because of the long way they needed to get behind them, if they wanted to reach the Academy on time. They headed upstairs to their respective bedrooms, not speaking a single word.

"Sleep tight little boy! We gonna hit the road when the sun rises." Thorus told Jarko before they slipped through their doors. Jarko peeled of his cloths and used the wooden bucket of water to wash himself. Then our Magus-to-be laid down on his bed nearly passing out from exhaustion.

When Thorus heard his new acquaintance snoring like only farm-boys could he smiled, wishing him a dreamless sleep. He'd need it! They still had three days of journey in front of them before they'd reach the academy. He silently cursed their cart. With horses they would need only two days, tops. He studied his maps to see, if they could stop at a bigger city where they would be able to sell the cart, and buy two horses as well as some fresh clothes for Jarko. He decided to go a short way around ,stopping at Arcadia. From there it would only be half a day longer if they had horses.Finally he packed away his maps and went to sleep ,dreaming of a man blinding himself with his own hands.

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"Wake up boy!" Thorus yelled ,strolling into Jarko's room. Cringing ,Jarko opened his eyes to see the smiling bear-man standing on the foot of his bed.

"C'mon, get up! Or you won't be a Magus when your twenty!" Thorus laughed

"God damnit", Jarko thought, "how can he be this awake so early?"

"Hurry up already! I'll wait downstairs for you." Thorus said, halfway out of Jarko's room.

Jarko slowly put on his clothes, which were freezing cold and still somewhat damp. He made his way to the dining-room where Thorus was already eating some bread with cheese and drinking from a wooden cup. Jarko sat down realizing, that he wasn't even hungry. So he just watched Thorus eating up.

"Are ya sure you want nothin' to eat?" Thorus asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Yes..." Jarko answered.

"Well you'd better not whine around when we're on the road! We can't make stops with this slow-ass cart."

Jarko didn't mind. Back on the farm he wouldn't get something to eat for days when the crop was bad.

"At least drink something." Thorus said ,giving Jarko his cup.

Jarko took the cup his friend offered him.

Wait a moment, Jarko thought, friend?

Looking up into Thorus' face he realized that the man he had known for only one day, had become a friend to him. Showing a little smile Jarko took the cup out of Thorus' hand and sipped on it. Surprisingly the drink was quite hot and Jarko nearly choked on it. It also had quite the bitter taste... Not unpleasant, but still bitter.

"What's that?" Jarko asked.

"The drink? That's tea." Thorus answered.

So this was tea. Jarko had heard a lot about it, but being a farm-boy he'd never actually seen or tasted tea. Of course something like nettle tea was well known and especially when winter came ,but black tea was (at least for Jarko) something he'd only read about. At least he had thought so two days ago. Only two days and his life was completely upside-down. Now he was the soon-to-be Magus drinking tea with his new friend. It was to absurd to actually think it! Laughing ,he took another sip of his cup of black tea.

"What's so funny?" Thorus asked him, confused by Jarko's behaviour.

"I think you'd call it destiny." Jarko answered, grinning into his cup and completely ignoring the pissed of look on Thorus' face.

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After breakfast ,our two heroes wasted no time and quickly got the cart ready to hit the road again. This time the weather wasn't as bad as the day before, but there were still enough clouds to hide the sun from the eyes of Thorus and Jarko. Sitting on the coach box the two of them didn't speak a word while they ,ever so slowly ,made their way to the next station of their journey: The city of Arcadia, capital of the federal state Arcadia, the most western of all the seven districts of the Royal Empire. In the very centre of the seven districts the capital of the Royal Empire,the district of Rolyaris and residence of the Emperor and his family, Rolyaris is located. From there the Emperor rules over the country and the other six districts, which are arranged in an nearly perfect circle around the district of Rolyaris. The Royal Academy of Magic, the final destination of the two companions ,is located in the district of Northwind, near the border to the district of Rolyaris. The capital of Northwind, the city of Northwind lays in high in the Windy mountains.

The city of Arcadia, where Thorus intended to buy some proper horses and to get rid of the cart, is located very close to the border between the districts Arcadia and Northwind.

Now back again to our protagonist and his giant of a friend.

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Jarko woke up. He realized that he had slept for some time. He looked up to Thorus, who was scanning the woods for danger. Jarko hadn't even thought about bandits or wild animals, but remembering the big bag with money Thorus had on his belt, he could see why they would make some tasty prey to some outlaws. When the cart passed the end of the forest, the tension fell from them like a stone. Now Jarko wanted to break the silence between them.

"Are you a Magus?" he asked Thorus quite bluntly.

"Nope." Thorus answered.

"Then what do you do for the academy?"

"I look after the horses and sometimes I get some of the recruits."

"Like me?"

"No, none of the normal recruits are quite like you." Thorus answered smiling.

"Why's that?" Jarko wanted to know.

"Well first of all you are bothering to talk to me."

Jarko didn't understand.

"Why wouldn't the other children talk to you?"

"Well most of the time they are coming from rich or noble families. You see, it's unusual for a little farm-boy to have magical talent. Normally it's inherited by birth. So most of the boys have magi as fathers and since a Magus never has a lack of money, they're all stuck up sons of bitches." Thorus laughed staring at the road in front of him.

"You'll see yourself, they probably won't accept you, just because you were born poor. It won't change when they find out that you're more powerful than they are."

"And they won't talk to you because you're the stable master." Jarko asked incredulously

"Yep." Thorus answered.

Jarko thought about it a short moment and then finally concluded.

"Then they are really stuck up sons of bitches."

Thorus looked at Jarko and seeing the grin on his face the two of them burst out laughing.

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Thorus and Jarko continued their journey in the same way .For two days, their daily routine was getting up, sitting in the cart and getting a room in an inn and getting up again. As boring as that sounds it made the bond they shared only stronger. They could already see the smoke coming out of Arcadian forges, when Thorus told Jarko to hide under the blankets in the cart. Jarko quickly complied. The cart came to an halt and Jarko heard Thorus say

"And a nice afternoon to you, gentlemen how can I help you?"

"Well we'd like to know how much money you have with you, and take it from you."

Jarko heard a voice he'd never heard say. "Bandits!" he thought. He glanced out of his hiding place. Three men were standing in front of the wagon. One of them leaned against the wagon and held a dagger in his hand. The other one had a sword and the third one a bow.

"Well" Thorus said "I don't have any money. I want to go to Arcadia to get a job."

"Ok you do that and we'll take your cart and your oxes. You don't need them anymore. Or do ya,big boy?" The one with the dagger said with an evil grin plastered on his face.

"Well..." Thorus said and gave 'Dagger' a kick in his face. Holding the bloody pulp that used to be his nose he fell to the ground, screaming. Before he hit the ground, the giant quickly jumped of the cart, barely dodging the arrow. He ducked behind it and stomped 'Daggers' face, ending his screams. Then he pulled his sword out of the sheath he had strapped to his back, hidden under the coat. Obviously the group of bandits wasn't used to resistance ,because when Thorus ran into 'Sword' ,the stunned outlaw didn't realize what had happened until the end of Thorus' sword was protruding from his back. Thorus spun around to see himself eye in eye with 'Bow' who already had the next arrow on his bow-string, aiming directly at Thorus' chest.

"Are you sure you wanna do that? Have you ever killed a man before?"

"Of course I have!" 'Bow' yelled, "I have killed three men, you bloody idiot! And you'll make four!"

"Who was talking to you?"

Before 'Bow' could comprehend what Thorus had just said, he felt a searing pain in his kneepits and slumped down, his back hitting. Then he saw a young boy, standing over him, the bloody dagger of his passed-out comrade in hand, the ice-blue eyes without any emotion.

"It's just not your day." Jarko said before he rammed the dagger in his victims throat.

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Thorus had just hidden the corpses in the forest, when Jarko finished puking his guts out. Thorus' looked at him with a concerned face. A nine-year-old shouldn't be forced to kill someone. Thorus was sixteen when he had killed his first man, which was still far to early. But it had happened and there was nothing either of the two could do about it. Going over to Jarko he hold out his hand. Jarko raised his eyes to see what Thorus was holding. With a surprised face he looked in Thorus' eyes.

"It's yours." Thorus said, "keep it or throw it away.But from now on... It. Is. Yours."

Jarko nodded and took the dagger and the sheath from Thorus attaching both to his belt. He nearly shrieked when Thorus kneeled down in front of him, grabbed both of his shoulders and looked him dead in the eye.

"Now listen to me Jarko, because what I am about to tell you is important."

Jarko nodded dumbly.

"You have just killed a man." Thorus started his little speech.

"I know from experience, that the first kill isn't something nice. And you will feel guilty. You will wake up in the middle of the night seeing the auburn eyes of the man you killed. I won't tell you that he is going to be the last man you kill, because I would lie. You're going to be a Magus. You'll learn hundreds of ways to kill a man. And if you do that, I want you to remember the young boy with the auburn hair and the brown eyes and the tiny bow in his hand. I want you to remember the first man you killed. And that killing isn't fun or play or anything else. This right here was a necessity. It was either him or you and you knew that he had to die so you could live. That's how it works. It's sad, but what isn't? I just want you to ask yourself one question before you take a life:

Is This Really Necessary? Do you understand that?"

Jarko nodded, tears in his eyes.

"Yes. Yes I understood" Jarko sobbed and buried his head in Thorus shoulder. They stood there/kneeled for god knows how long, while Jarko cried and sobbed like only a child could. When he finished to cry, Thorus took him and sat both of them on the cart. The sky was already becoming red and Thorus and Jarko really needed some sleep,therefore Thorus quickly steered the cart to Arcadia, while Jarko slept leaning on his shoulder.

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It was late afternoon when Jarko and Thorus eventually reached Arcadia, capital of the district Arcadia. Jarko could only gape in amazement. It was just so big! He had never been in any city, let alone a capital. When he and Thorus passed the gate of the city wall, Jarko couldn't believe his eyes. The walls were nearly 5 meter in width and at least twenty meter in height ,moreover they were of stone! Our farm-boy had never seen anything quite like this.

"How many years it must have taken to even build the wall!" Jarko thought. He still couldn't grasp the idea that he wasn't dreaming. When he and Thorus entered the first tavern, he couldn't believe how crowded the place was. Or how loud. Luckily Jarko's companion had a voice like an earthquake otherwise the barmaid wouldn't have understood him, when he tried to get them a room. But they wouldn't have the luck. They visited three other taverns and inns to find a room, but still no luck.

"Damnit!" Thorus thought to himself, "I only know one place where we won't be cleaned out."

Looking at Jarko he pondered if he should try this last one.

"Fuck it! The boy won't sleep in the sewer, not today anyway." Thorus thought to himself.

The tavern Thorus thought about wasn't a tavern per se. Of course you could eat and drink there, but you could also order some ... female attention. Thorus went into the brothel, where he was friendly greeted by two girls, one behind and one leaning on the counter.

"Well hello big boy, and welcome in the 'Red Curtain', how can we help you?" the girl behind the counter purred.

"Well I'd need two beds and something to eat and please cut out the acting, you won't get a penny from me for whatever you're offering."

"But you haven't even heard, what's offered." the other girl purred, walking towards Thorus swaying seductively with her hips.

"Well, do you know the position 'the loyal husband' cuz that's my favourite." Thorus said to the girl, becoming a bit angry at her antics. Smart enough to get the hint she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Well if you change your mind, I am down here aaaall night." she said, disappearing behind the red curtain the brothel was named after and which led to the bar area. Turning to the counter-girl Thorus asked her if they had two free rooms and if somebody could bring the food upstairs, explaining the situation with Jarko.

"So you want to tell me you brought a nine-year-old here and don't want to let him know what's normally happening in his bed?" The girl at the counter asked looking up at Thorus, who slumped down in defeat.

"If you could arrange that? Of course I will compensate you for your services." he said showing her his purse, which caused the whore's eyes to glow.

"And I'll pay a little extra if nobody knocks on my door tonight."

Smiling she accepted Thorus' offer and quickly told the other girls about their 'special guests'. A huge weight fell of Thorus' huge chest, when he went to tell Jarko that they had a place to sleep. Before they went upstairs to their respective rooms, our two heroes wanted to finally sell the cart and get some clothes for Jarko, since there was still time before sunset. Driving over the market place, which was already emptying, due to the late hour, they found a guy who was willing to pay a proper price for the cart and the two oxes. Thorus asked the farmer if he'd knew anyone who sold horses or clothes. In fact he knew a good shop for clothes in the city, but the horse-market was a little outside of the city, so Thorus and Jarko decided,that they would leave their 'tavern' tomorrow morning, to buy horses.

When they were done in the clothing store, Jarko was wearing his new leather boots, trousers and vest together with his new black shirt and the the dagger on his belt , while Thorus was carrying Jarko's new leather cape with hood . Of course the clothes weren't cheap and probably finer than anything he had ever worn before ,but they were still practical and especially the leather trousers would pay off when they where riding for eight to ten hours straight. Nonetheless Jarko would have felt like the king of the world with his new garments, if it wasn't for his grief caused by the man he had killed only hours before.

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When they reached their tavern Thorus quickly took Jarko upstairs to his room, so the boy wouldn't see any of the activities going on at the ground floor. Upstairs he told Jarko he would be there soon and that he wasn't allowed to leave the room until Thorus was back. That being said Thorus quickly went downstairs again to order their food. He cursed his luck when, there was nobody at the counter. Taking a deep breath he went passed the red curtain, to find one of the barmaids, that were supposed to bring them their food.

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Jarko slipped out of the cart and ducked under it, when Thorus smashed the man's face, blood splattering everywhere and drew his sword out of its sheath. Without thinking Jarko grabbed the dagger, which lied at the side of its former owners corpse. It didn't have any decorations. It was a simple steel dagger, but it was sharp.Sharp enough to kill. Looking up from his recently gained weapon, he saw Thorus killing another man, impaling him on his sword. Jarko looked to the third man, who drew his bow-string back, new arrow ready to be shot. Jarko made the decision. He quickly creeped out of his hiding place sneaking up on his victim. Jarko knew if he'd just stab him he might just let go of the drawn arrow killing Thorus. Jarko had to think of something if he wanted to save both of them.

"Are you sure you wanna do that?" Jarko's head jerked up. He saw Thorus looking him dead in the eye.

"Have you ever killed a man before?" Jarko shook his head. He never had. He hadn't even seen a corpse before. Jarko looked at the head of the boy he was about to kill. He was just a boy. He couldn't have been older than seventeen.

"Of course I have!" the boy yelled, "I have killed three men, you bloody idiot! And you'll make four!"

What?! This boy had killed three men already? Jarko couldn't believe his ears. He thought about his future as a Magus. Would he kill three men until he was seventeen? Or maybe even more?

"Who was talking to you?" Thorus asked the boy. Now Jarko had no time left. He quickly slashed both of the boys kneepits open, which caused the wounded to loose his balance and he fell back. Looking from his weapon ,dripping from blood, to the brown eyes of his first kill , filled with terror. He nearly laughed out loud, thinking of the irony that he and Thorus were supposed to be the terrified ones.

"It's just not your day." Jarko said and rammed his dagger, tip-first into the throat of his victim. Warm blood squirted in his face and ran out of the boys mouth. His whole body spasmed and his eyes lost all emotion. Jarko looked down once more again into the face of the very first human he killed. Grimacing the boy beneath Jarko sneered at him, flashing a toothy, gory smile.

"Wake up Jarko!"

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Jarko sat up in his bed, screaming. Thorus nearly fell over , frozen in shock. He had just come upstairs with their food. Looking each other in the eye Jarko realized that he had a nightmare and broke down crying. Thorus was quickly at his side hugging him close, trying to soothe him. They both didn't make a sound, except for Jarko's sobbing.

"I dreamed of him." Jarko cried into Thorus shoulder.

"Of course you did." Thorus said hugging Jarko closer. The big man carried the boy to the table in his room, after he stopped crying. They ate in silence. Jarko barely even ate anything and stared into nothingness. He was replaying the short fight in his head, again and again. Something was off about it, but Jarko couldn't quite grasp what it was. When they were finished with their meal Thorus brought him back to his bed. Finally Jarko knew what had been so odd.