The Path of Giants, B.T. Narro [the speed reading book .TXT] 📗

said the sheriff. He was tall and thin, with a scraggly beard that he pushed his hand through to scratch his chin. “That water mage said another sorcerer of the king was coming through, remember?”

“Oh, yeah,” said the archer as he let down his bow.

“Ain’t no dark mage on the king’s payroll!” The big-bellied man shook his pitchfork in my direction.

“It’s dvinia,” I informed him. “I’m a wizard, not a dark mage.”

“Now hold on a minute,” the sheriff said. “We were told a healer was coming.”

“That’s me. I’m a wizard and a healer.” I was technically a bladedancer, given my ability with sword, but that wasn’t pertinent.

I could see from their faces that they didn’t believe me.

The man with his pitchfork took a confident step toward me. “I don’t care who you say you are. I don’t trust you.”

“I’m getting out my papers.” I reached into my bag but stopped as the sheriff interrupted me.

“Could be falsified. That water mage never mentioned dvinia, and I ain’t ever heard of it doing something like them dark mages can do, with them flying all about.”

Normally I might be bothered by how difficult it was to convince these men of the truth, but I was glad to see them take a stand against a potential dark mage. There still could be some around.

“Perhaps a demonstration?” I proposed. “Shoot me in the leg, if you wish,” I told the archer.

“Really?”

“Really,” I confirmed.

He raised an eyebrow at the sheriff.

“Why not?” the sheriff said with a shrug.

I got closer to make sure the archer would not miss. We were just a few yards apart when I stopped.

“One moment,” I said as I pulled up my pants. “No point in ruining a good pair of trousers. All right, go ahead.”

“You’re really sure?” the archer asked.

“I am.”

“All right. It’s your leg.”

He loosed. The arrow went deep into my calf. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t make a sound.

Calmly, I used one hand to brace my leg as I grabbed the shaft of the arrow with my other and ripped it out.

The group edged closer to me and gaped at my bleeding wound. I put both hands around it and healed. It was almost as painful as pulling out the arrow, but my skin and tissue healed quickly, and soon I was done.

There was just a bit of blood left running down my leg that I dabbed with my handkerchief. There wasn’t much light with night soon approaching, so I made my own using a simple light spell Leon had taught me. It was basically the spell for Fire, but one note was missing so that it was just C and Em. The men seemed surprised at the light coming out of my hand, but they were really shocked when they looked at my completely healed leg.

The sheriff stood upright, turned to the large man beside him, who now seemed embarrassed about his pitchfork in hand, and smacked the man on the back of his head.

“You would’ve had us killing the only healer in Lycast! Get back to town, all of you. Go on!”

They all hustled off, but the large man stopped and turned around. “My brother’s still gonna have his bad leg healed, right?”

“Of course, it wasn’t his stupidity that almost led to the murder of an innocent man!”

Soon I was alone with the sheriff. I had hoped he would go back with the others, leaving me more time to practice, but he went over and untied my horse.

“You’ll be staying with me and my daughter tonight. I won’t have it any other way.”

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“It’s no bother at all!”

With him leading my horse and expecting me to walk beside him, I didn’t have much of a choice. I gathered my belongings and hurried to catch up.

“Everyone’s ready for healin’ tomorrow,” said the sheriff. “There’s a few skeptics among them, but you’ll straighten them out. How old are you, young man?”

“Eighteen.”

“A fine age. Wait until you see my daughter. She’s beautiful, but there ain’t a boy good enough for her in our small town of Granlo. Now a king’s sorcerer, and a handsome one at that, I’m sure you’d make a fine match. I’ve saved up a nice little dowry. Don’t get too excited, now. I expect you to be a gentleman when you meet, if you know what I mean.”

“I do, sheriff, but I should warn you that I’m not in the business of marriage.”

“The business of…? Marriage ain’t a business, wizard.”

“It is, sheriff, when a transaction is involved and overseen by a third party.”

He stopped and scratched his head. “Well, all I ask is you meet, all right? Ain’t got to be no business to it.”

I held back a sigh. I had met many daughters of men like this, most too young to marry, in my opinion. It was always a waste of everyone’s time.

The kingdom was preparing for war. We needed to appease the people of Lycast before taxing them, or the king could be looking at a rebellion just like the one he’d led against the last ruler.

I tried to remind myself that there was so much good to be had in healing everyone who needed my help in each town, but after weeks of this…it was beginning to feel like a chore.

It’s almost over, I thought.

“I’m actually looking for someone,” I said as I remembered my other task. “A witch who goes by the name of Hadley, though she might’ve given a false name.”

“About your age, dark hair?”

“You’ve seen her?”

“Yeah, she came by looking for food and shelter, but I thought her to be suspicious. I snatched her bag for a look. We struggled. She didn’t want me to see. She grabbed a knife. I thought she might use it, but I could see in her eyes that she didn’t want to. ‘Now you don’t wanna do something you might regret,’ I warned her. ‘Just let me have a look to make sure I can trust you.’ She