The Mage's Path (The Age of Legend Book 1) Read online

  Rizzo watched as Tarren walked out of his store to grab another crate. Tarren bent down and his arms bulged with the effort of picking up the heavy box of metal. He then effortlessly carried it to his store.

  Rizzo gulped as he thought of how easy it would be for a man that massive to pick up a normal sized person and throw them like a toy. And with that terrifying thought, he had a crazy idea. Without a second to reconsider, he stood up and walked across the street towards where the cart had broken down.

  He maneuvered through the crowd, feeling like everyone had their eyes on him as he walked. The last thing he wanted was people paying attention to him, so he kept his head down and did his best to stay calm and focused. He walked slowly, wanting to time it just right so he could be following a few seconds behind Tarren when he was carrying the crate to his store.

  When Tarren returned to the cart, he wasted no time in bending down and grabbing another crate. His entire body seemed to double in size as his muscles flexed. Rizzo almost tripped over his own foot as part of him had second thoughts about the brilliance of his plan. But hunger won in the end and he quickly regained his composure.

  He followed a few feet behind Tarren as he turned and made his way back to his smith. When they passed in front of the food stand, Rizzo glanced up and saw Phil staring right at him, but he expected that. As soon as he was in reaching distance, he snatched an apple and bolted towards Tarren’s back.

  “You little bastard!” screamed Phil as he tried to get out from behind the fruit stand to run Rizzo down. But Rizzo had a small head start, and immediately after snatching the apple he was right behind Tarren.

  Rizzo quickly darted around and in front, and with his free hand he ripped the crate out of Tarren’s hands. There was a huge crash as it hit the ground and pieces of metal spilled all over the street. Rizzo thought he felt the air shake as Tarren roared with rage. And like an avalanche of muscle, he quickly hurled himself into the chase after Rizzo.

  For how big Tarren was, he moved surprisingly fast. But Rizzo did not have far to go and right before Tarren could catch up to him, he darted into the alley separating the two stores. Giant fingers scraped along his back as Tarren reached around the corner to grab him. But Rizzo kept running through the alley as fast as he could, pausing halfway through only long enough to steal one glance behind him.

  He saw Tarren trying to squeeze himself through the alley and Phil trying his best to look over and around him to keep an eye on him. Just as he wanted, Phil could not get past Tarren, and Tarren was too big to run through the alley, forcing him to shuffle sideways.

  Rizzo burst through the other side of the alley, taking two seconds to examine the much smaller crowd on this street. Then he looked back and saw that Tarren and Phil were still trying to make it through to catch him. They were barely over halfway to the other side. Just then another thought came to mind. With Phil chasing him, there was no one watching the food stand!

  And again, without a second thought, he ran to get to the alley on the other side of Phil’s. He was shaking with excitement, knowing that if he got back to the stand in time he could grab all the food he could carry!

  He could think of nothing else as he emerged out the other side of the alley, his eyes instantly going to the food stall. He walked, at first in a daze, but he soon sped up and then went into an all-out sprint.

  No time was wasted when he got there, and he quickly stuffed his arms with as much as he could get. Rizzo was about to grab a strange, round and yellow piece of fruit when he noticed a coin pouch on a shelf inside the stand. His eyes opened wide at the find and he quickly snatched it as well.

  “HEY! THERE HE IS.” Rizzo’s head jerked up as he looked at the man in the crowd who yelled. In his excitement about Phil not being at his fruit stand, he had forgotten about the scene he caused just a minute earlier and the attention it would have drawn. Fortunately, only a small group of people were curious enough to look at the broken crate and down the alley, the rest were still walking around carrying out their business.

  Rizzo bolted in the opposite direction of the man who yelled, with everything held tight in his arms. He was panicked, never looking back to see if the man gave chase. Rizzo fled down the street, darting between crowds of people. He turned down one street, then another. The further he got from the docks the thinner the crowds became. He ran for what seemed like forever until finally arriving at the back streets of the Merchant’s District.

  When Rizzo stopped he was gasping, trying to catch his breath. He tilted his head up to look around. The streets were empty. People rarely came to this area, except for patrolling guards. Rizzo’s eyes eventually landed in an alley separating two large stone buildings. Neither building had any windows, and each had one entrance, a heavy steel door.

  Rizzo knew the merchants used these buildings as storage. Similar buildings stretched along both sides of the street and went on until you couldn’t see anymore as the street curved. Connected to the back of the buildings, stood an enormous stone wall that towered over the roofs. The wall served as a barrier, separating the Merchant’s District from the Slums.

  After a few seconds, Rizzo walked towards the space between the buildings. Once he got there, he looked down both sides of the street, double checking to make sure no one was around. He then squeezed himself into the gap and started scooting towards the wall at the back. It was a tight fit, one that would only allow someone small to slip into. Luckily, Rizzo was thin, much thinner than the average boy his age.

  He continued shuffling through until he came to where the buildings met the wall. It was not a dead end, though. There was a tunnel dug into the wall that was rumored to have been built by the Thieves Guild. It was small, forcing Rizzo to get on his hands and knees to fit.

  The entrance was in the corner between the building and the wall and then the tunnel slanted to disappear behind the building. It created an illusion so that if someone was looking at it from the distance of the street, the entrance would look like the rest of the wall.

  Rizzo cautiously crawled through, not wanting to make any noise. The tunnel continued for about a dozen feet, leading all the way into the Slums. When he made it about halfway through, he turned to sit down and gather himself. It was a tight fit, even for him.

  His heart was still pounding in his chest from the adrenaline. He had never run so hard in his life. He sat there with his back against the wall and tried to regain his composure.

  After Rizzo took a few minutes to calm down and collect himself, he went through everything he had grabbed. He dropped some of the food while he was running, but he had held on to the coins. He opened the pouch and found two silvers and about a dozen copper. More than he had ever owned in his life.

  Just like any kid from the slums, Rizzo’s first instinct was how to keep it hidden. People were killed in the slums every day for far less than this. It was a different world on that side of the wall. Guards were non-existent, leaving few options for protection.

  Rizzo was a problem solver though. He paid attention to who the local thugs targeted, anyone traveling alone and looking like they may have some coin. So, Rizzo planned how he looked. Anyone who saw him could tell he was not worth robbing. His hair was long from years of being uncut, dirt and filth matting it together and making it hard to be sure of its natural color. Rizzo’s tunic was little more than stitched rags with multiple holes. He had cleverly sewn pockets behind some of the holes, making it easy to hide items.

  Rizzo used the pockets to distribute the food and coins. After he was satisfied that everything was concealed well enough, he continued crawling to the end. The other side of the tunnel led to a hole in the wall of a partly demolished building, covered up by a three-foot slab of rock that used to be part of the wall.

  Rizzo pushed on the chunk of rock, causing it to fall over. He crawled over it and out of the tunnel, then lifted the rock to put it back in place in the wall. It fit perfectly, making it look once again like a stone wall with cr
acks scattered everywhere.

  Compared to the rest of the city, the slums looked like a wasteland. The homes were all connected to their neighbor and the streets were thin, packing in as many dwellings as possible. All were stone buildings with wooden rooftops, each made up of one oversized room with whatever meager belongings the owner possessed.

  Many buildings in the slums were uninhabitable. The building Rizzo was in was a prime example. The roof was destroyed, having collapsed years ago. Pieces of it littered the ground, covered in dust. The house was tiny, a singular room with one window built into the wall.

  There were wooden shutters lying on the ground, broken and splintered. The brick below the window had crumbled almost down to the ground, leaving a large hole you could see the surrounding area through.

  Almost every building was in similar condition. Nothing got repaired in the Slums, and the buildings closest to the wall were the oldest, making their condition the worst. Most of the northern section did not differ from sleeping on the dirt in the streets. Rizzo walked out of the small, demolished building his tunnel was in and made his way home.

  It wasn’t a long walk, Rizzo had found one of the few buildings in the northern section that made a decent shelter. He turned down a long dirt street that dead-ended at an old abandoned gatehouse built into the Slum’s wall.

  Long ago, the nobles of the city realized that with only one gate leading out of the Slums, they would have fewer guards to pay. So, they sealed the entrance with stone, making it impossible to open. Luckily, he knew of another way to get inside.

  When Rizzo reached the end of the street, he walked over to one of the neighboring buildings of the gatehouse and went inside. It was a single small room, dusty and baron with cobwebs scattered everywhere. The only light was from a large hole in the roof.

  Rizzo walked over to the corner where the hole was. A long wooden board sat on the ground below it. He picked it up and wedged it between the ground and wall. Once he was confident that the board was secure, he walked up it, putting his hand against the other wall for balance.

  The board allowed Rizzo to get high enough where he could reach the edge of the hole in the roof. He pulled himself up and through the hole. From there, he was able to walk over to the roof of the gatehouse where he could get inside using a wooden trap door on top.

  When he first discovered it, he thought the guards had unintentionally left another way to sneak into the city, but it was quickly discovered that both doors on the inside were sealed with stone.

  Rizzo walked over to the trap door and looked to make sure that it had not been disturbed. Before he left, he would always take a strand of hair and tie it to the latch. That way, if anyone opened the door it would break the hair.

  Seeing that the hair was undisturbed he opened it and looked inside. The trap door was set against the wall of the gatehouse with metal bars protruding from the stone, making a ladder that led to the ground.

  Rizzo grabbed onto the bars and walked down, leaving the trap door open to allow light inside. The building was one enormous rectangular room with two giant steel doors set across from each other. Both doors were hidden behind a wall of stone, sealing them forever.

  The building had little in it except a bed made from bundled up clothes and rags, along with a few personal items scattered around the floor. Even with the light from the trap door, it was dark, making it hard for Rizzo to see until his eyes adjusted.

  He walked over and sat on a makeshift bed, then took the food out of his pockets. His stomach growled with hunger. He divided the food into portions, trying to determine how long it would last him. Each portion was skimmed down small, except for one pile twice as large as the others.

  Today’s meal was a reward to himself. After the task of rationing the food was done, he devoured the larger meal. Then he laid back to relax, his stomach stretched from being too full. It wasn’t long before he dozed off.

  Almost an hour later, Rizzo was woken by a noise. He yawned, rubbing his eyes and trying to wake up. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw a shadow pass over the trap door. Adrenaline jolted through his body, instantly alerting him. He scrambled through his belongings to grab a weapon and then ran into a dark corner on the other side of the trap door.

  The weapon wasn't much, just a broken blade with some cloth wrapped around one end to make a handle. But it was the only thing he had. Rizzo crouched down, waiting. The trap door quietly creaked as someone grabbed onto it. Then he heard a slight knock on the door, followed by a voice.

  “Hey Rizzo, are you down there?” It was a voice that he recognized instantly. He watched as his friend Vosh poked his head through and looked around. Vosh’s eye settled on Rizzo and he smiled. “There you are,” said Vosh, his smile quickly fading and being replaced with a puzzled look. “What are you planning on doing with that knife?” Rizzo realized he was still standing in the corner, clutching the blade. He became slightly embarrassed and put it away.

  Vosh climbed down the ladder, jumping off and skipping a few steps, creating clouds of dust as his feet hit the ground. He stood up straight and dusted his clothes off with his hands.

  Vosh dressed a lot nicer than most kids in the slums. His clothes looked like they were made to fit him rather than just being whatever he could get his hands on. He wore a dark green tunic with a long, heavy black cloak wrapped around his shoulders that hung to the floor. Vosh was a handsome young man, only a few years older than Rizzo, and with a personality that charmed more than a few girls. Rizzo didn’t know how he did it, being too shy himself to even speak to a girl.

  After Vosh was satisfied his clothes were as clean as they would get, he glanced around the room. He still had the same half-smiling expression he always wore which made just about anyone feel like they could trust him.

  His eyes wandered, studying every inch of the room. Vosh's gaze eventually came to where Rizzo was standing. "Not a bad find,” said Vosh. “I hardly believed it when you said you found a way into the old gatehouse. Leave it to you to do the impossible though. But you should be careful. If people ever find out about this place, someone will try to take it from you.”

  “No one ever comes to this area,” countered Rizzo. He had been living here for a few days now, and he had yet to see anyone nearby.

  Vosh chuckled. "But someone can follow you here. And if that ever happens you need to have a plan to escape.”

  "Why would anyone follow me?” asked Rizzo. “I’m just another Slums kid.”

  Vosh shrugged his shoulders. “You never know what might happen. You would be much safer if you had a way to let you know if someone was coming."

  "I could see your shadow while you were still on the roof." Rizzo thought he made a good point. He had plenty of time to get ready before Vosh made it down the ladder.

  "Ya, but by then it’s too late and you won’t be able to get out. I know you think you were prepared, sitting in the corner with your knife, but sometimes you can’t fight and win no matter how prepared you are. You must remember you are not living with Glen anymore. No one is going to protect you."

  Vosh and Rizzo had grown up together in the same orphanage, and once each reached a certain age, they were forced to leave. Vosh was about two years older than Rizzo and had been out on his own for some time now. He was made for this type of life though and made a good living. But Rizzo on the other hand wouldn’t even be alive if Vosh had not been there to guide him. He was always lecturing Rizzo as if he was an older brother.

  Vosh folded his arms with his hand cupping his chin. “It would help if you had a way to let you know if someone is entering the building next door.”

  “Ok, let me just go and put a bell on the door that people can ring before they enter,” said Rizzo sarcastically.

  Vosh smiled and walked over to Rizzo and gave him an approving pat on his shoulder. "Yes, that is a great idea." He reached into his cloak, pulled out two small bells and held them in the air and shook them to make them ring. "I thought the
se might come in handy someday.”

  “You mean to tell me you have been walking around with bells inside your pocket?” asked Rizzo.

  “You know I will carry anything that I think may be useful!” said Vosh. Rizzo knew that by useful, Vosh meant anything that might help him with a job from the Thieves Guild. Vosh dreamt of joining the guild one day. It was his dream for as long as Rizzo could remember.

  Vosh took every opportunity to get better and already knew quite a bit for someone his age. Even more amazing was that he was self-taught. Vosh could pick most locks and was the best pick-pocket Rizzo knew. If Vosh lived his entire life with that same determination, he would one day be the greatest thief in Sartram.

  Rizzo went to grab the bells, but Vosh swiftly moved them out of his reach. He just stood there smiling at Rizzo, making him frustrated. In many ways, he was like an older brother to Rizzo, which included teasing him as an older brother would.

  “You didn’t think I would just give them to you, did you?” said Vosh. “Remember the golden rule of the Slums, nothing in this world is free.” Rizzo knew Vosh was trying to help and teach him something, but he also knew that Vosh liked giving him a hard time.

  “What do you want?” asked Rizzo, annoyed. “They’re just bells.”

  Vosh turned and walked over to the ladder by the trap door and looked up at the sunlight. “I don’t want anything,” said Vosh, emphasizing the word want. He knew Rizzo had little to give. “How about we play a little game, a challenge of sorts? All you have to do is catch me, and the bells are yours.”

  Rizzo suddenly became very suspicious. Vosh knew he enjoyed a challenge, but catching him in an enclosed room seemed rather simple. Even considering how large the room was and that Vosh was much faster than him.