Princil's Magic : Ch.13 : Reformed Wizard (Part 1)

Ch.13: Reformed Wizard

    Remzain had been asked by King Charlerion to approach the wizard using Grigor as intermediary. Grigor travelled to Bricas, where they had located him, posing as a merchant from the continent of Animar. Grigor wore a merchant’s dress, and was accompanied by attendants who looked after his wares. They carried special items from the northern continent.

    Grigor came to a public bath house in Bricas, where Charlerion’s spies had found the wizard often came at the late afternoon time of day. It was a place where the two opposing sexes might meet openly and without shame. As such it rivalled the Temples of the Goddess. However this was no place of religion or of magic. The people who came here were citizens who desired relaxation and cleanliness, a swim or a chance conversation. But they might also use it, in this open society, as a place where casual acquaintances could be made and enjoyed, as it was very much a place for both of the sexes. Only adults of 18 years were allowed to use these baths however. Children and younger people were not allowed here at this hour, so that adults may not be encouraged to exploit their youth. Friends chattered sociably, but men and women who made each other’s acquaintance often found themselves connecting in the darkened corners of the pools, and in the adjoining rooms where there were tables, mats and pillows for sexual congress.

     Aribor came here often to wash, which he had rarely done when he served King Guthelm in Grumandria and other parts of Animar. There bath houses were almost unheard of, and smells and dirt accompanied most people. He held court sometimes to people of Bricas who remembered the help he gave them when the Dark Wizards attacked their city. He came for conversation and companionship. Sometimes he found that some Shalirionite woman, overflowing with gratitude for the things he had done for the city, would offer herself to him, as a way of thanking him, or so that she could claim to have communed with the now famous saviour of the city. Sometimes he found that the women who came to him were desiring his magical services. As a protector of the city he had found a new role for his magic. Instead of being a creator of powerful dark magic for the purpose of war, or to prise information out of unwilling prisoners, or to make someone subservient to the purposes of his King, or to be used by his King in some scheme; he was now being invited to save souls drowning in depression or misery, to bring them back from a personal hell, or to fill them with the love of Shalirion’s Goddess.

     Although the Goddess belonged not to his own people he found the connection he had made on that fateful night of the Wizards’ Terror, with the Shalirionites’ Goddess had brought her light and her magic to him. Her influence poured into him on that night and frequently after. He found himself channelling her strength and her goodness into others. He could draw her power and influence into the minds of subjects who were in need of her. He who had not been a believer, and had not even known of her existence, now found himself in alliance with her, for the good of his subjects. Somehow, miraculously, she was using him for her purposes, and he found that he was her willing servant. It felt good to him when he was able to channel her power and love into her people. He knew that the darker arts would no longer be his way. He had a new purpose and a more positive role in life.