New To Gibberish? Check out this Navigation Page!
SYNOPSIS: The ambitious monk Manheim and the callow novice Julian are unlikely traveling companions. Both would consider the circumstances surrounding their journey mere bad luck—yet, one way or another, they have been charged with a single, important mission: Find the Blackpage!
Twenty years after Manheim’s rival monk, Byron—now called The Blackpage—was exiled from the Order of Authors, this adventuring party will face dangers in the mysterious wilds of Daranna. Yet, all agree that nothing they could encounter is more dangerous than the man they hope to find…
INDEX | Chapter 1 | <Previous (Chapter 6) | Next (Chapter 8)>
A Meal And A Deal
The day was far spent, as Julian sat on a stump and squeezed water out of his robes. Birds chirped merrily as they danced in the sun filtered through the forest, and the sound and smell of sizzling bacon on a campfire was painfully distracting. Julian realized he hadn’t eaten since last night, with their morning interrupted by Yan Dawil and his test.
Varus had taken the trap book from Julian, and stepped a few paces away. “Begging your pardon, Dawil,” he explained. “I must retrieve the…impatient one, as you call him.” Julian swore he could see a smirk as Varus explained.
Dawil laughed, “Do what you must, very well. We eat first—then trade. We will save some for your impatient friend. Very good, very good!”
This left Julian and Henri alone in the towering presence of Dawil.
“So!” Dawil continued, removing some bacon and putting more bacon in the pan. “What did you think?”
Henri and Julian looked at each other knowingly, and Julian spoke for both of them: “This was our first experience in a book. I wasn’t sure what to expect—was it a trap in a trap? It was terrifyingly real.”
“Yes, traps in traps in traps. The Blackpage became an expert at them, trying to capture his Beast.”
“His beast?” Julian asked.
“Yes—every book he writes, so he tells me, there is a beast. I think I have seen it once. It’s eyes shine in the night—it only hunts at night.”
“He was exiled because they couldn’t prove this beast existed.”
“He was exiled,” Varus said while he busied himself with the trap book containing Manheim, “because it could not be proven, and one of the brothers of our order was killed. If the beast, so you say, could not be proven—it could only have been Byron. There are no creatures in books. Plants and trees are about the most complex thing that can be created, nothing more.”
“I do not doubt my eyes.” Dawil replied. “I have seen it’s eyes shining in the night. I admit to sleeping with my blade in my hands.” Dawil’s hand moved to the hilt of his sword at his waist.
All at once, a great wind blew and Manheim landed wetly near Varus. Manheim gasped in surprise, then shouted joyfully. “You’ve done it! Bless you, bless you Varus!”
Varus shrugged. “I would have left you—it was Novice Julian who saved your hide.”
“What—”
Yan Dawil’s booming laugh echoed through the forest. “The impatient one returns! And the youngest of you is responsible! Ahahaha! You young ones and your antics.”
Manheim trudged heavily over to the fire and stood over Julian, dripping wet from head to toe. “I suppose thanks are in order.” He held out a hand.
Julian grasped it, and shook, “You’d have done the same for me.”
Manheim released his hand, and turned away to find a stump to sit on and dry himself. “How did you do it? Escape the cave?”
“One of the books had a symbol on it that matched a symbol in the first room. If I hadn’t seen it right when we arrived, it’d have been under water by the time we found the books, and we’d have had to guess blind. Luckily I saw it.”
“Yes…lucky. Very well.” Manheim said.
“What was the trap book like?” Henri asked.
Manheim looked offended for a moment, then said simply, “Dark. There was no light to speak of, and no solid footing. I had to keep afloat. I would surely have drowned…” He trailed off. “Thank you, Julian. Again.”
Varus trudged over and handed the book back to Yan Dawil. “I’ve neutralized it, temporarily, but the Blackpage will be able to repair it. I am sorry for the trouble—I wanted to prevent anyone becoming accidentally trapped by this book until it is back in it’s place.”
Yan Dawil accepted the book, nodding, and returned it to his satchel. “Very good, thank you, young one. Now—shall we eat? Potatoes, bacon, what greens I had at my disposal. My gift to you, after passing the test.” Dawil offered them all a wooden plate, which each accepted hungrily.
“You have our thanks,” Varus said.
The hours waxed long, the sun crawled across the sky, the trees reached their shadows out across the leaf-strewn campsite. For once, Julian felt he had eaten his fill. It had been a long, long time. They exchanged stories of tales and work while they ate and relaxed.
Dawil collected their plates, and said finally, “Now that you have eaten, let us deal. You seek the Blackpage, you passed the test. I can deliver you to him, using one of his own books. I use it myself to convene with him, and he with me. It is with the benefit of his books that I have been able to patrol my range so closely. That was a good trade. What trade can you offer?”
“I thought we passed the test?” Julian said.
Yan Dawil barked his laughter, “You passed the test of the Blackpage, who told me to administer it. You earned your passage by his standard—now you must earn through mine. My standard is trade.”
Varus held out a hand to prevent any rejoinder from their party. “Our monastery, you are no doubt aware, is on the border of your range. We have both books and laborers, a quarry is on our grounds which we use to build and preserve our monastery. Perhaps you may have use of either of these?”
“Of books I have plenty,” he said. “Of structures I have few. I remember when the mountains in the west—the ones you call the Fathers—were taller, I remember when your Monastery was first begun. I remember when your quarry was a rocky scramble near the river. All these things pass away in time, and time is the one thing I have in abundance.”
“Perhaps structures may not serve you, but they could more securely prevent trespass from others?”
“Perhaps, perhaps. You young ones venture incessantly into my range. A wall in places could help, for a time.”
“I have the authority to commit the Monastery to this project, we could preserve the wall as long as the Monastery stands.”
“And how long might that be?”
Varus laughed nervously. “Hopefully a great many years. I cannot foresee any more than you can.”
Dawil stroked his copper beard thoughtfully, considering this. He stared into the fire, lost in thought, for a time that seemed to Julian to be uncomfortably long. But neither Julian nor any of his companions dared breathe a word.
At length, Dawil slapped his knee. “Very well, I accept. I will enlist your help building structures as I see fit, for the duration of the Monastery.”
Varus stood, and extended a hand. Dawil stood, a head or two (or three) taller than Varus, dwarfing him—and took it. They shook, and both smiled.
Varus said, “When we have returned, you may come with us to the Monastery and look at my map, we will begin work immediately. I can think of a few of our number who do not have enough work to do and would benefit from this new project.” Varus said wryly.
Dawil was already fishing through his satchel for another book. He pulled it out, and handed it to Varus. “You may use this book to travel. This is an open world, and the counterpart book is at the end of a days walk, but is there. It will take you to the Blackpage.”
“We accept with gratitude.” Varus said. “May we encamp here for one more night, tired as we are from our trial? We will commence this journey in the morning.”
“Very good,” Dawil said. “Take your rest. I will keep camp with you here until you have returned from your quest.”
Julian’s stomach turned. The Blackpage was now so close—yet, after all he had learned…he wondered whether getting what he wanted would be as exciting as he initially thought.
To be continued…
Thank you very much for reading! This is Find The Blackpage, a fantasy adventure serial set in the world of Daranna. This will be a serial publishing every week, for a tentative total of twelve episodes. Please subscribe to be sure you don’t miss an installment sent directly to your inbox!
If you enjoyed this episode, please let me know with a like or a comment! If you really liked it, please share it with a friend! If you would see what other stories I have to offer, you can START HERE and navigate to all my other fiction.
God bless!
AJPM
Henri looked at his plate of green weeds and wondered if Yan Dawil had created a test just for him
I would've worked in a specific time period, number of structures, and gotten that down in writing, but that's just me and my lawyer brain, lol. You know the saying, first you build an elf a wall, next thing he wants a battlement, you build him a battlement and then he wants a castle, you build in a castle and now you're putting in some real fortifications like a moat and ballistas and all and next thing you know you've got a multi-castle Game of Thrones-type full-fledged Ice Wall going up over here...