Purity of Mind

Chapter 11: Utijan

The desert had, finally, passed. Once we'd gotten into the highlands between the Empire's capital and Putluru, the heat abated almost entirely. It was early Fall, and while the highlands were no match to the mountains that divided Empire and Dynasty, it did get a bit cold while we were near the peaks.

Magen himself orchestrated the turnover back to a diurnal schedule for the caravan. Now that moving during the day no longer meant spending a great deal of water, everyone was eager to return to it. A few volunteered to stay on night shift to watch for trouble, including the wizard. Though given how little he talked I suspected that Dalostaed had volunteered for him.

The highlands also gave me a sight I thought I'd never see: The ocean.

It was amazing. I knew what it was, of course, I knew that it wasn't drinkable. Still, I'd never expected this much water to even exist, let alone be a month's journey from Opal. And twinkling at the juncture of a river and that ocean was Utijan, capital of the Eternal Empire.

It was more visible by its surroundings: The city itself appeared small and indistinct from this distance, but the acres of farmland couldn't be mistaken. The road we were on that began as a barely-marked path in Chankota had widened to a road capable of holding four wagons moving abreast. We'd pass through one or two smaller towns on our way in, but we'd only be stopping for the evenings. There would be maybe two of them until we arrived at the city proper.

On the second night, Magen stopped by the wizard's wagon. This wasn't unusual; he'd been doing nightly rounds on all the wagons for nearly the entire trip. This time, though, Dalostaed seemed especially eager to see him.

"What's the word?" Magen asked.

"Magen," Dalostaed blurted. "The arrangement we have, employment for travel?"

Magen instantly looked wary. "I don't like renegotiations, Dalostaed."

"No, no, it's good news. I hope. The wizard wants to buy us out."

Magen looked in my direction, and only did then I realize that Dalostaed's 'us' had included me. "You're okay with this?"

"I'm not sure what this is." I responded.

Dalostaed seemed incredibly rushed, he'd already begun handing over a small sack. "This is twice the normal fares - that's enough to cover all of our journeys, plus enough to hire two haulers on arrival, and a little bit left over for the inconvenience."

Magen took the money, frown still on his face. His surface thoughts told me that he wanted to ask why, if we'd had the money all along, we hadn't just paid up front. It was a fair question that, at least in in my case, could be answered by not having any clue this was going to happen.

Dalostaed picked up on this as well. "The wizard got a message, you understand. Urgent business on arrival, needs my help."

The wizard himself sat on top of his wagon. If he was paying any attention whatsoever to the conversation, he was a master at appearing to ignore it. Then again, this was one of those blanket configurations where it was hard for me to tell which direction he was facing.

"And he needs my help too?" I asked, watching the wizard.

"That he does." Dalostaed said. "Needs someone he can trust to carry things."

I shrugged. It sounded like I was still going to be working when I got to the city, just in a different place.

Magen finally made up his mind. "Okay, then. I guess as renegotiations go this isn't so bad." He tied the coin sack to his belt. "I'm going to move on before the deal gets any worse." With that, he left.