“No! A few do, of course, but there is a Cloister close to our port that is neutral toward the political unrest in our country.”
“Is it tinged with crimson?”
The captain pursed his lips. “Perhaps a little. We will sail close to the shore and let you off before reaching our port. I’ll get my crew to insist you died in the battle because of that ice spear you described. I had crew enough who didn’t make it.” The captain sighed.
“Will the Cloister accept me?”
“A young inexperienced Master Wizard?” The captain nodded. “They will if you give them my letter. You have no more than two weeks left as acting Wizard on Board to help repair the ship and help the doctor treat those who will be put ashore at port to recuperate. So, get back to work!”
Chapter Thirty-Fiv
e
Quint was anxious. He had another language to learn, he found out. Common was more typically spoken, but the pursuer thought the Cloister insisted on conversing in naru, an old, supposedly unadulterated, language used by the original hubites when they conquered North Fenola.
No one on board could tell him what life was like in a cloister, and not knowing what the future held made Quint uneasy.
He hoped the Cloister didn’t accept females. He hadn’t had much luck with women. Amaria and Calee had shown him that he couldn’t trust women his own age. He had done rather well with older females such as Colonel Gerocie and Marena, his housekeeper.
Quint wished he could send Marena a letter, but that wouldn’t be a good idea for someone who was about to be declared dead.
The boat slid up a small beach. Quint looked up at the cliff and the Cloister looming almost overhead. He said his farewell to Horenz Pizent, the purser who had come with the boat to see Quint off.
“You are a man with no name as soon as you jump off this boat,” Horenz said. “I wish you could have taken your things, but the more you leave behind, the easier it will be for those at the dock to accept your death.”
“I will miss my notebooks.”
Horenz laughed. “Your mind is good enough to copy them from memory.” He gave Quint a hug. “I wish you the best of luck. I’ll always think of you as if you were a son. I have four, you know.”
Quint smiled. “You’ve already told me. I’ll regard you and Captain Olinko as good uncles.”
Horenz laughed again. “That’s appropriate. Remember what your uncles taught you in the last two weeks. Be off with you. The rest of us must get back to the ship.”
Quint had a purse the captain had given him, the introductory letter, his father’s knife, plus the clothes on his back. He looked back a few times as he climbed the path from the beach to the cloister. When he reached the top, he stopped and backed down out of sight.
A squad of green-uniformed soldiers rounded the edge of the cloister. Could they be after him so soon? He hid behind a scraggly bush and watched them continue their rounds. Quint noticed that none of them bothered to look out to sea where the skiff that brought him to shore was still making its way out to the ship.
Quint followed the soldiers around the walls until he passed a door that was beginning to open.
“In here,” a robed man said, holding the door open for Quint. He wore a peculiar beard, but his smile seemed genuine.
Quint decided he didn’t have an option as he stepped inside. Even if there were green-uniformed soldiers inside, Quint had nowhere to go, and no support. It had just sailed away.
The monk or whatever he was, cast a string against the door. Quint recognized it. “Wood binder,” he said.
The monk turned and grinned. “Very good! Follow me. You are expected, young man.”
The End
Strings of Empire: Characters & Locations
Characters
The Wizard Corps
Quint Tirolo - Fifteen-year-old boy with magic awakening inside him.
Zeppo Tirolo - Quint’s father
Master Geno Pozella - magic trainer
Amaria Baltacco – junior officer in the wizard corps
Colonel Sarrefo - commander of Strategic Operations
Field Marshal Chiglio – Army commander
Specialist Gaglio - old friend of Pozella
Pacci Colleto. Master Wizard in the Gussellian army.
General Emilio Baltacco - over the Wizard Corps military arm. Amaria’s father.
