* * *

  Tic ignored the barkers and hawkers of wares, preferring the company of himself in his private place where nobody, with the exception of Tia of course, could ever find him. He was in the tomb of records for Lemure Boots, an upper level, windowless room where the files for past years were stored. It was too damp below ground for records storage and up here it was kept well ventilated to preserve the parchments. It was also kept dark with only two sconce lamps upon the far wall. No one knew that he would hide here reviewing the company origins. These were the things that interested him, not Pom or Ragball, those were games to pass time, Tic had no time to pass. These were his records, his histories as well as the extension of his families progression.

  He had been athletic once, in a time before…what? He never knew quite how to explain it, not even to himself. It was like at some point a switch had flipped and his mind was no longer interested in dodge ball or Pom. For some, they could put it on a teacher who inspired them or a subject matter they fell in love with, but Tic couldn’t claim either of those things as having any effect on him.

  It had come more as a calling, nothing he could see or hear but more a realization that the world was expecting more from him than simply a good time.

  He first felt it working up in the city offices, a building so ancient as to have sections with no recorded origin. It had come to him as a feeling of pressure in the room or maybe even a whisper where no breeze played the air. It had called to him without a voice and he yearned to touch it and feel more.

  He had been researching property rights in the lower district, which was rumored to be the oldest neighborhood in the city, when he came across a strange scroll that was attached to the original abstract of virtually the entire lower half of the city. It turned out that the area which included his factory and home was once owned by a powerful wizard more than a thousand years prior.

  Tic didn’t believe in magic then and believed that it had never even truly existed, but shear curiosity forced him to take a closer look at the abstract, especially the ancient scroll attached to it. There was something familiar about the name but he couldn’t recall what.

  “Haddox Naverlan.” He said it out loud thinking that it could jog loose something in his memory, it didn’t. On the back page of the scroll was the wax stamp of the city that looked much then as it did now with the exception of the ravages of time. Right next to it was the wizard’s personal stamp, and strangely it looked as if it had been placed there within the week but Tic knew that couldn’t be true. Where the city stamp showed wear and was barely legible due to constant temperature changes, the wizard’s stamp displayed its original thickness of wax with every letter crisp on an unmarred surface.

  Is that…magic? He wondered if there might be more to the arcane arts than simple fireballs and disappearing bunnies.

  He rubbed his hand over the seal, feeling how soft the wax still felt and he pulled back astonished. Something had just happened…when he touched the seal there was a…something, but he couldn’t exactly say what.

  Slowly, he reached out and touched it again. It was warm and the wizard’s name on the seal started to glow and felt even hotter than the surrounding seal, but it still didn’t melt the wax. He could feel it now, the energy or power flowed from the simple seal and into Tic’s hand. It flowed up his arm and filled his entire body, filling him with a feeling of warmth and comfort. Then it faded and he was simply holding an original document from the earliest days of the city. He gently slid the papers back into the file box and closed the lid. He then took the box and turned to bring it back to its original place when he kicked something. He knelt down to see what it could have been and saw a palm-sized, flat stone. He didn’t think it had been there before and stones don’t belong in a place such as this so he picked it up and put it in his pocket. It wasn’t until he was on his way home when he remembered the stone and pulled it out to cast it into a field.

  The etchings on the face stood out and shocked him into knowing that he had unwittingly stolen something that belonged to the ancient wizard. It must have fallen from his packet while Tic was going through it, though why he hadn’t heard it fall he couldn’t say. He would return it the very next day and no one would be the wiser, or at least that’s what he told himself. The stone, however, was the very same one he had in his pocket right now and had kept in his pocket every day since finding it so many years ago.

  Now he knew that he couldn’t return it. There weren’t accurate records from those days so no one would have even known it was there. If it was important, his family, of which there were many, should have claimed it centuries ago. A part of him felt like a thief for keeping the stone but another part of him…a part that recognized the worth of such an artifact, felt validated for rescuing the stone. It had power and changed him in ways that he could have never imagined. It shouldn’t be locked up in a dungeon, it should be out in the world doing good for the people. Tic had used it for good, though he couldn’t let anyone else know about it. He had tried to affect as many people as he could with it at any given time by filling wells and making sure the aqueducts flowed or repairing unseen cracks in the city’s millstones, little things…things that wouldn’t be noticed and could be passed off to luck or the wiles of nature.

  It was long after that when Tic realized that he had changed too. He found that his focus and thought process had altered slightly. When he first discovered science the world had been broken down into base elements and rebuilt into the assembly of atoms and molecules of what they are, and it amazed him. This new awareness was different. It was more internal, breaking his body down section by section showing him vast stores of energy. Energy that seemed to be everywhere and in everything. He knew that if the right paths were followed, those energies could be tapped into, some even at will. That was over two years ago and he had sucked in everything he could find since on the esoteric art.

  He sat in his almost secret place and focused upon the glass paperweight and performed what was the first ability he was able to develop. He thought about the stone in his pocket and reached out to the piece. Lifting a polished crystal paperweight with a focus on the manipulation of gravity and air, creating a levitation field a foot off the desk. He laced it with heatless flames of blue and green before he flicked a finger, causing it to spin like a flaming Crystal planet in space. He expanded the flames causing them to fill the room with glowing sparks before he slammed it against the wall. Then he sat back and watched the show as the ball of flame bounced harmlessly from wall to ceiling to wall to floor, each impact causing its own original explosion of color and flames. He laughed at the silly oooo’s and ahhh’s that would be on display at the festival while he sat within a chamber of fire.

  The chamber door started to open and Tic released the energy causing the glass weight to drop in the center of the floor.

  “What the hell was that?” Tia asked as she entered the room.

  “Ah, I don’t know, what do you think you saw?” Tic tried not to stammer but he was caught off guard.

  “Well, there was…” She looked at Tic before shaking her head. “Never mind, guess who was chosen at the festival,” she said mockingly.

  “No,” Tic said, his head dropping.

  “That’s right, little brother. Father said I am to fetch you even if I have to tie you up.”

  “And that’s why she brought us, little brother,” Zack said from behind her and Tic’s hopes of escape fell.

  “This is a big honor for the family and the company Tic,” Tad Junior added making his presence known. “None of us were ever chosen before so step up and do your duty.”

  “It’s bad enough that you guys won’t leave me alone, now you’ve got the entire city doing it. I’m not going,” he said and they just stared at him as if he had said nothing. “I’m refusing, passing it on or giving over…whatever it is you need to say to decline this malarkey.”

  “You can do whatever you want to do, Tic,” Zack said. “I really don’t care… never have.”

  Tic knew this to be a fact, but something in his tone said this wasn’t over yet. Zack, with Vince who was not here, handled the bulk product, so to say either of them was strong would be a gross understatement. He could make Tic do whatever he wanted with the grip of one hand. He wasn’t mean, he just didn’t like arguing with people, especially people that have extensive vocabularies. He took another step into the records room and gave a disgusted surveillance of the smoke-stained walls.

  “Dad told me to bring you to him, so guess what’s going to happen, Tic.” He didn’t smile or try to look threatening, he simply relayed events in the manner that they were going to occur, one way or another.

  Tic stood and took a couple of steps toward the door with the fleeting thought of running, but sometimes one simply has to accept defeat. He would go and face his father and tell him that he just wasn’t interested. Leaving the house and finding the streets empty was a relief, as most were at the fair grounds and only the city patrol walked the avenues. Tad Junior left before they reached the square, feigning business dealings with a group of people his own age. Tad, as of yet, was unmarried, a trait that he would like to remedy. In turn, family affairs were simply something that he was not interested in unless it directly related to the business.

  They walked by an alley and saw a group of robed men, or at least Tic assumed they were men as not many women became monks. Monks were a rare sight in Lemure as most religious orders in the city didn’t have them, but the festival brought out all sorts. A few minutes later they passed an avenue and more of the monks were standing around as if they were waiting for something. Lemure had its share of religions, but he couldn’t think of one sect that had this many monks.

  “Does it seem strange to you that there are so many monks hanging around unattended?” Tia asked.

  “Yes,” Tic replied.

  “I don’t care,” Zack said. “It’s none of my concern what the zealots do.”

  “So, the fact that I have seen more monks in the last two minutes than I have seen in my entire life means nothing?”

  “Relax, Tia, they’re probably just here for the festival. The city is crawling with the King’s pike men so they won’t be any bother to honest folk,” Zack said. “Besides, I have my blade with me.” Zack was proud of the fact that he had passed the requirements to be armed within the city limits and carried his permit on him religiously. Most of the men in his family would also have blade permits as to expedite the transfers of goods but not Tic, he never was very good with a blade and would never pass the requirement test.

  “Well, I know they are not a threat, if they truly are monks that is… however…” Tia left it hang.

  “However nothin, it don’t mean nothin and you’re not going to distract us from getting Tic to Dad.”

  Tic gave Tia a knowing smirk realizing that he did have something of an ally in her.

  “He doesn’t want to go, Zack. You shouldn’t be forcing him to do what you want him to do, he is of an age to make up his own mind.”

  “None of us Rowes are ever at that age, Tia. I am not forcing him to do anything other than go see his father, that shouldn’t be too big of a deal considering he feeds and clothes you while keeping a roof over your head.”

  “I earn my keep, Zack, burn you if you think I don’t.”

  “It’s not like that, Tia. Rules are different for people like us, it’s just the way it is.”

  “Yeah, well it will never change as long as you keep acting like his whipped mutt,” Tia said and almost regretted it when she saw rage creep into her older brother’s face.

  “Be glad that you are my little sister because if you were my little brother, we would be taking a little side trip right about now. A very painful side trip. Keep moving, Tic,” Zack said and grabbed his arm to speed him along.

  “Hey, I didn’t say anything.”

  “Yeah, you’re not stopping her either, are ya? Keep moving.”

  Tad Senior was at what they called the command tent, where he handled the running of the three booths throughout the festival. They would practically give away twenty-five pairs of boots and wharf shoes over the next few days, but they would sell at full price several hundred more. The pre-made festival boots were usually the work of apprentices and actually helped to recoup the cost of their training. Today was Tia and Tic’s day to enjoy the festival, tomorrow they would work as Vince, Zack, and his other two sisters played. Of course, on Tic’s day it happened to be the same day that he was… He couldn’t even get himself to say it. It simply felt too corny for him to say.

  Chosen, how ridiculous, I can’t believe that I am even going to have this conversation.

  * * *

  “You’re going.” His father used the sternest voice that he could muster. It was hard, even though he had gone off on the other boys to the point of giving them a good whipping, especially Zack. Sakes alive, even his brother Rowen has had to lay into Zack a time or two, yet never Tic. He couldn’t even remember raising his voice at Tic and that was a part of what worried Tad about the boy.

  “It’s pointless,” Tic replied in a tone that he struggled to not sound like a whine. “I already know the entire governmental system that we operate under, probably better than they do, and their mathematics department is substandard.”

  “Which is exactly why you have to go. Maybe you can make things a little easier for us, figure out a way to lower taxes or something good like that.” Tad was almost pleading with his son; he didn’t want to have to strong arm him. He would…but he didn’t want to. Tic would have his own life even if it killed the both of them. It wasn’t important for the others; they were of a stock that was suited to what they are doing. But Tic, as well as Tia, needed more and he had a plan to make it so. It wasn’t this plan, he had no desires to see his son waste two years of his life up in the capital, but he had to force the boy to make a stand about something.

  “They’re never going to lower taxes no matter what I do, that is not how greed works, Papa.”

  “What’s this ‘Papa’ business? You’re not a baby boy anymore. Stand up and take your place in this world as a man.”

  “I have my place in this world, you made it pretty clear from the start as to what I will be doing for the rest of my life and this doesn’t figure into the program.”

  “Don’t you see son, that is why you have to go to the Kingdom and work for the royal family for a few years. Your life is already written for you and you’re not even twenty. I don’t apologize for that as you will have a comfortable life with plenty of work and money, but there is more out there, especially for you.”

  His father’s words faded off as Tic listened to the evaluation of what his life was to be. It sounded pretty good with work, money, and family, so there was a part of him that could smile at this. However, there was another part; a deeper, darker part that told him he might as well just lay down and die today.

  My life has already been lived by thousands of other people throughout history. A feeling of overwhelming sameness threatened to engulf his soul.

  Maybe the adventure to the capitol was a good thing, or could be, but could he stomach the ineptness of all of those who were to surround him. Nobody knew that, through the stone he had found years before, he had attained a knowledge that superseded what they could use within todays’ systems.

  “You need to live a little, son. I know you’ll be under the thumb of the royal family, but they’re not so bad from what I hear.”

  “You hear? We don’t hear anything from the capitol way down here. When was the last time a member of the royal family has come to Lemure?”

  “It doesn’t matter, Tic, it doesn’t.”

  “It does matter, they don’t care about us and still we send products and taxes and pay their tariffs and for what? A couple of pikemen when there is a threat of danger and to fix the roads so they can get the goods and taxes that we provide?”

  “Careful now, son, that sounds almost treasonous. But don’t you see, you’re smart enough to fix all of that, or maybe see an angle or two that others don’t. You’re going,” he said and looked at Tic, exasperated. He knew that he had to get a response or he would pull out the big guns. Of course he had more ammunition, he was a single father after all, and knew all of the tricks. Tricks that even his super brilliant son wouldn’t know. He even saw his ace in the hole wandering toward them right now with a mischievous grin as usual.

  “Look, Tic, I hate to put it to you this way but here it is. If you don’t want to go to the capitol for two years then you had better be ready to hit the road. That’s right, son, I’m kicking you out of my house for four years. I’ll give you some supplies to get started and maybe even a horse, though you’re not a very good rider.” He paused and looked at his son whose jaw was wide enough to catch flies in shock.

  “But, why?” he managed to stammer out.

  “You need to see something of the world other than here.”

  “But you never did that for Zack or Tad nor any of the girls.”

  “I did for Tad, you’re just too young to remember other than he was gone for a couple of years. Zack…I just don’t think that the world is ready for Zack, best to keep him home as well as Vince but even they did a year in the military. As far as the girls go, I don’t think that I am here to turn them into men, I still don’t have the daughter thing down, especially with Tia.” He smiled and Tic warmed. “I was going to wait a year or two but this whole festival business, combined with your piss poor attitude about all of this has forced my hand. So, when I tell you that you are going, you are going.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “That’s it, you’ll go?”

  “I don’t have much choice.”

  “You’re a good man son.”