The Ice Mage Incident – Episode 1
I was as pleased as punch when Trewla agreed to accompany me on an outing.
Between you and me, she’s always the first person I ask when the castle arrives in a new world. Well, one where the presence of the viaduct, its stone arches marching across the moat, signals it’s probably not too dangerous to go out on a jaunt.
Winter had this world in its frosty grip, which made quite a change from the last one. I was itching to get away for a while having spent the last two weeks on an island barely bigger than the castle with nothing around us to see but sea.
It was mid-morning and ten minutes earlier I’d found Trewla on the battlements alongside Grimmon. Both were gazing at a smudge of smoke on the horizon.
The castle had located itself at the edge of a large frozen lake whose even surface stretched away as far as the eye could see. On either side, vast forests of pine, spruce, and fir covered the terrain. Apart from the smoke, which must be coming from the chimneys of a town on the far side of the chillsome expanse of ice, there were no signs of civilisation. No paths, roads or even rough tracks nearby.
That wasn’t surprising.
A feature of the castle is that it tends to materialise in remote spots. Most often that suits us because the sudden appearance of a large twelfth century fortified building on the outskirts of a town would be bound to cause consternation amongst the locals. We’d probably spend the entire fortnight of the castle’s stay fending off outraged ramblers claiming we’d blocked a public footpath, and dealing with government officials accusing us of evading local taxes for the last eight hundred years.
Seeing as the spell had a habit of blending the castle seamlessly into the surrounding area, giving the appearance it had always been there, it would be more than a little difficult to get them to believe we’d only arrived that morning.
Of course, I didn’t expect anything like that to happen given our current location. But what was unexpected was Trewla’s ready acceptance of my invitation to accompany me to the town.
My heart raced while I reran her answer through my head just in case I’d misheard.
“Yes?” I said.
“That’s right.” She gave me a strange look. “Why are you gaping at me like that?”
“No reason,” I said hastily. “Good. Good.”
Grimmon tugged at my sleeve. “I want to go too.”
The last person I wanted along on an outing with Trewla was a goblin with an odour like a wagonload of overripe gorgonzola.
I feigned concern and gave a regretful shake of my head. “Sorry, old fellow. We’ll be taking the sleigh and it only has two seats.”
He looked like he was going to argue, but it seemed the firm expression on my face and the surreptitious shooing motion I made with my hand made him back down.
I smiled at Trewla. “Um… We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”
“I’m ready now.”
With her fur hat and coat, heavy boots and gloves, she was better dressed for the icy world than I was.
“I’ll meet you at the gate in half an hour,” I said, hurrying away before she changed her mind.
Having raced to my apartment first to change into an outfit suitable for the climate, I soon found myself in the outbuilding where we kept the transport, pulling the dust cloth off of the horse-drawn sleigh. It was a fairly lightweight vehicle which often came in useful when we visited worlds like the current one. Not wanting Trewla’s furs to be blemished by anything Grimmon might have left on the seat, I wiped it with the dust cloth before pushing the sleigh outside. It was only when the steel runners scraped across the film of ice coating the flagstones that a thought struck me.
My stomach dropped and I lurched to a stop.
A chuckle sounded behind me. I whirled around to see Grimmon grinning at me.
“You’ve just remembered we no longer have any horses,” he said. “Haven’t you?”
He was right. That’s exactly what had occurred to me. We’d left our coach and the only two horses we had in Virrellenta’s world.
I ground my teeth. “It’s all your fault! Instead of getting our own transport back, you turned up with a donkey cart!”
It was the goblin’s turn to give a regretful head shake. “Tut, tut. How ungrateful of you. I rescued your sorry hide, remember?”
Tight-lipped, I subjected him to my fiercest stare.
Still grinning, he continued with, “But arguing won’t get you anywhere. If you want to take Trewla out for the day your only option is apologise to me and allow me to join you.”
My blood boiled. “Are you out of your mind? In any case, I don’t need your help!”
“Oh? Are you going to draw the sleigh yourself?”
“I’ll borrow a horse.”
“No you won’t. The only other horses are in there.” Grimmon pointed towards the bailey where most of the castle’s population dwelt. “And not one person there will give you the time of day, let alone lend you a horse.” His smile grew wider and he arched his eyebrows. “They like me however…”
Dammit! He had me.
“All right,” I said through gritted teeth.
“All right what?”
“I apologise.”
“And?”
I snarled. “You can come too.” I curled my hands into fists. “You’ll sit in the back, though.”
“See? That wasn’t difficult, was it?”
Grimmon skipped away, heading for the bailey.
“Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back soon,” he called over his shoulder.
*** To Be Continued ***
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