The Accidental Archmage by Edmund Batara (read out loud books .TXT) 📕

with people. Tyler believed that the

newcomers must be those pursuing them from the first ambush. Still, the group

continued, dropping back to a more manageable speed upon sighting the walls of a

town.

“Is that Maljen? Tyler asked the Gothi.

“Yes! We’re nearly there. The guards will watch for any pursuit.”

As the road turned and curved through the bottom of a small hill, obscuring their view

of the town walls, Tyler saw that a wave of solid ice was being blown across the path of

the rushing carriage. He pulled on the reins to slow down the horses, cognizant of the

danger of the horses slipping on the ice. Then, from the tall weeds of the right side of

the road, he saw a winged creature rise, the size of a large horse and which looked like

a small dragon. The tall vegetation must have hidden it while it was lying in ambush. A

small humanoid creature, holding a small spear, was riding on its neck. Both creature

and rider were covered in frost while two other similar creatures, also with riders, rose

from further back.

“Ivar! Front! Enemies!”

Tyler didn’t dare look back at the Gothi, his mind focused on trying to control the

horses while keeping an eye on the new enemies.

“What in Odin’s name? Ice drakes!”

Tyler could feel the unbelieving and shocked tone of the Gothi’s voice. The horses

reached the ice patch and started sliding to and fro, trying to keep their footing. Out of

the cover of his eye, Tyler saw the lead ice drake rider throw the short spear at him. It

was white and as it got nearer, he saw it was made of ice.

For Tyler, it seemed as if the world slowed down. He could see his death coming. More

by reflex, he held out his right hand, palm out, as if to signal stop to the incoming

projectile directed at his chest. Amazingly, the ice spear melted fast, tip first, a short

distance from his outstretched palm, until nothing was left.

All of sudden, the world returned to normal speed and by some miracle, they were already past the ice patch and were now turning towards the now visible town walls.

Tyler didn’t look back, focusing on reaching safety. He could hear the boom of a fire

ball exploding some distance behind the carriage. With the Gothi’s continued

murmuring, he guessed the man was throwing fire balls at the ice drakes. Again,

another loud explosion followed. Tyler could already see the opened town gate letting

out a small column of mounted men. He headed straight towards it.

As he passed the racing column of mounted armored men, which he assumed to be

town soldiers, he breathed a sigh of relief. In a short while, the carriage entered the

town, with Tyler desperately trying to rein in the speeding horses.

Abruptly, the horses stopped. Unfortunately, the momentum threw the inexperienced

Tyler through the air, past the horses and straight down into the very muddy ground. It

was a very painful classic full body slam, with his arms and legs spread-eagled as he

made his inglorious mud bath landing. He lost consciousness.

Tyler woke up in an unfamiliar bed. And in pain. Again.

This is starting to be a distressingly familiar experience, thought Tyler. He was naked

and under a blanket of fur. Again. Though this time the fur blanket had an underlining

of cloth. He looked around and the room appeared to be luxuriously appointed,

compared to his room in the hunter’s house. On one side of the room, it had a stone

wall with two small glass windows. It was still daylight outside, though it appeared to

be late afternoon.

The rest of the walls looked to be the work of a master carpenter, with varnished

wooden surfaces. The room’s furniture also looked well-made. A dressing table with a

stool, two chairs around a small round table in the corner, a tall wardrobe cabinet, floor

rugs, another small table beside the bed with a jug of water and several copper cups,

and two big wooden chests lined up on a wall comprised the furnishings. His backpack

was on top of one of the chests.

His entire body was again covered with a kind of balm and the wound dressing on his

shoulder appeared to have been changed. But he was clean. Somebody did a wash and

dry routine on him. Feeling out his body and extremities, he breathed a sigh of relief

when nothing appeared to be broken. His all-important dangly bits also checked out. He

also saw a set of clothes folded at the foot of the bed. The medallion necklace the Gothi

gave him was still around his neck.

The pain was not extreme and he found he could move, albeit slowly. He changed into

the clothes left for him, drank some water and sluggishly made his way to one of the

windows. He could see part of the town laid out before him. It looked like an early

medieval town. Some structures were of stone and wood and usually had two floors.

Other structures appeared to be log style houses. Some had sod roofs while others had small wooden tiles. The streets gave the impression of being well-planned. Wide

enough to accommodate a wagon and allow pedestrian flow on both sides. In the far

distance, he could see the city walls.

Getting the water jug and a cup, he sat down on one of the chairs around the round

wooden table. He then tried some stretching exercises to feel out his body. The left

shoulder still gave him a problem because of the tender muscles around the healed

wound.

After a while, he heard a knock on the door. Giving his permission, the door opened

and the Gothi came in.

“How’s our patient?” boomed the Gothi, with a wide smile.

“Still a patient. I hope this doesn’t become a habit.”

“You did go flying into the ground. Thankfully, it was muddy enough that you didn’t

break any bones. You lost consciousness so we had to carry you here, to my home.”

“How long was I out this time?”

“Not long. Only a few hours. But healing was done immediately. I daresay you are in

better condition now than yesterday. Except for the stiffness of course. But that will go

away sooner than you think.”

“I still feel like shit.”

The Gothi chortled. “Don’t mind