The Pathmaker by Caleb VanSteenwyk, Caleb VanSteenwyk (good beach reads TXT) 📖

 The Pathmaker

The snow-covered city in front of me was the largest structure that I’d seen for months. I could only vaguely see the outline of the city through the harsh wind and blowing ice, which bit my face. I was only wearing two layers of worn out clothes, which seemed like nothing here in the mountains. As I got closer to the city, I could see large marble walls that surrounded the city, broken only by a single gate guarded by two silhouettes with spears shaved to a point in their hand. Every ten yards, there was a supporting pillar on the wall, each painted with a familiar symbol on it. It was a circle with a symbol of motion, fire and energy within it. All of these were crossed out with a large red X: It meant no magic was allowed within the city walls. I was fine with this; I had no need for it. In the center of the city was the structure that stood out the most. It appeared to be a large temple, with multiple pointed pillars that stretched up much higher than any other structure. These pillars were all deemed colorless by the harsh snow.

I approached two of the guards, whose faces were hidden well behind the fur outlining their hoods. They each wore very thick coats, and probably multiple layers of clothing underneath those. Both of them stood motionless, except for their visible shivering. “How much is the stay?” I asked one of them. He looked up shocked, and he clearly had no idea of my arrival. He looked up and revealed his very angular face, with a long beard that extended further down than was shown through his coat.

“Five pieces to enter.” He finally said, with no emotion. The guard had probably repeated this phrase countless times before, causing it to loose all meaning. I wordlessly reached into the pouch I had tied around my waist, and pulled out five dull, freezing coins with a lion crudely engraved on one side. Slowly, the guard extended his hand and I dumped the five coins into his outstretched palm. The second guard went over to the gate, took out the lock, and let me in.

As soon as I entered the city, some of the pain in my face loosened. The city walls blocked some of the snow and ice that was blowing around. The people inside the city looked lost and scared, moving around slowly, most of them carrying barrels or baskets full of goods. A couple times one of the citizens would stop, exchange words with another, and then trade some of the items in their baskets. Other than these quick exchanges, none of the citizens talked to one another, and it was eerily silent. They all stared at the ground, and never spoke a word. When a woman finally looked up and glanced at me, I nodded to her and she quickly scurried away. When I started walking around, the people stayed far away from me, forming a path as I walked. In case I was frightening them, I checked to see if any of my weapons were exposed, but they weren’t.

Suddenly, a loud bell sounded, coming from the center of the city, at the highest pillar of the temple. The citizens instantly scattered, running into the nearest building, as if this is what they were afraid of all this time. Just a simple bell that caused all the insanity, but I knew this couldn’t be all.

Within ten seconds of the loud bell, the only people left outside were two others within eyesight and me, who were also obviously foreigners like me. It was obvious because of the clothes they wore, and because they didn’t seem scared of everything like the citizens were. I walked over to one of the foreigners, who was shivering violently in the freezing wind. He was tragically unprepared, and only had two layers of tattered clothes on, just like me. But he had obviously been out in the cold longer than I had. His face and hands were bright red, as well as his ears. It seemed possible that he could start getting frostbite very soon.

I walked over to him and spoke. “Do you have any idea what’s going on in this city?” I asked him, which made him jump suddenly. He looked at me with wide eyes, as if I had threatened to hurt him, but he slowly calmed down.

“It’s just a, uh, mandatory thing they have every day.” He paused as his teeth chattered loudly, and he continued to shiver. “They come out and test all of the foreigners for, uh, magic. It’s just… to be safe.” He said, and continued to shiver.

“Who exactly are they?” I asked. The foreigner just laughed a crazy, cackling laugh that echoed throughout the city. He looked at me, realized I was serious, and shook his head, to inform me how clueless I was.

“They are the people who run this place.” He replied. “They live in the, uh” The foreigner pointed to the huge temple in the center of the city. “Temple up there. They’re super suspicious. It’s just the ruler and some crazy old, uh, bat.”

I paused at this, and looked at him shivering so violently. “Don’t you have someplace to go, or money to buy someplace to stay?” I asked him.

He just laughed that same, crazy laugh that sent chills down my spine. This man has been dealing with magic, I thought to myself. He’s gone insane. As if reading my mind, he said “They caught me with a small item of power. It wasn’t much, just a, uh, dagger that could warm up, but it was enough for them, ooh boy.” He said, and laughed that crazy laugh again. “They took my knife, beat me up, took my money, and told everyone in town I had a magic item on me. No one in town, uh, would even consider letting me stay with them, no matter how many pieces I had, no sir-ee. Everyone here is, uh, crazier than anywhere else I’ve ever been”

I considered the irony of this statement, and then walked away from the poor man. I saw the two people the foreigner had been talking about, walking down the streets. There was a very tall man dressed in a very thick fur coat, and he held a spear that had a razor sharp tip that appeared to be made out of gold. He had a rough expression on his face, and looked like he would to all those things to that poor foreigner. Walking next to him was an old woman who was much older than any human should live. She could barely walk, and he movements were slow and stiff. She also had a thick coat on, that seemed to weigh more than she did. With her she held a brown sack in one hand, and a walking stick in the other. Her walking stick was much different than the man’s, and would be no use in combat.

Even though they had done all those terrible things to the foreigner, I wasn’t worried. I had no items of power with me, and I stayed well away from magic. As far as I knew, I had never been near magic and was incapable of using it. Any usage of it would surely drive me mad, and I had to stay sharp if I wanted to survive wandering around.

As I watched, the old lady walked up to a foreigner, and said a couple words that I couldn’t hear. Then she took out a handful of shiny red powder from her sack and blew it into his face. When the powder cleared, the old lady nodded in satisfaction, most likely taking an enormous amount of energy on her part. The powder she blew into the man’s face was stardust. It was a strange substance with unknown origins, and was very rare. When near items of power, it will start to glow and become very hot, usually revealing the item. When blown into someone’s face after a few ancient words, It will form a symbol and glow if someone is capable of using magic on their own without an item of power, which was very rare. The old lady walked painfully slow toward me, the man practically at a craw so that he won’t pass her up. I waited ten seconds, and then casually began to walk up to them, to speed up the process. I was tired of waiting. Although I had never been tested by stardust, I was certain I wouldn’t be suspicious of anything, given my aversion to magic, and I was eager to get it over with.

“What is your name?” Croaked the old woman, whose voice was barely audible over the harsh winds. She was even more revolting close up. She was covered in wrinkles, and she appeared to have soot all over her face, in strange, twisting patterns. Her hair was stringy and scarce, and hung over her eyes like a torn curtain.

“Sawyer Gha’dani” I replied. The old lady nodded with a scowl, and reached slowly and painfully into her sack full of stardust. She spoke a few ancient words that were unknown to me, and included Gha’dani somewhere, although in what context I had no idea. Soon, she took her hand out, a pile of stardust on her palm. Some of it blew away in the wind, and stuck in the snow like shiny, crystallized blood. She blew stardust into my face, and I closed my eyes to avoid being blinded. I spat out some of the disgusting dust and shook my head. Her foul breathe reached out into my nostrils and stung. It smelled like a rat had climbed into her throat and died.

I felt a faint burning sensation my forehead, and the old woman gasped. “Take off your hood!” Screamed the man, and I obeyed, confused.

“Alchemy!” Screeched the old lady, and I reached up and touched my forehead. Stardust had stuck to it, and I felt around to see in what pattern it was, and my fear was confirmed. It was the familiar symbol of magic that had been painted on all the pillars surrounding the city. I tried to wipe off the glowing red stardust, but it held its place, not coming off.

There was an instant reaction to her scream, which echoed throughout the city. The larger man threw me to the ground, and put the spear to my throat, it’s gold tip shining. This is how I’m going to die, by some crazy old lady who thinks I am a magic user, I thought. But the man did not kill me; he just held his spear at my throat and stared at me like I was the devil, which to hid spoiled mind, I must seem like. Soon there were more men in thick coats with spears that were surrounding me, although only the spear at my throat was tipped in gold. One of the guards took my pack off of me, and I could see the lady blow more stardust onto it, although none of it stayed. I already knew I had no items of power with me.

Soon, one of the guards halfway picked me up, and started dragging me by my shoulders through the snow. My back suddenly became freezing, and snow began to get into my clothes, making the cold unbearable. I couldn’t get my hood back over my face, and the ice and snow once again bit at me.

Thinking I was going to die anyways, I elbowed the man dragging me, and reached for the dagger I kept in the pocked inside my shirt. But the guard’s reactions to this were swift and effective. He let go of me, and