From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Feb 16 17:26:27 1994
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From: sxk29@po.CWRU.Edu (Susan Kretschmer)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [Maray] Tav Makes A Decision
Date: 15 Feb 1994 01:32:38 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
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Reply-To: sxk29@po.CWRU.Edu (Susan Kretschmer)
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ADMIN: this post introduces the character Tav of Maray.  [Maray] indicates
the thread specific to him and the town he comes from.

_Tav Makes A Decision_


	Tav Safthandor was in a bad mood already.  Psai, the wizard he was 
apprenticed to, had apparently gone somewhere that morning, leaving behind 
only a list of chores for Tav to do.  Among them was a long list for the 
market, and not nearly enough money to buy everything, as usual.

	Tav kicked things randomly as he walked the few short blocks from 
Psai's modest house to the small village square of Maray.  Fenceposts, walls, 
rocks.  It made him feel a little better.  But he was frustrated.  He was tired 
of being treated like a delinquent child, or a servant, or whatever Psai seemed 
to think he was.  Certainly not an apprentice mage.  In four years with Psai, 
he had learned almost nothing about his magic beyond what he'd hesitantly 
figured out on his own.  But he had done an awful lot of housework.

	Maray's town square was lined with merchants' carts, as it generally 
was in the morning.  Old Lady Karoly, who sold vegetables and herbs, scowled as 
she saw Tav approaching.  Tav sighed.  He was used to people's negative 
reactions, the distrust, and the barely disguised fear; he had lived with it 
all his life.  His father had been Sel Safthandor.  The Sel Safthandor who had 
led an army of horrible *things* against the group of peaceful farming villages 
called the Marayan League, the Sel Safthandor who had been responsible for the 
death of nearly half the population of the area in that invasion fifteen years 
ago, the evil wizard who had brought destruction down from the heavens, and who 
had brought the *keth*, only recently thought to be exterminated.  That Sel 
Safthandor.

	The Marayans had let Tav live, for some reason, when the battle was 
over and Sel was finally defeated.  He'd been three years old at the time.  Tav 
was not quite sure why they hadn't just killed him; he often thought darkly 
that they should have done so, and saved themselves eighteen years of bother.  
But they had spared him, and he'd grown up with a foster family on their farm, 
along with their eight other children.  It had not been so bad when he was 
small, but as he got older, it became clear that they were afraid of him, as 
was everyone else in the town.

	Old Lady Karoly's distaste went beyond most people's, though.  She sold 
herbs, so both Psai and Tav had to deal with her constantly, and she hated the 
fact that they were using her wares for spell components.  Tav was often able 
to get remarkably good prices from many merchants, because they would lower the 
prices just to get him away from their cart.  He supposed his presence hurt 
their business.  But Old Lady Karoly charged them outrageous amounts, and 
usually delivered a tirade on how magic was the root of all evil besides.  This 
time was no different, and it took over half his money and a lot of contrite 
nodding and agreeing to get away with what he needed.

	"You mark my words," she muttered as Tav made his escape, quite loudly 
enough for Tav to hear,  "that bastard of Sel's will be the ruin of us all 
someday..."  Tav suspected she enjoyed every minute of their patronage.

	He managed to get most of the remaining stuff on the list, and could 
feel the relief behind him as he left the square.  He put it all on the table 
in Psai's laboratory, and glared at the list of chores that Psai wanted 
finished today.  He was tired of this.  He was sick of Psai, he was sick of the 
whole village of Maray staring nastily at him.  It made him want perversely to 
do something to deserve it.  Even Hell had to be better than this; at least in 
Hell you could presumably comfort yourself during your eternal torment by 
recalling all the marvelously horrible things you'd done to get there.  Tav 
hadn't even done anything particularly awful.  Well, once he'd set the house on 
fire.  But it had been an accident; he was an elemental mage, so fires were 
easy for him, and he'd only meant to light the hearth.  

	Aside from that, his biggest crime was being the son of, and 
resembling, Sel.  He'd been told often enough that he looked like Sel, the same 
dark hair, and pale skin, the same dark eyes and sharp, even features.  Only 
shorter, as they never failed to mention.  Tav, at 5'5", was sort of on the 
short side, although he was only eighteen, and he thought he might grow a few 
more inches.

	Tav shook his head, tired of brooding.  Psai was still gone.  Likely he 
would be out all day; he had been gone a lot of late.  Tav didn't know where he 
was spending his time; he didn't know of much inside one day's walk that was 
all that interesting, but then, maybe Psai wasn't exactly walking to his 
destination.

	He picked up the chore list.  As he expected, Psai wanted the 
laboratory cleaned.  Psai had made a horrible mess with a spell he was testing 
last night, and lizard guts and other unsavory spell ingredients had dried 
everywhere.  Tav glanced around, and shuddered.  No, he thought, absolutely no, 
there was no way he was cleaning that up.  He was in a bad mood already, and 
frustrated, and he decided suddenly that he didn't care anymore.  Let them try 
to do their worst to him.  He was leaving.  He wondered if there were lands 
that had never heard of Sel Safthandor.  There had to be, to the South, 
although Marayans didn't know much about the lands outside the League, 
and most didn't care to.  Supposedly they were full of elves and goblins and 
trolls and other threats to decent human farmers, all best left alone.

	It would be hard to leave on foot though.  Sel's face, and therefore 
Tav's, was known for miles in every direction, and he doubted he could find 
hospitality anywhere; it was why he had not left long ago.  He was also afraid 
of Psai, but maybe there was some way he could get far enough away that no one 
would care anymore.  The same way, maybe, that Psai had left today...

	He went to Psai's giant spellbook, that lay open on its stand in the 
corner of the room.  Psai had of course told him never to come near it without 
his permission, but he had peeked at it before, and nothing bad had happened.  
The spells were not listed in much of an order, but Tav knew that Psai had had 
the book charmed by a librarian in some strange Southern city, and as a result 
you could use a magical command called "grep" to locate your topic in the 
several-thousand-page book.  He closed the big book, and said aloud "Grep 
'travel'", and then let the book fall open.

	The page showed a drawing of a magical object, and listed the 
incantation to be used along with it.  The object looked familiar; it was a 
thin iron chain with a distinctive pattern to the links.  Apparently you were 
supposed to step through the circle of the chain, and emerge on the other side 
in the place you named.

	The chain looked very familiar.  Tav got up and hunted around the 
workshop until he finally found it, lying in a heap near the door; he knew he 
had seen it before.  He wondered, suddenly concerned, if the chain remained in 
the place you were leaving, how would you get back?  Maybe Psai hadn't left 
that way.  Well, he had no intention of returning, he reminded himself firmly, 
so it shouldn't matter.

	He returned to the spellbook, holding the chain, and read the 
description of the spell .  "These objects, the chains of transport known as 
the Iron Windows, were forged long ago by a powerful magician..."  Blah, blah 
blah.  What did they *do*?  He kept reading.  "Their power is mostly inherent; 
the mage who made them was very powerful.  The sorcerer who wishes to use them 
need only guide the transportation properly."  That was good.  Tav's mage-gift 
was relatively specific in nature.  He could work with fire and light, and wind 
and rain, and other such natural forces, but he could not do many other spells, 
such as illusion or mind-reading.  He wasn't certain about transportation 
(although perhaps if Psai had taught him more, he would be), but he doubted he 
could have cast such a spell unassisted.

	He was hoping it would explain if you could return, but it didn't, it 
just told you to name your destination and then hold the place in your mind as 
you read the incantation. He wondered where he could go.  He only knew the name 
of one Southern city, Generica, the monster-filled place parents used to scare 
their children into obedience.  "If you don't behave, we'll banish you to 
Generica!"

	Tav grimaced.  It would have to be Generica.  He went to his room and 
retrieved his few possessions, reflecting that Sel Safthandor was also used to 
scare small children, so maybe it was fitting.  He stuck the small bronze knife 
that was the only thing he had  resembling a weapon into his belt.  He did not 
feel much safer, but it was better than nothing.  Psai had not returned, but 
Tav decided he had better just try the spell now, before he did.  And before he 
could think better of it himself.

	He slung his pack over one shoulder, and picked up the Iron Window.  He 
held the long, circular chain up before him, so it surrounded an open space 
about as tall as he was, and backed up so that he could still see the 
spellbook.  He had not been looking behind him, and tripped over Psai's mangy 
black cat and nearly fell.  "Go to hell!" Tav hissed at it.  He and the cat did 
not get along; Tav had numerous scratches to prove it.  The creature spat at 
him, but skulked back behind the pedestal.

	Tav repostioned the Window, and said loudly, "Generica!"  He read the 
incantation, his voice trembling a little.  He could feel the power gathering 
in front of him, humming through the chain he held.  He was trying to visualize 
Generica, but he had no idea what it looked like and all that came into his 
mind was various monsters. That was probably not a good idea.  He tried to 
stop thinking about them, but it was like trying to tell yourself, "Don't think 
about *keth*"  Because, of course, you immediately thought of a *keth*,  
and likely a really nasty, fanged, drooling one.

	Tav shivered.  He finished the incantation, hesitated a moment, and 
then plunged through the chain...
-- 
Susie Kretschmer              
CWRU School of Medicine          "Don't ask me, I'm just improvising"
MSTP Class of 1998	       	          -Rush, _Presto_
Internet: sxk29@po.cwru.edu