The Reluctant Mage: Book One in the Zandar Series by R. E. Donnellan Page A

civilians.”
     
    “Civilians, you mean non-mages?”
     
    “Anyone who cannot use magic is of no of interest to us. They cannot battle. You are waking up. We will talk again soon.”
     
     
     

Chapter IX: Rau City
     
    The next day went much the same as the rest of the week. The only change was that his uncle regained consciousness. He was still too weak to sit up, but he was able to participate in conversations with Marko and the Kaplan. Marko had no more strange dreams that week.
     
    With this uncle awake, Marko felt more comfortable asking the Kaplan questions about the mage. As it turns out his name was Cyan. Like most mages working for the Empire, he came from an aristocratic family. Cyan’s father was the governor of Knin, a city in the eastern part of the Empire. “Don’t let his upbringing fool you.” The Kaplan said. “He has spent five years in service to the Emperor. He’s shed his blue blood long ago.”
     
    For the rest of the week, he only saw the mage and soldiers at evening camp. They spent the days scouting ahead of the wagon. Since the soldiers’ mission was complete with the elimination of the bandits, they were travelling in the same direction as Marko and his uncle. They reported to the Regional Commander stationed in Rau City and saw it as their duty to see that Marko’s uncle was delivered safely to the Council.
     
    During the afternoon of the seventh day of their journey, Marko finally saw the enormous wall surrounding Rau City. Even from a distance, he could tell that the city was massive. They spent over six marks travelling and the city became bigger and bigger.
     
    “You’re not likely to see anything bigger than that in your lifetime.” The Kaplan said. “Less of course you visit the King’s city when we take it over. Kastav City is even bigger.”
     
    Just before they arrived at the main gate, the wagon and riders turned left and approached a smaller, well-guarded gate. “This is the military entrance,” interjected his uncle. “We are in luck to be travelling with these soldiers. It can take all morning waiting in line to get admitted to the city.”
     
    Sure enough, the guard at the smaller gate saluted mage Cyan when he approached. All of them were ushered through the gate without so much as a second look.
     
    Once they went through the gate, they entered a large courtyard. Marko could see what looked like barracks lined up in all directions. The amount of soldiers that must live here would dwarf those of most villages, he thought. Everything looked chaotic until Marko began analyzing his surroundings. Everyone was moving, but with purpose. He saw whole platoons of soldiers marching in formation, cavalry soldiers drilling in fields, and what he could only guess to be cannon being dragged on some sort of wagon behind horses. His father had told him about these new devices. They were supposed to be the new weapon of the war but both sides found them to be very inaccurate and difficult to move. He said that cannon were best deployed in large field engagements, but lately the war had been made up of skirmishes. Some of the border forts, however, had them as a fixed defense.
     
    “I have orders to deliver you personally to the Council, but my guess is that you would like to check in at an inn first?”
     
    “Yes, and thank you, Kaplan,” his uncle said. “Can you deliver us to the Ashford Inn?”
     
    It took them nearly half a mark to just exit the Army compound. When they did, they entered what appeared to be a guild neighborhood. Marko’s uncle said that many tradesman set up shop here so that they could do work for the Army. Unlike the previous town they visited, Rau City’s streets were straight as an arrow.  Streets that went east and west were numbered. Some of the streets heading north towards the castle in the center of the City were lettered but others had regular names. His uncle said that any name he read represented a hero to the Empire. These were