Book One of the Naxos Island Mages: The Grand Adventure

By David Scott Webster

Life has never been normal for young Stephunos. There's his hyper little brother, the fact that he is a young nobleman, a warrior, and a mage. If his best friend, Chara, isn't beating him senseless, his little brother is playing practical jokes on him. Even though he is twelve, he is already the best swordsman around. Well at least in practice, since he has never had to really fight anyone. Stephunos' already unusual life is about to get even stranger, as he and his friend set out on a grand trading adventure. Stephunos and his brother must keep their magical powers hidden, even from their friends, for these are very dangerous times for anyone with such powers. This isn't easy when there is a vampire around and you are being hunted by an evil mage. Then there is a strange island, far to the North, where there are very intelligent dragons, unicorns, and many more mystical creatures waiting to be rediscovered.
While Stephunos is away, Stephunos' parents must defend their home county from an invading army, since their Dukes many enemies are attacking!
If they can all survive to return home, will there be a home to return to?

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 10, 2003
• ISBN: 9780595807680

David Scott Webster

David Scott Webster was born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1971. He has lived in Mesa as well as Clearwater and Orlando, Florida. He holds a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and has worked many years as an instructor. He currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Stephunos rose to his feet and scrambled to pick up his staff.

Are you going to lay there all day? Chara laughed.

Stephunos turning a little red said, I’ll get it this time.

He raced back to the starting line, marked by a huge oak tree. He was going to make it even if it killed him; he was going to show Chara. He turned and ran as fast as he could towards her. At the last moment, using his staff like a pole vault, he lifted himself off the ground. He flew over the patch of dirt they had declared a never ending hole. His landing was a bit awkward, but he made it. Stephunos was trying to suppress how excited he felt to finally be able to jump the extra wide area. It was by far the farthest he had ever jumped. It had taken him six attempts to clear it. His body ached from the first five tries.

Why don’t we widen it some more and try again? Chara said.

Stephunos excitement disappeared. He couldn’t say no, even though he really wanted to. He enjoyed pushing himself to the limit, but he wished that Chara wasn’t so good. She had vaulted over the wide space on her first try, just like always. Before Stephunos could accept her new challenge, however, his brother, Nikolaos, ran toward him.

Mom wants you to come home for dinner!

Okay, I’ll see you later, Chara. Stephunos headed home with his little brother.

She beat you again, didn’t she? Nikolaos said. Why don’t you just stick to swords. You know she can’t beat you with them.

She doesn’t like practicing swords with me, Nikoloas. You’re the only one who does.

And next time I’ll beat you, too! Nikolaos yelled as he took off running toward the house.

Stephunos ran after him and was barely, able to pass his little brother as they reached the front door. Stephunos’ families house was two stories tall, made out of gray stone with a red clay roof. Downstairs there was a great room, a kitchen, and a washroom. Upstairs there was a large bedroom, a medium bedroom and a large washroom.

As soon as they got into the house they heard from the kitchen. Get cleaned up for dinner! Your grandfather is coming tonight!

Stephunos sprinted up the stairs into his bedroom where a basin filled with water and some clean clothes were waiting for him. He pulled off his shirt and started to wash himself while looking into the mirror. Stephunos had just turned twelve last week. He was four foot eight inches tall, weighed around ninety pounds, and was in rather good shape from all his warrior training. He had shoulder length black hair and blue upon blue eyes, the type of eyes that just seem to grab someone’s attention. He had inherited his eyes from his mother. He was a rather handsome young boy as his mother had told him on many occasions. The only physical worry he had was that he seemed to be shorter than all the other boys his age. Nikolaos, standing beside his brother cleaning up, looked just like him, except a little smaller. He had the same black hair and the same blue upon blue eyes. He was four foot three inches tall and weighed around sixty pounds. He would be turning eight years old next week. They were both the spitting image of their father and grandfather, only they had those blue eyes. Their father and grandfather both had brown eyes.

After a quick and not too thorough cleaning, they both started to get dressed. Neither of them liked to get dressed up, but since it was for their grandfather’s visit and they would be celebrating both their birthdays, they were not about to complain.

The clothes both boys had to put on were different than what they were used to. These were more traditional garments than the clothes the people of their county normally wore. They wern’t made of the, newer, lighter less itchy materials that used elastic to hold them in place. Their grandfather was still fond of the old styles, so generally they wore old style dress clothes on special occasions.

The family colors were black, dark purple, and dark brown. If you saw them from a distance you would think they were wearing a completely black outfit, but as you drew closer you would notice the three different colors.

The dress clothes that they put on consisted of a braie, a pair of hose, a linen shirt, a tunic, an outer tunic, belt, and boots. Their braie was black in color and tied around their waist. The hoses were dark brown in color, made of heavy wool, and covered their legs and feet. Each hose attached to the bottom of the braie. The linen shirts were dark purple with long sleeves. The tunic was black, made of wool with some dark purple and dark brown embroidered around the collar, cuffs, and hems. The tunic reached down to the knees. The belt was narrow and made of black leather. The outer tunic was the last thing put on. It was lighter, finer, and shorter than the other tunic and was more like a cloak. They both wore black leather boots.

Stephunos had decided to ask once again if he could go with Chara and her family on their next trading adventure, as Chara called them. Every time he had asked his mother she had always said no, but he was a persistent young man and was going to keep trying. Stephunos figured since it was his birthday celebration, his chores were done, and he only had one more day of school before it was out for a few months that she might say yes.

When Stephunos’ grandfather arrived with his father they were immediately besieged by two well dressed, present hungry, young boys.

Here you go, but you can’t open them until after dinner! Their grandfather said as he handed over their presents and exchanged hugs.

What about me? I brought presents too! Their father said with a mock smile as the boys ran over to the table in the great room and deposited their grandfather’s presents. They immediately ran back over to their father, gave him a hug, snatched their presents, ran back to the table, and sat down ready to eat.

In the same style formal wear the family resemblance between grandfather, father, and two sons was so uncanny as to be almost scary. The hair, brow, nose, and mouth were all the same, just different sizes. The major difference was the eyes and grandfather’s graying hair.

When Stephunos mother entered the room she looked radiant in her more modern outfit. She had black hair and the same blue upon blue eyes as the boys. She was somewhat wearing the family colors in the form of a long elegant dress made of fine satin. Since she wasn’t too fond of black, she had turned the dark purple into her main color. She also managed to brighten up the dark purple, minimizing the black and dark brown colors to secondary roles. She looked so beautiful, neither Stephunos’ grandfather or father seemed to mind the unusual use of the family colors. They sat down to eat. Stephunos’ mother who normally didn’t like to be waited on had hired some servants for the evening so she could sit and enjoy the occasion with her family. They had steak, cheese, several different types of bread, beans, peas, and of course, a birthday cake. They also had cherry flavored water and red wine to drink. It was a feast worthy of two young Lords’ birthdays. They ate and chatted for over an hour.

When the time finally seemed right, Stephunos blurted out, Can I go with Chara’s family when they leave for their next trading run?

Stephunos’ mom immediately said, No! Haven’t I already said to wait until you were older…

But mom I am older now and I would really like to go, Stephunos said, whining over his mom’s voice.

The angry stare his mother gave him suddenly made him feel really sorry.

Sorry! Stephunos quickly said trying to apologize for interrupting her.

Just as his mother was about to speak again, his father said, I think it would be a good idea for Stephunos to go. He could take Nikolaos along too, if it’s all right with Theodora. As he said this, he gave a rather cryptic look at his wife. He then said to Stephunos, Ask Theodora tomorrow if you and your brother can ride along with them to Enora when she goes.

The discussion then quickly turned toward the opening of their presents.

A little later that evening in the room they both shared, Stephunos and Nikolaos were once again looking into the mirror checking out their new warrior uniforms. The uniforms were a perfect blend of the three family colors. It consisted mainly of a pair of wool pants, a linen shirt, a wool tunic, and knee high strong boots. The best part was the coat of mail armor and the padded aketon. The mail armor consists of many small enter linking iron rings that come together to form an iron coat. The padded aketon was worn under the mail coat to try and absorb some of the force of the opponent’s blows. Stephunos mail coat would take some getting use to since it weighed sixteen pounds.

They had both received a new uniform and ten gold pieces as presents from their parents. Stephunos had also received a sword and heavy bedroll from his father and a longbow with some arrows from his grandfather. The sword was fairly ordinary having a black handle, a diamond profile style blade of silver, and a cross guard. It also had an S engraved under the cross guard. It was a sword designed for a man, not a boy, and he would have to grow into it. The longbow was made of a beautiful stave of heavily polished yellow wood and was a few inches bigger than it should be for a boy his size.

Nikolaos also received a sword and heavy bedroll almost exactly like his brother’s, with just enough differences to tell them apart. The sword had an N engraved on the bottom of the cross guard. The bedroll’s design was slightly different. Nikoloas had received a staff sling and a rather odd looking new device that showed faraway things up close. The staff sling was a sling attached to a wooden handle that increased its range and accuracy. The new device was about the size of his sword when he extended it all the way out, but it could be pushed together closing in on itself to be only four inches long. While Nikolaos loved this new present, of which even his grandfather couldn’t remember the name, he was still just a little disappointed that he didn’t get a bow. Nikolaos knew he hadn’t gotten one because his mother wouldn’t allow him to have one.

She had again said just last week that, He was not allowed to have one until he learned more control and better aim. Nikolaos wasn’t about to admit that his aim was very good since he had intentionally used her dishes for target practice and told her it had been an accident when he saw how mad she was. Still a real staff sling was a huge improvement on his homemade sling.

Later that evening, as Stephunos was falling asleep, he thought he faintly heard his mother’s raised voice. Stephunos, being a curious boy, suddenly sat up in bed and tried to listen really hard. Realizing that his mother and father were involved in what he thought was a rather vocal discussion and not being able to hear it, he did what he thought was best. He jumped out of bed, silently crept over to the bedroom door, partially pushed it open and listened. He could still hear their voices, but couldn’t make out the words. Since his parents never seemed to fight, he had to know why they were being so boisterous. Knowing he would get into trouble for being out of bed this late, he stopped to think for a second. He started to turn back towards his bed when his curiosity got the better of him. He pushed the door open further and slipped through silently. He crept over to his parents bedroom door. Only when he placed his ear up against the door was he finally able to hear his parents conversation.

Stephunos mother was saying, What if they run into trouble, you know how many enemies we have!

They’ll be safer with Theodora than they would be here! his father replied.

Are you sure the Megarians are going to attack, or is it just another false alarm?

Dad says the source is highly reliable and that there is a warlock with them.

At the word warlock, Stephunos suddenly went red and almost fell through the door. Then he heard, STEPHUNOS get back into your bed NOW! He was gone from their door and back into bed before the sentence was finished.

As he was lying in bed, he hoped that his mother wasn’t going to be too angry with him. He should have known she would sense him at their door, after all, she is a mage. She could sense things around her when she wanted to and Stephunos would have been really easy to sense when he lost his composure over the word warlock. He had been mentally surpressing his presence there, being a young mage himself. As he was lying in bed, he started to think about an excuse to tell his mother for being out of bed. He knew this was a waste of time, for he had gotten it into his head very young that it was UN-noble to lie. It was so much a part of him that even the slightest lie seemed to make him feel guilty. He wished he was more like his little brother, who didn’t seem to suffer from this problem. He could really weave some stories when he had to.

Then his mind turned to how great and how exciting the adventure ahead would be. He was young and had never been away from his parents for even one night, while Chara was always going on about what happened on her most recent trip. For a few moments his mind turned to worrying about the Megarians attack and the warlock. His only real fear was the warlock. He had never met or even seen another mage. The only mages beside himself that he knew was his mother and little brother. He quickly put those worries out of his mind however, because no one could beat his family and county. Everyone who had ever tried had failed and there had been many attempts what with the way their Duke conducted business. His grandfather, Basil, after all was the Marquess of Bellanca and ruler of four other small counties. His father, Belen, was the Earl of Himera and ruler of this county and the future ruler of his grandfather’s counties. He also ran the local warrior school, and was the leader of the army. His mother, Cassandra, served as an advisor to her husband and his father and was generally loved and respected by all the people of Himera County. His mother also happened to be a very powerful mage, which no one knew except his family and Viscount Andreas. Viscount Andreas was his dad’s closet friend, had always been his second in command, and was also Chara’s father. Stephunos started thinking about what he knew about Himera County, how impossible it would be to conquer, and why whenever the Duke upset someone, his Himera County had to suffer.

Stephunos knew from history class that the continent on which they lived was comprised of twelve large territories controlled by twelve Dukes, who were always vying to be King. The most powerful was usually declared King until another Duke took it from him. The Dukes that were not King made generous tributes to the King in order to avoid war. Each Duke had control over extremely large areas of land, that were divided up into smaller sections of land, in order to be successfully managed. The Dukes men that managed the smaller sections held the noble title of Marquess or Earl. A Marquess was a military commander that usually controlled the border region for the Duke. A Marquess function, for all practical purposes was like that of an Earl, but with a little more prestige. Some Earls owned the lands that they managed, they had either been granted to them by the Duke, or handed down from generation to generation. An Earl controlled one or more counties and owed tribute to his Duke, and if he didn’t own the land, he owed rent as well. In some cases the tribute was paid in military service provided by the Earls armies, in others it was heavy taxes. An Earls second in command was a Viscount. The Viscount ran the county when the Earl was away from the county. Every county had several Barons that paid rent on certain lands within a village and owed their allegiance to their Earl.

Stephunos knew that his county of five thousand residents was comprised of six fields, each three thousand acres in size, a large neighborhood of houses, several shops, a church, several huge forests, several large marshes, three rivers, a large lake, and the caves. Each field was separated into three hundred furlong of ten acres each, which were managed by landholders that owe their loyalty to his father, the Earl of Himera. Landholders that held more than one hundred acres of land and had sub landholders were granted the title of Baron. The actual land that the landholders farmed would change from year to year. The six fields were common fields, each surrounded by bushes to keep the animals out, and sectioned off by lines of stone. Two fields each year were used for winter crops, two fields were used for spring crops, and two fields were used for animal husbandry. Twenty percent of the crops grown by a landholder were used to pay rent on the land to the Earl. An average landholder had five acres of land for winter crops of wheat, rye, spelt, or barley and five acres of land for spring crops of barley, oats, legumes, beans, or peas. They also received the right to graze a certain amount of animals in the two animal husbandry fields, which depended on the amount of land they held. Located between the fields there is a large neighborhood of houses including the manor house itself, where Stephunos and his family live. In the middle of the neighborhood of houses is a street for commerce, along it is the great stone church, the blacksmith shop, Theodora’s Supply Store, the butcher shop, Himera County School, Himerian Warriors Hall, an Inn, and a master’s hall. The master’s hall is where people could find local master carpenters, masons, thatchers, tilers, herdsmen, and servants to hire.

Stephunos thought the caves in the south were the most interesting part of the county. He was never allowed in them unless he was with his parents or grandfather. The caves go deep into the mountain with their unnaturally perfect sized rooms. These rooms have been expanded and shaped into nothing more than a huge cave village. The caves are always under expansion while they mine for ores. The caves have been intentionally crafted into an impenetrable fortress. There are at least five known entrances into the caves. One entrance is actually a tunnel, leading from the manor house to the cave. A hidden set of stairs in the washroom provides the entryway. There is an underground river that provides fresh water through several different small pools within the caves. Fresh air blows in through thousands of hidden air holes on the side of the mountains. The caves could support the entire county, if enough food were brought and stored. They are off limits to everyone—except in a time of danger or war. The caves had to be enlarged and carved out to cut down on the casualties from the many battles that have taken place here. Himera County was located on the outer borders of Duke Ani- ketos territories so strategically that anyone who wanted to attack the Duke by any means other than sea had to come through here. Duke Aniketos both highly appreciated Stephonus’ grandfather and feared him. Stephunos grandfather and father were the only landholders under the Duke that didn’t ever have to pay the Duke anything. They were charged only with the