Astia

The following day Lionel slept for only a few hours before Drindle woke him.

"Get up, Ank" The old man's voice sounded gruff.

Lionel opened his eyes to see the geezer staring over his shoulder at him. The decrepit old man was sitting on the driver's bench with the hood of his robe pulled up. The bushy white eyebrows and crooked nose stuck out from the pulled up cowl. His pale blue eyes emitted a soft light.

"We are close to landing. We should be to Astia within the day." a pensive expression could be noted from the few features visible on the old man's face.

Lionel remembered seeing Astia on the map that Drindle had shown him. It was a medium sized village judging off of the image that Lionel recalled. From Astia there was a main road that led to Krithian, the old capital of the Wastial Nation. Lionel was excited to be back on the ground.The last few days of meditation were wearing on Lionel's consciousness.

His latest meditative cycle brought some fruits. He had been trying to recreate the feel Drindle's magic produced. In doing so he felt a strange sensation in the back of his mind. It felt like something was tickling the back of his skull. He saw a blurry image appear in his mind. it appeared to be of a purple lake. The image was too blurry to make out details but he grew exhausted quickly. He had laid down and barely slept a few hours before the old fart woke him.

Drindle continued to speak "We will land about five kilometers from the village. We will walk on foot the rest of the distance. I am going to make it rain until we reach the village." The old man's pensive expression stayed the same. It appeared he was being cautious.

"How long before we land?" Lionel spoke while folding his blanket and moving to sit on the driver's bench.

"In about 30 minutes or possibly a little more." The old man breathed in deeply and his eyes radiated a soft blue light. "I don't sense anything close to us but that doesn't mean we should expose ourselves unnecessarily." The crooked man's eyes never stopped scanning the horizon.

The silence stretched on for a few minutes before Lionel spoke. "I saw a purple lake during my last meditation. What does that mean?"

"Eh, can mean a lot of things." The old man seemed distracted

Lionel tried a different approach. "What do you see in your mind when you use magic."

"Boy, hhaaahh" he sighed while turning his head to look at Lionel. "It's not that simple. Your Vervane can appear to you as anything. When I was young mine was a brilliant, blue, spring-fed pond, that never seemed to end. Now I see nothing when I look within. I can only feel it. We are landing so stay alert." Drindle pulled a small box from the folds of his robe. He brought it to his face and whispered to it. A light rain began to fall. Lionel could see in the faint distance a blur of man made structures.

The carriage touched down in a thicket of bushes that provided good cover. Drindle held up a finger to his mouth while looking at Lionel. Lionel wondered why the old man was being so cautious, from his point of view the geezer was like a god. Surely the old man could fight off at least twenty Gardgans or more.

Drindle looked left and right while breathing in deeply multiple times. He finally put his finger down and stepped from the wagon. Lionel followed suit. Drindle took a moment to walk to the back of the wagon to pull a knotted rod from cargo area. He began to walk toward the man made structures seen while in the air. He used his rod as a walking stick as he hobbled forward. They walked through a light forest of trees. There was a small path that looked to be traveled infrequently. Lionel walked beside the old man while paying attention to his face. The geezer was quite and continued breathing in deeply as they walked.

The trees soon thinned until they were sparse. The path that the decrepit and boy traveled slowly became more level and well cared for. The village started to come into view through the drizzle of rain. There was a wooden wall that looked to be trees that were cut down and stuck vertically into the ground. There was no gate. The opening appeared as just a space that didn't have any vertical wood. There were a pair of guards standing by the entrance seemingly bored as they looked at the few people walking through the opening. As Lionel and Drindle drew nearer they could see that the guards had a leather coif, and light leather cuirass. They held no weapons except for a two meter pole staff.

As Drindle and Lionel were about to make their way through the opening one guard stuck his staff out to stop them.

"State yer bidniss" The guard was heavy set with a double chin that sagged over the tie of the leather coif. His eyes darted over the two new comer's "We don' get meny new faces roun' her dis tim'o'year" He appeared cautious while the other guard stood by not even paying attention.

Lionel's heart began to beat quickly. He was about to speak when Drindle suddenly cut him off.

"Name's Bastian and this here's my grandson Dimwit." Drindle spoke while pulling his hood down to look at the guard. Lionel was taken off guard at the statement and looked at Drindle with a dumbfounded expression on his face. "And that's why his name is Dimwit." Drindle said with a serious countenance, except he had one eyebrow raised looking at Lionel.

"I sed state yer bidniss." the fat guard spoke again.

"Oh, shove off Gary" The other guard who hadn't been paying attention spoke. He was a head taller than the fat guard and twice as slim. "Just let 'em through. what ya think that old geezer is gonna do? rob the whole village?"

Gary's face turned red as he faced the other guard. "Leas' I do my job. Hurmp! You good for nufin' bum." His chin shook with every word. He lifted his pole staff and motioned for Lionel and Drindle to pass. "What yo' waitin' for get goin'."

"We are looking for a horse to replace ours. Where's the best place to buy one in town?" Drindle spoke while moving forward and looking at the slim tall guard.

"On the other side of town there is a stable. My brother runs it. Tell 'im Ben sent ya and he'll take righ' care of ya." The slim guard spoke and winked at the geezer.

Lionel and Drindle began to walk through the central road of the village. The village appeared to be an oval shape that had one main road traveling from the west towards the east. The old man and boy entered through the westernmost gate and were headed east. The structures on the west seemed to be slightly more run down.They were constructed with wood and had thatch roofs. At first most of the structures were houses soon shops became interspersed. There were a few pedestrians walking on the streets. They barely glanced at the crooked old man with a knotted cane and the boy following close beside.

As the duo continued a few of the shops on either side were made with stone and wood. There was one shop that caught both of their attention. The smell of freshly baked bread could be smelt before the shop even came into view. Hanging outside of the shop was a wooden round sign. There was what appeared to be a loaf of bread carved into it. The old man peared at Lionel it seemed they both had the same idea and walked towards the shop.

A bell chimed as the door opened. Lionel saw a young girl who appeared to be fourteen or fifteen behind the counter kneading dough. "Can I help you sirs?" She glanced up as she heard the bell. She had brown hair tied up in a neat knot on the top of her head. She had pale skin and light brown eyes. Lionel thought she looked cute, especially with the bit of flour that brushed her cheek.

"Dimwit, what do you want?" The old man didn't even notice that Lionel was staring so intently at the girl. Lionel noticed that the girl smiled when she heard him called dimwit. He pulled his attention away from his perusings and looked on the shelf near the door. There were many loaves of bread and a few items Lionel hadn't seen before. "Dimwit, we haven't all day lets get something and head for the stable."

"Are you sirs leaving so fast?" the girl spoke while smiling coyly at Lionel. He could do nothing but stare dumbfoundedly.

"We will take 2 sweet cakes and 3 loaves of bread." Drindle spoke while pushing the loaves and cakes into Lionel's arms.

They paid and left all the while the old man continued to look at Lionel with a cold expression. When they were out the door Drindle spoke. "Ah, shoot. I forgot to ask her for a napkin to wipe your drooling face with." The geezer stared at Lionel with his eyebrow raised. "You know I like Dimwit a lot better than, Ank."

"No! I like Ank." Lionel spoke up quickly he didn't want to have another name given to him from the old fart.

"Then start paying attention Dimwit. We aren't here on vacation. We don't know why the Gardgans are after you. I want to hurry up and get our business in the capitol finished and get to the Grand Library so we can figure out what that amulet was."

"Why did you lie about our names to the guards?" Lionel spoke in a lower tone while taking a bite of a loaf of bread.

"What do you want? The royal guard showing up here to find me? Why do you think I made the stuff up about needing a weather shrine to control the weather? I hate people in my business, your lucky I kept you around as long as I have." The old geezer sped up while talking. It appeared he was grumpy for even having to think of someone bothering him.

"But why would the royal guard show up?" Lionel asked as they continued to walk. They were almost to the stable. the silence stretched on for a moment while Lionel thought. It appeared Drindle had some connection to the Royals whether good or bad Lionel couldn't decide.

"Eh, another time perhaps I will tell ya. We're here so shut your trap and keep that dumb look on your face."