jtougas

The old cartographer sneezed loudly upsetting a pile of papers on his cluttered desk. "By the gods." he grumbled. "I'll have that young fools head for not dusting this office" His grumbling continued as he shuffled over to look out his window. The vista was magically generated and showed a large expanse of land next to the ocean. He knew his King wished a map made of this area as precursor to a scouting expedition. The magic viewing window would help immensely but it would still be his fingers and his skill that would create the drawing. Contrary to the belief of his young apprentice he was NOT completely worthless just yet.....


The old cartographer stood in front of the magic viewing window and scowled. It seemed to him that all he ever did anymore was scowl. Age was a relentless enemy that tracked him through time and would one day catch it's prey. "Maudlin old fool" he cursed to himself. The viewing window was slow lately most likely due to his own "slowing down" as it was attuned to his mental capacity. A city wall had appeared early this morning and surprised the cartographer there was not supposed to be anything in this region. The King would not be happy.....

The cartographers apprentice grumbled loudly not caring for the moment whether or not his master could hear him. "Damned old fool. He didn't even see that wall even though it was in plain sight. Even I saw it although I could never tell him that." This was true the old man was almost insanely protective of his magic viewer he swore there was only one person in the entire kingdom that could use it and that person was of course him. The apprentice knew better he had seen images in the window before and knew that his ability was nearing that of his masters. "One day" he mumbled somewhat more quietly this time. "One day...".....


"A whole city..." HOW by the gods had he missed that? The King would surely replace him now A city meant people and maybe an army. How could he have been SO wrong? He puzzled over that for a moment and then formulated a plan. If the King thought someone else was to blame it would shift attention away from him. He coughed loudly and called for his apprentice....

The old cartographer took a deep drink of his brandy to quell the tremor that had appeared in his hands. "Southrun, HOW could you have not recognized that?" he mumbled to himself. "You can almost see it out your regular window you old fool." He ruffled through some maps on his cluttered desk and saw that for some reason a map of Southrun was never done. "Simple enough even for a doddering old man like me." He pulled a piece of medium grade parchment from a drawer and began to draw, an hour later he was done. "Not beautiful but functional" he said aloud "Just like the town." It was his last thought as a lightning rod of pain shot through his chest causing him to tumble to the floor in a small blizzard of dust and paper. His last vision was that of his apprentice standing over him with a grin on his young face. The apprentice moved closer "That's right old man all this time it was me feeding you the poison that made you forget that made you weak that as we speak is taking your very life. You've had your turn now it is MINE!!...."