Arcana: A recollection

We left off from my early childhood, didn’t we? After the devastating raid on my home and the surrounding farmlands, I had ended up in the care of a lovely woman called Nadine, a wealthy merchant who was an established member of the Arcanian Traders’ Guild. Adjusting from the wilds of Arcana to the wondrous cities was quite a step for me, especially considering the trauma I had just gone through. Stromfor was the name of the city we travelled to, the capital of Arcana. It was an incredible fortress, with walls which seemingly reached to the very skies from my own tiny perspective. The use of magic is what drives Arcana forward. These gigantic structures were all constructed with the use of magic. There is not a single stone brick hewn or placed without the aid of the mystic arts. It’s interesting to see how Harkon differs when it comes to building. They seem to focus on clever use of mathematics and engineering when building, as opposed to us with our mystic approach to construction. Within Stromfor, the Arcanian council dwelled. A governing body from various disciplines and walks of life, each representing the interests of their chosen paths. From here, they guided Arcana to further and higher greatness When we first arrived at the gigantic arched gate, a guardsman stopped them. Gate guards were required to keep records of every passing person in and out of Stromfor.

  ‘Declare all people present.’ He instructed clearly. Sure enough, each servant and guard for the caravan was accounted for, and eventually he came to Nadine and I.

  ‘Ah, Nadine. How was trade out to the south, and who’s our little guest here?’ He inquired curiously. He seemed to know Nadine, which made me feel a little less daunted about entering such a huge place.

  ‘Not so good. All the villages we usually did trade with were burned to the ground. The Harkonians have been raiding across the border again, leaving nothing but ash in their wake.’ With disgust, the guard spat on the ground.

  ‘Filthy animals. How is it we’ve been unable to destroy their hideous kingdom yet? And you still haven’t told me who this little fellow is…’

  ‘Oh, I haven’t asked him what his name is yet…’ The guardsman seemed surprised by the situation.

  ‘Really? He’s in your caravan and don’t even know his name? Where exactly did you meet him?’

  ‘On the way here. His home was destroyed by the Harkonians, and he doesn’t know what happened to his parents. So, he is staying with me for the time being…’ The guardsman leaned inside the carriage to have a closer look at me. Between the various herbal salves spread across my skin, the cuts, bruises, dirt and blood, I must’ve looked like I had gone through a terrible ordeal.

  ‘Oh… Well, little fellow, what’s your name?’ Having been addressed directly, I spoke out as best as my croaky voice would let me.

  ‘Jacques, sir.’ With that, he gives a nod of approval, quickly scribbling my name down.

  ‘Well, Jacques, I hope you enjoy your stay in Stromfor. Nadine’s a nice lady, she will look after you.’ With that, he turned his attention to the top of the gate.

  ‘All clear, open up!’ His booming voice carried far, and soon enough the gates opened and we entered Stromfor. I am guessing no one here except me has been to an Arcanian capital before, so I believe some description is necessary. The colourful and glyph-inscribed walls protecting the city impressed me, but entering the city itself took my breath away. The roads were of a fine yellow stone, filled with patterns like what you call “marble” in Harkon. The streets were narrow and perfectly measured, with no space at all being wasted. Each building seemed to bleed into the next building, as though they were all one structure as opposed to many. Beautiful gardens of exotic plants from all over Arcana were planted in as part of the design of the streets. It seemed as though the entire city shimmered with gold and green. It was coming to sunset as we came to the city, and they began lighting lanterns across the city in order to repel the coming darkness. Not even in my dreams could I have imagined the wealth of this city. My father would have had a marvellous time browsing the shops filled with finely crafted jewels, tools and weapons displayed in countless market stands along the city’s streets. It was enough for me to forget my fears for the time being, and simply marvel at the sights the city presented. Nadine’s home was in the wealthiest district of Stromfor, where the nobles and merchants lived.

  Nadine spent a lot of time travelling as a merchant, but she had one permanent home, and it was in Stromfor. Her gigantic home had plenty of spare rooms, and soon enough she had settled me into one. When she came home with me trotting behind her, there was quite a buzz among the servants. They joked among themselves that Nadine had gone to Harkon to trade for a child, though Nadine had told them the actual story of why I was there. She took me away from the eyes of the servants to her private bedroom. We sat for a time, before she thought the time was right to speak.

  ‘Remember Jacques, we’ll go look for your parents once I have some spare time. Being a merchant is a busy job.’ Being as young as I was, I believed her without question.

  ‘Okay Nadine. I would like to do that soon.’ With a reassuring smile, she rustled my dirty and matted hair.

  ‘First though, I would like to talk about how long it’s been since you’ve had a bath. We need to wash that dirt and blood off. I will have to reapply all those herbs to help those injuries of yours to help you heal, so I need you to be tough.’

  Before I knew what was happening, I was dumped inside a hot tub of water by Nadine’s servants. Despite my howls of protest, they furiously scrubbed me from head to toe, cleaning away every bit of grime and small trace of my blood from my skin. My torn and unkempt clothes, which my mother had spun herself, were thrown away, and they quickly slipped me into freshly cleaned linen clothing. Off again to Nadine’s room I went, with herbs carefully applied to my wounds. By the time the whole thing was done, I was about to faint. The servants noticed how I wobbled on my legs, so they bundled me away to a spare room. The bed was warm and soft, spun from fine silk and cotton. I fell asleep without so much as another thought in my head.

  Nadine never got around to bringing me back to the borderlands to find my parents, and rather than treat me as a guest, she eventually settled me into becoming a full time resident of her household. She had essentially adopted me, believing that my parents had already been killed or captured by Harkonian raiders. This new child in her life particularly surprised her colleagues from the Traders’ Guild. Though they were supposed to be a guild of merchants and traders, they enjoyed gossiping. Some rumours were spread amongst them, the most popular one being that Nadine had a secret lover, and of which I was the love child. I mostly heard of these things due to my tendency to wander around the Traders’ Guild main hall while Nadine was busying herself with whatever business she had for today. However, despite these rumours, they never spoke about this subject directly to Nadine herself. They knew she had great influence in the guild, and it would be unwise for any of them to provoke her needlessly. Another thing that deterred them was how unprofessional it would seem if they tried to pry into other merchants’ personal lives. The majority of the time common courtesy was the way of things at the Traders’ Guild apart from the activities of the select few.

  What made Nadine different from these other merchants was that she was willing to travel and negotiate trades face-to-face, as opposed to sending people to do it for her. Persuasion was one of her strong points, and she could be ruthless when bargaining prices and trade. While she was out trading, I was exploring. I explored the woodlands around my home often, but it was rather boring because it was only trees and beasts. Stromfor, however, was a delightful place for a small boy to go exploring. When not being tutored, I would find ways to slip out of Nadine’s home unnoticed. She had assigned one of her servants to look after me during her absence. Though Nadine was caring, she was a particularly busy woman. It was hard to act as a surrogate mother when you travelled as much as her, so she tried her best to provide a mother figure for me while she negotiated trades across Arcana. She began spending more and more time at home though
, and we grew closer to each other. My thoughts about my parents and finding them gradually began to slip away as days became weeks, and weeks became months, and soon even those months became years. Soon enough, I thought of Nadine as my mother, and she thought of me as her son. But, as always, there was a disruption to…