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"This is stupid," muttered Alaver.

"What's stupid about this?" glancing at his friend, Gellos briefly took his eyes from the camp that was below them.

"This whole thing," Alaver held out his hand, "They send us down here, a half days ride from the Castle at that, and all they give us in terms of an assignment is 'to find the source of the disturbance' and send us off without another word..."

"Keep your voice down!" Gellos muttered without looking back to his friend. He watched the camp below, looking at the bandits who walked around the tents and the campfire. There were, all far as Gellos could see, only five bandits. Most of them wore leather or studded armor, but one bandit wore steel armor, and carried a large sword with him. Gellos decided that he must be the chief, and assumed that he was helping to cause the 'disturbance'

Alaver narrowed his eyes at Gellos, but didn't say anything as he looked back at the camp. Both young boys were in a high tree that was twenty or so meters from the small camp. The fire threw shadows along the nearby surface of the cliff and the tents, and a sole wooden shack looked like it belonged to the groups ringleader. Gellos looked at the camp a moment longer, than tapped Alaver on the shoulder and said,

"Would you mind hanging back while I took care of this?"

And the other Imperial let out a soft laugh. "So you can let this end up like Valtheim Tower?" he glanced at Gellos, then gave the boy a smile, "sure," he said as he moved back on the thick branch and leaned against the tree trunk, "be my guest. But this time I won't come save you if another mage deflects your lightning spells and makes a tower crumble."

Gellos gave his friend a scowl, but slipped from the tree, quietly dropping from branch to brach before landing on the ground with a quiet thump. He stayed where he was a moment, looking at the camp, then reached behind himself to take his staff. The think but lightweight staff had a softly glowing blue orb at its top, with two small curves on either side. The curves held the floating orb in place, and Gellos had created the staff himself one year ago.

He stood up, and began to walk towards the camp. He excepted the normal reaction from the bandits, who would no doubt be surprised when they saw a fifteen year old boy carrying a staff come to their current abode. Gellos had dealt with bandits before though, and knew they all, for the most part, fought the same. It held true as he walked up to the small camp, the heat of fire reaching out to lick is exposed face and hands. The bandits came to look at him, all of them stopping. The ringleader, who carried his sword on his shoulder, stopped as well, his dark eyes peering out of his helmet.

"What's this then," one bandit asked. A human with a sword on his belt. "Lost little boys like yourself don't make it far in the forest alone you know."

Gellos didn't reply as he took another step closer, the fire coming to throw heat on his face. He looked at the bandits, seeing four humans, including the helmeted leader, and one dark elf. He looked at them all, then took his staff in both hands.

"He looks like he's about to put up a fight," one bandit said.

"He's just a kid," said another one. "I think we can handle him."

Now the chief spoke, his voice rough through his helmet, and said, "Then if you can handle him, handle him."

"Come on boys," said a bandit who pulled out his sword and started walking forward. The other bandits followed suit, and Gellos took a step back, resting the bottom of his staff on a nearby rock.

When one bandit was close enough, Gellos stepped to the side, then swung up the bottom of his staff. The rock it had been resting on moved, jerking from the ground, and sailed through the air. It caught the bandit off guard, and the rock hit him in the chest, making him fall back. The other bandits all paused in unison, but only for a moment.

"Get him!" the bandit chief shouted.

All the bandits surged forward, three humans and the dark elf, and Gellos stepped backwards. He turned, sweeping his staff along the ground, then turned back to the bandits and pulled it up a second time. This time a bolt of lightning jumped from the ground, and sailed into a bandits chest. He fell back like the first bandit, and Gellos kept up his attack. He swung his staff in the air, batting away a swing from the dark elf, then swung his staff, catching the elf across the face with a swipe. The end of Gellos' staff was curved ever so slightly, which made it easy to stab through things like wood or skin. Or, with the right amount of magic, rocks.

Ducking a swing from the last human bandit, Gellos turned spinning his staff through the air. Another bolt of lightning came from his weapon and put the bandit on the ground, and Gellos turned. The dark elf had recovered from his blow to the head, and ran as Gellos with his sword up. Instead of swinging wit his staff though, Gellos threw out a hand, as if meaning to catch something. Instead of catching anything though, the move made the dark elf stop. His body jerked, then lifted into the air, just a foot or so off the ground. He dropped his sword as his body jerked, and Gellos threw his hand to the left. The dark elf's body flew through the air, and crumpled against a tree.

Gellos looked at the body for a moment, then turned back to face the camp. He stepped past the bodies, and walked back to the fire. The bandit chief stood where he was, but flexed his fingers on the hilt of his sword. He looked at Gellos, his eyes running over the boy, then said,

"That's admirable," he said, "to take on a group of men, alone, and barely dirty your hands," he paused, then lowered his sword to let it touch the dirt covered ground, "but you won't get passed me so easy,"

and with a sprint, the chief ran for Gellos. The mage was ready though, and let go of his staff. It fell to the ground, seeming to dig into the dirt on its own, and Gellos flexed his fingers. Both of his hands sparked with small streaks of lightning, and as the bandit chief raised his sword, Gellos threw out his hands. His fingers let out a barrage of lighting as the bandit leaders sword came down, and the armored man stopped in his tracks. He held his sword up, but as the streaks of lightning ran through his body, he dropped the weapon. The chief dropped to his knees, and Gellos stepped closer to him, the lightning from his fingers coursing through the chiefs armor.

A second later though he stopped, and let his hands come to his sides. The bandit chief shook, and his body fell with a thump to the ground. Gellos looked at him, looking at the long scorch marks that had appeared on his armor.

Then he turned, hearing the snap of a twig. His staff jumped into his hand, but then he relaxed as Alaver stepped up to the dead bandit leader.

"Yet another impressive display," he said with a sly smile.

"If you trained and meditated as much as I did, you'd be just as good," Gellos replied.

Alaver only rolled his eyes as he stepped past the dead chief, then walked into the small cleaning. Gellos followed him, putting his staff on his back. A leather strap appeared from the staff and fastened around his chest, and Gellos walked with Alaver up to the shack. The other Imperial boy walked inside the shack, Gellos stayed by the door and folded his arms. There was a bed in the corner of the shack, a table with a few chairs, and a bookshelf against the right wall. Gellos glanced at the bookshelf, then walked over to it. There were books on the shelf, but most of them were old and tattered. He frowned at the books poor care, then glanced over his shoulder as Alaver let out a triumphant,

"Found you!" before turning around with a necklace of some sort in his hand. "This is probably what were looking for, eh?" he said as he held out the necklace.

Gellos leaned closer to look at it. It was a golden disk set with two rubies in the middle, and strung around a thin golden chain. But Gellos, like Alaver, could feel the slight radiation of magic that came from the amulet.

"If that's what were looking for, lets get back to the Castle," said Gellos.

"That eager to return to your books?" asked the other Imperial.

"A scroll, if your dying to know," Gellos said as they stepped away from the shack. "I was writing out a new kind of spell I was working on, before we were called on to pick up this fancy necklace."

Alaver gave a whistle, and from the darkness around the campfire, both boys heard the trotting of hooves. "Always buried in the books, Gellos," he said.

Gellos glanced at his friend, then said, "I like the freedom it gives to read and write."

"Hm," Alaver ran a hand through his hair. Two horses came up to the campsite now, and both boys swung into the saddles. Gellos pulled the reins of his horse, then followed Alaver from the camp and back to the main road, where they would ride back to Snowrock Castle, and return to the White Order.

* * *

Gellos' induction to the Order wasn't by choice or mistake. He had been assured that by Viarim Oth, a high elf mage who would introduce Gellos to the world and community of magic that was found within the First Order. Viarim came to Gellos while he still lived in Bruma, as a small boy, when Gellos unknowingly pulled a shelf of pots down in a shop. When Viarim arrived to investigate the report, he was told the young boy didn't even touch the shelf.

The boy sat on a stool in a back room of the shop. He and been accompanied by a young woman, his guardian, who explained to Viarim that both the boys parents had been killed by a raiding party of bandits who came to their village, and burned it down. The boy and his new guardian, escaped through a tunnel underground, and from then on she watched over him.

In the back of the shop, Viarim stepped inside the small room, and the boy looked at him. Viarim looked back at the boy, then looked at the chair that was floating just off the wooden floor. Looking back at the boy, Viarim saw he wasn't afraid. On the contrary, it looked like the young boy knew exactly what he was doing. The boy continued to at Viarim, and the chair fell gently to the floor. Viarim looked at the boy, then carefully asked,

"What's your name?"

The boy replied with, "Gellos."

He can't be more than eight, Viarim thought. He walked to another nearby chair and sat down, looking at the boy. "My name is Viarim," said the elf, "and I'm interested in what you just did. It wasn't bad," he gave the boy a small smile, "so don't worry. You aren't in trouble."

"Okay," the boy said quietly.

Viarim smiled at him again, then said, "I come from a place where what you do is called magic," he paused looking at the boy, "Have you heard of it?"

The boy nodded. "People," he said quietly, "in my village, could use magic."

"Right," Viarim nodded, "then if you'd like, I can take you to a place where maybe different people and elves can use many different forms of magic."

Now Viarim saw a light flash in Gellos' eyes, and then boy said, "Is there really more than one form of magic?"

Viarim couldn't help but smile. "Yes, Gellos," he nodded, "There is..."

* * *

"Gellos?"

"What?" the Imperial came out of his temporary thoughts, and looked at Alaver. The other Imperial was looking at the mage, and he said,

"I asked you what kind of spell you were working on."

"Oh, sorry," Gellos passed a hand from the reins through his short black hair. "I was lost in thought. The spell, I'm trying to figure out a way to still be able to use my powers without my staff."

"Can't you already do that?" Alaver asked.

"In a sense," Gellos mused, "my staff still has to be close to me in order for me to use my spells. If my staff is away from me, say across a room, I can still use my powers, but they'll be weaker. My staff only helps to amplify my abilities."

"Could a talisman do the same thing?" asked Alaver.

Gellos was quiet for a moment as he thought about it. He looked ahead, then saw Castle Snowrock was just up the hill. "it could, yes," he said after a moment, "I'll still have to write out the enchantment. I suppose it would be that, rather than an actual spell."

"Well the best of luck to you," said Alaver. He pulled at his horses reins, and the animal slowed down.

Gellos slowed his own horse down, looking at the other Imperial. "Are you not coming up with me?" he asked.

"I've got business elsewhere," Alaver replied, "Master Elik asked me to visit him in Roriskstead. Told me he needed my help with something out there," he paused, then tossed a small bag to Gellos. The Imperial caught it, and Alaver raised a hand as he pulled his horse around.

Gellos watched him trot off, then turned himself around, and flicked his horse. She snorted, and resumed their fast trot up the slope that lead to the Castle bridge. The Castle had been built a hundred years ago, and the White Order had only inhabited the location for the past sixty. The Castles main gate marked the edge of a long abyss that the bridge was built over. Over the bridge was the rest of the Castle, built into the base of a small mountain, with other parts leading up and into the rock face.

Gellos walked his horse up to the bridge, then across. The animal snorted and slowed her pace, but with a reassuring pat from the mage, picked up her quicker trot. The bridge went straight across to the Castles main courtyard, where new mages were initiated into the Order, or given a tour of the grounds before becoming a member. Of course that had been almost seven years ago.

Now, as Gellos crossed the bridge and walked his horse into the main courtyard, he saw it mostly empty of any people or Mer. Two dark elves, dressed in Master robes, walked nearby, talking to each other. Three Initiates, dressed in white robes, walked with each other, heading away from the east wings. Gellos walked his horse to the left, where a stable was set up. He swung off of his horse and handed the reins to the stable master with thanks, then turned to face the Grand Hall. Gellos looked at the pouch that was still in his hand, then attached it to his belt, where there were four other pouches, and a small satchel. From the stables Gellos made for the Grand Hall, which would lead him to any other wings in the north side of the Castle.

Up a set of stairs and through the wooden double doors, Gellos walked down entryway to the grand hall. Five years ago, Gellos had gone from the rank of Initiate to the rank of Spell-Caster within the Order. It had taken five years to do so, but Viarim told him that was expected of most mages. However, rising from the rank of Spell-Caster to the rank of Mage normally took four years, whereas Gellos had done it in two. It had surprised him when Viarim brought him to the grand library, where he gave Gellos a set of dark blue robes with silver cuffs and a silver hem. He had also allowed Gellos access to a create his own spells and scrolls. It was done with a spell enchanters table, Gellos found, and was a good way to see how a spell worked. The process of making a spell could be reversed, he discovered, and transferred to a book or scroll. Doing so could show a mage how a spell was cast, and show them at a slower rate.

From the entryway, Gellos stepped into the actual Grand Hall, a wide, slopped ceiling room that was populated by tables and chairs. It was used a common area for the whole of the Order, but Gellos moved through the Hall. He nodded to a few mages, but when he was past the bulk of the common area, he moved thorough a door that to a stairway. Going up, Gellos traveled to the the second floor dormitory, where the Mages slept. He knew where he had left his work on his scroll, and committed to memory that he could imprint the same knowledge to a talisman.

Across a hall he came to the first floor of dormitories, and pulled open his door. His room was its own, with a two bookshelves to the left, and and bed and small dresser in the corner. He stopped now, leaning against the door. He had been away from the Castle for two days with Alaver, but it had felt more like two months. He took his staff from his back, resting it against the wall by his dresser, then pulled off his belt, laying it over the dresser. He set the pouch with the amulet on the dresser, then pulled off his deep blue robes. He hung them on a wall, then dropped onto his bed in his grey shirt and pants. He pulled off his boots then, with a sigh, let sleep roll over him. The past two days hadn't been trying, but he knew that working on the new enchantment for a talisman would be.