Chris and The Three Wizards by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Garth the goliath

He walked with his new travel companions. One had cheat skills and gave a boost to the other that resulted in that one beating him. His owner, he doesn’t call him an employer, because he had to pay out, threw him away like so much garbage.

As he walked with them, he had a strange sensation. He had change in his pocket. The man he traveled with made a lot of money off him but his wages always were eaten up by the charges for room and board.

Chris, the cheat, gave him his first actual money to buy some travel gear. He then told Garth to keep the left over money. All his life he was taken but, told to keep the remainder, was the first time anyone thought of him other than a commodity.

He was orphaned as a young child. No one helped him. To live he had to fight for everything. When he was midteens, he joined an adventurer’s team. He fought the bulk of the battles. That was his life for five years. Then like all his life, they found someone else and he was thrown out.

Fighting to live. That is how he was taken into the arena.

The arena was another room and board. It did have some benefits. There were the lowlife women that wanted the thrill of mating with him. He knew it was just a physical thing. No love involved but he didn’t care.

Now, he is walking down the road with a battle mage and a person who carried a piss bottle on his belt. He had a few more in his back pack.

Chris told him that it would knock out anyone or anything for a few hours. He did not believe it but when he called his bluff, Garth woke up after a half an hour.

It was explained that we were looking for two other wizards to battle against a force that is threatening the world. I can’t help myself. As he is explaining what he knows, I realize that, even though he likes these two. Chris is just nuts.

“We’re wandering, trying to find two more wizards that you do not know let alone where they are. If we find them, we are going to fight a, to quote you, a power that is taking over the world. Am I wrong?”

“No, that is actually on the money.”

“Do you have any idea how absurd that sounds?”

“Yes, I do but there it is. That is my mission. I’m just as baffled as you are but that is all I was given. I cannot go into exactly who has given me this task but I can tell you that I will never be able to go back to my home. This is my life.”

“You know that I should be running in the opposite direction. This really sounds insane. Chris, you have been the only one in my life that has treated me as a person.”

I look at them and start walking. They are shocked and are just looking at me as I walk. I turn to them and say.

“I guess that I have been hit one too many times. What are you waiting for. There are wizards to find and powers to beat.”

I go back to walking in the direction we were going. They have to run a little. I have a big stride. I deliberately take long steps just to mess with them. They realize that it is my revenge.

With the money we got from the challenge to beat Garth, we do not have to take side jobs but I need more experience here and who better to give me training than a battle mage and a veteran battle Goliath.

I am being put through my paces. There is a thing that is a blatant misconception. I am using what is viewed in any world a normal sword. After only a short time, I am already tired. There is absolutely no way anyone in real life, even Garth, could ever carry, let alone swing one of those extremely wide and long swords in those anime series.

Just not possible.

After some practice, I now have assured myself that I won’t die….. in the first minute of battle. I really need to get more bottles and I have an idea of a bandolero. I don’t want to accidentally die again. I want to die of old age with a lot of women all around me in bed.

This is our daily routine. Train, walk talk and train.

We run across occasions that we use to get used to each other’s fighting skills. We were walking and there was a group of thieves that ambushed us. Chris said to hold our breaths then run. He humored him. Garth was ready to fight but held his breath when Chris broke the bottle on the ground and said run.

Chris and Jim ran so Garth followed. They both stopped after a short distance. Chris stopped and said for us to breathe.

Pointing back to the spot where the thieves were, Garth could not believe what he saw. There, on the ground, were the thieves. He asked if they were dead or just were they knocked out.

The three went back and looted the thieves of everything. Adding insult to injury, Chris told Jim and Garth to strip them and had Jim burn the clothes.

“Naked, you cannot hide anything. They will be humiliated. Reputation ruined.” Chris said then pulled out another bottle for his belt.

As we enter the next village, it is obvious that they have had a problem. They are being constantly raided by a gang. The village has just recovered and they expect that the gang will descend upon them again.

Realizing the opportunity presented before us. We go to the towns chief and it is Jim that goes into his huckster act.

“What would you offer if I was to say that we have a solution to your gang infestation? Would you expect to have to pay a thousand gold? Well I’m here to tell you that it won’t be a thousand gold, not nine hundred or even eight hundred gold. We will solve that problem for only seven hundred fifty gold. Satisfaction guarantied or you do not pay us.. All you need do is deposit the gold at the bank with the instruction that you will have them release it to us upon completion of the job. The gang tied up naked and delivered to your guards. You give the guards the release note for the bank before we start. That way neither of us will doubt the other. What do you say.?”

With that he puts out his hand.

I am so taken with his offer even I had to stop myself from taking his hand. The chief agrees. We are given the description and the number of members. The gold is deposited and the note given to the guard unit. We leave in search of that gang.

Jim tells us that we need to sprint back to that gang. It is then that I realize that the description of the gang and the ones that we had knocked out are the same.

Garth shakes his head, “Is that why you told him that they would be tied up and naked?”

Jim tells us that it has not been an hour yet there is still another hour until the effect wears off. We run and sure enough, they are still out. The three of us tie them up and wait.

As we are waiting, Jim explains to us that the reason he set the price to seven hundred and fifty gold was it was easily split three ways. Garth is taken aback. When Jim see the reaction, he smiles and says.

“The three of us are now partners. Only fair to split three ways. How will you feel when, at that bank, you open an account and have a start of five hundred gold?”

“I am not dumb. My take would only be two hundred and fifty.”

We had discussed this when Garth went to get himself gear. I say,

“We beat you in the arena only with the boost. Jim and I thought it would be only fair to give you a portion. At the first bank, we were going to give you one hundred and twenty five gold each. With the split of the reward, that makes your account at five hundred.”

Garth is smiling as he thanks us.

The now tied gang is waking up. We did not want to hear them so we gagged them. They are tied in line. Garth hauls them to their feet and takes the rope.

“At least, I’ll drag them into town.”

It is a surprised guard and chief that see us walking nude men towards them. Both the chief and the guard affirm that this is the gang. The guard trades us the note for the gang. A sudden relief spreads across the community that the gang is captured.

No one felt taken advantage of. It seems that the chief took credit for talking us down from a thousand gold. He looks the good leader. Let him have it. He even walks with us to the bank and again thanks us. He asks us to see him after we are finished.

Inside the bank, we show the bank our tiles and open an account for Garth. Jim and I have the five hundred put on Garth’s tile and one twenty five on each of ours. It is one of the most memorable things in this life when I see him smile.

He has been taken advantage of for most of his life. Now he has true independence. A bank account in his name and friends to travel with.

At the chief’s office, he again thanks us. “I won’t ask you how you did it so quick, I don’t need to know. I have had correspondence from other towns and villages about problems they have been having and a reward for anyone that could direct people to help them. That reward would more than offset what we paid you. I now want to make you an offer. The reward is a thousand gold, fifty fifty split. How does that sound?”

I ask, “Those towns and villages, what are they offering us?”

“They vary in size depending on the size of the community. The total would be at least a few thousand.”

Garth now tells him that he needs to give us the locations and the main contact that we give the chiefs information. “The reward you get needs to be deposited in the bank. Fifty fifty. We will return and if you try something, well I won’t need a boost to get the money.” He smiles at me.

The chief assures us that he is honorable and will abide with our agreement. He gives us a map and contact information. We shake on it and go in the direction of that main contact.

Once outside the walls, Jim looks at the both, smiles then says,

“We need to search for the other two anyways. Might as well get some money while we are searching. The next town, we need to find empty bottles. Chris, you thirsty?”

This is going to be fun. I am a little thirsty.