IGMS Issue 44 Read Online Free
Author: IGMS
spreading on his lips when he saw me.
Aper gently put one large hand on my shoulder. "You should rest, Natta Magus. I'm told your efforts have weakened you terribly."
"How long have I been here?" I asked. My throat felt scoured, and I had the curious taste of cinnamon on my tongue. I'd never felt so wiped out after a spell, even during my intern years.
"Since before dawn, when Vitulus brought you here after . . ." He paused, studying me as if I were a religious totem. "I must leave for my inauguration soon, but I wanted to be the first to thank you. I'm told I and all of Rome owe you a tremendous debt."
I looked at him, the light from the open doorway making my eyes and head ache worse. "The people in my building. Did they . . . ?"
Vitulus stepped forward. "Your neighbors had minor burns, but they will all live."
Aper patted my shoulder once. "Get some rest, Natta Magus. I would speak with you when I return." He strode out of the room and into the atrium, where he was joined by more men with togas and gladii strapped to their belts.
"He wants to be your patron," Vitulus said.
"Yeah, and I'm gonna have to decline."
Vitulus frowned. "Salvius Aper would be a generous patron. I've served him for three years and he has been very good to me and my family."
"Look, I mean no disrespect. I'm truly honored that Aper wants me as a client. But being a client means I need to take an oath to serve my patron. That would be an oath that I knew I could not keep. If I make any commitments in this century, they will magically bind me here and then I'll never get home."
"So . . . you do not want to be an oath-breaker?" He asked this as if it were the one thing he actually understood from my last sentence.
"Right. Where I come from, there are serious consequences for breaking oaths."
Vitulus nodded. "Very well. Aper will be disappointed, but he will understand that and, I dare say, admire your honesty." He cocked his head and then said, "Tell me. The aurichalcum was something you would've used to get back to your home, yes?"
I sighed. "Yeah. It was the big component I needed."
"Then why did you use it up? Nobody would've known you could've done something with it. Then you could have used it to return home."
I gave a mirthless chuckle. "Because I've screwed this timeline all to hell and back the moment I arrived, so I owe it the people here to make their lives a bit easier where I can. But above all, it would've violated the oath I took when I became a magus: I cannot harm people with my magic, or, through inaction, allow people to be harmed. It's what I swore when I became a magus. Asimov the Historian came up with the oath decades before I graduated --"
"I rarely understand your words, Natta Magus," Vitulus interrupted. "But I hear the honor in them and I see the honor in your eyes. I cannot break my own oaths, but I will help you get home in any way I can. What can I do?"
I understood how serious that statement was for a Roman and truly appreciated his promise. I still wasn't sure I wanted a patrician friend who could possibly embroil me in patrician games, but Vitulus had handled himself pretty well while facing things he once thought were impossible. I'd been flying solo for the past year, so it would be nice to have a friend again -- especially when it came to finding William Pingree Ford, the mentor, friend, and oath-breaker who lured me to ancient Rome and then abandoned me here.
Either William had returned home and then come back, or he had never left in the first place. He must've still seen me as a threat, which was why he had laid that trap for me so he could get through my flat's wards and destroy my spell components. I had to find him before his madness ended up taking this timeline into a darkened age through which it was never meant to suffer.
"First," I said, "we need to find that friend who betrayed me."
Vitulus nodded. "When do we start?"
"Now."
The End . . .
for now.
Look for the further
Aper gently put one large hand on my shoulder. "You should rest, Natta Magus. I'm told your efforts have weakened you terribly."
"How long have I been here?" I asked. My throat felt scoured, and I had the curious taste of cinnamon on my tongue. I'd never felt so wiped out after a spell, even during my intern years.
"Since before dawn, when Vitulus brought you here after . . ." He paused, studying me as if I were a religious totem. "I must leave for my inauguration soon, but I wanted to be the first to thank you. I'm told I and all of Rome owe you a tremendous debt."
I looked at him, the light from the open doorway making my eyes and head ache worse. "The people in my building. Did they . . . ?"
Vitulus stepped forward. "Your neighbors had minor burns, but they will all live."
Aper patted my shoulder once. "Get some rest, Natta Magus. I would speak with you when I return." He strode out of the room and into the atrium, where he was joined by more men with togas and gladii strapped to their belts.
"He wants to be your patron," Vitulus said.
"Yeah, and I'm gonna have to decline."
Vitulus frowned. "Salvius Aper would be a generous patron. I've served him for three years and he has been very good to me and my family."
"Look, I mean no disrespect. I'm truly honored that Aper wants me as a client. But being a client means I need to take an oath to serve my patron. That would be an oath that I knew I could not keep. If I make any commitments in this century, they will magically bind me here and then I'll never get home."
"So . . . you do not want to be an oath-breaker?" He asked this as if it were the one thing he actually understood from my last sentence.
"Right. Where I come from, there are serious consequences for breaking oaths."
Vitulus nodded. "Very well. Aper will be disappointed, but he will understand that and, I dare say, admire your honesty." He cocked his head and then said, "Tell me. The aurichalcum was something you would've used to get back to your home, yes?"
I sighed. "Yeah. It was the big component I needed."
"Then why did you use it up? Nobody would've known you could've done something with it. Then you could have used it to return home."
I gave a mirthless chuckle. "Because I've screwed this timeline all to hell and back the moment I arrived, so I owe it the people here to make their lives a bit easier where I can. But above all, it would've violated the oath I took when I became a magus: I cannot harm people with my magic, or, through inaction, allow people to be harmed. It's what I swore when I became a magus. Asimov the Historian came up with the oath decades before I graduated --"
"I rarely understand your words, Natta Magus," Vitulus interrupted. "But I hear the honor in them and I see the honor in your eyes. I cannot break my own oaths, but I will help you get home in any way I can. What can I do?"
I understood how serious that statement was for a Roman and truly appreciated his promise. I still wasn't sure I wanted a patrician friend who could possibly embroil me in patrician games, but Vitulus had handled himself pretty well while facing things he once thought were impossible. I'd been flying solo for the past year, so it would be nice to have a friend again -- especially when it came to finding William Pingree Ford, the mentor, friend, and oath-breaker who lured me to ancient Rome and then abandoned me here.
Either William had returned home and then come back, or he had never left in the first place. He must've still seen me as a threat, which was why he had laid that trap for me so he could get through my flat's wards and destroy my spell components. I had to find him before his madness ended up taking this timeline into a darkened age through which it was never meant to suffer.
"First," I said, "we need to find that friend who betrayed me."
Vitulus nodded. "When do we start?"
"Now."
The End . . .
for now.
Look for the further
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