Lubus was fleeing through the forest at a perilous speed. A life of study and research doesn’t make for a good runner he thought as he almost tripped over a root but managed to catch himself before he fell. He would like to stop and rest, but the guards pursuing him didn’t give him much of a choice. They could be heard closing in behind Lubus, and it seemed they were getting closer by each minute. “F-f-f-fireball,” Lubus said, to his relief the ball of flame formed in his hand, and he threw it behind himself to slow down the guards, he didn’t look back to see the damage he just kept running.

That stutter had not been because he was afraid or cold, it was something Lubus had struggled with all his life. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make his words come out right. He often only used short, one-word sentences to avoid speaking as much as possible. This often made people think he was stupid, but those who knew him told otherwise, and he had proved it by his quick rise through the mages guild in the capital. He excelled in all his studies, his mind working fast and making connections left and right.

He often thought that his colleagues could be a bit dull at times. When it came to oral exams or answering questions he struggled, it could take quite some time for him to answer a question from a teacher and his classmates would often complete his sentences for him when he got stuck on a particular word, which he found very annoying. He often wished that the mages at the guild could just read his mind, and they would see the answers right there, but no such spell existed… yet.

Despite his difficulties with speaking, his intellect was evident to any one of the teachers that had him in their lessons for any length of time, and he had quickly earned the right to touch the naming stone and become a full wizard. Anyone who completed their studies at the guild could touch the rock, and it would give them a new name to go by to signify that they had truly earned the right to call themselves a wizard and that they were, in a way, new people.

The name he had been given was Eplubus Broken Tongue, it might be a bit of an ironic name, but Lubus still took pride in it. The naming stone itself had named him, after all, now no one could doubt that he genuinely was a wizard If he had been found lacking it would have been made obvious by the stone rejecting him by glowing black. He had heard of the poor people that had been rejected, they could try again during the next graduation, but everyone would remember that they had once been found not good enough, and the stone never lied.

That is why this whole situation infuriated Lubus, despite him being acknowledged by the stone the mages at the guild had banned him from using magic. They claimed that he was a danger to himself and those around him, sure he had blown up a couple of test rooms while he experimented with casting spells, but he had taken proper precautions and no one was hurt. If he could just get rid of his stutter, life would be made so much easier for Lubus. The spell he had used during the experiment had been a minor one, but thanks to his stutter it had magnified the spell, making it much more powerful. He didn’t even want to attempt the master level spells he knew. They required precise pronunciation and a pause in the flow of words could mean disaster. Maybe they had a point about him being a danger after all, in either case, he had not listened and continued using magic. A warrant had been issued for his arrest, and he had had to flee to a different city, where mages were an uncommon sight, but after a while the guards had realized who he was, even though he had grown out his beard and changed his hair color, bringing him to this current situation.

Lubus kept his arms and hands in front of his face to avoid branches whipping his head. Therefore he almost fell in the pool of water that appeared in front of him. He managed to stop at the edge and wave his arms frantically trying not to drop in. He fell backward and landed on his rear, panting heavily, he laid down on the ground exhausted. He seriously considered turning himself in there, and then, at least he would be away from this wilderness and not sweating his ass off running like a maniac. Then he would have to agree to the guild's terms and give up on magic. He could be useful in other ways though after all runes and enchanting required no spoken spells, surely the guild would allow that.

“To the depths with it,” Lubus said and got to his feet, he hadn’t studied for all his life and endured the constant ridicule from his classmates just to become some boring enchanter. He wanted to cast spells dammit, no stuffy old mage could keep him from doing so. He would show those fools what Eplubus Broken Tongue was capable of, he thought and started to cast a spell. “Protection, c-c-complete,” he said, the spell would normally cover his body in a clear field of force that would turn away physical blows and dampen magical attacks. As he stood there, waiting for the spell to take effect nothing happened, he tried again. “P-protection, complete,” he said again, smoother this time but still nothing happened. Maybe something that requires less magic he thought and said “P-p-prot-tection, front,” and watched as the magical forcefield took shape in front of him. It would follow him wherever he went, and no matter how he twisted or turned, just as long as no one attacked him from behind this would work.

“Fireball,” he said next, managing the spell without stuttering for once. The flaming ball of fire grew from his palm, and he kept it there, facing the direction he thought the guards would come from he waited. Other mages would immediately fire off their spells after saying the incantation, but keeping it in his hand was one of the ways that Lubus had thought about to deal with his condition. If he could prepare before going into battle he would be relatively ok, he couldn’t manage many spells at once, and he hadn’t tried it in a real-world scenario before this would be his first real test.

He waited and waited some more, but no guards came rushing out of the woods. Now that he thought about it, they should have caught up to him while he was laying by the pool of water. He concentrated on his surroundings and listened for any sign of the guards, nothing was what he heard. Except for the wind rustling the trees, there was not a single sound that he could hear. He remembered hearing birdcalls when first entering the woods during his flight from the guards, but now they were quiet.

He thought that he could hear a man screaming in the distance, but it was so far away that he couldn’t be certain. Was there some predator about that had scared away all the wildlife? He knew of no such creature in this part of the world that could scare away four fully armed guards though. Perhaps he had frightened the animals with his fire, and the guards had decided to go back to the city after witnessing his fantastic spellcasting. Yes, that must be it, he wasn’t just some run of the mill mage, after all, he had been acknowledged by the naming stone of the mages guild, surely the warrant must warn that he is a fully fledged wizard, he told himself this to calm his racing heart. Something had happened to those guards, maybe they had gone back for reinforcements or something, but he wasn't so sure of that.

The shield spell he canceled after some more time spent listening, but the fireball he kept burning in his hand. Both the smell and sight of it would keep predators away from him he thought as he bent down towards the pool of water to have a drink. When his thirst was quenched, he got up and made his way towards the road. He would have to make it to the next city, to survive. He knew how to start a fire but not how to hunt or gather roots and berries, if he was unlucky he could poison himself by mistake. He had some coin in his pockets, and he could make more by enchanting some cheap items and claiming he had found them on some adventure. He would have to buy new clothes too, but that could wait till he made it to the next city. He could cut his hair and beard with the small knife he kept in his boot, but that could be done once he had started a fire.

He kept seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, but when he looked, he would find nothing there. He swore that he could feel eyes boring into his back, but admitted that it could be his imagination playing tricks on him. He made it to the road, shoulders tense from the feeling of being watched, he kept to the forest and followed the direction of the road, not wanting to run into any guards on patrol. The sun was low on the horizon, and Lubus decided to make camp, he dug out a fire pit and piled small rocks around it in a ring. Sticks and dry bark was stacked in the middle, Lubus let the fireball light the wood on fire, and once he was satisfied that they would not go out, he cut off the mana supply to the fireball, making it go out. Next, he scratched some wards into the dirt around his camp. They would send a jolt through him if something crossed their threshold. Then he sat down next to the fire, and trimmed his beard and cut short his long hair. He could get a cleaner cut in the next town or village. He had been posing as a scribe before being discovered by the guards by the name of John. He would have to find a new name and occupation for sure whoever came looking for him would search for a scribe named John.

He laid down on the ground to sleep. He hadn’t been able to grab much before fleeing, so he had to sleep under the stars. Luckily it was summer, and it was a warm night, he just hoped it didn’t start raining. His stomach rumbled, and he wished he had something to eat. Hopefully, if anything were following him it would be some dumb animal, and he could deal with it quickly, but it was probably only his paranoia acting up. If he could just relax a little this trip would be much less stressful, he would still have to keep an eye out for guards though, this was Lubus’s last thought before he fell asleep.

There was something following Lubus though, he should probably get better at listening to his instincts. This, someone, was not some dumb animal either, and she was very excited about the fire she had seen the mainlander keep in his hands.