Free Path of the Magi (Tales of Tiberius) by Richard J Stuart

you.” 
    “How is your staff work progressing, Ti?” Ian asked. 
    “Well enough.  I think I can give my brother a surprise when he gets home, but that depends on how much he’s learning.  He’s in a pike unit, you know.  You ought to give it a try; it’s great exercise.”
    “Ah, that word!” Ian said, shaking his head at the thought of having to exercise.  “No, thank you.  I’m not that sort of a magi.  More of a myrrh type I think.”
    “Is there more than one sort of magi?”  Tiberius asked.
    “Well, we’re all people and a little different.  But it is a bit of a game to call us gold, frankincense, or myrrh magi.  Now Dallen and Singh here, they’re the gold sort, interested in making tangible improvements in peoples lives.  Dallen does all sorts of work on magical thingies, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.  Messura’s a myrrh magus of course.  He heals people.  I think that’s more my line.  Certainly not mathematics.  You seem more the frankincense type, wouldn’t you say, Singh?”
    “Yes, I’d say so,” Singh acknowledged.
    “I’m not any sort of magi,” Tiberius protested.  “But as you are, maybe you can tell me something.  What the heck are frankincense and myrrh, anyway?”
    “They are both a form of dried tree sap,” Singh explained.  “Myrrh is the dried sap of the Commiphora myrrha tree.  It’s a desert plant.  The sap has some medicinal properties.  Frankincense comes from the Boswellia tree.  It’s used as incense, though you can burn myrrh too.  A lot of times they burn the two together as incense.  I assume you know what gold is?”
    “A metal commonly used as a form of currency.  Atomic number 79 on the table of the elements.  I’m not as familiar with it as I’d like to be.  I don’t suppose you know how to turn lead into gold?” Tiberius asked.
    “Well, yes, actually, but it’s harder to do than you’d think, and not really worth the trouble,”  Singh said. 
    Tiberius would have liked to have asked more about that, but just then Dallen came in and the class started. 

∴
    The days drifted along.  Before long it was S.R. 298.  Tiberius was 17, progressing though calculus and thinking more of his application to the Military Academy.  He saw Gillyian now and then, but no trouble came of it and Tiberius just decided to let the elves think what they wanted to.  He was surprised, though, when one day in late March while sitting and reading one Sunday afternoon, Gillyian actually approached him.  Tiberius thought he was acting rather oddly.  He seemed nervous, and he kept a cloak over his head, just lowering it long enough for Tiberius to see who he was.
    “Can you come to the edge of the woods with me?” he asked.
    “Why?” Tiberius asked in return.
    “My mistress desires speech with you.  A few words, no more,” he said.  Tiberius answered him with a questioning look.  Gillyian continued.  “I’ve given you little reason to love or trust me, but I’ve done you no harm either.  Neither I nor my mistress wish to harm you, nor carry you away.  My mistress asks only to look upon you for a moment with her own eyes.  Is that a request that a knight can refuse a lady?”
    “Since you put it that way, no,” Tiberius said, rising and putting his book away.  “All right, where and when?”
    “With me, now, if you are able.  Truth to tell I think this journey neither wise nor safe for my lady, but a woman and master will have her own way.  But come now if you can; if this must be done, ‘tis well if it were done quickly.”
    “Lead on, Sir,”  Tiberius said. 
    Gillyian turned, and with swift steps moved purposely towards the edge of town.  He paused once or twice, allowing others to pass by before moving forwards.  Other times he moved right in front of people.  What rhyme or reason there was to Gillyian’s stealth, Tiberius didn’t know, but before long they came to the edge of the woods.  A few paces in he