Gregor Newville, the new sheriff of Bruce, speaks to the brighter days the town has come into. “No one knows what happened to the wizard, but we know he’s gone and it’s quite enough for us. We’ve begun looking forward now that we don’t live in fear. Why since he disappeared, we’ve established this jail and I’ve stepped in as sheriff, and we’ve a new portmaster to keep the docks running properly as well. Bruce is finally seeing happier days, and it’s about time.”

Portmaster Haden agrees. “It took hard work to oust the bandits and pirates, but we’ve managed. We’ve got two full docks now, and regular shipping is being established. Our trade routes with Tamir were the quickest to be established, and the fairy Genesta has been a great friend to Bruce. It goes to show you,  it’s not magic that makes a person bad, it’s the person that makes the magic bad. And that Mannanan, now, he was as bad a person as they come.”

No one could completely confirm the rumors that over the many years he oversaw Bruce and the nearby countryside, that Mannanan had kept a number of boy slaves who met unknown but dire fates. “My momma used to tell me if I wasn’t good, the wizard would come take me in the night and make me a slave! She said she knew a boy once who was mean to his mother and he was stolen by the wizard, and no one ever heard from him again,” said a young boy of the village. “And everyone knows the story about how he would turn people who go up the mountain into animals, and then kill them and eat them for dinner!”

King Alexander’s story is well known to the readers of the Four Winds and citizens of the Green Isles; he has been very frank and honest about his meager beginnings in this town and in the wizard’s stern house. Nor has he been shy in his claims that the wizard was a murderer many times over. But it seems his full story was not well known amongst the villagers of Bruce. None of the villagers were entirely surprised at hearing these rumors about the wizard and his demise, however.

“Some of the villagers have said they thought the wizard may have met his end at the hands of one of his slaves,” Portmaster Haden said. “I’m glad to hear it confirmed and that the boy has found his fortune!”

"That skinny boy who came in once or twice! Aye, I remember him,” Sheela told us. “He was a young one, but handsome, if he’d been able to eat a little better. A king now, you say? Is he married?”

“Polite boy, yes, I remember him now. I believe he said his name was Gwydion at the time,” Robert recalled after seeing a picture of the King. “I had thought he might’ve met his end at the wizard’s hands. I’m glad to hear he’s alive and well. He was quite nice to Kenny, too.”

Though the sheriff never met Alexander, the bandits in the jail did grumble about the slave-turned-King and claimed he stole from them. Sheriff Newville contends Alexander probably just took back what was taken from him in the first place.

Attempts were made to traverse the mountain and investigate the wizard’s old home—which has, supposedly, a new resident, a researcher of sorts—but the dangerous path was too treacherous to climb with any guarantee of safety.

Even without seeing the wizard-less home, it is clear to see that it is a happier time for the port of Bruce, and an even brighter future lies ahead. The town is having its first mayoral election next year, and is in the process of establishing trade routes that stretch as far as the shores of Daventry and Serenia.

      

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