Better late than never

Jason thought of Herodotus and wasn’t convinced of the veracity of the story but then realized what Urasmian had so casually said.

“You really have dragons living near you?”

Urasmian nodded. “Oh yes. They have spread around the globe in all the high mountainous regions. They are quite the pest in some areas, although a good sorcerer or two can deal with them easily. Fortunately, although they were created by magic, they are not themselves capable of doing magic.”

He paused and seemed to focus inwardly on some thought that he didn’t share with Jason. He suddenly jerked alert again.

“Much knowledge gained over the centuries has been lost, rediscovered, and then lost again as far as I can tell. Sorcerers and historians try to conserve scroll books, but many are lost every year as people die, and their property is ransacked and sold off by uninterested descendants. Others are lost through accidental fires and deliberate acts of destruction, especially in wars. In fact, so much has been lost that I am surprised at how much has survived!”

“So, spells are in the language of the Keftios?” Jason asked to clarify what he thought was the case.

Urasmian nodded. “Yes. That is how it has always been done.”

“But you speak something else in normal conversation like this?” Jason was intrigued by the language difference.

“Yes. We speak the tongue of the Hellandios who spread out and conquered most of the world, bit by bit. Even the Zhongquin were defeated and taught to speak Hellandios eventually. They lacked the sorcerers to stop the armies that ravaged them and eventually succumbed like everyone else. Over time the Hellandios conquerors are slowly being absorbed into the local peoples in many areas despite the magical families trying to keep their bloodlines pure. In a lot of areas, it is hard to find anyone who is purebred Hellandios. Some people set great store by having pure Hellandios lineage, you understand. Most of us are just happy to have some Hellandios blood.”

Jason considered this. “So, you have magical families then?”

Urasmian waved a hand to acknowledge this. “Yes. Not that magic isn’t found in practically everyone, understand. If enough people are given the broth to try, then sooner or later, you’ll get a trainee sorcerer. On the other hand, the long-established Hellandios families that arose from the conquered Keftios, before spreading out to conquer first the lands surrounding the Middle Sea, and eventually, the whole world, make an effort to try and keep magic within their own ranks as much as possible. And those bloodlines have a higher incidence of Sorcerers than normal people do. It has been noted for centuries that the children of magical parents, even if neither parent is actually a sorcerer but merely the son or daughter of one, have a higher chance of proving to be sorcerers themselves. Amongst the very old families still living in Keftu and Hellandu, the chance of getting a sorcerer is sometimes as much as one in ten, or so it is claimed.”

Jason was puzzled by this because even if the broth was doing something to people, presumably to their brains, which then allowed them to do magic, surely it wouldn’t be an inheritable genetic change. Would it? Very strange. But Urasmian seemed certain of his facts.