After a seeming age of restless pacing around the silent hall, he smiled as Dalquist stepped from the shadows, carrying several large bundles. The young mage greeted him with enthusiasm.

"Good morning, Grimm," his friend said. "I have a few graduating presents for you. You won't last five minutes on the trail, dressed like that."

The bundles disclosed an oiled leather travelling cape with a cowl and fur lining for travelling in unpleasant weather; a sharp knife with a leather sheath; a capacious waterskin; and a large, fur-lined leather bag, which, as Dalquist informed the perplexed Grimm, was for sleeping in the open. Dalquist then handed Grimm a purse containing six gold pieces and a greater quantity of silver and copper.

Such wealth would have been a king's ransom back in his home town of Lower Frunstock, and Grimm's eyes almost popped from his skull.

"A man needs to pay his own way, Grimm, especially a mage," Dalquist said with a smile. "It wouldn't bring much credit to the Guild if its adepts were shabby mendicants. Just spend it wisely."

Grimm stammered enthusiastic thanks until the older mage waved a hand. "It's time to move, Grimm. Have you any experience of riding?"

The young mage raised an eyebrow.

"I practiced often on the leather horse in the Scholasticate," he said, "and I was brought up in a smithy. I was riding horses from the time I could walk until I came here. I don't think I could ever forget how to ride."

Dalquist nodded. "Good. I have procured a pair of nags for us, serviceable horses if not thoroughbreds. Yours answers to the name of Jessie, and my mount is Bella. Unless you have any questions, I suggest we leave now. We have some distance to go."

Grimm made no comment, as the enormity of what he was about to do now weighed heavily upon him as Dalquist opened the Great Portal at the end of the hall. He felt his mouth become dry as he looked out into the wider world, and he had to force his reluctant feet to keep moving as he followed his older friend.