The Tower of Sorcery

by James Galloway

  There was a knock at the door. "Yes?" Tarrin called.

  A young man in a yellow shirt entered, holding a bundle of red shirts. "I was to drop these off to you," he said. "And pick up your Novice white."

  Tarrin gave him a curious look. His eyes were a bit wild, and from the smell of him, he'd received a bit of a shock. "What's the matter?" he asked as he motioned him to come in and grabbed the hem of his shirt.

  "That Selani," he said nervously, in a low voice. "I dropped off her shirts, and she took off the one she was wearing right in front of me!"

  "She's like that," he chuckled, pulling off his own and folding it quickly and neatly in his paws. "You get used to it." He put on one of the new shirts, seeing that it fit well enough, then handed the young dark-haired Initiate his stack of white shirts.

  "Thank you," he said, taking them. "I was supposed to tell you to be at Master Brel's office door at sunrise tomorrow," he instructed. "He said that you have the rest of today to settle in."

  "Alright," he said. That was fine with him, for he wanted to see his parents.

  That took a while. The only one that knew where they lived was the Keeper, and she was busy with the preparations to receive the Wikuni. By lunchtime, he finally tracked her down in her office. "Keeper, I have a favor to ask," he said as Duncan let him inside.

  "Why bring it to me?" she asked. "I'm busy."

  "Nobody else knows where my parents live," he said.

  "Oh, my," she groaned. "Tarrin, I am so sorry. In all this chaos, I totally forgot to send that message. I meant to do it yesterday, but I got word that the Wikuni was coming in not long after you left my office."

  "That's alright, Keeper," he said with sincere compassion. "I knew you were busy, and I don't think they could have seen me yesterday anyway."

  "Yes, well, that doesn't excuse me," she said in a stern tone, full of self-incrimination. "I'll send the message right now. I'll have them come to your room."

  Tarrin returned to his room to wait, and to dread and think about their arriving. So much had happened over the two months, so much time for them to think about the entire event. He honestly had no idea how they reacted to it, or how the time to think about it may have changed that original perception. His own memories of that fateful night were fuzzy, hazy, indistinct. He only knew the generalities of it. But in a way, that was bad enough. Knowing that he almost killed his own mother still sent a rush of hot shame through him when he pondered it, but the time with Janette had managed to partially heal that festering wound on his soul. All that he had left was to find out what his parents and sister thought about him now. Whether they would embrace him or spurn him. Either way, he felt that he could handle it. Losing his family would destroy him, but he would face up to it like a man. Like a Kael.

  They arrived about two hours later, opening the door to his room without knocking as he paced nervously. Elke Kael rushed in with a cry and buried her son in a fierce hug, barely giving him time to turn around. Tarrin struggled to breathe as his father and sister crowded in on him. Elke then pushed him out at arm's length and gave him a dark scowl. "Don't ever do that again!" she shouted at him, then hugged him again.

  Tarrin felt relief beyond measure. That one line told him that she wasn't holding a grudge. "I was afraid you'd be mad at me," he said, returning her embrace.

  "I am mad, but not for that reason," she huffed. "I'm mad at you for staying away so long."

  "I needed time," he told her as he took his father's hand, then hugged Jenna warmly.

  "You don't look that bad," his father noted with a smile. "Just a bit worried."

  "You wait two hours and see how good you feel," he replied.

  "And how do you feel?" Eron asked.

  "I'll never be the same," he said with sober eyes. "Never. But I guess it was something that had to happen."

  Tarrin sat on the bed with Jenna in his lap. Elke sat beside him, and Eron sat in the chair by the desk. "Where were you all that time?" Jenna asked. "We looked and looked for you. The Sorcerers even used magic to try to find you, but they couldn't."

  "I, don't have much memory of it," he said haltingly. "I lost so much time. In my other shape, time doesn't mean the same thing as it does when I'm like this."

  "But where did you go?" she pressed.

  "I was picked up by a little girl," he told her. "She adopted me as a pet."

  Jenna giggled. "That must have been funny. I don't think you'd make a very good pet."

  "On the contrary," Eron said with keen eyes. "I think I understand what he was saying. He probably had her very nicely fooled."

  Tarrin nodded. "I couldn't even remember how to change shape," he told him. "I'd all but given up, and when I did that, I let the Cat take control of me. You see, the Cat doesn't have much use for human memories, so it simply buried them. And the Cat doesn't register the passage of time. There's no past, no future, for a cat. There's only now. And without memory of the past, or knowledge of the future, the now would be everything. And in that now, there was only the Cat. If she hadn't found me when she did, I'd probably still be wandering around as a cat, with no memory of who or what I was." He bowed his head for a moment. "By now, I'd be a cat."

  "Two days would make that much difference?" Elke asked.

  "It wasn't the time," he told his mother. "It was her. It was like being a child all over again, mother. She cared for me. She honestly did her best to spoil me," he chuckled. "Since I was more or less being coddled, and she wouldn't let me get depressed, I had time to think about everything. Well, what was left of me had time to think. She was so good to me that it made the Cat totally content, and the combination let me find some measure of peace inside myself. I had no worries, no cares. It was like a vacation from myself."

  "I think I can understand that," Eron said. "And after finding some peace, you started getting your human awareness back."

  Tarrin nodded. "It didn't happen very fast, but it did happen," he said. "I still don't entirely trust myself, but the time was good for me. I understand my instincts much better now that I've lived with them controlling me for two months. I think that I'll never be able to totally control them," he sighed, "because Jesmind seems to have the same problem, and she was born with them. But there's hope."

  Elke smiled and patted his shoulder. "I'm just glad to see you well, Tarrin," she said to him with a warm look in her eyes.

  "I'm glad I wasn't disowned," he chuckled, patting her hand warmly.

  "Never that, son," Eron told him. "Never that."

  "Have you had any trouble, from Jesmind?" he asked.

  "No, we haven't seen her," he replied.

  "Does she know where you live?"

  "I doubt it," Elke told him. "The only one who knows where we live are the Sorcerers, and I doubt they told her."

  "She's sneaky, mother," he said. "She can follow you easily."

  "She'd have no reason to with you out in the city," Eron pointed out. "Remember, you were the reason she was here. Without you, her need to be here disappeared. Where is she now?"

  "I have no idea, but she's probably pretty close," he said. "She knows I'm here. She's the one that found me, sort of."

  "Sort of?"

  "I was trying to get back into the Tower without being seen," he replied. "She caught me just outside the fence."

  "Is she still after you?"

  Tarrin nodded. "I doubt I ever will get rid of her," he said. "But that's a problem for another day." He settled Jenna a bit on his lap. Despite the fact that she was nearly fourteen, she fit onto his lap like a young child. "Tell me what's been going on."

  And so Tarrin was caught up with the goings on of the Kael family. Jenna had been learning Sorcery from the Tower, as a Sorcerer came out each day to their house to give her instruction. She found it to be incredibly fascinating, and he had the feeling that Jenna had found her calling in life. His father had started making arrows and bows again, doing his work out of his new house in the city and having suitable material
s brought in from the forests. He made quite a bit of money. He was already looking to set up his brewing equipment again, and having supplies brought in from Aldreth so he could start brewing ale. His mother had found something close to happiness at Suld, with a new home that was much larger, new friends, and a blossoming business baking pies and pastries and selling them to an inn down the street from her house. Tarrin's grandfather, Anrak Whiteaxe, had visited twice while he was gone. Elke had chanced to see her father's ship in harbor, and managed to track him down. Then he had visited again only last ten-day. He was very happy about his little girl living in a port city, especially one that he visited so often. They also told him about their visits to the Tower, trying to get information, and about their taking in of Allia. Allia wasn't just Tarrin's friend anymore, she was an adoptive daughter to the family. All of them adored the dark-skinned Selani, and she seemed to genuinely be fond of her deshida's kin. Jenna, who shared Tarrin's knack at learning new languages, had been learning Selani from Allia. And surprisingly, Elke told him that Allia had been picking up some Ungaardt from her.

  Tarrin laughed as Eron described Anrak's reaction when he met Allia. Anrak had been a bit intimidated by the Selani. "I'm not surprised," he said. "Allia has that effect on people."

  "Whatever happened to that young man you were rooming with?" Elke asked.

  "Dar? He's still in the Novitiate," he replied. "He has only a couple of classes left, then he moves to the Initiate." Tarrin had been glancing at Jenna, and saw her flush slightly. By analyzing her scent, he noticed that the mention of his voice had unsettled her somewhat. Then he chuckled. Her first object of affection. "I'll be glad to have him close again. We're good friends, and I don't think I've met a braver man. After all that happened around me, he stubbornly stayed on as my roommate. Even when he was given the chance to move."

  "I'd say that's commendable," Eron said with a slight smile. "We need to meet him."

  "We will," Elke said. "Now that Tarrin's back, we can visit."

  "Actually, I think they'll make those few and far between," Tarrin said. "I don't think they let the Novices and Initiates spend too much time with their families."

  "Probably not," Eron said. "That distracts the student."

  "Official visits, anyway," Tarrin grinned. "I can just about come and go as I please, whether they want me to or not. Tell me where the house is."

  "Not far," Elke told him. "Just go out the main gate, go down five streets, then turn right where you see the sign for the Happy Harpy Inn. We're the fourth house on the left."

  "We wanted a house as close to the Tower as we could," Eron told him. "You wouldn't believe how expensive houses are in this neighborhood."

  "I can imagine," he said.

  "When do you start learning Sorcery?" Jenna asked him.

  "Tomorrow, I'd imagine," he replied. "They don't waste time around here."

  "You'll like it, Tarrin," she told him with serious eyes.

  "I hope so. If not, I'll be terribly bored."

  She slapped his knee, and he retaliated by ghosting his tail over her face, making her sneeze. "I hate to cut things short, Tarrin, but I have some errands to run," Elke told him apologetically. "I don't want you to think I'm just showing up and leaving you."

  "No, that's alright, mother," he said. "I didn't expect you to be spending all day with me. But we do need to take a walk through the garden before you leave."

  She caught his serious look, then nodded. "Then let's go take a walk."

  Outside, they spent some time chatting idly, working their way deeper and deeper into the garden. They meandered into an area where there weren't any other garden visitors within earshot, and Tarrin looked around quickly. "Jenna, I want you to do me a favor," he told his sister.

  "What?"

  "Go over there for a while," he said, pointing. "I need to talk to mother and father for a few minutes."

  "What, you don't trust me?" she challenged.

  "Jenna, as much as I love you, there's nothing that you can do to help me with this," he told her. "Mother and father can tell you when you get home, and we don't have much time, so I don't want to have to explain things. They already know a bit about what we're going to talk about."

  "Go on, sweetie," Elke shooed her off. "We won't be long."

  "Alright," she sulked, stamping away in a huff.

  "What is it, son?" Eron asked.

  "They want something from me, father," he said.

  "More than just teaching you?"

  He nodded. "I can tell by looking at them. It's in their scents. The problem is, I don't know what it is they want. I've thought about it, and for the life of me, I can't figure out what it is."

  "Are you so sure?" Elke asked.

  "Mother, while I was, away, I found out that they were sending Sorcerers door to door looking for me," he told her.

  "I don't see anything wrong with that," she said.

  "Of course not. You're my mother," he told her. "Think of it like this. The Tower would send Sorcerers to hunt down a runaway Novice?"

  "Tarrin, you said yourself that you weren't rational," Eron said. "They could have been trying to find you before you hurt someone."

  "Father, my sense of time is very fuzzy, but I know that the Sorcerer that showed up where I was hiding was there a long time after I ran away from the Tower," he said. "It was well after the wife--well, nevermind that. It was a long time. They had no business looking for me door to door after that much time unless they were desperate to find me."

  "Tarrin dear, we were desperate to find you," Elke said.

  "Mother, you were. The Tower has different reasons," he replied. "After that much time, they knew I wasn't rampaging, else they'd have found me long before then. They knew I was still alive too, else they wouldn't bother to look in the first place. And despite me being gone for so long, they still kept looking. They even used magic to force Jesmind to find me."

  "I think I'm starting to understand," Eron said. "By looking for him so hard, for so long, they tipped their hand," he told his wife. "They had no reason to keep up the search that long unless there was gain in it for them. The only gain that I can see was that they find Tarrin."

  "I don't see anything wrong with it," she declared firmly.

  Tarrin struggled for a moment. He knew because the Goddess in the statue had told him, more or less right out, that he was a very important person, and that had to be the reason the Tower was so serious about finding him. He didn't want to tell his parents about that--it seemed a bit too personal--so he cast out for a different way to phrase it so that his mother would understand the point he was trying to make. "Think of it like this," Tarrin said. "You know that serving pitcher grandfather gave you?" She nodded. "I know how much you love it. Now, would you hire someone to search for that pitcher for two months? Remember, you're paying for this man to search for it."

  "No!" she said.

  "That's what the Tower did to try to find me," he told her.

  "I--oh. I get it," she agreed. "So you think you weren't worth that much effort."

  "From you, yes, I was," he grinned. "From the Tower, no. I'm just one of the masses here, nobody special. The only thing that makes me different is this," he said, holding out his paws. "And there's more going on here than just this. Did you know they specifically arranged to have Allia come to the Tower?"

  "Yes, she told us that story."

  "Well, they've brought another Non-human here. A Wikuni princess."

  "So?"

  "So, I heard long ago that they're the first Non-humans, well, we, are the first to be here since the Ancients walked the grounds," he told her. "And now they bring in two of them, and get me by accident."

  "What difference does that make?" Eron asked.

  "Maybe none, but it's, odd," he replied. "I may be getting paranoid, but it's almost like they're collecting Non-humans that can use Sorcery. I may not have been part of their plans to begin with, but I certainly seem to be so now. After I left, th
ey started giving Allia a lot of attention."

  "Yes, she told us," Elke said.

  "I was getting that attention before I, left," he said. "At first, I thought it was because someone was trying to kill me, and not just Jesmind. Now, maybe I'm not so sure," he said. "You weren't here for it, but I was attacked several times here on the Tower grounds. Once by Jesmind, and a few times by outsiders. Now that I think back on it, every time but one that I was attacked, Allia was there. They may have been attacking both of us, and not just me." He rubbed his chin with a furred forefinger. The Goddess in the statue didn't say anything about Allia, but that didn't mean that she didn't matter. There was a good chance that she was just as important, because of who and what she was. "Hmm. Perhaps they were attacking both of us, because we're Non-humans that can do Sorcery. It's the only thing that makes us different from every other Novice and Initiate."

  "The question is why," Eron said calmly.

  "That is the question," Tarrin agreed. "Until I can figure out what's going on, all my thoughts are just dust in the wind. The Tower wants to keep their hands on us, and someone else wants to kill us, and I want to know why. And I mean to find out. I wanted to warn you about this, and warn you that you may hear some bad things about me from the Tower in the next month or so," he said.

  "Why?"

  "Because I'm going to find out what's going on," he said adamantly. "I have no doubt that I'll have to break all sorts of rules to do it. And I may get caught a few times. So long as they don't realize what I'm doing, I don't care if they catch me or not."

  They were quiet a few moments. "Anything we can do to help?" Eron asked.

  Tarrin smiled at his father. "Not really," he said. "This will be an inside job."

  "Just be careful," Elke said. "You don't want to get into too much trouble."

  "Why?" he said. "If I'm right, I could kill someone on the front steps, and they'd just slap my wrist and put me back in class. If I don't miss the mark, I'm too important to misuse. They don't want me vanishing again."