by L. S. Emory
“Yep,” Cody said, smiling. “They do teach that on the first day. So what is a wizard’s primary weapon?”
“The wizard’s primary weapon is a wand or staff. Everyone knows that.”
“Then why did you have such problems using a wand?” Cody replied, emphasizing the ‘you’ in his question.
I had to think about that for a minute. I wasn't really sure. I mean, I had tried my best in my wand class, but nothing ever seemed to really work that well. I didn't know.
Cody saw my hesitation in answering. “Well why do you think that is? Give me something here, an idea, anything. What do you think?”
I was getting tired of this line of questioning. Why couldn’t he just tell me what I wanted to know? I knew that he was driving at some point, but I didn't know what that point was. “I don't know, maybe I'm just no good at this. Maybe I just need to be trained some more. Maybe read some more books, maybe practice some more.”
“All right,” he said. “How did things work out for you when you used the sword?
“Well, they worked pretty well. I was able to do magic a lot easier with that than with the wand.”
“Exactly. Now you're on to something, kid. Let's talk let's think about that for a minute. You can use a sword to do your magic, but you have problems using a wand. Why do you think that might be?”
“Well, I guess using a sword is just like using a big wand. Maybe the bigger the instrument, the easier it is.”
“Wrong, kid. A wand and a sword are two totally different weapons. A wand isn't anything more than a stick. It doesn’t have any magic itself. It’s made of wood. At least the good ones are. It’s just to focus your magic spells. A sword, on the other hand, now that's a real weapon. It has a blade. And it is made of metal, not wood. It can cut things. Ever try to cut anything with a magic wand? Let me answer that for you. No, you haven't. But that's not all. For generation after generation, wizards have used wands. That's how wizards are trained. If you can't use a wand to correctly focus your spells, then you are not a wizard. It's simple as that.”
“But I can use magic,” I said. “How am I able to use magic if I'm not a wizard?”
“Well let's go over this again,” Cody said, walking over towards me. “Number one, you're no good with a wand. And you’re no good at spells. Number 2, you are good with a sword. Number 3, you can still do magic. Back in the old days we had a name that we call people like you.”
“Is this where you insult me? Is this way you tell me that I'm not really good enough?” Truthfully, that's what I kind of thought all along. I did suck at casting spells. But I never wanted to admit it. I wanted to be a wizard. I wanted to be like everyone else I knew.
“How much you know about our history?” Cody asked.
“Well, I know some,” I said. “What I've learned in history class.”
“Let me tell you something,” Cody said, pointing his finger at me. “When I tell you to forget about that stuff that you learned in school, it's not me just being a grouchy old man. It's not me just thinking that in the old days we were better, or that we knew more. It's not because I don't like the schools. Although, I really don't like them. And the reason that I don't like them is not because of what they teach you, but because of what they don't teach you.”
“What do you mean? What don’t they teach us?”
“Those schools are good for training corporate wizards, ordinary people in the magic community. When you graduate you all have the same skills, the same abilities, and know how to use a wand, just like everyone else in the wizarding community. The problem that comes up is when someone like you shows up in one of those schools. Like I said, you're not a wizard. But that doesn't mean you don't have any magic abilities. Yours are just different than everyone else's. You can learn and use spells, at least at a basic level. But that’s not where your magic comes from. Your magic comes from here,” he said, pointing at is chest. “And it isn’t channeled through a wand. Your kind of magic works best channeled through a weapon. A metal weapon. At least in the beginning. Let me ask you something else. Why didn’t you use your wand today?”
That was a crazy question. “What do you mean? Of course I used my wand.”
“I see,” Cody said. “So, every time you did magic, you pulled out your wand?”
“Of, course I did. Wizards can’t do magic without…”
“Wait for it…” Cody said.
Then I realized. I hadn’t used my wand. At least, not since I picked up the sword. “How is that possible?” I asked.
“First, you had the sword. You didn't need a wand. I’m thinking your magic worked better with the sword than with a wand.”
He was right. My spells weren’t backfiring.
He continued. “And I’m betting you thought that the sword had some kind of magic, and that you were accidentally triggering it?”
“Well, it does, doesn’t it?”
“Not like that. Not that lightning or whatever else you were able to do. That was you doing that. Your magic. The sword was just the conduit. And for someone like you, a much better conduit than a wand.”
I just stood there. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It wasn’t the sword. It was me.
“So instead of a wand, I need a sword to do magic correctly?” I asked.
“Kid, stick with me and you won’t even need the sword. That’s another myth that school told you.”
Cody turned around and walked across to the other side of the room. He picked up a book up off of the bookshelf and pointed it at me. “A book like this,” he said, “wouldn't show up in any of your required reading lists at that school, because a book like this tells you something about the way the world was before the Wizarding Authority took over things. While they're busy training all their students to become good wizards, and to be able to pass their wizarding test, they leave out a few things.”
Now I was interested. “What do they leave out?”
“The things they leave out are about our history. The things that they don't want to talk about. The things they don't want you to know. The things they want to be forgotten in this world. You see, a few generations ago, we had a name for people like you. Like I said, you're no ordinary wizard.”
“Then what am I even doing here? Why didn't they just expel me if I wasn’t going to make it? Why did Aunt Linda even bother bringing me here to learn from you?”
“Your Aunt Linda brought you here because she had sneaking suspicion, just like I did. You're not a wizard. Someone like you used to be called bellum dux magum.
“That sounds like Greek to me.”
“It’s Latin. It’s an old phrase used back in medieval times. In English, you are what we used to call a War Mage.”
I had never heard of a War Mage before. I didn't know what that was. I didn't remember us ever talking about anything like that in my history classes.
“A war mage,” Cody continued, “well, they don't come around too often. A war mage is a wizard whose magic is internal, and is usually focused through a bladed weapon, not a wand. Even more than that, their magic is offensive. It's meant to be used as a weapon itself. I know what you're thinking, all wizards use their magic as a weapon. But a war mage is different. Their magic is more based on an internal reaction, an instinct, the kind of thing that you can't learn. You're either born with it or you're not. Now in a case like you, instinct and reactions have been dampened, pushed down, because you've been trying to learn to be a regular wizard like everyone else. Your magic doesn't work like everyone else's. Wizards manipulate magic. You, however, make magic. Big difference. And your Aunt Linda picked up on that. That's why she brought you here.”
“How did Aunt Linda know? Was it just because I was such a bad student?”
“Well, that probably helped in her thinking. But she also knew something else, something that you didn't know.”
“What's that?”
“She knew, just like I know, that your grandmothers on both sides
of your family were war mages. Nobody ever told you that, did they?”
“No, they didn't.” I didn't know a lot about either one of my grandmothers, because they both died when I was really young. I didn't really know much about them at all. I knew that my mother's mother didn't really have a job other than being a housewife. And my father's mother, worked in the records department of the city.
“If they were war mages, why weren't they involved with the military or police or whatever a war mage does for a living?”
“They were,” Cody said. “But nobody was going to really tell you that either. You got a lot of family secrets that you know nothing about.”
“How do you know? What do you know about my family? And how exactly do you know Aunt Linda?”
“That's a lot of questions, kid. We don't have time to go in to all of that right now.”
“No! You've been jerking me around with all this secret stuff all day long. I want some answers. I deserve some answers after all I've been through.”
Cody cocked his head to the side and looked up at the ceiling. “Yeah, I guess you are right. I can tell you some things, but some things you just going to have to find out for yourself. As for your Aunt Linda and me, well we've known each other for a long, long time. We even dated, way back before she went to school. That's how I know how to get under her skin. You know us how angry she gets when I call her Linda-Loo? You know why I do that?”
“I have no idea,” I said. “Maybe you are just annoying in general?”
Cody stroked his beard. “That’s one answer. But the one I’ll give you is that I call her that because her middle name is Louise. Back when we were dating, I used to call her Linda-Loo.” He stopped for a second then began to chuckle. “She didn't like it back then either.”
Well this was new information to me. As far as I knew Aunt Linda had never been married, or even had a boyfriend. She always kept that kind of personal stuff to herself, even when I asked. Now I was beginning to wonder what else she kept from me. “You said before she went to school. Does that mean you didn't go to school? Or were you already there when she started?”
“No, I didn't go to school. I chose a... different career path. And that's why you're here.”
“Well, I didn't exactly come here to start a career. And Linda said this is the only choice I had, other than having to appear before the Wizarding Authority. I mean, you can be a grumpy old man, but, you know, this isn't prison.”
“Do you know what my job is?” Cody asked.
“You live up here in the middle of nowhere, out in the woods. so I kind of assumed that you were a wizard, at least at some point. I don't think Aunt Linda would have brought me up here if you couldn't train me to take the licensing test. So I kinda thought you were some kind of rogue wizard. Is that what you are?”
Cody let out a big laugh. “Yeah, this kind of thing that most people think. And I am, technically. But I am, I assure you, not the kind of rogue wizard that you think I am.”
“What do you actually do for a living? Other than training people like me? And where did this ship come from?”
“I actually don't train people just like you. The few that I have most recently been training all had, shall we say, unique situations. And they became a part of my organization.”
Now I was confused. Here was this guy, a rogue wizard, out here in the middle of nowhere, who runs some type of organization. I didn't see anybody around. So I wasn’t really sure what he was talking about.
“What kind of organization?”
Cody adjusted his hat and spit out of the side of his mouth. “Kid, you better sit down for this.”
Chapter 23
Cody pointed at a chair next to smooth metal table for me to sit at. I sat down, while he took a seat across from me. “Ok,” I said.
“I run a intelligence unit, code named Clandestine. We work with government agencies, both human and supernatural. Anytime there is a problem, usually supernatural or magic related, we get called in to assess the situation, gather information, and shut down the problem.”
“Are you screwing with me again? This sounds like the plot of a movie,” I replied.
“I assure you, this is no movie. This is real. There are good guys and bad guys in this world. We’re the good guys. We stop the bad guys.”
“I’ve never heard about anything like this,” I said. “Is this like a military thing?”
Cody scratched his beard. “Similar. But we’re not military, exactly. We have relationships with certain members of the military, and sometimes work with them. But we are not part of them. We’re independent. We receive funding from several places, but you would never be able to track it down. And the reason that you’ve never heard of us, is that, officially, we don’t exist. Nobody who knows us would admit it.”
“So, you’re what? A spy?”
“That’s exactly what we are.”
“So, you work for the Wizarding Authority?” I didn’t like where this was going. Not at all.
“I most certainly do not. I answer to a higher authority.”
“There is not higher authority for wizards than the Wizarding Authority. I mean, they have authority in their name.”
“I don’t work for the Wizarding Authority. I answer directly to The Powers.
No way. He was lying. The Powers were a myth. And an old one. According to the legends, since the beginning of time there was small group of people, with representatives from all the supernatural races, that controlled and regulated everything in the supernatural world. Kind of like a United Nations, but with more power. But around the time of the Middle Ages, all of the supernatural races began to form their own governing bodies, the idea of The Powers just went away. Each race was in control of their own communities.
Despite the stories, there had been no actual proof of The Powers. No records, no former members writing tell-all books, no money trail. Our history books said that the legend of The Powers was just that, a legend. That the legend itself was used to keep people from breaking laws or going rogue. That’s what they told us.
“The Powers are not real,” I said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, they are real, but probably not like the stories you have heard. Where do you think this ship came from? Why am I, a rogue wizard, and an Illusionist to boot, out here?”
I didn’t have any answers to those questions. I was sitting in a ship that wasn’t like anything anyone had. Not even the military had something like this. And supernaturals weren’t any further technologically than the humans in regard to space flight.
“It’s true, Annabeth,” Kyra said, interrupting. “I’ve been with Cody for five years. I went through the same thing you did. The Wizarding Authority came after me too. Cody offered me a chance to do something extraordinary with my life. He can offer you the same thing.”
“Why is the Wizarding Authority after me? What do they want?”
Cody took his hat off and placed it on the table. “That’s easy enough to answer. They want your blood.”
“My blood? Why? Are they vampires now?”
“I think I may be able to help with that one,” Kirby said as he stepped forward.
“In addition to being Chief Magi-Tech of the Ghost and Clandestine, he also a pretty good geneticist,” Kyra interjected.
“It’s a hobby,” Kirby replied. “Anyway, the genetic markers of super-specialized individuals, such as a War Mage, such as yourself, or a Flame Guard, like Kyra, are unique. Kyra, similar to you, has Flame Guards on both sides of her family. That’s very rare. When these specializations show up, it’s usually from just one side. But both sides? That is very, very uncommon. We know this because I’ve done some testing over the years. The Wizarding Authority knows it too. They want to be able to isolate that genetic material and try to replicate it. If they were able to do that, they could make clones, try to genetically alter themselves to gain more power, as well as other unseemly things that I don’t even want to think of.” Kirby stepped ba
ck. “Oh, and by the way, it’s not just blood, it’s also hair, saliva, etc...I mean, ultimately, they might get around to dissecting you. They could get much more information like that. But, anyway…”
“You get the idea,” Cody said.
“Does that have anything to do with me hearing voices? Is that part of my genetics too?” That was an important question, at least to me.
“Yes, and no,” Cody responded.
“Care to elaborate?” I asked.
“You’re not going crazy. The sword is talking to you.”
Oh, good. Because that doesn’t sound crazy at all. “What do you mean? Last I checked, swords can’t talk.”
Cody shook his head. “It’s not as crazy as it sounds. When you picked that sword, out of all the weapons, you said that you felt drawn to it, right?”
I thought back. “Yeah, I did.”
“The reason for that is because that sword is a Warrior’s sword. It’s very old, from a line of other Warriors. If I go an pick it up, I wouldn’t hear a thing. But someone with the Warrior gene? The sword talks to you. Really, what happens is that the sword senses its surroundings, somehow mixes with your intuition, and the result is what you hear.”
“Think of it like an instrument that gathers data, analyzes that data, and provides you with the best possible solution to address the situation you are in,” Kirby said.
“So, the sword isn’t technically alive?”
“No. Not technically,” Kirby replied. “We’re not entirely sure how it works. We haven't’ had a lot of Warriors to use it. Warriors, as I said, are very rare.”
“But it does confirm that you are War Mage, a Warrior,” Cody said.
Well, at least I wasn’t going crazy.
“Ok, so, you’re running this secret spy thing. Will you train me? I mean, I didn’t complete your test, but I did make it through everything else today.”
“Indeed, you did. Yeah, I’ll train you. But first you have to make a choice.”
The truth is that I had run out of choices. At least I thought I had. “What do mean?” I asked.
