“A radical meeting?” Dallen asked.
“Not especially, more of an evolution from the Codex Barococcio in A.D. 206, which included 64 of the 66 books of the Bible,” he said.
“Who convened the first council First Council of Nicaea?” Dallen asked.
“Constantine I. It was part of his efforts to unite Rome under Christianity,” Tiberius answered. “The council was convened in 325 by the Roman emperor Constantine I in an attempt to settle the controversy raised by Arianism over the nature of the Trinity.”
“I see. And what is currently playing at the Lion’s Theater?”
“I … I haven’t any idea,” Tiberius admitted.
“No, indeed you haven’t. You’ve been working too hard, as usual. You enjoy the theater don’t you?”
“Yes…”
“Music, theater, it’s all part of your education, Tiberius. You must learn to relax a little bit,” Dallen said with a sigh.
“How can I, with so much evil in the world?” Tiberius protested. “I’ve got to be ready.”
“Being a good student is an admirable trait, Master Fuller, but people have been fighting evil before you were born. They will be fighting it after we are gone. Face the evil that confronts you. Till then, you can’t cut yourself off from life. You must be part of mankind and know them if you are to serve them.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll have the coach around after dinner and we’ll take a night off. Till then, we have some time. There are many effects in magic,” Dallen explained. “Perhaps the most difficult is actual transmutation, actually changing something into something else.”
“You mean actually turning someone into a frog?”
“Exactly,” Dallen continued.
“Is that really possible?”
“Anything is possible with magic. But transforming the atomic structure of an item requires a fantastic amount of energy. Just the simple act of turning lead into gold, for example requires reducing the atomic number of the atoms from eighty two to seventy nine. Controlling that sort of energy is very draining to say the least. A philosopher’s stone makes a useful catalyst, but even so, it’s hardly an economically viable proposition.”
“How are we going to turn people into newts then? Illusions?” Tiberius asked.
“That’s one way, but magic has a shortcut for transmutations. Observe.”
Dallen waved his wand an a small block of lead on the table changed suddenly into pure gold.
“That’s impressive.”
“Think so? Try detect magic on it.”
Tiberius did so and saw the gold was brightly shining. A moment later the magic and the gold faded back into lead.
“If that had been a real transformation any residual magic would be very faint, if visible at all. The difference is I didn’t make a permanent change. I keyed the transformation. In this case, I keyed it to time. The harder the key, the harder the spell. It’s easier to turn someone into a newt for thirty seconds than it is to turn them into a newt until true love’s first kiss. Either is vastly easier than making a permanent transformation,” Dallen explained.
“So that’s why if I play fairy godmother and turn mice into stallions, I want to do it until midnight,” Tiberius considered.
“Exactly.”
“She might have picked dawn. Most balls I’ve been to don’t exactly end at midnight,” Tiberius pondered.
“Midnight is easier. You’re talking about adding six hours or so. And she did make the shoes permanent,” Dallen explained.
“True.”
“Of course, she might not have transformed the shoes, per se. She could have summoned and created shoes which actually wouldn’t be as hard as transforming the shoes. After all, making glass slippers doesn’t involve nuclear transformation. Just summon, heat, and shape glass. All that’s much easier,” Dallen said.
“It’s worth recalling that many things that look like transformations may be another effect,” Dallen added. “You can ‘turn someone to stone’ via accelerated fossilization, for example. We’ve already covered defense against transformation. Again, not something you typically try against an experienced magus. We are usually more concerned with undoing opposition transformations on the innocent. If you know what the tie is, sometimes you can slip the knot and dispel the magic. That may not be easy depending on who tied it, how well it was tied, and so on. Worth a try, though, usually. You can also try using a dispel with something similar. Let's say you have a prince turned into a frog until true love’s first kiss, but true love isn’t anywhere handy. You could try having anyone kiss the frog while you cast a dispel. I’ve found that works sometimes.”
“What about transforming yourself? Same rules apply?”
“Yes, recall in The Golden Ass, the unfortunate cast a spell on himself tied to eating a rose as the release.”
“That didn’t work out so well, as I recall. Though, I suppose if you count picking up women … well, never mind. I think he’d have been better off keying that spell to time,” Tiberius said.
“A lesson about using other people’s spells and employing forces you don’t understand,” Dallen commented. “You might want to try some of these spells on these scrolls. I doubt if you’ll find much cause to turn people into frogs, but you should be familiar with the procedures. You can try a bird or two in the backyard.”
∴
Before he realized it, Tiberius had accomplished the years for his graduate degree, earning a doctorate with honors from the Queen’s College in the capital city of Port Elizabeth. Nothing much seemed to have changed though. He spent the summer as usual with Dallen, mastering more spells, more effects, and becoming ever more accomplished.
One day, Singh took him and the carriage out to Novilium. It was early dawn and they were wading out to a deserted part of the beach. Singh had requested his help with one of his experiments. That always made for a lively day.
“The trick to water breathing isn’t really the breathing; it’s the pressure,” Singh explained. “Fortunately, we aren’t going terribly deep, only a dozen or so feet under water.”
Following Singh’s lead they both cast a simple breathing spell. From then on it was fairly easy to walk under the surface of the water. Ti followed Singh out to where some strange contraption had been placed under the surface.
Singh's device was a series of three small barrels linked together with some copper tubes. Tiberius guessed it was some type of still. It looked like the first barrel had a sort of pinwheel drawing water into a horn attached to the first barrel. Copper wires connected it to the second barrel, which had some type of water vent and then a tube connecting it to the third barrel. Singh went straight to the third barrel which had a door which opened. Inside the barrel was a series of trays which were connected to tubes from the second barrel.
Singh opened the chest, and nodded towards Tiberius. He held the chest open while Singh carefully emptied the trays into the chest. Ti wondered why Singh was collecting or distilling sand. It wasn't always easy to tell what Singh was doing, but he did always have a good reason. The chest, when filled, was very heavy and Singh and Ti had a time of it walking it back to the surface.
They made two more trips and then while sitting on the beach, Singh started emptying sand out of the chest and into some small bags he’d brought with him. He gave a few to Tiberius and he helped fill them. The sand seemed to dry quickly.
“What’s this about? Some sort of advanced centrifuge? You working on a new way to dry clothes?” Tiberius asked.
“Not exactly,” Singh explained. “I suppose Dallen told you about the difficulties in turning lead into gold?”
“Yes, possible but not practical. Too much energy,” Tiberius said. “Pity really. I could use a bit of cash. My annuity ended with my graduation.”
“Money is a vulgar subject,” Singh agreed, “but a necessary evil, even for a magus at times. Fact is, I have my eye on a bit of property out in the borderlands, a quiet farm i
n a not too dangerous area. Dallen seems to think it will be more suitable for my experiments in the long run than any place near Sherwood City.”
“Yes, well, some of your experiments can be a bit, well, dramatic at times for the neighbors,” Tiberius replied.
“Hmm. I suppose he’s right. Bit of a nuisance moving, but a man does like to have a place of his own. I’ll miss Mr. Eumaios’ cooking, though. I’ll have to get a maid. All that costs money, naturally.”
“Yes, I suppose…” Tiberius stopped suddenly as he swept the last of the dust into a bag. He was ready to kick himself for not noticing sooner. Still, it was wet and dirty, not so obvious at first. But once it hit you it was as plain as the nose on your face. The dust was gold. 24 karat gold dust. They were handling a small fortune between the two of them.
“I had several ideas but I hit upon the idea of seawater extraction of precious metals. Dallen thought it was a good plan. I must say it all worked out rather well. More than enough for me to buy a farm here. Next batch should make a nice gift for Saint John’s. Here,” Singh tossed a heavy sack over to him.
“I can’t accept this,” Tiberius said looking at the sack in shock.
“Why on earth not?” Singh said. “You’ve earned it. I needed a bit of help collecting things. I’ll need a bit more getting it to the bank. Besides, you’ll need a bit of cash to tide you over till you get set up, now that your annuity has run out. Far more than enough for my needs here, and we can’t have a magus starving to death now can we? Come on, I don’t want to leave this lot lying around on the beach. I’d prefer not to use telekinesis on it either. Not good to mix spells if you can avoid it.” With that, Singh lead the way and they headed back to the carriage and Sherwood City.
∴
Singh’s little project was interesting, but it didn’t alter the restless feeling that was welling up inside Tiberius as he spent the summer practicing his art at Dallen’s home. Finally Dallen spoke to him one day in late August.
“You’re feeling a little restless?” Dallen said, putting a finger at once on Ti’s difficulty.
“It does seem to me that I could be doing more than practice at this point,” Tiberius answered. “I can put twenty shots into a target at need. I know how to fight demons, werewolves, vampires, skeletons, goblins, brigands, and so on. Seems that I could be putting these lessons to use.”
“There is but one thing you lack. You need to practice your artistry,” Dallen said.
“Is that allowed? I thought we were only doing magic to defend others,” Tiberius said.
“It isn't enough just to keep using spells that others have created. You need to experiment, create. Magic is an art. Besides, you are borrowing the tools of the carpenter. Which do you think He prefers? To see His tools used to cause destruction, or works of art and beauty?” Dallen said.
“Point taken. I’m not very artistic though,” Tiberius protested.
“Oh, nonsense. You have a gift with elementals, I notice. You have a creative mind, or you would never have made it this far. You can dance too. In many ways, you favor your mother."
Dallen stopped and glanced towards the west. "We both know the dragon is out there, somewhere. You've grown very strong, Tiberius, but you can't beat a dragon on raw strength. No one can. Fortunately, being a great magi isn’t about raw power. Being a great magi is about wisdom, knowledge, love, and artistry. Use them as your levers to unleash the powers of the universe. It’s what makes you a true knight. And remember that a true knight will defeat one who is false.”
“So what do you want me to do?” Tiberius asked.
“I want you to focus on something other than hammering targets for a change. I want you to show me you can advance in artistry, not just warcraft.”
Tiberius just shook his head in confusion.
“The dragon presses on your mind. Remember my riddle, Tiberius. To defeat a dragon, answer the question, 'How does a dragon fly?' When you understand that riddle, no dragon will be able to stop you. For now, take a walk in the garden. The dragon isn’t coming today.”
Tiberius did as he was told. Maybe Dallen was right. Maybe he had been a little one dimensional in his magic of late. He did need to branch out some more.
As he came back to the house, he saw the Okubos had arrived.
Maci was sitting by the fountain, playing a little tune on her flute. She was thirteen years old now and looked very cute sitting there in her green Irish dress. Tiberius smiled at her and she stopped.
“Sorry, I’m not very good with the flute,” she said. “Dad says I have to keep practicing, though. A fighter is not supposed to only know fighting. He says a true knight studies the arts as well.”
“Apparently he’s right about that,” Tiberius answered. “Do me a favor and keep playing. I want to try something.”
“I just know simple beginners’ tunes,” Maci protested.
“That’s ok. Me too.”
Maci shrugged and raised the flute to her lips again. She played a simple little waltz. Tiberius listened for a moment. Then, concentrating, he spoke and formed a small earth elemental out of the ground.
“Forma tero vira,” he said.
A crude manlike shape, just about Maci’s size, turned to him. With another gesture from him, it started tapping its foot to the music. He turned to the fountain, and from there the waters formed up into another elemental. It was another small, crude form, but this one was clearly female and moved with a certain grace. It stepped out of the fountain and came by the earth elemental.
Maci’s eyes were wide, but she kept playing her little tune. As she did so, the earth elemental turned and bowed to the water elemental, who curtsied in return. Then they held out their arms and started to dance in time to Maci’s little tune.
The music stopped suddenly. Tiberius glanced back at Maci who was frowning at the elementals.
“What's wrong?” he asked.
“Why do your elementals look so crude?” she said.
“What do you mean? They're perfectly stable,” Tiberius said.
“That's just it, you're not having any trouble with the spell. It's easy for you but they still look thrown together. Why don't they look like something? Your toy soldiers always looked great. You'd borrow Aunt Gretel's paints and fix them up. Can't you make these look like something?”
Tiberius stood and frowned at his elementals for a moment. “I could, but that would waste energy.”
“Don't be stupid, it will strengthen the spell,” Maci said.
He turned to her. “Oh? And since when are you an expert on magic?”
“I've been spending weekends with Dallen for how long? I may not know how to do magic, but I know good magic from bad magic and I know when you're doing something wrong,” Maci countered. “All the really good magic is good art. Look at Dallen's birds.”
Tiberius stood thinking. He hated to admit it but she was right. That was what Dallen was trying to tell him too. He had to put more art in his magic, not just make it more efficient.
“Ok, ok. I can attach a subroutine to the basic spell. That should give it a more refined appearance and a bit of personality. You like Roka for a name?”
“Rocky in Esperanto for a rock elemental? Ok, I guess, not very original.
“Saint Peter was the rock,” he said.
“Cephas? Petros? Pete makes him sound too soft like peat moss. Roka is ok, I guess,” Maci said.
“Let's try it again,” Tiberius waved away the elementals and then took a moment to concentrate.
“Forma tero vira, bonveno Roka.”
This time Maci noticed a difference. A moment after forming, the elemental subtly shifted into a form that looked like a real rock man, with a face that had a bit of character.
“That's more like it,” she said encouragingly.
“Forma akvo virina, bonveno Murgen,” he said reforming the water elemental. Now it wasn't a blob of water, but it actually had a shape like a beautiful mermaid.
Ti tur
ned to Maci. “Ok, let's try it again. Back to the music.”
Maci started playing again and Tiberius had the elementals start dancing once more. He could see there was a difference. The elementals were better formed and more graceful.
Tiberius gestured again and the fountain began to glow with lights.
Maci stopped playing a moment. “Can I have a turn?”
“Why not?” Tiberius said. He gestured and the flute began to play on its own. Then he gestured to the woodpile and a few of the logs suddenly leapt together to form another elemental. It came and bowed to Maci, who giggled and then gave a deep curtsey in return. Then they too joined the dance.
As the dance continued, Dallen came out to watch. It was a magical sight, seeing the backyard turned into a mystical dance floor.
“I knew you could do it,” Dallen said. “You know, Tiberius, I think it’s time for you to have another teacher. I’ve nothing more to teach you here. It’s time you learned from experience.”
“I’m still very much a student, sir,” Tiberius answered.
“And when will you not be?” was Dallen’s reply. “No, the wise man always keeps learning, Tiberius. We are students till the day we die and then we become as little children and learn even more. No, Tiberius, it isn’t time for you to stop learning. It’s just time for you to change classrooms.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the secretary of defense has decided to reinforce the province of Vonair. Another company of Rangers is already on their way to the castle. Leading the new company is Captain Darras Walker. He’s a great knight, and other great knights follow him, but he’ll need help against the servants of the enemy. Advice, council, knowledge of the occult, and maybe a little magic now and then. That’s why I’m sending you. There always comes a day when it is time to put lessons to the test.”
“If you think I can be of service, sir,” Tiberius replied.
“I know you can.”
“Guess I’m going to miss your birthday, Maci.”
“It’s okay. I’ll join you in a couple of years when I’m finished school,” Maci replied.
Path of the Magi (Tales of Tiberius) Page 21
