He floated, awed by what he had just done with so little apparent effort. Then he could not contain it any longer and he shouted for joy. His voice echoed down the canyons. He could see the castle below. Much further he could see Alavar and the river Neem, glittering in the afternoon sun.
He rose higher in the air, until he was several hundred feet above the ridge. It felt like he was much higher because of the way the ground dropped away from the ridge. He was flying like an eagle now, and as if drawn by the thought Jonny saw the form of a hawk circling in the thermals below and to the left of him. He yelled again, but the bird was either too far away, or simply did not care about the strange character that had intruded into its domain.
The cold began to seep into him. For a moment, he wanted to fly all the way to Salaways and visit Roald, swooping in on the unsuspecting city like a great bird, but then he remembered he had to practice but also remain unseen. Immediately, he allowed himself to drop until he was again just above treetop. He doubted anyone could have seen him, this far from any settlement.
He grinned as he thought that as long as he stayed fairly low he could go as fast as he wanted. He launched himself forward at breakneck speed, heading down the hill. He flew faster this time than he had going up the hill and he went in a nearly straight line instead of the random path he had followed up the hill. Faster and faster he flew, squinting against the wind roaring past him.
The castle grew rapidly, and in less than two minutes, he had come to it. He slowed, and then rose to circle a hundred feet or so above the battlements and yelled as he circled. For a moment, nothing happened, and then some apprentice carrying a load of boxes towards the kitchen looked up and saw Jonny. He yelped and dropped the boxes. Jonny laughed. In moments there was a crowd looking up at him. Everyone was shouting and pointing then Jonny recognized Grelnick who shouted up at him, “Is that you, Jonny?”
Jonny laughed again, “Who else would it be? Do boys usually fly over the castle walls?”
That got a laugh from the crowd and Grelnick said, “Nope, no boys, just crazy ‘prentice birds!”
That got everyone laughing, and Jonny allowed himself to slowly float down. When Jonny was just ten feet above their heads, he reached for his pants like was going to take them down and said, “Grelnick you better watch your tongue or I’ll do to you what birds do sometimes when they fly overhead!”
Grelnick covered his head, looking scared and said, “Sorry, Jonny, I was just funning. I didn’t mean it.”
“I know Grelnick, so was I,” he said with a laugh and dropped the last few feet to the ground.
A cheer went up from the assembled apprentices and there were many congratulations for Jonny. Just then, Master Silurian walked up and the crowd dispersed more quickly than it had appeared. The Master was smiling. He motioned Jonny to follow him and asked Jonny to tell him about where he had been and what he had done.
Jonny told The Master about the whole flying adventure, but not the brooding he had done before. He could not help but bubble with enthusiasm as he described flying fast and free as a bird. The Master was obviously pleased, and even more so when Jonny told him how he had caught himself when he had wanted to fly into Alavar.
“So, you did remember?” Master Silurian asked, leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling. He didn’t wait for Jonny to respond. “Good. Good, but I must know one other thing: did you ever close your eyes while you flew?”
“No. Master, why would I?”
“Why indeed?” he said still looking at the ceiling.
“Think on it, Jonny. When next you fly, do it, but take care that you are high enough to recover.”
Jonny was about to ask him what he would have to recover from, but Master Silurian cut him off, and then outlined a few more things for Jonny to try, as usual.
§ § §
Pleased with Jonny’s progress, The Master allowed him to enjoy it, for a few days. He kept thinking up new twists like flying with his eyes closed and relying on his sight, using the demon amulet to see by, flying face up, face down, feet first, and several other things. He never let Jonny stop studying other things too. He allowed Jonny no more than half a day flying, the rest of the time he was reading the increasingly ancient tomes The Master had found written about zdrell, learning history and trying other types of magic. Jonny had gotten quite good about reading Klathar, the High Wizard Tongue, and Master Silurian slowly conceded there probably was not another magician in several hundred miles who could read it as well as Jonny and himself. Understanding zdrell helped in understanding Klathar, as that language was formulated by the zdrell masters. Some of the journeymen would occasionally ask Jonny for help in deciphering a tricky passage in their own studies.
§ § §
“Jonny,” Master Silurian began gravely, a week after Jonny had begun flying. “I know you have been enjoying your new freedom, but I am afraid we do not have time to dwell at this level. We need you to develop some new tricks soon or you will be in mortal danger before you are fourteen.”
This took Jonny back. He had managed to forget, or at least ignore the warnings given him before he had started flying free.
“What do I need to do, Master?” Jonny asked, clearly puzzled. “I’ve tried flying every way you or I could think of. How can I get better without letting outsiders know I can fly?”
“That is just it, Jonny. Flying is no longer the issue. You do that perfectly. What you need now is a means to defend yourself. Have you thought what you would do if an archer shot at you while you were flying?”
“No, I guess I hadn’t. I guess I’d just move away from the arrow.”
“Jonny, guessing is not good enough. We are going to have to find out.”
“What, you mean you’re going to have people shoot at me while I’m flying?” Jonny asked with alarm.
“No, not at first, but, yes, eventually I will have archers shooting at you.”
Chapter 45
Jonny started again on a new twist on his skill. It started simply with Grelnick throwing a beanbag at him while he hovered. Jonny first practiced avoiding it by dodging, then by deflecting the bag, and finally by taking control of it and flinging it back at Grelnick.
Once Jonny mastered that, he progressed rapidly. First, stones were thrown at him, one at a time, then in multiples until he was deflecting as many as twelve incoming stones at a time.
Then, just as promised, Master Silurian had archers shooting at Jonny. They were using blunted arrows at first, which flew a little slower than normal, then they started using arrows with normal weight, but blunt tips. In each case, once Jonny got the hang of working with new restrictions, he learned how to handle them. The inevitable bruises he acquired only spurred him to learn faster.
Jonny found out that no matter how he tried, he could not seem to focus on more than about twelve incoming objects at a time. This was a good number, but he already saw that in a full-scale battle there could be hundreds of arrows pointed at him.
Defense alone would not be enough, so The Master had him practice throwing things at his attackers while he was flying. This was only an extension of deflecting things and again made for a fun game.
The Master knew that no matter how many objects Jonny could control at a time, there would always be the possibility of even more coming after him, so he had Jonny work on defenses other than just controlling things. He introduced Jonny to a spell that created a bubble of force around a person.
It was very difficult and took Jonny nearly two months before he could invoke it and remain airborne. It was an incantation with a gestural component, but by using his zdrell sight he was able to cast it without speaking aloud and reduced the gestures to a few quick finger flicks, but it required enough concentration that for a long time he despaired ever being able to do it and fly.
Master Silurian also started him working on amulet magic, since amulets could store spells which could be invoked without the user having to spare mental energy to maintain
them. The spell he thought Jonny should first commit to an amulet would be an invisibility spell. This spell would be valuable since no one shoots at a target they cannot see. More importantly, an amulet spell could remain active while Jonny slept, and since Jonny must sleep, it seemed wise to be protected when he would otherwise be defenseless.
§ § §
Amulet magic was a whole new area for Jonny. He found he enjoyed it, even if it was difficult. First, the amulet had to be fashioned, and The Master explained that while it was possible to use a pre-existing amulet, it was much better if the spell caster had personally fashioned it. So Jonny learned how to shape the metal necessary and how to inscribe it with particular tracings that would allow it to capture and hold his spell.
It was work unlike anything Jonny had done before, and for the second time in his life, Jonny found he both liked and had some talent for it. He was able to make an amulet that Master Silurian pronounced serviceable on only his second attempt. The Master had journeymen who had taken years and many attempts before they had succeeded in creating even one usable amulet. Jonny had succeeded in just under three weeks. There probably would have been considerable animosity towards Jonny for this feat, but after Jonny’s ability to fly, many assumed he was gifted in all areas, even though his teachers in other branches of magic knew better.
Jonny could tell The Master was both surprised and pleased, but he was not sure why. He had never had time to pay much attention to the specific exercises The Master had the other journeymen do. He also felt he should not have needed two attempts. It was only months later that one of the journeymen told him of the magnitude of his achievement.
After The Master pronounced the amulet serviceable, he went about instructing Jonny in the art of storing a spell within it. This process, unlike producing the amulet itself was more a matter of perseverance than skill, he explained. First, Jonny must be able to cast the spell perfectly, and then he must cast the spell into the amulet. That was what was so hard about creating a serviceable amulet, it had to be made so the spell would be absorbed by it rather than be affected by it. He must then repeat this process over and over. Each time the spell must be perfect, as though Jonny were actually using it and he must use his full concentration and mental energy. He had to keep doing it until finally, at some point, the spell became part of the amulet.
Once that happened, there was a single binding spell which permanized it. There was no set number of times needed before the spell stuck, but it was never a small number. Master Silurian said that if it happened in less than one hundred attempts it would be unusual and Jonny could never manage more than three repeated castings of the invisibility spell before he was too tired to continue.
§ § §
Mid-summer’s day came and Jonny started a new routine. He continued flying, studying, and two or three times a day casting spells into the amulet.
Jonny got very good at casting the spell. He even used it several times to play pranks on the journeymen and some of the apprentices.
One day, he spent nearly an hour terrorizing a materials magic class: moving items, bumping students into each other, and generally creating a fuss. The journeyman teaching the class left the room screaming that the class was unteachable. He tried the same thing in an incantation class, but the journeyman there knew a counter spell and he found himself suddenly visible, embarrassed and in trouble. The Master wouldn’t let him fly for three days afterward.
He found he could actually cast the spell while flying, but it was very hard to maintain. He looked forward to when he would have the amulet finished.
“Master,” Jonny asked one day as he entered The Master’s study to get another zdrell book. “How will I know when the spell has finally stuck in my amulet?”
“You will know, Jonny,” was all he said, and gestured for Jonny to leave.
So, Jonny kept at it. He kept a log of how many times he had cast the spell. At times, he looked at it and wondered if he would ever be done.
Occasionally, when he had finished the spell, the amulet was glowing softly. Jonny wondered if that meant he was finished, but the other journeymen assured him that when it did happen it would be much more dramatic. They would not tell him what to expect either, but the few who had experienced it agreed with The Master that Jonny would know when it happened.
Jonny was also practicing flying with the shielding spell in place. It was a lot of work and tired him quickly. In some ways, it was easier to try to deflect many incoming objects than it was to maintain the spell. He wondered whether it was worth it. Master Silurian assured him it was.
Chapter 46
Master Silurian walked into his private apartment tiredly. His wife, Alira, sat at a work table rearranging some herb seedlings. She looked up at him and looked down with a smirk.
“Are you going to tell me what happened at the Conclave, or are you going to make me guess,” she said, not looking up.
“Oh, I’ll tell you, dearest, but I would hazard your guess would be nearly the same as fact.” He crossed the room to sit in his “thinking chair,” a rocker by the fire.
“Don’t flatter me, old man. Just spit it out.” She smiled, still not looking up.
Master Silurian settled more deeply into his chair. “As I’d guessed, the demon masters reasserted themselves after their little embarrassment last year with Jonny. Skylock wrote that they were feeling their oats so much that they have started to try and influence the council of elders to keep non-demon journeymen from being confirmed masters. That caused quite a stir, and they had to back down. Nevertheless, it is my experience that when something like this comes along, the first time everyone hears of it, they are shocked, the next time, less shocked, and before you know it they accept it as if it always been the way of things.
“The lines are being drawn. I am glad I was there at the last conclave to try and organize the other wizards. Skylock said there was a similar meeting this time, though some took my absence as a sign I was afraid. Thankfully, Skylock was there with my message, though I’m not sure if there weren’t more than a few of the old fools who will read it as cowardice. I haven’t attended more than one conclave in five for the last hundred years. You’d think they would know by now,” he said with a harrumph.
“You certainly seem to care about the opinions of these old fools, Silurian,” she said, smiling at his consternated expression.
“I only care, because they are all that stand between us and becoming like those poor souls in Grimor. Skylock says he is seeing the signs everywhere he goes. Demon wizards are so prevalent that in many of the cities the people think all wizards are demon wizards. Only fifty years ago, demon wizards were the exception, now they are the rule.”
“Yes, just as you predicted.”
“Sometimes I hate being right. Have you heard anything from your letter?”
“No, and I really didn’t expect to hear anything. You know I was cut off from the sisterhood when I married you.”
“Yes, but don’t they see the danger? Just because weidges are women, and wizards are men, don’t they see that all people will suffer if demons get control of everything?”
“You are talking to the wrong person, Silurian. I chose you over the sisterhood nearly a century ago, because I believed in you. I still do, but they trust no man, wizard that is.”
“It all seems so futile. Each group is so set in its ways, they would die rather than change, and that is just what it will come to if something doesn’t change soon. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have Jonny to give me hope. If he can only live long enough to develop his talents, it might be enough to buy us the time necessary to get people working together. The demon masters and Grimor won’t wait.”
“So, how is he progressing? I saw quite a group of apprentices throwing rocks at him the other day. He looked to be enjoying it, though I can’t guess why,” she said, getting up and moving her chair by Silurian’s.
“Oh, he is progressing quite nicely. He migh
t even be able to withstand an attack by anything less than a full regiment. But mundanes are the least he has to worry about. He needs to be ready to battle other wizards, and I have a few ideas on what to do about that.”
The Apprentice to Zdrell Page 24
