“What are you two love birds so excited about?” Bridgett smiled over at the intended insult. Even Gus could not make Bridgett feel bad for loving Osric. She was blissfully happy.
“We have something to show you. Osric was practicing with his gifts and discovered something rather interesting.”
“Oh, did he? Has he figured out how to use his fancy new abilities to respect his elders?”
“Now, Gus, don’t be upset that he figured something out before you. I think even you will be impressed by this one.”
“Bah. We’ll see about that. I can walk you know?”
“Of course you can, but I enjoy the pleasure of your company. Besides, this way we can whisper and no one will hear us.” Bridgett winked at him, and Gus snorted and turned his head away from her.
They found their friends in the old, makeshift Contege office where Toby first found Thamas’ diary and began the investigation into Braya. Toby, Kenneth, Machai, Thamas, Aridis, and Macgowan were sitting around the desk poring over maps and charts. Pebble was on the floor in the corner practicing his sword fighting techniques. The miniature statue of Er’amar he was sparring with looked terrified of the small twig Pebble was brandishing at it. Bridgett grinned at the sight.
“I was hoping we would find you all together.” Her voice startled the men, and they turned quickly in alarm. “Osric requests the pleasure of your company in the dining hall.” Curiosity flitted across every face, and they followed Bridgett out of the small chamber into the hall. Osric was sitting at a table with a look of pure frustration on his face.
“Yep, he really looks like he figured something out.” Gus laughed from his perch on Bridgett’s shoulder as they all took seats around the large dining table. Everyone looked at Osric expectantly, but he just kept staring down at a clipping of snow blossoms on the table. He glanced up and addressed Bridgett.
“I don’t understand it. The spell is still intact, but it isn’t working.”
“Oh, this is going to be good.” Gus crossed his arms over his small, furry chest and stared at Osric.
“I’m sorry. I don’t understand it, but I guess I called you all here for nothing. I can’t make it work again.” Osric sighed and reached out his hand. He grasped the stone closest to him on the table, and with conscious intent, he deactivated the invisibility gift. His companions gasped as the stone appeared on the table. He slid his hand to the left and did the same to the next stone.
“How do ye be doing that? Do ye be summoning stones?”
“No, Machai, they were here all along. You just couldn’t see them because I figured out how to make them invisible.”
“And you said you called us here for nothing,” Kenneth exclaimed.
“Well, believe it or not, that wasn’t the incredible thing I wanted to show you.”
“How’s come this one’s different?” Pebble was sitting up on the table, indicating the second stone with a paw.
“What are you talking about? They are all the same.”
“Huh uh. You’s gotsta look, silly.” Osric activated his Wand-Maker ability and gazed at the stones on the table. He could still only see the two stones he made reappear, but Pebble was right that they were different from each other. The first stone shimmered slightly, as though it had a residue of magic on it from the invisibility gift. The second stone, though, not only shimmered, it nearly glowed.
“It’s got lotsa colors like you’s, Osric.”
Osric looked closely at the object, enticed by the almost rhythmic waves the strands of magic displayed. The colors were fading rapidly, but there was still an obvious pattern. Somehow, while practicing with his new gifts and his wand, he had managed to weave together all of the Elemental gifts. Yet he still couldn’t figure out what caused the flower to disappear in the forest and why he couldn’t replicate it. Osric quickly caused the other five stones to reappear on the table. He stared at them intently with his gift, trying to find some clue to the nature of the flaw. The stones were arranged exactly as they had been when Bridgett thought his fingers were missing. One stone was in the center, and the other six encircled it. His eye kept being drawn back to the stone with the Elemental properties. Carefully and methodically, Osric replayed exactly what he had done the first time in his mind. Suddenly, a smile split his face and he gathered the stones up in his arms.
“Come with me.” Everyone looked startled as Osric jumped up from the table with his arm load of stones and rushed out of the barracks. They glanced from one to another, and then everyone stood and followed him outside.
Osric scattered the stones out before him and waited for his companions to join him. He lifted one stone in his palm, tossed it in the air and shot a fireball at it. Then, he lifted it into the air on a column of water. Pebble clapped with glee as Osric caused the stone to hover in a stream of air. Finally, he held the stone in his palm, and with great concentration he caused the stone to become invisible. Osric was excited that he could control the gift well enough that he himself could remain visible while he manipulated the stone with the ability.
Osric placed the invisible stone upon the ground in front of him. He then proceeded to cause the other six stones to vanish. Osric lined up the stones, placing one on either side of the first stone until all seven had been placed.
“Pebble, can you come stand in front of me please?” He indicated a spot in the dirt just on the other side of the stones. “Just there.”
“Yeppers.” Bridgett clapped and Gus’ ears began to twitch when Pebble’s hind legs disappeared as he walked to the spot Osric had pointed to.
“That’s it!” Osric then rearranged the stones, leaving the center stone exactly where he had placed it. He held out his hand and Pebble scurried up onto his palm. Osric held him over the circle of invisible stones and then nodded for him to jump down. “Now lie down.” Pebble slowly lowered himself to the ground, and just as his ears cleared the height of the stones, he completely disappeared. Machai walked around, inspecting the ground from every angle.
“The pup be gone.”
“This is the bestest game of hide’s and seek’s ever.”
“You can come out now Pebble.” Osric reached down and touched each stone, deactivating the invisibility gift.
“That’s amazing.” Kenneth stared at Osric in awe.
Osric picked up the center stone and inspected it closely while the marks of the magic were still vivid. Something about it looked very familiar. Suddenly, he realized that the whole mess of magic looked disturbingly similar to the spell he had witnessed in the sky above the Grove of the Unicorn. Osric picked up Pebble and kissed him.
“You are a genius! Everyone, follow me.” Osric stood up and walked out into the field in front of the barracks. The prophecy rolled through his mind as he looked back at the exterior of the Vigile barracks. The stone building had served nicely as a hideout from the Kallegians when Osric had first come back to town. Perhaps he could utilize it in much the same fashion in the future.
The High-Wizard’s heart will break or blight, casting success onto dark or light. When knowledge shared of knowledge gained is won, cast not the common eye upon the stone. First lay the stones from under ground to sky, then shift the sight and weave the flow of time. Build the order, Aranthians arise.
One line of the prophecy repeated over and over in his mind as he gazed at the building. First lay the stones from under ground to sky, then shift the sight and weave the flow of time… He would need a place to train, a place to plan. It was entirely possible that he would need a place to hide resources and allies. The old barracks would make an excellent retreat, especially if it had a protection spell on it similar to the Grove’s. First lay the stones from under ground to sky… The barracks was constructed out of solid stone blocks. If he could find a way to create a circle of stones from the existing structure, he would only need the central stone with each of the elemental properties to complete the spell. He could make the entire building, and anything inside of it, disappear.<
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“Osric, what is going on in that head of yours?” Thamas broke the silence and brought Osric’s attention back to his friends.
“I want to make this building invisible.”
“You what? Are you daft, boy?”
“No Gus, it’s perfect. It would provide us with the perfect place to operate from, without worrying about unwelcome visitors.”
“Sure, until someone walks into the stone wall and breaks their nose. You can’t hide a building just by making it invisible. I swear, sometimes I think the power has gone to your head and pushed out your intelligence to make room!”
“So how is it done?” Osric stared at Gus defiantly.
“How is what done?”
“The Grove. A man could wander for days over that land and never bump into a unicorn. What does that spell do, other than make the Grove invisible and attack intruders?”
“You are forgetting about time.” Everyone turned, startled by the unexpected voice from behind them.
“Eublin?” Bridgett ran over and embraced him. “What are you doing here?”
“We have news for you and Osric, my dear.” Osric looked past the gnome and noticed Fallon and three other Maidens standing on the road leading up to the barracks.
“Come inside. You can tell us over a hot mug of rulha.” Eublin grinned at Osric’s invitation, and everyone headed for the door to the barracks. Fallon hugged Bridgett tightly, but she glared at Osric’s back with dagger like eyes as they made their way inside.
They gathered once again at a table in the dining hall, and Bridgett recruited Pebble to help her make rulha and snacks for all. The air was slightly tense as Fallon sat across from Osric and fixed her icy gaze on him.
“You destroyed the Grove.” Her tone matched her expression.
“What?”
“It’s gone. Everything is gone.”
“Now Fallon, that isn’t exactly true,” Eublin interrupted.
“How can you say that?” She turned her wrath on the gnome. “The unicorns, the flowers, the sunlight, everything. It’s all gone.”
“The Grove is still there,” Eublin addressed Osric, ignoring the dramatic tone in Fallon’s cries. “The protection spell, however, has vanished along with the unicorns. She is right about that.”
“You used the spell to murder that man, and now it is all gone.” Tears streamed down Fallon’s face, and mugs clattered to the floor, splashing steaming rulha over the stone floor. Bridgett had caught the tail end of the exchange as she entered the room.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Osric mumbled weakly. “I had to end the battle, or lose my own life. I had no weapons left, so I did the only thing I could to get it done.”
“And for that, the unicorns have left us. You are a foolish man.”
“If he is so bad, then why didn’t your gift pick up on it?” Kenneth spoke up to defend Osric. “You’re a Trust, right?”
“Curse my gift for failing me.”
“Has your gift ever failed you before?” Gus’ ear trembled slightly.
“Not that I am aware of, but there is always a first time.”
Gus jumped down from the table onto the bench next to Fallon, “Do you mind if I take a look at your gift?”
“Why not, go right ahead.” She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
Gus studied her intently, looking for any indication that her gift would be malfunctioning.
“Sorry, kid, your gift is as pristine as mine.”
“Then how could I think he was trustworthy? The unicorns obviously knew better. They wouldn’t let him anywhere near them. I sensed that Osric would not do anything against the unicorns’ wishes. It is obviously broken. Destroying the Grove is certainly against the unicorns’ wishes. They trusted me to guard our gates, and I let them down.”
“When did the protection spells disappear?” Osric leaned in as he questioned her.
“Shortly after Gus took you home.”
“So the spell stayed active while I was unconscious, and remained on until after I left, then it was shut off?” Osric had a thought about what had happened.
“If you want to see it that way, then yes.” Fallon looked at Osric defiantly.
“And then you arrived here, just as I was about to try to recreate what was created there. Doesn’t this all seem a bit too tidy to anyone else?” He looked around at their faces as they considered his words.
Osric began to search his own feelings as he probed each of those who sat around the table. He started to get a sense of the trustworthy nature of the people looking at him. He felt the new gift surge to life, and by the certainty he felt, he knew he had somehow gained Fallon’s gift. He knew that everyone that surrounded him could be trusted to protect the secret magics they had recently discovered. He felt in his bones that none of them would betray this new order that he was destined to start.
“Listen to me. I think I can recreate the protection spell that covered the Grove. I don’t fully understand it yet, but I am sure it is possible. I will need your help.” Osric looked at Fallon and she nodded her head subtly in acquiescence. “Eublin, what did you mean when you said I was forgetting about time?”
“Ah, yes, I have been thinking about the spells surrounding the Grove ever since my discussion with Bridgett and Gus about the various types of magic.” Eublin sat on the edge of his seat in excitement. “You see, the Grove is located exactly where the Grove is located.”
Osric stared back at him in confusion. No else seemed to be following him either, if their expressions were any indication.
“Well, I mean to say, perhaps it is not the location of the Grove that allows it to be separated from the world in a sense. Perhaps, it is the time of the Grove.”
“You mean to say we travel through time when we enter the Grove of the Unicorns?” Bridgett seemed both fascinated and quite doubtful of his suggestion.
“Not exactly. I once read a story about a wizard who built his home in a great forest. One day, lightning struck a tree, and the forest began to burn. He could not move his entire home out of the forest, but he was horrified at the idea of losing everything he owned.” Eublin pushed his tiny spectacles further up on his large nose. “So, the wizard cast a spell to stop time. The fire never reached his house, because his house only existed in that one moment of time before the fire consumed it.”
“That sounds like a lovely bedtime story, but maybe we should consider something that is actually possible.” Gus glared at Eublin and shook his head at the absurd tale.
“Of course it is just a story, but who is to say that it isn’t possible?” Gus had no response to Eublin’s retort, and the gnome glanced over at Osric for his impression.
“Stop time, huh?” Osric mulled over the possibility in his mind. “Well, I have no idea how to achieve it, but it would explain the eternal summer of the Grove.”
“Wait,” Bridgett sat down next to Osric and he grasped her hand as she spoke, “If the Grove was frozen in time, how could the plants continue to grow? Wouldn’t everything just stay exactly as it was when the spell was cast?”
“You see,” Gus chimed in, “It’s an absurd idea.”
“Honestly, my dear, I do not know. There is apparently much we have yet to learn about magic.” Eublin looked apologetic as he shrugged his small shoulders.
“You don’t gotsta stop it, just trap’s it.” All heads turned toward Pebble in astonishment. Osric stared over at the pup with awe. He looked up with big eyes and clapped his tiny paws. “Then we’s can still has the flowers.”
“That’s it,” Osric rose to his feet. “Everyone follow me, we have a world to create.” Osric headed for the door. It couldn’t possibly be as simple as it seemed. He didn’t even know why he knew how to do it. Somehow, illogically, he understood it all and had formed a plan. They all gathered again in the field before the barracks. Osric stared at the big, stone building with a scrutinizing eye.
“Kenneth, can you and Machai go get me the stone slabs left o
ver from the palace rubble?” Kenneth nodded, although his arched eyebrows indicated he wasn’t following Osric’s train of thought. “The bigger the better, but I’m going to need a lot of stone.”
Osric turned his attention to the barracks and began hurling fireballs at the stone building.
“What in strands are you doing, boy?” Gus yelled.
“I’m making a wand.”
“You’ve really gone mad this time. That’s not making a wand.”
“Just trust me for once, Gus.” Osric drew his wand and began speaking under his breath. He funneled his power through the wand, but he was drawing on his own magic, his Elemental gifts, as well as the spoken spells he had learned from the ursidae’s book.
Dark, unnatural storm clouds began to gather over the barracks, and the air crackled as Osric cast the spell. Bridgett’s hair stood out erratically from her head as the moisture was drawn out of the atmosphere. The clouds spilled heavy rain down upon the stone walls, yet the group observing Osric’s efforts remained dry at their distance from the building.
“Is that really an Elemental rain?” Gus was so shocked, his typically haughty attitude was missing from his inquiry.
“Well, I needed to cover the whole building.” Osric looked as stunned as everyone else at the display of his own power.
Again, Osric used his wand to channel the multiple forms of magic he was using, and a strong gust of wind picked up and swirled toward the barracks. The swift current of air broke up the storm clouds and kicked dirt up around the base of the stone walls. Osric activated his Wand-Maker ability and eyed the results of his magical assault. The overall effect was identical to what he had seen in the small stone on the table inside. So far, so good.
Osric turned just in time to see Kenneth and Machai appear in the field with huge piles of stone rubble. He frowned slightly at their blatant use of the traveling spell, but he realized it would have been a daunting task otherwise. Levitating that much stone from the palace grounds to the barracks would have taken days.
Osric approached the piles and laid one hand upon a piece of stone. He concentrated for a moment, hoping a way to accomplish his task would come to him. He had the resources, but he had no idea how to utilize them the way he knew he must.
The High-Wizard's Hunt: Osric's Wand: Book Two Page 25
