Catalyst (Book 1)

by Marc Johnson

  I had thought of Master Stradus in a lot of ways—teacher, wizard, master—but in that second he was a frail old man. His eyes were deep and sorrow-laden, as if he carried a great burden that he could no longer handle.

  I stood to get ready to leave. He wasn't going to help me. I saw it in his eyes. If I could wake Cynder up, maybe he would help. At the very least, I hoped he would give me a ride to Sharald since he had killed my horse.

  “Where are you going?” Master Stradus asked.

  “To Sharald. I gave the princess, the elves, and the dwarves my word. They need my help, and someone has to fight Premier.”

  “You don't stand a chance against him.” His voice wasn't cold or mean. It was stated as a matter of fact.

  My power rose. I focused my mind to keep it at bay, along with my anger. Instead of arguing with Master Stradus and wasting my time, I turned to leave.

  “Wait.”

  I clenched my fists. “People are in danger. I don't have time to wait, Master.”

  “You're going to need help.”

  I stopped and turned around. I raised my eyebrow, allowing myself a glimmer of hope. “Does that mean you'll help me?”

  He sighed, accentuating his age and how weary he was. “I will, but it’s not going to be easy. Even with me at your side.”

  Master Stradus’s words hit me, and his body language spoke volumes. He wasn’t scared of Premier. Out of all the things he did and witnessed, he couldn’t possibly be. He was a powerful wizard in his own right. No. It had to be something else. There was only one possible reason he didn’t want to go.

  “You sound like you know him,” I said.

  “I do,” Master Stradus said. “It's been many years since I last saw him, but there’s only one person who’d be bold enough to call himself Premier.” He motioned to the chair with his staff.

  “Shouldn't we get ready to leave?”

  “You need to know what you're getting into if you plan on facing Premier. Now, sit.” He relaxed and smiled. “We have plenty of time, my boy.”

  “But—”

  Master Stradus put a hand up. I stopped talking and sat back down.

  “I'm sorry, Master. I'm just worried about them.” I looked towards the exit as if I could see Alexandria by willing it.

  “I understand, but you must learn to be patient, Hellsfire. It’s very important you learn what we're up against.”

  I nodded. He was right. And anything I could learn about Premier would help me fight him.

  “A long time ago, in a different land and time, before the Great Barrier went up and before the war ended, Premier and I trained at the same wizard’s school. Before we were wizards, and before we earned our wizard names.” He tapped the globe with his fingers.

  “The Council was training wizards to fight against Renak. Premier and I shared the same room and were at the top of our class. We were friends, but also rivals. We always tried to outdo one another, whether it be with spells, incantations, potions, or especially, girls. Exuberant youth.” Master Stradus showed a wrinkled smile.

  “Premier wasn’t like the way you describe him now. He was cocky, to be sure, and always wanted to be the best, but his intentions were good. I believe the power he discovered corrupted him. We were the best of friends before I lost him and everything changed.

  “Near the end of our training, we became more serious in our studies. We stopped spending as much time with the girls and started sneaking into our teachers’ libraries. We were looking for more knowledge, any advantage to keep us from dying in the war. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there.

  “Our fear of death pushed us even further. We explored the city outside the school, venturing out at night, talking to people who dabbled in the darker side of magic. We thought we needed any edge we could get, any sort of power they could show us.

  “In school, we trained together. Outside of school, we trained apart, only coming together to show off what we’d learned. That was how it happened.”

  Master Stradus had been grinning, with a look of the youth that had long escaped him. Now his smile turned into a frown.

  “One night, we both slipped out and went our separate ways,” he continued. “When dawn came, Premier didn't meet me. I waited for him as long as I could before I had to return to our room. He made it back just before our lessons started.

  “But something happened to Premier. He was…different. He was battered, ragged, and there was a look in his eyes—as if he had seen a horror no man should ever see. Not even a wizard. It was days before he said more than a few words. Eventually, I learned that he had come upon a book of great power—the Book of Shazul.”

  My eyes widened. I had read about the book and the wizard who created it. Shazul had been one of the most powerful wizards who ever lived—before he went mad and destroyed himself. And to think, I had been throwing my puny fireballs at Premier. No wonder he had laughed at me.

  “I can see you know of what I speak,” Master Stradus said. “But there's something I haven't told you. Now is that time.”

  I leaned forward, curious and scared of what he might tell me.

  “The Book of Shazul is more than just a book of spells,” he said. “It also is a book of prophecies. One of those prophecies had to do with you.” He reached for more tea while letting the information sink in.

  I gasped and stared at nothing. It all made sense now. Why Stradus came to my mother the night I was born, why he named me, why he waited in this mountain. If he read those prophecies in Shazul’s book, they would have tugged at him, gnawing at his mind. When I first got here, I had asked him about the prophecy, but he had never answered my questions.

  Until now.

  “You never told me about this before,” I said.

  “Would it have made a difference?”

  I shrugged. “It might have.”

  “Prophecies are very dangerous things. Sometimes they can be interpreted wrongly. Other times, by knowing what they are, you'll end up causing them to come to pass.”

  “Could you tell me more about the prophecy involving me?”

  Master Stradus shook his head. “I can't. It's bad enough I'm telling you this much. I'm only telling you so you’ll understand what you're up against.”

  “I understand.”

  “No, you don't. I hope you will someday.” Master Stradus poured himself some more tea before he continued. “I asked Premier what had happened to him, but he wouldn't tell me. Eventually, I stopped asking.

  “Premier started acting differently. He was constantly late for class, and he barely paid attention to the lessons. And we were so close to graduation. What bothered me the most was that he was no longer interested in girls.”

  Master Stradus shook his head, reliving old, painful memories. “My old friend turned into a hermit. Despite not paying attention to our teachers, his powers grew. The spells he did were amazing, and his power became stronger than mine. So I did what any friend would do—I took to spying on him.

  “It was then I saw him with that blasted book.

  “I saw him practicing the spells in it,” Master Stradus said. “I thought he had stolen one of the books we students weren't allowed to use because the spells might be too dangerous. But that wasn’t it. He had hidden it in a tiny, unused room in the basement. I snuck in one day while I was certain he'd be away. When I touched the book, I felt the magnificent power it contained. It was also terrifying. But I convinced myself that if Premier could understand and control it, so could I.

  “It took ages to bypass all of Premier’s protection spells, but I managed it. And when I finally opened the book, it was—it was…” Master Stradus trailed off and closed his eyes. He gripped his staff so tightly his knuckles lost their color. The globe on top of the staff swirled with mana.

  “Master?”

  Wind blew into the chamber and made the torches flutter. Sweat ran down Master Stradus's forehead and dripped over his eyebrows.

  “Master!” I yelled.
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  The wind stopped, and he opened his eyes. The globe was clear of mana. He wiped the sweat from his face and said, “It was like I was touched by the gods.”

  He continued his story as if he hadn’t noticed anything unusual had just happened. I didn’t say anything either. I wasn’t sure that reminding him of what he experienced so long ago was a wise thing to do.

  “The first thing I saw were the prophecies,” he said. “I never had the talent to become a seer, and I sure wasn't a prophet. Ah, but my teachers were right, my boy.” Master Stradus chuckled.

  “What do you mean?”

  “My teachers used to say I always had my head in the clouds. I’m glad I did. You see, son, I was always wondering about the future and what was in store for me, and what would happen when the war was over. If I hadn’t been fascinated by things like that, I think the spells in the book would have ensnared me and I'd be corrupted like Premier. Instead, the prophecies became my obsession, and the book never truly took hold of me.”

  Master Stradus was only partly right. He did let it take hold of him. He created the spell that encompasses the White Mountain, and waited for me for centuries. At least Master Stradus did it after he led a good life and saw the world. It saddened and frightened me to realize that centuries of dreams and hopes were pinned on me.

  “You wouldn’t believe how accurate the book was,” he said, jolting me out of my thoughts. “It told of the War of the Wizards, the Great Barrier, the Burning Sands, you, and maybe even me, I think.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t know it back then. It took years for me to understand a fraction of those prophecies. The more I learn and wait, the more I understand. That’s partly why I’ve been cooped up here so long. Because of that fateful day when I got lost in the prophecies and Premier came back to find me buried in his book.”

  Master Stradus drank some more tea, then licked his lips. “When we were young, Premier was known for his emotional outbursts. As we grew up, and his training made him more disciplined, he learned to focus his rage, waiting until the perfect time to strike. That day, when he found me with his book, I stared into his dark eyes and felt the powerful magic he was drawing in.

  “Despite the angry storm brewing underneath his still face, he summoned the book to his hand and looked down at what I was reading. He didn't say a word. I had a feeling if I moved or drew in any magic, Premier would have struck me down hard—friend or no. But he did something unexpected. He laughed.”

  “He laughed?” I asked.

  Master Stradus smiled and said, “That he did. The magic he gathered around him dissipated, and my old friend returned. Premier closed the book and said I never ceased to amaze him. All those spells at my fingertips, and I was reading prophecies. Sadly, his laughter didn’t last. He became silent and stern again.

  “He wanted me to join him. He said that with the book, the two of us could take down Renak. We would be unstoppable.”

  I knew he hadn’t said yes, but I couldn't stop myself from asking, “Did you do it?”

  Master Stradus fiddled with his long beard before answering. “No, but a part of me wanted to. A rather large part, I'm afraid.” He looked up towards the ceiling. “It was so tempting—the power, the prophecies, the hope of saving my friend, and of avoiding the war.

  “I tried to convince him to take the book to the Council. With their years of experience, they could help us. That was the wrong move. I had forgotten how much Premier hated the Council and blamed them for the war. He said the power belonged to him, and not those old fools. I looked into his eyes and saw that his lust for power had taken him. I had lost my best friend forever.

  “I then foolishly tried to grab the book from Premier, but he cast a spell at me. He was so quick, and I was so surprised he would do such a thing, that it caught me off guard. My muscles locked up, and I cried out in agony. He leaned over me and said, 'Goodbye, my friend.' I thought he meant he was going to kill me, but he spared my life. I could do nothing but stare at him, watching him leave for parts unknown.

  “When the spell wore off, I went outside to follow him, but I couldn’t see or sense him anywhere.” Master Stradus slammed his staff on the floor. “Too much time had passed. After that, I never saw him again. I always thought he might have died or possibly had gone to join Renak, since they seemed to be on the same path. Now I know what happened to him. Poor fool.”

  “What’d you do after that, Master? Didn’t you try to go and track him down?”

  “Sadly, I never got the chance to. They were going to send me to the war. With a great deal of persuasion, I did get to see the Council and tell them what had happened.” Master Stradus frowned. “But they didn’t believe me. I suspect they thought he was just another deserter.

  “You know that Renak created the Wasteland creatures, twisting and enslaving them to serve him? I suspect Premier may have done the same thing, with the knowledge he learned from the book. For years, wizards have tried to learn Renak’s secrets. None have succeeded until now.”

  Master Stradus yawned and put a hand to his mouth. “Well, my boy, I would say it’s time to retire. We’ve been talking half the night, and you must be tired.”

  I yawned too and rubbed my tired eyes. “I am.”

  “Get some sleep. Goodnight, my son. It’s good to have you back.” He smiled before heading back to his room.

  “Goodnight, Master,” I said. “And goodnight to you too, Cynder.” The dragon’s huge nostrils flared as he snored.

  I made my way to my room. I took a moment to enjoy the memories that flooded my mind at the familiar sights and scents. I was so tired I plopped myself on the bed, not even bothering to take off my clothes.

  Master Stradus was right about the fact that I needed to know more about Premier. Now that I knew how powerful, methodical, and careful he was, I couldn't underestimate him, nor could I face him alone. I was glad I had come back to the White Mountain, and more importantly, thankful that Master Stradus was going to help me.

  I still couldn’t believe that Master Stradus and Premier were once friends—best friends at that. Would Master Stradus be able to do what was necessary to defeat his old friend? Since Premier had the book, would we even be a match for him?

  I went to sleep with these weary thoughts, questions, and fears on my mind.

  CHAPTER 20

  I woke up refreshed and energized. I hadn’t slept that well in a long time. My tranquility passed quickly, replaced by guilt. I couldn't help but think of the others: the elves, the dwarves, the princess. I wondered what they were going through right now, and if we could arrive to help them in time. I said a quiet prayer to the gods in hopes that we could.

  I made my way to the little dining hall where Master Stradus had made some soup.

  “Good afternoon, my boy,” Master Stradus said. “You had a long sleep.”

  “Good afternoon?” I said. “I’ve overslept! Master, we must leave. We've got to go and meet the others. We must—”

  “Relax, my son, relax. We have plenty of time. I woke up early this morning and went outside to see if your friend had made it to Sharald. He did. It looked as if the whole forest was moving. You see, nothing to worry about.”

  “Shouldn’t we go and join them?”

  “We will, but we have plenty of time. It’ll take the elves about four days to move an army that size to the rendezvous point. We’ll meet them when that time arrives.” Master Stradus's face became grim. “We must get you prepared.”

  “How will we get there so quickly?”

  “You forget, Hellsfire, we will have a dragon with us. But first, let’s eat. After that, we will go through some more training.”

  I shook my head and ran my fingers through my matted hair. “Can’t wait.”

  After our meal, Master Stradus led me to the practice room. “Let’s see how well you’ve progressed since you left me.”

  “But I haven’t been gone that long, Master.”

  �
�You’d be surprised at how much things can change in a short period of time. Go over and stand on the other side of the room. As the dwarves would say, ‘I want you to hit me as hard as you can.’”

  “Hit you?”

  “Yes, but not physically. I’m an old man, and you’d knock me to the ground.” He laughed and leaned on his staff. “I know we've never done this before, but I want you to throw a spell at me, and I will try to counter it. You will keep doing that until I say stop, or until you’re too tired. A practice wizard’s duel. Understand?”

  “I do.” I raised an eyebrow. “But are you sure about this?”

  “Yes.” He raised his voice. “Now attack, and don’t hold anything back!”

  I raised my arms and engulfed him with flames. He disappeared inside the cone of fire. Within moments, a funnel of wind took its place. I needed another idea.

  I grabbed one of the growth potions from my pouch and threw it against the ground, hoping I wasn’t going to need it later, and that potions weren’t against the rules. But Master Stradus had his staff; it was only fair I had something. And once I was fighting Premier, there would be no rules.

  The potion spread over the floor. I spoke an incantation, combining it with earth mana. The ground swayed and rumbled as I poured my energy into the spell. Two green vines sprang from the rock and wrapped around Master Stradus’s arms, binding them. A third erupted and grasped his neck. More shot out, holding his legs in place. Master Stradus struggled to free himself, but soon he realized that he would never be able to break free through physical means. His face became stone-hard with concentration.

  The pearl on top of Master Stradus’s staff hummed with power. Out of the ground rose a humongous carnivorous plant. I hadn’t expected or intended that. It was twice as big as Master Stradus and me combined. Its head thrashed about, teeth snapping, saliva dripping from its mouth. It turned toward Master Stradus and narrowed its hungry, mad eyes. Before I could stop it, it swallowed him whole.