So do I get punched? He asked.
Not this time. “I could plow two more fields!” Fist laughed and Justan realized how much more human the ogre sounded every day.
After the short ride back to Master Coal’s keep, Justan left Gwyrtha at the stables and ate lunch at the lodge. It was a hearty potato stew with chunks of beef and honstule, served with a thick crusty bread. He probably ate more than he should have, but he found that when he ate a meal with honstule in it, he didn’t feel tired afterwards. Next on his schedule was his lesson with Master Coal.
Lenny ran up while Justan was leaving the lodge. The dwarf had been spending most of his time down at the forge with Bettie. The two of them were a lot alike. He was a master weapons maker and she was a master of agricultural smithing. They were both good at heart, but at the same time ornery and quick with a curse. As a result, they hollered and swore at each other all day. You couldn’t walk anywhere near the forge without hearing the two of them arguing.
They were learning a lot from each other. Lenny had been working with metals for more years than he would admit, but even though he was several decades her senior, she had fine-tuned areas of smith work that he had never focused on. Lenny had never seemed happier.
The dwarf wore a wide grin under his red mustache and was nearly hopping from foot to foot in excitement as he met Justan at the door to the lodge. “Hold ‘er up there, son. I got somethin’ to show you!”
“You do?” Justan said, returning his smile. “What has you so excited?”
“C’mon, follow me down to the forge so’s I can show you,” the dwarf answered. “I got somethin’ in this mornin’ that’ll have you wettin’ yer britches!”
“Sorry, Lenny. I can’t go with you right now. I need to meet Master Coal at his study.” Justan was quite curious about what had the dwarf so excited this morning, but the thought of making his teacher wait around for him didn’t sit well. “I’ll come straight over to the forge when my lessons are over.”
“Awright fine, dag-gum it.” The dwarf grumbled. “I guess it can wait ‘till then. But when you come, bring them sword drawin’s of yers.”
“My sword drawings? You’re finally ready to look at them?” Now Justan really wanted to know what the dwarf was up to.
“That’s part of what I’m wantin’ to show you,” Lenny said, satisfied that he had gotten Justan’s curiosity piqued.
Justan had been trying to get Lenny to look at those drawings ever since leaving Ewzad Vriil’s castle. Even with Buster back, Lenny wasn’t ready to start on Justan’s swords. He kept saying he was waiting for something else. Maybe his mysterious excitement meant that he was finally ready. Justan was relieved. He had felt naked without any swords.
Justan continued on to the master’s study. The wizard bade him come in and Justan put thoughts of Lenny’s surprise to the back of his mind. It was time to focus on his studies. The time between noon and dinner was his favorite part of the day. He found Master Coal’s lessons enthralling. Everything Justan could learn about his abilities was crucial to the survival of both him and his bonded.
As had become their usual routine, Master Coal first asked Justan to report back on what he had tried and succeeded at with the bond since the previous day. So far, the wizard had been impressed by his progress. Justan told him about his successful energy transfer with Fist earlier in the day.
“Fantastic, Edge! Once you can transfer the energy from one bonded to another without pain, you are ready for the next step,” Coal said. “First things first, though. Do you have any questions for me?”
Master Coal asked that question every day. At first, Justan asked plenty of questions, but he hadn’t been able to come up with anything that the wizard would answer. Master Coal was unwilling to tell him about things that would get him thinking ahead of his lessons, explaining that he didn’t want Justan to go off and try something he wasn’t ready for. He found the master’s insistence on waiting quite frustrating and lately his answer to the question had simply been no.
This afternoon however, Justan did have something pricking his mind. He almost didn’t ask, but Coal was leaning forward with an open expression, waiting for a response. He hoped that the master would not refuse this time.
“I do have a question. You have said that the only people that can see spirit magic are those that can also use it. Is this something that I can learn?”
“Yes, in fact you can. But that isn’t something that comes easily. Most bonding wizards only learn to see it after they have mastered many other aspects of bonding.”
“I see,” Justan said, a little disappointed. “But there have been a few times when I was withdrawing through the bond that I have seen some kind of white . . . trail connecting me to Gwyrtha. Was that spirit magic?”
“Really? You have seen it already?” The master looked rather impressed. “Wonderful, then. This shouldn’t be too difficult to explain. Yes, spirit sight is much like mage sight except that you can only use it while enveloped in the bond.”
“Enveloped? You mean like when I send my mind into the bond to communicate with Fist or Gwyrtha?” Justan asked
“Not quite so enveloped,” the wizard explained. “If you tried while you were completely immersed in the bond, you wouldn’t be able to open your eyes and see anything. At least, not at first. Remember how you created a link between your bonded? How did you go about doing that?”
“Uh, I . . . kind of envisioned taking the bond and stretching a piece of it between them and they were able to communicate with each other.”
“Alright, this is similar. Except that what you are doing is taking a thin piece of the bond and pulling it up and over your head like a hood or a mask. Once you have done so, you can switch to your spirit sight and see spirit magic.”
Justan tried to grasp the concept. “Do you mind if I try right now?”
“Go ahead,” Master Coal replied and leaned back in his chair with his arms folded. “I am doing something with spirit magic right now. Can you tell me what it is?”
Justan envisioned what Master Coal had said. He reached inward with his mind and grasped the bond. He tried, but couldn’t pull it over his head like a hood as the master had suggested. Instead, he pulled a piece of the bond away and wrapped it around his eyes.
“I have the bond wrapped around my eyes, but I don’t see anything. I switched to mage sight and still nothing.”
“Mage sight and spirit sight are two different things,” Master Coal explained. “It may take you a whi-.”
“Wait! I think I saw something just there. Uh, you were making a circle with the spirit magic? I see something hovering above your hands.” He was trying so hard to focus on it, his eyes hurt.
“Yes that is correct. Very good, but don’t strain yourself, Edge. Once you have grasped how to do it, using spirit sight is just as easy as using mage sight.” The master smiled and reached for a cup of tea on the small table beside him. Once he had taken a sip, he continued, “Keep practicing throughout the day. Spirit magic is all around us. Everything living has a bit of it, so you may be surprised at what you see.”
“Like ghosts?” Justan asked eagerly.
Master Coal laughed. “No, I doubt you would see ghosts. That would be extremely rare. When someone dies, you might see something briefly, but most souls soon pass beyond the realm of mere spirit sight. You would be able to see the soul of a wizard that had left his body to scout around if one were that foolhardy, but that is about it as far as that goes.”
“Then what were you suggesting? What am I going to be surprised about?”
“If I told you, would you still be surprised? No, there is one thing in particular that I have noticed, something quite interesting in fact. But I think that you should find it out for yourself. We can discuss it afterwards. I will tell you however, that I have been quite amazed at how active your bonding magic is.”
“Active?”
“Yes, yours is the most dynamic bonding magic I have see
n. All bonding wizards send out feelers with their magic when they meet someone new, testing for a bonding match. But you . . .” The master shook his head. “Everywhere you go, you send out tendrils of spirit energy that go about touching every living thing. Sometimes there are so many waving around you that it can be quite confusing visually. I suppose that explains the high number of bonds that you have.”
Justan, still trying to process the idea of tendrils of spirit energy, took a second to realize what Master Coal had just said. He gave the wizard an odd look, “But I only have two bonded, sir.”
“Well, you have the bonds to Fist and Gwyrtha, that is true. But you also have a bond with that bow of yours. Ma’am, I think you call it?”
“You can see that?” Justan had never thought of the possibility of his link to his bow being a true spiritual bond. “I didn’t think that would count.”
“I am not sure why, but the wood that your bow is made of positively glows with spirit magic. You may not think about it all the time, but it is constantly monitoring you. It was built with a desire to please and wants to do as you command it. Its intelligence level is just too low for it to truly speak with you.”
“That makes sense, actually,” Justan said. Whenever he grasped the bow, he could feel its eagerness. He leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
“Oh, and there are two more,” the Wizard added.
“Two more? How?”
Master Coal took another sip of his tea, taking delight in dragging out Justan’s suspense. “Well, first there is your rune dagger.”
Justan pulled the ceremonial dagger from the sheath at his waist and looked at its dual blades with wonder, trying to switch to spirit sight so that he could see the bond Master Coal spoke of.
“Or . . . rune daggers in your case, I suppose,” Coal clarified, noting the individual runes on each blade. “Every named warrior or wizard has a bond to their rune weapon. Consider it a gift from the Bowl of Souls if you will.”
“But what good does that bond do? I mean, what is it for?”
“You do know that rune weapons are indestructible as long as the wielder is alive, correct?” He waited for Justan’s nod before continuing. “For one, you can never lose it because your bond will tell you where it is. In addition, a rune weapon can be used as a channel for offensive magic. Not much of a help to named warriors that don’t have elemental magic I know, but to a wizard it can be quite useful. Imagine what you could do if every strike of your blade delivered a blast of fire or paralyzed your opponent.”
“But can’t you do the same thing without a blade?” Justan asked. “And from farther away?”
“Don’t be so unimaginative, Edge.” Master Coal looked perturbed. “How far have you seen a spiritual bond stretch? With a dagger connected to you by spirit magic, you don’t have to be close to it. You could be two days ride from here and I could still attack you with a spell if you touched my dagger.”
“Why hasn’t anyone told me of this?” Justan asked in frustration.
“It isn’t something that the MageSchool tells students about. They have enough people clamoring to get in to the Bowl of Souls as it is. They don’t need extra incentive. Besides, it gives us an advantage in tight situations if our enemies don’t know we have that particular trick available,” the wizard explained. “As for you, I think that your naming caught everyone off guard and you left so quickly that no one had the chance to tell you about it.”
“I see . . . but wait, you said there is one more. What is the other bond I have?”
“Well, I would have mentioned it to you days ago, but I had been waiting for you to bring it up. It has to do with that rune on your chest,” the wizard said pointing in a slightly accusing manner.
Justan’s hand went up to the mysterious scar on his chest that after over a year was still encrusted in frost. He could feel the coldness of it through the fabric of his shirt. “Really?”
“Sorry to bring it up that way,” Coal said, looking a bit embarrassed. “I saw it while I was healing you when they first brought you here. I ask you every day if you have any questions for me hoping that you would bring it up, but you never mention it. Since you have been so secretive, I figured that it is something quite private to you. I understand if you don’t wish to speak of it and if you wish, I will not bring it up again, but I must admit I am quite curious.”
“Oh . . . I haven’t been avoiding talking to you about it. It’s just that I have Professor Locksher at the Mage School looking into it for me and I . . . guess that I didn’t think you could help.” In actuality, he had thought to bring it up on occasion. But there had always been something more pressing on his mind. “Besides, the frost rune is just . . . there. It does nothing. Sometimes I don’t think about it for weeks at a time.”
“It does nothing?” The wizard seemed quite surprised. “Surely . . . Tell me, Edge. How did you get this rune?”
Justan relayed the story of his encounter with the Scralag. The creature’s frightening appearance still gave him shivers. He couldn’t forget its beady eyes and mouthful of sharp curving teeth . . . “The symbol has been there ever since. No one can tell me what it is for.”
“And this creature that you met, the Scralag? Did you ever find out what it is?”
“Well, Professor Locksher called it a frost elemental. Supposedly the book it gave me might help decipher what the rune is supposed to mean. He was off in another country looking into it for me the last I heard. I wonder if he found anything . . .”
“Edge, you don’t understand. The bond tying you to that rune isn’t like the bond to your bow or your dagger. It’s hard to explain but this bond is every bit as solid and strong as your bonds with Fist and Gwyrtha, which means that what ever is hidden within that rune is alive. If it’s just a marking or a message or a spell, it is unlike anything I have ever seen.”
“You mean . . .” Justan’s mind reeled. “You mean, the Scralag put some . . . living thing inside me?”
Chapter Twenty One
Justan withdrew his fingers from the frosted rune on his chest. The idea that the hideous creature had bonded something to his magic was frightening. How could he have been living with something like this so long, sleeping with it even, and not known it was there?
“Whatever is inside the scar is a living thing to be sure,” Master Coal replied. “It’s also your first true bonded I’m afraid.”
“My first bonded?” Justan frowned. He didn’t like the Scralag taking that position. The status of first bonded had always belonged to Gwyrtha in his heart.
He tried to feel at the scar through the bond, but it was like nothing was there. “How could that be? It does not feel like a . . . being. The scar doesn’t communicate with me. It just . . . sits there.”
“And yet the bond is real,” Master Coal said with certainty.
“But it didn’t feel like a bonding when it touched me. I didn’t feel the pain in my head. It was just like a scary dream,” Justan pressed.
“Awakenings are sometimes that way, Edge.”
“Well this-. Wait. Awakening?” Justan asked, struggling to keep track of all the new information. As sometimes happened with Master Coal, the knowledge came fast and it was easy to feel overwhelmed. He needed to start taking notes.
“When a wizard first begins to show his power, he can’t control it. Since he doesn’t know what is or isn’t possible, strange things can happen. That is what we call an ‘awakening’,” Master Coal explained. “Some set their houses on fire. Some heal people and don’t know how they did it. Some do incredible things that can’t be explained or replicated. Myself for instance . . . my awakening was quite strange.
“When I was twelve, I stole a pie from my neighbor’s windowsill. I had quite the child’s crush on her back then. Polla, her name was. She was very lovely and made the most delicious desserts. The children in our town used to be able to smell her cookies from a mile away. Delicious, oh even thinking about them still makes my mouth wa
ter.” Coal smiled and leaned back in his chair as he spoke, the memory fresh in his mind.
“This particular pie smelled heavenly. It was a tartberry pie, which unbeknownst to me was her husband’s favorite recipe. I remember how hot it was in my hands, almost uncomfortably so. Her husband saw me sneaking off with it and started yelling. He was a large, strong man and the look in his eyes was frightening. I dropped the pie and ran as quickly as I could. The pie was ruined and that made him even more furious. He chased after me and I could hear him gaining. He was fast and I was a gawky twelve-year-old. There was no way I could escape.
Hunt of the Bandham (The Bowl of Souls: Book Three) Page 22
