by P. Tempest
“Free form?” I asked completely clueless.
“We will get to that in a moment. Let me see your bracer.” Fion commanded.
I walked closer to him, crossing the intervening space quickly. His hand came up and caught my left arm. Raising it closer to his eyes I had to twist slightly to avoid it hurting.
“This is a beauty, now what did you do? No hang on.” he muttered quietly.
I didn't know if he was talking to me or not. I erred on the side of caution and remained silent, he wasn't even looking at me all his attention was focused on my shield enchantment.
“Hope, no, resist, no. Defence ha, tricksy, and what are these?” he was turning his head looking at my bracer from all angles. “Disruption, diversion. Transference.”
How could he understand my bracer when I was the one who made it and didn't have a clue?
Fion let go with no warning at all. My arm just dropped taking the rest of me with it. He caught me, set me back up.
“Clever work, telling really” he continues in his murmuring, not looking at me at all. He shuffled to the other side of the desk, feeling his way along till his fingers touched a strange looking metal rod covering in faint scratches.
“Telling what?” I asked. I was confused again.
“What?” He shouted. His hands were feeling the etchings on the rod.
“You said telling really, what does that mean?” I asked
Fion just looked blankly at me.
“I said no such thing,” he stopped tilted his head as if listening to something only he could hear.
I was beginning to think this is what Jase had meant about difficult to deal with.
Fion’s eyes seemed to come back into focus as he shook his head. “You paying attention boy?” he asked impatiently, the rod still in his hands. A faint feeling of power ebbed and flowed around him.
My eyes widened as I realised what he was doing, he was enchanting as we spoke, complex layered enchantment at that.
“Yes I'm paying attention.” I said quickly covering my shock
“Well got over here so we can have the lesson, you may not have noticed but I'm old, I don't have time for waiting on people," he said, his smile coming back, his bright white teeth shone through.
I walked over to the odd mage, standing next to him.
“Free-form should be easy for you, but we will see. Take that ball there” he instructed pointing at a small metal ball about an inch across sitting on the desk.
I grabbed it, it was smooth and cold, the silver shine of the metal reflecting my face in the warm light of the room.
“Got it, good. Now forget all that element rubbish you’ve been taught. If you can handle wild magic, you can handle real enchantment.” Fion said with a hint of superiority.
“So what do I do?” I asked more and more unsure of my own knowledge.
“Don't just stand there, put some magic in it,” he said exasperated, “and stop looking at me. I'm not going to hold your hand. You have been told you can do it, so just do it,"
“What am I supposed to do” I asked, my frustration rising. I nearly snarled
“That's more like it, I won't teach someone without a spine boy.” Fion said approvingly. “This is easy, you make what your magic tells you to make, listen to it.”
My confusion and frustration was rising even higher I looked down at the small metal object in my hand with even less of a clue of what I was doing than when I started.
“Boy, stop fucking around, I haven't got all day.” Fion seemed really angry now, he had put down his own work. He grabbed the back of my head with his left hand, it was so large it covered most of it. He pulled my head round to face him. “Put the magic in now, can't you hear it screaming at you?” Fion was shouting in my face, his eyes wild, spittle flew from his mouth, he let go suddenly. All the energy drained from his face.
The shock had triggered my reading. The room exploded in a wash of light, threads wove through the very substance of the walls. Streamers seemed to be wrapped around Fion, as he sagged, the colours were all washed out around him, and on the edge of hearing were notes of pure sound coming from the streamers. A musical symphony as I had never heard.
Fion was leaning heavily, his arms on the desk holding him up. A smile as bright as the new dawn appeared on his face. “L knew you had it in you” he said triumphantly, “Now put your sight to the task at hand, and enchant that bauble.” he tilted his head to the ball, I had forgotten I was holding.
Turning my attention to the globe, filled my mind with a whispering of music, a tune that felt familiar. The magic boiled around me, as a smile bloomed on my face, I suddenly understood.
The tune wasn't music, it was magics voice, resonating with my own knowledge.
A small thread of power wove down my arm into the Orb, twining as if dancing to the music. The tune ascended in volume and complexity as I worked. More threads wove in and out of my existing one, nodes forming as the core concepts slotted into place. Sight, sharing, bond and memory sunk in deep, the knowledge of just how to tie them in flowed into me. It was done, the weave shimmered in my sight, its voice faint but clear.
“Don't go getting a big head now, boy, I helped guide the music, but you did well, few ever hear it.” Fion cautioned and praised, a grudging respect apparent in his gruff voice.
“What was that?” I asked forcing my oversight down, the colours and music fading to nothing.
“That was real enchantment, not like the academy teaches, but how it’s meant to be done. Your little bauble was clever. I expect to see you again. Now leave,” Fion said harshly his face set in firm lines.
I left carrying my ball.
Chapter 13
My walk back to headquarters was delayed by the fuzzy feeling the morning had given me. I took my time, a nice gentle walk through the streets of home to give me few moments longer to clear my head, the music I could faintly hear from the paving itself wasn't helping, the louder voice from the Orb was distracting. I did my best to block it out, the last thing I wanted right now was to lose control of my sight, again.
The streets were quiet, a few afternoon workers on their way to wherever they were going, I easily avoided bumping into them this time, proving that I could pay attention instead of wandering around in a daze as was the current pattern.
The square in front of headquarters, sectioned off. Mage guards keeping people out, my curiosity was peaked.
I approached the first mage I saw, an older fellow, late forties at least, grey hair, his uniform was straining to hold his stomach in, he eyed me with what I was guessing appropriate suspicion, my own brief training in crowd control was limited to make people feel guilty until they go away, unless it escalated to violence, despite that knowledge, I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze before speaking.
“Afternoon, what going on here?” I asked congenially
“Some big guy is flying in from Greenlaw.” he replied grumpily, he spat to the side, a great hawking phlegmy mass of mucus splattered against the stone paving.
“This is the landing spot? I thought we had a pad outside of town," I mused aloud.
“Well this guy clearly ain’t using it. Do you have business here or are ya just being nosy?” he asked obnoxiously, his glare turning up a notch.
“Yes I’m reporting for assignment.” I stated, confident that would allow me passage.
“You will have to wait, we don't know exactly when it’s coming in, and it’s not worth my job to let even an idiot like you get squashed.” he said as if I was personally ruining his day.
“But I need to report,” I protested.
My objection was falling on deaf ears, he moved not an inch unless you counted the finger he had lodged in his right ear, he scrunched up his face as he wiggled it about, it came out with a distinct squelch, a glimmer of satisfaction in his faintly green-glowing eyes.
My disgust was short lived. My retort died upon my lips unsaid as the wind picked up speed. Massive gusts stagger
ed me and my new friend. The air whipping around the confined spaces. The square was acting as a focus to drive the wind down the streets, twisters of dust were born and died rapidly as the pressure increased, grit blew into my eyes as I lifted my head to catch a glimpse of what was causing the wind.
A large translucent bird was settling into the square, it was massive, wing tip to wing tip must have been two hundred feet easily, the body was a wavering mass of pale colours much like a rippling pond, solid shadows could be seen in the centre, unmoving mortal shapes dwarfed by the bulk of the bird.
I had to raise my arm to protect my eyes from the blasts as the wings beat, the tempo of the beats reducing slowly as its giant claws touched the stones of the plaza. The air stilled as the bird landed.
My companion was nonchalant, he spat again, a startlingly loud sound in the relative silence of the area.
“Right I'm done, I'm off to the pub.” he announced to no one in particular before walking off.
I still had to report, I took a step forward trying to see a way around the bird, there was a small gap that I aimed myself towards. I tried hard not to be uncomfortable around the golem, I knew that's what it was, I could feel the weaving of it, a totally mindless puppet granted flight, that didn't mean a giant bird wasn't intimidating. Come on its freaking huge
I made my way across the square, as I did so the chest of the golem vanished, leaving an opening to its core, floating out came a man, from this distance I couldn't see much. The man gradually sunk to the stone of the plaza landing gently, next to the fountain.
The bird’s chest sealed up and its wings started fluttering. I crouched down covering my eyes with my arms, using a touch of magic to form weak shell. I couldn't do much more with my skills. The bird’s wings rapidly gained speed, lifting its feet from the paving. A few greater wing beats pulled the construct further into the air, it climbed quickly before turning towards the east. And just like that it was gone, the birds speed was incredible.
I deactivated my shell and stood a moment before resuming my walk to headquarters, the passenger was also heading in the same direction, he looked familiar but I couldn't place him.
The man reached the lobby long before I did. A few hundred feet between us may not seem like much but throw in some dust and grit and my sight wasn't as good as normal, in fact my eyes were still smarting from the first few blasts of air.
Upon finally reaching headquarters I walked straight through to Rysan’s offices as I had done for weeks.
“What do you think you are doing mage?” Rysan thundered at me.
I stood just inside the doorway, there was no sign of Jase. Rysan was standing behind his desk, Orb was hovering over his shoulder, rapid flickering colours pulsing through him as he re- familiarised himself with Rysan’s energies
“I’m waiting for an answer mage, what made you think you could just walk into my office without so much as a knock?” Rysan shouted, running his hand through his short stubbly hair, his face was lined with stress and fatigue.
“I’m sorry Sir, I was expecting Jase to be here.” I answered.
“That is no excuse, there is protocol for a reason, follow it or you will be dismissed, do you understand me?” Rysan asked, his shoulders tightening.
“Yes Sir.” I replied.
“Now I’m not in the mood for this, go do whatever you were supposed to be doing and leave me to catch up on this mess.” he waved his arm over his desk to indicate what mess he was talking about. “Master Jase filled me in through the mirror on your current assignments, there is no need for you to report here every day, continue building ties to the stone guild, work with your apprentice, do your lessons. Master Jase will handle that part. Orb will contact you if you are needed here. Dismissed” Rysan finished wearily
I saluted before turning on my heel, I walked out quickly.
I took the break I had been handed as a chance to prepare for my next lesson with Sophia. I headed to the woods on the outskirts of town where I’d had my last lesson with Sophia, on the hunt for something special, the Orb in my pouch weighing heavily on my mind. The path was deserted. The heat of the sun pouring down on my baking the earth to a hard cracked dust despite the shade provided by the trees. The lake was lower than I had expected the shore was covered in a muddy slurry that made me keep my distance. Slipping in that would not be pleasant even though I could easily get myself out. I activated my reading, bracing myself for the onslaught as my sight filled with colours. The energies of the forest were suddenly visible, streamers of green and blues flowered through everything, I did my best to tune out some of the more obvious streams. I was seeking something. Almost an hour of just taking in the extra input was starting to give me a headache. The urge to give up was growing just as the sun started to go down, the changes in the energy plane were startling, the colours shifted from vibrant emeralds to a more subdued moss, threads of black and greys were steadily replacing the blues, on the very edge of my sight was a what I had come to find. A gentle squeeze of magic, animated the ball. It started to record my visual memories as I watched the bundle of brighter threads move to the surface of the lake. It was a sprite, its delicate mortal form almost burning against the greys of the lake, if not for my reading I would never have seen her, her scales mirrored the water so flawlessly. She playfully stood on the surface of the water as if it was stone, looking to the shore, to me. The sprites feet began to move at first in a slow gentle pattern but quickly gaining speed as dusk worked its own magic on the forest, the air cooled and the wind stilled. The sprites dance, for dance was what it was, gained energy her twirls and leaps pulling threads of magic from their course.
I was entranced by the beauty of the dance.
The sprites scales reflected the dying light of the day into a myriad of tiny sparkles, her dance had taken her far out to the middle of the lake, and with a final jump, she slipped beneath the water not even with a ripple to mark her passage.
A slow smile of satisfaction crossed my face, Sophia would love to see this.
Walking back through the darkened woods, gave me time to consider my options. I had been let off the leash as it were. I was free to pursue my own course as long as I fulfilled the rest of my duties. My musings were interrupted by a wash of raw magic that exploded from the edge of town. I was running before I even realised. My legs taking me as fast as they could to the source of the blast. It was coming from a small residential street near the gates closest to me. The feeling of the magic was strange, warped. People were everywhere, the blast had disturbed the magic planes, even knacks could feel it. They were just milling around, most probably didn't even know why they were feeling unsettled. The clear night sky was gathering clouds the tingle of a storm was in the air. I ran as fast as I could through the crowd, toward a house, gathering my power I cast it out, a simple earth manipulation shattered the door.
Inside I saw a couple, kneeling on the floor, a haze of magic wavered around them as they held each other’s hands, water and air. It was another surge. My reading chose that moment to manifest. the magic was screaming, an ear-piercing sound of agony, their links were malformed by the energy pouring into them, even with my new sight I knew of no way to save them. I brought all the power I had to shield myself from the conjoined magics, my bracer taking the influx. I could feel its strain as I tried to use it to cut off the pair from the magic.
It wasn't working, I was too late again. I took a step closer, knowing my duty. As I approached I recognised them. It was Mr and Mrs Leif. I looked again for any sight of Sophia, desperately hoping she wasn't here. She was tucked in the corner of the room crying.
“Sophia get up!” I shouted.
She turned her tear-stained face to me. A flicker of hope crossed her face.
“Tristan help them please!” she begged me.
“Get out, I can’t do anything with you here. There are people outside, find someone you know and stay with them for now!” I commanded.
She did as she was told, wa
lking backwards not taking her eyes off her parents till she was in the street.
I walked as close as I could to them, the rawest of the magic was contained but I couldn't do it for long, already my bracer was slowly heating. I knelt in front of them. Mrs Lief’s eyes darted to me. Recognition flickered in them.
“Look after Sophia for us” she whispered, her voice was rough as if she had screamed herself out. Tears formed in her eyes as I felt the magic change.
She was shifting the focus, all that magic was still pouring into her but she had stopped it going anywhere, her husband did the same thing. Their bodies started warping, hers seemed to evaporate, wisps just pulling away, while her husband melted into droplets. The combination of the two forming a small cloud trapped within the confines of my shield.
Together in death as well as in life, I thought briefly. I released the shield after feeling the magic calm slightly. Their links were gone. They weren't a risk any more. Sadness welled up in me as I watched the cloud that had been my apprentice’s parents drift to the shattered window.
Now came the hard part, telling Sophia.
I walked slowly out of the house, taking care not to disturb anything. The clouds in the sky were still there, but they were still, almost frozen in motion. The people were gathered outside, clustered together. I decided I wasn't going to address the people I would leave that for Rysan to deal with. I had my apprentice to see to.
Sophia came running towards me, hope burning in her eyes. She took one look at my face, it instantly killed that hope. Her tiny fists clenched as she carried on running at me. The impact as she collided almost took me from my feet.
I barely felt it, I was numb. I knelt down to offer her what comfort I could. Spreading my arms.
Sophia came her fists ready. She beat on my chest as I wrapped her in my arms, her wailing and sobbing a confused mix of pain, anger and grief.
