Juxta said, "Hello."
"You must be Hebron's apprentice, for I see you wear Dragon's Fire. You must still be in training. What's your name?"
"Juxta, sir."
Derick rubbed his hands together. "I was one of Hebron's apprentices. I wore that ring for twenty years. It served me well."
Juxta thought back to the encounter with the ogres, when he used the lightning he used the ring, but he couldn't remember if he used it with the fireballs or not. "It serves me well too."
Derick rolled his eyes in as innocent way as he could. "Has Hebron taught you to duel yet?"
Juxta shook his head back and forth.
"He likes to wait," Derick said. "He doesn't believe wizards should duel. His principles surrounding life magic are too strong. I could teach you to duel while you're here. It will serve you well, if you ever find yourself in the mage courts of Weslan…"
"Is there risk in it?"
"There's risk in all things. For you to learn how there would be no risk. Were we to duel I doubt any harm would come to us."
Juxta paused.
Derick said, "I'll take it easy on you."
"I'll try it… How do we do it?"
"You know how to put up a spherical arcane shield, yes?"
Juxta nodded.
Derick said, "And you can throw lightning and fire?"
"Yes, for some time now."
"It'll be a simple matter of putting up shields and throwing some lightning and fire at each other until one of us calls for quarter."
"Oh."
"Will you duel with me at the feast tonight?" Derick asked. "To display our powers?"
No. Oh hell. "I agree, at the feast."
Derick departed.
Juxta went back to sitting calmly trying to wrestle with the forces plaguing his every moment.
William and Simon rejoined him in the guest chambers.
Juxta said, "I'm going to duel their wizard tonight."
William raised one eyebrow. "What?"
Juxta turned away from his friends and stared out the window. "They have a wizard, Derick. He wants to duel with me tonight at the feast."
"Are you sure it's wise? I know in the rangers it's a serious matter," William said. "People die…"
The rocks in Juxta's head rattled as he shook it back and forth. "I already agreed to it. I still have power left over from the encounter with the ogres. I have to do something with it. I'm hoping the duel will tire me out."
Simon said, "It just doesn't seem wise..."
William grasped Juxta's shoulder. "Win!"
*
The castle servants spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for the feast. When the hour arrived stewards gathered up the entourage from Lynken. After the feast musicians lined the hall and began to play a quickly paced tune on flutes, harps, and drums. Prince Henry approached Rubie catching her eyes with his. He held out his hand palm upward. "Will you dance with me?"
She smiled at him and took his hand. They were the first pair to take to the floor, while others soon followed.
Simon walked to Teresa's table and held out his hand. He whispered, "My dear."
Teresa rolled her eyes to the heavens. "I'm not your dear."
"Will you dance with me?"
She tilted her head to the side. "Soon enough, you'll be far away in Lynken, and you'll forget me the first time a blonde girl with big teats winks at you."
"I've had my fill of blonde girls with big teats," he said. "I'm asking you to dance with me tonight."
"You only want to dance with me tonight?"
"I would dance with you forever, if I could, but tonight will be enough."
Teresa smiled and took his hand in hers. "Let's dance."
They danced. William and Juxta watched. A serving girl approached William and curtseyed. She smiled at him. He promptly stood and bowed. He asked, "Would you like to dance?"
The serving girl said, "My name is Monica," and embraced William.
Juxta stared wide eyed.
He felt a tap on his shoulder. A serving girl stood there with a wide grin, blonde hair, and nicely formed breasts. She smiled at Juxta.
Juxta made a yelping sound for an instant much like a wild dog.
The girl laughed. She held out her hand.
As Juxta reached for the girl's hand, the simplest of thoughts crossed into his mind. He decided he liked this place called Nork.
Within the hour Derick entered the king's hall. The king interrupted the dancing. They all made their way to the courtyard. Derick offered Juxta his hand, and they shook. Derick said, "Let the best man win!"
They separated themselves by about 50 feet or so. Juxta envisioned a sphere around him and flooded it with power through the Dragon's Fire ring. Derick grinned wide with his eyes half closed. He pointed his first two fingers on his right hand at the sky with his elbow bent. He dropped his hand, so his fingers pointed at Juxta, and a ball of fire almost as big as a pig erupted towards Juxta.
His eyes stayed glued to the fireball.
Derick pointed at the heavens again. Dropping his hand, another fireball erupted from his fingertips. Then another and another until five were in the air between him and Juxta when the first of the searing hot balls impacted Juxta's shield.
As the first ball of fire splashed into Juxta' shield, Derick launched a sixth.
Juxta could feel his blood pulse in his forearms and hands. His power drained from his body as the first fireball evaporated into mist and smoke. The next fireball was close on its heels, and Juxta raced to summon power to deflect it.
With each new fireball, Juxta became quicker at refilling his power. He soon lost track of how many fireballs Derick sent. Sweat began to bead on Juxta's forehead.
Juxta's defenses almost caved, and he fell to one knee. Where his hands touched the stone, the heat burned him like a stove with a roaring fire in it. Fear began to weed its way into Juxta's heart, but he didn't ask for quarter. He started to get mad for having been tricked. An image of ogres flashed in front of his eyes, then, unheeded, an image of the princess being pulled unconscious out of a burlap bag, her face slack. The well feeding his constant requests for power opened like a great dike failing. The stone began to cool under his touch, and he pushed his protective sphere outward. He rose from the ground.
Juxta started with green balls of fire pouring more and more energy into each one causing them to shine brighter and fly at Derick faster. Engulfed in a sphere of green fire, Derick's shield held, but his assault of fireballs came to an end.
Juxta thought to use lightning. A huge bolt erupted from the sky into Derick's sphere of protection. It blasted patches of grass out of the ground surrounding his feet. Juxta drew a second triangle on Derick in his mind and poured energy into the spell again. The more Juxta drew in power, the more power there seemed to be to draw upon. He drew a lattice of five triangles and sunk power into the casting again and again. The lightning flashed, cutting great pivots in the ground.
Derick fell to one knee and braced himself on the stone platform with his hands. "Quarter!"
Juxta heard him and launched killing red fireballs with all his might. The energy within Juxta kept growing stronger, and slowly a certain wickedness crept into Juxta along with the magic. Juxta shrugged it off, attributing it to his primal side. The sphere around Derick blazed with magical fire, and he shouted, "Quarter!" even louder.
Juxta drew so many triangles with his mind's eye that his vision began to lose focus. Right before he cast them, Teresa stepped into the line of fire and shouted, "Stop!" Juxta stood frozen with his eyes fixated on Derick and the fire still burning in a sphere around him. As the fire drifted off to wisps of nothingness, Derick lay crumpled on the ground trying to staunch the blood coming out of his nose. Teresa grabbed Juxta's arms. "Are you alright?"
Juxta stared at her with blank eyes. He tried to push the rage out of his soul, but the magic pulsed in his veins, and he sweated all over, even between his toes. Quieting the b
oiling energy coursing through his whole being took his entire concentration.
"Juxta, snap out of it!" Teresa shouted. William and Simon joined her on the field.
Juxta blinked and pulled his arm free of her. "I'm OK."
"Well fought!" William said. "When are you going to teach me how to do that?"
Juxta's eyes narrowed into tiny beads. "It's taken a lot of practice, your highness. Master Hebron taught me. You should ask him to teach you."
William smiled wide. "I was just kidding. I don't know if I'd want that much power…"
Simon said, "Let's go back to the feast."
A few men-at-arms helped Derick back to his quarters.
King Henry clapped just a bit. He looked at Juxta. "Master Derick usually wins the duels."
Juxta nodded.
Chapter 7
Rubie and Henry agreed to a summer wedding. Nork's commitment of 10,000 troops would take three weeks to be ready to travel. They discussed a basic plan. Show Tercia a unified front and hope that they would back off, and then fortify the Eastern border of both Nork and Lynken.
Juxta lost himself in meditation. He might as well be carrying a load of rocks around with him everywhere he went. He wanted to get rid of the power coursing through his veins but couldn't. The weeks crept by for Juxta, mostly spent in solitaire as Simon and William spent their time with the Nork war general and the troops.
*
William, Simon, and Juxta said their goodbyes to Rubie and Teresa.
The three men from Lynken rode at the front of the army, with the war general. Most of the army marched on foot, although they had some cavalry that they used as scouts. After the fifth day of marching, the prince decided it would be better if they rode ahead and heralded the army, especially so that Lynken could start preparing its army for the upcoming display of solidarity. William, Simon, and Juxta left the Nork army to its marching and rode ahead to the capital.
William addressed his father in the throne room. "The alliance is forged. An army of 10,000 men is marching to us now. The wedding is this summer. Rubie expects you and mother to attend."
The king smiled. "Excellent. Did Henry send their war general?"
"He seems to know his stuff. Takes a personal hand in training his men," the younger William said.
The king's eyes fell on Simon. "I see you brought home our lost ranger. Did you run into trouble on the road?"
"A band of ogres ambushed us. Juxta destroyed them."
Hebron looked Juxta over. He spoke very quietly. "You don't look well, Juxta. Your highness, if you don't mind excusing me and my apprentice?"
The king said, "By all means. See to your apprentice."
Master and apprentice left the hall. Juxta said, "I killed."
"I heard… It had to be done, yes or no?"
"Yes."
Hebron stopped walking and turned to face Juxta. "How many, and was it humane?"
"Thirty or forty and no. I killed them with fire."
"You must have been sorely fatigued afterwards."
"No, it didn't fatigue me…" Juxta flexed his hands open and closed. "The energy I summoned won't go away."
"Truly?"
"It's like carrying a constant burden." Juxta rubbed at his eyes with his knuckles.
"You're very young to have learned to cast from the heart, but that's what it's like for me."
Juxta looked off in the distance. "I dueled with Derick…"
Blue fire erupted in the uncut sapphire attached to Hebron's arcane staff, and he thundered, "You were dueling?"
"Yes, he told me he was one of your apprentices," Juxta said as he groaned with fatigue, "and that it would be a friendly duel."
"He was one of my apprentices. He gave you a thorough beating I hope."
"Well, yes, but I won. I was about to kill him when Teresa stopped me."
Hebron's eyes squinted into tiny beads. "Perhaps he let you win."
"I don't think so. I ignored his pleas for quarter."
Hebron shook his head. "You were dueling, and you ignored your opponent's plea for quarter?"
In a quiet voice, Juxta said, "Yes, Master."
"Turnips! It'll be turnips at breakfast, noon, and night for you for a month!"
Juxta sighed. He knew he wouldn't be eating turnips, but he knew he'd be studying by magelight into the wee hours of the morning as punishment. He looked to Hebron with a look of pleading for help.
"You summoned more power for the duel than you did against the ogres, didn't you?" Hebron asked. "And you've been trying to quench the power ever since haven't you?"
"Yes."
"You need to accept the burden. Don't fight it. You aren't well because you're fighting it. Perhaps the time has come for the next stage of your training."
"Might I ask? How long ago was Derick your apprentice? He looks to be older than you."
"He left my tutelage only twenty years ago. He shouldn't look old."
"He's ancient."
Hebron reached out and grabbed Juxta's shoulder. "The only thing that would cause that kind of aging is if he is fooling with Demonology, which is bad business."
"Bad? Bad how?" Juxta asked.
"Tomorrow. Get some rest. You need it," Hebron said. "Don't think about Derick or ogres or magic. Think about good things, maybe from your youth, harvest time, your family."
Juxta stopped trying to wrestle with the burden he carried.
*
Simon made his way back to his squad. A squad that had looked high and low for him. His sergeant scolded him quite severely for not being informed of Simon's mission. His squad mates taunted him, saying things like, "Hey, it's the lost ranger," and "Next time you leave the barracks, draw a map, then you'll be able to find your way home." Simon didn't mind. He probably deserved a certain amount of kidding over it.
Chapter 8
The next day Hebron gave Juxta a Druidic book. The old wizard said, "You don't have to read the entire text, but there are three incantations you have to memorize." Juxta started to read. It detailed fashioning a mage's staff. The first incantation wakes the tree, while the second asks for the gift of a branch, and the third heals the tree. The spell's intent was that it be used by an apprentice and master at the same time with the master feeding energy to the apprentice.
The book gave brief hints that the casting was long and tiring. The book took Juxta all of a week to decipher and sort out. He memorized the three incantations and went to Hebron with the book in hand. Hebron smiled at him. "You're ready?"
Juxta nodded.
They mounted their horses and left the city in the early morning.
"Your life changes today, my young friend, if you go through with this. If you meet a woman, you'll outlive her," Hebron said. "If you serve a king, you'll help bury him. Every friend you make, every mortal you meet, you'll outlive them all."
"I've thought about it in the past," Juxta said. "I want to be a magi."
They headed north and then west. Juxta passed up tree after tree, dismissing whole groves with barely a glance. An ancient tree stood alone next to the rocky shore of a stream. At its base it was bigger around than the arm span of a half-dozen men.
"This is the one," Juxta said.
"That tree is old. You should pick a younger tree. I don't think you can awaken that giant."
"I wish to try. This tree can give up a branch with less pain than a younger tree. Also, please let me do this alone. I don't want you to add your energy to mine."
"I've done this fourteen times," Hebron said. "I think we should do it the way the book says to."
"The book doesn't specifically say not to cast the spell my way."
"That's true. Go ahead. I guess I'll just watch."
Juxta started the first chant pouring power into the words.
Break the Peace, Awake
Wake the Ancient, Take
He dove deep into the well of power he carried. Nothing happened. He repeated the chant over and over. The wind picked up. Hebro
n shouted, "Use Dragon's Fire!"
Juxta grimaced, refusing to use the crutch. He would wake the tree. He repeated the chant over and over. Then he started to get mad at the tree. Stupid tree, all he wanted was one branch, and this tree had plenty. Juxta thought of burning the tree down. That would show it. Then an image of ogres flashed into his mind, and his rage started to boil. His well of power flowed with renewed vigor, and the power drew itself towards the ring. Juxta channeled his energy for the chant through the Dragon's Fire ring. He poured all he had into the chant. The wind raced around him, kicking up whirlwinds of dust and leaves.
Break the Peace, Awake
Wake the Ancient, Take
Who disturbs my sleep? Echoed in Juxta's mind.
Juxta shouted, "My name is Juxta!"
What do you want, Human?
"A branch for a staff, great one!"
Juxta started chanting the second incantation.
Give the Rift, Gift
A Branch, a Branch
He poured all his power into it. He started to notice the shadows, from rocks and shrubs, moving rapidly when they should be creeping across the rocky terrain.
What promise will you give me?
The book didn't mention anything about any promise. Juxta said, "What promise do you require?"
The last wizard-human I gave a staff to broke his promise.
Juxta summoned more and more energy for the incantation. "What promise?"
You must put to use all of the limb I give you.
"Agreed!"
You must revisit the grove from time to time, year to year.
Juxta couldn't be sure if he understood the tree properly being his first conversation with a tree after all. But, grove? The tree stood alone. Nonetheless, he knew he could revisit the spot, for it was on the king's land.
"I agree!"
Juxta continued the incantation, pouring power into the Dragon's Fire ring and the spell. The sun marched across the sky. He looked up at the tree, and it started to bloom in brilliant blue blossoms.
Juxta, Magi Page 7
