by Rain Oxford
“If she loses all her magic, she’s not much of a threat,” Jeb said. “I say we let the black star come. The fourteen of us and the dragons will be the only ones with magic.”
Mason’s two youngest sisters hugged each other. Mason’s brothers would not let their worry show. Thaddeus pulled out his wand, but I grabbed his arm and forced it down. “I will not sit around and lose magic,” he argued. “I would rather die fighting my mother at full power.”
“If magic disappears, people will turn on each other,” Rita said.
“There will be wars across the world,” Evelyn agreed. “People will not be able to hunt or do their jobs without magic. Without mages, there will be sickness.”
“She has a point. Because of your mages, I doubt your immune systems know how to fight a major disease,” Merlin said.
“Our what?”
Everyone fell quiet for Merlin.
“On other worlds, a person’s body learns to fight sickness and some worlds even have medical science that can prevent sickness. People of Caldaca can fight small colds, but if there is anything serious, you go to a mage and take a healing potion. Without magic, I think the first plague will devastate your world.”
I relayed his worry to the others.
“Fight sickness?” Thaddeus asked. “Is that like fighting a curse?”
“How can you fight something you can’t see?” Gideon asked.
“We kill everyone who is sick,” Jeb answered.
“By then, you will be too late,” Merlin said.
“We can still make healing potions,” Mason pointed out.
“There are only three of us Sjau who have mage magic,” Gideon argued.
“What if we make up enough healing potions before people lose their magic?”
“Impossible,” Rita said. “Why are we even talking about this? Without sorcerers to create sickness, we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”
Most everyone around the table nodded that she had a point, but Merlin groaned and put his paws over his eyes. “Do you seriously think disease is caused by sorcerers?”
“What else would cause it?” I asked.
“We are going to have a very long and complicated discussion later tonight.”
“Great.” I made a mental note to take a healing potion before the conversation gave me a headache. Typically, when Merlin tried to teach me something he knew I wouldn’t easily understand, he sent images directly to my mind. “When Merlin and I get the egg, it will likely show us how to save magic. We’re going to go see Vactarus.”
* * *
“You should take at least one of us with you,” Mason said.
I was in my room, packing my bag. Merlin was sitting on my bed, waiting patiently. Since the castle was full of people who often asked him questions despite him being unable to speak aloud, he rarely left my side. His presence never bothered me, but I was really looking forward to some time away from the castle. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Gideon can fight and heal your injuries. Your brother can fight and he knows how to protect you from your mother.”
Two good points. Thaddeus had tattooed protection symbols on my arms and chest to prevent my mother from finding me, but they had to be redone regularly, since he wasn’t very good at them. It was more wizard magic, so the magic didn’t last like it would if a professional did them. Even with the protection spell, I had to avoid transporting myself or being transported because my mother could still pull me to her if I did. “Should we take someone with us, Merlin?”
“If you think it is best, we will, but you must accept the risks.”
Even though I knew it was safer for us, I didn’t want to risk them getting hurt. Furthermore, Merlin’s advice about being a leader was still weighing on me. He said it would indicate mistrust if we left without them, but the fact was, I didn’t trust all of them completely. If anything happened, I knew how Merlin would react and I trusted him to be level-headed. The rest of them, including my brother, were unpredictable to me. “Merlin and I can handle it.”
“At the very least, take the mirror,” Merlin said.
Mason had a large magic mirror, which he had retrieved from his home after we fought my mother. We could use it to spy on certain events and even talk to other people who had magic mirrors. Since I had gotten a small, portable magic mirror from my aunt, Mason and I could communicate as long as I had mine on me and Mason was in his room.
“If we need help, you can contact him and he can transport anyone to us.”
That sounded like the best option to me. “We’ll go alone, but stay close to your mirror in case we need help.” I grabbed the small mirror from the nightstand. I had tried several times to find the egg with it, but it had merely turned black until it was left alone. Either it wasn’t strong enough to find the egg, or the egg was in a place with no light.
“Something could go wrong.”
I strapped my bow to my bag and stuffed a few arrows into the bag.
“There is no perfect option. Something can go wrong no matter what we do.” Before tying my bag, I pulled out the magic black ball, which I’d gotten from a discount magic shop. I shook it and asked, “Should Merlin and I bring Gideon to help us find the egg?”
Words appeared on the black surface. That’s a silly question.
Chapter 2
Merlin and I left and started traveling south. I knew Merlin was dreading the ship ride we were going to take once we got to the shore, but there was no other way across without magic. Fortunately, I had thought ahead; I got Mason to make up some potions for Merlin that would help prevent him from getting seasick.
We traveled well into the night until Merlin suddenly stopped. His ears perked. “There is trouble ahead.”
“Can you tell what kind?”
He listened for a moment before nodding. “It sounds like bandits.”
“Oh. I think we can handle this.” I closed my eyes and focused my magic into my staff. Make us invisible. I felt my skin tingle as my body slowly faded. When I blinked, I could see through my eyelids.
“I will never get used to this sensation,” Merlin said, also invisible.
“I can transport you to Red Rock if it’s too much. My mother can’t get you.”
“We are stronger together. I am not too bothered. Furthermore, such quick thinking will save your life and mine many times over.”
Nobody in my life had ever complimented me, believed in me, or trusted me until Merlin. Although I thought my father cared about me, he showed it by being tough on me. He made me stronger by teaching me to read, not sheltering me from my brothers, and making me try again and again when I failed at something. Merlin made me wiser by teaching me that magic and life wasn’t black and white, failure was an opportunity to learn, and kindness wasn’t weakness.
Merlin and I continued on the path, soon coming upon a group of five bandits, who were gathered along the right side of the road. They were dressed in dirty clothes, but they were not malnourished. In fact, although the clothes were covered in mud, they weren’t torn or worn thin.
“They’re using their clothes to hide,” I told Merlin in his mind.
“Astute observation, young sorcerer. Let us proceed with haste.”
I nodded, which was pretty useless, and started walking. When the men spoke, it was too quiet to make out, so I ignored them… and tripped over Merlin. “Why’d you stop?” I asked, climbing back to my feet. The bandits all looked up, having heard me trip, but they couldn’t see us.
“I stopped because of what they said. They are looking to infiltrate Magnus’s castle. I highly doubt they could find it in the first place, but that is a dangerous assumption. We should warn Magnus.”
“We’ll use the mirror as soon as we get out of here.” I pushed him gently and we cautiously continued on the path… until Merlin froze again.
“There is a---”
He was interrupted as I stepped forward and encountered an invisible ward. My invisibility spell fell a
way, exposing me to the bandits.
“… a magic wall in front of you,” he finished dryly.
“Thanks for the warning.”
“Halt, wizard,” one of the bandits demanded. I had already stopped, and the five bandits scrambled to their feet.
“You shall not pass!” one of them shouted.
The man next to him smacked him in the head. “Ignore him, he’s overly enthusiastic. You’re being robbed, but don’t fear, because we’re not going to hurt you as long as you cooperate.”
“Well, I appreciate that, but I’m afraid I can’t let you have my money.”
The man frowned and considered me. “You don’t strike me as poor. Surely your gold isn’t worth dying for.”
“I’m neither poor nor wealthy. I don’t actually get compensated for what I do, but I---”
“You work for nothing?” Several of the men scowled.
“I live at a wizard’s castle, so I don’t need much. What I do have on me, I need for ship fare.”
“Don’t you know to carry extra in case you get robbed?”
I shrugged. “I’ve never run into bandits on this road before. I’ve been on it many times.”
“We always guard this road,” one of the other men insisted.
“Why haven’t I seen you before?”
A few of them looked shy. “Well, it was probably because of the new guild rules.”
“Guild rules?”
“All thieves guilds now have rotational vacations. We each get a week off each month. It might be that you only passed on our week off.”
“I’m almost certain you made that up.”
“What are they considering a week?” Merlin asked.
“We have five small moons for every large moon. The large moon is a month and the small moon is a week.”
“How many days are in your week?”
“Five.”
“I had not realized your calendar system was so… decent.”
I focused my mind, inhaled, and exhaled. As I exhaled, I released my magic openly. When I drew my magic back into me, I was able to sense everything my magic had encountered. “The two on the right and the one on the left are sorcerers, but they’re not strong, and the one in the middle is a magician. The one in the back doesn’t have magic.”
This was one of the first spells Merlin had taught me and I used it pretty much daily. It enabled me to search my surroundings for foreign magic, which was magic belonging to anyone other than me. This was invaluable in breaking curses, detecting cursed objects, and summing up my opponents.
I considered my options quickly. While I didn’t want to hurt anyone, Merlin had taught me that denying my sorcery was not the answer. Instead, Merlin was teaching me to control it. In this case, however, I felt like it would be a waste of energy.
“I can give you something better than money. I’ll tell you a story.”
“A story? We can’t buy food with a story.”
“It’ll be worth it. If you’re not completely satisfied by the end of the story, I will give you my money.”
They looked at each other and shrugged. “Alright then. I guess it can’t hurt.”
“Good, then everyone sit and get comfortable.” Merlin and I sat with the bandits in a circle.
“I hope you have a great story in mind,” Merlin said.
“Oh, I do. You know that story you told me the other day about the man and the whale?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Tell it all over again, but pause after each sentence. I’ll relay the story as you tell me.”
As Merlin began the story, I didn’t even listen; I just repeated what he said word for word. Before I was fully rested from our long walk, all five bandits had fallen asleep. When Merlin realized this had been my intention all along, he was not amused.
* * *
After our ordeal, we decided to rest for the night. Well, I wanted to rest. Merlin apparently wanted to emotionally scar me for life and ensure I had plenty of nightmares, because he described what a disease was with great detail.
“… and that is why you produce mucus.”
“Please stop. I can’t take any more. I don’t want to drink water, eat anything, or be near anyone else again.”
Merlin laughed. “Very well. Get some sleep. As long as we save the egg, you should never have to worry about sickness.”
“That is not as encouraging as you may think.” I fell asleep wrapped tightly in my robe. It was the coldest part of the year and I had never bothered to buy clothes warm enough for the winters of Mokora. On Akadema, the weather never got cold enough to freeze water, so it was only through books that I learned of ice and snow.
When I woke in the morning, surrounded by frost, I automatically thought we were attacked by an elementalist or some kind of monster with the power to freeze things. Merlin taught me about dew.
* * *
The next day, we met a number of travelers, some of who seemed strangely skittish. Fortunately, no one tried to rob us again. It was actually pretty surprising to me, since we normally ran into trouble at every turn whenever we left the castle. With the black star coming, I expected the strange and dangerous occurrences to increase.
Merlin had been teaching me dragon magic since I first accidentally used it against my mother. The main difference between Merlin’s magic and mine was that I needed a wand or staff to direct my magic, whereas his was directed by the mind. Without a tool of magic like my wand or staff (or apparently a bow) wizardry or sorcery was likely to explode.
Although I had to focus and imagine what I wanted, that only assisted my wand or staff in interpreting my command. For example, I could tell my staff to turn my skin impenetrable and it could turn me to stone. Thus, I tried not to insult my staff. From my understanding, Caldaca was the only world where people had to have a tool to focus their magic, and the only world where they were limited on the type of magic they could do.
In order to do magic Merlin’s way, I had to control my magic in a way I never had to before. Dragon magic was different. It was stronger than regular magic, but it required special words, and not everyone could do it. Between Merlin and my galaxy stone, I had managed it several times, yet it was unstable and undependable.
Infused in the crystal of my staff was a galaxy stone (also called a dragon’s eye) which gave me special powers over dragons. All galaxy stones were different, as they bonded with the magic of the wizard or sorcerer who owned it. Mine gave me the ability to make a dragon save me or stop attacking, but as it further bonded to me, those powers could change. I was also able to conjure a dragon, although that drained my magic too quickly.
Since we knew it was possible for my mother to strike at any moment, Merlin focused on teaching me anything he thought would help me against her. The hard part was being able to cast a spell on her before she could counter it. Dragon magic required the most emotional commitment. Other-world magic was usually the slowest, but most reliable once I figured out how to do it. My magic was the fastest, but I had to rely on my tool to interpret my orders.
“I am going to teach you a spell to transform metal into wood,” Merlin said when we stopped for some water.
“But I can already do that.”
“Without your wand or staff.”
“Oh. Why?”
“Because you may someday be shackled or locked in a cage without a magic tool, and wood is easier to break free of than metal.”
“I don’t have any metal.”
“Then you shall first practice changing wood to metal.”
We found a thick, short stick. Merlin had me use my dagger to carve a symbol into it. As he sent the mental image of it to me, he said it was the sigil of transformation. Then I focused my mind and visualized it transforming to metal. My magic stirred, looking for a wand or staff. I focused harder, demanded that my magic obey.
And then the stick exploded in my hand.
Merlin sighed.
“I’m sorry.”
“It is not your fault; you were never taught to control your magic because your wand does it for you. We will work on visualization at our next stop. I have an idea.”
* * *
We arrived at a small town at sunset and discussed stopping for the night. We decided to get a meal at the inn, since we knew the innkeeper, and then continue traveling through the night in order to reach Red Rock by sunrise. It wasn’t the safest plan, but most people wouldn’t mess with us because Merlin was a large wolf.
Of course, a werewolf would probably mess with us.
“Is it me, or does everyone seem… tense?”
“I notice it as well,” Merlin agreed.
It was a well-built town with stone buildings in the center and wooden houses surrounding it. Mysteriously, people were quiet or whispered to each other, and as we passed, some of them shut their doors. I didn’t think it was specifically directed at us.
We made it to the inn and found the innkeeper behind the bar, as usual. Sebsan was a large, hairy man who made good food and had no patience for troublemakers. There was nothing fancy or sleazy about his inn. He had plenty of business because of his good food and clean rooms, not because of cheap entertainment. “Hello, Ayden, Merlin,” Sebsan said.
“Good evening.”
“Do you two need a room for the night?”
“No, just food. We’re going to try to get to Red Rock by sunrise.”
He leaned on the bar until it creaked and frowned at Merlin. “Did you agree to that plan?”
Merlin nodded. “We have few options, unfortunately.”
He regularly answered people, even though I was the only one who could hear him. “We’re in a hurry.”
“Young people these days are always in a hurry. It’s not my place to tell you what to do, but be careful. There is something strange out there.”
“Is it a troll? Not all trolls eat people, you know.”
“I do know that, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” Before he could say more, two boys approached us.
