So the class practiced, and practiced more. Eventually, everyone in the class was able to duplicate the spell and enhanced their vision without mishap. Tommy and Ryan favored each other with a big, goofy grin when they both finally managed it. But Micah was relentless; When they successfully cast the spell, he quickly made them dismiss it and start over again. Tommy thought it might be difficult to dismiss the spell, but it turned out to be simply a matter of no longer channeling energy into it - as soon as he stopped channeling, the spell and its effects evaporated.
By the time Micah dismissed the class, Tommy felt confident that he could cast the spell with his eyes closed… which was, of course, essentially what he was doing, working with the magical energy before he was able to see it. Tommy left the room feeling very sure of himself, and very, very exhausted.
Chapter Nineteen
For a while, the days started to just slide by Tommy. He still rarely got to see Mae and Stephen and missed them terribly, but he was enjoying spending time with James, Ryan, Mary, and his new friend, Sam.
His classes continued to go well – he was learning how to craft new spells every day, and although they’d been specifically instructed not to branch out on their own, Tommy thought he could see different ways of doing the same things, or even ways to innovate and create new effects based on the old ones. He was doing pretty good in his academic classes, although not as well as he was in his mage studies – he enjoyed the academic well enough, but found the material not as fascinating as his magical classes.
Still, everything seemed to be going pretty well. Christmas was rapidly approaching, and Tommy was looking forward to getting to see his family during the holiday break. All in all, life was pretty good for Tommy, and there was almost a skip in his step as he headed back to his room after dinner. He’d been having an intense discussion with Mary over dinner, arguing over the motivations of the characters in a book they were discussing in English class, and neither of them had noticed when James, Ryan, and Sam had all left. After the debate, Mary had to go spend some time channeling, so Tommy was walking back to his room alone.
He was in the middle of a reverie, thinking over the argument with Mary and trying to decide how he could have made his point better when he was stopped in his track by an odd thing in the middle of the hallway. It was a small creature - if the word could be used to describe the thing before Tommy. It was small, about a foot and a half tall, and roughly anthropomorphic in shape. It appeared to be made entirely of ash, with hot coals for eyes and tiny claws at the end of its hands. The smell of the thing was horrible – it clogged Tommy’s nose, and reminded him vaguely of a store at the mall that sold rubber masks and other Halloween-type outfits and decorations year round. The smell was like moldy rotting plastic left too long in a damp room with no ventilation, and it made Tommy want to retch. Tommy took an involuntary step backwards as the thing opened its mouth and hissed at him, spraying a tiny jet of flame into the air as it did so.
Tommy was about to turn and run from the thing when it lept high into the air, straight at his face. Tommy shrieked in terror and his feet tangled together as he tried to turn to run and step backwards at the same time, and he ended up falling backwards onto his back, sending the textbooks and notepads that he had been carrying flying into air and skimming across the floor. The wind flew out of Tommy’s lungs, but his falling might have been fortunate – the ash creature ended up crashing into the floor instead of Tommy’s throat.
It didn’t pause for long, though. The thing was quickly back on its ashy little feet, and turned to hiss at Tommy again as he struggled to both breathe and rise at the same time. The creature lunged at Tommy, and he put his hand up to ward the thing off. Its little claws scored a series of deep scratches across his arm that burned like nothing Tommy had ever felt, and he let out an involuntary shriek as the smell of burning hair and skin mingled with the rotting plastic scent of the creature.
Clutching his arm, Tommy scurried backwards until he knocked his head painfully against the stone wall of the corridor. The thing continued to stalk him, however, and made as if to lunge at him every time he tried to stand up. After a few such attempts, the thing actually did leap, straight at Tommy’s face, with its sharp little claws extended toward his eyes. Tommy screamed and tried to channel, but he was far too afraid and the magic would just not come.
Tommy was sure he was about to be blinded by the horrid little creature when a thick, dull-grey sword flashed from behind his head. He felt the wind of the blade’s passing in his ear right before it struck the creature, and Tommy noticed silvery runes set in the blade flare to life as it hit, cleaving the creature in twain and sending the two pieces sailing several feet down the hall. The halves of the creature struck the floor and burst apart, sending ash and tiny hot coals that quickly cooled scattering across the clean stone floor.
Tommy looked up and was surprised to see Lord Kalish there, dressed in his normal long, flowing robes, his massive broadsword gripped in one strong fist. The man extended his other hand down to help Tommy up, and he accepted it and gratefully rose to his feet.
“What… what was that?” Tommy asked his teacher.
“An abomination, yes?” Lord Kalish replied. “Something you were told not to do.”
“Me? I didn’t do it!” Tommy protested, and Lord Kalish replied with a grunt that could have been taken for either doubt or acceptance, but he continued to stare at the scattered ashes for a few moments before Tommy realized he was sniffing the air.
“Ugh, what is that smell? It’s horrible!” Tommy asked, and was incredible surprised as Lord Kalish turned toward him and leveled his sword at Tommy’s throat.
“And how is Mister Nelson able to sense that smell, hrmm?” Lord Kalish asked in a curious voice that was full of placid anger.
Tommy babbled, terrified for the second time in mere minutes, and managed to stammer out, “I… I… don’t know? It smelled like old plastic.”
Lord Kalish pushed his sword further toward Tommy’s throat, and it was only when he backed into the wall again that Tommy realized the man had been forcing him backwards. “It is only those who have touched the darkest magicks that can smell that scent, yes? So tell Lord Kalish, Mister Nelson, when have you been touching dark magicks? You created this abomination, yes?” Lord Kalish leaned in a bit further with the sword.
Tommy didn’t know what to do. “I didn’t! I never, I swear!” he managed to stammer. “An evil mage used black magic on me! I mean, before I came to the school! That’s how Micah found me! You can ask him if you don’t believe me!”
Lord Kalish stared at him for a long moment before lowering his blade and sinking to a single knee next to Tommy. Tommy realized he’d been holding his breath, and let it out with a sigh of relief. Lord Kalish simply reached out and grabbed hold of Tommy’s arm, turning it over to expose the wound where the creature had scratched him. There were three long gouges on Tommy’s arm, not overly deep but extremely narrow, like a bad paper cut, and scabbed over with burned skin. Lord Kalish held his hand over the scratches, and the hurt faded and became an intense itching sensation that had Tommy squirming in the older man’s grasp. “Be still!” Lord Kalish barked, and Tommy did his best to grit his teeth and deal with the itching. After just a few moments, the itching faded, and Lord Kalish swept his hand along Tommy’s arm. The burned skin fell away leaving behind skin that looked pink and newly healed.
“You will have a small scar, yes?” Lord Kalish said, still gripping Tommy’s wrist in one of his rough, weathered, leathery hands. “But you will listen to Lord Kalish, now.” The man had a very firm tone in his voice, and jerked Tommy’s arm slightly so that Tommy was looking him straight in the eyes. “Your ‘friend’ Lord Micah, he is a good man, yes? This is why Lord Kalish follows him, even though Lord Kalish and Lord Micah do not see eye to eye on many things. But you must not put all your faith in him. Lord Micah is still a man, no matter that the other members of the school like to pretend otherwise.
Mister Nelson should follow Lord Micah, and learn from him, but you must not be blind in your following. Lord Micah plays a very deep and hidden game, yes? Everything Lord Micah does, he does for a reason, and neither Lord Kalish nor Thomas Nelson will know that reason until the game is done. Do you understand, Mister Nelson?”
Tommy didn’t really understand. “You make him sound so… cold. Calculating, I guess,” Tommy protested.
Lord Kalish nodded; it was not the reaction Tommy expected to get. “Calculating, yes. This is a good word to describe Lord Micah. You must remember this word when you deal with your ‘friend’. A man like Lord Micah does not have friends. A man in Lord Micah’s position must not let himself see people, but instead see tools to be used, yes? Remember that Lord Micah does the things that he does for his own reasons, and those reasons are likely to be what is best for Lord Micah or for the school, but perhaps NOT what is best for Mister Nelson, yes?”
Tommy was thoughtful, but he nodded. He understood what Lord Kalish was saying, even though he didn’t agree with it. Micah calculating? It couldn’t be so. Micah was warm and caring and always bore that knowing, half-smile on his face that made him look like he was about to tell a joke. Lord Kalish took his nod as acceptance, however, and stood up, sniffing the air once more.
“Gather your things and come along, Mister Nelson.” Lord Kalish paused briefly to allow Tommy to gather his books and papers before he swept down the hallway, still sniffing the air, and Tommy hurried after. They walked directly to the door to Tommy’s room, where Lord Kalish paused briefly, sniffing the air, before turning and going inside.
The room was as it should be, except for James, sleeping on his bunk, still in his clothes and shoes. Lord Kalish sniffed the air again, and narrowed his eyes and stared at James for a long moment. Tommy sniffed, too. He thought he could detect a faint hint of the scent, but the smell was so pungent that he couldn’t be sure if the air in the room bore the rotting plastic scent, or if it was still clogged in his nose from before. Either way, it made Tommy rub his nose.
Lord Kalish stood in the doorway for awhile, still peering intently at James, before he turned and whispered, “Remember what Lord Kalish has told you, yes?”, and then without another word he swept back down the hallway, leaving Tommy alone in the room with the still-sleeping James.
Tommy slumped down on his bed still dressed, sure that he’d not be able to rest, but the adrenaline from the event drained out of him, and he quickly slipped down into sleep, where he had a night full of dark dreams about Micah chasing him through the school’s halls wearing a rotting rubber mask.
Chapter Twenty
It was exactly one week after the event with the creature that Tommy found himself outside the school, in the protected “courtyard”. He had been assigned several chores that were supposed help the school while giving him an opportunity to practice his magical ability. In this case, he was using magic to cause the ground to erupt in a long series of miniature explosions that were creating long furrows in the ground that a farmer would use for planting. He’d had to work the spell out for himself; it was part of his education that he do so, and Tommy suspected that the farmers would have found it quicker and easier to plow the fields themselves, but it was work that had been assigned to him, and he was determined to see it through.
The work wasn’t particularly difficult, but it was tiring – creating a series of small but controlled explosions to furrow the ground was a lot of repetitive work – channel, focus, release, over and over again. Tommy suspected that was why he’d been assigned this task – to give him practice doing an extremely repetitive task while trying to avoid making him feel like he was doing busy work.
The air was warm, and Tommy was working up a bit of a sweat with the effort. He used his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow, and as he did so, he noticed something from the corner of his eye. Micah and several other people had just come out of the front doors of the massive building Tommy had learned was the Hall of the Paladins. Tommy tried to watch the men without seeming like he was staring. He could see that the men were talking, but he was way too far away to hear what was being said. Finally, the men all shook hands with Micah one a time, and dispersed in different directions. When the last man was gone, Micah looked straight at Tommy and met his eye. Tommy felt like Micah knew he’d been watching them, and was embarrassed to have been caught snooping; he felt the blood rush into his face as quickly turned his attention back to the field and began making more furrows.
Glancing back, he saw that Micah was striding toward him across the courtyard. He paused to exchange some words with a farmer who was busy planting another field that Tommy had already furrowed. Then two men spoke for a minute, shook hands, and then Micah resumed his trek over to Tommy.
“You are doing that the hard way, you know.” Micah said to Tommy when he was close.
Tommy regarded his work in the field. His small explosions threw dirt and rocks everywhere, and it was very messy. He’d been sure that there must be an easier, and cleaner, way to do the work, but he hadn’t been able to figure out just what it was, yet. He expressed as much to Micah, who nodded.
“Do it again,” Micah asked, and Tommy obliged.
“Yes, see,” Micah instructed, wiping away a small bit of dirt that had hit him in the face. “You are using too much fire and air in the spell, and not enough water. That’s why you are getting ‘explosion’ instead of ‘hole’. Here, let me show you. Enchant your sight.”
Tommy obliged, and colors and sensations exploded into his vision. Micah’s eyes glowed a faint bluish color, and Tommy knew that the older man also had his vision enchanted. There was something new that Tommy hadn’t seen before, however. To Tommy’s enhanced vision, Micah appeared to be surrounded by a shimmering, golden field – almost like a prism or some sort of faceted gem, except less solid and more ephemeral. He was about to ask about it when Micah distracted him.
“Now, watch how I do it.” Tommy watched as Micah plowed the field in one smooth, long furrow. There were no explosions, no dirt getting flung everywhere, and overall it seemed to take a lot less effort. Tommy nodded his understanding, then tried it himself as soon as Micah stopped. It took a few tries – the first time, he made the spell too strong, and dug a very deep furrow that Micah helped him fill in. But after a few attempts, he had it down pat and the work went much more smoothly.
“Thank you so much,” Tommy said, full of genuine gratitude. “I had to try to figure it out myself, and I guess I didn’t…”
Micah interrupted Tommy mid-sentence. “I heard about your little run-in in the hallway outside your room, Tommy.”
Tommy was surprised by the change in topic. “I… I didn’t do it. I think Lord Kalish thinks I did, though.”
Micah shook his head. “No, Kalish suspects James. I’m not entirely sure that I don’t, as well. It would make sense, after all. Often, when people are struggling to keep up with their peers, they become tempted to turn to the darker arts in an attempt to take the easier path. Particularly folks like James, who have never had to work for anything in their whole lives.”
Tommy was somewhat shocked. “No,” he said. “Not James! He wouldn’t try that! Why would anyone do that, after you warned us not to?”
Micah sighed and looked off into the distance for a moment before replying. “Evil is not fanged and horned, like in the stories, Tommy. Evil is insidious. Evil wears a congenial smile and a brightly colored shirt. It doesn’t attack you to your face, but instead whispers in your ear, leading you slowly but steadily off the path of righteousness in a series of small but perfectly reasonable steps, each one taken with the purest of intentions at heart, but leading inexorably to increasingly darker deeds until the light is just a memory, and the only paths open lead to more darkness.” He turned back to regard Tommy. “Do you understand what I’m saying? Almost no one sets out to corrupt themselves. They think, ‘Just a little bit, to help me catch up. I can handle just a little bit.’ But then th
e little bit turns into more. Now it's, ‘Just a little bit more, just enough to get ahead. I can handle a little more.’, and before you know it, the person is lost.”
Tommy nodded thoughtfully. He could see how things like that could become seductive, but he just couldn’t wrap his head around why someone would try something that dangerous in the first place. If people KNEW that a little bit would lead to more, why did they even try the little bit? And James! James was his friend! He was certain no one he knew and called friend would ever try something so deadly.
“Which reminds me, I’ve brought you a little gift,” Micah’s words intruded on Tommy’s thoughts.
“A gift?”
Micah nodded and drew a small item from his pocket. It was long and thin, almost the length of Tommy’s hand, and narrowed toward one end like a greatly oversized needle but without a sharp point. And it looked to be made of gold, or some gold-like metal – it shone faintly in the fading light – and Tommy’s enchanted vision detected a shining light moving over the surface, almost like sunlight shining through water. Micah turned it over in his hands a few times before presenting it to Tommy thick-end first.
“It’s beautiful, but what is it?”
Micah shrugged. “There are some who would call it a wand, just because of its shape and perhaps its function, but the proper term for it is a ‘spell binder’. Honestly, it could have been made in any shape, this one was just convenient for the purpose. It contains all the makings of a spell. In this case, a very specially crafted spell that will do incredible damage to a creature made from dark magic, but that will not harm anything else. The spell is there; all you have to do is provide the energy and point the spell binder.”
The Channeler Page 12
