Tommy blushed a little at the mention of Mae’s name. “You knew about that?”
Micah returned wry grin. “Anyone who has eyes knew about that, Tommy. You’ve been spending almost as much time trying to teach her as you have studying your material. But Tommy, the fault does not lie with you. If anything, the fault lies with Mae. She’s only focused on the methods that she knows and has studied, and she’s hasn’t considered the simple truth – that you have discovered a new way of working magic that no other mage has discovered before.”
Tommy blinked. “I’ve discovered something new?” He’d thought his spell was innovative, to him. An interesting trifle, perhaps a way of doing something differently that other people had done before, but it never occurred to him that he’d discovered something unique.
Micah nodded. “You have an interesting way of looking at magic, Tommy. Probably because, unlike most of the students here, you’ve only just begun to study it. You have no preconceived notions, no bad habits to unlearn before you can learn. It gives you a new insight into the workings of spells. A fresh pair of eyes, if you will. I only hope that you can maintain that fresh viewpoint as you become more skilled, and learn the things that you need to know in order to really become one of us.”
Tommy nodded, thoughtful. “I’ll try my best,” he said, although he honestly had no idea how to go about that.
Micah seemed to accept his answer, however, and changed the subject. “While we are talking about Mae… Tommy, do you realize Mae probably doesn’t even notice you are interested in her, right? She’s been so wrapped up in being scholarly for so long that it doesn’t even occur to her that someone might find her attractive, and if she did notice, she’d probably just want to study the phenomenon.”
Tommy grimaced throughout his instructors speech. Finally, he burst out, “Is there anyone in this school who doesn’t know that I like Mae?”
Micah threw back his head and laughed. “Unfortunately for you, Tommy, Mae is probably the only one.”
Chapter Twenty-three
After his meeting with Micah, Tommy went to the dining hall to get some food, still mulling over the man’s words. He knew that he was a channeler, and that that meant that he was able to focus and refine more magical energy that most mages could dream of. He hadn’t failed to notice the looks that his other classmates had given him following that discovery. Some of the looks were envious, some of them were looks of respect, but invariably, all of them made him feel like something foreign. Like an outsider who was isolated from the rest of the students at the school. Tommy decided, as he pulled open one of the double doors leading to the dining hall, that he would keep Micah’s words secret. He didn’t need any more jealous looks, and he was sure to get them if he went around bragging about discovering new spells. Mae would just have to keep trying to puzzle it out on her own. It would keep her interested in him, at the very least.
When Tommy got his food and arrived at the table the group normally sat at, he noticed that James and Ryan were not there. In fact, it was only Mae and Mary who were there, and Tommy quickly realized he’d be giving no lessons today. Mae and Mary were right in the middle of a heated debate.
“Clearly,” Mae was saying, “Magic is not a new discovery. There have been stories of magic and wizards for thousands of years. Therefore, we must assume that, for some reason, the magic went away for a while, and for some other reason, it came back.”
Mary, however, shook her head. “There have been stories of dragons for thousands of years, too. Yet there’s never been any indication that they existed. No fossils, no records, no nothing. Besides, how would an animal breathe fire like that, anyway?”
Mae was insistent. “How would something breath fire? Well, MAGIC, of course! And what about dinosaurs? Primitive people could have found those skeletons, and conjecture that dragons might exist.”
“It’s a long leap from seeing some fossilized bones to creating a creature that breathes fire, Mae.”
“So what? It’s a long way from hearing thunder to believing that angels are bowling, of all things, yet my mother told me that for years, and I believed it. Besides, you are diverging from my original argument – that magic must have existed at one time, and that it went away for a while. What if it goes away again?”
“What if the world ends tomorrow? What if you have a heart attack in bed tonight? It’s possible, you know – the way you eat, all that fat and no vegetables. I’d say it’s a lot more likely than magic ever going away again, but even so, what does it matter? If magic goes away, we all go back to normal people. We don’t have to hide any longer,, we don’t have to get sent to prison or treated like something less than human. In a way, it would be a blessing.”
“Speak for yourself,” Mae countered. “I wouldn’t want to live without magic. And I think if you think about it, you wouldn’t either. Going back to being a normal person would be so… Dull.”
Mary sighed. “What I was trying to say, was, it’s a pointless thing to worry about. If magic is going to go away again, then it will, and nothing we can do is going to stop it. We might as well not worry about it, there’s no sense borrowing trouble from something that may or may not ever happen.”
But Mae was shaking her head again. “That’s short sighted. If we can understand why the magic came back, then we can understand why it went away, and maybe someday we can figure out how to keep it from going away again. Or even,” Mae continued, her eyes shining in the light of the dining hall, “strengthen it.”
“You don’t even know for sure that the magic ever went away to begin with. What if… what if we created the magic, ourselves? What if it’s the strength of all our human imaginations, finally reaching a critical mass, and creating something that wasn’t there before? Or, heck, I don’t know. Something like that. There’s a lot of people on the planet. More than there ever has been.”
“That’s completely ludicrous!”
“It’s no more ludicrous than any of your theories!”
Tommy finally chimed in. “Well, I don’t know. Micah told me once that light magic was created by people’s hopes and dreams, and that dark magic was created by their fears and nightmares.”
Both women turned to regard Tommy, looking at him like a fly they’d suddenly found floating in their soup.
“That’s completely ridiculous!” Mae said, and at the same time, Mary started with, “Well, that’s not quite right…” The two women cut off and paused to regard each other for a moment, then Mae began speaking in the lecturing tone that Tommy had learned to know so well.
“Although it may seem like that to a casual observer, I believe that both light and dark magic are actually refined by human emotion. You do know that just about any person can learn to be a mage, right?” Mae asked, then continued when Tommy nodded. “Strong human emotions affects the magic around them, just like we do when we channel it, only we are doing it on purpose. Just like when we align the magic to an element, like Fire or Water, people can align the magic around them with their emotions. You wouldn’t notice it at all for one person, or even ten, but a large group of people suffering, or being excited, or feeling any other strong emotion can affect the magic around them.”
“… and thus, could have created the magic in the first place!” Mary finished, but Mae just rolled her eyes.
“So could anyone use light and dark magic, then? If there is enough of it around, I mean?” Tommy asked. He didn’t like to reveal his ignorance in front of Mae, but she knew that he didn’t come from a magical background, and she often explained things in a way that, while long winded, was still something Tommy could understand.
“Only with very special and time-intensive training” spoke a new voice from behind Tommy, and when he turned around, he saw that Micah was standing there, holding a tray full of food that looked nearly identical to the one that Tommy had in front of him.
Suddenly, Tommy became aware of what was going on around him. The entire dining hall was dead sil
ent, which was a rare thing – normally, there was at least a small buzz of conversation. But none of the students were eating. They were, one and all, sitting and staring at Micah… and at Tommy.
“May I join you, if I’m not interrupting?” Micah asked, gesturing with his tray at an open seat next to Tommy.
Tommy didn’t get to respond, however. He was still too surprised. Instead, it was Mae who said, “Yes, sir, of course, sir, please, it would be an honor, sir!”
Tommy heard a soft chuckle from Micah as the man sat down next to him, and peered at Mae. The sycophantic groveling didn’t fit with her personality – she had always been self-assured and almost cocky about her knowledge, and it Tommy found it almost painful to listen to her be so obsequious.
“As I was saying,” Micah continued as he wrapped a piece of meat up in a slice of bread, and dipped it in the gravy on his bowl, “It takes years of practice to learn how to use light magic. The creation process - being exposed to strong human emotions - makes the energy particularly… slippery… and difficult to channel. And even then, it is of limited usefulness. Dark magic, for example, can only be used to cause pain or hurt. Any attempt to use it otherwise would fail, or perhaps even backfire.” Micah popped the meat and bread roll, now dripping gravy, into his mouth as he finished, and began to chew thoughtfully.
“Thank you for the lesson, sir.” Mae bowed her head at Micah, and made Tommy feel embarrassed on her behalf.
To cover the rising blush in his cheeks, Tommy said, “We were just talking about if magic went away for a while and came back, or if it was something that was created by having so many people.”
Micah’s eyes got a far away look in them. “Created by people?” he murmured. “No… No, I don’t think so.” Once again, Tommy got the feeling that there was more there that his teacher wasn’t saying, and that, if he just waited long enough, the older man would continue.
He didn’t get the chance to wait long enough, however, as Mae chose that moment to have her cockiness reassert itself. “HA! I told you!” she said, jabbing a finger Mary, who flushed red, picked up her tray, mumbled a soft, “Excuse me” to Micah, and turned and fled the room.
Micah stared off at her retreating back for a moment. “What was that all about?” he mused softly. Then, shaking his head, he turned toward Tommy. “This wasn’t supposed to be a lecture opportunity. I came to make sure the food you were getting here was still good. And to ask you a favor, Tommy.”
Tommy was bewildered. What could Micah want from him? “A favor?”
Micah nodded and went on as if he’d expected the question. “Yes, a favor. Remember that stone crafting spell you came up with? The one you used to make that jewelry?”
Tommy nodded in return - How could he forget? Mae had pestered him about it non-stop for over a month.
“Well, I took the liberty of showing the rings you’d made for me to a… friend of mine.” Tommy puzzled momentarily over the pause before the word “friend”. It was like Micah couldn’t really decide what to call the person. “He runs another school, and they were able to take the rings you made and add an enchantment to them.”
Tommy frowned. “Enchantment?”
Micah nodded, reaching to his side and pulling a ring out of his pocket. It looked like the one Tommy had made for Micah, except the one Tommy made was shiny, glossy, grey, and smooth. This ring looked… almost corroded. It had turned a brownish color, and had shallow pits and pock marks across its surface.
“It doesn’t really look like mine…”
“The people at my friend’s school have been able to take the ring you made, and enable it to use magic without someone channeling. This ring, for example, removes poisons and toxins from a person’s bloodstream as they wear it. It’s a fantastic discovery!”
Tommy nodded, and heard a soft, awed noise from Mae. She was staring at Micah, her jaw dropped. “That’s…incredible!” she breathed, too stunned to remember to grovel at Micah.
Micah, though, didn’t appear to notice. “Further, they are willing to share the method of crafting with us, so we could make our own. Even improve upon their design, perhaps. But, Tommy, there’s one catch – in exchange, they want you to go there, personally, and demonstrate your crafting spell for their school.”
Tommy frowned, considering. He didn’t want to let Micah down, but he didn’t really know how he was going to show his spell to an entire school. Surely they could figure it out on their own?
Mae interrupted, echoing Tommy’s thoughts by interjecting, “But, sir… he’s not a very good teacher. He couldn’t even teach me. Sir.”
Micah turned to regard Mae, staring at her pointedly for the first time. “Mae Ramirez… Have you considered that the error might lie with you? I was able to learn the spell from Tommy just fine. You believe that you know everything there is to know about magic. The fact that you are a student at my school proves that you do not. Perhaps you should open your mind and be more accepting of others’ gifts and less blinded by your own.”
Tommy was shocked by the vehemence in Micah’s tone, and Mae lowered her head and stared at her plate, abashed. An awkward silence stretched for several moments, as Micah continued to stare headedly at Mae.
Finally, Tommy could take the silence no longer, and he spoke up in Mae’s defense. “Uh… she’s right, though, Micah. Why me? I’m not a good teacher.”
Micah turned his head to regard Tommy. “You were able to teach me, weren’t you?”
Tommy could only shrug. “Yeah, but… you are… well… YOU. If you know what I mean. Besides, you know the spell, why couldn’t you just go share it with them?”
Micah was shaking his head before Tommy finished speaking. “Another school wouldn’t let me in, Tommy. Mages are very secretive people, and the master of the school would never permit someone of my ability into the school. It’s just too risky. And besides, Tommy… the spell isn’t mine to share, it’s yours. If anyone shares it, it should be you.”
“But… you can share the spell with whomever you like.”
“Don’t be so quick to toss away your discoveries, Tommy. If everyone knows how to do them, they become less special. And mark my words, I think this could be very special.”
Tommy had to think about that for a moment before he made his decision. “Okay, if you think it will help the school, I’ll do it.”
Micah grinned broadly, and clapped his hands together like he often did. “Excellent! I’ll set up the visit and let you know, then.” With that, Micah rose to his feet, picked up his tray, and walked briskly out of the room. Tommy watched the older man’s back recede for a few minutes, contemplating what he’d just agreed to. He turned to ask Mae a question, only to discover that, sometime during his conversation with Micah, Mae had also fled the room, and Tommy was now sitting at the table completely alone.
Chapter Twenty-four
Tommy stumped sullenly back to the room that he shared with Ryan, James, and Sam. What had started out as a interesting discussion between Mae and Mary had turned into both girls being embarrassed and running away, leaving Tommy to finish his dinner alone. Worse, he’d been caught up in the discussion, and the talk with Micah afterwards, and his food had gone cold, so not even the food could cheer him up.
When he finally got back to his room and pushed open the door, he heard a soft slap, like a bare foot striking stone, and the “thump” of a body leaping hurriedly into bed, but when he looked around, both James and Ryan were in their beds, seemingly asleep, and Sam’s bed was still vacant – the younger boy was likely still in class, even at this late hour. Still, there was that noise, so Tommy whispered, “Hey! You guys awake?”
When he got no answer, Tommy shrugged his shoulders. Maybe he’d imagined the noise, or maybe it was James turning over in his sleep – the larger boy was prone to flip-flop noisily in the middle of the night. Tommy got undressed, considered trying to study for a few minutes, and then gave up and went to bed.
Several days passed befor
e Tommy heard from Micah again, and then everything happened very rapidly. One moment he was packing up his tray from lunch and heading to his next class, the next moment Chancellor Duvey was grabbing him by the arm and guiding him down a set of corridors that Tommy had not yet explored.
Tommy was about to object when Chancellor Duvey stopped walking and began speaking in his typical proper, clipped tone. “Lord Micah tells me that you are to go to the school of Lord Nence to demonstrate your spell in a knowledge transfer. Correct?”
“Uh… yeah. Yes, I mean.” Tommy corrected himself at a narrow look from the Chancellor. Tommy had had some small interactions with the man, and he was always a stickler for proper speech.
“Very good. I will instruct you on what you need to know as we walk. Please try to keep up and pay attention.” With that, the Chancellor set off at a brisk pace, and Tommy hurried to catch up. Tommy wasn’t a small boy, but the Chancellors long legs ate up ground, and Tommy was suddenly grateful for all the exercise he’d been getting in his physical fitness classes. It would be embarrassing to get winded simply by walking, despite the brisk pace.
“The school that you are going to is very different from our school. Do you understand?” the Chancellor began, not waiting for Tommy’s reply to the question. “Lord Micah believes in giving students freedom, and in trusting them to be responsible for their own studies. It is, I believe, a side effect of his strong association with the element of air.” Here the Chancellor paused and gave Tommy a significant look, as if to say that he was not to repeat the information. That puzzled Tommy, since he would have assumed that Micah’s affiliation with air was common knowledge. The archmage certainly made no secret of the fact. He didn’t get long to think on the topic, though, because the Chancellor continued.
The Channeler Page 14
