The Wizard Book

by Radu Aldea

  The Wizard Book

  By

  Radu Aldea

  Copyright ©2015 by Radu Aldea

  All rights reserved.

  Acknowledgements

  My thanks to everyone who with their ideas and their diligent work have made this book better. You know who you are and, without you, this novel wouldn’t be nearly as good. Any mistakes that remain are mine, but, because of your help, hopefully, there aren’t as many of them. To all of you who took the trouble to read The Wizard Book, I am in awe and you’ve been amazing.

  Table of Contents

  Map

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

  Chapter five

  Chapter six

  Chapter seven

  Chapter eight

  Chapter nine

  Chapter ten

  Chapter eleven

  Chapter twelve

  Chapter thirteen

  Chapter fourteen

  Chapter fifteen

  Chapter sixteen

  Chapter seventeen

  Chapter eighteen

  Chapter nineteen

  Chapter twenty

  Chapter twenty-one

  Chapter twenty-two

  Chapter twenty-three

  Chapter twenty-four

  Chapter twenty-five

  Chapter twenty-six

  Chapter twenty-seven

  Chapter twenty-eight

  Chapter twenty-nine

  Chapter thirty

  Chapter thirty-one

  Chapter thirty-two

  Chapter thirty-three

  Chapter thirty-four

  Chapter thirty-five

  Chapter thirty-six

  Chapter thirty-seven

  Chapter thirty-eight

  Chapter thirty-nine

  Chapter forty

  Chapter forty-one

  Chapter forty-two

  Chapter forty-three

  Epilogue

  Aleyna kept drifting from blank unconsciousness to ridiculous dreams and back. Sometimes those dreams became inescapable nightmares. She was cold and wet in most of them and in the worst she was drowning. The cold was bad enough, but it was the drowning that made her feel a terror that overcame her senses and paralyzed her. She wanted to scream and her lungs filled with water. No sounds came out; there was just the pain of trying to breathe under water. Somehow, Aleyna knew she was dying, drowning in a creek. Memories started to come back to her. The ridiculous part was the creek was not that deep and she could’ve crossed it easily. The water was waist high at its deepest. She would’ve laughed if it wasn’t so stupid. All she had to do was wake up and she couldn’t. It was luck that the water was not flowing very fast and there were no rapids or waterfalls. If she hit a big boulder or encountered a waterfall she would be really dead. Not that she was far from that now.

  Map

  Please forgive this graphically challenged author for the quality of the map.

  Chapter one

  They stumbled upon the clearing in the grove. It wasn’t very large and the trees were not very impressive, but they didn’t want to spend the night there. It wasn’t going to get dark for another couple of hours and they would’ve continued their journey had they not been so tired. The two men were at the end of their ropes and felt like they couldn’t go on further.

  One of the men was old, although of an indiscriminate age. He had slick shoulder long gray hair and a short beard. He had an aquiline nose, which gave him an air of distinction – the nose was not really necessary for that, his height, bearing and intense look had the same effect – and big blue eyes that sparkled in the night and could drill into your fears or thoughts. It wasn’t easy to hold your ground when this man looked at you and every move he made screamed he was dangerous.

  He quietly took his bedroll out of his pack and laid it on the hard ground. His movements were slow, deliberate and some would say graceful if not for the nuance of threat they implied.

  “I am going to make us a fire! You go and find us some food,” he said to his companion.

  The other man smiled knowingly. He was young, in his early twenties, tall and well-built. The term ‘dark and mysterious’ seemed to be made for him on account of his short black hair and his deep gray eyes. Unlike the old man’s, his eyes didn’t seem to drill into you, but did something far more subtle: they confused as you drowned in them and made you lose your balance long enough for him to persuade you to do as he wanted. This happened sometimes without you even realizing and on other occasions you were simply not sure what happened and why you did what you did. The simple fact was that he was equally dangerous.

  “Why is that I always get to do the difficult task, Master Serratus?” From the way he spoke the words, it was clear he was joking and not showing the proper respect for someone supposed to be his Master.

  “Because, Michael, you still need to learn. And I am your teacher, not your master.”

  “I think we are past learning how to hunt a rabbit or some other creature.”

  “Perhaps, Michael, but it will be dark soon and these woods are dangerous. You need to learn to always mind your surroundings. This will be a very good exercise.”

  Michael wanted to answer him that, in fact, he had learned too much for this to be a good exercise. Hunting a rabbit was quite a simple thing. They did need to eat, though. And his teacher was determined to have him go in the woods and catch food.

  Meanwhile, as Michael was complaining in his thoughts, Serratus started the fire. He didn’t actually go and collect the wood. The wood just appeared in the place where the fire would burn later, already stacked for someone to light a match. Of course, no match was needed. A ball of fire appeared in Serratus’ hands and he directed it to the stack of firewood. It took only seconds to build a considerable fire.

  “Show-off,” Michael whispered to himself but he wasn’t sure if Serratus had heard him. Although Serratus didn’t show any sign that he had. He did that sometimes, let you believe he wasn’t paying attention, or he had missed something. Michael knew enough not to fall for the old man’s tricks or tests.

  “When will we find it?” Michael asked before he went to catch some food.

  “I told you before I am not sure. This is very complicated and we have to be patient. It hasn’t been seen in three hundred years. It’s not like going to the market and buying cabbage.”

  “Some say it never existed, that it’s just a myth. Others that it was lost forever during the wizard wars,” Michael replied coldly, but he was also cautious to read every reaction just in case the old man slipped.

  He didn’t. His face was just as blank and unreadable as ever. Michael, just like Serratus, could easily hide his thoughts or feelings, simple proof the old man was a very good teacher. He also knew that you eventually made a mistake. Everybody makes a mistake in the end. Sometimes, somebody would look into your eyes and simply know what you were thinking.

  “People say a lot of things. That doesn’t mean they are true,” Serratus finally answered and with the same graceful feline movements sat on a log.

  “Perhaps! Still, there might be nothing in it that will help us,” Michael continued cautiously. Getting a clear answer from Serratus often proved to be quite a challenge.

  “I know what’s in it and it will help us. We just have to find it.”

  “I would like it better if we knew where we are going or had a clue to follow.”

  “I know where we are going and I know how to find it,” Serratus answered with some annoyance and eager to end this conversation. Besides, he looked like he was very hungry.

  Michael understood he didn’t need to push this conversation any further. This was the most he would
get out of the old man. He was sure that Serratus didn’t have a clear idea where to go next, but at the same time he knew something worth pursuing. Some secrets are better kept to yourself, he used to tell Michael all the time. Apparently, this was that kind of a secret. Sometimes knowing doesn’t help you at all and it is better not to know, was another thing he said a lot. It sounded so strange in the beginning. Michael couldn’t possibly imagine that could ever happen. He was taught to venerate knowledge. Life had its own way to prove the words of his master right. It was a confusing paradox, but he finally understood the value of not knowing. Knowledge that not knowing could be useful. Many people wrapped their minds around this paradox and it only led them on a dark path. Michael chose not to bother with it. He simply took it as it came: a lesson from life.

  Michael guessed he had delayed looking for food long enough. Besides, Serratus was not the only one who was hungry. He remembered he barely had anything to eat in the morning. It had been a long journey since then and they only stopped for short breaks. Berries and nuts were the usual fare on their way and they still had dry meat and some cheese. A hot, cooked meal was something different, though.

  “I guess I better find us a rabbit or something like that to eat,” Michael said smiling.

  He didn’t wait for Serratus to answer and no answer came. Michael’s eyes turned reflective and a blank expression appeared on his face. Although it seemed his eyes were fixed on a point in the distance and he was staring at it, he wasn’t. He actually wasn’t seeing anything at that moment, not with his eyes anyway. This was his way of checking the surrounding area for possible threats.

  Michael did this on some level all the time. But it usually was something on the back of his mind, a process of thought always running, even if he wasn’t paying attention. This wasn’t his subconscious working and it wasn’t a conscious process either. It had been in the beginning. Now, he was so used to it he barely noticed what he was doing. That was until a silent alarm in his head alerted him of some danger.

  But there wasn’t a clear sign of danger now. He closed his eyes and started to feel the woods around him with his mind. At first, it was just a small round area, with a ten feet radius, and then, when Michael got a grip on it, he started to expand it more and more, until he found what he was looking for. Finding a rabbit was not as easy as he thought. Apparently, there weren’t too many of them in the forest. For a while all he could feel was the vegetation. Michael was so used to it that he ignored it without giving it a second thought.

  Then, he sensed something vaguely threatening. A wild boar roaming about three hundred paces to the north. Wild boars could be dangerous for humans and on occasion attacked them, but they were not a danger to him. All Michael had to do was send a lightning bolt and the boar was done, half cooked even. Another lightning bolt and it would’ve been ready to eat, no fire needed. A wild boar was pretty decent eating, better than a rabbit, and its meat would last longer.

  Suddenly, as the area Michael focused on expanded, he felt something dangerous that would be a threat even to him. It took the wizard a few moments to recognize his mentor, Serratus. He realized he hadn’t put the distance he thought he had between him and their camp. He hadn’t moved as far as he thought. The grove had managed to surprise him. But there should’ve been something more here, rabbit, deer and other animals. Instead all he found was a lousy boar and a wolf.

  Michael decided he had searched the woods enough. On one side he even found the edge of the trees and reached a little further with his mind. There was less there than in the grove. He moved north toward the boar as quietly as he could. He didn’t want to scare the animal. The reason he didn’t send a lightning bolt from a greater distance was because he wasn’t sure he could avoid the trees and the risk of starting a fire that could possibly burn down many of them. It was a sure way to attract attention. And a lightning across that distance, even though it was still day for another couple of hours, could easily be seen.

  It didn’t take long to get close to the wild boar, a safe distance from which the lightning wouldn’t be noticed. There wasn’t much chance for that to happen. The animal was doing its own thing, not concerned about what was going on around him. The presence of another predator in his forest was not something he was used to.

  Michael was preparing to throw the lightning bolt when he decided to check the area around him once more. If you were a wizard you couldn’t be too careful. This time he did it much faster, which meant he didn’t get a detailed reading, but he could still sense the important things. Michael let his mind wander further this time, although the greater the distance, the more his senses got blurred. He felt the edge of the trees, the grassy hills and the mountain lake with cold, clear water, a reminder they were close to the mountains now.

  Then he felt something that brought his mind to a halt and for a moment broke his concentration. He didn’t notice when his dinner ran away from him, by now probably sensing the threat and coming to a correct decision. Michael focused on the powerful presence that had captivated his attention. The presence was familiar, he had felt similar ones before, but the sheer power was staggering. He had never felt so much power from someone of that race. So much for dinner, time to get out of here! His curiosity and his sometimes reckless nature wanted to get a closer look at the person who wielded that much power. This one was certainly his equal, and one of the kind who scared even wizards. His reasoning faculty took over and he decided to put his curiosity on hold and run to Serratus. When he took the first steps he felt something on the other side of the grove. It was massive, but it wasn’t the same kind of power he felt before. The details came in and Michael realized he sensed lots of humans and iron. This only meant one thing, soldiers were coming in fast from the other side and they were caught between a rock and a hard place. He quickly devised some plans to get out of here: they could double back, or they could take on the soldiers, or they could move towards the lake. All these plans had a good chance of success.

  Michael flew across the distance that separated him from camp and all this time he kept tabs on the powerful presence near the lake and the soldiers who were cutting the distance to the grove fast. And when he was close to the camp he realized the soldiers were not heading for the grove, they were moving fast toward the lake. This escape would be a lot easier; nobody was looking for them and his curiosity and rashness surfaced again. Michael wanted to know what was happening.

  Serratus knew he was coming, of course, but he was clearly disappointed when he saw there was no food. One look and Michael understood his mentor didn’t know what was happening just outside the woods. And then he saw the fire, which was like a beacon. He swore and sent a lash of water to extinguish it although by now he was quite sure nobody was paying any attention to the grove.

  “What is happening?” Serratus asked, realizing something was wrong.

  “There’s a senator near the lake just outside the trees.” Michael took a moment to regain his breath. “And soldiers are heading in that direction.”

  “Damn! Are you sure it was a senator?” Serratus swore when he didn’t get an answer and already started to gather his things. “We have to get out of here, now!”

  “Perhaps we should go to the edge of the trees and see what’s happening. The soldiers are coming for the senator, not for us.”

  “They are probably the senator’s guards. He knows we’re here and he called them.”

  “I think the senator is a female! And it’s just one senator, a powerful one, I admit, but just one senator. She certainly is not a match for two wizards. Neither are the soldiers.”

  “Still, this could draw a lot of attention on us, Michael. Attention we do not need.”

  “Yes, but if I’m right, soldiers are attacking a very powerful senator. That is a major development. Don’t you want to know if this is happening?”

  “How powerful is this senator, exactly?”

  “More powerful than anyone of her kind I’ve seen before.”<
br />
  “You’re just curious to see if she’s pretty, too!”

  Michael smiled knowing that he’d won the argument. And something told him the senatorial woman was more than just pretty, she was beautiful.

  Chapter two

  Kara Arvillia had decided early that morning to take a short trip to the lake. It was a three-hour leisurely walk from her villa and a lot less if they had taken the horses. But they didn’t take the horses that day. Although it took a significant amount of time, this trip was something she usually did. There wasn’t much she could do for entertainment here. Her villa was situated on a remote location chosen mainly because of the defensible position. And Kara chose to avoid the cities – though Hilderfort, the capital of the Western Suttland province was not far and other cities were even closer – because, like many other senators, she didn’t like crowds. And people didn’t like her kind; the senators were dreaded and hated by almost everybody. Not that they would recognize a senator just by looking at him or her if that senator didn’t wear their insignia, which was distinct clothing and jewelry. Some senators chose to wear it because it offered protection, the senators being so feared, rightfully so, that there hadn’t been an attack against one of them in fifteen years. These were the less powerful senators. Someone like Kara didn’t need this kind of protection and seldom used it. Nor could she hope to maintain her anonymity. This was possible for the lesser senators but not for Kara, who was at the top of the senatorial hierarchy.

  Kara walked on the shore of the lake and was tempted to go in. Something told her that the water was very cold, due to the autumn, which had set in one month ago, and the proximity of the high mountains. She dipped one hand in the water and jerked it back immediately. The water was indeed very cold and there was no chance for a swim. She arranged one of the curls of her long, auburn hair behind her left ear. Her ice-cold, emerald- green eyes looked again regretfully at the water. Kara Arvillia was tall, athletic and had perfect features, a highly symmetrical face and ivory-white skin; in short, she was a very beautiful twenty-year-old woman. With her were five guards, two servants and her constant friend and companion since she had been five, Aleyna. Powerful senators never left their homes with such feeble protection and their villas were not inviting homes but heavily fortified residences guarded by well-equipped, disciplined soldiers.