Secrets and Spellcraft

by Michael G. Manning

  The greybeard’s eyes were filled with hate. “Why should I help you then? I’m going to die anyway.”

  Will summoned one of his blood-cleanse potions from storage, making sure the man saw it appear from thin air. “This is the antidote. As long as you take it within six days, you’ll be fine.”

  “Give it to me!”

  He wagged his finger playfully in front of Remi’s face. “That would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it? I need a faithful dog, but you won’t be very loyal if I give you your treat before you do your job, will you?”

  “What’s the job?”

  “I want to see the man who’s been paying you. How that happens depends on you.”

  “You want to meet him? He wasn’t going to see me again. I’m just supposed to leave a note informing him after you’ve been disposed of.”

  “Tell him that I’ve killed your men again and that you need additional money to hire more,” suggested Will.

  “He’ll be furious!”

  Will’s expression was cold and unsympathetic. “Not my problem. You want to keep breathing, don’t you?”

  “I’ll be ruined if I take another payment and still don’t deliver,” whined Remi.

  “I’d suggest taking the money and finding a new place to live.” Will held up Remi’s empty purse. “You’ll probably need it, since I suspect you’re broke now.”

  “You’re evil!” spat the rogue. “I thought you were just a student.”

  “My teacher was far more spiteful than you could ever imagine, Remi. It’s only natural that I would strive to emulate him.”

  “How do I contact you after he replies?” asked Remi sourly.

  “Leave a note for me with Jared at The Hanged Man,” answered Will. “You seem to be on good terms with him already. Make sure you include the time and place you’ll be meeting the target. I’ll also need you to mark him, so I know for certain who he is.”

  “Mark him?”

  “I’ll be watching your meeting. You just need to give some sort of sign, so I know for certain it’s the right man. After that, I’ll follow him.”

  Remi nodded. “Ah, I get you. He’ll probably want to meet at The Mangy Dog. I’ll scratch my head while I’m talking to him. But what about afterward? How do I know you’ll give me the antidote?”

  “Unfortunately for you, you don’t have a choice,” Will answered plainly. “But you might take note of the fact that I only killed one of your men last time.”

  “After today, that’s cold comfort.”

  Will chuckled. “Too bad.” He moved away to the other side of the roof.

  “How do I get down?”

  “Wait a few hours,” advised Will. “Your strength will come back. The rest is up to you.” He cast the climbing spell and descended into the side alley then began making his way back to Wurthaven.

  Along the way, he found another place to hide and changed into his gambeson and mail, adding his steel cap to further confuse any spotters who might be watching for him. He made it to the college wall without incident, and once he was back within the campus he changed back into his brigandine and tunic.

  It wasn’t yet noon, so he was able to make it to his afternoon classes.

  Chapter 31

  All eyes were on him during his classes, but Will was beyond embarrassment. He’d come to accept his reputation and so he kept his head up, boldly meeting the gazes of any who dared stare too openly. Without exception, they all looked away as soon as he met their eyes.

  After Spell Theory, he had his one-on-one with Professor Dulaney. “Your improvement is surprising, Mister Cartwright. I’ve never had a student gain proficiency so quickly.”

  Will had just completed yet another near-useless spell construct, at least in his opinion. He’d frequently complained about what he was being taught, so Dulaney had complied by teaching him a reinforcement spell meant to strengthen stone by reordering its inner matrix.

  According to his teacher, reinforcement spells were important, but seldom used because of the cost to the user. Since Will had continually stated that he didn’t care about costs and wanted to learn real magic, the professor had consented to teaching them to him. Now that he’d finished learning the version for stone, he would next learn a similar spell to alter the properties of steel.

  “Probably because your students are afraid to practice,” said Will acerbically. “I spend most of my free time perfecting what you’ve shown me.” Or other spells, he thought to himself.

  Dulaney didn’t say anything, but his expression was that of a man who thought his student thought too highly of himself. “Be that as it may. Next week I’d like to start you on a fifth-order spell.”

  Will frowned. “You said it would be the steel reinforcement spell.”

  “It will, but not the fourth-order form. There’s a more complex version that allows you to choose whether you’re increasing tensile strength or hardness. It’s a much more flexible spell and it has the additional benefit of being able to work with anything from wrought iron to high-quality steel.”

  Fifth-order sounded like it would be much more difficult to use. He was only barely able to handle the fourth-order constructs that the teacher had given him. “Won’t it take a long time to cast a spell like that? It might be easier to learn separate fourth-order versions.”

  “Challenging you will help your skill grow faster,” said the professor. “Besides, once you get beyond a certain level of ability it won’t matter. A spell that you use frequently can be reflex cast, even if the complexity is high.”

  “Reflex cast? What’s that?”

  “It’s like muscle memory. You don’t have to think about walking or running. You’ve done them for so long your body remembers. Magic becomes like that over time. It happens more with simple spells, but if you use a higher-order spell frequently it will eventually get to the point where you don’t even have to think about it. You’ll have done it so often that you’ll be able to form the construct in the blink of an eye,” explained the professor.

  Doubtful, Will replied, “I don’t think I’ll ever need to cast a reinforcement spell often enough for that to happen.”

  “True, unless you become an engineer. But your overall speed and accuracy with all spell constructs will improve as you get better. Reflex casting will happen naturally with spells that you use often. I can’t help but be curious about what you’ll be capable of in a year or two.”

  “Why?”

  “As I said, you’re learning faster than any student I’ve had, except perhaps for some of the sorcerers, and most of them weren’t as dedicated to spellcraft.”

  “Like Selene?” Will asked idly.

  Dulaney’s eyes lit up. “If you really do know her, then you know what I mean. She was nothing like most of the privileged twits who I’ve tutored over the years. She was diligent and talented.”

  “I’ll do my best to live up to her example,” said Will. He rose to leave.

  “Hang on a moment.”

  “Sir?”

  “I heard about your arrest yesterday. May I inquire what happened?”

  “The blood-price was paid,” said Will, leaving his answer ambiguous. “I’m a free man. Were you worried about me?”

  “Call it professional interest. Master Courtney has been asking about you as well. He’ll be glad to hear you won’t be going to waste in a prison cell.”

  “He still wants me as a test subject, I suppose.”

  “He’s mentioned it a few times,” admitted the professor.

  “In the spring,” said Will. “This term has been too busy for me.”

  “I’ll pass that along.”

  Will left. It was too soon to check for a message at The Hanged Man, so he went straight to the Alchemy building. He still had a lot of work to do.

  He was just setting up to complete the regeneration potions when Professor Karlovic stepped into the workshop. “I see you came back in one piece.”

  Will shrugged. “For now.”
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br />   “I found someone willing to offer you a loan.”

  “I won’t need it,” Will answered abruptly. “My debt is paid.”

  “Then we just need to find buyers for your regeneration potions,” said the professor happily.

  Will had been thinking on that very topic all afternoon. Between the blood-cleanse potions, his sale of the universal antidotes, and what he had taken from thieves, he would soon have well over seven hundred crowns to his name. Not only that, but he could make more in the future, once the Healing Department’s budget reset next year. Money was no longer a problem for him, and the regeneration potions seemed incredibly precious. Too precious to sell.

  “I’ve decided not to sell them,” he told Karlovic.

  The professor was stunned. “You can’t be serious!”

  “I am. If you do happen across someone desperate enough, I might consider it for a thousand crowns, but not less, and I’ll want to know the buyer’s name in advance. There are quite a few people I’d rather not help, for any price.”

  His teacher looked unhappy. “I’ve been loaning you the use of this workshop for free. Have you considered that?”

  Will raised his brows. “Would you like me to pay for the privilege? I’ll be happy to do so.”

  Karlovic was taken aback. “I wasn’t trying to extort you. We’re friends, are we not?”

  “You were planning to get a broker’s fee, weren’t you?” he asked pointedly. The Alchemy professor’s face reddened, but Will continued, “I’m not angry. You should get paid for helping me. I just prefer it if we’re honest with one another. You can ask for a rental fee, or you can hope to make a profit finding buyers if I decide to sell more potions in the future. Either way is fine with me.”

  “Let’s just leave things as they are,” said Karlovic sourly. Then he added, “You’ve gotten awfully jaded for one so young.”

  “It had to happen sooner or later,” said Will uncaringly. “I’m just beginning to see the world for what it is.”

  The professor left, and Will returned to his work. That evening, he finished activating the regeneration potions. He had hoped for eight, but after accounting for losses during the previous stages he only managed to get seven completed potions. With that done he returned to the dorm with several hours to spare before bedtime.

  He settled down at the desk in his room and called up the limnthal, then turned over his hand and looked at the Ring of Vile and Unspeakable Knowledge. “I need some advice.”

  “Wolfsbane,” answered the ring immediately. “It isn’t a pretty death, but it’s quick. You’ll save yourself and everyone else a lot of time and trouble if you take some. Just be sure to melt me down first.”

  Will sighed at first, then found himself chuckling. “You never change.”

  “I don’t have much opportunity,” said the ring. “I’m a piece of jewelry, jackass.”

  “Let me tell you about my day.”

  “Please no,” begged Arrogan. “Not that. Anything but that.”

  Will ignored the ring’s plaintive cries and launched into a retelling of his arrest and subsequent adventure. It took several minutes and when he finished, he asked, “What do you think?”

  “Well, for starters, your storytelling skills could empty a tavern of patrons, but despite that, I have to admit you had a somewhat interesting day.”

  “I was hoping for some practical advice,” said Will dryly.

  “Your solution for that Remi fellow was creative. You surprised me with that. I would have just used a chameleon spell and followed him, but I think you actually have a better chance of finding out what you want to know by doing it the way that you did,” said the ring.

  “A chameleon spell, what’s that?”

  “It’s in the book. Try reading it sometime.”

  Will took out Practical Magic and thumbed through the pages until he found the spell Arrogan had mentioned. His jaw dropped. “This has to be at least sixth-order! I’m not even close to being able to use this.”

  “Cry me a river.”

  He was still curious. “What does it do?”

  “I guess you’ve never heard of a chameleon,” said Arrogan. “How about the cuttlefish, or maybe the octopus?”

  “I’ve heard of the octopus,” said Will indignantly.

  “Well, then maybe I should have named it the octopus spell.”

  “That doesn’t tell me anything. Does it make the caster grow extra arms?”

  Arrogan laughed. “No, lackwit, it’s a camouflage spell. It’s for hiding. It helps your body to blend into its surroundings. It will even change as you move, which is a large part of the reason it’s so difficult.”

  “Octopuses can do that?”

  “And chameleons and cuttlefish to varying degrees,” answered Arrogan.

  Will thought about it for a minute. “It would be handy, if I could cast it. But I can’t learn it in time.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “Follow the man that Remi identifies for me.”

  “There’s a tracking spell in there too. It’s a lot easier,” suggested the ring. “But you have to touch your target. It puts a magical beacon on them that leaves a trail you can follow for hours afterward.”

  “Thanks. I’ll look it up.” He dismissed the limnthal and returned to the book.

  In the past, he had spent most of his time studying one spell at a time, trying to master each in a linear fashion, but he had come to understand that the book wasn’t really a primer for learning. It was a collection of spells that Arrogan had found useful, and as such, there wasn’t any order or planning to how they had been organized in the book.

  He began leafing through the pages, skimming over the titles and trying to get a larger view of what it contained. On the next page past the chameleon spell, he found a fire-starter spell that was just as simple as the basic light spell, consisting of only three runes. “How many times have I needed this?” he wondered aloud.

  Beyond that he found the spell for repelling insects. It was fourth-order, so it was just within his means and he vowed he would put some time into learning it. He might not be able to use it Muskeglun, but his time in the army had made him wish for such an ability hundreds of times in the past.

  On the next page he found a spell that sounded interesting. “Force-lance,” he muttered. It was a simple spell, being only second-order, so it would be simple to learn. From the description, it sounded as though the spell created something like a spear of magical force that he could use to impale opponents. Will felt like hitting himself. “I should have found this sooner.”

  Of course, being second-order, it would still take him several precious seconds to cast, unlike the source-link, which he was already reflex casting. Even so, if he had learned it sooner, he might be able to reflex cast it by then. He was close to being able to do so with the climb spell, and it was of a similar difficulty. “All right. Forget insects for now, I’ll work on this one next.”

  He turned the page and found the tracking spell that Arrogan had mentioned. It appeared to be third-order, so it would take him a bit of effort to learn. Reading through it he wasn’t sure he would be able to cast it quickly enough to use in a high-pressure situation like he might encounter when Remi identified the man who had been hiring him. “Maybe I should work on this first.”

  After that was a spell that promised to shatter glass or anything brittle. Will kept turning the pages. Next was a spell to blur the caster’s form, making him or her more difficult to hit in combat. It was a second-order spell as well, and from his past experiences he could see himself needing it frequently. “Stay focused,” he told himself. “I should learn the force-lance before this.”

  Then he came across the darkvision spell and he had to laugh. It was fifth-order in difficulty, but given his far superior ability to adjust his eyesight, it was utterly pointless for him to learn. He turned the page and found a spell he had wished for since the day he had seen Selene use it.

 
“Renders up to four active enemies unconscious, causing them to fall into a deep slumber,” Will said, reading from the description. He despaired when he looked at the spell diagram, however, for it was firmly within the sixth order of difficulty. It’s much easier just to kill people than disable them, he realized. He couldn’t hope to learn it yet, but he promised himself that when he was capable enough, he would practice the spell until he could reflex cast it. Anything to stop leaving a trail of dead or maimed bodies in his wake.

  There was a warning at the bottom of the page, “Not suitable for use against other wizards.” He wondered if that meant other wizards as Arrogan had known them, or simply anyone able to see and use turyn. It was obvious to him that most spells would fail against a properly trained wizard, but the warning might also mean that practiced casters developed a will strong enough to fend off the effect.

  He moved on to the next page. “Wind-wall,” Will read aloud. He started to skip over the page, but then he paused to look over the description. His excitement grew as he realized he had found the spell that Arrogan had once used against the soldiers attacking Barrowden. It was a fourth-order spell, so he could manage it, just barely, though he would need to be able to cast it instantly the way his grandfather had if he wanted to use it in combat.

  The spell was extremely flexible. It could be used to create an updraft or a downdraft that would divert arrows or even sling stones. There was also a way to shape it into a cyclone that surrounded the user. The only downside was that it used an extreme amount of turyn, so sustaining the spell was nearly impossible without a way to quickly replenish one’s energy.

  Will thought about the day Arrogan had died. The old man had used the spell at the last possible moment to deflect the crossbowmen’s quarrels. As a result, he had been struck with a bolt when one of the soldiers fired early. Even so, it was a testament to Arrogan’s skill and reflexes that he had been able to time the spell so perfectly. The second time his grandfather had used the spell, he’d formed it into a cyclone, and Will still remembered the devastating effect it had produced. All the men within several feet of him had been torn to pieces.