God of Magic 6

by Logan Jacobs

“And we have Theira’s protection,” Lena added.

  “Who you-know-who dragged into our lives,” Lavinia pointed out as she shot a fiery glare at the red-headed elf.

  Aerin rolled her eyes at this, and sat back in her chair, with her arms crossed. She kicked the floor a couple of times, but refused to say anything else.

  “So, tea?” I suggested.

  Chapter 3

  My plan to infiltrate the Tower began the next day. Aerin, Emeline, and I arrived at the sinister column of tinted glass in the morning, ready to make our monthly tithe to the Academy. Emeline managed to maintain her normal facade, but Aerin had reverted to her chatty elf persona before we’d even crossed the threshold.

  “I’m just saying, it seems excessive,” Aerin complained as we stepped into the lobby. “I mean, do we really need two ranges? It’s not like it’s raining gold. Oh, but that would be silly. I mean, if it rained gold. Because then gold wouldn’t be worth nearly as much. I wonder what we’d use for money instead?”

  “Aerin,” I soothed as I grasped her hand. “Take a breath. You haven’t stopped talking for the last two blocks.”

  “I have so,” she protested.

  “You have not,” Emeline replied with a shake of her head. “Are you always like this on tithe day?”

  “She is,” I agreed.

  “I get a little nervous,” Aerin finally conceded.

  “Why?” Emeline asked.

  “You know,” Aerin said as she motioned towards me with her head.

  “What? That you two are having sex?” Emeline smirked. “I don’t think they care about that.”

  Aerin threw her hands into the air and stomped over to the desk. The student on duty was a human woman with tangled brown hair and lovely blue eyes. She was reading a book, and occasionally, she would read a word or two aloud. Aerin rapped impatiently on the desk, and the woman jumped in her seat.

  “Oh,” the woman said as she glanced at us. “Hi, Emeline. Are you taking more classes?”

  “No,” Emeline said proudly. “I’m here with the other mages from my guild. We’re here to make our monthly payment.”

  “You know the place,” the woman replied as she returned to her book.

  “Who was that?” I asked Emeline as we made our way up the stairs, mostly just to keep Aerin from talking.

  “Purple Polly,” Emeline replied.

  “You had to ask,” Aerin nudged me after a moment of silence.

  “Okay,” I sighed. “Why Purple Polly?”

  “One of her experiments went awry,” Emeline said. “She was completely purple from head to toe for nearly a week.”

  “What was she trying to do?” I asked.

  “Create paint that you could eat,” Emeline replied.

  “Maybe she and Lena could get together,” I said thoughtfully. “Imagine what they could come up with.”

  “Oh, by the gods,” Aerin moaned. “Just what this world needs. The two ditziest inventors working together. What would anyone do with edible paint?”

  “Well,” I replied. “Actually, on my world--”

  “No, don’t say it,” Aerin warned. “I refuse to believe it.”

  We’d arrived at the collection office, and the moment of good humor fled. Emeline strode in first, a bit of defiance in her gaze. The clerk on duty looked to be about ten years old, and I glanced around for the cranky old lady who usually managed this post.

  “Where’s--” I stopped when I realized I still didn’t know the name of the woman who usually handled our tithe.

  “Vacation,” the kid squeaked.

  “And you are?” Aerin asked suspiciously as she stared at the clerk.

  “Perfectly capable of doing this job,” the clerk replied. “Names?”

  We gave the clerk our names, and he rifled through a stack of index cards. Satisfied with what he saw, he waved us over to the siphon, the device used by the Academy to remove a small bit of our mana. Every mage in Ovrista was required to participate, and everyone kept assuring me that it was harmless.

  And yet, I hated the thing. It was a soul-sucking device that I was convinced was cutting days, if not years, off my life. Emeline went first, and though she tried to stand straight, I saw her jump when the pump began its work. The sound of rushing water filled my ears, and I closed my eyes to try to block out what was happening.

  It was over in a matter of seconds, and Aerin went next. She placed her hand over the glass orb, and again, the distinctive sound of the siphon that no one else could hear reverberated through my skull. Aerin stepped back at a signal from the clerk and gave my hand a quick squeeze. I took a deep breath and placed my hand over the orb. I felt the dark pull at my mana and watched it flow down my arm towards the waiting orb. I forced myself to relax and let go of the mana, though it was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

  Finally, the clerk nodded at me, and I pulled my hand away before the siphon could take anymore. He did a quick check of the orb, then hopped back to the desk. He pushed the ledger towards us to sign, and we did so quickly.

  “Thank you, come again,” he said blandly as we turned away from the desk. I glanced back, but he had already lost interest in us. He pulled a notebook out from under the desk which he started to read with more enthusiasm than he’d shown towards us.

  “Okay, survived another one,” Aerin said as we stepped into the hallway. “Now we can go home, right?”

  “You know that’s not the plan,” I replied as I glanced down the hallway. Two students rushed by us, followed by a third student in a smoking robe a moment later.

  “Wait for me!” the student in the smoking robe wailed.

  Another two heartbeats passed, and then an angry archmage strode into the hallway. He was a handsome elf, except for the two elephant ears that had replaced his own. Aerin made a choking sound, and I realized she had probably just swallowed a burst of laughter. The archmage scowled at us and then continued his angry march in pursuit of his students.

  “Okay,” I said, “Let’s find Maderel.”

  “Just so we’re clear on this,” Aerin whispered. “I hate this plan.”

  “I think we’re all clear on that point,” I replied as I tugged at her hand.

  “This way,” Emeline ordered as she took the lead. We walked past several more classrooms and then climbed another set of stairs to the top floor. There was a deep, plush carpet on the hallway up here, and a line of portraits along one wall. It felt less like a school and more like a corporate office.

  Emeline walked quietly towards the largest set of doors, which bore a small plaque with Maderel’s name. There was a small cord hanging next to the plaque, and Emeline gave it a quick tug.

  A moment later, the door opened, and a tiny woman in a plain brown dress opened the door.

  “Yes?” she asked as she squinted at us. “Oh, Emeline Sole, is that you? I thought you had graduated.”

  “I did,” Emeline replied. “But we have something we’d like to discuss with Archmage Maderel.”

  “Who are we?” the woman asked as she looked at Aerin and I. “The Archmage keeps a busy schedule. He can’t just see anyone who wanders by.”

  “Maybe we should make an appointment,” Aerin suggested as she tugged on my arm. “We could come back at a later date.”

  “That would be acceptable,” the woman said. She started to close the door, and I quickly grabbed it with one hand. She scowled at the offending appendage, but I didn’t move it.

  “The Archmage invited me to come,” I replied.

  “It’s all right, Ilena,” I heard Maderel’s voice say. Ilena sniffed and stepped away from the door. Maderel took her place, and I released my grip.

  “Shadow Foxes,” Maderel said with an icy smile. He looked sharp today, without a single steel gray hair out of place. His piercing eyes took in our somewhat disheveled appearance and apparently found us lacking. His own mage robes were pristine. “What brings you to my private office? This is an honor normally reserved for a very fe
w individuals.”

  “Umm…” I stuttered. I suddenly found it hard to speak, with the man’s icy glint fastened on me. My plan to weasel information from him suddenly sounded like the worst idea I ever had.

  “Gabriel wanted to talk about your offer,” Emeline replied. There was a slight quiver in her voice, as the icy gaze turned to her for a moment.

  “Is that so?” Maderel said as he quirked an eyebrow at me.

  “It is,” I finally managed to get out.

  “He doesn’t want to be a student,” Emeline continued. “At least, not of the Academy. But if you offered private tutorship--”

  “Perhaps,” Maderel interrupted as he studied me. “You should come in, so we can discuss this.”

  He stepped back from the door and let us step inside. Ilena was seated behind an ornate desk, and she sniffed in displeasure as we crossed into her domain. The room we stepped into continued the corporate theme. There was a small seating area where one could wait, with a few prints on the wall, and even a ficus near the window. Put a computer on her desk, and she could have been in any office in corporate America.

  Maderel led us through another door to his private office. A massive oak desk sat in the middle of the room. A soft leather chair that Maruk would have drooled over was parked behind it, while two smaller but still expensive chairs sat in front of it. There was a row of bookshelves on the far wall, though there were only a few books scattered there. Most of the space was taken up with pieces of art, including a hypnotic piece of glass and a piece of scrimshaw made from what looked like an orc tusk.

  Maderel pulled a third chair from a spot by the window, and the three of us sat down while he returned to his own seat with a flourish. He clasped his hands together and placed them on the desk. His cold stare fell on me again, and I swallowed hard.

  “Tell me what you want,” Maderel finally said.

  “You mentioned once that you thought I could learn to be more than an air mage,” I replied. I cringed at how whiny my voice sounded, but then decided that it might work in my favor. If Maderel wanted to believe that I was a weakling, so be it.

  “I see the potential in you,” Maderel agreed. “Especially since you haven’t had any formal training yet. It opens several possibilities. At least, that’s what I believe. There are many here in the Academy who would disagree with that assessment.”

  “I want to learn,” I continued. “I want to know what else you can teach me.”

  Maderel cocked his head to one side, and I could have sworn he was studying my mana. I felt Aerin shift uncomfortably, and Emeline’s foot began tapping nervously on the floor.

  “If I agree to this,” Maderel said, “You would be my personal student. I would expect you to obey me in all things, absolutely.”

  “Of course,” I replied. “Though the guild--”

  “The guild is not my concern,” Maderel interrupted as he held up a hand. “You may spend your free time as you wish, and if that means time with your guild, then that is your choice.”

  “How much time are we talking about?” I asked.

  “Just a few hours a week to start,” Maderel replied. “I need to see what you can do already and develop a sense for your natural inclinations. Emeline can tell you that all mages go through something similar when they first come to the Academy.”

  “And after this… assessment?”

  “Well, that will depend in part on the results, but I expect that most of your day will be spent working with me,” Maderel explained.

  I glanced at the elf and the panthera, who sat on either side of me. Aerin scowled and refused to look at me. Emeline smiled, but I could see there was a nervousness there.

  “This isn’t something you can complete in a few weeks or months,” Maderel continued. “Full mastery takes years of hard work. Most mages only tap their potential enough to get by in the world, but nothing more than that.”

  Emeline and Aerin both squirmed under the piercing gaze he fired at them.

  “The real question,” Maderel continued, “is do you want this? I’m willing to do this, Gabriel, but only if you are willing to commit to the time and the training. If you don’t think you can do this, or if you believe that the guild is where your true self lies, then leave now. I won’t be offended, and the Shadow Foxes will continue on as they are. If you accept, you must accept wholeheartedly. The Shadow Foxes will no longer be your entire life.”

  Aerin reached over and grabbed my hand. She finally turned to look at me, and she looked terrified. Emeline’s bounce had moved up her leg, and her whole body now moved up and down in the chair.

  “Gabriel,” Aerin cried softly.

  “I’ll do it,” I said as I looked back at Maderel. I heard a small sob escape from Aerin, and then her hand slipped from mine. Emeline went still, and I glimpsed her head drop out of the corner of my eye.

  “Excellent,” Maderel replied. “I have some business outside the city that requires my attention tomorrow, but we can begin the day after that. Meet me in my regular office at eight.”

  “Yes, sir,” I snapped. Maderel stood, and the three of us did as well. He led us back to the hallway door, where he bid us a pleasant day before quietly closing the door on us. We stood in the hallway for a moment, and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest like I’d just finished the hundred meter sprint.

  Emeline was the first to recover, and she walked quietly down the hallway. Her shoulders were slumped in dejection, and she didn’t turn around when I called her name. I looked at Aerin, who turned away from me and ran after Emeline. I sighed and followed their heavy treads down the staircase.

  Emeline led us back to the lobby where a group of students were now seated by the windows, laughing at the story of the three students and the elephant-eared archmage. We slipped by them, unnoticed, and returned to the dreary cold wind that coursed through the city. Neither woman had said a word to me, and in frustration, I dragged them both into a bakery only a block from the guild hall, and sat them down at a table.

  “Three hot chocolates,” I called out to the barista as I nearly sat on Aerin in order to keep her in the chair.

  “Let me up,” Aerin protested.

  “Just keep still,” I hissed. “Clearly, we need to talk.”

  “I told you I hated this plan,” Aerin snapped.

  “And no one has a better one,” I snapped back.

  “What Maderel was saying,” Emeline finally said. “Gabriel, he wants you to leave the Shadow Foxes.”

  “That won’t happen,” I sighed as I let go of Aerin and dropped into a chair. “Ever. Look, I just need to play along until I figure out where he’s keeping the Shodra.”

  “And how long will that take?” Aerin demanded.

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “But if it starts to take too long, then we’ll have to figure out something else. I can promise you, I am not hanging out with that guy for years.”

  “I think we should work out another plan,” Emeline suggested. “I don’t trust him.”

  “I don’t either,” I reassured the panthera. “Look, just give it a few days. I can always say I’ve changed my mind.”

  Aerin and Emeline settled a bit, though I could see that both were still upset. The hot chocolates appeared, and I ordered a plate of pastries as well. There wasn’t much conversation after that, but we managed to demolish the sweets and another round of hot chocolates without any more arguments breaking out.

  I paid the bill after the last crumb had been eaten, and we returned to the street. Aerin let out a huge sigh and finally took my hand in hers.

  “You have to promise that you won’t leave us,” she said.

  “I won’t leave you,” I replied.

  Aerin looked unconvinced, and Emeline only stared at the ground.

  “The Shadow Foxes are my family,” I continued. “Nothing Maderel says or does will change that. He doesn’t understand that, and that’s his biggest mistake.”

  “He never did,” Emeline said
as she finally looked at me. Her expression was fierce now, her feline nature clearly on display. “He didn’t understand what Etienne and I had, and he doesn’t understand the Shadow Foxes, either.”

  “He’ll underestimate us,” I agreed.

  “I still don’t trust him,” Aerin muttered.

  “I’m not asking you to,” I laughed as I poked her in the ribs. “In fact, I would prefer that you didn’t trust him. I do want you to trust me, however.”

  She finally smiled, just a quick one, but the light was back in her eyes as well. We walked the rest of the way back to the hall in a much better mood.

  The guild hall itself was a hive of activity. The painters had arrived and cans of paint stood just inside the door. Maruk stood nearby with the crew foreman, going over which colors went where. He glanced up as we stepped inside and gave us a quick nod. Aerin, Emiline, and I stripped off our cold weather gear and walked back to the kitchen, the only room that didn’t seem to be under siege these days. Maruk joined us a few minutes later, taking a seat at the table.

  “How did it go?” Maruk asked.

  “He’s agreed to be my mentor,” I replied.

  “That’s good,” Maruk said. He looked at Emeline and Aerin, and asked, “That is good, right?”

  “It’s good,” I assured him. “My lessons, or whatever they are, will start the day after tomorrow.”

  “I guess this means he didn’t tell you where the Shodra were concealed while you sat in his office today,” Maruk laughed.

  “Sorry,” I sighed. “I haven’t learned how to make someone pass along top-secret information.”

  “Maybe if you offer him some of Lena’s brownies,” Maruk whispered loudly.

  “Lena made brownies?” Emeline asked in surprise.

  “More importantly, Lena made brownies,” Aerin snorted. “So what’s the side effect of eating them?”

  “Well, I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but she gave some to the men working in the nursery,” Maruk explained. “Next thing you know, they all started revealing their deepest, darkest secrets. Just blabbing away. It was rather funny until one man admitted to sleeping with another’s worker’s wife. And the man’s sister. A fight erupted after that, and Dehn had to break it up. We sent everyone home for the day, and Lena promised not to serve any more food to the contractors.”