by Ember Lane
“It is said in the courts of Valkyrie, and generally agreed by those present, only Poleyna possessed such a power, for to crack the earth requires more than mere study, it requires real flair. I was there when judgment was passed and her fate then sealed. I saw her protests, and then, she looked at me. Our eyes met, and in that briefest of moments my life altered. My heart swore allegiance to her, and I left the House of Trappas Shyl. No one at the table knew what had passed, not Mezzerain from the House of Valkyrie, nor the Variant. I noticed a curled lip from ShadowDancer but cared little for it.
“All eight houses voted for her expulsion, as I did too. In so doing, our houses committed themselves to their fate and trusted that her exile would be complete. Those houses, named Variant, Ruse, Valkyrie, Sharreff, Kaspatay, Zhang Zhou, Cendruillla and Trappas Shyl, had judged. Yet the world was not split eight ways for there were nine surfaces still standing.
“As her being was cast to the place of her holding, she whispered within my ear, ‘And so my house is made. Travel to the Lands of the House of Mandrake before the mists of these fools fall around it.’
“Then I saw Mezzerain pale, and one by one we all withered a little. The Zhang Zhou wardens faded briefly. But I heard her, felt her, although she was now gone. Echoes of her laughter filled my mind. I knew not where she was, but her thoughts were burned inside me. I am afraid that I cannot explain that peculiar feeling.
“No wonder they feared her, no wonder they now scurried back to their petty lands, for her house, The House of Mandrake, was born.”
I looked up. “I don’t understand, I thought this place was Barakdor.”
“It is,” he said, his voice no more than a whisper. “It is my belief that Barakdor has been ripped apart—no, no—I know Barakdor has been split asunder. But I just don’t understand. You see, the auguries, they are the auguries of the House of Mandrake, and I firmly believe that it is the recording of the very beginning of that house.”
“So, all the other places?”
Cronis squeezed his eyes shut. “I don’t think they matter at the moment. These so-called Lands of Mandrake are isolated, embargoed if you like, and only smugglers' routes link us to the outside world—like the cigars Marista has—that is why they are so cherished. It is also why ShadowDancer is so powerful—he’s not of this land, not of Mandrake. He is merely making sure it doesn’t progress, that it stays in a state of perpetual war.”
“What must we do?” I asked.
Cronis chuffed out a laugh. “You? For now you need to level your skills and increase your attribute points. If, as it looks like, you are to be a part of shaping this land, you must become powerful and wise. So!” he said, his voice like a crash of cymbals. “Where shall we start?”
“Magic?” I ventured.
“Magic?” He rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes as though pained. “Magic is many things. A lot of folk confuse luck and magic. I’ve seen a warrior walk through a hail of arrows, and not one hit him—magic or luck? I’ve watched as a lamb was rescued from a swollen stream by a wolf—magic or pure chance that the wolf’s belly was full? And, I’ve sat and watched a dragon fly, framed by a lilac sky, above the Temple of Lamerell.” He looked across the table and caught my gaze. “Now that is definitely magic. Your appearance in the world could be construed as magic—the day Sakina fell, and we shall see.”
He reached into his robe and withdrew a tinderbox. It was similar to Shylan’s, except maybe a bit more beaten and battered. Getting up, he looked around the wagon and grunted when he found a candle. He placed it on the table, sparking his flint and lighting its wick. “Tell me,” he said, his voice low. “Can you see through the candle?”
I answered no.
“And the flame?”
It was a white flame, and while I could see around it, no way could I see through it.
“No.”
“Then, perhaps the smoke above.”
Over the flame, I could see his inquisitive face, the flame’s flickering shadow enhancing his stare, making his question menacing.
“I can see through the smoke,” I said, my own voice now hushed, the room polarized to just Cronis, the candle, and me.
“Why?” he asked.
I knew he wanted more than the answer that I was going to give. I thought there was probably a deeper, more meaningful one. But I didn’t want to just make something up, so I gave him the only answer I could.
“It’s thinner, no, less dense—it’s just smoke, as long as it’s not too thick, you can see through smoke.”
He nodded. “I’ve heard all manner of answers to that question, and dismissed the student right after. The truth, Alexa, is the only answer—the truth as you see it, not as you think I want you too. I will teach you.”
“But what about what Shylan said?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “He will come around, the magic in you will sought to be taught. What gain if someone else tutors you?”
Congratulations! Cronis has granted you level 2 magic. Magic can only be taught by a tutor up to Level 10. Beyond, you will need a natural flair to advance.
“Odd.” I thought. I was now level 2 magic, but didn’t know any more magic than I had before. It was all a bit… No, odd summed it up.
Cronis cleared his throat. “Now, all we have to do is get you staring straight through that candle as if it wasn’t there, and we’re done.”
“Through the candle?”
He nodded. “The teachings of Scholl are intrinsically simple. The world is made up of three colors. There is only red, yellow and blue, blue, red and yellow—nothing else exists. Combine them all, you have the night, tear them apart, you have the day. To see through the candle, Alexa, you merely have to pull its mix of red, blue and yellow apart. Once you can do that, you are a magician.”
I scratched my head. “Eh?”
“To put it simply,” Cronis said. “Once you learn to manipulate the colors, you can truly change the world.”
“No spells?”
He pursed his lips. “They help.”
“Runes?”
“Always useful.”
“Talismans, wands, banes?”
He started to chuckle. “Don’t expect to fully understand everything in a second, it’s impossible. Like there’s more than one way to swing a sword, there’s many a way to perform magic. I’ve told you my principle, nothing more. Look, let me show you something.”
He opened his tinderbox and placed it on the table. He brought out a tiny piece of tobacco leaf and rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger until it was a small, brown ball. He glanced up through his sole remaining eyebrow. “Now watch,” he said, as he placed the ball on the table.
I leaned in. The ball blinked at first, then vanished and reappeared a few inches away, blinked again, and was back and then reappeared where he’d first set it down. “Now,” he said. “How did I do that?”
There was no way I could deny what I’d seen, and even if he was blowing the ball around—somehow—it wouldn’t account for it just vanishing. So, given what he’d told me, there could be only one explanation. “You’re manipulating its colors,” I said.
He sat back and clapped. “That I am, that I am.”
Congratulations! You have impressed Cronis with your reasoning. You have been awarded 1 intelligence point. Think hard, grow fast.
“Another point.” Cronis beamed. “You’ll be catching us all soon.”
The door to the wagon suddenly burst open, Shylan grasping the doorway’s sides and pulling himself in.
“I smell magic,” he growled, and Cronis shrank down, all sheepish. The door slammed shut. “Did I...” Shylan shouted, his voice haughty with authority. “Or did I not expressly forbid teaching her magic?”
“No,” Cronis replied, emphatically.
“What?” Shylan said, marching around us with his hands on his hips and nose in the air.
“We were talking about it,” Cronis stated, “and I think we decided it would be a bad idea,
but we never said no, not once the skill was revealed.”
Shylan stopped in his tracks. “We didn’t?”
“No.”
“But we decided it was dangerous?”
“Very,” Cronis agreed.
“Then why didn’t we…”
“Petroo turned up.”
Shylan’s expression bloomed into one of relief. “Oh, thank Poleyna. I already thought it was a bad path to take.”
“And very wise you are to,” Cronis added.
“Indeed,” Shylan said, as he began to stride around the table. “We’ll need limits,” he said, stopped and turned and walked the other way. “She must follow Scholl’s teachings to the word.” He stopped again. “Except when they hinder, then we’ll explore my ideas.”
“Agreed,” Cronis said, and got up, walking up and down, much like Shylan.
“And she must, must, not use magic without one of us around.”
“Quite right.” Cronis stood. “Unless we’re not there,” he said, mirroring Shylan’s path around the table.
“Exactly Cronis, exactly.”
“Eh?” I said, but stifled my comment with my hand.
“And we should get her up to speed as a matter of the utmost urgency,” Shylan stated with mustered authority.
“You should,” said Cronis.
“I should,” said Shylan.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it.” Cronis opened the door and jumped out of the wagon.
Shylan sat at the table, running his hands through his long hair. “Just how did he do that?” he said, his mouth agape.
“Must have hurt himself,” I pointed out.
“I know, Greman’s going at a fair canter to eat up some miles.” He seemed to shake himself out. “So, magic.”
“It’s all about colors,” I said, all proud of myself.
“Nonsense.”
I died inside, just a little.
He raised his arms, shed his coat and rolled his sleeves up. “Magic, Alexa, is what people perceive it to be—never forget that. Slight of hand, deflection, poisons—all can be seen as magic. Cronis’s colors, well, they could move mountains. But, let’s say Cronis did move a mountain, if it had no affect on anybody, then it’s not magic, it’s just some old fool altering the horizon. Magic is the effect the action has on someone.” He smiled, as though proud of his speech.
“So it’s a bit like, a song’s not a song unless someone hears it.”
Shylan clicked his fingers and pointed at me. “Exactly. Watch.”
He slid the candle out of the way, and opened his palms, cupping the air above. I watched but saw nothing at first. Then, a tiny spec of light appeared, and grew to the size of a walnut. It hovered just above his hands.
“Now,” he whispered, “I want you to grab hold of it—no, no,” he hissed as I reached out. “With your mind. Like you did with your perception, like you felt the jaspur when they spoke to you.”
Once more the room polarized on the table, on the floating orb. I sent my thought forward and into its light. I felt something click, almost like I’d hooked it.
“Don’t jerk it, just hold it above my palms. Now, imagine expanding, forcing its sum apart, but reassure it that everything will be all right.”
I looked into it, watched it spinning in place. I tried to pull it apart.
“Don’t tug at it, let it expand, like a potter at their wheel. Use your mind to mold it, to let it become.”
Imagining my own hands cupping it, imagining its form touching my skin, I slowly drew the sphere out. I let it grow. As it did, its light diluted and became softer. I carried on until it was about the size of cabbage.
Shylan raised his eyebrows. “A cabbage? Think of… Think of a glowsphere, like the one you so admired when you came to my tower.
The Petreyen glowsphere—that beautiful spinning orb. I thought of it, and though my own globe was beautiful, I wished it could feel the beauty of the glowsphere. And then I realized the orb had morphed into an exact replica of it, and Shylan passed it to me, and I held it in my own hands.
“Now,” Shylan whispered. “Move your hands out from under it and walk back.”
I tried to slip my hands from under it, but they’d got no more than an inch or two away when the orb popped and vanished. Looking up, I saw Shylan was smiling.
Congratulations! You have altered the nature of a light sphere, you have increased your magic to level 3. All hail the mighty mage, Alexa.
“Mighty mage indeed,” he said, smiling. “And that is what you must continue to do. You might get an inch away at first—maybe a few feet after a day or two. But a true magician, they can set the glowsphere down, and then move on to bigger and better things while it spreads its light around. So you see, colors aren’t everything, a lot comes down to faith—faith in yourself.”
“I understand,” I said, my voice reverent.
“Now, what say we have some ale?”
“But I want to practice.”
Shylan tilted his head. “As long as you don’t get too frustrated. Remember your motto—quit while you’re ahead.”
How did he know what I was thinking?
“Oh, and you wanted to know about Sakina? Though I knew her very well, none cherished her more than Cronis. It was he who rescued her from her fate, he who taught her magics. It will be him, and Rioan, who will morn her loss with heavier shoulders than the rest. Read The Auguries, they will teach you a lot.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Me? Not drink alone, that’s for sure. I shall take a nap. Marista thinks me hard at work with you—we wouldn’t want to disappoint her.” Shylan sat on the floor, swiveled his legs around, stretching them out, and he began snoring before his head had even touched one of the cushions.
I turned back to the black book. It was still open at the first page. I read that again, hoping more would sink in, but still felt a bit confused by the enormity of it all. I turned over and read the next page.
“The morning sun seeped into my wagon, filtered by its canvas gauze, as I awoke alone. My dreams had been graced by Poleyna looking down at me, frowning. I left the back of the wagon to see that Shylan and Flip were engrossed in conversation, Sakina, however, was nowhere to be seen. I ate some stale bread and made my way to the small stream that wound its way through the copse in which we had made camp the previous eve.
“I found her there, perched on her haunches with her chin resting on her uplifted palms, eyes focused solely on the dancing water. She heard me coming and turned. I could see tears in her eyes but had little to say to comfort her. She merely uttered one thing, “Teach me.” I had heard that before. I later questioned Shylan as to when he knew who she was, and when he had sensed her presence. Apparently, he had felt her power on the Sharreff ship as we approached Lordslaner. Now I had two to teach. If Shylan’s power frightened me enough, Sakina’s scared me even more so, for hers had an edge and her past an influence within its maelstrom.
“I felt a fleeting touch caress my thought like snowflakes kissing a frosted tree, and then looked to the sky. She was not there, but wherever she was, Poleyna smiled.
“An hour or so later we set off, climbing farther up and away from Lordslaner. Shylan sat alongside Flip, the mysterious Flip, leaving me in the back of our wagon to commence Sakina’s tutoring. We traveled steadily away from the sea.
“I was mesmerized with Sakina’s eyes, so innocent in learning yet distant in time. I admit I fell in love with gray, the divided color. Steel in one instant that then altered to an enchanting blue in the next. It came as little surprise to me that her magic was of those colors, as though it was destined that her talent could be turned either way. Yet that was contrary to all my teachings. Still, I spent that morning explaining our ways.
“She understood Scholl’s principles and embraced them all, for the House of Trappas Shyl viewed the world from a different perspective to most. Yes, we could see the oceans, the hills and the plains, but we could also look deeper th
an that. We understood how the fabric knitted together. In trance, all particles were visible, air was not air, nor water just a blue flow. They were both a myriad of color. They were yellows, reds and blues all vying for attention. Focus on them, encourage them, give them intent and you could truly move mountains.
“Yet we rarely used our power. Manipulated, yes, I confess to that. Until Shylan, I had thought that was our limit. Now I understood more, for he could manipulate your mind. Sakina, however, was a closed book to me. Yet, as we talked, so I could see her understanding the nature of the magic within her.
“I wondered as to her origin, as I often did with Shylan.”
I sat back and decided it would have been easier to have lived among my own kind, among those just beginning to play, to build a lumber yard up from level one or some such thing. Though I knew, just looking at the snoring wizard beside me, that I really wouldn’t swap places ever.
Setting the book aside, I opened my palms and imagined a small light into being. I grew it as a potter would a vase, and then changed it, asked it to resemble a glowstone from the Land of Petreyer.
And then I drew my hands away, and watched it pop.
I opened my palms and imagined a small light into being…
I opened my palms and imagined a small light into being…
I opened my palms and imagined a small light into being…
Name: Alexa Drey. Race: Human. Type: Chancer.
Age: 24. Alignment: None. XP: 500. Level: 3.
Profession: None. Un/Al pts: 6. Reputation: Nobody.
Health Points: 160/160 Energy: 60/70 Mana: 55/60
HP Regen: 16/Min EN Regen: 7/Min MA Regen: 5/Min
Attributes: (Level, Bonuses)
Vitality: (3, 13), Stamina: (7, 0), Intelligence: (6, 0),
Charisma: (3, 0), Wisdom: (5, 0), Luck: (1, 5)
