by Tom Larcombe
“Yes sir, the door at the far end.”
Merlin glanced down the hall and noticed a soldier standing guard at the door.
“Is that the other guard?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good, I have no idea how this meeting will go. I've never met any of my students but I've been told that some of them are a handful.”
“I wouldn't know sir.”
“Then I'll just say that it comforts me having the two of you out here.”
The solider took up a position across the hall from the guard already on station. Merlin took a deep breath and opened the door.
He entered the room as confidently as he could. His quick glance took in seven men. Two of them were in uniform while the other five were not. He could tell instantly which ones were the troublemakers. The two men in uniform and two of the others turned their eyes to the door, their gazes demonstrating their hostility in unison. The other three were together in a back corner of the room and, after a quick glance when the door opened, turned their eyes back to whatever they were doing.
“Good evening. I'm to teach you men what I can about using magic. Do any of you have a grasp of how to use it intentionally?”
One of the three men in the back corner looked up and started to open his mouth but was cut off by a different student.
“Who do you think you are?” said one of the hostile men in uniform.
“I'm the person they've decided can teach you what you need to know.”
“What do they know about it?” the man said.
Merlin was sure that at least one of his potential students would challenge him. Because of that he was holding a shield that he could strengthen at a moment's notice. When he noticed the speaker trying to make eye contact, he strengthened his shield.
Whatever the man expected to happen didn't and Merlin could see the shock on his face. He tugged gently on his beard before speaking.
“I wouldn't try that again if I were you.”
“Try what?” the man asked.
“The spell you just tried to use on me. What you don't understand is that I'm a wizard myself and have been for centuries. You, as of yet, have no formal training. Whatever you try to do is not going to have the needed strength behind it to get through to me.”
“You lie. You're only in your thirties.”
“Have any of you noticed that you look younger than your true age? That's common for wizards. It's a side effect of the magic. You'll also have a lifespan much longer than anyone without magic, another side effect.”
“So you're telling us we're immortal?”
“No, simply that you'll age slower, and live a longer life, than anyone without magic. You can still be killed and time will still sneak up on you. It will just take longer.”
“So, you claim to be a wizard. Prove it.”
Merlin thought this demand might be made. Because of the man's belligerence he decided on a demonstration that was both flashy and potentially dangerous for anyone on the receiving end.
“I see that you've no electricity in here. Does it cause all the rest of you to feel drained as well? Lanterns are a good alternative for a lighting source though, don't you think?”
He raised the glass chimney from a lantern, reached his hand into the flames, and withdrew a ball of flame. He replaced the chimney as he raised his flaming hand over his head.
“That's nothing, just a flashy trick. I could show the idiot in my village how to do the same.”
“Yes, but could you show him how to do this?”
Merlin brought his hand down in front of his face. With a puff of his breath, he sent the ball of flame into the air. It slowly closed on the man who challenged him. When the flames were an arm length in front of the man's face, they stopped.
“So, do you need more proof? It would be easy enough for me to close the gap with my flames.”
The man stepped back and the flames followed, holding at a steady distance in front of him. His bluster disappeared and fear took over his face.
“No, no, I believe you now.”
The flames disappeared.
“Good, now as I was saying I'm suppose to teach you men how to use your magic.”
Merlin's mind was working rapidly. The only reactions to his flame, other than from their target, were from the three men together in the corner. The other three were unnaturally still right through the demonstration. As he continued to speak he detached a small thread of awareness and confirmed his suspicion that they were under some sort of control.
“So, I'll want all of you to line up and give me your names. Also tell me what, if anything, you can consciously do with your magic.”
He sent a pulse of power through his extended awareness, breaking the compulsion on first one, then the second and third of the men who were under control.
“Come on now, line up out here.”
The three men he released from the spell controlling them looked around and, in unison, started for the man who had challenged Merlin.
“Not now men, you've been given an order. Besides, I'd have to protect him if you attacked,” Merlin said.
They ignored him. Merlin created a soft-surfaced air shield around their target, just enough to stop any punches headed his way. They tried to beat the man but found their blows slowing and stopping a finger width away from his skin.
Merlin raised his voice and tried to put the same type of command in it that Gunter used with his troops.
“I'll say it once more before having to resort to other alternatives. Line up here, right now.”
The three men from the corner moved out into the room and assembled roughly where Merlin ordered. The others continued to ignore him.
Merlin gestured and the flames from the lamp he used earlier came roaring up, swirling out the top of the lamp's chimney and cascading down. They danced along the floor until they were adjacent to the recalcitrant students.
“Look down!” Merlin snapped.
As they did so, the flames formed a line behind them and began to advance. The only choices were to move towards the line Merlin wanted them in or have the flames run into them. Three of the four moved rapidly, the fourth jumped to the line once his pant leg caught fire. He beat the flames out and then glared at Merlin.
“Now, names please,” Merlin said.
He pointed at each man in turn, working his way down the line. When they finished, he turned to look at all of them.
“I'll try to remember those but I may need some prompting. My name is Merlin and I'll be teaching you.”
The troublemaker from earlier looked as though he were about to make a flippant comment. His glance went to the lantern and then back to Merlin. After a visible struggle to control himself, he remained silent.
“Now I think, due to what I saw when I came in, I'll be teaching you all some basic mental shields this evening...”
* * *
Chapter 8
Merlin awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. Mentally he was better than any other day since his awakening. Physically, his hand was almost healed and nothing else troubled him. He reviewed what he knew about his students.
Horst is trouble, Merlin thought, he had three of them under some sort of mental control so I guess he has conscious control of his magic and some measure of skill. Conrad, Manfred, and Karl don't have nearly as much skill as Horst but they have enough that they were trouble previously, even if Horst did manage to control them. I'll need to increase their skill level and control.
He jotted some notes on a sheet of paper.
Anselm, Dieter, and Ernst are willing to learn. I was surprised to find that they were studying a transcription of parts of my journal. Since they already knew mental shields from their own reading, Horst couldn't take their minds over. They have conscious control of their magic but fear using it for anything but defense. I think if I can teach them some skills and get them to practice, they'll do well.
I'll either need to point out parts of my journal for transcription o
r write out the procedures I want these men to learn. I suppose writing it out is best. No-one knows that I'm aware all my journals are here, as opposed to just the transcriptions. I'd like to keep it that way, keep a degree of what I can do secret, just in case.
I think I need to check on Herr Schreiber. I can probably clear a little more of his lungs each day without tiring myself. I'll do it from here so he isn't aware of it though, he thought.
Merlin settled into the prism created by setting a crystal in the sun. He split off a bit of his awareness and snaked it into Herr Schreiber's office.
Let's see how he's doing first, Merlin thought.
The man's lungs were better than they were, his circulation improving. Merlin continued to check his health but when he got to the man's head he stopped, startled at what he Saw.
There was a chain of magic woven into the man's thoughts. It appeared as a dark, roiling thread of cloud to Merlin's awareness. Herr Schreiber was, on some level, aware of this chain and fighting its restraint. He wasn't doing well with his struggles though. Merlin reached his thoughts out, to strengthen the man's resistance, but when he approached the chain he recoiled.
That's dragon magic. It's from the insane dragon who has traces all throughout the lower levels of this place. How can I help Herr Schreiber without letting the dragon know I've discovered its existence? I would prefer to avoid this creature if at all possible.
Merlin moved his awareness back to the lungs, clearing another small patch before withdrawing to his physical body.
He sat in the sunlight and considered how he might help Herr Schreiber without revealing his existence and location to the dragon.
I believe it was Dieter that said he used his powers to aid livestock in birthing. Perhaps I can show him how to heal at a distance. If I instruct and aid him in the healing then the dragon shouldn't detect my traces. I think it will be safe for Dieter since the dragon must know they have budding wizards here. Certainly it knows if it's been in Herr Schreiber's thoughts. If it has been there recently it may know of me already. I'll broach the subject with Dieter this evening and see if he wants to learn this skill.
Merlin stood and headed out for breakfast. Later this morning he was detailed to examine some of the artifacts and he wanted to be rested and well-fed before starting. A guard waited to lead him to the storage room after he finished eating.
The guard escorted him to the lower levels of the research building. Merlin could feel the traces of the mad dragon strengthen as he went lower. He reinforced his shields in an attempt to conceal his presence as he passed through.
In the room that held the artifacts, the dragon's traces were cut off. Someone had protected this room with a strong warding, strong enough to keep those traces out. Even so he was painfully aware that he was surrounded by the dragon's magic, on a tiny stone island in a sea of madness.
He looked about at the array of objects held in cages on the walls. There was no rhyme nor reason to the items or where they were placed. All told there were perhaps fifty items in the room. Several of them he recognized immediately. Most of them were unrecognizable to him though.
The several he recognized right off were all items to store magic, like his crystals. None of them were crystals though. There was a short staff whose wood appeared alive, even down to tiny leaf buds along its length. There was a human femur that throbbed with what he was sure was collected death magic. A small statue of a dragon hummed with power. The last of the storage items interested him the most. If he wasn't mistaken it was the scale of a dragon, a non-insane one from the feel of it.
He approached the scale and looked closely at it. It was half the size of his palm and in perfect condition. In the lamplight it appeared silver-blue in color. A sheet of paper rested in front of the scale.
The paper described the scale and listed it as being discovered in a place called Wales in 1928. It went on to give an even more specific location and the circumstances in which it was discovered.
Merlin reached out to touch the scale and could feel the magic in it respond to his touch. When he tried to draw the power into himself, it stopped before entering him. He glanced at the scale, puzzled.
He went to the staff and tried the same procedure, once again the power wouldn't transfer. Its paper showed that it was found near something called Stonehenge, in a country called Britain.
He tried the dragon next with the same results. Its paper said it was purchased in an antique shop in Germany.
He went to the bone last. Afraid that this one might transfer its power, he touched it gently. But its power was also locked away. With that thought, he looked at the items with his Sight and not his eyes. Each of them had a tiny, delicate, ward surrounding it. He was unfamiliar with the ward itself but was sure that it was responsible for restricting the flow of power. He'd need to examine these items in more depth and then he might be able to key the wards to work for him, or remove them entirely.
He preferred the idea of keying them. From what he could see, the wards also prevented the slow drain of magic from the items it was placed on. If he could learn the technique himself, he wouldn't lose the dribbles of power that seeped from his crystals each day. It wasn't a lot, but over time it added up. It appeared that these items had been holding large quantities of power for years without any loss.
Merlin spent a while examining some of the other objects as well but the knowledge of the tainted magic surrounding the room left him uneasy and unable to fully concentrate on the items.
“I'm done here for now. Would it be possible to get you to deliver a note to Herr Schreiber once we're above ground again?”
“I can do that for you, I was told to be at your disposal.”
“Then let's get out in the sun once more and I'll write a short note for you to deliver.”
The guard turned and left the room. Merlin strengthened his shields again before following after him.
Once they were outside Merlin led the guard to his cottage. A few minutes later he handed the man a quickly written note.
'Herr Schreiber:
I have done a preliminary examination of the items in the room. I regret that I will be unable to work for extended periods of time in that basement since much of my power currently comes from the sun through a form of life magic. If it would be possible to examine the items in my cottage instead of the basement, I could devote much of the time I have to doing so.
Merlin.'
“Please deliver this to Herr Schreiber and wait for a reply?”
“Yes sir.”
Merlin sank into a chair as the guard left.
If I can key those wards, I can get my energy back up to where I'm used to having it. The energy from just one of them would do it. Energy accumulates so slowly for me now and I've been using it as fast as I obtain it.
Merlin was still sitting in the chair when the guard returned.
“Herr Schreiber said that you may remove up to two items at a time to work on. I am to accompany you on any of your trips to the vault and make notes of what you remove.”
“Well then, let's head back down now and I can get started on my task.”
* * *
Merlin looked up as the guard cleared his throat.
“Will you be needing to go back down to the vault today sir?”
“No and I'm sorry. You needn't simply stand outside my cottage all day. You can come in or, if you have a means by which I can contact you when I need to go to the vault, be elsewhere even.”
“That's alright. If I weren't here, they'd find scut work for me to do. My superiors claim I ask too many questions. They don't like it when they don't have the answers so I always end up with the worst jobs. They also happen to be the jobs that keep me away from my superiors more.”
“Well, you may feel free to come inside the cottage then so you aren't stuck outside if it's raining or hot. What I'm doing shouldn't be dangerous at all. As a matter of fact, it may not look like I'm doing much at all but I do need to r
emain undisturbed.”
“Thank you sir, I'll do that tomorrow. I'll report here after breakfast.”
Merlin put aside the scale. It and a tooth, half the length of his forearm, were now resident in his cottage. The tooth was covered with fine runic work. It was obviously enchanted but Merlin couldn't read the runes. He would have to insinuate his awareness into the structure of the spell and try to identify it but so far, he was concentrating on the scale. If he could unlock the ward on it, the power it contained would make identifying the other items much easier for him.
It was time for dinner and then on to teach his class. Herr Schreiber wanted a meeting with Merlin in the morning, to hear his thoughts on the students. Merlin thought that the man might also be hoping for more healing from him as well.
Dinner was unremarkable, filling but bland. As he approached the students' quarters he considered how he might entice Dieter into attempting to strengthen Herr Schreiber.
What he wanted Dieter to do was simplicity itself, simply strengthen Herr Schreiber's struggles against the chain. If the time came when the man was winning his battle then Merlin could snap the chain easily with no traces remaining. If Merlin needed to make repeated attempts, then traces of his power would be visible should the dragon check on its victim.
Merlin entered the room to find all seven men reading. None of them seemed under the control of Horst so hopefully they were using the mental shields he taught them. The shields used little magic and required concentration only if they were disturbed. All of the students had caught on to it, which gave him hope for teaching them what he wanted to.
He glanced at their reading material. All of them held transcripts of his journals, or at least the portions of them dealing with magic. He moved about the room, pointing out the sections that were most pertinent to each individual, trying to increase their strengths before beginning to strengthen their weaknesses. He saved Dieter for last.
“Dieter, you said that you used your powers to help heal livestock, yes?”
“Yes Merlin, I wasn't aware that I was doing it at first but eventually I figured it out.”