Scholar of Magic

by Michael G. Manning

  He nodded. “No secrets here.” Then he paused for a second, thinking. “Actually, let me amend that.” He looked at Blake. “Just in case there’s anything I don’t want a certain someone to know, would you mind starting on those errands we talked about?”

  Blake smiled. “Certainly.”

  A moment later he was gone. Tiny frowned as he asked, “You don’t trust him?”

  “I trust him,” said Will, “but I don’t trust the king. Blake still has to report to His Majesty, and Lognion is impossible to lie to. Anything I don’t want the king to know about I have to keep from Blake. Which reminds me, anything involving Selene is off limits around him.”

  “But you don’t mind the king knowing you’re planning to hunt vampires?” said Janice.

  “He already knows,” Will replied.

  “Oh, well no use crying over spilled milk then.” She pulled out a journal and opened it on the table in front of her. “I did a little research after we split up the other day, and I took some notes. It turns out that there’s nothing in the library about vampires.”

  “What little there is, is kept in the vault,” said Will.

  Janice frowned. “And you know this, how?”

  Will smiled mysteriously but said nothing.

  She sniffed and returned to her journal. “Since I couldn’t find anything on vampires, I looked into the creator of that spell you wanted, Ethelgren’s Illumination. There weren’t many mentions of him, but I did find a Linus Ethelgren, who lived before the Terabinian War for Independence.”

  “Do they have a history or biography about him?”

  “There was a biography, but it wasn’t on the shelf when I looked for it. I even asked at the desk, and it appears the book was lost or stolen decades ago. They just forgot to remove it from the catalog.”

  “So someone’s trying to hide information about a historical vampire hunter?” asked Will, fascinated.

  “Someone decades ago,” corrected Janice. “It could be anyone.”

  “A vast vampire conspiracy,” whispered Tiny.

  Will shot him a dark look. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is interesting, but it doesn’t really help us.”

  Janice licked her lips. “I’m not finished. I couldn’t shake the thought that the name sounded familiar to me, and today while I was in class, wondering why you didn’t show up, it came to me.” She turned the journal around and shoved it across to him.

  Will scanned the page. It appeared to be her notes from Foundations in Artifice. “What am I looking for?”

  “Remember when you asked about relics in class not long ago?”

  He nodded.

  “It was in my notes from a few weeks ago. See the list there?”

  There was a list of notable relics on the page. Will’s eyes went through it rapidly, and there on the page, third from the top, was what Janice had found. “Ethelgren’s Exhortation,” he mumbled. “He created a relic?”

  Her head bobbed, “Not only that, but it’s here, at Wurthaven.”

  His brows went up. “Really?”

  “There’s a collection of ancient relics at the Artifice building, but guess what…”

  “What?”

  “This one isn’t in the display cases. They keep it in secure storage down in the basement.”

  That didn’t make much sense. From what he had learned, no one could use ancient relics, since their enchantments were either tailor-made for the owner or (as he believed) modern wizards simply didn’t have the necessary ability to adapt their turyn for them. Either way, no one would have wanted to steal it. “Is it made of gold or something?” he asked.

  “From what I heard, no,” answered Janice. “It’s a long rod made of iron with silver runes inlaid in it. Valuable, sure, but not enough to warrant stealing.”

  Will rubbed his chin. “How did you find all this out so quickly?”

  “Drake Barstowe told me about it.”

  “Who is he?” asked Will. Tiny had remained silent during their conversation, but Will could see him watching intently. His eyes never left Janice’s features as she talked.

  Janice smiled. “He’s a fourth year who is specializing in artifice, but he’s been after me for a date for months, so he was more than happy to talk.” She glanced at Tiny for a moment, then added, “I didn’t promise him anything, though. He knows I’m not interested.”

  Was that for my benefit or someone else’s? Will wondered. He pushed that aside and focused on the matter at hand. “This is all interesting, but no one knows how to use the relic and we don’t know whether it has any useful properties for this situation anyway.”

  Janice deflated slightly. “I’ll keep looking into it, and anything else that might be useful. It’s the least I can do.”

  “I do need a favor,” said Will, which was true, though in part he simply wanted to give her something to do that would be more useful.

  “Sure.”

  “I need some materials for potions, and I don’t know if I have time to go to the Alchemy building. I’ll make a list if you wouldn’t mind going for me. Usually I talk to Professor Karlovic directly.”

  “I can do that. What do you need?” she replied confidently.

  “Come upstairs and I’ll make a list for you. I have the references in my room.” He rose and started to move, followed by Janice, but he stopped before he reached the door. Glancing back, he saw Tiny staring at him with an intense expression. It took him a moment to realize what was wrong, and when he did it caused him to chuckle. “I’m married, Tiny. What do you think I’d do?”

  The big man blushed, then looked away. “I didn’t say anything.”

  Janice put her elbow into Will’s midribs. “He’s just looking out for me. Don’t embarrass him.”

  Will stared at her quizzically. Surely, I’m imagining this. After a second, he waved at Tiny. “Come with us. You can be our chaperone.”

  Chapter 19

  Will went through his apothecary and found the recipe for the Dragon’s Heart potion. He gave it a quick study, making sure the procedure wouldn’t be too difficult, and then copied out the ingredients he would need to purchase. After that was done, he found the next item he was interested in, alchemical fire. The ingredients for that were simple, though one in particular was exceedingly dangerous. “White phosphorous,” he muttered to himself. He’d never used it before, or even seen it, though he was fairly sure the Alchemy Department had access to it. He hoped it wasn’t too expensive.

  He added everything to his list, then handed it over. “I hope it doesn’t cost too much, but unless it’s astronomical I’ll find a way to pay for everything. Tell Karlovic they can put everything in the laboratory I’ve been renting.”

  She took the paper, folded it up, and slipped it into an opening in the side of her kirtle. “Do I need to take some coin with me?”

  “The professor trusts me,” said Will. “I can settle accounts with him later as long as it doesn’t run into hundreds of marks.”

  “What will you do in the meantime?” asked Janice.

  “Learn some new spells,” he answered. “I’d like to be better prepared tonight. If it hadn’t been for Tiny, I wouldn’t have lived to see the dawn today.”

  She smiled—at Tiny, not him. “Anyone would feel safer with such a friend nearby,” she remarked. “It was a pleasure meeting you, John.”

  Tiny dipped his head. “And you, Miss Edelman.”

  “Janice,” she corrected as she made her way to the door. “Try to stay safe tonight.” There was a short pause, then she added, “Both of you.”

  After the door closed, Will couldn’t help but laugh, whereupon Tiny gave him a mild punch to the shoulder. At least, he assumed it was supposed to have been a mild punch, as he collected himself from where he had fallen. The big man didn’t ordinarily engage in horseplay, for reasons that were now obvious to him.

  “Sorry,” said Tiny.

  Will rubbed his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I shouldn�
�t have laughed.”

  “I don’t know why I did that. I’m just a little punchy since last night.”

  Sure, that’s what it is, thought Will sarcastically, but he held his tongue. “My nerves aren’t much better,” he sympathized.

  “I’m going to clean my armor and gear. Since you’re going to be busy learning spells, do you want me to do yours too?” offered Tiny.

  It was a generous offer, but Will had to decline. Selene’s spell had done the trick when he had cast it that morning. He hadn’t known it could handle armor, but apparently his brilliant wife had thought of just about everything when she had designed it. “I did mine this morning,” he explained.

  “I won’t disturb you until you come down. See you this evening.” Although Will knew his friend wanted nothing more than to not have to go back out, the big warrior didn’t whine or wheedle about it. Some might have said it was because he was a professional soldier, and while there was some truth to that, Will knew that soldiers loved to bitch and complain as a form of stress relief. Tiny was just solid. Rock solid.

  Damn, I’m getting sentimental again, thought Will. Shaking his head, he sat down and tried to concentrate. The first spell he was interested in learning was Ethelgren’s Illumination, which turned out to be approximately sixth-order, in terms of difficulty. Of course, there was no official rating listed with the spell—it was too old for that. Will judged it based on prior experience.

  Given the difficulty, he guessed it would take him an hour or two to successfully construct the first time and possibly several days before he could recreate it without referring to his notes. He could try it out once and then keep it prepared for use that night. As long as he only needed it once, that would be fine. The time required to learn it, though, meant he’d have to forego learning anything else but one or two of the simpler fire spells.

  He thumbed through the other book he had ‘borrowed’ from the school library, Fire Spells for Fun and Profit. The author turned out to have quite a sense of humor, though the man had apparently not thought much of using fire in battle.

  Fire is arguably the least imaginative form of attack. Easily seen, easily countered, dangerous to self and enemy alike, it is the first choice of fools and novices. To master it, one should learn to use it as a tool first, rather than for battle, and for battle it should generally be one’s last option.

  “Damn,” muttered Will. “He didn’t beat around the bush.” He flipped through the pages and then went to the index in the back to find the page numbers for actual spells. He didn’t have time to spend on philosophy lessons.

  He found a variety of different spells, some quite simple and others vastly more complicated. One that caught his eye was a spell that launched a small number of flaming spheres at an enemy, but when he turned to its page, it was fourth-order at least. He wouldn’t have time. Eventually he settled on a third-order spell called ‘bonfire.’ It was essentially an enhanced fire starter that included parameters to allow the user to start as well as maintain larger fires. It wouldn’t be much use in combat, but against an unmoving target it would be handy. He figured he could use it to get rid of vampire remains.

  Maybe I should tell Janice not to worry about the ingredients for alchemical fire. I might not need them if I can use this spell. He’d have to bring it up when he saw her later.

  With that decision made he turned to the third spell he needed to learn, the iron-body transformation. He had only glanced at it the day before, but it was as he remembered, hideously complex. It was also an old spell, and not officially rated for its difficulty, but he guessed it was at least eighth-order, or possibly even ninth. This one could take weeks, assuming I’m even able to manage it. He had only just succeeded with his first eighth-order spell that morning.

  Will took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. It was easy to let things overwhelm him, but he’d learned to manage by breaking problems down into small pieces. Ethelgren’s Illumination was doable, so he would work until he had succeeded once, then prepare it for later. After that he would memorize the bonfire spell. It was simple enough he would be able to recreate it when needed. Once those two things were done, he would spend half an hour on the new iron-body transformation.

  The trick with complex spell constructs was to approach them slowly and methodically. With Selene’s Solution he had done the same thing, familiarized himself, then spent a short period of time each day attempting to construct it. It was simply a matter of patience and perseverance. While most second-year students were still fussing over third- and fourth-order spells, he had just succeeded with an eighth-order spell.

  Ethelgren’s Illumination took him a little longer than he had anticipated, but the bonfire spell took less. After his self-imposed hour of familiarization with the iron-body spell, he used his remaining time to run through his daily practice of forming and dismissing each spell he had learned up to that point, everything from the source-link to the sleep spell. Now that included Selene’s Solution as well. The point of the exercise was to ensure that he retained all the skills he had previously acquired.

  Arrogan had told him that such a routine would eventually result in him being able to reflex cast almost anything he had learned, though it might take years, or even decades for the more complex spells. At the moment the only thing he could reflex cast was the point-defense shield, and that had proved enormously useful, having saved his life at least a dozen times already.

  He even finished that routine with some time to spare, so he went outside and practiced the force-lance as he had been doing for months. Repetition was the key to speed, and he was sure that soon it would become the second spell he could use with just a thought.

  The sun was getting low in the sky when he finally decided to stop and rest. Sitting down on an old stump that frequently served him as a chair at such times, he summoned the limnthal and sought Arrogan’s advice.

  “How long as it been since you asked me about the vampire storage thing?”

  “That was last night. It’s almost evening again, so I’ll be going out again soon.”

  “Idiot! That means you don’t have time to do anything.”

  Will sighed. “Before you get your tail bent, let me bring you up to date.” He detailed the afternoon’s events, from Janice’s visit and news, to his study and practice choices. It took almost ten minutes, but the ring waited patiently until he was done.

  “All right, maybe you didn’t do too badly,” admitted the ring. “Your priorities line up pretty well with what I would have advised. Now shut up and listen. There are some things you need to be made aware of. Where are you now?”

  “Outside, behind the house Selene bought.”

  “Move farther away, maybe a hundred yards or so, then put a force-dome around yourself.”

  “Can I ask why?”

  “Not until you do as I say, jackass!” swore Arrogan.

  “All right, fine! Calm the hell down,” Will snapped, already beginning to move. After a few minutes he had found a secluded area out of sight of the house. The force-dome took him five or six seconds, and then he told the ring he was ready.

  “Now, look around yourself. Make certain the area inside the force-dome is empty.”

  That seemed silly. “It is. I’d know if someone was next to me.”

  “Do it! Look carefully. You aren’t looking for someone physical. You’re looking for astral presences.”

  “Excuse me? Did you say astral presences?”

  “Sorry, I should have said asshole presences, since obviously we have one here already. Yes, you lackwit, astral.”

  “I have no idea what that is, much less what it would look like.”

  “Pretend you’re looking for ghosts.”

  “I thought ghosts weren’t real.”

  A low growl issued from the ring. “I used to think that too, until I realized your brain died of stupidity ages ago and that I’ve since been listening to your ghost talk out of your ass. Just humor me.”

>   Will did his best. “I don’t see anything, but the question is, would I?”

  “Probably, yes,” said Arrogan. “You’ve demonstrated astral abilities on two occasions that I know of. The corollary of that is that if you’ve developed that ability to any degree you should also be able to sense others proximal to you on the astral plane.”

  It took Will a second to process that sentence. His vocabulary had expanded dramatically in the years since he had started studying with his grandfather, but it didn’t mean he was used to using all those new words in actual conversation.

  “Proximal means close or nearby,” explained the ring condescendingly.

  “I knew that,” said Will in exasperation. “It just took me a second to sort it all out. You’re talking about when I left my body after the snake bit me, right?”

  “And again, when Aislinn and I were talking.”

  “There was a third time,” offered Will. “When I was being whipped. I left my body and the goddess talked to me.”

  “That one sounds more like a delusion, but either way, you’ve definitely developed some astral ability.”

  “Is that a good thing?”

  “Mostly, yes. Over time, a large portion of practitioners in my day would eventually develop such abilities. It was rather random to be honest. Periods of extreme stress, like nearly dying, or being whipped half to death, are excellent experiences to initiate such events, but if you live long enough, it’s almost guaranteed to happen eventually. The important thing for you to know is that some people can and do use those abilities to spy, just as you did the other day.”

  “That was an accident,” argued Will.

  “Whatever. The point here is this: force effects extend across both the physical realm and the astral and ethereal realms, so if you ever want to be certain of your privacy, a force-dome like this is a must.”

  “Ethereal?”

  “It’s like the astral but it’s physical, and considerably more dangerous to play around with. Let’s not get into that today.”