Scholar of Magic

by Michael G. Manning

  That’s my body, you remember! Will shouted mentally. He’s already unconscious.

  Just making sure, said Laina dryly. Her statement seemed prescient as Ethelgren’s eyes popped open and the man started to move. She sent a kick at his head.

  The wizard slipped away slightly, caught her ankle in one hand, and then surged to his knees, throwing her off balance. Laina toppled backwards.

  At the same time Darla had apparently been freed from the spell holding her, for she charged forward. The Arkeshi stopped suddenly when a source-link caught her at the last second, and the wizard paralyzed her body.

  Ethelgren stood, rising to loom over Laina, a look of anger and disdain on his features. “Are you fucking stupid, girl? First you warn me, then you try to take my goddamn head off!”

  Laina was still confused, but Will recognized the shift in tone and vocabulary. “Arrogan?”

  Chapter 44

  “Who the fuck else would it be? Moron!”

  It was beyond strange watching his own face swear at him while doing such an absolutely perfect imitation of Arrogan’s mannerisms. Will leapt to his feet and threw his arms around the old man who now controlled his body.

  Or tried to. He found himself stumbling as Arrogan stopped him by putting one hand on his face and holding him at arm’s length. “Lass, get control of yourself! I’m far too old for that sort of thing.”

  “I’m not a lass!” yelled Will.

  “You fucking well look like one.”

  “I’m not. Let me explain,” began Will.

  “What’s that then?” asked Arrogan, pointing at Laina’s torso. “Looks very much like a tit hanging out of your dress to my eyes. Have things have changed that much since I died?”

  Internally, Laina grew embarrassed, and she quickly took control to fix her wardrobe malfunction. Meanwhile Will continued to talk. “It’s me! Will! Your grandson.”

  Arrogan squinted at him carefully. “Hmm.” After a second, he made up his mind. “Nope, you’re nowhere near ugly enough to be him. Fetch me a mirror. I’ll show you what he’s supposed to look like.”

  Will rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Listen. You’re in Will’s body, and I already know you’re Arrogan. Where do you think Will is right now?”

  “Right here,” said the old man, tapping his chest. “That asshole Ethelgren trapped him in his own body and may yet again. We need to go somewhere quiet so I can coax him out and prepare him for what he needs to do.”

  “I already got out,” explained Will. “Laina is loaning me the use of her body temporarily.”

  That set Arrogan back on his heels. “You projected yourself, again?”

  Will nodded.

  “And now…” The old man pointed at Laina’s torso again. “You’re both in there?”

  This time, Laina answered. “Hello, nice to meet you. This is Laina.”

  Arrogan stared at them for a moment, his face pensive. After a moment he asked, “The half-sister, right, one of Nerrow’s spawn?”

  Laina was livid. “Listen, you old bastard! You’d still be trapped in there if I hadn’t decided to help your stupid grandson!”

  Arrogan held his hands up. “Whoa, hold on to your temper, girl! The worm-ridden apple doesn’t fall far from the rotten tree does it? You must take after your father.”

  Don’t let him get to you, Will cautioned her as Laina’s rage began to spiral out of control. He’s like this with everyone. He absolutely loves to piss people off. Don’t give him the pleasure.

  She held her tongue, and after a moment Arrogan continued, “Both of you in there, that’s insane. Do you have any idea how incredibly dangerous that is?”

  “I had already lost control of my body,” said Will. “Given the situation, doesn’t it make sense to take some risks?”

  He watched as his face nodded back at him. “Sure, for you. What about the girl? Did it ever occur to you that there might be permanent repercussions?”

  Will and Laina both froze as they felt a faint shiver of anxiety. “Repercussions?”

  “Death is the most common. There was a wizard once who used to experiment with what you’ve done. He wanted to create a hybrid soul that would enable him to do two things at once. Naturally he experimented with others before risking himself. Most of his initial subjects died, but those that didn’t went irretrievably insane, usually within minutes of the fusion.”

  Will felt Laina’s mouth go dry.

  “He figured the problem was that his subjects were strangers. So he moved on to testing it with married couples, which turned out to be a disaster. The survival rate was better, but the insanity rate was worse. Eventually he gave up on the whole idea, but only after someone managed to murder him in retribution for the people he had tortured.”

  “Oh,” said Will.

  “So then an enterprising do-gooder tried to do the surviving but insane subjects a favor by separating them. Of course, he only had one body, so he essentially split the soul and let one die. But his solution didn’t help either; the soul that remained usually became violent, or suicidal.”

  “Are you saying I’ve killed her?” asked Will.

  His grandfather shrugged. “Not at all. The fact that you’re both alive and still relatively sane suggests that you must have been remarkably compatible, but that’s just a guess. I have absolutely no way of knowing. It might also be because of the fact that your fusion was a mutually voluntary process. You didn’t have anyone from the outside forcing you into it.”

  We are not compatible, not by any stretch of the imagination, remarked Laina. So just forget he even suggested that.

  Will chuckled to himself. Laina’s thoughts and her emotions were completely at odds. “So what should we do?”

  “Fix it,” said Arrogan. “And the sooner the better. The longer you two remain in there, mixing and sloshing about, the more likely you’ll start to meld into one inseparable whole.”

  Laina was horrified. “Can we do that here? I’m ready when you are.”

  “We need a safer place,” said the old man. He held out one hand, and a spell construct swirled into existence, a complex meld of two elemental turyn types, earth and air. When he released it, a disk formed from the cobblestones beneath his feet and then rose into the air, lifting him up. Reaching out, he offered Laina a hand as she scrambled aboard. Darla deftly leapt up, landing perfectly. “Hold onto me,” said Arrogan. “My feet are anchored by the spell, but yours aren’t.”

  Darla took one arm while Laina grabbed the other. The disk lurched into motion with sudden speed, and her grip tightened.

  “Which way?” asked Arrogan as they glided forward.

  “North,” said Laina. “Follow that street there. We should be safe in the Alchemy building. Will’s friend is there.”

  Arrogan smiled, and the disk sped up. The ground was rushing by just a foot beneath them, and he seemed to be enjoying the wind as it roared around their faces. Yelling, he asked an academic question, “Do you know why I chose an elemental spell for our transport?”

  Internally, Laina frowned. She wasn’t familiar with Will’s previous conversations with his teacher. Will came to the fore. “What other kind of spell could you have used?”

  “There’s a force-disk spell that works in a similar fashion. It’s easier to use and far more efficient in the amount of turyn it requires,” answered Arrogan.

  Will understood. “You don’t want to limit your options if we’re attacked.”

  Arrogan nodded.

  What does that mean? asked Laina.

  You can only use one force-effect spell at a time. If he had a force-disk active, he couldn’t use the point-defense spell or a force-lance. But this is an elemental spell, so those are still available to him if we get attacked, explained Will.

  Oh. I didn’t know that, said Laina, filing the information away.

  Dulaney taught that in Spell Theory, Will reminded her.

  Since we never learned anything about battle magics, I probably fo
rgot, she admitted. It would seem rather pointless without that context.

  He couldn’t argue with that logic.

  A few minutes later and they were already past the school gates, leaving a contingent of guards gaping in their wake. Will figured he would have some explaining to do later, since several of them had almost certainly recognized him, or rather his body, as Arrogan sent them hurtling along. They reached the Alchemy building in record time and the disk slowly descended to the ground. When the spell was dismissed, it felt apart, leaving an ugly pile of crumbling stones and mortar on the walk. Will hoped no one noticed who had made the mess.

  Back inside, they breezed past Lawrence with a quick series of hellos, and then they were up the stairs, heading for Will’s rented laboratory. Despite his anxiety, Will was relieved to see that Tiny was still there, safe and sound, sleeping on the floor.

  “Holy Mother! Look at the size of him,” exclaimed Arrogan on seeing the slumbering squire. “This is your friend, Tiny?”

  Laina nodded.

  “The name is a little misleading, don’t you think? What do they feed him? A few more soldiers like him in the army and the kingdom will be bankrupt.”

  Will felt himself beginning to prickle like a hedgehog. He wasn’t fond of people making fun of Tiny’s size. “Mind your tongue when I wake him,” he warned.

  “Why? Is he violently disposed?”

  He glared at his mentor. “No. He’s one of the kindest, most intelligent, thoughtful, and genuinely sincere people I have ever known. I won’t have you insulting him.”

  “Wow. So he’s your complete opposite. Perhaps you two should consider making your relationship more public! I’m sure Selene would love that.”

  Will and Laina growled synchronously.

  Arrogan ignored them, but a thoughtful look came over his face. “I’m not going to get to see Selene, am I?” He dipped his head at Laina. “It was nice seeing your face, Miss Nerrow, and Tiny’s too. I hear about everyone through Will, and sometimes I get to hear conversations directly, but I haven’t had any faces to associate with the names.”

  The sudden change in tone caught both Will and Laina off-guard, and Will felt a sudden surge of sadness as his eyes grew misty.

  Arrogan winked. “Don’t go soft on me now, asshole. Let’s wake him up.” He turned away and began shaking Tiny’s shoulder.

  Tiny woke with a start, scrambling back against the wall as his eyes took in the scene, and he tried to figure out what had happened. From his perspective, they had been just beginning to fight a moment ago. His eyes locked onto Laina’s dress, noting the dirt and damage. Then he glared at Arrogan. “What did you do?”

  Will spoke first. “Tiny, it’s me! That’s Arrogan in my body currently.”

  Tiny stared at him, then Arrogan, then he closed his eyes. “How long have I been asleep?”

  “An hour, maybe two?” offered Will.

  “When you say, ‘it’s me,’ you put a certain emphasis on it. Should I infer that you mean you’re someone other than Miss Nerrow?”

  Arrogan began to chuckle while Will and Laina struggled to explain the bizarre twist of fate that had led to their current situation. Tiny remained calm throughout, asking pertinent questions now and again to help him understand. Will couldn’t help but admire the big man’s aplomb. He doubted he would have been so rational if the situation were reversed.

  “So what do we do?” asked Tiny at last.

  Arrogan took over from there. “First, Will must remove himself from Laina and return to his proper flesh. Once that’s done, I’ll talk him through the process of resuming control of his body.”

  “Is it that difficult?” asked Laina.

  Arrogan nodded. “Ethelgren is still in here, locked away in the same fashion he had Will trapped. When I return to my own place, he will be freed, and they’ll have to start their battle for supremacy over again.”

  Will was dubious about his prospects, but Laina was thoroughly dismayed. “He already lost once! You think he can win this time?”

  Thanks for the vote of confidence, observed Will.

  Hush, I’m worried about you, she snapped without a trace of shame. A phrase like that would have deeply embarrassed her just two hours before.

  “How do I extract myself?” asked Will.

  “How did you get out of your first bodily prison?” asked Arrogan in return.

  “I don’t like being trapped without being able to see or hear,” said Will.

  Arrogan smiled. “Easy enough.” A source-link snapped out, and he paralyzed Laina’s body. A split second later he severed them from her senses as well. Will and Laina were trapped in a seemingly endless void.

  Will had experienced it before, but Laina didn’t take it very well. A surge of panic shot through her, rocking Will as well. He struggled to contain her emotions, which only made matters worse. For the first time since his arrival, the two of them began to struggle against each other in earnest.

  It went on for a short time, and Will finally realized that the struggle was necessary if they were to separate. It was painful, and yet it was the only way to tear themselves apart from each other. His own fear began to rise as they continued to fail, and then it was over. With a familiar popping sensation, he was out.

  Arrogan spotted him floating in the air above them and promptly released Laina from the source-link, restoring her movement and senses. She opened her eyes and looked around, her expression vacant and empty. As the seconds passed, her features changed, going from numb to forlorn. Clutching her hands to her chest, Laina curled into a tight ball, hiding her face from view.

  Will was also in pain, though probably only Arrogan could see it. It felt as though he had lost something vital, something important, something he couldn’t live without. For a while he had been more, and now Will felt alone—more alone than he had ever realized. The intensity of his solitude was crushing. For a moment his only desire was to go back, and it took all his willpower to resist the urge.

  Arrogan was watching him carefully with a steady gaze. After a moment, the old man spoke. “Come on.” He snapped his fingers and opened his arms.

  Will focused on his own face and felt himself rushing forward. A split second later, he felt himself once again encased in flesh, and he sensed the warmth of Arrogan’s presence. Desperate to end his loneliness, Will tried to cling to the other spirit.

  No, god damn it! That’s what got you in this trouble to begin with! Arrogan admonished him. Seconds later, Will found himself driven into a dark place, locked and sealed, bereft of his senses, as he had been before he escaped.

  His only contact with his body, or the outside world, was the old man’s voice, echoing through the void. Get ahold of yourself. I have to return to the ring before you can have your body back, but when I go Ethelgren will return with a vengeance.

  Where is he now? asked Will, struggling to regain his composure.

  Locked away, just as you are. The moment I leave, the two of you will be on your own. You have to be ready.

  Do you really think I can win?

  Listen, boy, I know you better than you think, and I’ve already tested that fool personally. You’re stronger and more stubborn. Back when I was still alive you were already getting to be a problem when I needed to restrain you. This is your body. You have the advantage here. You won’t lose to some half-baked enchanter.

  Enchanter?

  Someone who relies too much on creating magic items, rather than improving their innate skills, explained Arrogan. From what I know of the man, he fits the stereotype.

  You didn’t see the spells he was casting, countered Will. They were unbelievable.

  Almost all of them were built into the rod, said Arrogan. I doubt he could cast them at will on his own.

  Will still felt unsure.

  You took his spell away from him. You. You’re hardly more than an apprentice. He was a wizard for hundreds of years before he was murdered. If that isn’t a clue regarding how much he act
ually practiced, I don’t know what is. You can do this, just don’t let your confidence waver.

  That made him feel better, but something else occurred to him then. Arrogan had referred to a memory of teaching him, giving lie to his previous statements that he couldn’t remember the most recent years before his death. Not only that, but the old man had managed to take control of his body, even though it was being vigorously defended by another wizard.

  Will hadn’t even suspected that that was possible, and it cast serious doubt on the foundation of their relationship. Thanks, he responded. After this is over, assuming I win, we need to talk about some things.

  Arrogan’s response was delayed, but eventually he replied, Yeah. You’re right. We do.

  Chapter 45

  Tiny stood behind the body of his best friend. He had rejected the idea of using a club and instead merely had handheld in a fist. It was his job to knock Will out if he lost his battle with Ethelgren.

  “Neither of them can see or hear at the moment, so they don’t know you’re back there,” Arrogan reassured them. Then he locked eyes with Laina, who stood in front of him. “You know your part, right?”

  She nodded. Laina still wasn’t fully recovered from the trauma of separation, but there was a sense of tenacity about her. “If it isn’t him, I knee him in the groin,” she repeated.

  “That’s right,” said Arrogan. “Just don’t overdo it. If you rupture a testicle, he’ll wind up having to use a regeneration potion, and those things are too valuable to waste.”

  “Maybe I should do it,” suggested Darla. “I have extensive experience.”

  Will’s face took on a thoughtful expression, then Arrogan replied with a chuckle, “Nah, you might kill him. Besides, if it’s Laina there might be some therapeutic value.”

  “What does that mean?” asked Tiny.

  Laina nodded immediately, determination and earnestness showing in her eyes. “That makes sense.”

  “All right, here goes,” Arrogan said. Internally, he warned Will to hopefully give him and advantage, and then he retreated back into the ring.