by B. T. Narro
“You’re trying to learn dvinia?” she asked with a cock of her head.
“I am.”
“That’s impressive. My father doesn’t know any wizards. I’m sure you will be in his good graces very soon.”
“Not if I don’t learn the spell before he tests me. Unfortunately, I still must practice it. Thank you so much for your help, princess. It was a pleasure meeting you.” I bowed again.
She seemed a little perturbed as she gave a curtsy, then turned to make her way down the hall.
It was a relief to finally close the door. I tried to get back to practicing, but the smell of pork was starting to drive me mad. I finished it in a matter of minutes, then started stuffing chunks of bread into my mouth as I went back to practicing.
I was so close. I could almost feel the spell working every time I tried it. I could cast three of the four notes consistently. It was just adding the highest one, uuD, that was the hardest. I had progressed past using the vibmtaer because when casting these three notes at the same time, the colors were spliced into a pinkish green that meant nothing to me.
I failed to make any progress for an hour straight, and frustration was soon getting the better of me. A look out the window showed the sun setting. There was another knock at my door. I halted in dread.
I figured the king would be announced, instead of asking to enter a room with a simple knock, but I hurried to open the door just in case I was wrong. I almost let out an exasperated breath when I saw the princess there again.
“Callie.” I gave a quick bow. “Unfortunately, I need a little more time.”
“That’s why I’m here,” she said softly. She motioned for me to lean close to her. I stepped up to her, and she went up on her toes to whisper in my ear. “I brought something for you.”
I stepped back and waited for her to give it to me. She forced me back as she practically walked into me while entering the room. Then she closed the door after her.
“I couldn’t possibly accept anything from you.”
Please get out, I wanted to tell her. I don’t care what you brought me. I also thought it unwise to have the princess in my room with the door closed.
“It will be a secret between us.” She pulled a scroll out from her sleeve and handed it to me. But I didn’t accept it.
“If Leon or your father wouldn’t want me to have it, then I can’t take it.”
“You don’t have to take it, then. I’ll read it to you.” She unrolled the scroll. “Expel: Upper F, Upper G, Up-Upper C, Up-Upper D.”
I knew the notes, but I hadn’t heard the name of the spell before. Expel. I might’ve found it interesting if I wasn’t in such a panic to get back to practicing.
“This is the core of dvinia,” she continued to read. “The chord has no third, which makes dvinia most similar to ordia. This raises the question as to what other possible spells can be created when combining the core of dvinia with additional notes, like enchanting is done by using ordia.”
This was fascinating, but it was clear by now that it wasn’t going to help me with my immediate problem.
“Is there anything else about Expel?” I asked.
Her eyes moved rapidly down the scroll. “No.”
“Right now, that’s all I’m trying to cast. I just need a little more time alone, if you don’t mind.”
“Remember what I told you about your plate?” she teased as she walked over to my desk and grabbed it. “I’ll get it for you, don’t worry!” She winked and gave a sassy toss of her hair.
“I appreciate all of your help,” I said as I opened the door. To my shock, the king was about one step away from the doorway.
No. I just needed a little more time!
“Sire.” I bowed, glad for the excuse to look away from his glaring gaze as he noticed his daughter behind me.
“Father,” Callie said with shock. “I was just trying to help Jon learn the spell…then I noticed his plate.” She handed it to me as if embarrassed to be holding it. But now I didn’t know what to do with it. At least she wasn’t trying to hide the scroll in her hands, which I was certain the king had already noticed.
“Did Jon ask you for help?” he questioned.
“No. I promise.”
“So you showed up at his room without invitation?”
“I, uh. I knew he must be hungry. I took a plate to him earlier. I didn’t see it in the hall later so I thought…”
I was too nervous that the king had come here to witness my spell to think of something that might alleviate the situation.
“Wait in your chambers, Callie. I will speak with you later.”
She rushed out with her head down.
The king folded his arms in front of me. I didn’t want to set the plate on the bed or the fancy mantle above the hearth, which were the only two surfaces in my immediate vicinity. But I felt even worse holding it, as the king seemed to be waiting for me.
“Sire?” I asked.
“Do you not realize how inappropriate it is to have my daughter in this room with you, and the door closed!”
Fear took my voice away for a moment. “I’m sorry, sire. I honestly didn’t want her in here, but she walked in and closed the door after her.”
“Then you tell her to leave!”
“I feared that I shouldn’t tell the princess to do anything.”
“She is a fourteen-year-old girl. She needs to be told what to do if she is acting inappropriately.”
It was a shock to hear the king speak about his daughter like this, but a refreshing one. “I promise I will do that in the future.”
“Give me that damn plate.” He took it out of my hand and set it down against the wall in the hallway. “All right, Jon. It’s time to show me the spell.”
“May I have one more hour? Please, sire. I’m very close.”
The king let out a sigh. “It is late, and I have a busy day tomorrow. I’m about to retire to my bedchamber.”
No, I wanted to shout. The king was a tall man, broad of shoulder. He stared at me and made no attempt to hide that he was deliberating whether to force me out of the castle right now.
I put my hands together in a plea. “Please give me until the morning, sire. I can meet you anywhere you require. I would just need a moment to show you the spell.”
He put his hand over his chin. “Fine. At sunrise tomorrow I will be stopping by your room here. I really hope you have not wasted all of our time. Good night, Jon.”
“Thank you for the chance, sire. Good night.”
I shut the door behind him and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
I practiced far into the night, extremely thankful the king had given me more than an hour. I would’ve failed if he hadn’t.
If I had taken an essence, I was certain I would’ve been able to cast a spell by now. But after feeling what the essence of dteria had done to my mana, I was glad that I’d refused to let one of them interfere.
With exhaustion nearly forcing my eyes shut, I eventually was able to split my mind four ways and cast the spell. The only problem now was that I was too tired to put any force behind it. The chord just puttered out of my body like drool. I tried again and again. I knew each note was perfect. The spell should be working. I even felt a new sensation of my mana clicking into place like turning a mental key into a lock, but still, nothing happened.
The bed was calling to me. Maybe if I just shut my eyes for a moment.
*****
I awoke to someone shaking my shoulder. “Jon, get up.”
I gasped, sucking in the drool that was running down my face. I had fallen asleep facedown, strewn across my bed. The king was standing in front of me with Barrett behind him. I wasn’t sure who’d shaken me awake, but it was the king who spoke again.
“Cast, Jon.”
My mind snapped back to what I’d been doing just before collapsing on the bed. With adrenaline pumping through me, I pushed out my hand and forced my mana out in the form of four calculated vibrations ov
er my bed. Something clicked again as the spell came to fruition, but this time I felt my mana transform as it left me. It was like shooting the perfect arrow, knowing your posture and draw was spot on.
“Whoa,” I said in amazement as my heavy quilt was tossed into the far wall.
I had done it! I wanted to throw my arms in the air in triumph, but I restrained myself to a wide smile. So wizards were capable of creating a physical force out of the energy made by mana. I was already drooling at the possibilities. No wait, that was just some leftover drool from my slumber I’d failed to wipe away.
The king looked at me for a long while, his hard stare eventually dissolving my grin.
“Be honest, Jon. Have you been up all night practicing, and this is the first time it’s worked?”
“Yes,” I admitted fearfully.
The king shared a look with Barrett. The councilman shrugged ever so slightly.
“Promise me something,” the king told me. “You will keep up this dedication to improving yourself no matter how easy spell casting becomes.”
“It’s how I’ve always lived my life, sire, and I wouldn’t change it whether I promised you or not.”
“Good. That’s what I want to hear. One more thing. You will not, under any circumstance, touch my daughter or even give her the faintest idea you are interested.”
“Sire, I am not interested in girls her age. I would never touch her no matter who she was. And because she is your daughter, sire, I will even deny her friendship if that’s what you wish.” It was the easiest way out of this problem.
“Are you saying you cannot treat my daughter with respect without acting flirtatious?”
I realized my mistake with a lowered head. “I can do that, sire.”
“That’s what I expect.” He put his hands together. “Very well. I’m leaving now. Because you were up most of the night, and certainly look the part, I will give you until the early afternoon. Sleep, bathe, eat—take care of whatever you need. I expect you to put your best foot forward when I return because I have a task for you.”
“I look forward to it.”
“I’m glad.”
I escorted them out and shut the door after them. I was ready to pass out again, but first I had to see the spell work one more time. I set my quilt back onto my bed. It still took a few moments to prepare my mind, but it was glorious when I casted Expel once more and the quilt flew across the room.
I sleepily retrieved it and set it on my bed. I almost couldn’t wait to show Leon and the others. I had done right believing in myself, something I wouldn’t soon forget.
Finally, and with great satisfaction, I made myself comfortable and promptly fell asleep with a smile on my face.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Still immensely proud of myself, I now ate, alone, in the great hall as I wondered whether my peers thought I had been given special treatment. It would be even worse if they’d heard the princess had tried to help me. I could do nothing about that right now, though, so I would try to enjoy my meal.
I got to see another room in the great hall. The dining room on the ground floor had to be the single largest room I’d ever been in. There were three long tables of tanned oak with benches on both sides. On the far end of the room was a dais, where a smaller table of dark wood looked fit for the king and his family.
Although the room was marvelous, the size of it just made me feel lonelier. It seemed that the others were training when I’d crossed through the courtyard briefly. I might have a few moments to join them before I was sent off for the king’s task.
My food was delicious again, this time poached eggs and thick bread. I’d never eaten this well before. I’d better find time to work it off, or I might soon become fat.
I was just finishing when someone called for me.
“Jon!”
I looked up to find the king at the entrance to the enormous room. I left my plate and rushed over.
“You have proven that you are determined,” the king said. “Now is your chance to show me that you can be useful as well.”
I was eager. “What can I do?”
“Go to the stockades,” the king said as he handed me a scroll.
I had no idea where they were, but he was still talking after I took the scroll.
“Show that to them there. You are going to be escorting a krepp back here.”
What’s a krepp? I wondered.
“The people of Newhaven are likely to be a little alarmed by the creature’s presence. You will smile and show them that there is no reason to be afraid. No one is to hurt or threaten the krepp, and try to keep him from killing anyone on the way here. If you insult him by accident, he might show aggression toward you. You are not to defend yourself unless your life is at risk.”
“Um.” This was not the kind of task I was expecting.
“What questions do you have?”
So many. “I should admit that I don’t know where the stockades are. I just arrived here a few days ago and have only been to one place, the Enchanted Devices shop. Is it near there?”
“No. How’s your memory?”
“Very good.”
“The Stockades is in The Docks, which is on the eastern side of the city, over the bridge. Take any street eastward to get there. After you cross the bridge, go north. You can’t miss the Stockades. The krepp is to be treated with honor no matter what he asks of you. A message came this morning that he arrived by boat and will only speak to me. If I’m not here when you return, you are to entertain him until I come back. This is an easy task, Jon. I’m choosing you because you are courteous and strong. If something happens, I expect you to restrain the aggressor or use dvinia to make them back off. Do not take a weapon.”
It was an honor. “I will make sure he gets here without incident.”
“That is the right answer. Hurry over there. I’ve made him wait long enough.”
I gave a quick bow, then darted around the king.
“Jon.”
I spun around.
“Like any task that you are given, you are not to speak about it to anyone outside this castle unless absolutely necessary.”
“I understand.”
I ran through the courtyard. Everyone was training separately but near enough that they could speak to each other, and many were sharing words. Leon seemed to be going around to each of them to offer instruction. I looked forward to showing him what I could do and hearing his advice on how best to quickly improve.
“Where you off to?” Michael asked as I passed him.
“Picking up a krepp from the Stockades,” I answered.
“Did you say a krepp?”
I was too far away to answer without shouting back. He would find out soon enough, anyway. I wished I had time to ask him if he knew what a krepp was, but the king might’ve been watching. I wouldn’t delay.
I exited the castle through the open drawbridge. It pointed me west, so I had to run all the way around the huge outer wall to head east. I jogged down King Street through much of the city and eventually saw the bridge. It was arched so that standing at the middle of it afforded me a view of the entire docks. They were a large district separated from the rest of the city by the wide river. There were many smaller homes packed together, along with a number of tiny buildings that seemed to be shops without any names displayed.
The Stockades had a tall fence surrounding it. A field of grass enclosed a stone structure with a lookout tower on one end. The whole thing looked like a relaxed prison to me. I was startled when I saw something, or better yet someone, who was not a man or a woman. He definitely was a humanoid, however, standing upright on two legs, but he was larger than any person I had seen.
The scaly face of the krepp resembled that of a lizard. He had a snout with a long mouth that split it in half. The folds of his face gave him the appearance of having eyebrows even though there was no hair to be seen across his bald head. I spotted no ears, but there were probably holes hidden somewhere in the
spikey flesh that sprouted out around the back of the creature’s head. I figured his ears probably looked similar to the two holes that made up the krepp’s nose at the end of his snout.
It was his eyes that were the most bizarre. They were yellow with a black line down the middle. I had plenty of time to focus on them because the creature was looking right at me as he approached. He had just finished a duel with a swordsman, disarming the man with a powerful swing and then tossing him aside as if he were rubbish.
“You take me to king?” the krepp asked me. He must’ve known someone was coming for him. His voice was deep and coarse, like a massive man who’d taken to the pipe for many years. When he spoke, I couldn’t help but notice his sharp teeth.
“I will,” I informed the creature. I looked past him at the guards of the Stockades helping up their fellow swordsman. “I have a decree here,” I called out to them as I unrolled the scroll.
They barely glanced over before they were gesturing for me to leave, clearly eager to get rid of the krepp.
The accent of the creature made me wonder just how much he knew of our language. Did he even know the difference between polite and rude? I spoke to him gently just in case.
“Are you ready to meet the king?” I asked.
“Yes. I tire of wait.”
I started toward the gated part of the fence between us, but the krepp ran at the barricade and jumped right over it. For such a large creature, I was amazed at the height he could reach as he cleared the pickets that came up to my shoulders.
I half expected the earth to shake as he landed near me, he was so heavy. He had muscles everywhere, most bulging from his chest and arms. He might’ve been more than a little taller than me, but he didn’t stand up straight as we walked. Instead, he hunched over slightly as if he could tilt down and start running on all fours at any moment.
“My name is Jon,” I said as we started back the way I’d come. I didn’t know what would happen when we encountered other people. I felt that the king had undersold how alarming this creature looked.
“I am Grufaeragar,” said the krepp proudly. “I am strongest for common tongue and for sword. You have great honor meet me. Do I have honor meet you?”