The Human Familiar (Familiar and the Mage Book 1)

by Honor Raconteur

  I could tell Rena hadn’t fully pulled herself together yet, as she had to look to me for a translation. “Is she saying what I think she’s saying?”

  “She is. She’s saying that you are automatically her student and she your master because you are a Void Mage.” I felt like I had to mention it, so I informed Mary and Gill, “She actually passed all the Tests in Corcoran and is a mage herself in rank.”

  Rena slapped a hand over my mouth. “Magus Mary, I would love to learn from you. Am I allowed to, even though I’m a different nationality?”

  “Of course, child, it makes no difference to us. Magic is magic and the relationship between a master and her apprentice is universal.” Mary’s attention bounced between us. “You’re willing to be my apprentice, even though you have earned the rank of mage?”

  Since there was still a hand over my mouth, I did the only thing that a man should do in my position. I licked it.

  Rena squeaked, gave me a dirty look, and wiped her hand on my pants as she answered, “My master did his best with me but no one understands my magic, not fully, and I would be a fool to pass up the opportunity to learn from you.”

  “Speaking of, shouldn’t we somehow contact him?” Not that I was against staying and letting Rena learn, but she was so wrapped up in this discovery that she could not be the sensible one at the moment. “We basically disappeared without a trace two days ago, people are going to start forming up a search party if they haven’t already.”

  “Sards!” she swore. “Master Mary—can I call you that? Oh good, thank you—how far out is your reach? Can you connect me to my master in Corcoran?”

  “Of course I can, child.” Mary seemed both amused and bemused by this question. “Bannen, do we not need to notify your parents as well?”

  “Likely so,” I admitted easily, “but that’s not as high of a priority. They don’t even know that I’m missing, after all.”

  Gill and Mary exchanged a glance but it was Gill that asked, “Where are you from, son?”

  “Z’gher.” My smile went crooked as they let out sounds of understanding. “My family and kin are all still there, so while I do talk to them on a semi-regular basis, Rena’s call home takes priority.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do,” Mary declared with a firm nod. “But I warn you, Rena. The life of a Void Mage is not an easy one. We are always handed the most difficult tasks, the ones that regular magic cannot combat.”

  Rena met her eyes steadily, not even remotely shocked by this. “Like defeating a shard of Toh’sellor?”

  Gill and Mary proved they had been together too long as they bit off the same oath at the same time. “You did what?!” Gill demanded. “When?”

  Glad to finally surprise them, I answered, “It’s a rather interesting story. Short version is Toh’sellor somehow managed to get part of his essence out of the barrier and down into a town called Brightwood. Rena was the one that destroyed it.”

  It took three tries for Mary to find her voice again and even then she squeaked more than spoke. “I want the finer details of that! It’s the first I heard that our magic might be able to do something about that monstrosity.”

  “I’ll be happy to discuss the finer details,” Rena assured her before asking mock-innocently, “But I assume you meant insane feats like that?”

  A twinkle in her eye, Mary agreed, “Yes, child, like that. Are you sure you’re up to such a life?”

  “I don’t see how I have much choice in the matter. When things happen on that scale, if I don’t combat it, it’ll come find me eventually.”

  A sad look came over Gill’s face and I felt it mirrored mine, as neither of us liked that Rena had already learned that lesson at sixteen.

  Giving a solemn nod, Mary agreed but only said, “Eat first, Rena. You’ll need the strength.”

  I loaded Rena’s bowl with soup, made sure she was eating, and then went back to my own. I had a feeling I’d be answering just as many questions as Rena would, after all.

  “Z’gher,” Gill ruminated for a moment, eyes on the ceiling. “Mary, what’s the record for summoning? You remember?”

  “I don’t but I have a feeling it isn’t Z’gher to Corcoran, if that’s what you’re getting at. It might be close to the record, though.” Mary had this look on her face that I couldn’t quite decipher. “Gill wasn’t all that far from me, about four hours away. Usually our magic goes with a good candidate that’s close to us, not one that’s so outflung.”

  “It’s definitely supposed to be me,” I assured her, laughing in memory. “She’s summoned me twice.”

  “Twice?!” the old couple parroted incredulously.

  As Rena ate, I told the story of how we had been forced to break the bond and then she ended up summoning me again anyway. Gill looked sad and disturbed by this but Mary was outraged. Spots of color were high on her cheeks, eyes snapping with anger. “Those zounderkites. Did they leave you alone after that?”

  I hesitated, glancing at Rena, not sure how she wanted me to answer this question.

  Rena put her spoon down and faced Mary square on, taking a deep breath before answering, “No. Someone on the council has now sent assassins after us twice.”

  Gill at least was quick on the uptake. “That have anything to do why you found yourself trapped in a cave and had to tunnel yourself out in a foreign country? You poor kids. How many were you facing?”

  “Six fighters, three mages.”

  Biting off an oath, Gill stared at me incredulously. “Sards, son, and you came out of that with only cracked ribs, a hit to the thigh and a broken toe?!”

  I gave him a cocky smile. “I’m very, very good.”

  “He probably could have given you a run for your money in your younger days,” Mary said to her husband, a somewhat nostalgic smile on her face. “I see now why Rena’s magic was so insistent on you. It sensed that it would need a fighter as strong as you are to safeguard her. Those fools, truly, it’s because of those fopdoodles on the Council that Turransky doesn’t want to have anything to do with Corcoran. They make up the stupidest laws. By rights, Rena, you should have been brought directly to me when you were a child. You suffered at their hands needlessly.”

  I could see that was the case by watching these two.

  Rena gave her a sweet smile. “It’s alright. Despite everything, I have a good master and amazing friends. I can’t regret them.”

  “You’re a sweet child,” Mary said, leaning over to pat her gently on the cheek. “I’m glad, as you’ll be staying here for a while.”

  The way she said this made me think it was a good while. “Ah…how long?”

  “That is a question. I need to test you,” Mary said to Rena frankly, “to see how much you’ve figured out, where you stand. The general rule of thumb is that it takes five years—”

  I choked and had to pound a fist against my chest. What did she just say?!

  “—but that’s from the very start of an apprenticeship,” Mary continued with a knowing look at me, “and there’s pacing involved in that, to let the apprentice’s magic mature. I don’t think you need to stay with me nearly that long. If you’re already a recognized mage in your own right, I’m thinking more along the lines of two years to teach you all of my tricks.”

  Two years. Two years? I knew magic was complicated, Mary and Rena’s type of magic especially, but she was already a mage, right? Why would it take another two years of learning? And could we really afford to be away from home that long?

  I turned to Rena, ready to object, but the words froze before they could leave my mouth. I knew that pleading look on her face all too well. And I knew what she was going to say before she could verbalize it.

  “Can we?” she asked hopefully, eyes large and liquid.

  “Stop looking at me like that,” I objected automatically. “It doesn’t work on me, that look, that look right there? It doesn’t work on me, I invented that look, it has no power over me. Stop it. Your eyes are too large, it’s
very disarming.”

  Rena tilted her head to that exact angle so that she looked up through her lashes. She had no idea why that look worked on me, only that it did, and I hadn’t found a way to explain that whenever she looked at me like that my heart seized up and I found it difficult to breathe. “Purple?”

  I had to look away before I forgot how to breathe. Then I pounded a palm to my chest, forcefully restarting my lungs, as they obviously had forgotten. “That is foul play, Rena. That is cheating, and it’s wrong, and you know it’s wrong and…sards.” I heaved out a breath, slumping in so that my head was resting in my hands. It was far safer not to look at her right now.

  With a giggle—’cause she knew she’d gotten her way, she always did—she leaned into my shoulder and hugged me around the neck. “Thank you, Bannen. You’re the best familiar a girl can have.”

  “Purple?” Gill asked and I could just tell he was laughing on some inner level.

  “Long story,” I sighed. “Tell you later. Alright, Rena, we’ll stay. It might be safer to stay anyway; maybe the assassins will have given up by the time we make it back to Corcoran. Happy?”

  “Mmm,” she agreed, nodding against my shoulder.

  I lifted a hand to her wrist, holding her back, looking down at the crown of her head. Apparently there was nothing in the world that I wouldn’t do for this girl if she asked it of me. This was amazingly bad; it meant she’d be spoilt rotten before she even hit twenty. I was creating a monster, here, I knew that, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I blamed the bond, it had to be the bond’s fault. “You get to explain this to Tarkington, though, I’m not helping you with that.”

  “That’s fine, he’ll agree. It’s better all-around if I really know how to use my magic. He’s wanted a proper teacher for me from the get-go. It’s better if I stay and properly learn how to be a Void Mage, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” I agreed softly, “I suppose it is.”

  It took three days before Rena’s magic was up to doing anything. We spent those three days basically recuperating and speaking with family. I found it interesting that Rena could barely sustain a call for more than five minutes but Mary could do it for an hour or so at a time. Difference in technique? Difference in power? Difference in training? Or maybe a combination of all three.

  Tarkington did not like the idea of us being in Turransky whatsoever, but agreed that we were better off here than in Corcoran. After Mary had a one-on-one chat with him, he looked less perturbed by the idea and gave his blessings. Rena’s parents were far harder to convince. My parents didn’t care, were actually a little happy about it as I was now closer to home. From here, a simple boat ride across the channel would get me home within six hours.

  On the fourth morning, I stumbled outside and into the cold morning air, heading for the outhouse. As I moved, I saw Rena and Mary with their heads bent together. Oh? Magic lessons starting already? Granted, Mary had said last night Rena’s magic level had more or less recovered. Shrugging, I went and attended to nature, washed up a little in the water basin outside—shards the water could be chipped from an iceberg—and headed back for the warmth of the cottage. Rena might be recovered, but I wasn’t, and I didn’t intend to stay out here if she didn’t need me.

  Rena did something complicated and magical, the words sing-song and familiar. I knew this one, sort of, a spell that Rena used for splitting logs.

  “Thunderation, child, what are you doing!” Mary burst out, tone squeaky and high with incredulity.

  Spluttering to a stop, Rena asked, “What?”

  I stopped too, foot in the doorway, turning back to watch.

  “That, that,” Mary waved a hand toward the half-decomposed log, “that is so cumbersome. Sweet mercy, why would you do it that way? Magic is sentient, you know, you don’t have to be such an exacting taskmaster!”

  Rena and I exchanged a glance. This was the second time that we’d been told that, that magic was sentient, an intelligence of its own.

  Mary caught the exchange and her mouth dropped open. “Wait. Don’t tell me that’s not common knowledge in Corcoran.”

  “Um, actually we’re taught the exact opposite,” Rena admitted, hand on the back of her neck, expression more than a little sheepish. “The mage that told me how my magic functions, Trammel, he was the first to tell me that magic was sentient. I’d never heard it before him.”

  Dropping her head in both hands, Mary groaned long and loudly.

  “I take it that’s a basic teaching in Turransky.” I strangely found this situation funny, although I couldn’t begin to explain why.

  “The basics of the basics,” Mary groaned into her hands.

  Color me not surprised. “So, Mary, what is Rena doing that she shouldn’t be doing?”

  “Her incantations are tediously cumbersome,” Mary finally lowered her hands, facing her apprentice. “Rena, you don’t have to list the elements with their weight, and their power, and their exact location like that. There’s no need.”

  Rena’s mouth opened in an automatic objection, “But I tried just listing the elements, it doesn’t work—”

  “Don’t get me wrong, child, you have to give it a little more information than just the basics, but it’s not much more. What you’re doing is literally detailing everything like a magical blueprint, and it’s not at all necessary. You’re literally tripling your incantations. No wonder your magic insisted on Bannen,” she added with a roll of the eyes toward me. “It probably despaired of you doing anything with any kind of speed. It called for the strongest protector it could.”

  I found myself preening. “You say the sweetest things, Mary.”

  “Off with you, before your head no longer fits through the doorway,” she shooed, laughing. “My point, child, is that we can streamline this process so that your incantations are much more efficient. Now, let’s start this again from the beginning—”

  I tuned her out at that point, stepping inside and quickly closing the door behind me. I smiled as I headed for the kitchen. Strangely, I felt like sending our would-be assassins a thank you card. They had done us a favor, sending us here.

  Gill had his hands in a bowl of dough, flipping and turning it, but stopped when I breached the doorway. “How are they doing out there?”

  “Apparently Rena’s incantations are cumbersome,” I answered cheerfully. “Mary’s in despair.”

  The old man chuckled. “Mary’s in high spirits, then. She loves teaching. Sit, Bannen, keep that leg up. I want you healed sooner rather than later.”

  Something about the way he said that had my ears perking. “Why’s that?” I asked as I took the chair across from him.

  “You think Mary’s the only one with tricks up her sleeves? I’ve been guarding a Void Mage for nearly six decades, son, you think I don’t know a few things that should be passed along to you?”

  “Ooh, ooh, I get training too?” I had to stop myself from bouncing in my seat. “Awww, Gill, and it’s not even my birthday.”

  That made him laugh outright. “You’re amiable to the idea, I take it.”

  “I’d be a fool to pass it up. I try not to be a fool, it always bites me later.”

  He shook a dough covered finger at me. “When we do get to training, don’t underestimate me just because of my age, now.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” I responded honestly. “I’ll be faster, no doubt, but I don’t underestimate old people. They’re treacherous and conniving.”

  That put a wolfish smile on his face. “We are indeed.”

  I took one look at that expression and had a sense of what this man must have been like in his prime. He must have been more than formidable. I’d never had a dedicated master other than my mother; basically I learned most of what I know from anyone willing to teach me and some very rough experiences that engraved lessons into my skin the hard way. I looked at this man, his experience and wisdom carved into the lines of his face and the calluses on his hands, and a thrill of anticipation shot
through me.

  Definitely had to send those assassins a thank you card.

  Honor Raconteur grew up all over the United States and to this day is confused about where she’s actually from. She wrote her first book at five years old and hasn’t looked back since. Her interests vary from rescuing dogs, to studying languages, to arguing with her characters. On good days, she wins the argument.

  Since her debut in September 2011, Honor has released over a dozen books, mostly of the fantasy genre. She writes full time from the comfort of her home office, in her pajamas, while munching on chocolate. She has no intention of stopping anytime soon and will probably continue until something comes along to stop her.

  Her website can be found here: http://www.honorraconteur.com, or if you wish to speak directly with the author, visit her on Facebook.

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  About the Author