“Sounds tough.” He imagined trying to bring Lucifer under control and shuddered. “You don’t seem too worried.”
Sonja swallowed a bite of meatloaf. “I’m good at elemental domination. We’ve been doing practice runs and I always get mine under control in less than thirty seconds. I’m more worried about finals. We have to show mastery of five elements. I suck at dark magic and I’m shaky with air.”
“What do you have to do with dark magic?”
“Cast five spells from first- and second-year classes and then three spells from third or fourth. The first- and second-year spells are a cinch, but the third-year spells focus on demon binding and dismissal. Demons are way harder to deal with than elementals.”
“What about fourth year?”
“Itching for a sneak peek?” She grinned at him. “Sorry. Mrs. Umbra says I don’t have the aptitude to study fourth-year dark magic. That’s fine with me. No offense, but third year was at the outer edge of what I can handle. I can’t even imagine what fourth year is like.”
He nodded with a mixture of disappointment and relief. “Did you think any more about what I said regarding the golem?”
“You mean reforging Blinky out of solid steel? It’s a good idea, but we only have one fire wizard. I don’t think I can process that much metal on my own.”
“Is the spell difficult?”
“No. Anyone capable of casting fire magic could do it.” Her grin broadened into a full smile. “Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”
“Can you teach me the spell?”
“Ha! I knew it. I sure can. If we work together I bet we can finish Blinky in three Sundays. Once we liquefy the steel Crystal and the others can handle the shaping.”
“Shall we give it a try this Sunday?”
“Yes we shall.” Sonja hugged him. “This is going to be so fun.”
Conryu arrived at the golem club’s shed a few minutes early as was his habit. The days were getting noticeably cooler and all the trees had now turned red and orange. It was a beautiful day and several of the girls from the art club had set up their easels down on the beach to paint the lake and island. Conryu had never been especially artistic, but it looked like a peaceful way to spend the morning.
Maybe Maria should take it up as a hobby. Ever since he’d told her about the midterm and her teacher confirmed it she’d been wound so tight he feared she’d break. It made him glad he’d never worried too much about his grades. As long as he passed, nothing else mattered.
He pulled the door open and studied the pile of scrap metal along with the two semi-finished golems. First he needed to sort out everything that wasn’t pure steel.
He pulled one of the battered wooden stools over and got to work. First went the tin and aluminum cans. Apparently the kitchen staff had donated them, in an effort to be helpful or more likely get someone to take the junk off their hands. As he sorted Conryu considered his most recent, pointless, visit to the professor.
Angus had almost pleaded for information about his studies. The professor had been so pathetic Conryu almost gave in. Only the fear that sharing a single sliver of information would encourage him to be even more demanding brought Conryu up short. There was still no information from Mr. Kane. The whole secret messenger thing looked like a bust.
He shrugged and focused on his sorting. He had just started on the brass when Sonja and Crystal arrived. It was Crystal’s turn to bring snacks and the tall girl had a bagful.
“What’cha doing?” Sonja crouched down beside him.
“Sorting the junk out of the steel. We don’t want to have anything that might weaken the metal when we start forging.”
“Good idea.” Sonja glanced at his discard pile. “Will we have enough?”
Conryu had been wondering that exact thing himself. “Only one way to find out. Dig in.”
Onyx and Jade arrived five minutes later and between them they had the pile sorted in a little over an hour. The steel pile ended up depressingly small. Combined with Blinky they had maybe a hundred and fifty pounds. The max weight for the Brawl was four hundred.
Conryu ate a chip and sighed. “I think we’ll have to sacrifice the starfish if we want to get close to our maximum weight.”
“If we do that we’ll have no backup in case Blinky goes on the fritz again,” Onyx said.
She had a point, but as things stood neither golem had a chance of winning. He doubted they had much of a chance even if they used all their metal to make a single construct.
“It’s your call, but as it stands now Blinky’s going to get squashed by the big golems. Even if we combine them it’ll be a hundred plus pounds under the max.”
“Let’s vote,” Sonja said. “All those in favor of making a single golem raise your hand.”
Conryu put his hand up as did Sonja. Onyx and Jade both held their hands in their laps. All eyes turned to Crystal. The tall girl looked to Sonja, sighed, and raised her hand.
“Three to two.” Sonja beamed. “Out of respect for the sacrifice I hereby christen the combined golem Star Blinky.”
They finished their snack and while the earth magic users set about freeing the spirits bound to the golems Sonja took him aside to explain the fire spell they’d be using. It was a simple, two-phrase spell that opened a micro portal to the realm of fire and called forth pure flames hotter than anything on earth outside a volcano.
Considering what happened when he used dark magic the first time he was a little worried about opening a fire portal. Hopefully Cerberus could chase away fire spirits as well as he did demons.
When Sonja had gone over the spell three times and he’d repeated it to her satisfaction she said, “Want to give it a try?”
“Sure.” While they were practicing Crystal had made an earthen crucible and filled it with Blinky and half the scrap they’d sorted out.
Sonja winced when she caught sight of her beloved golem in a dirt hole ready to be melted. Conryu gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “He’s evolving to a higher state. Just focus on how awesome Star Blinky’s going to be.”
Sonja nodded and her expression hardened. “Right. Let’s do this.”
She raised her hand and pointed the palm at the crucible. Conryu mimicked her. They chanted the words in unison. “All things burn to ash, Inferno Blast!” Conryu’s hand got warm and what looked like a flame thrower blasted towards the pile of metal. The blueish-white flames forced the other girls to take a couple steps back.
Conryu glanced at Sonja. Her flames were bright orange with a narrower flow. The metal liquefied in minutes. Sonja closed her fist, ending the spell, and Conryu again followed her example.
The moment the flames ended Crystal chanted a spell and the metal flowed, taking on the form of a spider’s body. It was fascinating, watching the steel take shape, almost like a sculptor with soft clay. He glanced at Sonja again and found her staring at him.
“What? Did I do something wrong? I know my flames looked different than yours.”
“Your casting was perfect. The portal you opened was three times bigger than mine. Compared to the heat of those blue-white flames, my magic added almost nothing to the process. I think I understand now why the other clubs didn’t want you to join. You’re so powerful you make others unnecessary.”
“That’s ridiculous. I didn’t even know that spell until you taught it to me. I just aped what you did. Without you to guide me nothing would have happened today.”
“Thanks.”
“Done!” Crystal said.
They turned to find a realistic spider body about as big as Conryu’s chest sitting on the shop floor. Everyone stared at it for a moment then they smiled. A good showing in the Brawl now seemed like a real possibility.
8
Practical Magic
“We’re going outside,” Mrs. Umbra said as soon as she reached the dark magic classroom.
Conryu leapt to his feet. They were in the middle of an Indian summer and he was delighted at the p
rospect of spending an hour or two in the fresh air. It was the middle of October and he’d settled into a comfortable routine. History of Magic along with simple universal spells in the morning followed by dark magic in the afternoon and a second class with Mrs. Umbra twice a week. Two other days he helped Mrs. Grundy teach self-defense.
The girls were coming along nicely. He wouldn’t want them to enter a tournament or anything, but most of them had gained enough confidence that they could throw a punch without flinching. Even better for him, they’d gotten comfortable enough around him that when they chatted during breaks they included him in the conversation.
Mrs. Grundy had been true to her word, refusing to spar with him again no matter how much he teased her. That was kind of a drag since there were no other trained martial artists at the school. At least none that he’d found.
“So what are we doing today?” Conryu asked as they left the basement and headed for the doors.
“Combat training. I want to find out how well you can use the spells I’ve taught you in a fluid environment.”
“Cool. Where are we going to train?”
“The beach.” She glared up at him. “Nothing for you to break if things get out of hand.”
Conryu grinned back at her. If there was one thing he had a knack for it was breaking things.
They left the main building and strolled down to the beach. Conryu was eager to begin, but Mrs. Umbra set the pace. When they finally arrived, Dean Blane was waiting, along with a handful of teachers he didn’t know.
He hadn’t seen the youthful dean in a while, probably since no one had tried to kill him lately. She had on a pale-blue robe and her blond hair in pigtails. It would be far too easy to underestimate that woman.
The dean waved and ran up to him. “Conryu! Isn’t this exciting? When I told everyone you were going to be tested today they all wanted to come watch. Every teacher that didn’t have a class this period is here.”
He glanced at Mrs. Umbra. “I thought you said this was just training.”
“It is.” She walked across the sand, ignoring the stares that followed her.
Conryu turned back to the dean. “So is it a test, or not?”
“Not the pass or fail sort of test, more like one that measures how far along you are. How many spells has she taught you?”
“Three: Dispel, Cloak of Darkness, and one that strips demons out of excess dark magic energy. I don’t know what that one’s called. We’ve been practicing them for weeks. I’m hoping she’ll teach me something new. Maybe if I do well today.”
“Maybe.” Dean Blane patted him on the back. “Do your best.”
Conryu took his black robe off, tossed it on the grass, and followed his teacher out onto the sand. It felt good not having that bulky thing holding him back. Wizards weren’t actually required to wear robes so he didn’t see any need to train in one.
Mrs. Umbra faced him from thirty yards away, the Death Stick held in front of her. “Ready?”
He nodded, the words of a Cloak of Darkness spell on his lips.
She spoke the first word of the familiar fire cat summoning spell. The moment she did he chanted, “Cloak of Darkness!” Liquid darkness covered him from head to toe. It didn’t affect his vision, but the air felt ten degrees cooler.
Instead of one cat, four appeared. Looked like she wasn’t going to go easy on him this time.
Conryu crossed his fingers and wrists. Before he began to chant the fire cats spread out so he could only hit one at a time.
All four cats charged. There was no way to dispel one and evade the other three. The Cloak of Darkness negated magic. Maybe if he used that.
He ran toward the rightmost cat. It leapt at him. He met it with a roundhouse kick. His dark-magic-covered foot and shin passed through it, snuffing out the flames.
He didn’t have time to inspect his now-unprotected leg as the next cat hurtled toward him. Conryu dodged right and punched it in the head.
The cat vanished in a puff of smoke.
Now his left leg and right arm were bare. The surviving cats circled and charged again. Mrs. Lenore said he wasn’t supposed to use a breaking spell without a circle, but if he combined it with the hand gestures of Dispel it ought to stay reasonably under control.
When the cats were ten feet away he threw his hand forward, the fingers crossed. “Break!”
A sphere of dark energy burst from his palm and annihilated both cats.
Conryu renewed his Cloak of Darkness and spun to face his teacher. Six cats surrounded her, three of fire and three made from sand. He was well acquainted with the fire beasts by now, but the sand ones were new.
All six charged him. He crossed his wrists and fingers again and chanted the spell. He had an idea he’d been considering for a while. Since he doubted Mrs. Umbra would actually hurt him, this would be a good chance to test it.
He made it through the spell five times and summoned a sphere of dark magic as big as a pumpkin before the cats moved close enough. When they were five feet away he dropped the sphere at his feet and willed it to spread in every direction.
In hindsight, chanting the spell five times may have been a little excessive. Darkness rolled out for sixty yards in every direction. The cats were gone in an eye blink. The wave washed over the watching teachers and stripped them of all their protective spells. Dean Blane transformed from a little girl to a grown woman with gray hair and fine wrinkles around her eyes.
When the last of the darkness vanished Mrs. Umbra said, “I think that’s enough for today.”
Conryu wasn’t even out of breath, but decided against arguing. “I got a little carried away.”
She waved the Death Stick in an all encompassing gesture. “You think? For future reference you only need to chant ‘Dispel’ once for anything less than a full elemental. Even then two or three times should be enough. On the plus side you cast multiple spells under semi-realistic circumstances with no trouble and no demons sneaking through. It appears Cerberus is doing his job.”
“So did I pass or fail?”
“I told you it wasn’t a test. Let’s head back in, there’s a new spell I want to teach you.”
“A moment please.” Dean Blane walked over to join them. She hadn’t bothered to change back into her youthful shape. Behind her the rest of the teachers were walking back toward the school, muttering and restoring the spells he disrupted.
Conryu rubbed the back of his head and looked at her shoes. “Sorry about that.”
“I warned them not to stand that close,” Mrs. Umbra said.
“We were fifty yards away. In a million years I never imagined him reaching us with such a basic spell. And the way you combined the command for Breaking with the gesture for Dispel, very impressive. That’s a technique taught to third-year dark students. I’d say you have the makings of a fine battle mage. Wouldn’t you agree, Angeline?”
Mrs. Umbra nodded. “His combat reflexes combined with the instinctive use of magic indicate an inclination in that direction.”
Conryu raised his hand. “Battle mage?”
Dean Blane nodded. “A wizard that specializes in combat, fusing martial arts and magic. It’s a potent combination, but limiting if you decide to go that way.”
“Limiting how?”
“Well, if you don’t want to work for the military, police, or as a private bodyguard you’re out of luck.” Dean Blane muttered something and her form shimmered until she looked like a kid again. “Don’t misunderstand. Just because your options are limited I don’t mean to imply there’s a shortage of work for battle mages. In the world we live in it might be one of the areas with the most demand.”
“He’d make a fine spell breaker if he could get his power under better control,” Mrs. Umbra said.
The two women stood there discussing his future like he wasn’t present. It was annoying and made him feel like the little control he’d gained over his life was slipping away again. They never even paused to consider that he didn�
��t want to work as a wizard.
Half a foot of snow covered the academy grounds, but luckily for the golem club Sonja’s fire magic kept the area around the shed warm and comfortable. The Grand Brawl was only two weeks away and midterms another week after that. Conryu felt a good deal more comfortable with his chances of passing spell breaking than he did about Star Blinky winning the Brawl.
The now-completed golem sat on a reinforced table where Sonja snuggled up against the thing like it was a puppy and not three hundred pounds of cold steel with fake red gems for eyes. Crystal and the other earth wizards were busy inscribing runes that would enhance the power of the earth spirit they’d summoned.
Conryu frowned and tried to think what else they might do to improve their chances. Now that the design and forging were complete he had been reduced largely to a bystander. He’d only learned two earth magic spells, one that moved a small amount of earth or stone and another that created a weak tremor. The earth magic teacher had been adamant that he not cast the second spell anywhere near a building after his first effort had broken three of the school’s windows.
Sometimes it almost seemed the safest thing for him to do was not to cast any spells at all. Which was ironic since that’s what he wanted in the first place.
Sonja finally wearied of hugging the spider and came to stand beside him. At this point she was as much a spectator as him.
“Can you bind more than one spirit to the golem?” Conryu asked.
She cocked her head. “I don’t think it’s against the rules, but if you don’t have the two earth spirits in perfect harmony Star Blinky will just run in a circle.”
“Actually I was thinking of adding a fire spirit to the head to create a cutting torch to slice up the other golems. Blinky’s talons are formidable, but a second weapon might be a good idea. It would also give you something to do during the match besides cheer.”
Sonja quivered in place. “That’s an awesome idea! I could bind it to Blinky’s eyes. How cool would a fire blast from those red gems be? That wouldn’t mess with your earth bindings would it, Crystal?”
The Awakening Page 10