“There, it was not an enchanted weapon. I do not know how he does it and frankly I do not care as long as he can repeat the performance consistently. Jabari, let us speak to your father at once. I want to advance your training. You meet me on the field in one hour.” Jabari’s eyes lit up with excitement and he tried to hide the smile on his face.
The prince turned to address me. “Now, I would like you to demonstrate your best weapon. If I threw this sword at you, would you be able to stop it?”
I called the power and felt the tingle in the back of my neck. “I believe I can.” I raised my shield and watched as the prince took aim and hurled the sword at the shield. I had a split second to think, but that was all I needed. I released a blast of flame so hot that it burnt the wood to ash as it sped towards me.
“Very impressive, Safi. It is just as well that you have burned your sword. I wish you to report immediately to the bowyers and be fitted for a short bow. I will find an archer to train you once a week, otherwise I wish you to continue training with your excellent mentor, Master Wylan. The prince said his goodbyes to Master Manu and walked away. Jabari ran to me and hugged me as enthusiastically as he had Wylan.
“So you really did figure out how to work the runes?” I was dying to know.
“Yes! It was so simple once I found the right page. He produced the book from his belt pocket and flipped through the pages until he found the illustration he wanted. It was a photo of a naked man surrounded by incomprehensible squiggles. In the center of the chest was a complex rune. Jabari pointed to it triumphantly. “It is the rune for body. It was right there all along. The runes do not belong on the shield. They must be worn on the flesh. He rolled up his sleeve to reveal slightly smeared black ink runes encircling his arms. They were runes which I did not understand. “See? This one is for speed and this one strength.”
I was amazed and excited. “I must go tell Wylan immediately!”
Jabari nodded, “Please do. I will come for a visit soon.”
I nodded though I somehow knew this moment signaled a change in our brief friendship. “I will look forward to it. You can tell me about elite training and I will show you how I get on with a bow.” He smiled and turned, running towards his home to speak to his father.
Chapter Eight
“I am b-b-bored! That is the whole problem. F-F-Father has forgotten what it is like to be y-y-young. I cr-cr-crave adventure,” Jabari lay on his back, next to me, our heads were close together. He held up my bow. It looked like a child’s plaything in his large hands, but he notched an arrow and sent it flying high up into the clear blue sky.
I lazily reached out a hand and sensed the arrow. The heat of it was almost indistinguishable from that of the surrounding air, but my powers had grown so that I could feel it. I had moved beyond needing to shoot fire from my hands. Now I could reach out with my mind and send the heat directly into whatever object I sensed. I set the arrow ablaze and we both watched as the flaming projectile spiraled towards the earth a few lengths away. “Maybe your father will allow you to train as a knight when you are sixteen. I know the legal age is seventeen, but lots of boys join up a year early.”
Jabari rolled his eyes. “Father claims that I am not m-m-mature enough.” Jabari launched another arrow into the sky, this time nearly over our heads. I sent even more heat into the wooden shaft. It disintegrated, and we watched silently as the arrowhead dropped like a stone and ash floated gently back to earth. “H-h-he claims that my powers are un-un-untested.” Jabari sat up and fired an arrow straight ahead. This time the arrow nearly flew out of range of my power, but I caught it just in time. “H-h-h-h-how exactly am I supposed to t-t-test them if he will not let me do anything?”
“Maybe your father has a point, Jabari. You have discovered a gift for harnessing powers that no one really understands. The people who used those powers are gone now and no one knows what happened to them. There is still so much we do not know.”
He frowned at me angrily and spoke with no trace of stutter, “The same might be said about your powers, fire mage, and yet your parents let you travel halfway across the country and you are younger than me.” He did not know I was older than him and the age difference was beginning to show.
It was my turn to be angry. “My parents threw me out of my home because they were terrified of what I might do. I lost my whole family because I was harnessing powers I could not control and I had no choice in the matter. I know exactly how fortunate I am to have found a mentor who is helping me develop my abilities slowly and carefully.”
He spoke to me as if he were explaining to a petulant toddler. “You could not control your powers because you did not understand them. I do not want to fight about it because you are not o-o-old enough to understand that your parents did you a favor by s-s-sending you away. Now you get to have a life you could never have dreamed of if you had been ordinary. When you are older, you will understand.”
Several choice responses raced through my mind but I decided to let them pass without comment. I did not really want to fight with him either. I just wanted a pleasant afternoon with my friend. Since we had been split up and removed from beginning combat class, Jabari and I rarely saw each other. I had not seen him all winter long so I was thrilled to get word one early spring morning that my friend was coming to visit. I was looking forward to spending some time in the library, exploring a few other books just as mysterious as the rune book he loved so much. Despite his relatively humble upbringing, Jabari had been taught to read by his Mirabian mother. Mirabians believed that all children should learn to read so that they could study the holy book. Jabari loved to read as much as I did and he had always loved to spend an afternoon in the library pouring over the beautiful illustrations in old, illuminated manuscripts. The library was the first thing I suggested when he walked through the door. He had just shrugged, “I have not felt much like reading since I joined the castle guard. I have to keep my mind on my work. I cannot have my head in the clouds any more.” He did not feel like walking with me out in the garden either, another thing we both used to enjoy just a few short months ago.
I looked over at my friend. The baby fat on the arms that held my bow were growing muscles. His jawline had become angular and the first hints of hair had started to grow there. He fired an arrow and I was so distracted, I missed it. He looked at me, puzzled. “That is the first one you m-m-missed. I finally got one past Sir Perfect!” His expression was smug. “This is not even my best weapon.”
I shrugged and pasted on a sheepish grin that I did not really feel. “Nobody is perfect, I guess. Not even me.” Even his stutter had gotten better over the intervening months. It was not completely gone, but he did not stumble over nearly as many words as he had when we first met. He had long stretches of speech where he did not stutter at all. He was changing. Of course he was changing. Just months ago, he had discovered he had a power that no one else in the world possessed. It was helping him grow from a shy, awkward boy into a magnificently powerful and handsome man. That last part made my face feel hot, but it was true. When had Jabari gotten so attractive? He shot another arrow and this time I caught it easily. “What happens if one of those marks gets smudged or sweated off in the heat of battle.”
He looked around the clearing as if he was expecting enemy spies to be lurking in our back garden. “I have taken precautions against that.” He rolled up both his sleeves to reveal the raised black markings covering both his forearms. “I-I-I used a knife and carved the runes into my skin, then I rubbed ink and ash into the wounds, just like the people in the south country. They are permanently etched upon me now so I can never lose the power.”
I took one of his forearms in my hands “Are you insane? What if you had gotten an infection? You could have died, Jabari!”
He snatched his arm from my grasp. “D-d-do you think I am an i-i-idiot?” He pulled his sleeve even farther up his arm and pointed to a rune with a swirling loop at the top. A line curved through it with sur
prising delicacy. The two tails of the character intertwined at the bottom. “It is a rune of healing.” He pulled a knife out of his pocket and sliced his palm. I gasped as a red trickle of blood welled up along the thin line. He wiped it away and I watched as the cut sealed up before my eyes. “I cannot add more runes. Th-they just heal over.” I was oddly relieved to hear that. Suddenly I did not want to see the runes any more. I was worried that too much was happening too fast. His father was right. There were too many unknowns. I could not tell him that, of course, he would get upset. I was just glad cooler heads were still looking out for his best interest.
“Your father is just worried about you, that is all,” I said bringing the conversation back to the original subject and away from the runes. “He cannot keep you from joining up forever, he just wants you to wait a little while. It is just a matter of being patient.”
He jumped up from his spot on the grass and began to pace. “A lot of the men in the palace guard are leaving to begin training for the army. There is an enemy at the gate and by the time Father sees reason, the prince and his team will be gone g-g-gathering all the glory, and I will be stuck here in a shiny red uniform, guarding a palace gate that no one ever tries to enter.” He punched the air. “D-d-do you not see? I am being wasted here, all because Father will not see reason.”
“Are you not happy with the job he got you with the palace guard?”
“Three months ago I would have been thrilled. I was about to be declared invisible, a burden on my family’s house. Now I know that I can be a hero, a-a-and guarding the palace leaves me bored out of my mind. I want to go somewhere. I want excitement!”
I was not sure who the enemy at the gate might be, but I had a feeling charging off to battle was not nearly as glorious as Jabari might imagine. I kept that opinion to myself though and instead tried to appeal to his sense of reason. “You will be able to make your own decisions about your career in little more than a year. What is the harm in waiting?”
He sighed, “You just do not understand what it is like. I should not have discussed it with you, but Father insisted I come by and see you. He does not understand that I am no longer a child looking for a playmate.” He could not have known how much his words stung. “What time is it?” He looked up at the sun. “I need to get going now. Maybe we will see each other again some time.” The look in his eyes told me he had no intention of visiting again. “Today I have promised to walk Fola to the market.” A dreamy smile lit his lips. “She is the prettiest girl in the bakehouse.” I did not agree, but I forced a smile to be polite. “M-m-maybe I will buy her a honey cake, and a hair ribbon. I hear girls like those.” He looked up at the sky again. “I better get going. I want to wash up and get dressed before I meet her.” He clapped me hard on the shoulder. “Wish me luck, old man!” He turned and sprinted up the road, much faster than should have been humanly possible.
I watched him until I could not see him anymore, then I turned and stormed into the tower. Wylan turned and looked behind me at the door. “Where is Jabari? I was just about to prepare the midday meal and I know how much he likes my stew.”
“Not here. He suddenly remembered an engagement. He had to escort Fola from the bakehouse to the market. He wants to buy her honey cakes and a hair ribbon. Have you ever heard of anything so stupid?” I ran my fingers through my own chin length locks. “I have hair! No one ever even bothers to ask me what I would like to wear in it.” I suddenly felt my eyes sting with unshed tears. I turned from Wylan, feeling ashamed of my outburst. “I am going to the library to research why men are so stupid!” I ran up the stairs praying that he would not follow.
A soft knock on the library door awoke me from a nap on the library lounge. He did not meet my eyes as he spoke and I felt slightly guilty for having made him so uncomfortable with my rantings. “If you have rested enough, I need your help bringing in bath water. We have a meeting with the king tomorrow so we must prepare.”
I nodded and followed him. There was a rumor in the city that mages had no natural odor. It probably started because we bathed quite frequently in the tower, simply because the process was so easy. We had yoked buckets, so just two short trips to the well from each of us and our brass tub was full. Heating the water was no trouble for me and Wylan always let me go first because I was quick and small and he liked a good long soak. I thought the heat probably helped ease his bad leg because he always walked a bit easier when he emerged from our private bathing alcove. By the time I had cleared away the supper dishes and bathed, I was ready for bed. Wylan had no work planned for me, so I retired to my room early to read. I saw it after I shut the door to my bedroom, a bright red hair ribbon with a note. I opened it and read. “You are growing into a beautiful young woman. I am sorry your disguise is working so well that even the people you care about most fail to see through it. Please wear this wherever and whenever you wish. W”
Chapter Nine
I wore my ribbon the next day. It was tied in the male fashion, though I had spent a few moments in the mirror experimenting with more feminine styles that morning. I stood by the pot of boiling water waiting. My power reached out to the sleeping chambers two floors above, and I waited for the first signs of stirring. I was not psychic, but my powers allowed me to sense Wylan’s movements by the warmth of his body. The moment I sensed him sitting up in bed, I poured the grain into the boiling water. By the time he descended the stairs, I had spooned cereal into bowls placed them on the table just as he reached the bottom. He raised an eyebrow as he approached the table. “Have you been practicing your sensing skills, or is this just fortunate timing?” I smiled, pleased he had noticed my progress. Sensing had been a difficult skill to master, even though I had done it accidentally when we had been on the road to the tower.
I turned to fetch the sugar and he noticed the ribbon in my hair. “The color suits you. It matches your robes.” His voice sounded strange as he spoke. I turned and noticed he also had a peculiar expression on his face. He looked away quickly when I met his eyes. “I just had that lying around. If I had known how much you cared about ribbons, I would have given it to you sooner. We can get you more if you would like.”
I sighed, “This one is lovely and it is sufficient. Hair ribbons really are not all that important to me.” I tried to gather my thoughts to make sure I spoke without giving offense. “I truly like my life here in the tower. Despite the fact that I have to maintain the pretense of being male, I feel that living here has truly allowed me to be myself for the first time in my life. I am not sure if that makes any sense. It is just that sometimes I really wish certain people could see me for who I am.”
He nodded, “Understood. I confess that I am guilty as well. I tend to forget that the person I see is not the true, whole picture of you. I will try to be more aware.”
I frowned, “Actually, that sounds ghastly. I like the way you treat me. I like that we, essentially, have no secrets between us. I think you see me just fine.”
He gave me one of his long, unreadable looks, then stood from the table abruptly, nearly overbalancing as he grabbed his staff. “We had better be underway. The king will not be pleased if we are late to this meeting of his governors.”
After a year as Wylan’s apprentice, I was used to the sight of the castle. We were summoned at least once a month to give a progress report on weapons and armor enchantment. The king usually wanted status updates about my progress as well. Though lately, he had begun to make comments like, “Is that boy not overdue for a growth spurt? I hope he is not going to turn out to be a weedy little thing. I cannot abide a small man, you know,” as if my height was a personal choice and a poor one at that.
We were usually received in the throne room, but because this was a meeting of advisors, we were shown into the map room. When we arrived, Prince Taye was there along with three regional governors.The gentlemen sat around a large table which featured a giant map of the kingdom. At the southern edge of the table sat the governor from the south. He
had distinctive raised black tattoos. At the western edge sat the governor from the west, who wore his hair in long dreadlocks. At the eastern edge sat the governor from the east. He had a bald head and brightly colored robes. King Naser looked up from a stack of papers in front of him, only sparing us the briefest of glances.
“Ah good, the mages are here. Now we can begin.” “Sire, I fear I really must protest. Why have we invited mages to these proceedings? What possible value could there be in inviting their input?” It was the governor from the west country who spoke and I was not surprised. I had never received much respect from my fellow westerners and I did not expect it from their leader.
Prince Taye spoke up in response, “What value? Perhaps you would prefer to go into battle without your near impenetrable enchanted armor, governor?”
“I am not saying they are not fine weapon makers, but so is my blacksmith and I do not consult him on matters of state either.” He gestured towards us. “I mean look at the state of them! The big one is practically an Invisible and no good on the battlefield, the other is a child.” He shook his head. “Honestly, Your Majesty, the people put up with the doddering old magic man when he was alive because as least he had been some use on the battlefield in his day. These two are no better than servants.” The governor looked at his fellows for support, but they would not meet his eyes, they merely stared uncomfortably at the ground. “My fellows may not be speaking up now, but we have all privately shared the sentiment.”
The prince paused several seconds before he spoke again. “And which of your fellows here is best suited to tell me how many enchanted pieces of equipment we can have ready and what they can do and where they might be most effectively used on the battlefield? Until you and your fellows are able to do so, we will stick with the force which has made this country the greatest military power the world has ever seen.”
Through The Fire: The Alawansi Book One Page 9