The Circles of Magic

by Gabriela Fišerová

  Edwyr supposed that was true. The Council loved to pretend to be infallible because their facts came from the Goddess, and questioning anything the Council said was generally considered unacceptable, so yes, Edwyr could see how researching the reasons why they had magic would be considered a problem, especially with discoveries like this.

  No wonder Wyn got exiled.

  “But this is where your, um, magiclessness comes from. The magic in our blood. You were simply born with less of it than you should have been,” Wyn explained, though Edwyr had mostly put this together already. After all, if even humans had magic to some extent but they couldn’t use it, his issue must have been similar.

  “But why does it even happen?”

  Wyn shrugged, taking another sip of his drink. “Unfortunately, I have not been able to determine that. However, with an Infuser, it is possible to take the pure magic flowing beneath us and replenish it within you.” Wyn’s mouth formed a grimace then. “It is not the most pleasant process, I hear….”

  Edwyr shook his head. He didn’t care as long as it meant he would get magic. It was a little disturbing how much he didn’t care, but it was the truth. This was what he’d been wishing for his entire life, and a little pain wouldn’t keep him away from it. And he was assuming it would hurt quite a bit if only based on how cold the device had been when he’d touched it.

  “Rest assured, it does work. We have done it before.”

  “You mean for Orenis?”

  Wyn smirked. “Not exactly. She was supposed to be next in line, but seeing as waiting for an Infuser to recharge takes a long time—time the Council will not grant us before more of its people are sent here—we both decided you will go first.”

  Edwyr blinked, his mouth hanging open in shock. He’d been so sure Orenis had been cured already. Why was she just giving up her chance for Edwyr’s benefit? There was nothing he could imagine that would convince him to put something like this off, especially not because of an elf he didn’t even know.

  “What?” As soon as the word left his mouth, Edwyr felt his shock being replaced by suspicion. He narrowed his eyes at Wyn. Orenis couldn’t be doing this out of the kindness of her heart, surely. “Why?”

  Wyn gave him a rather sad look, his smile once again gone completely. “You may have noticed Orenis is not very bothered by her state. And you very clearly are.”

  Edwyr opened his mouth, ready to deny all of that, but he found he had nothing to say. She had seemed completely unbothered by it, that was true. And if Orenis didn’t mind, then he truly shouldn’t question this and take this opportunity.

  But it just boggled his mind. How could someone be okay with passing up this chance? Of course, Orenis would get a chance later—she wasn’t giving up her chance forever—but it was still practically impossible for him to believe. How could she just…do that?

  “I know this may seem hard for you to understand. Personally, I am certain I would feel the same way you do if I were magicless. But I had a long talk with her about this, and she is sure she wants to let you go first. You could talk to her as well if you desire to.”

  Edwyr sighed. Yes, he supposed he could ask her to explain it to him, but he got the feeling he wouldn’t understand her reasoning afterward anyway. Though he should talk to her anyway, as she seemed to know things about Wyn that might put things into perspective.

  But first and foremost, he really should go talk to his friends. They must have been worried about him by now, and he’d been too preoccupied to realize how long he’d been here with Wyn until this moment.

  “Orenis has been with us practically since her banishment.”

  Edwyr thought that over, unable not to feel a little jealous, then. Being around elves who accepted him despite his defect this whole time would have been great. He would likely still feel inadequate, but he was sure it would have been better for him than spending a decade with humans.

  “Right. I was…meaning to talk to her, anyway,” Edwyr said, deciding it would make the most sense to talk to her first. He didn’t want to tell Wyn about his plans of going to Arbane and Lanna because Edwyr could already tell the other elf wouldn’t approve. That was probably reasonable of him, though, as Wyn was clearly doing the most he could to keep all of his plans secret from the Council. While elves generally didn’t talk to or listen to humans that much, it would be an unnecessary risk to have two of them know about all of this.

  Still, Edwyr didn’t like being told what to do or lectured, so he wouldn’t mention anything. He wouldn’t tell Arbane and Lanna everything, anyway—he simply needed to tell them not to worry about him. He was sure they would let him go easily enough….

  His heart clenched painfully at that thought, but he knew deep down it had always been like that. He’d never felt quite at home living with humans, and despite both of his friends’ multiple reassurances, he’d never felt like he belonged with them.

  He knew this was for the best, yet he didn’t want to say goodbye to them. They’d known each other for over ten years after all, but this—all of this—was bigger than them, and bigger than him.

  Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was deciding too quickly. For a second, he thought about simply getting magic and then coming with Arbane and Lanna back to Sunwood, continuing to protect it with much greater ease, but he rejected that almost immediately. Arbane had been right—they’d been doing just fine without magic, and there were other competent fighters in town. Just like there had been for generations before Edwyr had even been born. And being so close to Aendor as Sunwood was, he wasn’t sure he would be able to stay hidden from the Council.

  “Is something the matter?”

  Wyn’s voice dragged Edwyr out of his thoughts and back into reality. He blinked at the other elf, shaking his head. Edwyr must have been ignoring him. “Uh, no, I am fine. There is just a lot on my mind.”

  “Understandable.” Despite what he’d just said, Wyn looked a bit disappointed. He quickly covered it up with another smile. “Well, if you wish to speak with Orenis, you know where to find her.”

  If not for the positive, gentle tone, Edwyr would assume he was being brushed off. But at the moment he wouldn’t care much either way because he wanted to talk to her anyway. Still, he should first talk to his friends.

  With a nod, Edwyr got up. He took a second to wait if Wyn would say something, but he simply smiled and picked up his drink. And so with that, Edwyr left the small room, finding himself yet again in the winding corridor. And he was very quickly being reminded that he had major problems finding his way around in.

  He sighed as he started walking, hoping he’d chosen the right direction. It wouldn’t be so difficult if all of the corridors didn’t look the same, but as he could use more time to think, he didn’t mind too much.

  The best he could do was follow a path he thought looked only vaguely familiar, but thankfully, after a while he found himself standing in front of the large, stone door he’d entered this place through.

  Except as he realized a second later, he didn’t know how to open this door. He put his hand against the cold, surprisingly smooth stone, his eyes studying the entire surface. But he couldn’t see anything that would tell him how to open the door aside from using magic. And even if he had it, he still didn’t know the right words to use.

  Checking the walls as well and still seeing nothing, Edwyr sighed and did the only thing he could think of—try to push the door open, despite knowing that he would probably not manage it. Gritting his teeth, he pushed his shoulder against the unforgiving stone, putting all of his strength into it, but the door didn’t budge at all.

  Shaking his head, Edwyr took a step away, glaring at the door. He hadn’t had high hopes about this working, but he hadn’t even thought about the fact that he might not be able to leave this place without Wyn’s help.

  Edwyr glared. He truly hoped this hadn’t been intentional on the other elf’s behalf. It had better not be.

  Huffing, he turned aroun
d, marching up the corridor again. Somehow he had the feeling Orenis would be more willing to help him leave without questioning him than Wyn, but she apparently had no magic, so that wasn’t useful either.

  The only thing he could think of was to go back to the makeshift stable and try to climb up through the holes in the cavern ceiling but seeing as those were very high up and he didn’t have a ladder, he wasn’t likely to succeed. And he wasn’t quite insane enough to attempt it, either.

  At least from here, he was somewhat confident he knew where he was going. And indeed, after only a few wrong turns, he finally came to a familiar fork in the corridor. At least he certainly hoped it was the right place.

  He almost breathed out in relief when his instinct proved to be correct as he spotted the strange device at the end of the corridor he was currently walking through. Even from here Edwyr could spot Orenis tinkering with a panel on the side of the Infuser, which Edwyr hadn’t seen before, but he was sure that was only because, from the angle he’d stood in the room before, Orenis had been blocking his view of it.

  He watched her work as he approached, noting the strange tool she was using to change or fix something in the machine. She was wearing gloves, which Edwyr hadn’t noticed before either, but it made sense if the Infuser was so ice-cold everywhere.

  Was that how pure magic felt? He certainly hoped that wasn’t the case.

  “Don’t worry, I’m almost done,” Orenis suddenly said, making Edwyr flinch. He had been so quiet that he truly hadn’t thought she’d notice him. “Calibrating this one has been a challenge, but nothing I can’t handle.”

  She didn’t get up from how she was sitting on the stone ground, but she did look over at Edwyr, pausing her work for the moment. Like this, Edwyr could study the implement she was using more closely, but if anything, he understood it even less. It seemed to be a small, rectangular, metal plate with a wooden handle, with several holes in it of varying shapes and sizes. He had absolutely no idea how this was supposed to work, but he was probably better off not trying to understand.

  “Good,” Edwyr replied, suddenly finding himself having nothing to say and feeling very awkward. But fortunately, Orenis didn’t seem bothered in the least. She even flashed him a somewhat sympathetic smile.

  “Are you having reservations?”

  “No,” Edwyr replied immediately, shocked at how much he meant that. “It’s simply…a lot.”

  Orenis nodded, sighing. “Yeah, I know. But like I said—you’ll be just fine.”

  “Why do you talk like that?” Orenis blinked, raising her eyebrows at him. Right, Edwyr shouldn’t have let the first thought he had leave his head without any further explanation. “I mean, you speak like a human. But Wyn said you never lived among them.”

  Orenis finally rose to her feet, tilting her head to the side, making the long part of her hair fall in her face a bit. “Did he? That’s weird. I’m in contact with a lot of humans. And I do live on and off in a village in the east.”

  Oh. Edwyr hadn’t been expecting that at all. In that case, what he’d said wasn’t exactly factual, he supposed. Still, that simple bit of information she’d just shared was so perplexing to him that he wasn’t even interested in correcting himself. “Why?”

  Orenis shrugged, waving her strange tool around nonchalantly. “I don’t know. I like humans. Elves can be so dramatic and uptight, even the ones like Wyn—it gets really exhausting sometimes.” She tapped the tip of her tool against her forehead. “I think that’s why I started talking more like humans do, actually. I never really thought about it, but it’s much more casual and relaxing to me.”

  Edwyr supposed he could understand the comforts of the humans’ causal speech, but that was the only thing about it that made sense to him. How could Orenis—another elf—say something like this? Their comparatively formal speech and overall more serious nature was a part of who they were. And Orenis was talking about it like an annoyance she’d gotten rid of because she saw no value in it.

  And what was more, she apparently liked being with humans and chose to be with them, instead of simply having nowhere else to go, and no one else to be with.

  Perhaps Edwyr had assumed too much when he’d thought he would be able to understand Orenis easily enough, simply on the grounds of both of them being Cursed. No, magicless. He needed to stop using that word. It only served to make Edwyr feel worse whenever he called himself that.

  “Do you have a problem with that?” Orenis asked him, her gaze suddenly darkening.

  “No, of course not,” Edwyr lied, almost impressed at how even he managed to keep his tone. But Orenis saw right through him, surprising him with a chuckle, her easy smile back on her face.

  “I’m just teasing. I know my views on these things aren’t exactly popular,” she continued, brushing her hair off her face and behind her long ear. “I’ve had these conversations with Wyn, and I don’t think he even believes me sometimes. It’s a little annoying but he leaves me alone for the most part.” Orenis then smirked. “But I’m guessing you think a lot like him if he likes you so much after just talking to you a few times.”

  Edwyr frowned, not sure if he should feel embarrassed or confused. “What are you talking about?”

  “What, you think he dream-talks to everyone he meets?” Orenis scoffed, shaking her head and folding her arms over her chest. “He certainly never did it to me.”

  Edwyr let out an irritated sigh. “I didn’t ask him to do it.”

  Orenis sniggered but immediately raised her hands in surrender. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Wyn is just fun to make fun of, even when he’s not present for it.”

  Sensing an opportunity to get information about Wyn, Edwyr raised an eyebrow at her. “And he lets you do that?”

  Orenis’ eyebrows flew up. “Yeah? Of course he does. I help him, but I work with him, not for him. We don’t do that stuff here.”

  Edwyr had suspected as much, but he’d also thought Wyn had taken Orenis to the side earlier to scold her. And perhaps he had, but if that was the case it had clearly had no effect. It was nice to have that confirmed, however, albeit he was a little bit suspicious of how quick she was to confirm it. The hierarchy of this group of elves was a much more important issue than he’d realized until now. If they still had a group of absolute leaders, they would hardly be any better than the Council, so this was a good sign. But surely they had to have a leader. Edwyr wouldn’t believe otherwise.

  “Look, if you’re looking for information about Wyn, I’d love to help you, but I don’t know much either.”

  Edwyr tried not to show his disappointment. He should have expected that, he supposed, with how cryptic Wyn tended to be and with how much Orenis seemed to mind her own business only, but it was still a shame. Though he wasn’t sure what Orenis could tell him to discourage him from getting involved in Wyn’s plans, anyway.

  “That’s…not why I came here,” Edwyr lied, not even sure why he did it. Perhaps he simply didn’t like that she’d been completely right about his intentions. But the unfortunate side effect of this was that now Orenis was grinning at him in the exact same way Arbane did when he was about to tease him. Edwyr should have seen this coming.

  “Oh? Why did you come talk to me, then?”

  Her grin only grew as Edwyr huffed. Well, he supposed it would be better to just get it over with and tell her the truth. He breathed in, shutting his eyes for a moment before answering. “Is there another way to leave this place, other than the front door?”

  Orenis’ smile faded as she frowned. “You aren’t planning on running away, are you?” Before he could deny it, she put her hands up, shaking her head. “Not that I would stop you. Do what you want.”

  Edwyr sighed again. “No, I don’t want to leave. I simply want to go outside for a moment.”

  Orenis nodded, immediately looking over Edwyr’s shoulder as if to check if someone was standing there before leaning in to whisper. “Okay, there’s a hidden door. All you have to do is head all the
way down and you should find it. It’s only really hidden from the outside. But you didn’t hear this from me.”

  She then winked, backing off and sitting down to continue whatever she’d been working on.

  Edwyr resisted the urge to point out that as far as he knew Orenis was the only person here other than Wyn, and so there was no one else to get this information from. Instead, he just nodded in thanks and walked away, suddenly feeling very paranoid that someone had heard them, even though no one was around, and even if they were, who were they to deny him the option of going outside?

  He shook his head as he realized he could have just asked Wyn that and leave out the part about meeting his friends, but then again, the other elf would probably see right through it. Wyn wasn’t stupid, which in this case was unfortunate.

  Edwyr quickly found a corridor leading down, and he followed it, hoping that he was on the right track. As ever there were many side corridors connecting to this one, but Edwyr stuck to what he assumed was the main one, hoping that this was the right path.

  The deeper he went, the less sure of that he felt, as the stone walls and long shadows caused by torches were starting to seem increasingly the same until he almost thought he was walking in circles, but finally, after a while longer, Edwyr reached what he assumed was the bottom. The corridor stopped going lower and simply stayed level for a short stretch that abruptly ended with a dark shadow.

  Edwyr hoped this was it. As he approached, it became apparent that it was indeed a stone door, now that the light from the torches next to him wasn’t blinding him. The door was much smaller than the one at the top, but it was still large and would be difficult to open.

  Cursing his lack of magic yet again, Edwyr pushed on the rough stone with all his might. He couldn’t help but smile to himself as the door began to open, slowly but steadily, stone grinding against stone as he continued pushing. Just a little bit more….