Kyra nodded thankfully. “I had no idea.”
Cyrus offered a gentle smile and patted her on the back. “So tell me Kyra, where did Lady Priscilla leave off in her last lesson that you attempted?”
Kyra reached down into her bag and pulled a brown leather journal out. She opened the first several pages, flipping through roughly a third of the book before finally coming to the page she was looking for. “In class we were practicing lesser wards.”
Cyrus chuckled to himself, reached over with his long bony fingers and flipped Kyra’s journal closed. Kyra startled and looked up to her new instructor with a questioning look. “I think we both know you are a little beyond wards,” Cyrus said with a big grin. “The other reason I was chosen as your instructor is because I am simply the best wizard. Any fool can teach from a book, you shall learn from my experience, which I gained from the real world outside of the stone walls. You have talent, Kyra, real talent. There is no use in holding you back to the lowest common denominator in the class. You should be allowed to progress freely, at your own pace.”
Cyrus rose to his feet and snapped his fingers. A flash of red and black smoke puffed in the air in front of Kyra and there hovered before her a leathery winged imp. The creature was only nine inches tall but it looked menacing nevertheless. It had a long, wispy tail, hooked talons on its feet, and sharp, long claws on its hands. Though they were minute, a set of sharp, fearsome fangs protruded out from its mouth and looked as though they could do quite some damage despite their diminutive size.
“Today you learn defense against a real opponent,” Cyrus said. He pointed to the creature he had summoned. The imp watched Cyrus’ finger and let out a sharp growl. Cyrus then pointed to Kyra and the winged creature dove in for an attack.
Kyra ducked to her left, allowing the winged creature to sail past her. She jumped up to her feet and created a shield between her and the summoned creature. The imp snarled and dispelled the shield with a wave of its left hand. A moment later a large ball of lightning flew from the imp’s right hand directly for Kyra. Kyra raised a ward at the last moment and the magical ball of electricity splattered against it, hissing and popping as streaks of silver lightning shot out the sides. Kyra answered the small imp with a single fireball that she summoned. The fire blasted the creature down from the air and it flopped onto a student’s desk several yards away.
The imp pushed up to its feet as tendrils of silver smoke gently rose from its leathery skin. It snarled ferociously and sent another barrage of attacks. Undaunted, Kyra sidestepped the spells while simultaneously casting wards to absorb their magic. Seeing that the fire had no effect on the creature she moved for the opposite element. She summoned a sphere of water just over the imp’s head and then dropped the deluge upon him. The imp collapsed under the weight of the water, coming up choking and sputtering after the spell had passed. It leapt into the air again ready to launch another spell. Kyra, growing tired of the creature’s resistance to magic, picked up her journal, ran three paces to close the distance between them and swatted the small creature from the air with as much strength as she could summon. The imp’s wing and left leg snapped upon impact and the creature was hurled against the wall. A streak of blood was left upon the wall as the creature fell to the floor, barely twitching anymore and certainly no longer a threat.
“That is not an approach I have seen before,” Cyrus said. “I would have preferred your solution to be a magical one. After all, this is a sorcery class. If all you want to do is bash things together and watch them break, you could join the Apprentices of the Sword and spend your days among the dull brutes that lumber over the land and hoard all the glory for themselves.”
“The creature you summoned was immune to my spells,” Kyra said. “I think there is something to be said for handling the situation with speed, even if the solution is not the most elegant.”
Cyrus smiled to himself and nodded briefly before returning to his desk. “I will admit, the ability to think on one’s feet is a virtue lacking among many apprentices and masters alike. So, for that I commend you. However, let me show you the proper way to dispense with an imp, or even a dozen of them.”
Cyrus muttered a few words not quite loud enough for Kyra to hear and then there appeared a box of yellow and transparent energy around the old wizard and his desk. A moment later a group of imps was summoned as well. Without delay the creatures began attacking, swarming around the wizard ferociously and diving in with magic and with their vicious teeth and claws. Cyrus quickly created a shell of energy around himself and deflected the imps, and then he cast a great spell that rendered each of them immobile in an instant. Like Kyra had done, Cyrus brought forth large spheres of water. They sloshed and splashed as they hovered in the air waiting for the wizard’s command. He sent each one at a separate imp, but he did not let the sphere break. Instead, each sphere of water swallowed their respective imp and then turned to a solid ball of ice. As soon as each creature was encased in its frozen jail, Cyrus sent them all crashing to the floor. Frozen hunks of ice shattered across the stone floor, tearing the creatures apart and killing all of them.
The box of energy dissipated with a wave of his hand and then Cyrus cleared all of the mess from the room with a snap of his fingers. “I don’t suppose Lady Priscilla has ever showed you something like that.”
Kyra shook her head.
Cyrus winked and then moved to sit back at his desk. “I’m not an instructor,” Cyrus said. “I am a wizard, but I do not answer to the title of Master. You may call me Cyrus. As long as you are my student, we will learn real magic. That means I expect you to spend most of your free time in the library or otherwise studying the applications that I will show you. You may practice magic, but only under my supervision, or far away from the school. I will not have you threatening the other students here or intimidating anyone, are we clear?”
Kyra nodded with a smile. This is exactly the kind of instruction she had hoped for.
“One more thing,” Cyrus added. His blue eyes locked with hers and his smile faded. He jabbed a finger toward her, shaking it gently for emphasis. “You will undoubtedly have questions. There are some questions that the instructors and administrators at Kuldiga Academy do not understand, nor do they wish to. Bring those questions to me. I promise to answer your questions truthfully and honestly and in return I expect you to follow my advice.”
“I will, sir,” Kyra promised.
Cyrus wagged his finger from side to side. “You will call me Cyrus, not Sir.” He then pointed to her bag intently. “Do you have any questions regarding your reading material?”
Kyra’s heart skipped. Had Cyrus seen the books about dragons in her bag? Perhaps while she was fighting with the imp, the old wizard had seen one of the titles. No, these books were situated in the middle of her normal text books, there was no way he could have seen them. How could he have? Still, judging by the expression on his face, she had to wonder.
Cyrus smiled again, but this time it did not comfort her. Instead it looked almost as if he were teasing her. Touting his discovery and flaunting it in front of her to watch her squirm. If he did know the truth, he did not press the matter any further. He quickly turned his eyes to a book on his own desk then motioned toward the door. “In the library you will find a small book on imps. You know where the section dealing with familiars is located in the library, yes?”
“I know that section.”
“Then go and get the book. It has additional information about the creatures that is useful in deciding how to deal with the pests. Take it and go into the forest where you can study it in peace. As you learn more about the creatures, go ahead and practice the spells that you would like to use tomorrow. Try to cast your spells on rocks or dead logs. Don’t use trees or animals, understand?”
Kyra nodded her head.
“Good. Tomorrow morning when we meet again I will expect you to know three methods of effectively dealing with these imps.”
“As you
say,” Kyra said. The old wizard stop talking and poured himself into his book. Kyra rose from her desk, gathered her things and went straight for the library.
*****
Kyra made her way out to the woods, careful to ensure that nobody was watching her. The book that Cyrus had instructed her to read was not very thick, and would not detract from her time with the egg. She smiled as she thought about the additional free time she would have compared to her original schedule before Cyrus had arrived. If every day was like this, she would be able to spend hours in the woods every day. She was so lost in her thoughts contemplating her new schedule she failed to notice the young man in front of her until he called out to stop her from running into him.
“Hello,” the boy called out.
Kyra looked up to see the young boy she had watched from the library window earlier that morning. He was about her age and perhaps an inch or two taller than her with wide shoulders and lean muscular arms.
“Hello,” Kyra replied.
He smiled at her and pointed to the bag full of books.
“What are you reading?” He asked.
Wanting to end the conversation quickly, Kyra offered a short answer. “These are just books for my studies.”
The boy looked at the bag cocking his head to the side and judging its thickness. “It seems to be a much heavier load than the average first year I see wandering the halls.” He smiled again and offered his hand. “I am Kathair Lepkin.” When Kyra didn’t respond by shaking his offered hand, the young apprentice bowed graciously with a flourish of his hands out to the side.
“Yes, I know. I heard your name this morning when you were in the courtyard,” Kyra said.
His smile faded and his skin blushed just a touch at the checks. “That wasn’t what it looked like,” he said.
“I’m sure it isn’t any of my business,” Kyra said. She started to move around him but the young boy held out a hand and stopped her. She bristled at first, preparing to knock him on his rump with a spell if he didn’t mind his manners, but she soon saw he had no ill intent. His eyes looked to hers longingly, as if pleading to be heard.
“Do you know what it is like to be teased?” he asked. “Some of the third-year and fourth-year apprentices tried to run me out this Academy because of my heritage.”
Kyra softened at this, empathizing with his situation. “Who are your parents?”
Kathair shook his head and shrugged. “It is not so much my parents’ names as it is the fact that they are not nobles, nor even from the Middle Kingdom. They are from the Northlands, where I was born.” Kathair stopped and dug his toe in the dirt, finally uprooting and kicking a small rock away before continuing. “In any case, they both died a long time ago and I was raised by the elves in Tualdern.”
“And you thought it was appropriate to bash all of their heads in with a wooden sword? How does that make everyone else like you?”
The boy smiled and folded his arms over his chest. “Am I being judged by the apprentice who threw her instructor into a wall?” He pointed back to her bag of books and then nodded his head. “I can see you have a lot to do, perhaps we will see each other again later on.” Kathair walked by her, but Kyra turned and followed him with her eyes.
“Weren’t you expelled?” she asked.
He turned around and shook his head. “I wouldn’t exactly call the elves family. I didn’t really belong in their society either. However, they can be very persuasive. They were able to come to an agreement with the headmaster.”
“If you only just fought this morning how could the headmaster meet with any elf from Tualdern? That’s the other side of the Middle Kingdom.”
“You are studying to become a sorceress, and yet you question me whether magical methods exist for communicating over long distances? Perhaps now I understand why you have so many books to read.”
Kyra bristled. She turned her back on him and walked away.
He called after her, “Perhaps I will see you in the library sometime.”
Kyra didn’t respond. Her feet continued walking, stretching the distance between the two of them until she was certain he could no longer see her. Still, she made sure to take a much longer, wandering route to her egg just in case.
When she finally arrived at the rocky area where the egg was hidden she saw Guardian sunning himself on a large boulder. The pagona lizard began chirping happily upon her arrival. She quickly went to the rock covering the egg and removed it. Immediately, she placed another warmings on the egg and the surrounding rocks. She set the palm of her left hand against the outer shell, testing the temperature. Something magical happened then. Even through the shell Kyra felt a swirling movement, or at least she thought she did. After the sensation passed she left her hand there for several minutes hoping to feel it again, but she did not.
Kyra set her bag down and followed Guardian as he jumped from rock to rock catching crickets. They spent half an hour doing this, with her following and observing his every move. When the little lizard had finally had his fill, he returned to the egg. Kyra took the long way around and spied a raspberry bush. She reached in to pick some, but scraped the back of her left hand on an exceptionally sharp thorn. She recoiled back and called out in pain.
Guardian was there in an instant, chirping and hissing.
“It’s alright,” Kyra told him. “I just cut myself on a thorn.” She cleaned the wound on the back of her shirt and then led Guardian back to where her bag was.
She took up her books and began to read. First, she read a compilation of folk tales, and then she finally pulled out the book Cyrus had assigned to her and read it. Perhaps it wasn’t the best text to read to a developing egg, but she had an assignment to do and she didn’t want to read silently. Even if the hatchling inside could not hear her voice or understand it, the act of reading to the egg helped her feel closer to it. It was as if she finally had a pair of friends who would listen without judging and who genuinely enjoyed her company. As before, she read until dusk, not bothering to gather her things together until the very last moment that would allow her just enough light to return to the Academy before dark.
She placed the last book into her bag, bade farewell to Guardian, and then augmented the warming spell upon the egg. She slid the large flat rock back into place and turned to leave, but something caught her attention. There was a shift in the air near the tree line. She couldn’t quite see the movement. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight and goosebumps formed along her forearms. Something was there.
Kyra secured her bag over her shoulder and prepared a couple of spells in case she saw the prowler. She aimed her head toward the ground while watching through her peripheral vision for the intruder. At first, she thought perhaps that boy had managed to find her in the forest, but she dismissed that notion very quickly when she heard a strange hissing sound.
A moment later some of the rocks cracked together as something large emerged from the tree line speeding toward the egg. Kyra turned around to face the danger. She saw not an animal or bird but a strange creature half running, half floating over the rocks toward the egg. It appeared as though the creature was made of a thick mist. Kyra could not see any legs as the beast continued to come closer to the egg. It was as if its bottom half was made of a tangible cloud that shifted and moved the rocks in its path as it flowed toward its prey. A pair of long arms wrapped in a silvery coating stretched out from the creature, reaching to grab the egg behind Kyra.
Kyra didn’t waste any time. As she had done with the imp, she decided the best way to fight was to attack with everything that she had. She sent a pair of fireballs. They passed harmlessly through the creature. Its silvery essence opening around the flaming orbs and then closing behind them. Next Kyra sent water, then ice, and finally lightning. Nothing slowed the creature down. Out of desperation she ran back to protect the egg. A few yards away from the egg the creature stopped and shrieked so loudly in its deafening, shrill voice that Kyra fell to her knees grabb
ing her ears. She looked up to see Guardian jumping up from a boulder and snapping its jaws at the ethereal creature. The little lizard jumped through the being time and time again. Somehow Guardian was able to hold the creature in place, but the little lizard’s attacks caused no harm.
One of the arms took on a more focused appearance then, with long bony fingers stretching out from a strong, thick hand. As Guardian leapt at the creature one more time, it snatched the little lizard in its hand and brought it up in its grasp toward its forming face. Bumps emerged from the silvery mist until at last Kyra could see a short snout filled with jagged teeth. The creature bit Guardian in half and discarded the tail and hind legs carelessly upon the nearby boulders. A pair of yellow, sick eyes glared at Kyra from within the misty face. It started to advance once more.
Kyra, enraged that her little friend had been destroyed, poured her entire soul into her next attack. She held out her left hand and sent a massive shockwave through the air. A great clap of thunder shook the ground and the rocks around her as the blast ripped through the silvery creature. For a moment it seemed the thing seemed might be ripped apart for good, but it was not to last, for the creature’s essence began to regroup steadily, and reformed its body. A pair of legs, long and lean with knobbly knees, grew out from the bottom half of the mist and it started to walk toward her.
Kyra didn’t stop. She summoned a vortex around the creature, swirling it around and around, creating a vicious trap so that the creature could not escape. Next she used her powers to summon a great sphere of fire and dropped the flames into the swirling vortex, and then cast the misty creature away. The roaring tornado of fire shattered against a nearby wall of rock. Kyra called down a single bolt of white lightning, blasting the ethereal creature into pieces.
This time she did not let the monster regroup. She threw several more pscionic blasts and further broke the several pieces and scattered them, preventing them from coming back together.
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