A Sorcerer Rises

by Guy Antibes

  Merry held up a hand. “Hear me out. No matter what happens, I want you to win that competition to show the world who you really are.”

  Ricky didn’t know if that was a good idea with Gobble out there and his father’s second cousin, Duke Noacci ready to take on Taranta’s role as his prime enemy. “I don’t want you mentioning my heritage,” Ricky said. “If I keep a low profile—”

  Merry nearly smiled. “At this point, I don’t know how you can do such a thing. I think even Duke Bariani knows your name.”

  Ricky sighed. “If I am taken to the Juvenile Home, I can be forgotten.”

  “I couldn’t bear it. We’ve worked so hard to help you.”

  “I appreciate that, Mistress Doubli. You have treated me like a family member, but perhaps it’s time for me to fend for myself again.”

  Merry turned away and sobbed for a moment. She faced him with tears running down her face. “Promise me you will complete the competition, no matter what.”

  “Taranta won’t be back in Tossa until it’s done, right? That’s what Saganet said.”

  She nodded, wiping her eyes and dabbing at her face.

  “Then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll turn myself in after that.”

  “Oh, Ricky!” She came around the desk and hugged Ricky as he sat in the chair. “We’ll get through this.” She stroked his head. “We will.”

  She stepped away. “Get back to your training. You won’t let me down?”

  Ricky shook his head and left Mistress Doubli standing by her window looking out.

  ~

  The participants in the novice competition looked so much older than Ricky or Loria. They all sat in a large hall adjacent to the theatre. Ricky counted thirty-three groups. Some were solo acts, and others had as many as five, which was the maximum. The nervous energy in the room nearly overwhelmed him.

  Ricky glanced at Loria, who seemed intimidated. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry. We know what we have to do, and we do our best. If it isn’t good enough, so what? Everyone has more experience than us, but even Professor Calasay said our routine could be inserted into any performance at any level.”

  Loria fiddled with her hands. “She’s just saying that to build our confidence.”

  “Then let it be said. I’ll be trying my hardest, and so will you,” Ricky said.

  He didn’t mention nerves, though, as he wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers. At least he didn’t have to worry about changing clothes for the qualifying rounds, although at least half of the participants weren’t dressed up. Their routine didn’t need costumes anyway since the plot of their presentation was minimal and their sorcery would carry the program.

  The room was half-empty when Ricky and Loria were called. He nodded to her and grasped her hand as they followed the person who announced their name across an alley and into the theater.

  Sorcerous lights brightened up the theater, showing a smattering of participants, coaches, and spectators bobbing in the sea of seats. He squinted and made out Professor Calasay, Betti, and Professor Garini seated two-thirds of the way towards the back. Dari clutched a notebook to her chest to document the competition.

  “Center stage,” a man said, sitting on the front row.

  Ricky and Loria walked to the painted line on the hardwood floor that split the stage into two sides. Betti told them that all performance stages had that line, and they would use it to define the wall between them that would show up in the actual performance if they made it that far.

  “Hendrico Valian and Loria Mansali?”

  They both nodded.

  “Any relation to Adapo Valian?”

  Ricky merely said, “Yes.”

  “And you are the daughter of Baron Mansali?”

  Loria nodded. “I am.”

  “I expect an excellent performance then. You may begin when you wish.”

  Ricky and Loria backed up five steps and took three steps away from each other and bowed.

  They went through their routine. Each of them embellished the transition spells just like they planned. Ricky’s final spell was a shadow of what he intended at the actual competition, but it was enough to elicit a few sounds of appreciation and applause from the audience.

  Ricky and Loria came together again and bowed to the sparse crowd and waited while the judges conferred. Ricky could feel Loria’s hand shake as the judging took forever in his mind.

  “You are well-coached,” the man said. “I am impressed. You won’t have to wait for the results to be posted. We will advance you to the actual competition. Congratulations.”

  Ricky and Loria were led down to the front of the stage and were told they would leave via the front doors of the theater. They could collect their things if any remained in the hall at the end of the judging. Professor Garini had already taken their belongings with him when he deposited them in the waiting hall.

  The judges stood and clapped briefly when they passed them. Judging by the smiles on their coaches, the performance had gone well enough.

  “Superior!” Betti said.

  “Professional, thoroughly professional,” Dari Calasay said, smiling as widely as Ricky had ever seen.

  “A meal on us is in order. We have our friends waiting to hear the results,” Betti said, clapping her hands with enthusiasm.

  They walked out of the theater into a hot sunny day. Ricky felt the heat on his face and smiled as he soaked up the energy. He felt his nerves were wrung out, but elated that they received the reaction they had, even with the pallid spell, in his view, at the end.

  Saganet leaned against the wall next to a door of a restaurant. “How did they do?” he asked Professor Garini.

  “As well as we could hope. There were none better that we saw. All the work paid off.”

  Saganet exchanged a few words with the head waiter and led them to a private room. Karian, Mina, Effie, and Merry stood and clapped when they arrived.

  “It’s only the qualification round,” Ricky said. “We were in the middle, so maybe all the big talent is yet to be evaluated.”

  “I suppose there is a chance of that,” Betti said, “but you were the only performance that the judges immediately passed to the final competition.”

  “We were?” Loria said in disbelief.

  Professor Calasay nodded. “How do you feel about that?”

  “I’m excited,” Loria said beaming, “but nervous for next week.”

  She wasn’t as nervous as Ricky. He looked at the final competition as the end to a fantastic interlude. From thievery to the academy and then back among thieves. He smiled, but he couldn’t feel as elated like his partner.

  It felt pleasant to be outside the academy walls, but he would enjoy the one more week of freedom if he only exited to go to the competition. The food barely had flavor as he watched his friends interact with each other.

  ~~~

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  ~

  R icky concentrated on learning ‘street skills,' as Effie described them, in the mornings, and refining the script in the afternoons. Evenings were dedicated to practicing what he learned in both sessions.

  He practiced the full extent of the final spell only once, and that was by himself at the empty practice field in full daylight. He might alarm others if he performed the effect at night.

  He and Loria communicated late in the evenings for a brief time to calm the intensifying nerves that both experienced until the night of the competition arrived. Ten acts were chosen out of thirty-three applicants.

  They were given a small waiting room after they arrived at the stage door of the theater. The competition only allowed two non-performers in the waiting room.

  Professor Calasay and Betti read the programs and the short biography of each of the contestants. Most were students at the Royal University. They reiterated that graduates weren’t eligible for this particular contest, they said. The words didn’t bring much comfort to Ricky.

  Their act was second to
last, and the wait seemed to be interminably long.

  Loria started at the knock on the door. “Two minutes. Time to get to the stage,” the voice said on the other side.

  “Make us proud,” Professor Calasay said to a backdrop of Betti’s sobbing. Evidently, the emotion of the night had gotten to her, so she only nodded her head and waved them out of the room.

  “Make her crying worth it,” Professor Calasay said, as Ricky led them out of the room. A stagehand thrust a message into Ricky’s hand. He quickly scanned the words, thinking it to be someone wishing them well. He recognized Saganet’s handwriting, but the message said,

  Taranta arrived last night, earlier than expected. Merry told him you would be giving yourself up. It looks like his men kidnapped her while she was on her way to the theater. Do not give yourself up. We must find Merry first, but not until your performance has ended. Meet me at the room we last shared at my townhouse.

  — Saganet

  Ricky crumpled up the message. “It’s from Saganet,” he said and managed a smile he didn’t feel.

  They separated and walked to opposite sides of the stage. They looked at each other from across the ocean of lighted hardwood. A magically augmented voice introduced them.

  This was it. Weeks of work were focused on the next eight minutes of their routine, yet he had to block out the fact that Merry’s life was at risk. He shook the thought out of his mind. Merry dearly wanted this competition to succeed, and he would make sure that happened, but his plan to turn himself in wouldn’t happen. If Taranta wouldn’t hold up his part of the demand, neither would he.

  Loria nodded to Ricky, and they walked from each end of the stage to the middle and bowed to the audience to polite applause.

  A column descended from the rafters, and then Ricky and Loria stepped to their sides. Their performance began.

  Loria cupped her hand and called out, “I’m a better sorcerer than you are!” She put her hands on her hips and looked out at the audience. “Shall you help us decide?” Loria nodded to them. “Clap for the one who does the better spell.”

  Ricky heard the audience murmur, and there was enough laughter to get the audience into the act.

  “Oh, yeah?” He put the tip of his outstretched thumb to his chest. “No one is better than I. Am I right?” he called out to the audience.

  Loria rubbed her chin. “Colored balls! I can do those better than you any day.”

  “You’re on!” Ricky said.

  They sang in harmony as they performed a few practice spells.

  “I’m ready,” Ricky said.

  Loria counted, “One, two, three.”

  Ricky and Loria’s songs were different when they performed the colored ball spell at the same time. Her’s were more vivid in color, but Ricky’s were brighter and a bit larger. The audience clapped as they stopped the effect.

  “Me or Him?” Loria said. “Clap for me.” The audience clapped loudly.

  “Now for me,” Ricky said to more laughter. The audience clapped. Ricky couldn’t tell the difference, but Loria raised her hands and waved triumphantly.

  Ricky grinned and announced, “This time we’ll do Lightning!”

  They did the same routine for all five spells. Each time the audience became more animated. Ricky knew they were performing well by the audience reaction to the primary spells.

  “What is your final verdict?” Loria said.

  Ricky’s heart pounded in his head. He had to put out all the will and power he could in this last spell. He had no choice. Ricky could barely breathe. He blinked his eyes, but again had no way of telling which applause was louder. Loria raised her hands and danced around on her side of the stage.

  “I won, I won, I won!” she yelled to the crowd, as planned.

  The audience erupted into more applause and more laughter. Ricky folded his arms. “I don’t accept your verdict, fine people of Tossa. Let’s see if my partner can beat this.”

  He shook his head and his arms theatrically. He took a deep breath to really focus on his three-spell combination. He chanted, building up power, then sang to fill his body, and finally made three shouts in succession.

  The first shout created a wall of sparkles across the stage. The second shout produced a wall of energy that filled the stage behind the sparkles and then pushed the sparkled wall past the crowd. As the audience reacted to the stupendous display, Ricky shouted his speed spell.

  Everything stopped. Ricky ran down to the main floor and out the door of the theater. No one halted him as he left the theater. The performance was done, and he took off without knowing or caring where they placed or how his final spell was received. He didn’t care. All he focused on was finding Merry.

  The sun hadn’t gone down when Ricky reached the tavern. He slowed down in front to catch his breath and sauntered into the place like he owned it, then made his way to the basement and into the storage room.

  Saganet turned around in the hiding place underneath the carriage house. “How did it go?”

  “As expected,” Ricky said. “No one had seen the full version of my final spell before, so I hope it had the desired effect. Have you found Merry?”

  “Not yet,” Karian said.

  They were all armed. Effie gave him his cane and two knives. “We sent a message to Baron Mansali, but we haven’t gone back to the tavern to check if he has replied.”

  Ricky could still turn himself in after Merry was found, but first, they had to rescue her.

  “Now that I’m here, let’s go,” Ricky said.

  “Of course,” Saganet opened the door to the tunnel, and they soon sat at a tavern table, reading the message the bartender had received from a woman who entered the tavern just for that purpose.

  Saganet shook his head. “They took her to Shantyboat Town,” he said, as he passed the message to Karian. He looked at Ricky. “None of us knows that place better than you, so you will have to lead us.”

  They had headed towards the north edge of Tossa when they turned a corner and saw four constables talking on the street. They tried to walk past them.

  “Halt,” the constable said.

  Ricky knew the chief constable from local run-ins before. They had no choice but to stop. Merry would never be rescued if they had to flee from a chase.

  “There is an order for your arrest, young Valian.” The man almost looked reluctant to take Ricky.

  “Mistress Doubli has been kidnapped,” Ricky said. “I promise not to run away if you join us in finding her.”

  Saganet gasped. “Ricky, we…”

  The constables glared at them.

  Ricky stood up straight. “It’s my choice. I have to face my future now,” he said. “Can you get more men?”

  The constable nodded. “You really promise?”

  “I do. But let us save our friend, first.”

  “That’s a fair trade.” The chief constable ordered a man to get reinforcements. “Where should we meet them?”

  “The boat slips that go between Shantyboat Town and Tossa. We think Mer—, Mistress Doubli is on a shantyboat.”

  “You heard him. We will meet you there.”

  They walked quickly amidst the stares of passers-by through the rest of Tossa and arrived at the boat slips.

  “We can commandeer any of these boats in pursuit of a criminal,” the chief constable said.

  Ricky thought that would be one less crime Taranta couldn’t accuse him of. They left a constable behind to tell their reinforcements where to land at Shantyboat Town. It didn’t take long to get across the river.

  “I hope you are right about this,” the constable told Saganet.

  “My information is from Baron Mansali.”

  The constable straightened up at the mention of Loria’s father.

  “Of course!”

  They landed and began to search through the shantyboats. It didn’t take long before their reinforcements joined them.

  Ricky spotted the Water Seller a few boats over. He ran t
owards him. “We are looking for thugs who kidnapped a lady of means. Have you seen anything?”

  The Water Seller eyed the constables. “Kidnapped? I saw an odd group moving among the shanties.”

  “She may lose her life,” Saganet said.

  “I know the area where they went,” the Water Seller said. “If you can be discreet, I can find out by knocking on doors as if I’m selling.”

  Saganet and the chief constable both nodded. “Let’s do it that way.”

  The constables followed at a discreet distance.

  Ricky stayed close to the Water Seller as he went from boat to boat. He actually sold some water as he knocked on the doors.

  He finally came to a familiar boat. Ricky had been brought up on Gobble’s shantyboat. The Water Seller talked to the person who opened the door. The man definitely wasn’t Gobble.

  “Water?”

  The man sneered. “I don’t need what you sell. Get out if you know what’s good for you.”

  “Certainly,” the Water Seller said and left the boat walking towards Ricky.

  “Are they in there?” Ricky asked.

  “I didn’t see Gobble, but there were a group of men in the boat. I didn’t see the lady.”

  “That doesn’t mean she isn’t there,” Saganet said. “Thank you.”

  The Water Seller nodded. “Anything I can do for you, Ricky.” He quickly left.

  “We will surround the boat,” the chief constable said.

  “I’ll lead,” Ricky said. “I’m going to use a spell to get in. Follow me.”

  Saganet took Ricky’s arm and spoke softly. “No magic.”

  “No offensive magic,” Ricky said.

  He waited until the constables surrounded the boat, swords drawn. Ricky knocked on the door.

  “I said… Who are you?”

  “I live here,” Ricky said. He shouted and pushed the man down. He was tempted to take care of the thugs, but he heeded Saganet’s advice. Away from the door, he looked into the shantyboat. A familiar well-dressed man held a knife to Merry’s throat. He didn’t see Gobble anywhere on the boat. Ricky removed the knife and retraced his steps to the front of the door. “Let’s go!” he said, with the guard already on the floor.