by P. Tempest
“Umm, yes Sir” I was feeling very unsure about all this.
“Take her to get something to eat while I make the arrangements with Mr and Mrs Leif,"
I walked over to the young girl, my knowledge of children is slight, but I recalled something about being on their own level. So I sunk down to one knee, looking her in the eye.
“Hello. I'm Tristan I'm sure you heard what's happening. Is this okay for you?” I said to her trying not to talk down to her. She was eight not stupid.
“Hi. I'm Sophia, I'm scared, are you going to help me?” she declared very bravely
“I'm going to do my best to help you, I'm new at this too.” I replied feeling that such honesty deserved honesty in return.
“Are you hungry?” I asked
“Yes. Can we get the eggs and bacon? It's my favourite,” she smiled around the words
“Sure we can Sophia.” I smiled in return, this kid is great. I really fancied bacon now.
I stood, cast a look back at Rysan still hashing out the details with Sophia’s parents, motioning to Sophia to let her know we were going now. She came to my side shyly, and we were off.
I remembered this cafe at the end of the road near my apartment. I had walked past it every day since moving to this part of town. The whole district was built of a pale cream stone, everything from the streets to the buildings which felt like they flowed up out of the edges of the wide central thoroughfare. The cafe was cosy. The tables made of the same cream stone rising out of the floor, large windows letting in the bright morning sun. The place was busy, but that didn't matter, the smells of bacon and sausages, cooking drawing us in. I looked to my side to see the matching look of anticipation of Sophia's face. We took a table by the door and looked down the menu that was made of glass, the words gently glowing.
“Can you read?” I enquired as the question occurred to me. Sophia’s green eyes took on a proud glimmer as she answered.
“Yep, course I can read. Why do your eyes glow? My grand mama's eyes do that, but my mama’s don't, does it hurt? Can you see in the dark?” She rattled out before pausing, clearly having run out of breath.
In that brief window, the waitress arrived to take our order.
“What will you have?” She asked, giving me an amused quirk of the eyebrow. I looked over at Sophia she was looking unsure, I felt it was my duty to reassure her so I said
“You can have anything you want. It’s my treat,"
Her little face brightened with such a smile, I instantly felt better about my task.
“Ummm. Can I have, um, the bacon and the scrambled eggs and glass of milk please?” She asked the waitress.
“Of course you can honey!” she responded
“She’s so polite,” She remarked to me before asking me “And you?”
“I’ll have the same but I’ll have the blue ice tea please,” I said and with that she was gone, back to the kitchen.
I took a deep breath, trying to buy time to think before answering Sophia’s questions.
“Right I'll give you the short answer about my eyes, and then if you think it’s not enough, you can ask again later, does that sound fair?”
She nodded quickly, her red hair waving around.
“Here. My eyes glow because I am a Mage and I have a lot of magic inside me. No I can't see in the dark any better than you and no it doesn't hurt.” I stated as clearly as I could
“But that doesn't explain why my mama doesn't have glowing eyes but my grand mama does. Will I end up with them too?” She was not letting this go.
“The older someone is, the more magic they have, normally. So one day you might glow too. Unless you want to be a Mage. Then you will certainly end up with them.”
I really didn't want my breakfast ruined, by all this pointing out of how odd my eyes were for my age.
Our breakfast arrived just then I thanked the waitress and paid for us both. I could tell she was bursting to ask more questions and while I respect curiosity, I’d had enough. So as she opened her mouth to utter the next one, I interrupted with one of my own.
“What did you do with your knack?” She flushed and looked down at the table which was almost as cute as when she smiled.
“Ummm, my parents think I made the plants in the garden grow, but I don't think I did they were just like that, when we woke up,” She explained very quickly.
Well that covered why they thought it was earth, but not why they thought it was her,
“Anything else that you may have forgotten to mention? We need to find your range before we can teach control,” I coaxed her.
“Well when I was playing with Josh, he's the boy that lives at the house down the road, we were playing stone skipping on the lake, right?” She looked at me, checking to see if I was listening. I nodded, trying to look extra attentive. She continued.
“Well he was beating me, he got 5 skips, and I only got two I was getting mad that my stones wouldn't do it, and then my next stone did ten whole jumps but that's not magic, I just got good at it. Right?” She looked like she was desperately wishing I would agree that it wasn't magic.
I felt torn, I really liked this poor girl, but I had to do what was best for her.
“Sophia I would love to tell you that it’s not magic, but I can’t. I'm sorry, it sounds very like when I got my knack. I’ll tell you about it if you want, but it may be a bit sad. Do you want to hear it?” I wasn't sure if this was the right way to approach this but it’s all I had.
She nodded looking more and more vulnerable. It made my heartache, but duty came first.
“I was nine. When I bloomed, its young, but it happened more often back then. I didn't know what was happening. I accidentally channelled most of my magic into the earth creating Zelf as I thought of him. He was a mirror to me. A boy shaped rock, the same size as me. We went everywhere together, he was my only friend. Since my blossoming all the other kids were scared of him. He couldn't talk but we played. He looked after me. Then the waves came.”
I had managed to talk normally until this point but the memories of this time still choke me up. My next words were thick with suppressed emotion.
“My parents were tired, helping to look after those that had lost everything in the destruction left by the waves. I asked Zelf to help them, he went. But I was just a kid I didn't know they needed charging or constant exposure to their creator when they are so young. He died a few hours later while I was sleeping. I never got to say goodbye to him.” Poor Sophia her eyes had welled up, but then so had mine.
“That's really sad. But that's real magic, I didn't really do anything," she sobbed at me. I don't think she really believed that any more.
“Everyone has some magic. It's nothing to be scared of.” I tried to comfort her.
“You don't even have to use it if you don't want to, but we can't have anyone getting hurt because you can't control it. Can we?”
“No, I guess not.” She had calmed down a bit by now.
Trying to change the subject.
“Let’s eat our breakfast, then we can go find out what your parents are doing.” I calmly said. I really didn't want her upset again.
I had to remember this cafe for breakfast. The bacon was crisp, and the eggs had to be the best I had had in a long time. Sophia looked like she was enjoyed them too. I nodded at the waitress as we left. Acknowledging the aid she had given me with Sophia.
Walking back into the office, the boss was at his desk, signing something with Mr and Mrs Leif countersigning, where he indicated. Sophia ran to her parents straight into the arms of her mother. She started telling them, what we had talked about at lunch. I stayed back not wanting to interrupt their family bonding. The boss motioned me over as he stood up
“Mr and Mrs Leif, I'm going to brief Junior Mage Tristan. We shall leave the office so you can explain to Sophia while I bring Tristan up to speed.” Rysan announced. Far calmer than I had ever heard him before turning on his heel and walking into his personal office beh
ind his desk. I of course followed him.
I had never been in here. To be honest it wasn't what I expected. There was a deep red desk next to which was a waist high pedestal that Orb was now resting on. A huge unlit fireplace taking up a whole wall, a basin on the other side. And a chair that Rysan promptly sat down in, I remained standing unsure what I should really do.
“I hate days like this, we have had something else come up that I will get to in a moment.” Now I have to take your masters oath. Are you prepared?
“Yes” I squeaked out
“Then hold out your hand in a fist and repeat after me” I held out my right hand towards Rysan clenching it into a fist
“I, Tristan Sodden, do take Sophia Lief, to be my apprentice. I will guide her in magic, to the best of my ability. As is the sacred duty of the mages. I will protect her from all that would do her harm. Until she is released from her apprenticeship.”
I felt a heat in my fist as I repeated the words, looking at it a multi-coloured flame had formed around it, it didn't hurt but it was warm and tingly. A voice sounded from the flame.
“Witnessed and bound,” came the voice.
Rysan paled at that. I wondered why. Before he spoke he accessed the glyph-screen in his desk to read a report, I guessed
“Well that’s that done. The arrangement is one day a week, they will bring Sophia here, you will spend the day teaching her control and what not. You are excused from other duties on that day. Moving on to the other problem of the day, there have been sightings of Gnomes on the outskirts of town.”
“Really? Gnomes? I thought they all died out in the waves," I gushed
“Yes supposedly they did, we have three unsubstantiated accounts of Gnomes to the east, now I shouldn't have to remind you if you do find Gnomes, do not engage, they fight in packs and are extremely dangerous if they feel threatened.” Rysan warned me sounding very stern.
“Sir what am I supposed to do about Gnomes then?” I enquired. Rysan just looked at me like I was an idiot.
“As a Mage, what is your duty?” He prompted firmly his face set in hard lines.
“The first duty of the Mage is the protection and guidance of magic," I recited from memory.
“Exactly Junior Mage, Gnomes are magical, but they eat magic. They are a danger to the whole town if the reports are true.” He sighed. “Normally I would go myself but I can’t, the wizards are calling all seniors through our Orbs. You need to go as soon as possible and assess the danger.”
“Yes sir,” and with a fist to chest salute went on my way.
Chapter 3
I went home to get my weapons and to have a think about the approach I needed to take. There was no task stone this time, which meant that this was outside of normal tasks.
I was no idea about what to do.
I grabbed my staff, all mages are given one on completing the tests. It still felt unnatural in my hand. As I turned to the door I realised I knew nothing about gnomes other than what my father had told me when I was young. I left my apartment, trying desperately to recall what my father had said. Looking around, I still wasn't used to living in this part of town, and I couldn't ask for directions. I was carrying my staff, doing my best to project a facade of competence, and it came to me. I just had to walk to the main fountain. It was laid out like a compass.
Wandering round the town during the day, can be a joy, but today the streets were crowded. There looked to be a cart collision just off from the fountain that was causing the blockages. Just what I needed, more problems I found myself wondering why it hadn't been fixed already. As I got closer I could see two self-powered carts had collided. The enchantments had melted them together. This felt like something I could to do something about. Mages duty.
Looking with my other senses, I could see the problem. One of the enchantments wasn't limited properly. It had linked the two carts instead of keeping all the parts together. Things like this happened if the enchantment was overworked. I reached out to touch the enchanted wooden core. I smoothed my earth power over the enchantment to smother its power. Threading a touch of water in, to wash the remains away. As I came back to myself I noticed I had a spectator. An older man stood watching, he offered me a cup of water, I accepted the offering, heavy magic always make me thirsty
“Thank you” I voiced between gulps of water. He gestured to the carts
“No thanks required. I want payment. That's my cart you just broke!” he seemed slightly put out, but that can had to be expected.
“It was dangerous. It needed containing,” I said simply. Having finished drinking, I handed the cup back to him. “I can't do the rest of the work to fix it, but they are safe to move. Go to the headquarters to arrange restoration.” I warned him before manoeuvring between the carts to the east path.
Now that that distraction was dealt with I was feeling more confident about my abilities to handle these gnomes. I did have a nagging feeling that I was forgetting something, I patted myself down but didn't seem to be missing anything, I’d remember eventually.
Once I was out of centre of the town, I noticed how run down this part of town was. Past the east gate on the broken road to Haven I looked for signs of gnomes I wasn't sure what I should be looking for. So I used my other senses, earth is great for detecting life if you can think of it the right way. Nothing showed up as life, but I was getting something odd, from the left of the road it wasn't life more a smudge on the normal background magic. Dropping out of viewing, can be disorientating but I needed to be ready for anything, I’d feel a build-up or discharge.
I gripped my staff tighter as I slowly crept towards the undergrowth. I readied my earth magic, forward another step, out of the bush came a tiny furred blue thing, I panicked and lashed out with my staff. Not surprisingly I missed. The staff flying out of my sweaty hand the gnome went after the staff completely ignoring me. Taking the opportunity to act while it was distracted I send my earth magic into the dirt under the bush forming it into a network of bars around the gnome, then hardening it into stone. Remembering my father's remark I pulled all the magic from the cage. In the moment or so that I took to do this the gnome had gone berserk beating at the bars and chattering at me. The odd smudge feel was confined to the cage, and I was sweating, so that was combat, not really my thing clearly but I was quite pleased with myself
While I was standing there congratulating myself, I felt a sharp pain in my left leg, jerking in surprise. I looked down seeing another gnome had bitten through my trousers. More than just pain. I could feel my magic, that was a huge part of me being torn out, it felt like I had fire running through my blood, burning my mind, my identity dissolving in the flames, I couldn't think in that moment in agony I was helpless falling to the ground, I was out of the corner of my eye another gnome, was approaching, I thought. This is it the end.
Then something happened. The earth opened around me. Down I fell, the gnome in surprise letting go of my leg. Down even further, a shard of stone caught the gnome through the chest impaling it killing it instantly. The pain had gone but something was replacing it, an opening of my mind the magic that was stolen was running back into me. On instinct I reached out, earth and water flowing together as never before, hardening my skin like stone, reaching out to anything to slow my fall roots burst out of the sides of the crevasse wrapping around me, that hurt but my hard skin took the brunt of it. The roots slowly raised me back up to the surface the gnome I had trapped was still in its cage, the others were gone. The roots wove together under me, filling in the hole. I stepped towards the cage wincing at the pain in my leg although the bleeding had stopped, sending my earth magic to separate the cage from the ground. Forming a handle and retrieving my staff. Picking up the cage and using my staff to take some of the pressure off my injury. I slowly made my way back to the road.
“Junior Mage Tristan, status report,” came my boss’s voice from my pendant, which startled me, I had no idea it could do that.
“Sir I’ve been injure
d there were three gnomes, one is contained, I’m bringing it in, another is dead, the last vanished in the confusion,” I reported, I felt stupid, admitting a gnome had harmed me.
“Stay where you are. I've dispatched a squad to cover the area and assist you. Give the gnome to them. Stay well and be careful there may be more in the area. The squad should be there in a moment.” Was the response I received. To be honest I didn't care about how well I had performed anymore. I was stunned at my boss seeming to be concerned about me.
I took the time to think through what had happened.
I had merged my magics creating a single effect. I didn't even know that was possible I thought they had to be used separately, like parts of a tool. It seems I didn't know as much as I thought. Even now that I had calmed down my magic felt different, stronger more malleable, if a bit low. I had to have subconsciously used it to form the hole. It's the only thing explanation I can think of. Looking around me. A group of men were approaching, dressed like soldiers enchanted leather armour. Swords and wands. Grim looking men, the leader I identified by the black glyph attached to his armour. Using my magic to request an ident from it, I should have clearance for it, turns out I did. I got back
“Squad Leader, I'm Junior Mage Tristan, there is a situation here,”
Telsan looked me up and down his orange glowed eyes narrowing
“My squad has been sent to deal with the gnomes, I see you have been injured, do you require assistance? We have a medic with us,” Was his clipped response.
“Yes I do, I have been informed that you need my gnome,” I stated.
“Yes Sir we do, it needs to go to Greenlaw for study, this is our Medic Mage Niven,” at that he turned to the youngest member of the group, still at least five years my senior. Niven stepped forward. And with that the rest of the squad moved to scout the area.