‘Be away with you, you little dastards!’ the voice shouted after them. A hand was offered and Samuel gingerly took it, being pulled to his giddy feet. ‘Not quick enough again, Samuel,’ the man spoke. ‘I saw you passing through the markets with your lady friend and thought I’d let you two be alone for a time, but when I saw her hurrying back in such a dither, I thought I had better come take a look. Lucky for you, I think.’ The man was Mr Joshua. ‘What an awful mess we’d both be in if I let you get injured or worse.’
Samuel nodded and tried to agree, but his throat would not make any sound. Mr Joshua tucked his cudgel again into his belt and led Samuel back towards the town.
‘Let’s see to these cuts,’ he said and took Samuel back into his office.
The men there regarded the beaten Samuel with a mix of curiosity, concern and laughter, although a scornful glance from Mr Joshua quickly stopped all that.
In his office, Mr Joshua cleaned the cuts and grazes himself and picked over Samuel until he was sure he had seen and treated every little sore.
‘I can’t have my best man killed so young now, can I?’ he said as he worked. Samuel shook his head. ‘So, what news do you have for me? Anything?’ Mr Joshua asked as Samuel, trembling, drank from the cup Mr Joshua offered him.
Samuel told of the many frantic comings and goings of the Burning Oak recently, and of the ancient-looking old man who stayed whom they called ‘Grand Master’. He told of the man who had offered him money and Mr Joshua cursed, saying it was no man of his, but some upstart trying to steal some of his business. Samuel even mentioned the lights around the old man’s head, and Mr Joshua nodded and looked concerned, but Samuel said nothing of his attempts to copy them.
‘Are these men devils, Mr Joshua? People say that only devils can use magic. But they seem so nice for devils.’
Mr Joshua laughed softly. ‘No, they’re not devils, as far as I know.’ His tone then became of a serious nature. ‘Don’t worry about the man who met you today. I think I know who he is and I’ll talk to him for you-let him know you don’t like to be bothered. Just keep doing as you have and one day you’ll be a rich man. There’s something special about you, Samuel. I’m sure of it.’
Samuel nodded and, with a pat on his back from Mr Joshua, he left and returned towards the Burning Oak, suddenly dreading his lecture from Kans upon taking so long. At least the cuts and bruises were evidence for his tardiness.
Samuel thought he would be too sore to get on the roof that night, but after unsuccessfully trying to make the light in his hands, Samuel could not resist. He clambered onto the roof when he saw the faint glow of the candles shining out the high window and waited for whomever it was-Mr Took, it turned out-to practise his movements.
Samuel hoped to find some clue as to what had happened to him on the river-bank. What strange power had filled him for that instant?
As Samuel watched on, entranced, a shout from below nearly brought him tumbling from the roof.
‘Samuel!’ Kans called from below. ‘Where are you, boy?’
The sound of Kans walking through the stable and calling his name continued until he came out into the yard again and began calling there. Samuel flattened himself to the tilted roof and lay perfectly still, in case Kans should look up. It was a bright night, after all, and Samuel suspected he was perfectly visible if someone should look directly towards him.
Kans eventually gave up his calling and returned around to the front of the main building. Samuel took advantage of the opportunity and shimmied down from the roof and scampered back into his room. He dived into his bed and waited to see if Kans would return.
‘There you are,’ Kans said, striding angrily into his room. ‘Where have you been?’
The boy sat up and tried his best to yawn and look tired. ‘Oh, I was relieving myself, Kans.’
Kans nodded. ‘Why are you dressed like that?’
Samuel looked at himself and had to subdue his panic. He was still in his grubby working clothes. ‘I…I was working late and was so tired, I must have forgotten to change.’
Kans scoffed and shook his head without any attempt to conceal his disdain for such behaviour. ‘Quickly, then. Get up and ready Mr Copperpot’s and Mr Sloan’s horses. They are leaving within the hour.’
Samuel nodded and leapt to work. He had the horses ready well within time, before the two men came rushing out and clambered onto their animals. They galloped out the front gates, barely pausing to give their goodbyes. Kans pushed the groaning gates closed behind them and then rushed back inside the inn.
Samuel returned to his room and changed into his more comfortable bedclothes. He crawled into his bed and closed his eyes tightly, hoping for a restful few hours’ sleep before dawn when his chores began again. He had no idea what was causing this recent stir amongst the men of the Burning Oak and his inability to find out was becoming more and more frustrating.
Weeks passed uneventfully after that night, with no further comings or goings and Samuel had plenty of spare time to spend with Jessicah, for Mr Kelvin had felt terribly guilty after Samuel’s beating and now allowed him to go to town three times a week.
Samuel spent every evening practising the movements and the breathing exercises he had learned. Most nights, he could get the glow between his hands and sometimes even send it floating away to dissipate against the wall with a slow, blue splash. It exhilarated Samuel to see the lights he could create, but he wished to know more, to be able to do more. He never dared to try and make the light during the day, only when he was sure it was late and he would not be discovered. He was sure he would be punished for spying on the men and learning their secrets. Perhaps they would even lock him up or do something terrible to him. When magic was involved, who knew what strange things the men could do?
‘Lomar?’ Samuel asked, as they both sat in the boughs of the Oldforth tree that stood amidst the gardens. ‘Do you believe in magic?’
‘Of course I do, Samuel,’ Lomar returned, raising a quizzical eye from his drawing. He had a charcoal marker in one hand and a piece of thick paper in the other, sketching a scene of the garden. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘You tell me all those stories of other lands and myths and fairies and goblins, yet I have never seen any of those things. Do they really exist, or are they just stories? Is there really such magic?’
Lomar balanced his implements beside him, next to the row of coloured chalks that wobbled on the branch, and thought a moment. ‘There is often a little truth, and a little mistruth, in everything that is said,’ he began. ‘What is true in one circumstance may be false in another. I have never seen fairies or goblins, but that is not to say they do not exist. I thought dwarves were mere tales until I first saw one with my own eyes. It is not unusual to see a small-person, as they prefer to be called, born to full-sized parents.’
‘How is that so?’ Samuel asked, curious.
‘It is just something that happens,’ Lomar replied with a bob of his shoulders. ‘Just as sometimes people are born with notable differences, some are born with unusually short stature, but they are normal people, just as you and I.’
‘Do they like to dig underground?’
‘Not overly, no,’ Lomar returned with amusement. ‘So you can see how a fable has been created from truth. There are, indeed, dwarves, but they do not congregate in underground cities and spend their lives whistling and digging for precious gems. I think, too, that many other legends have had some root in truth.’
‘And magic?’ Samuel asked persistently with a glint in his eye.
‘People sometimes like to discuss whether or not magic actually exists. You have seen my tricks, but that is not magic; it is merely a skill. My hands are adept at hiding things before the eye can notice. People cannot fly upon broom handles or turn others into toads, but, given practice, a man may accomplish tasks that seem absolute miracles to others. Using talents that others find rare, men may name themselves magicians and call what they do magic, but it is al
l an extension of natural gifts which they have finely honed.’
Samuel’s brow was furrowed. Lomar always answered with riddles and more questions. Samuel had seen magic and he knew it existed. He had even done some himself and thought he was getting quite good at it, too.
‘There are many magicians in the Turian Empire,’ Lomar added, having noted Samuel’s discontent and the boy then looked up with expectation. ‘Mostly, they are welcomed and openly accepted, but here, in Marlen, we are quite far from the great capital and people still hold age-old contempt for magic. The magicians that live here tend to keep to themselves.’
‘So there are magicians!’ Samuel spurted out with excitement and Lomar hushed him furiously with a wave of his hands. Finally, Samuel had managed to squeeze the admission out of someone! ‘Are you a magician?’ Samuel then asked, hoping for a continuation of his good luck.
‘You have seen my magic,’ Lomar returned with a grin, snatching up his brush and then making it vanish in his hands. ‘So, obviously, I must be. Now, enough of the matter. I want to finish this drawing before I lose the sun, for tomorrow I must leave once more.’
Samuel felt as disappointed as ever. Lomar had evaded him once again. One day, he would have his answer. These men were obviously all magicians. Only making them admit the fact was proving difficult. Creating lights and igniting candles was obviously magic and couldn’t be explained away as something else. No amount of twisting of words or slyness of tongue could dissuade Samuel of that. He only wondered what other amazing things they could do and how he could trick them into letting him know their secrets.
On one particular night, creating the glowing ball was especially easy and Samuel set it to rest just above his head, where, instinctively, he knew it would stay. He summoned several other such glow-balls and placed those beside the first, so that they cast a ghostly blue-white light over his room as they slowly bobbed up and down. Then, however, Samuel found it particularly hard to summon a fifth ball. He had never done so many before and he decided stubbornly that tonight would be the night to do it. He caught the sensation he needed in his mind and groped at it blindly with all his will. The sensation of magic was as slippery as soap in a washtub and he fumbled after the elusive feeling as best he could. Each time he nearly let it slip, he changed his approach slightly and pinpointed the energy once more. Finally, with an almost tangible click, Samuel found the mindset he needed and he knew the magic was coming. His hands vibrated with the resonance of his thoughts and he felt another glow-ball on the verge of manifestation. The other glow-balls blinked out and vanished without warning and Samuel chastised himself in the back of his mind for this, but he forced himself to keep his attention on the task at hand, else all his practice would be for naught.
A new light then began to creep from in-between Samuel’s slightly parted palms. There was a strange discomfort in Samuel’s head, but he ignored it, intent on perfecting this creation. The light grew in intensity until it had surpassed any previous attempt in size and strength. Still, however, Samuel could not coax it to become a self-sustaining ball. He kept pressing his efforts between his hands, and sweat dropped from his brow and sizzled into vapour as it touched the burning light he had summoned. An audible crackling and popping came from the air all around as if things were spontaneously coming into existence. Slowly, as Samuel shook with the strain, he managed to draw his hands apart and the light wobbled and spun on its own, finally settling into a well-formed sphere.
Samuel relaxed and wiped his face dry with his arm. He was sure he had never used so much effort before, and Samuel was completely pleased with himself. With a fingertip, he nudged the ball up above his head. He could feel that this ball was much stronger than the others. It would probably last all night long before fading away. He just hoped no one came before it did, for he had not yet discovered how to make his glow-balls disappear at will. They merely faded after a time or when they felt like it, so it seemed.
Strangely, the new glow-ball hovered back down from the ceiling and refused to be sent back up, no matter how Samuel coaxed it. He examined it closely with one eyebrow raised in curiosity. It was such a strange-looking glow-ball.
‘Oosoo ahn…’ came a long, dry whisper and Samuel nearly jumped out of his skin with fright.
Two dark circles appeared on the orb, followed by a third beneath, which smiled. The orb had a face! Two long, pale arms unfolded from the central mass, and a long, legless torso tapered down behind. Samuel was both curious and unsure and he stared at the thing with eyes wide. A long-fingered hand stretched out and touched Samuel on the shoulder. Its touch was needle-sharp and icy cold.
‘Oosoo ahn…’ again it called, soft and dry.
Samuel backed away, bumping into the wall, as the spirit began examining his room. It looked at his bed and his desk, pausing to view the notes that lay all over it, seeming to read them and smiling with satisfaction. It then noticed Samuel edging for the door and was at once on him, covering the distance between them in a heartbeat. It slapped his chest with its claw-like hand and knocked Samuel down without effort. In an instant, it was over him and gone out the door. Samuel was horrified, but leapt up in pursuit.
The spirit danced around the garden, disappearing into hollows, and moving around the inn at a frightening speed, as if investigating every cranny. It spied Samuel once more and raced towards him. Samuel ducked and covered his head with his hands, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. When he opened his eyes again, the spirit thing was nose to nose with him. It cocked its head sideways and repeated the words.
‘Oosoo ahn.’
In its outstretched claw, it held a handful of dirt. The pieces of soil ran between its bon,y white fingers and dropped to the ground as it cocked its head sideways and watched on as if fascinated.
‘Er…’ Samuel began to speak, but the spirit tossed the dirt down and turned its face to the starry sky, mouth agape in silent wonder.
It then shot away like an arrow and vanished into the darkness over the inn wall. The sound of the front door being unbolted sent Samuel scurrying back into the stables where the wide-eyed horses regarded him nervously. He leapt into his bed as voices came from outside. Footsteps approached the stable and a solid knock came at the door.
‘Samuel, are you awake?’ came the voice of Mr Kelvin.
‘Ah, yes, Mr Kelvin,’ Samuel replied, trying to sound tired, and Mr Kelvin opened the door and came in, bearing a lantern.
‘Did you hear anything just now?’ he asked, peering into the corners of Samuel’s room.
‘Why, yes, Mr Kelvin. Just now I thought I heard someone walking in the garden, but I thought it was one of the guests.’
Mr Kelvin nodded. ‘I thought I heard someone, too. Well, I’ll have Kans keep an eye out. Good night, Samuel.’
‘Good night, Mr Kelvin,’ he called after his employer.
Far off from the direction of the town came the faint noise of a woman’s scream. Samuel swallowed and hoped it had nothing to do with him.
Samuel did not dare practise for a long time. He felt that Mr Kelvin suspected him of something, and he was also petrified of a recurrence of the event with the frightful spirit. Samuel noticed that the guests threw occasional glances towards him as he worked, which he was sure they never did before. More than once, movement caught his eye and he thought he saw something, like smoke, vanishing around a corner. It could have been his imagination, but thoughts of the ghoulish spirit kept returning to him.
Samuel soon found himself unable to sleep and he craved to practise his movements and meditation with a hunger. His mind was a riddle of confusion and he found concentration on any task at hand difficult. Mr Kelvin was constantly finding errors in his studies. He awoke in the middle of one night to find a glow just fading from his hands, and a string of words still on his lips.
‘Sohm pad e`num-toh jio-toh varnay,’ he whispered to himself. Those had been the words he had been repeating in his sleep and those had been the words the old man, the G
rand Master, had recited softly as he meditated. He had never heard them spoken aloud, but somehow he knew these words by heart, as if he had written them down and studied them.
Waking again and again, night after night, Samuel finally could not resist and sat up in his cot and closed his eyes and crossed his legs and the words sprang from his lips as naturally as the next breath. At first, he spoke them over and over again, repeating twice as he exhaled and then taking in a deep breath again. It was as if someone else was moving him like a puppet, yet it felt to him that this was exactly what he was supposed to be doing. His lips soon barely moved at all as the words echoed over and over seamlessly in his mind, until he lost all consciousness of himself and the words were all that remained. The universe and I; everything and nothing.
Kans dressed and walked down the wide hall to the kitchen, his footsteps echoing after him. After speaking briefly with Cook, who was well underway preparing breakfast for the Masters, he went about taking tea to Master Kelvin. Kans entered silently and, as usual, Master Kelvin was tangled up with only his bed sheets; the blankets being all on the floor. Kans placed the tray on the bedside table and carefully added the milk and sugar from the tiny pots, just as Master Kelvin preferred.
‘Master Kelvin,’ Kans called softly. ‘Master Kelvin, it’s time to wake up.’
With a snort, Master Kelvin opened his eyes and sat up. ‘What! Oh, good morning, Kans,’ he said as he oriented himself and began a great, gaping yawn.
‘Tea?’ Kans offered.
‘Oh, good. Yes, thank you,’ Master Kelvin replied, smacking his lips. He took the tea, blowing on it and sipping carefully.
Master Kelvin then did something quite curious, something he had not done before. He put his tea back down before finishing it and began getting dressed, oblivious to Kan’s presence. He seemed to be examining the air around him as if looking for an irritating insect.
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