Small cobalt blue filaments appeared around Vroel’s fingers and the boy screamed in pain.
Vroel let go of his grip and immediately the chosen one stopped complaining, but stayed on the ground.
“Before shaking my hand, you should have made sure that the duel was really over. Always be careful.”
“What was it?” asked Viktor, staggering up.
“Magic. From what I’ve heard, Amir explained the basic theory about using mana.”
“And a good magician only knows how to use it better with the minimum of energy. Yes, she told me this, too,” Viktor said.
“Perfect. Now, unless you’re still up to the idea of being able to fight me, I would suggest that I introduce you to the study of the runes: it is thanks to them that it will be possible for you to learn and use the arcane arts.”
“Runes?”
“Perhaps you who are passionate about white magic know something about it,” Devanorth said, aside to Selene.
“They are ancient symbols that help the will to create spells through what we call mana, or essence,” she answered promptly.
“Accurate and concise. The runes embody the essence of an element. With the Sithra rune, for example, I recalled the element of thunder. The intensity and duration of a spell depends on the resources and the will of the magician. By linking more runes, however, you can conjure up more elaborate spells, also called composite enchantments,” Devanorth finished.
“Druira, Sithra!” exclaimed Vroel, raising a hand.
At those words, the water of the lake moved forward beyond the member of the Star without touching him, then, from the explosion of foam and splashes, an aquatic wall as big as the arm of a giant rose from the ground, crossed by night-coloured electric shocks that propagated throughout the entire lake of Mephis.
Slowly, the electricity disappeared and the wall of water lowered until it withdrew.
With eyes full of wonder and dismay Viktor and Selene continued staring at the lake for a while.
“What ... what was that?”
Vroel was about to explain but Devanorth preceded him: “In this case the water rune was used, followed immediately by the thunder rune. Evoking the elements in the order necessary for the spell, Vroel’s will became reality: in this case, a wall of water laden with electricity. In this way he achieved an increase in cunning power, using the same characteristics of the elements to increase the power of the rune that otherwise would have needed a very big waste of mana.”
“Or a greater ability to manage it,” Selene said.
“Exactly. This was an example of compound enchantment,” Vroel answered this time.
Viktor took a breath before opening his mouth: “So…let me show you if I understood. With runes we command the element that is the backbone of the enchantment that is meant to be evoked. Calling the necessary rune, with your will you see the way we want to use the element of the rune while the mana takes care of the rest. If the spell requires more than one rune, this is called a complex spell; the more powerful the spell is, greater is the magician’s capacity to manage the necessary essence.”
“Besides we can use the natural characteristics of the elements to increase the power of your spell or to create particular strategies,” added Selene.
Vroel and Devanorth exchanged a knowing look with a smug expression.
“Perfect, now I would say to go back to the physical approach. We will resume the speech of the runes tomorrow, when we practice with the first enchantments. I trust it will be easier for you,” Vroel told Selene.
Devanorth and the girl got nearer the other members, then the mentors made them go over the guarded position with a weapon.
Since Selene had lost Trust’s dagger in the slave traders’ den, Devanorth decided to alternate Siride between the two youths.
As soon as it was Selene’s turn, the girl could not hold the weight of the weapon, letting it fall to the ground.
The blade touched her right arm, drawing a crimson line on her skin. “Ah!”
Vroel’s eyes swiftly became yellow at that sight, and Devanorth swooped on the wound, murmuring a spell, healing it.
The faint white light of Devanorth’s spell disappeared and Vroel calmed down.
His eyes were human again.
“This is enough for this morning. We will resume later and end at sunset; see you here,” Vroel said, moving away from the group.
Viktor and Selene remained in silence and Devanorth urged them to return to the village with him.
“What happened?” Selene asked on the way back.
“Vroel is half vampire, as you know. Although during the day he loses his supernatural capacities, it is well known that a virgin’s blood has always been a decoy for nightwalkers.”
“So there could be the risk that he attacks Selene?” Viktor said horrified.
“When Vroel entered the ranks of the Star, we managed to create a powerful alchemical compound that can control his thirst. However, it must be taken frequently and I think he gave in to your blood because the effect of the potion was running out ...”
“He could have given in simply because, as you just said, vampires are attracted much more to a girl’s blood than to a boy’s,” Viktor said.
“With the compound, his thirst can be controlled! I suppose that no more episodes of this kind will occur, as long as he remembers to take the potion with constancy; it never happened before.”
“Apparently he forgot about it today,” the boy remarked.
“Enough, Viktor, it was just an accident. You heard Dev: nothing similar will happen again,” Selene reassured.
Hearing his friend speak to him, even for a moment, made him feel better.
“While you have lunch, I will go to a room in the inn to rest. I didn’t sleep last night. See you later this afternoon at the same place, okay?” Devanorth said when they arrived to the entrance of Placym.
When the two nodded, even Devanorth disappeared, leaving them alone.
Selene continued to ignore him and, reaching their destination, went into her room without saying goodbye.
The situation was beginning to weigh Viktor down and he tried not to think about it, repeating the morning lesson to himself.
He concluded that it was now lunchtime and his stomach was beginning to complain. The innkeeper stopped him as soon as he went downstairs. “Young man, where did you leave the girl?”
“Oh ... well, I have not seen her for about an hour, I don’t know if she’ll come down for lunch. In any case, I think I’ll start alone, I’ll go and sit at that table over there,” he replied, pointing to the corner of the room.
“Things are not going well, eh?” The woman inquired again. Viktor didn’t answer and went to sit down. “This girl has some nerve!”
The boy noticed the room much less crowded than the night before so, when he had ordered his portion of rice, he asked the waitress the reason for that strange nightly affluence.
“They are people who after work or busy days come here to have fun in the evening, so there aren’t many customers for lunch. Besides, in the evening there is our bard to keep us company and the fairer sex always attracts men.”
The young man nodded with slight embarrassment and the woman laughed.
“Don’t worry, I often let myself get caught up in chatter. It’s time I went, your plate is getting cold!” she said.
When the midday sun began its descent to the west, the boy was on his bed ruminating on the last events; when, in his mind, the journey arrived to the present, he woke up and decided to leave the inn to try to find a new map.
Outside the room, he thought he heard noises from Selene’s room, so he put his ear against the door.
From what he heard, it was the sound of footsteps, as if the girl was pacing back and forth.
Suddenly, every sound ceased. The bedroom door swung open and the girl surprised Viktor.
“I was ... I was going by and I slipped. Fortunately I didn’t fall, eh?” he justified himself.
“Were you eavesdropping?”
“No really...”
“All right, I understand,” she said, closing the door behind her and walking downstairs.
Viktor hit the wall with his fist, then ran after the girl under the amused gaze of the innkeeper.
He reached Selene now outside the building and took her hand. “Listen, I was wrong, you’re right and I want to apologize. I didn’t believe what I said ...”
“Oh really? Why would you have answered that way, then? I was trying to stay close to you as I have always done, but you, as always, come out with meaningless and silly phrases. You called me egocentric!”
“I was angry!”
“You had no reason to be with me!” she cried.
Some passers-by turned to look at them, curious.
“I was jealous ... about you and the way you talked to Devanorth. I couldn’t imagine he was ...”
“All right, that’s enough,” she said, bringing his free hand to her mouth. “You’re an idiot,” she said, and then released his hand and went into an alley of the village.
Viktor looked at the sky, exasperated by the situation but at the same time satisfied, he had been able to give an explanation for his behaviour “A weight off my shoulders.”
When a flock of swallows crossed the horizon, Viktor returned to look at the busy streets of the village.
He went into the first alley he saw, slowly making his way among passers-by looking for a shop that sold maps of Mirthya.
He was attracted by a small shop with some decorations for interiors. He stared for a while at the little model of a small raft, an excellent reproduction of those stranded on the bottom of the lake of Mephis.
Viktor headed for the pier that faced the lake, opposite the entrance.
There, an elderly fisherman showed him where to find a cartographer. The shop had a huge amount of maps scattered everywhere, starting from the walls, although it was not supplied like Maluak’s.
The map he purchased still had the smell of brand-new.
On the way back, he saw Selene between two fabric sellers.
“I should buy new clothes too ...” he thought.
Realizing that he still had some spare time before returning to Devanorth and Vroel for training, he chose to search for a shop that sold clothes.
The late-afternoon sun began to colour the world with warm, bright tones when Viktor set out to his mentors.
Vroel and Devanorth were on the shore of the lake, but Selene showed up shortly after Viktor.
Devanorth urged Selene to fight him as he tried to teach her the basis of defence; Vroel followed Viktor making him do many physical and mental exercises.
Often the chosen one had to make great efforts to be able to achieve what the task required, but, despite the poor results, he knew he was at the beginning and would improve over time.
At the end of the day, the two teachers entrusted them with a large, leather volume that contained the most known runes to evoke incantations.
The youngsters chose to keep it on alternate days, both with the hope of reconciliation.
ONE MORE STEP
“F
lama!” Viktor shouted again, the dying sunlight reflecting on the wet shore of the blue lake.
A small sphere of fire sprang out from the palm of the boy’s hand, slowly floating above it before darting against Vroel.
“Druira!” he exclaimed, throwing a small water-ball on the little luminous sphere that went to dissolve the spell and hit his generator.
Viktor fell backwards and rolled into the shallow water.
“Flama,” said Vroel, illuminating the five fingers of his hand with several spheres of fire that darted toward the target.
The spheres of magic regenerated from each tip of his fingers and then rushed towards the poor boy, who floundered in the water in search of his weapon.
“Druira!” Viktor shouted at that point, drawing water from the lake to create a shield against Vroel’s attacks.
He kept looking for Siride to make his way to his target. The thought of being burned by the heat emanating from the spheres of fire that clung to his shield, gave him a reason to hurry.
He felt his strength abandon him, aware that that spell was draining up a lot of mana. When he thought he had to give up, his fingers gripped the hilt of his sword.
He rushed to Vroel, the sword in one hand and the magic shield in the other.
Near his head, Siride’s blade was stopped by one of the canes that Devanorth had given to his companion.
Viktor pushed as hard as he could to try to disarm the half vampire, but just then he noticed his hand resting on his water shield and his lips clenched.
“Sithra!” he heard echoing on the shore of the lake.
Small electric shocks ran through the surface of the water shield, spilling the spell on Viktor.
The liquid shield burst into a myriad of splatter, the boy found himself lost a few steps from Vroel, who approached and launched a quick open hand blow on the poor boy’s sternum and he fell to the ground devoid of energy.
“Don’t get up right away, recover your strength on the ground. In any case, better than the last time, even if the water shield used almost all your mana up. You’re still not ready to keep a spell for a long time,” Vroel said, handing Delir and Eren to Devanorth, who glanced at Selene.
Sensing Devanorth’s will, she went to bend over Viktor to heal his wounds.
“He just has to have the strength to get up, it isn’t difficult. You can do it just with your will, trying not to use the runes,” Vroel then said.
“I know, I’ve already done it,” the girl answered, while she laid her hands on Viktor to restore some of his strength.
“It’s okay,” Viktor said raising an arm. “Why not heal me completely every time?” he complained, watching Selene return to her place next to Devanorth.
“Because it would be too simple. Your body has to get used to combatting and your strength needs to increase,” the half vampire said.
“I believe we have made giant strides in five weeks,” Viktor observed.
“Yes, but they still aren’t the strides of a big giant.”
“You can’t create a warrior in so little time,” he objected again.
“In fact, you aren’t a warrior yet. Continue training and you will be one soon,” he said, pointing to the youngsters.
Five weeks had elapsed since the group’s arrival at Placym, and after a few days the boys had been given the news that they were being kept economically by the Star, so as to reassure them; reassurance that Viktor had been waiting for: in five weeks his savings wouldn’t have been enough to pay the inn.
However, he didn’t want to feel the burden of the hours he wasn’t training, so a few days before he had found a temporary job in a fish market that belonged to an elderly couple who made their living fishing, like many.
Working, he could have more money for what he desired, so he didn’t have to ask who maintained him: the idea of being maintained, as his father did when he was young, was embarrassing. Being helped in this way seemed almost offensive, as far as he was concerned, and this is the reason why he had looked for a job to be able to contribute to his needs as he had done when he worked in the fields with his father First and then with the blacksmith Trust.
Besides this, there was also the thought of Selene. Engaging his mind with trainings and work, he’d think of her less and not be sorry for the way she treated him, cold and detached.
When Vroel disappeared, Selene said goodbye and started to walk toward the village while Viktor proceeded walking slowly with Devanorth.
“Programs for tonight?” Devanorth asked the boy.
“I think I’ll be late with the night shift, I hope to have time to review some other runes in the manual…”
“Is it your turn today?”
“Yes, I’ve got it.”
Devanorth was silent for a moment.
“You have improve
d a lot in a short time, as well as Selene. The speed with which you learn is really formidable. It seems that Vroel is never satisfied with you only because he wants you to do even better, don’t let it bother you,” he added.
“I sensed it, don’t worry. You are good teachers, there’s no hiding it!” Viktor smiled.
“Why, did you have any doubts?” Devanorth pricked, returning the smile. “But don’t neglect your primary goal…”
“What do you mean?”
“Meaning that if you can’t study the runes or do anything else for your training only because you’re working, I want you to know that you’ll have to leave the fish market. Working was your idea, but there was no need to.”
“Don’t worry. I never wanted to put anything above training…I’m beginning to take the responsibility given to me seriously.”
“I’m happy for this, but maybe there is something you put above your task, isn’t there?”
“What would that be?”
Devanorth pointed toward the silhouette of Selene not far from them, crossing the scaffolding at the entrance to the city.
“Oh, no ... it’s not what you think ...”
“You cannot mask your thoughts from me. Even a blind man could see the dumb look on your face when you look at her. I know you are feeling bad because it seems that she’s ignoring you and…”
“It seems, you say?” Viktor interrupted, “She hasn’t spoken to me since we arrived here.”
“Ah, so you care then!” Devanorth exclaimed with the sympathetic and pleased expression of having hit a nerve.
“Of course I care! The friendship I feel for her is beyond measure, I’ve known her for…”
“Now it’s called friendship? You’re in love with her, it’s obvious! You left friendship behind a long time ago!”
Meanwhile the sun was disappearing over the horizon and the two reached the entrance to Placym.
“When you realize what you really feel, go and tell her; don’t think about the consequences. Who knows, perhaps she’s only waiting for you and if you stay aloof nothing will ever change. Nothing changes by itself, Viktor,” Devanorth said, waving goodbye in front of the inn after giving him a pat on the back.
Viktor Page 25