The Wandering Apprentice

by Matthew Mitchell

  I took a deep breath. This was going to be an interesting day.

  "Ott, what makes water magic unique?" Stain's question caught me off guard. What makes water magic unique?

  "It is water." I had no other answer.

  Stain smiled. "Ok. Let's take a different path. What makes water unique? Not the magic but the substance."

  I considered for a moment, staring into the river. Water... What was water? How was it unique?

  After a few minutes I replied, "Water is fluid. It flows and splashes. If something gets in its way it just flows around it. You can mix up some substances usually only with water. It cleans. It helps plants to grow. Too much can kill both plants and animals. Rocks can be worn away by water. Water extinguishes fires." I was running out of ideas.

  Stain waited a bit after my torrent. "Not bad. Water is all of these things. So what does that tell you about the nature of water?"

  Hm... "Water changes a lot yet it is always the same. It can be both good and harmful." These were the things that jumped out to me.

  "Very good." Stain shifted his weight. "Water is very fluid. It can move easily and do either great harm or good depending on what is going on." His toes swirled the water. "Water magic is by its very nature much like water. It is very fluid and can do both great harm and good. So far most of the spells you have learned in water magic follow some basic ideas. Water is always around us. It is in the air, in the ground, even inside our bodies. This means that water magic can make changes in almost all areas. There are some exceptions but those are few and far between."

  This all made sense. "Does this make a water mage more powerful than the other mages?"

  Stain laughed loudly. "Water mages would have you think that way, however all magic has strengths and weaknesses. What are some of the weaknesses of water?"

  "I would say the same as some of its strengths. It flows so it does not have a set form. The amount that moves water from safe to dangerous can be a miniscule amount. It can become stagnant." These sounded safe.

  "Very good. So let’s move these ideas over to water magic. Water magic is the magic of healing, preserving, and changing. Suzie uses water magic to keep the boat strong and safe. Sandra uses water magic to bring about healing in her patients. Other water mages use water to sculpt, destroy, or build. Water is perhaps the most versatile of all the magic’s, yet it is the hardest to control. This is because of the very nature of water magic. It wants to flow and change." Stain pointed to the river bank. "There you can see the changes that water has made over time. Yet a skilled water mage can compress that same result in a fraction of the time." Stain cupped his hand and an orb of water rose from the river and floated just above his palm. "I might call the water to me but it is hard to truly change the water."

  I could see the magic flowing from Stain's hand to the orb. "If I stop the magic..." the sphere suddenly fell onto his hand and flowed around his fingers returning to the river, "the nature of water takes control."

  "So. Let's do some big water magic. First place your feet into the water. The physical connection will aid you." Stain pointed at the river. "Now I want you to focus on making an orb like I did. However I want you to make it out in front of the boat instead of over your hand. Make it move in front of us."

  I placed my feet into the water, wincing at the chill. I focused about two boat lengths in front of our boat and imagined a sphere hovering above the water. Touching my magic I willed the sphere to take shape. Suddenly a bubble of water jumped up out of the river and formed the sphere. The sphere was only about the size of the loaves I had just helped make.

  "Good!" Stain was watching me and the sphere. "Now a test. All water mages must push themselves. This test will show us quite a bit about your water magic."

  Suddenly a voice interrupted Stain, "That is as big as you can make?" Suzie's voice. "I could do that my first day." Suddenly another orb formed besides mine. It was the exact same size.

  Stain looked back at her and then at me. "Fine. We shall have a water mage duel. First one to faint loses." I panicked a little at this. Stain continued, "A water mage duel is not about who can harm the other. It is about who can control the water the longest. Basically this will work by each of you enlarging your sphere until either you faint from the effort or lose control of the sphere." Well then... panic over.

  Suzie sat on the other side of Stain. "Fine, just make sure Ott does not fall in when he faints." Her tone seemed to mimic Raven's when she was annoyed. What was it with girls?

  Stain smiled. "Ott, basically what you need to do is just keep pouring magic into the sphere and increasing its size. It is not complicated just tiring."

  "Go!" Suzie called out. Her sphere started to swell and quickly doubled in size. I focused on mine and it followed suit. Soon both orbs were growing at a steady pace. I could hear feet approaching from behind the three of us.

  "Both of you ok?" Stain asked gently.

  "I am doing fine." Suzie growled. Seemingly to prove her point her sphere grew to the size of a large horse.

  I focused and mine grew to the same size. "Yeah, I am doing fine Stain."

  Suzie kept forcing her sphere to grow and I kept matching its growth. Soon the two spheres were each the size of the boat.

  "Stain, is this safe?" The captain called out.

  "Yes. I am keeping an eye on it. The water is deep here and they are doing fine." Stain was enjoying himself.

  I could hear Suzie breathing hard, like she was struggling. I decided to see if I could end this quickly and forced as much water magic into my sphere as possible. Suddenly my sphere swallowed Suzie's sphere and stopped just short of the boat. It hovered there barely between the two banks of the river. I could almost reach out and touch it. I heard gasps from behind us and saw most of the crew were gathered on deck watching. I looked over and realized that Suzie had fainted. Stain was putting a little water on her face to wake her up. She struggled to rise and froze when she saw the orb just ahead. Her eyes grew until I could see all the whites of her eyes. She turned and faced me.

  "I think you win by a large margin." She then stood up and walked slowly below decks.

  "Focus Ott." Stain waved his hand in front of my face. "Mind releasing the water? The fish are getting annoyed."

  I started and looked closely. Inside the orb there were a bunch of fish looking out at me. In my haste to increase the size of the orb the fish must have been sucked up out of the river. I blushed and released the magic. The orb fell straight down and a wave flashed out from the point of impact. Suddenly I was drenched.

  Stain was laughing! "And that is yet another lesson all water mages must learn. Release slowly or you get drenched."

  Suddenly my head started spinning. I could see Stain's face become worried.

  "Careful my hasty apprentice. I do believe you pushed yourself a little too hard just a tad too fast." His face started to fade.

  Great... now I am fainting..again.

  ***

  After the dual with Suzie the crew seemed to give me a wide berth. Everyone but the cook. Her behavior, if anything, become more focused on making sure I had some idea of what to do in the galley.

  While cutting up some carrots I finally decided to ask her about the rest of the crew.

  "Why has the crew started avoiding me?" I blurted out, "They knew I was a mage yet they seem to be nervous after the other day." I realized it sounded like I was whining a little.

  The cook took a deep breath. "It is not that you make them nervous. What you did was extraordinary, even among mages. Our Suzie could not hope to ever make a water sphere that size. Now never tell her I said so."

  She seemed to collect her thoughts. "The problem with you is what you will become. The crew is coming to terms with the fact that a youngling like you has as much power as you do now and realize that you will simply gain more power as you practice and get experience."

  That seemed to make sense. "But I am still me."

  She sighed, "But th
eir view of you has changed. It is like seeing the power in an animal. Before you see a horse pull a wagon it is just a big, beautiful animal. After you see it move a wagon the size of this boat you have a much greater understanding of the power it has at its disposal."

  Ah, now I could see the issue. "So it is the idea of all that power, not me?"

  "Basically. Plus what would you think if you saw some little kid controlling a massive horse moving a large wagon? I think even you would be a little nervous." She grinned at me.

  "Haha... so funny. But I get your point." I did understand the view now. "I do not know what to do about it though. I hate to think that they are going to keep their distance the rest of the trip."

  The cook laughed at that. "Oh they will warm back up as time goes by. Just give them a little time to get over the idea of a youngling handling a water sphere the size of warehouse. Although you drenching yourself was a nice touch."

  She would have to mention that.

  "Now, think you can finish cutting up those carrots before breakfast? I would like to have some kind of tuber for the crew for lunch. Keeps them healthy." She gently smacked me with the ladle in her hand.

  I smiled and went back to the carrots. Thoughts wandered around in my head.

  A couple of hours later it was time to practice my sword work with the girls. So far this had been simple practice of the forms that MaPaine had taught me. Having to work with two people made it more complicated but lately it had seemed like I was simply going through the motions. But I stuck with it since I knew Stain wanted me to know how to use a sword.

  I climbed up on deck wearing my practice sword. The two girls awaited me, like usual. However, there was three more people waiting with them. Stain, the Captain, and one of the crew stood off to the side. The crew member held an unusual object in his hands. It looked much like a short spear but with three points, like a big fork.

  "Ott!" Stain called me over to him. "So it looks like you have gotten the hang of all the forms that MaPaine assigned you."

  Well evidently I was not the only one who thought I had gotten into a rut. "Yeah. It just feels like I am going through the motions now."

  The crew member smirked. "That is called muscle memory. Your body has memorized the moves. You could probably perform them without thinking if attacked."

  The Captain nodded. "Which means that it is time to add something to your workout to keep your momentum moving forward. Otherwise you will get rusty and bored." He had no idea. The sword work had become a chore. "This is James. He is the weapons master on board the ship, among other things."

  James nodded. "I think it is time to add some more forms to expand your abilities. Your sword work against sword, knife, and staff seem to be smooth. I can tell you have reached the point where you are comfortable against those weapons. So let's add a new obstacle. This is one path MaPaine laid out for you." At this he held out the weapon in his hand. "This is a trident. It is unique in that it was developed first as a tool on the water and later became a weapon."

  I took the trident and looked at it. The prongs were smooth and straight. The handle had a rough texture. The balance seemed to be closer to the handle than to the prongs.

  James watched me and smiled. "Good. You have noticed some of the important aspects of the trident. The prongs of the weaponized trident are smooth so that you do not lose the weapon in a fight, the tool version has barbs to assist in pulling large fish into the boat. Having a smooth handle would probably cause the fighter to lose his grip, hence the texture. Having the balance close to the handle allows the trident to be thrown in extreme cases but also helps the fighter keep his balance if on rough water." He took back the trident. "Both ladies are familiar with the trident. You however are not. Time to learn." He walked over to the ladies and talked to them for a moment.

  Stain grabbed my shoulder. "Consider all that James tries to teach you. He was once a student of MaPaine before taking to the water for the King. He is considered to be the foremost expert in fighting on water." He gently pushed me towards the other fighters.

  I heard the Captain chuckle before calling out, "And remember....rivermen fight dirty!"

  The next two weeks were a rude introduction to the fine art of fighting a riverman. I eventually learned to take the boat into account. Especially since James seemed to take pleasure in using the various parts of the rigging to maneuver in ways that seemed impossible. After a few more weeks I started to hold my own against James. That is until he handed Raven and Suzie tridents. Defending against three people using tridents was much different. After a few more weeks I was able to hold off all three yet I never could do more than defend. My sword work finally reached a point where no advancement was occurring. During all this time I learned more about water magic. While the basic principles of all magic were the same the execution of water magic was much different than earth magic. With earth magic it seemed to be very straightforward, water magic was more about finesse. One little distraction and suddenly I was soaked or getting a totally different effect. Stain had not added any more spells, saying that when we got to Trojna's Rest I would learn a lot more spells. I had however learned that with variation of power the spells changed. A simple spell to move water became a weapon when a lot of power was applied. A spell to freeze water when applied to rain became a way to stop an enemy. Nothing like being pelted with shards of ice to change your mind of about attacking. The cook also kept adding techniques to my cooking education. There were now times that I was in charge of cooking an entire meal and planning what to cook. Overall I was learning in some form at all times.

  One morning started the same as all the previous ones yet after breakfast the rhythm changed yet again. As I climbed onto deck I realized that something was different yet I could not pick out what was off. James, Suzie, and Raven were standing there with their tridents. Stain sat off to the side, much like he often did. The rest of the boat seemed to be the same. I looked back to the other three fighters and realized what was different. They wore armor. Before today they never used armor. James said most sailors did not use armor as it turned them into anchors.

  "What is going on?" I asked as I stepped up on the hold lid. "Why the armor?"

  James grinned, "Well Ott, we need it if you are going to be using magic."

  At this my head whipped to Stain. He had a smirk on his face. "James is correct. Today you learn a water spell that is only used when fighting sailors. If you try it on anyone else it will probably fail."

  That did not make sense. A spell either worked or it did not.

  Stain must have seen my confusion. His smile got much wider. "Rivermen are mainly the only ones who fight with tridents. This spell is geared to cause tridents to become a non-issue." He stood up and stepped up on the hold lid beside me. "Let me demonstrate." He motioned to the three fighters whom charged suddenly with tridents raised. Stain made a sweeping motion and all three tridents suddenly dove point down into the deck and pitched their holders across the decks.

  Stain turned towards me. "You can close your mouth now, Ott. The spell is a simple repel spell, but it only works on tridents." He walked over to one of tridents and pulled it free of the deck. That is when I realized that they were not stuck in the deck but were simply standing on their own. "Every trident is made with a special emblem placed into the butt of the handle." He turned the trident towards me and I could see the emblem. "This is a makers mark. All tridents are basically made by only one group of smith who share a makers mark. This allows the spell to work."

  The three fighters had picked themselves up and had their tridents now.

  Stain continued, "The spell basically causes the makers mark to be repelled by any water close at hand. In this case the river. This is what caused them to point downwards suddenly. Since our three fighters were moving this sudden change in direction threw them off their feet. If they had been simply standing like now the spell would be less dramatic." He once again made the sweeping motion. The tridents once more
dove to the deck standing upside down. However the fighters stood there with their hands suddenly empty, otherwise undisturbed. Stain had taught me the basics of repelling spells. I had not known I could focus it on just a mark, but it made sense.

  James suddenly pulled a sword. "Better to disarm a riverman while he is in motion. That way you might take him completely out of the fight, otherwise you get a very mad sailor still able to cause you harm." His grin was dangerous. "Best you remember that. Also if you can time it right a riverman flying over the rails is totally out of a fight, especially in deep water." He sheathed his sword and looked to Stain, "Shall we see how long it takes Ott to learn this new spell?"

  At Stain's nod the fighters charged me. I scrambled to think. In a few seconds they would be within striking range. I focused on the repelling spell I knew and aimed it at the mark while thinking about water. The tridents wavered in mid air yet failed to fall.

  "Focus Ott!" Stain called out.

  I had to jump sideways to dodge the first trident. I focused while I rolled and tried again. Coming to my feet I saw that I had succeeded in disarming James yet the two girls still held their tridents.

  "Focus on all the maker's marks, not just James. Otherwise it will not work." Stain pointed out.

  This continued for two days until I finally was able to disarm all three fighters, just not all at once. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes two at once, yet never three. I could tell Stain was getting frustrated.

  "I think I know the problem Ott. Tomorrow will be different. You will succeed tomorrow." With that strange comment Stain went to the Captain's cabin.

  All that night I worried what Stain had planned. As we worked on a spell to freeze only parts of a patch of water I tried to pry at Stain until he told me to practice until I could freeze a disc and move it around the boat independent of the river. That night I tried to think of how Stain would accomplish this feat. His tone had been one that did not bode well for my well being in the morning.