Master Wizard

by James Eggebeen

  Lorit chuckled. Kedrik might be hiding secrets about his family, but if he was already thinking about girls, he couldn't have been too traumatized by the temple's torture.

  Chihon folded her hands in her lap and sat back. "There are very few sorceresses, and even then, the pairing is quite rare. You'd have to meet a sorceress at just the right moment to create the pair bond, and that's probably not going to happen."

  "You remember Kimt?" Lorit asked. "The healer?"

  Kedrik blushed. "She checked me over every day, but she said I'm fine now."

  "Kimt is one of those rare sorceresses," Lorit said. "Most sorceresses don't survive the awakening of their power. Something about it drives them mad."

  Kedrik's eyes widened.

  "But not her." Lorit held up his hand. "Kimt is as sane as they come and very powerful."

  "So...she isn't paired?"

  "No. She's not. And she most likely never will be," Chihon explained.

  "She probably won't find a wizard who matches her strength," Lorit said. "At least, I don't think she will. She's already very powerful. It would take a strong wizard to match her. The pair bonding only happens when the two are equally matched in power and ready to join their magic to someone else, like we were."

  "How did you two meet, then?" Kedrik leaned forward. He seemed intrigued by the pairing, more so than just a young boy's interest in girls.

  "We met in my hometown," Chihon said. "Lorit was traveling to Amedon after his power awoke. I'd already had my power for a while, but I was not that strong yet when he came along. Lorit started late, so we were evenly matched in both power and age. That's very rare."

  "Did you know right away? That you were meant to be paired?"

  "No," Chihon said. "It took a while, but the more we worked together, the stronger the bond became." She glanced over at Lorit, who nodded in agreement.

  "So, you two are married, then?" Kedrik asked.

  Chihon blushed, and Lorit felt her embarrassment through their connection. This was the question they'd been dancing around too often lately. The council forbade them to have children together for fear of spawning a monster who would inherit both of their magic without restraint. The admonition had clouded an otherwise simple question.

  "No. We're not married." Chihon lowered her eyes. There was bite in her words.

  "Will you be?"

  Chihon turned to look at Lorit. He felt the heat of her stare and looked down at the floor. Her embarrassment faded and was replaced by a complete block. She'd shielded herself from him! She'd never done that before. Lorit was flustered. He wanted to reach out to her and find out why she'd shut him out, but her block was strong. He decided to change the subject.

  "So how are your studies? What are you learning?"

  Kedrik filled them in on his lessons. He was a bright young man and learning quickly. Lorit's suspicions that Kedrik was destined to become a strong wizard were well-founded, but he kept thinking about how Chihon had shut him out. He tried to connect with her to discuss it, but she had a look on her face that told Lorit not to push.

  The following day, Chihon still held the block that kept Lorit out. He decided to give her some time to think, so he busied himself with Kedrik's training. He wanted to work with the boy to judge his powers as they grew and keep an eye on the boy as he learned.

  He found Kedrik in one of the laboratories. The boy was perched on a high stool beside the table, his magic textbook nearby was stuffed with notes and spells. Lorit noticed the absence of an instructor and slipped into the room.

  Kedrik held his palm out and shouted at his hand. He was clearly trying to raise fire, but he was unsuccessful.

  Lorit cleared his throat and waited for Kedrik to notice him. When Kedrik recognized Lorit, his face fell. "I can't even command fire."

  "Call the fire," Lorit said in a quiet voice. "Tease it into existence." He made a gesture with his hand as if coaxing something to come to him.

  Lorit held out his hand and spoke softly. "Incendo ignio." A small tongue of fire winked into existence above his palm.

  "Incendo exstinguere," Lorit said, and the flame extinguished itself.

  "You try it now." Lorit sat back and folded his arms.

  Kedrik stood up and held out his palm. "Incendo ignio," he shouted.

  Nothing.

  "Incendo ignio!" Kedrik shouted even louder.

  Still nothing.

  "You're not commanding fire. You're coaxing it into existence." Lorit held out his hand and once more demonstrated how to call the fire and extinguish it.

  "It's hard." Kedrik sat down on the stool, shoulders slumped.

  "Do you think that by declaring how hard something is often enough, it will magically become easy?" Lorit laughed. "Of course it's hard, but once you master it, you'll wonder how you ever struggled with it.

  "Once more." Lorit held out his hand. "Incendo ignio." He barely whispered the words and the flame appeared, a small flickering, cool blue tongue. "Incendo exstinguere." The flame slowly faded away.

  Kedrik held out his hand. "Incendo ignio." He whispered, his tongue lingering over the words. He was rewarded with the tiniest flicker of blue flame that vanished almost as soon as it appeared.

  "I did it!" Kedrik jumped up, knocking over the stool. He reached out his hand and made a sweeping gesture while he shouted, "Incendo ignio." This time his enthusiasm got the better of him. Not only did his palm spring into flame, but so did the book he'd been studying.

  Lorit watched as the magic text burned to a pile of ashes while Kedrik shouted at it to no effect. Lorit fought to contain his laughter. He felt sorry for Kedrik.

  The fire soon burned itself out, and Kedrik sat down next to the smoldering pile of ashes with a look of defeat.

  Lorit smiled and clapped the boy on the shoulder. He remembered his own lessons at the hand of the wizard Zhimosom, only Lorit had learned while on the run from the temple and Zhimosom had come to him in visions. He hadn't had the luxury of teachers and classrooms.

  "I think you were a little too enthusiastic about it," Lorit said.

  Kedrik looked sad. "My book. I'm going to get in so much trouble."

  Lorit chuckled.

  The door opened, and Jal walked in. He took one look at the pile of ashes next to Kedrik and laughed. "Looks like you finally called fire."

  "It's not funny. My notes were in there." Kedrik looked on the verge of tears.

  "Nothing to worry about. This just happened, ya?" Jal asked.

  "Yes." Kedrik waved his hand at the mess. "I was calling forth fire, like Lorit showed me, and it got away."

  Jal held his hand out above the ashes. "Restituere hos cineres," he said. The pile of ash swirled in a tiny black vortex, twisting tightly and accelerating. The twister gave off a whistling sound and exploded with a loud bang.

  Kedrik flinched, shielding himself from the blast with his hands. He peered between laced fingers.

  The book was restored, notes and all.

  "There you go," Jal said. "Try to keep it in one piece from now on."

  "How did you do that?" Kedrik asked.

  "The book was only just burned, ya? It still remembered what it was like before the fire. I just reminded it."

  Kedrik picked up the book and leafed through it. He checked his notes and smiled. "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without my notes."

  "Don't mention it." Jal turned to Lorit. "I have a few errands to run. Did you want to spend some time with the boy?"

  "I was hoping to do just that."

  "Then I'll be back in a while if you don't mind." He looked at Kedrik. "Don't start any more fires until I get back."

  "Yes, sir." Kedrik hung his head.

  "Good. We'll resume lessons once I return. Until then, you are to listen to Master Lorit."

  "Yes, sir."

  Jal turned and left the room, shutting the door behind him with a resounding thud.

  "Will I live to be four hundred summers old?" Kedrik turned bac
k to Lorit.

  "What brought that on?"

  "I heard Zhimosom is four hundred summers old. Will I live that long?" Kedrik jumped back up on his stool and leaned against the worktable.

  "Not all wizards live that long. We live longer than most people, but Zhimosom is special."

  "How is he special?"

  Lorit had often wondered himself what it was that was keeping Zhimosom alive. The old wizard had been reluctant to discuss it with him, and he'd stopped asking, but it had never stopped nagging at him.

  "I don't truly understand it myself, but he's tied to something magical that keeps him going."

  "Is it Rotiaqua? Does the pairing keep them both alive? Will you live to be that old?"

  "Slow down there." Lorit held up his hand. "I don't expect to live that long. It's not the pairing that keeps them alive. It's something else. There have been other pairs who haven't lived that long."

  Lorit had read about some of the pairs that were documented in the library. Uskin and Alwroth had been the head of the council before Zhimosom and Rotiaqua. They had died in battle.

  "Why won't I be paired?"

  "Because it's rare." Lorit frowned at Kedrik. Why was the boy so fascinated with the pairing? Most young wizards were so excited about learning magic that nothing else seemed to matter. Kedrik's magic was strong, but he seemed more like a normal young man than a budding wizard. He reminded Lorit of his brother, always scheming to meet some young woman.

  "But you're paired."

  "Yes, but it's rare."

  "Are you going to marry Chihon? Will I get married some day?"

  Lorit flushed. He wasn't sure where he stood with Chihon. They had grown close on their way to Amedon. They traveled together and fought the temple together. They had gone through the trials together. Lorit knew that without Chihon, he would never have made it through them. But now he had his own abode, out in the wilderness, and Lorit spent more time there alone than he did in Amedon, coming back only for council meetings. Part of why he had taken an interest in Kedrik was because it gave him an excuse to come back to Amedon more often, but it didn't look like spending more time with Chihon was working out the way he'd imagined it. Why had she blocked him, and why was she so distant?

  "Are you?" Kedrik asked again.

  "I don't know, Kedrik. Being a wizard is dangerous and lonely work. Most wizards don't marry because it wouldn't be fair to their families."

  "Why not?"

  "Because they might die young doing something dangerous, or run afoul of the temple and get killed. Or they may live so long that their families grow old and die before they do."

  "What about you?"

  "Chihon and I are paired. That means that we are intertwined. Our life force and magic are as one. If something happens to one of us, the other one experiences it, too. She shares in my danger and I in hers."

  "So, there's no reason why you shouldn't get married."

  Lorit avoided the subject even in his own thinking. It was lonely, living by himself in the wilderness, but that's what Zhimosom did, and he thought it was expected of him, too. Some days, he wanted to go back on the road with Chihon and just walk as they did on their way to Amedon. These days, it seemed most of their time together was spent on council matters with little time to just talk.

  "Kedrik. It's not that simple," Lorit said. He rose and slid his stool beneath the table.

  "It seems pretty simple to me," Kedrik said with a smile.

  Chapter 3

  Kedrik woke to the sound of snoring. He'd been alone when he retired, but now, there was someone else in the room. He was assigned to a small student dormitory with two beds, one above the other, and two desks side by side. The room was designed for young wizards to concentrate on their studies. It was morning, and the chill of the night lingered as the sun's rays poked through the window, washing away the odor of soot and ash.

  The sound came from the bunk above once more. Kedrik put his foot against the mattress and gave it a short sharp shock. The snoring stopped. Kedrik closed his eyes to try to get a little more sleep before the day began, but he felt someone watching him.

  He opened his eyes to see a suntanned face hanging over the bed above him. "I'm Yorn," the boy said.

  "Kedrik."

  "How long have you been here?" Yorn asked.

  "Only a couple of moons. You just get here?"

  "Yes. I arrived in the night. My folks brought me, but they couldn't stay. I think they were glad to hand me off to the wizards." Yorn smirked.

  Yorn told Kedrik his life's story before they had a chance to get dressed for morning meal. Yorn was the son of a blacksmith, a little older and taller than Kedrik, with short black hair and broad shoulders. His parents were afraid of magic and despised the temple. As soon as Yorn had mentioned that he had dreams of fire, they rushed him to Amedon and dumped him on the wizards.

  Kedrik showed Yorn where the dining hall was while Yorn kept up his nonstop talking. "You were brought here by magic?" Yorn asked.

  Kedrik answered without breaking his stride. He was hungry. "Yes, Lorit and Chihon rescued me from the temple."

  Yorn shoved Kedrik so hard he almost banged into the wall. "You were caught by the priests?"

  "Yes. They came to my house and demanded that my parents surrender me. My ma fought back, but the priest used some sort of spell that made her agree. He left her a gold for her trouble."

  "What did they do to you? I hear it's bad."

  "It was bad. The priest used his staff to torture me. The pain was terrible." Kedrik shook with the memory of it.

  "That was when Lorit and Chihon showed up?"

  "I wish," Kedrik said. "I was tied to that altar for two days. The priest kept waking me up to drink, then started back in on the torture. He wanted me to give up my magic. I'm not sure I would have survived much longer when Lorit and Chihon showed up."

  They came to a junction of hallways. Kedrik looked around, wondering which way led to the classroom. He'd been reassigned to new studies at the beginning of the week, and he hadn't had time to search out his route to class yet. Kedrik stopped an older student and showed him the small parchment that had his class information written on it. The student directed him down the side passage and told him to take the second left.

  "Give up your magic?" Yorn asked.

  "Yes. Give up my magic. I don't know how I was supposed to do that. I would gladly have let him take it and gone back to being a normal boy, but they tell me that meant that I would have died. You can't separate magic from a wizard while he's alive."

  "So, what happened?"

  Kedrik wasn't comfortable talking about it, but he already knew Yorn well enough to know that he wouldn't relent until he'd heard the whole story.

  "It seemed like I was on that altar forever when suddenly Lorit and Chihon appeared. Lorit threw a few fireballs at the priest while Chihon cut me free. Then Lorit did his magic and we were here in Amedon." He tried to make it sound unexciting in the hopes Yorn would drop it.

  "I bet you're glad that's over." Yorn turned to walk backward in front of Kedrik.

  "Glad the pain's gone. But my ma must be worried about me. Lorit said he'd get word to them. I should write her a letter."

  "You can write?" Yorn asked.

  "Not yet, but most of the boys who've been here for a while can. I could have one of them write for me. My folks know a merchant who can read."

  Yorn shook his head. "So, you were saved by some big wizard from the Wizard's Council. You must be special."

  "Yes...I was saved by them...No... I'm not special." Kedrik had counted the side passageways and was sure this was the one. He shoved Yorn toward it and stepped beside his friend once more.

  "So, you know them then?"

  "Who?"

  "Lorit and Chihon."

  "No. They brought me here, but I've only seen them occasionally since."

  "What were they like? Is Lorit as formidable as they say? Is he as mean as I hear?" Yorn turned to wa
lk backward once again as he interrogated Kedrik.

  "They were nice to me. They brought me back and helped me recover from the torture."

  "What about Chihon?"

  "What about her?"

  Yorn smiled. "She's powerful. Is she as nice as they say she is?"

  "She took care of me when I arrived," Kedrik said. "She gave me some sort of healing potion. She was nice."

  "Nice?"

  "Nice."

  "Is she pretty? I've never seen her up close."

  Kedrik flushed. "She's pretty."

  Over the next several weeks, Kedrik grew accustomed to the routine in Amedon. He learned where all of his classes were and managed to get to most of them on time. Amedon was starting to feel like home when Yorn came to him with a plan to sneak out of the dormitory and have some fun. Yorn had a few silvers from his folks and was eager to spend a little time out from under the supervision of the Head Master.

  Yorn proposed that the two of them sneak out before the evening lessons and head into town to the inn. "Come on. We want to get there before the place fills up." Yorn elbowed Kedrik.

  "You know we're not supposed to go to town as students. They don't want us getting mixed up with the townsfolk until we're properly trained." Kedrik wasn't about to get in trouble. He'd heard of some of the creative punishments the Head Master cooked up for students who broke the rules.

  "It'll be fun."

  "No. We're supposed to be studying. A little extra time in the library won't hurt you, you know." Kedrik spent as much time in the library as he could manage, working hard on his reading. He loved poring over the old texts. He wanted to make Lorit and Jal proud of him.

  "There'll be maidens." Yorn gave Kedrik a shove.

  Kedrik smiled. Maidens would definitely take some of the boredom out of the otherwise dull days sitting in class and learning spells.

  After class, they changed out of their wizards' robes and headed into town for the inn. Yorn chose the Winking Witch as it was close to the keep.

  The sturdy but weathered inn was large enough to house a crowd of diners and still have room for a minstrel to perform for the townsfolk. It was a spot where the locals went to down a little ale and listen to whatever minstrel happened to be passing through. Yorn told Kedrik to skip evening meal so he would have room for dinner at the inn, because the cooking at the inn was far better than anything offered in the keep.