Marin's Codex

by Benjamin Medrano

  “Just remember to clearly speak each word aloud as you’re doing the transcription. While the spell will write the words down for you, it doesn’t keep you from inserting mistakes in the process,” Marin cautioned, grimacing as she shook her head. “I still remember when I figured out that I’d transcribed one of my older journal entries wrong, and that I was casting the spell wrong because of it.”

  “I’ll be careful, I promise,” Emonael said. “You know that won’t help in the end, though. People will transcribe it wrong eventually, warping the meanings as they go, especially when they translate it for other languages.”

  “I know they will, but the least we can do is try to stave off the damage for as long as possible,” Marin groused, shaking her head and sighing. “So, do you have a few students in mind to teach, or are you allowing the High Magi to pick?”

  “Well, I’m teaching Christoff and Damiya, of course. After a quiet discussion, they agreed to it. For others, I’ve chosen three people from the last recruitment, ones who I feel are relatively trustworthy,” Emonael explained, smiling broadly as she added, “One of them has no magical talent, so we’ll find out if Andrew can develop it with repetition. Valis seemed rather skeptical of that theory, but he doesn’t dare object.”

  “Of course he doesn’t. He doesn’t want to jeopardize his chances of getting a copy of my research,” Marin replied with a snort. “None of the High Magi dare at this point.”

  “Which only makes sense. Would you believe that I’ve had three nobles from the capital offer me rather large purses over the last few weeks? A couple have offered some rather nice jewelry as well,” Emonael said, grinning broadly. “I’m feeling rather popular at the moment.”

  “That’s because they know that I’m leaving everything to you, and they’re trying to get on your good side,” Marin said, smiling as she asked, “What did you do?”

  “I thanked them warmly for their generosity, completely misinterpreted their thinly veiled requests for copies of your work, and accepted their gifts,” Emonael answered, her grin widening as she added, “Then I checked all of the gifts for magic and shredded the spells they were planning to use to spy on us.”

  “Good enough for me. They’re moving quickly, aren’t they?” Marin murmured, glancing toward the windows. “I’m happy that the king took the risks seriously, though. He always struck me as a sensible sort.”

  Even if she bothered getting up, Marin wouldn’t be able to see the army camp through the windows, not with the trees in the way, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t out there. At Valis’s petition, the government had quickly reacted, sending a small detachment of the royal family’s soldiers to reinforce the area while the army mustered a proper garrison to settle in around the Association. There were only three dozen of them at the moment, but that would change in the near future.

  “I agree. I really don’t want to have to show my actual skill with darkness and fire magic, but I will if there’s no other choice. No one gets to interrupt your research, not while I’m here,” Emonael said, her eyes narrowing slightly.

  “We’ll see,” Marin murmured, and smiled. “Why don’t you finish up with that, and then start copying it? If it’s looking good to you, I’ll go ahead and get started on the next volume. I have most of the notes I need.”

  “I can do that. I’m eager to see if this works the same way for everyone else, or if by some freak accident we just had identical talents,” Emonael agreed, grinning. “I’ll shush now, Teacher. Promise.”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it,” Marin replied, shaking her head in amusement.

  Even still, the two both quieted, going about their tasks in the comfortable silence of Marin’s tower.

  Chapter 14

  “I want to make this perfectly clear, so there are absolutely no misconceptions about it in the future. What you’re going to learn with me is not to be shared with anyone else, not until you’re given permission to do so.” Emonael spoke firmly, pacing back and forth in the small classroom as she looked at her students. “You each were carefully chosen by me because I believe I can trust you with this incredibly valuable knowledge, and I expect you not to disappoint me. More than that, the High Magi agree with me, as does the King of Pharos. Do you understand? If not, as my teacher would say, the door is right there.”

  None of her erstwhile students moved, but Andrew did look nervous. The sole human of the five, he also was the only one who didn’t have a spark of magical talent, and the dark-haired farmer’s son was obviously uncomfortable among the others. Only Christoff and Damiya looked relatively comfortable, though Emonael suspected that was mostly a façade, both of them were fairly nervous about things, especially after the quiet conversations that the demon knew each of their teachers had made certain to have with them. The other two were a slightly older elven man named Uthar, and Nia, a young half-elven woman.

  Uthar was just over a century and a half old, old enough that most of the teachers had been skeptical about teaching him, especially since the bard didn’t have an incredible talent for magic. Still, he had a mellow, resonant voice, and his wheat-blond hair, violet eyes, and tanned skin made Emonael like him a little more than she probably should. She’d checked him over carefully, though, and was quite certain that he wasn’t one of the prospective students that had been planted as potential spies.

  Due to her crimson hair and blue eyes, Nia actually reminded Emonael of Marin a little, though the young woman was a touch nearsighted and her hair was straight instead of frizzy. The young woman had an excellent talent with magic, but Emonael had managed to convince her to take her lessons, despite the annoyance of the magi who’d been trying to woo the young woman.

  In all, the five students would give her a broad array of students to test Marin’s theories, which was the entire point Emonael had gathered such a diverse group. Still, there would likely be other difficulties because of it, as they did vary wildly.

  “Ms. Emonael, may I ask why you chose our group as students?” Nia asked, her voice a bit higher pitched, which fit her petite frame. “I thought that . . . Andrew, was it? I thought he failed the talent test.”

  “He did, and in part that’s why I chose to recruit him for these lessons,” Emonael agreed, nodding at the young man. “Andrew, what test did I give you? Not the Association; me.”

  “You taught me a bunch of notes of a song and had me sing them from memory a few dozen times, then made me make a bunch of really strange gestures,” Andrew replied awkwardly, glancing at Nia nervously. “I really wasn’t sure why you did that, but I wasn’t going to give up the chance to learn magic, even if I’m not sure how you’re going to manage it.”

  “Interesting . . . you gave me a similar test. Is there a reason for that?” Uthar asked, tilting his head curiously. “I’ve never heard of such, at least not more than making certain that prospective apprentices weren’t incredibly clumsy or unable to speak clearly.”

  “There’s an important reason for it. But first, let me ensure we’re not going to have eavesdroppers. The walls have been growing ears of late, it seems,” Emonael replied, grinning as she began to speak the words of a spell.

  The spell was reasonably long and complex, taking her about half a minute to complete, and as she did so, a strange fog flowed out from her hands to cover the walls and windows. With it, the sounds in the room sounded oddly muffled, but she simply nodded in satisfaction.

  “There we are. Now yes, Andrew failed the test, rather spectacularly in fact. You don’t have a single drop of magic in you, as far as the testing stone could tell,” Emonael said, and Andrew slumped slightly at her words, prompting a laugh from her as she shook her head. “None of that! I chose to teach you because of it, Andrew.”

  “Why would you do that? I thought you had to have talent to learn magic,” Christoff said, unable to keep his voice calm. “Reesa said that you and Marin had made a breakthrough, but she didn’t say much more than that.”

  “You all keep
interrupting; let me finish!” Emonael chided, and waited for all of them to still before speaking, her voice serious. “Marin’s research was prompted somewhere around six centuries ago, when she came across an interesting tribe of humans. This tribe, despite having no more magical talent than any other tribe, was unusual in that every member who’d reached adulthood could use their holy magics, except in rare cases where they couldn’t dance or speak properly. After some research, she came to believe that it was practice that was the important thing, because each of the young members of the tribe would carefully practice the sacred songs and dances of the tribe until they could use them. That might take only a single attempt for some members, but it could take a month of practice for others. I can’t promise that you can become a powerful mage, Andrew, but I believe that if you practice, you can learn the magic I’m going to teach. It won’t be easy, but unless you’re afraid of hard work, I think you can manage it.”

  “Every member?” Uthar asked, almost knocking over his chair as he stood abruptly. “How could anyone manage that?”

  “Unfortunately, they vanished not long after encouraging Marin to go and research more of her suspicions, but that’s what she told me, and her records seem to indicate that she was right,” Emonael confirmed. “As to how . . . well, that’s what I’m here to teach you.”

  “If what you’re saying is true, if it’s just hard work . . . well, I’m not afraid of that, not after growing up on a farm,” Andrew said, his face brighter and more determined than it had been. “It’d be a hell of a lot better than life on a farm, too!”

  “That does explain a lot . . .” Damiya murmured, just before Nia was going to speak. “I always wondered why Marin was so determined to continue her research.”

  “I believe that part is more that she’s more stubborn than a dwarf with a gemstone just out of reach.” Emonael smirked as she spoke, looking at her students and nodding. “Now, before any of you ask, the key to casting any type of spell is precision. While it may not seem like that initially, that’s what it boils down to. Each spell requires precise tones, immediately after precise gestures. If the gesture varies slightly, it’ll change the spell’s effect. Similarly, if the tone varies, the spell will change. If any individual aspect changes too much, the spell will outright fail.”

  “But . . . we’re always taught specific words to spells, not tones!” Damiya protested, sitting up straight. Emonael saw Uthar’s eyes brightening and quickly spoke first.

  “Ah, but what is a word but a set of tones in a specific order? Isn’t that right, Uthar?” Emonael asked, looking at the bard.

  “That’s quite right. I never guessed such, but . . . this is part of why you chose to teach me, isn’t it? A musician requires precise control of their voice and instruments,” he replied, nodding firmly. “I’m sure there’s another reason for it, too.”

  “You’re correct. What Marin came to realize when studying the tribe was that singing the words of the songs caused the variances in the voices of the tribal members to even out, to gain the same tones, even if they were of higher or lower pitch than the others,” Emonael explained, grinning as she continued. “As for gestures, when you’re talking about exceedingly precise holy dances . . . they were making the gestures of their spells with their entire bodies. I’m not going to force each of you to learn all of that, but what I’m going to be doing is starting by forcing you to learn an entire series of very difficult words and tones. When you can speak it to my satisfaction, we’ll move on to the next step. Talent with magic won’t help any of you here.”

  Emonael almost laughed at the look of distinct dismay on the faces of everyone but Andrew and Uthar. This would be fun.

  Chapter 15

  The entire tower shuddered suddenly, the stones shifting slightly as they shook under the effect of the spell Marin had just cast. She quickly cancelled the spell, cutting off the mana flowing into it and wincing as she heard something above her hit the floor and shatter.

  Without additional mana flowing into the spell, the tower stabilized again, and Marin let out a breath of relief. A moment later a voice came from the library. “Marin, what in the blazes was that?”

  Scowling, Marin opened the door to the tower and glowered at Valis, her voice as calm as she could manage. “Hello, Valis. How’d you get into my library without an escort?”

  The mage held up a glowing glass token as he replied. “You gave us tokens to let us through your wards once each, remember?”

  “Those were intended for emergencies,” Marin said, glowering at him even more.

  “Yes, and I thought that your tower visibly swaying qualified as something of an emergency,” the High Mage said tartly. “What were you doing, to cause something like that?”

  “I indirectly discovered the variables of an earthquake spell, if you please, and I’m not going to be experimenting with that particular spell again. Not unless I’m far from anything I care about,” Marin explained, internally conceding that Valis had something of a point. She stepped out of the tower and closed the door. “I already heard something break upstairs, and I’m dreading the mess. I think I’ll avoid putting those variables into the early volumes of the codex, to keep young magi from doing something stupid.”

  “You’ll never be able to keep young casters from doing stupid things; you simply limit the damage they can do to themselves and others until they learn better,” Valis told her, shaking his head. “There’s a reason I don’t teach my apprentices to conjure truly deadly flames until I’m sure that they won’t set one another on fire by accident.”

  “A fair distinction. That means that I should keep any of the spells that can cause truly massive damage from being in the first few volumes,” Marin admitted, shrugging. “Still . . . thank you for checking on me. I’m too used to only Emonael being close enough to notice these things.”

  “You’ve become rather more important over the last few weeks,” Valis replied, then shrugged. “I was coming to see you either way, though. I had a few questions, though I suppose I have a new one, now.”

  “Perhaps so. What questions are those?” Marin asked, approaching her desk and leaning down to pick up a few sheets of paper and some quills that had fallen on the floor. “You aren’t going to ask me for permission to court Emonael, are you? I’m not her mother, and it’s none of my business.”

  “What?! I didn’t . . .” Valis spluttered, looking at her in obvious shock.

  “Oh, spare me your protests. I’ve noticed your magical aura all over her, Valis,” Marin murmured, giving him a chiding glance. “If you wanted to keep it secret, you should’ve been more careful about cleansing yourself of foreign magic and the like, and not inviting her over for dinner every other night or so.”

  “That isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about! She’s a grown woman, and can make her own choices, as can I!” Valis replied, straightening and giving Marin a stern look. “My question was going to be about your codex. How many volumes are you expecting, considering that you were talking about moving the . . . earthquake parts to a later volume?”

  “I’m not entirely certain, but at least seven.” Marin replied, pausing thoughtfully. “Three for what I consider the basics. You’ve already seen the part about gestures and tones, the next two will be going over various elemental spells, and showing what many of the common gestures modify in spells, as well as their associated tones. I wish I could fit them in a single volume, but my bookbinding spell works best with about a hundred sheets of parchment, which limits things somewhat.”

  “You could just modify the spell to work for a bigger book, couldn’t you?” Valis asked, looking slightly skeptical. “That’s the point of your research; at least that’s what I thought.”

  “You’re right, if I wanted the books to fall apart in a decade. Bigger books using the same method tend to deteriorate quickly. No, I’d have to research an entire new bookbinding method, and I’m not halting my research to do something like that,” Marin explained.
“As for the books, though . . . the first three are primarily for apprentices and journeymen, I think, while the second set will be for master magi, who should be able to use them to research their own spells and to create far more powerful effects. Beyond those, I intend for the last set to be for High Magi like you or me, or even for Archmagi.”

  “Ambitious, but it makes sense. How close are you to done with the next volume?” Valis nodded, smiling sheepishly as he admitted, “What’s in the first one . . . I’ve been enjoying the chance to fix some of my spells, if I’m being honest. It’s hard, overcoming my old habits, but actually gaining more control over my magic is enjoyable.”

  “Assuming that things go about how I expect . . . assume that the first three will be done by midwinter,” Marin replied after a moment, pursing her lips as she glanced out the window. “The others, I don’t know. A year or three, I’d guess. I could write them faster if I have no other choice, but I prefer not to rush these things. With Emonael distracted, it’s slowed me down again, too. She reduced it from taking between five and ten years, though, so I must admit I appreciate it.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. Your reputation’s been on the rise, ever since rumors started spreading about your research,” Valis murmured, nodding slightly. After a moment he asked, “So how’s the young man doing? Andrew, I believe his name was?”

  “Why’re you asking me, instead of Emonael herself? She’s his teacher, after all,” Marin retorted, her eyes narrowing. “I’m not the one teaching them.”

  “Maybe so, but she avoids talking about anything to do with your research even with me,” Valis explained, looking to the side in embarrassment. “She’s . . . very protective of you, actually.”

  “I . . . see,” Marin replied, blinking and trying to fight off the slight heat that rose in her cheeks. “Well, I suppose I should thank her for that. As for Andrew, he managed his first spell a week ago, much faster than Emonael or I expected. He’s a hard worker, and worry about someone without talent overtaking her seems to have convinced Nia to try harder. Emonael is pleased with that result, I think.”