They both sat back, contemplating for several moments, each thinking of the difficulties and injustices involved in using demon summonings as a method of determining magical ability.
“As to these you’ve given question marks,” the Master said, leaning back and studying the list. “They’re nearly all very new apprentices. I doubt any of them have been under the knife more than twice, and two of them might not have been under at all. Do you think it’s possible that they have the potential, but it just hasn’t been woken up yet?”
“I’m really not certain, Master, but that could easily be the case. I’ve never tried this before . . .”
“No doubt, no doubt. The books I’ve read only mentioned in passing that full zdrell masters were able to quickly determine by simple examination who had the spark and who didn’t. What was never explained was how the examination was accomplished.
“Frankly, I’m hopeful I can use you so I can dispense with having to have any summonings in this castle at all. If this process works, you could change the balance of power and remove the main objection that those who are on the fence about demons always pose. We’ve had centuries where the ability to influence a portal was the only reliable indicator for magical talent, and the stakes of being under the knife have always seemed to be a necessary part of the equation. Eliminating that could change everything.”
Eril had never thought before how not having to use summonings to determine talent would change the whole apprenticeship process, but quickly saw what it would mean. At a minimum, it would significantly reduce the number of apprentices needed if the majority could have a good chance of advancing to journeyman, unlike the current process where less than one in twenty went on to become journeymen.
“Well, in any case,” Silurian said, leaning back. “I think I’ll forego having these ‘questionables’ put under the knife and the next time you come back, we’ll see if you can move them from questionable to something more. I’ll also make sure that Axel gets moved into my group that is being taught to use magic.
“Tomorrow, everything should be ready, and you can head back to Argaland.”
“Does the money need to arrive, or is it already here?”
“It should arrive in the next hour or two. I had them pack it in a stout chest. I think that is going to be the best way for you to transport it, don’t you?”
Eril honestly hadn’t thought much about how he was going to transport the large quantity of gold, but a chest seemed practical, if not subtle.
“Yeah, I guess that should work. I suppose I could lash my other stuff to the chest and then just take the whole thing. I’ll have to figure out what lets me fly the easiest.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Let’s take our lunch before the money shows up. I’ll actually be happy the sooner you get it out of here. I’m continually amazed at how otherwise rational people react when there are significant amounts of cash at hand. Avarice knows no bounds.”
They stood, and left to eat.
Chapter 42
After lunch, Master Silurian had Eril watch as he taught his current crop of ‘gifted’ apprentices and journeymen. Mostly, The Master talked theory and then had the journeymen demonstrate, followed by the apprentices trying to duplicate what the journeymen had done. This class was focused on incantation, showing how specific movements combined with particular words and intent could create magical effects.
Eril hadn’t been in a class like this in well over a year, and Master Silurian allowed him to sit in the back and watch rather than participate. For his part, Eril used the opportunity to watch the class more or less exclusively with his zdrell sight. Once again, he was amazed at how much of the other forms of magic were just crude ways of manipulating force lines but doing it without seeing or directly perceiving them.
After watching young Axel, who was trying this for the first time ever, struggle with a simple binding incantation for nearly half an hour, all the while the journeyman who was trying to help, but not giving better advice than, “Keep trying. Eventually, you’ll get a feel for it,” Eril finally moved to help.
Eril moved up to the two. “Mind if I try and help him?” he asked the journeyman, whose name Eril couldn’t remember.
“By all means. I don’t know why it’s not working for him,” the journeyman replied and quickly went to help someone else.
Eril turned to the young boy. “Not so easy as they make it look, is it?”
“Yeah,” the boy said, not looking up. “I swear I’m doing everything just the way they show me, but it doesn’t work.” He looked up at Eril hopefully, “Can you help?”
“I think I can,” Eril replied slowly, “but I’m going to try and help you find the way that works for you. The words and gestures in an incantation aren’t really like a recipe, and truthfully, they aren’t the most important part.”
“They’re not? Then what is?” Axel replied, confused.
“Intent and ‘feel’ are really what matters most. The rest are just ways to help you get the intent and feel right. In fact, if you truly, deeply, understand that, you don’t need the words or gestures at all.”
The boy’s eyes got wide, “you don’t?”
“No, not if you really understand the rest. Here, I’ll show you.”
Eril picked up the two flat sticks that Axel had been trying to bind to one another. “See, a binding is easiest with two items that are the same material, which is why they have you using two pieces of wood. It would be even easier if they were two pieces of metal or the same type of stone. Wood is from plants, so it is a bit harder.”
He waved the two sticks and then held them, so they overlapped lengthwise. “See, right now they are loose. And with a bit of intent and feel . . .” He let go of one stick, and it didn’t move. He then grabbed it again and flexed it to show that the two sticks were melded together where they overlapped.
“See. No words. No gestures. Just feel and intent.” He handed the joined sticks to the amazed boy, who just said, “Wow,” softly.
It was at this point that Eril realized he had an audience. Nearly all the apprentices and journeymen in the room were staring at Eril and the sticks he’d bound that Axel was holding.
A journeyman, who looked to be in his early twenties said, “That’s all well for you, Eril. You can do this without an incantation, but how do the rest of us do it?”
There were assenting murmurs from the other older apprentices and journeymen. Eril felt his ears burn with embarrassment.
“I didn’t mean to say anyone had to do this spell or any other without gestures or incantations. I was just trying to show Axel that the words and movements are there to help you get the feel and the intent right, since that is what really works the magic.” He stared at the faces of the assembled students, but they didn’t seem to understand. “The movements help you get the feel, but the movements by themselves will never make the magic happen without the intent and feel.”
Eril looked around for comprehension, but didn’t really see it. Master Silurian had left the room just before all this had started, so he had to figure it out on his own.
Meanwhile, the journeyman, whose name Eril thought was Trell, wasn’t going to let Eril off easily. “So, you still haven’t said how anyone but you can learn this stuff.”
Feeling frustrated, Eril was tongue-tied. He’d never had to really explain what he did, or how he did it.
“Look, I don’t know if I really have an answer for you. Klathar has words that explain this stuff, but honestly, you won’t understand the words until after you’ve seen it. I can just see stuff, kind of like what you see with a demon-sight amulet, but I can do it without an amulet.” He growled in frustration. This was harder to do than he’d thought.
“You just . . . just have to get the feel. I mean I’m sure that’s what the whole incantation is there for. If you can’t feel it at first, you use the words, make the motions and want it bad enough that if you have the spark in you, you finally get the
feel for it and it happens. Does that make sense?”
Trell gave Eril a sarcastic grin, “So you’re saying that, for us, weak fools that we are, we do need words and gestures.”
“No, that isn’t what I meant. I never said you should give up the words and gestures. They help, but I was trying to say that they aren’t the most important part. The intent and the feel is the most important part, and if you have enough feel and intent, then you can do away with the words and motions. Does that make sense?”
Trell looked more thoughtful, but still unconvinced. “Okay, you say that intent and feel are the most important part. I got that, but it still doesn’t explain how to teach this.”
“Yeah, I hear you,” Eril said, looking sheepish. “I don’t know if I have any good answers, except maybe, that when people, all of you, are going through the motions and saying the words of an incantation, you should focus less on getting the words or the gestures perfect and focus more on your intent and getting the feel right. And no, I don’t have a good way to explain how you get the feel right more than, you’ll know when you do. You do know what I’m talking about, Trell, you’re a journeyman, you must understand?”
Trell nodded slowly. “Yeah, you may be right about this. Master Silurian said something fairly similar to me when I correct apprentices on pronunciation.”
At this point, most everyone decided the show was over and returned to their respective tasks. Eril still wanted to try to help Axel and asked for the bound sticks back. Once he had them, he quickly reversed the binding and handed the two sticks back to Axel and said, “Now, your turn. Put them down on the table here, so they’re overlapping and try the spell again.”
The boy looked downcast at being asked to try again. As he started the incantation, Eril said, “focus on the two sticks becoming one. Feel them sticking together in your mind. You’ve seen it done, so you know it can be. Use your will to make it happen.”
The boy went through the prescribed motions, saying the words. Eril watched with zdrell sight and saw the force lines begin to shift to bind them, but then they slid back.
“You’ve almost got it,” he said excitedly. “Did you feel it when they started to bind?”
“But they’re not stuck,” the boy said dejectedly, lifting the top stick to prove it was still unbound.
“No, but you almost got them to bind. I saw it.”
“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”
“No, I’m not. I told you. I can see things others can’t. I saw you almost make the binding and then lose it. Try again.”
Axel perked up at these words of encouragement. He began the incantation again. Once more, Eril saw the force lines begin to move in response to the incantation.
“Yes, just like that. Keep going,” Eril encouraged.
Axel put more force into his voice and intent and Eril saw the moment the binding was completed. “There, you did it,” he said before Axel had even finished the last word in the incantation.
The boy reached out, unbelieving at first, but then became excited as he saw that the two sticks were indeed bound into one.
“I did it. I really did it,” Axel said, waving the joined sticks around.
Eril smiled, “Yep, you sure did.” He reached out for the bound sticks that Axel was holding out triumphantly. He took the sticks and flexed the bind, which held nicely.
Without any warning, he undid the bind and handed the sticks back to Axel.
“Hey!” the boy said, indignant. “I never said you could do that. I wanted to show the other guys. That was mean.”
Eril said, nonplussed, “You can still show the other guys. Bind them again. If you can do it once, you can do it again. Practice.”
Suppressing a grin, Eril watched as Axel angrily went through the incantation again. He remembered feeling the same anger when Master Silurian had pushed him to master or repeat something over and over. Eril was watching with his zdrell sight and saw that the binding went much faster this time. He said nothing when the boy had finished the spell.
“There! No thanks to you. I fixed them.”
Eril nodded. “You sure showed me . . .” He reached for the sticks, but Axel snatched them back.
“You’re not going to mess them up again,” he said angrily.
Eril tilted his head and said, “Really?”
The sticks fell apart again.
Eril felt an odd mix of pleasure and shame as he pushed the boy harder, knowing that he’d get no thanks for pushing him to improve.
“Arrgh! That’s not fair!” Axel yelled.
Eril stood impassively. “Just do it one more time, and I won’t undo it again.”
Scowling fiercely, the boy redid the incantation even more swiftly and the sticks were once again bound, but this time when he went to pick them up, they wouldn’t move as the sticks hadn’t just bound together but to the wood in the table as well.
“I didn’t do that,” Eril protested. “You just got a little over-enthusiastic with your binding. Here, I’ll get them loose from the table.” He reached down and dissolved the binding between the bottom stick and the table and handed the two bound sticks to Axel. The boy snatched the sticks, frowning.
“Look, I know just how you feel. Master Silurian used to do stuff like that to me too. But do you see what happened? Not only can you do that spell, but you can do it fast and almost without thinking. Whenever you learn a new spell, you need to practice it several times right away as soon as you figure it out. Otherwise, you might not be able to get the feel for it the next time. Now, do you understand what I meant about feel and intent?”
Still scowling at him, Axel muttered something.
“What was that?” Eril asked.
“I said, I understood. Okay?”
“Good. I think that’s enough of my help for today.”
Axel just muttered.
Chapter 43
That evening at dinner with Silurian and the journeymen, the Master brought up the matter. “I understand that you put on quite a show after I left the lesson, Eril. Were you waiting until I left to show off?” he raised an eyebrow as he asked.
“No, Master. Nothing like that. I honestly didn’t even notice you’d left. I was just observing all the incantation attempts with my zdrell and thought I might be able to help young Axel get his first incantation to work. He was so frustrated.”
“So, you help someone learn incantation by telling them it isn’t really needed at all?” the old wizard asked with a lopsided grin.
All conversation at the table had stopped. Eril could feel the attention weighing on him.
“No. I mean, that isn’t what I was trying to do. I just was trying to help him understand that the words and gestures weren’t the most important part. I remember you teaching the same thing,” he said, desperate for confirmation.
Master Silurian shook his head and sighed dramatically, “but, Eril, I don’t remember ever omitting a part of an incantation I was demonstrating.”
Eril jumped in eagerly, “Yeah, but I do remember you significantly varying words and gestures in the same spell while getting the same result, to make that point.”
“Yes, yes. You are right, except I have never dispensed with the words and gestures entirely. At least not when anyone was around to see it,” he said sighing again. “Though I guess I can’t argue with your methods too much. Young Axel did master the simple form of the binding incantation, and on his first day, thanks to you. Rarely do I have new apprentices successfully complete any incantation on the first day, let alone master one. So, well done.”
The other journeymen at the table were still all focused on Eril, though only some were staring. The rest were making a point of not looking his way while still remaining focused on the conversation.
Finally, it seemed Trell could remain silent no longer. “It is a bit disheartening, Master Silurian, to have someone as young as Eril come in and make all the rest of us look like we don’t even know magic.” Trell
was looking at Silurian while he spoke but managing to glare at Eril too.
The old wizard lifted a fork, leaned back and chuckled mirthlessly. “Welcome to my world, Trell.” He pointed the fork at Eril. “You think it’s hard for you as a journeyman to have a younger wizard, who also happens to be a journeyman, I might add, to come in and show you up?” He then pivoted to glare at Trell. “How exactly do you think it feels for me, a master wizard, a senior master wizard who has been so since before your grandparents were born, how do you think it feels when he casually outdoes me, and has been doing so since he was an apprentice as young as Axel? Hmm?”
Every journeyman at the table wore a stunned expression. Master Silurian turned slowly, looking each in the eye. Eril, for his part, wanted to crawl under the table, but the old wizard wasn’t done.
“Yes. I mean what I say and don’t exaggerate. Eril here is the real thing. He can do more than all of us put together. He’s already fought and bested three other master wizards. The only reason he’s not an acknowledged master today is that no one would believe someone as young could possibly be who and what he is. And for that matter, you should all remember this, but keep it to yourselves.
“No, what you each need to do is what I’ve already had to do more times than I can count. Learn what you can from him and be glad that you’re in the right place to associate with the first new zdrell master in over one thousand years.
“Also, remember what I’ve said at this table before. The war is coming. In truth, it is already here, we have charzen roaming the land. I guarantee when it comes to open battle, you want to make sure Eril’s at your side or there is precious little hope that you will survive.”
Chapter 44
The next morning after eating a hearty breakfast with Master Silurian and Feldor, Eril came out into the central castle courtyard dressed in his warmest clothing. An iron-bound chest not quite three feet wide sat in the bed of an unhitched wagon. Silurian had been giving him instructions and advice almost non-stop since Eril got up.
The Journeyman for Zdrell Page 26