“Hey, kid.” A comforting and amused
baritone rose from the same spot that the knock came from. I turned around. For some reason, the spell that had locked me
in place was suddenly and inexplicably gone.
I hadn’t even felt it dispel or be broken. I somehow managed to catalogue this, setting
it aside for later and looked up at a mobile archery tower of a man.
The lower part of his face was
obscured by a simple gray cloak which also completely covered one shoulder and
that half of the body. The other side was the revealed because he was grasping
a tall wooden staff with runes that glowed slightly, the light waxing and
waning in a regular pattern. I could
only recognize several and they were all incredibly powerful. Linked in such a
way as to maximize their effect. My
quick glance at the revealed equipment underneath his cloak showed a belt with
a number of pouches and various instruments of mayhem, including knives and a
shortsword. He was clothed in worn and
comfortable looking trousers and traveler’s boots. Slipping a hand into the side of his
breeches, “Pockets! Pockets are brilliant!” He chattered excitedly as his hand
rummaged around in these ‘pockets’, “Storage space without pouches! I can put
lots of handy things in pockets.” He
pulled out an apple and tossed it up in the air. It hung at the top of its arc before
effortlessly being plucked by the large man’s flashing hand. “Like food,” His amusement and self-satisfaction
clearly evident in his voice.
Peeking over the cloak, steel grey
eyes sparkled with amusement and experience.
He chuckled and looked up at the tree I had been staring at. “You like
the place, huh? You should. Took me a lot of time and energy to build it.” He stepped past me and pulled his free hand
from beneath the cloak, laying it gently on the tree. Silently mouthing an incantation, the man
gathered and unleashed a positively mind numbing amount magical energy which
surged into the tree, causing it to visibly grow and glow with a soft golden
light. The display of magical clout that
I had just witnessed showed this man was terrifyingly powerful. He had more magical muscle and wielded it
with more ease that any wizard I had ever seen, including Iustyn and Eb. This man had made them both look like amateur
hedge wizards only able to use the most basic of a wizard’s skills.
“I… I…” I stammered as I took a fearful step
back. I opened my mouth to say something
more but was too awed and terrified by the amount of energy that had just been
released by the man.
“Relax, You’re safe.
You should feel right at home.”
He glanced over his shoulder at me as his slid his hand back beneath the
cloak. With a slow, careful motion, he
turned around and sat down beneath the tree and glanced up, “However, it seems
like you’re in a bit of a mess.”
I managed to snap out of my reverie and immediately
started to gather the energy for a spell in order to protect myself. I went through my normal process to grab the
energy of the world around me, something odd happened. As soon as I opened myself up, the ambient
magic filled me like water rushing into a sinking boat. Every part of my being was suffused with the
power and energy it provided and I gasped in shock. The man watched quietly as I extended my shaking
hand towards him. “Lis… List… Listen
you... I… I… want to leave this place…” I stammered out and took a step back.
He sat there calmly and raised a thick eyebrow, “No.
You don’t. Not yet at least. Not until I give you some advice to help you
out.”
. “What… what…
do you want from me?” I trembled from the odd mix of adrenaline and magic
running through my system.
“Nothing. I’m just going to talk.” The man ran a hand
through his hair in a familiar motion and sighed heavily, “I said you were safe
and I meant it. Now, Let go of the magic
before it burns you out and sit. We only
have a short time and you have to learn some things.”
I began to shake as the stress and the high of the
energy I was storing began to get to me.
My body was starting to ache with the strain of holding it. “Wha… what…
what do you mean?” I managed to choke out through clenched teeth.
“I mean…” He snapped his fingers and the energy that
was stored in my body dissipated in a flash, “that I have to tell you some things,
Dumbass.” He motioned with his finger and a heavy weight appeared on my
shoulders, forcing me to sit down. “Listen up, before you’re returned to that
room and before the spell completes.” He growled out and pointed at me, “You
have something you have to do and it is not to get chewed up and spit out…” He
paused and dropped his head in thought. “Well… not yet at least,” came out of
his mouth so quietly I almost didn’t hear it.
“I don’t … I mean … What are you talking about?!” I
exclaimed from my seated position.
His head rose back up and he locked eyes with me. A deep sense of self, of power, of purpose
was locked into those eyes and it shook me to my core. I wanted to have eyes like that, I needed eyes like that. “You think you’re trapped right now. In that
spell, of your teacher’s, I mean. Well…
technically it’s two spells… but…” He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture as
the corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement.
“Never mind… There’s a way out and you know how to find it. You need to calm down and be patient, to use
your head.” He chuckled and then took on a slower, thoughtful cadence and added
a lazy drawl, “ ‘A Wizard is only as powerful as the head on his shoulders’.”
I listened as my addled mind tried to place the
accent. When it dawned on me, I was struck dumb for the second time in less
than two minutes. He had parroted Wizard
Eb’s words to me in Eb’s voice. My
eyes must have widened because the man’s melodious laugh rang out and his head
was thrown back in mirth. He locked eyes
with me when he managed to settle himself and at just a glance, I could tell
that those words were backed by a lifetime of experience and firsthand
knowledge.
“Good… You’re
starting to listen.” He glanced back up in the tree and I saw a short cut beard
hidden behind the neck of the cloak, “You’ve got stuff to do, kid. You’re important” Even with that his voice
managed to give the words weight, importance, solidity... His voice gave them
Truth. “Don’t let some two-bit charlatan
with a hard-on for power, stop you from helping others.” He stood and grabbed
his staff from the ground before walking over to me and offering a hand to help
me up. I took it gingerly and the weight
on my shoulder’s disappeared. “You’ve
got a good head on your shoulders, use it.
Explore, test, experiment and don’t be thrown by failure. It happens to the best of us. It certainly
happened to me, It’ll happen to you. I
guarantee it.” The corners of his eyes crinkle again with a smile and he starts
to fade into blackness. His final action
was to extend a single finger and poke me in the forehead and say the word,
“Focus.”
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