MageLife (12 page)

“He should be at the academy but he could be anywhere. He won't wear a pendant and he doesn't answer to anyone but the wizards, so no complaining to me, understood?” he asked almost off hand, he was already walking back to Rysan’s chair.

“Yes I understand Jase,” I said before turning towards the door.

“Oh Tristan, Rysan will be back soon, so I may not be around headquarters as much. Do stop by the academy, I have enjoyed working with you again,” Jase said plaintively.

I turned to look over my shoulder, he was looking hard at the glyph-screen, I couldn't see his face. I didn't know what to say to that.

“Of course Jase” I said my default response.

Why was Jase sad, what was I missing here? I asked myself before going through the door.

The way to the academy was busy, it was still early in the morning. There were a great many people on the streets, clearly going to and from work. So many were smiling which I took as a good sign. Clouds drifted across the sky slowly, occasionally blocking the sun, creating shadows that ran through the streets like children playing.

The academy loomed above me, despite coming here fairly frequently lately, the prison of my own choice intimidated me still.

The entrance was well lit again, as I walked along the smooth hard stone, I noticed more of the glyph screens on the walls were active, more than I had seen in my years here. At the reception desk was a real person, I almost walked past her out of habit. I had never seen anyone man this desk, Jase had been waiting for me what was her reason.

“Excuse me Sir you can't go down that hall” she said calmly, her dark eyes firmly locked on me.

I stopped in my tracks.

“I’m Mage Representative Tristan Sodden, I'm here to see Enchanter Fion, he is expecting me.” I replied firmly

She tucked a stray lock of her brown hair behind an ear before speaking. “Enchanter Fion may well be expecting you, but I can't let you down there without notifying him or checking your clearance.”

“Who are you and why are you here?” I finally asked. It had been bothering me.

“Me? Well I'm Kristina Iris, I'm part of the enchanters team.” she checked the glyph-screen, her eyes widened in surprise “I'm sorry Sir I didn't mean to disturb you, I was only doing my job.” she continued, gradually getting more upset.

“You still haven't told me what you are doing here? And why are you snivelling at me?” I asked bewildered, crying women again.

“Sir, I'm sorry, Sir. I'm here with the enchanter’s team, to help preparations for the restoration of the great road.” she sobbed out.

I walked closer to the desk to offer some comfort, she recoiled as if I was some sort of monster.

“No, Sir I’m fine, sorry Sir.” she babbled out in what sounded like fear.

“Why are you scared of me?” I asked gently

“It’s nothing Sir, please I'm just being silly, you are cleared, you have full access to this facility," she rushed the words.

“Can you please tell me where to go?” I enquired.

She nodded before tapping lightly on the glyph-screen a glowing green wisp appeared to my right.

“That will take you to the right place Sir.” she said her voice still affected by the emotion of a moment ago.

“Thank you” I replied softly.

The wisp seemed to detect my intent to move and went ahead of me. I did the only thing I could I followed it.

My path through the academy, was swift thanks to the wisp, the change in this place startled me. There was light everywhere, glowing screens in the walls displayed various abstract images that after about the sixth one I realised was a colour coded map of the building.

The wisp led me higher than I had been before, the ninth level, senior mages' residence. The hall was sumptuous, with old style paintings of landscapes places I had never seen. I stopped at one. It was a scene of the ocean, small scaled figures danced on the crests of some of the waves. I leaned closer, the scent of the oils in the paint was faint, a sharp sting in my nose, I could see the figures were female, they must have been sprites, water spirits.

The wisp had carried on without me a few paces ahead it stopped in front of a door. Wooden and old the varnish had chipped in places. I could hear a man's voice clearly through the door.

“What do you mean you have sent a murderer up to see me girl?” He screeched, “Pull yourself together I don't care for your nonsense.”

He was clearly talking to someone but I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation. I contemplated knocking but decided against it. Whatever was going on in there I wanted no part of.

“Girl, did you say Tristan?” he asked then nothing for a moment. “Jase’s boy?” silence again.

Who was he talking to about me? I wondered.

“His file? For magic’s sake, make sense Kristina. What about his file?” another lull. “That boy is no murderer, you stupid girl. He's a mage, he walked out of a nightmare and you treat him like that. Jase told me all about it. Stop your blubbering. Enough," he shouted the last loud enough to make me start.

I very nearly lost my balance when the door opened suddenly. Standing in front of me was a giant of a man, well over six feet tall, shoulders that could carry me easily. A compact frame that still had a respectable about of muscle despite his age. He had to be in his late fifties judging by the deep wrinkles on his face. His mouth was set in a harsh line.

“What are you doing? Listening at my door?” he shouted, his voice was strong with an accent I couldn't place.

“I’m sorry sir, I heard a conversation I didn't want to interrupt you.” I said apologetically. I had to take a small step back to see his face clearly.

His bright blue eyes shone down at me as if searching for something. “Well no harm done. Don't be snivelling at me boy, I get enough of it from that knacking pixie downstairs.” he said firmly with a shrug of his massive shoulders.

“I’m Tristan Sodden, Sir I was sent for training with you I believe.” I stated as calmly as I could. I met his eyes, the glow in them was intense, a strange blending of colours that somehow enhanced the blue of his natural colouring

“Your Jase’s boy, he's spoke about you for years. I’m Enchanter Mage Fion Devin if you want to get all fancy about it. Don’t. Call me Fion,” he said before stepping back into the room. “Come in and dismiss that wisp," his arm swept in front of him as he turned allowing me passage and a clear indicator of where he wanted me to go.

I took a moment to dismiss the wisp with a faint thread of magic, dispersing its matrix.

A step took me inside.

The room was decorated in the old style, like the paintings everything was handmade. The furniture was beautiful, each piece crafted with care and delicate magics. A door in the far wall told me it wasn't just a room but a suite, similar in function to my apartment. Where my place was basic, this room was complex. There was a large desk of a rich red wood just off the centre of the room with a matching chair. The walls were covered in some patterned cloth somehow affixed to the wall, also in reds. The carpet was thick and deep except in a large oval around the desk. My inspection of the room was interrupted by Fion. He had closed the door and was walking quickly to the desk. A few crystal disks were upon it, along with various things I had no name for.

“You done?” Fion asked impatiently. His large hands were shifting a few items on the desk around.

“Yes sorry,” I said. I had stood stock still while I was gawking at his home.

“Stop with the sorry’s, I'm not interested.” he said turning to look at me. His white eyebrows lowered in a frown. “What did Jase tell you? Be honest with me, I don't care about pretty lies,"

“Jase told me that you were hard to deal with, unpleasant and if I had any problems not to complain to him, because you only answer to the wizards.” I said shifting my stance slightly uncomfortably.

Fion laughed a deep rumbling laugh.

“That Jase and his jokes,” he said.  “He’s done that since he was a boy, never you mind what he said. In some ways he’s right. I can be hard to deal with. I don't care. You were sent here to me, you will put up with it,” his tone was still amused, “You are here because Jase thinks you should be here. That and that alone is the reason. The wizards don't command me. I go where I want, do what I want. It just so happens that I enjoy what I do, and it’s useful, so I occasionally deign to take a wizards commission, you following me boy?” he barked

“I think so you knew Jase when he was young?” I asked. I hadn't ever really thought of Jase as a boy before.

“That's what you ask?” he said, rolling his eyes. “Who do you think trained him? I was Jase’s master, back when being a master was something different. So what do you know of enchanting? No don't answer me. Throw it away.” he said with a smile.

“What?” the revelation about Jase and Fion was one thing, but surely my enchanting skills weren't that bad.

“You heard me, throw it out, you've done wild enchants, I can hear it, whispering to me. That means you can handle the free form.” his smile grew with every word as did my confusion.

“Free form?” I asked completely clueless.

“We will get to that in a moment. Let me see your bracer.” Fion commanded.

I walked closer to him, crossing the intervening space quickly. His hand came up and caught my left arm. Raising it closer to his eyes I had to twist slightly to avoid it hurting.

“This is a beauty, now what did you do? No hang on.” he muttered quietly.

I didn't know if he was talking to me or not. I erred on the side of caution and remained silent, he wasn't even looking at me all his attention was focused on my shield enchantment.

“Hope, no, resist, no. Defence ha, tricksy, and what are these?” he was turning his head looking at my bracer from all angles. “Disruption, diversion. Transference.”

How could he understand my bracer when I was the one who made it and didn't have a clue?  

Fion let go with no warning at all. My arm just dropped taking the rest of me with it. He caught me, set me back up.

“Clever work, telling really” he continues in his murmuring, not looking at me at all. He shuffled to the other side of the desk, feeling his way along till his fingers touched a strange looking metal rod covering in faint scratches.

“Telling what?” I asked. I was confused again.

“What?” He shouted. His hands were feeling the etchings on the rod.

“You said telling really, what does that mean?” I asked

Fion just looked blankly at me.

“I said no such thing,” he stopped tilted his head as if listening to something only he could hear.

I was beginning to think this is what Jase had meant about difficult to deal with.

Fion’s eyes seemed to come back into focus as he shook his head. “You paying attention boy?” he asked impatiently, the rod still in his hands. A faint feeling of power ebbed and flowed around him.

My eyes widened as I realised what he was doing, he was enchanting as we spoke, complex layered enchantment at that.

“Yes I'm paying attention.” I said quickly covering my shock

“Well got over here so we can have the lesson, you may not have noticed but I'm old, I don't have time for waiting on people," he said, his smile coming back, his bright white teeth shone through.

I walked over to the odd mage, standing next to him.

“Free-form should be easy for you, but we will see. Take that ball there” he instructed pointing at a small metal ball about an inch across sitting on the desk.

I grabbed it, it was smooth and cold, the silver shine of the metal reflecting my face in the warm light of the room.

“Got it, good. Now forget all that element rubbish you’ve been taught. If you can handle wild magic, you can handle real enchantment.” Fion said with a hint of superiority.

“So what do I do?” I asked more and more unsure of my own knowledge.

“Don't just stand there, put some magic in it,” he said exasperated, “and stop looking at me. I'm not going to hold your hand. You have been told you can do it, so just do it,"

“What am I supposed to do” I asked, my frustration rising. I nearly snarled

“That's more like it, I won't teach someone without a spine boy.” Fion said approvingly. “This is easy, you make what your magic tells you to make, listen to it.”

My confusion and frustration was rising even higher I looked down at the small metal object in my hand with even less of a clue of what I was doing than when I started.

“Boy, stop fucking around, I haven't got all day.” Fion seemed really angry now, he had put down his own work. He grabbed the back of my head with his left hand, it was so large it covered most of it. He pulled my head round to face him. “Put the magic in now, can't you hear it screaming at you?” Fion was shouting in my face, his eyes wild, spittle flew from his mouth, he let go suddenly. All the energy drained from his face.

The shock had triggered my reading. The room exploded in a wash of light, threads wove through the very substance of the walls. Streamers seemed to be wrapped around Fion, as he sagged, the colours were all washed out around him, and on the edge of hearing were notes of pure sound coming from the streamers. A musical symphony as I had never heard.

Fion was leaning heavily, his arms on the desk holding him up. A smile as bright as the new dawn appeared on his face. “L knew you had it in you” he said triumphantly, “Now put your sight to the task at hand, and enchant that bauble.” he tilted his head to the ball, I had forgotten I was holding.

Turning my attention to the globe, filled my mind with a whispering of music, a tune that felt familiar. The magic boiled around me, as a smile bloomed on my face, I suddenly understood.

The tune wasn't music, it was magics voice, resonating with my own knowledge.

A small thread of power wove down my arm into the Orb, twining as if dancing to the music. The tune ascended in volume and complexity as I worked. More threads wove in and out of my existing one, nodes forming as the core concepts slotted into place. Sight, sharing, bond and memory sunk in deep, the knowledge of just how to tie them in flowed into me. It was done, the weave shimmered in my sight, its voice faint but clear.