Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion (3 page)

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Authors: T Michael Ford

BOOK: Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion
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Dad gave me a stern look and a strong handshake,
his anger gone and replaced with resigned acceptance and a nod. Coming from him that was a very touching goodbye. Mercifully, Rosa quickly pointed me out the door and we were on our way.

We walked silently for a bit
until we were out of sight of the house before Rosa started to lose it. She went from calmly walking to spinning hysterically in a circle, giggling manically. I think I even saw a couple of awkward cartwheels
like a little girl would perform.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Instead of an
answer, she grabbed hold of me again and spun me around. After setting me down and hyperventilating like a teenager, she finally started to speak real words.

“
I’m sorry, but I’m just so happy! I’ve been alone for so long and now I finally have an apprentice! This really is the best moment in my life!”

“
Not to be disrespectful, but if this is the greatest moment of your life, then that’s rather sad.”

She didn
’t stop laughing. “I know, right? Seven hundred years I’ve been waiting for this! By the gods, I feel like a hundred-year-old little girl again!”

She took some deep breaths and slowly calmed down
. “Ok, I’m better now.” She took a few more breaths before grabbing my shoulders and turning me to face her. “Alright, let’s get this formal stuff out of the way. As I said before, I am Primus Rosa, of the Enchanters Hall and you are now my apprentice. That means I’m also your teacher, advisor and I really hope to be your friend.”

We continued walking
towards the tower at the center of town. As we walked, I took special notice of the few wizard types in town, most of who glared at us as we walked by. “Um, Miss Rosa…so why does it look like they hate us?”

She winced
. “You noticed that, huh? Well, you would have learned sooner or later. As an enchanter, you will find that the other towers will look down on you. We can’t cast spells like they can, so they feel that we are inferior and useless.”

“
Are we?”

She looked hurt
. “Of course not! I mean, they’re right, we can’t cast fireballs and the like, but we can do lots of other things they can’t.”

“
Like?”

She
finally smiled proudly. “We are the crafters of magic. We are the ones who make the wondrous things that make Xarparion the place it is today.”

“
So…we make magic pots?”

She
stopped and just stared at me. “I can’t believe I forgot about that! You have already done your first enchantment! I’m sooo proud! But yes, we can make magic pots as well as much more interesting things. One of my greatest, we will be using shortly.”

As she said that
, we approached the keep. It had high ivy covered, gray stone walls, but no one in town could remember seeing any workmen repairing anything on the structure, nor were there any visible guards to be seen. A few paces around and we arrived at the front gate. The iron gates silently opened with no one touching them when we got within a few feet. My mouth was wide open, as I walked into the courtyard. I was expecting something grand but there wasn’t anything there, just grass with wagon tracks worn through it and a old wooden ramp up to a very large door.

Rosa laughed beside me
. “Believe me, I was thinking the same thing when I first went through my first tower.”

I looked at her
, puzzled. “First tower?”

She smiled and grabbed my hand, dragging me up the ramp to the door
. “Later, now let’s go!”

As with the front gate
, the doors swung wide as we approached. This time, though, they were opened by two men, hooded in black leather, standing guard at the door. These men nodded as we entered and vanished into dark corners a second later.

I got a chance to look around and was
confused at what I found. There were no classrooms or other things I would normally think were used in teaching; in fact, the whole tower was just one room. All that I could see was shelving and wooden crates of every shape and size, some with slats for holding chickens and pigs, some with flour sacks lining them to transport grains, etc. There must have been thousands of crates in that tower, most of them appeared empty as if waiting to be filled and sent on their way. There were also two wooden platforms that looked like wagon bodies without wheels stationed to one side. At the center of the room was the only thing that I would count as magical. It was a very large stone pool with a ramp flowing into it; the water was also glowing with a blue light.

Rosa didn
’t give me long to look around; she was already dragging me towards the only other person I could see in the room. This man was in black like the others but sat behind a desk shuffling through a large pile of papers. When we approached, he looked up at us, but I still couldn’t see his face. “May I help you?” he asked. His voice was very deep and the inflections were odd, like it really wasn’t a language he excelled at speaking.

Rosa
stepped in front of me. “Yes, I need to register Alex Martin for class as an enchanter.”

“
Please wait a moment as I find the proper form.” He got up and went to a row of shelving that looked to be used for filing.

Rosa sighed
, “This could take a long time.”

“
Why is that?”

She waved a hand at the man
. “As you have been thinking, these men aren’t human. They’re a form of construct, like a golem. They are used as staff for Xarparion but they are limited by their intelligence. That one is going to look for a form that hasn’t ever been used before and was created over six hundred years ago. And he is going to search year by year to do it, so relax and have a seat.
”

From out of the shadows, two more of these servants showed up with two chairs for us. With us seated, they vanished as quickly as they came. “Ok, those guys are kind of creepy.”

“
Believe me, I know. When I first came to the school, they didn’t have the hoods and they are really ugly. I still don’t know where they originated from, but only a handful will ever leave the grounds, even if ordered to.”

“
Is this the grand entrance to Xarparion?”

She
smiled at me and patted my hand affectionately. “One of many. Just hold the rest of your questions until we get this done, I’d hate to ruin the surprise.”

I took the hint that
she was having way too much fun to ruin it, so we ended up chatting about mindless things as we waited. I mean, who knew that Medusas have serious self-image issues? Or that there are several species of coconut that move about on a seasonal rotation? After about a half hour, the servant came back and sat on the other side of the desk. “I will now ask you some basic questions.” I answered everything he asked but they were all very simple; name, age, height, favorite color and so on.

Finally
done with the paperwork, he put a stamp on the form and handed it to Rosa. “File this in triplicate at your tower and also at Central. Have a nice day.” He dropped his head back down to the papers in front of him as Rosa hopped up and grabbed my hand.

She led me over to the pool in the center of the
massive room. She stopped at the edge of the ramp and turned to look at me with a mischievous smile. “Would you like to take a swim? It’s a hot day, is it not?”

“
Um, no, it isn’t; it’s actually rather nice out, so I’m good,”
I said remembering how cold the ice water runoff made the lakes this time of year.

She clamped a hand down on my
shoulder. “It really wasn’t a suggestion.” She shoved me into the pool as she laughed. I was up to my waist before I could even react, but oddly, I didn’t seem to be wet. I looked at her and she was right next to me in the water smiling. “Keep going, Alex, all you have to do is walk. Close your eyes if you would like, I’ll guide you so you don’t trip.”

Somehow
, I knew I could trust her with my life but I also wanted to see what would happen, so I kept my eyes open and continued to walk. The water rose around us until it was around my neck. “Are you sure about this?”

She
smiled to reassure me. “Don’t worry, it will be fine.”

I nodded
, but even so my body shivered in reflex as I took a deep breath before plunging in, I could feel the water around me, but I wasn’t being lifted off the ground like I should be in water. After only a few seconds, I could feel the water receding from around my legs. Another few steps later I could feel warm air around my hands. Then finally, I was out of the water and in the sunlight.

I looked around in amazement as Rosa just beamed beside me
. I stared up at a glistening pool of water that was now floating above our heads, supported by a few columns. A little disoriented, I drew my eyes back down to something more mundane, my feet! I found that we were standing on a platform at the top of a grass-covered hill, with the shimmering pool of water above us and a ramp leading up into it.

I looked to Rosa for an
explanation and she smiled and giggled. “I must say your thoughts are the most amusing I have ever heard. Most people are profoundly affected by the beauty of the experience, or just plain frightened by what they don’t understand. But your mind is instantly questioning, ‘What is it? How was it made? What forces drive it?’ You not only have the magic of an enchanter, but also the mind of one…impressive!”

My mouth was still open
. “But ok, what is it?”

“
It’s a portal, one of my very best creations!”

I was even more amazed now
. “You made this?”

“
Yes, I did! Took me years to get it right, but this is a fine example of the things that you can and will do one day!” Her eyes changed color to a white shade for a second before turning back to normal, and she shook her head admiringly. “And from the looks of things, you will be very powerful indeed.”

“
Uh, what was that?”

“
What? Oh, the eye thing, yes, that’s mage sight, a very useful tool for an enchanter and one of the first things I will teach you. It’s also something that we can do and the others cannot. But for now, I would like to show you even more; your thoughts are very entertaining.”

She
grabbed my head and turned me to face another direction.

“
Wow.”

We were on a hill at the top of a sloping
valley ending at the base of a snow-capped mountain. The valley itself was covered in prairie grass and wild flowers, and from here I could see one road led from the platform where we perched to the single grandest city I could ever imagine sitting at the base of that mountain. At the center, was an exquisite tower that was many times taller than the tower we just came through. Around it in a wheel shape, were five slightly smaller towers with massive flags in different colors; red, green, blue, gray, and the last flag was red and gray. Amongst the towers I could see many smaller buildings; there must have been hundreds of these buildings. Nearly all the smaller buildings had red tiled roofs giving the entire place a cheery festive appearance. Around the city were two sets of stone walls. The outer wall was much shorter than the inner wall but
both were wide enough for six men to walk abreast across their tops.

“Impressive, isn’t it? Welcome to Xarparion, Alex, I hope you will like it here.”

I ripped my eyes away from the view
. “You know, I think I will.”

She
took a deep breath and wrapped an arm around me. “Come on, it’s a long walk to get home and I’m starving!”

We set off down the road
; as close as the academy looked from this vantage point, we were still several miles from the main gate. Walking briskly, I dug out the apple dumplings that my Mother had packed in my shoulder bag, so she must have already been on her second batch when I woke up this morning. As I shared the delicious treats with Rosa, she told me more about this place. Apparently, the tower at Foalshead is one of many that serve as supply lines for the real academy. Farmers sell their goods to the staff at the fake tower who then send it through the portals and back to Xarparion. In exchange, Xarparion offers the services of a wizard to any person of the kingdom who has the money. The money was used to fund the school, and support the huge infrastructure that surrounded it, and still have quite a bit of coin left over, so much so that Rosa was able to compensate my parents a very large sum for taking me from them.

W
e arrived surprising quickly at the main gate, but after all, it was all downhill and on a very good road. On the walls, I could see men in armor alertly manning their stations. Their gear appeared to be of excellent construction and was well taken care of. They didn’t have their weapons trained on us, but they did seem to have a great interest in me.

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