Nature Mage (26 page)

Hephistole peered at Gaspi with his head cocked slightly on one side. “Interesting...most interesting!” The Chancellor paused. “Don’t be dispirited, Gaspi,” he said, after a moment’s thought. “You did well to use the spell song.”

Gaspi didn’t look at all encouraged. “But I still can’t control my magic!” he blurted, full of frustration. He hadn’t meant to get angry at Hephistole, but he couldn’t help it.

“Yes, but there’s a good reason for that, Gaspi,” Hephistole responded calmly. “If you had the same magical strength as your classmates you could do it as easily, but your power is much greater, and therefore takes greater practice to control.”

Gaspi sat up straight, his anger leeching away as Hephistole’s words sunk in. “Am I more powerful than the other students?”

Hephistole looked at him intently, his mouth turning up at the corner in a slight smile. “Let’s put it this way. They are trying to tame a cat, and you’re trying to tame a tiger.”

“What’s a tiger?” Gaspi asked.

“A very big cat!” Hephistole answered.

Voltan folded his arms. “It’s probably best not to boast about this to your classmates, though.”

“Yes sir...I mean, I won’t,” Gaspi answered, and tried very hard not to think of Everand.

“So!” Hephistole said ringingly, clapping his long-fingered hands together. “We need to find a way to help you tame your tiger. Voltan has suggested a partial block. This is similar to the block you’ve had in place, but it works more as a limitation, allowing only a certain amount of power to flow through at one time. This will give you time to gain strength and control the flow of magic. As you continue to use your power the block will erode, allowing more power through in increments, which you can adjust to as you get used to it. How does this sound?”

“It sounds great,” Gaspi answered. “I was worried I’d have to stay blocked again for a while, or not be able to do any magic at all.” He paused. “Can you do it now?” he blurted, his eagerness overriding any attempt at politeness.

Hephistole laughed. “Yes Gaspi, right now! You can still re-establish the full block using the spell song I taught you, but hopefully that won’t be necessary.” He stood up and lifted his hand, holding it over Gaspi’s head. “Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yes,” Gaspi answered. Hephistole’s hand rested on his head. Gaspi sat still while Hephistole stood there, unable to sense any magical activity. After a minute, Hephistole stepped back, and sat down again.

“Is it done?” Gaspi asked.

“Why don’t you try and see?” Hephistole said. Gaspi nodded, and closing his eyes, sent his senses inward. He was quickly able to draw near to his power, and, reaching out, he summoned it to his control. He held it for a moment, released it, and opened his eyes.

“Yes...that works,” he said, relieved.

“Then let’s return you to your studies with Miss Emelda,” Hephistole said. The headmaster and teacher walked with him back to the main classroom, taking their leave of Gaspi as he re-entered the room.

“That was a good idea, Voltan,” Hephistole said with a smile, after the door had closed behind Gaspi.

Voltan nodded. “We don’t know the limits of the boy’s power, and this will keep a control over how much he uses until he’s ready to use more.” The fierce-looking teacher fixed Hephistole with a direct gaze. “I’ll tell you this much - if he’d fired that force strike, it would have blown half the classroom away!”

Hephistole didn’t seem phased about this at all. “Interesting,” he said as they turned to walk back through the campus. “Definitely interesting!”

Chapter 18

Taurnil came to meet them that night as planned, and met Gaspi outside the dormitory.

“How’s the training going, mate?” Gaspi asked as they sat on a nearby bench, waiting for the girls.

“All right. I won a bout today,” Taurnil said, breaking out into a big smile.

“That’s great!” Gaspi said enthusiastically. “With the staff?”

Taurnil let out a gruff laugh. “Yeah, with the staff. I couldn’t beat a girl with swords at the moment.”

Gaspi laughed in return. “So how did the fight go?” he asked, hungry for the details.

Taurnil shrugged. “Well, to be honest it was pretty straightforward. It was Bret, one of the younger guards. He’s better with the sword, but likes to fight with the staff too. He just came on a bit too strong and I floored him with a leg flip, and went straight for the kill shot. It lasted about twenty seconds.”

“Sounds like you well and truly had his number,” Gaspi said.

“Looks that way,” Taurnil said, smiling broadly, and then the smile slipped off his face as quickly as it had arrived, his jaw falling open foolishly as he stared goggle-eyed across the courtyard. Gaspi turned to follow Taurnil’s gaze, and saw Emmy and Lydia stepping out of their dorm. Both girls were dressed in full gypsy garb. Emea was dressed in a luscious skirt and scarf of saffron yellow, but it was Lydia who had caught his friend’s attention. She wore a billowing white shirt tucked into a flowing skirt of deep and vibrant shades of red. She wore a rich scarf over her shoulders that matched her dress, and had large, painted wooden jewellery around both wrists. The girls glowed like gold and flame in the evening light. Gaspi was entranced, and shared a look with his gobsmacked friend.

“Close your mouth, you big lumphead!” Gaspi said to Taurnil, who looked blankly at his friend for a moment, then snapped his jaw closed as realisation hit. The two boys walked over to the girls.

“You look lovely, Emmy,” Gaspi said, his eyes taking in her rich clothing, and the way it flowed over her like water. She flushed a little, her eyes sparkling. Gaspi kissed her on the cheek and offered her his arm.

Without meaning for it to happen, Gaspi and Emea walked away from Taurnil and Lydia, leaving them standing alone together.

Once Gaspi and Emea had walked away, Taurnil was suddenly very aware of himself. What could he say to make things comfortable? Gaspi was always so good at these things, but he just felt as if his tongue had turned to wood. After a pregnant pause, he broke the silence. “Nice dress,” he said clumsily.

“Thank you, Taurnil,” Lydia said, and they started walking, falling in behind Gaspi and Emea, who were too wrapped up in each other to notice the awkward moment. Taurnil thrust his hands into his pockets, scuffing the ground with his feet.

“So, what’s happening tonight?” he asked, more to keep the conversation going than out of genuine interest. Taurnil was surprised as Lydia enthusiastically started talking about the evening’s entertainment. His clumsy attempt at conversation seemed to be working. He’d never been comfortable with long conversations, at least not if he was expected to do much of the talking, but maybe all he had to do was ask questions and Lydia would do the rest.

“...my Da will play his guitar, and we’ll all dance round the fire,” she said enthusiastically.

“Dance?” Taurnil asked, a little too quickly.

Lydia threw an amused glance at him. “You know, moving your feet around to music, maybe even your body too,” she said mischievously. “Don’t worry Taurnil,” she said, patting his arm. “I’ll show you how to do it.” If anything, this made Taurnil worry even more!

They wound their way down through the town, and met Jonn at the gate to the city. He smiled warmly at them. “Ah, there you all are,” he said. “Well, come along then. Food awaits!”

He led them through the city gates and a short distance around the outer wall, until they came across the gypsy circle; the vibrant reds, yellows and greens of lacquered wagons shone in the evening light. The sun was perhaps half an hour from setting, and in preparation for the evening’s festivities Roland had already started the fire going, its leaping flames pale in the lingering daylight. When Lydia caught sight of her da tending to the growing blaze, she let out a little noise of delight and trotted ahead of Taurnil, who didn’t know whether he ought to keep up, or just carry on walking on his own. As if sensing her approach, Roland stood up, the line of his broad shoulders framed against the light as he turned around. Grinning, he took a few long strides towards his daughter, and swept her up in his arms. He planted a kiss in her hair, lifting her clean off the ground.

Taurnil was touched by the unselfconscious display. There was obviously a lot of love there between father and daughter. Lydia normally had a sort of knowing calm about her, but moments like this revealed her passionate side to Taurnil, who watched the greeting hungrily, imagining what it would be like to be the one Lydia ran to.

Roland had put Lydia down, and strode towards the rest of the small party. He spread his arms expansively. “Gaspi, Emea, Taurnil - my daughter’s good friends - welcome to our fire.” His sincerity was easy to respond to. Emea smiled sweetly in response, and Gaspi wore a broad grin. Roland put an arm around Taurnil’s shoulder as they turned into the camp. “So Taurnil, Lydia tells me you’re a city guard now.”

The feast was exactly that. A whole deer roasted slowly over a cooking fire, hot juices dripping into the flames, releasing a smell that made Taurnil’s mouth water. There were wooden bowls of steaming vegetables, and a communal pot of roasting juices to pour over the meal. Some of the colourfully dressed gypsies had already filled goblets with spiced wine from the kegs set up around the edges of the circle, and a group of musicians were strumming and plucking tunefully. The musicians gave Taurnil an uncomfortable reminder that he would have to dance later that night, and the nervousness that had been balling in his gut all night escalated to new, even higher levels.

The gypsies were leaving the next day, and in anticipation of being separated from her family, Lydia was lit up like a lantern. She was flushed with high emotion, dancing most of the night away with friends and more often with her Da, beaming out a complex mixture of vibrancy and vulnerability. Taurnil’s evening thrummed with a different kind of emotional intensity. He was desperate to comfort Lydia, aching to sooth her hurt, but felt wooden and restricted. Surely his presence would be unwelcome in such a private moment.

As promised, she pulled him into the circle of dancers a couple of times, but on each occasion he couldn’t manage to conjure the kind of easy banter Gaspi was so capable of. His legs felt stiff as stilts as he tried to follow Lydia’s amused instructions, which might have been fun if he could have laughed at himself, but he felt like the whole world was watching him stumble and trip through the dance. He felt humourless and without personality, and all he knew at the end of each dance was relief. He spent most of the night well back in the shadows at the edge of the circle, watching with pangs of jealousy as Lydia twirled with handsome, smiling gypsy boys, their confident chatter enticing peals of laughter from the beautiful young woman he admired so much.

Taurnil felt like he’d reached a crisis point. It was as if his previously healthy heart was shrivelling and darkening like a prune. What had he been thinking of? Why would this magical, beautiful girl be interested in a plodder like him? All his obsession was doing was making him miserable. He took a long last look at Lydia, dancing once more with her father, laughter beautifying her already lovely face, and deliberately turned his back, walking away into the shadows.

Chapter 19

Over the next several weeks, Gaspi didn’t see much of Taurnil. He went to visit him a few times at the barracks after training, but he hadn’t come up to the college or met them in the Travellers Rest. Gaspi could tell that Taurnil didn’t want to talk about what was bothering him, and their conversations had been limited to magic, football and combat; so when Emea asked him what the matter with Taurnil was (which she frequently did) he couldn’t answer her, though he suspected he knew something of the problem. Lydia didn’t mention Taurnil’s name even once, and if someone else did her face would stiffen until the subject was changed. Emea had said enough for Gaspi to know that her behaviour had something to do with the way Taurnil disappeared during the feast at the gypsy circle, but that was all he could figure out.

He didn’t have much time to think about it, however, as those weeks were very busy for the three trainee magicians - they had been exposed to all manor of magical learning. They continued to study enchanting and healing, but also began to look at prophecy, neuromancy and matter manipulation. Now that his block was released Gaspi was able to use magic along with the rest of the class. This silenced most of the murmurs about his lack of ability, but not entirely. The partial block meant that his magic was only as powerful as most of the other students’, and certainly not as strong as Everand’s. The Nature Mage was suddenly very ordinary, and Gaspi didn’t feel like explaining about the partial block, even when Ferast made snide comments behind his back.

The martial magic lessons continued to cause a stir among the students. As far as anyone knew, lessons in offensive magic hadn’t been given in a long time, and all the students were murmuring about what this could mean. They were talking about this one evening in the Rest. Gaspi had persuaded Taurnil to join them, but wasn’t so sure any more that it was such a good idea. Lydia was nervous and quiet in the presence of an equally uncomfortable Taurnil, who couldn’t join in with the conversation about martial magic, and sat in near-silence. The atmosphere was awkward, but Gaspi and Emea bravely soldiered on, trying to fill in the uncomfortable gaps left by the other two.

“Well, how do we know when it was last taught?” Gaspi asked. “None of the class has been here for longer than a few months.”

“It’s the older students who’ve been saying that,” Emea answered. The older students shared private residences in the campus, studying specialised topics under their mentors, and generally didn’t have much to do with the first years. Classroom teaching stopped after the first year, and the older students were more like journeyman magicians than pupils. “Do you think it could have something to do with what happened to us on the road?”