Small Magics (61 page)

“Too bad. So what happened to you three?”

Thomas sat up, and took turns with George and Eileen to relate all that had happened. When Thomas described the spell he had performed, Henry looked at once dubious, impressed, and horrified. Benjamin just looked horrified. Thomas, at Henry’s insistence, went into great detail. As soon as he’d finished, Henry got up and went to examine the remains of the circles that Thomas had drawn on the ground. He came back suitably impressed and said so.

It was George, though, who asked the question. “Did it work?”

“You mean you don’t know?” demanded Benjamin.

“They don’t know,” corrected Thomas. “They were asleep by the time I finished, and I was asleep until you lot arrived.”

“You slept until noon?”

“It takes a lot out of you.”

“But did it work?” asked Henry.

“Aye. It worked.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, for a start, you’re glowing now.”

“What?”

“All of you. You’re glowing.” Thomas smiled at the stunned look on everyone’s faces. “I can barely see it in the daylight, but it’s there. Every living thing is glowing with magic.”

“Everything?” asked Benjamin. There was a deeply disturbed look on his face.

“It’s all right,” Henry said, smiling wickedly. “Everyone knows that the world’s a magical place.”

“But… but the High Father created the world,” protested Benjamin.

“Aye, he did,” agreed Thomas.

“Magic comes from the Blessed Daughter!” protested Benjamin. “How can it be in everything?”

That stopped Thomas. “I hadn’t thought of that.” He took a moment to think about it there, and came up with a possibility. “Well, if the High Father created all things, then he would have been the one to put magic in all things. Maybe what the Daughter did was give some people the ability to use the magic within.”

“Like the Rebel Son gave man tools and fire,” suggested Eileen.

“I suppose,” Benjamin looked unconvinced. “Can you really see magic in everything?”

“Everything,” said Thomas. “It’s in all of you and in the horses and the grass and the trees and lines of it circle the earth”

“Lines of magic?” George’s head swivelled on his shoulders, his eyes scanning the woods. “Where?”

“Over there,” Thomas pointed back into the circle. He could barely see them himself, now, only a faint haze in the air. “At night, they’re beautiful.”

“Are they?”

“Aye.” Thomas’s voice grew softer. “And so is the light around you, my friend. You and Henry and Benjamin and Eileen and all living things. It’s stunning.”

“You sound like you’ve had a revelation,” said Benjamin.

“I guess I have.”

“Has it brought you closer to the Four?” Benjamin asked, hopefully.

Thomas snorted. “Leave it to the Theology student to ask that.”

“Has it?”

Thomas saw how serious Benjamin was. Still, he had to shake his head. “I don’t know. There’s a bit too much going on right now to think about that.”

“I suppose,” Benjamin sounded disappointed.

“How about the spells?” Henry asked. “Can you do any of them any better?”

“I should think so. It feels like I could, but I haven’t tried.”

“Well, try now.”

Thomas picked up the little book and began scanning it. “Anything in particular?”

“Nothing so big as to get us noticed,” warned Eileen.

Thomas paged through the book. One spell caught his eye. There were no ingredients needed, nor any chanting. It was in fact, very simple. Still, he guessed his friends wouldn’t like it too much. He smiled at them. “How about I call lightning?”

“Lightning?” Eileen was horrified. “Do the words
forest fire
,
loud noise
and
too much attention
mean anything to you? You might as well put a sign up!”

“All right,” Thomas said, chuckling. He read through the spell again and promised himself he’d try it when he had a chance, just to see what it was like. “All right. How about…” he paged through the spell book, “levitation. I’ll try levitation.”

“And what will you levitate?” asked Henry. “I don’t think anyone brought any spoons.”

“Oh, ha-ha.” Thomas looked around the little clearing. His eyes settled on a rock, easily twice his own size. He pointed. “How about that?”

“That?” George’s eyebrows climbed high on his head. “You could barely lift a spoon three days ago.”

“That was then.” Thomas turned his attention to the rock, and found that he could feel its shape and size with his mind. It wasn’t one of the large, grey stones from the circle, but a chunk of local granite, half-buried by time under the forest floor. He extended the energy out from within himself towards the boulder and visualized it rising into the air. The pulse of the earth, quiet since he’d woken up, began to beat strongly through him. Energy gathered itself together in his body, and for a moment he could almost feel the rock as if he was lifting it in his own hands. The world filled with a white light that gathered itself in his chest, then raced out towards the rock.

It leapt thirty feet straight up and hovered. Everyone yelped in surprise and scrambled back. Thomas held his concentration, and the boulder stayed up. A moment later he began to feel the weight of it, pressing on his mind. The effort to keep it where it was grew greater and greater. He needed to let it down. He tried to lower it back down to the earth, and realized he had no idea how. The thought broke his concentration.

The boulder wavered in the air then came crashing down. The rock bounced several times, gouging deep scars into the earth. It came to rest only a few feet from Thomas’s boots. He stared at it, aware that the only sound was his own ragged breathing. His friends had all frozen in place when the boulder had stopped moving, and were all staring at him.

“Well,” Thomas tried to sound less frightened than he was, “I guess it worked.” “Aye, I’d say so,” said Eileen, weakly. “Very well, in fact,” agreed Henry with a slight tremor in his voice. “Right up

to the end there.” “Aye.” Thomas felt the sudden urge to sit down and realized he already was. “You’re pale,” said Benjamin, his voice as shaky as Henry’s. “I feel pale.” In fact, Thomas felt dizzy and weak, as though part of his blood

supply had been tossed away with the rock. “Of course you do,” said Eileen. “You could barely lift a spoon three days

ago. This…” “That,” said Benjamin, nodding to the boulder, “weighs at least a ton. Maybe two.” “That much?” Henry sounded half-impressed, half-scared. “Stonemason,” said Benjamin, tapping his chest, “remember? A ton at least.

Probably two.” Thomas felt the world beginning to spin. He closed his eyes. “It certainly felt it.” Henry looked thoughtful for a moment. “For every action, a reaction, right?” Thomas felt tremors starting through his body. “And this is the reaction for

the action of using magic?” He shook his head, trying to clear it. “Wonderful.

Some help this will be.” “Maybe you need to pace yourself,” suggested Eileen. “Until you’re used to it.” “Maybe.” Thomas opened his eyes and forced them to focus on his friends.

They were all still keeping well away from him. “Do you think you could come back over here now?” There was a rather sheepish movement as the group edged themselves back

to the positions they’d scrambled from moments before. “Sorry,” Eileen said, sitting beside him and taking his hand. “It’s all right,” Thomas squeezed her hand, using the gesture to try to anchor

himself against the spinning world. It didn’t work. “I’d run away myself, if I could.” “All right, then.” George mustered himself together. “What do we do now?” “Well,” said Thomas “I think another nap might be in order.” “That bad?” Worry filled George’s face. “You just woke up.” “Aye, and now I think I should go back to sleep.” “Try eating instead,” suggested Benjamin, holding out an apple. “You might

just need something inside you.”

“We just had lunch,” Thomas’s world spun again, and he had to close his eyes until it slowed. When he opened them again, Eileen was helping him lie back on the grass. She was biting her lip, and her eyes were filled with concern. Thomas smiled at her, tried to say something reassuring, but the world slid to the left and she, and everything else, went away for a while.

Chapter 30

It was night when Thomas opened his eyes, and the world was alive in colours. The trees overhead, the brush around him, and every blade of grass was shining deep green. The horses gleamed gold and red and the magical lines of power glowed their bright blue and white. He turned his head, and saw the light blue, yellow, and white light that surrounded Eileen. She was watching him, but it took her a moment to realize he was looking back. When she did, she blinked rapidly, leaned in, and put a little smile on her face. “Hello,” she said in a gentle, quiet voice.

“Hello, yourself,” Thomas replied. He pushed himself up on one elbow and took in the rest of the clearing. The others were sitting around in various states of repose. Henry was even playing chess with George, leaving Thomas to wonder when Henry had found the time to pack a board. He turned back to Eileen. “How long was I asleep?”

“The sun just set,” Eileen replied. “We’ve been waiting all day for you.”

“You should have woken me.”

Eileen bit her lip and turned her head away. “Benjamin thought that would be a bad idea.”

“And I’m sure he’s an expert,” Thomas muttered, pushing himself into a sitting position. “Well, I’m awake now.”

“Aye, you are. How do you feel?”

“Starving,” Thomas said with certainty.

“Well, food we have,” Eileen assured him. “I’ll get it.”

“I can go.”

“No.” Eileen’s voice was suddenly sharp. “I mean, you keep resting.”

She got up and headed towards a pair of bags sitting under a tree, wiping at her face as she did. Thomas watched her go, saw the others ask quietly if he was awake. She nodded and hurried back to Thomas with a basket in hand. Thomas hadn’t seen it before and guessed that someone had made a trip into the town. It certainly explained the chessboard. Then Eileen was back beside him and putting the basket down where he could reach it. He reached out, but captured one of her hands instead.

“Hey,” he said, gently. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” She wiped angrily at her eyes with her free hand and turned away. Thomas pulled her back.

“Nothing doesn’t make anyone cry.” He leaned close and took her other hand as well. “What is it?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Aye, you.” She took a deep breath, then pulled one of her hands free and struck him hard in the chest. “Don’t you ever do that again, you hear me?”

“Ow! Do what?”

“Do what you did!” She was crying now, and hitting him on every second word. “I’ve been sitting here for hours! I didn’t know if you were going to wake up! You could have died!”

“You should have shaken me!” Thomas protested, trying to ward off the blows.

“We did!” She hit him again. “We shook you and yelled at you! If you didn’t wake up soon I was going to start kicking you!”

“All right! All right!” Thomas made a quick grab, caught her shoulders and pulled her in close, smothering her fists against his body. “It’s all right. I’m awake now.”

“We couldn’t wake you up,” she cried into his chest. Her arms relaxed, then went around his waist. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

“I won’t,” Thomas promised. “I swear, I won’t.”

“She does speak for the rest of us,” Benjamin said from his spot on the other side of the fire.

“Aye, she does,” agreed George. “Though she said it better.”

“Could you really not wake me up?”

“No, we could not,” said Benjamin. “We were about ready to go looking for a healer, or a physician.”

“But we couldn’t tell anyone what was wrong with you, could we?” said Henry.

“Nay, I suppose not.”

“But you’re all right, now,” asked George, “aren’t you?”

“Aye, I think so,” Thomas squeezed Eileen again then gently pushed her back so he could see her face. “Are you better, now?”

Eileen wiped her eyes and nose, sniffed a couple of times. “Aye.”

“Good.”

“Do I look a fright?”

The question brought a smile to Thomas’s face. “No, you look beautiful.”

“No she doesn’t,” declared George. “She always looks terrible after she cries.”

“Shut up, you,” Eileen said, wiping away more tears. “I’m fine.”

“Good,” Thomas took her hand again. “Because I am really, really hungry.”

She gave him another hit, though not as hard as the others, and handed him an apple. He dug his teeth into it without a second thought, and was stunned at how good it tasted. It was much better than any apple he’d eaten before. He wondered if that was due to the magic, or just that he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch. He moved closer to the fire, and the others joined in for an impromptu late supper. Soon, all the food was gone and Thomas was feeling much better than he had since the night before.

So. Now what?

Thomas looked around the fire and saw the glow of the magic emanating from each of his friends. Inside him, he could feel the beating of the world’s heart, slow, deep, steady. Thomas knew all he had to do was reach for it and the magic would rise, more powerful than anything else.

If I’m going to face him, now is the time.
“Well, are we ready, then?”

“Ready for what?” asked Benjamin. “What are we going to do?”

“The same as before.”

“Run around aimlessly through the country, searching madly for answers?” suggested Henry.

“Exactly,” Thomas grinned and got to his feet. “Though you left out wailing like banshees.”

“Well, we mustn’t forget that,” Henry said. “But what, exactly, are we doing?”

“Going after the bishop,” Thomas headed for his horse, “and stopping him.”

“Stopping him from what?” asked George. “He’s not casting spells in the stone circle.”

“Well, he’s certainly doing something down here.” Thomas began saddling the animal. He was feeling remarkably good, though he wasn’t about to test his luck by casting a spell. “And even if he’s not, he still took the magic from my father and Timothy and Ailbe and the Four know how many others. We need to stop him.”