The Jade Mage: The Becoming: Volume 1 (9 page)

Isidor fell to his side, with a thud, and Tartum stood over him. His moment of triumph wasn’t as glorious as he had envisoned it to be, but he still felt pretty good about it. Exhausted, he dropped to a sitting position, looking at his master’s unconscious form. He found himself feeling guilty about hitting him so hard. He had won the moment he hit him in the stomach, why hadn’t he stopped then? He wondered about it for a moment, then pushed the thought away. If Isidor had taught him anything, it was that showing mercy was not what fighting was about.

“You almost never fight with weapons with the intention to maim or wound. You fight to kill. Those that fight for any other reason usually end up dead.” Isidor had told him. Fighting wasn’t glorious or romantic; it was an act, designed to take the life from someone or something, and Tartum had just mastered it. Taking pride in his prowess, and patting himself on the back for executing his plan so well, Tartum relived the battle in his head. He focused, in particular, on the revelation of his master’s source of skill. Opening himself up to magic, to heighten he senses and abilities during a fight, had been brilliant! The only way an opponent would know, would be if they too were channeling magic. The trick shouldn’t have surprised Tartum as much as it did. Isidor made quite a living with the art of deception and magic. So many questions entered his mind about the last few years, though.

Was he using the magic the whole time, to keep ahead of me? Why hadn’t he told me? Was it a test? Was he so insecure, he needed to cheat to win? Was it really cheating? Was he really so good, that Isidor had to use magic in order to beat him? How long had he been infusing himself with magic, in order to keep himself superior to Tartum’s skills?” Tartum wondered, as he sat next to Isidor’s unconscious form. One question bothered him more than any of the others, however...

“Why didn’t I think of that?”

...

It was almost night when Isidor finally came around. Tartum had carried him to his bed of pillows, and placed a cold rag on his head. He had brought some of the headache concoction he found, freshly made, in the kitchen. Apparently, Isidor had counted on Tartum needing it, after their sparring match. The irony did not escape him.

“How do you feel, Master?”Tartum asked with a grin.

“I feel like you cheated to beat me.” Isidor said, with a groan. He could not hide the pride in his voice for Tartum’s victory however.

Tartum was insulted, “I cheated!? How long have you been using magic to enhance your senses? Weeks? Months? Years? I never would have known, if I hadn’t have used my enchantment. I think that makes us pretty much even. I finally beat you, and now you must resume my magic lessons.” Tartum said, clearly irritated.

Isidor looked up at his apprentice. He side and stomach hurt, and he knew it would be a few days before he would be moving without pain. Still, nothing felt broken, and he wasn’t coughing up blood, so it wasn’t as bad of a beating as he’d guessed Tartum would have given him when he finally won. Hell, at times Isidor half expected Tartum would flat out kill him when the day finally came. It had been over a year now, that Isidor had needed magic to keep ahead of Tartum’s skill. Just before he issued his ultimatum to motivate Tartum to greater feats. He had performed remarkably. Isidor couldn’t have been more proud of him. He would die before he let him know that, however.

“Very well pupil, you win. Although, I used magic to enhance my senses, you used it to cast a spell. Not exactly honorable...but there really is no honor in a fight, as you know. I concede that I’ve lost. When I can function again, I will resume your training in magic. I cannot teach you anymore with the staff. Well done Tartum. Well done.” Isidor said, in his sage teaching voice.

Tartum beamed with pleasure at his master’s praise. It was only the second time he had ever approved of his skill. The sudden change with how he acknolodged his triumphs was...nice. Tartum realized he really wanted to impress Isidor, and it was good to know that he was, even if only a little.

“Ok, enough of this womanly chatter. You’ll want to hug me, next.” Isidor said, feigning disgust, “You must tell me, how did you modify the enchantment spell? I assume it was your simple light enchantment. How did you get it to enchant your staff. I already put the fortification spells on it. You couldn’t have removed it, I doubt you could figure it out, and the staff would have shattered after my first blow, without it. Also, the light was far more intense than with the coin. How did you figure it out? Did someone help you?” Isidor asked, more than a little annoyed at the thought of someone else teaching his pupil.

Tartum smiled, he liked the fact that Isidor was taking such an interest in his accomplishments. He was all too eager to explain what he had done, “No master, no one else helped me. I figured out that you had enchanted the jade and not the gold in my staff, so I enchanted one of the strands that run along it. As you can see, it held up very well. During the enchantment process, I used a much greater amount of components than with the coin. The book is vague about quantity, so I figured, the more, the better. I’m sorry, but you’re out of pinecones and sulfur.” Tartum said, a little embarrassed at what he felt was boasting. Getting over it, he continued; “I also took your advice about infusing the enchantment spell with more magic than with the coin. It wasn’t easy, but I channeled as much magic into the spell as I could, trying to infuse it into everything.”

Looking down, Tartum frowned as he remembered the next part of his story, “I almost failed actually, I thought my staff was going to shatter! As you can see, however, in the end I made it work, rather spectacularly, I might add!” Tartum smiled, at his final comment. He was in a fine mood and felt like some mild boasting was in order.

Isidor was speechless. If Tartum was telling the truth, he had accomplished something amazing! Did he really combine more components into his enchantment, than before? Did he really enchant a material, that was connected to an already enchanted material? There was no way! How did the magic know to enchant the gold and not the jade? Magic didn’t differentiate materials. It was the item as a whole, that was enchanted, not the individual parts. How was it that the two enchantments weren’t clashing, and cancelling each other out? How was it the attempt didn’t end in an explosion? Magic didn’t work this way. You couldn’t force another enchament on an already enchanted item, no matter how many materials it was made from. The polarity of the multiple spells would repell each other, causing both spells to fail. In fact, that was the fundamental way DISENCHANTING worked! Tartum’s attempt to enchant his staff should have destroyed it! Hell, it should have killed Tartum! STUPID! He had warned him strongly, against any attempt to further enchant the staff! Yet, somehow, he had managed to do the impossible. Or was he lying? He had to be! There was something else! But, what if he was telling the truth? What did that mean?

“Bring me your staff, Tartum” Isidor said just above a whisper.

Tartum couldn’t make out what his master had said, so absorbed had he come in stroking his own ego. He leaned closer.

“What was that?” he asked.

“
BRING ME YOUR DAMN STAFF!
” Isidor yelled at him.

The sudden change in his tone startled Tartum, and he ran to obey. Fetching his staff, Tartum ran back to his master and handed it to him. Isidor took it carefully and studied it for a moment. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he opened himself to the source. Isidor guided the flow of magic, now flowing through him, into Tartum’s staff. The jade of the staff felt warm in Isidor’s hands. The sensation told him the jade had magic in it, the intensity of the heat let him know it was a medium-level enchantment. The greater the heat, the greater the magic being held in the material. Then Isidor began touching the gold strands and allowing the trickle of magic to flow into them.

The first strand he tested, yielded nothing, neither did the second or the third. When he tested the fourth strand, something he’d never experienced before, happened. The magic in the gold reacted to the magic being passsed into it. It was as if the gold strand craved more, and it forcefully pulled at the magic flowing out of Isidor.

With a cry of fear, Isidor cut himself off from the source and threw down Tartum’s staff. Tartum caught it on the first bounce and glared at his master.

“Do not throw my staff!” He yelled, before he could control his temper. He held his staff close to him now, like a mother would shield a baby.

Isidor said nothing. He had no idea what kind of enchantment Tartum had placed on his staff, but it seemed unnatural. It scared Isidor; it
terrified
him. The material, itself, had tried to suck the magic from him, and the feeling was awful. In all his years, with all the evil and good things he had seen in his adventures, he had never known an enchantment to feed off the caster’s magic. He wondered if Tartum knew.

“Did you feel anything when you used the enchantment, Tartum? Anything at all, that didn’t feel like it did, when the coin lit up?” Isidor asked, this new enigma overriding his concern over his injuries and fatigue.

Tartum was confused. Isidor was acting very strange, and he was still angry at him for throwing down his staff. He knew it couldn’t be damaged by such an act, but it was the principal of the thing that upset him. This was supposed to be his moment of triumph, and his master was acting like a crazy old man. Anger started to bubble in the pit of his stomach.

“Yes, when I touch the enchanted strand of gold, I feel it pull on the magic inside me. It feels like the enchantment is drawing it out of me and into itself. It almost completely drained me during our match.” Tartum said curtly. He felt like he was on trial.

“Without opening yourself to the source, try to make the gold light up.” Isidor said, sitting up to observe better.

Tartum didn’t understand, in fact, he didn’t want to be near his master at that moment. His demeanor was haunting, and all the questions over such a simple enchantment was troubling. However, Tartum still had alot of respect for the man, even if he wasn’t very fond of him at the moment. He decided he would play along, for now. He owed him that much loyality at least.

Holding his staff out in front of him, Tartum spoke the word that would illuminate the gold.

“Light.”

Nothing happened.

“Light!” he repeated. “Light! Light! Light, light, light, LIGHT,
LIGHT
!!!” he said, speaking louder at each failed command, until he was shouting. The gold did nothing. Tartum was embarrassed. Could the enchantment have worn off? Did it burn itself out after the last time? He didn’t know how bright it had been, he had closed his eyes. Maybe it had worn off before he said “dark” and now he would have to re-enchant it.

Tartum looked at his master with the question burning in his eyes. Isidor saw the look on his face, and it reminded him of someone who had just bitten into a rotten lime. He couldn’t believe it. Tartum had no idea what he had done...what he had accomplished. Calming himself, Isidor spoke.

“Now open yourself to the source, just a little bit, mind you, and try again.” he said softly. He needed Tartum to be careful. If what he thought was going to happen, happened, it could kill him. To be honest, Isidor had no idea what to expect.

Opening himself to the source as instructed, Tartum brought forth the magic. It made him feel good, and so he let a bit more than he was ordered, and allowed it to flow inside him. His anger dissipated, and the ecstasy replaced it. Focusing, Tartum whispered the word.

“Light.”

The gold in the staff began to draw the magic out of Tartum. Not in the surge, as before, but it was definitely noticable. The feeling of ecstasy wasn’t as potent; weakness overshadowed the strength he received from the magic. He could tolerate it and still maintain his focus, but it was a queer sensation.

The gold in the staff lit up, only slightly. The glow was a soft one, taking on the hue of the very material it came from. Isidor was in awe. Tartum’s magic powered the enchantment. Usually with enchantments, the power came from the components, and the magic that was channeled into the spell during the enchanting process. Once the magic ran out, the enchantment ceased to work and dissipated...just like with the coin. The more magic infused during the enchantment process, the longer the enchantment worked. It was complicated and required a certain degree of proficiency with spell casting, but that was the way they were supposed to work. The most powerful of enchantments, and those that were permanent, usually had either a tremendous amount of magic infused into the process, (which would require a caster with incredible, almost unheard of, ability) or the components themselves had a regenerative or concentrated quality to them and therefore, renewed the power inside the enchantment over time. The fortification spell, for example, had dragon eyes as one of the components.

Dragons weren’t overly intelligent creatures, no more than a dog or an ape. However, their natural ability with magic, and the fact that they sustained themselves with magic as well as with regular food (Much in the same way humans had to eat food and drink water to sustain their existance) made a dragon’s body parts excellent for enchaments, as well as many other facets of magic. Legends say that dragons were the original children of the Gods, and therefore
were
magic. There was no such thing as a permanent enchantment, in the truest sense of the word; however, the concentration of magic in the component, provided enough power to keep the enchantment functioning for hundreds of years. Only the very oldest of the elves could ever hope to see a “permanent” enchantment wear off. The eyes Isidor had bought for Tartum’s staff cost him half of his fortune. There was no way Tartum had had access to anything like that.