The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1 (4 page)

He led us back
down to the library. The old man from earlier was kneeling over Tom
trying to revive him. In a seat, Vanessa sat holding the back of
her head. When she saw us approaching a look of fear crossed her
face.

“
Master Larose,” the old man said getting up. “I assume you
are here to trace?”

“
Yes I am,” Master Larose answered pleasantly.

“
I was in the other section of the library when this
happened,” the old man explained. “By the time I could get over
here, it had already ended.”

I replayed the
events in my mind, trying to remember where he had been. He was in
my section up until the fight. He then mysteriously vanished.
Odd.

“
Very well, let’s hear what happened,” Master Larose
said.

“
The three apprentices approached Mr. Holcombe as he was
returning a book,” the old man explained.

I don’t think
I’ve ever introduced myself to him. He must be a Teacher, though
I’ve never had one of his classes nor do I recognize his black
robes.

“
Thomas here,” he continued as Tom was starting to stir and
sit up, “approached them and was thrown in a table by Mr. Babcock.
There was a brilliant display of magic used before Mr. Holcombe
fled the scene. I was able to help Miss Swanson, who had been
knocked out by Mr. Holcombe in the scuffle.”

“
Ok,” Master Larose said before turning to Greg and Todd. “Two
months wearing the Binds of Silence. That goes for you too, Miss
Swanson.”

“
That’s not fair, we didn’t do anything,” Greg
complained.

“
The magic used here would be enough for me to have the three
of you Silenced permanently, but seeing as that Mr. Holcombe isn’t
hurt and you are Apprentices, you are fortunate that this is a far
as I can go,” Master Larose stated.

The Binds of
Silence was the nastiest punishment a Master of the Order could
hand out. The Binds sapped your energy and made it impossible to
feel or use magic. It is a form of punishment rarely used, except
as a scare tactic to make the Apprentices compliant.

“
What a mess,” Tom said as he shook his head. “I have to clean
up now.”

“
Take it easy, Thomas,” the old man said softly, patting him
on the shoulder. “There’s time for that later.”

“
And you, Mr. Holcombe,” Master Larose said turning to me.
“For knocking out a fellow Apprentice you have detention in my
office for the rest of the day. It seems like you can’t go one day
without stirring up a wasp nest. I’m glad that this is your
last.”

Same here.

Chapter 3

Although I was
out of everyone’s way, the rest of the day in Master Larose’s
office crawled by slowly. I spent the entire day staring at the
wall or reading whatever books he left open. When he finally
returned from his lecture, he talked about my Demon Dream and tried
to recruit me into the School of the Spiritual. The way these
Masters are aggressively recruiting one would think they were
forming an army.

For an hour he
tried to play to my ego by complimenting my work in the library and
how he was ‘always impressed’ by my use of Illusion to escape
trouble. He then tried to glamorize using Mind control and Healing
to become a great Mage. The whole thing made me sick and it was the
only time I was glad to have no self esteem. I’d hate to think I
could be swayed by such simple minded flattery.

After the
hour, he grew tired of my indecision and sent me back to the
Apprentice quarters. I was told a Mage would come for me that
evening to take me to the Coming of Age Ceremony and I left without
further word.

I dragged
myself down the stairs to the Apprentice quarters and collapsed on
my bed and stared up at the underside of the top bunk. The poorly
drawn night sky looked down at me. Whoever had owned this bunk
before me had crudely drawn this picture. Despite the poor quality
it is still a brilliant display of colours that always helps me
clear my mind. Tiny stars dotted the entire surface and there was a
long stretched out ‘S’ that was coloured in green, blue, white and
purple.

I stared up at
the mock night sky, hoping for an answer to my future. This
Apprentice had, no doubt, wanted to be an artist and had to choice
a School anyhow. I had no secret talent like that but I could
understand the Apprentice’s turmoil.

How do you
choice to be something for the rest of your life when the choices
aren’t right for you?

I sighed and
knew it would be time to decide on a School: Natural, Elemental,
Spiritual or Demonology.

I have nothing
against Nature. In fact Alchemy is interesting to me, but the last
thing I want to do is spent the rest of my life studying with
egotistical tree huggers, so Natural Magic is out of the
question.

There is
always Elemental, but I don’t know if I want to train to be a
Battle Mage. The dream I had this morning had been cool but the
reality is that I don’t think I could kill someone with a flick of
the wrist and a smile on my face, so that is out.

After the talk
with Master Larose, any interest I had in the Spiritual is out the
window. As much as being a healer is helpful, controlling people’s
mind and body to do anything I want is wrong in my books. It is bad
enough to have to use Illusion to get out of trouble. At least
nobody gets hurt by my tricks.

I guess that
leaves Demonology. The Lizard fulfilling his destiny and studying
Demons.

Great.

I held my head
with both hands and tried to block my eyes from reality.

“
If you’re crying, I can just come back,” Lily
joked.

I moved my
hands away and looked at her. She stood by the bed looking down at
me with a smirk on her face.

“
This was the spot I left you in this morning,” she continued.
“Please tell me, you’ve moved at least once today.”

“
You didn’t hear?” I asked as I sat up and moved my legs off
the bed. “Master Larose issued The Binds of Silence to Greg, Todd,
and Vanessa.”

“
Who hasn’t heard that,” Lily chuckled as she sat down beside
me. “I can’t believe they would go that far. They got what they
deserved though.”

“
They won’t learn anything though,” I said.

“
You never know,” she said hopefully then clapped her hands.
“Anyway, have you made a decision yet?”

“
Still undecided,” I answered looking down into my
hands.

“
You know why I think you can’t decide,” she said.

I looked up at
her. “Why?”

“
Because you only look at the negatives of magic,” she said.
“You should see the positives of it.”

I chuckled
softly. “I haven’t seen too many positives of it yet.”

“
Yes you have,” she laughed. “How do you escape being
bullied?”

“
That’s just simple little spells though,” I
countered.

“
They work,” she smiled. “Imagine instead of fleeing bullies,
you’re tricking bandits while you help the villagers escape. Isn’t
that a positive of magic?”

“
I guess,” I said thoughtfully. “It would be better to have a
Battle Mage in that situation though.”

“
You’re missing the point,” she said shaking her head. “The
point is that you have a chance to go out and use your magic to
help people. No more classes, no more bullies, and definitely no
more excuses.”

We both
laughed.

“
So why do you want to get into Elemental?” I asked after we
had stopped laughing.

She looked
down at her hands. “When I was little, the village I lived in was
attacked by raiders. They killed everyone including my parents.
When the guardsmen came and drove them out they found me with the
bodies of me parents. I had thrown up a shield to protect their
bodies and myself. That’s how they discovered I was a mage.”

“
I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “How old were
you?”

“
Four cycles,” she answered. “My parents hid my magic so I
wouldn’t be taken away. As to why I want to get into Elemental. I
don’t know, I guess I just want to be able to go out and defend the
villages with my power.”

I nodded
slowly. It made sense. She wants to right the wrong in her life the
only way she can.

In all the
time of known Lily, it’s funny that it isn’t until my last day that
I actually learn something about her past. All our usual
interaction is mainly about classes or teachers. We never got
close. And after tonight, there won’t be any other chances. She’ll
go one way and I’ll go the other. This is life in the Order, she’ll
have all her friends in Elemental and I’ll be long forgotten.

She sighed.
“But enough of the past. What’s your future?”

“
Maybe Demonology,” I shrugged. “It goes well with my
nickname.”

She chuckled.
“There you go being a Negative Nancy again. Demons are serious
business and if anyone can understand them better, it will be
you.”

I shook my
head but smiled. “You’re crazy. But thank you.”

“
No problem, Andy,” she said shooting to her feet. “I’ve got
to study history. I’ll do my best to stay awake to wish you luck
for the ceremony but don’t expect miracles. If I don’t make it,
good luck.”

I smiled. “You
too.”

She hopped up
onto her top bunk and I lay back down and thought over what she had
said. She was right. Maybe there is a chance to do something
positive. Demonology would mean that I could study in peace. That
will be positive. Dreams and Demons could be interesting.

“
Andrew Holcombe?” a male voice said.

I looked up at
the young Mage and nodded. He didn’t look like he was very much
older than me and wore the purple robes of Spiritual School.

“
I am to lead you to the Ceremony,” he continued.

“
I’m guessing that Master Larose sent you to continue his
recruitment pitch,” I stated.

The Mage
looked confused. “Pardon?”

“
Never mind,” I said as I stood up. “Please lead
on.”

“
There ARE many good things about the School of the
Spiritual,” the Mage pitched.

Here we
go.

***

The Coming of
Age Ceremony was held in the largest library, closest to the
Teachers’ and Mages’ floor. I rarely visited this library because
it was often used by the Teachers and Mages and was very crowded
despite its size.

The tables and
chairs in the seating area had been moved to create a large open
space with a row of tables set up at for the Masters. The Ceremony
is well known to everyone but I still felt like I didn’t know what
to do. The feeling of uncertainty only made me more anxious.

The Mage that
escorted me turned around and left as soon as I entered the
library. I was glad to be rid of that snail. I know I wasn’t in a
hurry to get there but that didn’t mean we had to spend a whole
night on one staircase. I crossed the library and joined up with
two other Apprentices, a boy and a girl. I didn’t recognize either
of them from my classes but after I introduced myself, their
expressions changed slightly, suggesting they had heard of my
exploits.

The boy,
Jeremy, was lanky looking with longer hair then the girl. He had
Nature Mage written all over him and, when asked, it was no
surprise what School he was thinking of joining. The girl, Riley,
was plump with red hair and a great smile. She said she wanted to
be a healer and was considering Spiritual as her school because of
its ability to control the body.

They both seem
disinterested in me and settled back into the conversation they
were having before I had arrived. Though the topic of Alchemy and
herbs is interesting to me, I decided it would be better if I
didn’t say anything. Jeremy seemed like a bit of a know-it-all and
I wasn’t in the mood to argue his wrong facts. I wandered away to
admire the library.

When the
Apprentices’ conversations died instantly, I knew the Masters had
arrived. I turned around and watched them head for the tables at
the far end of the wall. They were dressed up in a dark brown
ceremonial robe and the looks of boredom on their faces suggested
that this was the millionth time they had done this and they just
wanted it over with.

A fifth person
followed them in. They were dressed in a black robe with a hood
covering their head and face. As the Masters sat down behind the
table, the mysterious figure remained off to the side, watching
over everything.

“
On your knees,” Master Larose said as he pulled up a piece of
paper from his robe.

We all dropped
to our knees in front of the Masters. Jeremy was to my left and
Riley was beyond him. I hope they choose her first to pick a
school. I didn’t have any desire to go through this ceremony
first.

“
As you may already know, I am Master Larose of the School of
the Spiritual,” Master Larose continued. “To my right are, Master
Baker of the School of the Natural, and Master Pryce of the School
of the Elemental. To my left is Master Gerth of the School of
Demonology.

“
Last night, you all had your Demon Dream. This was than
confirmed by a Master and you have been invited here to swear an
oath to one of the Schools of Magic in which you will serve and
study. This is a very serious matter as once you have chosen a
School; you will be a member of it for life.

“
We will start with,” he looked down at the piece of paper,
“Riley Simpson, age 17, as confirmed by Master Baker this morning.
Please rise and tell us what school you have chosen.”