The Trinity of Heroes (I Will Protect You Book 1) (33 page)

“I am sorry, Master!” Galvan dropped to his knees, pleading with Master Hex for some form of help. “Please help me, I know I am not worthy, but please help me!”

Mason stared at Galvan for a long while as he ruffled his beard and looked at the hedgehog who sat on his shoulder. He said suddenly, “Galvan, I want you to visualize a roaring bonfire.”

Galvan closed his eyes. “Yes, Master, I can see it now.”

“Good, now I want you to visualize a small ball of flame.”

Galvan again did as the man asked, thinking of a simple fireball and nodded. “I have done as you have asked, Master.”

“Good, now keep that image in your mind and stare at the palm of my hand,” Mason instructed. He held out his right palm facing upward.

Galvan stared for a long while, wondering when this would end and when he could move on with his training. He focused for a long time on the man’s hand and on the fireball in his mind. Finally, the faintest of lights began to appear in the palm of Mason’s hand. He continued focusing, and the light gradually grew larger and larger until it was about three inches in diameter. Suddenly, it began to rotate and hover about. A fireball. Galvan had done it. Galvan couldn’t believe it; he had cast a sorcery without any runes, incantations, or other assistance. The energy responded to his will, and Galvan had never in his life felt more alive than he did right at that moment.

“Mmmmmmm,” was Mason’s only response as he ran his left hand through his beard and nodded in approval to Galvan. “Again!”

Galvan continued his training at his master’s order. Galvan started to concentrate just as he did before and another fireball burst forth in the palm of Mason’s hand. Galvan looked up and could see approval in the wise sorcerer’s eyes as he continued his training. He kept right on producing small fireballs, eventually losing count and continuing without reservation. His casting was becoming faster and faster now, with each fireball taking less time to produce and their size becoming larger and larger. Galvan could feel his confidence rising. Time blurred. Hours passed. Days, maybe.

Mason finally spoke, “Now, let’s see you really control your sorceries. I want you to conjure a fireball on the top of each of those falling leaves. I know what you’re going to ask…” He started waving his hands back and forth in front of him. “No, I don’t want you to do it individually; I want you to do each of the leaves in unison. Make it rain fire from the sky, and do it without incinerating the leaves.”

Mason was proud of his challenge, he was enjoying this. He had not seen any other person in hundreds of years, and this new disciple of his was proving to be an able one. He could feel his heart thump for the first time in a long time, since before he had exiled to this place, and it was refreshing. He could sense a new flame being born that day, one that would not soon be extinguished. He felt a powerful energy radiating from within Galvan, something he once felt in himself.

Galvan began to concentrate, holding his hands out in front of him. He pointed each of his fingers in a different direction, almost like an eagle’s talon. He concentrated for a long while, his mind focusing on a coming storm until finally he mustered his strength and ignited the air around them. Each leaf floated to the ground, carefully mounted by a small fireball that twirled with the leaf. There was no contact between flame and leaf, and the balls of flame swished and swayed gently to the rocky floor.

Galvan looked on in disbelief. He had just done something he previously believed to be impossible. Not only did he manage several sorceries without any incantations or runes, but he controlled them to the most precise of movements. “Master, I did it. I actually did it!” A smile came across his face and tears welled up beneath his eyes. “Master, I can’t believe I did it!”

A small smile came across Mason’s face. “Again!” he commanded sternly.

Galvan’s training continued for a long while, until the torches burned out, leaving Galvan and his master standing in total darkness. Galvan waited motionless, speechless, wondering his next task.

Suddenly, Mason ordered, “Well, what are you waiting for, boy? Relight them!”

Galvan stood there in the total darkness, attempting to concentrate on what he wanted to happen. He began to visualize two hundred torches instantly igniting in his mind. He opened his eyes and he was shocked. Light had returned to the dwelling.

“Hahaha!” Mason’s laugh echoed throughout the reclusive area. “That’s how you do it, my little pheasant! I couldn’t be more excited to see your training paying off so immensely. You are ready, Galvan!”

Galvan turned to face him, eyes full of wonder and excitement. “Ready for what, Master?”

“More training, what else?! But first, let’s take a break.”

“A break, Master? But I want to keep training!”

“And you will! But I wish to have a puff o’ twag, my little cottontail. It helps me clear my mind.”

“Twag? You smoke, Master?”

“But of course, and before you say it, I already know you have two pipes on you. Come on, bring them out and hand one to me.”

Galvan removed the two long pipes from a pocket in his robes, unable to comprehend how they were still there. He handed one to Mason Hex. “Sorry, Master, a lot of good this one will do you. It’s wet.”

“Look again, Galvan,” Mason said, waving his hand across the pipe, revealing a bone-dry pipe, packed with a round of twag.

Galvan stared in astonishment; this was truly the work of a powerful sorcerer indeed.

“Shall we smoke, my little chipmunk?”

“Yes!” Galvan responded excitedly. He brought two flames into existence from which they both lit their respective pipes. They both took in a large draw, and smoke filled their mouths and permeated their nostrils as a heavy scent of herbs and grasses filled the air.

Mason’s eyebrows rose as he took another heavy pull on his pipe. “Now this here is one hell of a twag. In all my years, I have never experienced such a fine smoke. Where did you get this?”

Galvan responded with elation in his voice, “I bought it from a local merchant who is a friend of mine. Tirrius even grows his own blends. This is the same stuff I have been smoking for the last seven years. I find this flavor and aroma to be extra enjoyable. I usually smoke it while I’m fishing.”

“Fishing!” Mason nearly leapt out of his seat in excitement. “I used to fish all the time when I was younger. Tell me, where is your favorite place to fish?”

“I fish right under that little bridge just outside of Alacrecia. You know, the old rickety one?”

“Hmmm…no I can’t say I do. Remember, I haven’t been to those lands in a long time, Galvan, since long before you were born. I would even venture to guess since before your father was born. I always used to fish for trout just to the east of Haile, in that little stream.”

Galvan was bursting with energy. “That’s the same stream I fish in,” he shouted. “I bet you probably have fished the same place as me! Master, that is incredible. Just the other morning I caught a huge trout, one that fed both me and…” Galvan paused, reminded of his true reason for being here. He quickly grew depressed as a worried look morphed over his face.

Mason could sense his sadness. “Galvan, let me teach you something new. Watch this.” He drew a very large breath on his pipe, held it in his mouth for a while, and then exhaled. The thick cloud of smoke enveloped Mason Hex completely, and before Galvan knew it, his master was gone. Galvan had just watched his master disappear into a cloud of smoke.

Mason’s voice emanated from the smoke and echoed throughout the cavern. “You see, Galvan, I have made my body one with the smoke, one with the elements. Now, you try. Close your eyes and imagine yourself becoming the smoke, your hands and arms free flowing and loose. You should see yourself as nothing more than a fleeting image, a ripple on the water if you will. You are one with the elements, able to move in any direction.”

Galvan took a large puff on his pipe and continued to inhale, filling his lungs with the smoke. He finally exhaled and the smoke encompassed his surroundings. He closed his eyes and began to imagine his body melding and molding to the shape and consistency of the smoke. He imagined his body floating through the air, hovering above his recent sitting area, soaring through the area without trouble. Just then Galvan realized it; he no longer had his eyes closed. He had changed forms; he was the smoke. Galvan could see the entire area, his view of the surroundings unadulterated by obstacles or other impairments. It was almost as though Galvan had become an invisible observer, able to move unseen from place to place.

“Now imagine yourself standing anywhere that your eyes can see, and you will reappear in your human form,” Mason’s voice called to him. “But be careful, the first couple of times are a little rough.”

Galvan did just that; he imagined himself standing below, next to Mason’s throne. He reappeared, and vomited shortly thereafter.

Master Hex reappeared, sitting back atop his throne. “Now, that was a true display of technique. Shall we do it again, my little green-bellied ice dragon?”

“Yes, Master,” Galvan replied as he recovered from the effects of his body’s transformation.

The two continued to train. An unknown amount of time passed. Galvan focused on every word, every spell that Mason taught him. Galvan’s confidence in his own abilities grew with each successful fireball, ice spear, or lightning bolt that he cast. He learned sorceries that he had never heard of, that he never imagined could have existed. Galvan’s hair grew long and wild, showing signs of graying and fraying. His skin wrinkled.

Finally, after countless hours of training, he looked to his master for guidance and asked, “Master, am I growing older?”

“Of course you are. We have been here for nearly fifty years.”

“Fifty years?! I have been training here for fifty years?”

“Yes, why it seems like just yesterday you were transforming yourself into smoke and lighting my pipe for me. Oh, how the time has passed.”

Mason’s words only meant one thing to Galvan, that he was getting closer to his ultimate goal of returning to his lands to rescue his people. His training continued for days and months as Galvan became stronger and stronger, his stamina and energy increasing each day. Galvan was beginning to master many high-level sorceries.

One day Mason approached him. “Galvan, I only have two lessons left for you, and then your training will be complete and you must return to your lands.”

For the first time since Galvan arrived, he saw Mason shed a tear. The many years they had spent together saw the forging of a strong bond between the two sorcerers. There would be no more twags, no more fishing at streamside. And at the end of it all, Mason had something that he needed of Galvan.

“I am ready, Master!” Galvan said confidently. The many years that had passed in this mysterious hideaway had changed him for the better. Where he was once afraid to embrace his talents, he now had mastered many different types of sorceries.

“Galvan, prepare yourself, for today begins my final lesson.”

Galvan noticed the small hedgehog make its way out from Mason’s robes and onto the ground between them. It began rummaging around for some berries.

“Galvan, you will return to the city of Haile; they are in dire need of your new talents. I have already told you of my wish to see the Everglen restored, and I believe you ready to call on your ultimate power. However, there are a few more tasks for you to complete. Years ago, a great beast was injured by the human race. Since then, this mighty behemoth has harbored a great grudge against them. For your last lesson I wish you to mend his wound. Go to Broken Wing Pass and seek out the legendary Valpherinox; you will find him most contemptuous. Show him that you mean well, and he will fly to the city with you to vanquish this evil. Can you do this, Galvan?” Mason asked.

“There is no question about it, Master, I will complete it immediately,” Galvan said. He stood up and prepared to leave. He turned back to the master sorcerer and saw him staring at the ground, frowning.

Mason breathed heavily and looked up at his apprentice. “Galvan, you must do one more thing. Out of fear that my powers could be corrupted, I do not wish to ever return to your lands in human form. However, I yearn to see their skies once again, that deep blue stretching as far as the eye can see. I need you to help me place the very essence of my being into little Jameson here.” He pointed down to the small hedgehog still foraging about in the berry bushes. “His eyes will be my eyes, and it is through him that I will communicate with you.” Hex motioned for the hedgehog to come to him.

While he was petting his familiar, Galvan said, “What will happen to you, Master?”

“My body will slowly decay and rot away as my friend here becomes a permanent residence for my immortal soul.”

Tears welled up in Galvan’s eyes; he knew what he must do. He would be ending the human life of quite possibly one of the most gifted people in all of Veronicia. It was a great burden for Galvan to bear. He looked up to Mason Hex and their eyes met. “I will do as you ask, Master,” Galvan said reluctantly.

Master Hex placed a hand on Galvan’s shoulder and smiled. “Master Sorcerer Galvan Gabrielle, you are ready.”