Messenger of the Dark Prophet (The Bowl of Souls: Book Two) (6 page)

“I see.” Justan continued to finger the rune. “Professor Locksher I need your help with something.”

“Please, Justan, only call me professor in front of the other students. When we are alone, you can speak to me less formally. Of course I will help if I can. But we do not have much time before I have somewhere to be.”

Justan told the wizard of his encounter during the stamina test at the Training School. Told him how he had been pushed down the steep ravine and had come face to face with the Scralag, a frightening creature tall and thin with teeth like razors. Every once in a while the wizard would prompt him for more detail with a few questions. Justan held nothing back. He hoped that this man could shed some light on what had happened to him.

He then showed Locksher the frost encrusted rune on his chest. It glittered coldly in the torchlight.

“Fascinating,” the wizard said. “Now you say that this Scralag has haunted the hills around Reneul for years?” Justan nodded.
“Exactly how long?”

“I don’t know. The stories say that it has been around for a long time, but it had been quiet for so many years that most of us thought that it was just a myth.”

Locksher began to pace back and forth as he talked. Justan could almost hear his mind working. “So the ghost had been quiet for years . . . When you were close to this Scralag, how did you feel?”

“Scared out of my mind.”

“No, I mean physically.”

Justan hadn’t really given much thought to that. “Well, I remember that when we ran into the Scralag’s territory, the air seemed to grow cooler, and now that I think about it, I was very cold as it touched me.”

“Ah, just as I suspected.
This was no mere ghost that you ran into, but a frost elemental.” He paused for dramatic effect, but saw from Justan’s facial expression, he had no idea what an elemental was. “You see, ghosts can only affect their surroundings to a limited extent. For this being to do what you say, it had to be something more. An elemental is the spirit of a dead wizard that was so powerful that it holds onto its magic even in death. These beings can only be called forth by a very powerful wizard indeed. I would love to get the chance to study one.”

“An elemental . . . So what does that mean for me?” Justan asked.

“We have just learned where your elemental strengths lie, have we not? Despite the fact that your magic is undeveloped, your potential is strong enough that your arrival in the vicinity may have awakened the creature. Do you still have the book that it gave you?” Justan pulled it from within his robes and handed it to the wizard. Locksher examined the cover and his eyebrow rose again. “Excellent! Justan, you have given me quite a puzzle! Things have been pretty boring around here lately. It is hard being a wizard of mysteries when there are no mysteries to be solved.”

Justan was fascinated by the man. Locksher seemed to know just which questions to ask to find the correct answers. In a few mere minutes, the wizard had figured out more than Justan had been able to even guess at in the last several weeks.

Locksher pulled a small instrument out from his robes and passed it over the book.
“Very interesting.
I see that the wizard who did that had a sense of humor.”

“What did you find?”

“This book is powerfully warded against prying eyes. It would make no sense for me to try to read it here. It has a
kenetosia
spell on it.”

“
Kenetosia
?”

“Yes, it makes you dizzy if you try to read it. It gets worse the more you try. Would you mind if I took it back to my office for testing?” the wizard asked.

Justan hesitated. This book was the only clue he had to the origin of the rune on his chest. To give it to a stranger seemed like pure folly. Yet there was something about Locksher that made Justan
want
to trust him. “Please, sir. Take it with you. I need to know what this is about.”

Locksher patted him on the shoulder and gave him a comforting nod. “We have learned a lot today. I will send for you when I get more information. But for now I must leave. I have been so absorbed in your story that I’m late for my next appointment.”

“Sorry about that,” Justan said. The wizard headed for the door and Justan called back to him. “Wait, where am I supposed to go now?”

“You go on to dinner, of course. You need to eat. The test we just ran took a lot out of you. Believe
me,
you will be feeling it soon.”

The wizard left him alone in the room with his colored piece of paper.

Justan followed the wizard out of the building and glanced over to the clock tower. There was still over an hour before it was time to eat. Justan’s stomach growled. Locksher was right. He was famished.

He caught a hint of movement out of the corner of his eye. Justan turned to see a strange figure moving in the manicured grass to the side of the
Testing
Center
. He took a few steps closer to discover that it was a pale, nearly-naked man silently running from bush to bush, trying to attract as little attention as possible. It was working so far, because even with all of the students moving about the grounds, Justan was the only one to notice. Out of curiosity, Justan followed the man behind a hedge. He was about to confront him, when he realized who it was.

“Zambon?”

“
Shh
!” the guard whispered. He was huddled behind the hedge wearing only a thin linen blanket around his waist. His face was wide-eyed and fearful. “Be quiet! She might hear you.”

“What are you doing out here?” Justan asked incredulously.

“That woman, Guernfeldt.
She was coming to give me a bath again. I can’t take it any more. I had to get out of there. I demanded that she bring me my clothes and tried to get past her, but she is just too strong!” Justan couldn’t help but laugh. Zambon scowled in response. “Not funny. When I wouldn’t go back to bed, she just lifted me up with magic and floated me there. Did you know she was a wizardess?”

“I always assumed so.” She was in charge of the infirmary at the
Mage
School
after all. “Why didn’t you just tell her that you would bathe yourself? That’s what I said after the first time, and she left me alone after that.”

“I did! You were there. I’ve been telling her that all week. She just says that my wounds are too severe and it’s against school policy and other nonsense. Justan . . .” His eyes looked like those of a hunted animal. “I think she . . . likes me!”  

“Come on, why would you say that?”

“Did you know that she cleans the sheets magically? If she can do that, why couldn’t she clean the patients magically? Why does she have to use the hands-on approach?”

Justan blanched. Why hadn’t he thought of that? “I have no idea, but I doubt that running off will accomplish anything. You know she’ll just come after you.”

Zambon looked around nervously. “No. If I can get to the guards barracks, I’ll be okay. The guards have authority over their own injured men. If my wounds hadn’t been so serious, I would have been taken there in the first place.”

“Well, she probably knows you’re gone. You’d better hurry.” Zambon continued to make his way stealthily towards the guard barracks and Justan shook his head. “Good luck.”

Justan walked toward the
Rune
Tower
, figuring that he would go to the library and do some studying until it was time to eat. But as he neared the center of the grounds with the clock tower and the fountains around it, he changed his mind. He was tired and he didn’t feel like reading. Justan sat down on a bench under a tree by a fluttering fountain. 

He leaned back against the rough bark of the tree and yawned. He reached down into his mind, searching for the bundle of thoughts and emotions that was Gwyrtha. She was waiting in the forest with the elves. The distance between them made the bond quite faint, but he had found that with practice, it was getting easier to communicate.

He hadn’t contacted her in a few days and as soon as his mind touched hers, he was bombarded by a rush of happiness. Gwyrtha greeted him like an eager puppy whose master had come home, giving him the mental equivalent of sloppy kisses. Justan responded with just as much enthusiasm. He hadn’t realized how lonely he had felt in this place even with his new friends.

On the surface, Gwyrtha was a monster; a patchwork mix of horse and lizard and perhaps even several other creatures. When he had first seen her, Justan had been terribly frightened, but he soon learned that at heart she was as sweet as she could be. Justan still wasn’t sure what she was, or where she came from. Lenny had called her a rogue horse, whatever that meant. He only knew that the elves had told him that she was a rare creature and that her existence was to be kept a secret, even from the wizards.

Though he had only known Gwyrtha for a short while, she was a part of him. They were like family. Besides their magical connection, they were also bonded by mutual love and respect. Justan didn’t know why this was so. Perhaps it was because their mental connection was so intimate. There was no way to hide through the bond. She was the only being he knew who truly knew who he was. Gwyrtha knew all of his innermost feelings and desires and still loved him despite it. That was true friendship.

 It took a lot of mental concentration for him to hold open the link. The testing Locksher had put him through had so drained Justan, that he had to cut their visit short and soon he reluctantly said goodbye.

As her presence faded back into the recesses of his mind, he wondered if their unique connection had anything to do with his magic ability. He had never before heard of a bond like the one they shared and since their bonding, he had noticed a great increase in both stamina and agility, two things that his body had been sorely lacking. Were these side effects a direct manifestation of
his own
magical ability or was it something that had come from her?

After pondering a moment, Justan decided that since he couldn’t ask the wizards about the bond, he would just have to research it himself. He stood up and trudged towards the library. He couldn’t believe that he was this tired and it wasn’t even dinnertime. Was every day at the
Mage
School
going to be like this?

Chapter Four

The next several months flew by for Justan. The awkwardness that he felt when he first entered the
Mage
School
faded quickly and he settled into a routine. Justan knew that his time in the school was short and he was determined to make the most of it.

He packed his day full of activities, leaving himself practically no idle time. This amazed the other students, impressed the teachers, and worried his friends. They were afraid that he was going to burn himself out.

Every day he awoke before the sun rose and left for his morning exercise. There had been some difficulty at first. His plan was to run ten miles a day, but the paths by the front gates of the school were much too curvy and crossed over themselves so much, that it was hard to measure how far he had run. A much better idea soon presented itself.

One of the professors told Justan that the wall bordering the school was two miles around. With the help of Riveren and Zambon, he was able to get permission from the captain of the guards to run up along the top of the wall. The path was level and wide enough for him to pass the patrolling guards without interfering with their duties.

Justan’s next problem was the school dress code. All students were required to wear robes while inside the school and they had to be kept presentable. If a student had a physical duty that required a lot of sweat and dirt, he was allowed to have one set of work robes that did not have to be kept in immaculate condition. After a few mornings tripping over his robes every step of the way, Justan realized that he was going to have to find a way to get around the rules.

He spoke with Professor Beehn about the problem and got more than he bargained for.

“Your robes don’t do you much good when running, eh?” The portly wizard smiled and leaned back in his chair. “The rules are unbending when it comes to the dress code. However, in this particular case there is some gray area. You see, technically, though owned by the
Mage
School
, the wall is not part of the school grounds.”