Rising of a Mage (6 page)

Anwar had now been in the guild for two months and Master Gabriel said it was time for him to start learning basic magic. “We will start off by practicing practical magic. Things you can use to make your day-to-day task easier, such as making light, which you have already figured out, and making fire. For the next ten days we will practice this and you will master these two skills. The more you work magic, the more your body will become accustomed to it. Just like a muscle, the more you work it, the stronger it becomes and the more you are capable of.” Anwar’s face showed no emotion but he was extremely excited. “So for the next four days we will concentrate on light. You know how to make light, but now you must learn to control it. Remember, one of the greatest mistakes made in the use of magic is to try to manipulate it. Do not force magic to do what you want but guide it. In doing so, you lessen the effect it has on you. The better control you have over the magic, the less it will drain energy from you.” To Anwar, manipulate and guide magic sounded like the same thing but somehow he knew exactly what his teacher was saying. So for the next four days Anwar made light: he made it brighter to illuminate a ring around him, made it illuminate a room and even made a beam of light in front of him. He practised and tried different uses for light in his own room, away from his teacher. On the fourth day Master Gabriel tested his aptitude. He asked for a beam of light and Anwar made a beam of white light to the end of the room then dimmed it. Master Gabriel nodded and then asked for a ring of light and he did the same, starting dim this time, then brighter, and expanded the ring until it reached the walls. Master Gabriel asked him to illuminate the room and then with light coming in all directions so there was no shadow in the room. “Good, it seems that you have mastered the use of light.”

“I can do more,” Anwar stated.

“Ah well, these are the only things I have taught you, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. What else have you figured out?”

Anwar made one area across the room light up but not illumine any other part of the room, then he changed the light from white to yellow to red to blue then green and purple. Then that area of light moved, without changing size, all across the room and, as he changed it back to white, it rotated and instead of illuminating from floor to ceiling, it illuminated wall to wall. Then he put the light out.

“And you continue to impress and surpass all expectations, Anwar. You have shown true control. I have no doubt you could use light for any purpose you chose. I do believe we are more than ready to move on.” Master Gabriel lead Anwar to a small fire pit outside filled with logs, and they sat down. “Now, Anwar, I will explain something you may have discovered for yourself. What we are doing is mastery of magic. Light and fire can be accomplished with spells along with anything else. What we are doing is simply guiding the flow of magic to a purpose so that no words or spells are required. Again, as you progress, many of the things we learn will be spells, but first we will master the things we can.”

Anwar nodded. He had read enough to know what they were doing. Master Gabriel then waved a hand over the fire pit and it burst into flame. When he snapped his fingers the fire was gone. He explained to Anwar how he used the magic as heat to create fire. “Anwar, you will the fire as you do the light. Once you have made the fire, however, it is just a normal fire unless you continue to will it magical. Putting out the fire is different; you have to know how the fire works—what will make it not fire anymore. Fire needs air so you use the magic to take away the air and the fire is gone, or you can use water, but—”

“That’s more of a mess,” Anwar cut in.

“Yes, you are correct, Anwar. I think I will leave you to it. Once you have mastered making the fire and putting it out, work on controlling the size of the fire. There is a box of candles in my study; when you are ready come get them and practice lighting the wick of the candle.” He whisked out of the room and left Anwar alone. So he made a blue flame appear in the fire pit like the one he had made in his palm for his parents, but it was just a light. Then he willed the flame to life with heat and the burn pit was on fire. The first couple of attempts to suffocate the fire caused it to falter but not go out completely. Then he figured it out and, once he had, it was a simple thing to do. He spent the next hour making fire and then putting it out, starting it big, then smaller and putting it out. After a few hours of starting and putting out all sizes of fire, his clothes were soaked in sweat and he was exhausted. He went to his room, bathed, and was asleep the moment his head touched his pillow.

Mariah waited in the courtyard for over an hour; she sparred with a couple of the guards but they were no longer a struggle for her, as dealing with both ends of Anwar’s staff made it much easier to deal with a sword. After the hour passed, she began to get worried. She had met Anwar here ever day after their studies and he was almost always there waiting for her when she arrived. He was often reading one of his books. Now he had not shown up. Anwar was her best friend—her only friend. Was he more than a friend? Why hadn’t he come? I hope he isn’t upset with me for something, she thought. But that’s not like Anwar; there must be some reason.

So she went to Master Gabriel’s study. There were only two places he would be—there or his room. But then, he wouldn’t be in his room and not have come. He wasn’t in Headmaster Gabriel’s study and the door to his office was open and no one was in there. So she went to his room. She knocked but there was no answer. She cracked the door and became furious. She had been waiting for him for over an hour, searching everywhere, and he was taking a nap. She threw the door open, but he didn’t wake up. She went to his bed and shook him angrily. “Anwar, Anwar, wake up! He opened one eye, and then he just smiled at her. She wanted to be angry but that smile… how could she be angry with him? “You were supposed to meet me an hour ago.”

There was less anger in her voice then she intended.

“I’m sorry, Riah. I was working magic all afternoon and it must have drained me more than I thought.” She wanted to be angry with him, but she couldn’t; he really seemed exhausted. A single tear ran down her cheek and she threw her arms around him.

“you’re my best friend, Anwar. I was worried something had happened to you.”

He hugged her back. “Sorry, Riah,” he said, and then exhaustion took over and he was asleep again.

Anwar woke early like he always did. Mariah was asleep in his arms. It felt strangely comfortable, like it was somehow right. The only other person he had ever had in his bed was his little sister when the storms scared her. He woke her.

“Hey, Riah, you want to see what I was doing all day?”

She lay in his arms and looked up into his eyes, and then she realized what he had just said and sat up. “Are you serious? You’ve never shown me magic. Of course, I want to see. And how come you keep calling me Riah? I thought you were just tired last night?”

“I don’t know. Would you like me to stop?”

“No. I guess I like it, but I don’t want anyone else calling me that.”

Anwar smiled. “Come on.”

Mariah was still wearing the same clothes from last night, but he was just wearing some thin pants he wore when he was in his room so he went to the corner of his room to a shelf were his pants and shirts were folded and grabbed a pair of pants. Mariah pretended to look away as he took his bed clothes off and put the new pants on. She felt a twinge of disappointment that he was wearing small clothes. Then he started to turn around and she looked away for real. He grabbed a V cut shirt that was meant to hang loosely off the body, but it was tight against his. Mariah felt her heart speed up.

Anwar led Mariah out to one of the burn pits and filled it with timber. He lit the fire and then put it out. He did this a couple of times and he could see the excitement on her face. “This is not why I was so exhausted,” he said. She looked at him with confusion. “Master Gabriel told me of another fire that was for experienced wizards and we would work with it later. A magical flame.” He did not tell her that he had mastered the basic flame after only a few minutes and could make it do whatever he wanted, or that he would have gone to fetch the candles soon after Master Gabriel had left him, if it would not have made him look conceited. He was saving that till maybe tomorrow. Anwar went to an empty fire pit; there was nothing in it but stone.

“Anwar, are you sure you should?”

The empty fire pit filled with flame and she could feel the heat coming from it.

“At first this was draining me a lot but now I don’t have to force it. I have figured out how to guide it and it’s a smooth flow back and forth now.” She smiled. “I don’t know what that means, but it’s amazing.” Then the fire started to dance and jumped out of the pit. She jumped back and looked back to Anwar who gave her a contorted smile. She could still feel the heat from the fire but it was not burning the grass.

“You were doing this last night?”

“No there were too many people walking by where I was last night. The wizards who walked by didn’t even know I was using magical flames. I kept them in the pit with the wood so it just looked like I was making regular fire to ignite the wood.”

She looked back at the flames and they began to dance again, shaping letters—RIAH. She smiled, stepped next to him and took his hand in hers. The flames went out and when she looked up she was staring into his eyes.

Very softly he said, “That is why I missed our session last night, but I think it will be very useful to us when we leave here and are travelling the world together.”

Neither of them had ever mentioned doing anything of the sort, but they had both thought about it. And then he leaned down, put his arms around her and put his lips to hers. Her heart raced, her blood boiled and her head went dizzy. He took his lips from hers and she just stayed there. With arms wrapped around each other, she lay her head on his chest.

Gabriel watched the whole event transpire from his office. He often worried his young apprentice would push himself too far, but he was quickly realizing that his apprentice was going to push himself right past him and be on his way to a more capable master in a short time. With a smile, he went back to his desk to deal with far more menial tasks.

Chapter Five

A Pair

A
nwar woke in the morning, went for his run, came back, washed, and stopped in the commons to eat something on his way to Master Gabriel’s study. They talked about the book that Anwar was currently studying. Master Gabriel had insisted he work on one book at a time, saying there were more than enough topics in one book to discuss. So their mornings were spent with Anwar studying and discussing different topics with his teacher. Gabriel was amazed at how much he learned in these discussions and how often his apprentice had proven one of his conclusions on a topic to be incorrect. In the afternoon they would work on new magic practice. Anwar had magic and they showed each other different ways they had learned to change the magic to do something different. Anwar continued to push himself, and the only time he wasn’t studying was when he was training with Mariah or during meal times, which he now spent with Mariah, as well. Anwar was training with Mariah; he was better now than she was. He figured he won about eighty percent of the time. But, as they were training that day, she was working very hard, scoring a lot more hits then he thought she normally did and he thought maybe it was more like sixty-forty. After two hours of sparring with each other, Mariah worked some minor healing spells and healed them both, removing all the bruises and soreness. Feeling exhausted but relieved, they headed back inside. They went to their separate rooms, washed and changed, and met in the commons for the evening meal.

“I have been thinking about going hunting again,” Mariah said.

“Yes” he replied.

“Yes, what?”

“I’ll go with you,” he said, without looking up from his meal.

“And who said I would take you with me.”

“No choice—you go, I go.”

She smiled. “Thank you. Anwar.” She paused and then said, “Do you remember when you talked about us leaving Kampar together? Were you serious?”

He looked up this time. “If you want. We both plan to leave this place, and, in a few years, we will have exceeded what Kampar has to offer. Besides we both want to see the realms, and who better to go with than my best friend, who just happens to be studying to be a priest of healing and isn’t the worst with a bow.”

“The worst? I’m the best here in the guild and I can outshoot most of the tower guards in the city.”

Anwar laughed. “yes, yes, I know. You never seem to let me forget how accomplished you are.” He laughed again. She liked it when he laughed. He did not often show emotion and, when he did, it made her feel like he trusted her enough to open up around her. It had been six months since that night in the woods and now they were going back. Both of them.

His family came to the city about twice a month. Mariah always went with him. There had been two occasions when they had not gone in the six months he has been with the guild and he honestly believed his mother was never going to let him forget it. There was one time when Mariah couldn’t make it and he went only, and they seemed more disappointed then, than if he hadn’t come at all. Today Mariah came with him. His brother had a new girlfriend and everyone was teasing him about it. And then it happened. His mother said, “So what is it with you two? Are you going to pretend you’re just friends or are you going to stop wasting time and be honest with yourselves. Everyone knows there’s something there.”