Seven Words of Power (2 page)

She knew she had to scan the book swiftly so that she could return it and leave. Her breath quickened and her heart raced with excitement as she opened the diary and started flicking through the pages, her eyes straining in the feeble light cast by her ring. A lot of it was familiar – Evora had studied Maya endlessly in the Academy Library – but there was much that was not. Evora lost track of time as she read, and then she came to a section that made her draw in her breath.

Maya Pallandor proudly mentioned the enchantment that “required only seven words of power”, saying that she hid it “under the bed” where no one except her could find it, “guarded by the watchful eyes of my old master”.

Maya then started to explain the demonstration she had given, but Evora looked up.

She could hear boots on the hard floor. Someone was approaching.

Evora hurried to replace the book inside the glass case, wincing as it shut with a clang. She whispered the sequence that would again ward the case.

She then looked on with dismay as the runes on her ring faded.

Evora had left it activated for too long. The ring wasn’t made for reading; it was there to reveal the wards, and now its power was depleted.

Evora would need to dodge the invisible lines that barred exit from memory.

The sound of approaching footsteps grew louder. Evora closed her eyes and made a quick prayer, her chest rising and falling with her fear as she imagined what would happen if they caught her here.

Evora ducked and weaved, expecting to hear the shriek of the alarms at any moment, waiting for the room to light up as she touched a ward. With a great leap she jumped over where she imagined the last ward line to be, and then she was free.

Her dress as black as a shadow, Evora waited silently against the wall near the gallery doorway until the guard passed. Then she was down the carpeted stairs and out the Green Tower.

Under the bed… Watchful eyes of her old master…

Evora had a new riddle to solve.

~

Evora found Master Zoran in his workroom. “I told you I didn’t want to see you,” he said, not looking up from whatever it was he was working on.

“I need your help with something,” Evora said.

“No, Evora,” Master Zoran said flatly. “I’m not helping you with anything.”

“It’s not related to the contest,” Evora tried again.

Master Zoran raised a shaggy eyebrow. “Not related to the contest? I would have thought you’d be hard at work, Evora Guinestor.”

“I am,” Evora said.

“You only have two days,” Master Zoran said.

“I know, Master Zoran. I just need to know something for my research. Do you know where Maya Pallandor’s sleeping chambers were?”

Master Zoran looked at her with a quizzical squint. “A perfectly normal question,” he said sardonically. He sighed. “What period?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Maya Pallandor slept in various student lodgings when she was young, whereas when she was High Enchantress she slept in her chambers at the Crystal Palace.”

Evora frowned. “When she was High Enchantress… that’s the period I’m interested in. Do you know if she ever slept near her old teacher, Master Garlan?”

Master Zoran opened his mouth and closed it. “Evora, I’m not sure what scandalous rumors they’re putting out these days, but the love Maya Pallandor bore her old master was nothing but honorable. Maya had a great respect for him, and when he died, just after she was made High Enchantress, she had that statue made in his honour. Now,” he said, “what is this about?”

“Nothing,” she said. “I have to go now. I’ll see you in two days.”

Evora had an idea.

~

Master Garlan was a wise-looking old man with a beard and a flowing robe draped over his body. On his breast, the symbol of Altura — the sword and flower — was beautifully stylized; the stonemasons had done a wonderful job. Evora wondered how much extra effort they had gone to at Maya Pallandor’s insistence.

The statue was worn, but the master’s eyes were stern and watchful. Maya had probably made sure the statue captured something of her memories of her old master.

Master Garlan stood above a fountain, in the centre of a grove of trees not far from the sandstone buildings of the Academy of Enchanters. From some unseen source, water filled an upper pool at the statue’s base, the run-off spilling down a series of smaller pools, finally flowing along a narrow canal, about a foot wide and deep, paved and walled with stone. At the end of the canal the water turned down a further series of steps before ending up at the largest pool of all, far beneath the statue’s base. Somehow it all made its way back to the top, where the cycle started again.

Evora looked up at the statue’s eyes and her breath caught. Master Garlan was looking at a particular part of the stone canal.

“Under the bed,” she muttered to herself. “Guarded by the watchful eyes of the old master.”

Evora walked to where the statue was gazing. Here the water followed its level path, hemmed in by stone on either side. She sat on the canal's low wall and peered down into the water. Some passing girls in the green woolen dresses of students looked at her curiously, but Evora was a full enchantress, apprenticed to a master, and she was allowed to do odd things.

Evora lifted her dress above her knees and hopped over the wall, standing now in the flow of the water, feeling it cool on her calves. Evora thought she could see some symbols on one of the fitted stones that paved the stream, but looking through the water as she was, she couldn’t be sure.

How could she find out if there was something under the riverbed? She obviously had to remove the water, yet as far as Evora knew, the fountain had been flowing for hundreds of years. She didn’t think it would be possible to turn it off, or if there would be anyone alive who would know how. What would she say to them, anyway?

She would have to come up with a better way.

~

The next day, Evora returned to the fountain carrying a polished metal rod, covered with arcane symbols. She was eager to try out the object she’d spent all night working on

As she approached, Evora glanced at the place in the canal where the frowning eyes of Master Garlan pointed the way. However instead of heading down to the canal, she climbed up to the statue’s base until she was close to the water of the uppermost pool. She still couldn’t see how the water from below was carried up to this pool, but she hoped it wouldn’t matter.

Evora spoke ten words and the tip of the rod in her hand turned blue. Hoping that the enchantment she had created would work, Evora touched the surface of the pool with the rod.

Instantly, the water froze.

Evora could see new water start to well on top of the frozen pool, but the water ran over the hard ice and spilled over the sides instead of flowing into the canal below. She had time, but not much.

Evora climbed back down, following the little canal. Already the water level was dropping as the water from the canal drained to the lower pool without being replaced. Evora’s heart raced as she watched the level continue to fall, until finally the stones of the canal’s floor were exposed to the air.

Again Evora climbed into the canal, and she could now see that there were definitely symbols on one of the stone blocks between her feet. Under Master Garlan’s stern gaze she crouched and peered down at the flat block, perhaps six inches on each side, desperate to translate the runes and find the activation sequence before the water returned to the canal.

With a surge of triumph, Evora knew she had it.

She said the words.

At first nothing happened. Then, as Evora looked down, the block began to sink. As it disappeared further into the ground she could see a space open up. The block stopped moving, and Evora quickly felt into the space.

Her hand found paper, and Evora withdrew a single scroll, old, but dry and undamaged.

Before the returning water could enter the space Evora spoke the words to move the stone block back into place. She didn’t know how Maya had dealt with the water, but it no longer mattered. She had found the scroll.

But Evora knew that with her demonstration at noon the next day and no knowledge at all about what was in the scroll, she would need to apply herself like she never had before.

~

The three apprentices stood in the centre of the Great Court, waiting for Master Zoran to tell them who would be the first to give his or her demonstration.

In his green enchanter’s robe, Barrick looked like he was trying not to appear nervous and failing miserably. Next to Barrick was a trough filled with water, evidently required for the demonstration he was about to give.

Jostin stood next to Barrick, also in his rune-covered robe, a smug expression on his face. Whatever he intended to show seemed to have gone well. Jostin held a plain grey sack in his hands, and Evora couldn’t help but wonder what was in it.

Evora had her hands clasped in front of her green enchantress’s dress. She knew she had bags under her eyes, and she clenched her jaw when a yawn threatened to break out, horrified at the impression that would give Master Zoran.

“Barrick,” Master Zoran said. “Why don’t you go first?”

Barrick indicated Jostin and Evora should step back. The apprentice then put his hand in his robe and withdrew a shining wooden rod. Evora could see a great amount of effort had gone into the rod; it was covered in symbols from one end to the other. Without meaning to, she started to see where she could improve the design.

“Remember,” Master Zoran said. “The most powerful enchantment with the fewest words to call forth its power.”

Barrick spoke twelve words, and the top half of the rod turned blue. He touched it to the water in the trough, and after the count of two breaths, the water grew opaque and solidified. As they looked on, the water turned to ice. Barrick looked up triumphantly.

“Impressive, Enchanter Barrick,” Master Zoran said.

“That’s not all,” Barrick said.

He raised the rod once more and said twelve different words. The top half of the rod changed color, shifting hue from blue to red. Barrick put the rod against the ice in the trough and, though it took longer this time, after a few moments cracks appeared in the ice as it started to melt. As Barrick’s audience watched, steam rose from the water, even as the last of the ice melted. Finally the water began to bubble as it boiled.

“Well done, Barrick,” Master Zoran said. “You may deactivate the rod now. Very impressive." Barrick blushed as Master Zoran gazed at his other two apprentices. "Who would like to be next?”

“I’ll go,” Jostin said, reaching into his grey sack.

Jostin pulled out a white cloak. Evora could see a multitude of tiny silver runes covering its surface – even she was impressed.

Jostin said ten words and suddenly where the cloak had been there was nothing, even though Evora could see that it must still be there; some weight still dragged on Jostin’s hand.

Jostin whirled, spinning the cloak up and around his body. In an instant, only his head could be seen. Squinting, Evora struggled to see the faintest outlines of glowing symbols and some of the cloak's folds.

“A cloak of shadow,” Master Zoran said. “Very impressive. Excellent coverage, too. Enchanter Jostin: I have never heard of ten words being sufficient to activate an enchantment such as this without it soon depleting. Well done.”

Jostin smiled and threw out his arm. The cloak opened up and spun forward, landing to envelope Barrick’s steaming trough.

With his masterpiece now vanished, Barrick angrily tapped the rod onto his palm, looking as if he wished it were Jostin’s head.

“Enchantress Evora?” Master Zoran said.

Evora reached into the pocket of her dress and took out the small black wand. She’d made it out of obsidian, and the symbols were even smaller than those Barrick and Jostin had used, yet the arrangements were so efficient that Evora hadn’t even had to cover the wand’s entire surface.

She drew in a shaky breath. This was her chance. In emulation of Maya Pallandor, becoming a master was what she'd spent her entire lifetime to do.

Evora pointed the wand at the rod in Barrick’s hand. She spoke the seven words of power. “
Asta-luna-dilara-tolia-muliari-agira-lorna
.”

The symbols on the wand flared, hot and sudden, but then gone as quickly as they came.

Nothing happened. Barrick looked at his rod curiously.

“Evora, was something supposed to happen?” Master Zoran said slowly.

“Try to use the rod,” Evora said.

Barrick spoke the twelve words to make the rod blue. Nothing happened. Frowning, he changed the inflections, saying them a little differently. Still nothing. He said the twelve words that would turn the rod’s tip red. Still nothing.

“I didn’t know such a thing was possible,” Master Zoran muttered.

Evora turned to where Jostin had thrown the cloak of shadow over the trough. She again spoke the seven words of power and pointed her wand.

The cloak reappeared, draped over the trough. Jostin picked up the white garment angrily, saying the ten words that would activate the cloak.

Nothing happened. It was once again just a piece of material.

“Do you have any idea how long I spent working on that?” Jostin rounded on Evora angrily.

“Enchanter Barrick, Enchanter Jostin, please leave us,” Master Zoran said. “I need to speak with Enchantress Evora alone.”

The two apprentices glared at Evora as they departed.

“How did you do it?” Master Zoran asked.

“I had some help,” Evora said. “I found one of Maya Pallandor’s scrolls.”

“Show me.”

~

Master Zoran looked up from the scroll. “This is all you had to go by?” He shook his head. “Typical of Maya, she only tells half the story.”

Evora shrugged. “Once I knew it could be done, it was just a matter of figuring it out.”

“You have a rare gift,” Master Zoran said. He sighed. “But I want you to know, I am going to name Jostin my successor. And,” he said, peering at her in the way that he did, “from now on we won’t be working together any more.”