The Sorcerer's Quest (5 page)
Unfortunately, that didn’t even slow him down. “
That
is another reason that we shouldn’t be here. Nothing good ever comes of
divination
.”
“Of what?” I asked.
“
Never mind
.”
By the time we made it down the hill, I was sweating
in my thick sorcerer robes and using my sorcerer’s staff a little too roughly.
Fortunately, I had left my bag and wand at the castle. It felt weird not having
them on me, but Merlin said they detracted from the sorcerer image as much as
my hair and eye color.
The tents were so cramped and open to allow air flow
that I could see multiple events at once. I knew once the competitions began
that the tents would close to cut out the sound. People who were local and
recognized my family by the emblem on my robe gave me lots of space. Others
spotted Merlin and decided that something on the opposite end of the event was
desperately interesting.
Traders traveled the world and were well-respected,
but some focused on trading magical items. Since wizards and sorcerers were
basically stationary, they were not typically targets of traders. Thus, they
focused on the novelty of magic, and there were no better examples of that than
the tournaments of seers, shapeshifters, and magicians.
Traders usually followed these tournaments all year,
but people had to be careful when buying from them since some were not part of
the guild. It was dangerous buying from a private trader, because they could
steal something potentially lethal and sell it to someone else without proper
instructions. This was particularly worrisome when it came to curses and
grimoires.
And they knew how to display their wares. Lightning
struck the ground right in front of me, but I ignored it. They could sell
enough magic to make anyone feel like a wizard or sorcerer, yet I was only
interested in finding something that could help me defeat Magnus.
Still, I couldn’t stop myself from pausing at several
tents to observe random people hearing about their fame and fortunes, even if
it wasn’t true. After all, no one paid to hear they were going to die soon or
lose all their riches. The competitions themselves were much bolder. A seer
once told a person he was going to die in a horrific and terrible way before
the end of the day. He had a heart attack from fear and died.
When I told Merlin, his demeanor soured. He really
didn’t like seers.
Because there were so many people, I didn’t sense that
I was being followed until I felt a gentle tug on my sleeve. I turned and
jumped back to avoid the sharp horn of a unicorn… again. “What are you doing
here?” I asked, realizing as I said it that it was the same unicorn from the
other village. The unicorn tossed his head and nickered.
“
He came for you. He must think you need his help
,”
Merlin said. “
Would you care to explain what you did to make this unicorn
like you so much
?”
“I didn’t do anything. Please go away! I don’t need
any help.” The unicorn tossed his head again and pranced away. I continued
walking without another word to Merlin.
“Can I interest you in a leash for your wolf?” a
trader asked, stopping in front of me so suddenly that I had to brace myself on
Merlin. Since Merlin advanced on the man with a vicious snarl on his face, it
looked like I was just trying to hold Merlin back.
“Have you ever tried to put a leash on a wolf?” I
asked.
With his eyes wide, he looked like he wanted to bolt.
“No. I’ve never even seen a real wolf.”
“That’s because the people who try to leash wolves
are eaten.” The words were barely out of my mouth before he vanished into the
crowd.
I stopped at an information booth and studied the
schedule. There were mostly shows going on, none of which were helpful, and the
traders rotated throughout the grounds. I considered looking for some explosive
powders, but that stuff had a history of exploding in its owner’s pockets.
Besides, I definitely didn’t think I could
blow
the wizard up.
“What about an invisibility spell?” I asked, turning
to Merlin. Only, the wolf wasn’t there. “Merlin?” I called, glancing around.
When he didn’t immediately appear, I turned back to the charts that were nailed
all over the walls of the booth. I wasn’t terribly worried; Merlin was a wolf
with wizard knowledge, so he was certainly safe. Plus, if he wasn’t, he could
talk in my head. As for me, it wasn’t my first time at places like this.
Therefore, I wasn’t worried.
That was, until I heard two very familiar voices.
I turned and my heart dropped into my stomach.
Zeustrum and Bevras were standing so close to me that I could have poked them
with my staff. For the moment, they were too busy arguing with each other to
see me.
Bevras and Zeus braided their hair the same, wore the
same clothes, and carried identical swords. The only way to tell them apart was
by the scar Bevras had on his right cheek. They both looked like our father
except for their eyes, which were the same burgundy color that all Dracre had,
yet neither of them had my father’s ability to exert his dominance with a
single glare. That was just an excuse for them to use violence instead.
Zeustrum had a dangerous mixture of patience and vileness. He devised the most
ingenious, sinister plots and could wait years for them to fall into place.
Bevras, on the other hand, jumped headfirst into
every fight. It was said that the only reason Bevras was born second was
because he fought during the entire event. He tried to challenge our father and
that was why he had the scar. Our father humiliated Bevras in scarring him
because the twins were always distinguishable afterwards. Zeus never treated
his twin the same again.
I acted on instinct; I ran backwards until I hit a
solid wall. Then I turned slightly, keeping my eyes on them, and ran backwards again.
My back came up against a tent and since the wall was
cloth, I fell against it. Apparently, there was a flap there, because I landed
inside the tent. Something hard and pointy broke my fall, but part of the tent
collapsed on top of me. I struggled to climb to my feet. Right before I could
pick up my staff and decide on a direction to go in, I felt a knife press
against my back.
“Explain yourself.”
“You don’t fool me, sorcerer. Did another seer hire
you to sabotage me?” It was a harsh, angry, female voice.
“No, honestly, I don’t even know who you are.”
If
only I could reach my staff
.
I contemplated trying to make a grab for it, and
thought better of it. It didn’t matter how great or terrible I was in magic
when she had a dagger to my back and I didn’t have any magical weapons. While I
could technically do lesser magic without any tools, I never had much practice.
That was more of a wizard thing.
As if it knew my plight, the staff started trembling
like it was trying to muster up enough power to rise up.
Come on. You can do
it. Please come to me
. The dagger dug harder into my back and my staff went
still as panic set in. “Please don’t hurt me. I just want to walk out of here
alive.”
The dagger moved away slightly. “I have never heard a
sorcerer beg before.” There was a tense silence for a moment before the dagger
disappeared altogether. “Ayden?”
I turned and gaped. “Dessa?” The seer was as tall as
my mother, but pretty much the opposite of her in every other way. She had long
white hair and kind blue eyes. Her face, while symmetrical and pleasant, was
soft and pale. Even her lips were unpainted. She wore a simple, white dress
with see-through sleeves and silver slippers.
“I thought I told you to stop coming to these
events,” she said, trying and failing to sound harsh. I easily heard the
concern in her warm voice.
Dessa was one of the rare seers who took on
apprentices and that was the only reason she went to tournaments. She was a
true master of the art, but she didn’t fit into the stereotypes. When her eyes
turned solid white, I picked up my staff.
“Ayden,” she said softly, with even more concern.
I didn’t bother speaking back to her because she
wasn’t actually talking to me. While her sight was active, she was blind and
deaf to the mortal realm. She could see my soul, my past and future, but not
what I was doing at the time. This was what made her so unique; she could go
far deeper into her magic than probably any other seer in the world, but it was
dangerous. When she was a child, she had gone into a vision and couldn’t close
her sight for three years. Unfortunately, although she saw her parents’ deaths
and knew how to stop them, she couldn’t bring herself out in time to warn them.
I took the time to look around. Her tent was very
dark, as always, but I didn’t see any indication that her apprentice was with
her.
Where is he
? Dessa was never supposed to be alone. A lot of people
wanted her dead and during her visions was the perfect time to strike.
“You have quite the adventure ahead of you,” Dessa
said, finally coming out of it.
“I’m going to defeat Magnus, the great wizard, and
prove to my family that I’m a real sorcerer.”
“Your plans have never gone as you expected.”
“But I’ve never been so willing to work hard before.
Mother will kill me if I don’t prove myself.”
“There is more than one way to skin a cat,” she said.
“She’s going to skin me?!”
She sighed. “I knew the first time I met you that you
were something special. Unfortunately, if I tell you outright what your fate
is, you will make the wrong choices. Even my powers are limited. I can see what
you are meant to do and the consequences of your choices, but not which choice
you will make, because you still have time to change your future. All I can
tell you is to be true to your heart and let Merlin guide you. He already knows
what you must do and he may be the only one who can help you achieve your
potential.”
That was actually the clearest information I had ever
gotten from Dessa. “And one of these choices leads to Mother skinning me?”
“One of the paths you face will lead to your mother
killing you, yes. Trust Merlin and follow your heart.”
“Sorcerers don’t follow their hearts. We have to be
conniving and ambitious at all times.”
“Why?”
“Because… reasons. I’ll try to listen to Merlin, but
I still don’t want to hurt anyone. I know I can be ruthless and dangerous like
my family without killing people or stealing from people who don’t have
anything to begin with.”
“You give your family too much credit. There is one
more thing I can tell you, however. What you seek is in the Island of Light.”
“That’s where Magnus is? Where is the Island of
Light?”
“Find a traveler who knows.”
I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? I’m in a hurry. Can’t
you just use your seer magic and tell me? If my brothers get there first---”
“Magnus’s castle is not easy to find. It goes
wherever it wants to go. You can walk endlessly in every direction and never
find him. Think of it as a journey instead of a destination.”
I sensed something approaching me. It was powerful,
ancient even, and definitely not my brothers. Being able to sense someone was
new to me, yet before I could figure out how I developed this ability, Merlin
appeared through the flap. It was him I had sensed, so I figured it was related
to hearing his words in my mind.
“
I think I have found a way to disguise your hair
temporarily without the use of a magician, which will be unaffected by your
magic
.” There was a white cloth sack tied around his neck.
“How temporarily?”
I could feel his disapproving frown in my mind. “
Did
you run into trouble already
?” he asked, looking pointedly at Dessa.
“Yes, I did. My brothers are out there. This is
Dessa. I met her at a seers’ tournament a few years back. She’s a friend.
Dessa, as you know, this is Merlin. He’s a wizard, but he’s from a world where
wizards aren’t just good and he’s training me to be a sorcerer.”
“
You have seer friends
?” Merlin asked,
unimpressed.
“Of course. Just because we don’t do the same kind of
magic doesn’t mean we can’t help each other. My mother says it’s not right, but
she might be a little behind the times.”
Merlin sighed, which he seemed to be doing more and
more as he got to know me. “
I have my work cut out for me
.” He didn’t
say anything more when he saw Dessa’s eyes, as she had gone back into her
visions.
It was extremely unsettling, but I felt like it was a
little rude to stare. Before I could say anything, it was over. “I know who
cursed you and how,” Dessa said to Merlin.
The wolf’s face became even more serious. “
Ayden,
please leave the room
.”
“Why?”
“
This is a private matter and I would rather hear
it alone if she has anything of value to tell me
.”
“But she can’t hear you speak.”
“
Unlike you, young sorcerer, I am able to listen
without speaking
.”
“What about my brothers?”
“
Ayden
,” he groaned tiredly.
“Alright, I’m going. It was good to see you again,
Dessa.” I left, but I didn’t stray far. With no idea where my brothers had run
off to or if my mother was near as well, I sat down and leaned against a
support beam of another tent.
To my horror, I heard another couple of familiar
voices an instant before the tent flap opened. My youngest two brothers exited,
right next to me. Although Mikron and Thaddeus were not my cruelest siblings,
neither of them would hesitate to turn me in.
They were slender, more like our mother than our
father, but that was no disadvantage to them. Whereas Thaddeus preferred to
fight with magic, Mikron was more similar to Bevras in that he wanted to fight
with his hands. Mikron had grown his hair long and braided it like our eldest
brothers, but when he angered our mother by messing up a batch of potions, she
burned his hair off. It was still pretty short no matter how many hair growth
tonics he made. Thaddeus kept his hair short like our father.
I clutched my staff tightly, knowing for sure that if
they spotted me before I could curse them, I wouldn’t have a chance. Neither of
them had a wand out, though. My brain rushed to come up with a curse as magical
energy tingled under my skin.
Thaddeus looked right at me… and turned away.
I gaped as they both walked off. After a moment, I
looked down at myself, wondering if I had somehow become unrecognizable. I
didn’t shriek when I saw myself, but only because I didn’t see myself.
My hands, arms, feet, legs… everything about me
including my staff and clothes, was completely invisible.
I didn’t shriek.
I might have squeaked a little.
* * *
Merlin emerged soon after, easily following his nose
right to me. He tilted his head slightly. “
I take it you saw your brothers
again
.”
“It was different brothers. I saw them and wanted to
hide or something, but instead… I think my staff turned me invisible, and now I
don’t know how to turn back.”
“
Alright. Because your siblings are near and you
are not ready to face them, we will leave the tournament before I help you
return to normal
.”
“You can fix this?”
“
Of course. What kind of wizard do you take me for
?”
Maybe it was just his confidence, but his words went
a long way in making me feel better. It was more difficult getting through the
crowd like this, since people didn’t move out of my way. By the time we made it
out, people were starting to talk about someone being invisible in the crowd.
They assumed I was stealing stuff, because why else would someone become
invisible in a seer tournament?
We stopped as soon as we were out of sight of the
village.
“
How does it feel
?” Merlin asked.
“Scary,” I answered. He sighed, so I thought hard to
come up with a different answer. “Well, it’s cold. My whole body is a little
cold and tingly, but numb at the same time. I don’t like it.”
“
Put your staff down and sit in a comfortable
position
,” he said. I leaned it against a boulder. As soon as I let go of
it, the staff appeared. “
Now, close your eyes and
---”
“My eyelids are invisible!” I whined too loudly
before closing them anyway. “Okay, they’re closed.”
“
Imagine you are bathing in a lake. Imagine the
water is frigid and that is why your body is so cold
.” He paused for me to
imagine it.
Instead of helping, however, it just made me shiver.
It was easy to see it in my mind since I took many such baths in the winter.
“
Good. Now, imagine the sun shining into the
water. It does not matter how cold the water or air is, because sunlight can
easily warm it. The water warms slowly, almost imperceptibly, but your blood
starts warming faster than the water
.”
As he said this, I felt the sunlight on me, warming
me faster than the water I was imagining. “That’s weird.”
“
The reason your body is warming so quickly is
because the energy inside you is starting to move. It is becoming active. The
energy that filled you from the staff, making you invisible, is being forced
out and into the cold water. You no longer need it. Do you feel the water
warming
?”
“Yes.”
“
That is the foreign energy being dispersed. The
sun is not important, because your energy is taking over. It knows you are safe
and no longer needs to be invisible
.”
I directed my focus away from the sunlight as I
started feeling too warm. Then, suddenly, I realized I couldn’t see through my
eyelids. In shock, I opened my eyes and looked down at myself. “It worked!”
Merlin’s eyes narrowed. “
Of course it worked. I
told you it would. The power inside you is stronger than you know. Understand
that most spells and curses are easier to break by gently working them off from
their weakest points
.”
“So, did you find out how to break your curse?” I
asked.
“No.” Instead of explaining, he turned and walked
away.
* * *
On the way back to the mansion, I told him about what
the seer said to me. “Do you know where the Island of Light is?”
“
I am not that knowledgeable of Caldaca’s
geography. If I had my magic, I could find the place, but magic-users here are
limited in what they can do. As a wizard of a different world, I can do scrying
as well as any seer here can, but I understand why power is limited here
.”
“What is scrying?”
“
Crystal gazing
.”
“So wizards can be seers where you’re from?”
“
It is more that wizards are all magic users in
one where I come from. We can specialize in something, like necromancy or
soothsaying, but the possibilities succeed that of wizards here. Instead of
having sorcerers, we have wizards that are capable of being just as conniving
and malevolent as sorcerers
.”
I spent the rest of the trip in deep thought. On
Merlin’s world, I wouldn’t be judged for being too nice or for my blond hair.
Although my magic would still be the same, people would assume I could do more.
Right before we reached the gates of the mansion, I opened my mouth to ask him
if we could go to his world.
“
Of course, they also kill wizards where I live
.”
“What?!”
“
Well it is complicated. I have been alone and
away from society for so long that I cannot be sure what the laws are anymore
.”
That was the moment I realized world-travel was
potentially very dangerous.
Inside, there was a plate of fish, corn, and potato
slices ready at the table for me. I sat down while Merlin went rabbit hunting.
“Who cooked this?” I asked Vactarus. Just like the night before, he and Kisha
sat at the table with nothing to eat. This was obviously an important tradition
for them.
