The Sorcerer's Quest (6 page)
“Our housekeeper, of course.”
I studied the dust all over the table. “Housekeeper?”
“Yes. We want to make sure the mansion stays in a
creepy enough state that it scares away bandits without actually falling apart.
Since my hat was taken by Magnus, the illusion over the mansion is ever so
slowly disintegrating. Soon, there will be nothing left and anyone can find
us.”
I figured he wasn’t trying to pressure me to hurry up
and battle Magnus, but I felt guilty for going to see the tournament anyway.
“When are you going to battle Magnus already?”
Okay, my guilt was completely gone. “When I’m ready.
Do you know where the Island of Light is?”
“Not on this world. I know where the
tunnel
of
light is, and I’m never going there. I’m afraid I have never seen anything of
Caldaca outside of Akadema.”
“I need to find someone who knows. I need a way to
get there, too. I need a plan.”
“You need a minion.”
I thought about it. It was definitely something a
sorcerer would want, although I didn’t think turning Vactarus back into a bat
was a good idea. My mother saw her children as her minions. “You’re right. Do
you think I can buy one somewhere?” I certainly wasn’t going to grow my own.
Vactarus gave me an annoyed stare. “
Summon
one,” he said, as if I should have thought of that on my own.
I definitely should have thought of that on my own.
Merlin returned then with a dead rabbit in his jaws.
Well, I thought it was dead, until it tried to scratch at Merlin’s throat with
its razor-sharp claws. Merlin shook his head until his prey fell still, and
then he hopped up on the chair and set it on the table.
The food in my stomach rebelled. “Merlin, will you
teach me to summon a beast to help fight Magnus?” I asked.
“
Do you think you have the mental strength and
inner peace to control a beast
?”
“Inner peace? That’s a wizard thing.”
Once again, I could feel his irritation. “
That is
a control thing. You cannot control another creature if you cannot control
yourself. How easily you picked up my guidance today showed me that you have
the skill; you need only to use it
.”
“Then let’s go do it.”
“
Patience, young sorcerer; the only thing worse
than an angry wolf is a hungry one
.” With that, he started eating his
rabbit.
“I think I’ll just wait outside.” I narrowly escaped
without losing my dinner. I also learned that I would rather conjure something
than hunt my own food.
For a while, I studied the designs on my wand and
staff. My wand was as elegant and wizard-like as always. My staff, however,
seemed to be a little different than before. The wood was a little smoother, as
if it had been polished. The crystal at the top was also slightly lighter than
the deep red it had been before. Of course, it was sunset, so my light was
starting to fade.
I thought about what I could do to Magnus with my
staff. The three times I had used it, it didn’t go as planned. Although my wand
only did white magic, it was reliable. Magnus was the most powerful wizard
known, so I knew I couldn’t just defeat him with magic. What made my family so
famous was my mother’s skill in coming up with diabolical plans. I was smarter
than my brothers, which only angered my mother more because I was the least
ambitious. I didn’t want to take over Akadema any more than I wanted to curse
people and sell them the anti-curse at a ridiculous price.
It wasn’t even that I didn’t know what I was doing.
The first potion I ever had to make was supposed to make someone’s hair fall
out. However, I thought the ingredients were gross, and I was very young at the
time, so I used different ingredients to make an uncontrollable laughing potion
instead.
Defeating Magnus would not be a matter of who had the
stronger magic. To prove I was a masterful sorcerer, I would have to set an
ingenious trap.
I didn’t like the sound of that. As I turned my focus
on my energy, Merlin started sniffing at the ground. “What are you looking
for?” He ignored me and began digging something up. I realized what it was an
instant before he dropped a carrot in my lap. “No!”
“
Rabbits are minor nuisances as long as you avoid
their claws and teeth
.”
That was easier said than done. I didn’t even have
time to jump up and shout something very unmanly before the high grass started
to rustle. The field was entirely to their advantage, because I couldn’t see
them and they could smell me. One rabbit came close enough that I could see
him. He was light brown in color and not the largest I had seen. He wasn’t
looking at me or advancing on me, which I knew was a trap; he was studying me,
deciding if I was worth fighting or not.
When the rabbit made a little hop towards Merlin, the
wolf growled. Then, with a final sniff in my direction, the rabbit hopped away.
I sighed. “Maybe I was wrong about rabbits. That was
totally---” My words were interrupted by my shrill scream of horror and agony
as the rabbit pounced on me from behind and sunk its claws into my back. When I
reached for my staff that I had dropped, another rabbit leapt out of the grass
and sunk its fangs into my hand. By dropping and rolling, I was able to
dislodge the rabbit from my back, but I also lost some precious skin when I
tore my arm away from the second rabbit. My wand stabbed me painfully in the
side, so I pulled it out and waved it around myself.
Protect
.
The wand answered, but in the most unlikely way;
magic shot from the wand into the staff, and then from the staff into me. What
came out was a mixture of the sinister red energy of the staff and the elegant
white energy of the wand. I felt my skin become cold and tingly again. A third
rabbit appeared and bit my hand, but this time, I didn’t feel it. In fact, to
our mutual shock, the rabbit’s teeth didn’t break my skin.
When the first rabbit tried to claw at my face, he
had the same problem. Unfortunately, he also had a solution; he kicked me in
the face. Magically impenetrable skin or not, it hurt.
I reached for my staff again, but one of the rabbits
kicked me in the side of my abdomen, causing me to ball up in pain. By sheer
determination, I didn’t loosen my grip on my wand. I waved it at the carrot
that was just out of reach, as the rabbits apparently wanted to fight me for it
instead of just taking it. However, when magic shot from the wand and hit the
carrot, tossing it high into the air, the rabbits focused on it instead. I had
just enough time before it hit the ground to roll and grab my staff.
Attack
.
The staff obeyed my unspoken thought and blasted them
with burning red energy. The rabbits turned to stone.
“
Where did you learn that
?” Merlin asked.
“I didn’t. I remember reading something about it in
one of Vactarus’s books, but I didn’t know how to do it. The staff did it.”
“
If so, then the staff is much more powerful than
I originally thought
.”
“So I can summon a monster now?”
“
Tend to your wounds and rest up. We will begin at
first light
.”
Although my skin was still cold and impenetrable, the
cuts that the rabbits caused before were still bleeding. “What do I do about
it?”
“
Bandage it, of course
.”
“What about healing potions?”
“
By all means, if you know how to make one and can
conjure the ingredients, do so
,” he said. I didn’t know any, so he
continued. “
You should ask Vac if he has any bandages and something to clean
your cuts with. First, you need to release your spell. Do exactly as I told you
before
.”
I sat down harder than I meant to and realized that I
felt a little too heavy and pretty tired. It took longer without him telling
me, but I did manage to imagine everything as I had before, and when I opened
my eyes, I felt normal.
“
You learn quickly
.”
“Thank you. What did you get at the tournament to
disguise my hair?”
“
I found a world traveler who had good black ink.
That should last about five to seven days unless you wash your hair out. If
nothing else, it might help you to appear more intimidating to Magnus or a
villager
.”
“Yes, and if we run into my brothers again, I can
hide my face and maybe they won’t recognize me. I can put it in now.”
“
Wait until we find out where the Island of Light
is. We may be many days off and I only have enough to cover your hair once
.”
Merlin left and I returned to my room, where there
was a bathtub set up with steaming water. And there was a dead girl in it.
“I’m sorry, did I come into the wrong room?” I asked,
knowing I hadn’t.
Kisha laughed. “No. I just wanted to talk to you and
the bath was so inviting.”
“How did it get here?” I was pretty sure I would have
noticed a bathtub when I left that morning.
“The housekeeper brought it.”
“Can you feel the warmth of the water?”
“No, but I can pretend. Come in.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea. I’m going
to the library to read.” She didn’t say anything, but she looked a little sad
and lonely. “How long have you been a ghost?” I asked.
She looked at the water and shrugged her ghostly
shoulders. “For longer than I can remember. I think this was my home
originally. Vactarus named me Kisha because I couldn’t remember my actual
name.”
“Do you remember how you died?” I asked. She shook
her head. “Do you ever make it up?” She looked at me. “If you don’t remember
your own life, you can pretend. You could have been a dragon trainer or a wand
maker.”
She smirked. “Not likely. It’s pretty obvious that I
died young.”
“That doesn’t mean your life wasn’t exciting.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Maybe you can even have an exciting afterlife. I’ll
try to think of something.”
She smiled brightly. “I don’t know why you want to be
a sorcerer so much. You are a nicer man than anyone I know.”
“It’s not that I
want
to be a sorcerer. I
am
a sorcerer; I was born in a family of sorcerers. I’m just a failure as one, and
there’s no place in the world for someone who is a failure at being what they
are.”
“I would rather you be the way you are now than to
change yourself. You haven’t been here that long, but I liked you the first
time you opened your mouth. That’s special. Also, Vac trusts you to get his hat
back. Vac doesn’t trust anyone, and a sorcerer would use that against him. It’s
better to be a failed sorcerer than a failed friend.” With those parting words,
she vanished.
I considered taking a bath while the water was hot.
After all, the housekeeper worked so hard to heat the water. Instead, I headed
to the library to read up on conjuration. Access to such a grand library was
worth a cold bath any day.
* * *
Once again, I woke to a plate of eggs and potatoes. I
barely had time to eat it before Merlin started calling me. With a sigh, I
dressed and gathered my wand and staff. There was a bottle of ink outside my
door, so I slipped it into my bag before heading out to the grassy field.
Merlin was already waiting. “Where are the rabbits?”
I asked, hesitating when I saw that the statues were missing.
“
They reverted to normal overnight. Now, put your
wand away, take your staff in both hands, and concentrate on your desire to
defeat Magnus
.”
I did.
I will defeat the wizard and become someone
nobody can doubt. I will never have to worry about my mother killing me for
being an embarrassment to the family. I will be allowed to have books and do
magic I want to do instead of curses and poisons.
The crystal of the staff
began to glow, but it wasn’t nearly as red as it had been the night before when
I fought the rabbits.
I will be free of my mother
…
No. I would just be a more powerful pawn of my
mother’s. She would kill me if I’m not useful to her, but she wouldn’t just let
me go if I became powerful enough to be useful.
The energy swirling in the
crystal faded.
Defeating Magnus may be the only way to prove myself, but
that’s only the beginning. When I defeat him, I will have to face my mother
.
When I visualized Ilvera Dracre in my mind, the
crystal burned deeper and redder than ever before and energy shot into the air.
A figure began to take form, only to split into two shapes. I started to panic;
I couldn’t control two monsters if they turned on me!
Then, to my astonishment, the dark masses formed into
two people standing right in front of me. It was a man and a woman, both of
whom were dressed in the strangest clothes and studying me with even more
curious expressions. Merlin growled, but they didn’t seem to notice. Then, the
woman looked out over the field. “I can see Russia from here!” she said
excitedly.
The man in turn said, “Let’s make Russia great
again!”
“
Too evil
!” Merlin said, his growl deepening
even more.
I knew that, though. Some part of me knew this was a
disaster waiting to happen and that same part was reaching for my wand without
thought. It was my wand that I used this time. White magic shot straight at
them and with a burst of sparkles, they were gone.
“
That was easy
,” Merlin said.
“And oddly satisfying. Were they from another world?”
“
Yes
.”
“That poor world!”
“
Well, every world has its bad apples, I suppose.
This time, use both your wand and your staff. They worked together last night
to protect you. Come up with a creature you want and picture it in your head
.”
I thought of a bat first. However, as good as they
were in warning people of danger, they weren’t the best in attacking. Then I
thought of a bear. They were big and powerful…
too powerful
. I couldn’t
control a bear. A monkey, on the other hand, was a good middle ground. They
weren’t too big and yet were very strong. Also, they were adorable in a weird
way. “Okay, I know what I want to summon.”
“
See it very clearly in your mind, and as you do,
imagine there is a rope restraining it. This rope bounds its wrist and ankles,
or tentacles, or whatever it has, and its neck
.”
I was fine until he said that; suddenly, my monkey
had tentacles. I did bind them, though, as well as his limbs and neck.
“
If it has wings, make sure those are restrained
.”
And just like that, the monkey had wings, too. I
bound those clumsily.
“
Those ropes are all fed into your wand, so that
you can control your beast by controlling your wand. Then, imagine the
restraints are sinking deeper into the creature and becoming invisible. They’re
there, and they can still control the beast, but they cannot be seen or felt
and it does not have to stay with you. You can call it to you, however. Because
the ropes cannot be felt, they cannot break
.”
This took some time. I wasn’t an idiot; I wasn’t
going to rush this. Monkeys were strong, but my bloodline produced powerful
sorcerers for many generations. I could do this. I would do this. The ropes in
my mind embedded into the beast’s limbs and around its neck. They would be
controlled by my wand no matter how far away it is.
“
Now, hold that in your mind. Feel a sense of
complete control, raise your wand in your left hand and your staff in your
right, and call the beast to you
.”
I did. Even though he didn’t exist yet, I called him
as if he did. Dark, red and black magic started glowing in the crystal of the
staff.
Conjuring was vastly different than cursing or
creating potions. Although I called it conjuring when I created food from clay,
it was actually just transformation. Conjuring was on a whole other level. The
body was created of the land and magic gave it life.
My mother never let me see the Dracre grimoires
because she believed that sorcery was supposed to be passed down and she wanted
to train us her way. She had never been interested in teaching us anything this
powerful. Fortunately, I found several books on it in the library, so I had a
general idea of what was happening. I knew I could affect the purpose of the
creature by controlling what it was made of, but this method created more of a
low-level, do-anything creature.
Bright red energy burst from the staff and white
energy burst from the wand to form a crackling sphere of magic above me.
Encouraged, I concentrated harder. Soon, the energy started darkening until it
was black, after which it began to grow. As it grew larger, it became more
solid, until it was the creature from my mind. My wand and staff stopped
pouring magic into it.
The beast was dark brown, furry, and about the size
of Merlin, with two arms and two legs. Although it looked skinny, I knew it had
much more strength than any man. It also had two large, black, bat wings
suspending it in the air and a row of four tentacles down each of its sides.
The tentacles were black and writhing wildly. The creature itself studied me
closely like it didn’t know if I was dinner or not.
“
Control it before it gets away
,” Merlin
cautioned.
I waved my wand at it. “Sit,” I said. Its wings
clamped shut and the poor beast hit the ground hard. I winced, but didn’t go to
it because it was still dangerous. “What do I do now?”
