Wizard's Education (Book 2) (52 page)
"That should do nicely." Chihon stepped up to Lorit and grasped his hand as he raised his staff and turned his attention back towards Neussul. He took a breath, preparing to utter the spell.
Neussul cringed, holding his hands in front of his face. "All right. My stone was spelled to take him to the Temple in Quineshua"
Lorit lowered his staff and leaned over the Wizard. As he took his first step, Neussul lifted his hand and threw a fireball at Lorit. The blue sparking sphere rushed in with a strange whistling sound.
Lorit raised his shield as the plasma ball hit, sending him reeling. He was unprepared for the intensity of it and stumbled to his knees. Neussul approached him, pressing a spell of confinement on him.
Lorit struggled, but he couldn't free himself from the spell. He felt his strength flow out of him as he tumbled to the ground. He lost his grip on the Summa Purus Magicae and it fell to the soft ground beside him.
Neussul bent down and picked up the book. "That was foolish." Neussul looked down at Lorit, kicking him with his foot. "Thanks for opening the book for me, but you have no right to this. It belongs to me."
Neussul opened the book. He flipped from page to page, getting more and more agitated as he did. "What is the meaning of this?"
Lorit lay still at his feet, trying to give the impression that he was defeated, as he carefully pulled at his shirt to expose the hexagram on his back.
"Where is the book?" Neussul demanded. He kicked Lorit, catching him in the ribs. Lorit flinched in pain, but continued his effort.
"You have it." Lorit looked up at Neussul, who was leaning over him. Lorit could smell his breath as he came closer.
"Don't trifle with me, boy!" he screamed. "Where is the book?" Neussul raised his staff, and Lorit could feel the pressure of the spell intensify. He struggled to turn his back to Neussul.
"It's here." Lorit turned his back, exposing the hexagram to the Wizard. He couldn't see what happened. All he heard was a scream and the thud of the book landing on the soft earth next to him.
The binding spell released and Lorit lay there, exhausted. Chihon rushed over to help him to his feet. She reached down and picked up the Summa Purus Magicae, brushing the dirt off it.
"What happened to Neussul?" Lorit asked.
"He turned to fire, then to ash, and then he disappeared."
"Let's go free Zhimosom," Lorit said. He reached his hand out for Chihon.
"We can't just walk into the Temple and demand that they release him. Can we?"
"We can," Lorit said confidently.
"Are you strong enough?"
"I can make it," Lorit said. "With your help." He knew they could do it. He was still unsure he could defeat the Temple, but he believed that, with Chihon's help, they stood a good chance.
He looked at the Summa Purus Magicae in her hands. "We don't need to carry that with us, do we?" He imagined the book sitting in the Wizard's hidden study, where they had first seen it. The book vanished from her hand.
"Come on." Lorit reached into his pocket and touched the small silver star Rotiaqua had given him. He drew upon the many sources of magic he'd learned on their journey and took them to the Temple in Quineshua. They materialized just outside the room where Zhimosom was being kept. Lorit reached out his hand and waved it across the door.
The locks sprung free and the door opened slightly. Lorit grasped the door and flung it opened. He started to charge into the cell when he felt a hand on his arm. "Be careful," Chihon said.
Lorit probed the cell, wary of any trap that may have been set for him. There was one, but he quickly defused it.
He entered the cell, knelt down, and examined the trap that had ensnared Zhimosom. He could feel the magic that powered the spell fading, now that Neussul was not alive to drive it. Lorit carefully made his way through the twisted layers of spells, trimming and cutting through them until Zhimosom was free.
He could feel Zhimosom's frailty, as he caught him and held him up.
Lorit felt a prickling sensation behind him as if some threat was standing nearby. He turned to see a Priest filling the doorway. He was thin and birdlike in his appearance and he wore a plain black robe with no trimming. "You must be Lorit."
Lorit reached out to pull Chihon protectively behind him and quickly raised his shields.
"Good. Shields. I'm glad you'll provide some challenge." The Priest raised his hand and created a fireball. Lorit could feel the heat of it across the room. He hardened his own shield in preparation for the coming assault.
"Too bad our acquaintance has to be so short." He threw the fireball at Lorit. It was weak and feeble, much less of a threat than he had expected from a Priest. It washed harmlessly across Lorit's shields.
Zhimosom stepped around Lorit and raised his hand to the Priest. "Not today, Sulrad."
Lorit felt a drain as Zhimosom tapped
his
power and drew on it. He had not known Zhimosom could do that. Before he could say a word, they were back in Zhimosom's study, where Rotiaqua waited.
"Good to see you all," she said as Zhimosom sat down heavily.
Rotiaqua pulled out a chair and sat next to Zhimosom. Lorit could see the toll his captivity had taken on the pair.
Lorit reached out to Zhimosom to lend their power. It mingled with those of the old Wizard and Sorceress, but there was more. He thought he could sense the smallest touch of the Priest's magic in it too. The one Zhimosom had named as Sulrad. It was as if the Priest were connected to Zhimosom still. Lorit felt the power flowing that way, only a small fraction of it, but it was unmistakable.
"When did you figure out the book?" Zhimosom asked.
"After the last trial, we opened the book and found it blank. That's when it occurred to me that the book was a convenient ruse. There never was anything in it, was there?"
"There was, at one time, but I decided it was too dangerous to keep all those spells in one place. That's why I emptied the book into the others I keep around my study."
"Neussul wasn't working alone, was he?" Lorit asked. "I could feel his connection to the Temple."
"No, he wasn't. He was working with Sulrad. I had begun to notice it in his magic. It was impure.
"The Temple wants you dead," Zhimosom said. "They knew I was helping you, so they convinced Neussul to capture me. Had he been working alone, we could easily have handled him, but he had the Temple magic to draw upon."
"Why does Sulrad's magic linger on you?" Lorit asked.
"Because we are connected."
"Connected? Connected how? Like Chihon and I are?"
"No, more like Chihon and Ukina are."
"You mean you are connected to Sulrad now? Was that because of what he did to you?"
"No, Lorit, Sulrad didn't do anything to me," Zhimosom explained.
"Sulrad knew he had to leave me alive in order to save himself. Once I was transported to the Temple, I knew that I would survive this ordeal. If I died, so did Sulrad."
Zhimosom leaned towards Lorit. "You see, we have been connected since I was younger than you are. That's why we have never been able to go after the Temple directly. If Sulrad dies, so do we. We cannot fight him. Had I not been so weak, you would have found him a formidable enemy, but my weakness also affected him. Had he not been acting through Neussul, he would have been unable to do anything to harm or hinder me."
Lorit signed a heavy sigh of relief. "I felt like I could have killed him easily just before you pulled us out. I'm glad you didn't let that happen, but with Neussul defeated, you can return to your rightful place at the head of the Council."
Zhimosom laughed. "I'll be stepping down from that position soon enough. I have only a few things to teach you and my position falls to you. I'm ready to move on."
"Move on? I thought you were going to train me. How will I learn to be a Master Wizard without your help?"
Zhimosom just looked at Lorit and laughed. "You already are a Master Wizard. You've passed all the trials and bonded with the most powerful Sorceress in generations. You are ready to take your place and I am ready to rest."
"I thought you said it would take decades for me to learn everything I needed." Lorit didn't feel like a master Wizard.
"That was before you undertook the trials. You have everything you need now."
Zhimosom rested his staff on the table before him and folded them. "Together, you and Chihon will head up the Wizards' Council."
"What about you and Rotiaqua?" Lorit asked.
"We'll be moving on. Not immediately, but soon," Zhimosom said.
"When?" Lori asked. He was worried about what he would do without the guidance of the old Wizard.
"Not for a while," Zhimosom said. "Although I fear we will only be able to advise you from now on."
"We're losing our powers, now that you have come fully into your own," Rotiaqua said. "One day soon, we will cross over into the next world and begin a new life there, secure in the fact that a Master Wizard and Sorceress watch over the land."
THE END
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About the Author
James Eggebeen is a serial masochist repeatedly taking high tech companies through the growing pains of converting from a garage shop into a sustainable and profitable mature business.
He learned the value of hard work after being raised on a farm in Wisconsin where he learned auto
mechanics from his saintly grandfather who patiently tolerated him and his siblings always under foot. His most frequent comment growing up was "Why did you people settle here when there are much warmer places to live?"
He confounded his teachers and most grown-ups at a young age writing incredibly powerful algorithms for phenomenally underpowered computers at the dawn of the computer age. This is a skill he has employed throughout his professional career and still takes great pride in (the confounding part mostly).
At 17 years of age he made a deal with the US Navy to "Teach me about airplanes and computers. Take me anywhere it does not snow and I'm all yours." They kept the bargain and started him on a world traveling adventure that has continued far beyond his six-year enlistment.
He has continued his world traveling adventures as a businessman, frequently logging one fourth
of his time out of the country. He feels as comfortable abroad as he does at home and has developed an appreciation for a wide range of cultures and cuisines.
He settled in Southern California after his service was complete and studied Engineering,
Business and Finance at night while working at a series of start-up firms by day. He claims that growing up on the farm and the Navy have ruined his ability to sleep late and habitually gets up well before the sane portion of population starts their day.
He wrote many technical articles with such titles as " Gamma Ferric Oxide is it really safe for the long haul?" He was cited in the Time Life Books on Computers as an expert in magnetic storage. He has a portfolio of patents for esoteric technology that only a handful of people really understand and hardly anyone really cares about.
He started writing fiction as an assignment for his last required course in his undergraduate degree. He wrote short stories for several years as part of an internet based writing and critique group before the internet was cool and email spam had been invented.
He still lives in Southern California with his wife of twenty-five years who puts up with all his bizarre habits and unusual hours, where he has a better computer infrastructure at home than most small companies have at the office.
Other Books by the same author
For over a hundred years, the Priests of Ran have been killing young wizards to take their power. When Lorit learns that he has the Wizard's Power, he becomes targeted for special attention by the Temple.
Lorit must learn magic in time to save the sister he infused with his own power to save her life. He must find a way to overcome their stolen magic without resorting to their tactics.
