Inexperienced Mage (Reawakening Saga) (5 page)

Clair let out a light giggle that made his face grow even hotter. “It’s just that I’ve never seen anyone with their shirt off except my brothers and none of them are quite so….defined.”

An awkward silence filled the air until Clair let out a soft sigh. “Do you plan to leave as soon as the planting is finished? You know grandma wouldn’t mind if you stayed around on the farm for some time. None of us would.”

Though he had only been at the farm for a short time, he liked it. But he craved adventure and wanted to see how far he could go in mastering his magic. He couldn’t do that on this small farm no matter how tempting the offer was. “I can’t stay. There are things I have to do. But I hope to come back and visit from time to time…….if I can.” He said sheepishly.

It took four days of working on the wooden swords at night before he was finished. He knew that they wouldn’t last long if the boys hit anything hard so he decided to take them into the small grove of trees that night and work his magic on them. He had learned that while his spell to sharpen the wood was an ethereal effect and not permanent the one to strengthen it had been a permanent effect making his sword almost as strong as stone and also adding a little weight to it. It would also give him a chance to work on a few new spells he had thought of while working on the farm.

Unlike at the Academy, he was given free reign at the farm and as long as he was awake in the early morning for work, no one said much about his comings and goings. Clair had found many chances to talk with him. Though most the conversations were short and brief, he began to enjoy the stolen time he had with her. As he walked into the grove, thoughts of what might happen if he decided to stay drifted though his mind.

Finding a secure area where no one could see him or what he was planning, Mark sat the two wooden swords down in front of him and began to concentrate. Though the spell was simple in its operation, simply telling the object to grow stronger, it sapped away a fair amount of strength from him and made his head throb lightly. Once he had completed his work on the swords, Mark picked out a patch of earth on which to try his new spell.

Using his dagger he dug a small hole in the ground and placed a seed from one of the apples he had from his mid-day meal in then recovered it. Focusing he pushed his magic into the seed urging it to grow. His eyes soon began to blur but he could see a sprout coming from in front of him. Then he felt something wet on his face but kept his focus as the tree was growing fast before his eyes. Then his focus shattered as he heard a scream from behind him.

Turning his head he caught a glimpse of Clair running from the grove. She was running so fast, her blond hair appeared as a mane flaring behind her head. His legs gave out as he tried to get up. Staring at the ground, he noticed a few drops of blood striking the hard packed ground. Reaching up with an unsteady hand he touched his face bringing back blood covered fingers. The book had warned him that pushing past his level could leave him dead, but he had been too caught up in his spell to realize his life was draining away. Using one of the swords as a crutch he made his way unsteadily to his feet.

The farm house could easily be seen from the edge of the grove but the walk still took him a long time as he hobbled along like an old man. He fears mounting with every step on what he would find when he got there.

He was met at the door by a concerned looking Joan who upon seeing his condition quickly called for Robert to carry him inside the house. He fought to explain what Clair had seen but his words came out slurred and undecipherable.

Robert sat him softly in his bed and Joan looked down on him with concern. “You rest. We’ll talk about this tomorrow,” she said pulling the covers up around his shoulders. He didn’t have the energy to argue and honestly didn’t want to. With his head pounding he doubted he would get much rest but within a few minutes he was sleeping soundly.

The next morning he woke, surrounded with everyone’s face showing honest concern. After he pushed himself into a sitting position Joan sat a bowl of broth in his lap. No one said anything as he ate, they just stood waiting for him to finish. Putting his spoon down Mark let out a heavy sigh. He knew these good people deserved the truth. After how they had treated him anything else would be wrong.

“Last night,” Mark said pausing, unsure the best way to approach the story, “Clair caught me performing magic. I took the wooden swords that I made for the boys to put a spell on them to keep them from breaking or marring easily. I also wanted to see if I could hasten the growth of a plant, an apple tree to be exact. I over stretched myself and this is the result.” He said indicating his body with a flourish of his hand.

“Honestly, if Clare hadn’t broken my concentration on the spell, I could have died. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I didn’t know how to approach the subject.”

Joan laid her hand on his arm. “I can see that
. Magic has been gone for some time, but you scared the young girl something fierce, she came in crying that you were possessed by a demon.  None of were sure what to make of her ramblings last night and the state you returned in left a lot of questions to be answered, and magic would sure do that.”

Doren
, Mercy’s husband, let out a harsh laugh which earned him a scathing glare from Joan. “Right! Magic! You’re telling me you have rediscovered the lost art and that’s what sent my little girl running home in tears?”

Mark suspected they wouldn’t believe it just on his word but he was appreciative of the rest for not voicing their doubts, bringing up his hand he whispered
lumanare, and a bright glowing blue orb sprung in his hand. Everyone let out gasps of excitement then the world went dark.

He woke to Joan holding a cloth to his nose stemming the blood that was running freely, she wasn’t looking at him but at
Doren. “The boy came back looking half dead, and you couldn’t wait to see if he was telling the truth I swear sometimes I don’t know what my daughter sees in you.”

Mark tried to sit up but was quickly pushed back down by Joan. “You lay your hind end back down mister. I’m upset with you enough as it is. That was stupid
; tempting fate just to prove to that fool of a son-in-law of mine that you weren’t lying. Dang men never stop to think past their own ego.”

Though he knew Joan was mad he couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you.” The words didn’t even begin convey the gratitude he felt for the old lady at the moment, but they were the only ones that came to mind. Laying back he closed his eyes and let himself drift back off to sleep.

He woke again feeling much better. The sun was still up but hung low on the horizon. He had slept through the whole day but at least his head had quit hurting. He sat up and, when no feeling of nausea assailed him, he risked standing up. Without any difficulties he made his way down the stairs into the common room where Joan and Mercy sat sewing.

Upon Mark entering the room, Mercy and Joan both smiled at him. “Feeling better now? I hope you’re not pushing yourself,” Joan said, with a hint of concern.

“Much better thank you. In fact, physically I’m great. Though I don’t think I should do any magic for the next few days,” Mark replied smiling.

Mercy gave him a shy smile. Like her daughter she was very pretty, with gray eyes but her hair was a light brown
instead of blond. “You know as a child I always loved stories of mages. Do you think they could really call lightning from the sky and make rings that could make you invisible?” she asked sweetly.

Mark knew she meant it to lighten the mood but to him it was a serious question. “I’m sure they could. I never tried to make lightning before. As for the ring, that is possible as well. If I had a crystal or gem it might be possible for me to create one. That’s one of the reasons I want to get to a larger city. So I can procure some cheap crystals and see if
I have the ability to enchant.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth Mercy shot up and ran out of the room in such a haste Mark thought he might have said something to upset her. Then just as quickly as she left, she reappeared holding a box so tight in her hand her knuckles were turning white. She sat the box down in front of him quickly her eyes intensely focused on him.

Opening the box he was surprised to find it held about two dozen long thin crystals about the size of his index finger. “Do you think these will work?” she asked anxiously.

Mark was amazed! Though he wasn’t sure of the cost, he knew the gems weren’t cheap enough to just give away. “Are you sure? These must have cost at least a few gold pieces.”

“Don’t worry. They belonged to an ugly lamp my husband bought. I kept the crystals though. But if it’s not too much trouble could you make something for me? It doesn’t matter what, but I would love to have something magical,” her voice seemed almost pleading as if she didn’t think he would. He didn’t know why she thought that. If not for her he wouldn’t have been able to make anything yet.

“It would be my pleasure. Seems like a fair enough trade to me. I will need some metal to set the crystals in, if you want jewelry. Otherwise it will have to be made of wood.”

“We have plenty of broken tools if you could use those somehow,” Joan said casually never looking up from her embroidery work.

“I’m sure I can find some way to make use of them,” Mark said trying to hold back his excitement.

The next day he returned to work at the fields. He still didn’t see Clair and hoped she wasn’t mad at him or, even worse, scared of him. After the evening meal Mark went up to his bunk carrying a broken sickle and the box of crystals. He knew doing magic too soon might be dangerous but he felt great and when he reached out and took hold of the flow of magic he
didn’t feel any adverse effects.

The first task would be to trim the crystal into something more fitting. Closing his eyes he focused on the crystal and began using magic to cut away the unneeded sections of crystal. Soon he had a small spherical piece of crystal about the size of a pea. He repeated this and was able to get five such crystals out of one of the larger crystals.

Making a suitable ring out of the metal would be harder. He couldn’t just cut away the unneeded area of metal like he had done with the crystal. He would have to bend it and mold it. With much more effort he was able to get three rings made before he started feeling his head begin the throb. Not wanting to push himself too far, he decided it was time to put his work aside for the night.

The next day, as soon as he was finished with his evening meal, he headed back to his room to continue his work. He quickly made two more rings then sat a crystal in the center of each. Not feeling tired, he decided to push on. The first step would be making the crystal draw and store magic. He concentrated and focused on the gem forcing his will on it. When he opened his eyes the crystal looked the same but he could fe
el it was drawing magic. The next part was harder. He had to make the body host the spell and react with the core when the keyword was used.

The first five attempts failed, but he wasn’t daunted. He continued to try different ways of seating the spell in the ring. After about an hour he finally made it work. The solution was simple. He had to focus, not only on the ring, but on the crystal as well when he envisioned the spell. But it took a light touch. One ring was completely useless - flickering on and off as the crystal stayed active. He also learned that when a ring and crystal were joined in an enchantment, they couldn’t be separated without danger. The second he had tried to separate a crystal from a ring, the ring exploded in his hand but the magic continued in the loosed crystal. Luckily for Mark the ring quickly depleted itself, only singeing his fingers. But the ring and crystal were now completely useless.

After he finished the third ring a soft knock came at his door. Setting aside what he was doing, Mark went over and opened the door. He was surprised to find Clair on the other side looking down at the ground with her hands behind her back. Mark invited her in and sat back on his bed. Clair sat down timidly beside him.

After a long moment of awkward silence Clair took his hand in his own. “I’m sorry. I was embarrassed after the other night and I haven’t been able to bring myself to talk to you. Mom
has been begging me to make up with you. Though dad’s not your biggest fan at the moment, most likely because all mom talks about is that you said you were going to make her a magical ring. Is it true? Are you really making my mom a magical ring?”

Mark let out a loud and heartfelt laugh, letting go of Clair’s hand. At first, the tight smile on her face dropped and a tear started to form at the corner of her eye. Then she saw what Mark was holding.
A small ring. When he handed it to her, Clair’s smile returned, much more confident this time. “Try it out. Just say ‘Lumanare’ and it should work.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, a soft glowing gold light hung in the air above the ring. Clair clapped happily, the little golden ball of light jerking back and forth in time with her hand. “How do I turn it off?” Clair asked, her voice holding more than a hint of awe.

“Just say the trigger word again,” Mark said trying to hold back another laugh.

Clair tried to return the ring but Mark showed her the other two he had finished and said that one was for her. The gift earned him a kiss on the check, making Mark blush a deep crimson red. Mark soon found himself dragged back into the common room where everyone sat around working on different things. Everyone’s attention was soon fixed on him and Clair as she showed off her new ring.