Rising of a Mage (3 page)

“Well, that is interesting. Do you think you could show me?”

Anwar nodded and Master Gabriel waved a hand and the room went dark. Anwar was filled with excitement. When he pushed his will into the staff, the excitement that was filling him went too, and this time it wasn’t just a soft glow at the end of the staff, but a light that filled the entire room. When he released the light and Master Gabriel relit the room, Sam seemed to be the most excited person present. When Anwar looked at him, he was just sitting there with a huge proud smile on his face, then he looked at Gabriel and said, “I told you.”

Master Gabriel was just sitting there with what seemed like a smirk on his face but Anwar wasn’t sure.

“Well, Anwar, I believe you know what your first question is, but I also believe you know the answer.”

“Yes, I know it’s magic, but I don’t know how. I just force my will into the staff, picture the light at the end and it happens.”

“So you do know how you’re doing it. Would you like to know what I think?”

“Yes.”

“Magic is in everything, Anwar. Most people feel it at some point, but they just don’t realize what it is. Like when someone gets a tingling feeling as if something is about to happen, or the feeling that someone is watching them, even though there is no one there. There is magic in everything—wood, water, fire, air, people, plants, animals—everything. I believe you have opened yourself to the magic, which is something very few wizards have been able to accomplish. You allow the magic to flow freely through you. Very few wizards can accomplish any significant magic without spells. To answer your next question: yes, your oak staff there is magic, but I believe you may have done that. It would be an amazing thing to have done; it’s a very rare ability to create magical items, but for you to find an item that answers to your will is very unlikely. Did anything else happen with that staff other than you making light?” “Well, yes, I hit a tree with it and the tree split and died.”

“Did you feel anything when it happened?”

Sammuel looked back and forth between the two in amazement, as if he was sitting between two real wizards. It was as if this wasn’t his little brother but a wizard talking about things he would never understand. “Yes, I was filled with energy and then, after it happened, I passed out.” “You have imbued that staff with magic. Much of it can only be accessed by you, because you have created a bond with it. If something were to happen to you, someone else could take the staff and eventually form a bond as well and access all of its potential. I cannot tell how powerful it is for sure, but it seems to be quite powerful. Eventually, maybe together we can discover its true potential. Your staff can be a great asset to you but it can also be a crutch. If you are to learn magic, you will have to learn to do it without your staff, as well. I would like to try something, if you are willing.”

“Yes, I will try. What do I do?”

“First, hand the staff to your brother.”

Anwar turned to Sammuel, who looked amazed and confused. Anwar handed the staff to Sam. Gabriel waved his hand again, and again the room went dark.

“I can’t do it. I have already tried,” Sam said.

“I know, Sam. Anwar, I would like you to imagine that same light as before, but this time imagine it as a ball between your hands. Just let the magic flow through you and aid your will.”

Anwar was sure Sam was lost, and realized that only a day ago he would have had no idea what Master Gabriel wanted him to do, but now he understood perfectly and, for some reason, he knew he could do it. He decided, however, he was going to try something more impressive. He moved his hands inches apart and imagined the light dancing in his palm like a flame; he pushed his will into it and there it was! The flame danced in his palm but it provided no heat, just light. Before he put it out he had an idea. As he closed his palm and the dancing light went out, he waved his other in the air, imagining the light returning to the room as it was. The room was lit again before Master Gabriel had even moved to do so. This time there was no question Master Gabriel was smiling. All of a sudden, though, Anwar felt dizzy, and decided to sit down.

“Yes, sit, Anwar. You must be drained. You have accomplished far more in a single day than I have ever heard of anyone doing. The magic drains you and the more you practise the more you can handle and the longer it takes to drain you. What you have learned already in only a single day takes most wizard’s apprentices and students months to accomplish.”

“That was amazing, Anwar! I can’t believe my little brother is a wizard.” “Yes, Anwar, that was amazing. I am the head of the wizard’s guild here in Kampar and, if you agree, I would like to take you on. Not as a student of the guild, but my personal apprentice.”

“Well, would have to ask my parents.”

“Indeed, I would like to meet them, and explain this to them, as well as get their approval. If you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind. They’ll believe you better than me.”

As Gabriel walked up to Anwar’s father in the market with both boys alongside him, Anwar’s father was sure his boys had gotten into trouble and was certain it was going to cost him.

“By the gods, boys, what have you gotten into now?”

“Good afternoon, sir. My name is Gabriel Olivander, head of the Wizard Guild here in Kampar.”

Isaiah Callimorssi looked at his two boys. Anwar looked the same as always—blank—but Sammuel was smiling. “What are you boys doing bothering wizards? Are you crazy? And what are you smiling about, Sammuel.”

“Mr Callimorssi, your sons have been no trouble. On the contrary, Anwar is very gifted and I would like to speak with you about taking him in as my apprentice.”

“My son is a farmer; he knows nothing of wizardry. Why would you fill his head with false hope?”

“Sir, your son has already showed me his ability. He has accomplished more accidentally than most wizards accomplish in months of training. With guidance, your son could be the greatest wizard Kampar has ever seen, far surpassing myself.”

Anwar’s mother and father both looked at him with astonishment. “What do you know of magic, boy?”

Anwar decided he would have to show them. “I can show you, but not out here in front of everyone, Pa.”

His father took him by the arm and led him behind the wagon, followed by his mother, his brothers, his sisters, and Master Gabriel. Now that he knew he could do magic without his staff, Anwar figured it would be better to do so. He looked at his brother Sam and winked; this put his father off guard, and he gave Sam a confused look. When he looked back at Anwar, there were blue flames dancing in the boy’s hands. His mother gasped, his sisters jumped up and down, shouting, “OH WOW! OH WOW!”, his brothers laughed, but his father just stared at him. One by one they all saw their father and went quiet and watched for what would come next.

“Is this what you want, Anwar?”

He noticed his father had not called him boy or son. “I think I could learn a lot at the guild, father.”

“Master Gabriel, when would you like to begin his training and what does this tutorship cost? I am a simple farmer; I don’t have much.”

“I would like to begin immediately, if that is Anwar’s wish. As far as cost… Anwar will be fed and clothed. He will assist in the business of the guild as his abilities progress and he will be paid for his work.” Everyone was staring at Anwar and he was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. His expression, of course, showed nothing, and he took a moment to collect his thoughts.

He broke the silence with, “Well, I can’t go off to live with a bunch a wizards without any small clothes, can I?”

Everyone laughed, but now it was his mother’s turn to express her concerns. “We can bring him back tomorrow with his clothes. Is there anything else he will need? Will we be able to come see him?”

“Anwar can bring whatever he feels he will need. You are welcome to see him anytime. He will not be a prisoner; he will be my apprentice.

Chapter Two

Mariah

C
o-located with the wizards guild is the priest guild in Kampar. Mariah Leavenworth was just beginning her second year in Kampar’s priest guild. At fifteen years of age, she was one of the youngest apprentice priests in the guild, and quickly proving to be the most promising. Mariah was a well-tanned, lean and muscular young priest with curly dark brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. Mariah was considered very odd by the other apprentices. When she wasn’t studying, she was training with the guild guards. She was very athletic and was quickly becoming a master of the bow and, even at fifteen, she won near as many sparring sessions with the guard as she lost. She favored the short sword but made sure to practice with as many weapons as she could to at least familiarize herself with any weapon she may have to pick up and use. Mariah had a dream. She was going to travel, see adventure; she wasn’t going to stuff herself in some tower somewhere and feed the needs of a city or some royal family’s whims. She was going to travel the realms and make a real difference.

Though she was born in Kampar, Mariah never knew her father and her mother had died when she was seven. She was in the city orphanage, but the priest who came to teach the children quickly identified how intelligent she was and when she turned fourteen they made her the offer to begin her training as a priest. She couldn’t have been more excited but she had held her composure and, with a blank face, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “I guess that could work.”

The priests were obviously entertained and took it as one more time that this young girl had proven herself. She could control her emotions well enough. Normally, priests and wizards have their own separate guilds but, as Kampar was a smaller city, the head priest and head wizard had come to an agreement and built one large guild separated internally so as to conserve resources and, in turn, make both guilds more successful.

Mariah was beautiful and caught the attention of many of the other apprentices, but she had no desire to waste time in pointless relationships. She had her goal and she knew that she was leaving Kampar. There was no reason to involve herself with someone that she would end up leaving and making everything more complicated. She had dreams of great adventures, where she would fight alongside the greatest wizards and warriors of the age, protecting the realm, and she put everything she had into that goal. But, for now, she was an apprentice priest with chores and it was past time she should head into the market to pick up the ingredients for spells and potions. She had left the list with the priest. When given a list, she studied it for a few moments, committed it to memory and then left it. the priest enjoyed this, knowing that she was testing herself, and they would often give here long list with random numbers of many different items just to make it difficult—just like the list she had recently been given.

As she walked through the market, however, she saw Guild Master Gabriel walking with two teenage farm boys. This caught her curiosity. She knew she should let it go—her curiosity always got her into trouble, but what was the point of life if you didn’t get in a little trouble. She moved to a position near where they were talking with an older women and two girls. These must be the mother and sisters of those two boys. She watched as the family moved behind the cart. She moved to a place where she could see around the cart; she would be obviously trying to see something now to anyone who paid her any attention. What she saw next, however, was very unexpected. The younger boy, who seemed to be about sixteen, looked at Master Gabriel who nodded and then a blue flame appeared in his palm. Now she was really interested. She did not recognize this boy from the guild, and she made a point of knowing who everyone was. It was part of the way she was training her mind to remember details and when something was different. Could it be that this farm boy had taught himself to use magic on his own? She also knew that the flame that this quite nice-looking boy had just made was something that most of the apprentices didn’t learn until they neared their second year of apprenticeship. Nice looking? Why had she thought that? Well, he was… but she wasn’t focused on things like that. After talking for a while, Master Gabriel left, so she approached the nearest stand, and bought some vegetables, while listening intently. The boy whose name was Anwar was to be Master Gabriel’s personal apprentice. So Master Gabriel thought this boy was beyond the normal training of the guild and was going to train him personally! Before she left, a young man a few years older than her approached and she learned that he was the oldest brother and was to be apprenticed to one of the local blacksmiths. Well, all these brothers were definitely built for such work. The oldest brother was excited to hear his youngest brother would be staying in the city as well. Hmm, I would have guessed the other brother the youngest, she thought. Mariah went on her way, collected the rest of the items for Master Phillip and had to do some negotiating of price to make up for the extra items she had purchased to cover her eavesdropping.

When she returned to Master Phillip with his ingredients, Master Gibbins, the Priest Guild Master, was there. She greeted them both with a short curtsy.