The Jade Mage: The Becoming: Volume 1 (60 page)

BOOK: The Jade Mage: The Becoming: Volume 1

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Tartum went back to his room and gathered up his spellbook and the scroll he recovered from the golden box during his overexam. He carefully channeled his magic into the scroll and bound the parchment into his spellbook. There was a moment that he flashed back to the first time he had attempted to cast this type of spell, and the memory almost caused him to fumble over his words. Luckily, he had come a long way since that day, and he was able to keep his focus and finish the binding without incident. He read over the spell, now that it was bound to his book and decided it was time to try it out. Gathering up his staff, Tartum headed to Rashlarr’s room.

When he got there, he found that Rashlarr was gone. As he was about to leave, he saw a cloth pouch on one of the tables with a letter on it. Upon closer inspection he saw his name was written across the front of the letter. He read it.

Tartum,

Sorry I missed your day of celebration, but Savall has sent me on a mission. If you’re reading this I’m not back yet and may not be for a few days. In the mean time, I know you’ll probably want to try out your new spell, so I left you a bag of sparrow feathers under this letter. Have fun in the training room mastering it. We’re very entertained by you and looking forward to seeing how far you can go. Try not to disappoint us, Jade Mage!

-Rashlarr

P.S.> You may want to drop this letter after reading it.

As Tartum finished reading the last line of the letter, he felt it get very hot and released it just as it burst into ash. Shaking his head, Tartum smiled. He
had
to have Rashlarr teach him how to do that when he got back! Laughing to himself, Tartum opened the bag and inspected the feathers. There were dozens of them stuffed into the bag. Satisfied with the quantity, he put the bag on his belt and looked around the room. For a moment, he thought about looking through Rashlarr’s things but decided that if he had taken the time to trap a simple letter then he more than likely had taken even more time to trap his belongings. Erring on the side of caution, he left Rashlarr’s room without disturbing anything.

Upon reaching the training room, Tartum slung his staff on his back and pulled out his spell book. He went over the spell a few more times, just to make sure he understood precisely how it was supposed to be cast. He had learned early on that you can never over study a spell. The spell was cast exactly like his dome spell, the only differences were the spell component and the words. Confident he had a full understanding of the mechanics of his new spell, Tartum put his book back in his pack and pulled out a sparrow feather. Placing it on the ground, he opened himself to the magic and began to cast his spell.

“Esotlie vet-hurlathi bon!”
he began. Just like with the sapphire, the feather rose up off the ground until it was in front of his chest.

“Menuth bala Katai het!”
as he spoke the second verse, the feather splintered off into a thousand directions and formed a debris field around him. The way the feather’s splinters formed around him made Tartum a little nervous, and he wished he had cast his regular dome spell first; forcing the thought out of his mind, he finished the spell before he lost his nerve.

“Illit vet-jerwat fod!”
he said and the debris around him solidified and became invisible. Tartum released his hold on the magic reluctantly and wondered if the spell had worked. Taking a large sapphire out of his pouch, he toseed it over his head and watched as it reached its zeinth and began to come back at him. About a foot from his head the sapphire hit something and bounced across the room. Tartum was thrilled and recovered the sapphire quickly so he could try his test again. Just as before the sapphire bounced off the dome a foot away from his body and rolled away. He wanted to attempt the spell again and spoke the word of command to dispell the dome.

“
Bala-Esotlie!” h
e said, but noticed no change. Retrieving the sapphire from across the room Tartum tossed it into the air. When it bounced off his head instead of the barrier, he had all the proof he needed that the spell worked and that he had the basics down.

Placing another feather at his feet, Tartum cast his spell again. He repeated this over ten times, partly to make sure he had the spell down completely, and partly because he was enjoying himself. After his final casting, he was just about to throw the sapphire into the air to verify it was successful when something bounced off the dome from behind him. Turning, he looked down and saw a large rock bouncing away from him. Looking up, he saw Elizabeth smiling at him with an innocent look on her face as she approached him.

“What is it, Sweetheart? Did someone throw a rock at you? Gosh, are you ok?” She laughed.

Smiling, Tartum walked towards her and greeted her with a kiss. “So what do you think? Not even your knives can hurt me now.” He teased.

The look on Elizabeth’s face became grave, as she nimbly jumped away from him. In a flash she threw four knives that cut through his robes leaving long tears in its cloth. It all happened so fast and so unexpectedly that Tartum didn’t have time to react. Looking up at Elizabeth, he saw her eyes were blazing, and he was too confused to voice his shock. Elizabeth’s voice took on the acid tone it got when she felt challenged.

“Don’t forget, Sweetheart...that spell is only useful against small,
non
-magical weapons.” She hissed.

Tartum shook his head and frowned.
Fucking women!
he thought to himself. Glaring at Elizabeth, he spoke. “You could have just told me that instead of throwing knives at me. What the hells is with all your theatrics?” he was getting angry. His tone took the fight out of Elizabeth, and she suddenly looked ashamed.

“I’m sorry; I get defensive when I feel someone is challenging me. I don’t know why I did that.” She seemed very upset with herself. Tartum thought about telling her it was alright and that he wasn’t upset. Tartum knew that he could fix his robes with one of the first spells he had learned. Hells, he was looking forward to casting it, however, he was tired of Elizabeth’s mood swings and didn’t want her to think an apology and feeling bad was going to allow her to attack him whenever she felt the mood. He decided to press his advantage and put an end to it once and for all.

“We had a wonderful time yesterday, you took me to a place where I saw incredible creatures, introduced me to a woman that might as well be your sister, I tell you I love you, and after all that when I simply tease you about your knives not being able to get past my newest spell, you attack me. I don’t know what you have going on in that head of yours, but next time you attack me you’d better kill me, because I won’t tolerate it again. Do you realize that the only time I’ve ever harmed you is when you threw your knife into my leg after my back was turned? How would that have gone if our roles were reversed? Would I be here talking to you now or in some shallow grave outside of town. You need to figure out I’m not your god’s damned enemy, Elizabeth. If you really are in love with me, then I would have assumed you’d have figured that out by now.” He said. His tone was even, and he felt nothing but indifference towards her at the moment.

Elizabeth stood there as if she was petrified. She didn’t speak nor did she move, she just stood there staring at the floor. Tartum took this as a sign that his words were getting through to her and that she would finally stop throwing knives at him whenever he teased her. She teased him constantly, didn’t she? He didn’t remember ever firing off a lightning bolt to show her who was boss! Tartum decided to let her stand there and think over his words. He gathered up his belongings and left the training room. As he left she was still just standing there, he found it interesting that he didn’t care.

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