Wizard's Education (Book 2) (12 page)

"What's happening?"

"Please. I don't want to see this." The image of the Princess held out her hand timidly. The woman struck it repeatedly with the spoon until it was red. She reached for the other hand and repeated the beating, finally storming off.

"What happened?"

"I was caught stealing treats from the kitchen. That was the cook. She beat me so hard, she broke one of the bones in my hand. I could not use it for weeks. I told everyone I fell down and hurt it. I was never so ashamed in my life. I hurt so bad, but I didn't want anyone to know that it was for being bad."

As the Princess explained, the globe became brighter and brighter. It popped and disappeared just as the earlier one had.

Far off and faint, the next sphere appeared. It grew in size and intensity until Lorit could see that it was the little girl sitting under the tree. The Princess grasped his hand so hard he thought it would break. She shrieked "No!" and the globe sped away once more.

"What is that?" Lorit asked. "What happened that day?"

She turned and laid her head against his chest, crying. "I just can't bear it."

Lorit waited for her breathing to settle down. "Maybe this is how we get out of here. These are our fears and we have to face them."

"Not that one." She shook as she cried.

A sphere arrived showing Chihon in Priestly Robes. This time, she was standing beside an altar. Lorit recognized the altar. It was in the Temple. A small animal was tied on the altar and Lorit could feel that it had its own magic. It lay there quietly as Chihon stroked its fur. Lorit saw the sunbeam moving slowly across the altar. He knew once it struck the statue, the sacrifice would begin.

Lorit saw Chihon raise the sacrificial blade and lay it against the throat of the creature. "No!" Lorit screamed, but it had no effect, the image of Chihon continued its course of action. When the sunbeam touched the statue, Chihon drew the knife across the animal’s throat.

Blood gushed forth, mingled with a purple sparkling cloud that swirled around Chihon. The cloud spun faster and faster and contracted until the magic was absorbed. He saw the figure of Chihon throw her head back and let out a silent shout of triumph.

"No!" Lorit shouted. He reached for the sphere, but before he could touch it, it exploded into a shower of light and sparks and died out, plunging them back into the deep darkness.

Lorit hung his head and cried. Had he just witnessed Chihon take the magic of a magical creature? Was this real? If she had actually done this thing, would he have felt it? He wanted to find her and these images only fueled his rage at the witch for lying to him.

Again, a sphere arrived. This time it was Lorit who appeared inside the glowing light. He looked much as he did now. The image showed him Chedel, the young Wizard he'd rescued from the temple. It displayed his rescue, and how Lorit had entrusted him into the care of the Sorceress.

He watched as Chedel snuck away from the Sorceress to meet with the Priests. His anger rose as the extent of the betrayal Chedel had engaged in was revealed to him. He knew the boy had turned out to be his enemy, when he had believed him to be a confidant. The boy had been reporting their every movement to the Priests from the time they had met.

As the final conflict appeared, Lorit couldn't contain himself. He was shaking with rage at the extent of the betrayal. He felt fingers grip his arm. "What is this?" the Princess asked. "What happened?"

"That was Chedel. I rescued him from the Temple and mentored him. I took care of him and made sure he was safe. All the time he was plotting against me."

The image revealed Lorit bound to the table in the Temple.

"I was tortured by the priest and Chedel sat there taunting me all the while." His voice shook with the anger of the betrayal.

"Then what?"

"Then I killed him," Lorit said. The sphere stayed where it was. Lorit had thought that telling the story was what had made the sphere burst, but it just stayed where it was.

The sphere showed the bright violet light emanating from Lorit. It twisted around the boy, drawing a dark purple light from him, twisting it into a sharp lance, and driving it into the priest. The scene froze at that instant and remained where it was.

"Why doesn't it disappear like the last one? You told me what happened."

"I don't know. I was being tortured. I used Chedel's magic to attack the Priest. I'd protected the boy and worried about him, and he betrayed me."

"Why is this important to you?"

"It's the final battle with the Temple in Veldwaite." Lorit recalled the day. He grew tense at the memory, his fists tightening until his fingernails bit into his own flesh.

"You killed him? He looks like a kid. Surely he wasn't much of a threat to you."

"He wasn't a threat, he was a betrayer. I was angry with him for turning on us. I was angry with him for sitting there taunting me while the priest tortured me. I was angry that he was a turncoat all along and that he lied to me from the very first."

"So you killed him out of anger?"

"I ... He ... I," Lorit stuttered. Had he taken Chedel's life more because he was angry than because he needed his magic? Had he acted out of rage and not out of self defense, as he had tried to convince himself?

"I killed him out of anger," Lorit finally said, admitting what he saw. "I murdered a boy because I was mad at him and he was taunting me."

The sphere brightened and shattered into sparks that flew everywhere and quickly died, plunging them back into darkness.

The next globe to appear contained the image of a young girl sitting at a table, watching a woman cooking. It was Lorit's sister, Onolt. The girl got up from the table and left the room. Lorit could almost feel the room around him; the smell of his mother's cooking caressed his senses and brought him back to the home he'd left so long ago.

The door burst open and a priest appeared. He struggled with Lorit's mother, who fought back with her kitchen knife, landing a few blows and leaving the priest bloodied before he overcame her.

"What is this, Lorit? Why isn't it showing you something you did?"

"I don't know. This is my sister Onolt and my mother. This must be the day the Priest killed them. Why is it showing me this?"

The priest left the room and quickly returned, dragging the girl behind him. He lashed her to the kitchen table and pulled out a ceremonial knife, caressing it as he walked around her. Lorit cringed in anticipation. He remembered the pain, but why would the sphere show him this scene from his past?

He felt the agony as the priest tortured the girl, slicing away at her tender flesh, carving arcane symbols into her skin like a whittler carving a soft piece of pine. The Priest paused in his torture when Lorit's mother awoke from her beating. He pulled her up off the floor and pinned her against the table.

Lorit turned his face away from the image. He didn't want to witness this. He knew what had happened. He knew he had caused this, but he didn't have to watch it unfold in front of him.

"The image has stopped," the Princess said.

Lorit turned back to the sphere and it resumed its gruesome depiction.

With Lorit's mother, the priest had been mercifully quick. He made a few swift cuts and opened her throat and wrists letting her blood run across his sister and onto the floor. He held her there until the blood stopped spurting from her wounds, then he cast her back on the floor.

Lorit turned away again.

"It's stopped again," the Princess told him. "I think you have to watch it." She reached out and put her hand on his arm.

Lorit watched as the priest drew more symbols on the exposed flesh of his younger sister. He recalled how they had shared a bond of closeness that allowed him to feel what she felt, and how it was severed that day. He watched, unable to take his eyes off the image.

The Priest smeared his mother's blood on the table, carefully drawing geometric figures on the polished wood. Finally, he lifted his staff and passed it over the girl. A heavy, glowing mist formed and contracted until it enveloped her, wrapping her in a dense tangle of mesh that formed from the retracting illumination. He felt her presence diminish as the mesh tightened about her. He could see the pattern of ropes that now bound her and his heart sank in him.

He screamed in rage and frustration.

The sphere dimmed and started to back away.

"No, wait. This is my sister. I was responsible for her death. The Temple came after her because of me. I killed her. It was me."

"How is that your fault?" The Princess squeezed Lorit's arm tightly.

"I infused my magic into her when I tried to heal her from the fever. She was not a Sorceress by nature, but I turned her into one. It was my fault that the Temple came after her. When this happened, I sought out the priest who did this and killed him."

The globe brightened and burst into a shower of sparks.

The sphere with the image of the little girl appeared once again. Lorit could feel the Princess tense up as it grew closer and brighter. He put his arm around her shoulders and leaned in. "You have to face this," he said.

"It's horrible." She was shaking so hard, Lorit was worried she wouldn't be able to face it.

"What's happening? Why is this so terrible?"

"This is the day my mother died. I was just a little girl. We were out for a picnic. She went down to the river to wash up before we ate. She left me on the blanket."

The image drew back to show the tree, then the river. Lorit could see the woman walking towards the river. There were guards along the path, standing, shields up and swords at the ready. She strolled between them, making her way to the water.

"She was fetching water to wash me when they killed her. We never found out who was behind it. The guards killed him. They never got a chance to question anyone," she explained.

The little Princess in the image watched as her mother scooped water from the river with a small pail. Her dress was white and shone with the noonday sun. It was almost as if she were lit from within.

Suddenly, a red blossom appeared on her back, quickly followed by another. The red splattered and spread to fist sized stains before the Queen fell face forward into the river. The little Princess jumped up and ran for the water. Before she could get beyond the confines of the shade tree, she was snatched up in the arms of one of the guards.

"The guards tried to protect me. I thought he was trying to keep me away from my mother. I fought him with all my strength until he suddenly released me."

The guard held her tight and turned his back to the river and her mother. She struggled to get free but was unable to break the grip he had on her. Without warning, he released her and fell to the ground.

"That was when I got shot."

Lorit could feel her shaking in his arms as he watched the little girl sit there screaming. A red splotch appeared on her tiny dress and she fell to the ground.

"I still have the scar. They never found out who did it, so they were never punished."

The sphere glowed brightly and exploded into a shower of sparks.

The next time the sphere appeared immediately. It showed Chihon once again standing over the altar. She held the knife in her hand in readiness. This time, there was no magical creature on the altar. It was a young boy.

Lorit strained to see the boy who was tied to the altar just as Ardser had been when the Priests took his magic. The sunbeam approached the statue, signaling the optimum time to make the sacrifice and the boy cried out and struggled in his bonds. He turned his face to Lorit.

It was Prince Ghall.

Lorit and the Princess screamed out in unison, "No." But it had no effect on the grisly scene being played out before their eyes.

The sunbeam struck the statue and Chihon deftly slid the knife across the Prince’s throat. Blood gushed forth, mixed with a cloud of purple and silver sparkles.

"No!" Lorit screamed.

He let the rage consume him and fuel his magic. He raged at the scene before him. Chihon would not turn. She would not take someone’s magic. She would not kill the Prince.

He felt his anger consume the magic of the witch, shattering the spell. The darkness exploded into light and the tomb stones of the graveyard appeared out of the thick mist.

"That does it. She is going to tell me where Chihon is." Lorit picked himself up off the musty ground. "She's not going to get away with this."

"Lorit, you can't beat her. She's a witch. Please don't. She could kill you."

Lorit didn't let that stop him. He turned back to the witch's house. He used his staff to steady himself as he made his way. The trap had taken a lot out of him and he was feeling drained. As he approached the house, he could feel the witch inside. Her magic was strange, different from his own. He reached out with his senses to locate her and raised fire.

"Where is she?" he screamed. "What have you done with her?"

Lorit hurled the fireball towards the house. It leapt from his hand and swooped, entering through an open window. There was a bright flash as the fireball struck something inside of the house. Lorit felt a surge in the witch's power as she fought off the flames.

"Tell me what you have done with her."

He raised another fireball. This time he imbued the fire with all the strength he had in him. It shifted from the familiar blue to almost pure white. He released it to chase the previous one, swirling and spitting sparks as it flew through the open window. This time there was a flash brighter than the sun that cast shadows across the graveyard, burning themselves into his eyes.

Lorit thought that the witch must surely be dead after such a blast. He walked towards the house. The walls still glowed inside as he stormed up the stairs. He heard the witch from inside cackling with laughter.

"You’re never going to find her."

A beam of light struck Lorit where he stood, blinding him instantly. It was almost as bright as the flash from his last fireball, as bright as the noonday sun.

He jammed his staff into the rickety floor to steady himself. He willed the light to bend into the jewel at the head of his staff. It took effort, but slowly Lorit could feel the light abate as it was drawn from his face and into the jewel.