Rising of a Mage (5 page)

“What did you do to him?” she sobbed.

Master Gibbins answered, “We have done nothing. Your son saved this young lady’s life on his way back to the city. She was attacked by a pack of wolves. She killed the first and your son took the other two. Your son is very strong; the magic he used would have killed anyone else who pulled on so much with as little exposure to magic as he has had. We believe he will make a full recovery. His body is simply exhausted, and when he recovers, Master Gabriel will familiarize him with magic so he will not over-exert himself in the same way.”

At this his mother stopped crying and looked at Mariah. “Oh my dear girl, are you ok?”

“Yes ma’am. I am, thanks to Anwar.”

“What happened?” his father asked from the end of the bed.

Mariah looked to Master Gibbins who nodded and she told the whole story. When she had finished, Anwar’s brother Sammuel said, “That’s my brother—not bad for a fourteen year old, huh?”

“He’s only fourteen?” she thought out loud.

“Ya. He’ll be fifteen in four days,” Sammuel said. After they had talked amongst each other they all left, agreeing on a schedule to leave one person there with Anwar each day until he woke up. Anwar’s oldest brother Cannen stayed the first night. He stayed in an adjacent room with a separate bed and a promise to be notified of any change to Anwar’s condition. That would not do for her. She waited in that bed for a ten-day. On his birthday his whole family came to be with him, but it was a very sad occasion indeed. Mariah left that room only to go to her studies and to relieve herself. She slept and she ate in that chair and she talk to Anwar about whatever she was thinking about at the time.

On the seventh day after his birthday Anwar awoke, and there she was sitting next to him holding his hand. The girl from that night. The girl from his dreams. The one he dreamt of travelling with, of adventures and love and companionship.

“Hey, beautiful girl,” he said as he squeezed her hand.

Mariah woke to this. He just said she was beautiful? “Anwar, you’re awake.”

“Am I?” he asked. “I have been dreaming of you, so I was not sure.” Then he winked at her.

She threw her arms around him. “You saved my life, Anwar.” He could feel her body pressing against him, feel the heat of her and he could smell her; she smelled of lavender. He felt his body tingle.

“Ah, you had… um I just helped you out a little.” She stepped back and smiled at him. She has a beautiful smile, he thought. “So how long have I been out.”

“Eleven days, Anwar. Your sister Camella is next door. Should I go get her?”

“Ah well, that would explain the pain in my stomach. Would you mind telling me what happened first? The last thing I remember was hitting the wolf with energy. I remember Master Gabriel told me magic takes energy. And then I was looking into your eyes.”

She took his hand and kissed it. “Whatever you did you saved me.” And then she was gone. She returned with his sister and then a priest came in with some soup and bread, and told him he would have to eat things that were gentle on his stomach until it got used to eating again. Soon his whole family was there talking and laughing and asking questions. They all wished him happy birthday and then Master Gabriel was there with his staff.

“Thought you might want this back.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Are you up to telling your story?”

“Yes sir.” Everyone went quite and he told his story of how he came across the girl—he still didn’t know her name—on his way back to the city. He told how he was riding up as she killed the first wolf, and saw the second, how he used magic to kill the one leaping at her with the green ball and then again on the one that came at him. When he was finished everyone just sat silent and then Master Gabriel said, “Anwar, what you used is called an energy bolt; it is one of the most potent attacks a wizard can make, and most never try it. A wizard’s magical energy is connected to his life force and you release your magical energy into the attack. With as little experience you have in magic, using an energy bolt should have killed you. The fact that you did it twice is nothing short of amazing. But now it is time you began to learn how to use magic and familiarize your body with its use. You must learn to control your gift before you kill yourself with it.

Chapter Four

Introduction
to Magic

A
nwar’s first weeks in the guild were not as exciting as he had hoped. He spent many hours reading many books, usually in Master Gabriel’s study. Most of them were about magic or the history of magic. He learned a lot about where magic comes from, what you can draw magic from, and magical creatures. Master Gabriel was gone a lot, but he would come in after taking care of his duties. His lessons were not what he expected. Instead of Master Gabriel coming in and teaching him, he would just read the books, and then Master Gabriel would come in and they would have discussions. He would ask what Anwar thought about this or that and then ask questions that Anwar would answer until he realized his initial assessment had been wrong and he would draw a new conclusion. Anwar realized that instead of just being told this is how this is, he was being guided to figure it out and the reasons to affirm the conclusion. Anwar was most interested in the drawing of magic from other sources and using magic within other things. He read that one wizard had lead his flow of magic into a tree that then yielded to him and reached its branches out like arms to entrap the people that were attacking him. Anwar spent hours every evening discussing these, as well as many other topics, with Master Gabriel. “Sir, it sounds like the wizards were doing the same thing with the tree and other objects that you explained that I do with my staff, using it as a conduit of magic.”

This brought a smile to Master Gabriel’s face. And for once he gave a little more direct answer. “That is somewhat true but not completely. What they do is a temporary partnership of magic; all beings and things have some magic flowing through them. So, when the wizard partnered his magic with the tree and the purpose was at an end, they were no longer partnered. What you accomplished is something many wizards spend their entire lives trying to accomplish and most never do. You created a permanent partnership with your staff; you imprinted your magic into the staff, as well as the magic of all the things around you when you created it. So your staff is a part of you; it cannot be used against you, for it can never hurt you. As long as you live, it cannot be damaged or destroyed. There are a few magical items of the greatest power that may be able to overcome this but, even in doing so, many of those items would as like be destroyed along with the staff. This is not to say your staff draws your magic away from you or will not be a powerful magical item after you are gone. You implanted great amounts of magic into the staff, pulling from the trees, the grass, the wind around you—everything! From what you have told me, the tree you destroyed was destroyed because all the magic in that tree was imprinted into your staff. Most items of power have names; usually, they are rooted from a command word or the magic in which they were created but often as not they are just given names by their creators. This is often very personal, but I was just curious if you have named your staff, even if you are not comfortable telling me the name.”

This awakened the memory in his mind of when he had unknowingly created an item of great power—an item he obviously still didn’t know nearly enough about.

“When I created the staff I remember saying something.” he looked at his mentor, who just nodded, as if not to push the issue and to leave it at that. “I said Alamira.”

At this his mentor raised his eyebrow in surprise. “Well, I was somewhat mistaken as to the abilities as well as the greatness of the item you created.”

“What do you mean? What does Alamira mean?” Anwar looked at Master Gabriel who looked extremely pleased; he was not even trying to hide his smile now.

“Anwar it would seem you have created an Ala item. These are the greatest magical items in all the world and they are few; most of their locations are unknown or held by the greatest sorcerers and sorceress in the realms. Everything I told you about your staff is true; however, Ala items are bound to their creator, and their power also continues to grow with them until their passing—and upon the passing of their creator the item is complete. This is to say that your staff with continue to become more powerful as you do and when you die it will remain and still be magically enchanted, unbreakable, a conduit of magic that holds every spell you learn and commit to memory well enough that you don’t have to study it again after casting. Such as your blue flame. When you begin to learn more powerful spells, some you will practise and practise until you can use them as often as you have the energy to do so; whereas some of your greatest spells you will learn and be able to cast them, but the casting is so much that it will drain you considerably and you will not be able to practise it enough. Once cast, you will have to restudy the spell. I believe when you reach your full potential there may be a very small list of spells that you are unable to Master. The potential you have far exceeds that of any wizard I have ever known. This is not said to fuel your pride, but to make sure you do not waste the gift given to you. And the last thing I have for you tonight is this: I do not believe it would be wise to tell anyone what your staff is. If anyone were to find out you carry an Ala item you would no doubt quickly become a target.” Anwar continued to study the entire first month in the guild. He was not to use magic for anything. Knowledge is power and your greatest weapon, Master Gabriel often said, and even had a sign above the bookshelf in his office that said the same.

Anwar rose from his seat. “Thank you, sir you have answered many questions and given me a great deal to think on. Good night.” Anwar nodded and left Master Gabriel’s study.

When Anwar was not with Master Gabriel studying, he was in his own room studying. Every morning before breakfast and every night before he washed and went to bed, however, he would run to the city’s main gate and back. He wanted to keep his body strong and in shape and he didn’t have all day working on a farm to strengthen him anymore. He knew he had to keep his body as strong as his mind. And so when he returned from his run he would do push ups until his arms gave out and he collapsed on the floor; he was up to nine hundred in a row before he could do no more. By the end of the first month in the guild he had read nearly half of the books in Master Gabriel’s personal library and had taken a book of blank pages and began organizing the things he felt most important into those pages to reference at need.

Gabriel thought about all of these things that night as he lay in his bed. Anwar was the most gifted and most devoted student he had ever seen. He absorbed knowledge, pushed himself far harder than any previous student and he hadn’t even begun to practise magic yet. He knew that Anwar would surpass him in the years to come and did not believe the number would be many. The teaching and training of Anwar would be his greatest accomplishment and Anwar had a good heart. He need merely steer him in the right direction so he would use his greatness for good. With this thought, Gabriel smiled and went to sleep.

Rumors of Anwar’s accomplishments with the wolves had spread through the guild and school, but Anwar would not speak to any of the students or apprentices about it. He was not looking to be praised he just wanted to learn. He avoided others as often as he could; he focused on his studies. There was one exception—one apprentice of the priest he did not avoid. He often went down to the courtyard where students were taught the basics of how to wield a sword or bow or staff. There he would study and watch her. He was sitting there, lost in a book called Extended Life and Eternal Death, a book about how wizards attempted to live eternally, when she approached him.

“Anwar.”

He looked up at her. She hated how you could never read his face, or did she? It was one more of the enticing mysteries of Anwar. “Would you like to train with me? I don’t have anyone to spar with me today.”

He gave her a polite smile, set down his book, picked up his staff and walked into one of the sparring circles. She looked at him and smiled. Or was it a smirk? “You will fight a sword with a staff?”

“I must learn he replied.”

“But even with the blade guard the metal it too hard; it would break your staff.”

Now he smiled back at her. “We shall see.”

She slowly began going through the forms and he would parry. He could feel the staff moving to his will as if it was an arm or a leg, a part of him. Mariah was better; she was more experienced and they both knew it, but she noticed in the thirty minute session he was learning quickly. He was only surprised by any move once, and then he would learn it and how to defend against it.

“Tomorrow?” she asked, and he nodded.

“I’ll be here,” he replied.

And so, every day after their lessons, they began sparring and every day they both got better. Soon he was matching her and they were pushing each other; their movements became so fluid that others began coming to watch. Many would watch what they did and then go off to the side to practise one thing or another that they saw.