The Sorcerer's Legacy (27 page)

That was as far as he got. As he took a step forward, Ellyssa shouted, “Now!”

Wolf kicked out the retaining pin that was holding the rope secure, which caused the heavy chandelier to race for the floor and pulled the rope taut. As the weight of the chandelier pulled the rope through the pulley, the noose tightened around the wizard’s feet and jerked him off the floor, hanging him upside down.

“We caught the boggleber!” children began shouting and dancing around the suspended mage.

“I am not a boggleber!” Allister shouted through the folds of his robe that he was struggling to pull away from his face.

“That’s exactly what a boggleber would say,” Ellyssa told him, bending down at the knees to look Allister in his bright red face.

“I am not a boggleber! I do not even know what a boggleber is!”

“Are you sure you don’t know what a boggleber is?” Ellyssa asked quizzically.

Allister forced himself to calm down as he felt the child was finally listening to reason. “No, have no idea what a boggleber is or even looks like.

“Then how do you know you’re not one?”

“You better let me down, you demon spawn, or so help me—!”

“Now, I know I have seen those wrinkly old legs somewhere before,” Azerick said as he mounted the top of the stairs.

“Azerick, lad, is that you?” Allister asked with relief.

“Azerick, we caught a boggleber!” Roger cried from halfway up the stairs leading to the tower.

Azerick walked across the room, bent down, and turned his head upside down to peer into the wizard’s ruddy face. “Now this looks very familiar,” Azerick mused with a grin.

“I am glad to see you, boy, and I’ll be even gladder to see you right side up,” Allister told his former pupil.

“And I am glad to see you wearing underclothes this time,” Azerick responded. “Wolf, would you please let the good magus down—,”

Wolf released the rope from the catch dropping the old wizard in a heap onto the floor.

“—slowly,” Azerick finished with a sigh.

“That must be one of yours,” Magus Allister said as he picked himself up pointing an accusing finger at Ellyssa who stood nervously chewing her bottom lip a short ways away.

“That would be my apprentice, Ellyssa. Ellyssa, say hello to Magus Allister, my friend and former mentor. And as far as I know, he has no relation to bogglebers, although I can see where you might make that mistake. I made it made it once myself,” Azerick said in introduction.

Ellyssa shyly walked towards the old mage. “Sorry I hung you upside down and called you a boggleber—and an old beggar even though you do look kind of like an old beggar.”

Allister threw his head back and laughed in genuine amusement. “With Azerick as your master I can hardly blame you for your actions. At least you did not paddle my backside red.”

“I would never do that, Magus Allister. That would not be nice at all!” Ellyssa declared as she covertly motioned to the boy standing behind the magus to hide the stick he held.

“Hey, in all fairness I have only had her for about nine months and I do not think I can be entirely to blame for her character,” Azerick said in his defense.

“Which is more than adequate time to corrupt most anyone in your care,” Allister accused him genially.

“Oh yes, Magus,” Ellyssa swore, emphatically nodding her head. “Master Azerick is a good teacher, but he is a bad influence on impressionable young minds. He made me face a ghost and squish rats.”

“I have to steal food from the kitchen or starve,” accused Wolf.

“He cut off my foot!” Roger shouted from up the stairs.

Azerick gaped in shock at the slanderous accusations. Azerick’s protests were barely audible over the children’s laughter. Allister was laughing so hard tears were flowing from his eyes.

“Oh, you were right, you really are in trouble here,” the magus stated between bouts of laughter.

“I do not want to sound ungrateful, because I am glad you are here, but what are you doing here?” Azerick asked as the din of laughter subsided.

“Franklin got your message and informed me of where you were,” the magus answered.

A disconcerting look crossed Azerick’s face. “It was supposed to be a secret. Are you here to take me back to Southport?” he asked in a tone that left it clear he would not go willingly.

“Put your feathers down, boy, I’m not here to take you back nor would I even try if you were even still wanted. I am here because I have been worried for you, and Franklin said you needed help.”

“I am not wanted anymore?” Azerick asked in disbelief.

Allister shook his bearded head. “No, those other three finally fessed up to Travis’s activities as well as their own involvement. With theirs and Franklin’s testimony, it was decided that you had acted in self-defense and Travis’s use of his wand with lethal intent placed the vast majority of fault on himself. Of course you understand that you are not wanted by The Academy or authorities, but that does not mean you are not sought after,” Allister gravely warned.

“His father,” Azerick replied knowingly.

“Exactly. The apple does not fall far from tree as the saying goes, and it is especially true in Travis’s case.”

“Did Rusty say if he was coming?” Azerick asked his former teacher.

“Aye, he’ll be here as soon as he can. Franklin has a few things to wrap up at home first and traveling is not exactly easy,” Allister replied.

Azerick suddenly looked abashed at his lack of hospitality. “You must be tired from making the trip in this weather. Would you like some winter wine and something to eat?”

“I could most definitely use something to warm these old bones and put my feet up. But not so far that they are over my head,” he growled playfully at Ellyssa.

Azerick led the magus to the dining hall and asked Agnes to bring them both some of the warm winter wine, bread, and cheese. They waited a few minutes for the wine before discussing anything of importance. It was not until Allister sipped the wine and smiled gratefully as its warming effects spread through his body that he asked Azerick what had happened to him after he fled The Academy.

“So I rode into the city after the first snow fell and invited as many of the homeless children I could find to come stay in the keep until winter passed. Roger had frostbite so bad that the healing potions I made could not restore the worst of the damage to his foot so Evan and I had to remove part of it,” Azerick summed up as he related his tale to his old friend.

“And how many have you found that have the talent?” Allister asked.

“Thirty two,” Azerick replied with emphasis.

Allister’s face clearly displayed his shock as the significance of Azerick’s statement registered. “Zounds, lad, you have the makings of another Academy!”

Now it was Azerick’s turn to look shocked. He had not really thought about it in that light. Could he really start his own academy? He would need a lot more space to house the students and faculty. He was already too short on proper living quarters for the students he had now, but that could be remedied as soon as the workers could return. There were plenty of buildings inside the grounds that could be put back in order to suffice, but he would need more if he housed a full staff on the premises.

“Where would I get the instructors to teach that many students properly? I had thought of having some of the workers each take on a few students as apprentices as they worked on rebuilding the keep, that is not too difficult, but I need mages to teach the ones who can access the Source.”

“You have me, Azerick. I put in an indefinite leave of absence at The Academy. They can get along fine without me. Franklin is on his way and he has really come far in the last couple of years. Your absence really made him focus on his studies,” Allister reassured his former pupil.

That would only be ten students for each of them. Azerick could teach the novices, Rusty could teach the apprentices and journeymen, and Magus Allister could help with the journeymen and those that graduated to study the higher forms of magic.

“How is Rusty doing these days?” Azerick inquired of his best friend.

Allister smiled thoughtfully as he answered. “Franklin is doing very well. He has been working with his father for the past year but still studies his magic. I always told him he had good potential if he would just focus more, and I think he has finally realized that. He’s married now, you know.”

“He got married? To Colleen?” Azerick asked excitedly.

“Indeed, quite a good head on that lovely young lass too. I think she had as much to do with Franklin getting his head out of the clouds as anyone. She is also pregnant. Franklin is going to be a father in a few months,” Allister informed his shocked pupil.

Azerick shook his head in consternation. “I can’t ask him to come here! He has too much going on at home to be worrying about me or my problems. I need to write another letter. I will have to make another bird!”

Allister squeezed the agitated young man’s hand with his own. “Son, I saw the look in Franklin’s eyes when he told me about your letter. Nothing you could do would stop him from coming here now. He is a grown man and able to make his own decisions. Let him make them.”

“I will have to set a room up for them in the tower, no, I will give them the downstairs study, Colleen does not need to be walking up and down the stairs,” Azerick excitedly related his plans.

“I am sure they will appreciate your consideration,” Allister assured the sorcerer then took on a more serious tone. “You have been through so much. Most men will never even come close to going through the trials and hardships you have faced at your young age, even if they lived to be a hundred,” the old wizard said ruefully.

“It has made me who I am and made me strong enough to withstand most anything,” Azerick resolutely told his mentor.

Allister looked deep into Azerick’s eyes. “Aye, it made you strong, but that kind of strength can often make a man rigid and inflexible. Things that cannot bend often break under enough pressure. That strength often creates an emotional shield that makes a man bitter and impossible to get close to. In their desire to keep away what may hurt them, they also keep away those that would love them. Watch that that does not happen to you,” Allister spoke with compassion.

Azerick felt tears welling up inside of him as he thought about all he had lost, especially Delinda. “I try, Magus, but it is hard to do. I fear if I let my guard down those emotions will destroy me.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, son. You suffered the greatest loss that anyone can experience. I cannot tell you the best way to deal with it. That is something you must discover on your own. For now, let us figure out a way to best help these children before they get loose and fall upon some poor unsuspecting town and trample it under their feet!”

Azerick and Magus Allister split up the students. Allister taught Ellyssa, Roger, and the students that showed the greatest potential for the more advanced levels of magic while Azerick taught the less adept students. All still took basic education classes taught by Simon, Teresa, and the other women.

Possibly the greatest contribution Allister provided was a spell that would duplicate the contents of most any book onto the pages of a blank one, even creating multiple copies by placing several books containing blank pages beneath the original. Azerick was amazed as he watched the old wizard pull dozens of blank books out of a bag that was far too small to have held more than five or six.

“It is a special bag created with magic to have a much larger space inside than out and virtually negates the weight inside it as well,” he explained as he unloaded the books.

“Did you make this?”