The Way of Sacrifice, page 3
“My first inclination, as you can imagine, was to immolate her where she stood. On reflection, I decided to show my usual attitude of charity and forbearance, the qualities that many, including you, always say I lack. Now, truth-tell her!”
Megan raised her eyebrows and Michael sighed then said, “Please.”
Megan raised her left hand and concentrated as she asked, “Has Mage Michael told the truth about you?”
Bess said, “No Miss. I never accosted him. I only went to talk with him to find where the mages were.”
Michael yelled “Ha!”
He began to raise a hand when Megan said, “Stop that.”
She raised her hand again and said, “Is what Mage Michael told me about the magic-seeker and the trip to Whitecliffe true?”
“Yes, Miss.”
Megan nodded at Michael who slumped his shoulders and said, “Well then, I’ve done my duty to the academy and I will now leave her in your capable hands. If I can’t punish her, then I shall head home now.”
Megan raised a hand to stop him and said, “Michael, you know it doesn’t work like that. Despite my help, she is your responsibility until she’s handed over to Mage Marin for the trip to the academy. If she had arrived here with the wagon, then, she would have been my responsibility. But now, because she found you first, she is yours. Mage Marin is due here in two eightdays. I’m sure she will gladly relieve you of your foundling at that time.”
She turned to Bess and said, “Go with Mage Michael. He will provide what you need until the ship from Tar Eylia arrives. Be warned, he is a fire mage and has very few interpersonal skills. Hopefully, he will find you some new clothes. Before you go, what is your name and which magic-seeker told you to come here?”
“My name is Bess Highland, and I’m from Freehold. Bartholomew, otherwise known as Bat, was the magic-seeker who found me.”
“Okay, now go with Mage Michael.”
Michael glared at Megan and then without a word to Bess, strode off down the hall. With a smile and a wave of her hand, Megan indicated that Bess should follow him. Bess ran after him and followed him once more into the city streets.
Chapter 4
The trip back to Michael’s home was conducted in silence. Michael walked even faster than before and this time Bess did have to jog. Michael’s home was halfway down the tree-lined street and mostly hidden behind a head-high stone wall with a wrought iron gate barring the entrance. As he approached the steel gate he raised a hand and Bess could hear the click as the gate unlocked. After they passed through Michael locked the gate behind them with another hand movement and led the way along a gravel path to the front door. Bess was expecting Michael to unlock the door with magic but it opened as they approached and Bess could see an older grey-haired man standing just inside the door.
Without even pausing to say hello Michael took off his robe and handed it to the man then headed deeper into the house yelling, “Ellen! Ellen!”
He’d only taken a few steps when a serious-looking, tall, well-built woman arrived and said with the merest touch of rebuke in her tone, “Mage Michael, you called?”
“I didn’t call, I yelled.” He waved his hand in Bess’ direction and continued, “This annoying creature will be staying with us for an eightday or so. Clean her up, and if possible find her some decent clothes and make sure to burn those rags she’s wearing. She is a potential mage so put her in an empty guest room somewhere. Feed her, then bring her to my study at the eighth hour.”
Michael turned to Bess and said, “Go with Ellen and get presentable. After I’ve eaten and hopefully calmed down I will outline my expectations for the next few eightdays.”
Then, without waiting for a reply, he walked off and entered one of the rooms which branched off the main entryway. Bess turned to Ellen who was watching her carefully. Bess met her gaze and looked back without either challenge or fear. Ellen nodded slowly and said, “Mage Michael can be both gruff and rude, but he tends to do what is right. It seems he has assumed responsibility for you. What is your name?”
“Bess Highland.”
“Then welcome, Bess. Follow me and I will show you where to wash.”
Ellen led Bess up some stairs and toward the rear of the house where there was a room set aside with a large tub. There was a pump over the tub, a screen to change behind, and several wicker baskets near the door. Ellen said, “Fill the tub halfway with the pump while I bring some hot water to add. I have no idea where Mage Michael expects me to get clothing at this time of day but I shall see what I can find.”
By the time Bess had half filled the tub Ellen returned with two buckets of boiling water. Ellen poured the buckets in the tub and said, “You start the bath and I will bring two more buckets. Beside the tub you’ll find several containers of different soaps and lotions. The blue soap is for your body and the green for your hair.”
Although Bess had just had a bath just over an eightday previously she enjoyed the experience. She wondered how often people in the city took baths as they seemed to put a lot of stock in being clean. When she was finished she sat in the tub and waited for Ellen to return.
Eventually after almost half an hour Ellen returned without the buckets, but with a towel, a simple tunic, a dress, and a pair of trousers. She said, “I’m sorry I was delayed Bess but I have only been able to find these which might fit you. There are no undergarments in the house which would fit you so put the dress over the tunic and trousers. Once you’re dressed we’ll get you fed.”
As Bess dried herself with a cloth which was finer even than what she’d seen in Freehold she said, “Pardon me, but what are undergarments?”
Ellen stared at Beth for a moment then said, “I won’t be describing them now but tomorrow we will visit a dressmaker and you can see for yourself.”
When Bess was dressed Ellen led her to the kitchen and fed her some day old soup with bread, and after apologising for the meagre spread she promised to find better in the morning. Bess just laughed and said it was the more than enough and the bread was the softest she’d ever eaten. When Bess was finished Ellen said, “It’s time for you to see Mage Michael. After he’s finished with you I’ll show you to your room for tonight.”
Ellen then led the way to a room on the lowest floor and after knocking waited for a reply before waving Bess through. Mage Michael was sitting in an armchair before a fireplace. He waved Bess in and gestured toward a second chair which was opposite him. He didn’t say anything but just sat staring into the flames.
Bess watched for a minute then began looking around the room. It was twice as large as her family’s bothy and besides the chairs there was a wooden desk with a chair beside it, several lamps which provided light throughout the room and hundreds, if not thousands, of books. When she’d looked around to her satisfaction she sat and began staring into the flames with Mage Michael.
She found the flames almost mesmerising the way they danced on the wood and she felt herself slowly getting sleepy. Just when she thought she’d have to turn away or fall asleep Mage Michael said in a low almost inaudible tone, “Your patience is commendable in one so young. When I was your age I would have been climbing the walls almost as soon as I entered the room. What do you know of magic?”
“Nothing Sir, the magic-seeker Bat suggested I wait to learn about magic from those who know it best.”
“He was wise then, this magic-seeker. Many people have much to unlearn when they arrive at the academy. Still it is best you have some knowledge or training otherwise you will fall behind. Unfortunately for both of us you have irrevocably become tied to me when you announced yourself on the street.
“Instead of arriving with the hoards of peasants and would-be mages where you could hide as one of many, now you will be known as Mage Michael’s foundling. Be assured this is the most pleasant of terms which will be used to describe you. But do not think you are the only one to be labelled by our sudden relationship.
“Your success will elevate me only if it is remarkable. Anything else, even a mediocre success, or worse yet, a failure will bring me low, my life will become unbearable. Your path will possibly be even more difficult because you have my name now tied around your neck, but the truth is that at the moment that doesn’t bother me anywhere as much.
“I know you meant no harm but we have magic-seekers to prevent mages from finding foundlings, or apprentices. Each year, somewhere in the empire, some unwitting mage like myself will be encumbered with an apprentice but I can honestly say, no sane mage ever looks for one.
“As one of the nameless hoards your studies, your lodging, your food, your clothing, all you needed would have been at the expense of the empire. Then, as expected, you would answer only to the emperor, albeit through his Mage Advisor and then in whatever hellhole he might send you, you would have senior mages appointed to direct you at the emperor’s pleasure.
“As the Foundling of Mage Michael Firestorm, your every need is mine to bear and you answer to the emperor only through me. Be assured that none in the Academy of Magic will make your life pleasant when they understand that both your allegiance and your obedience is not to them, except at my command.
“Many who found themselves in your situation would still be able to look for success. However, and somewhat unfortunately for you, I have made more than my share of enemies at the academy and I expect the staff, and almost all the graduate level students, will make good the threats they whispered against me, by applying them to you.
“None of this, of course, is your fault, but it is now, unfortunately, your lot. I suspect the time will come when you will wish that I had used you for kindling instead of staying my hand. Now, before I seek to instruct you in the basics and hopefully provide a foundation which leads to success, tell me of yourself, Bess Highland.”
“There is not much to tell Mage Michael, I was eldest of three and born in the wilds beyond Freehold Keep. My father hoped to make a few silvers from my marriage and so he was overjoyed at his good luck when I could be exchanged for a gold coin. My brothers have everything that was mine except my bow and knives. Everything else I had was burned at Freehold Keep and except for the kindness of the chamberlain and the magic-seeker Bat I may be lying dead in a ditch between here and there.
“I have few skills besides those necessary to keep a home, but I can hunt as well. My future was already written until I was chosen and I am determined to have a say in writing it from this point forward. Your talk has brought my dreams closer to the earth than my uninformed fantasies but it has done nothing to stop me from doing everything I can to succeed.”
Bess had been looking into the fire as she talked and did not see the small wry smile which crossed Michael’s face. Michael turned slightly in his chair and reached for a small book which was on the side table which was between them. His motion caused Bess to look up at him.
He said, “I am tired, and I cannot face a lesson on magic tonight. Take this and read it thoroughly. It will give you a brief but correct understanding of the main principles by which magic work. Tomorrow before breakfast I will question you on the contents. Tell Ellen you should be here and prepared for the lesson at the sixth hour of the day. Have you any questions before you leave?”
“Only one Mage Michael, I do not know how to read. Does the book explain how to do it?”
Michael’s didn’t move as he stared at her except she could almost see his shoulders droop a little. Finally he said, “It does not. It seems that I am somehow caught in the grasp of some malevolent spirit who wishes to break me before finally crushing the very life from my soul. Sit back and I will explain how magic works. Tomorrow we will need to find a tutor who can begin your journey into the mysteries of the written word as well as improve your rustic and rather overly voweled diction.”
Chapter 5
Bess sat a little straighter as she waited but Michael seemed lost in thought. Finally after almost five minutes he said, “Everything on this world is endued with what people call magic. It’s a part of the very structure of our existence. For thousands of years humanity travelled the stars and before we arrived on this planet, magic was something only imagined, it was something dreamed up to add mystery and adventure to stories, it fired up the imagination, but it was still just a fantasy.
“More than four thousand years ago, humanity, as our ancestors named our race, began to terraform this planet. The records say it took three hundred years to turn a lifeless rock into a safe place for us to live. At that time, every thing that we needed to survive was transported to this planet’s surface from elsewhere in the galaxy through great portals.
“Most of what was used to bring life came originally from humanity’s birth place, a planet almost three thousand light years from here. Most, but not all. Some species were genetically engineered just for here. Things like water and the air we breathe was portaged from a range of other locations.
“Then came what we call the Collapse. No one is exactly sure what happened but one old fragment in the original language says there was ‘an aether explosion across the entire prime duodenary braid’. In the language of the empire its most accepted translation is ‘a tear in the strongest twelve-stranded cord’. It was only after this tear, and after we were left here as an abandoned and struggling colony, that those who were left began to notice something strange happening to our genetic code.
“Truth be told, the same thing was happening in the code of every living organism on the planet. Back then, before the colony eventually fragmented across the planet, we had devices to measure what happened in the deepest parts of the deepest seas and even on the far edges of this star’s system. People could see what was happening in the tiny cells which make up everything that lives, and they noticed ‘something’.
“Now, the records are jumbled and life has changed so much that much of what they talk about has changed beyond our ability to understand. Almost everything except a few records was lost in what we call the ‘Time of Darkness’. We lost almost all their achievements and certainly any hope of rebuilding it. This ‘something’ which they noticed has continued to express itself and we all have ‘it’ inside us. This is what everyone calls ‘magic’, everyone that is, except those who learn in the academy. We take the old statement I quoted and we call this substance inside us, ‘aether’.”
Michael looked up to see if Bess was following only to see her staring at him in utter confusion and non-comprehension. In frustration he said, “Child, you will be the death of me. How much of that did you understand?”
“What’s a planet and how can people get to the stars? What does terraform mean? What’s a galaxy? What’s a light-year?”
Michael stared at Bess for a moment before sighing deeply and almost talking to himself he said, “You would think that the daily reminders would prevent me from ever forgetting how simple-minded and ignorant of the world even the average educated person is. Then, on top of that you’ve not been given even the most rudimentary education that is offered to the useless and teeming dregs of the empire’s poor. When I think on it I am more surprised that you can understand any of the words I use.”
“I do understand when I’m being mocked and insulted.”
Michael gave a smirk before saying, “Child, that was not mockery, nor insulting, but a simple truth. If that upsets you then the first day in the academy will leave you seething with uncontrollable hatred or weeping in inconsolable grief, and possibly even both at the same time. You will need to grow a thicker skin if you ever wish to be a mage.
“Even the poorest waif living on the streets of Tar Eylia knows more than you. Just say the word and I will end your pitiful life before it starts. Once you get on the boat and are recognised as my apprentice then you had best show more spine, or whatever they do will be a mere taste of the wrath I will bring down on your misbegotten hide.”
Bess, who was on the verge of crying, swallowed deeply and lifted her chin, her eyes bright with unshed tears and said, “Then please continue Mage Michael, I do assure you that you are yet to even pierce my misbegotten hide and my younger brothers held more derision in their words of kindness than you have yet to display.”
Michael’s smirk almost threatened to become a real smile but instead it turned cruel. “Bess, never challenge someone at the academy unless you are prepared for a duel to the death. The honour of a mage is a fragile thing and most have less forbearance than I. Mage London would flay the skin from your bones with her very words should you challenge her like that. Air is her major and her focal point is her tongue. Every word she utters is filled with aether. By now you would be a bloody whimpering mess on the floor. Let the words flow over you, never give them any place to settle or you will wish with all your heart to be back in the bed of a your father’s chosen pig herder.”
Bess let her retort die on her lips and forced the heat from her eyes before nodding gently and looking down.
“Better. Remember that submission can also open you to a world of abuse. It is a fine line which you must walk if you are to survive. But enough of the pleasantries of academy life, let me explain magic in simpler terms. This world exists both here and in some other realm. Magicians use the old word to describe the other realm, they call it a ‘dimension’.
“This dimension realm leaks aether into this world through our cells. These are the tiny pieces that make up every living thing. When the cells die so do their connection to the dimension world. Our skin, or in fact any part of our body which is open to the air forms the barrier which limits the aether from leaking into the world we call ‘real’. It’s not really the skin but that’s the easiest way to explain it to you at the moment. When you get to the academy they will use other words.
“Most people, animals, and plants naturally have strong thick barriers and this stops any aether from entering the world that we live in. This is a good thing because the aether, when it interacts in this reality, does strange things, the things we call magic. If the aether isn’t focussed as it enters the world then it manipulates, or changes the world, in a random way. Sometimes the results are fantastic and beautiful, like the Diamond Gardens of Libontia, but most of the time they twist the natural world causing freak fires, sudden tornadoes, horrible disease or even creating terrors like the Wraiths of Tar Homid.
