Children of Prophecy Page 4

  “Why what?”

  “Why learn the sword?” Tal looked away from Car. “I mean, what use is a sword when one has magic?”

  Does the boy have any sense? demanded one of the older – much older – Hawks from the amulet..

  The boy is not alone in his sentiment, Eld One. Too many of today’s Battlemagi feel the same way about any weapons. He will not, Car responded firmly to the dead man in his head. A millenium of time had wrought a great many changes, and too many of the Hawks locked away in the Amulet had difficulties understanding that. That lack of understanding could be a hassle for the man who had no choice but to listen to them.

  “Many Battlemagi think that, my young apprentice. They disregard the sword and other methods of combat. Then they face some challenge that cannot be fought with magic, and are defeated.” Car paused, meeting and holding Tal’s eyes. “Also, you must always remember to use the least force necessary. Often you can solve problems with a sword without the massive destruction of Death magic. It is much easier to wound or disable with a sword than with a lightning bolt. Finally, to always use magic is the easy way, and like so many other easy ways in magic, will tend to corrupt, and lead one into Chaos.”

  Tal nodded, appearing to take in the lesson. Car decided to accept the lesson as taught, and tossed a practice sword to the boy. He caught it with difficulty, since the sword wasn’t much shorter than he was.

  The Hawk hid a small smile, and then began to teach, slowly and surely, as so many others had over the centuries, the ways of the sword.

  Once they’d finished with the swords, Car had sent Tal off to find lunch. It took him a while to find the kitchen, tucked away in the eastern wing. The bustle and energy filling the room intimidated him at first, but he soon worked up the nerve to venture in and ask for food.

  The head cook was a large, bustling, red-faced man with a gentle smile. When he saw Tal, his face lit up. “Ah, it’s the young new lord himself,” he exclaimed with a broad smile. “Looking for some lunch, are you?”

  The man’s forceful cheeriness raised a small smile in return from Tal, who nodded in response to his question.

  “A good healthy appetite, that’s what a boy your age needs. Come.” He led Tal over to a small table in the corner of the kitchen, with several stools nearby. “I’m Jor’helts, the cook in this place. Now you just hoist yourself up here,” Jor fit his actions to his words by picking Tal up bodily and putting him on a stool next to the counter, “and I’ll have you some food in a jiffy.”

  Tal swung his legs in the space between his stool and the floor, and glanced around the kitchen. With a little effort, he identified the source of the business: the harvest was only just come in. What he wasn’t certain of was just what they were doing with the harvest.

  When Jor returned with a loaf of bread and a bowl of meat stew, Tal met him with a smile. “Thank you, Jor.”

  The cook beamed at him. “It’s a pleasure, Tal. Now eat up, you’ll need it for your lessons.”

  Tal nodded, but before digging in, he gestured towards the people scrambling around the room. “Speaking of lessons, what are you doing at the moment?”

  “We’re busy making preserves, taking the perishable parts of the harvest and preparing them in such a way that they’ll last longer,” the cook responded.

  The apprentice smiled slightly. “How about after I finish this,” he gestured at the food in front of him, “you show me? I don’t have any specific lessons this afternoon.”

  Jor beamed at him. “Gladly, young sir.”

  That evening, Tal and Car continued Tal’s lessons in magic, concentrating on learning focus and methods of accessing power. After they’d finished, the two of them sat by the fire Tal had been using for experiments, gazing into it quietly.

  “Master Car,” Tal said hesitantly.

  “What is it?”

  “What are the various Magics? I know I’m a Death Mage, but I’ve heard other Death Magi referred to as Battlemagi. You described Shris as a Healer and a Seer, what are those? I’m… not entirely clear on what these are.”

  “Ah. One of the simple yet not-so-simple questions.” Tal heard amusement in Car’s voice again, and suppressed a spurt of irritation that his master found his ignorance amusing.

  “Where to begin.” Car mused. “Well, to put it simply, there are three magics. You and I are Death Magi, Black Magi. Shris, and Head Ket’nir at your old Academy in Telnar, are Life Magi, White Magi.” Car paused, as if finished.

  “That’s only two, master. Is the third Chaos? What is a Battlemage or a Healer?” Tal demanded, with all the insatiable curiosity of the young.

  Car smiled. “The third is Gray Magic. There are no Gray Magi, for any kind of Mage can and will use Gray Magic. Chaos magic… is something else entirely.”

  “But I thought that Chaos Magi were different?” Tal asked.

  “It’s complicated to explain,” Car said softly. “But when you break it down to its most basic essence, there are only two types of Mage: Life and Death. Life Magi manipulate living things, and Death Magi manipulate energy in its purer forms.

  “Those,” the old Mage continued, “you are born to. You were born a Death Mage. Shris’dari was born a Life Mage. It cannot be changed, and it limits what you can do for your entire existence.”

  “Then what are Chaos Magi?” Tal persisted.

  “The other name for a Chaos Mage, Tal, is a Fallen Mage,” Car told his student, “and it is really the more accurate. Every Mage can wield both Order and Chaos magic. Every Mage. But Chaos magic corrupts the flesh, the mind, and the soul.”

  “You said I was almost using Chaos magic,” the youth observed.

  “Indeed,” Car told him quietly. “Chaos is the easier form to touch, to command. In desperation, Order Magi have used Chaos energy to devastating effect. Once, maybe even twice, this can be done without corruption, if your will is strong. Beyond that, Chaos will claim you. You will find yourself using it more and more often, because it is easier, more enjoyable. It’s like a drug, and the more you use it, the more it owns you.

  “Once Fallen, there is no turning back. One is a Chaos Mage, the dark mirror of our own kind. Life Magi Fall to become Swarmmasters, and our own kind Fall to become Warriors.”

  Tal was silent for a long moment, and looked up to find Car eyeing him. Finally, the old teacher spoke again.

  “As for Battlemagi, Healers, Seers and the rest,” he continued in a calmer, less sad, tone of voice, “they are different titles for the same thing. They’re subtypes, specific callings within the broader group. Once you have completed your Novitiate, you will be sworn in as a Battlemage, bound to protect those who cannot defend themselves and Judge those who defy the Law. Healing and scrying are talents possessed by Life Magi. Swarmmastery is the Chaos answer to Life Magi and War magic the Chaos answer to Battlemagi..” The Hawk shook his head kindly at Tal. “Does that answer your questions, Tal?”

  Tal considered for a moment, some of the concepts spinning through his head. “Some, Master Car. But not all. I have more.”

  Car raised a hand. “That is good, but keep them for another night. You have much to learn, and I have much to teach, but we have much time in which to do both. In time, I will answer most of your questions, one way or another.”

  “Most? Why not all of them?” Tal immediately demanded.

  Car smiled gently at Tal. “You will have questions I cannot answer, and must put to others. You will have questions no-one can answer except yourself. And,” his voice grew grim, “you will have questions it is better to not know the answer to.”

  He reached out and tousled Tal’s hair. “Now go to bed, Novice. Your lessons will continue tomorrow.”

  The next morning, Tal met Kove’tar’s sons. It wasn’t exactly a planned occurrence on anyone’s part. He was running towards the courtyard, late for the sword practice he’d promised to attend, when he slammed full-tilt into someone else.

  Both he and his ‘encounter’
were thrown to the ground, and a third boy giggled aloud at the sight. Tal rose to his feet, furious, and turned to face a pair of blond boys, perhaps six years old.

  “Who are you?” one of them asked. “I haven’t seen you before.” He grinned. “Liv here didn’t see you soon enough, obviously.”

  “I am the Mage Novice Tal’raen!” Tal told him hotly.

  “‘Raen?” the other boy, the one Tal had run into – Liv, the first one had called him – repeated. “Lord Car’raen has no children. If he did, we’d know,” he said assuredly.

  “Maybe you weren’t important enough to be informed,” Tal replied cuttingly.

  The first boy grinned again. “Father did tell us,” he said calmly, his hand suddenly resting on the Liv’s shoulder. “You just weren’t listening.”

  “What? I don’t recall him saying that Car had picked up some stray who happened to be a Mage somewhere,” Liv replied.

  Before Tal could say anything precipitous, the first boy calmly swept Liv’s feet out from under him, using the hand on his shoulder to push him down. He glanced down at his brother, sprawled on the floor.

  He looked over at Tal and shrugged. “I’m Jan’tar,” he told him. “The oaf here is Liv’tar.”

  “Kove’tar’s sons?” Tal queried, his temper slowly beginning to cool.

  “Yes,” Jan replied shortly. He shrugged. “Don’t mind the brat, he’s younger by five minutes and apparently missed the brains.”

  “Am not,” Liv replied coming back to his feet. “You’re younger by five minutes.”

  Jan’tar shrugged; his boyish face the perfect expression of tolerance. “No, you are,” he insisted.

  “Boys!” Kove’tar’s basso voice rumbled through the building argument, and all three children turned to look up at the old Ranger, falling silent and looking guilty.

  He eyed them with a twinkle in his eye. “I see you’ve met our local terrors, Tal. Have my rapscallion sons bothered to introduce themselves, or did they start fighting immediately?”

  “They introduced themselves,” Tal told him. “They weren’t fighting either!” he added, not wanting to get the twins in any more trouble.

  Kove’tar grinned widely. “I know my boys,” he said firmly. “And, like you, they’re supposed to be at lessons. Aren’t you, boys?” he demanded.

  The twins nodded. “Be off with you then,” the Ranger told them. “Next year, you’ll join us in the salle. Once you’re old enough.”

  From the expressions on the twins’ faces, there was no doubt that they would join Tal and Kove in the salle. They may not have been Magi, but they knew what they were, and what they wanted to be.

  Like Tal, they wanted to be just like their father.

  About three weeks after his first arrival at the Manor ‘Raen, Tal found himself being awoken early one morning by his father. He blinked up at Car, realizing that the only light in the room came from a magelight floating over the Hawk’s shoulder.

  “Wake up, son,” Car told him firmly. “We have something to do today.”

  “What?” Tal asked, slowly rolling out of bed and reaching for a tunic.

  Car shook his head. “It’s a lesson, but one that doesn’t work if explained,” he told Tal.

  Confused but obedient, Tal finished dressing and followed Car out into the courtyard. The house was still in the pre-dawn dark, and no-one seemed to be moving.

  “How long till dawn?” Tal asked.

  “Another hour or so,” Car replied and handed him a walking stick. “We’ve got a ways to walk yet today.”

  Tal considered objecting to the idea of walking for a moment, but rejected it quickly. If Car’raen said they were walking, then there was probably a reason for it. With a resigned sigh, he took the staff.

  The pair of Magi hiked deep into the hills around the manor, without any apparent destination or course. Tal’raen had started the journey with questions about the ‘lesson’, but Car refused to say anything about it, and responded with questions about Tal’s new life at the manor and his time at the Academy.

  Finally, the sun well on its way into the sky, Car led Tal into a strange valley, sheltered by towering walls of black basalt. Vines and trees climbed the stone walls, despite their strange flowing shape, but none of them reached the top of the stone walls.

  At the center of the valley, looking out of place, sat a plain gray granite boulder. Car led Tal up to this boulder and stopped, leaning on his staff, looking at it. Confused by his teacher’s attention to the plain rock, Tal examined it himself. It was just a plain boulder, a little mossy. Nothing else.

  “This is the lesson,” Car said simply.

  “What?” Tal asked dryly. “The rock?”

  “Yes,” Car replied. “By now, you can recognize Chaos and Order energy, yes?”

  “You taught me,” the young Mage replied.

  “All right,” his teacher said. “Look into the rock, tell me what you see of those two.”

  Tal wondered if Car was going crazy. It was a rock. Logically, it ought to be pure Order. However, what one was told… He looked into the rock.

  A moment later he jerked back, a violent hiss escaping his lips. There was Chaos all through the rock, corrupting its clean Order.

  “What happened to this rock?” Tal demanded. “It’s full of Chaos!”

  “Indeed,” Car replied. “Do you know why?”

  “It’s been corrupted, infected, obviously,” Tal told him.

  “I see. In that case, perhaps you should cleanse it?” Car told him. “Reach into it and remove the Chaos. If you can sense it, you can manipulate it.”

  Recognizing a lesson at last, Tal’raen turned to the rock and approached it. His magical sense buzzed as Car did something. It was familiar, but unimportant to his task.

  Focusing his concentration on the rock, Tal sank his awareness into it, carefully avoiding the chaos all through it. He studied it for a moment, and then readied his power. He shaped an overlay that would sweep through the rock and obliterate all the Chaos, replacing it with Order.

  With a grin, he unleashed the spell. In moments, he was gasping as power drained from him like water, but he forced it forwards. He struggled with it, and succeeded. The Chaos was gone from the rock.

  He opened his eyes, gasping, and looked at the rock. Something had gone wrong! The rock had suddenly compressed to less than a tenth its original size and turned pure black.

  These facts had only barely entered his mind before the rock detonated into a horrendous fireball. Even through the shields Car had erected, Tal was driven to his knees, and his exhaustion from the spell caught up with him and he collapsed the rest of the way.

  While Tal slept, Car opened the pack he was carrying. Firstly, he took out a blanket and covered his exhausted pupil. Then he pulled out food and laid it on a nearby rock, neatly sterilized by the explosion.

  The lesson he’d just demonstrated wasn’t one most Battlemagi were taught. For that matter, it was one only a few could be taught, as most didn’t have the power to completely purify even a small stone. Forty years ago, his own teacher had brought him to this same valley to teach it to him.

  When Tal finally awoke, he announced it with a loud groan. Car crossed to him and handed him a small loaf of bread.

  “Here, eat,” he ordered.

  His son took the loaf, and groaned again. “What happened?” he asked.

  “You succeeded in removing all the chaos from the rock,” Car told him. “Now eat. You used up all of your energy doing so.”

  Obediently, the boy began to eat, his appetite driven by the amount of energy he’d used. After he’d finished the loaf, Car gestured him to the rest of the food on the rock.

  “Why did that happen?” the boy asked as he settled down to eat.

  “Because the rock wasn’t ‘corrupted’, as you put it,” Car told him. “It was, in fact, perfectly natural.”

  “But it was full of Chaos,” Tal objected between mouthfuls.

  “Yes,�
� Car agreed. “At its most basic level, Tal, the entire universe is made up of energy. You, me, the trees, that rock; everything is made of energy. And there are two types of energy. Do you understand?”

  Tal nodded, and Car continued. “The first form of energy tries to push everything apart. It gives things their size, their weight. Left unbound, it would scatter to the winds, and there would be no universe.

  “The second form of energy holds everything together. It gives the universe its form, its surfaces and rigidity. If it were left unbound, however, it would compress everything into one little ball, and there would be no universe.”

  “You’re talking about Chaos and Order, aren’t you?” Tal asked.

  “Indeed,” Car confirmed. “Only in the fragile balance of the two can the universe exist. When they become unbalanced – when, for example, you removed all the Chaos from that rock – the balance tends to be restored violently. In this case, the Chaos rushed back in so fast that it shattered the Order bonds, leading to an explosion.”

  The Hawk shook his head solemnly as he looked at his son. “Chaos and Order are forms of energy, really, nothing more,” he told the boy. “Any Mage can use either. Order is harder to use, but Chaos… Chaos corrupts the body, mind and soul.”

  “Is Chaos stronger?” Tal asked.

  “No,” Car replied. “It is simply easier to wield, more potent, so to speak, but a strong Order Mage can do so much more with the same energy.”

  The older Mage laid his hand on Tal’s shoulder. “Remember that, Tal. It may seem, now, that Chaos is the easier route, the stronger route. If you stay the course, and learn to truly master your power, no Chaos Mage short of the Drake Lord himself will be able to face you.”

  Initiate

  The galloping hooves of the three horses echoed through the forest. Tal’raen led the other two youths in a race for the stream that could just be seen around the bend.

  He let loose with a wild yell as he broke into the lead, his lanky form leaning close over the neck of his horse. His two companions were neck and neck as they followed behind him, both of them sharing nearly the same features and wearing identical Ranger-style clothing.