The Sorcerer's Quest (2 page)
I followed the dirt path over a hill, where I saw a
quaint village in a shallow valley. Well, normally it was probably very
pleasant. At the moment, though, it was on fire. When I saw men running around
with their arms full of loot, I assumed that they were pillagers. “Well, if
they’re already being pillaged… the least I can do is get in on it.”
Mother
would be so proud if word got back to her that I terrorized an entire village
.
As I wandered into the town, I could easily tell the
raiders apart from the residents by their forest-green cloaks. Mine was too
clean to blend in, but after dropping it in the dirt and stomping on it a few
times, it worked quite nicely. One of the looters passed me with a hefty bag of
gold jewelry. I knew it contained jewelry because there was a hole in the bag
that its contents spilled from.
I quickly gathered the wealth up and stuck it in my
satchel.
Wow, that was easy
. The path was lined with small huts, so I
picked the closest one. Before I could even step inside, though, a pillager
came out and shoved a sack of loot into my arms.
“Oh, hello,” he said. “When did you start?”
“Today,” I answered automatically.
“Well, good to have you. Go lend Dorna a hand.”
I hesitated. I wasn’t supposed to be helping anyone.
“Who’s Dorna?” I asked. I wandered around the town and gathered up other loot
that had been dropped. Unfortunately, it was nothing but food, wood carvings,
and fancy cloths.
I heard a quiet nickering behind me, turned, and
ducked quickly to avoid being skewered. A pure white unicorn with a pearlescent
horn tossed his head and closed the distance between us. He sniffed at me and
my robe as if looking for a treat, which made it very difficult to dodge his
horn. I was in awe, really, but I was also perturbed. Unicorns were widely known
to dislike sorcerers, so the fact that this one was acting like I was his
favorite person did not bode well for my mission.
“Please go away,” I whispered, desperately hoping no
one saw me with him. When he turned and pranced off, exactly as I had asked, I
felt disappointed. Unicorns were rare and beautiful, but I had an image to keep
up.
Soon, I worried that I would never cause any trouble
if I didn’t get to it.
What’s the first step in pillaging
? Well, the
villagers outnumbered the raiders, but the thieves had swords and the residents
didn’t. A plan dawned on me.
I looked around for the closest object and picked a
cluster of wildflowers. Then I pulled my wand out with my free hand and waved
it at the bouquet.
Make these flowers like a sword
. Magic shot through
the wand and into the flowers… but it didn’t stop there. Sparkly blue energy
jumped to the nearest sword and from that into another until every sword in the
village changed into harmless flowers. My flowers remained just that.
Oh, no
.
The raiders stared in shock at their colorful
bouquets, as did the villagers. Then one resident made a cry of victory and all
the thieves turned to run like their tails were on fire. Taking advantage, the
residents chased them, waving their bread and rolls of cloth threateningly. I
groaned when they all gathered around me.
They didn’t look frightened. “You are the only wizard
brave enough to help a humble town like this,” one man said. Everyone else
cheered with undue glee.
“Thank you, but I’m not a wizard; I’m a powerful and
malevolent sorcerer.”
The man frowned. “Oh… well, you were pretty
frightening before you defeated the pillagers. You can yell at us a bit if it
would help.”
I shrugged. “No, I don’t think there’s much point
now. However, it would be great if you could make it sound like I was part of
the trouble. I’m trying to build a reputation.”
He looked around at his own people and several of
them nodded. “Certainly. We can tell everyone you led the pillagers. What is
your name, young sir?”
“Ayden Dracre.”
His complexion blanched. “Dracre is a well-known name
in these parts, but we never knew they had a wizard— I mean a blond sorcerer. I
wish we could offer you something in gratitude, but we have very little.”
“I saw a pillager running off with a bag of gold
jewelry,” I pointed out.
“They were coming from the castle of Hershes. He
brought it with him.”
I nodded with understanding and pointed to the loaf
of bread in his hand. “A meal would be nice then. I haven’t actually eaten
anything other than broccoli and apples in six days.” Before I could say
another word, I was directed to a hut, sat forcefully in a chair, and presented
with more bread, soup, and roasted bird than I could eat.
I certainly tried, though. I ate until my stomach
hurt, but when I tried to thank them and leave, they gave me another gift.
“This has been in our keep for many generations,” the
town’s leader said, handing me a small treasure chest. It was made of dark wood
and shiny silver metal with gold writing on the front side. Alas, I couldn’t
read it.
“What does this say? What’s in it?” I asked.
“Only a wizard can read it and open it. A traveler
lost it in a card game, but he told us it contained a creature of terrible
power.”
“That’s very interesting. If I run across a wizard,
maybe I can threaten him and make him open it.”
The man frowned. “You could… just ask him nicely.”
I ignored him. “Then I can use the creature to help
me do my evil deeds. Why give it to me?”
“Well, we honestly don’t want to keep it. There are
too many women and children who fear that the monster will escape and even the
bravest of our men say they hear the creature trying to get out.”
After that, I was politely invited to leave and not
return.
* * *
At nightfall, I went into the woods, gathered some
fire kindle, and sat down on a thick tree root. I waved my wand at the pile,
concentrating on fire, and… nothing.
“Worthless wand,” I complained, putting it back into
my pocket. Still full from eating so much food and getting rather sleepy, I
considered going without a fire. Then a howl made my hair stand on end and I
groaned. “Annoying werewolves.” The reason I chose to sleep in the woods
instead of out in the open was obvious; werewolves were less of a nuisance than
ghosts.
The deciding factor was that the wind was beginning
to sound a lot like whispers. I searched my satchel and finally found my pair
of snapping rocks and my flame-proof dragon-hide gloves. When I smacked the
snapping rocks together, sparks rained from them into the sticks and dried
weeds. With some gentle nudging and soft blowing, I got a small fire going.
I was used to sleeping outside at night, but there
was something very different about this night and it made my skin crawl. The
whispering in the wind was growing more conspicuous, yet I couldn’t understand
the words.
Right before I fell asleep, I realized what was
making me so edgy; there was no wind.
* * *
I dreamed of opening the chest, unleashing a powerful
monster the likes of which Akadema has never seen, defeating Magnus, and
finally being known as a sorcerer worthy of the Dracre name. I would just have
to make sure the monster didn’t hurt anyone. I wanted to cause trouble, not
hurt people.
The sound of a very close howl woke me, but I wasn’t
worried. My dream had given me an idea. I pulled the box out of my bag and
hesitated when I heard the whispers again. Whatever it was inside the box was
what I was hearing. Assuming it was some trick in order to frighten me away
from it, I pulled the wand out of my pocket and waved it at the chest.
Reveal
your secrets
.
Instead of the chest opening, the inscription changed
so that I could read it.
Every choice creates ripples like a stone dropped into a
pond. The ripples of many choices merge, alter, and reflect off each other and
the bank in unpredictable ways. The greater the choice, the larger the ripples
and the more unpredictable the consequences
.
As soon as I read it, the box flew out of my hands,
the lid opened with a creak, and light spilled out that was so bright I had to
cover my eyes. The whispering became louder until it was an unintelligible
hissing. It wasn’t out loud, though; it was in my mind. When I heard the lid
close and looked at it, my jaw dropped. There was a big wolf with white, grey,
black, and auburn fur sitting in front of me.
“What…?” I tried to scramble back only to hit the
tree I had fallen asleep under. The wolf snarled. “Please don’t eat me!” I said
as I put my arms over my face. I had dropped my wand when I first saw the wolf.
The whispering softened suddenly before forming into
words. “
I am not going to eat you
.” The voice was strange, masculine,
oddly weightless, and nothing like the whispers I heard before.
I looked at the animal in shock; it wasn’t a
werewolf, skinwalker, or spirit. Actual wolves were rarer than dragons. “Did
you just talk?”
His eyes widened. “
You can hear me
?” The
wolf’s mouth didn’t move, yet I heard him very clearly in my mind. When I
didn’t answer him, he studied the small chest at his feet, obviously reading
the inscription. “
I see. You must have said the incantation and used very
powerful magic to free me
.”
I hadn’t said the inscription aloud and I didn’t have
very powerful magic. “So you came from the box? I was told the box held an
extremely powerful creature.”
“
That was correct, except that this is no mere
box. The syrus is an ancient device that can contain even the most powerful
magic
.”
“Who are you?”
“
My name is Merlin. I am
…
or rather, I was
a wizard. Unfortunately, I loved the wrong person and was blinded to an enemy I
should have been able to defeat easily. Instead, I was turned into this and
trapped in the syrus
.”
“So, you’re a wizard?”
“
That is what I said
.”
“Well, I’m a sorcerer, so we’re enemies.”
“
A sorcerer? We must be on Caldaca
.”
“We’re in Akadema,” I corrected him.
He rolled his wolf eyes. “
Akadema is an island.
Caldaca is the name of your world. I traveled to many worlds, and only Caldaca
is so divided in magic to differentiate between wizards and sorcerers. I was
under the impression that sorcerers did not have blond hair on this world
.”
I grimaced. “Yes, I know. I’m really weird. That’s
why I’m out here; I’m on a quest to prove that I’m a powerful and malevolent
sorcerer.”
“
You
want
to be malicious
?
Do you
like hurting people or are you just trying to gain riches
?”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone. It’s just that my
family is known for being sorcerers and they’re all ashamed of me. I’m going to
defeat the great wizard, Magnus. The problem is that I’m very bad at being a
sorcerer. Whenever I try to cause trouble, my spell messes up.”
“
Your magic reflects who you are inside
.” He
was silent for a moment. “
Nevertheless, I think we can help each other. In
this cursed form, I cannot do magic. It occurs to me that this great wizard can
break the curse, but getting to him alone will be difficult and communicating
my needs will be even more challenging. I propose a deal
.”
“I don’t work with wizards,” I said.
“
On my world, there is no distinction between
wizards and sorcerers, as I have never met a wizard who is entirely and
inherently good. I have, however, met many vicious villains on my travels. If
you assist me in finding this wizard and convincing him to turn me back into a
man, I will teach you how to be the most malevolent, successful sorcerer in all
of the lands
.”
“
Before I begin teaching you, I need to eat
,”
Merlin said.
Excited to be useful for once, I picked up my wand
and pulled my last lump of clay out of the bag. “What is it you want?” I asked.
“
Meat, obviously
.”
My excitement was doused. “Oh… well… meat isn’t very
good for you. Are you sure you wouldn’t like---”
“
I am a wolf, young sorcerer
.”
“My name is Ayden Dracre.”
His eyes widened. “
Interesting. You are not by
chance related to Ilvera Dracre, are you
?”
“That’s my mother. You know her?”
“
I might have
…
heard of her. If she is your
mother, then… oh, yes. Caldaca has a matriarchal society
.”
“I read that it used to be otherwise, but then
sorceresses and witches rebelled and created a widespread curse so that all the
women of the land could only have daughters. When the first generation of
daughters reached the age where they had to fight each other for the few men
left, the curse was broken. My father said it cut our population in half and
set us back by hundreds of years, giving magic a chance to shape the world. My
mother said men were insufferable and didn’t deserve to rule anyway. If I got
married, I would keep my name, but my children would have my wife’s family
name.”
“
I applaud your knowledge of your world’s history.
Anyway, young sorcerer, if you would be so kind as to conjure my meal, we can
begin our excursion
.”
“Alright.” I set the clay on the nearby high root,
closed my eyes, and waved my wand.
Please give me meat. Please don’t
embarrass me. Change into meat
.
“
Hmm
,” Merlin said thoughtfully.
I opened my eyes and groaned. A green apple and three
stalks of broccoli were in the place of the magic clay. “I told you I’m a bad
sorcerer. I can’t even conjure any food other than this.”
He studied the food thoughtfully. I studied him
thoughtfully. “
I see your predicament
,” he finally said. “
Did you
make your wand, buy it, or inherit it
?”
I noticed he didn’t ask if I had stolen it. My
brothers stole their wands from the best-known wand-maker in all of Akadema,
but I could never do that to the poor old man who made his living by providing
high-quality, intricately carved tools of magic. “I made it.” I explained
exactly how I tried to make it and how it transformed the first time I used it.
“
I see
,” Merlin said. “
I cannot understand
how anyone could use a wand they bought. Your wand is created with
your
magic and uses
your
magic. Conjuring meat is the same as hunting; it
requires a sacrifice of life. The magic inside you is incapable of that, so
your wand is incapable of that
.”
I clenched my teeth to keep my mouth shut until I
could keep the whining out of my voice. “There is no wizard in my entire
family, so I can’t possibly have light magic!”
He sighed in my mind. “
I know that occultism on
Caldaca is unique, but you seem to misunderstand the foundation of magic. I see
that I have much to teach you before you can face Magnus
.”
“If you want Magnus’s help, why are you helping me
knowing I want to defeat him?”
“
I have my ways, young sorcerer
.” He then
nodded to the apple and broccoli. “
Eat while you can and I will hunt for
myself
.” He disappeared into the darkness of the forest without another
word.
I grimaced and scooped the apple and broccoli into my
satchel for later, along with the magic box.
* * *
Soon, the sun peeked over the horizon and Merlin
returned. Light streamed through the gaps in the leaves of the trees above and
glowed softly against his multi-colored fur. As if he realized how the light
accentuated his arrival, he posed for a moment.
“What’s the first step in making me a better
sorcerer?” I asked.
He sat on his haunches. “
Are you trained in
fighting
?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I’m very good at running away and
hiding from my brothers.”
He tilted his head a little bit as he considered
this. “
Very well. To defeat the wizard, you will need to know enough magic
to defend yourself and to fight, as well as some powerful weapons and some
minions
.”
“Weapons? Like swords?” I asked, hoping I never had
to tell him that I turned a bunch of swords into flowers.
“
No. You are not ready for that. I am referring to
magical weapons. Your wand is an instrument of your magic that will be
incapable of doing anything malevolent unless your soul itself is cruel.
Therefore, you will need tools that have their own essence
.”
“We can go to the wand-maker.” I pulled the jewelry
out of my bag. “I have something we can sell to buy a new wand.”
The wolf looked at the jewelry and sighed heavily. “
You
understand what being cruel and devious is, right
?”
I frowned. “Right. I’m supposed to steal. But do we
have to steal every time? Lorthton is a kind man who doesn’t make a lot of
money.”
“
I will not force your hand; I will only tell you
what you must do if you want to be a malicious sorcerer. I personally think you
would make a better wizard
.”
I glared at him. “Don’t call me a wizard.”
“
As you wish. What is it you plan to do as a
sorcerer
?”
“Well, I want to be scary and have lots of gold and
women and make my brothers afraid of me and… you know… sorcerer stuff. Hey,
maybe I could just steal from rich people. That’s bad, and I could just say
that everyone else doesn’t have enough to interest me. If I get too much, maybe
I can give some of it to---”
“
Stop right there
,” Merlin interrupted. “
I
can live with myself after shaping you into the most powerful sorcerer this
world has ever seen because that is the way of the land here. I will not,
however, bring about the next Robin of Loxely. Finish that thought and I will
rescind my offer to assist you
.”
I slipped the loot back into my bag as I made a
mental reminder to never mention it again. Apparently, wolves despised charity
more than sorcerers did. “Okay.”
Merlin decided we needed a place to practice my magic
where I didn’t have to worry about people getting hurt. He then said that he
knew where we could go, but wasn’t in the mood to tell me where, so we got back
to the dirt road and started the journey to
somewhere
. It seemed like he
forgot about me getting a new wand, which I was secretly glad for.
That was until I found out what he had in mind.
* * *
Most of the day was spent in silence. I wanted to
know about Merlin’s world, but he wasn’t in a talkative mood. I hoped it was
because he had just escaped from the syrus and not because this was as friendly
as he got.
“What was it like in the syrus?”
“
Like I was asleep
,” he said easily.
“How long were you in there?”
“
There is no way to be sure until I return to a
world that keeps an accurate calendar system. It does make world-travel
difficult
.”
“So you’re saying you don’t know?”
“
Yes, that is what I am saying
.”
“How many times have you been to Akadema?”
“
While I have not been to this particular area
before, I have been to this world twice. Of course, twice was quite enough. I
find the fact that nearly everyone on your world has magic of one form or
another tedious. Necessary for your way of life, yes, but tedious all the same
.”
Although it really sounded like he was insulting
everyone on this world, he didn’t seem to realize he was doing it. “What’s
wrong with magic? You’re a wizard.”
“
Yes, well, that is quite different here. If you
fall ill, you go to a mage. If you get pregnant, you go to a seer to find out
what gender the child is. If you want to speak to long dead loved ones, you go
to a necromancer
.”
“Actually, if I became pregnant, I wouldn’t be going
to a seer. I don’t know about your world, but men don’t get pregnant here.”
He gave me a look that simultaneously irritated and
confused me, as if he was judging me and wasn’t terribly impressed. At that
point, I decided not to talk any more.
* * *
The sun was low in the sky when the path abruptly
ended at the gates of a massive, old, rundown mansion.
A massive mansion which hadn’t been there a moment
before.
I looked behind us, then back at the mansion, then
behind us again. It was not something I could have missed; it was massive.
“
The manor has an illusionary ward over it,
”
Merlin explained. “
Until you come upon it, you cannot see the mansion. Fear
not; this fort belongs to an old friend of mine
.”
“You have friends?” I asked, earning quite the
blood-chilling glare in return. He didn’t answer and instead motioned for me to
go through the gate. I did, but not without the appropriate amount of
complaining and begging that we run as fast as we could in any direction that
was away from the mansion.
The gate was old and opened easily, since it didn’t
have a lock. Merlin’s friend probably thought he would never have a problem
with bandits on account of the mansion being so creepy that any sane man would
run as fast as he could in any direction that was away from the mansion… like
we should have been doing.
A cracked stone walkway, overcome with weeds, led to
a very grand porch. Thorny vines tried to wrap around my ankles as we made our
way to our certain and painful deaths. “Merlin, your friend isn’t a cannibal,
is he?”
Merlin frowned as thoughtfully as a wolf could. “
Not
the last time I saw him
.”
I opened my mouth to ask why that didn’t reassure me,
thought better of it, and shut my mouth. We reached the porch, which was also
cracked and overgrown. When Merlin looked at me impatiently, I reached for the
brass knocker on the solid, huge, and faded wooden door. The sound echoed
loudly. Slowly, the door opened on its own. “I am not going in there.”
“
Suit yourself. Stay outside with the rabbits
.”
“Rabbits?”
“
Of course. What else would a powerful magician
use to guard his estate
?”
I shuddered at the thought of being attacked by a
vicious rodent with sharp teeth and claws before stepping into the dark
interior. The door slammed shut behind me and the fireplace lit itself.
The room was grand, with a high ceiling and dark
colors. Bookshelves lined two of the walls, there were two chairs in front of
the fireplace, and a large painting of a black dragon hung over the fireplace.
On the wall to my left were two doors. On the right was a staircase that led to
a balcony.
“Where is your friend?” I asked, turning to Merlin.
Then I jumped back with something between a squeak and a feminine shriek,
because it wasn’t Merlin who stood right behind me.
The man was a head or so taller than me with long,
black hair, a trimmed goatee, and stone gray eyes. He wore a black robe with a
silver crow clasp at the nape. None of this was what made me shout. Instead,
what made my skin try to crawl off and hide under one of the chairs was the
fact that the stranger was not completely corporeal.
“You’re a…” My voice cracked.
The man narrowed his eyes. “I am Vactarus Firesword!”
He held out his hands in a grand gesture and a deep blue glow formed above his
palms, which illuminated his face.
“You’re a…” My voice cracked again.
“I am the most powerful magician to ever become
stranded on Caldaca.” The blue glow formed into twin orbs.
“You’re a…” My voice cracked for a third time.
“I am the master of this castle.” The twin spheres of
light suddenly burst into blue fire.
“You’re a…”
“
Ayden
!” Merlin admonished.
“Ghost!” I finally got out.
The flames died and the magician crossed his arms and
glared at me. “Yes, I’m a ghost. Do you have a problem with that?” His tone
told me in no uncertain terms that there was only one answer that wouldn’t
result in my immediate death.
“Um… no. I’m a sorcerer, so, you know… I see g-ghosts
all the time,” I lied. Merlin sighed in my mind. “I’m Ayden. If you’re a
magician, where is your hat?”
“It was stolen by Magnus, the wizard.”
“He killed you and took your power?!” I asked,
horrified.
The ghost magician pursed his lips and looked at the
fire. “Well, no. I tripped over one of my rabbits and fell down the stairs.
Magnus took my hat before I learned to control my new ghost powers. Now I can
never leave my home, so I cannot get it back.”
“Oh, sorry for your loss,” I said. Merlin made a
sound of disapproval. “I mean… that’s not my problem because I’m a sorcerer and
I have no sympathy.”
“
A sorcerer knows how to choose enemies and
allies. Vactarus is a very powerful magician and although magicians only use
illusionary magic here, he was once a world traveler and has therefore attained
many artifacts you can use as a sorcerer. You are not yet strong enough to
steal from someone like Vactarus, but you have a common enemy
.”