"Excuse me, sir? Do you know any mages who are taking on new students?" Amy asked the short man in the square. She had taken to just questioning whomever she could find to ask. She had been inquiring all day, but none of the teachers in town were taking on any students. To make matters worse, Amy didn't have much she could pay even if she could find a teacher. Plus the inn in town was taking bits of that, so the longer she took, the less likely she thought she would be to actually find someone. Still, she wasn't giving up until she found someone who could instruct her in the magical arts.
"Hello, m'lady," the short man said with a little bow. His friend nodded in greeting, but didn't say a word.
"Hello. Do you know any mages?" Amy asked again. She was not interested in making small talk.
"I know one, and he is always willing to take on new students, but I promise he will drive you away long before you learn your first spell," the man informed her. "Why don't you find a more practical trade? The castle is always looking for servants."
Amy didn't want to explain that she had grown up with her mother who was a maid in the castle and that all she had ever wanted was to train as a mage under a great master of the art. It turned out that the great masters only wanted people who started training as young children or those who had a natural talent for the art. Amy was neither, but she knew that she would work hard and that, given the chance, would be amazing one day.
"Take me to him. I'll take anything," Amy demanded.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," the man said. He and his friend, who did not speak, led Amy along a dark path far away from the center of town. Amy wondered if she had made a mistake in following these men. Perhaps they meant to do her harm, but they did no such thing. Instead, the shorter man introduced himself as Howard and his silent friend, Raj. Raj was a mute, but he offered Amy a smile and picked her a small flower while they walked in the forest.
"We have known Sheldon for a great number of years, but he has grown more and more isolated recently. After his dearest friend took a wife and moved into town, Sheldon started spending too much time alone. As I told you earlier, he is always willing to take on a promising student, but very few have stayed longer than a week. I suspect that you will be at the castle looking for servant work soon enough," Howard informed her.
Amy set her jaw. She would never go back to that castle. If this Sheldon would take her on, then there was no way she would walk away from the opportunity.
"This is it," Howard said when he showed Amy the small cottage with a flimsy looking shed outside of it. It didn't look like the home of a powerful mage. It looked like it might all fall down when the next storm came.
Howard went up to the door and knocked on it. If the cottage didn't look like a powerful mage owned it, the mage himself looked even less fitting. Maybe this was his assistant.
"Sheldon, I have brought you a student," Howard said as he gestured to the girl by his side.
Amy took a second look at the mage. He was tall and skinny with no beard. He was also young. Perhaps not more than five years older than she. How could this man be a teacher of the arts? He should still be studying himself. Amy swallowed hard because he was also handsome. She was not at all prepared for this.
"You? Are you the student? What's your background in magic?" Sheldon asked Amy.
"N-none, Sir," Amy said in a quivering voice. This was where the other mages had all turned her away. No one was interested in training someone with so little experience.
"Oh thank goodness. Come in," Sheldon told her. Amy walked up to the door and started inside. The two men who had guided her there started to follow. "Mages only. Go on," he told them.
"But, we journeyed half the day to get here. Aren't you going to offer us any refreshment?" Howard asked.
"You may take apples from my orchard and rest in my stable," Sheldon said before slamming the door in their faces.
Amy looked around the mage's home. It was very tidy, and Amy liked it a great deal. She found a place it sit near the fire.
"That is my place," he warned.
"Sorry," Amy said as she stood. She moved to the seat across from the other one. When he did not complain about her new seat, she relaxed a little.
"Would you like something to drink?" Sheldon asked as he prodded his fire a little and put a kettle on it.
"W-water, sir?" Amy muttered nervously.
"Do you have a stutter? Magic requires clear annunciation," Sheldon told her.
"No, sir. I'm nervous," Amy told him.
"Well, get over it," Sheldon admonished as he pushed a small ceramic cup full of water toward Amy. She picked it up and took a sip.
"I suspect that I'm your last resort. What were you before? You look like a chamber maid," Sheldon said gruffly as he looked her up and down. He took in the callouses on her hands and the tattered edges on her skirt. She did not appear to come from wealth and she did not appear to lie about having no background in magic. If she came with Howard and Raj, then she had probably asked all around town. Of course none of those idiots would take her. They only wanted someone who already knew what they were doing. The mages in town only wanted to make a quick bit of gold. They did not want to work on influence greatness. Whether or not this girl had any greatness would be seen, but Sheldon wanted to give her a chance.
"I was, sir," Amy confirmed. "I worked in the castle."
"The castle is good, honest work. Magic is dangerous work, and you have no experience. What brought you to me?" Sheldon asked. He buttered some bread and pushed it toward the girl. She looked like she hadn't eaten in days. Normally he wouldn't care, but he didn't need the girl passing out on him while he put her through some basic tests.
Amy took the bread and took a bite before answering. "No one else would take me," she admitted.
"No. I understood that when you showed up at my door with those two fools. What makes you want to be a mage?"
"A mage saved me when I was a child. I was going for a walk on the castle grounds when a spooked horse nearly trampled me. The mage saw me and used a spell to calm the horse before it got to me. He did it like it was nothing, but I never forgot it. I wanted to learn how to do that. I want to save lives with magic. I want to do good."
"I can teach you everything you need to know, but you have to have magic in you. Let's go," Sheldon told Amy. She stood and followed him outside into the woods. He ordered her to stand about ten feet away from him.
Sheldon threw a rock right at Amy.
"Ow," she said as she rubbed her arm where it hit.
"Block it," he demanded before he threw another rock at her. She caught this one. "Block it or I won't take you as a student," he repeated before throwing another rock. Amy used her hand to block the stone, but Sheldon just demanded that she block it again.
"What am I doing wrong?" Amy asked after she deflected another rock with her hand before it hit her in the face. She was confused and terrified. Was she supposed to do magic? She hadn't been trained at all. She thought she explained that already.
"Block it," Sheldon screamed at her before he started hurling several rocks at her at once. He was using magic to aim them carefully. They were each very painful as they hit, and Amy fell to the ground.
"You're no good to me," Sheldon finally said when Amy was lying, curled in a ball, with her head covered, and crying. "Go back to the castle."
"Again," Amy whispered as she weakly got to her feet. There must be something more to this test that she wasn't understanding. She would master this test and become a student here if it was the last thing she did.
"No. You are no good to me," Sheldon repeated. There was a tenderness in his voice that told her that despite the anger on his face, he regretted hurting her.
"Again," Amy yelled. Her face was bloody and she was hurt everywhere, but she stared Sheldon down.
Sheldon picked up one more small rock and flung it toward her. He didn't even think he threw it far enough to actually hit her, but it changed its course just slightly and didn't touch Amy at all. Amy felt something rip inside of her. It hurt more than any of the rocks had, but she saw that the rock would have hit her if not for some unknown force changing it's angle. Without a doubt, she knew that force was her.
"Again," Amy whispered.
Sheldon nodded and picked up another stone to throw at Amy. This time it flew from his hand before he could even throw it. Amy cried out in pain and nearly collapsed to the ground again at the same moment that the rock flew. He could feel a surge of magic come from the girl in front of him that was stronger than he ever would have expected. This utterly untrained girl might be more powerful than he was. It was his duty to make sure she was properly trained.
"Enough. You'll stay in the shed. You'll wake at dawn and meet me for breakfast before we get started on your training," he told her.
"I don't have much to pay you," Amy said, but she pulled the small bag of gold from her bag. It was every penny that she had ever saved. It still wasn't much.
"What do I need your money for?" Sheldon asked with disgust coloring his voice and he walked into his cottage and slammed the door.
Amy looked at the small, drafty looking shed. It looked like it would be home for the time being, so she limped toward it. She wished that she had taken the rest of the crust of bread that she left behind in Sheldon's because she was starving. Also, her body ached from the stones and from the long hike to get here and from letting loose the magic inside of her. She hoped that perhaps there might be some hay to lie on inside the shed because she couldn't face the idea of sleeping on the cold ground.
The outside of the shed did not betray the inside at all. It was still tiny, but there was a small fireplace and a warm looking bed shoved into the corner and a small kitchen that was stocked with food as if Sheldon had been expecting her all along. Amy prepared herself a small dinner before using the basin to clean herself up and climbed into bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.