Chapter 33
20th Day of Late Winter 768 n.c
As we had lunch, Malkarov illuminated me as to the discussion at the council meeting, "Most were in favour of waiting to see if the kobolds will try something again, some advocated that we should attack in retaliation."
"What position do you think should be taken?" I asked, having just finished a mouthful of deliciously crunchy potato.
"Before I answer, I'd like to know what you think should be done?" he asked in return.
"Me?" I asked.
"You are an adult Sharein, you had a right to attend the council meeting, even if most of the audience were men," he stated, "you have the right to voice your opinion in the meeting and I am, both as your master and personally, interested in what you think we should do."
"Well," I started, "I think that we don't exactly know what we are dealing with. Was it just a small band of kobolds that were perhaps kicked out of their tribe? Was it a full tribe expanding, looking to attack the town? They were hungry, perhaps their normal food source is gone and the tribe is starving? I think that we should send people, a small group perhaps, to find out what the situation is. I don't think that we can really make a firm decision on what to do without knowing that. I don't really know enough about kobolds, but perhaps if they are hungry then we could trade food with them? Give them food in exchange for something else of value?"
"That's exactly the idea that I put forward," Malkarov said with a smile, "it's called a scouting mission in the military, although I only have a small amount of experience on that score. I suggested that a small group of us follow any trail made by the kobolds and find out where they came from. We will get as much information as we can and then return."
"You're going on this scouting mission?" I asked.
Malkarov let out a laugh, "We are going to go on this scouting mission. I'm not leaving you behind."
"But…" I stuttered, "I've only just started learning, I'm not a powerful wizard like you!"
"You are a powerful wizard Sharein," Malkarov said to me, "whether you have only just started or not. We will be heading out tomorrow morning, after this delicious lunch we will head up to the roof and I'll test out a theory."
"What theory?" I asked.
"Considering how many cantrips you were able to cast in one day, I have a feeling that I might be able to teach you Elemental Explosion," Malkarov said, "but we shall work our way up that. I'll teach you all of the spells this afternoon and see at what point you reach your block. Then, we can catch up on the theory over the next couple of tendays."
I don't think my eyes could possibly have gotten any wider. I was going to learn lots of magic? I loved the theory part of magic, but the visit back to the farm showed how useful magic actually was. Really, I just loved learning about magic at all, no matter what part of it that was. I felt like I was visibly vibrating, knowing that very very shortly I'd be learning all of these new spells. Would I be learning how to turn someone into a frog?
I started to eat a little quicker and it must have been very obvious, for Malkarov started chuckling and said "Don't eat so quickly, you'll get an upset stomach. We will get to your lesson soon enough."
"You said that we'd have no lessons today," I accused him.
"No lessons that will require a clear head," he said with a smirk, "although the ale may affect your aim, I don't think it will affect your ability to learn the spells and there won't be any theory that will require a clear head."
I hmmmm'd and washed down my mouthful of fish with a swig of my second bottle.
Once our lunch was finished and dishes washed and packed away, we headed down to use the inhouses and freshen up before heading back upstairs to the roof.
We started off with two elemental spells that were very similar: Elemental Ray and Elemental Grasp.
Malkarov first demonstrated Elemental Ray which required a magical phrase and movements. As soon as I heard the phrase said allowed, it resonated inside of me. Much quicker than it had previously. I immediately copied the chant and held my arm out, pushing the magic down it. My arm was pointed up at the sky, much like Malkarov's was. Instead of his whispy white beam of light, mine came out black like my Light spell. Mine started before his had even finished, I was that quick in copying it. The beam shooting out into the sky next to where his was. The Elemental Ray shot up sixty feet away.
"Well done!" Malkarov said with a clap, "Let's see how quickly we can run through the rest of the cantrips?"
Elemental Grasp made my hand glow with the black light, allowing me to touch things close by and hurt them. While the Elemental Ray was a once off long beam of light, the Elemental Grasp lasted for a set period of time. This allowed me to hit something multiple times through the duration of the spell. We were both slightly curious as to what effect my black light would have on a kobold as Malkarov was loath to test it on him.
Malkarov brought from his pocket three rocks for the next spell.
"Throw one rock off the edge at that tree stump down there," he said, pointing to a tree stump on the ground near the base of the tower, "try to aim for the exact middle."
I threw the rock very poorly indeed. It went *plop* into a puddle ten feet away from the stump.
"Sorry," I apologised, "I'm not very good at throwing rocks."
"All the better," he replied with a wink, "The next spell is True Strike. It doesn't guarantee mind, but does greatly increase your chances of hitting the very first thing you try to hit after casting the spell."
Malkarov cast the spell and threw a rock of his own, I held onto the feeling of the spell so that I could watch his throw. It flew unerringly true, striking the middle of the stump leaving an obvious mark. I let my magic go and felt it travel down my arm and explode inside my hand. Tingles of pins and needles spread through my hand and I took hold of a stone and threw it towards the stump. Just like Malkarov's it flew straight and true, striking Malkarov's spot and bouncing off.
"That was incredible!" I exclaimed.
Malkarov laughed, "Isn't it just, it works with anything. If you're using a sword or a staff, crossbow or dart."
"Does it work with Elemental Ray and Elemental Grasp?" I asked.
"Well," he said, "I suppose it would, if it were possible to hold a spell and cast another. There is a difference between casting a spell that has an immediate effect and then casting another spell and casting a spell, holding it and casting another one. Spells that are held until the effect occurs take concentration and immediately casting another spell will cancel it."
I frowned at him. That wasn't right. I looked at the remaining stone in my hand. I threw it as high up into the air as I could; and as soon as it left my hand I cast True Strike. Following the path of the stone in the air I felt the tingles in my hand once it reached its highest point. I recalled the Elemental Ray spell and forced it down my arm as quickly as I could. I stretched my arm out and felt it move, almost by itself, to align perfectly with a point that felt lower than the stone. The beam of dark light shot out of my hand and by the time it reached the stone's path the stone had already dropped in to be intercepted by it. The light splashed against the stone but didn't seem to have any effect otherwise.
Malkarov was staring at me, eyes wide and mouth open in shock.
"How?" he stammered, "How did you know you could do that?"
"Because I already did," I explained, "yestereve, the girls were pestering me about Alladrial's appearance. They very much want to meet him by the way. I cast Minor Illusion to show them a small picture of him. While I kept the illusion up, I cast Mending about seven or eight times to fix a bowl that had smashed. I didn't know that I couldn't."
Malkarov demonstrated Dancing Lights, for which he required a glow-worm. He pulled the small, dried critter from one of the many pockets in his robe. Four glowing orbs appeared in the sky, moving around like they were torches being held by someone. He made them spin around each other and then fly off into the distance only to coalesce into a man sized mass that 'walked' back down towards us.
Acid Splash created a small ball of liquid that shot out from my hand. Although I was aiming for the stump, it struck a nearby tree instead and splashed over it. After a few moments the tree collapsed, falling down with a thud.
"I think," Malkarov said, "that we may have to work on your aim. Maybe I should get a dart board made up like they have down at the Pig and Wheelbarrow?"
Malkarov made sure that we stood with our backs to the wind for the last cantrip, Poison Spray. It produced a puff of green poisonous gas that was quickly caught by the wind and dissipated.
"Well now," Malkarov said once I had cast that, "That was the last cantrip. If you knew all of the theory of magical practice, not to mention potion making, enchanting and rituals, all I would have left are one or two of the next spells and you'd be right to head off on your journey. It would be four years later and you'd be spending at least two months learning each of the next spells."
He seemed a little sad saying it, "I'm sorry," I apologised.
He smiled a little and laughed, "There's nothing to apologise for Sharein. I was just being nostalgic, I think. I have fond memories of first learning Magic Missile, long evenings in front of the fire with my master Kendara. The celebration he threw me when I finally got it right! Even though I accidentally killed one of his pet rats, he was ecstatic!"
I snorted, in a very unbecoming manner and immediately flushed in embarrassment, "You killed his pet rat?"
"Accidentally!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms out wide, "You must understand, I'd tried the spell almost a hundred times without success and this one time, finally, I wasn't exactly paying attention to where I was aiming. Kendara said that he was just happy that he wasn't teaching me Elemental Explosion."
"Would you like to take a quick break, have a short rest, or are you alright to continue straight away?" Malkarov asked.
"I'm alright to continue," I replied, not feeling at all tired.
"Well then, I'll run through all of the next level of spells that I know." Malkarov determined.
Elemental Projection was first. I had to hold my two hands out flat in front of me with thumbs touching and fingers spread. "Flames" of black light spread out from my hands going out fifteen feet. Again, we would have to wait and see what sort of effect it would have on living creatures.
Colour Spray sent out a cone of multiple coloured lights from my hands that were dazzling in their brightness. Malkarov explained that this spell would blind creatures that were looking towards me.
Detect Magic made anything magical appear to glow to me. Malkarov told me that it didn't actually make them glow, that the glow wasn't visible to everyone, it just appeared to me. I noticed that his robes glowed, as did two of the rings he had on his fingers and his shoes. Bits and pieces of the tower glowed, I could see runes carved on some of the stone blocks that I couldn't see normally.
The illusion spell Disguise Self could make me appear different. I could grow or shrink up to one foot, which wasn't enough to make me into Malkarov's doppelganger but I could make myself look like Mother. When Malkarov demonstrated it to appear as Alladrial, he told me to touch his ears to show that they weren't actually pointed, no matter how much they appeared to be.
"You aren't actually the other form, you just appear to be according to sight," he explained.
Next was, according to Malkarov, "The staple combat spell."
Magic Missile caused a number of glowing darts to appear in front of me, shooting off as fast as lightning into my target (which was the poor stump down at the base of the tower). I created three darts to start with, but discovered with repetition (and Malkarov's challenge) that I could actually create as many six darts simultaneously. Malkarov seemed very impressed with this and exclaimed that it might be possible for me to learn spells of an even higher level than he thought. He seemed very excited by that prospect.
Malkarov's demonstration of the second to last of these spells gave me such a shock and made me so angry at him, that I ended up berating him so soundly when I caught up with him (even using words that I had only ever heard Father or Mother use when they hurt themselves) that he almost looked like a whipped dog when I was finished. He apologised to me so very profusely that I ended up apologising for the language that I used. The Feather Fall spell, which Malkarov cast (using a small feather) before he climbed up onto the battlement of the tower and stepped backwards off the edge, allowed him to float gently down to the ground at the base of the tower. I didn't realise this of course, because he didn't explain to me what he was doing or what the spell would do. When I saw him disappear from view I rushed to the edge and almost fell off when I looked over to see him still floating down with a huge smile on his face. He pointed at me and laughed when he saw me and that made me so angry that I immediately jumped off to follow him. I was already part of the way down when I realised that I should probably have cast the spell first before I jumped. In a panic I called up the feeling that echoed inside me when he cast the spell and forced it out. It didn't want to be forced out of my hands and I thought for a moment that something was wrong, that I wouldn't be able to cast the spell. I was halfway down and falling quite rapidly when I just pushed, without direction. The magic spread out through my entire body, evenly exploding all over my skin. I was about ten feet off the ground, Malkarov only having just touched down onto the ground when I felt something 'grab' me. One moment I was falling and about to go splat onto the ground, instantly my speed slowed and I floated gently down the remaining distance.
The final spell of that level required that Malkarov and I find something or someone to test it on. It seemed like he was thinking of a suggestion, perhaps casting it on each other, but after my reaction to Feather Fall might have decided against it. Instead, we found some cows. Of course, once again Malkarov cast the spell without telling me what it would do. And what it appeared to do? Nothing.
"What did it do?" I asked him, "I felt you cast the spell, but I don't see any difference."
"Watch them," he prompted, "what are they doing?"
"Well, they aren't eating anymore," I said after a moment's observation, "what a fantastic spell? It makes them feel full?"
"What?" he said, confused, "they're deep asleep! They can't be woken up unless they are hurt or injured, or the spell runs out."
"No they aren't," I stated.
"Yes they are. Who's the wizard here?" He argued.
"You might be a wizard, but I grew up on a farm," I retorted, "cows might nap on their feet, but they always lie down to sleep deeply."
"Really?" he said, looking at me. Suddenly there was a loud thump and the cow let out a surprised Moooooo!
We both turned to look at the cows, one of which was climbing to its feet in surprise. The other still had its eyes closed but as we watched, it too collapsed, falling down onto its side and its eyes opening wide in surprise as it too let out a loud moooooo.
"Huh," Malkarov let out, "how about that? We were both right."
