Catalyst(30)

Master Stradus helped me, but I still had limited movement. My body had trouble responding to my commands.

“How long will I feel like this?” I asked, dragging my right leg as I limped alongside him.

“A few more minutes,” he said. “Thank the gods you didn't bypass the first barrier in the web. That one was a warning. The second defense would have been far worse.”

I didn't get to ride Cynder that day or for a long time afterward. Master Stradus made me and Cynder scrub the entire cave complex clean, and I had to prune every plant in the garden. For the next couple of weeks, he also watched while I worked on my exercises with Cynder. But the biggest punishment was that I practiced and trained harder with magic. The sessions were far too long, pushing me to exhaustion by day's end. The few breaks he allowed were shorter. Master Stradus also made me read stories in the library out loud to him about the consequences of undisciplined magic. He questioned me more after each spell I performed.

Despite all that magic, I never got to practice a ritual or summoning. I only read about them. It wasn’t until a year later that I did the most basic summoning ritual.

After going through it, I understood why.





CHAPTER 8



While the caves of the White Mountain had started to be a home to me and I had accomplished what I set out to do in controlling my powers, there were times when I felt trapped. I had been confined here for over a year. I didn't know what was happening in the world or to my friends and family I cared deeply about. Were they all right? Did they even think about me?

During my studies in the library, I had read about one of the easiest rituals, in which a wizard could summon a creature from the Netherrealm called a maleika. Maleikas were used during the War of the Wizards to spy on places and people. I asked Master Stradus about it, to see if I could summon one. He said I wasn't ready. That was reasonable. I wasn’t sure if I was either. Then I asked if he would summon one, so I could check on my mother.

“No,” Master Stradus said, continuing to grind leaves with a stone pestle in preparation for making a potion.

Now he was being unreasonable. I normally didn't push him, but this time I did. “Please.”

“I said no, Hellsfire.”

The flames within me rose, pressing against my body, aching to be released. I forced the magic down and calmed myself. Being angry would get me nowhere. “Please, Master. I just want to see how my mother's doing. It shouldn't take long. I'll cook for the rest of the year or tend to your garden. Please.”

“No.”

My temper snapped. “Why not?”

Master Stradus stopped halfway through grinding. He exhaled, put down the stone, and walked out of the garden.

I stood by the workbench, poking angrily at the half-ground leaves. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t as if I wanted to watch half-naked slave girls dancing in the Burning Sands. I hadn’t seen my mother in over a year, and she was all alone. I just wanted to know if she was all right. Didn’t Master Stradus know how much I worried about her? And he wouldn’t even dignify my request by giving me a reason for refusing. He’d just walked out without even bothering to answer, like my mother didn’t matter at all.

Fine then. If Master Stradus wasn't going to help me check on my mother, I would do it without his help.

I waited a week before making my move. During that time, I studied the ritual until I knew it backwards. I didn't even tell Cynder what I planned to do, as he might feel obligated to tell our master.

I did it at night, when Master Stradus was well asleep. I took the ritual book from the library, and then made my way to the garden to prepare the potion I needed.

I cut pieces of the plants I needed, taking a leaf here and petal there. I upended one plant, taking its roots. My shaky hands made the cutting difficult. So many things could go wrong in a ritual, and potions weren't my best subject.

While cutting and grinding the plants, my attention was divided when it should have been completely focused. I kept re-reading the book, making sure I did everything right, yet I also kept glancing at the door, expecting Master Stradus to barge in. The noise of the grinding stone seemed ear-shattering in the quiet caves, no matter how slowly I did it.

I cooked everything down, motioning with my hands for it to hurry up. I was just pouring the finished potion into a flask when I heard a noise outside that made me spill some of it. The hot liquid splashed on my hands.

“Godsdamn it!” I yelped.

I froze, listening for Master Stradus opening the door. When I heard nothing, I sighed in relief and wiped off the spilled liquid. I finished pouring the potion into the flask and was about to leave when I remembered the mess I had created. Bits of leaves were in the grinding stones. The knife I had used for cutting needed to be wiped down. The potion clung to the bowl I had used to heat it. Everything had to be put back in its place.