“You sound like you know him,” I said.
“I do,” Master Stradus said. “It's been many years since I last saw him, but there’s only one person who’d be bold enough to call himself Premier.” He motioned to the chair with his staff.
“Shouldn't we get ready to leave?”
“You need to know what you're getting into if you plan on facing Premier. Now, sit.” He relaxed and smiled. “We have plenty of time, my boy.”
“But—”
Master Stradus put a hand up. I stopped talking and sat back down.
“I'm sorry, Master. I'm just worried about them.” I looked towards the exit as if I could see Alexandria by willing it.
“I understand, but you must learn to be patient, Hellsfire. It’s very important you learn what we're up against.”
I nodded. He was right. And anything I could learn about Premier would help me fight him.
“A long time ago, in a different land and time, before the Great Barrier went up and before the war ended, Premier and I trained at the same wizard’s school. Before we were wizards, and before we earned our wizard names.” He tapped the globe with his fingers.
“The Council was training wizards to fight against Renak. Premier and I shared the same room and were at the top of our class. We were friends, but also rivals. We always tried to outdo one another, whether it be with spells, incantations, potions, or especially, girls. Exuberant youth.” Master Stradus showed a wrinkled smile.
“Premier wasn’t like the way you describe him now. He was cocky, to be sure, and always wanted to be the best, but his intentions were good. I believe the power he discovered corrupted him. We were the best of friends before I lost him and everything changed.
“Near the end of our training, we became more serious in our studies. We stopped spending as much time with the girls and started sneaking into our teachers’ libraries. We were looking for more knowledge, any advantage to keep us from dying in the war. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there.
“Our fear of death pushed us even further. We explored the city outside the school, venturing out at night, talking to people who dabbled in the darker side of magic. We thought we needed any edge we could get, any sort of power they could show us.
“In school, we trained together. Outside of school, we trained apart, only coming together to show off what we’d learned. That was how it happened.”
Master Stradus had been grinning, with a look of the youth that had long escaped him. Now his smile turned into a frown.
“One night, we both slipped out and went our separate ways,” he continued. “When dawn came, Premier didn't meet me. I waited for him as long as I could before I had to return to our room. He made it back just before our lessons started.
“But something happened to Premier. He was…different. He was battered, ragged, and there was a look in his eyes—as if he had seen a horror no man should ever see. Not even a wizard. It was days before he said more than a few words. Eventually, I learned that he had come upon a book of great power—the Book of Shazul.”
My eyes widened. I had read about the book and the wizard who created it. Shazul had been one of the most powerful wizards who ever lived—before he went mad and destroyed himself. And to think, I had been throwing my puny fireballs at Premier. No wonder he had laughed at me.
“I can see you know of what I speak,” Master Stradus said. “But there's something I haven't told you. Now is that time.”
I leaned forward, curious and scared of what he might tell me.
“The Book of Shazul is more than just a book of spells,” he said. “It also is a book of prophecies. One of those prophecies had to do with you.” He reached for more tea while letting the information sink in.
I gasped and stared at nothing. It all made sense now. Why Stradus came to my mother the night I was born, why he named me, why he waited in this mountain. If he read those prophecies in Shazul’s book, they would have tugged at him, gnawing at his mind. When I first got here, I had asked him about the prophecy, but he had never answered my questions.
Until now.
“You never told me about this before,” I said.
“Would it have made a difference?”
I shrugged. “It might have.”
“Prophecies are very dangerous things. Sometimes they can be interpreted wrongly. Other times, by knowing what they are, you'll end up causing them to come to pass.”
“Could you tell me more about the prophecy involving me?”
Master Stradus shook his head. “I can't. It's bad enough I'm telling you this much. I'm only telling you so you’ll understand what you're up against.”