The Phoenix Ring(12)

"Thank you so much." Timothy said to Eleanor, who was trying not to smile.

"What's all of this?" Aidan asked, picking up some of the papers.

"It was our mail. We get the day off so we can read through it. These are for you."

Timothy handed Aidan two envelopes. The first was a golden color, with a red seal stamped with an R on the back.                       
       
           



       

Aidan was more than a little surprised, and so opened that one first.

Inside was a piece of parchment with long, wavy handwriting. It read:



Aidan Rune,



We all hope that you managed to escape the fire without any injuries.  Don't worry, no one else was hurt, though there were a few singed  eyebrows. We are glad to hear that you were accepted into Fort Phoenix,  though you will be greatly missed. You would have made a great Ranger.

If you ever need our help, feel free to put out the word. We'll hear about it.

Good luck,



The King's Rangers



Aidan put that letter down and picked up the other envelope. It was far less extravagant, there was no seal at all.

Aidan pulled out the parchment inside and began to read the familiar handwriting:



Aidan,



I am so glad to hear that you are doing so well. You had me worried for a  while. They sent someone from the castle to explain that you were going  to learn how to use magic.

The orphanage is doing fine, we got four more boys this month. We have  also started to receive a bit of money from the castle, since you are  doing something so important. When will I get to see you again?

I'll always love you,



Your Mother



P.S. I know you are still angry, and now probably wondering who your  father was. I have many regrets about him, but you are not one of them. I  wish I had more information for you.



Aidan felt more than a little homesick when he smelled the familiar,  implacable, scent that meant his mother had been cooking, though it was  quickly replaced by the usual rage.

He gently put the letters under his cot and turned to Timothy.

"What else are we going to do today?"

"Well, I hope you're going to prepare yourself, I know I am." Timothy said.

"Why?" Aidan asked, puzzled.

"Because," Eleanor answered, her voice tense, "Tomorrow's your calling ceremony."





6





Aidan stood in front of the entire assembly of Fort Phoenix. Many of the  wizards were winking at him. Almost all of them had come to him before  the ceremony to ask for his apprenticeship. Aidan had not guaranteed any  of them.

Now he stood before everyone, right outside the entrance to the vault,  which looked eerily like a tomb in the morning mists. Timothy was next  to him, with Edwin standing behind them both. The younger boy's knees  were trembling slightly, and Aidan saw him clenching a rowan ring in his  robe's sleeve.

The robes were white, with gold stars aligned so perfectly they could  only have been made by magic. The boys wore matching white (slightly  girlish) shoes.

Timothy was up first. As Edwin began to read the list of ancestors, he  kept looking distractedly up at the sky, as if he was expecting  something. Aidan noticed the old warlock had a bandage on his head and  his leg was propped up with a stick.

He probably fell up the steps trying to get to dinner, Aidan thought, with a little more malice than was necessary.

"Do you, Timothy Ashdown, agree to use your magic only to serve  Sortiledge, to never harm those weaker than yourself, and to treat all  the races fairly and without bias?" Edwin asked.

Timothy stepped forward and said, in a surprisingly strong voice, "I do."

"Then go, fulfill your destiny as a King's Sorcerer, for the good of Sortiledge!"

The vault opened, and Timothy slowly walked into the dark hole.

There seemed to be an eternity of silence for Aidan as he waited for some sign that his friend was alive.

Finally, there was a shout at the door.

Edwin waved his hand, and Timothy stepped into the light.

He seemed to radiate power, the bottom of his robe was torn and singed,  his hands were smoking, and there was a smile on his face. A large blue  Soulrock hung from a glistening silver chain around his neck.

Then he ruined the affect by blacking out in front of everyone.

Malachi was at his side faster than any man could run, checking for a pulse.

"He's ok!" The warlock shouted.

The crowd slowly began to settle down as Timothy was carried away.

"Aidan Rune," Edwin yelled, "Ancestors: unknown."

Aidan ground his teeth together.

"Do you, Aidan Rune, agree to use your magic only to serve Sortiledge,  to never harm those weaker than yourself, and to treat all the races  fairly and without bias?"

"I do!" Aidan yelled, trying to release some anger.

"Then go, fulfill your destiny as a King's Sorcerer." He spit out the  last two words like they had a bad taste, and Aidan began to feel a red  haze.

The vault opened, and Aidan stepped down into the darkness.

As soon as the boulder rolled over the entrance, the cave was thrust  into darkness. Aidan instinctively put a hand up to his face, but he  couldn't see a single finger.

Then, somewhere ahead, Aidan saw a faint purple glow. He began to walk towards, it, using the rough wall to guide him.                       
       
           



       

The tunnel curved left, then right, and finally, Aidan came to it.

The first one he saw was just lying on the ground. It was a small, orange Soulrock, perfect in its own way.

Then he saw another, laying in a shelf hollowed out in a rock. Then another, and another.

Finally, he came to a hollowed out room in the rock and stopped dead.

There were thousands, maybe millions of Soulrocks. They were in every  nook and cranny, atop the stone and on shelves, there were even some  hanging on the ceiling. They came in every size, shape and color, on  every type of jewelry imaginable. And the cave! The cave was massive,  something that Aidan had never even dreamed of. It could have easily  held twenty people, plus all the Soulrocks anyone could ever want. The  walls were rough hewn, as if someone had just used a pickaxe and decided  to make a giant room, there were even stalagmites hanging from the  ceiling.

Aidan stood speechless for a few minutes, just staring at the Soulrocks, feeling the power course through the room into him.

If this ever got into the wrong hands …

After about a minute of staring, Aidan finally pulled the stick of rowan wood that he had been provided out of his sleeve.

He had to perform one spell. It was simple, just yok. Come. However, his  mind had to communicate to the magic in the room exactly what he wanted  to come to him. It was an exercise that Aidan had been practicing for a  little while using pieces of rowan wood, but they couldn't even begin  to replace the raw power of a Soulrock.

If it was performed right, then all the Soulrocks with the same or close  to the same amount of magic as him would come to him. He would then  have to master the Soulrock, which would be an excruciating process, as  Eleanor had told him.

He raised his hand and felt the waves of magic coming from the room in  front of him. He had always felt a little bit of magic, though he had  never known how to identify it from anything else. Now, in this room,  the magic was so strong he was almost overwhelmed by it.

Aidan closed his eyes and was about to say the spell when he realized  something. If he tried to perform any spell in this room, the results  would be multiplied tenfold. He had to rethink the entire magic process,  cutting back most of his power.

He closed his eyes again, feeling the magic flow around him and into him.

"Yok."

He only let a little bit of magic out, but he felt it go into the air around him anyways.

He imagined the Soulrock he might retrieve, he was thinking it would probably be red, or orange.

Then, butterflies in his stomach, he opened his eyes.

There was nothing.

Not the nothing as in emptiness, just a complete lack of change in the magic of the room.

Aidan stepped back, surprised.

Did I do it wrong? Is there more to the spell?

Aidan knew that Soulrocks did not have a name in The Sorcerer's Tongue, which was why young mages simply used the word yok.

He closed his eyes and put some more power into the spell.

"Yok!"

He opened his eyes.

Again, nothing.

Aidan began trying each spell he knew, starting with adding things to his base spell and finally trying elementals.

The rocks didn't even twitch, though he did manage to knock down a stalagmite with an earth spell.

Eventually, Aidan felt a hand on his shoulder and spun around, rowan wand at the ready.

"Relax, it's just me." Malachi said. "What seems to be the problem? We thought you might be …  hurt."

In other words, you thought I might be dead. Aidan thought, feeling a little anger rise in the pit of his stomach.

"I don't know, the magic won't work."

"Show me." The warlock said.