The Phoenix Ring(13)

And so Aidan did. First he showed Malachi, then Edwin, who seemed to be  almost happy, and each and every wizard that had agreed to take him on  in the camp. At one point, Timothy and Eleanor came down to see his  failure.

Finally, right as the sun began to set, Bartemus came down into the cave  already packed with wizards and requested that he see what all the  noise was about.

Aidan finally lost it.

"I can't do it!" he yelled, "I've been trying all day, It isn't going to word!"

Everyone turned and stared at him, and he mentally began kicking  himself. In truth, he was more disappointed than anyone else in the  room. In his mind, he had failed to become a Ranger, and now he was  failing to follow the path of a sorcerer.

Bartemus stepped forward.

"Do it one more time, then you can be done."

"Yes sir," Aidan said, greatly relieved. "Yok!"

To everyone's immense surprise, a large blue Soulrock attached to an expensive looking ring fell from a shelf.

"Someone knocked that down!" Timothy yelled, but his voice was lost among the excitement of the crowd.

This is just another bit of entertainment for them. Aidan thought. It's  the same as sending young people into this stupid cave and gambling on  their life.                       
       
           



       

His hand clenched tighter around the rowan stick he had been holding.

Somehow someone had brought him the Soulrock and laid it in front of him on the rocks.

Aidan's felt his heart begin to defiantly hammer in his chest as the wizards began to yell for him to touch the rock.

Then he actually felt heat at the tips of his fingers as the anger and magic within him sought an escape.

The small part of his brain that was still thinking logically told him  that he had to find something to cool himself off before he blew the  cave and everyone in it into magical bits. Then he realized that the  outlet for his anger was the very thing that was causing it.

He reached out his middle finger and just barely brushed the surface.

He knew in a moment that the Soulrock was not his. It felt foreign, weak, and so small.

It was like trying to fit a horse into the little chicken coop back at the orphanage.

He opened his eyes and saw the rock lying in his hand, though he did not  know how it got there. It was vibrating, slowly at first, but then it  began to move faster and faster.

One of the wizards caught on faster than the rest.

"Everybody duck!"

Everyone fell to their knees except Aidan, who was still staring at the blue gem.

He felt the power leave the crystal a moment before it threw him against  the wall, smashing wizards into each other and knocking down at least  half of the Soulrocks in the room.

"Is everyone okay?" One of the wizards yelled.

The others began to stand up and find their bearings, not without some cursing.

Bartemus walked to the front of the crowd and stood on a large rock so that everyone could see him.

"Sorcerers!" he yelled. "We have never seen anything like this before,  so Malachi, myself, and three others are going to try attempt to  understand what has happened here. Aidan, you may return to your  quarters until further notice."

"Wait." said a voice at the top of the entrance.

Everyone turned to see Edwin, awkwardly favoring one leg.

"The boy has to have a master, Soulrock or no. Any volunteers?"

Aidan knew that almost every single one of these wizards would have  gladly taken him on had he acquired a Soulrock. Instead, they looked at  the ground and shuffled their feet.

Aidan's fury began to rise again.

Edwin smiled. "Well, then he will have to be sent home-"

He was cut off by Bartemus. "I'll take him."

Edwin's smile faltered.

"Are you sure, Barty? This is a daunting task for an elderly man who has never taken an apprentice."

Bartemus's eyes were steel as he answered. "I'm positive. Follow me boy, we are going to need to talk."

He brushed down the path past the speechless councilor and out the entrance.

Aidan followed, "accidentally" knocking into Edwin as he passed.





"The Soulrock exploded because you put so much power into it. It never  would have done that if you were weaker, or its true master. "

Aidan and Bartemus were inside room number thirty-seven, sitting across  from each other at a large wooden table. Aidan had learned that there  was a storage facility for the furniture that seemed to appear from  nowhere. Timothy had explained to him that sorcerers were incapable of  creating objects, instead they moved them from place to place with such  extreme speed that any living creature would be killed. With enough  practice and enough speed, the items could even be moved through walls.  Aidan was still baffled by this theory.

"We found the Soulrock afterwards, and it was completely dead. An ugly,  gray thing. It will fetch a good price if we sell it, but it is useless  for magic now."

So I blew something up, what else is new? Thought Aidan, who was still steaming a little.

"I can't train you to be the sorcerer you are supposed to be without a  way to access the magic, and rowan wood simply isn't going to be enough.  Warlocks are able to use magic without a wand, but they must have a  Soulrock. Now, there is a very difficult way to learn to use magic  without any outside assistance, but only one person has ever  accomplished it."

"Let me guess." Aidan said, "Marcus Thunderheart."

Bartemus shook his head sadly. "No, I wish. If so, the war may have ended differently. No, it was Malcommer."

Aidan sat up a little in his chair.

"But he was defeated, right?"

"Yes. But it was at a great price. You read about how Malcommer escaped from a prison camp right?"

Aidan nodded his head.

"Well, that prison camp only held magical prisoners. Deserted mages,  wizards, and even creatures. The only way to ensure peace within the  camp was to take everyone's Soulrocks and have them destroyed. Yet  somehow, Malcommer figured out how to use magic without his. The guards  were all normal soldiers, not a trace of magic in that camp, so  Malcommer overpowered them easily. That was how he escaped and started  the Great Wars."                       
       
           



       

Aidan thought for a moment.

"But what did he have in his cell? If you could just give me those objects, I bet I could figure it out."

"It wasn't a jail, it was a camp. Despite the fact that these men had  done heinous acts of crime, they were still the King's Sorcerers, and  they were treated far better than any other prisoners. He came in  contact with so many things every day, you might as well just work with  everything instead of trying to chart what he came into contact with.  But I personally believe it was just him, not the objects around him.  Now, I have work to do, I believe your friend wants to show you  something. Rest up today, tomorrow you start training."





Timothy, Eleanor, and Aidan were all inside a strange building that  looked like an overturned boat and sat very close to the pedestal that  held Thunderheart's ring.

This particular structure was made for housing all the staffs and wands  in the camp. Timothy was having problems deciding which staff to pick,  now that he had a Soulrock. He and Eleanor had managed to narrow the  choice down to two, yet the new mage could not decide which one to  choose. Aidan arrived right as Timothy began to read the complex set of  runes that ran up each one. Aidan knew that every staff was equipped  with a set of runes particular to the material used to make each of  them, and the right mixture of rune, material, and sorcerer would  maximize magical output.

"Hey, how's it going?" Aidan asked, trying to keep the jealousy out of his voice.

"Not too well." Timothy said, trying to keep the excitement out of his.

The first staff was made of stone, and could only have been put together  by magic. The top was adorned by a large griffin, which held a green,  round jewel in its wings. It was about as heavy as a sword, and the  runes on the side would create a rock solid defense.

The second was created from perfectly polished hazel wood. The top of  the staff was adorned by a small carved tree at the top that held a far  larger blue jewel in between the "branches." The runes would give the  user the ability to use very complex spells that were more intangible,  as well as supplying a lot of healing magic. It looked frail, but when  Aidan picked it up he realized that it was far stronger than it  appeared, and would honestly make a good club.

For a moment Aidan imagined bashing Edwin over the head with it.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Timothy asked.

"Uh, no reason." Aidan looked at the two staffs again. He knew that the  hazel staff was far better suited for Timothy, and he thought Timothy  would have known it too.