The Phoenix Ring(13)

"Are they baby dragons?" Aidan asked, backing away a little.

"No, nothing so amazing as that," Malachi answered. "They are fire salamanders, some of the few left in this kingdom. The dwarves keep a few in volcanoes, but they don't do so well here without heat. Ingo!"

Aidan jumped back, alarmed, as the inside of the cage was swept in white flames. The salamanders were running around gleefully in the bottom, appearing almost to suck up the heat. The old warlock picked up one of the salamanders, which immediately bit his finger and spat flames all over it.

The old man just laughed and put the salamander down, his finger unmarked.

Malachi looked at Aidan, who was edging closer to the door.

"If you want to send a letter, then you will have to go see master Bartemus. I gave up on all that paperwork long ago. I much prefer animals. Don't I, Mr. Cuddles!" He said, pulling the top off a wire cage that held what appeared to be a very angry hedgehog.

"Er, right." Aidan said, backing out of the room.

"Tell Barty I said hi. Oh, Cuddles, don’t- Ow!"

The door shut in Aidan's face. He walked a few feet to the right and rapped on the wood before stepping inside.

This office was far simpler than Malachi's. There was a nearly identical desk and chair in the center, but there the similarities ended. The walls were drab and the light dim. In fact there only appeared to be one decoration in the room, an old egg shaped stone with swirling red and white stripes sat on the desk surrounded by stacks of parchment. It was held in a silver stand, and appeared almost to glow. Aidan knew from his studies that it was a dead phoenix egg.

Master Bartemus looked up as Aidan walked in.

"Well boy, what is it? I have a lot of work to do and not very much time to do it."

"Uh, well, I was just wondering if you could send this letter for me," Aidan answered, handing him the envelope.

"Where did you learn to fold a piece of parchment like this?" Bartemus asked, eyeing the letter.

"My mother made sure that all the boys learned how to send letters. But I don't think that you use the rider system here."

"No," Bartemus said, "We have to inspect each letter before sending it. Once a week we send the mail on griffin back."

"Thank you, sir." Aidan said, turning around.

"Oh, and boy? Good luck tomorrow."





Aidan was extremely tense as he walked back to room thirty-seven. He was thinking about his mother. He wondered what was going on at the farm, and hot anger overcame him as he remembered why he had left. As he was thinking, a glimmer caught his eye farther down the path. He walked toward it, and came to Thunderheart's ring.

"How did you do on your evaluation?" he asked, his mind wandering to all he knew about the hero that once wore this ring.

"I wonder how many others have sat here and talked to you, wishing you could answer them. You were probably never nervous. I must be going mad, I'm talking to a ring."

But he could have sworn the ring moved a little in his direction.



Aidan stopped outside his room and put his ear to the door. Timothy was talking to someone, though Aidan couldn't hear what was being said. He opened the door and stepped inside.

Timothy was sitting on his bed with his arm around an attractive blonde girl that had tear tracks running down her face. Neither had seen Aidan, so he cleared his throat.

Timothy and the unknown girl both jumped, bumping heads with a dull thud.

"I should probably… see you tomorrow," she said, brushing past Aidan out the door. He noticed that her cheeks had turned scarlet.

Aidan stared at Timothy.

"What?" The smaller boy responded testily.

Aidan just raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up." Timothy said.

"I haven't said anything yet, but I think I'm going to. What's her name?"

"Eleanor," Timothy said, a grin breaking across his face. "Tomorrow is the Soulrock calling day for her and her brother. She's a little nervous."

Aidan chuckled. "She probably needs a big strong boy whose name starts with T to-"

"Oh, shut your face." Timothy said, blowing out the candle.

Aidan fell asleep laughing.



The next day Aidan and Timothy stood with a group of other mages outside the vault. It was really just a huge hole in the ground that led into an area where all the Soulrocks were kept. It was generally covered by a huge metal trapdoor, but during the calling ceremony it would be opened for each mage. Every single mage would be given a ceremonial rowan wand that would be used to perform an intricate spell that matched the most suitable Soulrocks to a mage. The mage could then pick whichever Soulrock he or she chose.

Then there was the fight between the will of a Soulrock and that of the mage, which sometimes ended in the mage's early death.