The Phoenix Ring(14)

Eleanor and her brother, a large boy named Jonathan, were standing a little to the right of everyone else with master Edwin, who was holding a piece of parchment. Soon all the wizards and warlocks were gathered except for Master Bartemus, and Edwin stepped forward and began to read from the parchment.

It was really just a long list of Eleanor's heritage until the conclusion.

"Do you, Eleanor Gerang, 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?"

Eleanor stepped forward. Aidan could see that she was shaking. Her eyes drifted to Timothy's and locked onto them. The smaller boy nodded his head.

"I do," she said in a trembling voice.

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

Eleanor walked slowly into the vault, and the door creaked shut.

For a few tense seconds, there was no sound, Timothy had bit his lip and Jonathan had started to rock impatiently back and forth.

Then there was a scream from the vault.

Both Timothy and Jonathan stepped forward, but Aidan caught Timothy's arm and Jonathan was stopped by master Edward.

A few seconds later, Master Edwin waved his hand and the vault opened. He waited a moment before walking in.

Aidan saw that Timothy had started to sweat.

"She'll be alright," He said.

"I know, it's just-"

Timothy was cut short as a huge shadow filled the vault and master Edwin stepped out.

Aidan saw Timothy hold his breath, and then Eleanor came up into the light.

Jonathan ran to meet her, and Timothy let out a huge sigh. She was wearing a gold armband with a huge green Soulrock imbedded in the center.

She came to stand in the crowd beside Timothy. Aidan noticed that their hands drifted closer together and couldn’t help but feel a little lonely.

Then Jonathan was standing in front of Master Edwin, and the same list of ancestors was read again.

"Do you, Jonathan Gerang, 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?"

Aidan had expected Jonathan to stride confidently forward and accept, so he was surprised when Jonathan said in a voice far deeper than his sister's, "Do we have to do this now? I haven't had much time to go over anything with Eleanor…"

Master Edwin gave him a forced smile. "That question was rhetorical, you're going in there whether you like it or not."

Malachi stepped forward. "Maybe it isn't time yet Edwin, we could reschedule."

Edwin glared at Malachi. "If you want to take this to the council, we can. But you remember what happened last time we took something to the council, don't you?"

Malachi closed his mouth and stepped back into the crowd.

Edwin motioned for Jonathan to enter the vault, then waved his hand, shutting the door.

They waited for a minute.

Nothing.

Not a creak, flash, groan or even scream. Aidan saw that Eleanor was squeezing Timothy's hand so tightly her knuckles were white.

Finally, after five minutes, Edwin opened the door and walked down into the vault.

When he came back into the light, he was holding Jonathan's limp form in his arms.

Eleanor screamed.

Jonathan Gerang was dead.





4





Eleanor began to wail, the entire crowd let out a gasp, and Malachi fell to his knees.

All this was white noise for Aidan. His whole life he had been wronged, and through much suffering he had learned one thing. That nature in and of itself is not evil, but people are. And so Aidan's natural reaction was to find the evil and attempt to eliminate it.

And he had found the evil. It was in the form of Master Edwin, who had unceremoniously dropped the body and was waving his hands, yelling at the crowd to stay away.

I'm going to kill him. All I have to do is say ingo, and he will never see the light of day again.

Aidan raised his hand towards the fat warlock. All the anger in his body was concentrated on that one man. Edwin had murdered an innocent boy, and for that he would pay.

Aidan had just opened his mouth when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around, the fire still strong in his mind, when he saw Master Bartemus.

"Now is not the time or the place. Bide your time, the boy will be avenged. Now go, your friend needs you."

Aidan turned his head. Timothy did indeed need help. Eleanor had found a staff and had it pointed at Master Edwin, ready to say a spell, or more likely a curse. Timothy was on the ground, fumbling for a piece of rowan that he had dropped and was lying several feet away from him. Aidan ran to it and snatched it from the ground.

Timothy was now physically trying to restrain Eleanor, which was difficult since he was trying not to hurt her.

Aidan raised the stick and pointed it at Eleanor.