The Phoenix Ring(18)

The warlock had not known that the Gerangs’ father worked directly for king Lief. Both he and the dwarven warlords were willing to remove him from his position, only the Elven Chief had not cast his vote, though Edwin was willing to bet that if something did not happen soon, he would be discharged within the quarter.

This can't happen, I've worked far too hard to disappoint the master now.

Edwin began to walk as quickly as he could towards the adult quarters, yelling at two of the apprentices that had begun to follow him.

Ignorant little whelps, I can't wait for the day I get rid of them.

Edwin muttered a spell as he approached his door and it opened without a sound. As soon as he was through, it shut with a bang and the candles lit automatically.

Powerless? I'll show that boy powerless. No one can keep me from my magic for long.

Edwin's rooms only had one window, in the living area. The warlock preferred that people not see what he was doing. He walked to his fire place, which was as empty as always, and muttered a quick spell.

The bottom of the fireplace dropped out, revealing a long, dark hole into the ground, with a ladder on the side facing Edwin.

It was a tight squeeze, slightly tighter than the last time, but somehow the old man managed it. After twenty long rungs, Edwin finally fell in a heap onto a floor of cold, wet cobbles. He knew the room was exactly fifteen feet long and wide, and seven feet high. There was only one piece of furniture in the room, a stout wooden table, upon which sat a candle and a rock the size of a fist.

Edwin hesitantly walked to the table.

"Ingo," he whispered.

The candle lit up, casting a beautiful haze of light across the room. The only part of the room that stayed dark was the rock.

It was hard to tell whether the rock was purple or black, since it seemed to suck up the light around it. Edwin really didn't care.

"Master?" he said, hesitantly.

There was about a full minute of silence as the message was transported to the other end and the reply came back.

"What is it, Edwin? You had better have a good reason for contacting me."

And so the warlock related to him all that had happened in the past few weeks, starting with the death of Gerang.

Edwin finally finished and leaned against the table to wait for the reply.

It came after only forty seconds, his master must have started before he was done.

"You fool! Do you know what you have just done?"

Edwin had no reply.

"You have ruined everything! The army would have been ready in five years, and would have been large enough to destroy your council within a month. It would have been swift and painless, with very little bloodshed. But now you have forced my hand."

The stone was silent for a moment, and then began to speak in a much quieter, deadlier tone.

"Can you keep your position for three more months?"

"Yes master," Edwin said, trembling.

"Good, because if not, your head will be held up by a sharp stick. Now go, do whatever you have to do."

"Yes master," Edwin said, bowing to the rock and running to the ladder.

"Oh and Edwin, one more thing. I am still in control."

The fourth rung, which Edwin happened to be standing on, cracked in half. He fell to the floor amongst the laughter of his master, and then saw no more.





Aidan barely remembered anything about the three months after his evaluation. Unlike in the first month, Aidan now had to attend a "group session," in the library every day.

There were four different group sessions, and each day Aidan went to a different one. No session was ever taught by the same wizard twice.

The first session was probably Aidan's favorite, spells. The very first words he learned were akae, which meant water, terrack, which meant earth, herrakai, which meant air, and of course, ingo. With just these four words, Aidan's world became almost unlimited. He could change a rock into water, put heat under it until it became air, and then turn it back into a rock again.

The second session was curses. Aidan was still a little nervous about using curses, though they came most easily to him. Curses were generally far more complex than spells, but once you mastered the leeching curse they became more simple.

The most intriguing session for Aidan was antimagic. There were only two known substances that defied the laws of magic, dragon scales and amoghs. Dragon scales were metallic, not at all like a snake's. They could be melted and, more importantly, mixed with other metals. When blended with iron, they would create a metal called Rakka steel, which had the same antimagic properties as dragon scales, but was not as strong and could be impure. Most wizard rings were made of Rakka steel, though Marcus Thunderheart's had been made of pure dragon scales.

Amoghs were a curious, secretive group of people about which little was known. They mostly resided at a camp not unlike Fort Pheonix.