He walked out of the hut and slammed the door shut a little harder than necessary.
It had been a week since Bartemus had left. All of the mages and wizards in the camp had been busy rebuilding, except for Aidan. Instead of helping his friends he had been sitting in a hut listening to an old man drone on about "the island over the sea," where he had been born.
And there is no way that mediation will ever be a useful combat skill, thought Aidan, kicking a rock out of his way.
In truth he was more frustrated with himself than anyone. Meditation was something that was supposed to be easy to learn, Timothy had been able to figure it out in twenty minutes.
Aidan Rune. The boy that can't do anything that doesn't involve blowing things up.
He found himself on a hill that sloped up until it hit the safety sphere. He sat there for a moment and soaked up the pure majesty of what he saw.
The grass over the whole camp was green, as if it had never been scorched into a black mess. There was no rubble, and many of the tents had already been replaced by structures identical to those that had stood before.
Even as Aidan watched, a circle of wizards standing around a huge pile of bricks raised their wands, which caused each brick to fly individually into the air.
They collided on the ground, falling into a perfect harmony that became a new staff and wand building, all in a few seconds.
Aidan sighed.
I could probably blow that to smithereens with one spell. But if someone asked me to fix a chair…
He sat down and pulled the crystal that his master had given him out of a pocket sewn into his robe.
He was startled to see that it was glowing.
"Uh, master?" he asked.
Bartemus voice was ragged, as if he had been running, when he answered, "Aidan, are you alone?"
"Yes. Why?" Aidan asked, fearing Master Tong had found a way to contact his master.
"I need you to run as fast as you can and find Malachi for me."
"What's going on?" Aidan asked, already starting to jog.
"I'm not sure yet, but I think that we might be headed for another Great War."
9
"You want me to do what?"
Aidan, Malachi and Timothy were all standing around a table in the warlock's study, surrounded by various animals chirping, growling, and screeching in their cages.
The crystal was on the center of the table, glowing softly in the dimness of the room.
"I don't think I could have made myself more clear, Aidan. I want Malachi to help you escape the fort, and then I want you to travel to Camp Ward and let me talk through the crystal to Master Borin, if he's still there. After that, contact me and I will give you further instructions."
Aidan was stunned. Not only was what his master asking him to do very illegal, it was also dangerous and it made very little sense.
Malachi spoke for the first time. "Bartemus, you do realize that we haven't spoken to the amoghs since Borin was initiated. We don't even know if he's still alive."
Again, Aidan was stunned that Malachi would be the voice of logic.
"Where do I fit in here?" Timothy asked.
"Aidan can take one or two friends with him. Magic is always stronger in groups.”
"But the only magic I can do is destructive, not helpful!" Aidan said, "There has to be someone with more experience that you can send."
There was silence for a little while from the stone.
"Aidan, you are the only one I can send. You are the only one I trust that has enough power for what I fear lies ahead. It is necessary that Malachi stay at the Fort to prepare the wizards for battle."
Aidan was starting to feel his anger rise again.
"What do you people expect from me? I only got a ring a week ago, is it too much to ask not to go on a life endangering trip this soon?"
Bartemus finally lost his patience. "Yes it is. Aidan, do you know what a war is? People die in a war. If there is a war, people will die. You and I may be the key to preventing that war, and you have no right to sit at home and ignore the fact that you have the potential to save hundreds of lives."
Aidan's anger dropped to the floor, replaced by cold shame.
"Now are you in this or not?" His master asked.
"I'll do it," Aidan said hesitantly, "Just tell me what you need."
The owl soared through the night air, searching for its prey on the ground. It normally tried to avoid the giant blue bubble, many a bird had flown into it and then taken the great fall.
Not the owl though. The owl is a wise, intelligent creature, capable of seeing its next victim from hundreds of feet away. It would never do something so careless as that.
The huge amber eyes snapped onto its next target, a small, perfectly white rabbit laying in a little clearing of the woods right outside of the sphere. Strange, because normally other animals didn't get that close to the blue bubble.