The Young Magician

The others hesitated for a moment before tiptoeing up behind the wary, old teacher. Samuel peered past the man and could see the Argum Stone standing in the middle of the chamber, set upon a sturdy wooden frame to hold it upright.

‘I can’t sense any spells,’ Samuel stated, half to himself.

‘No…’ mused Master Glim. ‘How strange.’

‘Who wants to go in first?’ Eric asked. ‘I’ll guard our retreat.’

‘I’ll go,’ Master Glim stated, failing to notice Eric’s light-hearted tone. He took a deep breath and Samuel could see the magic blooming out of him, surrounding him in layers upon layers of shielding designed to protect him from all magical and physical harm. ‘Wait here,’ he instructed and passed his satchel back to Eric. Then, he took a first tentative step onto the wooden boards of the room.

There was a creak as the floor took his weight and the man stopped dead in place. Samuel’s heart skipped and Lomar gasped aloud. Master Glim turned his head and opened his eyes wide, urging them to be quiet. Shaking his head in wonderment, Master Glim raised his foot and went to take another careful step. The air around him flashed and hissed, like red hot steel dropped in water. The others all staggered back out of the doorway as a blood-red symbol, a design like Samuel had never seen, formed before Master Glim. The air filled with a burning heat like the core of an open furnace. Master Glim defended himself with all his resolve, but the glyph burned slowly in towards him, tearing his spells to threads on contact. Samuel had to put his hands before his face to shield his eyes from the flashing light and heat.

‘Defend him!’ Lomar hissed and spells sprang out from the man and into the room.

Samuel went to dart forward, but Master Glim somehow sensed his actions. ‘Stay where you are!’ he cried out as he strained to hold his shield spells in place.

Samuel realised his stupidity and joined his power with the spells of Lomar and Eric, pushing at the blood-red symbol that hung in the air. They fed all the power they could muster into Master Glim’s spells, but still the symbol hissed and spat and crept in towards the man, sending its red-hot sparks bouncing onto the wooden floor. As Master Glim took a faltering step back with his knees starting to buckle, the glyph hissed out of existence and the room faded back into silence.

Samuel took a great breath of relief and wiped the sweat from his face with his robe sleeve. Master Glim dropped to his knees and the others rushed in to aid him.

‘Take care,’ Master Glim tried to tell them, but they were heedless and helped him back to his feet while he wiped the sweat from his eyes. ‘I’m all right,’ he told them. ‘I just need a moment to recover my strength.’

‘The spell was somehow undetectable,’ Lomar stated, ‘and of a nature I have never before encountered.’

‘Black magic!’ Eric spat out with disdain, sneaking back to close the door behind them.

‘Yes, I believe so,’ Master Glim agreed. ‘Master Ash, indeed, has some explaining to do for using such a foul art. It took all our combined efforts just to defend from that one spell. Take care, there may be more such devilish traps set for us in here.’

Master Glim took his own weight once again, and Samuel looked to the corners of the room. The chamber was literally lined with shelves, each full and stuffed to the brim with books and papers. There was a small table beside the Argum Stone, covered with a pile of papers and a writing set, but there was no visible sign or hint of any further spells.

‘We have no way of detecting this kind of magic,’ Lomar stated.

‘We cannot mind that now,’ Master Glim announced. ‘Master Ash may have been alerted. We must make all haste. Quickly, find anything that looks useful and put it in my bag.’ He took his satchel back from Eric and began stuffing all the notes from the small table into it. As he did, he had one eye set nervously on the great artefact beside him-as if it could spring to life at any moment.

‘Dividian has been busy,’ Eric called out. ‘There are hundreds of books here!’

‘Thieving cur!’ Master Glim cursed.

Samuel’s heart was still beating fast and he kept his power at the ready, for he expected another black spell to appear with every step he took and every movement he made. He began examining the shelf he had chosen, for it seemed someone had recently written some notes on the spine of each piece. History- plausible, was written on one; The Third Era-erratic, was written on another beside it. Pulling that one out and carefully turning through the pages, Samuel could see it was written with the Old Tongue. The cover showed the book to be very old indeed; the pages were crisp and brittle.

‘These are all about philosophy,’ Eric called out.

‘The ones here all look historical,’ Samuel replied, returning his selected book to its place.

‘The shelves here seem to be about spell crafting,’ Lomar called out, ‘but the dialect in some is strange. It would take some time to properly understand.’

‘Look for a shelf labelled “awakening ancient artefacts”,’ Eric called aloud.

After only another moment Master Glim called out to them. ‘This is useless. There are far too many books here. We would needs days or weeks to even begin to understand them, let alone find what we need. We will have to destroy them.’

‘Surely we can’t!’ Samuel protested. ‘These books are priceless! Irreplaceable! Just look at them all!’

Master Glim sighed. ‘We have little choice. Our entry will be noticed, if it hasn’t already and Lord Jarrod will only treble his security. We must do something now.’

‘It’s true, Samuel,’ Lomar said. ‘We will have no other opportunity to act.’

‘Why don’t we just take them with us?’ Eric suggested.

‘Good suggestion, Master Pot,’ Master Glim replied sarcastically, ‘but I didn’t bring my barrow. It would take us all night to shift all this.’

‘Why don’t we just ask the palace staff to help us? The palace is full of servants just standing around with nothing to do. I’d think if we told them to help us carry all these books downstairs, they wouldn’t be able to refuse.’

Master Glim shook his head. ‘No, it’s much too slow. We could be discovered at any moment.’

‘I’m sure the Council meeting will not end too soon. Lord Goodwin knows we need as much time as he can spare, and the councillors always talk for hours on end whenever they get the chance. It will only take one of us to stay here and the others can wait downstairs.’

‘I will stay,’ Samuel said. ‘If anyone returns, I will destroy the books.’

‘No,’ Master Glim told him. ‘If you are discovered, they will kill you, I’m sure. I will stay. I know a wall-walking spell. I can set the books ablaze and then be out the window.’

‘If your spell fails, you have a long way to fall,’ Lomar stated.

Master Glim threw the tall man a dark look. ‘My spells don’t easily fail,’ he said. ‘Eric, go and gather as many servants as you can muster. Samuel, go and ready some transportation. We will need to be away with these books as quick as can be. Find a cart, a wagon-anything.’

At once, Eric and Samuel hurried out the door and skipped down the stairs in twos and threes. It was not until they had nearly reached the bottom level that they found a servant striding purposefully along the hall.

‘You there!’ Eric called and the man stopped in his tracks, turning to face them with a startled expression. ‘We need some books carried down from the tower. Bring as many to help us as you can.’

The man was obviously not ready for such a command. ‘But, My Lord, Duke Nuard has already asked that I-’

Eric waved off his objections. ‘Don’t give me that nonsense. This is urgent. Go and muster as many others as you can-twenty or thirty will do. I don’t care how many you must wake up. Quickly! Be about it or heads will roll-and yours will be first!’

‘Yes, My Lord!’ the servant said, as he leapt with fright and darted off.

‘I’ve always wanted to say that,’ Eric said with a smug grin. ‘Heads will roll!’ he said again with a snicker.

‘Very well,’ Samuel said. ‘I’ll go organise a wagon and meet you outside.’

Eric nodded. ‘Yes. I shall wait here and lead the servants back to the room. Then, I’ll come meet you.’

With that, Samuel hurried down the hall and found his way into the courtyard. He looked about, but no servants were visible. Some voices began to approach and so Samuel, still wondering where to find some servants, waited to see who was coming. Four Royal Guards came sauntering into the courtyard. They looked off duty, but