The Young Magician

noticed Samuel edging for the door and was at once on him, covering the distance between them in a heartbeat. It slapped his chest with its claw-like hand and knocked Samuel down without effort. In an instant, it was over him and gone out the door. Samuel was horrified, but leapt up in pursuit.

The spirit danced around the garden, disappearing into hollows, and moving around the inn at a frightening speed, as if investigating every cranny. It spied Samuel once more and raced towards him. Samuel ducked and covered his head with his hands, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. When he opened his eyes again, the spirit thing was nose to nose with him. It cocked its head sideways and repeated the words.

‘Oosoo ahn.’

In its outstretched claw, it held a handful of dirt. The pieces of soil ran between its bon,y white fingers and dropped to the ground as it cocked its head sideways and watched on as if fascinated.

‘Er…’ Samuel began to speak, but the spirit tossed the dirt down and turned its face to the starry sky, mouth agape in silent wonder.

It then shot away like an arrow and vanished into the darkness over the inn wall. The sound of the front door being unbolted sent Samuel scurrying back into the stables where the wide-eyed horses regarded him nervously. He leapt into his bed as voices came from outside. Footsteps approached the stable and a solid knock came at the door.

‘Samuel, are you awake?’ came the voice of Mr Kelvin.

‘Ah, yes, Mr Kelvin,’ Samuel replied, trying to sound tired, and Mr Kelvin opened the door and came in, bearing a lantern.

‘Did you hear anything just now?’ he asked, peering into the corners of Samuel’s room.

‘Why, yes, Mr Kelvin. Just now I thought I heard someone walking in the garden, but I thought it was one of the guests.’

Mr Kelvin nodded. ‘I thought I heard someone, too. Well, I’ll have Kans keep an eye out. Good night, Samuel.’

‘Good night, Mr Kelvin,’ he called after his employer.

Far off from the direction of the town came the faint noise of a woman’s scream. Samuel swallowed and hoped it had nothing to do with him.

Samuel did not dare practise for a long time. He felt that Mr Kelvin suspected him of something, and he was also petrified of a recurrence of the event with the frightful spirit. Samuel noticed that the guests threw occasional glances towards him as he worked, which he was sure they never did before. More than once, movement caught his eye and he thought he saw something, like smoke, vanishing around a corner. It could have been his imagination, but thoughts of the ghoulish spirit kept returning to him.

Samuel soon found himself unable to sleep and he craved to practise his movements and meditation with a hunger. His mind was a riddle of confusion and he found concentration on any task at hand difficult. Mr Kelvin was constantly finding errors in his studies. He awoke in the middle of one night to find a glow just fading from his hands, and a string of words still on his lips.

‘Sohm pad e`num-toh jio-toh varnay,’ he whispered to himself. Those had been the words he had been repeating in his sleep and those had been the words the old man, the Grand Master, had recited softly as he meditated. He had never heard them spoken aloud, but somehow he knew these words by heart, as if he had written them down and studied them.

Waking again and again, night after night, Samuel finally could not resist and sat up in his cot and closed his eyes and crossed his legs and the words sprang from his lips as naturally as the next breath. At first, he spoke them over and over again, repeating twice as he exhaled and then taking in a deep breath again. It was as if someone else was moving him like a puppet, yet it felt to him that this was exactly what he was supposed to be doing. His lips soon barely moved at all as the words echoed over and over seamlessly in his mind, until he lost all consciousness of himself and the words were all that remained. The universe and I; everything and nothing.

Kans dressed and walked down the wide hall to the kitchen, his footsteps echoing after him. After speaking briefly with Cook, who was well underway preparing breakfast for the Masters, he went about taking tea to Master Kelvin. Kans entered silently and, as usual, Master Kelvin was tangled up with only his bed sheets; the blankets being all on the floor. Kans placed the tray on the bedside table and carefully added the milk and sugar from the tiny pots, just as Master Kelvin preferred.

‘Master Kelvin,’ Kans called softly. ‘Master Kelvin, it’s time to wake up.’

With a snort, Master Kelvin opened his eyes and sat up. ‘What! Oh, good morning, Kans,’ he said as he oriented himself and began a great, gaping yawn.

‘Tea?’ Kans offered.

‘Oh, good. Yes, thank you,’ Master Kelvin replied, smacking his lips. He took the tea, blowing on it and sipping carefully.

Master Kelvin then did something quite curious, something he had not done before. He put his tea back down before finishing it and began getting dressed, oblivious to Kan’s presence. He seemed to be examining the air around him as if looking for an irritating insect.

‘Master Kelvin?’ Kans enquired, a little unsure of his master’s behaviour.

Master Kelvin looked about himself once more, but then stopped, as if coming upon a vital realisation. ‘Quickly!’ Master Kelvin instructed. ‘Go check on the guests.’

Kans hurried out, spurred on by Master Kelvin’s concern and, knocking on each Master’s door, made sure they were awake and readying themselves for the day. It took a few minutes and by the time Kans returned to Master Kelvin’s chamber, Master Kelvin was bursting out into the hall.

‘Well?’ he demanded brusquely.

‘They’re fine, Master Kelvin.’

Master Kelvin stopped still, thoughtful a moment. ‘Go check on the boy!’ he urged. ‘The boy, I say! See to Samuel!’

‘Yes, Master Kelvin!’ Kans declared and hurried down the polished hallway and out the great main doors, spurred on by Master Kelvin’s alarm.

Kans returned after a short time in an even greater hurry and with even greater alarm written clear across his face.

‘Master Kelvin!’ he called out. ‘Master Kelvin!’

All the Masters were gathered in the dining room, picking at their food, talking over each other and creating an excited hubbub.

‘Master Kelvin!’ Kans called again as he pushed his way into the room. ‘Master Kelvin, come quickly!’ he yelled.

The procession of black-clothed men scurried down the main steps and around the side of the building to the stable. Master Kelvin hurried in and threw open Samuel’s door without a pause. His own dismay was echoed by the gasps from those all pushing and clustered behind him in the doorway.

Samuel was sitting cross-legged-a scrawny and knobbly-kneed young scrap of a lad, caught at the turning of his youth- with his palms together and his eyes closed. He looked quite peaceful at first glance, but the obvious source of everyone’s surprise was the fact that he was floating halfway to the ceiling. The boy was bathed in a soft blue light that grew from all around him and cascaded up towards the ceiling, where it slowly splashed and dissipated. Samuel’s body glistened with sweat and shook dreadfully, as if beyond exhaustion, yet his face held utter bliss and contentment. His lips moved incessantly, muttering the words of some powerful mantra over and over again.

‘Oh, my,’ was all Master Kelvin could say.

Samuel opened his eyes. His body hurt as if he had done an extra hard day’s work and then, to finish, had thrown himself down a long flight of stairs. He was not in his own room, but instead found himself lying upon a large, soft bed with posts standing at each corner, within a finely polished timber bedchamber. It was still dark outside, but a small lamp was lit upon the wall, lending its soft, golden glow to the room.

He managed to sit up and pushed a pillow into the small of his back so he was resting against the bedhead. A