The Young Magician

he bowed deeply and hoped it looked as impressive as he envisaged. The audience was quiet and expectant.

‘Samuel,’ Master Dividian began. ‘Answer me this simple question.’ With that, the old man rattled off a series of numbers using the Old Tongue and asked Samuel to add them together.

Samuel only needed a moment to formulate his response. ‘One hundred and forty-seven,’ he answered.

‘Correct,’ Dividian stated coarsely and sat back down in his seat. ‘You may continue,’ he added with a wave of his hand. ‘Show us your spell.’

Samuel called back to Master Dividian before the man had even settled into his seat. ‘But I already have, Master Dividian. What do you think of it?’

‘What nonsense are you talking about?’ Dividian responded. ‘Show us your spell quickly, boy. We don’t have all night.’

Samuel smiled to himself, for Dividian’s response worked perfectly to his advantage. ‘My spell, Master Dividian, is here in plain sight for you all to see. I cast it a few hours ago and everyone seems to be enjoying it greatly.’

Dividian stood up, blinking and looking around with confusion plain on his face. ‘Explain yourself,’ he called to Samuel curtly.

With that, Samuel waved his hand dismissively and the Great Hall vanished around them and everyone found themselves sitting outside in the school grounds. The congregation began murmuring and talking all at once as they struggled to understand what had happened. The moon shone overhead and the cool night air blew upon them. The Great Hall stood some twenty paces away from them and, apart from the fact that they were still sitting on long hard benches, everything else had vanished.

‘You see,’ Samuel began and everyone quietened to listen once more, ‘I set this spell some hours ago as the Adept were arranging the Great Hall. We have been outside all this time. It’s a grand illusion, so I believe.’

Dividian was dumbfounded and his chin bobbed up and down wordlessly as he struggled with what to say, looking left and right, making his woolly beard swing around absurdly. Grand Master Anthem and a handful of other Masters were smiling and Samuel caught a few nods of approval from them.

Feeling the time was right, Samuel waved his hand again and they were all suddenly back inside the hall, walls firmly around them, roof firmly overhead. ‘Or what do you think?’ he asked of the audience. ‘Perhaps that was the illusion after all and we are still really inside?’

Master Dividian began looking around himself feverishly and Samuel could barely contain his amusement. He was about to cast his spell again, when Master Glim stood and interrupted him.

‘Thank you, Samuel,’ Master Glim called out. ‘We get the point. Your illusion is really very convincing, but we don’t want to give poor Master Dividian a heart attack. You can return to your seat now.’

Samuel felt somewhat disappointed, for he had hoped to continue working his spells for a good time yet.

‘That was fantastic, Samuel!’ Eric said adamantly as Samuel returned beside him. ‘I was utterly convinced that we were really outside. Ah…being outside was the illusion, wasn’t it?’

Samuel laughed. ‘Of course. It would be impossible to conduct such a grand illusion as the Great Hall. Someone would be sure to notice it, especially when they went to lean on a wall and fell straight through.’

‘The best part was the subtlety, Samuel,’ Goodfellow mentioned. ‘A cool breeze. Some night birds calling. It was very convincing. You used such a trickle of power for your spell-very efficient and very difficult to detect. Only a few Masters knew what you were up to. I was completely taken in.’

Samuel smiled and went to talk some more, but Master Dividian had recovered his wits and the evening was set to continue.

‘Well, thank you for that amusing interlude, Samuel,’ Master Dividian called out.

Samuel gritted his teeth at this. ‘Old fool,’ he whispered under his breath. ‘Just because he’s too stupid to know a spell when he sees it.’

The remaining boys each had a turn to show their spells, until only one last apprentice remained.

‘And the last apprentice is Eric Goodfellow,’ Dividian finished.

Samuel and Eric both patted their friend on the back as he edged past them and went to the centre of the room. He answered Dividian’s question easily, stating the five Old World regions of Amandia in the Old Tongue. Then, Goodfellow sucked at his bottom lip a moment as he prepared his spell. Readied, he walked to the wall and, to everyone’s surprise, went straight up it until he reached the roof, where he began walking upside-down along it, carefully treading around the various hangings and decorations and stepping through the beams. He continued as the audience watched on, with their necks cranked back and their mouths hanging open, until he strode down the last wall and returned to his starting place in the centre of the chamber. Everyone, including Samuel, clapped enthusiastically as Goodfellow humbly returned to his seat. Samuel had not even suspected that Goodfellow could have had such a spell hidden up his sleeve. Goodfellow had obviously been keeping some of his true talents to himself. Samuel made a mental note to remember the spell and try it himself afterwards.

‘I am speechless!’ Grand Master Anthem announced. ‘Young Eric Goodfellow has produced such a wonderful spell. I’m sure even some of the Masters will be asking him for advice after that.’

Dividian then regained the reins of the event. ‘Now, with the apprentices all finished, it is time for the Adept to come forward and prove they are worthy of being granted the status of Masters of the Order of Magicians.’

The Adept all stood from their seats and filed into the centre of the chamber. As if rehearsed, they began simultaneously, each demonstrating various summoning stances. Their movements were obviously well practised, but some still made a few slight, noticeable mistakes, or were not as proficient as others. They moved between different stances, making variations the apprentices had yet to learn. Samuel sat up straight and paid close attention, for it was fascinating how much extra magic could be summoned with only minor adjustments to the basic summoning stances. The Adept also formed many of the powerful hand-matrices, and occasionally one would shout a word of Old Tongue and their aura would become intensely brilliant. Samuel was impressed that even some of the poorly skilled Adept could increase their power so much-even if it was for only a brief moment.

After a few minutes of this, the Adept all moved to perimeter of the centre space and faced inwards, holding their stances. Some closed their eyes or tensed their jaws in preparation, and Samuel leaned forward expectantly. He suspected that they would each cast some spell, using all the energy they had summoned, but instead they began something different. They began to push their power away from themselves and into the centre of the room. Samuel watched on as they manipulated their individual energies until it combined into one interwoven pool of power. The hairs on Samuel’s arms began to stand up and, looking around the hall, Samuel could see that everyone else was similarly affected. When the pool of magic had been completely formed from all of the Adepts’ power, they released the enormous spell and the magic slowly began to dissipate back into the ether. They had managed to combine all their individual weaves into one greater spell. There was no real purpose to the display other than for demonstration, but Samuel realised it could have immensely useful applications.

‘Wonderfully done,’ Dividian called out to them. ‘A fine example of a Manyspell, symbolically representing the fact that it is not only important that the individuals of the Order be well skilled, but that they can cooperate efficiently.’ The Adept went back to their seats. Most of them looked relieved that their part in the evening’s formalities was done. ‘It is time to congratulate all our students for their hard work, so please-everyone.’ With that, old Dividian began clapping and everyone in the hall quickly followed, making a thunderous noise for several minutes as everyone had thoroughly enjoyed the evening’s demonstrations. Many Masters looked very pleased and congratulated any of the students within reach of them with a brisk shake of hands.

‘And now, if you please.’ It was Grand Master Anthem. He had replaced Dividian and was urging everyone to quieten. Eventually, the applause subsided as he waved his hands about and called for some silence. ‘Ahem,’ he began. He voice was deep and smooth, as opposed to Dividian’s hoarse croaking, and carried to all corners of the hall without the slightest need for him to raise his voice. ‘I think that I must be the most pleased man in this room, for all of you have truly exceeded yourselves tonight. It proves that the Order of Magicians is making great headway, producing the finest standard of magicians. As a small reward for all of you tonight, it is time for some of us Masters to show you a few spells. As is customary, I would like to challenge a few of my old colleagues to a friendly duel of magic.’

At that, five older Masters stood and began making their way down to the front seats near Grand Master Anthem.