The Young Magician

The magician prepared himself to absorb the blow by strengthening his shielding spells to his front, but was clearly surprised when Samuel’s attack struck with only a flash of light. He only realised the ruse as Samuel’s arms snaked in from behind, pushing slowly through his spells and locking around his neck. The magician was not so easily caught, however and snapped forward at the waist, tossing Samuel over his shoulder and onto the ground. Samuel’s breath was knocked from him and the mage, quick as an eel, wriggled free and away. The man seemed to be as experienced with combat as he was with magic, which was unusual for any mage.

Samuel was back on his feet in a moment, but had to quickly defend himself as a stream of knives came whistling towards him, flying out of the magician’s hands in a flurry. Each one was sheathed in a spell and carried by magic. Samuel formed the Harmony Stance and made the Second Matrix with his fingers and his shielding spells bloomed back into life. The knives struck in a volley, one after another, and were deflected onto the earth with a spray of silver sparks. Each one took a chunk out of Samuel’s defences, but none made it through.

Barely a moment after the last blade had been parried, Samuel twisted into Forward Stance and shot his arms out into the butterfly position. His spell ignited with a flash, sending a blast of heat and wind roaring at the other mage, two spells intertwined as one. The magician was engulfed in the sudden roaring bonfire that sprang up all around him. Samuel’s head buzzed and felt light from the sudden flow of power, but he kept shoving magic into the spell as fast as he could, making it burn hotter and higher.

It was a powerful spell, to say the least, but still nothing like the magic he had summoned against the bandits. The effort of summoning already had him dripping with sweat and shaking with exertion after only brief moments. Still, this fire spell was of masterful proportion-much greater than he could ever have managed in the past and much greater than even he had expected. His teachers would be impressed with his abilities if they knew-perhaps even horrified. Soddan had been right in some ways at least.

Samuel let his spell burn a while longer before allowing it to cease and the roaring flames dissipated as if blown away by the wind. He looked for the other magician, but could see nothing remaining in the darkness. The bright light of the flames had scarred his vision, leaving him trying to blink away the coloured stars in his eyes and adjust to the darkness once more. Even his magician’s sight could not help, as the scene was a twisted melee of spent magic.

He took the moment to catch his breath and rub his salty sweat from his eyes. Slowly, a darker blot in the blackness became apparent. The magician was squatting down on the ground with his charred cloak smoking behind him. He was clutching at his face but, surprisingly, he was still alive.

Samuel carefully stepped closer.

‘You are powerful,’ the man rasped through his hand. He had the accent of a northerner, sounding eerily similar to Eric Pot. ‘I salute you. I thought I was the best, but I see now it was a mistake to underestimate you. I could not sense your power, so I was unprepared for such a wonderful spell. Tell me, how did you manage to hide your presence so well?’

‘That’s a secret I’m not so willing to share,’ Samuel said. He formed a spell to scry the magician’s mind, but the man was well guarded. He needed some kind of distraction. ‘Get him! Now!’ Samuel commanded out loud, and a hundred armed men came charging in upon the mage from out of the grass. The air was filled with a roaring and clamorous noise as they bore down upon him with their swords raised.

The mage was a little startled as he strengthened his defences and Samuel caught the few flashing memories that came tumbling out.

‘Damn you!’ the magician spluttered as he realised he had been fooled. The charging men passed through him from all directions and vanished once more.

‘Your name is Tabbet,’ Samuel told the magician with some satisfaction, ‘and I see we do, indeed, have a mutual friend in Master Ash.’

‘So,’ Tabbet said, still cloaked in darkness. A toothy smile appeared there. ‘I see you are curious to know what I know. Is it true? Do you really want such things?’ Tabbet then dropped all his protective spells and a flood of images came exploding out into Samuel’s still-probing mind spell. It took Samuel completely by surprise and he had no time to cut off his magic. The other man’s memories came spilling into him, overwhelming him.

In that instant, Samuel saw all that Tabbet had been up to that day. He had come up from Gilgarry, asking after ‘the magician’ and he had read each person’s mind in turn. He had met a pretty young lady who had been crossing the street with a smile on her pretty lips and had been greatly amused to learn who she was. Samuel even felt the grin that had crossed Tabbet’s face as he instructed the girl to go and kill herself.

‘No!’ Samuel uttered with despair as the scene played out before him. ‘Not her! ’

‘You see,’ Tabbet informed Samuel, struggling to his feet. His hand came away from his face and Samuel could see hand and face both were burnt raw. ‘I had won before I even faced you. Your girl is dead. No magician should ever take a woman. It is heinous and unnatural. See what your actions have wrought? Your feelings have killed you both.’

A spell formed and Samuel was powerless to protect himself, still overcome by horror as he was. The ground underneath him exploded upwards, sending him flying limply into the air like a doll and his mind filled with reeling vertigo. He saw some speckled lights-stars-and it returned some sense of direction. ‘No!’ he thought to himself, trying to claw sense from confusion. ‘She’s not dead! It’s a trick! A spell! It’s not too late. It can’t be!’ If he did not act, he was done for, but the realisation was slow in coming. Maybe she wasn’t dead and if he could just finish Tabbet quickly he could reach her in time. It was his only hope and he clung to it for all he was worth. Yes! I can save her!

Samuel filled with magic as if his senses had been reborn. A click sounded in his ears, followed by a roar as power bloomed within him. He launched himself even higher into the air with a burst of lifting, up towards the star-filled sky. High above the roof of their little house and barn, Samuel hung momentarily. He could see Tabbet waiting below with a blazing spell ready in his hands, searching amongst the soil as it rained down all around him. High up in the pitch-black night, nestled in the dark, Samuel was invisible.

Tabbet turned as something moved behind him and desperately threw out his spell. The grass there flashed and was incinerated, but Samuel was not to be seen. The man screamed with fury as he realised he had been fooled yet again and he twirled about frantically, urgently readying another spell.

Samuel landed lightly on his feet a short distance away, blazing with magic. Tabbet spun to face him at the sound of his footfall, desperate to have an end to this affair.

‘I have no time to waste with you any longer,’ Samuel hissed. His words crept from his mouth like a column of spiders.

‘We shall see, boy,’ Tabbet returned and dropped into the low, Horse-rider’s Stance. He then twisted his toes in and circled his arms around into the crusader position. It was a very difficult and powerful stance, capable of drawing vast volumes of power in the right hands. Few men could hope to spend such power without threatening to destroy themselves. ‘You should have run when you had the chance.’

Tabbet sent forth a wall of magic and Samuel took a determined step towards it. The force of the spell fell upon him with the weight of a house, but Samuel was not found unprepared. The air was knocked from his lungs, but his defensive spells held firm. Again, Tabbet cast his spell and again the massive weight struck, booming like thunder and scattering the grass out into the darkness. Samuel, however, could only hear the galloping roar of his own unbridled power growing in his ears-it was as if he could hear the universe in motion, frantic drums of mayhem in his head. Another blow struck, but Samuel lifted his foot and took another stubborn step, leaving a deep impression behind. Tabbet had his fingers desperately twisted into complex formations, far more involved than the normal matrices that Samuel had learned so far. He could only guess where Tabbet had learned such things, for the dark magician’s aura flashed and folded with each movement, concentrating and redoubling with each spell he hurled.

‘Why won’t you die?’ Tabbet screamed with frustration. ‘What kind of a magician are you?’ He threw spell after spell and Samuel took step after step towards him with his jaw set defiantly. Each spell was more powerful than the last as Tabbet drew great gulping volumes of power, ignoring the toll it would surely have on his body. An oily shadow now surrounded his aura, clinging to him like sodden fabric.