The Magician’s Apprentice

They couldn’t be bothered breaking from the line and riding ahead, she realised with disgust. The girl pointed over the wall, and the men dismounted with unconcealed annoyance. A servant stopped to hold the horses’ heads. Tessia and Jayan swung to the ground and gave the servant their reins as well. Tessia unhooked her father’s bag, and they followed the girl and the healers across the field.

It was not hard to find her father. A great swathe of blackened vegetation led to him, and past. His clothes were also black. He lay in a furrow, face down, unconscious but still breathing.

The two healers bent to examine the man, then shook their heads.

“He is too badly burned,” one told the girl, gently but firmly. “He will not live through the night.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Can’t you stop him hurting?” she asked in a small voice.

The healer shook his head. “Bathe him with cool water. If you have any strong drink, give him that.”

As the healers walked past Tessia and Jayan, the one who hadn’t spoken to the girl looked at Tessia. “Don’t waste your cures,” he told her.

Jayan cursed quietly under his breath as the pair strode away. He looked at Tessia. “Do you want to have a closer look?”

“Of course.”

Moving to the man’s side, Tessia knelt on the ground. She realised with a shock that there wasn’t blackened cloth on the man’s back. It was his skin.

“When the strangers came we ran,” the girl said.

The man’s breath was coming in short gasps. The healers were right. He can’t survive this.

“When the fire came he fell on top of me,” the girl said. “I didn’t get burned.”

Despite her misgivings, Tessia tucked her hands under his head, touching the unburned skin of the man’s forehead, and closed her eyes. As she had all the times in the past, she focused on the pulses and rhythms of the body beneath her hands. She gently sent her mind out of herself and into his. But this time there were no broken bones or torn flesh to manipulate. The damage was more subtle. Her father had taught her how a heart reacted to a severe burn, and about other changes in the body. She sought a sense of these changes.

Suddenly she could feel his pain.

It was terrible. She recoiled. Opened her eyes. Realised she had cried out.

“What is it?” Jayan said, alarm in his voice.

“You’d better start mixing up the pain blocker now,” she told him, then forced herself to close her eyes and send her mind forth again.

I’ve never sensed anything like that before! Knowing that if she hesitated, she’d lose the courage to face that pain again, she delved back into her awareness of the man’s body. Eagerness and reluctance warred within her, and it took a long, long moment before she felt the pain sweep over her again. This time she forced herself to stay and endure it. To examine and gently probe.

Within moments she’d worked out where to apply magic to block the pain. But she hesitated.

Should I? Father always said pain was the body’s way of making a person sit still and heal. This man is still going to die, but how shocking would it be for his daughter if he started walking about, all burned, only to collapse and die?

Perhaps if she could lessen the pain... she cautiously drew power and blocked some of the pathways. The body under her hand relaxed a little. Unsure if she had done enough, or too much, she drew away and opened her eyes.

The girl’s father was awake. He made no attempt to get up. She realised that he was exhausted, and probably would not have had the energy to rise.

“There,” she said, glancing at the girl and Jayan. “That’s given him some relief.” She looked at Jayan, who had measured out powder into a mixing jar. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve worked out how to block the pain with magic.”

His eyes widened and he stared at her in amazement. Then he shook his head and began to replace the items in her father’s bag.

“Who are you?” a voice croaked.

They both jumped and looked down at the burned man. “Magicians,” Jayan replied. “And Tessia has some knowledge of healing.”

The man looked at her. “Magicians who are healers. Never heard of that before.”

Tessia smiled. “Me neither.”

“You off to fight then?”

She felt the smile fade. “Yes.”

“Good. Now get on with you.”

“But—” Tessia began. I haven’t even tried to heal him yet...

“Don’t worry about me. Best thing you can do now is kill those bastards before they do this to anyone else. Go on.” He lifted his head slightly, his eyes moving beyond them. “Your army’s getting further ahead of you.”

Jayan looked towards the road and frowned.

He’s right, Tessia thought. I can’t save him and we shouldn’t stray too far from Dakon. The man spoke a name and his daughter moved closer. “You go to your aunt Tanna, right? You know the way.”

As the girl began to protest, Tessia stood up. Jayan followed suit. Drawing in a deep breath, she let out a long sigh, then forced herself to walk back towards the road.

“You didn’t try to heal him?” Jayan asked.

“No. There was no point trying. I couldn’t save him.”

“There’s always a point in trying. Even if you can’t save someone, you might learn something – and you did. You stopped the pain with magic.”

She grimaced. “It’s still not healing with magic, though.”

“But it’s something new. Something no magician or healer has managed.”

She frowned. “And I have no idea if I can undo it. What if I stopped the pain while doing something minor, but couldn’t unstop it. Would I leave someone permanently numb?”

He shrugged. “You’ll work it out. I know you will.”

She sighed and looked at him. “I couldn’t do this without you, Jayan. Not without your help.”

His eyes widened and he quickly looked away. “I’m only doing it because I know you’d be running off on your own if I didn’t keep an eye on you, no matter what Dakon said.” He stepped over the walls and started towards their horses. “We’d better catch up.”

Amused, Tessia watched as he roughly hooked her father’s bag on her mount’s saddle and then, without looking at her, swung up onto his own horse. He didn’t wait for her to mount, and set a swifter pace than she liked, as it jostled the contents of the bag too much. When they were halfway along the line he abruptly kicked his mount into a fast trot, not even glancing back to see if she followed.

What did I say? she wondered as he left her behind. Then she noticed how one of the female apprentices stared at him as he passed her. He gave the apprentice a quick glance, and smiled. Ah. Is that it? Has our little conversation yesterday made him reconsider what he thinks of female magicians? Being too openly friendly with me might ruin his chances with them.

A pity, she thought. We were getting along so well.

Keeping her expression neutral, Stara walked into Kachiro’s bedroom. Or more accurately, my bedroom. At once Vora jumped up from the low stool she had been sitting on and prostrated herself. Stara sat down on the end of the bed, thought of several different approaches to describing what had happened, and could not decide which to take.

“Can I get up, mistress?”

“Oh! Sorry. Of course.” Stara felt her face flush. Am I ever going to get used to having slaves? Though I suppose the fact that I forgot she was there is a good sign that I’m beginning to. Or a bad sign.

Vora returned to the stool and looked at her expectantly. “Well?”

Stara shook her head. The slave’s shoulders slumped. “What went wrong this time?”

“Not your plan,” Stara assured her. “I went to the baths, as you suggested. He was there. He wasn’t angry at