“Careful?” snorted Niki. “Do you mean like being careful when the guard in Trekum was going to gut you? Magic is a skill just like wielding a sword. It is only being smart to use it when you are endangered.”
“But sometimes using it can endanger you,” Fredrik insisted. “I only ask that you think of some other way before you resort to magic. Detection can mean death.”
Niki sniffed and turned her horse towards the road. Fredrik clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, but he followed her and soon the pair were back on their way to Cidal. They rode on in silence for several hours, encountering no other traffic on the road. Eventually, they decided to stop early for the night and worked their way down to the coast where they found a quiet clearing close to beach. Niki jumped off her horse and announced that she was going for a swim. Fredrik quickly grabbed the reins of her horse and sighed.
Fredrik went about taking care of the horses and setting up the campsite before he decided to check out the beach. Niki was frolicking naked in the surf, but what caught Fredrik’s attention was the beautiful, wide beach. There was a point sticking out directly to his right, but on his left was a sweeping wide, white sand and shell strip stretching northward for miles. The lines of shells stretching along the beach culminated in a large mound of shells near the point. The beach in Trekum was much narrower and people walking on them constantly crushed any shells there.
Fredrik walked down to the point and saw another long, uninhabited stretch of beach with palm trees leaning over it as if trying to reach the sea. He started poking the piles of shells and marveled at all the different types. For a long time all of his problems were nonexistent as he examined shell after shell, until Niki's screams rang through the air.
Fredrik jumped to his feet and looked around the shell pile. Niki was standing waist deep in the water and using magic to deflect a rain of arrows heading towards her. Across the white strand of beach near the tree line were four men with bows sending arrows at Niki as fast as they could load. Niki was too busy deflecting arrows to cast any other spell at the men. Fredrik stood tall with his hands outstretched and felt the power begin to well up. The power filling him had an intoxicating effect and he had to focus his mind back on the men. He had already soaked in enough power to obliterate them several times over. Without further thought, he flicked his wrists and the sky crackled open and a huge streak of lightning arced down and struck in the middle of the four men.
Niki stopped screaming and came out of the water and Fredrik ran to her. Together they stared at the massive crater that marked the spot where the men had stood. There was nothing left of the men. Where they had stood was a glowing depression with walls of heated glass. The palm trees on either side of the hole were scorched black and the fronds were burning brightly and dropping to the ground. Several coconuts hissed and burst apart, throwing chunks of coconut meat flying.
“Get dressed,” Fredrik ordered. “We need to get out of here now! The force I used was too much by far and it could probably be felt for miles around. I don’t want to be anywhere near here when someone decides to investigate.”
Niki got dressed while Fredrik swept up the campsite and hastily packed it away. When Niki mounted, Fredrik handed her the reins for two of the horses the men had ridden. He took the other two and they headed north by way of a trail through the woods.
After they had ridden for a while, Niki broke the silence. “You killed them, Fredrik. You didn’t try to stun them or freeze them; you just killed them. I didn’t know you had such power.”
“I didn’t know, either,” admitted Fredrik. “I’ve never used magic that powerful before. I only planned to stun them, but I couldn’t stop drawing power. I was so angry that I just grabbed for the power and it
… it felt good. Sort of like warmth flowing into your body on a cold winter night. I had to work at it to stop drawing the power and start using it. I was more surprised than you with what happened.”
They were quiet for a while with only the sounds of lapping waves off to their right and the birds flitting around overhead, chirping and cawing. “I didn’t mean to kill them,” Fredrik continued, “but I couldn’t let them hurt you. “Besides, there is no undoing it now. I do think that we need to practice our magic more, though, and we cannot do that in a city. Without practice we will not have the proper control we need to measure our responses to threats. I think we have probably gone far enough away from the crater to safely camp for the night.”
Niki just nodded and started looking for a clearing. Fairly soon, she found a suitable one and dismounted. This time she helped Fredrik set up the campsite and take care of the horses. They dined on some of the leftover turkey and sat quietly across the campfire from each other. “What did you mean before when you talked about drawing the power?” she asked. “Drawing it from where?”
Fredrik got up, walked around the fire and sat next to her. “When I was younger and realized that I had a special gift, I used to use it for pranks. I didn’t know much about what I had or how to use it, so most of the time the prank ended up being on me. One day I heard some men talking about the magicians of the Black Devils, so I followed them. They had a house on the edge of Trekum that they used for a meeting place and a spot for them to practice. For months, I used to go to the house before light came and climb up on the roof. I would watch them all day and listen to their meetings until well after dark. That is where I learned most about magic.”
“It’s probably where you gained your dislike for the Black Devils, too,” guessed Niki.
“Yes, that too,” admitted Fredrik. “They all talked boldly about how great they were when no one was around, but as soon as somebody important showed up, they were all down on their faces in fear, bowing and scraping. There didn’t seem to be any purpose in belonging to the Black Devils except to learn and I was getting that anyway. The only thing they seemed to do in an organized fashion was to send out teams to punish selected people or go in teams on the Great Hunt.”
“What is the Great Hunt?” interrupted Niki.
“That was the worst part,” sighed Fredrik. “The Great Hunt was an edict handed down by the Dark One. The Black Devils are supposed to be looking for children who were born in the year of the Collapse.”
“But that’s when we were born,” stated Niki. “What did they want with kids our age?”
“Death, mostly,” answered Fredrik. “It seems there is some old, moldy prophecy that the Dark One wants fulfilled and it requires the death of a couple of kids born in the year of the Collapse. Not just any kids, but two particular kids. The members of the Great Hunt were to determine the parentage of the individuals found. If they had a certain parentage, they were to be captured alive. If not, they were to be murdered, just in case they might miss the real ones that they were searching for.”
“Now I know why you are dreadfully afraid of being discovered by the Black Devils,” interjected. “Why didn’t you tell me that before? At least your demand that I not use magic so frivolously would have made sense.”
“Would you have stopped using it?” he asked.
“Probably not,” she conceded, “but at least your request would make sense. That still doesn’t explain about drawing power and why you never taught me to do it. You taught me everything else.”
“Exactly,” Fredrik laughed, “and look what trouble that has brought me.” Fredrik ignored her hurt scowl and continued. “One of the things that I learned up on the roof, was that power exists in everything, not just ourselves. You can use the power within yourself to accomplish something, but it diminishes you like running makes you tired and requires that you rest. If you can draw your power from other things, you can use your power longer and more forcefully. I didn’t feel right teaching you about it, because I’ve never really learned to use it myself. I tried it once and it was frightening. I thought I was going to burst open like a ripe melon.”
“But if we are going to have to defend ourselves against the Black Devils, we will need every edge we can get,” Niki stated.
“It’s not that simple, Niki,” Fredrik declared. “Not every magician can draw on the power of other things. It is almost like another gift in addition to the magical gift, but I’m not sure. I do know that most of the Black Devils were unable to attain any power outside themselves, at least the bunch that I observed. What we really need to find is a tutor who is not connected with the Black Devils.”
“Fat chance of finding one,” she said disappointingly. “Still, you could teach me or test me to see if I have the potential.”
“No,” Fredrik said too loudly. Softer, he continued, “I don’t feel safe using it, Niki. I would not forgive myself if I taught you and you blew up. After we get settled in Cidal, we will put feelers out for tutors, but in such a way that will not lead back to us.”
“You just don’t want me being as powerful as you,” she berated, “
… or more powerful. Well, if you won’t teach me, I’ll just find someone who will.”
Niki went and lay down on a blanket to go to sleep, covering herself with her old cloak, a white cloak with gold trim and a sunburst upon the left breast. Within moments she was asleep. Fredrik sat staring at her for a long
