The Magician Thief - Part Nine (Conclusion)
Ghaid walked across the open field, up towards the ziggurat that had been his home for the last seven years. Behind, his father watched from atop a hill that gave full view of the entire estate. He had left his horse there— if I am unsuccessful, at least the Baron can have the horse.
The trip had taken the better past of a week—eight days—but he now stood within a stone’s throw of Almagh’s home.
He picked a spot that was a little higher than the rest to make his stand. He conjured a cone of air, into which he shouted, “Almagh!”
It was near midday— the wizard should be taking his meal at this time . He did not have to wait long before the mage stepped out onto the second floor balcony.
“Ho there! Come back, have you?”
Ghaid started to reply, but the man did not wait that long. “Don’t be ashamed! I’ve thought it over. As long as you swear to obey me, I’ll take you back as apprentice and finish your training.”
“My training here is finished, Almagh!” he managed to shout back.
The wizard seemed a bit confused by this. He retreated back into the ziggurat. Ghaid waited, unsure if he was going to have to storm the house. Just as he made up his mind, Almagh stepped out of the front door.
“Finished, lad?” he asked as he walked over. “No; that won’t do. I can’t have half-trained wizards teaching at my school…”
“I’ll not be taking that position.”
The mage stopped. “What will you do, boy? Without the ring of mastery, no Lord would hire you! The Academy certainly wouldn’t take you! Do you plan to wander the villages, fixing trinkets and calling rains?”
“I will not be a thief—nor shall I work for a thief!”
Almagh cocked his head to one side, studying Ghaid. “If you were starving—would you steal food?”
“You aren’t starving.”
He nodded, and leaned on his staff. “Indulge me. If you needed a Copper to buy food for your parents—would you do it?”
“No!”
The mage laughed. “Fine, fine. Would you kill a man to save an innocent life?”
“Yes,” he replied, hesitantly.
“But killing is wrong.”
“Yes…”
“…but it has a higher purpose in this case. I have a higher purpose, also. Do you know how many students the Academy accepted this year?”
“You know I don’t…”
Almagh waved a hand at him. “Again, please—indulge an old man. The answer is none. Do you know how many they accepted last year?”
“No.”
“None. Do you know how many they accepted five years ago?”
“No!”
“Ten years ago?”
“No!”
“None! Fifteen?”
“None?” Ghaid guessed.
“No!” Almagh’s eyes glittered with rage. “Fifty!” he bellowed.
Fifty? And then none?
“That’s right. And that was not unusual. Fifty! And then none, the very next year.” He pointed a finger to the East. “ They’re going to let magic die! They want the Magi to die out!”
He dropped his arm. “I can’t let that happen. That is my higher purpose—to save magic. Now—will you help me?”
Questions formed in Ghaid’s mind. Why would the Academy stop teaching? What happened fifteen years ago that sparked the change?
“Finish your training. Teach at my school! Let us train the next generation of wizards!”
Ghaid shook his head. “No.”
“How…” he asked in disbelief. “How can you not…”
“You’ve used your power to break the laws, and I helped you! I can’t bear the guilt!”
“Would you feel guilt for killing that man to save…”
“Yes! I would!” Ghaid shouted. “And I do! For those men in Leghtkei!”
Almagh took a step closer. “You did what you had to…”
“No!” The youth stepped back. “I didn’t have to! We didn’t have to! We don’t have the right to break the laws of the Realm!”
The mage stiffened a bit. “Magi are above the laws of normal men, lad. We cannot be judged by those who do not understand our power.”
Ghaid felt a rush of nervousness fill him. This is it.
“Then I will judge you.”
Comprehension dawned on the old man’s face. “Then…”
“I will bring you to justice.”
Almagh laughed again. “I’ll be going nowhere with you , lad!”
Ghaid bit his lip, and nodded. “I k-k-know,” he stammered.
He managed to conjure a dense fog, then ran to his left. Behind him, he heard and felt the jet of fire. His plan was fairly simple—wait for Almagh to tap the Source again, then use his sense of that as the location of a lightning strike.
“Do you know why magi never fight?” Almagh’s voice seemed to come from several directions. Ghaid kept moving, slowly.
“How do you protect yourself against magic fire? You can try dousing it with water, but then it’s simply a matter of who can hold the Source longer.”
The light spring wind was beginning to clear away the fog. Come on, man! Do it!
“There’s no way to dodge the fire—no one is fast enough! So the first to strike, wins.”
No way to dodge…movement and stillness…
Another plan came to him. He tried to retrace his steps. “I’m not a mage yet!” he called. The fog was quite thin now. He found himself standing slightly upslope from the old man. Almagh was looking back where he had been just moments before. “But I’m more mage than you!”
Almagh turned and tapped the Source.
Ghaid tapped the Source also, creating movement—enough so that he was not inside the ball of flame that Almagh conjured.
“Now you die, little boy,” he commented to the burning sphere. “Pity.”
“Almagh! You missed!”
The flames died, and the mage turned again. He pointed a finger, and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
He was feeling less nervous now—more in control. “Care to try again?” he called.
Again, a ball of flame sprang into existence.
“Not working, is it?” Ghaid now stood back in his original spot. Top that, old man!
Almagh shook with fury. Lightning arced down on the spot where Ghaid was standing.
Where Ghaid had been standing. He stood behind Almagh now. He tapped the Source, held the mage fast, and lifted him an arm’s length above the ground.
“This is your last chance to surrender, Almagh. This is your last chance to live. You can’t…”
Ghaid’s body burst into flame. He managed to close off his connection to the Source before he dropped to the ground and began rolling down slope. The magic flames died instantly.
“You can hold my body with that demon magic, boy, but you can’t hold my mind!”
Almagh stood over him now. Ghaid tried not to cower at his master’s feet. “It’s not demon magic,” he managed to reply.
“Pah!” the old man spat.
“You said I’d be one of greatest mages ever if I found a new magic!”
“You haven’t even mastered all that I know! How could you possibly discover something new without knowing everything else first? No, boy—you’re not ready. Mages twice your power and three times your experience have spent entire lifetimes doing research into magic.” He spat again. “You don’t have the knowledge.”
“But I do! I have!”
“Silence!” he shouted. His entire body shook with the force of his words. “I am the master! You will take your lessons from me and no other!”
It hit him, and the words slipped out before he could think about it. “You’re jealous of my power!”
“What?”
“You can’t stand that I can do something you can’t!”
Almagh shook with fury. “I’ll not use your demon magic, you…”
Ghaid tapped the Source and moved, sliding in a great arc across the grass. He stopped stone’s flight behind the mage, and watched as a roaring mage fire blazed where he had laid just moments before.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he called a several bolts of lightning down upon his former master.
Pheter found his son standing over a charred spot in front of the ziggurat. Blue, acrid smoke rose up from the crumbling ashes of the former mage, and drifted away in the spring breeze. Ghaid’s clothes and skin appeared burned as well.
“Ghaid?”
He wiped at his eyes before answering. “Yes, papa?”
“Are you well?”
“I think so…he tried to burn me, but…”
Pheter took his son in his arms as the youth broke down.
“I had to kill him, papa!”
“I know. It’s okay.” He cradled his son’s head and rocked gently. “Now you know why I couldn’t be a knight.”
Ghaid wept openly for a while. “Does it ever get any easier, papa?”
“No, son. You would have to have a heart of stone not to feel pain and guilt over death by your own hand.”
“Well, it’s over,” he finally managed to say. “I’m done.”
Pheter managed to smile. “Every ending is also a beginning, Ghaid. This is one amazing beginning for you.”
Page last updated 2012-04-01