Books and Magic

Books and Magic

************************************************************************
Soris leaned back on the grass and looked out into the twilight. Eric dozed next to him, and his friends went about their various tasks. They would reach Athkatla by noon the next day, and Soris was not particularly thrilled by the thought. He did not relish the thought of facing Bodhi, but he knew it must be done.

Another presence sat down beside him. He grinned at her. “That time again?”

She nodded. He pulled his tunic off over his head and lay down on his stomach.

Viconia’s touch was deft and her fingers, strong. The salve soothed his burning wounds, and her fingers massaged the ache in his back. It felt good. Sometimes, if he closed his eyes…But the wall still stood fast between them, and he could go no further. He sighed. Things were getting better, but time passed so slowly. He wondered how much of his life was wasted recovering from injuries. Sometimes he thought every major event in his life was associated with a rather severe injury.

************************************************************************

It was Imoen’s tenth birthday. Soris was twelve, and he and Imoen were best friends. He wanted to give her something really special for her birthday, so he worked especially hard for months before the date. He saved up all of his earnings until he finally had enough. He bought a small, but very fine dagger for his best friend. Now she can really be a thief. She will even have her own weapon. All I need now is to learn some magic and we can go out adventuring.

The big day arrived, and Imoen was particularly thrilled with her gift.

She opened the crudely wrapped box. “Oh, Soris you’re the best best friend in the whole world.” She was so excited that her voice squeaked on the word world. Gorion frowned when he saw the gift, but he said nothing.

“Be careful. It’s real sharp,” Soris intoned, as if lecturing his friend.

Imoen giggled. “Of course it is. It wouldn’t be any good if it wasn’t.”

Soris turned bright red. He didn’t understand why he always made such stupid, obvious comments. Imoen made him feel a good deal better by giving him a huge hug.

“Thanks. I love it. Now lets go have some cake!” The two children raced off to the kitchen.

************************************************************************

The next day, Soris took his familiar, beat-up ash staff, and Imoen belted on her shiny new dagger, and the two friends set out looking for ‘adventure’. As they walked by the practice yard, Darrin, and older boy, with his gang of friends, accosted them.

“Hey, if it isn’t our mage wanna be and his little girlfriend! Come to show off your magic?”

Soris ignored them. He really hated their taunts, but it was true. He did want to be a mage, and he didn’t know a thing about magic. The boys were mean, but there was little he could do. Besides, they were all bigger than he and much better with weapons.

The other boys began to laugh. Imoen drew her dagger. “You’d better leave us alone.” She gave the boys what Soris knew was her threatening look, but they just laughed. One of them stepped in and snatched the dagger out of her hand. He inspected it with a wicked grin.

“Hey! This is a pretty nice little knife. Thanks squirt!” He tucked the dagger into his belt and began to walk off. Imoen was in tears.

“That…that was a gift. You can’t take it.”

“Oh, did the old man give it too you? I think he’s a little crazy, letting a little girl like you play with something so sharp. I think I better hold on to this. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt, would we guys?” Darrin said everything with a very menacing smile. His gang of thugs nodded.

Soris did his best to keep a level tone. Mages weren’t afraid of anything. They had powerful magic to beat their foes. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any magic, and he was scarred stiff. He was also angry.

“Give…that…back.” His words came out in short spurts, but his tone was unmistakable.

“Oh, so you want to fight.” All of the boys leered. Darrin stepped forward and gave Soris a shove. Soris knew he was in trouble. Both his anger and his panic soared. As he stumbled backwards, everything became clear. He could see minute threads attaching everything. It was really quite overwhelming. Instinctively, he reached out and tugged several of the strings. The boys flew backwards, and Soris was enveloped in a searing pain.

************************************************************************

He awoke to find three worried faces peering down at him. He burned all over. The half-elf who ran the sickbay, he and Imoen called her Nanna, looked as if she were about to speak, but Gorion began instead.

“Just what exactly did you think you were doing?” His voice was concerned but not particularly angry.

“I told you. Some mean boys took my dagger. Soris was gonna get it back. He blasted them real good. They won’t bother us any more.” She had obviously explained everything to Gorion, probably several times, and she was rapidly growing tired of telling the story. She flashed Soris a big grin. “They think you’re a mage now. What fun! Now you can teach me spells and stuff.” She began to giggle. Gorion gave her a stern look. Then Nanna shooed both of them out.

“Those two,” she said, shaking her head. “They have two of the best hearts I’ve seen, and I’ve seen many, but they are sure a handful. Now hold still while I put this on your burns.” She took down a jar of ointment from one of her many shelves and began to smear it on Soris’ burns.

It felt funny, kind of cool and tingly, but it made him hurt less. “Thanks, Nanna.”

The half-elf smiled. “Any time little one, just try to be a little more careful. I really don’t want to see you in here too often.”

“Oh, alright. I’ll try. Can I go now?”

“Yes, but you need to come back tomorrow so I can put some more ointment on those burns.”

“Don’t worry, I will. They felt much better after you fixed them.” He hopped down off the bed and hurried out of sickbay. He liked Nanna. She was nice, but he didn’t like sickbay. It smelled funny.

When he got outside, Imoen was waiting for him. “Come on! Gorion wants to see both of us in his study right away.” She didn’t even wait for him to give a response before dashing off. Soris raced along behind her.

When they got to the study, the old man was waiting for them. “Tell me everything that happened, from the beginning.” Gorion had that timeless look that told Soris that he was up to something. Soris would not escape until his father made his point. He sighed and prepared to tell the story.

Imoen did not share his patience. “I told you everything yesterday. Why do we have to say it all again?”

Soris silenced her with a quick glance and began. It took him quite some time to tell the entire story, especially since Imoen kept interrupting to add things. When he finished, Gorion leaned back in his chair and frowned, a thoughtful look crossing his face. “Imoen, I need to talk to Soris right now. Why don’t you run along? Soris will be able to play with you later.”

Soris could tell that Imoen didn’t want to go. She hated not knowing what was going on, but as usual, Gorion prevailed. After she had gone Gorion sighed, “I guess it is time you finally learned the truth.”

Soris could feel excitement bubbling within him. He was about to learn something important. A thought leaped into his mind and came out his mouth. “Am I a mage?” Ever since he had learned that his father was a mage, Soris had dreamed of nothing else. He practiced with his staff and read every story that even mentioned magic, and he begged Gorion to teach him, but somehow, his father always held him off. He thought that just maybe, all that was about to change. His father’s next words changed his life forever.

“No, Soris, you are not a mage.” Soris had never felt such a profound disappointment. Everything he had ever dreamed came crashing down around him. He wanted to run somewhere and cry. His father continued. “You are a sorcerer.”

Soris choked back tears. “What’s that?”

“To a sorcerer, magic is instinctive. It is said they can see the magic within the world. Many of legend’s greatest magic users have been sorcerers. Sorcerers are very rare, but usually very powerful.” Gorion left out the part about most sorcerers living short, unhappy lives.

At the mention of magic, Soris brightened. Perhaps he hadn’t lost everything. “You mean I just cast spells? No memorization, no strange words? I just cast?” It didn’t seem right. It shouldn’t be that easy.

“It’s not that easy. I don’t know exactly how it works, but sorcerers must come to understand how magic affects the world around them in order to properly work with it. If they do something wrong, it may have drastic consequences. Remember what you did yesterday?” Soris remembered all to well. “You had me worried. You might have been killed.” His father looked sad. Soris walked over and gave him a hug before the two of them continued their conversation.

“What do I do? Who will teach me?”

“You will have to teach yourself. Each sorcerer understands the world a little differently. It will take much hard work. I will guide you as best I can, but your success is ultimately up to you.”

“I can do it. I know it!” Soris felt excited, and a little scared. In a way, his dream was coming true, but not quite the way he expected it.

“As do I, but do try to be careful. You must think everything out, and before you try any experiments, please, tell me.”

Soris nodded and gave his father another hug. Before he left the study, Gorion gave him a small, thick book, The Diary of Albrus Fenick.

“It was written by a young sorcerer similar to you. He talks about how he saw the world, both the magical and unmagical. Even though each sorcerer is different, it might be of some use to you. There is much in the book that I don’t understand. Perhaps it will make more sense to you.”

Soris took the book and dropped it into the little bag he carried to hold such things. He left Gorion’s study and slipped off to his favorite spot to do a little reading. It was not long after he began his first journal, the journal he still kept throughout his adventures.

************************************************************************

Soris returned to the present to find that Viconia had finished her ministrations and lay, stretched out on her stomach beside him, her body mere inches from his own. She had a strange smile on her face.

“What were you thinking, just now?”

“I was just thinking about the day I learned about my power.” He slid a hand into his pocket and pulled out two books.

“What are those?” She gazed at him, a glimmer of mischief in her eye.

He looked at her, puzzled. He was sure she had seen the books before. He wrote in his journal almost every night. He hadn’t done so in a while because of his condition, but he knew she had seen him before. “He held up the Diary of Albrus Fenick. This was a gift from my father the day I learned I was a sorcerer.”

“And the other one?” She cocked one eyebrow, imitating Jaheira. Soris knew something was going on.

“My diary. I haven’t written in it for a while, I thought I should get caught up.”

“Yes,” she said, a wicked grin playing across her face. “You should definitely get caught up, but I must ask. Do you really find me that attractive, my mrann d’ssinss? I did not even think you were capable of such…” Her voice trailed off and ended with a laugh. He could feel the blood rushing to his face. She drove the final nail home.

“Oh, and I took the liberty of adding a few comments, and filling in the parts left out while you were…incapacitated.” She flashed him her wicked grin and then left him alone to process her words.

“You, you read my diary, and you wrote in it?” He tore open the book and began frantically flipping pages. The first thing he noticed was that Viconia had very neat, beautiful handwriting. He also noticed her style. It was very beautiful as well, and very…descriptive. Some of what she said made him blush even more.

He looked about, only to find Eric staring at him with some amusement. Come on Soris. Finish writing in your book. It’s time for sleeping.

Soris quickly scrawled down the day’s events. It wasn’t much, but he wasn’t in the mood for a real in-depth entry. He put the book away, only to tear it open and begin reading again a few moments later.

Now Soris. You need sleep. Don’t make me get the pretty lady. The little tiger found the whole situation incredibly amusing. He couldn’t have thought of a better prank himself. Besides, Soris’ female hadn’t said anything bad. Eric knew she wouldn’t.

She is not my female.

Yes she is. Don’t lie. It’s time for sleeping.

I can’t. I’ve just had the most embarrassing moment of my life, and you want me to go to sleep.

It wasn’t that bad. Are you really mad at her?

Yes…no…I don’t know! What am I supposed to do? She knows everything now! Everything!

She knew it all already. She just knows your words. Besides she like them. No more words. Time for sleeping. The little tiger yawned. The feeling was contagious and soon he and Soris were fast asleep.

Across the camp, a Drow with silver-white hair carefully chronicled the day’s events, ending with a very picturesque description of her sleeping lover. Something about it made her want to scratch it out, and she almost did so. What if Soris found out? What if he read her diary? That thought alone was enough to make her feel uncomfortable. She smiled a little and kept writing.