With a flourish, Maximillian led them into a massive ballroom unlike anything he had ever seen. Mirrors covered nearly every inch of the walls on one side. Surprisingly, the wall on the other side wasn’t solid at all - it was glass - and through it he could see more of the strange, twilit landscape that surrounded the mansion. The ceiling was gilded in gold and featured mosaics of various constellations. He was familiar with some. Others, not so much. Finally, the floor was a strange red, white, and black pattern that repeated over and over on a wooden floor. It must have taken artisans months to lay a floor like that. In the middle of the ballroom stood a life-sized mannequin and, several yards back, a large plush chair.

The sorceress stopped and turned on her heel. “So… show me what you know.” She clapped her hands together once, leaving them in a praying position, then winked and tilted her head slightly, indicating the direction in which he could cast his demonstration. As he looked closer, he saw that the mannequin had a target drawn on it; apparently it was to be the focus of his more offensive efforts. Maximilian relaxed into the chair and crossed her legs, her inky familiar settling in on the floor beside her. Unsure where to stand, Jasper merely leaned against the wall.

“Okay…er, here goes.” He created a vision - the ballad he had played before, the King and the Sultan.

She watched impassively as the spectral soldiers battled. It felt stilted, less lifelike than it had been in previous performances; why was Kel nervous? “Great,” She waved, “Next.” She didn’t sound that impressed.

He worked his reflective spell, then picked up a sharp table knife and demonstrated how a blade wouldn’t cut him.

She nodded. “Neat. Practical. Next.”

He splashed acid on the mannequin, melting the target so that it was more of a wonky oval than circle.

She simply nodded.

He blew some wind and it knocked the slowly dissolving mannequin over.

“Hrm. Very direct. Okay.” She pursed her lips.

Kel paused for a moment; he was out of spells. “I can also speak with animals. A bit,” he offered, “The grammar is difficult and I’m still learning...” His voice trailed off.

“Oh can you?” she replied in mammalian. “So can half the kingdom. Next.”

He thought for a moment. He had run through everything he could think of, but there was one thing he hadn't showed her. Kel closed his eyes and focused, summoning up the ghost illusion.

“Another illusion. Interesting.” There wasn’t judgment there. Yet.

He concentrated, layering in sounds and the visual with…the smell.

For a brief moment the Arbiter of Light and Dark was taken aback. “What…did that ghost just break wind?”

“Yes. I call it the phantom fart.”

“That’s your grand finale?” She seemed more than a little underwhelmed.

“Er…..yes?”

She sighed and rose. “Then we have a lot to work on, Kelvin Fellow. Follow me and do keep up.”

Kel’s head was swimming as she led him and Jasper through the rest of the house, which turned out to be even larger on the inside than it looked. He hadn’t expected a test. It wasn’t fair - he hadn’t planned on even coming here. No one had told him he needed to know more spells. His anger toward Caaron flared momentarily; after all, the old wise-man had slowed him down several times, forcing him to focus on basic, lower level spells instead of anything that could have impressed someone like Maximilian Magus. Remembering the risks, and likely the price that his mentor had paid for him came swiftly like a punch in the gut and Kel felt more guilt than anything else. Jasper, seeming to sense his mood, put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

If this was meant to be a tour, it was a poor one. They walked through several rooms with very little fanfare or mention of what they even were. Maximilian led them through a cavernous sitting room, a series of smaller dressing rooms and parlors, and a couple of bedrooms all encompassing the lower level of one of the wings. Every room, despite its intended function, contained piles and piles of books and scrolls scattered across them. Some rooms had doors firmly shut and boarded up. There were a few where he could have sworn he heard whispers on the other side.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Finally, they reached a large parlor and their host paused, taking mental inventory of the room. She pivoted slowly on her heel, pointing at individual towers of books as if checking off a list. Appearing to find the correct pile, she plucked a book from near the bottom. The tower of books swayed as if it would fall, but somehow stayed intact. Satisfied, she tossed it to Kel and made an about face out of the room.

It was a book labeled “Elements” in worn, gold lettering.

She doubled back down another hallway and peeked into a washroom with yet another pile of books. “No,” she muttered and continued on.

While walking through another hall, the group passed another unassuming pile of books tucked into a nook. She snatched off the top book, a thin volume with a threadbare cover and broken spine. “Banishings. Read them. Learn them. Practice until you can shut out the gods themselves.” She threw the book over her shoulder and Kel barely caught it before it hit him square in the nose. Alarmed, he glanced at Jasper, who shrugged and gave him a mollifying look.

They walked through a large kitchen. On the wall at one end hung a large wire shelf and on that shelf sat huge jars of herbs, all labeled in a strange language. “Yes, that is Fae-speak and yes, you will have to learn it. Anyone competent in the magical arts must learn the basics at least. You have access to all of these herbs and materials for your incantations, tinctures, what have you.” She looked back at him. “Just be sure you read carefully - the nightshade syrup looks surprisingly like blackberry reduction and you do not want to drink that.”

Reaching the seeming end of this wing, the tour reached a staircase, which they ascended with some trepidation. Up, up, up it wound until terminating into a long, windowless hallway. It was so dark, Kel could barely see until his guide flicked a switch on the wall. Dim light glowed from glass bulbs that were mounted on strange torches on the walls.

“What are those?”

“You might say they are magic. And yet they work on an entirely different basis from anything you or I can do.”

“So who build that in?”

She shrugged. “The previous occupants.” If there were further explanation, the sorceress did not feel the need to provide it and their swift tour of the house continued. They proceeded like this for what felt like hours, roaming the mansion in a chaotic fashion while Grim plodded along behind them. All of the rooms were the same - littered with books and scrolls and objects that Kel assumed he shouldn’t touch.

Once, when curiosity got the best of him, he finally worked up the courage to ask about one of them. It was a large iron spike, the width of his arm, balanced precariously on a desk. “What is that?” he asked, pointing from what he assumed was a safe distance. It looked to him like something malicious, clearly a dangerous magic item.

“Oh that? Just a paperweight.” No further explanation. No further acknowledgement. Maximillian shewed them from the room and on they walked.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, they reached what Kel understood as the upper west wing of the house. Maximilian halted in front of one of the doors so suddenly that Kel almost dropped the now-mountainous pile of books that he was carrying. “Right, here’s your stop.” She opened the door, which obliged with an only slightly unsettling creak. The inside was dark and it smelled dank, like a dungeon. Sinister shapes loomed beyond where the light of the hall reached. Was this a prison cell?

“Oh right, no bulbs in here.” She waved her hand and three spheres of light emerged from the center of the room, banishing the darkness and revealing a room that looked like it had been ransacked before being adopted as a makeshift garbage dump.

“So let’s get you started.” She handed him a broom.

“What’s this for? Are we going to try flying?” He wasn't being dull-witted. He just hoped that she wasn't serious. She apparently was.

“This isn’t a witches broom,” she laughed, “We’re going to start with the most fundamental magic one can use - cleaning.”

“Are you serious?” While he had happily parroted Caaron’s virtues back at the Rootwater, Kel was more than a little disappointed and certainly more than a little tired from their endless pilgrimage through the manor.

“Deadly. Our surroundings have an effect on our internal processes, on our minds. If you have a dirty room full of piled up clothes and garbage, then your mind will be disorganized and troubled. Cleaning is a ritual that clears your mind of clutter, just as a physical room is swept clean.

“You’re sure you just didn’t have a room prepared?”

“It could be, but it’s also important.”

He looked at the dirty room, seemingly overrun with refuse, and then back at her. “I thought you said you waited to find me because you were preparing for me to stay with you.”

“I did, but I didn’t say I was cleaning.” She laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The great black dog lurked in the background, eying him curiously and swishing its tail. Kel, thinking back to the rules Maximilian had gone over hours ago, very much agreed that he would not be wandering the halls anytime soon.

“Come now, bard - let’s get you settled in.” The sorceress took Jasper by the wrist before he could protest and swept out of the room and down the hall, the door closing silently after her like a meek servant.