Hailey’s entire body trembled. After the long hike, practicing spells felt a bit like a break until she began to run low on magic. She stood outside, wishing she had worn a hat. She was sure her face was bright pink. She envied Barinon his darker skin that never burned.
The cattle watched them warily and moved around their pasture unconcerned with what the humans were doing. The gardens were empty now except for the buzzing of insects. The noise of the city drifted up to her occasionally but it was as if she was in a different place entirely, a town or village. It even smelled different. Mostly of growing things and cow dung.
Barinon had not relented. After teaching her to create a sword, he had taught her to create a shield. “Again,” he said to her. Hailey clapped her hands together and pushed her arms out to the side. A translucent blue bubble formed around her. Barinon whacked it with a stick. The stick bounced and he whacked it again. She put her arms down but continued to feed magic into the spell, something she had learned to do better. Again and again he hit it.
“You have to keep practicing to the point of exhaustion,” Barinon told her. “If you don’t, you will tire to easily. Using magic is like using a muscle. If you don’t practice, you will grow weak.”
He went on about threats to the kingdom, reiterating the responsibility to protect, and the need to be capable of doing so. “When you are too tired to think straight, that’s when the dragon will show up or a mage, or the fairies will invade the borders. You have to have the ability to concentrate, to create spells even when you are exhausted. This is part of being a mage.” He whacked her shield again and the stick went straight through, smacking her in the calf.
She cried out, but he didn’t hit her hard. He knew her shield was beginning to weaken. Hailey knew she was just getting grouchy, but she was starting to wonder if she really wanted to do this anymore. Finally, Barinon called an end to the practice. They ate again, even though it wasn’t dinner time yet.
“Some of the magical abilities you exhausted will return as you eat. Not only that, but you will feel less tired.”
Hailey gnawed on a piece of cheese and a hard hunk of bread. It felt amazing to have something in her stomach. She would eat dinner, too when it was ready. The smells coming from the kitchen made her wish she could sit down right now and dig in. It had been a long day and the sun was finally beginning to set. Barinon gave her a moment to refresh herself before they met with the king and queen who would be curious to know how things were going for the new mage.
She wished she didn’t live on on the second floor of the castle. The march from the kitchen to her bedroom seemed endless. She bathed quickly in cold water and changed into a clean dress. Then she ran a brush through her tangled hair. She looked at herself in the mirror. The tiredness that she felt reflected back at her. She felt like she had aged a year in a single day.
The king and queen were indeed waiting to see her. “What have yo done to the child, Barinon?” The king asked, smiling. They entered the council room. It smelled faintly of tobacco and had a large table, around which several chairs were placed. In the back of the room, near a large map of ***name of continent, and an empty fireplace four cushioned chairs were positioned facing each other.
“Training to become a mage is an exhausting process, your majesty. You cannot expect me to take my time with her, as there is no one else in the entire kingdom to train.”
Hailey tried to look as though she weren’t so exhausted. The queen gave her a pitying look and bade her sit. The taller woman was elegant. Her navy blue dressed matched the suit her husband wore. It was well made but much more simple than what she had seen the queen wear inside the castle. So much of what everyone owned had been left behind in the rush to get out. “Do not mind their banter. They tease each other as often as they can manage. I want yo to know that we appreciate you training with Barinon. The kingdom badly needs another mage.”
The men joined them and they chatted about affairs of the kingdom, which merchants would have the opportunities to trade soon. For the most part, Hailey had a hard time keeping up. Finally, the topic of the princess came up. Finally something that Hailey knew something about.
The queen looked at Hailey as she spoke. “We were hoping that you would be able to take Barinon to check on her. We have not heard anything about her in such a long time.” Hailey could see the anguish of missing her daughter all these years on the queen’s face and felt a stab of guilt. She could have taken them in to see their daughter.
“Of course. I will take him in tomorrow if that is what you wish,” Hailey said.
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The queen smiled. “We do appreciate all you do for Taivalon and the years you have spent watching over my daughter. For now, I think you look like you could use a good night’s sleep,” the queen told Hailey.
Hailey rose with the others, but before she could turn to walk away, the queen cupped Hailey’s face in her hands. I hope that things in the manor will be better for you and I apologize if your life in the castle was not too hard on you.”
For a child the queen had found on the street, Hailey thought she had been treated well and told her so, but she couldn’t help thinking that there was something else the queen meant by that. Hailey was too tired to figure out what that might be.
----------------------------------------
Over the course of the next few days, Hailey began to adjust to her new life. She had new dresses, none of which looked like the dresses of a maid and a new pair of boots were being made for her. It was exciting to have new clothes. She spun every morning in front of her mirror, making her skirts twirl around her and wished the she had Margaret with her to share in the joy of new things. She should have asked after her old friend, but part of her was terrified of what she might find. Would Margaret be angry with her for not coming out of the castle? Could they be friends anymore? She supposed she would have to wait to find out. For now, Barinon kept her so busy, she didn’t have time for other people.
Barinon had been up before her everyday but by the third day, she actually woke before he started pounding on her door. She slept well in the large bed and worked hard until she fell exhausted into it at night. He taught her a couple of new spells, but mostly had her practicing the ones she already knew until she was near exhaustion. Still, it had never been as difficult as that first day when she was still adjusting to the physical rigors of the trip to meet Sequana while learning to cast.
She had created another glyph outside the manor and ported back to the well. It was exhilarating to be able to go anywhere that fast. She did not see Sequana again, but thought she could hear her humming to herself deep in the well. She returned. “Be careful not to place a glyph anywhere that someone is likely to be,” Barinon had told her. “You might send someone into the void.”
When she asked him what that was, he seemed uncertain, but had said there was more about it in one of the books in the mage’s library. He got a far off look on his face when he spoke of the library, like it was something he had been missing for a very long time.
Today she wore a gray dress. It was mostly boring but she liked the way it flared out at the hip and that it was a little shorter than the others. She was also less likely to trip over this one. It would look better with the new boots when they arrived.
She stood, sweating and tired. She created the portal again and stepped through. Then, after closing and reopening the portal, she came back. “Shield,” he yelled right as she stepped out of her portal. He threw something at her. She accidentally cast her sword and the dirt clod smacked her in the gut.
“You could have deflected with the sword,” he told her. “Learn to improvise when things don’t go the way you expect.”
She nodded but wondered exactly how she was supposed to manage that. Maybe with practice, she told herself. He led her into the great hall where several lanterns were waiting to be filled with light. She almost groaned. Her arms didn’t want to move anymore, but she made them work. She started with her arms out and then brought them close to her in a circling motion. This was one of the spells that had a word attached to it. “Fulgaro,” she said, placing the ball of light inside its lantern.
As she worked, Barinon paced. “You have improved greatly over the last few days. I would like you to take me inside the castle. There is a book in the mage’s library that contains the spell that I need to awake the princess.”
Hailey created another ball of light. “Fulgaro, she said. “You think you can actually do it?” She was both excited and worried about what that might mean. “Would everyone wake up if you managed?” Will the people even remember me? She thought to herself. She wanted them to be free, didn’t she? That was the whole point of her becoming a mage.
She created the next ball of light. “Fulgario.” She gasped and Barinon turned from his pacing to see a ball of lighting in her hand.
“What did you do?” He asked her, making her jump.
She was half tempted to just drop the thing, but no it wouldn’t dissolve now, she had said the word of power that would keep the spell in place. Lightning crackled out from the center, hitting the sides of the ball. It was brilliant and flashing and dangerous. Panic ran through her and she looked up at her mentor. “What do I do?”
“Go outside. Get it outside.” He opened the door for her and they hurried back out past the garden and the cows.
“Throw it somewhere,” he said. “Make sure it doesn’t touch anything flammable.”
She dropped it on a patch of bare earth and stepped back a few paces. The spell flashed once and was gone, leaving a patch of burned earth and smoke.
“Remember what you did,” Barinon said with wonder in his voice. “I think you created something new.”
“I mispronounced the word,” Hailey said, feeling foolish. One little change. What if she had messed up the hand motions along with the word. Suddenly magic seemed much more dangerous and uncontrollable.”
“Barinon, the king would like an audience with you in the study.” The young maid that hurried up was panting. She must have been looking all over the place for them. She was a pretty girl that reminded Hailey of Esmerelda.
“I will be right there,” Barinon said. “Get some food, Hailey. You will need your strength to get me into the castle.”