“Where are we going anyway?” asked Taoc.
I looked ahead and thought for a moment. “First, we need some information. Your spies told us the Horde doesn’t have many settlements, but I don’t think they’re going to wait for the army to reach their capital or heartland. They must be gathering their forces somewhere, and that’s probably where we’ll find Noel and Alek.”
“There is a small settlement just a day’s run from here, according to the United Army’s sources,” said Kol. “The beastmen have been abandoning their settlements and camps before the army’s arrival, but perhaps we can catch someone there before they evacuate.”
I nodded. “Sounds like a plan. You said it’ll take a day to get there? That means we have enough time to get you guys started with your training.” A wide grin stretched across my face.
Taoc glanced at me and her eyes widened. “Wait, why do you have that look on your face?”
Hearing Taoc, Kol turned to me as well. “I don’t like it. Why are you smiling like that! No, wait, why do I feel something on my shoulders. It’s heavy! Wait, Cas, I can’t keep up!”
“My body is heavy!” said Taoc as she also slowed down. “Why can’t I float? No, why are my feet on the ground? I can’t walk like this!”
Kelser stopped running, pulling Paris back with him. He looked back at Taoc and Kol with a strange look on his face. The large Fil Tusker cried out in protest, she seemed to really enjoy zooming through the open fields without getting tired at all. I jumped up and landed on top of Paris, looking down at the sweating and groaning demon queen and spirit senator. The two of them were lifting their legs slowly, putting one foot ahead of the other in slow motion.
“Did you think I’d carry you all the way there? We don’t need unnecessary baggage on this mission,” I said.
“Then just stop using your magic on us,” said Kol through gritted teeth.
“Will you say that to the Ikons too?” I said. I mimicked Kol’s voice, “Stop using your magic on us, scary miss Ikon! I promise I’ll be a good girl.”
“I don’t sound like that!” said Kol. “And why would I say something like that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe because you’re complaining about a bit of weight and endurance training. Look at Kelser over there. You can’t even tell that he’s under the same spell.”
Taoc looked at Kelser with a strange look on her face. “How are you resisting this spell, human?”
“My name is Kelser, not human,” said the redhead as he took a few slow but sure steps towards the tiny spirit. “And I am not resisting the spell with my body. Cas is using magic hands to press down on us from above. I’m just using my own magic hands to hold off his hands. He isn’t pushing down very hard, so as long as I concentrate, I can hold him off.”
Kol collapsed to one knee. “Magic hands? But I don’t know that spell. Are we supposed to come up with it under pressure or something?”
“But I don’t know how to use magic,” said Taoc, “at least the demon princess knows how to light a fire. Please, great—Cas, teach me how to keep walking next to you!”
The corner of my mouth twitched. “Why do you have to phrase everything that way? And you still haven’t gotten over the great elf thing, have you?” I shrugged and began walking forward, slowly. I’d been using magic to help us run for a while now. Walking slowly for a while would be a nice break. Using a few magic hands wouldn’t tire me out at all, so this could count as a break.
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“Wait, aren’t you going to teach them something?” said Kelser as he walked up to me.
“What do you mean?” I said. “I am teaching them something.”
“You want them to endure the pressure and keep up with us?” asked Kelser. “Do they really need big muscles and great stamina to fight the Ikons? I thought you wanted them to stay in the back and provide support.”
“I mean, those things are important,” I said, glancing back at them over my shoulders, “but that’s not what I actually want to teach them. I’m trying out something new. Something that might help me understand my new magic better.” I looked at Kelser.
“Something new?” said Kelser as he looked at Taoc and Kol. “Are you sure you’re not just trying to bully them for fun?”
I chuckled. Taoc and Kol were struggling against the magic hands. Kol was still stuck in place on one knee and Taoc couldn’t really walk directly on the ground with her legs, since spirits like her weren’t used to that at all. I closed my eyes and focused on the magic hands.
I invented the magic hands spell from motion magic. By understanding some of the basic principles of motion, I was able to move things around from one place to another even from a distance. And as I used the spell, my intangible hands became more dexterous. Now, while I was pushing down at Kol and Taoc from above, I could also push at them from other directions, applying force to varying degrees. But there was more. The magic hands were based on motion magic, which meant I could make things move through space, but I could also make things move faster or slower. And as I got better at this spell over time, I was able to make certain parts of objects go faster or stay in place, a kind of advanced manipulation that one could do with their real physical hands.
The magic hands started pressed down on Taoc’s head. They flicked at Kol’s ears. And they pinched a very annoyed Kelser’s cheeks. The hands that had been pressing down on the three now began annoying them with strange movements and lots of poking and prodding. I relaxed, caught my breath, and regained my energy. These silly actions with the magic hands didn’t use any energy at all, but I could feel the beginnings of a new method of teaching magic brewing inside my head.
“Stop it already, please!” said Kol.
“Please,” said Taoc, her eyes teary from laughing. She was currently being tickled. “I’m laughing too much!”
“If you pinch my cheeks one more time, I swear—” said Kelser before his words became unintelligible because of his pinched cheeks.
I continued pestering my friends for another hour or so. Paris looked on at the three in confusion, unsure why they were acting so strangely. She even looked at me as if she understood I was behind this, but she didn’t do much but graze on some nearby trees. She seemed so intelligent, I was almost tempted to try to teach her magic too.
“Come on guys,” I said, “stop trying to resist the magic and learn it already.”
“Learn what? How to speak through pinched—” said Kelser.
“I can’t,” said Taoc, “stop laughing!”
“You can’t tell me not to resist,” said Kol as she finally managed to stand up again, “when it feels like there’s a mountain on my shoulders!”
I sighed. I knew this wasn’t going to work. I scratched my head. I didn’t want to do what I had done to teach my old spells. It had been much simpler showing off a spell while explaining the knowledge that I had used to construct it. Noel and Kelser and the other humans had learned spells pretty easily that way. Even Kol had learned elemental magic pretty easily. But for the new magic, I felt like I had to teach in a new way.
I had come to this conclusion after thinking about why the others couldn’t come up with their own spells. If I taught magic by demonstrating a spell and explaining the ‘knowledge’ that I had used to construct it, the others would have both the ‘knowledge’ and ‘wisdom’ necessary to cast the spell, but they did not receive the experience of creating the spell for themselves. It was like reading a book and watching a video instead of doing your own experiments and arriving at a conclusion for yourself. It was more convenient to learn through a book or lessons from someone else, but it wouldn’t give someone the skills necessary to come to their own conclusions. Everybody that I taught was stuck with the assumptions and arguments I had made to create my spells. For my new magic, I needed to help my friends learn spells without teaching them too directly. I had to help them learn, not give them the answers.
Watching Kol gritting her teach, Taoc clutching her belly and rolling on her feet, and Kelser clutching at his face, made me wonder. Was there a better way to do this?