Sable looked out the window of the small run down cottage. She’d called home for the past twelve years. Observing the small boy whose feeble body and soft features looked like he could be swept away from the faintest of breezes.
She sat there contemplating the best course of action for his training and future. The same thing she had done everyday for the past twelve years. These thoughts were followed soon after by her wondering how she ended up in this situation. Her luck just seemed to be changing going from a back hills witch nobody knew or cared about to the apprentice of the archmage, to one of the strongest Lords in recent recorded history and now she was back to being a witch.
Having to raise a child she couldn’t let die but never wanted the responsibility for. This train of thought was soon interrupted by the boy himself Zaccai or as she liked to call him little cai, falling face first into the half filled bucket of water he was struggling to carry.
Sable briskly got up and stroud to front door yelling “ Are you alright or are you going to drowned in the bucket. I know uncle Eli would be very disappointed to hear his nephew died in such a manor.”
Zaccai quickly pulled his head out of the buck with a splash grinning like he just did the most amazing trick as blood trickled from his forehead and nose. Sable swore softly under her breath then more clearly said
“I swear there is no one in this world or the next who can get hurt as easily as you. Now come on in I’ll get your forehead patched up. Then you can go get another bucket of water that doesn’t have blood in it.”
“Why can’t we use this bucket most of the water stayed in it and I only got a little blood in it?” Zaccai asked more out of curiosity than to question her authority.
“Because your blood contaminated the water and only pure water can be used for any of the alchemy we need it for. Now hurry up before you start bleeding all your over clothes.”
As they got inside Zaccai continued his questioning. “Don’t we have a spell that can purify the water for us?”
Sable pulled out some cloth from the pantry to clean off the blood and then to apply pressure to the cut to stop any further bleeding. “Hold that to the cut while I go get ointment to help keep it clean and help it heal, but yes we do have a spell for purifying water. You can’t use it though and I’m not going to do your chores for you.” She spoke as she search the dilapidated cabinets for the right jar containing the ointment.
“Why can’t you teach me how to use the spell it sounds like it could be useful?” Zaccai responded as he held the cloth tightly to his forehead while staring off into the distance.
“I would have sworn it was… ahh there it is.” Sable to muttered to herself. “Now I would teach you that spell but,” she stopped talking as she gently pulled the cloth from his forehead and rub some ointment on it.
“But wha” Zaccai started as he scrunched his face in pain.
“But your mana pathways are a mess to say the least. So we must first fix them in order for you to use proper spells. That is why you have been learning runic magic as the dwarves use, because it is complex symbols, but only need be injected with mana. It is quite astounding how fast you are picking up on it though. Soon we can move to other forms of magic like rituals that orcs and other dark creatures use and more alchemy like the gnomes. Soon you will be the most versatile mage and once you get your meditation down and can explore your pathways. Fixing them yourself you can use normal incantation, or at least that’s hopefully the plan.” She speedily lectured all that without taking a single breath.
Wrapping a clean cloth tight enough around little Cai’s forehead he released a slight groan. “Now off you go we’re on a tight schedule with your training.” Sable then hurriedly nudged Cai out the door toward the bucket.
While walking back to the town, Zaccai would have had plenty of time to complain to himself and grumble, but he was not the type of person to look at his lot in life. Instead of thinking about the loss of his parents when he was a baby or the fact he never had time to play with other kids in the village. He was constantly curious about the world around him and about all the magic he could learn and use to help others. Like in the stories from which he learned how to read. Stories of great power being used to save and help people across the land.
He didn’t even think about the fact he would probably never be able to attain powers like that due to his lack of innate mana affinity or his messed up pathway. He just kept dreaming of all the things he wanted to do and trusted that his master knew the right direction for his training. Even if he did want to learn how to use incantations, because the runic magic he is learning right now takes hours of memorization and inscriptions and is used mainly for artificing, enchanting or moving large amounts of earth.
Zaccai felt like the dwarves were being a little narrow minded with their uses of it, because they are mainly a mountain dwelling race. They do not even consider the uses it could have on moving bodies of water or transportation in the sky. As Zaccai continued to get lost in thought of the different applications of runic magic. He didn’t even notice the tall muscular woman he proceeded to walk into. Once again finding himself on the ground this time lying on his back facing the sky and a mountainous shadow looming over him with an eyepatch and white shortly trimmed hair.
“Are you alright boy?”
Came a quiet voice that sounded more at home coming from a servant of death than the mountain of a woman Zaccai was forced to face. Staring into her cold red eye Zaccai felt some fear start to build up, but it quickly changed to excitement. Zaccai had never seen someone with a red eye before and as he continued to dumbly observe her from the ground with a stupid grin crawling across his face. He noticed the massive sword on her back and the rugged armor that was worn but maintained nicely.
Finally after a few more moments of silence. The warrior no, great warrior from what Zaccai believed knelt down grabbing him by both shoulders easily picking him up to a standing position.
“There you go I’m guessing you’re a little daft in the head so continue on your chores.”
Zaccai’s great warrior told him as she picked up the bucket handing it to him. Zaccai then proceeded to vigorously node and solute her however improper it was. Then ran off to quickly continue his chores as she ordered. All while behind him a number of voices laughed at his back from the group the warrior was with and the warrior herself watched with a softness in her eye as he ran off around the corner.
Finally reaching the well Zaccai fell out of his whimsical stooper realizing he was about to meet his master’s wrath when he got home. He decided to hastily fill up the bucket with as much water as he could carry without dropping it and take every shortcut he knew to reach their cottage. Running back was hard on Zaccai’s body straining all of his frail muscles and making his lung burn to the point when he finally reached the cottage. He couldn’t stop coughing and wheezing. Sable rushed from the cottage with a look that told him everything, he needed to know of her displeasure for having to wait so long.
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“What took you so long. I thought I might have to go into town and drag you back out by your ear.”
Zaccai then subconsciously started rubbing his left ear. Where master Sable liked to drag him around by when he got too distracted. Zaccai then started to blurt out everything that happened on his walk ensuring he didn’t miss a detail on all the magic he was daydreaming about, then continuing to his experience with his heroic warrior and all the grand adventures he started saying he believed she may have been on. Soon after Zaccai started to blur the lines between reality and fiction. Sable stop him asking.
“Were there more than just her. Like a band of mercenaries or maybe the Lord’s soldiers?”
Zaccai having his fantasies interrupted then had to divert the course of his thoughts to try and remember the people she was with and other details that might pertain to master Sable’s question. Standing in silence for a few moments with his chin resting between his thumb and forefinger concentrating intently on what he could remember Zaccai responded.
“She did not wear any house crests or that of our Lord’s or any Lord. So she may not be under anyone and I don’t really remember if she was with anyone else. I wasn’t paying attention to any of that.” He then exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders to prove his point of ignorance.
“Well we’ll assume she is a mercenary on break or something and they usually don’t travel alone, but I’ll have to go into town myself in the next few days to confirm my theory. I guess I won’t punish you for being late, but next time it will be double the punishment for you and no more before bed reading privileges for a month.”
Zaccai upon hearing this looked distraught beyond comprehension at just the idea. Thinking of ways he could ensure never to be late again. Punishments he could handle, but losing reading privileges was just too far.
“Alright are you ready to get back to your runic studies and then to alchemy and herbal training after?” Sable asked snapping Zaccai out of his thoughts on how to conjure water.
Just as he was about to respond Sable cut him off. “That question was rhetorical of course you’re ready we are already behind today on your training schedule. Inside you’ll find the runes you need to memorize the formation for today, scrolls on all the current uses for them and what is known of the origins of each one. I want you to know and demonstrate inscribing each one, before we start your alchemy lessons.”
Zaccai not needing to be told twice to go learn something new. Rushed in the cottage and got to concentrating on a hardening rune, a shaping rune and a repair rune. While Zaccai got lost in the world that was his mind Sable looked fondly on her charge. He may be weak and not have any talent, but he could learn faster than anyone Sable had ever met. Shaking off her own distraction and fascination with how Zaccai could learn and the ways she could push his learning. She got to preparing the ingredients for a potion of growth, They were going to be working on in alchemy later not only to help him learn alchemy, but also to make a potion that may help him grow and become less frail.
After hours of preparation ensuring nothing could go wrong with any ingredients or equipment that they were going to use. Sable decided to test little Cai and see if he had reached the expectations she had put on him for learning all the runes and their known history. Going over to where Cai was working Sable found him intently reading ‘Ashia’s study of combining ritual and runic magic’ instead of the scrolls on the history of each rune. Starting to feel frustration rising up she then noticed movement of the Cai’s hand that wasn’t holding the book. Looking closer she saw him inscribing a repair rune on parchment without even turning away from the book he was so enraptured by. Waiting for him to finish the rune she then cleared her throat to get his attention. This proved not to be enough as Cai moved the parchment he was working on to start a shaping rune all while being lost in the pages of the book. Seeing no alternative Sable reached down grabbing Cai by his ear and hoisting him to his feet.
Cai yowled in pain and surprised at going from peaceful reading his book to face to face with his master. Sable tsked at her student.
“If you didn’t get so engrossed in everything you are looking at maybe I wouldn’t have to do this so often. Since you think you’ve mastered these runes so well you can go read whatever you want let’s put them to the test.” She then pulled a wooden spoon from a drawer in their cabinets snapping the spoon in half she handed it Cai. “Fix it or else you may not be reading before bed for the next few months.”
Cai scrambled to pick up the parchment he just finished. Putting the pieces of the spoon together like they were before being broken and wrapping the parchment around them. He infused what little mana he had into the rune causing it to glow and the paper to dissolve. Cai presented the spoon back to Sable looking as good as it was before she broke it other than a little scar like fissure that wrapped around it from where it had been broken.
“Good now make it hard enough I can’t break it again.”
This time more confidently Cai reached for another piece of parchment and wrapped it around the spoon. Infusing it was more of a struggle just the little bit of mana it took was enough to strain Cai’s reserves. Feeling his breathing become heavy he handed the spoon to master Sable as she tested it by trying to snap it in half again even going so far as to try and break it on her knee.
“Good now turn it into a wood knife or something close enough.”
Handing Cai back the knife she watched closely as nervousness crept across his features. He reached down and grabbed another piece of parchment taking his time as though he was stalling.
“Is there a problem did you not feel you inscribed the rune properly from memory?” Sable ask
“No there’s no problem.” Cai said timidly.
He then wrapped the parchment around the spoon slowly and infused it with what felt like the last bit of mana he could muster. Pushing everything he could into the rune he then pictured in his mind the way he wanted the spoon to be shaped. His breathing went from heavy to ragged as beads of sweat creased his brow. The spoon incrementally shifted changing its shape from rounded to flat and pointed with a curved edge. Once this process finished Cai started to cough uncontrollably from the strain he just put on himself. Sable continued to observe feeling some concern but also knowing the only way for him to improve is to continue to push his mind and body. The strain of pushing his mana out will help him feel his pathways and visualize how they are laid out throughout his body. Helping the future process for when he’ll need to reconstruct the pathways. Which will end up being the most painful thing he may ever experience.
Getting control of his cough bent over with his hands on each knee Cai interrupted Sable’s thoughts with a wheeze of triumph holding the former spoon and now malformed knife with his right hand. Sable then cracked a grin at the wretched sight of her apprentice from only forming an unusable wooden knife going back to her thoughts of how she ended up here, but also a feeling pride she couldn’t quite understand.
“Let’s get you something to eat after using up so much of your mana your body is going to need it. We’ll go over how to make the growth potion once you’ve eaten for our alchemy lesson today but we’ll wait until tomorrow to actually make the potion.”
As she spoke she pulled out some honey and different kinds of jam with bread, because she had a major sweet tooth.
Cai followed behind and then groaned. “But why do we have to wait until tomorrow and I can’t do another meal of just honey and jam on bread even if you infuse them with your magic to help with my growth and mana recovery.”
Sable continued to dig through the neglected cabinets every door and drawer being opened followed by a groan or a creak. Finding what she was looking for she placed them on the counter.
“Well if you don’t like honey and jams here’s some dried meat and pickled veggies. As for waiting you clearly don’t have enough mana to do it today and you’ll need lots of focus and control in order to infuse each ingredient properly and come out with the right potion. I’ll be guiding you with my mana, but you can’t be tired for that.”
Looking disguised at the pickled vegetables Cai walked over and sniffed them immediately gagging. He grabbed the dried meat and started to snack on it. While trying to cut the loaf of bread into pieces with his new warped wooden knife. Struggling to saw through the bread he ended up with a slice that was way too thick and one way too thin. Shrugging to no one inparticular but himself he spread the honey and jam on the bread. Which the knife worked way better for smiled satisfied at his work then licked the knife on both sides and placed it in his pocket.
Sable looking disgusting both at the uneven bread slices and at him using the knife in the jam and honey without cleaning it off between the two. Shook herself out of the stooper of offense she was in and made a sandwich for herself. The afternoon passed uneventfully. With them going over the alchemy procedures for the potion and some herbalism that each ingredient can be used for outside of alchemy and magic. Then they both found books they liked and read. Until sable had to force Cai to go to sleep knowing he would stay up all night and ruin tomorrow’s learning schedule.