New day, new possibilities, same old damnable rain. Yesterday’s downpour kept going throughout the night and showed no signs of abating even as morning turned to noon. When the weather was like this Fifteen would usually curl up in her dorm room with a hot cup of tea and whittle the time away. However, the mere thought of being cooped up in here made her feel oddly nauseous. She wasn’t sure why. The room itself was fine. Though it was mostly a space for her to sleep and store things, it was one of the larger accommodations in the guild’s dorms. The sorceress never felt awkward about spending several days in a row practically locked up in here before, so why the sudden apprehension?
Was it the quarantine? Probably the quarantine. Anyone would go a little stir-crazy after something like that, and the coach ride didn’t help much. While she wasn’t complaining she was spared the effort of having to walk the whole way to Cherrytown, it was incredibly boring. At least on foot she could explore around a little, maybe collect some herbs or experiment with her magic. Also the trip would’ve taken two or three times longer and the latter half of it would’ve been through this terrible weather. Taking a wagon was definitely the right decision, even with the drudgery. Still, was she seriously so starved for entertainment that she’d feel sick just from staying in her room? Or was this somehow Bahm’s fault? Thinking logically, he was a feral creature, and their kind didn’t take well to confinement. Wouldn’t be strange for some of that influence to rub off on the sorceress.
Regardless of the cause, the fact of the matter was that Fifteen couldn’t bear to be in that room any longer. So, against her better judgment, she threw on her raincoat, slipped into some heavy boots, wrapped a scarf around her mouth, and set out to take care of some business in town. She had a hunch it wouldn’t be a smooth outing, and it was proven true before she could make it out of the dormitory’s lobby. The instant she set foot in the spacious chamber she noticed something quite bizarre. Or rather, someone. At a glance it looked like a boy playing dress-up. The heavy yellow-brown coat he had on was clearly too big for his tiny frame, which could be said of the baggy trousers that had to be tied down around his ankles lest they drag on the floor. A hood and bandana obscured most of his features aside from a few stray locks of golden hair and his bright blue eyes.
Correction – her bright blue eyes.
Fifteen was quite certain this was her new apprentice. She didn’t expect them to meet up so soon and wasn’t sure how to approach the kid. Though nobody outright said it, the Sage felt this whole apprenticeship thing was forced upon her, and she was already in a foul mood besides. Put bluntly, she really didn’t want to deal with this right now. The issue was there was only one way in or out of the building and there was no way to slip past that troublemaker. Fifteen then realized that probably wouldn’t be too difficult. The beige raincoat she had on was completely unlike her vibrant traveling gear or dress-like ceremonial robes, so as long as she just walked past calmly and confidently she’d seem to be just a random resident. That was precisely what she tried to do, except the instant she stopped lurking and emerged from around the corner, the problem child immediately locked onto her and practically ran over.
“Good morning, Mistress!” she said in a dreadfully loud and chipper tone.
“… Good morning, Raela.”
As expected, it was the duke’s daughter after all. Fifteen quietly hoped it was a case of mistaken identity, but as per usual, she hated it when she was right.
“I was told I’d be your apprentice starting today! I was so excited I could barely sleep!”
The sorceress sighed deeply as she glanced around. Luckily there wasn’t anyone else around, so that outburst probably wouldn’t start any weird rumors. She wasn’t a Master Magus just yet – not officially, at least – and she’d rather keep the matter under wraps for as long as possible. Not for any particular reason. She just didn’t like strangers circulating her private information.
“Keep your voice down in public. And in general.”
“Oh, my. I apologize, Mistress. I’ll be more mindful.”
“And stop calling me that.”
“Then what would you prefer?”
“Fifteen is fine.”
“Absolutely not. That feels way too informal!”
“Look, I don’t care what you call me,” the woman rolled her eyes. “Just keep the apprentice thing a secret for now.”
“Ohh! I understand! So, what’s going to be my first lesson?!”
“… I just told you to lower your voice, didn’t I?”
“Ack! S-sorry.”
As expected, this wasn’t going to be easy. Fifteen honestly had no idea where to even start with this girl, mostly because she hadn’t given it much thought. She kind of assumed the whole apprenticeship thing wouldn’t start until after she got her Master’s badge, so she really didn’t have anything planned yet. On the bright side, time was something she had plenty of. Fifteen wasn’t sure how long apprenticeships normally lasted, but wizarding schools usually took about a decade to train up a total novice like Raela. Even if the one-on-one method was bound to be much faster, it was safe to assume they’d be in each other’s company for years to come. There was no point in rushing into anything just yet. With that in mind, the sorceress took a deep breath and placed a hand on the sulking girl’s hooded head.
“It’s fine. For now, just follow me.”
“Yes, Mistr– I mean, Miss.”
“Where’s your raincoat?”
That slightly-too-big getup of hers certainly wasn’t waterproof.
“I, uh, don’t have one.”
“I see. This way first, then.”
Fifteen led her new protege up the stairs to the third floor, directly to her room. She showed Raela inside and asked her to wait a moment while she fetched one of her spare raincoats. As expected, it was way too long for the girl and she’d be tripping over its hem with every other step. It was a simple fix that needed only a pair of scissors and a fair bit of elbow grease. The garment’s waterproof coating gave the canvas fabric a stiff, somewhat rubbery texture, so cutting through it wasn’t easy. It would probably ruin her scissors, but it wasn’t as if she couldn’t afford a new pair. The same went for the surprisingly affordable raincoat she was haphazardly altering. Cherrytown’s autumn season was notoriously damp, so rain-repellant goods were high in both supply and demand at the moment.
“Excuse me, Miss Sage?”
“Hm?”
“What’s that?”
Fifteen was still in the middle of shortening the coat when Raela inquired about the row of six wooden carvings lined up on a shelf next to the window. More specifically, she was interested in the second one from the left.
“That’s a black dragon.”
“Really? The shape seems weird. Also, shouldn’t it have wings?”
“Those bastards lurk in swamps and rivers. They’re swimmers, not flyers.”
“What about the one its left?”
“Red dragon. The most aggressive and annoying type.”
“And the weird mushroom man on the other end?”
“Fungal lord. Big, slow, and surprisingly fireproof. Took me three days to wear him down.”
“Woah. Like, non-stop?”
“Of course not. I ran away to take breaks.”
“I see… Then, does that mean you’ve faced all these monsters before?”
“Mhm.”
“Then, were you also the one to make these carvings?”
“Mhm.”
“But why, though?”
“It’s a hobby.”
That much should’ve been obvious. The statuettes were pretty crude and lacking in detail, clearly amateur work. Even if she tried to sell them she’d only get a few silver pieces each at best.
“I mean, why these monsters and not something cute like a kitty cat?”
Fifteen took offense to that. Did Raela not see the mini-saber-tooth in the middle? The sorceress was pretty sure she captured Bahm’s majesty quite well, despite her obvious lack of skill. Then again, ‘cute’ probably wasn’t the best way to describe her familiar’s appeal.
“Because I remember their shape.”
People tended to dwell on their mistakes, and she was no different. All but one of those statuettes were painful memories, but also valuable lessons. Shaping those creatures out of wood could be seen as a way of reminding herself not to repeat her past blunders, but there really wasn’t any deeper meaning behind them. Much as Fifteen said, woodcarving was just a hobby – a way to kill time, and she had plenty of that while stuck in quarantine. Incidentally, she also made one of the dwarf she encountered in the asylum, but the church confiscated it and warned her not to do that again. Hopefully they wouldn’t mind if she made one of Brother Tacitus next. That damn donkey gave her so much trouble she could probably whittle him out in her sleep.
“Here, try this on.”
As expected, even though the crude alterations made the raincoat serviceable lengthwise, the adult-sized garment looked comically baggy on the young girl. She really was rather small for her age, now that the sorceress thought about it. She heard Raela was supposed to be fourteen, but she seemed to be a year or two younger. That aside, after working with her hands for a while, Fifteen had gotten a good idea of where to start educating the kid. She’d need to buy some tools and materials, but that wouldn’t be an issue since she had a considerable sum waiting for her at the guild office. That was her first stop of the day, and while she was there she figured she might as well see what, if anything, the young lady was capable of. It was still a bit of a walk to get here, so Fifteen decided to use this opportunity to get to know her soon-to-be apprentice a bit better.
“How did you know it was me in the lobby?”
She sprung the first question a few minutes after the pair left the dorms. Thankfully the rain had let up a bit, so they were able to hear each other just fine so long as they stuck close.
“How could I not? You’re so tall you’re almost impossible to miss, and I doubt there’s many southlanders around these parts. Also, the metal leg.”
Indeed, the height and dark skin were a dead giveaway even without the prosthetic. Even people who’d only heard of Fifteen would probably identify her right away. She felt a bit embarrassed to have believed otherwise for even a second, so she quickly moved on.
“Why didn’t you get muted?”
It was perhaps a little insensitive to ask that out of the blue, but it was an obvious topic that Raela surely knew would spring up.
“I… didn’t want to.”
“You sure? I spooked you pretty bad last time.”
“And I deserved it. I wanted to apologize for being stubborn and forcing your hand, but Mr. Emerick said I should thank you instead. So, thank you. I had no idea how difficult being a mage was until you showed me. I almost went through with the ceremony like you suggested, but as I was talking about it with the priests, I realized something. You never actually told me to give up on being a fire mage, just warned me that it wouldn’t be easy. After mulling it over for a while longer I decided I’d rather give it my all than… not.”
There was obviously more to it than that, but Fifteen wasn’t sure how to coax the full answer out of her, nor was she certain she wanted to, so she went for her next question on her mind.
“And your family? They don’t mind you being on the grind?”
“I’m sorry, the grind?”
“It’s slang for active wizarding work. When you head out to slay monsters, resolve anomalies, or sharpen your skills, you’re on the grind.”
“Seems like a weird way of putting it.”
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Raela cracked a smile. It couldn’t be seen, but it was definitely heard.
“So, your family?”
When the guild master and Emerick called her a problem child, they were referring to her lineage rather than personality. Even a foreigner like the Sage was well aware that this kingdom’s noble ladies were often pawned off in political marriages, and a duke’s daughter was a fairly influential bargaining chip. Even if they were all the way out here on the frontier, her father’s rank was still second only to royalty.
“They, uh, they didn’t exactly approve at first,” Raela hesitantly answered. “But, I managed to talk them into it. I mean, they still have my big sister to dote on, so it’s not like they’ll miss having me around.”
“I see. That aside, why did you copy my outfit?”
“Ah… You noticed?”
“I have eyes, yes.”
While crudely thrown together from whatever clothing and equipment she could find, there was no denying that the girl’s clothes had an uncanny resemblance to Fifteen’s usual work gear. Not just the layers and overall color scheme, but also the face-wrap, potion belt, shoulder-bag, and back-mounted staff sling. The intent was obvious, though it was a bit strange that all of Raela’s stuff was shoddy and improvised, possibly even second-hand. Even her spellcasting focus was just a simple walking cane. Admittedly, it wasn’t as if she’d need one of those anytime soon, but surely an affluent family could afford to send their child off with higher quality gear.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s practical, but also pretty cool, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“How do you even know what it looks like?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“I wasn’t wearing those when we met, and I’m not wearing them now.”
“I… Well… It’s a bit embarrassing, but we actually bumped into each other this spring.”
“We did?” the sorceress raised an eyebrow.
“Indeed. Do you remember that giant chicken-lizard thing? The one that turns people to stone with the white gas?”
That sounded like a cockatrice. Those things were a nuisance around these parts, especially in the spring since it was their breeding season. The Sage of the Sands had obliterated several of those this year alone, so it was hard for her to pinpoint exactly which beastie Raela was referring to. Also, she was quite certain she’d remember if they met face to face. The blonde hair and blue eyes were an unusual combination around these parts and stood out like crazy. Perhaps the girl saw the sorceress but not vice versa? How and where could such a thing happen?
“… Was it you in that fancy carriage just outside the old salt mine?”
It was one of those high-class models with the tinted windows. It was unusual to find a vehicle like that in such a rural area, so it stuck out in her memory.
“That’s right!” Raela merrily clapped her hands together. “My mother and I were utterly terrified when that horrible monster appeared out of nowhere and petrified our driver and horses, but then you swooped in and reduced it to dust with that incredible explosion! It was magnificent! You even splashed that antidote on poor Mr. Morris without a second thought! Sadly, you seemed to be in a rush and didn’t give any of us a chance to thank you before you ran off.”
That last part couldn’t be helped since she was trying to wipe out the nest before the monsters scattered and made her job harder, but it would appear Fifteen had still made a strong and favorable impression on the duke’s family. That would explain why they were so eager to invite her for that consultation almost two months ago. Her brutal honesty at the time must have earned her an even greater deal of trust if they were willing to place their daughter in her care after she made the poor girl throw up.
“Uhm, Miss Fifteen? Do you mind if I ask a personal question?”
Raela’s voice suddenly turned so quiet that she was barely audible over the ceaseless barrage of raindrops that hammered away at their wide hoods.
“What?”
“You still seemed to have both legs at the time. How did… uhm…”
“That black dragon you were looking at earlier took it.”
“Did it… hurt?”
“Yes.”
“And your, erm, face? Did the red one do that?”
A firm nod’s the only answer she got.
“Heavens… Dragons truly are a despicable lot, aren’t they?”
She received a second affirmative head movement.
“Were you able to get revenge, at least?”
The sorceress held out two fingers with one hand and a thumbs-up with the other, confirming that she made both of them pay. Granted, she was still a child when she was disfigured and it took her nearly ten years to hunt down that red bastard, but she got even in the end.
“That’s good to hear, at least.”
Fifteen nodded to Raela’s words and the conversation abruptly ended there. The atmosphere felt heavy, and for once it wasn’t just because of the precipitation. It lasted until they were almost at the guild, at which point the sorceress had recharged enough of her social battery to broach the most important subject regarding Raela’s apprenticeship.
“Have you gotten a feel for your inner fire yet?”
“Inner fire? Ah, you mean my magic?”
“Yes.”
“A little. I can conjure a lantern’s worth of flame and make it hover in place for a bit.”
“How long are you able to maintain it?”
“I’m not sure. About five or ten minutes? I feel like I could do fifteen if I tried hard enough.”
That was somewhat unexpected. Given how recently her gift had awoken, for her to actually manage any wild magic at all was extremely promising. Fifteen remembered she needed about a year before she could conjure even a few sparks when she was little. From what she knew that kind of progress was normal for a seven or eight year old whose inner fire was still immature. In contrast, Raela’s slumbering power had been slowly and quietly growing inside her, and now that it had awoken it was eager to respond to her wishes like a puppy starved for attention. It was a common thing for late bloomers, but for her to be able to shape her wild magic into a stable flame so soon was unbelievable.
As in, Fifteen genuinely did not believe it.
“Change of plans. This way.”
“Huh? Wah!”
The woman abruptly seized the girl by the hand and practically dragged her past the guild offices and into one of the facilities out back. It was a house-sized solid stone structure with a disproportionately tall cylindrical chimney. Commonly called ‘the stove,’ it was the go-to place for fire mages to cut loose. Unsurprisingly, Fifteen’s fellow pyromancers disliked the rain as much as she did, so most of them opted to stay home and left the place completely empty. This was fortunate given Fifteen’s desire to keep this apprenticeship business under wraps. The two of them occupied the scorched central chamber and the Senior Magus made sure to lock the door and close the windows – all of them solid steel – plunging the space into near-total darkness.
“Show me,” she finally said.
“… Excuse me?”
“Your flames.”
Getting her pay for the asylum incident was important, but she had a hunch this matter took priority.
“Oh! So that’s what this was about…”
Raela was obviously quite nervous at how forceful the woman got all of a sudden, but now she understood. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to be conjuring fires out in the open, what with the rain and pedestrians. After taking a few more moments to calm down, she held her hands out as if she was holding an invisible melon, closed her eyes, and took a series of long, steady breaths. A tiny flame sputtered into existence in the space between her fingers, no bigger than a lit candle. It then steadily grew to several times its original size and brightness until the entire chamber was bathed in its warm glow. Fifteen observed closely the entire time, and as she did, she wasn’t exactly thrilled to find that her troublesome hunch had proven accurate yet again.
It wasn’t the witch assault two months ago that awakened Raela’s inner fire. It was unthinkable for anyone to gain this much control over their wild magic unless they were an unprecedented prodigy. It made a lot more sense for her gift to have manifested before that. Maybe during the cockatrice incident in spring, or perhaps even sooner. At least half a year, and she must have practiced it in secret the entire time until the attack on the mansion gave her an excuse to reveal her nature. But why would she hide her gift? Was she worried her parents wouldn’t approve? No, it was only natural they wouldn’t. Most commoners were eager to send their kids off to the guild’s academy because they’d get an education and career opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be available to them. Nobles had no such concerns. Even if they did, it was hard to imagine those stuck-up pricks would allow one of their precious heirs to take on a vagrant-like existence instead of supporting their house and family.
The more Fifteen thought about Raela’s circumstances, the more suspicious she grew of the lady’s claim that she had managed to talk her parents into approving her decision to become a mage. She was definitely hiding something big, something that she’d never admit to if she was simply questioned about it. Getting some answers directly from the duke’s household was an option, though Fifteen really didn’t want to deal with the nobles if she could help it. She could only stare intently at the pretty little liar as she racked her brains on how to get to the bottom of this mess while maintaining her plausible deniability.
This dragged on for a few long and silent minutes, during which Raela kept diligently concentrating on her conjuration. Though it clearly took a certain amount of effort, she had enough leeway to open one eye and sneak a peek at the senior flame-flinger, only to immediately shut it closed when she caught the taller woman’s stern gaze. That innocent motion drew Fifteen’s attention to the exposed part of Raela’s face as she thought she saw something strange. Indeed, looking at her well-lit features closely from a tall angle revealed something just barely poking out from under that bandana. She wasn’t wearing that thing simply to emulate the Sage’s look.
“… That’s enough.”
“Phew!”
The unsuspecting young lady relaxed and the stove’s charred interior was plunged into darkness once more, but only for a moment as Fifteen threw open one of the solid steel windows. It was still pretty dim since there wasn’t a lot of daylight to go around, but it was enough for her mutated eyesight to function unimpeded.
“So, what did you think?” the girl asked expectantly.
“Show me your face.”
The smile in her blue eyes vanished as she took a step back and held her hands in front of her chest. That reaction was so telling that she might as well have yelled ‘Don’t wanna!’ at the top of her lungs.
“Uhm… What’s that got to–”
“Now!”
“Eep!”
Hearing the Sage speak so forcefully startled Raela something fierce. She hesitated for a few breaths longer, but ultimately caved in. With trembling hands, she reached up and pulled down both her hood and the bandana obscuring the lower half of her face. Her expression looked every bit as haggard as when Fifteen last saw it, but with a new addition. There was a nasty wound that ran diagonally from the left edge of her mouth to the upper middle of her cheek. Her mouth had clearly been sliced open by something very sharp and stitched back together. The sutures were taken out and it was in the final stages of healing, meaning that unsightly scar was there to stay. And yet, given Raela’s firm expression, it wasn’t something she was ashamed of. Just the opposite, in fact.
“… I see,” Fifteen said with a sigh. “You’ve cut ties with your family.”
“That’s a nice way of putting it,” the girl bitterly confirmed.
“Why?”
The sorceress had a pretty good idea, but wanted to hear her say it.
“I don’t care how difficult or painful the path of a fire mage is. It has to be better than being forced to serve as some selfish pig’s baby factory. But no matter how much I pleaded, my parents never listened. They just called it a ‘phase’ and dismissed my wishes, so I did the only thing I could think of to prove my conviction.”
It was also her attempt to drive them into a corner. By mutilating her own face, she drastically reduced her value as a political marriage partner, thereby leaving them with no other option than to accept her desire to be a wizard.
“Things… didn’t work out like that,” she tearfully admitted. “My father got even more controlling, and imprisoned me in my own bedchambers. I always felt like I was living in a gilded cage before, but after that it became a lot more literal. I hated it so much. I was so angry, at everything, that I did something really, really stupid.”
Raela took a moment to wipe away the tears in the corner of her eyes and looked up at Fifteen, who remained as stoic and unflinching as ever.
“I used my magic to set fire to my room, and then the mansion. I escaped in the confusion with nothing but these old clothes I got from a servant ages ago. It’s ironic. I only got them so I could play pretend in secret, and now they’re the only things I own. I’d be sleeping on the street if the guild and the church didn’t take me in.”
It was by all accounts an ill-conceived and short-sighted series of decisions, yet her face showed not a hint of regret. Though her father and mother likely insisted otherwise, Raela wasn’t just being rebellious. No mere whim could’ve made someone give up a life of luxury and ease to walk the thorny path of a fire mage. That power came with a yearning that Fifteen was all too familiar with – the desire to grow and spread like any proper flame would. What mattered most from this point forward was whether Raela would master that hunger or be consumed by it, and much of that would be decided in the years to come. Not like Fifteen needed any more pressure or anything.
“I know I’m asking a lot, but I beg of you,” she kneeled before the Sage, hands clasped. “Teach me your ways, so that I might one day stand on my own two feet. I don’t want to just be a decoration. I want to be someone. I want to matter.”
Fifteen remained silent as she pondered the situation. It was now crystal clear that calling Raela a ‘problem child’ was a huge understatement. That phrase didn’t even begin to cover the veritable shitstorm that loomed over her, and much of it would surely land on Fifteen’s plate should she proceed with the apprenticeship. The smart and safe thing to do was to call it off before it was made formal, but a sheltered flame did not grow. A notion Raela herself seemed to understand, given the boldness of her actions. Fifteen was honestly starting to question if the kid was in fact female, given the apparent size of her balls. Where a mere fourteen-year-old found such determination was an utter mystery, but it was impossible to not be impressed. Indeed, the Sage’s response was already a foregone conclusion.
“Just so you know,” the Sage crossed her arms, “I don’t hold back. If you want to be my apprentice, you should expect to collect a lot more scars.”
“I will gratefully receive whatever guidance you give me.”
“Excellent. Here’s your first lesson.”
There was a loud thump as something small yet dense hit the floor in front of Raela, and she was surprised to see that winged dragon carving from earlier. Unsure of what to do, she picked up the dry lump of wood – heavier than it looked – rose to her feet, and looked quizzically at the towering sage.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Hold it tight.”
The girl stood completely clueless for about three seconds, which was how long it took for Fifteen to pull out her copper wand and tap the statuette’s head.
“Ignum unis.”
“Eeek!”
Raela couldn’t help but scream and reflexively drop the carving when its upper half burst into flames. The article tumbled across the ground as the fire enveloped it in seconds. The hapless apprentice could only stare in shock as the physical embodiment of her teacher’s trauma was steadily reduced to ash and cinders. She was awoken from her stupor by something warm, solid, and round pressing against her scarred cheek. She flinched away with a few clumsy back-steps, only to see it was just the flat tip of Fifteen’s metal focus.
“Zero points,” the sorceress coldly said.
“Huh?”
“You let go.”
“But… but you set fire to it!”
“Yes.”
“And I’m supposed to hold it despite that? Are you trying to burn me?!”
“Yes.”
“What?! Why?!”
“Because you’re not used to it.”
“Of course, I’m not! What kind of lunatic is?!”
“A true fire mage.”
The color drained from the girl’s round face as a wooden fungal lord was unceremoniously shoved into her grip.
“Try again. Ignum unis.”
As the flames encroached upon her trembling fingers, it dawned on Raela that she might have bitten off more than she could chew.