Nick Sever stood beside a tree, tunic and breeches blending in thanks to their dark

brown color. He wore a short, heavy blade at his hip. It was supposed to be a sword,

but was shaped more like a cleaver. His sphere of influence was up like it always was,

but he only had one spell that wouldn’t reach across to the edges of his awareness.

His teacher told him that he should be able to do more, and he could, but only if he

took something away from something he killed. Even armed like that, the spells

vanished as soon as he woke up from sleep. His one spell and sphere of influence was

the only things he could carry over to a new day.

He wanted to be able to fly, or lift stones as big as a house. Instead, all he could do

was put holes in targets when he could see them.

He listened. Something was closing on his position. He might be able to get dinner

if he could drop whatever animal was out there, maybe load up some of the other

things he could use if he got lucky.

Sister Anne would love enough to feed all the orphans.

Nick pointed into the trees’ foliage. His spell told him he could use it twenty times

before he had to recharge it. And he had twenty more uses when he did. After that,

he would have to pull his sword and do his best.

He favored the thunder cracks that he produced when he wanted to put holes in

things. He had practiced with it to be reasonably sure to stay on target as the

expanding air pushed his hand away from the blasts.

And the force of the blow usually dropped small animals and monsters with two or

three shots. He had to empty the spell charges shooting at a fleeing deer before he

downed it.

That had been a lucky shot flung on the fly.

“Nick,” called a pixie descending from the air. “Someone is here to see you.”

“Quiet,” said Nick. He held up his hand in a shushing motion.

“Nick,” said the pixie again. “Someone is here to see you.”

“Can’t it wait?,” asked Nick. The bushes rustled as his prey fled from the commotion.

“You spoiled my hunting.”

“Nick,” said the pixie. A trace of irritation filled its voice. “Someone is here to see

you.”

“Then let’s go talk to them,” said Nick. He waved his hand for the pixie to fly back

to the village so he could follow at a more leisurely pace.

He wanted to go back to hunting. Another pixie would track him down and ruin that

for him. It was better to find out what was going on, and then say no to whatever it

was.

That was a piece of advice that he had seen used by Sister Anne more than once after

she had explained it to him.

He briefly considered why his teacher would hunt him down in the woods, but he

decided that it was something he would know soon enough when he got back to the

village.

It was probably something stupid that had nothing to do with him.

He spotted the village wall and turned to go to the south gate. He could go through

that arch and head to the small school maintained for the village children. Then he

would find out what was going on before saying no to it.

It took him a bit to get to the gate. He passed through, waving at Charlie the Gateman

at his station. If something massive showed up, it was the hope of the town that the

gates would keep it out until Master Slown, his teacher, could do something with his

magic.

Nick figured he could help protect the other orphans with the thunder cracker. If he

actually killed something, he could grab the loot from that and upgrade to some of the

other spells he could use. One of his spells allowed him to spray enough lightning at

close range to decimate a group of men in light armor.

He had never got the chance to see what it would do to heavy armor.

He walked to the school. He nodded at the pixie waiting on him to open the door and

walk inside. The building was eight classes, two offices, a healing room, and space

in the back for practice.

He had honed his aim in the practice area against mages trying out regular air and fire

spells. It had forged him into a dead shot, and fast to down a target. Hunting had only

improved his skill set.

He walked back to the offices. They were placed between the classes and the practice

area. The healing room stood next to the back door.

A stranger sat in the wooden visitor’s chair. His clothes looked richer to Nick. The

boy wondered if he should be using the thunder cracker on this guy. And he didn’t

like how Master Slown seemed nervous with this man in his office.

He stepped into the office, willing the charge to flow into his hand. If something

started happening, he couldn’t miss from this distance.

“Nick,” said Slown. He looked younger than his age, nervous about what was going

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on, and disapproving about Nick holding his spell ready. He didn’t know how his

student held a force charge in his hand, but he could see it well enough with his mage

green eyes. “This is Master Avere from Grimhild Academy. He is here doing

evaluations for future students, and wanted to see you.”

“Why?,” asked Nick. He frowned at the other mage. “I can only do one spell and that

has limits in charges.”

He knew about the evaluations. Everyone knew about them. If a child had enough

talent, and could learn some spells, he or she could try to get into a big school to

perfect their craft.

“The orphans dreamed about it. They would love to go to the big city and learn major

magic.

Nick had never been able to do anything outside of his specialty. He doubted he

would be able to do anything under another teacher. He decided he wasn’t going to

go. He would rather stay in the village and wander the forest to his contentment. Let

the other kids have their chance at fame and fortune.

“Grimhild City came under attack years ago,” said Avere. “We are trying to train as

many children as we can to replace our ranks and shore up our defenses. Master

Slown has told me that you can do things that fall out of the standard categories. If

we can show other students how to do that, it might change things for the better.”

“I don’t want to change things for the better,” said Nick. “I’m fairly experienced with

what I have here, and I don’t see the need to share it with others.”

“What if we can show you how to do your magic better than what you can now?,”

asked Avere.

“Doubt it,” said Nick. “I already know the rules of what I can do, and I haven’t been

able to change that with the practice I put in. I doubt you will be able to do that

somewhere else.”

“Nick,” said Master Slown. He gestured at the other magician. “Master Avere will be

taking most of the magically inclined orphans with him. If you stay here, you will be

on your own, and looking after the younger children for Sister Anne. I would rather

you join the others your age and help them get through their studies until they can go

where they want to go in the world.”

“We will at least be able to help you use your skills better, and try to find you some

place your unique magic will work better for you and everyone around you,” said

Avere.

“What does Sister Anne think about all this?,” asked Nick.

“She wants you to be happy with whatever you decide,” said Slown. “I want you to

figure out how to teach your skills to others so you can make more battle mages and

hunters to deal with the problems of the world.”

“And living at the Academy will be safer for you than staying here,” said Avere.

“There have been reports of enemy movements close to the village. The adults may

have to leave too if things turn serious.”

“So there might be an attack?,” said Nick. He could use his spell with abandon if that

happened.

“You will be sent away if such a thing happens,” said Slown. “It’s my responsibility

to keep you safe, and if I have to send you to the next village toward the capitol, I

will.”

“When are you taking us?,” asked Nick. He let the charge in his hand go. He fought

back tears. He didn’t want a stranger see him cry.

“I will arrange air travel for you, and your fellow students, in the next few days,”

said Avere. “You will be able to get used to the Academy before your first classes

start.”

“All right,” said Nick. “I guess I will be ready to go then.”

“It will work out, Nick,” said Avere. “We’re trying to gather up as many new mages

as we can. Just knowing some of them will help you after you graduate.”

“Sure,” said Nick. “Can I go now?”

“Yes,” said Slown. “Stick close to the village. As soon as the carrier arrives, you

are going to have to be ready to go.”

“Yes, sir,” said Nick. He turned and fled from the offices. He cut through the practice

field, ignoring the other students practicing their abilities. His sphere of influence

picked out when they performed a spell with a soft dash in his mind. He ignored those

too.

He walked to the orphanage. He wanted some time to himself. Leaving the village

might be the dream of the others, but he liked it where he was. He had no use for

being tested and prodded in the hopes that he could pull a snow bunny out of a hat.

Showing him how to change his ability might be to his advantage in the future, but

at the moment, he didn’t believe Avere knew what he was talking about as far as

that went.

He had been placed in a room next to the outer doors of the orphanage when Master

Slown and Sister Anne realized what he could do with his thunder cracker. They had

told him they wanted someone who could hold the door in case of trouble. That was

what had initially spurred his interest in working on his ability.

Now he felt all that effort he had put in was wasted since he would no longer be

allowed to guard anything. He doubted the so-called academy would want him to

do anything but sit down and shut up.

He was tempted to just take off. He could shoot anything that got too close, knew

a little about fending for himself, and could feel monsters in action when they threw

their spells around. Did he want to just run away from this problem?

He thought maybe he did since he didn’t trust anything Avere said.

He knew Sister Anne would want him to at least try, even if he didn’t like it. He

didn’t have to ask her about that. She always wanted him to not hang back and get in

the middle of things. He didn’t like it as much as she wanted him to, but he tried to

keep his exasperation down since he didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

He didn’t want to leave the village if monsters were close enough for him to detect

them. He wanted to use his spell power to do things. That was what he was there to

do. Why else would he be an orphan?

He should watch the others fly away from beyond the wall, and protect the village

from the forest surrounding it.

He dismissed that idea. Master Slown would send pixies to find him and ask him

what he thought he was doing. He needed more magic to block his teacher’s and he

didn’t have that yet.

He didn’t see any way of escaping moving from his home to some school. He might

as well just wait to see what happened. Maybe he could get kicked out

without making it look like he was trying to get kicked out.

That seemed a great idea to him. He could do some things, get kicked out, then come

back to the village. How hard could it be?

Someone hammered on his door. He rolled over on his bed to face the wall. He

wanted time alone. He didn’t want to talk to anybody.

“It’s me, Nick,” said Carol, one of the girls in his class. “Can we come in?”

“No,” said Nick. “I’m thinking.”

“Sounds like you’re crying,” said Bradley. He had turned into a bit of bully when he

started ballooning up into an ox.

It would be so easy to shoot at him through the door. Would the thunder cracker

blast through the wood? He had never tested it like that before.

“Shut up, Bradley,” said Carol. “I’ll set your hair on fire again.”

“I thought that was an accident,” complained Bradley.

Nick wiped his face with his blanket and walked over to the door. He opened it. More

than Bradley and Carol stood out in the hall.

“We want you to come with us, Nick,” said Carol.

He looked at the crowd with a frown. This was a lot of pressure. He nodded.

“All right,” he said.