Ambassador to the Freaks

(9) First Lessons of Magic

“You can’t learn magic from books.” Bertram had said this every time Lewin had asked to be tutored in magic, and he had asked every day. Joten was four days to their north now. Most of their time was spent on the roads between villages, but when the troupe arrived at a village, they would usually stay for a while.

It was good business for Roope to travel with Auren. She was a mercenary, and that meant protection. No one was allowed to carry weapons in the human cities of eastern Irid except for mercenaries and soldiers. Even so, she rarely had to draw her sword. The Prince’s Emblem usually did the job.

It was also good business for Auren to travel with Roope. He was an entertainer, and would have been traveling anyway. His troupe did not complain about long trips or bad weather, and they did not demand a lot of money for their services (unless business was bad). Beyond all this, he and Auren enjoyed each other’s company. That at least was one good thing about the Ambassador’s journey beginning early – they got to continue their partnership. And the troupe was growing to like Lewin.

Just like the rest of the group, he had to practice acting. That was a daily practice for the troupe, whether they were preparing for a show or not. Auren practiced as well, and she was pretty good at it. To Lewin’s surprise, even Monsta participated. For the first time in her life, she was surrounded by humans who did not hate her. It took a few days of her simply watching, but now she acted across from the giant Roope, shouting in his face when the part called for it. Something about pretending to be someone else allowed her to be less afraid. Still, it was more interaction that she was used to, and she wore out quickly. Much of the days were spent riding in Poetry. It was there she slept, alone except for piles of supplies.

Roope, Sandy, Cory, and Leesil, who was a family friend and practically family, lived in Good Drink, which led the caravan. Lovely Woman was fully bunked, housing the remaining three troupers, Lewin, Auren, and Shen. He had showed up the morning of their departure and joined them. He did not practice acting.

One advantage to heading south was that they were following the river that fed into the Di-Joten. Sometimes the road would run a stone’s throw from the water, and when that happened they would carry Monsta to it. She never seemed to grow tired of splashing about and playing, even when she was at it for hours. Lewin would walk along the bank and watch as she disappeared into the waters, only to suddenly burst out and turn a flip in the air before diving back under. When they went through villages or met people along the road, Monsta dressed up as a human. A long skirt and generous wig covered most of her fishy features, and she would hang back in the shadows while the rest of the troupe would entertain. But when they were alone, she slithered out of her unnecessary layers and made for the waters.

She was enjoying the river now while the troupe stopped for midday. The wagons formed half a circle around the fire, where Sandy and Leesil prepared a meal. Lewin followed Bertram around in the field on the other side of the road. The performer was setting up some man-high stakes in the field. The Ambassador was bothering him about learning magic. “But you know magic, so why can’t you teach me something?”

“Lewin, I’m only a novice myself. You might as well have a toddler teach you to walk.”

“But you know something. Please, I’d be a good student.”

Betram rammed another stake into the dirt. “If you want to learn about magic, the best way is to see it done.” He held out a hand to Lewin, who was carrying a bag. He reached in and pulled out a mass of hay bound up with twine. It was a little smaller than his head. He handed this to Bertram, who mashed it down onto the top of the stake. They had set up five of these in the field, three fairly close to the wagons and two much farther away. They then returned to the wagons.

Auren was seated on the steps that folded out the side of Lovely Woman. If the troupers planned to stay somewhere for long, the wagons unfolded into proper dwellings. Each had several walls or doors that could slide and hinge to create larger rooms, a covered patio, or bedrooms that were more than the closely cramped bunks they suffered on the road. Entertainers’ wagons were heirlooms that the first generation worked all their lives to afford. The mercenary was practicing her lute, which was better than silence, but only slightly. She had a lot to learn.

Bertram motioned to her, speaking quietly enough so that she wouldn’t hear. “You should be bothering her, not me.”

“About what?”

“Magic. I’ve dabbled a little, but she’s better than I am, at least with sky magic.”

“Really?” Lewin looked back, expecting to see wisps of magic swirling around her. Auren knew magic? “I’ve never seen her use it.”

“I’ll bet you have, you just didn’t realize it.”

Auren eventually gave up her practicing and hung the lute on the wall inside the wagon. Lunch wasn’t ready yet, so she walked out into the road and reached into a pouch. She had been asking Monsta to gather smooth rocks from the river, and had a small collection now. The one she drew out was almost perfectly spherical. While she held this in her left hand, she pointed her right arm toward the ground and started to shake it.

Lewin had seen the leather straps Auren wore on her arm, but had assumed that it was some kind of decoration. The straps fell down, but she held on to the ends. She placed the rock in a loop and started to swing it. It was a sling, the weapon of a shepherd. After two quick loops, she released one end of the leather. Lewin’s eyes couldn’t track the stone, but one of the hay heads out in the field popped off the stake.

Bertram nodded and sat down on the running board of Good Drink. “She’s not a bad slinger either. Mercenaries have to have a lot of skills. She’d probably teach you that as well.”

Lewin sat down next to him. “I’d rather learn magic.”

“Magic won’t catch your dinner, but I’ve seen Auren bring down deer with a sling.”

“How long have you known her?”

“I worked for her cousin, Idan. We kept in contact over the years since then, and she met Roope through me. I like working for the Chaser Company, but being a trouper is a lot safer.”

They watched as Auren tested a few more of the stones. Then the door of Lovely Woman opened and Shen stepped down. He was dressed as he usually was: very simply. His hair was cut short and his face was shaved clean. But today he wore his badge with the King’s Emblem, because he also carried his bow. It was a massive thing that was longer than Lewin was tall. He walked out to the middle of the road next to Auren and nocked an arrow. “Would you mind if I practiced as well?”

She shrugged. “Go ahead.”

Shen drew the arrow back to his chin and released, striking the nearest target. Auren arched an eyebrow, but otherwise did not respond. She took a step away to avoid striking him as she slung another stone. The target with Shen’s arrow in it jolted, but stayed on.

Bertram cracked a smile. “This should be good.”

Shen readied another arrow and shot another of the close targets, hitting it dead in the center. Auren took a breath, and then strolled a few paces back before aiming at the same target. There was a snap as Shen’s arrow was split.

The knight moved back to exactly where Auren stood and fired a shot. Before it had hit, he was readying his second. He fired this one too, and both of the far targets now had an arrow protruding from them. Auren reached down, but not for a stone. She took out her silver coin.

Bertram elbowed Lewin. “Watch.”

The mercenary tossed the coin into the air and caught it as it came down. Smiling, she put it away and checked to see how many stones she had left. “Don’t get in my way.” She loaded and swung a stone, hitting the first target again. Quickly loading a second, she let it loose and struck the second. With only seconds between shots, she whirled around and hit a third, then a fourth. On her fifth shot, she did not even face the target, but still the hay head was knocked from the stake. One stone remained. Auren loaded this one, slung it around longer than she needed to, and loosed it at a clump of trees back behind their targets. A thin outstretched branch snapped off and fell to the ground. With a whip of her head, she cleared away the hair that had gotten in her face and smirked at Shen. “How about that?”

Shen simply prepared another shot and fired toward the same tree. It soared past the branch and landed in the foliage. Auren scoffed. The knight walked into the field toward his wayward shot.

Lewin leaned close to Bertram. “What was that? With that coin?”

“That was a trick of sky magic. She can read luck.”

“Luck?”

“Yep. All children of sky are affected by the powers of luck, good or bad. That includes humans. Auren, like most of her family, can read the luck around her, and sometimes even control it.”

Lewin leapt from his seat and hurried over to Auren, who seemed to be enjoying the sight of Shen retrieving his arrow. She turned to see the boy’s wide-eyed stare. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I want to learn magic.”

She gave a great sigh and began to re-wrap her sling on her arm. “No, I can’t.”

“Why not? I promise, I’ll be an excellent student.”

“That’s why. Right there, that attitude. You think hard work and dedication are the tools to success. Well, if you want to learn metal magic, it might be, but this is sky magic. You’re just wrong for it. You care too much.”

Lewin honestly could not tell if she was serious. “So you won’t even try to teach me?”

“I’d be trying to force something to be what it’s not. You will never learn sky magic that way. Sorry, but there’s plenty of other magic you can try. Get Bertram to help you.”

“He said you’d be a better teacher.”

“Just keep asking him. He’ll give in eventually. If you make him angry, it will make fire magic easier. Quiet! Here comes that knight. I want to see his face when…”

Shen approached them carrying the body of the rabbit he had shot. “Sandra, any room for some meat in our lunch?”

“That will do well for supper, I think. Thank you, Shen.”

He walked back to camp with his kill. He walked right past Auren without looking at her, though she stared at him as hard as she could.

Two days later, Bertram finally gave in to Lewin’s pleading. They were in a small village, which was mostly a crude assemblage of farms and the smiths that supported them. Having entertainers in town was an exciting change of pace! Auren took Bertram’s place in the performance so that he and Lewin could sneak off to a hill overlooking the village. As far as they were, Roope’s voice still carried on the wind so that they could hear him recite the words they had all practiced.

“Ok, sit down.” Lewin obeyed. Bertram sat down across from him on a bare patch of ground. “Right, now listen to me: do not try to do this without me. Fire magic is probably the easiest to perform, but it’s the hardest to perform properly. Many magicians have burned themselves alive, and I don’t get paid if the Ob-Enon dies. Got me?”

“Yeah, I understand.”

Bertram took a few breaths. “All right. Gather up a clump of grass.”

Lewin reached around himself and pulled out the longest blades of grass he could find. While he did this, his teacher was entering some kind of trance. His jaw was set and his breathing was getting faster. He reached out his hand. “Give it to me.” His voice sounded furious. Lewin hurriedly put the grass in his hand, which was radiating heat.

As soon as Bertram’s fingers closed around the small clump, light flared up. One end of the grass caught fire and burned like a torch. The other end smoldered and seemed to rot away.

“That’s amazing!”

“Not really.” He smashed the grass into the ground, killing the flames. “I could do the same with flint and tinder. Give me the cup.”

Lewin handed him a small metal mug with a thin layer of water in it. Bertram held it in both hands and took a few more breaths. “It can be hard to change modes like this. Give me a second.” Lewin waited, hoping to see steam rise from the cup. Instead, when Bertram opened his eyes, he turned the mug upside-down. Nothing came out. “That’s a little more impressive, if you ask me.”

At first he didn’t understand, but when Lewin took the cup he found that it was ice cold. The water inside had frozen. “What magic was that?”

“Fire. When I burned the grass, I needed two reagents: fuel and anger. I used part of the grass as fuel, which is why it burned so quickly. For anger, I used what I always use. The Jiligu Valley pogrom.”

The m******e that took place in Jiligu valley nearly a century ago was one of the worst acts of violence in Irid’s history. A human army had gone there to meet the felians to discuss a truce. The entire human army was killed in the night, and a trading city of humans and dwarves in the valley was then burned. It was a rallying cry of hatred against felians even to the present day.

“You have to burn to use fire magic, at least when you’re a novice like me. Anything that gets your body and mind burning will work, even being terribly embarrassed. The ice is a different matter. Have you ever felt so mad that you could kill someone, but you still didn’t care? Like you could walk into a room, break a man’s neck, and walk out without it bothering you?”

Lewin stared back in surprise. “…no.”

“Oh, neither have I. But I’ve learned a lot from this troupe about acting, which involves forcing myself to feel something that isn’t real. I don’t know how masters of fire magic do it, but to conjure cold I have to feel that terrible sense of icy anger. Magicians have killed themselves attempting that as well. Their bodies simply slow down until their heart stops cold. Worse, though, are the ones who get too used to the sensation of cold anger. There are too many stories of fire magicians who have inexplicably become murderers.”

The Ambassador stared at nothing for a while. The sound of the performance in the distance was joined by the laughter of the audience, and both echoed up the hill. “Are you trying to convince me to abandon magic?”

“No. But I figured this would be a good time to remind you of something: felians are children of fire. They have a knack for this kind of magic. I don’t mind protecting you, in fact I think it’s a great honor, but if they do find us, my magic won’t protect us from them. We’ll need Auren and Shen for that.”

Lewin nodded. “I understand. Trust me, I don’t want to put you in danger.”

“Good. Because Auren isn’t great at avoiding danger.”

Lewin gave half a laugh, but his face remained serious. “Have you ever encountered the felians?”

“Yeah, a few times.”

“What are they like?”

“Explosive. At one moment calm, and murderous the next. They don’t need a reason to kill you, and they don’t need swords either.”

“Are they good at tracking people?”

“On land, they’re masters. Only the ophidians are better. And Lewin? Felians will eat human flesh. They’ll eat just about anything, except dryad. They’ll eat other felians. And the smell of blood makes them hungry. I know you’re the Ambassador, but you listen to me: visit them last. I’d rather take my chances with the cyclopes.”