Forbidden Magic

Chapter 9

Dinner arrived in her room later that afternoon, though Prudence could hardly bring herself to eat. The day’s events still weighed heavily on her, and it was not her mother’s cooking. The partly eaten dish was cleared away a while later.

Feeling exhaustion wash over her, she crawled onto the bed. But the unfamiliarity of the mattress and being in a new place would not let her mind settle for very long. It was a fitful and restless night, spent tossing and turning in between short spurts of sleep. It did not take much for her to rise from the bed as the first moments of sunlight began to illuminate the world outside.

Breakfast was served to her in the same manner as dinner. Yonnie placed it gently on the bedside table before bowing out of the room. Prudence tried to force herself to eat more this morning and managed to choke down some bread soaked in egg yolks. Her nerves were bundled up around her throat as she pondered on what the day would bring.

Dressed in her green skirt, Prudence sat anxiously on the edge of her bed waiting to be summoned for training. A knock at her door caused her to rush toward it. A young man stood on the other side. He was dressed well, with black hair and hazel eyes. He looked to be about the same age as her brother Peter. A pang of sadness rang throughout her heart at the thought of her brother.

“G’morning, I’m Galen. Master Myam told me to fetch you for lessons today.” Galen stood tall and proud, much like his master did.

“Good morning, I’m Prudence,” she replied, giving a small friendly smile. But Galen did not seem to care about being friendly with her. That was something else he and Myam had in common.

Without another word, Galen started walking down the hallway. Prudence watched him for a moment, then quickly closed her door and followed. Before long she was standing in a room in one of the spires. It appeared to be Myam’s workspace, or study. There were books lining the circular walls, different shaped baubles, and weird items Prudence had never seen before. Galen stood beside her unfazed and eyes glued to Myam. The mage had his back towards them reading from a tome that he had perched on the desk.

“Galen, please continue where you left off with your potion works from yesterday. I have some things that I need to work on with the girl that are far beneath your skills.” Myam stated, not even bothering to look up.

“Yes sir,” Galen quickly answered and strode off to one of the tables covered with glass bottles of odd shapes and jars full of different ingredients. Though before he did so, Prudence could have sworn she saw a smug smile on his face at being called superior over her. She drew her lips into a tight line.

“Your name, girl?” Myam questioned, as he turned from his desk and eyed her in her new clothes. He seemed to give a small approving nod to her appearance.

“Prudence…,” she answered, then quickly added, “Sir.” as she remembered the sting from the slap she received yesterday.

“Prudence,” Myam thought about the name for a moment, “means wise and or skilled. Let’s see if you can live up to the meaning of your name.” he motioned her to stand in the middle of the room. She took a few paces forward and stopped where he indicated.

“It's important to understand that magic is not a power you are born with the sudden knowledge to use. Rather, it requires discipline and learning to harness it. You have to learn to call it forth and control it effectively, otherwise, it can cause havoc. Your body acts as a tool to channel this power, but just like anything else in life, it requires effort and energy. The more you use magic, the more it strains your energy levels. Hence, you need to spend years building up your willpower and energy reserves to use magic without feeling exhausted.”

Prudence was listening intently to Myam’s lecture, though she had a feeling this was something that he had preached many times before. He seemed bored of having to repeat it.

“Have you ever wielded magic before?” Myam questioned, though he knew the answer as he was there when the topic of another magic user in their territory had been brought up. He wanted her to answer, instead of assuming.

“Y-yes, sir. At least I think I have,” she answered hesitantly, strongly resisting the urge to fidget with her hands.

“You either have or have not, which is it?” Myam c****d an eyebrow at her.

“I’ve been told I have, but I do not remember doing so each time. I just remember waking back up and seeing the aftermath.” That was the best way to explain both times she had used magic. She did not see the point in lying to Myam, as he would find out the truth eventually, so there was no need for her to claim to know exactly what happened. Myam drew his eyebrows together and gave her a puzzled look, then a scowl formed on his face.

“You mean you’ve been brought here to train, and you can’t tell me if you’ve actually used magic before?” his voice held an annoyed tone as if she was merely wasting his time.

“The first time, my father and brother said it was I who had shoved the wagon over. I would trust their word with my life… I also blacked out when the guards came to bring me here. I do not believe they would have taken me if they had not seen something too… sir.” Prudence rubbed at the chaf marks on her wrists. Myam humphed with annoyance.

“I shall speak to Commander Easton about his encounter with you, and see if he picked up the right person or not.” he stomped over to a shelf, yanked a book out, and returned to stand before her... “Until then, I want you to read up on the history of magic. At least you’ll know something useful, even if you cannot use magic… You can read, can’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” Prudence answered as she gently reached out and grasped the leather-bound book. It was not common for lower-class folks to teach their children how to read. Minnie and Owen did not follow common practice. Owen wrote orders out and kept books of them using math to keep payments together, Minnie had helped with the bookkeeping and wanted their children to write and be able to understand it so they could help out in the shop too. Today she was thankful for her parents' lessons.

“At least that’s something,” Myam scoffed before shoving past her and out the door, slamming it shut as he did so.