Half-Wizard Thordric Collection

Chapter 7

Thordric fought with himself all evening, pacing back and forth in his room. He began stepping so loudly that his mother had to shout up the stairs to get him to stop. He almost told her then, but his inner voice started asking, why should he? It was none of his business after all, and if the inspector had thought him trustworthy enough to be left alone, he wouldn’t have seen anything. But he had.

why should heWhy did he care about it anyway? High Wizard Kalljard had hated half-wizards, and so Thordric had hated him. Why should he be concerned that his death was not as it appeared to be? Because I’m decent, he thought to himself. He was part of the local police after all, even if he was just an errand boy.

Because I’m decent,In that instant, he found he’d already made his choice and, feeling a lot less guilty, he marched downstairs to find his mother.

‘Oh, Thordric,’ she said, looking up from her desk. ‘What were you doing up there? I thought the mountains had taken it upon themselves to crash down around us.’

‘I was only thinking.’

‘Thinking about what?’ she said.

‘About Kalljard’s body,’ he replied, his voice quavering a little. He coughed, forcing it to behave.

‘High Wizard Kalljard, Thordric. Yes, I must say I’ve been thinking about it too. The way the inspector described it made it sound fascinating, I would love to have a look myself, from a professional point of view.’

High Wizard‘I think you might be able to yet,’ Thordric said, shifting his weight from side to side.

‘What do you mean? The official burial will be closed casket, and it’s unlikely that I’ll make it with all the work I’ve got to do.’

‘That’s not exactly what I meant. I-I saw something on it, while I was there with the inspector. And there was a strange smell too,’ he mumbled.

‘Bodies do tend to smell, Thordric, even if it was only an hour or so after he passed away.’

do‘This was different, mother. I think it was the smell of magic, strong magic,’ he said earnestly.

She raised her eyebrows. She hated him mentioning magic. ‘Well, he was a wizard, Thordric. If anyone were to smell of magic, I would suspect it would be him.’

‘No, mother, listen to what I’m trying to tell you. There was a brown dot above his ear, and that was where the smell was coming from. The rest of him only smelt old and musty. The dot looked like it had been marked there by magic.’

She drew herself up at this, and Thordric knew he had said the wrong thing. ‘How do you know it was put there by magic?’ she said, her voice cold.

Thordric didn’t answer.

‘Thordric?’ she said, her voice an octave higher. Still, he said nothing. He didn’t need to, for she had already guessed. ‘Thordric Manfred Smallchance! You have been trying to do magic, haven’t you? Tell me why, this instant!’

He gave in and told her. ‘But you could have injured yourself…or worse!’ she screeched.

‘I wasn’t in any danger; she wouldn’t have let me do it if I was.’

‘She? She? Who is this she?’

She?she‘The inspector’s sister,’ he said, and told her all about the inspector sending him over there to help with chores.

‘Lizzie? Why…she…I…’ she said, flustered. ‘But she’s such a grand lady, I can’t imagine her even considering marrying a half-wizard, let alone teaching my own son such, such…’ her voice trailed off, struggling to find the words. Suddenly she got up and dashed to pick up her coat from the rack. ‘I’ll show her what she can teach you,’ she snarled, grabbing him by his collar and marching him out of the door.

It was dark by now, and purple fires hung in the air, giving them light. Thordric, despite his mother’s clamping grip, stopped to look at them. They had been yellow like normal fire the last time he had been out this late; that new rainbow magic was really catching on.

His mother didn’t let him dawdle for long, increasing her grip as though she thought he might run off.

With this pace, they arrived at Lizzie’s house before midnight. Despite the lateness, Lizzie answered the door fully dressed and without any hint of surprise. Thordric sighed as he saw that she’d put her hair in a tight bun again; back into schoolteacher mode.

‘Why, Maggie,’ she said to his mother. ‘It’s been such a long time, please come in.’ She stepped aside so they could go through, greeting his mother’s glare as if it were one of the warmest smiles in the world. ‘Hello, boy. I didn’t expect to see you so soon, considering all the to-do at the council.’

Thordric mumbled a greeting back, glancing at his mother to see if she was going to start shouting again, but she was too taken aback by Lizzie’s welcome to speak. Lizzie led them into the kitchen, where the kettle was already boiling on the stove. ‘I assume you still have milk and one sugar, Maggie?’ she asked.

‘I do, y—’ Thordric’s mother began, but Lizzie was already talking again.

‘I know why you’re here, Maggie. You’ve come to tell me how wicked I am for teaching Thordric how to control and use his magic.’

‘Yes,’ his mother said quietly, having lost her steam.

Lizzie handed them both tea and pulled out the remains of the cake she had made earlier. ‘Have you considered, Maggie, that all this nonsense about half-wizards that the council spreads is exactly that –nonsense?’ She paused, taking a sip of tea. ‘Half-wizards are only half due to their parents, Maggie. It doesn’t necessarily mean their magic is any weaker than a full wizard’s. Your boy here probably has powers equal to those on the lower levels of the council.’

‘But everyone knows that half-wizard magic ends in failure in the end. It’s documented in history,’ his mother said.

‘Yes, the failures are indeed well documented. What is left out is how many half-wizards have actually managed to use their powers successfully.’

‘What do you mean, how many? Half-wizards are rare; the ones documented were the only ones around at the time.’

‘Oh, don’t be so naive, Maggie! Half-wizards are everywhere, but they’re too afraid to try out their magic, since everyone tells them from the moment they’re born that they’re doomed to failure. Thordric here has tremendous potential, but if he wants to avoid making a mess of things, he has to be trained.’

Thordric’s ears perked up. ‘You-you think I have potential?’ he said.

‘Of course I do, boy. I wouldn’t be bothering with you otherwise. You had so much pent-up magic that it would only have been a matter of time before you accidently caused a disaster with it.’

‘But that proves the Wizard Council’s theory!’ his mother burst out. ‘Half-wizard magic is dangerous.’

Lizzie banged down her teacup, splashing tea and cake crumbs everywhere. ‘Margaret Smallchance,’ she blared. ‘Stop believing what the council says and use your own brain. All magic can be dangerous without the proper training. My poor husband spent most of his life trying to hone his powers and use them without causing harm. Full wizards don’t have to do that. Their training starts when they are merely toddlers and they never have to suffer such risks as he did. Do you understand now? Half-wizard magic only fails because they don’t get the chance to train it as full wizards do.’

AllShe sank back in the chair, bringing out the handkerchief again to dab her eyes. Thordric’s mother sat there gaping. After a moment she managed to clear her throat. ‘I, um…I’d never thought of it like that. Do you really believe Thordric can be as great as a full wizard?’ she said.

‘Oh, Maggie, wake up,’ Lizzie said, straightening. ‘Thordric doesn’t need to be as great as a full wizard. He can be great as a half-wizard.’

At this, two fat tears appeared in his mother’s eyes, and she began weeping too. ‘I’m so sorry, Thordric,’ she said. ‘Please have my approval of your magic lessons.’

Thordric fell off his chair. ‘Y-you approve? Really?’ He got up and rubbed his side. His mother inclined her head, and a huge grin spread across his face. He hugged her tightly, and Lizzie too, before dancing around the kitchen again. Somehow the copper kettle had resumed its role as his dancing partner. Then, in a moment of clarity, he let go of the kettle, ignoring the pain as it hit his foot. He needed to tell Lizzie about Kalljard!

Stuttering with excitement, he retold his story of going to see the body, and of the strange smell coming from the mark. ‘The mark was like the ones you asked me to put on the tree, Lizzie, only a different colour,’ he said.

‘You’re certain?’ she asked.

‘Yes, but it was more refined than mine.’

‘Well, well, well,’ she said, tapping her cheek with her fork. ‘Maggie, I think you’d better get the inspector to release the body over to you. It seems there has been some foul play after all.’ She suddenly let out a girlish squeal. ‘How exciting!’

The next morning Thordric appeared in the inspector’s office with his mother at his side. Ignoring the inspector’s curling moustache, they explained what Thordric had seen on Kalljard’s body.

‘I have to examine it, Inspector. Just to be sure,’ Thordric’s mother said.

‘I don’t know about this, Maggie. How can he be certain what he saw?’ he replied.

‘He wouldn’t lie, Inspector.’ She paused. ‘Please, Jimmson, do this for me. We have to know, after all.’ She fluttered her delicate eyelashes at him, and he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Thordric tried not to snigger.

‘I-I’ll see what I can do,’ the inspector replied at last. ‘No promises though, Maggie. They won’t like releasing the body to us.’ He got up and put on his jacket and coat, smoothing down his moustache again. ‘I’d best be off over there then,’ he said.

‘Oh, we’re coming with you, Inspector,’ Thordric’s mother said. The inspector’s moustache stuck out again at her words. ‘I am the official pathologist after all; it would look highly suspicious if I wasn’t present. And Thordric was there last time, so you may as well take him this time, too.’

‘Fine,’ the inspector said. ‘But let me do the talking.’

‘I must warn you, Inspector, that this is highly inappropriate,’ the wizard who had led them around before said. ‘We shall need to hear the grounds on which you base this ill-considered theory of yours!’

They were in the entrance hall of the Wizard Council. No one would let them go any further without an explanation. At least half of the members were standing around them, and Thordric could almost feel their anger.

‘Calm yourselves,’ the inspector said. ‘We simply need to carry out a simple post-mortem to find out the true cause of death. I know it is against your usual protocol, but the circumstances were certainly unusual.’

‘Nonsense! There was nothing unusual about his death,’ the wizard said. ‘He simply felt he had lived long enough and thought it was time for his eternal rest.’

At this another wizard stepped forwards from the crowd and put a hand on his shoulder, standing a full head higher than his friend. He looked solemnly at the inspector and sighed. ‘It is strange that his reverence would not think to inform us of his decision, though. Even you cannot argue that, Rarn,’ he said. ‘If the inspector here believes that is adequate ground to open an investigation upon, then we must accept it.’ He tuned to the inspector. ‘Forgive me, Inspector. I am Wizard Vey, one of the candidates for the position of High Wizard. I’m afraid my brethren are very set in their ways. Perhaps we can have lunch together and discuss the matter further?’

‘That would be delightful,’ Thordric’s mother said, giving a slight curtsey. The inspector caught the look she gave Wizard Vey, and his moustache bristled. He bowed stiffly, motioning to Thordric to do the same. Vey clapped his hands, dispersing the angry crowd of wizards and ignored their rude comments.

He took them down the corridor and made a sharp left to another corridor, making his shoulder-length dark hair sway to the side. Thordric had deep suspicions that the building changed with the wizard’s will, for he certainly hadn’t noticed a corridor leading left before.

The corridor was slightly lighter than the previous one, and the fires hanging by the walls were a pleasant pink. There were no doors to the sides to reveal what went on, simply a long steady path that sloped up gently.

Just when Thordric’s feet began to ache, they came to an ornately carved door depicting a cherry tree in full blossom. Wizard Vey opened it, and Thordric blinked. The very same cherry tree was now in front of them, for real. They were in the council’s garden, and he had to admit that it was even lovelier than the rumours described.

Although the cherry tree was the main feature, situated in the very centre, other trees surrounded the area, all as delicate-looking. Thordric couldn’t help gazing at them as Vey led them to a large, oval table, carved from rose quartz. He sat down and noticed a tree directly opposite him. It had a blue trunk and bright yellow leaves; the one next to it was purple and didn’t have any leaves at all. Instead, the branches were covered in soft-looking fur. He soon found that the cherry tree was the only normal tree in the whole garden.

‘You will forgive me for the long walk here, won’t you?’ Wizard Vey said, pouring Thordric’s mother and the inspector a glass of sparkling white juice, made from a fruit that had the power to induce instant giggling in anyone under the age of twenty. Thordric frowned as he was served only water.

‘Why, of course,’ Thordric’s mother said, beaming. The inspector had to quickly cover his moustache with his hands to stop her from seeing it curl up to his nostrils.

‘We have so few guests, I thought it only right to bring you here,’ Vey continued, smiling slightly so that his short beard parted down the middle. ‘Still, it does seem a shame that we have to talk over such a macabre subject.’

With his moustache smoothed down again, the inspector spoke up. ‘Macabre as it may be, it is of the utmost importance. I’m sure your brethren would feel much better knowing the true cause of his death.’

A young wizard with trembling hands appeared from behind one of the stranger trees, balancing four bowls on his arms. He served them quickly, and to Thordric’s delight he found that the starter was one of the special rainbow soups that had recently been developed. Every time he dipped in his spoon, it changed to a different colour, though to his disappointment the flavour remained the same.

‘Tell me,’ Vey said. ‘What exactly is it that has caused you such concern? Rarn told me yesterday that you hardly looked at the body, other than to pay your respects. He did mention that your errand boy here seemed very curious though.’ He looked at Thordric with interest, and Thordric opened his mouth to speak, but remembered the inspector had said he was deaf and dumb. However, the movement hadn’t been lost on Vey.

‘What is it you saw, boy? Don’t be afraid to speak,’ he said. He seemed so much more trusting than the other wizards that Thordric had met that he didn’t hesitate.

‘A small dot above his ear, you say?’ Vey said afterwards. ‘Yes, I admit magic does sometimes leave a mark like that. Although what someone was doing practicing magic on High Wizard Kalljard is anyone’s guess.’

The inspector broke in. ‘We strongly believe it had something to do with his death. It does sound a lot like a target mark,’ he said.

Vey’s eyes widened. ‘Surely you’re not suggesting…’

‘I’m afraid so,’ the inspector said. ‘My pathologist and I strongly believe that High Wizard Kalljard was murdered.’