The Weight of Magic, page 5
part #1 of Restriction Series
“Quite a bit, actually. The instructors tell us we can learn about the different protections of the temple by studying them. It’s a way of learning how the old sahir once served the Saith.”
“And failed to keep Navarin safe. All because Rusav wanted to cleanse these lands. The sahir then couldn’t save us. Only the Saith.”
Torian wanted to argue with his father, but he knew how he felt about their training. They were permitted to attend school because they had potential, and it increased his standing to have children training as sahir, but he didn’t necessarily care for it. The sahir were the only thing that kept Rusav from sweeping through Navarin and attacking again. “We don’t really know what happened then.”
The temple had been destroyed long enough ago that few records of that time remained. There were records of what the temple had looked like before its destruction, and they had taken plenty of time to document how it now looked, but details of the war itself were sparse. Mostly because people of his town had evacuated to avoid most of the fighting.
“And why did Liana come back before you?”
Torian wasn’t about to get his sister into trouble, not that it made much difference, anyway. His parents favored Liana in ways they never had Torian, especially after what happened to Leven. “It doesn’t really matter.”
His father turned to him. “Does that mean you are having troubles with your sister?” he asked, with more insight than he usually possessed. “She is the younger sibling, and most of the time, younger siblings are a bit jealous of their older brothers or sisters. I wasn’t so different with my brother.”
“I didn’t realize that you and Uncle Owald had any trouble.”
“I wouldn’t say that it’s trouble. He and I get along fairly well, but we didn’t always. When we were younger, there were times when I was jealous of him. He always tended to get what he wanted.” He started to laugh, pausing with his hand over the carving that he made. Torian didn’t know what this one was for, only that it was long, slender, and irregularly shaped. “I suppose he would make the same claim about me, though. And he might even be right. Not that I would tell him that.” He chuckled and turned back to his work. “I figure that when you’re older, you will be more concerned about her. That is the way of such things. Then again, she has a bit more talent than you, so maybe she’ll be the one looking out for you and your best interest.”
“Thanks for that,” Torian said, feeling as if this conversation were unnecessary. Torian always tried to look out for his sister’s best interest. He knew he did not have her potential and figured that of them, she’d progress to train at the university.
“There is no use in denying the truth. How does that help you?”
“I suppose it doesn’t.”
His father grunted. “It does not. All you do by ignoring the truth is find ways to ignore your own. Trust me when I tell you that you need to find your own path, Torian. All men do. And you are very nearly a man now.” He set the chisel down. “Which is why I think your mother sent you here.”
“To talk to me about becoming a man?”
His father motioned to a pair of stools off near one wall, and Torian joined him, taking a seat. The light inside the workshop was faint, and his father hesitated a moment near his lantern, spinning the dial to increase the burn of the oil before taking a seat across from him. He swept his gaze around the inside of the workshop before looking back at him. “It’s good that you came out here. I’ve been trying to get you to come out here more often lately.”
“I don’t have your hand.”
“I know that. And when I was younger, I didn’t have the same steadiness, either. It took me a long time to develop it. Much like it will take you to develop your own steadiness. When you do, you will find the work to be more rewarding than you can imagine.”
Torian didn’t want to tell his father that he didn’t have any interest in working in the shop, as he suspected that would only irritate him.
“It pays well. As you know. And there is a level of respectability to others in the town. That can be important, you know.”
“What are you saying?”
His father turned. “I thought your mother wanted us to talk about this later, but I wonder if perhaps this was her plan all along. Maybe she knew that you needed to have this conversation now. You are going to be sixteen soon enough.”
“I have a little time,” Torian said. At least half a year, he thought but didn’t say. “Why?”
“Well, you’ve been studying for a long time now, and while your teachers all speak highly of you and your diligence and dedication to the studies, they have made it clear that you are nearing the end of what they feel they can teach. Can’t say that I have much experience with such things, as that was never my talent, but I do understand reaching a point of diminishing returns.” He grabbed something off the shelf and held it out. “I used to fasion myself as a bit of a woodcarver, thinking I could create small figurines and sell them. This was just one of my attempts, though. Unfortunately, it is one of my better attempts.”
Torian had seen one of the sculptures in his father’s shop before. The wood had some irregularities to the surface of it, and the carving itself seemed a bit amateurish, nothing at all like the skillful turnings that his father usually made.
“I’d heard that carvings like this could be useful to those with particular talents. I thought that I might be able to sell them. It turns out they are a fair bit more difficult than I realized.” He snorted, taking the small figurine back and setting it on the shelf. “I keep it here as a reminder of what I can do, but also as a reminder of what I can’t do. I’m one of the best woodturners in this region. I’m not a terrible carpenter, but that’s not really where I make my money. It’s my turnings. Once I realized that, I began to focus my time and effort on where I could have the most success.”
“I’m not really sure what you are trying to say,” Torian said.
“I’m trying to tell you that I think it’s time for you to focus on where you can have the most success.”
“You want me to come and work with you in the shop?”
That would mean leaving school.
It would mean leaving his studies.
But then, when his father had started talking, it had been clear that was what his father intended for him. And his mother. He had become a burden. He had reached his potential, such as it was and was unlikely to progress any further. That was what his father implied.
“Not in the shop. Well, maybe. I’m not sure. I doubt this is where you will find your talent,” he said dismissively. “Can’t say I know where you’ll be useful, to be honest. You haven’t spent that much time here in the past, and the time that you have spent with me has not been the most productive. Perhaps if you buckled down, as my father used to say, and dedicate yourself to your studies here the way that you dedicated yourself to your studies in school, you might prove yourself useful.”
Useful.
That was all his father wanted from him. And he felt Torian was not useful.
Have I been? Ever since Leven passed, even the Saith doesn’t have any use for me.
“So you don’t want me to continue with school.”
“Have you been making any progress?”
Torian considered his answer before speaking. His father didn’t understand anything about the school, and from the look he gave Torian, he suspected he didn’t care to hear anything more.
“I can perform the primary patterns and usually make most of the first-tier patterns.” Of course, he had not achieved enough fluency with them to have tested beyond the first-tier patterns, even though he had begun to study some of the second-tier patterns. “I’m not as fast as some, but I haven’t stalled altogether.”
“Your mother has been speaking to the headmaster. She is really the one to talk to about all of this and not me, but from what I understand, your progress has been slow. Perhaps slow enough that you will be unlikely to make meaningful progress in a timely fashion. Once she told me, I went and had words with her. From what I understand, you’re keeping your instructors occupied teaching you when they think they could be better served working with students who have a bit more potential. I can’t disagree with that assessment.”
His father’s words sunk in. And they were surprisingly hard to hear. He had always known that he did not have the same potential as so many others at the school, but his father made him sound like he was a failure and that he was never going to amount to much. It was one thing to know his own challenges and to question what he might be capable of doing, but it was another thing altogether to have others question him, as well.
“Don’t be looking so glum. We have already paid for the term, so you have a little time remaining, but we wanted you to begin thinking about what you will do with your time once your session ends. I’d welcome you here in the shop, but if you aren’t useful, then I can use some of my contacts to try to find you an alternative placement.”
Torian nodded numbly. His mind wasn’t working the way that it needed to. He couldn’t help but feel as if he were told that he simply was not good enough.
His father reached over, taking his hand and squeezing it. “Sometimes the hard path is the one that forces you to grow the most.” He leaned back, releasing Torian’s hand. “I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it’s something that my father said to me.” He turned and nodded to the figurine resting on a shelf. “You will find your way. It just may not be the one you thought.” He got to his feet. “Now. Since you are here, and I still have some work to do, I wouldn’t mind your help. You can sweep the shop and restock my lumbar supplies. If you head down to the mill, I’m sure they can provide you with a fresh wagon full of sawn oak which I need. I’ve already paid for it, so you just have to wheel it back.”
His father got up, headed back to his lathe, and set the work.
Torian was slower to get up.
What a terrible day. First, his sister used her constriction on him, then he got trapped in the storm with the shadow wolf—or weven wolf, as he wasn’t sure which it was—and now this?
What else could go wrong?
Chapter 6
OAK AND HOLLY
“Everybody says things come in threes,” Jakob said, striding alongside him. “When you see a pair of pretty girls, you always have to look for the third one.”
Jakob was about Torian’s age, with wild dark hair and eyes that always darted everywhere, as if looking for someone new and exciting to talk to. He had no magical talent whatsoever. He had never been enrolled in school, as he had never demonstrated any real talent, though he could perform some of the basic primary patterns like so many in town, but wouldn’t be able to reach any first-tier patterns. Not that it mattered for Jakob. His parents didn’t have any money to afford it anyway. For students with enough potential, finances were never really an issue, though the school was known to take every last penny that families had. Still, for the right students, that investment would be returned a thousandfold once finished with school. He followed as Torian pulled on the wagon, dragging it through the street with another bundle of fresh sawn oak.
“So that should be it,” Torian said.
“If you believe in such things. I’m not saying that I do. Some people are just lucky, and some are just unlucky.” He stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest as he appraised Torian, who continued walking and pulled the wagon behind him. “You’re not even going to give me a chance to decide what you are?”
“You think I don’t know which I am?”
“Well, you’ve got parents who care about you, right?” Jakob scrubbed a hand through his black hair, looking up at Torian. “They paid for you to go to school for all this time, even though you haven’t progressed much. And your father even offered to take you in and train you. You know how many people in town would love an opportunity to work with Vand Ranth? Quite a few, I can tell you. If your father wanted me to work with him, I would take him up on that offer.” He shifted his dirt-stained brown jacket, offering a bit of a shrug to Torian.
“You could have it, but you already have an apprenticeship.”
“Right, and I should hold onto my training as a farrier and give up the opportunity to work with Vand.” He shook his head. “Well, if I could do anything, I’d get out of town and see a bit of Navarin. Since that’s not happening, and given that those other two things are true, I would actually say that you are fairly lucky. Maybe not as lucky as your sister. Does she know?”
“I don’t know if they’ve told her or not.”
It had been two days since Torian’s father had his special conversation with him, as he had referred to it that evening at dinner. And in the days that had followed, he had drawn Torian into running errands for him more often than he usually did. He had made more trips to the mill than he normally did in a month. Torian figured it was his father’s way of taking his mind off things, or perhaps it was simply his way of showing Torian that he could be of use working with him in his shop.
“How do you think she’s going to take it?”
“You’ve met my sister, right?”
“You don’t have to be like that. I’m just saying that it’s going to be strange for her, too. She’s not going to have you there at school to help her.”
“I’m not sure that I have ever been that much help to her. Well, not lately. When she first went to school, I might have been of some help.”
“What about the others?”
“The only one I think that will be disappointed that I’m not going to be there will be Jensen,” he said, rounding the corner and pausing near the town square. Today was market day, where farmers from outside of town, as well as people who had larger gardens inside of town, would gather and sell fruits and vegetables. A few minor craftsmen who attempted to break into the crafting guild also brought items to the market to sell. He’d forgotten about it, as the market hadn’t been up and running when he had come through here before. Though it was early morning, it was already busy, as most people in town knew to get to the market as soon as it was up and running if they wanted a chance at the higher quality produce. Tables were set up with some of the farmers standing behind them, though often they had their wives or children manning the tables. “And I think Jensen doesn’t have much to worry about, anyway. He is really the favored student. At least, he is right now.”
“You don’t think he’s always going to be?”
“Eventually, he’s going to get sent on to the university. And I doubt it will be very long before that happens. He’s that good.”
He pushed the wagon around the outside of the market when he caught sight of his sister walking with Eliza. Every time he saw Liana, he considered telling her that he was going to have to leave school, but every time he got close to telling her that, he hesitated. He had no idea what his parents had said to her, and a part of him remained a bit concerned that she wouldn’t be terribly upset.
“You know, you never did tell me what you ran into. You said there was a story.”
“Did I?”
“When I caught you after you first talked to your father. Don’t you remember?”
“Not exactly,” he said, but that was because everything that day had been a bit of a blur to him. “And I don’t know how much of a story it really is. At the time, I thought that maybe there was something to it, but…” He shrugged, dragging the wagon past the market and onto one of the quieter surrounding streets. The central streets were easily wide enough for the wagon and the crowd, but Torian didn’t want anything to do with the crowd. So he chose side streets where they had to pull the wagon off to the side of the road and up against the neighboring buildings to allow any passersby to get through. Even then, it was easier to push the wagon when he wasn’t fighting through a crowd.
In the days since he had felt like everything had overwhelmed him, he had given more thought to the wolf that he had seen. Maybe it hadn’t been a shadow wolf. Lorent was probably right, in that what he had come across had been one of the more common weven wolves and not the incredibly rare shadow wolf.
“Go on,” he said.
“Well, when I was in the storm, I thought I came across a shadow wolf.”
“And survived?”
“It was injured, I think. I tossed it some food and…. Well, I told you it wasn’t much of a story. Lorent suggested that it was probably a weven wolf as they are quite a bit more common and are unlikely to attack.”
“Because they are basically dogs,” Jakob said, taking one handle of the wagon and dragging it. Jakob was almost the same size as Torian, and his work as a farrier made him strong. “You see packs of them from time to time outside of the city.”
“You do?”
“I’m not saying that I go outside of the city, but when people travel, and they come by and need their horses reshoed, sometimes they talk. I’ve heard stories about wolves outside of town, though nothing recently. Sometimes they will follow travelers, begging for scraps. There is even one man who came through here a few years ago who claimed that he had domesticated one. I suppose it’s possible, but can you imagine wanting one of those creatures as a pet? They stink.”
“I don’t know how they smell.”
“Almost as bad as a skunk, but… Well, as bad as a skunk. One time, we had somebody who came through and had been traveling with one of the weven wolves. I thought it was just him, but Cory told me it was the sign of the wolf.”
Torian found himself frowning. The wolf that he had seen hadn’t smelled, but then again, he had been out in the middle of the storm, and maybe the stink had washed off.
“Now what is it?” Jakob asked.
“Thinking.”
“Well, don’t think so quietly. If you’ve come up with something, share it.”
“I was just thinking that I didn’t smell anything unpleasant.”
