The Weight of Magic, page 8
part #1 of Restriction Series
“Exactly,” Willa said, not looking in his direction.
Maybe he could help in class.
Then again, she had made it clear that she didn’t want his help. There were plenty of instructors to teach in school, so they didn’t need a failed student.
“Most of you have mastered the first-tier patterns,” she said, and only then did she look in his direction. “Those of you who have not will have to listen rather than work with what I need to teach you. It is time to begin demonstration of some third-tier patterns for those of you who may get to train at the university.”
Had Torian ever had a realistic possibility of going to one of the universities to train, he would’ve snapped it up in a heartbeat. Of course, without having a mastery of the first-tier patterns, Torian would never be able to do much of anything to be of much use as a sahir. He hadn’t even considered that, though increasingly, he realized that he should have been paying attention to what others were trying to imply to him, including Willa and the other instructors. And his father’s comment to him about what he needed to do with his time hadn’t come out of nowhere. His father had been talking to him about what he wanted to do when he left school. Only Torian had not even considered it because he had not even considered the possibility that he would ever need to leave school before he was fully trained.
He'd been an idiot.
“I don’t intend to go on to the university,” Dary said behind him, keeping his voice low. “I’m going into the army.”
Torian glanced over his shoulder at Dary, who was sitting next to Eliza. When he turned back to Willa, she was frowning.
“There are quite a few skilled sahir in the army. In fact, one would argue that it is one of the most important uses of our gifts. We must defend the borders from Rusav if we intend to keep our sovereignty,” Willa said.
At that, Willa branched off into a discussion of politics, about how Navarin had once been a part of a greater empire before they had split off. That had been over thirty years ago, long enough that the people of Navarin had established their own identity. Truth be told, Navarin had always felt as if they were a separate entity. The rugged Warabel Mountains created a border to the north, while the Jesiash River acted as a border along the east. There had been skirmishes over the years, though for the most part, Rusav had left them alone, as the power of the sahir gave the army enough strength to push them off.
“Those who do intend to serve in the army, you must understand runes and patterns explicitly. Perhaps you don’t need to know the high-level patterns quite so well, but you must become beyond proficient to be of any use to the army.” She fixed Dary with a hard gaze. “So I would suggest that you spend as much time studying as you do talking. Otherwise, the army will have little use for you.”
“Or they might send you where you’ll just get blasted away,” Eliza said.
“I’ll show you how to blast,” Dary began, and he started to build a wind pattern between his fingertips.
“That’s enough out of the two of you,” Willa said.
She didn’t seem all that concerned about the fact that Dary had nearly begun to draw upon one of the second-tier patterns in the middle of her classroom and had threatened to use it against another student. Then again, this was Eliza, and Eliza was skilled enough that she probably would have been able to counter it and deflect that pattern without difficulty. Had he attempted to use that against Torian, there wouldn’t have been much that he was able to do. Much like he had not been able to counter his sister using a constriction against him.
First-tier patterns were of limited efficacy when deflecting second-tier or higher patterns. With each tier, the power was concentrated even more, making it difficult to counter without using something of the same level or higher.
“Perhaps we should have you come to the front of the class and demonstrate your runic pattern,” Willa said. “And if you like, you can bring Eliza with you.”
This meant a runic pattern battle. It was a safe use of power, especially here in the school, where the natural protections ensured that no one was really hurt.
Dary got to his feet, sauntering toward the front of the class. He grabbed a piece of paper off of the stack on the table at the front of the classroom and then grabbed a pen as well—one of Torian’s father’s pens, he noted—and dipped it into ink while awaiting Eliza.
“I don’t really want to have a runic battle,” she said. “I am not as confident with that.”
“It’s not a matter of confidence. It’s a matter of practice. And since you thought that it was worthwhile for you to taunt a fellow classmate, I think it’s only prudent to have the two of you demonstrate to the rest of the class just what you might have done had he used his wind pattern on you.”
Eliza reluctantly got up and took a place across from Dary, though she didn’t take a piece of paper quite as quickly as he did. She grabbed for another pen and let out a heavy breath.
Runic battles were not uncommon in the classroom. They were safer than using physical patterns, as the power would be stored inside the rune, which could then be placed at a distance from the students. Runes would be essential for somebody like Dary, who claimed that he wanted to go to the army, as they were useful for fortifying and strengthening weapons used by the army. Even Torian could make some of the basic runes, all first tier, that could help the army. Still, there was a reason that only third tier or higher was called into battle, primarily because the level of power they added to weapons was far more significant.
“You go first,” Dary said, looking over to Eliza. “I can wait.”
Eliza looked over to Willa, and then she hurriedly set to work, scrawling her pen across the page. She had a fluid script, and her pattern flowed from the pen. Even from where he was seated, Torian could tell how well she had created the rune. When she was done, she held her hand above it, and there was a faint fluttering of the page as the power that she pulled through herself went into the rune that she had just made.
Whatever she had done would have to counter what Willa had told Dary to use. There were a few different types of first and second-tier patterns that would counter wind, not the least being fire or perhaps even solidifying the paper with some element of stone. However, from where he sat, he couldn’t tell which she had chosen.
“It is your turn,” Willa said.
Dary hurriedly scratched out his rune, working quickly.
Torian recognized the pattern. Torian had been in the school long enough that he recognized any rune that another student could make, even if he could not himself.
“Now to begin—”
“Willa?”
A voice came from the back of the room, and Torian spun to see who it was. It wasn’t one of the students. He was surprised to see Matthew, the local innkeeper, leaning into the door. He was an older man with salt-and-pepper hair and heavy jowls that made him look as if he were eating as much as he was serving.
“I apologize for the interruption, but there’s something you need to see.”
Willa gave him a hard-eyed stare before letting out a heavy breath and turning to Eliza and Dary. “It seems that we will have to finish this with our next session. Leave the runes on the desk, and we will finish tomorrow.”
She swept out of the room, following Matthew.
“What do you think that was about?” Jensen asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Are you ready?” Dary said.
“She told us to wait.”
“We aren’t waiting.”
He held up his page, and then with a dark grin, power exploded.
Chapter 9
STABLE WORK
After cleaning up the classroom following Dary’s wild use of his runic power, Torian headed back out into the town, though he had Jensen chasing after him.
“You don’t need to follow me,” he said.
“I’m not following. I just don’t have anything else to do. We were supposed to be in class for another hour or so, and my parents aren’t going to be home. What are you going to do?”
He was tempted to tell him that he wasn’t going to babysit Jensen but decided not to be so cruel, as Jensen didn’t deserve that kind of comment. Instead, he shrugged. “I don’t really know. I might go help my father. I need to get better with that anyway.”
“Why?”
“I’m not going to stay in school forever,” Torian said.
“Don’t you need to reach the third tier before they let you leave?”
Torian snorted, and he turned away, heading past Margaret’s bakery. It was late in the day, and she had long since sold out of her breads and sweet treats, but the pleasant aroma still lingered around the store. The building itself was not necessarily unique for Sarot in that it was built out of stone and had a series of runic patterns all along it that had helped to keep it intact over the years. In that, it wasn’t that much different than that stone hut outside of town, only that it was a newer build.
“What are you looking at?” Jensen asked.
“Just the bakery.”
“She’s closed. I tried going in before class.”
Torian chuckled. “She starts early, remember? Which means she closes early.”
Maybe he could see if Margaret needed his help.
Why am I fighting the idea of working with Father?
It wasn’t that his father’s line of work was bad—far from it. And Jakob was right that many people would love the opportunity to work with his father. Here Torian had it, and he kept finding himself daydreaming about every other opportunity that might be out there for him.
“I’ve always liked the runes on her store.”
Torian nodded. The runes were complex and made by true sahir, much like most of the buildings in town. Much of the town was newer construction. The war had hit most places in Navarin hard, so Sarot wasn’t unique in having much of the town left in ruins during the attacks. The temple had been the first hit, partly because those in what was now Rusav believed that Navarin funneled power through the temples.
“Why don’t you get back home?” Torian asked.
He hurried away from Jensen before the boy had a chance to argue and started toward the barns at the edge of town to find Jakob. If nothing else, he suspected that Jensen wouldn’t follow him all the way out here. And at one point, he looked back, thankful to see that he hadn’t come after him. He wasn’t sure what he would have done had he followed. He wanted time to himself.
When he reached the barns, he slowed. There was more activity out here than he had anticipated; then he remembered what Jakob had said about the people coming to the town and how they would need his services. A flash of purple caught his attention, and he nearly tripped.
What’s Willa doing out here?
Hadn’t Matthew come for her?
That would have meant that she’d have been at the inn, which was closer to the center of town, rather than on the outskirts like this.
“What are you doing out here?”
Torian jumped and turned to see Jakob strolling toward him. His saddle hung over his shoulders, and his face had a fresh bruise. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, just a little activity, sort of like I warned you about.”
“This is more than just a little activity. You’ve got Willa out here.”
“We do? I haven’t seen her, but then, I’ve been a bit preoccupied. We had a dozen riders come in, and they all needed help.” He shook his head. “Sounds like they’re coming out of the west, making their way east.” He nodded toward the gathered group. “Conscripts for the army.”
“Why are they coming out of the west?”
“To be honest, I’m not really paying much attention to it, as I have quite a few horses to deal with. The rest of the men are distracted. Guess that’s my price for being the low man.” He pointed to his cheek. “And I got a nice little gift from one of them.” He shook his head. “I was being gentle with that mare, too. I’m not going to any longer.”
Torian looked around him.
Jakob snorted. “You know, if you want the gossip, you can help me out. I’ve got more than enough work. I can show you what you need to do, and you can help me stable the horses, and if any of them need reshoeing, I can take care of that. Or Cory, but he’s been a bit distracted by all of this. Seems like he knows one of the men coming through here.”
“I suppose I could help. Seeing as how you helped me earlier.”
“That’s the only reason that you would help?”
“Well, I don’t really love working with horses.”
“They are gentle and loving creatures. Unless they give you a little kick.” He motioned for Torian to follow, and they headed into one of the nearby barns.
The air smelled of hay and dung, forcing Torian to wrinkle his nose. He immediately began to press his fingertips together into a wind funnel pattern, thinking that he might be able to force some of the stench away from him, though he realized that he needed to be a bit more careful. Instead of letting the wind unleash from them, he tried to just push it away from his nostrils.
“Would you quit?” Jakob asked. “All you’re doing is blowing my hair away.”
“Well, I’m not really blowing anything away. I don’t have enough control to do that.”
“Just let it rest, will you?”
Torian relaxed his hands, and the faint bit of wind that he had started to funnel outward faded into nothingness. He looked over to Jakob and shook his head.
“How about you get water for the horses, scoop some hay, and then see me about what else I could use your help with. Any questions?”
“How much am I going to get paid?”
“Oh, probably about the same as I got paid helping you push that wagon all over town.”
“That was just one errand.”
“It was a heavy wagon.”
Torian laughed and set to work. He’d helped Jakob in the past, though it had been a while. He knew where to find the hay bales and tossed hay into each of the stalls. Gathering water was a little trickier, but Cory had made arrangements to have barrels of water delivered to the barn, as the stream was too far from the stables. At one point, he found himself near the barn door, where he was near enough to the newcomers that he could hear their conversations.
“How certain are you of this?” Willa was saying.
Torian ducked off to the side of the door so as not to be seen. Unlike the buildings in the rest of town, the barn didn’t have any runic markers on it. He’d always wondered why, though he suspected that it had something to do with how wood interacted with patterns like that. It was different than how stone did.
“Quite certain. Have you seen any sign of movement?”
Torian wanted to get closer as he desired to know more about what kind of movement they were talking about. Movement with the war? There wouldn’t be any sign of that out here. They were far enough from the border that there wouldn’t be any reason for there to be anything.
“Not in town.”
“They wouldn’t come into town. Too dangerous. But you might see them in the trees around the town. They are a harbinger for war, after all. Rumors are they’ve started migrating, and you know what that means.”
Willa said something more that he couldn’t hear, which forced Torian to try and slide a little closer so that he could listen in. At one point, he heard Jakob behind him and had to move deeper into the shadows so that his friend wouldn’t realize that he’d stopped working. Torian didn’t need Jakob to come slinking up on him and reveal what he was doing.
“How much time?” Willa asked.
“If we get reinforcements, there should be nothing here.”
“And if not?”
“That’s why we wanted to talk to you. How skilled are the instructors here?”
“We’ve all been trained in the university if that’s your concern. I realize that we might be some remote town to you—”
“We aren’t here to diminish your capabilities. We were passing through and wanted to raise the alarm. That’s all. You will need to be ready in case things take a turn for the worse.”
Now Torian was much more curious, not that he hadn’t been curious before.
Take a turn for the worse?
“What’s going on?” Jakob asked, whispering in his ear.
At least he had the sense to keep his voice down.
Torian pushed him back, getting them both away from the door as he didn’t want Willa to know that he’d heard anything. “War, from the sounds of it.”
“There’s always that danger. You probably don’t hear anything at the school, but we get rumors of war all the time. It all depends on the direction the traveler is coming from.”
“This sounded more serious.”
“They all sound serious, Torian. If you were to believe a man who came through here two years ago out of the north, you would’ve thought that we were only weeks away from complete destruction. Then there was the man only a few months ago out of the south who made it clear that we were in imminent danger of invasion.” He shrugged. “When it comes to Rusav, there’s always rumors of an attack. I would be like you when I first started hearing them, too, so you aren’t the only one who worries. It’s just that Cory helped me see how this goes. You have to suss out the truth from the propaganda.”
Torian went over toward the open doorway, and though he couldn’t hear voices any longer, he did want to get back so that he could listen a bit more. It wasn’t as if he could go to Willa and ask her about what was going on.
“There are so many of them.”
“Oh, that’s also not all that unique. Sometimes we get larger groups that come through here, and you just have to get used to the idea that there are going to be times when things feel a bit more dangerous. Remember, we are still pretty protected from the rest of everything.”
Torian wanted to believe that was true, but there had been an urgency in the man’s voice, along with Willa’s concern. She had never struck him as somebody who would overreact.
“Come on,” Jakob said, pulling him back. “If you don’t help me here, I’m going to be at this most of the night. And I really don’t want to. So do you mind?”
