Again, Zdenka replied first, “I had to kill one once. It came after me and my dad
when we were out in the Dark Woods hunting for deer for our winter’s meat supply. It
was at least eight feet tall, really hairy, like a giant ape. I hit it with five arrows to its
head before it dropped.”
Bernard added, “According to our studies, Yellers are mean and vicious towards
humans. They are afraid of fires; they scare easily, and are quite easily fooled by
illusions. So fire based spells, fear causing spells, and illusions of same are our best
defense against them. They are stronger than two of our fighters and can easily rip a
man’s arm off. They have a very nasty bite as well. We should avoid all close combats
with them, keeping our distance. Oh yes, they are known to use clubs as well.”
“Very good. Both of you. Now then, who can tell me about banshees?” she asked.
Zoran wanted to redeem himself, he answered this one. “Evil spirit like creatures,
feminine in nature, it is said. Solitary creatures, they only come out at night, seeking
male prey. Their screeching cry can paralyze their victims, which they then eat their
flesh raw. I once saw the remains of a man who fell victim to a banshee, a really bloody,
almost unrecognizable body. They are afraid of bright lights and can be more easily
killed by electrical attacks and even water. It is said that they dare not cross water. The
book suggests that is because they are terrified that they might see their reflections in
the water.”
“Very good, Zoran. That is correct. Now how about the megalowolves?” she
asked, continuing down the list of creatures.
Bernard answered this one. “I’ve run into these rather often when I am out with
my dogs. They are an oversized wolf, really, with giant fangs that can rip flesh from
bones. They often hunt in packs, which is when they are most dangerous indeed. They
fear light and fire, so any spell that creates bright lights or fires will drive them off.”
“Very good, Bernard. Now then, how about the slithers?”
Emil chose to answer this one, reciting mostly what the book had said about
them. From his description, he’d never actually seen one. “These are snake creatures,
whose fangs deliver venom that paralyzes a person. Unlike normal snakes, these grow to
be three feet in diameter and can reach thirty feet in length. Because of their girth, they
can easily eat a human, which makes them dangerous. They are most easily slain by
swords and by spells that do cutting type damage.”
“Good, Emil. Finally, how about paleowasps?”
“I’ll answer this one, because my hawks and I frequently run into these nasty
flying creatures,” Karel growled. “They are a giant sized wasp, really, the adults reaching
three feet in length. Their stinger delivers a nerve agent that first paralyzes the victim
and slowly shuts down all bodily functions. If possible, the females then lay their eggs in
the carcass so that their hatchlings will have a good supply of food upon hatching. Earth
based spells and anything that cancels their flying makes a good defense against them.
Also, my hawks are excellent at catching them while they are in flight.”
“Excellent. Now that you have an appreciation for the lands in which we live, it is
time that we begin learning the spells necessary to protect ourselves and others,” she
replied, knowing from all the smiles that her students were very ready to begin learning
spells.
In early June, Zoran’s sister made telepathic contact with him for the first time.
Zoran, can you talk?
It was Rayna! At once from that gentle mental touch, Zoran
realized just how much that he had missed his sisters all these months!
I’m here. Yes, please! I miss you and Lida loads. How is everything? Are you
two okay?
Yes, we are fine, really we are. How about you? Lida and I really miss you too!
I’m doing great. I’m studying under a terrific Archmage, but I best not tell you
who right now. I’ve made some new friends and am learning spells like never before.
I am so glad that you found a way to continue! Magic is so important. Well, dad
was furious when he finally figured out that you ran away. He sent out messages to all
the other barons inquiring if they had seen you. Of course, none had. He called on
Milos to attempt to track you, but you did a good job of covering your trail. He even
went so far as to ask the priests to track your Shadow Walk. He was fuming when they
couldn’t pick up your trail! I’ve never seen him so mad. Radek isn’t of the same mind
though. He keeps saying good riddance and all that. I think he really does dislike you,
Zoran. Perhaps he was behind the three assassination attempts. Lida and I are keeping
an eye on him.
Any news from the Court?
Well, dad held a secret conference with some other barons. He is now planning
a big summer offensive against the Sholov Province and warlord Mikolas. He thinks
that he can take that whole province this summer. I hope he loses big time. Oh! Mom’s
coming. I best stop for now. More later when I know something. Love you, Zoran.
Love you too, Rayna. Tell Lida I love her too.
The connection was suddenly
broken. Zoran sighed, “I sure do miss my sisters.” He pulled his covers up and drifted
into sleep.
Having finished their study of basic background information, the group began to
work on learning actual spells. Archmage Nadia followed the same pattern as had
Zoran’s previous teacher, that is, she began their education with the simple, useful spells
that one might use around the home or workplace. Spells such as Mend, Warm, Chill,
and Clean were easily learned by everyone in the group, though Zuzanna found them
challenging. Zoran realized that Zuzanna was only going to be able to master the very
beginning spells and would have to be content to be an Adept, which status she greatly
desired.
Once they began to tackle the real spells as Bernard called them, things began to
take a fascinating turn, at least as far as Zoran was concerned. When he was getting his
training from Archmage Milos, he was the only student. Now he had the opportunity to
work with his new friends and see how well others mastered the spells. The results he
found surprising and unexpected.
Each person seemed to be able to learn only a subset of all possible spells,
excepting himself, strangely enough. Then, perhaps not, he thought; I am a Duska, so
perhaps that has something to do with spell casting. In fact, the ease and speed with
which any given individual mastered a given spell varied in a way he began to find
interesting. So much so, that Zoran began charting each spell that his friends mastered.
He was not too surprised to find that Jarka tended to rapidly pick up any spell
that had anything remotely to do with thieving. For example, the Intruder Warning,
Alter Appearance, Charm Another, Understand Foreign Languages, Detection of Magic,
Grow and Shrink, Erase, Gentle Fall, Hold Door, Identify Magical Item, Jump, Wizard
Message, Create Magical Shield, Climb, and Scare spells she excelled at and learned very
rapidly. Whereas with the key beginning attacking spells of Magical Arrow, Flaming
Fingers, and Sleep, Jarka struggled mightily to learn them, nearly giving up on them.
Zdenka excelled with any spell that allowed her to exercise a good measure of
control over an object. She readily picked up the Magical Arrow and Sleep spells, along
with such spells as Alter Fires, Grow and Shrink, Gentle Fall, Hold Door, Jump, Fog
Cloud, and Move Object. In fact, she realized that all along she had been using magical
energies to move her arrows to hit the bull’s eye. “Every time I shoot an arrow, if I see it
going off a little, I sort of pushed it back on track. No wonder I always won the archery
contests!” she exclaimed in a rush of realization. On the other hand, she could not seem
to master the creation of illusions at all.
Bernard picked up any spell that dealt with animals or of the earth very rapidly,
whereas Karel rapidly caught on to any spell dealing with the air, such as Fly. He also
picked up spells that dealt with animals quickly. Both men found spells that altered
men’s minds nearly impossible to learn, such as Charm Another.
Emil and Renata also had a predictable side as well as an unpredictable aspect,
Zoran soon discovered. Unlike the others, the spells that they managed to learn were far
fewer and seemed randomized. For example, while they were able to learn Alter
Appearance, they failed to learn Grow and Shrink, two closely related spells. With these
two, Zoran soon learned that if the spell had anything to do with fire or electrical
charges, these two were certainly among the first to learn it. Strange indeed, he thought
to himself. Well, they are different and come from some distant land, he rationalized for
a time.
On into June, this same pattern continued, as they all progressed through the
fundamental spells through what Archmage Nadia called Grade 3. Zoran was very
surprised to find that Emil and Renata were able to cast a Ball of Fire almost as soon as
they read the casting details! Similarly, when these two got to the Lightning Bolt spell,
both picked it up immediately, shocking all of the others, who really had to work with
these two spells, their most powerful spells to date.
Of course by the end of June when they all finished up their attempts to learn the
spells of Grade 3, everyone else had strange ideas about Zoran. He saw himself merely
filling in spells that he had either not seen under Milos or had not yet had the time to
learn. His friends didn’t see it that way, however. One afternoon after a particularly
frustrating session, Karel griped, “Zoran, what’s with you anyway? You are mastering
every darn spell we come across! No one else here is able to do that! Not Zdenka, not
Jarka, not Emil, not Renata, not Bernard, not myself. Only you. What gives with you
anyway? How come you are able to do all these spells, over a hundred of them now and
we can’t? What do you have to say about that?” He was angry as usual.
“Yes, how is it that you are the superman?” Jarka sneered rather covertly.
Zdenka was going to suggest that this was because he was a nobleman, but
thought better of it. After all, most noblemen couldn’t cast any spells. She was as baffled
by it as the others.
“Probably because we are not as smart as he is,” Bernard added rather bored with
the whole discussion. “Besides, he already had a good deal of training before he came
here. He’s just ahead of us, that’s all.” Emil and Renata eyed Zoran, eager to hear his
answer, perhaps wondering if he might share his secret for spell mastering with them.
Zoran couldn’t risk speculating; it would come too close to what he was. Instead,
he picked up on Bernard’s statement. “Bernard’s right. I have studied under another
Archmage a while back, so I already knew half of the spells. This time, I picked up some
of those I missed and a few that he didn’t teach me back then. He and I didn’t get along,
rather nasty fellow for my liking.” This seemed to appease them, but Karel still grumbled
about it all and shot him a dirty look.
On the next Sunday, their day off, Jarka came back with some startling news.
“Hey, you all need to hear what I just found out!” She was more animated than normal.
“Dragons are back!”
“What?” exclaimed Zoran. Many other expressions followed in rapid fire.
“There’s no such thing as a dragon. It’s just stories made up to scare kids,”
Zdenka added.
“No, really,” Jarka insisted. “Evzen, the Hunter — he was out hunting near Devil’s
Peaks, and he saw one flying over the peak carrying something. Everyone’s talking about
it. Dragons are back. Honestly, go to any inn and ask. Everyone’s heard about it now.
Happened a week ago Friday night.”
“Jarka, there
aren’t
dragons around here. They are just a myth. No one has ever
seen a dragon,” Bernard said, having already become bored with this talk of mythical
beasts.
“I don’t even know what a dragon actually is,” Zoran added. “What do they look
like anyway? Are they dangerous? Have any of you seen a dragon?”