Guardians of Magessa (The Birthright Chronicles Book 1) (28 page)

"My family, no, my whole
town
has to be the most uneducated place in all of Magessa when it comes to magic.
They do not understand how it works or any of its limitations. There have been
no magicians born there in all of recorded history and the view of magic
wielders is less than superb. Nevertheless, when my talents became known, my
father saw their advantage almost immediately.

"As with most families, we had a
business that pretty much everyone was employed in. The problem was that
my
family's business happened to be less than legal. Counterfeiting, swindling,
and burglary were how we made our living. As I said before, as soon as my
father found out that I could use magic, he saw the advantages that such a
skill could have for him. The problem was, he had no idea how magic worked or
about any of its limitations. He assumed that because I could use magic, I
could do anything.

"My specialty is defensive magic.
Physical shields, magical shields, mental shields are what I can do best. I can
even directly combat what another magician is doing if I have enough warning.
What my father wanted me to do had nothing to do with my skills; rather, he was
focused on talents that would allow me to conjure money for him or at least
help me burgle houses more efficiently. Given that I was raised by a bunch of
thieves, I had few scruples about doing wrong, and was eager to please my
father. I tried to do the things that he wanted, but without much luck.

"I had always been the black sheep of
the family and saw this as my chance to earn my place. I set about learning
magic and getting power in ways that were not good. I was soon bound up in a
lot of terrible things but getting better results than I had ever hoped for.
While the family business was booming, I was on a serious decline. I never
actually let them indwell me, but I was consorting with demons and other dark
magicians on a regular basis. Though they were constantly after me to
participate with them in their wrong doings, I was content with my own.
Eventually, their promises of more power seduced me, and I went with them one
night to see what their activities were all about.

"I'll spare you the details, I'm sure
you know them if you've heard anything about dark magic, but I'll say that it
was horrifying. The worst part though was that I didn't really care. As long as
it got me more power, I didn't care what the process was. As providence would
have it, this particular ring of wizards had for some time been under the
scrutiny of a band of magicians, and this was the night that they made their
move. I didn't know what was going on around me; I was way out of my depth. So,
I did the only thing that I knew how, I threw up a shield to protect myself and
sat in a corner, waiting for the confrontation to end. Eventually it did, the
result being that all of the wizards were dead.

"The magicians began to scour the
area for any more threats and came upon me in my protective bubble. Somehow
they knew that I was not a lost cause and put me in a school for young
magicians. There I learned about Elohim, about right and wrong, about magic.
Within a few years I had made enough progress that I was released from the
school and was relocated at the academy in Belvárd.

"Though the school of magicians had
taught me a lot, I am still not as strong as I should be. I keep my magical
abilities a secret so that I will not be pressured into the dark arts again,
for though I have turned my back on them, they are always lurking there,
waiting to draw me back in."

"Well, you were wrong," Timothy
said after a few minutes of silence. "That wasn't boring at all."

"Boring is just an excuse,"
Vladimir said. "I simply don't like talking about my life, especially that
part. It's a very sore subject."

"It's something that you'll have to
face if you ever want to rise to your full potential," Timothy said.
"Always remember that Lemin and I are here to help you."

The two boys started to run again, tearing
through the underbrush as quickly as possible. The leading position was very
tiring, so the boys switched places often. They crossed two more mountains and
followed three more streams along the way. The sun was setting when they
finally burst out of the forest and onto a plain. Still they pressed on well
after it dipped below the horizon. They ran for several miles before slowing to
a walk and eating a meager dinner.

“Timothy, can I ask you a question?”
Vladimir said when he had finished eating. The two cadets were walking at an
easy pace through a large field, making for a stand of trees in which they
planned to spend the night.

“Sure, Vladimir, ask anything that you
like,” Timothy answered.

“What do you think about women fighting?
You know, like in a battle,” Vladimir asked.

“What do you mean?” Timothy asked with a
quizzical look.

“You know, we have been living at an
academy for the past several years where, in essence, we have been taught that
women can fight just as well as men,” Vladimir said. “In fact, some of the best
warriors in the whole academy are women—Senndra for instance. I never thought
about this until I was in a real battle, but do you agree with women fighting?”

“It’s a fact of life,” Timothy answered.
“I don’t see that there’s a whole lot I could do to change it even if I didn’t
agree with it. Besides that, I just don’t see anything wrong with it. You
yourself said that some of the best warriors at the academy are women, so what
problem do you have with them fighting?”

“I don’t know,” Vladimir said. “It’s just
that when I was fighting in that battle and I saw a female fighting against
those dwarves, I got this feeling that it’s not how things should be, you know?
Didn't you feel the need to defend those women against the enemy?”

“Actually I think you may be right,”
Timothy admitted. “Whenever I saw a woman fighting, I always felt the need to
help her, even if it put me in danger. I don’t know what made me do that. After
all, it’s not a very logical thing to do.”

“What if that is just the way we were
created?” Vladimir said. “I think Elohim instills in men the need to defend
women. If you look at it that way, what you did was perfectly logical.”

“Now that you say that, I’m almost certain
you are right,” Timothy said. “Maybe Elohim does create men with an instinctive
need to defend women, even if it puts them in danger.”

“That is why I have a problem with women
fighting,” Vladimir said. “When you have a mixed army, the men would feel the
necessity to defend the women, even if it put the greater good of the army in
danger. If the army was only composed of men, however, this wouldn’t be a
problem. Even very good friends do not feel that strong of a need to protect
each other.”

“You may be right,” Timothy said,
"but it doesn't matter. There are women in the army and that’s a fact.
They have just as much a right to fight for the country as we do. We need to
control our own actions; we can't blame others for what we feel or do."
That ended the conversation. Neither cadet said another word. When they reached
the trees, they lay down on the ground and were asleep in an instant.

******

Senndra sat beside Lemin at the large
round table in General Uriah’s office. Seeing as how he was now the second
highest ranking officer in the city, Lemin had decided that it would not hurt
to take up residence in the headquarters while the general was away. Along with
Senndra and Lemin, there were a few soldiers from Gatlon and some other cadets
as well. They were gathered together, packing the room so tightly that many of
them were standing behind the chairs or against the wall. The meeting was not
mandatory, so Senndra was surprised at the relatively large turnout. Lemin
stood to his feet and waited for the whispering to die down before he began.

“Thank you all for coming today,” he said.
“I’m sure that most of you already know what this meeting is about, but let me
tell you so that we are all on the same page. It has come to my attention that
knowledge of Elohim is severely lacking in this country, particularly in the
army. Nowadays, people do not believe in what
they
call ‘fairy tales for
small children.’ My purpose today is to prove to you that Elohim is not just
another fairy tale, but a real being at work in the world in which we live.

“First let me address the question of
whether or not there is a God. Look around and see the world in all of its
beauty. Watch the sun set and try to tell yourself that there is not a God who
made it. Study wildlife in all its intricacies. Each area contains animals that
interact with each other in such a way that they had to have been created by
someone. For instance, in any given place, there is an abundance of animals,
all of them preying on each other and on various plants in just the correct
amounts so that all of the species survive. Then consider how each region
interacts with those around it. A system so complex could not have evolved; it
had to be created. And if all of this is not enough proof for you, consider
this…”

Lemin snapped his fingers and a small
flame appeared above his hand. With a flick of his wrist, the flames
disappeared. The room was as silent as death, and Lemin continued with his
display. He didn’t even move his body this time, but a sheet of paper that had
been lying on the table slowly began to rise into the air. When it had risen
about six inches, the sides of the sheet slowly folded inward until they
touched. Finally the paper fell back to the table in exactly the position that
it had originally been.

“It’s only magic,” one of the spectators
said.

“Only magic?” Lemin questioned. “Since
when can the word
magic
be preceded by the word
only
? The very
existence of magic is strong proof of God. After all, can you explain how the
paper just did what it did? There is no one here who can explain what I did and
how I did it. Actually, I could try to spew out some pseudo-scientific sounding
explanation for magic, but only of how I use it and not of what it actually is
or what causes it. So then, if no one here can explain the phenomena, not even
the one that controlled it, it follows that there must be another force at
work, one that does know what just happened and how it happened. A doubter
could explain this as a coincidence and say that I am working with a natural
force that I do not completely understand. But if that were true, it would be
safe to assume that when I attempted to manipulate magic, it would not always
work. Every time except for once when I have set out to perform magic, I have
succeeded. The one time that I failed, I was disobeying Elohim and fully
expected nothing to happen. In conclusion, there is plenty of evidence of the
existence of God, and a doubter is only trying to make excuses.

“Now we need to address the question of
what Elohim expects from us. If there is indeed a God, then we have an
obligation to Him more than anybody else. As soldiers, you know what it is to
have an obligation. You hold your oaths to defend Magessa to be of the utmost
importance. Part of the reason for this is that you have received so much from
the country, and you wish to give back in return. How much more should we want
to give back to Elohim? He has given us the whole world in which to live, not
to mention that it is only by His grace that the nation of Magessa remains free
from the rule of Molkekk. For this and more, we can never repay Elohim. We
could go about His work for our entire lives, as some have done, and still
never repay Him what He deserves. Thankfully He does not ask too much of us,
only that we obey His commands as well as we possibly can. In fact, the extent
to which you obey his commands is not as important as the state of your heart.
A person who follows His laws perfectly and yet does not do it for the correct
reasons is as guilty as a pagan. By the same token, if you are sincere in your
desire to obey Elohim, yet fail to keep His commands perfectly, He will delight
in you just as much as a person who is able to follow His law more closely. In
other words, our duty to Elohim is to truly desire to obey Him and do our best
to follow Him. If we do this, we are fulfilling our duty to Him, and He will
enable us to obey His laws.

“The final thing that I would like to
speak about is the role of Elohim in the world today. Many people who believe
in Elohim believe that He created the world and that He was involved here in
the past, but now He has withdrawn from His creation. Simply put, these people
are wrong; evidence of Elohim’s involvement in the world is everywhere. One
example, which I have previously mentioned, is the existence of magic. If not
for Elohim’s work, there would be no magic, period. Another example is the fact
that Magessa has been able to successfully stand against the will of Molkekk
for so long. The human, elfin, dwarf, orc, and ogre nations to the north have
fallen under His power, whether by their own free will or by force. And yet,
though he has armies many times larger than those of Magessa, we have been able
to repel him each of the three times that he has attacked in the past. You
experienced Elohim's help as we held back the dwarf attack until reinforcements
could arrive. There is no other explanation for our strength except for Him. It
is only by His power that we have remained free for so long, and it is only by
His power that we will continue to remain free.”

The meeting lasted for more than an hour
as Lemin answered questions from various people. As he continued to whittle
down the objections to his call to return to Elohim, he could see the
resistance of the doubters in the room beginning to wane, until finally they
were out of excuses. In the end, only a few clung to their doubts and resisted
the call while the majority of those gathered promised to obey Elohim.