The Sorcerer, Part 49 - Cows

There's an odd buzzing sensation in my head. I don't know what it is, but I'm taking it as a good sign I have any sensation in my head. I can feel my muscles waking up. I try moving my face, and apparently I'm successful, since someone makes a sound outside my head.

"Knute, can you hear me?" comes a voice. Tauria, maybe. I think. My thoughts are sluggish. I hear myself making a soft groan, and I try to open my eyes, but only end up blinking in the bright light.

"Wakey, wakey, sunshine," says someone by what I'm guessing is a bed I'm laying on. I groan again and open my eyes. The light stings, but a lot let than I would've thought.

"What happened?" I ask, my voice sounding strange in my ears.

"You had a concussion, that’s what," Laelia says, "You just fell out there."

I think about that for a moment and realise she's right. I remember that, the dizziness and the nausea.

"Right," I say, trying to sit up.

"Don’t get up too fast," someone says on the other side of the bed. I turn to look. It's Ray. For a moment I'm confused about her presence.

"You’re here?" I ask dumbly.

"Yeah," she says, "Heard someone blew up the dining hall, thought I’d come check you’re okay."

I don't know what to say to that. My thoughts are still slow, but my head feels a lot better than you would think after all this.

"How do you feel?" Tauria asks, worried.

"Surprisingly well, actually," I say truthfully, "What did you do to me?"

No one answers me. Instead they smile conspiratorially and turn to look at the older woman I saw before with Oz and the rest.

"She’s Oz’s aunt," Laelia explains, "She’s apparently a big deal."

"Call me Sharon," the aunt says. "I was the one who helped heal you. I know something or other about potions, see."

"Why is Oz’s aunt a big deal. And why does she know about potions?" I ask after a moment, not understanding or being able to figure out what is going on.

"I’m a sorceress," Sharon says, relaxed. All too relaxed to be saying something like that out loud. "A rather powerful one at that, if I do say so myself."

I spend a moment thinking through what she said. Then a thought occurs to me. If she's really powerful, and if she really was able to heal my banged head, then maybe...

"Could you help Tauria?" I ask. I can feel it's a stupid question to ask, but to me it seems like the most important thing right now.

"Well, that depends on what’s wrong with her," Sharon says and turns to Tauria, "Are you ill or something, dear?"

"We can talk about it later," Tauria says, defensive, "There’s more important things we need to concentrate on right now. Like getting you out of bed and ready."

Ready?

"Uuuuh, for what?" I ask.

"Oh, we have a big plan for you!" Sharon tells me, excited like a little girl. "I think you’re going to love it! Although I don’t really know you so I guess you might hate it."

"He’s not going to love it," Laelia says with a raised eyebrow. "But he will do his part gladly, because it’s what’s best for his friends. And because there isn’t really another way, so he doesn’t have a choice."

Sharon shrugs, then continues.

"Well, either way, it’s time to get up. You can get up, can’t you?"

I think over how I feel. Sitting up is alright, but you can never know what trying to stand up will do to you.

"I think so," I say. Laelia smiles at that.

"Then it’s time to start your training."

~x~

The others explain the plan to me on our way to somewhere with more space. Laelia was right. I don't love it. I definitely don't love it. But I'm ready to do it either way. Once we get to a more open place than inside, we begin the training. The potion Sharon used to wake me up is really amazing. Everything that seemed to be wrong feels okay now. Which means I feel better than I have in over a week. She teaches me a lot. More than I have so far been able to figure out myself about my magic. She teaches me how to use it, how to control it. She teaches me how I can try to find new things I can do in the future, and how to find my limits. She is gentle and wise and knowledgeable, and she smiles a lot. Her own magic isn’t nature magic, but she’s learned all kinds of things, being the Grand Sorceress. After a few hours she has to leave though, telling me she knows I can do it. Whether it refers to learning magic in general or to what I'm supposed to do in a couple of days, I don't know.

I keep training even after she's left, with Laelia helping and Tauria watching in wonder. Ray would've wanted to stay, but she has to go take care of all the rest of the stuff she was sent here to take care of. She said that she is happy I'm okay and wishes me all the best of luck before leaving. In life and for Sunday in particular. It's late night when we finish. We’re able to grab a quick bite to eat from a carriage that's been set outside to hand out food to the students now that the dining hall can't be used. And then all I want to do is sleep, before I have to get up again for the ride to Cerise City.

~x~

We leave in the early morning, me, Tauria, Laelia, Oz and Gil and Alica, and Eclaise and Percy. People try to chat at first, but everyone seems to be too nervous or too concentrated in what ever else they might be thinking for conversation to really hold. I try practicing my magic on the way, from on top of the horse I'm riding. It's different than just from the ground, and I'm happy I get to try all these things too.

"They are your heart and your soul?" Laelia asks after a silence that has stretched for at least a half an hour. I don't understand what she's talking about , but Oz doesn't seem to have a problem jumping in seemingly in the middle of a conversation.

"Didn’t think you would be the one to have a problem with that," he says, staring straight ahead. There is a small smile on his face.

"Why would you think I have a problem?" Laelia asks him, "I was just wondering what you meant by that."

"I meant what I said," Oz answers simply. Laelia eyes her for a second.

"You do realise your heart is a heart and not a person?" she says, "A person would do a horrible job pumping your blood."

"And here I thought you understood figurative speech," Oz says, grinning.

"I do, but since you said you meant what you said, I figured you meant what you said," Laelia says with a shrug.

"There is a-," Oz begins, but is cut off my Gil, who pats his head from behind him. They're sharing one horse, although I'm not entirely certain why.

"Really Oz, don't tease the girl," he says, and turns to Laelia. "I’m really sorry, he tends to get annoying when he’s anxious."

"This is supposed to be annoying?" she rises an eyebrow at them.

"Oh, no this isn’t annoying, but it is quickly escalating into it," Gil explains, "Thought I’d nip it in the bud."

"I’d be curious to see that, actually," Laelia says with a smirk.

"You’d think that," Gil answers with a soft smile, "Try living with the guy for two years and then come talk to me."

"Hey!" Oz says, with a mock-offended tone.

I stop listening at that point and draw my attention to more pressing matters. Like my magic. The day ahead. The training. Everything that could happen afterwards. Mostly the bad things that could come out of all this. Such is human nature, to dwell on the bad.

~x~

We're having breakfast at the inn where we we took rooms for the night. The mood is grim, but excited at the same time. People are getting visibly nervous now. No one has said anything for a while. Everyone's been concentrating on poking their food too intensely.

"So we have no idea where Arren will be on the market place?" I ask partly because I feel completely unprepared for the day to come, but also to break the awkward silence pooling around us, "We’ll know where the king is, but not where the crazy guy about to kill him is."

"I would wager that the the crazy guy about to kill the king will be where the king he's about to kill is," Alica says.

"Not necessarily. With his magic…" Laelia begins grimly, "He might be able to use it from far away, or at least make a scene from far away."

"Unlikely..." Percy says, not lifting his eyes from his bowl, "Arren’s magic was always very… hands-on, he needed to be in close proximity of whatever he was enchanting. Even with the boosting powers of the potion, he’s likely going to need to get close to the king."

"Ok," I say, blowing out a breath, "Just a thought here. I don’t want to accidentally blow up the king. I’m pretty sure that would be bad."

" I… really doubt that’s going to be a problem," Percy says, this time looking up at me, "Unless you like… try to."

"Really?" I say, nervous. I hadn't even thought about this possibility before, and now the thought of hurting bystanders is making me crazy. "Cause I 'm not so sure. I don’t know if I can control all that power well enough to be that precise."

"Just focus on the target, and you will hit it," Eclaise says matter-of-factly. "You need to believe in your skills and they won’t let you down."

I let the thought bounce around for a moment, then nod. Though I'm still not convinced. Elcaise nods back.

"And the rest of you will be...?" I ask, fading it into a question.

"Me and Percy are going to talk to the guy," Oz begins. "Or at least try to. Even if we can’t get through to him, we’ll be able to distract him enough for you to get ready."

"Yeah, I know the plan. Just…" I draw a breath to try to calm myself, "How close will you be? And where exactly will the rest of you be? And yes, I know you just told me I only need to concentrate on the target, but I’d still like to know where my friends are during something like this."

"It’s… not really easy to say exactly," Oz says, "It depends on where we find Viper."

"Don’t worry about it though, I can deflect the magic if need be," Percy says, "My powers are mostly defensive anyway, and since you’re going to be focusing the power on Arren, it shouldn’t be hard to make sure no one else gets hurt."

"And I’ll be right there with you the whole time," Laelia adds. "It’s going to work, and everything else will be fine."

"We can do this. We have to," Oz says.

"I know." I know we have to. "So let’s get it over with."

We stand up, ready to leave, our breakfasts half-eaten.

~x~

We leave the inn, and scatter around as soon as there's a crossroads. We all know what we have to do, all know our parts. It's too late to back out now, even if something goes wrong. We don't have a way of signalling each other if we don't have visual contact. We're all keeping our eyes out for any signs of Arren, while heading to the positions we're supposed to go.

Laelia is with me, of course, like she said she would. I'm grateful for that. I'm not sure I could do this if I was alone. We go around and head for the market place where we know the king will be, where Arren will probably attack. There are a lot of people there, the whole square packed with merchants and townspeople. We make our way through the crowd, go where we can see the stage.

A farmer has brought cows to the town for a reason I have no idea of, and couldn't care less about right now. We stop near the cow enclosure. Laelia goes on to pat the cows, and feed them grass, pretending nothing is wrong and she's simply out enjoying the absolutely beautiful day and the festive feel around the city center. Even so, I notice her taking in her surroundings, making excuses to look around her. She knows exactly what is happening around her, while looking like nothing in the world matters more than the cow in front of her. No one else seems to notice anything odd about her behaviour.

The place if perfect for us. I can see the stage clearly, and I can see down the road a parade should come through in a few minutes. I can see the relevant places, the ones we suspect are the most likely to get attacked by Arren. And even if we're wrong, one person, or two, can quickly slip through the crowd to a place they can see better. We first thought of going somewhere higher, climbing on a stand or on the roof of a building, but I soon realised that if I don't have straight contact to the earth, this whole plan is less than useless. I even left my shoes behind at the inn. Even though it sounds like a terrible idea, it is a brilliant one. I get a better feel of everything when I feel the ground directly beneath my feet. The ground isn't exactly made for walking bare-footed, but my feet are so used to it I don't mind. I'm actually happy to have an excuse not to wear my shoes, especially on a warm and sunny day like this. Well, at least I would be happy, under different circumstances.

Finally I can see the midsummer parade appearing from behind a corner of a tall building, happily moving towards the central square.

Then something happens. Everything seems to go darker. Like someone turned down the intensity of the sun. It's subtle, but it's there. People look around, slightly confused. I'm guessing they didn't notice what changed, just that something odd happened. My stomach clutches. There is smoke coming out from a part of the parade. I can hear people screaming. I look around, trying to see from a distance if someone is hurt. It seems the smoke is only for effect. It also isn't my problem. Not right now.

A figure appears, floating on top of the crowd. It's Arren. He is masked and fully clothed, covered from head to toe, but I recognise him all the same. He lets out a laugh that carries surprisingly well in the now-noisy crowd.

"I am Viper," he says in his over-dramatic way, "I am the one chosen by Gelotech to free all people magical from under the hand of injustice and discrimination."

There is a loud gasp in the crowd. Which there obviously would be.

"Now," Arren says, turning to the king who is sitting on his throne on a stage. I didn't see him come there, but I know he's out to greet the parade that never made it as far as him. The king's face remains composed, at least from what I can see from a distance. My heart is racing. "You are the reason for all this suffering. You are..."

He is cut off by someone. I can't hear who. I can't see what is happening. I can't hear what they're saying. Laelia is tense beside me, not pretending to concentrate on the cows anymore. Then I spot Oz and Percy at the foot of the stage. They're climbing up onto it, like it wouldn't be weird two random people suddenly appear from the crowd and approach the king. Except they're not talking to the king. They're talking to Arren, obviously. I can see Percy making huge hand gestures from all the way where I'm standing. I realise I'm covered in cold sweat, knowing my time has almost come.

Arren answers Percy something, but his voice is now inaudible over the long distance. My ears are humming. Arren and Percy argue, and I can see Oz chiming in every now and then.

There is a gasp in the crowd. Someone points up. I look in the direction of the hand and see a dragon. This doesn't surprise me, of course, since I knew it was coming. Sharon is returning to us, making what could be called a showing entrance. The king, Percy, Arren, and Oz on the stage have also turned to see the dragon approaching them now. Sharon hops off and says something to all of them. Arren screams in fury. This apparently didn't go exactly as he planned. There is more fuss on the stage. I can't see or hear anything, and I'm so deep in myself, in my thoughts, my fear and panic that I'm not sure I'd know what was happening even if I was closer. I feel the ground sighing under me, filled with odd energy.

Something snaps me out of my panic.

"Now," it's Laelia, grabbing my arm. On the stage I can see Oz signalling over the crowd, not knowing where I am.

I don't even have time to draw in a breath. I don't have time to think. I just act. Because that's what I have to do. I suck in the energy from the ground. All the energy. More energy that there has ever been in me. More than there's ever been anywhere. All the magical energy from sorcerers all over the country. It's all getting drawn in. For a moment I feel more powerful than I've ever felt before. I feel like I'm being torn apart from inside out. It's all too much. I hear Laelia yelling beside me. I think of Arren. Only of Arren. I can't see anything anymore, can't hear. There's a flash. I realise vaguely it comes from me.

And then, once again, everything goes black.
__________________________________________________________________

It's kind of hard to understand it's my last bit.

But I guess it is.

I don't know what to say.

I will ask you to fix the text size again, though. Could you? I have no idea why it looks like this.

Your final topic is "Everything".

~matu