Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion (19 page)

She bowed formally
. “I am very pleased to meet you both. I’m Alex’s combat instructor.”

“
There’s also one more thing.” And with that, I pulled down her hood and let the show begin. It was a dirty trick to play on Maya, but I knew it would turn out just fine. If they were stunned when they saw Nia, then I don’t know what they were now. Maya was horrified and quickly tried to pull up her hood again to hide herself. My mother grabbed her in a hug with tears in her eyes. My father even joined in, and he is not the kind of guy to give out hugs lightly.

Maya was
even more shocked than they were. She never considered receiving a welcome like this; tears for a complete stranger all because she is a dark elf? My mother pulled down the hood again to get a good look at Maya’s true face. “You’re a very beautiful woman; please don’t hide yourself from us.”

“
Why aren’t you afraid of me?” Maya stammered in confusion.

They were surprised
. “Didn’t Alex tell you? We lived in a dark elf village for many years. Alex was even born there and spent the first twelve years of his life there before we had to move here.”

Maya and Nia were
speechless. They both kept looking from my parents to me, thinking one of us was going to say it was a joke. Rosa wasn’t too surprised, she being a mind reader and all. But I was surprised that she never mentioned it to me.

“
You grew up around dark elves?”

“
Yep. I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out until now.”

“
And how exactly would I have anticipated that?” Maya said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

“
Haven’t you ever wondered why you never have to worry about eating anything that would be distasteful or poisonous to you whenever you’re at the Enchanters Hall?”

He
r eyes widened. “Nothing ever was!”

“
Or how I never asked you questions about your homeland or dark elf society?”

“
And that you know about dark elf medicine?” Maya shook her head.

“
That as well.”

“
I can’t believe I missed that...I must have been distracted.” She arched an eyebrow in my direction, letting me know that there would be revenge extracted at some point in the future.

Everyone
else settled in the living room in the new chairs that my parent bought. Apparently, they spent half the money they got from Xarparion in compensation for taking me, on the house and Dad’s business, and are saving the rest for if he ever stops working, but I don’t see that happening of his own free will.

“
So, son, tell us about life at Xarparion. What are your classes about and what do you do?”

“
Well, Dad, as you can see, I’m wearing a white robe so that makes me an enchanter, not that I expect you to ever know what we are.

“
We are not so ignorant as to not know what a wizard is.”

“
That’s not what I meant. You both have seen plenty of wizards in robes running around, right? Well, each color represents what type of wizard they are. Green for earth, red for fire and so on. But have you ever seen a wizard in white?”

“
Now that you mention it, no, we haven’t.”

“
That’s because you have the entire Enchanters Hall and staff in your home.”

“
What? There are only four of you?”

Rosa
stepped in. “That is correct. And to be more precise, only your son and I are enchanters. As far as I know, the only two in existence at this time. Unlike other wizards, enchanters can’t project magic, we shape it. With our powers, we can make a normal item into a magical one, or shape an item’s normal characteristics into something else, like making cloth hard as stone. Your son is really incredible as both an enchanter and a young man.” She directed her attention to my mother. “And I must thank you, Mrs. Martin, very much for the skills you gave him, especially his cooking and healing skills.”

“
His cooking skills?”

“
Believe it or not, Mother, but in her seven hundred years, Rosa has never learned to cook. In fact, all of her household skills are terrible. Nia is only two years old, and even she can cook.”

Rosa punched me
extremely hard in the arm. She put enough force in it overcome my new resilience so that her punch would now hurt, and boy did she succeed.

“
Ow, Rosa, what was that for?”

“
For trying to make a fool of me, and I had to make it hurt.”

“
Son, did you just get hurt by a woman? And here I thought you got tougher,” my father groused.

“
I have an idea, Dad. Why don’t you challenge Rosa and Maya to a test of strength? Then we will talk about what hurts or not.”

Rosa has happy with that
, and Maya was happy with anything to get her out of the limelight. I hoped she would loosen up and have some fun today.

Turns out my father had just the thing to test their strength on
- which contestant can carry the most iron. I already knew who was going to win this one. I watched from the sidelines as my father did his first lift of five ingots. My mother hugged my arm, stood beside me, and watched as well.

“
So who will win, Alex?”

“
Rosa, by far.”

“
And here I thought you were going to side with your gorgeous girlfriend.”

I turned to her
. “You knew?”

She nodded
. “A mother always knows. It’s easy to see. When she looks at you, her eyes fill with affection and she can’t stop smiling, even after you surprised her by not telling her about us. That was mean by the way, and if she’s anything like the elf girls back home in our old village, you will be paying for that when she gets you alone.” Mom reached up and ruffled my hair a bit. “And all the while she’s been here; she just keeps stroking that beautiful bracelet of hers. Did you make it for her?”

I nodded
. “She is talking things over with Winya, asking for advice on what she should do and say. Maya has lived at the school for seven years, but in many ways, she is still pretty new to human society.”

“
Who is Winya?”

I
smiled. “Winya is the spirit of the sword I crafted for Maya. I wanted to protect her. So I made her a guardian that would be forever faithful and never leave or abandon her, even if I was not there.

My m
other’s eyes danced with mischief. “And would I be prying if I asked if this wonderful sword is her personal weapon?”

Before I could answer, t
he others came over to us. My father was dumfounded, but both Rosa and Maya were happy as could be. My father was still scratching his head, trying to wrap his head around what just happened.

“
I don’t get how I lost to a couple of skinny girls.”

“
I’d watch what you say to them Dad. All five of the ladies in this house could kick your butt.”

“
Five?”

“
Rosa has magically enhanced strength; Maya is the best swordswoman on the planet; Nia has spells and the natural pixie inclination for mischievous mayhem. And we both know you would never stand a chance against Mom.”

“
That’s true, but who is the fifth?”

“
The last class that I take is a bladesmithing class. And I have gotten very good at it. Maya would you like to show my parents Winya Coia?”

My father did a double-
take as the bracelet shimmered and transformed dramatically into the silver and white shining long sword. Disbelief turned to professional anger in a heartbeat, and he grew red-faced.

“
The Mage School taught you about weapons? I find that hard to believe, you were just a half-decent common blacksmith when you left, and now you are trying to tell me that you somehow learned decades’ worth of skills in a few months and forged that showpiece? This is complete idiocy! I don’t believe it! I didn’t raise you to be a liar!”

Maya didn
’t like that, I could tell from the look on her face. She stepped in front of my father and held Winya sideways in front of her to display the masterwork in her full glory. The rays of light streaming in from the windows lit up the emerald pommel stone like a torch.

“
Mr. Martin, your son is the best smith to ever walk this earth. Even Xarparion’s dwarf Forge Master, and Alex’s instructor, cannot match his creations. He forged Winya Coia and breathed life into her, solely to protect me. She has already saved my life twice, so please never doubt his abilities or his word.” Her eyes blazed brightly. “And one more thing, my full name is Maya, only daughter of Faeron Talmin, high chieftain of the Flint Bands of my people, and I would like permission to court your son.”

There was that name again, the recognition of which was right on the tip of my brain, but slipped away
. As it looked like my mother was about to faint, she had obviously heard it before. Dad paused to look at both Maya and Mom for a second, and then focused on me. He just stared. I could tell he has getting madder by the second. I was just waiting for him to explode like I had seen a thousand times before, but this time he surprised me.

“
He is not my son to give,” he vented angrily, and then marched off to the shed to work. The rest of us just stood there in shocked awkward silence. I was still trying to comprehend what he meant by that. I looked to my mother for clues, but she had gone white as a ghost and was clutching one of the chair arms like it was the only thing keeping her on her feet.

“
Mom, what did he mean by that?”

“
Please forgive him, Alex. We both prayed to all the gods that you would not come today. We just don’t want to lose you.”

“
What are you talking about?”

“
I’m sorry but we are not your real parents.” My head was swimming. Not my real parents? They were the only ones that I remembered. How could they not be? And if not, what happened to my birth parents?

“
Please explain.”

She
motioned for us all to take a seat. “On this day, twenty years ago, two strangers, a man and woman, showed up at the dark elf village. Both were hooded and we could not see their faces, but we could feel immense power flow off of them. It was terrifying, but at the same time, I could feel no malice or evil from them, just overwhelming sadness. They had with them many things, but the most important was the newborn boy that the woman was cradling. They asked the village leader for permission to leave the child. The elder objected saying that a child must have a family, not just a village. Your father and I had been praying to all the gods for the blessing of a child but it never came to pass, and we eagerly agreed to care for you until this day.” She paused to steady herself. “They quickly departed, as if somehow pursued, but they left us with instructions, most of them were very strange. We had to take a very heavy box with us that neither of us could open, and we had to keep a stable for horses, even though we never owned any. We were also told to give you these on your twentieth birthday, which is today.”

She
withdrew two envelopes with no markings on them from her dress pocket and handed them to me. “These are from your real parents; we’ve never tried to read them.”

Then she ran off into the
kitchen crying. I motioned for Rosa and Nia to go with her; they both knew what I needed them to do. This left Maya and me alone with the letters. I looked at them dumbfounded. Twenty years of memories proving to be some elaborate hoax; it was really too much to wrap my head around for the moment. Maya moved closer, trying to lend me strength through touch.

“
I’m sorry, Alex, this can’t be the birthday you were expecting.” She massaged my shoulders gently as she looked at the letters in my hands and leaned down to kiss away the tear that was travelling down my cheek.

“
You have nothing to be sorry for. I suppose this could explain why I’m not normal,” I gritted, shaking my head.

“
I know you’re feeling hurt and confused right now, but perhaps there are some answers in the letters. Are you going to read them?”

“
I guess I have to.”

I opened the first letter but the page was blank
. I turned it over and there was nothing on the backside either. Exchanging glances with Maya only revealed her baffled expression as well. She moved around and perched on the chair’s arm. Then words started appearing on the paper. It was as if someone was invisible and just now writing the letter. I read along as best I could.

‘
Hello Alex. You have no idea how sorry I am for what we did to you, but please understand that we did it for your safety. If I could have, I would have kept you for all eternity. Your mother was beside herself with grief for years after we were forced to leave you. I am sorry to say this as well, but we cannot tell you who we really are. Just know that we have been watching you for all your life and helping where we could. Soon we will have our chance to talk face-to-face and we will explain everything to you then. In the mean time, I understand that you have a tournament to prepare for, so I whipped together a small gift for your birthday. And don’t think that I have forgotten all the others that I missed, either. When the time is right, I shall give them to you as well. In the mean time, the box behind the shed is yours. From what I know of you, it should be a fine gift. Oh, and there should be plenty for two sets. And one more thing, tell Maya that she has my sincere blessings for your courtship. Good luck with her, she is something special. And I thought my wife was a handful. Good luck son. Your Father.’