The Castrofax (10 page)

“Welcome, Gabriel Lenis,” Casimir greeted
with a calm voice. “You come to us today a Mage-Select, but you
will leave with the title of Mage and a Class that befits you.”

He pointed to the man on his right, a Class
Five Fire Mage and Secondhand of Jaden, Lael. He was a man in his
mid-thirties with brown hair slicked back with oil, narrow blue
eyes, a straight jaw, and dark thin lips that were almost
considered pretty for a man.

“It is a pleasure to have you with us today,”
Lael said, a line that was undoubtedly rehearsed but sounded
sincere.

To the Head Mage’s left sat a beautiful woman
in a blue gown that hung off her shoulders. Her brown hair was
unnaturally curled and fell over one shoulder. Her bright eyes
fixed on Gabriel as her lips toyed a smile. Gabriel recognized her
as well. Having seen her only once, her reputation as Queen Challis
of Cinibar preceded her. Cinibar shared its northern border with
Anatoly, and the kingdoms had allied longer than anyone could
remember. Queen Challis was also a Class Five Water Mage and must
have been quite a magnificent woman to be Queen and Council Member.
She sat as the Head Mage’s scribe, his unofficial left-hand.

“I am delighted to finally meet you face to
face,” she said with a deep, soothing voice.

The Head Mage took a moment to introduce the
others, names Gabriel forgot but for a few, recognizing only Dagan
and Aisling. Of them, there were only two with Classes above Five,
and only two that wielded more than one Element. They all gave him
polite smiles and greetings, dressed in fine garments befitting
their status.

Casimir took his seat. “Please begin when you
are comfortable, and I will tell you when to finish.”

Gabriel began with Earth, pulling green
strings from his chest. He displayed speed at first, causing the
plants to creep up the walls and drawing them back to their
planters. To show accuracy he grew a cherry tree in the center of
the table. It bloomed and dropped its petals. Before they could
touch the ground, he killed and crumpled them, turning them into
dust. He pulled around one arm and displayed a hardening
cocoon-pattern. Letting the dust fall, he laid a Harlon-shot
pattern and flung hardened balls of earth around the room with each
stamp of his foot. There were other patterns he could not display
to their full extent, some would cause the earth to ripple or
stones to roll, but he gave a small taste to show he knew them.

Casimir called for halt. “You have excellent
control. Is there anything else you have for us to consider?”

“Yes, sir, there is,” Gabriel answered, and
to the great astonishment of the Council, he pulled blue threads
from his chest, identifying him as a Water Mage. He drew from the
clouds rolling outside and made it rain, catching the water before
it landed on the Council but letting it fall on himself. He used a
sapping-pattern to pull the water from his clothes and froze it
into a spike on his arm. Slamming his arm into the table, the spike
shattered shards into the air. He evaporated the flying shards
before they could hit anyone. With permission he drew water from
someone’s body, and returned it through the skin. He formed a small
wave that ran around the room to sweep the floor and used a
percolation-pattern to filter the water. He demonstrated a small
cyclone and shot jets and ice balls before Casimir called for
halt.

The Head Mage looked pleased, and the Queen
to his left did nothing to hide her pretty smile. “I see you take
after your father,” Casimir nodded.

Queen Challis straightened a little. “Could
you show us a Harrian-block pattern?” Gabriel acquiesced, laying
the pattern that froze the surface of water. “Do you know the
temperate-pattern?” Again Gabriel wove the proper lines to prove he
knew his material.

“Excellent,” Casimir nodded. “If you will
please leave us, you will be presented with your Class later.”

“Thank you, Head Mage, but I am afraid I am
not finished.” Gabriel said with a slight bow of his head. The room
fell silent, embarrassed that Gabriel had either not understood his
place or did not know the procedures.

The Head Mage hid any irritation he may have
felt. “Was there another pattern you wanted to show us?”

“No, my lord, not a pattern,” Gabriel
smiled.

Before the Council could process his words,
he threw out his hand with a blue Water pattern and doused the
flames of the torches on the walls, casting the room in
darkness.

“Can it be?” a young woman whispered to his
left.

He snapped his thumb and middle finger
together, and from his digits a flame sprung before his face. A man
at the table gasped, and Lael visibly gaped, but Gabriel only
smiled. In his lifetime no Mage wielded three Elements, and he knew
the amazement going through the Council’s heads. It was enough to
make his pride swell.

He let the flame spread over his body,
incasing him in a fire that would never burn. He changed the flames
from orange to blue, and shot them from his body before drawing
them back in. While Earth was a solid Element that often involved
using legs and feet in patterns, and Water required graceful arm
and torso movements, Fire was a powerful Element that involved
jarring movements of the arms and sharp jerks of the hands and
torso.

He created a fire-whip and threw it around
him. He stopped things from burning and charred other objects to
unrecognizable shapes. Before Casimir called for cease Gabriel
created small butterflies of fire that fluttered to the
extinguished torches and relit them.

Casimir turned to Lael, the foremost expert
in Fire, and waited for the man to regain his senses.

“Uh…stars,” Lael muttered and straightened,
adjusting his coat. “Could I see that fire-starter pattern again? I
never thought I would see it in my lifetime.”

Gabriel laid the small pattern of only two
red strings in both hands and snapped them to life. “Do you know
the deflection-pattern?” Lael asked and drew from the flames in
Gabriel’s hands, forming a small ball of fire. He tossed it at
Gabriel who easily pushed it aside. Lael gave a nod. “I…I have no
more questions,” he laughed.

Casimir gave Gabriel a proud fatherly smile.
“What a shame,” he chuckled. “I once heard you wielded Spirit. I
would have liked to welcome another Spirit Mage to our ranks.”

Gabriel slowly smiled. Raising a hand to the
skies, he clenched his fist and drew it down sharply accompanied by
a blast of lightning that streaked from the darkening night sky and
into his fingers. Chiaroscuro lightning flashed across his face.
Half the people in the room gave a start, and not because of the
sudden lightning.

Spirit was Gabriel’s favorite Element, and
the one he knew the best. Spirit drew from the energy of people and
animals. It had more versatility than the other Elements. As long
as a living creature sat within a quarter mile of him, he could use
their energy. With it he could destroy and heal, attack and defend.
It was nearly as graceful as Water, but more solid, allowing him to
stand still and make smaller movements with his hands.

For the Council he displayed his prowess in
the Element, creating spears and discs of energy so compressed it
shone with light. It could cut through anything but stone and
metal. He changed the length of his clothes, wrapped cord around
his body, and sank a delve-pattern into a person to feel for
illness or breaks. He found one Councilwoman had an old fracture to
her collarbone that had not healed, and with her permission he
re-broke and healed it quickly, stemming the pain with another
pattern that held most of it back. He created a shield and changed
its shape and size as well as formed a vibration-pattern that held
back sound energy.

Casimir sat dumbfounded in his chair. He did
not bother to stop the show, so Gabriel chose when he would finish.
He used his favorite pattern last. While holding a cloth-pattern,
he laid the body-manipulation pattern and fueled them together. He
fell forward onto his hands, and his body changed from human to
tiger, dwarfing the large table.

Casimir leaned forward. “That is the most
powerful illusion-pattern I have ever seen.”

Gabriel took several steps forward on the
table so Casimir could touch him, and the old man gave a startled
throaty sound. Others reached out to stroke his fur, and someone
grabbed his tail. Gabriel jerked his head around to see Dagan with
an amused look.

Casimir wiped his clammy brow. “I…” he began,
then lost himself and laughed, “Can you change back or do you need
a private room?”

Gabriel quickly changed back to his clothed
human form. He sat back before the Head Mage and put his arms on
his bent knees, breathing heavy. Councilwoman Adelaide with the
mended collarbone poked him to make sure he was still not an
illusion.

“I never thought I would see a man of your
skills on this table. Are you sure you are of this Age and not a
legend?” Casimir finally said.

“He
is
as pretty as Dorian Lark,” a
grandmotherly woman with short white hair said to his left. “No,
the Arch Mage was blond,” a handsome woman with black curls
replied.

Aisling piqued up behind Gabriel. “I assure
you I have seen him grow up in his Age.”

“While the strengths and Elements of each
Mage-Select are kept secret from me to avoid bias, I had heard
rumors you were quite skilled and strong. You must train in healing
with me—I insist. Tell me, that re-breaking pattern you performed
on Mage Adelaide, where did you learn such a thing?” Casimir
asked.

Gabriel thought back. “I came up with it. I
was healing an old bone one day and felt it would be right to add
another string and loop it into the center,” he said and displayed
the pattern.

Mage Adelaide, a young woman who had a comely
face and a long brown braid, laughed. “Next you will be telling us
you can fly!”

Lael looked a little stunned. “You just came
up with this pattern?” He looked at the Head Mage.

Casimir grinned. “Have you done this
before?”

Gabriel nodded and snapped his fingers to
create fire. He laid a small pattern that formed a flaming rose
bud. As he widened his hand, it blossomed. Councilwoman Adelaide
reached for it, and he handed it to her.

“There are very few Creators in a
generation,” Casimir smiled. “Those with the ability to create new
patterns are always valued. There is but one man alive who has
those same capabilities, Mage Malain in Aidenmar. I should like to
send you to train with him.”

“I would welcome a tutor.” Gabriel said.

Queen Challis peered at him thoughtfully.
“Why you, and why now? Why would you have so much power?”

“My father comes from the Age-old Lenis line,
and while we were never prosperous, we were always strong. I do not
know who my mother is, but I am told she was a powerful Spirit Mage
and also had a strong Mage line.”

“How very unique that all these anomalies
should come together in one person. Do you not think this
marvelous, Head Mage?”

“I should say so, though Anomalies are not
too uncommon in Mage societies. They are just far rarer now. I have
read stories of three Creator siblings, of a Class Two being born
to Class Ten Mages, and I have even heard of a Mage with no
Elements suddenly come to them when she was in her later years.
Every Age has a few unique stories, and I am delighted to see this
Age has one so early. Now, Gabriel, is there anything else you
should like to tell us or show us?”

“No, Head Mage,” Gabriel replied with a
proper bow at the waist. “I eagerly await your decision.”

Gabriel finished his story with his head
propped on his arms against the table. Robyn stood behind him
digging her thumbs between his vertebrae, having worked up both
arms to his shoulders.

“The rest you know,” he mumbled and turned
his head to better see her. “I was presented with my Class, and I
raced home to tell father.”

Robyn smiled. “I remember that day well. You
walked right up to Cordis in the garden and proudly pronounced
‘Class Five’.”

“I did no such thing.”

“Ah, that’s right. You declared ‘Class
Ten’
, and Cordis stared at you for a few moments before
slumping over in his chair. When he came to, I’ve never seen anyone
so proud.”

Gabriel smiled, remembering his father’s
expressions.
‘A Class Ten, in my line!’
Cordis’s voice
echoed in his memory.

“And to think, you’re
my
Class Ten,”
she joked.

“I suppose I am,” he replied after a
moment.

“You never told me the Lenis line was poor.
You have a beautiful manor and rich land.”

“That was given to my father. Did he never
tell you?”

She made a guttural reply and pulled him
forward so she could work on his collar bone. Her hands were hot on
his skin and it took all his concentration to not concentrate on
them—resulting in ultimate failure. “Urima Manor was given to my
father after I was born. The Lenis bloodline, while rich with
Elements, has not been prosperous since the Mage Wars when our
lands and properties were destroyed.”

“Who gave you the Manor?” she asked, slipping
her fingers under his clavicle to make him wince.

“Father never said, though I believe it was
my mother’s family, perhaps to keep him quiet.” He replied and
Robyn made no comment. “I always wondered why father made sure I
knew coupling was reserved for the marriage bed until I realized I
must be a bastard.”

“Don’t say such a thing! That is a term with
such negative connotations.”

“What would you rather call it?”

“A man as powerful as you should never be
referred to as a bastard.”

“I cannot change my bloodline,” he
offered.

“I could pardon you.”