The Missing Mage (11 page)

Lady Severa smiled brightly. “I would, but I am afraid I do not sit at the table of strangers, and since you have not introduced me to your business associate, I must decline your invitation.”

Bryant shook his head. “Please forgive my terrible manners, if I might make amends please allow me to make introductions. Lady Severa may I introduce Everet Bell.”

Everet rose and gave a small formal bow. “Lady Severa, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance. Would you please join us and save me from the financial wranglings of your friend here before he bleeds my dry.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well Mr. Bell. I am sure you are in no danger of bleeding today but I shall join you,” Lady Severa spoke with a clear and sharp tone. So far, Everet was impressed with how she handled herself, her cool yet playful tone was perfect.

As they sat back down at the table, Bryant continued his part of the pageantry, giving Everet a bit of Lady Severa’s story. He said it just loud enough for anyone interested to overhear. Moreover, from Everet’s estimation, at least two tables were paying more attention to their conversation than proper. “Lady Severa is the daughter of an old family friend; she is staying with my cousin Connard. Like you, she is new to Meron.”

“You are new to Meron, Mr. Bell?” asked Severa.

“Please call me Everet; I hardly ever use my full name and half the time when people address me that way I forget they are talking to me.” Everet smiled, then continued. “Yes. I am attempting to expand my shipping business into Meron, which has required my presence here. Until today I had little interest in being here, but I am beginning to see where Meron might have some value.”  While it would appear as casual flirting to anyone listening, it was necessary for his planned subterfuge for him to have a highborn love interest. Lady Severa, in her role as on old family acquaintance of the Bingham family, was perfect.

“Everet, I am sure you must be talking of Bryant, but yes I agree his charm and wit are worth a visit.”

Everet casually laughed, “Yes, I suppose you could say that, but in all honesty I was referring to the quality of company Bryant keeps, not the man himself.”

“I must assure you that you are both correct, my charm and wit are well worth a visit, and your business Everet,” Bryant interjected.

All three gave a small chuckle. Everet was most pleased; this lunch had been a success on both fronts. They had created a back-story for having been introduced and Shelley had played her role as Lady Severa perfectly. Everet could now attend the ball and set his plans into motion.

Chapter fifteen

NATHAN HAD JUST FINISHED tidying his room up when he heard a knock on his bedroom door. He quickly smoothed out the rumpled bed sheets, making a mental note to keep his room cleaner now that he was going to be having more guests visit him. He took one more quick look around the room, checking for stray clothes before answering the door. He opened the door to find Sharon standing there.

“Hey Nathan, Ava said you wouldn’t mind teaching me a thing or two about defending myself. Is that okay? You don’t have to,” Sharon shifted nervously as she spoke.

“Sharon, I don’t know everything that happened to you girls while you were hostages, but I know it was hard on everyone. I still have nightmares about it. If I hadn’t gotten the training I have, I would have had a much harder time dealing with my feelings. Besides not being able to help rescue you, I would have become a raging lunatic unable to control his emotions. I will gladly teach you as much as I can.  The training will give you the ability to defend yourself and the exercise will be good for you too.”

Sharon visibly relaxed, her shoulders dropped a bit and the tension in her face went away. She was very grateful that her friends were so supportive and understanding. She followed Nathan into his room; it was her first time seeing it. It was similar in size to her room with the exception of an adjacent room instead of a shared common room.

Nathan led her into the adjacent room, the war room as he had started referring to it in conversations with Quinton. “I thought the best thing to do would be to train you in hand to hand combat and small weapons. My dad taught me how to fight with sword-breaker daggers, so for the most part you will be able to use the same techniques and similar style with an even smaller blade.”

 “That’s fine, I just don’t want to feel helpless—daggers, sword, axe, whatever it takes,” said Sharon, nodding.

Nathan tried to imagine Sharon running around with a big war axe screaming at her foes. “We’ll stick to daggers for now.” He turned to a small table filled with books and alchemy equipment. “Come see your daggers.”

Sharon walked over to the table and looked at the black steel blades, she glanced at Nathan who nodded as she reached out to pick the blades up. They were a matched pair, identical to each other. Compared to Nathan’s sword-breaker daggers, the weapons were small, with just over a foot of blade, a small crossguard, and a small hilt. The crossguards each had a small emerald in them. Sharon looked at Nathan. “Are these blades magical?” She knew that Nathan was adept at making magical weapons, and she wondered if the emeralds were for show or were bloodstones.

“Right now they are just regular daggers, but I will make them magical when the time comes. First you need to learn how to use them, though.” Nathan took the two weapons away from her, handing her two plain wooden blades instead. “For now you will be using these.”

Sharon took one last look at the sleek black daggers. “They are beautiful. Thank you for making them.”

 Sharon then studied the wooden practice weapons Nathan had given her. The blades were lightweight, dull, and had a rounded tip. They were much a much safer way of learning to fight without cutting one’s self or their teacher.

Nathan directed Sharon across the room to one of the practice dummies. “Let’s see what you can do right now. Stand in front of the dummy like you were going to attack it, then stab at its heart then pull back and swipe across its chest,” Nathan instructed her.

Sharon stepped up so she was only a few feet away from the practice dummy, a wooden replica of a man’s upper body that had been covered with layers of canvas. She shifted her weight, moving her left foot forward. She held the knife by her hip, leaned down transferring her weight to the balls of her feet then swiftly took a lunging step forward, the practice knife sliced through the air, the tip of the blade pushed into the thick canvas before she violently pulled back and pivoted, running the blade along the chest of the dummy. After completing the maneuver she stood up straight and looked at Nathan.

Nathan was surprised. “Have you done any training with a blade before?” he asked.

“No,” she replied. “Did I do it totally wrong?”

“Actually, that was rather well done. I’m impressed. Come stand in front of the dummy again, I will show you a couple things to do differently.”

Sharon smiled, the wooden dagger felt natural in her hand. She stood in front of the dummy again.

“First, bring your left foot just a little bit further ahead, and take a slightly wider stance. You want to be able to move easily from side to side, yet give yourself enough of a stride that you can strike at a distance. Now lower yourself a little more, keep the weight on the balls of your feet like before. It is almost like dancing, think of a quick song, smooth steps so you’re your weight is always underneath you.”

Sharon took up the position as Nathan explained it, she could feel the difference. She rocked back and forth, moving her weight from side to side.

While she danced back and forth, exploring the steps Nathan kept talking. “Daggers are an easy weapon to learn. Most of the training is footwork, which so far you seem pretty good at. With a larger sword you are more concerned with balance and transferring power into your swing, with daggers it’s all about speed and location. You stab and slice exposed weaknesses. If your opponent is standing back, you block and counter to try hit wrists or thighs; if they get too close, then you can attack the body. If they are wearing body armor, you stab and jab the sides where the armor meets, or go for the neck and face. When you can, you will move your body out of the way of attacks instead of using your weapons to block. Practice moving around and stabbing at the face, heart, and sides. Use both hands, don’t rely on your dominate hand all the time.”

Sharon kept dancing side to side, back and forth. She would take a quick stab at the dummy any time she was close but then quickly bounced back.

Nathan was really impressed. He had known Sharon was athletic and in excellent shape from working in the woods, picking elderberries her whole life, but he had not suspected that it would translate into fighting technique so easily. She was better on her first day of training than he had been, especially her footwork. As Sharon bounced around, she started to build up a good sweat and her breathing became heavier. When her movements started to get sloppy Nathan stopped her. “Okay, now this is important. Controlling your breathing when you are fighting is crucial. You need to make sure you are breathing properly so that you don’t exhaust yourself too quickly. By taking deeper breathes you increase the amount of oxygen that gets into your lungs. As your body starts working harder, it really needs that oxygen. If you don’t breathe properly you get slower and weaker fast. Practice taking deeper breathes every day, especially when you are working on your footwork. You are doing really awesome, you are better than I was on my first day.”

Sharon gave a bright smile, the physical excursion and ease with which she was absorbing her lessons had her in a good mood. One of the best she been in in a while. “Thank you, Nathan.”

After finishing her lessons with Nathan, Sharon decided to wander around the house, she still had not explored the entire building. She went downstairs to grab an apple out of the pantry and began her explorations on the bottom floor. She was surprised to see that one of the doors down the left corridor was open. Normally those doors were kept shut. Peeking inside she saw Quinton at an easel, sketching out a drawing. She watched him work. While around her he seemed quiet and shy, he seemed much more in his element here. He was focused on his work, concentrating on his work so hard that he had not noticed her at the door. Watching him she noticed the dexterity in his hands. He drew quickly and accurately. Now that he wasn’t blushing and lowering his head, she was able to notice his fine features and bright blue eyes. He’s pretty cute, she decided. It was too bad he was so damn shy, she thought to herself as she watched him work.

“What you drawing?” she said.

Quinton almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of her voice. He turned to the door, saw who it was and smiled. “You scared the heck out of me, how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough.” She walked into the room and stood beside him, looking at the drawing he was working on. “You haven’t answered me yet.”

Quinton looked at her before returning his focus to his work “It’s the background for a painting. It’s the going to be the castle gardens at night time.”

Sharon thought back to the night they had stayed in the castle, looking at the drawing she remembered most of the picture. “Oh, that is going to be nice. But I thought your painting were all magical, don’t you just wave a wand and the picture appears?”

 Quinton shook his head and gave a hearty chuckle. “No, I wish it was that simple. Illusion magic is tricky. Making something that can be seen permanently requires having a picture or object to start from. Once I have the background for this painting done, I will draw it out again three or four times. Each time I will make the picture slightly different. For example, the painting in the front room with the trees that change color like the seasons, that one I made six different paintings of then used my magic to blend them into one constant movement. How difficult a painting is to make magical depends on how much movement or changes a painting has. The painting of the ship going through the water was one of my first ones, I only had to draw that one three different ways to make it work.” Quinton enthusiastically tried to explain his art to her.

Sharon was impressed; Quinton was so different when talking about his art, confident, not shy at all. She might have to change her opinion on the boy. “But how do multiple paintings make one magic one? There is only one painting on the walls,” she asked, still confused by how he made the paintings.

“Illusions are… well they are sort of like a veil of magical power. You don’t see just the painting; you see how I see the painting. So when I imagine the group of paintings together I can see the scene in my mind. What you are seeing on the wall is what I picture in my mind, not the painting on the wall.”

Quinton paused for breath before continuing. “The painting of Aunt Avera, where she is dancing and the dresses change color, was done the day after a royal ball. I only had to paint the different colors of the dress and the background, the rest of the picture I could do from my memories.”

Sharon thought about this, she didn’t totally understand how magic worked but this was the best explanation of magic power she had heard yet. “Does Nathan’s magic work the same way yours does?”

Quinton shook his head, “No, not really. I mean sure he has to visualize what he wants to accomplish and he could probably learn to do the same illusions. But he is much different. His magical energy is much stronger than mine. Actually, from what I have heard, his is probably the strongest mage in Balta. He is a capable of things I could never do.”

Sharon frowned, “How does that work?”

Quinton looked around the room trying to think of a good analogy he could make to explain. “Well it’s complicated, but one part of it could be described like this.” Quinton walked to a bookshelf in the corner, bringing a book back to the table. “This is an art book about color blending and making paints. When I first learned to read there is no way I could read it, the words inside were too complicated, it took a few years to learn all the words I needed before I could read it. If Nathan were learning to read it, he would look at it and the words would make sense right away. The words would talk to him. So, without even trying, he can learn things that take me years of study to learn. But that is only part of it, his magic is strongest tied with the earth. So rocks, jewels, the ground itself are tied to him. He had enough magic energy to do magic without them but with them he is much stronger.” Quinton paused. “It’s actually pretty cool, because can make others magic stronger as well, we have already planned a few projects together that are going to be pretty neat when we are done.”