Chapter 40: The Practitioner

Chapter 40: The Practitioner

Long after Kalen made it back to town, Yarda returned from the Acress Enclave in an excellent mood. Though she hadnt seen the sorcerer, she liked the other healers shed met. They hadnt been able to cure her outright, but they had done something to reduce the terrible swelling in her legs and arms. She was supposed to return in two weeks, when Sorcerer Nigel might be available.

Kalen was relieved for her. And conflicted.

When she asked why he didnt want to stay at the Enclave even though hed been so excited about it before, he lied. He told her that after studying a lot of books in one of their libraries, hed realized that his time would be better spent focusing all his attentions on the text he already had.

She had no reason to doubt him, since even as he said it, he was lying on the floor of their shared room, busily making notes on some of the brown paper Swift Wind Magery had been wrapped in.

He was just trying to distract himself. Magic had always been a good distraction.

Days passed.

Kalen studied.

Whenever he left the inn, he tried not to stare at the wrists of every child he spotted in the streets. But he couldnt stop himself.

Everywhere he looked, someone was wearing one of the leather name bands that proved they were not the sons or daughters of Iven Orellen.

I hate him, thought Kalen, as he wove through the citys bustling main square one cool pink dawn.

He kept a tight grip on his satchel. Someone had finally tried to rob him yesterday. A girl around his own age had attempted to slip up behind him and slide her hand into his bag. She was quick and quiet, and she had her fingers on one of his silk flags before he whipped around and grabbed her by the arm. He yelled at her and told her hoped Veila dropped her with a stone from her mighty sling.

People had stared. The girl raked her nails across the back of his hand and ran away in a panic.

Kalen barely noticed the scratches shed left. He was too busy remembering the feel of the leather bracelet under his palm. Of course the thief had been wearing one. It was mostly the poorer children who did.

Only around one in five had them. And though Kalen almost never saw them on the wrists of well-dressed young people, when he did, they seemed to be displayed unusually prominently. As if they were a point of pride. Hed even seen a pair of sisters who had decorated theirs with pearl charms.

He didnt know exactly what it all meant, and he was afraid to ask anyone.

One in five is not that many, he thought as his eyes scanned the square. One in five is less than half.

Kalens own bare wrists did not stand out, because most childrens wrists were bare. He told himself this over and over again. He would not let himself unwrap his parcels of new clothes yet. There was no reason to do it just because Aunt Jayne had made them with longer sleeves. This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

I hate Iven Orellen. I hate his wife Atra, too.

He had learned her name finally. It came during a whispered conversation he overheard while he ate beef stew with Yarda by the inns warm hearth.

Iven and Atra. Lord and Lady Orellen, the parents of a Magus prophesied to be the greatest in all the first world.

The Magus was a being of such might that he or she would change the whole continent, the whisperers said. They were someone whose life was being protected by the existence of people like Kalenthough the non-practitioners having the conversation didnt seem to be clear on how the Lord and Lady adopting a bunch of corpses made that possible.

Kalen had a better idea. Zevnie had said people long-range scrying for Orellens had difficulties and that when they found anyone it tended to be one of the fakes. The lizards tail, twitching, to distract the hunter.

I hate Hamila of the Lamp the most, he decided. She should mind her own business. The fact that even the gods didnt like her should have been enough to tell her she ought to keep her stupid prophecies to herself.

If a couple dozen gods had come down from the heavens to tell Kalen to stop doing a thing, he would have quit doing it.

In the square, he dodged around a wagon filled with barrels of cider and ale, and soon afterward, he spotted an elderly woman trying to raise an awning over a corner stall. She didnt seem to have any assistance, and she reminded Kalen of Nanu. He knew that meant nothing, really, but it made him feel like she was less likely to be offended by his request than others might.

It was market day in Granslip Port, and in a couple of hours, the stalls would be ready and the crowd here would swell with people from all over the city and the surrounding countryside. Kalen had decided it was the perfect setting for testing out his new spell. The couple who kept the inn would probably not appreciate him spying on their guests, but people in a busy market should expect their conversations to be overheard, shouldnt they? And with lots of folk passing by, he wouldnt ever have to wonder if he was messing up the spell or if there was just nothing to hear.

He approached the old woman and offered to help her set up her stall. She had pale wrinkled skin and deep-set brown eyes, and she seemed very suspicious of him until he finally admitted he wanted something in return.

I would have helped her set it up anyway, he thought, struggling with the awnings prop. Everything in the city is so different from back home.

The market stalls around the edges of the square all abutted buildings, creating temporary storefronts where none usually existed. The canvas awnings and booths had been partially set up yesterday by people Kalen assumed worked for the city. The canvas draped from iron loops on the buildings side, and there were poles that fit into settings on the other.

He had no natural gift for this kind of work, but he and the woman managed it before the rest of her helpers arrived with a cart full of their wares for the day. They were a family of bakers, as it turned out. There were loaves of bread, liquor-soaked cakes, and buns stuffed with different fillings to be sold.

The old woman, Edder, bossed everyone else around a lot. Sometimes they listened to her, and sometimes they didnt, but it was all good natured. There was a comfort to being around a large family for Kalen. The rhythm of the arguments and the way everyone knew their place and their purpose felt familiar.

When hed finished helping unload their cart, they gave him a brown bun stuffed with sweet potato and stood him off to one side while they debated whether or not it looked good to have practitioner work prominently displayed on their booth.

It didnt matter one way or the other to Kalen.

Hed spent the past two days meticulously carving a spell circle into a wooden board, painting over it with his magepaint, and then sealing it. It was the easiest of several different options for setting up Ears of the East. Now he just needed a place to put it.

Edder was adamant that having Kalens carving out in front of the bread would make people curious and draw them in. One of her sons was convinced it would scare off customers who might fear something unnatural had been done to the food.

And I said to herI said, Emilia, you cant marry a man that does not bathe himself before church. He sits there before Yoat smelling like a goat, and the fact that it rhymes does not make up for it!

Kalen giggled.

I need six of the buns. The meat ones, now. Make sure to get it right.

The sound of sheep. A cough. A bell.

Dyou think that magician boys spell thingy is working?

It is! thought Kalen. It works just fine!

He opened his eyes. The voices sounded like they were coming from his cupped hands. And against his palms he could feel a faint swirl of air, as if someone were giving it a gentle stir.

A thump. Another cough.

Oh look! They have some cakes.

caught him stealing the bottom halves of candles.

They say that in Laen, theyve started talking about branding. Like cattle.

Thats just a rumor.

The price of the barley is ridiculous this season.

You wouldnt believe the itching.

Why is the board out in front of the bread again? Ma? Ma, I know you can hear me!

Is it magic bread, sir?

Eh? No. Waithow much would you pay for it if it was?

Kalen listened and listened. The spell pattern hed made seemed to settle deeper into his pathways as he kept channeling magic toward it. The voices became even clearer.

He even started to pick up noise that he thought came from farther than the immediate area around the bakery stall. It was hard to tell because all the sounds through Ears of the East were at the same volume. Things that must surely have been said in whispers were just as easy to hear as shouts or conversation.

He hadnt expected that. It hadnt been mentioned in the book.

It really does make it even more of a spying spell.

Kalen had assumed he would hear the same things he would have if hed been sitting right there in the market where the board was positioned. But it seemed like distant noises were missing, and near ones were much clearer.

He could hear the gurgle of someones stomach like his ear was pressed to their gut.

When Kalen felt his magic running low, he bit his lip and focused, trying to draw more in. Hed been able to do it that day on top of the rock even while casting, and this was a much calmer setting. If heyes. It was more work, but it was manageable.

The continent had magic. Kalen just needed to call it toward him.

I might not be able to do every pattern. And it might take me several minutes to cast a spell that only takes others seconds. But at least I have this.

Ecchun Batto said a low mage should only be able to cast Ears of the East for around half an hour. But as Kalen pulled magic into his pathways and pushed it into the casting, he realized something wonderful.

He could cast this spell forever.

He could replenish his power as fast as he expended it; he never had to stop.

Well, thats not entirely true, he amended after hed been eavesdropping for an hour. The magic on the board is probably draining too fast. And my arms are getting really tired.

Next time, hed make sure he had a table to rest them on.

He listened in wonder for as long as he could, marveling at himself in a way he would have been embarrassed about if he wasnt so happy.

Ive learned my first real wind spell. And its a good spell. A mage spell. It feels like it was made for me now that its all tucked in to my pathways where it belongs. I think the place its settled is where it should be built next time.

It feels so natural now.

And I did it by myself. If I can learn this one, I can learn every spell in that book by myself.

I think maybeI might finally be a real practitioner.