Caster's Spell (A Mage Tale Book 1) Read online

  "Whoa," Wesley unwittingly whispered, seizing up his supposed protectors. He gawked at their armbands. Three yellow falcons. "Are you guys always watching me?"

  "We can't answer that," said one of the young men.

  "Were you there during the duel?" He had to know why they wouldn't stop it.

  "No," said the young lady. "We were assigned to you by the dean as a consequence of the event. Now, if you don't mind, Master Rosen, we shouldn't be seen by underclassmen."

  "Very well," said the man, raising his scepter, but one of the C-class boys signaled for him to wait.

  "Hey kid, you wanna do well in the Final Exams?" he said. "Be sure to fight in as many duels as possible over the next month."

  "Sanctioned of course," said the other young man. The young lady slapped their shoulders to silence them, before nodding at Master Rosen. Then, following another blanketing white light, the three vanished.

  "Sometimes, my young friend," said the master, "the absence of everything signifies the presence of something. By the end of this month, I promise to you that you will never make such a mistake."

  Onto The Right Tracker

  "You're tryin' to say that a master was involved?" Axel questioned, nearly falling out of his seat.

  "I know it sounds crazy, but it doesn't make sense otherwise," said Cameron. "I would have felt the difference in the pressure of the air before a natural storm. That, plus the fact that it came at the perfect time, means that it had to be conjured up."

  "And no underclassman is strong enough for a trick like that," Axel exhaled. "What can we do about it? I mean, it's our word verses his."

  "I know. The dean won't side with us until we can get some hard evidence."

  "So, so far, we got three students, all E-class and up, and a master? That's kind of a lot to throw at a single Warlock."

  "One of the students used lightning, with enough precision to torture, but not kill Wes," Cameron said, reading his notes. "That means he's likely a Lightning Sorcerer, which gives us only about sixty students as possible conspirators."

  "That leaves us with an Earth Sorcerer that knows how to pull his punches. Who ever did that, had to be a D-class. The act doesn't take that much power, but it takes a butt-load of control." Axel patted his own chest. "I would know. Once those things start flying..." He shook his head. "It's impossible for anyone weaker."

  "They're too technical with their powers to be anything less," Cameron agreed. "With Winter as the final piece of the puzzle, I'd say our claim is accurate. So now, the question is: who do we pursue and how do we track 'em down?"

  "The best plan would be to go after the Lightning Sorcerer first," said Sri from the doorway. "Sorry I'm late."

  "Don't worry about it, but hurry and close the door."

  "Right." The girl rushed to lock the door behind her, being sure not to slam it. She felt her stomach twist in a knot. "Guys, I don't think we should do this anymore."

  "What is it this time, Mouse?" asked Axel.

  "It's just that... he doesn't want us to."

  "I know," said Cameron.

  "This is why we should have never let her in," the Earth Sorcerer stood up.

  Cameron raised his hand to the oversized boy. "Calm down. And she had a right to know. She's our friend and we're in this together, right?"

  "Yes."

  "Yeah."

  Then he continued, "Sri, remember why we're doing this. I know that Wesley doesn't want to have anything to do with what happened to him. But we're making sure that it doesn't happen again. If they don't get caught, the rest of the students might think that they can get away with doing the same thing."

  "I suppose you're right."

  "He always is," Axel said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "Always."

  "Sri was right though," Cameron turned to the Earth Sorcerer. "It'd be a whole lot easier to track down the Lightning guy or girl, since there aren't as many of them."

  "But how do we go about doin' that?" asked Axel. "It's not like any of us are source-sayers."

  "Well..." Sri looked down at her shoes. "None of us are."

  "What are you saying?" asked Cameron.

  "Um, I probably shouldn't," the Sorceress said and turned away.

  "C'mon, Sri, don't do that to us... Please," Axel said in a bizarre change of character.

  After giving the boy a strange look of surprise, she caved.

  "Wes is a source-sayer," she spat out quickly, before covering her mouth with both hands with a sort of frightened squeak.

  "What!?" the boys shouted and then just as loudly, asked her several unintelligible questions at the same time. It wasn't until they were scared by someone knocking on the window, that their voices lowered to anything that could be described as normal levels. It was Wesley!

  For a moment they froze in terror. Then he knocked again and managed to insult them with his eyes while pointing at the door knob.

  "Sri, open it," Cameron said calmly as he slowly put his notebook in his backpack.

  "I looked everywhere for you guys. Who woulda guessed that you'd be in a library study room?" Wesley laughed. "By the way, what were you talkin' about? It looked like something crazy."

  "Well, uh..." Cameron thought for a few seconds.

  "We know you're a source-sayer," Axel rushed to say, unable to hold back his excitement, and then he covered his mouth in the same fashion as Sri.

  "What?" Wesley said aggressively and hurried to close the door, peeking around to see if anyone had heard. Luckily, the library was, in large, empty. He turned back to his friends. "What the heck! You told them?"

  "I'm sorry!" Sri's hands were now covering her eyes as well. "Please don't hate me."

  "I—" Wesley stopped to growl and clench his fists. "I don't hate you. But it was you that told me I couldn't tell anyone, remember? Anyone."

  "I know, but—"

  "Even us?" Axel asked.

  "She specifically told me not to tell you."

  "What?" Axel slammed his palms on the table.

  "Wait wait wait," Cameron said quickly. "You're seriously a source-sayer?"

  Wesley looked around as if to find a hole to escape through. Then with a heavy, sigh he plopped down into a seat. "Yeah."

  "That's freakin' awesome!" Axel said excitedly.

  "Yeah, who could have guessed that a Warlock could take on a trait of the nobles?" Cameron laughed. "What's it like?"

  Axel, too revved up to let the boy answer, said, "I heard that it's different for each source-sayer."

  "Yeah," Sri added, "like some can only feel source, while others see it."

  "Well—" Wesley tried to start, before the group was hushed with yet another tap at the window. It was Old Lady Suzuki, the school librarian. She was supposed to be called Master Suzuki and indeed that was how the students addressed her to her face, but when she wasn't around, everyone referred to her by the same title. Not being a master that anyone particularly liked, it was a nickname inherited from past generations. Wesley, like many of his peers, enjoyed playing the game of guessing her age, using such strategies as counting her wrinkles or the number of white hairs on her head.

  She glared at the four youngsters and with the squint of her eye, demanded that someone open the door.

  "What in Sam Hill is going on in this room?" she shot as soon as her voice could be heard.

  "Um—"

  "This is a library, not a playground. Tell me, what possible excuse could you have to justify that ruckus?"

  Thinking quickly, Cameron raised his hand. "We were... debating over the last ingredient to a healing potion. Sri says it's wolfsbane, but I'm almost sure that it's lichen."

  "Hmmm," she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes with a suspicious tap of her foot. "Bones, flesh, or nervous?"

  "Flesh," said Sri, unable to look directly into the striking beam of Old Lady Suzuki.

  Then after a long pause that almost made Cameron sweat, the master said, "Well the correct ingredient is wolfsbane.
You're an E-class student, Elegro; you should know those sorts of answers." Then she turned to Axel. "And you."

  Axel's eyes gaped in short-lived fright. "Yes."

  "How is the Grimoire? Enlightening, yes?" she spoke with an altered demeanor, smiling.

  "Yeah, yeah," the Earth Sorcerer lied, glancing at Wesley. "But I'm not finished yet. I'm just starting the section written by Grandmaster Povlow."

  "Oh, an especially edifying chapter," Old Lady Suzuki almost giggled. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

  "Thank you, I will." Axel gave her a fake smile. "Well, if you don't mind, it's not everyday that someone like me gets a genius for a tutor, which we both know I need."

  "Yes, of course." Her giddy smile faded as she glanced at one of the school's most famously talented students. "But there'll be no shouting in the library, understood?"

  "Yes, Master," the students said in unison.

  "Then carry on." She closed the door behind her.

  "Wow, you guys are slick," Wesley said as soon as the librarian left the room.

  "Well I really couldn't have gotten anywhere without Sri's help," Cameron said.

  "Yeah, but you just came up with that story like it really happened," Cameron’s roommate said to him, before turning to Axel. "And how did you know there was a section written by Grandmaster Povlow?"

  "Are you kiddin' me?" Axel laughed. "That dude's old as dirt. He's bound to have something in there."

  Wesley laughed with him. "Man. Amazing—right, Sri?"

  "Um," said the girl, twiddling her thumbs. "Yeah, they really are."

  "Hey, what were we talkin' about?" asked Axel while balancing on just two legs of his chair. "Somethin' about somethin', right?"

  "You were telling us," Cameron leaned toward Wesley, "what sensing source is like."

  "Oh yeah!" Axel exclaimed and leaned forward, slamming the chair's wooden legs to floor.

  "Shhhhh!!" the other three students hissed with fingers to their lips.

  The larger Sorcerer replied with a scared smile, "Oh, sorry."

  "Well it's kinda hard to explain," said Wesley. "But I can't see it, that's for sure. I kinda feel it. So far I can sense texture, shape, and temperature, but there's a lot more I gotta learn. It mostly just feels like intuition. It takes a lotta focus to really identify things."

  "What's my source like?" Cameron asked.

  "Sharp."

  "What does that mean?"

  "I'm not sure yet."

  "What's mine like!" Axel lost control again.

  After shushing him, Wesley answered, "Umm... there're no corners, like something round, and it's hard."

  "Cooool."

  Wesley turned to Sri. Cameron was also expecting her to ask next but she didn't.

  "Don't you wanna know yours?" the Warlock asked her.

  She pulled her hair back behind her little ears. "Not if it's a bother."

  "Don't be silly, it's no big deal." Wesley gently pushed her shoulder like he did his other pals, the sight of which made Cameron laugh.

  Wesley went on, "Actually, I like your source the most. It's really interesting."

  "Really?" she said with a broad smile before retracting back into her seat and looking away. "What's it like?"

  "It changes."

  "Hm?" Cameron grunted and leaned forward. He had never known source to change.

  "Sometimes it's calm and fluid, really soft and soothing, with no angles or hardness. But whenever I catch you studying, it's like a totally different person's. Your source becomes more like Cam's and it's cold."

  "Like Cam's? Then I guess that means... I'm getting smarter, right?"

  Wesley was too busy laughing to notice the change in her smile.

  But, Cameron not missing a thing, added, "Or perhaps, ambitious."

  "Hey does mine change when I study?" asked Axel almost begging for a yes.

  Wesley replied, laughing, "When do you ever study?"

  The other two chuckled as well.

  "Ha ha ha, a round of applause for the world's funniest man," Axel said sarcastically and he went back to balancing on the chair.

  Wesley looked up at the wall to where a clock hung a half a meter lower than the ceiling.

  "Is that the time?" he asked loudly.

  "Yeah, why?" answered his roommate.

  "I gotta go," the Warlock said, hastily moving for his bag.

  "What's the rush? We still have a few minutes," said Sri.

  "I gotta get to my class?"

  "What's it about?" asked Axel. "You never told me."

  "Me either," said Cameron, noticing Sri also shared their curious expression.

  "Umm nothing really." Wesley was a terrible liar.

  "Just some spells and stuff," he said before racing out of the small study room.

  After a moment of silence, Cameron tapped the table.

  "Alright guys," he said, reverting from friend to slooth. "Somehow, we have to get him to find the Lightning Sorcerer, without letting him know what we're doing."

  "Can't we just pay some other guy to do it?" Axel complained.

  "Two problems with that," said the Wind Sorcerer, while dancing a piece of paper on an updraft to occupy his ever racing mind. "One: some of us aren't made of money. And two: the attack was months ago, the residual source isn't there anymore."

  "Meaning that Wesley is the only person that could recognize the source." Sri nibbled on her thumbnail. "But how can we do it?"

  "Don't worry," said Cameron. He snatched the paper out of the air and stuffed it in his bag. "I'll cook up something."

  "That's not what I meant," said the Sorceress as they all prepared to head to class. "Can we really trick our friend into being a part of something he doesn't want?"

  "A part of this?" Axel said as they left the room. "Like it or not, he's already smack dab in the middle of it."

  "Master," said Wesley as he entered Master Rosen’s office with heavy breaths.

  "Hello, Wesley," said the man, standing up from behind his desk. "You were supposed to be ten minutes early, remember?"

  "Yes, sir. I lost track of time. I'm sorry."

  "Don't be, but we haven't any time to waste. Take hold of my scepter," he said, as he approached Wesley. His scepter grew to shoulder length and he set its bottom to the ground before him

  "Where are we going today?" Wesley asked as he reached for it.

  "Surprise is half the fun." Master Rosen grinned and as soon as Wesley touched the scepter, he was no longer on campus.

  Fun and Games

  In an instant, Wesley found himself in the middle of a city, on the sidewalk of a wide boulevard. He looked down, noticing that he was wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans instead of his uniform. He looked to the master at his right, who wore a large unnecessary dark brown coat, though the weather was mild.

  "Magic, my boy," Master Rosen answered before Wesley could asked.

  "Where are we?"

  "Not important." Master Rosen started walking.

  Wesley chased after him. "Um, today I heard that every source-sayer senses things differently. Is that true?"

  "Yes, slightly, but our senses are very similar."

  "Cool. Sooo... I also heard that some people can see source. Is that true?" Wesley asked, remembering the beautiful array of colors he saw when first attempting the Spirit of Gaia.

  "That one is actually false," the old man answered. "The ability to sense source is different from any of the other senses. So when a source-sayer describes the color of a particular source, they aren't exactly seeing it. They are sensing the color in a different way. Remember what I taught you earlier this week: the five natural senses can be fooled. So don't see with just your eyes, don't smell with just your nose, and don't hear with just your ears. Understood?"

  "Uh, yeah. So I won't ever be able to see it without a spell?"

  "Without a spell?" The man looked at Wesley with a lifted brow.

  "I mean, there's gotta be one out there right?" Wesley awkwardly laughed,
trying his best to hide his "ace-in-the-hole", while at the same time wondering why he felt he had to hide it from a master.

  "Yes, one or two, I suppose. But they are too costly, in terms of source, to be effectively put to use."

  "Is there anything you don't know?" Wesley joked before bumping into person. As soon as their shoulders met, the boy jumped in fear. He sensed something, unlike any source he had felt before, one that made him cringe.

  "Don't worry, Wesley. Calm down," Master Rosen said peacefully.

  "What—what the—did you?"

  "Yes," the stout man laughed. "You have nothing to fear. But the power you just felt was very real. That was a Dark One."

  "A what!?" Wesley shouted, just barely fighting off the urge to run. He couldn’t explain why but the source—if it could be called source—that he sensed left his gut-wrenching.

  Master Rosen put his hands on the boy's shoulders, which made him feel a bit more at ease. Though not safe.

  "There are many things in this world that no one understands. But the magi, as those with the greatest capacities for knowledge, are the closest to truly knowing all of its mysteries. There are a number of monsters out there; I won't lie about that. But because we have the highest level of understanding on this planet, shouldn't it be our duty to keep a watchful eye on it? That is, and has always been, the position of the magi." He released Wesley's shoulders. "We don't aggressively police the Dark Ones, like we do our own kind, but we must maintain a relationship with them—one in which they know not to perform certain atrocities. That is the way it has always been. Only now, we go without drawing the attention of the rest of the world. But there are some among us that would prefer it," he paused, "another way."

  Wesley noticed the master look off into empty space.

  "Like who?" he asked.

  Master Rosen laughed and ruffled the boy's hair.

  "Ah, never you mind, Wes. Come." He continued to walk. "Today you will be learning a very important lesson in source-saying."

  Wesley followed. "What is it?"

  "Source-signatures," answered the Wizard. "Think of them as labels that everyone wears at all times. And like fingerprints, they are different for every magi. It's a way to differentiate between individuals with similar source types and it is also a key element to tracking. It can even be sensed as residual source, the stuff left behind after incantations are produced."