Chapter 34 Magic Lessons
Magic Lessons
“Thank you,” Elizabeth said genuinely as the two witches gathered supplies to teach her magic.
“Hmmmph,” grumbled Nasera.
“We will start small," Risna said, smiling reassuringly.
Elizabeth glanced between them. She wondered how two people with such different dispositions were related.
“We don’t have much time to teach you everything.
We are going to cram years of study into a few short weeks.
I will be giving you work to take home and practice, and we will meet every few days.
” Risna paused. “Be aware, it may be difficult for you to learn magic. Most witches begin early in life, as young as ten, and dedicate their lives to the craft. At least five years of study are typically required to do anything noteworthy. Do not get your hopes up. We will be lucky to teach you basic spells, and only if you have a middling ability in magic.”
Risna paced in front of her, pursing her lips.
“We will have to skip healing and herblore—things that may be of actual use to a human—and jump straight into shielding and mastering basic defensive spells. Again, do not be alarmed if nothing happens. This is advanced, and human mages are usually not particularly skilled at these sorts of magic.”
“We will begin now,” Nasera cut in, depositing several stones and crystals on the table. She lit a candle and placed it in the center. “Lift one of the crystals.”
Elizabeth selected a violet, rough-cut gemstone.
Saying the words, she summoned the green fire in her chest and used it to lift the crystal into the air. Pleased with her success, she held it aloft until Risna lifted her hand.
“Good. That’s a good start. Lift the crystal up and down, like so.”
She struggled, and the crystal dropped to the table multiple times with a clatter.
Soon, after a few attempts, she could bounce the crystal in the air. Elizabeth chuckled, imagining a demon trying to attack her, and she would amuse it by levitating a rock. A useful survival tactic.
The stone dropped on the table as she lost track of the spell.
Risna snapped her gaze to her. “Try again.”
She exhaled, trying to mask her exasperation. She thought they would be learning protection spells. This seemed of little use. “Why are we doing this? How will this help me learn to protect myself?”
“We are spring cleaning up here.” Risna tapped her forehead. “You need to build your precision and control before you build your strength with magic.”
The smile wiped off her face, and she nodded and made several more attempts. After a few tries, the crystal circled and bounced in the air. Grinning, Elizabeth flung her palms towards the crystal, and it flew around the room.
Nasera came forward, scowling, and set a piece of rope in front of her. “This is the first defensive spell a young witch learns, in case unfriendly faces catch you and you need to escape.”
Elizabeth let the woman tie her hands together.
“I want you to break free. Say the word Ruiva. It means to break.”
“Ruiva,” Elizabeth enunciated the best she could. Nothing happened.
She tried again. Still nothing. Sweat beaded her forehead and gathered at the small of her back. The effort was strenuous. She felt like she had run a mile, trying to break the damn rope, yet the rope’s threads didn’t so much as quiver.
“Let go of the spell, child. It will burn you out.”
Elizabeth retreated inwards and struggled to let go of the thread of magic.
A headache was forming between her eyebrows, and she was starting to feel rather cross.
Risna looked undeterred as she asked her to try a few more times.
She failed every time.
After what felt like forever, Nasera leaned over and sneered, “That is one of the easiest spells we can teach you. Just cut a line of your power through the rope.”
Elizabeth forced a smile. “My apologies. I’ll try again.”
Removing the rope, Risna placed it upon a shelf and grabbed an empty bowl.
“No matter, some people learn certain spells quicker than others.” Risna placed the bowl in front of her on the table and said kindly, “Try to manifest water. Say Aquor, and imagine a flow of water coming out of your fingertips to fill this bowl. Like so.” She took a deep theatrical breath in, brought her fingers over the bowl, and spoke loudly and clearly. “Aquor.”
Elizabeth watched in fascination as water streamed from the witch’s fingertips.
She made two efforts, but to no avail.
“No? How about fire? Repeat after me. Ignisiar.”
In Risna’s palm, a purple flame gathered. It was rounded at the bottom, and as the older woman focused, the flame grew hotter, and the tops grew orange. The heat warmed her face.
By the end of the hour, she was half-tempted to throw her hands up and quit. It was clear that if she did have magic, it wasn’t much at all.
The angel had given her an impossible task.
Elizabeth was soon weary—the worst headache clutched at her skull, and hunger gnawed at her belly.
“Enough,” Risna cut in. “These things you will practice.”
“Er, I have a question,” Elizabeth asked tentatively. “Where do these words you speak come from? I know you said they are from the Godstongue, but how are they connected to the magic?”
Risna looked at her curiously. “The words just direct the spell, help give it shape. If you didn’t remember the word for water, but you remembered the word for lake, you could say lake and sometimes achieve the same thing.
You need to see the connection between the word in the ancient language and what you are trying to do.
“When we are telling you the words to use for the spell, we are giving you the words for break, flame, or water.” Risna smiled wryly.
“But speaking Common won’t work. You need to speak the word in the language of the gods.
And your ability to perform spellcraft is somewhat limited by your knowledge of the language. ”
“Er. How would I learn more about it if it’s a language not spoken anymore?”
It was Nasera who spoke, her voice dry with sarcasm. “We can give you a dictionary if you’d like, but if the city guards search your bags and find it, they’ll kill you.”
“Oh. Perhaps, not then.” Elizabeth chuckled. “Wait, can you do magic without it?”
Risna said, “You can do spells without using any words, just your thoughts, but it is very tricky and easy to get wrong. As a beginner, you must never try it and use verbal spells unless your need is dire.” Risna paused and nodded, as if counting things off a list. “Hmm, the last thing we will have you try for today is to extend your awareness outwards. Try to touch my mind with yours.”
Elizabeth did so, gently extending her thoughts towards Risna, tentative and curious.
Something froze her in place. Based on the sharp, hostile nature of the consciousness, she was certain it was Nasera. She was unable to move a muscle. She wrenched her hands, but they remained glued to her knees. Elizabeth’s eyes darted between the exit and Nasera, widened in fear.
“Allow me to show you why what we are risking our necks to teach you is important,” Nasera said, walking calmly towards her.
She couldn’t move her fingers or her toes. Just like the demon who had paralyzed her. Horrified, she realized how easily Nasera had trapped her, and she wasn’t even sweating. She stood with a small smirk on her face, looking as though Elizabeth’s shock entertained her.
Worse, great flapping things edged her vision, and soon all she could see were bats flying in the room.
She glanced at the floor, and oh gods, the floor.
It crawled with spiders as big as dinner plates towards her.
Elizabeth’s heart sped up, and her body was flooded with fear.
She broke out in a cold sweat, and her heart hammered in her chest.
She could hear her own panting as the spiders came towards her booted feet. They began crawling up her leg. She felt them—their hairy, spindly legs dug into her ankles for purchase. She looked to Risna for help, and she smiled.
Suddenly, the bats and the spiders were gone, and she could move again.
Nasera circled her and drawled, “Training your mind to withstand assaults from magic users will be paramount. Holding you paralyzed is not the worst thing that could happen.”
Elizabeth was terrified, too scared to speak.
“They can also make you feel,” Risna said gently, “er, aroused if they are near you, intrigued by their presence, even if your body is telling you to run. The bite of a demon has turned many a witch against her sisters because they can infiltrate your mind when you make yourself vulnerable to them. It is the very first thing we teach our daughters.”
“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked sharply.
She had suspected there was something in a demon’s bite and felt how her body responded when Caspian bit her. Her entire being sang with the idea of him and wanted nothing more than to melt into his touch. Having it confirmed by the witch left a cold lump of dread in her gut.
The concept that he manipulated her feelings and even her body’s response to him with ease disgusted her.
Risna gave a pointed glance at her neck. The marks had faded, but Elizabeth knew Risna was not fooled by her true purpose in staying with Caspian.
“A bite hurts, child. Having your skin sliced open with sharp teeth and having a monster feed off you is supposed to hurt. If it doesn’t, he has you under his spell. Until you learn to empty your mind and create a wall in their presence, you can’t be safe in here.” Risna tapped her forehead.
“Is there a way to stop it?” Elizabeth asked, her voice a horrified whisper.
“We will start by emptying your mind and imagining a barrier. It can be a song you recite, although that makes it difficult to think about other things, or you can imagine your mind as having an antechamber, a place where there are thick walls and barred doors. This way, you can have a part of your mind picturing your antechamber and clear, and the other half can wander and plan out how to escape without them reading your thoughts as easily as they would a book.”
Elizabeth’s shoulders sagged with the knowledge, feeling forlorn and defeated. Nothing, not one of her moments with Caspian might have been genuine. The bite that had sent her spiraling into pleasure had been a perversion of her senses and emotions.
She wondered exactly how much had been real, and how much of it had been a lie.
***
Elizabeth left the city later than she had anticipated and was given work to take home by Risna. On parting, it had been impressed upon her, once again, that as someone without witch blood in her veins, she would be lucky to master the simplest of things.
She returned home just as the sky had begun to darken, and if Fiza’s hurried nature was anything to go by, she was going to be late to dinner. She didn’t have time to bathe properly, but Fiza helped her wash and dress.
Elizabeth ate in silence, spending her time forging her walls and imagining what they would look like.
Her antechamber was white-walled, like the entrance to the queen’s palace in Calyx, and had a vase of flowers on a table, like the entry hall of her parents’ home.
If she were to make a hall for her thoughts, she wanted it to look nice.
She practiced holding the walls up and thinking of nothing else.
When she got distracted, however, she lost the image.
She tried to think about other things while simultaneously holding up her walls, and a headache started to develop.
She could either fixate on the walls in her mind or her surroundings, but not both.
Once she finished her venison stew, she excused herself and retired to the library. She sat in the alcove by the high windows, staring out at the mountains and the night sky, picturing towering white walls that kept all darkness at bay.
A tall figure entered the library. She had sensed him before he arrived—an aura that was heat and darkness. She opened her eyes to see him standing before her.
“Hello, Elizabeth.”
She broke her concentration, and looked up. “Hello, Caspian.”
“You were rather quiet at dinner.”
“Was there something you wanted to speak of?” she asked curiously.
“No, I just wanted to see if you were alright.”
“I’m perfectly well, thank you.”
He paused, considering. “I do wonder where it is you go all the time.”
Luckily, she had an answer planned out. “I like to go riding in the mornings, as you know, and sometimes I like to go into town and look at shops for new clothes and books,” she said, spinning half-truths.
She couldn’t bring herself to feel bad, especially when he looked bored and unsurprised by her reply.
“Be that as it may, I hope you take a guard or at least a chaperone if you were to do these things.” He touched her chin, lifting her eyes to his, and smiled. “It wouldn’t do to lose my favourite possession.”
She assumed he thought the gesture was comforting and protective, but all she felt was condescension.
Liar. Manipulator.
“Understood, Caspian.”
“Would you like to take a turn about the garden?” he asked, surveying her carefully.
She plastered a demure smile on her face. “It’s getting late. I should return to my chambers.”
“Of course, Elizabeth,” he nodded, withdrawing.
He extended an arm that she took gracefully.
She thought furiously of white walls, but no assault on her mind came as he led her up the steps to her chamber.
Caspian led her to her room and glanced at her with a question in his eyes.
“Goodnight,” she said firmly.
Caspian turned and departed, striding swiftly down the hall.
It wasn’t just his appearance; she felt like her body recognized his.
Everything from his smell to his very presence attracted her to him more than she had ever been attracted to any man in her life.
When they had gone riding together, and he smelled of dirt and sweat, she wanted nothing more than to bury her face in his chest.
Her attraction defied all logic and reason. Maybe because it was illogical.
She had begun to look forward to their night together almost like craving a drug. She felt sick thinking about it. Changing her innermost thoughts without her consent was something she didn’t think she could forgive.