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.“One of my detection spells activated for a few brief seconds.”Joshua winced.They’d spent two weeks preparing themselves as best they could for a challenge, for when a Scion walked into the city and tried to claim it as his own, but nothing had happened.Eventually, he’d started to wonder if all of their preparations had discouraged the Scion from challenging Master Faye, although that was unlikely.A Scion with a full grasp of his powers might well have more recent experience skirmishing with other magicians than Master Faye.And few magicians were actually cowards.“Someone was flying,” Master Faye added.“They flew near my wards and then banked away.”“Oh,” Joshua said.“Why?”“Good question,” Master Faye said, more than a little crossly.“I’ll let you know when I figure out the answer.”Joshua swallowed.Flying – on a carpet, or a broom, or even alone – was a very complex spell, almost as complex as teleportation.It was easy for a magician to fly halfway around the world to attend a banquet – Master Faye had done it on occasion – but it was also easy for that magician’s enemies to disrupt his spells and send him tumbling out of the sky.Any magician flying so close to another bailiwick had to be utterly confident in their powers.All the great magicians of legend had castles built in the clouds or perched on a needle-thin rock – but no one ever built them in the real world, because they were just too easy to destroy.“Yes, master,” he said, finally.“Where do you think he was going?”“He passed outside the range of my spells, but I don’t think he went very far,” Master Faye said.He looked over at Joshua, thoughtfully.“How much progress have you made on riding a horse?”Joshua made a face.He would never have been permitted to ride if he hadn’t been a magician – and yet he’d discovered, when he’d started to learn, that he disliked it intensely.The horses all seemed to hate him and threatened to unseat him whenever he gave them an opportunity.And to think he’d envied horsemen back when he had been a child! He hadn’t realised just how bad-tempered the beasts actually were.“Take one out when the sun rises and ride around the fields, near the border,” Master Faye ordered.If he saw Joshua’s expression, he said nothing.“I want you to keep an eye out for anything unusual.”Joshua blinked.“Anything?”“Signs that someone might be lurking just outside the borderline,” Master Faye explained, patiently.“Speak to the farmers; ask them if they’ve seen anything odd.Don’t use truth spells unless they have a real strange story, one you find unbelievable.And remember the story of Mervin.”“Right,” Joshua said.Mervin had been one of the few Scions to believe that someone should be policing magicians, rather than allowing them to run rampant.His career had been spent hunting magicians who used black magic, to the point where he’d acted more like a City Guard Investigator than a proper magician.An odd man, but very practical.The stories had included lectures on what to look for if one happened to be hunting a black magician.Master Faye gave him a sharp look.“If you find anything, contact me at once and try to avoid meeting him,” he added.“You won’t be any match for a Scion, even after the hard work we’ve done over the last two weeks.Just keep your distance and contact me.”He smiled, rather thinly.“Go back to bed,” he ordered.“I’ll keep a watchful eye out for trouble.”Joshua didn’t sleep well that night, finally resorting to a sleeping spell he’d been told to use on himself only in the direst of emergencies.He couldn’t help the nightmares crawling through his skull and it was almost a relief when he awoke, just as the sun was slowly rising above the mountains in the distance.Muttering words under his breath that would have earned him a rebuke from his father, he staggered into the washroom and splashed cold water on his face.He didn’t feel refreshed at all.There was no sign of Master Faye as he walked downstairs and into the kitchen, only the two silent servants, who laid out a full breakfast before he could say a word.Master Faye had clearly briefed them on what Joshua would be doing all day, for they’d also laid out a packed lunch and several bottles of juice.No alcohol, of course.Joshua had been told that alcohol could make a magician silly, and then dangerous.It was unwise to drink any, even a tiny sip [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.“One of my detection spells activated for a few brief seconds.”Joshua winced.They’d spent two weeks preparing themselves as best they could for a challenge, for when a Scion walked into the city and tried to claim it as his own, but nothing had happened.Eventually, he’d started to wonder if all of their preparations had discouraged the Scion from challenging Master Faye, although that was unlikely.A Scion with a full grasp of his powers might well have more recent experience skirmishing with other magicians than Master Faye.And few magicians were actually cowards.“Someone was flying,” Master Faye added.“They flew near my wards and then banked away.”“Oh,” Joshua said.“Why?”“Good question,” Master Faye said, more than a little crossly.“I’ll let you know when I figure out the answer.”Joshua swallowed.Flying – on a carpet, or a broom, or even alone – was a very complex spell, almost as complex as teleportation.It was easy for a magician to fly halfway around the world to attend a banquet – Master Faye had done it on occasion – but it was also easy for that magician’s enemies to disrupt his spells and send him tumbling out of the sky.Any magician flying so close to another bailiwick had to be utterly confident in their powers.All the great magicians of legend had castles built in the clouds or perched on a needle-thin rock – but no one ever built them in the real world, because they were just too easy to destroy.“Yes, master,” he said, finally.“Where do you think he was going?”“He passed outside the range of my spells, but I don’t think he went very far,” Master Faye said.He looked over at Joshua, thoughtfully.“How much progress have you made on riding a horse?”Joshua made a face.He would never have been permitted to ride if he hadn’t been a magician – and yet he’d discovered, when he’d started to learn, that he disliked it intensely.The horses all seemed to hate him and threatened to unseat him whenever he gave them an opportunity.And to think he’d envied horsemen back when he had been a child! He hadn’t realised just how bad-tempered the beasts actually were.“Take one out when the sun rises and ride around the fields, near the border,” Master Faye ordered.If he saw Joshua’s expression, he said nothing.“I want you to keep an eye out for anything unusual.”Joshua blinked.“Anything?”“Signs that someone might be lurking just outside the borderline,” Master Faye explained, patiently.“Speak to the farmers; ask them if they’ve seen anything odd.Don’t use truth spells unless they have a real strange story, one you find unbelievable.And remember the story of Mervin.”“Right,” Joshua said.Mervin had been one of the few Scions to believe that someone should be policing magicians, rather than allowing them to run rampant.His career had been spent hunting magicians who used black magic, to the point where he’d acted more like a City Guard Investigator than a proper magician.An odd man, but very practical.The stories had included lectures on what to look for if one happened to be hunting a black magician.Master Faye gave him a sharp look.“If you find anything, contact me at once and try to avoid meeting him,” he added.“You won’t be any match for a Scion, even after the hard work we’ve done over the last two weeks.Just keep your distance and contact me.”He smiled, rather thinly.“Go back to bed,” he ordered.“I’ll keep a watchful eye out for trouble.”Joshua didn’t sleep well that night, finally resorting to a sleeping spell he’d been told to use on himself only in the direst of emergencies.He couldn’t help the nightmares crawling through his skull and it was almost a relief when he awoke, just as the sun was slowly rising above the mountains in the distance.Muttering words under his breath that would have earned him a rebuke from his father, he staggered into the washroom and splashed cold water on his face.He didn’t feel refreshed at all.There was no sign of Master Faye as he walked downstairs and into the kitchen, only the two silent servants, who laid out a full breakfast before he could say a word.Master Faye had clearly briefed them on what Joshua would be doing all day, for they’d also laid out a packed lunch and several bottles of juice.No alcohol, of course.Joshua had been told that alcohol could make a magician silly, and then dangerous.It was unwise to drink any, even a tiny sip [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]