Hot Obsidian
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“I will stop you then,” sneered Irin at that. “Go on, try to run away. I swear I’ll find you wherever you go and kill you in the most painful way possible. My arrows will reach you before you even get a chance to learn your first battle spell!”
“Irin!” Bala tried to calm everyone down, as usual, but no one had even noticed him now.
“…Yeah, I’d love to kill a deserter,” continued Irin, a dark, carnivorous glee in his voice. “Go on, Pai, renounce your vows and run. Your Transvolo can buy you a couple of days but I’ll find you, oh I will…”
“What’s wrong with you, people!!!” exclaimed Milian, rushing forward. “Leave him alone! He’s been dreaming of magic his whole life! Magic IS his whole life! I…”
Juel reached Milian in one wide step, grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall. The impact was strong enough to take young Raven’s breath away.
“Never,” growled Juel. “You hear me? Never stand between me and someone else. You don’t want to challenge me, whelp, oh, you don’t…”
That said, he released Milian’s shirt and let the terrified boy fall to the floor.
“Juel, stop it.” Orion’s voice, clear and calm, was like a ray of light in the darkness now. “Let me talk to Pai.”
Orion took the terrified young mage by the shoulder, led him out of the room, and closed the door behind him. With a loud sigh of relief, Pai leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor where he sat, a shivering kid in an oversized cloak, exhausted and miserable.
His saviour squatted next to him.
“Listen to me, Pai,” said Orion firmly. “You can’t win here and now, not against Juel, not in the middle of the mission. So do what I say. Tell your magister pal that you’re not refusing but postponing your decision. Colleges enrol new students only at the end of summer anyway, so you’re not losing anything. Don’t argue with Juel and, I beg you, stay away from Irin altogether: that kid is insane, mark my words… So here’s the plan: you’re completing the mission with us first, then you must take your plea to your master. Kangassk Vesperi is a clever, reasonable woman, she will listen to you and will help you. You can’t do anything in the Order without your master’s support, you understand?”
“But…” Pai sniffed and stifled a moan. “But it’s my only chance to be a mage. What if I miss it, what if…”
“Bah!” Orion chuckled. “It’s just a shitty provincial college, Pai. With your talent, any University would kill to have you! So don’t sell yourself short, kid.”
There was a faint smile on Pai’s trembling lips now and hope in his puffy, teary eyes.
“Your main goal is to convince Vesperi that a powerful mage will be more useful to the Order than another ambasiath. Most other Kangassks will support you too, I’m sure. They’re good people. And Sainar is their father, he’ll listen to them.”
Pai was sobbing now, all his fears, his doubts, his anger pouring out of him in tears.
“There, there, warrior…” Orion patted him on the back. “It’s okay. I’m on your side too. Let’s go get that obsidian. After that, you’ll be a full-fledged Order’s member, not some child, and your own voice will have some weight as well.”
Back in the common room, Orion, his face grim, his eyes full of smouldering anger, winked at Juel: it is done, we’re good to go.
The looks that the other teammates gave their leader, spoke it all: the peace and trust that they all had achieved during their stay in Firaska were broken again. Juel Hak had failed as a leader in the eyes of Irin, and as a friend and elder in the eyes of the rest of the boys. That would not be easy to rebuild, indeed!
Chapter 8. The border
Across the border, even the best maps
Have nothing left to say
A void where stars sleep, flickering,
The Moon’s haven by day.
Across the border, across the border –
The end. Nothing moves on.
Water drains down into darkness,
Earth is sliced off and gone.
Far off, in darkness, shining myriads
of stars hang overhead.
I chose my path, and held to it, when
Across the border it led.
Crossing the border changed me, to them
I grew ugly, a repulsive goon –
Not all at once – in separate stages,
Measured, phased like the Moon.
The days once were when handsome I seemed!
My future filled with hope!
When at my zenith, with the strength I’d dreamed,
I crossed the border
Adult Milian. A canto of “Thorn poem”
The team fell into Pai’s Transvolo like a handful of stones thrown into a cold abyss. Despite all the efforts of Einar Sharlou, his young apprentice’s spell still included passing too close to the alien star.
“The Primal World!” exclaimed Jarmin, pointing at the golden sun, that pulsing ball of light that seemed no bigger than a Liht sphere from here. “Pai, please, let’s get closer, let’s take a look!” the little boy begged.