“One of the most powerful mages?” Launi was stunned. “That can’t be right, I’ve never used magic.”
Glandria squeezed her daughter’s shoulder lovingly as they continued down the trail. “That’s because you’ve never had the chance to bring it forward. You’ve never had me to guide you or any other mage in your life for that matter.”
“What would having a mage in my life change? If I had magic wouldn’t I know about it?”
“Not necessarily. You’ve always had magic in you, there’s no questioning that. But without someone or something there to bring it out in you, you haven’t had the need to access it. That is,” Glandria continued. “Until the dark mages cast a curse on the village. You didn’t fall under it, because of your magic.”
“I thought it was because you put a protection spell on me when I was little.”
“I did,” her mother nodded. “But that spell could only do so much. I was counting on, hoping really, that when the time came my protection spell would trigger the magic in you. It did better than I could have ever thought possible. You were able to enter that curse more than once and never showed signs of weakening. No normal mage’s magic would have protected them against that curse for that long. You have powerful magic.”
Launi was quiet for a little while taking in what her mother had told her. She had magic, apparently very strong magic. Launi was having trouble accepting in the news. She’d always been the healer’s daughter, nothing more, nothing less. But now, now she wasn’t sure what she was. Launi patted Swift’s neck; reassured by his presence.
“I have magic.”
It wasn’t a question, but her mother answered anyway, “yes.”
“And the only reason I didn’t fall under the curse was because your protection spell triggered my magic?”
“It was strengthened by your magic, but yes.”
“So,” Launi said slowly. “What does that mean?”
Glandria smiled at her as they rounded a bend in the trail. “It means whatever you want it to mean. You don’t have to train with the mages, but I’d recommend it. Magic that goes untrained has a bad habit of sneaking up when we least want it to.”
Launi nodded taking in her mother’s words. “Okay.” She decided she would get back to the prospect of training with the mages after she’d saved her village. “What do we have to do to prepare the spell?”
“It’s very complicated, and we’ll have to gather supplies, but together we should be able to manage it,” Glandria explained.
“Together? I don’t know anything about magic yet.”
“That’s why I plan to bring your magic to the forefront.”
“But how do you know that I can be trusted with it?” Launi remembered her family and friends laying on the ground and was scared by what magic could do. “What if I do something wrong and it hurts a lot of people? What if I can’t control it?”
Glandria lay a hand on Launi’s shoulder again. “I’m not concerned about that.”
“You aren’t? How can you not be concerned?”
“You’ve passed all the tests,” Glandria said simply and vaguely.
“What tests?” Launi was getting tired of having to ask so many questions.
“To be allowed to be trained by the mages, you have to pass three tests. This is to ensure that you will use your power for the good of others. It wasn’t always this way. A few hundred years ago there wasn’t a test and once of the worst dark mages there ever was rose into power equipped with the training of the mages. Since then, the mages have worked to remedy this mistake by testing each potential student.”
“What are these tests? I don’t remember going through any.”
“Ah, but you did. Do you remember the group of kids that started attacking a little boy?”
Launi was shocked. “How do you know about that?”
Glandria tilted her head in the direction of Launi’s pendant. “The necklace. It allows me to see your surroundings, remember?”
“Oh,” was all Launi was able to get out.
“Yes. Anyway, those children were the first test. We were testing your integrity. To see if you would stand up for those less fortunate than yourself. You proved yourself.”
The memory flashed through Launi’s mind. The sound of a cracking twig in the shadows. The small boy in a circle of older kids. The sound of someone breathing behind her as she watched the children walk into the woods away from her…
“The breathing, that was you wasn’t it,” Launi realized.
“Yes. Scrying can sometimes bleed into the place we are looking at. Sometimes it’s a flicker of a shadow or a breath of air. It often goes unnoticed or put aside as a weird occurrence.”
“So you set up those children to test my integrity?” Launi felt spied upon and manipulated.
“I didn’t ask for the tests to be done now. I wanted to wait until you’d fully come of age, but the mages wouldn’t have it. We need your help and they saw an opportunity in the dark mages’ curse. They decided that this was the right time to do it. I said I would only agree if I was the one to monitor the tests. They agreed, though grudgingly.”
Launi was starting to accept that she might never fully understand what was happening to her. There were unseen powers and people manipulating her life without her knowledge. Launi took a deep breath, trying to calm her mind. “Why do they need my help?”
It was Glandria’s turn to take a deep breath. “They believe that you can help us defeat the dark mages once and for all.”
“And what do you believe?” Launi asked, pushing that terrifying idea to the back of her mind as she had done so often recently.
Glandria didn’t answer right away. She instead looked ahead of her at the cottage that had appeared nestled among the trees. Finally, her mother spoke.
“I believe that if anyone can defeat the dark mages it is you, Launi.”
Ah, more of this amazing adventure. Thank you.
Thank you for reading!