Book of Kings

Chapter 11

"Why?" was the first thing I said to the old man before me, "this can't have been that impressive."
He looked at the similar but less elegant clothed man in the room, "pessimist." He looked at me again, "it is impressive, very much in fact. The control you showed here today could only have been done by someone who practiced the arts for years but for some reason you, a complete novice, did something that should have been so much out of your reach it seemed impossible."
Arno Eeming, I thought about that name. He called himself a Grand Magister, a Headmaster.
I haven't heard of him before. Should I have?
As if. I have never been connected to the Mages Guild in any way. I haven't even met a mage until today.
"Did you really not know you could do that?" He asked.

Did I? Could I just pretend to have been oblivious or dumb my whole life?
No, that'll be much too hard to believe.

I had to tell him something, "with you telling me all this I'm not sure anymore. Maybe I had some weird coincidence I couldn't explain, maybe I did have some suspicion that I could do more but never gave it a second thought."
"Ah, there, you see. You had a suspicion and with that, you came here. That's the whole reason you came here, a suspicion. Of what you weren't completely sure, but it turns out you have a lot more than that now."
He leaned on the table, "so, would you like to go to the capital?" He asked again.
I still wasn't sure what he wanted from me, "for what exactly?"
"What for? The greatest of schools is there and there you will get the finest education and training that is needed to foster talent like yours."
"I'm not sure," I sank down on the chair, "I have no money." I sank even lower, "and as for my family," I looked at him with sad eyes. "You already know what happened to them."
His tone didn't change but got even more cheery, he flung an arm around me, "my boy, you have nothing to worry about. I, after seeing what you can do, will personally sponsor you. You will get shelter, food, clothes, and an allowance, to you know, to do whatever the youth does nowadays. Just think about it, okay?" He let go of me, "we can discuss this later, first I have some errands to run."

I nodded.

He looked at the other man now, "could you please escort this young man to Dorian?"
I felt light-headed walking back to the entrance, not just that, I was nervous, about what the Grand Magister said and what my decision was going to be.
When we reached Mister Dorian, the other man instructed me to sit nearby, talked with the younger mage then he left. I sat still in the seat, thinking. I had nothing to lose if I would go to the capital but the world I would be joining will be so foreign and strange. I never imagined being a mage and I couldn't just believe what the old man told me. If I joined would he really be taking care of me? Give me food, clothes, money even?

Just like that? Maybe it's some kind of trap?

I don't even know what the magic that I'm doing is. It had to be the thing that happened in the woods, what else would it be. I'm sure I never could do things like that, maybe it's not going to last forever, maybe it will wane over time rendering me incapable of doing magic and being thrown out of the guild losing the support I got from Eeming. Before today I've never met someone who could do magic. I don't know what the standard is. But the life of a mage would be a nice one. Learning and reading already came easy to me and going to the guild in the capital would give me the highest education, so even if I lost the power I would still be educated, if it was like any other school. I couldn't imagine they would only teach about magic.
Sitting there I could think of no negative that would befall me joining the guild but I don't know enough about it to make an educated guess.

Maybe they're evil?

Maybe not. The people I've talked to so far, being Dorian, Eeming and the tester were nice enough, even if they were strict. Dorian could tell me more about what the guild does, but when I looked up I almost jumped from my seat.

Dorian, like the guard a few days ago, was glowing but in a much more distinct color of blue.
I wanted to stand up and run away, but he must have noticed me wincing in the chair and looked over, "something wrong?"

I tried calming down. I didn't want to cause a scene. I must have gone crazy because he seemed to be fine and I couldn't just ask him why he looked like that all of a sudden. As I looked around, I noticed that everyone else here was too, in different shapes and in different shades and strengths of blue, I included. My hand was like his body when comparing the two. They were similar in colors, but the 'glow' I was emanating was much stronger than his, like a campfire to a candle. I squinted my eyes then had to look away completely, it felt like looking too long into the sun.

"Again, something wrong?" he put a hand on my shoulder and shook me slightly and the glowing slowly disappeared. I stared at him intently, why did it vanish? Was I just coming to my senses again?
"No," I said absent-mindedly.
"Good," he went back to his desk. "But," I raised a hand. I heard him grunt annoyed.
He turned around forcing a smile, "what can I do for you?"
I didn't know what he thought was so annoying, I just wanted to learn more about magic and the guild.
"What do mages really do?"
"What do we do?" The way he said it made him seem surprised and tired at the same time. "The guild must have a purpose, and I want to know what that is."
He lay down his quill, "as you most likely know we mages are scholars and besides practicing the Magical Arts, we are also pursuing sciences. The gathering, validation, and releasing of knowledge is one of the most important and major things the guild does."
"Is there a reason why?"
He was outraged, "do I really have to give you a reason why we gather knowledge?"
"No, I understand." I thought for a bit before asking my next question.
"What about magic? Could you explain how it works?" I asked.
"No, I cannot. If you really are interested in it, you will be educated in a school about it and there you can bombard your teachers with other questions. I will allow you to ask one other question then please, let there be silence."
I had some questions in my mind but none of them were of any importance, "how come you joined the mages?"
He looked over to me surprised, "are you really interested or just feigning interest?"
"I'm genuinely curious," I reassured him.
"Unlike you, I joined the guild at a very young age. My parents were mages and they wanted me to be one too. That's it."
"That's it? You are continuing your parents' legacy?"
He said in a more aggressive tone, "that's not bad. I like being in the guild, just because my parents introduced me into this world doesn't mean they forced me to stay."
I didn't think that would insult him, "I apologize. I didn't mean to offend."
He turned around and nodded, "I accept your apology. If you did not mean to then there be no harm done." Turning around again he struggled to say, "I apologize too. Though you are of humble origin you are a very well-mannered young man and my behavior did not befit the tone a mage should have to another, even if the one is just an initiate."
I wondered, did Eeming tell him that I had already joined the guild?
Just then Magister Eeming returned, excitedly he rubbed his hands, "right-o, let's go, boy."
He nodded towards Dorian.
Before standing up I said my goodbyes to him and he replied with, "it was my pleasure." Then followed the Magister but when he exited through the entrance door he froze in place.
"Wait a minute. I didn't even ask you what your decision was. Will it be a yes or no?"
"I..."
I hesitated and before I could say anything else he interrupted, "think about it, being a magician. When I was young, I didn't know what I wanted to do but then when I entered the guild I was in love, metaphorically of course."
Disregarding what he just said, the life I would lead as a mage would be the best I could get. "Yes, I want to join the mage's guild," I said confidently.
"Great," he slapped me on the back. "Welcome to the guild. If you have to prepare or have any unfinished business in the city, this is the time to finish them."
I thought about it. The only possessions I had were in the bag that was still in my room at the inn, but there was one thing I had to get back. "Magister, could I make a request?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Could I get some money? You can cut it from the allowance you talked about."
"How much would you need?"
"Twenty-five coins," I prepared for him to deny it but he searched in his coat and took out a pouch that seemed too big for his pocket.
"Twenty-five coming right up."
"Aren't you not going to ask me what for?" I asked confused.
"Nah, you just do what you want with it," he answered like it was the most natural of things.
He just handed me it without looking in it and when I looked at him if this wasn't a mistake but he just gave me a confident nod.
"And when you're finished, meet me at the inn where we first met, then we can head off to the capital, Dralett," he strolled off, unconcerned.

Counting the coins, they were exactly twenty-five. For a man like Eeming this amount must have been nothing, giving it to me like that. I hoped that he knew beforehand how much there was in it, not just give me whatever was left in the pouch.
It was a large sum to just hand over, was he so sure that I wouldn't just run off with it? How do mages even make their money? I could ask him about it later.