The Tale of Tarrance

Tarrance's Hope

After their breakthrough the lessons had progressed nicely and Tarrance was feeling more confident with using his magic as each day passed. The house plants, and even some of the herb garden, had never been healthier than they were now. Sure, there are downsides as well with Tarrance having taken to purposefully tarnishing and tearing his clothes somewhat after Kerrie had commented on how well his 'new' tunic suited him.

It was only through years of schooling his reactions against the unexpected that he was able to hide the shock and fear that ran through him at the compliment she had given him. Perhaps the shock had shown but thankfully it, along with his tongue-tied and awkward manner, was not an unusual thing for Kerrie to see. So, the shaky quiet thanks followed by him rushing off to do something extremely important and urgent yet entirely nondescript wasn't a noteworthy occurrence to her.

Never one to turn down an opportunity he used those times to help him get used to the more destructive magics. He hadn't found them as instinctive to use as he had healing magic.

"Different magic has proclivities for different things," Maria had explained to him one night when he had questioned her about it. "That count's doubly so for mages."

Tarrance wasn't so sure it was that and not his own mind and morals fighting against it. He had found a pattern in what magic he found difficult and what he found easy. The more helpful and righteous spell had come to him with greater ease than anything that could be construed as dangerous. Even illusion spells were a chore to learn because of the chance of abuse with such an ability playing on his mind.

"I think we may be ready," Maria's tired voice thankfully roused him from his idle, and not so pleasant, thoughts.

Her day had been a long one and she had worked tirelessly this week to help the young Cameron boy whose condition had steadily worsened over the week. The child, for that's what he was even to Tarrance, clung on for now but Maria had told Tarrance it was only by a thin thread.

"If we don't want to lose anyone we'll have to be," she sighed her eyes not turning away from the fire that crackled beside them.

"Okay," Tarrance couldn't argue. He knew she was right, she was more learned in both medicine and magic than he was. If she said that it was time to make their move, then now was when they would do it. No matter how ready he felt, he wouldn't let her down.

Part of him was relieved as with each passing day the stress of not doing enough built on him. His sleep had become fraught and harder to come by as worries and nightmares dogged him. His thoughts berated him for his slow learning and lack of control. Even the time he had spent before all this hiding his magic had become a wasted opportunity that he flagellated himself over instead of the very real necessity of survival. Time spent in the village and not at home practicing to finally rid his village of this sickness grated on his nerves, his skin was now uncomfortable with the reality of having to hide his power.

"With magic, there are two ways to put an end to a disease like this," Maria continued, thankfully breaking him out of the negative spiral. They had become too common in the last few weeks.

"What are they?" Tarrance asked, eager to learn more and to quiet the dark thoughts at the back of his mind.

"We can, in essence, burn it out," she told him. Tarrance couldn't lie and say that, for all the worry, anger, and fear he had gone through because of this disease, the idea didn't appeal to him. "There is a danger to it, the spell must be precise and focused right. It is a destructive spell after all and if left to just rampage through the body it could do more harm than good."

And just like that, his desire to use such magic in such a way was snuffed out like a candle in the wind. With Maria's help, he could possibly do what she was telling him but the control he would need to help all that were sick seemed daunting if not outright terrifying. It also left him with questions. How would they use such magic safely? How would they hide it? Could they use it to save everyone?