Life After Death

Guinevere: studying with Corryn

{Guinevere}

Someone knocked on the door, making us all jump. Gawain glared at it.

"Gawain? Can I come in?"

It was Mikaela; I was surprised, my mother never asked to come into my room.

"Yes?"

Mikaela came in, glancing at Corryn and then looking at me.

"Your mother contacted me and she'd like you to come home," she said, a bit apologetically. "She sounded upset."

"She's been upset all day," I replied, but I slid off the bed.

"Gawain, give Guinevere my name," Corryn requested.

Gawain scribbled something down on a blank sheet of paper and handed it to me. I slipped it in my pocket.

"Being a wizard practically means you get bored easily," he said. "I'm sure the Vercyne library will have some book on necromancy, and chalk should be easy to find."

"Thank you," I told him, turned to Mikaela, and pulled out the transport spell reluctantly. "And thank you for having me over for dinner."

"It is no trouble at all," she assured me. "Come over anytime. It's nice to have another girl at the table now and then."

Sighing, I dropped the transport spell on the ground, thinking that I should learn to make my own. Then I could go where I wanted.

My mother was standing in the foyer, waiting for me. No one else was in the hall; she had been waiting specifically for me. I wished I got to spend time with my mother when she wasn't lecturing me or ruling a country.

"I'm not going to get angry, I know your father let you go," she said, but looked upset anyway. "But only he knew where you were, Leovian was concerned."

"The Torninc isn't so far," I argued. "I had dinner with them and it was fun." I was sure that my mother knew that Corryn was over at the Torninc, but I didn't think she would approve of me learning anything from him. I don't think that my father would even approve. And I did want to try the summoning, tonight if I could find the materials.

"Maybe then you could go over there once a week," my mother said. "I'll talk to Mikaela."

"She said I was welcome anytime," I replied, but my mother had already turned down the hall. Instead of repeating myself, I raced upstairs to the library.

Our royal Vercyne library had thousands of books and hundreds of shelves, and I despaired for a moment finding what I needed.

"May I help you, Your Highness?"

I turned, a bit stunned by my title. I, like my mother, did not like the formalities.

"I was looking for a book on necromancy," I said. "Gawain's a necromancer, and I wanted to know what they did."

It was a lie, and probably an unnecessary one. But if someone told my mother her daughter was looking into necromancy, then I probably needed a decent lie about it.

The faery nodded, and walked away from me.

"Feel free to make yourself comfortable, Your Highness," he called.

I rolled my eyes at the title again, but walked deeper into the library to find a seat. In the back, I discovered big armchairs with cushions bigger than I was. As soon as I sat down, the servant brought two books to me and vanished again. Fortunately, I had my notebook still.

Summoning didn't look too hard; at least, summoning something that I knew wasn't going to hurt me. In the books I found many scary pictures of things I didn't want to summon to Otherworld. But the main points were to make a pentagram, with command runes, and make a protection circle, with protection runes. Add some candles for focus. I carefully copied the runes into my notebook, and then set the books aside.

I left the library for my room, knowing I would have to roll up the rug on the floor and carefully push my furniture aside. If anyone heard the noise, they would investigate. I would have to be quiet.

But without the rug, I had more space than I thought. I summoned a piece of chalk from Gawain's own room, and began to carefully draw.

It took a long time to get all of the pieces down on the floor without any extra scribbles. But, if I messed up, I didn't know if I could dismiss it as easily as Gawain. And then my parents would hear about it.

It was probably my bedtime before I got all the runes on the ground, carefully drawn onto the ground with my now tiny piece of chalk. I went to the bathroom to dust myself off. I didn't want to risk chalk dust ruining my work.

I wasn't sure when Gawain dismissed Corryn, but I was almost sure that he was probably in bed by now. He had school tomorrow. I only had more tutoring.

I unfolded the page with Corryn's name on it and then added it to the rest of the spell. His name with this ritual seemed a little silly. Tiptoeing around the chalk, I stepped into my circle and eyed my work carefully. It looked all right for a first try; in theory Corryn would teach me more.

I did, however, scrunch my eyes tight while saying the spell, not willing to watch if something did go wrong. When I finished Corryn's name: Corryn Percival Griffin-Ashby, I opened one eye, looking around carefully.

Corryn was standing in the pentagram, looking at my handiwork. He gave me a reassuring grin.

"See, that is what I call a circle," he said. "The ones Gawain draws are barely ovals. It even has the proper runes and they're drawn correctly."

"Shh, someone will hear you," I told him. "I don't know what to do now, though. Gawain didn't have any pentagrams on his floor."

"He doesn't really need them, he just makes them for practice," Corryn explained, speaking softer this time. "Since you have to use spells, you'll have to do this the formal way. But it's late, and I don't think you're interested in learning any more magic today."

"Not really," I admitted. "But now I know how. And I have the whole library to me. But it would be nice to have someone to answer my questions."

"That I can do," he replied. "Gawain usually summons me after school, around four or so. So any time before then that you have a question, feel free."

"Why are you so helpful?" I questioned. "Everything that I have heard about you, you were evil and manipulative and powerful. You don't seem any of those things."

"Well, you can see through me, so I'll give you the powerful bit," Corryn laughed. "But, I don't know, I had to figure out all my magic on my own. And it gets boring if you feel that you have all this magic, and nothing to do with it. Gawain was summoning demons past his experience because he knew his magic was better than this. Hold on, a compulsion rune is on this pentagram, isn't there?"

I nodded, a little sheepishly. Corryn laughed again, shaking his head. "You are going to be a formidable wizard, Guinevere."

For some reason, it made me proud that he said that. Perhaps it was because he looked like he meant it, and not because I was a princess.

"There's so much to learn though," I said. "I don't know where to start."

Corryn thought for a moment and then tapped his foot. "I'll tell Gawain that he has to give up one day a week. You're the princess after all, and that boy should get out more. You can still ask me questions, but that day, we'll go over new magic, techniques, spells, or whatever you want."

"Is Sunday all right?" I asked. Sundays I didn't have tutoring and my parents were usually out anyway.

"I see Gawain tomorrow and I'll let him know." Corryn gave me a sweeping bow. "It has been a pleasure, Princess."

"You are dismissed," I said delightedly. This was my first rebel magic, I thought. I had summoned a dead faery from Hell and he was going to teach me all sorts of things. Though he was right; we had a huge library where I could learn anything.

Instead of erasing the chalk, I rolled my rug over my work, pleased that the day had ended so well.