The Art of Magic (contest entry)

Chapter Two

"We must help him!" Aza exclaimed, already trying to form a plan in her mind. She sat back down on the fallen log and tried to catch her breath which had quickened as she thought of all that she must do. The birds chirped around her and the sun slowly began to set leaving behind a beautiful array of colors that would soon fade into darkness.

"What a beautiful day!" the birds chirped. It was almost as though they were speaking to her. Their words sounded real but that was impossible. Shrugging off the thought, she returned her attention back to the problems at hand. 

As she thought of everything that had happened she wished she could be home where her father and brother would greet her with open arms but she would never see Matthew again and if she wished to see her father she had to save him. 

Aza wondered what other people were doing at this moment. Probably sitting down at the dinner table to eat supper with their families. She wished her life hadn't been so flipped around today. Why? Why did this have to happen to me today? she wondered.

"Not right now," Xavier said. "We can't help him now. You must begin your training or you'll never be able to save your father. Not knowing how to control your--magic--" he whispered, "is asking for accidents." His eyes looked more serious than they'd been before. All of the mischief gone and the trouble-making smirk he had had before disappeared from his lips. "And that's how people get caught. I don't want that to happen to you. I know that I don't know you very well but you must not risk your life to save your fathers"

Of course, she already knew this but she was willing to do anything to save him. That included skipping her training and going straight to the big stuff. No matter the danger she would do whatever it took to save her father. "I understand that but I also must save my father as soon as possible. He is in need of help. What if he dies in that dungeon? What will I do then? I can't lose another member of my family!"

"I want to help your father too, but you will be of much more use to him if you at least begin your training. Let me train you for one week and then we shall leave."

"But by then my father will be in the dungeons for two weeks. We must leave now!" At that moment an idea popped into her mind. "What if we trained on our way to the palace? The journey takes a week by foot. We could rescue him and then head to the camp. I'll do anything Xavier. I'll go with you to your camp if you help me save my father."

"I don't know Aza, I want to help you but I just don't know if that would even be possible," Xavier said. Looking at me with worried glances

"You don't understand!" At this point, she was in tears. Her already exhausting, stressful and depressing day catching up to her yet again. She just wanted to go home and sleep and in the morning everything would just be a dream. But she knew that this was no dream. She knew that this was reality. She knew that she had to save her father. "I have to save him. I already lost Matthew. I can't lose my father as well!"

"It's going to be okay." Nicholas walked over to Aza and wrapped in a hug as her tears soaked into his soft tunic.

"I'll do it. It's going to be hard work and you must train hard. As a magician, I must warn you that it is very exhausting to use magic. You will likely need to rest afterward," said Xavier.

"I can do it. I realize that it will be a struggle to make this long journey, but I also know that we must do this, to save my father," Aza said as more tears fell down her pale cheeks. She wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep but she knew that if she ever wanted to see her father again this was something she needed to do.

"We'll need to gather a few things," Xavier said. "I'll gather food."

"I'll get the supplies for our camp. Nicholas, would you be able to get some money from your father?"