THE KEEPERS RISE

Chapter 4 - Lessons Learned - Part 4

*Remember to click the play button to listen to the soundtrack as you read!*

Velda picked up a hoverboard and put it into her stone, then followed Mortimer out the door. He was still holding his, examining it for imperfections. "Do you think these things will work?" he asked.

"I do not see why not," Cha said from behind them. "Both of you should be strong enough, assuming these devices are relatively efficient."

"But where should we go?" Mortimer wondered.

Velda thought for a moment. "There's a big yard outside the castle, we could head out there."

"Sounds good."

They headed down the tall spiral staircase to the great hall and left the way they had come into the castle the day before. The front door's Myusarian symbol glowed as it locked behind them, but Alesteir had explained to Velda the previous day that it would unlock if she or Mortimer touched it.

It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was high in the sky and made it difficult to look up without wincing. Only the castle walls obstructed the view of a perfect dome of blue space beyond. Back on the ground, Velda and Mortimer ran through the grass to the middle of the field to try out their new toys.

Velda put her hoverboard on the ground and pushed a stream of magic towards it. The four engines each latched to the magical stream and the board began to float lazily off the surface of the grassy field, suspended by thin waves of green magic emanating from the engines' undersides.

Mortimer watched her put a tentative foot onto the floating surface. It was sturdy in the air, just like Alesteir's table. Velda tested the balance of the hoverboard, and the stiffness of its position made her confident enough to stand on it.

"How do you suppose you make these things go?" she asked.

Mortimer shrugged. "It runs on magic. Put some more magic into it, I guess."

"I wish Alesteir had given us more instructions," Velda grumbled, then knelt on the board's front to look at the engines. The board instantly shot forward so quickly that Velda fell off the back! As soon as she lost contact with it, it stopped dead.

Mortimer jumped back from the movement. "What? How did you do that?"

Velda got up and brushed herself off, eyeing the hoverboard warily. It didn't move. "I have no idea," she said finally, shrugging.

Mortimer quickly set down his board and put his wrist with the stone next to the engines. No magic emerged. "How did you even control your magical stream like that?"

"Rhea taught me. It's the same as when you store things, just don't pull it back."

Mortimer bit his lip and stared at his stone awkwardly. "I barely figured out how to do that. Alesteir was more than a little frustrated with me."

"Arcana manipulation is easiest with a green stone," Cha said, "It could be that he was too accustomed to the advantage of his stone to appreciate a stone without those advantages."

"Then this is even more unfair. You already have a magic strand showing all the time because of Cha, too. How did Rhea teach you?" Mortimer demanded.

Velda was slightly put off by his change in attitude, but she knew it would be better to help Mortimer, and she remembered how hard it had been for her the first time. "The MepQueen told me to close my eyes and concentrate on my stone's energy." Mortimer stepped back and shut his eyes, but Velda could tell he was still frustrated. "You'll need to calm down and focus if you want to do this properly."