The Wizard's Council (2 page)

“Yes, we are looking for
Archwizard Rolin,” Paul said as he extended his hand to the man.

“Head inside and to the left. The air chamber will send you all the way to the top.”

“Thank you.”

The inside of the tower was cozier than either of them expected.
On the far side of the room was a fireplace above it was the portrait of a wise looking mage. It had a placard underneath the painting that read “Archwizard Rolin.” The man looked rather young for an Archwizard, his hair was black on top with patches of gray on the side and his beard was peppered with gray. Each side of the fireplace had a staircase that spiraled up to the next floor. Inside the room were three doors, each one labeled for easy navigation. The room on the left read “air chamber,” the closer room on the right read “Head Alchemist’s chambers,” and the other room on the right read “Head Enchanter’s chambers.” Paul opened the door to the air chamber and waited for Emily to enter first. The room was empty except for a small panel that had small buttons with numbers on them. As Emily’s finger got closer to one of the buttons, a small scroll rolled out from behind the panel. It had a list that showed what each number corresponded to. The Archwizard’s chambers were on the tenth floor. Emily waited until Paul was standing next to her before pressing the button.

They were both catapulted into the air and flew up to the tenth floor. Just as they passed the door for their floor, the burst of air stopped and a net extended out to catch them. Emily stood up and was greeted by a stone walkway that had extended out from under the door to their position. They both stepped onto the walkway and were about to move forward when the walkway slid back toward the door, taking them with it. The door opened as they approached and the walkway tilted up slightly, encouraging both of them to step forward through the large door. Inside the room, there were several chairs, a desk, a bed, a large fireplace, a mirror, a dinner table, and a table made for all manner of magical creations. An older looking
Wizard was sitting in the largest of the chairs and beckoned for them to come and sit with him. His hair was grayer than in the portrait below, his skin was haggard, and his beard was a few inches longer.

“What brings you to the Carmalian Conclave?” He asked as they approached.

“I am Princess Emily of Galimdor. My father ordered an attack on the Conclave in Galimdor. I fled here and was chased by one of his Knights of Doom. This man saved my life. His name is Paul.” Emily said as she took a seat across from Rolin.

“
Ah yes, Emily. This is troubling news. Melcorn mentioned that he thought you were one of the visitors. I fear that you will find us quite unprepared to deal with a situation like this.” Rolin stood up.

“Is not the council meeting here later this week?
Should we not propose a counterstrike?” Emily asked.

“Aye, the council will be in session, or at least the gathering will occur.
We have yet to decide if we are creating a council. As for a counterstrike, how would you propose we mount such an assault?” Rolin paced back and forth as he thought about the situation.

“The southern k
ingdoms will surely side with us. They have no love for my father.”

“Yes, but they have no love for wizards either. How do you propose we recruit them?” Rolin stroked his beard and looked at Paul.

“I’m afraid I have nothing to add to this conversation,” Paul said, looking somewhat uncomfortable with Rolin’s stare.

“Now is hardly the time to discuss such matters. Come, we must prepare to meet the other
Archwizards. Was Owyn able to make it out alive?” Rolin directed the question toward Emily.

“He was killed with the others, I saw it with my own eyes.” Emily wiped a tear from her eye as she spoke.

Rolin nodded as if to say he expected as much. Paul was about to stand up when Rolin held up his hand and shook his head. The Archwizard took a seat and rolled up his sleeves. He took a deep breath and raised his hands in the air. Paul grabbed the arms of the chair and began looking back and forth between Emily and Rolin as the chairs started to rock back and forth. Emily smiled as the room began to spin and fade. She held back a laugh as Paul grabbed the arms even tighter. Everything stopped spinning, and they found themselves in a different room that had a large table with several robed figures sitting at it. Rolin moved his hands forward, sliding the three chairs into place at the table.

“I see that you have all made it here safely. Excellent, we shall begin shortly,” Rolin said, acknowledging those gathered.

“We seem to be missing one, Rolin. I hope your mind is not slipping with age,” One of the Wizards said.

“Ah yes, the Galimdorian Conclave was attacked and Owyn gave
his life trying to save his students. I fear that Emily is the only survivor.” Rolin motioned toward Emily as he spoke.

“This is grave news. Was it an isolated attack or should we prepare for more?” One of the others, a female named Janessa, asked.

“I didn’t even know my father was capable of attacking our enclave. There is no telling what else he might do. Even if there is no evidence of an impending attack, I would think it wise to prepare yourselves for the worst,” Emily held back tears as she spoke.

“Your father’s actions are no fault of yours, nor do they sully your name. I don’t know the circumstances between the two of you, but he is the one who has failed as a father and a King,” Paul said as he reached his hand out and placed it on Emily’s forearm.

“As much as we need to discuss the topic of Galimdor, I am afraid there are other things that need to be addressed first. With the death of Owyn, our numbers are now even. As per the rules set forth by our predecessors, we must either assign another Archwizard or demote one,” Janessa said.

“First we must see to it that Paul becomes a member of our order, if he so desires,” Rolin said, looking to Paul for his reply.

“I am willing, if that is what must be done.” Paul glanced at those gathered around the table.

“It is decided then. Emily, why don’t you accompany Paul while we discuss the matters of the council,” Rolin suggested.

She nodded and rose from her seat. Paul got up as well, looking to Emily for his next move. She smiled and bowed to those gathered before turning to leave. The room had one door that led to one of the middle floors of the tower. This floor was significantly larger than the others, which seemed impossible due to the tower’s size from the outside.
Must be enchanted
, she thought as she waited for Paul to join her. The floor was similar to the courtyard in that there were dozens of students practicing magic. These students seemed to be significantly less advanced than those in the courtyard. Several of the teachers stopped what they were doing and watched Emily and Paul.

“Is there something you need?” One of them asked.

“My friend here is being instated into the order. We need to know where to go to finalize it,” Emily said, motioning toward Paul.

“That is good news. Floor two, left hallway, second door on the left.”

Emily thanked the man and led Paul to another of the air chambers. This time she pressed the button and they plummeted down toward the ground level. They were caught once again, but this time there was no net. They were suspended in midair on what felt like the same net as before, but they could not see it. The door slid open and they found themselves slowly moving toward it. As before, they were lightly thrown into their destination room. This floor consisted of two long hallways that looped around and connected somewhere far off. They turned to the left and entered the second door they came across. Inside they found several mages perusing through massive tomes. The room itself looked like a small library. Much to their surprise, the room seemed to expand as they came closer to the mages.

“You must be Emily and Paul.” One of the older mages looked up from his book.

“That’s us,” Emily replied.

“Please, let Paul do the talking.
This is part of his acceptance test.”

“Do I have to write an essay or something?” Paul asked, not expecting a straight answer.

“Ah, we have a bit of a feisty one. Good, we like that here in Carmalia. Your first test is to conjure a fireball. Before you begin, I think it appropriate that we leave the books behind.” The man motioned for Paul and Emily to follow him through the center aisle of the library.

“Why don’t we just teleport to our destination?” Emily asked as they followed the man through the labyrinth of bookshelves.

“Rolin might find teleportation a favorable form of transportation, but we here in the library feel that a brisk walk serves the soul better than even the books on these shelves.”

The
Wizard led them to a small chamber made of stone. There were no windows or torches, but the room was still well lit by an unknown source. The amount of magic used just to run the Conclave was staggering to Emily. Galimdor had several tricks and interesting things at their Conclave, but nothing was on par with the Carmalian Conclave. Paul leaned back against the wall and watched as the Wizard made his way into the middle of the room. The man was mumbling to himself as he glanced around the chamber. He raised his arms and pointed them toward one of the walls. A small line formed on the wall and then a portion of the wall below the line slid down to make a window.

“We were never properly introduced, my name is Thaddeus. Please, show us what you are capable of.” Thaddeus moved out of the center of the room.

Paul stepped forward and planted his feet squarely under his shoulders. He took a deep breath and lifted his hands into the air. The moisture was sapped out of the air as fire came out of the tips of Paul’s fingers. It grew into a small ball of fire that sat in his palm. He held it out in front of Thaddeus as if to check and make sure it was what he was looking for. The mage seemed impressed as he nodded to Paul. Emily smiled at Thaddeus’ reaction. Even though it was enough for the others, it wasn’t enough for Paul. He thrust his hands toward the window and the fireball grew to an even larger size before shooting out the window. As it flew through the air, Paul continued to exert his control over it, sending it flying in loops and corkscrews. The fireball lit up the entire night sky, fascinating several onlookers.

“Most impressive! Let’s see what you can do with the other basic elements,” Thaddeus said as he stepped forward.

“Something like this?” Paul asked, holding a small tornado in his palm.

“What else?” The wide-eyed mage asked.

Paul brought up his other hand and a small wave formed in his other palm. He slapped his hands together and the tornado jumped out around him, circling just outside of his reach. The water at the bottom of the tornado slowly rose up and joined into the midst of the raging tornado. As the water tornado grew, Paul opened his hands again and thrust his arms into the air. The water began to freeze around him, creating a large cone of ice. He created giant slabs of stone around himself and the others to protect them before shattering the ice. The slabs of stone slid back into the floor. Thaddeus was clapping, and Emily was amazed. She had never seen anyone of that skill who was untrained by a Conclave.

“Where have you learned these skills?” Thaddeus asked as he led them back into the library.

“My father made a deal with a mage when I was younger. He would teach me magic in exchange for my father keeping it all a secret. What better place for a magician to hide than a blacksmith’s shop?” Paul answered.

“Interesting, did the man ever explain what sect of mages he was from?”

“Cornelius never spoke of his past. That was the only topic that he forbade discussion of. In fact, I knew so little about him that I’m not even sure Cornelius was his real name.”

Thaddeus shrugged and continued leading them through the library. The
other mages were busy at work examining the tomes for some piece of arcane knowledge that had been missed by previous readers. Rolin instilled in his pupils a thirst for knowledge that was rivaled by few. They were encouraged to pursue the lore from ages past as well as build upon it with newer thoughts and approaches. The Carmalian Conclave was a head above the rest in their knowledge of magic, due in no small part to Rolin’s policies. Among the Wizards, there were two competing schools of thought at this time. The more traditional school felt that you needed to learn specific practices and building upon only those practices. Rolin held strongly to his opinion that all forms of magic built off each other. Thaddeus stopped and explained something to one of the other librarians before leading the two out into the hallway.

“We’ll head to the initiation chambers and get you your robes and a decent staff. Rolin prefers that when we travel, we do it armed.” Thaddeus explained as he led them toward the air chamber.

“I’ve got a sword, I don’t think I’ll need the staff. Thank you,” Paul replied.

“I’m afraid Rolin insists. In fact, he even instructed me to get Emily one as well.”

“I assure you, Thaddeus, that is not necessary. I am honored that Rolin would be so kind, but I prefer to stick to magic when my life is in danger.” Emily tried her best to decline the offer in a respectful manner.

*

Arcantos mumbled under his breath as he raised his hand to hail the Holy Order gatekeeper. He brushed the dirt off his cloak as he waited for the Holy Order’s envoy to come and greet him. The massive gate opened, and a smaller man in robes approached Arcantos, he was flanked by two tall men in plate armor. Their armor glistened in the sun, and they stood without fear. The smaller man held up his hand, telling the other two to hang back while he greeted the stranger. It seemed odd to Arcantos that this man would elect to confront him without his escort.