Bob Blink [Ancient Magic 02] Into the Ruins (epub)

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.A small circle of stone still wrapped around the valuable crystal, but his spell had cut a controlled shell of rock out of the mountain to free the treasure.Fen grinned as he hefted the results of his efforts.He would have to roughen up the edges so it wasn’t so obvious that magic had been used to extract the crystal, but now he had something special to leave his family before he headed off to join the Caster’s Guild at the end of the summer.He had been selected nearly immediately despite being a male when the Tester had passed through the village the previous winter.The leaders of the Guild and all of the great Casters were said to be women, but Fen was now certain of himself.He hoped to be the first man to rise to the top, and dreamed that one day he would become the Saltigue, the leader of the Casters, which historically had always been a woman.Fen was more than a little tired when he finally arrived back at his family’s home, a modest dwelling constructed from sawn timber, something that everyone could afford now that the sawmill at the south end of the village was in full production.The addition of the crystal still partially embedded in the dense black rock had added significantly to the weight of his pack, and it had been a long walk from the hills where he had conducted his experiment.The family only owned a pair of horses, one his father’s war horse, and the other that his mother usually rode to her place of business.That meant the rest of them had to walk.He checked the clock hanging on the far wall of the main room as he stepped into the coolness of the front hallway.He was a little later getting back than he hoped, but still early enough to be able to clean up and finish his assigned chores before his parents returned.Almost two glass remained before dinner would be served.That was assuming it was prepared on time.His brother Ginold had the cooking chores for the day.It would be Fen’s turn tomorrow.The two brothers alternated preparing the family meals, his father far too busy these days to handle the additional task.Besides, he’d told them they needed to learn the skill for the time when they were married and had their own families to think of.Fen’s sister Nora was lucky to never need to worry about the time consuming chore.Women were lucky that way.As the hunters and gatherers in the past, men had always been the ones to bring food to the table, which included both the stalking as well as the preparation of game and grain.As he walked deeper into the room he looked for the perfect place to display his treasure.He wanted a spot where his mother would be certain to see the valuable find as soon as she walked into the room.Finally he decided on the stone step in front of the hearth.It was too warm for a fire this time of year, but the spot was central to the room, and even better a shaft of sunlight shone through the side window onto the step.The light would be picked up by the crystal and cause the crystal to glow with multicolored light.“Gin, I’m back,” he shouted toward the kitchen where he expected to find his brother after carefully placing the stone with the valuable piece of crystal.“Stanner was looking for you,” Ginold hollered back.“You will need to go see him in the morning.”Stanner? “Did he say what he wanted?” Fen asked as he headed toward the kitchen.Stanner was the village Mayor and it was unusual for him to personally come calling.Usually he sent one of his staff and requested whomever he wished to see to come to him.As Fen stepped into the kitchen, Ginold was covering a large metal pot with a lid.Stew again, Fen noted.His brother favored the dish because it was easy, and he, unlike the rest of the family, genuinely liked it.As Fen watched, Ginold set the pot on a stone counter in the corner, and laid his hand on the glyph that was crudely cast into the side of the large pot.Awkwardly, he invoked the triggering spell that would cause the pot to heat and cook the contents.Ginold was only ten, and considerably shorter than Fen had been at the same age.His hair was a light brown and worn much shorter than Fen’s.He also had shown none of the ability that Fen demonstrated at an early age, and would not be following in his older brother’s footsteps as far as career choice.Fen had tried to explain to his brother that it wasn’t necessary to actually be in contact with the glyph to trigger it, but like most who were inept with magic they followed a routine they had learned by watching others all their life and couldn’t be broken of the habit.One needed only to focus on the symbols to be activated [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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