The Apprentice's Apprentice

Part 21

"Again," Warren said, fingers steepled in front of his face as he watched her from the leather armchair he'd claimed as his teaching seat. "But try to do it faster."

Cora made a face. She was already tired from having repeated the spell so many times and was getting annoyed with doing the same stupid spell over and over again. She'd graduated to using an egg for the exercise, and while it had helped her use her magic more carefully, it also required more attention to avoid breaking the egg.

Still, she knew better than to argue with him. He'd just be scathing and treat her like she was an idiot for not seeing whatever deeper reason he had for this lesson herself. She could do without another explanation that sounded like it should be delivered to a three year old instead. Cora turned her attention back to the egg.

It lay on the library's table in front of her, right where she'd left it last. She inhaled deeply and let out the air in a big sigh, trying to push all her frustration out with her breath. Every time she got too frustrated or upset, the spell she was trying to do would go wonky. Feeling more centred, Cora wiggled herself until she was as comfortable as she could get in the couch, her eyes never leaving the egg. Only when she was settled did she start the spell.

Cora grabbed her power and shoved it into the sphere area that was almost a permanent fence around the egg from the number of times she'd done it. She focused on the egg and feeling and sent it swinging up in its little bubble as she had so many times before.

Warren shook his head. "That's too slow. Way too slow. You need to be faster. Come on, this is something kids can do in less time than it takes to open a can of Coke, so what's your excuse?"

She stiffened and turned slowly to glare at him. "Well sorry," she replied sarcastically. "I only found out about magic this week."

"That's no excuse for your lack of progress. Now, do it again but this time with some actual speed."

Cora could feel one eye twitch as she turned back to the egg. If Warren wanted speed, she'd show him some frigging speed. She practically yanked the warmth out of her, shoving it around the egg and trying to throw it up in the air, all in the same moment.

The egg exploded within the sphere she had it in. Cora could see little solid bits of it sticking to the sides of her imaginary fence, the white bits faintly scorched in places, like she'd fried the egg too long. She winced and looked at Warren, ready for his lecture.

He was still staring at the circle of eggy destruction, his eyes wide. Finally he tore his gaze away from it to look at her. His eyes remained on her for a second before he swallowed once and said, "Well, I don't know what speciality I'd thought you'd have, but I sure as hell never expected you to be a Warrior."

Cora blinked. "Wait, what? Warrior?"

Warren flushed slightly. "It's just a nickname for someone whose specialities happen to be offensive and defensive magics."

"My specialities are offensive and defensive? Seriously? How do you know?"

He waved a hand towards the remains of her egg. "It's how you reacted when you were angry. Every mage pretty much is pushed by their master until they hit a breaking point. Whatever their power does when they lose control is an indication of where their strength lies since magic generally takes the easiest path unless forced otherwise, like water. In your case, it looks like you super-heated the egg and still kept it contained within the shield. Fire and heat fall under offensive and the shield is obviously defensive. That's how I know."

"Huh," Cora said. She wasn't sure whether she should be pleased or not. It meant her magic wasn't going to be much use except against other people with magic, but that also meant she shouldn't need to use it too often. "So what's with the Warrior thing? Is that something they just do for offensive or defensive people?"