The Shattered Path

Chapter 14 - The Testing

Alara didn't like to think about the Hall of Gathering Mages. It was a society for wizards. There was no other requirement. Well, the person had to be a man to be a wizard in Denowith. She didn't need them anyway. They could have their sulfur-smelling meetings and vote on which beaker to put their potions in without her. She was a wizard. They were lucky she didn't barge in there and demand to be allowed to join. Their meeting hall was a one-roomed, large building with a tower emerging from the center, and it wasn't even a usable tower. It was bricked off and just for show. The same servant who had voiced her opinion about large swords had elaborated and explained the true purpose of the tower at the wizards' hall; compensating for something else, she had said. Regardless of what had convinced them to add a fake tower to their meeting hall, they did discriminate against women and it wasn't fair. Maybe she would start her own guild someday. If she did, her guild hall would have a bigger tower than the current guild hall. How would they like that?

She was still disappointed that she hadn't been allowed to wear the white robe worn by the students during a real Testing. The male students would wear white robes with intricate runes stitched upon them, the color determining which of the quarters they would test to master. Students testing for fhalaem, the school of fire, would wear red runes, and to those who could read them, no one present most likely, the runes would describe the great feats possible once fhalaem had been mastered. It was the same for gheris, the school of air, wearing green runes. Taeris, school of earth, wore brown runes. And Aquan, school of water, wore blue runes. Each student would test for one of the quarters as his main focus. It was rare for any of them to test in more than one. However, Alara had passed the tests for all four. Syrs had said he had never seen anyone achieve so much in such a short time. He had mastered all four, but not as quickly, and knew of only five other wizards, who had mastered all four, who were not Raujornian. Even the Raujies did not master all of the quarters before learning their guarded spirit magic. Most were simply not capable. It took someone special to be able to excel to such grand levels of mastery; as well as hard work, of course. Being made to feel like an outcast tore away any feeling of being special that she might have felt otherwise.

"What brings you here, my girl?"

The voice belonged to Syrsraelius. She looked left, right, and behind her. He wasn't there. With a smile, she looked upward. He was on the balcony above and peering down, having projected his voice with magic. She liked him. He always found a way to surprise her.

"Oh, stay there," Syrs said quickly.

Alara expected him to come through a door in the hallway behind her, since the stairs were there. Instead, he floated down from the balcony, falling as gently as a feather. She sensed the intake of energy magic a moment before she looked up his robes; something she didn't need to see ever again. As his soft leather shoes touched the floor, he smiled at her, unaware of the loss of privacy.

Syrsraelius was an adviser to King Leoric of Denowith and Headmaster of the Royal Academy of Thaumaturgy. He had become one of her better friends over the past ten years and she thought of him as an uncle, or grandfather perhaps. He was very old, maybe in his sixties or seventies? His face was leathery and wrinkled, and he had a large nose and big ears. His blue eyes were gentle and understanding. His white hair was thick and hung wildly to his shoulders, reaching his full beard which continued to his chest. He was always burdened with many layers of burgundy robes, making him appear thicker than he was. Sometimes he shambled along as if his robes were too heavy and he might drop over.

Alara curtsied. "It is a fine day, master Syrsraelius." He had allowed her to call him Syrs in private, explaining that his name had too often made people's tongues tired and they learned less because they tired of saying his name and didn't ask enough questions.