The High-Wizard's Hunt - By Ashley Delay Page 0,24

smile to each of them. They bowed their heads in respect for several long moments.

“I’ll go see to his family. Meet you guys back at camp?” Toby broke the silence.

“Yeah, thanks, Toby. I’ll truss him up and we’ll head over there.” Kenneth cut a long branch from a nearby tree and began tying Garron’s hooves together to bind him to the branch. They would be able to carry him between their shoulders and still have one man to serve as a lookout.

“I guess I will watch from the tree line and make sure we don’t end up as the hunted.” Osric strolled away, feeling good about the hunt. He pulled the wand from its pouch at his right side. The wait would give him time to practice with the wand and one of his newly discovered abilities.

He sat on a large stone to relax and began lifting rocks with the wand. There was nothing special about the spell; levitating objects was simplistic enough to be mastered by small children. However, Osric had never been able to watch the flow of magic as it manipulated something until recently. He couldn’t explain how he had obtained the gift, but he suspected it had something to do with Bridgett’s amulet. He spent a great deal of time in her presence, along with Gus, possibly Archana’s greatest Wand-Maker, and somehow Osric had acquired Gus’ innate ability, amongst many others. One of the most perplexing events that had occurred was Osric gaining the ability to become invisible, after only a brief, violent contact with a Paun. How he came to possess so many gifts, when everyone on Archana was born with only one, was baffling.

As if that were not enough of a mystery, his power had been fluctuating lately, and it was stronger yet again as he cast levitation spells on the rocks. To be fair, he did not yet have a full understanding of his new gifts, never mind the ability to control them. It was possible that his inexperience with the various types of magic could be affecting his ability to perform even simple spells.

Luckily, his own natural ability had remained reliable. He knew how to use his Portentist gift, and could do so in his sleep; it was natural, comfortable, and even a bit boring. The Wand-Maker gift was different. It allowed him to see the strands of magic that flowed from Archana and through everything living in the world. The ability had opened up a whole new realm to Osric’s eyes.

Osric was finding himself ever more excited by the prospect of examining magical artifacts. He had recently developed a strong desire to view the anti-theft charms on the vendors’ carts. A million other curiosities caught his attention every day, but at the moment he was fascinated to find out what he would see with the gift when he performed a simple spell.

Igniting the Wand-Maker gift, Osric peered into the wand and then lifted the rock again. Power flowed through the wand like water. He followed the soothing waves from the wand-tip back to his shoulder and down his body and watched it pouring out of Archana like a fountain in reverse. The brilliance of the light shocked him as he fixated on it. It covered his body in a majestic glow that sent a shiver up his spine. It was beautiful, awe-inspiring, and breathtaking. Osric stood and ran to where Kenneth was tending to the carcass.

“Wait,” he panted as he slowed to get a good look, “I want to see something.”

“What is it,” Kenneth backed away.

“Just a curiosity.” Osric looked hesitantly at his friend. “This whole ‘Wand-Maker’ thing just has me wondering what I’ll see everywhere.”

Osric turned his attention to the swine and activated the gift again. The ability allowed him to peer within the body of the boar and see the magic within. Expecting to see the Garron’s gift, he was shocked to find nothing.

“I don’t understand?” Osric backed away and looked at Kenneth.

“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific. It’s ham.” Kenneth looked perplexed.

“No, that’s not it.” Osric shook his head. “I can’t see his gift.”

“And?” Kenneth shrugged.

“Well, it should be there. Think about it. Why did the eagles pull out of interaction with walkers?” Osric cast a curious glance in Kenneth’s direction.

“They didn’t want to have to live by the rules of the hunt?”

“No, they didn’t want their Chronicleer gift to make its way into our lineage.” Osric clapped his hands in excitement at the