Page 65 of A Tower of Half-Truths
“Just move your hand upward and focus on where you want the orb to go.”
He lowered his hand, but his arm remained against her shoulders. She focused on a point near the ceiling and flicked her wrist. The orb floated upward, coming to rest where she’d intended.
“If you were to go into the other room, it would follow you in there,” Alain said. “To call it back, just focus your attention on it.”
By simply imagining the orb returning to her palm, it responded as if it and her thoughts were one. She formed a fist, then blinked as her eyes adjusted to the suddenly dim light.
“Can you teach me something else?”
He scratched his chin. “Since you mastered that so quickly, we could try something a bit more advanced.”
His hand left her shoulder so that he could retrieve his notebook. She leaned into him slightly—to better see his notes, of course. He stopped on a page in the latter half of the book.
“How about a brief overview on the basics of spellcraft?” When she nodded for him to continue, he cleared his throat. “ ‘Spellcasting includes at least one, and up to four, components. Almost every spell requires a ritual component: touch, hand gestures, even simply focusing on a spell. But ritual-only spells are the most basic form of spellcasting, and are therefore the weakest.’ ”
She scoffed.
“Hmm, I see what you mean. I really ought to revisit these lessons more often.” He grabbed his pen, crossed out the last sentence, and made a correction. “ ‘Ritual-only spells arelimited,but are still a completely valid form of spellcasting.’ How does that sound?”
“Much better,” she said.
“ ‘The more components a spell includes, the more complex it becomes. We just covered incantations. Next, we have anchors. Stones are the most common because they’re the easiest to acquire. Metals, while the more expensive option, will power a spell indefinitely. But anything that resonates with the Ether could serve as an anchor.’ ”
“I’ve always wondered, does an anchorhaveto be some sort of object? Could you use another person?”
“Inorganic materials are ideal, as they don’t need to replenish their arcana. But yes, you coulduse another mage—or several—for short-term spells. Once a mage’s arcana is depleted, so too will the spell end. And, of course, you’d need someone willing to serve as one.”
“Why ‘willing’? Is it painful?”
“No, but it’s incredibly draining, and it means having all the negative effects of burning through your arcana, but for someone else’s benefit.” He turned to the next page and continued to read. “ ‘Finally, we have augmentations. They are the most complicated component by far, especially if you are using a material that is not Ether-sensitive.’ Do you remember how I once used your hair to augment my protective ward?”
She nodded as she thought back to that day five weeks ago. No time at all, in the grand scheme of things, yet so much had transpired since then. On that first morning of her assistantship, shenever would have imagined sitting this close to Alain, much less not minding it.
“Well,” he continued, “I could have used that strand of hair to allow any woman entry to my apartment, or to allow anyone with light brown hair—”
“Actually, I think I gave you agrayhair.”
“I never would have noticed.” He smiled. “So, you can see just how complex augmentations can become. For now, how about you try a simple incantation combined with an Ether-sensitive material?”
He stood up and retrieved something else from his desk. Mavery was acutely aware of how cold and empty the spot to her right had become.
Alain returned to the sofa a bit more sluggishly than before, and when he sat down, he looked dangerously close to nodding off. After setting up the wards and delivering the lesson, both his arcana and his energy had to be nearly spent.
He handed Mavery an iron coin. On another piece of paper, he wrote another line of runes—fourteen in total—and the pronunciations below it. He turned his wrist counter-clockwise, reinstating the violet auras around the room.
“This incantation will turn the iron into a basic compass,” he said. “It will glow with Ethereal light when you point it north. It’s a touch more difficult than conjuring an orb, but it’s nothing you can’t handle.”
It quickly proved to be more than she could handle. Her tongue tripped over the strange phonics. She would successfully remember to roll one ‘r,’ then forget to roll the next one. After a quarter hour, she only managed to speak the entire incantation once without having to restart from the beginning. Reciting it without the wards was completely out of the question.
“It takes practice,” Alain said. “I’d say this is a good stopping point for today. I should return to working on the Sensing spell.”
At the rate he was going, he would work himself to death before he could present the spell to the High Council. But she knew pressing the matter would be a waste of breath.
“Do you want your coin back?” she asked.
She held it in her open palm. Instead of taking it, Alain curled her fingers around it and laid his hand over her closed fist.
“Why don’t you keep it? Consider it a gift.”
