Shade & Sorceress (The Last Days of Tian Di, #1)(14)

“Magic is a creative force, Eliza, and not well understood even by we who have studied it for millennia. One might say it is the essence of the Ancients, who Made Tian Di, the One World. The Magic of Making is in everything and different beings are connected to it in different ways. Mancers manipulate elements to extract their Magical properties. We turn nature into Magic, you might say. A Sorceress like yourself, Eliza, is deeply and directly connected to the Magic of Making and can use it to marvelous effect. Do you know the difference between Great Magic and Lesser Magic?”

“No,” said Eliza, squinting at the radiance of his eyes. He noticed this and their light suddenly softened again.

“Do not be discouraged! Do not be discouraged! I will tell you the difference, Eliza Tok.” Foss beamed at her. He was having a wonderful time. “For the purpose of understanding it, we have divided Magic into twelve main branches. There are some who disagree with such categorization, but it is easier for the mind to grasp when the topic is organized thus. The six branches of Great Magic are as follows: Illusion and Curses, both of which are primarily Faery Magic, Barriers, in which the Mancers are adept above all other beings, Mind-altering spells, also known as Confusions, Conjuring, and Summoning. Lesser Magic consists of Enchantment, Deep Listening, Deep Seeing, Deep Knowing, Moving Objects large and small, and Potions. Old Magic is of course excluded from these general categories, as it is no longer worked by any being alive today. By Old Magic I mean Making and the manipulation of time and space. The last being to manipulate space was Karbek, with his famed spell to separate the One World in the Middle Days, a spell so powerful that we work to complete it even today in the Citadel.” Suddenly he was muttering something so softly and rapidly she couldn’t make it out. Then he stopped and his face cracked into a great smile, his eyes beaming light at her. “What have I done?” he asked.

“What?” said Eliza rather stupidly.

“I have worked Great Magic,” he said, “albeit of a modest kind. It will disintegrate in a moment or two! Quickly! What have I done?”

“I dinnay know,” said Eliza.

“Touch the table,” suggested Foss, disappointed.

Eliza tried to touch it but found her hands stopped a few inches above the table. There was nothing solid meeting her touch, exactly, and yet her hands simply would not go beyond a certain point. It was a very strange sensation.

“A barrier?” hazarded Eliza, impressed.

“Precisely!” He was mightily cheered by her answer. “It is a simple barrier, of course. No more than a sort of invisible wall. Barriers can take many forms, including banishment, which will be your specialty, and complex barriers... Well, we’ll leave that be... It is a particular passion of mine. Let us try something else.”

He brushed his hand across the table, muttering again, and white flowers sprang up. Eliza cried out in wonder and disbelief but when she touched them they fell to nothing.

“Illusion,” she said immediately. She was beginning to enjoy this lesson.

“Quite so,” said Foss. “Simple Illusion is but a tricking of the senses. Complex Illusion masters the senses, creating another reality. But today we will focus on a more straightforward form of Lesser Magic. Pay attention, Eliza Tok.” A book floated off a nearby shelf and laid itself before Foss on the table. “What did I do?” he asked.

“Um, you made a book fly?” suggested Eliza.

“Yes! Ha ha ha! Made a book fly!” cried Foss, as if this were terribly witty. “You say you have never studied Magic before, not even in school, but presumably you have found yourself able to do certain things that surprised you, perhaps? Like making books fly?”

“No!” said Eliza. “Really, I keep telling everyone, I cannay do anything like that.”

“Ah! Perhaps you have never tried. Well, we will begin our lesson today with a few simple exercises just to see what you can do. Moving objects is a good beginning point. It entails exerting your will over something that has no will of its own. We will try something small and thus psychologically easy. A pencil!” Foss placed a pencil on the table in front of Eliza. The barrier had already dissolved. “Eliza Tok, can you make this pencil float?”

Eliza stared at him in disbelief. “No!” she said again. “Really....”

“Try,” said Foss firmly.

Eliza stared at the pencil and tried to imagine it moving. Of course, the pencil didn’t move.

“How am I supposed to move a pencil with my brain?” she asked plaintively, wishing he would go back to showing her interesting examples of Magic.

“You move your fingers with your brain,” said Foss. “Do you not?”

“That’s different!” said Eliza.

“How so?” asked Foss.

“Lah, they’re part of my body. They have muscles, aye.”

“True, true,” said Foss. “How right you are. Your fingers are a part of your body. Very good. You see, you really are quite quick, like your mother. Except that she was able to levitate very large objects in infancy. It was rather a problem, in point of fact, and one had to watch one’s head until she got a little older and more disciplined. But never mind. This is a matter of connectedness, Eliza. As a Sorceress, you are connected to all the elements around you. Your will extends beyond your body. The pencil has no will of its own and so you can extend your will to it with no difficulty at all, meeting no resistance. Do you see?”