The steady hoof beats of his horse lulled Joshua away from the world as he and his master rode east toward Nethas. His eyes focused on his master’s brown satchel, the location of the black filled vial. He wanted, no needed, to stop everything and examine it.

  He had to know more about it.

  Yet, he could not, so long as he was unable to get away from Richard. Richard had been very adamant about not studying it. The magic was just too unstable to study without safeguards to control it. They would have to wait until they were in a safer place.

  Richard was being overly cautious, much as he had been with everything else. Joshua never quite understood how such a reserved man ever mastered magic. It was as if he had no curiosity left in his old bones.

  “You’ve been quiet for quite some time, Joshua,” Richard said, turning back on his horse to face Joshua.

  “I’m just lost in thought,” Joshua said, kicking his horse forward to ride with Richard. “The thing we found yesterday won’t get out of my mind.”

  “That’s common in you growing mages.” Richard laughed. “You are always forging ahead even when it might lead to folly.”

  “I can’t help it, master,” Joshua said, nodding to the bag. “It’s a mystery waiting to be solved.”

  “On any other thing, I’d let you forge ahead,” Richard said, sighing. “However, I can’t let you with something this dangerous.”

  “We were taught very little about this kind of magic in general studies,” Joshua said. “Only that it was forbidden to practice.”

  “For a very good reason too,” Richard said. “Some magic is wild and uncontrollable. It’s just as likely to consume the user as do what is commanded.”

  “Is it true that wizards don’t use runes at all?” Joshua asked.

  “Indeed, they control it only through their will and their words,” Richard said. “Some use contracts and some use blood, but they all draw on the same kind of magic in the vial.”

  “Have you ever met one in person?” Joshua asked.

  “I knew one of the last ones to walk the land before the Tower censured the practice,” Richard said, his eyes growing misty. “He was the representative for the wardens at the Tower.”

  “We worked with them in the past,” Joshua said. “But then they were removed from the Tower. Why?”

  “The price of the magic they wielded was too great,” Richard said. “They refused to give up the power they had found.”

  Richard leaned forward and patted his horse’s head, still quiet after his words. What type of magic would the Tower ban? He only heard rumors that some wizards raised the dead, or performed blood rites.

  “They had proposed that blood was the gateway to a higher power, one that was greater than even elemental magic,” Richard said. “The younger the blood, the more chaotic the magic that flowed within it.”

  “Wait,” Joshua said, guessing what Richard was about to say. “You don’t mean…”

  “They wanted us to selectively work through orphanages, to steal the blood of children,” Richard said, a grimace crossing his face. “We couldn’t allow that.”

  “They never told us any of this,” Joshua said, looking down at the ground.

  “For good reason,” Richard said. “It is a dark spot on our history. We did something that shamed us all. We executed every wizard and mage who was part of the plot.”

  “You just killed them all?” Joshua asked.

  “The council decided that it would be too risky to let them back out without any eyes to watch them,” Richard said. “Because they couldn’t control them, they decided to remove the problem at its source.”

  Richard’s eyes grew distant, and Joshua was sure that he was thinking of days long past. He continued speaking, but his voice wavered.

  “There were mass graves dug, right outside our walls,” Richard said. “Men and women were dumped in daily until the deed was done.”

  “Could what we found be a piece of revenge then?” Joshua asked. “It is made of chaotic magic and is killing our own.”

  “It is a possibility,” Richard said. “It’s something I’ve been considering even before we found the vial.”

  “Not a certainty then?” Joshua asked.

  “This does not fit their old methods.” Richard patted the pouch, “It doesn’t even feel the same as blood magic.”

  “Maybe this next one will reveal the answer then.” Joshua smiled, kicking his horse ahead.

  They rode on, the sun setting on their backs. Both Joshua and Richard kept a companionable silence between each other. There were still many days of riding left before they would reach Nethas, and they both had many things to consider.

  They arrived in Tarsap when twilight encroached upon the land, an orange glow lighting the town in the vale. The surrounding forest was thin, only partially surrounding the town. The yellow lights of humanity in the wooden homes shone on against the coming night, forming a tiny oasis of light in a desert of darkness.

  Tarsap was a small town, only composed of thirty buildings built in a square. A dirt road forged by hooves and feet stretched through Tarsap. They had no wall for defense, only the natural vale providing any obstacle.

  The stares of the townsfolk followed them into the town, those few who chose to brave the night eyeing their red robes with suspicion. It was a normal occurrence for their order. The isolated nature of their lives made building trust with common people difficult.

  They just couldn’t see how much the Tower’s magic could help improve their lives.

  If they could just let go of all the misplaced fear, there was so much that the Tower could do for them. They were like newborn children, just seeing the world for the first time, in comparison to what the Tower had accomplished. Joshua pitied them in that sense.

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  “There’s the inn,” Richard said, pointing to a ramshackle building at the center of the town. “I haven’t stayed here in years.”

  They left the horses at the stables, paying a pittance to the stable boy for the night. Richard secured the room, his gold coins doing much to allay the glares of the innkeeper and his patrons. Joshua stood back, watching the greed in the innkeeper’s eyes.

  “I think he’d sell us out to slavers if there was a gold piece in it,” Joshua said as they walked down the creaking hallway.

  “Don’t judge him too harshly.” Richard sighed. “Tarsap is so far removed from the main roads that he can hardly turn a coin.”

  “Then why did they build out here?” Joshua asked.

  “Tarsap used to have a mine, but they stripped it dry forty years ago,” Richard said, smiling faintly. “There are very few that are able to leave here. I was one of them.”

  “So, this is your hometown,” Joshua said.

  “Yes.” Richard nodded. “We all have to come from somewhere.”

  “It’s pretty rare for anyone from the Tower to talk about it,” Joshua said.

  “The decision to come to the Tower is a hard one.” Richard sighed as he opened the door to their room. “Most would rather not dredge up painful memories. I left many friends behind.”

  They entered the sparse room, unloading their belongings in the room. Richard hung his satchel on the bedpost, leaving the vial inside. Joshua took a seat at the one table near the window, looking outside into the night.

  “I was happy to leave Rasun,” Joshua said.

  “You had no friends or family there?” Richard asked.

  “I did,” Joshua said. “Not even my parents would accept a mage. Only one friend accepted me once I found my power.”

  “You must have been sad to leave him behind at least,” Richard said, stepping toward the door. “I’ll go get us some food.”

  Joshua was on his feet before the door closed, already reaching into Richard’s satchel and sifting through its contents. He quickly came upon the vial, resting protected in a leather pouch. He pulled it out with care, opening it to reveal his prize.

  There was the black bundle of magic, still held within the confines of the vial. Joshua brought it back to the table, lighting a candle with a flick of his finger and exposing the vial to the light. Specks of light still flecked in it, reflecting in the soft orange glow.

  Joshua set down the vial on the table, quickly taking a glass dish and a stirring rod from his own satchel. He only had a short while before Richard would return. He had to work fast. He pulled the chair close to the table and began.

  He pulled the stopper from the vial, pouring the black substance into the glass dish. It flowed like a thick sap, but it left no stain behind on the vial. As the last drop of it hit the dish, Joshua picked up the stirring rod, holding it just above the substance.

  If it was as the witnesses said, it would be immune to any of the elements, Joshua reasoned. He concentrated, euphoria filling his mind in a haze as purple light glowed around his hands. Small streaks of lighting forked out, jumping across the black substance in short bursts.

  The substance slinked away, moving to the opposite side of the dish away from the magic. There was no visible damage to it. Joshua switched tactics, the glow changing to red as a small cone of flame blazed at it.

  Again, nothing affected it.

  Sighing, Joshua pulled his hand back. It was as they had said. That was all he could find out for the moment, as he likely didn’t have much time left. He took the vial in hand again, bringing it close to the black spot.

  He pushed the stirring rod back at it, prodding the black spot back toward the vial. It sprang up evading his careful hands and moving behind the vial’s mouth. Before Joshua could change direction, it rose up from the glass, touching his wrist.

  Joshua muffled his scream as a sharp pain raced through his arm. His skin burned from its touch. Joshua fell back in his chair, the vial and rod clattering to the table as he hit the floor. Joshua instinctually brought his hand to his right wrist. The skin was hot to the touch.

  Joshua calmed his mind, removing himself from the pain. He built a wall between him and it, allowing him to release his grip on his wrist. As he turned his wrist up, he saw that a black spot remained behind.

  “Damn,” he whispered, watching as the spot wriggled with life.

  He pushed himself back up, standing back over the table. His hand was shaking as he picked up the vial and rod a second time. He brought it back down toward the black spot, hoping this time he would get it.

  The creaking of the door interrupted his work.

  “What are you doing?” Richard yelled, the two trays in his hands clattering to the floor.

  He rushed over to Joshua, pushing him to the floor with a strong hand. Joshua hit the floor hard as Richard searched the table. His master went to work, pushing the black spot back into the vial and securing it with a stopper.

  Wrath filled his eyes as he turned to Joshua. Joshua pushed himself up, his body shaking. It was the same fear he felt when he first revealed to his father that he could use magic. He tried to speak, but his voice caught in his throat.

  “Talk!” Richard demanded.

  “I wanted to study it.” Joshua stuttered as he spoke. “It bit my wrist.”

  “You fool,” Richard said, pulling a pair of gloves from his robe’s pocket and putting them on.

  He grabbed hold of Joshua’s hands, turning them over to reveal Joshua’s wrists. He gasped when he saw the wound, peering closer at the dark mark that marred Joshua’s skin. Joshua remained quiet as Richard examined him. He did not want to provoke his master further.

  “It’s spreading,” Joshua said, noticing that the spot wrapped almost entirely around his wrist.

  “It’s bonded into your blood,” Richard said. “The spell that holds it together is feeding on you to grow.”

  “Is there a way to stop it?” Joshua asked, gasping.

  “There are runes that can slow the spread of the spell,” Richard whispered. “Hold on.”

  Richard took a roll of cloth from his bag, taking out a feather and ink well so that he could write on it. He started writing on it, making a series of runes for the four elements. He was done in moments, just making it long enough to wrap around Joshua’s wrist.

  “This will slow it for a time,” Richard said. “I’ll have to make something that will hold it back more.”

  “I’m sorry,” Joshua said as Richard wrapped his wrist in the cloth.

  “It was a stupid mistake,” Richard said, concentrating. “But not too different from any of the ones I’ve made.”

  “Now, I’ll go get us something more to eat. Then we’ll start working on a better binding spell,” Richard said, pocketing the vial before he left the room.

  Joshua touched the cloth gently, his skin itching as the runes started to take effect. He wanted to curse his curiosity, but part of him still wanted to learn more about the magic, even if it cost him his entire arm. Sighing, Joshua sat again in his chair, looking out into the night.

  Richard rolled the small rune-etched cube in his robe’s pocket as he pondered just how much to tell Olson. The Archmage would understand a simple mistake; they were common things in the practice of magic. Even a simple ‘oops’ uttered by a novice could have disastrous consequences. It was a risk of the study.

  The question was not whether Joshua had made a mistake, of that there was no doubt. It was the type of mistake he had made that was the problem. The Tower banned that kind of power for good reason. Even just the touch of the creature corrupted the spirit.

  Olson would demand that Joshua return immediately and submit to testing. The mage would lose all the knowledge of the Tower based on the results. It was a foregone conclusion.

  Richard remembered when he had first met his apprentice, how he had caught the mage showing off his use of fire to his fellow trainees. Not even a student, the boy had shown considerable skill.

  He had created a whip of fire and was using it to write lines in the dirt. It wasn’t a proper use of magic. Richard had seen to it that the boy stopped immediately. Yet, even that one application of the art hadn’t occurred to the others.

  He had known then that Joshua would be his to teach. He knew to nurture such creativity, to allow it to grow. Some of the other mages might neglect his training, or might allow him to follow darker paths.

  Yet, had Richard not done the same?

  He breathed a little magic into the cube, but stopped again. He couldn’t report it to Olson, not now at least. There would be time later to examine the boy. The murders would continue, whether he had to take the boy back to the Tower or not, but at least together they might be able to figure something out.

  Perhaps that would be enough to redeem the boy in Olson’s eyes.

  Richard seized hold of that hope and held onto it tight. He still had much work to do if he was to make a binding for the infection. He would need to wake the blacksmith and see if there were still any metals left in the dried up town.

  He started out of the inn and into the night.