P I and Magic Book II: The Gods Return
Copyright© 2005 by Volentrin
Chapter 12
While we won at Fenoris, I was a little disturbed at how I had been unable to defeat the demon outright. I know, I know. I had done well. Ishla said so, as did Fithian. Still, it seemed to me that I had been getting nowhere, when the Goddess had shown up and finished the battle for me. Well... for us.
True, Fithian had not really gotten into the battle itself. He had opted to call in the Goddess, which I thought was a good idea at the time. It also left me feeling like I had failed at my part of the job.
That was why I was back in Pejoru's library. I was studying demon spells, and learning more and more bindings. I had totally left bindings alone, as I had not known about them! Even Mariel had learned and memorized several of them.
I was also doing something I had not considered doing before. I was trying to create spells. That's right. Make a spell. I decided that I knew enough magic to figure out how to make a spell.
Ok, it isn't as easy as it seems. How did they create all the spells that they used today? I had to visit the school of magic. They taught it, so they should be able to tell me about building a spell, right?
Unfortunately, my getting away to go to the school of magic was not that easy. People were showing up in droves. The town was bursting its seems with refugee's. The other demon gate was well protected. As we could not even get near it, the Gods could not go in and close it. So the people were fleeing to what they thought of as a safe place. Landkur.
It gave one pause as to what exactly the Creator had been thinking. This was a severe limit, and I knew the Gods could, if the Creator would just let them, take care of this situation.
The problem was, the demons were firmly in charge of the only remaining area they were at. The first gate they had opened on the western edge of the desert to the south. The demons had taken over the small city state of Thestus.
Scrying was blocked, and we could get no information about what was going on in the city. Also, demon controlled humans were raiding the surrounding area. Salvadi, being closer, had sent in troops to try to stem the raids, and lost some of his men to the demons. They just walked away.
Salvadi had finally called for help, and Vostich had gone to his aid. Together they had cast some heavy spells, and for the most part, the demons stayed away from his lands. Humans under demon influence on the other hand, were raiding other humans.
Humans were not affected by the defensive spell, and so Salvadi had to keep soldiers close to the border to fight off raids. I shook my head at that. When I first came here, we were fighting him. Now he was an Ally. Go figure.
One thing all the displaced people did, was to remind me of the slim margin people had for survival. I had already authorized the city treasury to buy some tons of extra food, just to cover the influx of extra people.
I was walking down the corridor of the palace leading to Mirwanna's rooms, when I met the chief wizard. An idea occurred to me.
"Excuse me, do you have a moment?" I asked him as we drew close to each other.
He paused. "Yes, Your Grace. What may I do for you?"
"I am curious about how to go about creating new spells. I know what I want to do, but all I have are spells that have already been made. I just memorize spells. How do I make a spell from scratch?" I asked him intently.
"This is something that can be dangerous. If you would tell me exactly what you wanted, perhaps I could help?" he asked me in a worried tone of voice.
So, it was dangerous. Well, I could live with that, especially if I could come up with demon specific spells. So we talked. We started going back to my rooms, with the wizard explaining that creating new spells was best left to researchers.
I admitted that while I had not really done research as such, I had made great strides, plus I had 'other world' magic to draw on. Svedra had seen to that. The wizard was interested when I told him I wanted to blend Svedra's type of magic with our own type.
The more I talked, the more excited he grew. So it was that he agreed to help me in my quest for learning, and creating new spells. He told me he would have a place readied and we could start tomorrow if I wished. I agreed.
The next morning dawned very rainy, and I grumbled as I got out of bed. Mariel was very cheerful and perky for some reason, and very playful. She made coffee for us. I had corrupted my young bride. She was now a coffee-holic.
"Good morning. Isn't it a lovely day?" She asked me in a cheerful voice.
I looked out the window at the rain. Lightning and thunder punctuated hr statement.
"Why is today a good morning? It's raining cats and dogs for god's sake," I grumped at her.
"It is only a month till our sister's coronation! I have my final fitting for my gown, and I already have a present picked out! What could be more perfect?" she burbled at me.
The coronation! I had forgotten in all the excitement of the demon invasion. Surely I was not expected to attend a coronation when I was preparing for a war? Mariel told me in no uncertain terms that I would not only be there, but I was required to do a few things, as well.
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