Page 27 of Witchcraft and Fury (Chronicles of the Divided Isle #1)

Solar took hers and read the title on the spine: Spells from the Dawn of Wizardry .

She opened it and flicked through the pages.

The words, written in elegant, looping letters, appeared to dance in the firelight.

Solar found herself mesmerised: by the light and shadow playing across the pages; by the book’s earthy, musty scent that hinted at its great age; by the feel of the worn leather cover.

‘Turn to page ninety,’ Loveday said. ‘You will find there a spell for restoring woodland. In a moment, you will together cast the spell by taking turns reading aloud. But first, I want to stress that you must speak the words with care. This is critical.

‘A trained magician has many spells committed to memory. Each time he performs one he does so knowing that his staff’s magic will project the words’ power, but that the same magic could cause a single mispronounced syllable to have fatal consequences for him.

That is why students must wait so long to earn their staff: they must prove they are ready for the responsibility and risk.

Tonight, with no need of a staff, you can make mistakes without fear of any consequences.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practise in the correct way. ’

‘Is that why wizards so seldom cast spells during combat? In case they make mistakes?’ asked Oswald.

‘It is. Incantations of any power are long and complex. The battlefield, with all its pressures, is not the place to attempt such feats. Although you will occasionally still find untrained magicians, such as Gib Ralston, recklessly doing so.’

‘And if you normally need a staff to cast a spell, how did I manage to work magic on Hroth Archdale, back in Falcontop?’ asked Solar.

‘I would say that your rather unique book used you, and not the other way around,’ said Loveday.

Solar’s classmates shot her surprised looks at the revelation that she had performed magic in Falcontop, but Loveday cut off any questions.

‘Enough talk. We must make the most of the night. Solar, please begin reading aloud from the top.’

Solar needed no more encouragement. Her tongue was tingling, eager to voice the entrancing words on the page. Her eyes fixed on the slanting text, and the crackling of the flames died slowly in her ears until all she could hear was her own voice:

‘Fear not the axe’s cruel blows. The ignorant will hew, the greedy plunder, tearing branch from trunk asunder. Behold! The son follows in the steps of his forefathers, bringing wicked blade to dappled glade … ’

The campfire’s heat grew in intensity, and Solar became dimly aware of a stirring at the very fringes of her vision, amongst the trees. But she was caught up in the spell, in the feel of the words as they spilled from her lips:

‘Despair not! For whilst flame may ravage your dells, claim your glades like so many untamed beasts loose from the cage, life will stir anew from the ashes—’

‘Oswald, continue!’ commanded Loveday.

Solar fell silent, and Oswald took up from where she had left off:

‘ For deep within the earth lie the seeds of the forest, imbued with magic, forever untouched by frost, flame or axe …’

As Oswald spoke, Solar saw shadows moving in the clearing. It was as if great, tall things, enormous things, were rising from the ground to loom over them.

They took turns with the spell, feeling its power swell around them, until finally Loveday commanded, ‘Pingot!’, and Pingot finished the incantation:

‘Rise tall! An oak born again from the acorn. Feel life course from root to branch. For you are the forest, proud and unconquered, a magic spanning beyond the dawn and twilight of man.’

Loveday stood from his place round the fire and, lifting his staff to the heavens, cast a bright light over the clearing.

Only it was a clearing no longer. The tree stumps were gone, and in their place were newly grown trees, a forest more alive and vibrant than any they had seen before.

*

They walked through the forest back to camp in a state of elation, whooping, cheering and clapping each other on the back.

Solar was dizzy with success, unable to believe that she and her classmates had been able to reverse the destruction of the clearing and cause so many trees to regrow.

It would be many months, or more likely years, she knew, before she would be entrusted with her own staff and therefore have the power to cast spells at will.

But somehow that thought didn’t bother her.

Not tonight, thrilled by her spell casting and her taste buds still alight from the magical air.

*

They revisited spell casting a few times after that first session, but Loveday made it quite clear that, for the time being, their main priorities would be continuing to master manipulation and the basics of brewing, and to gain a foundation in mind raiding.

‘Mind raiding, performed well, is a delicate art, but even so it is but the foundation of the more advanced skills of mind control and, for the most able wizards only, mind roosting,’ he said one sunny morning, the students seated before him on an assortment of stools and rocks.

‘Whilst some of you may succeed in the forthcoming lessons at raiding the minds of your classmates, it will be months or even years before you can do so undetected. And an accomplished wizard will still detect you even then. I must warn you, therefore, to never attempt to raid my mind. Not unless you wish to be expelled and sent home in disgrace.’

Sustained eye contact, Loveday explained, was key for beginners, along with the basic principles that they had learned in manipulation.

They had to understand their subject, where they had come from and where they were going in life, to not just imagine but to truly feel what it would be like to wear their clothes and go about their day-to-day lives.

‘But I knew none of this when I mind raided Gib Ralston,’ Solar said quizzically. ‘How is what I did possible?’

‘We’ve been over this already, Solar,’ Loveday said, firmly though not unkindly.

‘What you achieved in Ravenbridge was an exceptional example of cometh the hour, springeth the power. Exceptional in part in the feat achieved, but mainly in your complete lack of training. But such things are not unheard of in magic circles.’

They took turns at practising on one another. None of the boys had much success, least of all on Solar.

‘How am I supposed to know what it would feel like to be a girl?’ Bear blurted after several minutes of staring into her eyes with no result.

‘And how are we meant to understand what it would feel like to be a carpenter’s daughter when we have never set foot in a workshop?’ protested Wyman. ‘I barely even know what a carpenter does! My father won’t let me speak to the common folk who work in our castle.’

‘You would do well to remember, Wyman, that you and your classmates are not full members of the aristocracy whilst you study in my encampment. You’re not so far above a workman yourself, at least not technically speaking,’ said Loveday.

All four of Solar’s classmates looked very shifty at this statement.

‘What?!’ Solar exploded. ‘What do you mean, they’re …they’re … ’

‘Commoners, in essence. Students have to renounce all ties to their patrician houses when joining an encampment, to be renewed only upon forging a staff and finishing their education.’

‘But why?’ Solar asked, incredulous.

‘Perhaps one of the boys would like to answer?’ Loveday said, a faint smile playing around his mouth. ‘I assumed – mistakenly, it seems – that one of them would have mentioned it to you by now.’

‘Studying in an encampment is so dangerous that student deaths do happen,’ said Pingot sheepishly, not meeting her eyes.

‘The entry requirement is to prevent families of the students taking action against the instructor in revenge, and blood feuds or even wars breaking out between houses. The greatest houses are almost as powerful as the king’s.

If there was violence at every student death, the land would be plagued by it. ’

‘It is a safeguard, of sorts,’ affirmed Loveday. ‘And it allows students to put house rivalries aside as they study and work alongside each other.’

‘All those times you tried to goad me for being common, tried to lord it over me,’ Solar said accusingly to the boys. ‘None of you had a leg to stand on!’ The four of them had nothing to say in their defence, and Solar was gratified to see that their shamefaced expressions lasted the entire lesson.

Unlike her classmates, Solar found the lesson extremely easy. Knowing the essential theory had made all the difference from her previous, unsuccessful attempt to mind raid Binns.

Whilst none of the boys had ever given any thought to how it would feel to be a carpenter’s daughter, she had wondered day and night about what it would be like to be from an illustrious noble house.

She had thought about what gave Oswald, Wyman and Cal their sense of entitlement and imagined the life of luxury and wealth that lay behind Bear’s dreams of chivalry and honour.

She found she could read their every thought, though Loveday called a halt to the class just before she could have a go on Bear.

Her friend seemed oddly relieved at this.

‘Miss Carpenter, top of the class!’ Loveday announced, positively beaming at Solar’s performance.

‘I knew a little training would unlock the prowess you displayed in Ravenbridge. Excelling both in the field and the classroom. Boys, keep an eye on this one, for she is truly an excellent witch in the making.’