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As the path curved Asmara came into view. She gestured to a bend in the ravine ahead, around which they could see nothing. Julietta suddenly flushed, wondering why she had not simply used her magic to find Asmara. Nobody noticed. As she was busy being embarrassed, the other three gestured to each other silently and then all nodded, satisfied. Julietta then realised they were looking at her and she nodded also, feeling very silly.

  As soon as she nodded there was an explosion from around the bend. There was a flash of light and smoke. Startled bandits came running around the curving ravine, not paying heed to what was in front of them.

  Bo sprang forward and toppled three of them with one swing of his sword. The bandits suddenly realized they were in a fight and came to a halt, trying to regroup. One advanced on Asmara while two approached Bo. As Julietta watched Asmara’s opponent sprang at her and then back, out of her reach. Asmara swiped and suddenly the tip of her sword glowed and lengthened, catching the man across his chest. He howled in pain and confusion as Asmara pressed the attack, her sword growing and shrinking as it pleased her. Bo took down his attackers just as a shadow flew across her field of vision. Julietta looked up to see an archer standing at the lip of the ravine, bow drawn. Before she could think the bow burst into flame and the archer jumped back, out of her view. Julietta looked down again and saw a woman swearing in rage as her sword stuck to Asmara’s, and Bo fighting with a man as big as he was. As she watched a man emerged from around the corner, his eyes on her. Suddenly terrified, Julietta raised her gloved hands, spreading her fingers wide. She drew in the magic of the area, felt it flow towards her, then closed her hands and pulled them close to her chest, pulling the magic into her. She heard someone yell her name but she was too focussed on her attacker to pay much attention. The last word of her chant left her lips and the man froze and collapsed to the ground.

  ‘Julietta, let go!’

  Julietta turned to see a man standing over Dorian with a sword. Dorian rolled as the man swung, burying the tip of his weapon in the dirt. Dorian jumped to his feet and tried another spell, as the man turned and faced him again. Julietta, flustered, tried to push all her magic back out into the world. It went slowly, uncoiling from her thickly like syrup. Horrified she watched as the man swung at Dorian again. Dorian ducked, pulled a knife from his belt and slammed it into the man’s stomach. The attacker fell as Dorian stepped back drawing his bloody knife with him.

  Waving her arms, trying to make the magic hurry, Julietta did not notice the sudden silence.

  ‘Is that a victory dance?’ Bo asked.

  Julietta froze, her face beet red. ‘Uh, no-’ she saw there were no other attackers left, all were dead or had fled.

  ‘Haven’t you ever returned magic after absorbing it?’ Dorian demanded angrily. ‘Why did you draw so much? Haven’t you ever done magic in the vicinity of other mages?’

  ‘I-,’ tears started in her eyes, she couldn’t imagine how that had happened. She’d duelled and practiced with other students at the Collegium all the time, she knew how to control herself and limit what she took from the world when she needed more than the magic within herself.

  Dorian suddenly relented. ‘It doesn’t matter. We’re all fine.’

  Asmara came up, prodding her sword ruefully. ‘She drew all the magic out of the inscriptions, you’ll have to redo them, Dore.’

  ‘I was going to do it anyway, Asme.’ he let out a breath, ‘well, she’ll be useful against other mages, that’s for sure.’

  Bo clapped a hand on her shoulder and laughed. ‘Looks like our prodigy is pretty powerful after all!’

  Asmara smiled at her and said, ‘at least that was better than my first time, whew!’

  Julietta nodded and swallowed, holding back tears.

  ‘We’re going to have to move the bodies off the road.’ Bo said. ‘Dorian, do you want to take Julietta back to the wagons?’

  ‘No!’ Julietta responded instantly, ‘I can help!’

  Seeing his skeptical look Julietta strode over to the nearest body and reached down to grab it. The stench of blood and death made her gag. Suddenly smelling and seeing a dead man, who had been alive but moments ago, made her dizzy.

  ‘There’s no shame if you go back, Julietta.’ Bo said, his voice cutting through her nausea. ‘I imagine this is the first time you’ve seen a dead body?’

  Julietta’s response was to grab the body under its shoulders and started dragging it off to the side of the narrow road. She was surprised at how heavy it was, but she did not complain. She’d already made a fool of herself once today, at least she could do this.

  The other three began helping, and worked much faster than her, apparently unbothered by the grisly nature of their work. Soon, they were finished. When it was done Julietta stood, wiping sweat from her brow, despite the cool, early autumn air. She felt sick and unhappy. Asmara stood also, looking at the bodies with something of a sad smile on her face. She sighed and turned around and saw Julietta, who had not really been paying much attention to her.

  ‘I always dislike killing people. I know how much I fear death, and yet I still bring it on others.’ she shook her head.

  ‘Then perhaps you should find another job.’ Julietta snapped back, not in the mood to be sympathetic.

  Asmara smiled. ‘I’m not good at much else! Besides, they attacked us, come on, let’s go back to the wagon.’

  ‘Let’s not give them another moments thought!’ Bo said, ‘Asmara, I think you should really be worrying about how much you smell!’

  ‘Me? What about you?’

  ‘Yes, but I smelt like this before!’ and he roared with laughter at his own joke.

  The group headed back to the wagons together, Bo’s laughter lightening the mood. Asmara walked with Dorian and said, ‘Dore, I liked the sticky one, can you do that again?’

  ‘Sure. What about the others?’

  ‘The light with the lengthening was good, it confused them!’

  ‘Do you need to redo my inscriptions too?’ Bo asked Julietta as they reached the wagons.

  ‘I’ll check tonight, it won’t take long to redo it if I have to.’ Julietta said briskly.

  ‘I can see that. Imagine sucking all of the magic out of the area! That’s a useful trick.’

  ‘I’m putting it back.’ she managed, her voice nearly cracking as her sense of failure came flooding back. The magic was still leaking slowly out of her. She was lucky she hadn’t hurt herself drawing so much magic to herself. The gloves were supposed to help with that.

  ‘All the magic in the area! You’ll have a nice story to tell once we reach town!’

  Yes, she thought, she’d have a lovely story to tell about how she panicked and failed and very nearly got one of her companions killed.

  CHAPTER 5

  13 Fevror, 1352

  Julietta slept fitfully that night. When she closed her eyes, a dead face stared up at her, eyes wide and unseeing.

  She woke up for the umpteenth time as the sky was just beginning to lighten from black to grey. She was unsettled and tired. She shook the vision from her head. A thought bubbled up unbidden, I killed a man. It did not bear thinking about, she wouldn’t think about it. Did I really kill a man? How did that happen? No, she wasn’t going to think about it. She was still tired and groggy, and the bandits had attacked first. It was their fault, not hers.

  The group had emerged from the ravine mid-afternoon and camped in a clearing in the forest clustered at the edges of the ravine. Julietta would have gone back to sleep and her clinging nightmares but she saw that someone else was awake. Sitting up in her blankets she could just make out the dark shape of Asmara at the edge of their camp. She was slowly stretching. Despite herself, Julietta felt a twinge of excitement as she watched Asmara go through a series of slow, careful movements. She fished in her bag and pulled out her notebook and started writing down her observations. This was all normal behaviour for shadow mages, but to confirm it first hand, and be able to ask about it- because she was go
ing to interrogate Asmara when she was finished!

  After half an hour of stretching Asmara picked up her sword and began going through some quick, precise movements. As the golden rim of the sun appeared through the trees, Asmara put down her sword and sat down, her back to Julietta. As Asmara quietly watched the sunrise Julietta watched her, her pen poised above her notebook.

  As the sun rose and the sky lightened the other members of their group began to stir. Hearing them, Asmara stood up and stretched. She froze, spotting Julietta watching her.

  ‘I didn’t realise you were awake.’ Asmara said, coming to stand by her.

  ‘I didn’t sleep well.’ Julietta said quickly, not wishing to talk about that. ‘Do you do this every morning?’

  Asmara nodded and Julietta made a note in her book. As Asmara opened her mouth to speak Julietta said, ‘the stretches and the sunrise, can you tell me how they assist you with your shadow magic?’

  Asmara stared for a moment, her mouth half open. ‘Why so curious?’ she asked finally with a little laugh.

  ‘I’m familiar with the theories behind the behaviour of shadow mages, but I’ve never had a chance to study one first hand. Many of the first-hand accounts at the Collegium and the Royal Library are quite old.’ She said, looking up at Asmara expectantly.

  ‘I like the sunrise, so I watch it, and I practice in the morning because I really should practice.’ she shrugged.

  ‘It’s not to remind yourself of your body and renew your connection to it?’

  ‘That too-’

  ‘Does it help?’

  ‘I’m still here...’ she smiled and shrugged again.

  ‘And the sunrise? Does seeing the beauty of the world assist you in resisting the pull of the shadow magic?’

  Her expression flickered for a moment, ‘yes, but I don’t really like to talk about it.’

  ‘Hmm...’ Julietta tapped her pen against her notepad, evaluating that. ‘But you tell all your clients you’re a shadow mage.’

  ‘That’s different... I don’t need to think about it. Looking at the sunrise and doing my exercises is when I try not to think about it and just...appreciate.’

  Julietta brightened and scribbled something in her notebook. Accepting Asmara’s reason as genuine, and having expected it anyway, she said, ‘I’ll just observe you then, though if you feel like discussing your behaviour, please don’t hesitate to speak with me.’

  ‘Uh, sure.’ and she managed a hesitant smile.

  About an hour later the wagon was on the road again. The sunlight banished the remnants of Julietta’s nightmares. Or most of them, anyway. Julietta sat in the front wagon, knowing Dorian would take the middle one. At the thought of facing him her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. Soon she was struggling to hide her beet-red cheeks however, as Dorian, looking grumpy, climbed up onto the seat next to her. The driver shuffled over amicably.

  ‘Julietta, it’s silly to try and avoid me, and there’s no reason for it anyway.’

  ‘I- I’m not.’ she said stiffly, tilting her head back and looking down her nose at him. ‘I can’t imagine where you got that idea!’

  Dorian snorted, and shook his head. ‘You’ve used magic next to me before, so I know you can do it, Julietta. It’s normal to panic your first time and no one thinks less of you for it.’

  Julietta looked away and said nothing.

  ‘Besides, I wanted to discuss magic with you, and I know how you like telling people how to do things.’

  Julietta’s head snapped back around and she glared at him, indignantly she cried, ‘well, why shouldn’t I help when I have a better way?! It’s not my fault I know so much more than everyone else!’

  Dorian laughed, and slowly Julietta couldn’t help a little embarrassed chuckle.

  ‘Did you want my help with inscribing?’ she asked politely, smoothing down her skirt.

  He shook his head. ‘I’m surprised at how much magic you could draw.’

  ‘I am an exceptionally skilled sorceress. Do you draw your magic from the world?’ she asked carefully. She had not in fact checked how much raw energy he possessed in himself, partly because he would have noticed and partly because she didn’t particularly care - the raw magic possessed within was only a minor detail for sorcerers.

  ‘I draw from myself and from outside.’

  ‘It’s better to draw your magic from your surroundings.’ Julietta said in a lecturing tone. ‘It will not tire you so as using your own energy, and it will make your magic far more effective. If you wish to spell an item, say, a sword, if you draw the power from within that item the change will be much easier as the item will be reacting to something it recognizes as itself, not an intruder, as well as after having its power drawn from it, it will have less resistance and be more malleable until its energy is returned.’

  ‘I’ve noticed.’ he said, his eyes flashing in irritation.

  ‘You aren’t using any tools, so it perhaps makes sense if you use your own power. Sorcerous tools have many uses, the main purpose though is to store and regulate the flow of magic so as to make drawing magic from the world safer. They also act as focal points and assist in the discharging of spells. My gloves assist me in drawing magic from the world and also cycle the magic I draw so I do not hold too much within me at any one time. They are quite difficult to use, however I could make a basic wand for you to start with.’ she said expectantly.

  ‘I’m fine, thank you.’ he said stiffly. ‘I don’t need any tips from you on how to use magic, Julietta, I was just wondering how you managed to draw so much so quickly that I couldn’t even use my magic.’

  ‘You were discharging your magic out into the world to affect it in some way, and once magic has been discharged, it can be drawn by a sorcerer in much the same way as any other external magical power. To draw magic from within you would be a different task entirely, as you would be consciously objecting in a way a rock can’t, it would be much like trying to draw from a spirit or a sentient tree-’

  ‘I know, Julietta, that wasn’t what I was asking!’

  She hurried on, her words piling over his, ‘well, you haven’t been trained so I don’t know what you know, but using the proper terminology is the first step-’

  ‘Julietta!’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘I’m five years older than you, and I’ve been doing this since I was sixteen, I do not need any tips from you, Julietta. I was just asking-’

  ‘Sixteen!’ she cried, ‘you called me too young!’

  He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

  Julietta subsided into offended silence.

  ‘I just wanted to know how you drew so much so quickly. I’ve met trained sorcerers before, and I know what you did was unusual.’

  After a moment she said, ‘I have an unusually low level of energy within me. I’m sure you know everyone has power within them, which mages can use to do magic. Everyone has it, but very few people can actually make use of it.’ she waited until he sighed and nodded. ‘My level is lower than what you would usually find in a non-mage. I have always drawn on the energy of the world outside myself, why, if I didn’t, I would be quite sickly.’

  ‘So you were ill until you learned to draw on magic?’

  She shook her head and bit back a sigh before launching into her oft-repeated story. ‘I always drew on magic. It wasn’t discovered though until a sorcerer came to my family’s home and tried to do some magic as a dinner entertainment. It was quite embarrassing when it didn’t work, but he realised what was happening after a few attempts and my gifts were revealed. Then I secured a scholarship for myself and entered the Collegium.’

  ‘You secured your own scholarship?’ he frowned. ‘Surely that would be something your parents would have organised for you if they weren’t willing to pay-’

  ‘Certainly, eventually. But I was twelve at the time, which is two years later than the Collegium generally takes women. I didn’t want to be left behind you see, and my parents were dawdling.
’

  ‘Must have been difficult to catch up.

  ‘Yes, but I managed it.’ Though Dorian hadn’t asked, Julietta was so accustomed to people wanting to know all the details that she quickly rushed into the rest of the story, ‘My older brother was of the opinion that it was my fault the harvests from our land were declining, even though I showed him the records proving our family has been going downhill for nearly half a century. The fuss he made was entirely unsubstantiated, but my father felt the need to examine the issue, and it was simpler for me to just obtain my own scholarship that wait for him to finish.’

  Dorian frowned. ‘So you don’t have any power of your own to use?’

  ‘Energy flows through me very easily and I usually have within me at any time enough power to do most magic, though it is in a constant state of movement. You probably won’t feel the movement of energy through me unless you’re concentrating, and I certainly won’t prevent you from using magic unless I consciously draw on the energy of the world. Usually I have no more difficulty letting go than I do drawing it in but...’ she had panicked, she knew, and her fear and confusion had prevented her from releasing the magic as easily and quickly as usual.

  ‘Don’t worry about it.’ and he pulled his hat low over his eyes. ‘I can just imagine how annoying it would be for a mage to duel you. It’d be worse than fighting Asmara... We still need to keep an eye out for bandits, just because we ran into some yesterday doesn’t mean the road will be clear today.’

  ‘You know,’ Julietta began, ‘I was hesitant at first, upon hearing Asmara was a spell-sword. Usually they aren’t very good, but she makes quite good use of the magic in her weapons.’

  Dorian nodded. ‘She has a perverse sense of humour, which I think is a prerequisite... and she’s an excellent swords-woman in her own right, she’d only recently started using magic when I joined her and Bo a year ago.’

  ‘Perhaps I should go tell her.’

  ‘I’m sure she’ll be very pleased to hear she has your approval.’

  Not knowing whether to be offended by his tone or not, Julietta eventually settled on focussing on her job. The rest of the day rolled by without incident, and the next day they reached their destination.