Rising of a Mage by J. M. Fosberg Read Free Book Online Page A

went to Master Gabriel’s study. There were only two places he would be—there or his room. But then, he wouldn’t be in his room and not have come. He wasn’t in Headmaster Gabriel’s study and the door to his office was open and no one was in there. So she went to his room. She knocked but there was no answer. She cracked the door and became furious. She had been waiting for him for over an hour, searching everywhere, and he was taking a nap. She threw the door open, but he didn’t wake up. She went to his bed and shook him angrily. “Anwar, Anwar, wake up! He opened one eye, and then he just smiled at her. She wanted to be angry but that smile… how could she be angry with him? “You were supposed to meet me an hour ago.”
    There was less anger in her voice then she intended.
    “I’m sorry, Riah. I was working magic all afternoon and it must have drained me more than I thought.” She wanted to be angry with him, but she couldn’t; he really seemed exhausted. A single tear ran down her cheek and she threw her arms around him.
    “you’re my best friend, Anwar. I was worried something had happened to you.”
    He hugged her back. “Sorry, Riah,” he said, and then exhaustion took over and he was asleep again.
    Anwar woke early like he always did. Mariah was asleep in his arms. It felt strangely comfortable, like it was somehow right. The only other person he had ever had in his bed was his little sister when the storms scared her. He woke her.
    “Hey, Riah, you want to see what I was doing all day?”
    She lay in his arms and looked up into his eyes, and then she realized what he had just said and sat up. “Are you serious? You’ve never shown me magic. Of course, I want to see. And how come you keep calling me Riah? I thought you were just tired last night?”
    “I don’t know. Would you like me to stop?”
    “No. I guess I like it, but I don’t want anyone else calling me that.”
    Anwar smiled. “Come on.”
    Mariah was still wearing the same clothes from last night, but he was just wearing some thin pants he wore when he was in his room so he went to the corner of his room to a shelf were his pants and shirts were folded and grabbed a pair of pants. Mariah pretended to look away as he took his bed clothes off and put the new pants on. She felt a twinge of disappointment that he was wearing small clothes. Then he started to turn around and she looked away for real. He grabbed a V cut shirt that was meant to hang loosely off the body, but it was tight against his. Mariah felt her heart speed up.
    Anwar led Mariah out to one of the burn pits and filled it with timber. He lit the fire and then put it out. He did this a couple of times and he could see the excitement on her face. “This is not why I was so exhausted,” he said. She looked at him with confusion. “Master Gabriel told me of another fire that was for experienced wizards and we would work with it later. A magical flame.” He did not tell her that he had mastered the basic flame after only a few minutes and could make it do whatever he wanted, or that he would have gone to fetch the candles soon after Master Gabriel had left him, if it would not have made him look conceited. He was saving that till maybe tomorrow. Anwar went to an empty fire pit; there was nothing in it but stone.
    “Anwar, are you sure you should?”
    The empty fire pit filled with flame and she could feel the heat coming from it.
    “At first this was draining me a lot but now I don’t have to force it. I have figured out how to guide it and it’s a smooth flow back and forth now.” She smiled. “I don’t know what that means, but it’s amazing.” Then the fire started to dance and jumped out of the pit. She jumped back and looked back to Anwar who gave her a contorted smile. She could still feel the heat from the fire but it was not burning the grass.
    “You were doing this last night?”
    “No there were too many people walking by where I was last night.