First Magic

A very old story of mine, just something I can put up really quick!

 

The sun stared down from high above gently kissing away the last of morning’s dew, as Raina skipped into the bazaar within the inner city. She hummed a song that her mother used to sing to her as a baby, while her small bare feet moved her down the dusty street, weaving in and out of a myriad of carts and people. She hooked her long brown hair behind her ears as she finally spied her destination and crawled up the steps to Sir Pete’s Treats, a small chocolate shop that catered to the children of the area.

"Gwen... Gwendolyn?" Raina sighed as she peaked through the door, searching for her friend. She didn’t ever step inside alone, for Raina was born of a lower class and felt uncomfortable when shopkeepers would walk with her from display to display, assuming she were there to steal. As she took a seat atop the steps, she overheard a few random notes of music coming from the building next door, which she noticed the door was slightly ajar. She strained to listen through the all of the voices in the street, but the music was either too quiet to hear properly, or it was just very bad. She stood and walked cautiously to the door, and placed her ear upon it, listening to a disharmonious tune emanate through the air. She let her curiosity get the best of her and glanced around to check if anyone was looking, and slipped through the door. She found herself face to face with a woman with what Raina thought might have been a strange fluffy cat on her lap. She stood in awe as she realized she was in front of a large, fresh painting, still wet on the easel.

Again she heard the awkward plucking of a harp; she turned her attention to a dark stairwell leading beneath the building. Raina slowly turned toward the staircase, her heart pounding as she moved towards it and placed her dirty foot upon the first. Her small form made it quietly down wide, polished wood steps with ease until her almond-shaped eyes widened in surprise as she could found the source of the source of the noise, causing her to trip on the last stair.

"Gwen!" Raina loudly whispered as her eyes took in the wide room. Sunlight flooded in from narrow windows that emphasized the fact that the room was beneath ground. "We're not supposed to be in here!"

Flashing a grin as fiery as her head of hair, Gwendolyn replied. "The men that were in here went out for lunch."

Raina merely nodded, and sat in a simple oaken chair, to watch Gwen’s milky white fingers stumble from string to string on a large gilded harp upon a raised platform that Raina was sure that was used as a stage. The harp had to have been twice her size, and for a second Raina wondered why her friend had chosen that instrument since there were many other instruments lined along the wall that would have fit her more easily. The glittering jewels that wound delicately around the harp’s frame caught Raina’s eye and made her stop being confused about Gwen’s choice. 

"How long should we stay Gwennie?" Raina's voice was speckled with worry, "Aren’t they going to come back?"

"I believe they are to be gone for one hour, and it's been..." Gwen froze as she heard footsteps above, and then grinned while whispering, "Sixty-one minutes."

Raina stared at Gwen, and then gazed about the window-less room, at a loss for what to do. Raina jumped as the red-haired girl took hold of her hand as she spoke, "Okay, Raina, on the count of three we run."

"One," The two girls crouched down, readying themselves to sprint, "Two..."

Raina swallowed a huge lump in her throat, knowing full and well Gwen meant to race past the artists in the room above. 

"Three!" Gwen shouted as she dashed up the stairs, dragging Raina behind her. Gwen easily wove around easels and men with her athletic as she headed for the door, while Raina struggled to keep up.

"Halt there!" A tall, gangly man yelled to the young girls. He seemed awkward in his gait as he tried to follow, running straight into the easel with the cat-woman as Raina and Gwen slipped through the door, never once turning back to look. They ran up and down many blocks, the two girls both with filthy feet beneath their skirts.

Raina stopped and collapsed in an alley to regain her breath. "Gwen," she called out, and took a deep breath. "We've… run… far… enough!"

Gwen sat down cross-legged in front of Raina, and laughed, hardly fazed by the run. "Those men couldn't catch a mule with a broken leg!"

Raina giggled a bit before saying, "But that doesn't change the fact that you owe me now, Gwendolyn, you've made me risk my neck!"

"Very well," Gwendolyn smiled and asked, "What would you like to do then?"

Raina stood up to take in her surroundings, they were in a much quieter part of town, but it was no less busy. A mixture of melodies filled the air as talented musicians performed within a newly constructed school. Raina paused as she gazed over the magnificent building, watching students carry a variety of instruments inside. Why doesn't Gwen go in there instead, where she would be welcome to learn? Raina blinked and let go of her thoughts, as it was her turn to choose somewhere to go. 

She finished scanning the area and grinned as her eyes came across a large, black tower in the distance. "I want to go there." Raina pointed to a small window that looked down from the highest floor of the stone structure.

Magic had always fascinated Raina, and if ever there were a magical and mysterious place it was that tower. She knew that a great and powerful wizard lived there, though she had no idea of his name or what he looked like. Among the young there were stories that he would capture children and grind their bones to powder to create his magic… but Raina didn’t believe such things. She knew that children were not at all welcome near the tower, but she was pretty sure she might actually be able to learn something in there. She only wished that someone would show her. Always before whenever she'd enter a shop or stop someone on the street to ask questions she would be shooed out by the mages within, telling her she was "too young," or that she was a "nuisance."

Gwen moved her unruly hair from her face, and her brilliant green eyes flashed with fear before she nodded and started in the direction of the tower. Raina followed quickly, the city becoming sparser as she went. Soon the buildings subsided and turned to lush trees, the tower peeking from above them. The girls began to sprint along a small winding path from tree to tree, to avoid the eyes of any potential onlookers, and they actually made it all the way to the front steps before they saw an apprentice in his teens that caused them both to quickly dive behind a thick bush, and crunch a few twigs as they fell atop each other. The girls lay very still as they heard the mage’s footsteps stop.

"Is there someone there?" The young man called out to no one in particular.

"We need somewhere to hide!" Raina quietly whispered to Gwen, who pointed out a slightly obscured and smaller door on the side of the tower. They peaked over the bush and scurried to the small door to go in uninvited after finding it unlocked.

Raina's deep chestnut eyes widened and shone with curiosity they adjusted to the lack of light within the room. Shelves were filled with beakers and bottles of all sorts; she found the various colors utterly fascinating. Raina moved forward and pulled Gwen farther in, leading her throughout the magical space. She gasped in delight as she saw a leather-bound book lying atop a small table, with multiple bags beside it.

Raina wrinkled her little nose as she was overcome with the strong scents of dried herbs and powders. “I wonder what is in this book...” Raina took hold of the book, and began flipping through the yellowed pages, scanning for anything interesting.

“I think I can read this Gwennie, maybe I can use magic!” Raina's faced brightened as she studied the page she'd found. She had been taught to read by her mother before she passed away.

"It says I will need a sul… fur… ous…” Raina’s tongue tripped over the longer word, “sulfurous stone, could you hand me one?"

Gwendolyn looked through the different bags of herbs and other reagents, then smiled as she handed Raina what she'd found.

Carefully reading the page again, Raina recited the strange words, “Ahl katorum…” and reached her hand into the pouch to pull out… a root?

"Bah! Gwen, I asked for a stone and you hand me roots?" Raina sounded annoyed, and began digging through the bags herself; turning her nose as she found garlic and flicking her wrist to remove what she thought might have been a spider’s web. 

"Ah hah!" Raina grinned as she found a small sickly yellow rock. "See Gwen, this smells like sulfur, so it must be it." Raina held it up to Gwen's nose then to her own.

“Ahl katorum!” Raina jumped back as a glittering purple light shot forth from her hand to land into a mess of beakers and potions. The girls screamed as the glass broke, spilling their contents to create a small explosion that somehow covered the room with thick black soot. Raina looked over to Gwen and giggled, as her red hair was now as dark as the night. Only the whites Gwen's eyes and teeth showed from beneath the soot that covered her from head to toe as she laughed back at Raina, who was accompanied by the same fate.

Mages suddenly appeared from everywhere and filled the room, to see what the commotion was, and of course spotted the two blackened girls. Both Raina and Gwen were grabbed by their arms and dragged outside the tower and down the path where they were told never to return. Holding in their laughs as the mages walked away, they turned around to head home. Raina and Gwendolyn split paths and went their separate ways in the city. Raina had to travel out into the country side to get to her home.

When she reached the door she heard a strange voice from within, so she mustered up as much stealth as she could to sneak around and peek in a window. She saw her father talking to an older man with white hair and a long beard, who was wearing pleated robes of navy blue. Her stomach lurched as the realization came to her that the older man was from the tower, so she ran behind the house and lay on her stomach in the grass. She could think of nothing better to do than waste away time watching a ladybug crawl among the blades…

"Raina," Said a warm, familiar voice, "I have something for you."

Raina bolted upright to see her father standing beside her, holding something wrapped in cloth. 

"Oh, papa, I'm so sorry." Raina attempted to wipe off what was left of the soot. She never liked to see her father angry, and could never be sorrier than when he was.

“Shh, small one, you're forgiven." He held out the bundle for Raina, "You are more and more like my mother every day, and you needn't be sorry for just wanting to learn.” She took it with her small hands, curious as to what it holds. She removed the cloth, to find a worn book inside, her grandmother’s name Raina, the same as her own,scrawled on the cover.

Raina opened the book slowly, her anticipation building. Upon the pages within were strange words that she had never seen before, and lists of… ingredients. It was then that she realized what the book was, and because of that, what her grandmother was.

“Thank you, papa, thank you!” Raina jumped up and hugged her father, getting a gentle hug in return. “So I’m really not in trouble? Why was that man here?”

“No, you’re not, and he was here to tell me that your lessons start next week at seven o’clock.”

A grin erupted from Raina’s face before she kissed her father and then skipped off into the fresh woods, holding her very own spell book close, until she found a small clearing in the trees that no path tread near. She lay back onto her stomach, this time following words instead of bugs, determined to learn as much as possible.

 

Reviews

[Phill Oz O'fee]

What a wonderful mystical tale � I hope this is just part one, as the adventure needs to go on for the young heroin of the piece.

Just to note; there were a couple of lines I highlight for correction -

Flashing a grin as fiery as her head of hair, Gwendolyn replied. "The men that we in here went out for lunch." - should it read " The men that 'were' in?

The harp had to have been twice her size, and for a second it Raina wondered why her friend had chosen that instrument since there were many other instruments lined along the wall that would have fit her more easily. The use of the word 'it' after for a second doesn't make sense - should it be deleted?

Why doesn't Gwen instead go in there, the word 'instead' doesn't fit - should it be deleted or placed after there?

Shelves were filled with beakers and bottles of all sorts; she the various colors utterly fascinating. - this seems to need a correction - should the word 'found' be inserted between 'she' and 'the various'?

Hope my suggestion are constructive!

Phill(ozofee)

[Raven Malak]

A very good story. from start to finish.

Keep it up.

Raven Malak

[Maudie]

I most definately need to edit this a little bit. I just pulled out of my digital shelf from a long time ago so my profile here wasn't empty! I'm looking forward to creating some new work to share.

[My Midnight Sun]

WOW!! I absolutly LOVED this!! You told the story so well! Raina and Gwen were just fun to read about, and when they made that explosion that covered them in soot, I giggled out loud. It was just so easy to imagine the way you wrote it. I'm very excited to see where this leads, my friend!