By Yaasha Moriah
“I need a wand.”
Exeter, the elderly wandmaker, squinted through his thick glasses at his visitor.
This young man was one of those university types: tall, sandy hair combed to the side, dark eyes, worn robe of cornflower blue with the hood pulled up. Very eager and very naive.
“Are you sure you need a wand?” Exeter asked dryly.
“Well, I mean, you’re a wandmaker,” stammered the visitor.
“So you noticed? Then you didn’t need to announce your intentions. It was obvious when you walked through the door.”
“I… well… fair enough.” The young man’s smile slipped a little.
“What kind of wand do you need?”
“Well, a wand that, you know, casts spells.”
Exeter let out a long-suffering sigh through his nostrils. Another bright-eyed nincompoop. It was the same every semester.
“You’ve been reading the wrong books, my boy. Tell me, when you need to screw something into the wall, do you use a wrench?”
“No…?”
“Well, do you?!”
“No, sir.” This time it sounded a little less like a question. Alarm began to creep into the student’s expression.
Exeter lifted an eyebrow. “So why do you think any wand can cast any spell?”
“So I don’t get a single wand that’s unique to me?”
“A wand is a tool. Tools do specific things. You get the right wand for the right job.”
“But… that would mean that I would need fifty wands!”
“Oh, you have fifty jobs to do? My, aren’t you ambitious.”
“I…” The young man blundered to a halt and looked helplessly at the racks on the walls, at last seeming to understand why there were thousands of wands in the shop.
“I ask again,” said Exeter. “What spells do you need to do?”
“I’m in Alchemy One—”
“Then you don’t need a wand, just lots of beakers, bottles, and raw materials. Those are across the street at Armitch’s shop.”
“Also Elementals One…”
“Then you’ll need a level one wand each for geomancy, aquamancy, pyromancy, and aeromancy.” Exeter offered a set in a glass case, each wand ribboned with a different color on the handle. “I have two styles of carrying cases: bandolier or belt. It’s a thirty percent discount if you buy the elemental set and the carrying case in the same purchase.”
“You said these were level one wands?”
“Oh yes. There’s three to ten levels, depending on the discipline and how advanced you become. You’ll need a new set of wands for each level.”
“Spells and swords! How does one afford it all?”
“Like you afford anything else: hard work. Now what’s your next class?”
The young man’s eyes widened as his face drained of color. “Artifice and Runesmithing One.”
“You’ll need a stylus wand and an erasure wand. Next?”
The visitor slumped against the counter. “Combat Spellcasting.”
“I have a set with a shield ring, a long-distance wand—good up to twenty meters—and a short-distance wand—good up to three. Any more classes?”
The young man shook his head.
Exeter sighed and fixed his young visitor with a softer gaze. “Let me guess: You come from a poor family, and you have dreamed all your life of becoming somebody. You’ve read every fascinating fictional account from those horrid pulp novels or the glowing interviews in those cheap magazines at the end of the check-out aisle at Griffin’s Grocery. And you’ve finally scraped up enough to buy some musty, out-of-print textbooks used a hundred years ago, plus the bus fare to travel here. You intend to buy all the materials to practice on your own before the semester begins. You’re not enrolled at all; you’re hoping to show exceptional prowess and gain enough attention to qualify for a scholarship. Does that about sum it up?”
The last of the young man’s confidence leaked out of his face and he gazed with despair at the wands.
“I… can’t fail. I can’t.”
“Too much pride?”
The young man glared back at him and Exeter realized that, no, he was not exaggerating. It wasn’t pride. It was wounded desperation.
He wasn’t running to a life of fame and fortune.
He was running from something—or someone.
Exeter mentally reviewed the classes. Alchemy. Elemental Magic. Artifice and Runesmithing. Combat Spellcasting. Of course…
“Oh, my boy,” he whispered. “Turn around and pull down your hood.”
The young man swallowed and turned. The hood dropped away. There it was: a Bondrune, a glowing tattoo on the back of the young man’s neck, throbbing with each panicked beat of his heart.
“How did you get across the Divide from Calgoria?”
“I paid a gremlin.”
Exeter’s stomach knotted. “With what?”
The visitor hunched his shoulders. “Memories. What else?”
Exeter glanced up at the skylight that filtered the sunlight through floating dust motes and turned them into tiny stars. “You know we have an extradition agreement with the Calgorians.”
The young man closed his eyes and swallowed hard.
Exeter sighed. “You really thought you could learn enough in one semester to build an alchemical suit of armor, erase your Bondrune, and go back to face… Oh.” Exeter studied the obvious heartbreak in the boy’s eyes. “You have a loved one you left in bondage. You expect to free them. That’s the only reason you would be learning Combat Spellcasting.”
The runaway’s Adam’s apple bobbed again.
Silence stretched between them, crowding with dark thoughts. At last, Exeter picked up a wand and etched an invisible rune in the air toward the young man, who twitched.
“What… What did you just do?”
“Relax. It’s a cloaking spell for that Bondrune. Must be reapplied every week.”
“But why?”
“There are reasons I do not feel kindly toward the Calgorians.” Exeter pushed his glasses farther up his nose, then rubbed the old scar on the back of his neck. “Now, we have a lot to talk about.”
“We do?”
“Oh yes. You, my boy, are going to school.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
You packed a lot of depth into this little story. Very well done!
I didn’t know there was so much story until I was in the middle of writing it. Thanks for reading!
Aaah! I love this setup for a story. I would read a novel about these characters/world!
Delightful characters! Loved the unexpected turn and backstory revelations!!
I love how this starts with a humorous, Harry Potter vibe, and ends in treason and intrigue. It’s so clever! (And so is Exeter!)
OK, I love this.
It starts out humorous – just another student filling out his requirements for school. And then that twist!
Brilliantly handled, and so fascinating to read! Perfect.
Love the worldbuilding and the wandmaker’s character, Yaasha. And the reveal of what was really going on was beautiful, and included the worldbuilding so seamlessly. Excellent job!
AAH I MISSED THIS THE DAY OF!!
THIS IS AWESOME!!
I loved this story! Beautiful buildup and delivery! Brava!