“No? How about fire? Repeat after me.Ignisiar.”
In Risna’s palm, a purple flame gathered. It was rounded at the bottom, and as the older woman focused, the flame grew hotter, and the tops grew orange. The heat warmed her face.
By the end of the hour, she was half-tempted to throw her hands up and quit. It was clear that if she did have magic, it wasn’t much at all.
The angel had given her an impossible task.
Elizabeth was soon weary—the worst headache clutched at her skull, and hunger gnawed at her belly.
“Enough,” Risna cut in. “These things you will practice.”
“Er, I have a question,” Elizabeth asked tentatively. “Where do these words you speak come from? I know you said they are from the Godstongue, but how are they connected to the magic?”
Risna looked at her curiously. “The words just direct the spell, help give it shape. If you didn’t remember the word for water, but you remembered the word for lake, you could say lake and sometimes achieve the same thing. You need to see the connection between the word in the ancient language and what you are trying to do.
“When we are telling you the words to use for the spell, we are giving you the words for break, flame, or water.” Risna smiled wryly. “But speaking Common won’t work. You need to speak the word in the language of the gods. And your ability to perform spellcraft is somewhat limited by your knowledge of the language.”
“Er. How would I learn more about it if it’s a language not spoken anymore?”
It was Nasera who spoke, her voice dry with sarcasm. “We can give you a dictionary if you’d like, but if the city guards search your bags and find it, they’ll kill you.”
“Oh. Perhaps, not then.” Elizabeth chuckled. “Wait, can you do magic without it?”
Risna said, “Youcando spells without using any words, just your thoughts, but it is very tricky and easy to get wrong. As a beginner, you must never try it and use verbal spells unless your need is dire.” Risna paused and nodded, as if counting things off a list. “Hmm, the last thing we will have you try for today is to extend your awareness outwards. Try to touch my mind with yours.”
Elizabeth did so, gently extending her thoughts towards Risna, tentative and curious.
Something froze her in place. Based on the sharp, hostile nature of the consciousness, she was certain it was Nasera. She was unable to move a muscle. She wrenched her hands, but they remained glued to her knees. Elizabeth’s eyes darted between the exit and Nasera, widened in fear.
“Allow me to show you why what we are risking our necks to teach you is important,” Nasera said, walking calmly towards her.
She couldn’t move her fingers or her toes. Just like the demon who had paralyzed her. Horrified, she realized how easily Nasera had trapped her, and shewasn’t even sweating. She stood with a small smirk on her face, looking as though Elizabeth’s shock entertained her.
Worse, great flapping things edged her vision, and soon all she could see were bats flying in the room. She glanced at the floor, and oh gods,the floor. It crawled with spiders as big as dinner plates towards her. Elizabeth’s heart sped up, and her body was flooded with fear. She broke out in a cold sweat, and her heart hammered in her chest.
She could hear her own panting as the spiders came towards her booted feet. They began crawling up her leg. Shefeltthem—their hairy, spindly legs dug into her ankles for purchase. She looked to Risna for help, and she smiled.
Suddenly, the bats and the spiders were gone, and she could move again.
Nasera circled her and drawled, “Training your mind to withstand assaults from magic users will be paramount. Holding you paralyzed is not the worst thing that could happen.”
Elizabeth was terrified, too scared to speak.
“They can also make you feel,” Risna said gently, “er, aroused if they are near you, intrigued by their presence, even if your body is telling you to run. The bite of a demon has turned many a witch against her sisters because they can infiltrate your mind when you make yourself vulnerable to them. It is the very first thing we teach our daughters.”
“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked sharply.
She had suspected there was something in a demon’s bite and felt how her body responded when Caspian bit her. Her entire being sang with the idea of him and wanted nothing more than to melt into his touch. Having it confirmed by the witch left a cold lump of dread in her gut.
The concept that he manipulated her feelings and even her body’s response to him with ease disgusted her.
Risna gave a pointed glance at her neck. The marks had faded, but Elizabeth knew Risna was not fooled by her true purpose in staying with Caspian.
“A bite hurts, child. Having your skin sliced open with sharp teeth and having a monster feed off you is supposed tohurt. If it doesn’t, he has you under his spell. Until you learn to empty your mind and create a wall in their presence, you can’t be safe in here.” Risna tapped her forehead.
“Is there a way to stop it?” Elizabeth asked, her voice a horrified whisper.
“We will start by emptying your mind and imagining a barrier. It can be a song you recite, although that makes it difficult to think about other things, or you can imagine your mind as having an antechamber, a place where there are thick walls and barred doors. This way, you can have a part of your mind picturing your antechamber and clear, and the other half can wander and plan out how to escape without them reading your thoughts as easily as they would a book.”
