Marco lifted the unconscious woman from the wreckage of flesh. If he wasn’t so angry he might have thrown up, just from the sight of what they did to it. You couldn’t even tell what it used to be. Couldn’t even tell it had wings. Grot approached the mangled pile of limbs and crisp skin, turning his nose up at the smell of burnt hair.

  “Well…” Grot began. “Ya think they got it?”

  “Don’t start.” Marco bit.

  Capreva sheepishly descended to the ground and followed behind Marco. The hunter carried the rider to the wizard and the insect, gently laying her on the grass. Yesenia wiped minty life blood from their lips, watching as Marco uncapped his only bottle. He cradled her head in his broad hand, pouring the tea into her mouth. The group only let themselves breathe after Ivys bleeding gashes closed up and her chest rose and fell with life. Even after they remained quiet for a time.

  Heracles jolted everyone’s minds to attention. “Is it dead?”

  Marco just looked at him. “Are you serious. It looks mulched.”

  “Serves it right.” Yesenia spit out, exhaustion just apparent in their voice.

  “Is that right?” Marco laid Ivys head in the grass. “Looks like it sure pissed you off.”

  Yesenia glowered. “It did actually. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “We aren’t out here to torture these thing.” Marcos eyes were as sharp as an axe head. “Especially not with magic.”

  Yesenia froze, then broke out laughing. “You’re joking? Should we have reasoned with it? Had tea with it? It wanted to kill us. It was crazy, and you’re worried about how we killed it?”

  “I’m worried about this team, damn it! Worried about if someone else saw your little light show!”

  “It was a flare! I was helping you get back! Seeing as you were taking your sweet time.” Yesenia pointed an accusing finger at Marco as they shouted you.

  He slapped their finger away as he stood. “Don’t point that fanged thing at me!”

  Yesenia sat in stunned silence.

  Heracles rose and stared down at the hunter. He looked up, taking in just how big the boy was. “Marco… Stop.”

  He shook his head. “Are we not looking at the same thing kid?” He gestured at the ruined manticore. “What in the bleeding maw could have that thing done to deserve that?”

  The boy looked at the corpse then looked down shamefully. “It… It hurt Lily, Marco.”

  He looked over seeing the midwife assisting the horse to its feet. He stared for a moment. “Which Lily?”

  The wizard growled. “The horse, you bumpkin.”

  “Hey, don’t you start with that.” He reflexably began to point but thought better than it. “Look, I didn’t know it got that bad, I’m-“

  “No!” They coughed as they rose to their feet. The trembles of deep tire clear in their legs and arms, but not their voice. “You don’t get to save face! You don’t get to just sorry yourself out of this! You came at me!”

  Marco gritted his teeth as he watched them stand.

  “You nearly got Heracles killed with that amphiptere and with the griffin! You got your leg half bitten off with those damned roaches, and you weren’t even here for this!” Yesenia took two steps forward to look Marco upwards in the eye. “I was there for all of it, you filthy swine herd. How is it that you trusted me more when we were strangers than right now. Why did you even take me in!”

  “I thought-“ Growled out just before being berated again.

  “You thought?! Thought what!? Quit making that face and answer me!” Yesenia steamed with anger.

  “I don’t need to explain myself to you!” He roared.

  Heracles nearly knocked both hunter and wizard off their feet, slamming between them. “Can you guys just stop!”

  Both reeled from the force of Heracles, both physically and mentally. Their anger turned to burning shame as they watched the young man kneel down and lift the unconscious rider into his arms.

  “Kid, I-“ Marco said.

  “I’m taking her back to Patty’s. You two can keep going for all I care.” He started to make the trek back to town followed close behind by Lily the horse. Limping slightly but more worried for her mistress than her own rest.

  Silence reigned for quite some time. After the tension had softened just enough to wiggle out of, Grot excused himself to checking on Miss Naro. At the same time Yesenia felt the days magic on their frail wizardly bones. Exhaustion had already cloaked around them like a weighted blanket. They took to the trail, forgoing another round of shouting. Not because they stopped being mad, but because if they wasted any more energy they wouldn’t make it back to bed.

  Marco watched them go, shoulders finally dropping. His eyes trailed over to his Elk sent blessing. A smile even poked through, seeing the little creature admiring their first kill.

  Caprevas eyes were locked on the heap of meat before them. Just moments ago it was a roaring, slashing, thinking thing. Now just meat. Burnt meat. They heard muffled deep tones and faint ringing as Marco called to them. Lazily they peeled their gaze off the carnage.

  “W…what sir?” Capreva croaked out.

  “Come on little one.” The man smiled warmly. “Even with… all this going on, we still gotta celebrate.”

  Capreva tilted their head. “Celebrate? Why? D…did something good happen?” A twinge of hope leavened their voice.

  “Of course it did. You bagged your first real hunt kid.” He looked over the kill with as much paternal pride you could looking at a desiccated heap. “By the looks of it you did your fair share. Pretty good aim too.”

  Capreva nodded. “Oh…yeah. I uh… just did like what you said… aim where it’s gonna be… get the high ground…”

  Marco kneeled down and pat the quiet thing on the back. “You did good kid. Don’t worry about Ivy, she’s got too much fire to go down to this thing.”

  “Yeah…” Capreva looked to the manticore again. “Can we just go… please…”

  Marco nodded “Sure bud.”

  Hunter and creature departed from the burnt, rot scented clearing. Capreva taking one last long look at their first kill. They really hoped this got easier. They tore themselves away from the sight, never noticing the large antlered being standing just meters past the heap. Just watching.

  Yesenia had just about enough energy left in them to aid Heracles in putting Ivy in bed. They laid her on her side and removed as much of her armor as possible without endangering her neck. Yesenia found unclipping the armor torturous. Every strap seemed to be of a different sort entirely, almost like ten or twenty smiths all worked together on this mess of personal protection.

  The wizard finally sat down on their bed. Feet and legs immediately radiating sore ache. Their mind on the other hand had not had rest from anger since beginning their walk.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  They spoke as they took to unclasping their cloak. “Can you believe that oaf Heracles? Blaming me? When he wasn’t even here? I swear these pig herds out here.”

  “Please.” Heracles firmly boomed in the back of their mind. “Just stop.”

  Yesenia bristled. “But he-“

  “I know he’s wrong about magic. I get it.” Heracles stood up. “I know you helped. You know you helped. He just didn’t know. And he’s not an oaf for just not knowing.”

  Yesenia scowled. “So you’re taking his side in this?”

  “There aren’t-. “He groaned and chittered in his own tongue. “I caused this. You should be mad at me. I brought it to us, I burnt the catnip like a...”

  The wizard saw his mandibles begin to sag in an unfamiliar way. “Heracles you didn’t… I mean you did but…”

  Before Yesenia could continue he stomped out of the room, shaking anything not tied down firmly in the inn. Patty cursed at the racket, but Memaw settled him down.

  The wizard groaned and flopped backwards onto the pillow. They didn’t have the strength to form their ice barrier tonight. Even making a couple of ice cubes could wind them in this state. All that energy spent for what. Everyone’s either mad at them or in a coma. Maybe the little tree thing wasn’t mad at them. But Yesenia didn’t care.

  “Um… Excuse me, Yesenia sir.”

  Excellent. This is why the ice wall matters.

  “I’m not a sir.” Yesenia peeked at the door. Seeing Marcy Herbeta standing at their door with two steaming cups they rose.

  Marcy opened her mouth to speak.

  “Stop. I don’t need extra addressing, just my name is fine.” The wizard massaged the bridge of their nose. “What are those?”

  “T…Tea. Memaw thought you’d like something warm to help r...rest” The girl smiled nervously showing off the tiny tusks she got from her father.

  Yesenia scrunched their nose with displeasure. “No thank you. I am growing more and more hatred for mint with each passing day.”

  “Oh! I..It’s not the magi…” Marcy caught the word like a foul slur. “The... The healing tea. It’s not that. It’s just green tea.”

  Yesenia squinted at the cups. “Fine. Bring it here.”

  She did as she was told. Rushing to bedside with trained waitress grace. After handing one cup to the wizard the girl looked towards the sleeping rider. Ivy looked less like the hero of a manticore hunt and more like a drunken aunt laid to early rest. She had also begun to snore.

  “Might as well drink the other one yourself. She isn’t gonna be waking for quite some time.” Yesenia took a long sip from the herbal brew, warmth radiating from their chest.

  “I saw Heracles carrying her in… W…Why isn’t she awake?” Marcy asked.

  “She’s lucky to be alive. Not many wrestle with Manticores and live. And I don’t mean wrestle poetically, she wrestled with it. In the mud.” Yesenia shuddered.

  “But… You all had the teas.” Her concern drifted into innocent confusion. “Shouldn’t she have been fine after drinking one.”

  Yesenia raised their brows at near academic curiosity coming from a Bregidian barmaid, then they pat the bed. “Sit down, my neck hurts.”

  Marcy did as told.

  Yesenia collected their thoughts. They weren’t expecting to have to lecture tonight. They had never dealt with the fledglings of the towers but even they would understand concepts entirely alien to Marcy. The girl likely still thought rain was gods tears and thunder was The Hounds war barks.

  They started. “For one the tea isn’t really magical, so you don’t have to stumble around that word anymore. All the healing properties are perfectly natural and produced by the plant itself.”

  Marcy nodded.

  “The effects are the same as healing potions, very common in Emond Valor. They close wounds and neutralize toxins in the body but they don’t do anything past that. They don’t replace blood, and they don’t replace sleep. Only the most talented transmuters can produce stimulants capable of-“

  The wizard noticed Marcy scrunching her brow in confusion.

  “Am I going to fast?” Yesenia asked.

  “N... No it’s just… when Pa told me you’re a wizard… I didn’t really believe him.” Marcy sheepishly said.

  Yesenia huffed and shook their head. “Yes, I am a wizard. Not all of us burn down villages and kidnap little girls I assure you.”

  The girl looked into her tea. “People around town… they say wizards can… reshape reality, create fire storms and like, make the weather different or… summon demons.”

  The wizard nodded. “Yes, all of that is possible.”

  “But…” Marcy tilted her head. “You… need rest? You all can’t just never sleep?”

  Yesenia scowled. “I didn’t say none had conquered sleep, I said very few. Around the same amount as can summon demons. At least a demon worth summoning.”

  Marcy looked worried again. “So, you really can do that? You could summon demons?”

  Yesenia sipped their tea. “ I don’t know how to summon a demon. And even the ones who can, aren’t summoning what you think they are. There is no nightmare forest the Puma stalks wandering souls in or planes of fire ruled over by the Bull and his children. We don’t get demons from hell. Demons are manifestations of fear. It isn’t their fault so many people are afraid of religious figures.”

  “So… not every wizard summons demons…or makes fire and stuff?” Marcy asked.

  “All of them could technically. They would just have to learn how. Some things come to certain people easier.”

  “What comes easy to you..?”

  Yesenia smirked. “The manipulation of energy.”

  Marcy squinted. “So… Why don’t you give yourself energy to not sleep?”

  “Not that kind of energy. I can bestow or revoke energy to natural phenomena.”

  “And that means...?”

  The wizard sighed “By removing energy from water vapor I can freeze it. By adding energy to gases in the air I can ignite them. But my true power lies in manipulating gravity itself.” They ended on the prideful note.

  Marcy nodded pretending to understand.

  “Right. I forgot the basics of science aren’t even given to your nobles. If that self righteous lunk didn’t know what gravity is, you’re far from understanding it.” They gestured at Ivys sleeping form.

  Marcy understood the wizard enough to catch the insult and began to blush with shame. Yesenia tried not to but found themselves feeling the slightest amount of remorse. They should try to control that.

  “Not anything um… against you of course. At least you’re asking about magic. I’ve saved Marcos hide twice now and he still acts like I’m a walking explosive.”

  “But… aren’t you? Can’t you…lose control?” Marcy asked timidly.

  Yesenia laughed. “I’m not just going to blow up randomly if that’s what you’re saying. Any powerful magic takes prep work, calculations and years of research before you’re even able to begin to train with it. Magic can be wild on occasion but so can horses, so can people. The difference is Magic reacts the same every time, as long as you’re clear headed. Magic requires control. Magic is control.”

  As they spoke, Marcy slowly looked more and more like a weight was being removed. wondered if they had really broken the bond of ignorance after one lesson. The girl thought hard and chose her words very carefully for what she next spoke.

  “Is it…possible… for someone who has never… been taught magic…to use it?”

  Yesenia thought, then shrugged. “Yes? Some people just do it. Natural born mages are rarer than acquired ones, but they aren’t an oddity.” The wizard examined the girls face closely. “Why do you ask?”

  Marcys cheeks had turned a deep crimson from embarrassment and fear, brightening up her otherwise greyish green tones. “I… I might…I can do…”

  “Show me.” Yesenia said firmly.

  Marcy jolted at the words but just as always, she did as she was told. With shaky hands the young Herbeta reached down to the hem of her shirt. With a firm swift motion she tore an inch long gash into the fabric. She winced at the jagged sound it made. Yesenia watched with tempered skepticism.

  Then, slowing her breathing to a steady rhythm, Marcy focused intently on the tear. A dull blueish light shown behind her green eyes. The light then departed and flew like wisps the short distance to the girl’s index finger. With the bulb of light as her pen, Marcy traced over the tear and with as little effort as it took to rip, it mended. And after only seconds of threads working to rebind with their other halves, there was no trace the garment had ever been ripped.

  “Hmm.” Yesenia nodded slightly. “Pretty good.”

  “Pretty good?” A tone of indignance invaded her voice. “That’s it? Pretty good?”

  “Yeah.” Yesenia shrugged. “I mean it’s very impressive for someone so young. But yes still a simple mending invocation.”

  Their words said one thing, but their mind spoke very differently. Chronomancy. The petulant brother school to their own powerful Graviturgy. A terribly small showing but a showing nonetheless. Marcy had not willed the strings to retie or manipulated the air around to knit the threads traditionally. She had rewound the clock as if no damage had been done. If she were in the tower she would be sent to the highest rungs to be trained by only master transmuters and Chornomagi. She could even be in the running for Lavender Seat one day. But here she was in this backwater town. Not even knowing what power she just displayed.

  Honestly though, Yesenia was just sour because their first manifestation was lighting a candle.

  Yesenia covered their jealousy of the youth with feigned concern. “Does anyone else know? I hope you’ve had the good sense to keep this hidden just like me.”

  “Weeeell…” The long well was assisted by fumbled hands and a shrug.

  “Well? Well, what? And don’t shrug, wizards don’t shrug.” Yesenia lied.

  “It isn’t recent… Me and Pa have been kind of… turning it into a business? Mending clothes and buckets and stuff…”

  Yesenia was taken aback. “And how many people have you done this for?”

  “Well… Aside from Lord and Lady Zolt… Miss Petunia… and um… Marco… uh… Everyone else?” Marcy smiled a scared childs smile.

  Yesenias eyes widened to saucers. “You’re joking.”

  The youth shook her head, smile turning to grimace.

  “Everyone knows?!” They hissed. “And here I am bowing and scraping to that barbarian when he doesn’t even know-“ Yesenia cut themselves off head turning like an owl to make eye contact. “Do they know about me?”

  She nodded all while sinking into her own shoulders.

  “How?! I was so careful!” They threw their arms up petulantly.

  “We… kind of guessed… after the tea stuff… and you don’t carry any weapons…Rumors spread around here…” She chuckled nervously expecting another shout from the wizard.

  Yesenia grit their teeth at how easily these farmers had figured them out. But slowly, humor began to win out. Maybe Marco wasn’t as smart as he always acted. Sure he saw Yesenias arcane origins immediately, but so did everyone else. And they were able to hide that knowledge and the existence of a fledgling from even a seasoned wizard.

  They grinned as deviously as a bobcat, a small laugh building in the back of their throat .

  “Are…you okay?” Marcy asked growing increasingly fearful of the strange expression on Yesenias face.

  “Yes yes, I am fine. I’m simply… impressed.” They pat Marcy on the shoulder. “Impressed in the insight of this town. I underestimated the wisdom this land can produce and I’m sure I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  Marcy nodded believing the lie. “Oh! Well, that’s nice. But I.. well, I showed you cause I wanted to ask you something si- sorry, Yesenia.”

  “Ask away.” Yesenia said musically, high on the failure of the woodsman.

  “Could you teach me more? More…. More magic?” Innocently asked.

  “What? Really? You want me to teach you? But you’re already-“ Yesenia paused. “Wait, what about the laws?” nice save.

  To that, the frail girls eyes narrowed, and she suddenly grew a spine befitting an orc. Even a quarter orc. “My Papaw always said rules don’t mean nothing if the man who made them is an ass.”

  Yesenia nearly spat tea in laughter at the curse crossing such foreign lips. “Well! I think I would have liked your “Papaw”. Sounds like the only one in this country who made sense.”

  “Yeah… He was the mayor before Miss Wriggly. He was amazing…” Their mood went from wistful back to resolute with haste. “So… will you teach me? I wanna be able to do more for Pa and for… for Memaw.”

  Yesenia tapped their chin with a finger. This was again a facade. Telling Marco of the girls power would anger him, but training her further would enrage the woodsman to no end. Maybe they could even see if that little bush could do magic. Marco would burst a vein.

  “Well Marcy, I think I’ll do it.” They cut off her excitement with a raised finger. “If! And only if, we bring this magic business to Marcos’s attention.”

  “What!?” She cried. The noise causing Ivy to stir and somewhere Sparky to wake from a nap. “But Marco hates magic!”

  Yesenia smirked and shook their head. “No no no dear. Marco simply has reservations about magic. Which he is attempting to mend. Why else would he allow me to join his cohort.”

  “To… Keep an eye on you?”

  Yesenia smiled with too much teeth. “Noooo. He’s working on himself, I can see it. And I believe knowing about someone so close to his heart attaining this gift could be the final blow to… to fell this tree as I think Marco would put it.”

  “Maybe…” Marcy thought it over. Being only a teen the thinking didn’t go all to deep. “Okay… Okay! And if we do that Pa won’t have to hide the mending stuff either!”

  “True.” Yesenia mimicked the joy. “We get our things repaired like everyone else and you get some extra practice. A win-win for the whole crew.” The word stunk in the wizard’s throat.

  “Okay!” Marcy shot up, invigored by a cocktail of anxiety and hope. “We can tell him tomorrow! Together.” She beamed at Yesenia. Proud tusks bared in a wolfish grin.

  “Sounds excellent. Now go and get some rest. Your training will begin directly after breakfast.” At least whenever Yesenia had breakfast. Which even under the harsh mandates of The Tower was never before noon.

  Marcy nodded and darted out of the room with so much childish glee, she completely forgot the teacups. Yesenia would need to scold her on mindfulness. Never let your emotions cloud your perception, a prime teaching of The Tower. But that could wait till tomorrow. For now, the wizard drifted to sleep easily. Carried some distance to that goal by bone weariness but passed the finish line of snooze hood by the joy they felt thinking of the face Marco would make when he found out. There were two wizards in Apie Fields.

  Who knows, maybe more.