“I do, sir. Fire, heat, levitation.”
“When I get everyone started on exercises, come to me and demonstrate,” Pozella said.
“Yes, sir.”
Pozella ambled to a wall that had a curtain over a board. He drew the curtain and the recruits’ progress was recorded for all to see. Magic progress was a public affair in the Wizard Corps.
Quint was astonished that only three recruits knew more strings than he did.
“You need to learn ten strings to graduate to soldier,” Pozella said, still talking to Quint. “The others know what to work on.” Pozella turned to the others. “What do you need to do to learn a string?”
“Practice, practice, practice, sir!” the recruits said in unison.
“Very well. Spread out and get to work. When you are ready to demonstrate, find me.”
The recruits did as ordered, leaving Quint standing by himself. Pozella limped over. “Now, show me. Don’t tell me which string you are demonstrating.”
“Yes, sir.” Quint didn’t understand why Master Pozella would give him that instruction.
Quint went through his three strings, saving levitation for last. One of the tables scattered around the room was close by. He was able to raise the table a foot off the ground, but he kept the table level and lowered it slowly.
Pozella sat on the table. “That was impressive for your first year.”
“I’ve been a wizard for nearly two weeks, sir.”
“The levitation spell?”
Quint sighed. “That took me four hours of intense practice, sir,” responding in as quiet a voice as he could.
Pozella sputtered. “Four hours?” He stared at Quint. “Do you have the same amount of control of the other strings?”
“I suppose I do, sir,” Quint said.
“Show me flame from an inch to a pace.”
Quint pursed his lips. He didn’t want to show off but couldn’t reject Pozella’s command. The flame string was the easiest to control.
“Excellent,” Pozella whispered to Quint as he told the recruits, looking at them to return to their practice. “You are a wild talent, I suppose?”
“Wild? My father can generate a small flame, sir.”
“As in lighting a candle?”
Quint nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“That isn’t what I meant. You are a wild talent if you have no wizards in your immediate family. You are the only one in this batch of recruits, so I won’t publicly press you too hard in this class. We will concentrate on getting you to Level 2 before you leave, but they won’t realize that. If they find out, your life will be miserable.”
“I understand, sir. I was reminded of what that entailed last night, sir.”
“I’m sure being the only hubite and a talented one didn’t help.”
Quint didn’t respond and hoped that would be acceptable.
“Do you know what string diagrams are?”
“I think I do, sir,” Quint said. “The local hedge wizard drew them out for me. He gave me the wrong direction of a weave for the levitation string.”
“And you figured it out.”
“I was lucky that was the only change. I don’t think Pogi could do the string. He knows a few healing strings.”
“Let’s go up front and give you a few strings to work on,” Pozella said.
Quint had five diagrams to work on. Pozella told him to complete them fully, one at a time and when he controlled them, to do it during his free time, in secret, preferably.
“Practice makes the string stronger, so go through all your strings when you practice here,” Pozella said. “Make diagrams for your three strings so you can document your progress. When you have completed a string, I will sign your diagram. Do you understand? Strings are harder than they look. Some people take years of practice to get the weaves right and the strings repeatable. Most wizards don’t get much past Level 1. We fail half the recruits, but I think you will be an exception.”
“Yes, sir.”
Quint returned to the table that he had levitated and shuffled through the strings. They seemed to be ordinary things: light, wind, water, cold, dry. As Quint thought about them, any could be destructive if a lot of power was applied.
Quint laid them out and wondered which he could start. All but the bright light needed a partner to evaluate if he was successful or not.
Pozella was crossing the room when Quint slid close to him. “How do I evaluate these, sir?”
Pozella started at Quint. “That’s up to you to decide. Aren’t you up to it?”
Quint thought for a moment. “Is there a block of metal that I can use for heat and cold, sir?”
