“Show me your fire string, but I don’t want you burning the place down.”
Quint started with enough power to light a candle and ended with a foot-long spear before turning the spell off.
“That was the first one I learned. My father taught me the basic string, sir,”
“He had the control that you displayed?”
Quint shook his head. “He doesn’t have as much power as I do, sir,” Quint said.
“Your trainer really tried to teach you a levitation string?”
Quint nodded and then said, “Yes, sir. I couldn’t quite get it to work.”
“Diagram it.”
Quint made sure the twist to the wave was on the left side like Pogi taught him, not the right.
The tester looked it over. “Try it with the weave on the right side. Your trainer either didn’t know the string or was playing games with you.”
Quint was trapped. “What should I levitate?”
The tester had a polished steel sphere on his desk. “Lift this.”
Quint lifted it to eye level and put it back down. “Like that, sir?”
“You know too much for a hubite. And you were the weak one.” The tester snorted, shook his head, slipped the page into another envelope, and sealed it with wax. “I’ve seen enough. Take this across the hall.”
“Yes, sir. Forgive me, for I don’t know how to salute.”
“Don’t worry about it. You haven’t been registered yet. That comes next. You are dismissed.”
Quint turned around and walked across the hall and knocked on the door. It didn’t have a sign.
“Come in,” a voice said.
Quint stepped inside. Three clerks, two men, and a woman, were sitting behind desks doing paperwork.
“Recruit?” One of the clerks answered. He was dressed in black, but his uniform was like the guards, not the officers.
Quint raised the newly sealed envelope. “Yes, sir.”
“You don’t ‘yes, sir’ us. We are soldiers all, which you will be soon enough,” the man who asked the question said. He extended his hand, and Quint handed him the envelope, which the clerk quickly unsealed.
“Quinto Tirolo?”
“Recruit Quinto Tirolo,” Quint said.
The clerk’s eyebrows rose. “Three string recruit? He was found in the wild?”
“Who were you asking, sir?” Quint asked.
“You trained for how long?”
“Three days, sir.”
“I will take you to your next destination,” the clerk said.
In the corridor, the clerk asked Quint which strings he mastered.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered them,” Quint said. “Fire, heat, and levitation.”
The clerk coughed. “Levitation? The tester wrote it down, but I thought he was mistaken. You’ll be asked to duplicate it before your induction interview.”
The Wizard Corps didn’t waste any time in the following interview. Quint was led to a room and sat on a hard wooden chair facing a pair of tables arranged end to end with four empty chairs behind.
“You wait here. The panel will assemble in a few minutes.”
“What about the other recruit?” Quint asked.
“He lost his chance for the wizard corps,” the clerk said. The man held up his hand to forestall a comment by Quint. “Don’t ask me more.”
Quint shook his head. “I won’t, sir.”
“Sir is appropriate here. I’ll be leaving you.”
Quint waited a long time, but three men and one woman finally paraded through a door and sat down. Each one had a folder, which they all opened.
