Chương 21: The Fire Wizard

Ch 21: The Fire Wizard Felix spent the next several days learning things island ten year olds knew. He learned that 'numerology' had more than just basic numbers, that mathematics involved all sorts of formula and complexity that felt like learning a new language. Fortunately, it made sense to him. Though he had the added difficulty of learning alien island symbols for everything.

Every morning he met Lina at their customary table in their customary study hall, and sat down with a stack of books as she tried to teach him.

They'd agreed to abandon 'symbology' for now. Lina instead gave him language lessons that were complicated by some kind of universal translator spell that blanketed the island. Unless she turned it off (with a bit of a mental flick, apparently), she literally couldn't speak words Felix wouldn't translate to his native tongue. But she'd been taught several languages, one of which was a coastal tongue he could mostly speak. Using that, they could go back and forth without constant translator use.

But it was still painful. Silas had his own classes, but he usually joined them in between or after he'd finished. His knowledge and talent with everything from mathematics to the history of island magic was impressive. He even had Lina giving him surprised side-eye glances. They all ate together in a kind of group mess hall. A hundred or more students all poured in to a big room full of tables, the age range maybe ten to seventeen.

They scooped up bowls and plates and were served like disciplined soldiers in a line, then sat down and talked and laughed like kids. Felix was back in 'normal' island clothes. This meant baggy (but soft) fabrics that made him feel like he was wearing something for a larger man. Between that and being several years older than even the seventeen year old seniors, he still got a lot of curious looks.

"My uncle says it's time for a progress report," Lina said, daintily picking at some kind of stew. She looked suddenly nervous and furtive. Felix supposed she was responsible for making him useful.

"It'll be fine," he said.

"I know some spells and some math. I'll be polite. I'm sure you'll get a glowing review." Lina glanced at him with a small smile, but still looked concerned.

"Lina, he's doing amazing," Silas said.

"You've even started teaching him our language. I had the translator off the other day in our room, and he was over there muttering numbers pretty much correctly. Like an actual civilized person. You're a fantastic teacher." Felix grinned, proud of the kid's newfound confidence around the pretty Lina. She looked up shyly but with obvious pleasure at his words. Felix wouldn't have bet on him, but day by day it seemed Silas was making his own kind of progress. She laughed at his jokes. She cared what he thought.

She sometimes even asked Felix questions about him. Not that he had any answers. The kid was a closed book. At night in their room he was filled with questions about the 'world', but really didn't talk about himself. Felix wasn't the type to pry, so if Silas didn't want to discuss his family or life, that was that. But Lina sure wanted to know.

"But why did they send him here? I mean we have some earth wizards, but all the best ones are in his house. And it's not like he has any water mana. And he's not related to anyone important."

"Checking into him, are we?" Felix had said with a smile. Lina turned into a tomato.

"I'm just curious. We hardly ever get visiting students unless they're water. It just doesn't make any sense." He hadn't wanted to tell her Silas' secret 'seduction' plan, and the kid never talked about the girl he was supposed to be winning over anyway. Felix suspected he'd developed a new target and forgotten all about her. Unfortunately, he suspected it was a doomed romance. He knew all about those. The girl was the High Wizard's niece.

That probably meant she was a lot more important than some random kid with social anxiety. She'd have been promised to some important family since she was about six. But who the hell was he to tell Silas it was a bad idea? Especially since he'd be a massive hypocrite. Mostly their teenage angst made him think about Isa. She hadn't visited him since that first day, or even sent Cara to tell him anything. Had their been any more attacks? Was she still in some kind of danger?

At night he lay awake as the fire in his soul writhed. He could swear to god it was searching for her. Or at least for the water 'pool' inside her. Like it had gotten a taste of something it liked, and desperately wanted another bite. He could sympathize. While his soul yearned for another sip of Isa flavored water, his body wanted something a bit mor… tangible. He could close his eyes and feel her skin pressed against him, the softness of her lips and the little moans she'd made as he kissed her.

Had he imagined it all? The attraction and interest? Was he just another in a long string of girlish fantasies and flings? He imagined Isa could have anyone she wanted. But he also knew when she'd smiled at him it had felt completely genuine, her eyes lighting up in a way they hadn't for anything else. She'd said she'd be with him for his training. That they'd have plenty of time to see each other and talk. Had something happened? Maybe people had gossiped, and Isa's father had punished her for getting too close.

Felix struggled with the thought. The last thing he'd wanted was to cause Isa problems, to make her life harder. All he wanted was to keep her safe. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. But that was a lie, wasn't it? He wanted more. A lot more. He wanted her all to himself, wanted her in his arms and in his bed. And maybe one day on his ship.

In his late night fantasies he pictured them standing on the prow of a little sloop, alone in the world, untouchable and free. They sailed wherever they wanted, and no one told them what to do. Then at night, in the cabin below, with nothing but moonlight and the quiet sounds of their bodies coming together…

"Felix?" He blinked to see both Lina and Silas staring.

"Uh, sorry. Got distracted. What was that?"

"Do you have any questions before we meet with my uncle? I mean, anything about the water spells he might want to see? I think we should focus on that. Maybe we'll show off some water movement, but that's it. Your dilution is still pretty hit or miss."

'Dilution' was another line of water magic. Basically it involved cleaning or healing. It didn't really involve math and Felix struggled with it. It was more like… art. Literal drawing. Imagining a thing in perfect detail the way you wanted it as opposed to the way it was. Felix's natural aptitude was apparently… average. At best. And even though he'd supposedly 'healed' his leg when he first got to the island, he had no idea how.

He shook his head, spooning in a final bite of the salty, maybe tomato and pork based mess hall slop.

"I'm ready enough. Let's go impress the fat son of a bitch." Lina covered her mouth and looked around like somewhat might be listening. **"It's not some sailor's shit bucket. Treat my porcelain with a little respect." High Wizard Hasha did not seem impressed. Probably just to humiliate him, he'd set up the test in the building's washing room. He was making Felix literally clean toilets by moving water and soap from a bucket. As a lifelong sailor, it wasn't even close to the grossest thing he'd done.

So he'd set to the task without a word of complaint or indication it bothered him. Except he was fucking it up. Turned out adding something to the water made things a lot more complicated.

"Lina never showed me this," he said, wiping sweat from his forehead. It was unbelievably frustrating trying to do a thing you knew how to do, only to fail because of something that made no sense. He was doing exactly what he'd practiced. He could easily will the water to move, and calculate the percentages to put it where he wanted. Except the soap somehow… interfered. And not in a 'new liquid with its own calculation' kind of way, but like a separate kind of force that didn't obey Felix's will.

After the fourth or fifth messy failure, with water spraying everywhere and getting on himself as much as the floor, Hasha laughed like a drunken sailor.

"Alright, fine, fine, it's enough. Leave it for the servants. I just thought you might need a little humility." Felix turned and stared, slowly detecting some kind of practical joke.

"The soap. It's not really soap, is it?" Hasha smiled and shrugged before walking back to his office, Felix dripping behind him with a scowl. They settled by the wizard's giant desk, and the older man put his fingers together and pursed his lips.

"Elements don't mix well. For a normal wizard this is a simple lesson because there's often little they can do about it. But you? You could have moved that water aside, then burned the warded soap to ash. You could have heated it all so quickly the elements separated. You could have evaporated it into steam." Warded… soap. The son of a bitch. Felix still didn't exactly understand 'wards'. But the gist of it was 'a thing infused with its opposite mana'.

So if you 'infused' something with water mana, it made it difficult for a fire mage to affect. If you infused soap with 'fire mana', for a water mage it was a bit like… trying to grip oil.

"How did you even get fire infused soap?" he complained.

"I thought you people didn't have fire mages." Hasha grinned like this was an excellent question.

"Stop calling them 'mages' you sound like a barbarian. And your fire tutor arrived just this morning. Lina has done a perfectly adequate job in teaching you some basics. But the king is impatient. I won't waste my valuable time turning you into a mediocre water wizard. He wants to see what you can do with your fire magic, which is obviously the bulk of your soul. Lady Mashet?" The man called up to the second floor.

"Why don't you come down now. I think I'm nearly done with our pupil." Hard shoes tapped. Bare, shapely legs descended from the balcony in a steady rhythm. Felix's eyes locked and stared until the skin ended in a small, silk skirt that barely contained wide hips. The uncovered skin started again at a toned, flat stomach, another small patch of silk flapping over the woman's chest, leaving her arms bare. Even the covering she had was thin enough.

Felix and anyone else who looked could see the outline of the woman's round breasts. When she'd finally descended enough he could see her face, he wasn't surprised to find it painfully pretty. She was tattooed, or something, with lines and dots of reddish ink framing her facial features. She also held a very self-assured expression, and her bright green eyes locked right on him. A friendly smile spread across thick lips.

"I've heard so much about you," she said, voice feminine and confident, shoulder-length black hair bouncing and almost dancing as she climbed down.

"I hope Hasha's little trick wasn't too frustrating. He's really quite terrible." Felix the student had learned one more thing in that moment: he was in serious trouble. How on earth this scantily clad woman made any sense on an island thus far demonstrating conservative, masculine culture, he had no idea. Hadn't Lina said female wizards were like one in a thousand? And that was for women with mana. Presumably not everyone on the island had it.

So somehow they'd just happened to pick a beautiful, incredibly rare, young woman to teach him? And dressed her up… like that? No. No chance. Felix knew manipulation when he saw it. The problem was—he was pretty sure it was going to work.

"Lady Mashet here is one of the finest wizards of the Dotted Isles," said the High Wizard.

"Don't worry about where that is. Just know she's going to teach you how to actually do something useful."

"Hasha, please," cooed 'Lady Mashet' in a tone that could melt iron.

"I'm here as a personal favor to Lord Amadi. And obviously Felix isn't like other students. Just look at him! He's a warrior, a man of the world. And we'll be spending hours together. So no need for formalities, don't you agree? Call me Cici." Why was her name sexy? That didn't even make sense. Oh this was very not good. Felix smiled, doing everything in his power to keep his eyes on the woman's face.

Hasha seemed like he was getting bored of the conversation, and not at all distracted or affected by the fire wizard's beauty. He looked between them both and smiled with a dismissive kind of politeness.

"Another task complete. I'm sure my lord and master will fall backwards to praise my tireless efforts. You can see to your own arrangements, Lady Mashet? A guest room and so forth? The servants have been instructed to give you whatever you wish."

"Oh yes," she said, never moving her eyes off Felix, blatantly scanning his body before coming right back to his eyes.

"I have several bags, but I'm sure my big, strong student can help me carry them." Felix fought it, but he still blushed. He cleared his throat and pointed up in question. Lady Mashet nodded with a growing smile, like she intended to watch him the whole way. He went up to find her bags, no idea how to feel about the situation. But yes. No doubt about it. He was in trouble.