Spirit Speaker

The carriage trundled along, hitting every bump, every stone. 

The sun was beginning to set, the sky turning from blue to pink. 

I felt the carriage grind to a halt. The door opened. 

"We need to stop for camp, sir." Rowan said, stepping aside to let us out. 

I hopped out and breathed in deeply. 

"Isn't everything so beautiful?" I said, stretching my arms and shoulders. 

The princess stepped out after me and looked around. 

"All I see are trees, master. Are you okay? Did you catch something in the mine?"

I turned to my apprentice. "You're right of course, highness. Will you help me start the fire, while Rowan and the others set up camp?"

Anna nodded and began to gather kindling from the ground.

I focused for a moment and raised my hand in a pulling motion. 

All the grass, stones, sticks, and other debris beneath me was immediately torn up, leaving a wide, barren circle. 

I dropped the floating debris outside of the circle and then began to gather small stones, arranging them in the centre of the circle.

Anna walked over to me, her arms filled with sticks and bark. She dropped it beside the makeshift firepit I was preparing. 

"Thank you, highness."

The princess chuckled. "You shouldn't call me highness if you're going to make me pick up sticks."

"You could always feed the horses if you feel that fire building is beneath you." I replied. 

"No, no, not a complaint, just something I find funny."

I arranged the kindling in a neat pile and then began piling larger branches that I had the princess cut into appropriate-sized pieces. 

I watched as neat cuts appeared on the branch, before splitting into different pieces. 

"You're getting better." I said, taking the branch. "At least they're not exploding anymore."

Anna raised another branch, and cut it up. "The sawdust helped the fire didn't it?"

"Silver linings." I said, piling wood on top of the kindling. 

"Will you start it up for us, Anna?" I asked. 

The princess nodded and stared at the wood. Within moments it caught fire. 

"Well done." I said, approvingly. 

"I've had enough practice this trip." Anna replied modestly. My apprentice struggled with sincere praise. She sat on the dirt beside the fire. 

I sat opposite her and looked up, the sun had dropped low enough that the first of the stars were beginning to show. The sky was a gorgeous array of blues, and golds. 

"How far are we from the Elven Forests?" Anna asked. 

"A week? A week and a half?" I said. "Of course, that depends on the weather."

Anna sighed. "It's a long way away isn't it?"

"Tired of the carriage already?" I asked. 

"So so tired of it. I don't mind this though," She said, leaning back and looking at the sky. "This is nice." 

- Mage…it's time. Bring your cub. 

I looked up sharply to see the faint shape of a large wolf vanish from the trees. 

Anna was staring in the direction of the wolf as well. 

"Was that?"

I nodded. 

"Am I the cub?" She asked, a little insulted. 

I nodded again. "We should probably see what it wants."

I got up. "Ho, Rowan! I'm going to take the princess to greet the forest spirit! We'll probably be back before morning."

"Yes sir." He waved me off. 

I chuckled. "Miss Rita, forgive me, I need to take your student from you for the evening." I bowed. 

Miss Rita shook her head. "Would anything I say stop you?" She wasn't asking me. 

Anna shook her head. "Sorry, Miss Rita."

"Don't worry ma'am. I'll keep her safe, and have her back before sunrise."

I turned on my heel and headed into the woods. 

"How do you know where to go?" Anna asked, behind me. 

I pointed at a green light in the distance. A spirit. It weaved itself between the trees, obviously waiting for something. "It's waiting for us."

We followed the lesser spirit to a small clearing, about 40 minutes from our campsite. 

There the wolf sat, surrounded by what looked like all of the animals in the forest. Spirits, green or white, floated in the air above the gathering. 

- Twisted Weave. Cub. Come. 

The animals moved aside, a clear path to the wolf appearing. 

We followed it. 

"What is it you want, spirit?" I asked. 

The spirit wolf looked at me with deep brown eyes bigger than my fist. Here, in the forest, the spirit was immense. 

- Corruption is draining my home. The wolf said. A mage has taken residence and is breaking my children. 

I closed my eyes, feeling the pain, and sorrow that the wolf felt. 

- You will find this mage. And you will break it. This little one will take you to its den.

A brown barn owl landed on my shoulder. Another path opened among the animals, leading off into the forest.

Go. 

*

The barn owl flew ahead, never too far for us to see it. 

"Did I hear it right?" Anna asked, her voice soft. "There's a black magician in this forest?"

"Apparently," I replied, preoccupied. "Though I don't know why the wolf wanted you to accompany me."

"You might need backup?"

"That's not it," I said, thinking. "Wolves are pack animals. I did tell it that you needed to learn. Maybe it's trying to teach you to hunt?"

"Why would a forest spirit care if I know how to hunt?"

"It's the number one thing a cub needs to know."

The brown owl hooted, and I grabbed the princess's arm, raising a finger to my lips. 

The owl wouldn't go further than where it was. 

Everything beyond it was dead. 

I felt my spirit sink. I took a deep breath, passed the owl, and stepped over the threshold. 

Heavy darkness fell on me, threatening to blind and suffocate me. 

I heard the princess whimper.

I grabbed Ilargia and held him up. 

His crystal shone brightly, banishing the darkness. 

"Rely on your focus, princess. No spirit here will help you." I said, holding Ilargia up. 

The shadows and darkness seethed and roiled at the edge of the light, but did not cross the threshold. It couldn't.

"See how the dark flees from the light?" I said, turning to the princess, who had her hand gripping the silver, rubied spider amulet tightly.

Her eyes glowed red. 

Her lips were moving.

Gurada was speaking to her. 

I stopped, and put my hand on her shoulder, preventing her from moving forward. I waited. 

Soon enough the princess's eyes returned to their original blue.

She blinked. 

"Why have we stopped?" She asked, her hand still holding the spider tightly. 

"You were in the middle of a conversation. I didn't want you to trip on a root."

"He was telling me how to summon light like Ilargia is doing." She said, a smile on her face. 

"It's surprisingly simple once you know how to do it."

I nodded. "Yup. Think happy thoughts."

She focused, and Gurada began to glow, and then shine. 

"Good job, highness. See how the shadow can't enter the light? This is why spiritbreakers will never win. They get power fast, but the strongest darkness can't extinguish even the dimmest candle."

"Then why do they do it?" She asked as we walked through the barren landscape. 

"To feel strong? To have power over something? To dominate?" I shrugged. "Never underestimate the mortal capacity for stupidity."

A cabin appeared on the horizon. 

"Shouldn't we hide?"

I shook my head. "The creature already knows we're here. It knew the moment we stepped into it's corruption."

"It?"

"Do not think of a spiritbreaker as a person, Anna. They give up all of that the moment they break their first spirit."

Anna looked at the ground around her, at the trees, at the dead grass, and the black shadow that roiled and raged on the edge of the light. 

And I watched as her eyes flashed from blue to red and back to blue again. 

"What do you want to do, highness?" I asked. 

"Destroy it." She said, her voice low. "I want to kill it."

I nodded. "That's a natural response, and every spiritspeaker feels the same way the first time they see this corruption." I pointed at the border of her light. "But look at that."

The light was dimming, shrinking, and the shadow was creeping in. 

Anna stepped closer to me, holding onto my shirt. "What happened?"

"Were you thinking positive thoughts?" I asked. "Or were you thinking of all the different ways you'll torture this creature before killing it?"

Anna didn't reply, but her light did strengthen. 

"That anger is one of the strongest defences a black mage has against us." I explained, putting my arm around her shoulder. I hugged her closely to me. 

"Don't feel bad, highness. I felt much the same my first time, though my master's response was nowhere near as kind."

"Did he drop a bucket of rocks on your head?"

I shook my head. "No, he knocked me unconscious with Ilargia and dragged me back to safety."

I laughed at her face. "It's okay highness! I gave as good as I got. I filled his sleeping pallet with fire ants."

"You have an odd relationship with your master, Lukas."

"Fun though." I grinned. "Do you feel like moving forward?"

The princess nodded, nervously. But she was smiling. Which was the most important thing in a battle against a spiritbreaker. 

"Okay, we're close enough, Anna. Stand behind me."

I began to twirl Ilargia above my head, a large fireball appearing inside the circle.

Once it was large enough I pointed my staff at the cabin. 

The fireball collided sharply with it, exploding it into a hail of splintered wood. 

Anna looked around me at the smoking remains of the cabin. 

"That's it?"

I shook my head. "No highness, that's just how we say hello." 

I raised my staff again and the light around us intensified, just in time to stop a volley of shadow orbs from hitting us.

"Come out, dark one." I called out. "I want to show my apprentice the face of a traitor."

The darkness solidified in front of the light. 

Grey skin, sharp teeth, long, thin fingers that ended in sharp pointed nails. Eyes completely black. 

The shadows writhed and shifted over it in a makeshift cloak. 

"Behold the face of power." It hissed, and its voice fouled the air. 

"Behold the price of power." I replied. "And you have paid it tenfold, creature."

I raised my staff again, and Ilargia glowed brighter and brighter. 

Clouds gathered above me. 

A bolt of lightning struck the earth where the creature had been standing a moment before. 

"You cannot destroy me in my domain, brightslave." It said, its voice coming from all directions.

The light barrier shuddered as a wave of darkness struck, and broke around it. 

"You have one more chance to end me, dark one." I replied, "And then I will cleanse the world of you filth."

The creature screeched and great sharp claws of shadow began to rake at Ilargia's light. 

To no avail. 

"A pity you came against me, beast." I said. "Curse your luck and perish."

I raised Ilargia higher, and he shone brighter than the sun at noonday, banishing all the shadow in the clearing. 

The creature screamed and covered its face, burning in the light. 

I raised my other hand, and launched a streak of lightning at it, catching the beast in its chest. It screeched and screamed. And dark liquid began to pour from every orifice, solidifying into a corrupted spirit. 

The black mage collapsed to the earth and crumbled into dust.

The spirit, on the other hand, bashed itself against the light, bouncing off of it. 

"Okay, princess, you're up." I stepped aside. "Save it."

"How?"

I grinned, remembering a similar conversation I had with the Academy some months earlier. 

"You already know, princess." I said, my lips tugging into a smile. "How do you fall in love? How do you know exactly how to hold your baby when you meet it? Instinct. You should know what to do."

Anna raised her hand. 

"Stop." She commanded. 

The spirit froze in place. 

She crooked a finger. 

"Come." 

The creature was dragged through the light bubble. 

She caught it in her hands and brought it to her lips. 

And I felt the entire grove shake and shudder, banishing every last shadow. 

She released the spirit. And it flew right at her, kissing her face and dancing around her head. 

It shone brilliantly, brighter than the full moon that now hung above us in the sky. 

She laughed and caught the spirit in her hands and kissed it back, causing it to glow a bright pink before vanishing. 

Ilargia and Gurada stopped shining, and we were left in the bright silvery light of the full moon. 

"And with that, princess, you're a spirithealer."

She squealed, dancing on the spot, her joy too much to contain. I watched fondly as dozens of curious spirits began to appear around her, her joy waking them from their nightmare. 

The forest spirit, a great wolf, immense in size, stepped into the clearing, and where it stepped grass sprouted, and flowers grew. 

I bowed to it when it arrived. 

It bowed back.

- Thank you, Twisted Weave. It said. Thank you, cub.

Anna stopped dancing with the spirits, and for the first time noticed the massive wolf that sat in front of her, tongue lolling, eyes sparkling. 

Her face turned a bright shade of pink and she bowed deeply to hide it.

The forest spirit laughed. 

- You merit a reward for your service. It said. 

I raised my hand. "No, spirit, this was part of the contract."

- Not for you, mage. The spirit said. Look at me, cub.

Anna did so, her face still pink. The forest wolf stared into her eyes. Anna's face returned to its normal colour, and her lips moved slightly. 

A bad habit. I need to talk to her about that. 

I watched as the princess reached out, and touched the wolf's snout, stepping forward. She rested her head on its forehead and wrapped her arms as far as they could go around its massive head. 

The spirit licked her, its giant tongue completely covering her face. Then it stepped back and disappeared. 

Anna turned to me, a goofy smile on her face. "Do you want to know what I asked for?" She asked. 

"Nope." I said and set off toward the camp. 

"Why not?" She grumbled, trudging after me. 

"Because you obviously want to tell me, and I'm not going to be caught in your game, princess."

"Spoilsport."

I chuckled. "Okay, highness, what did you ask for?"

"What do I get in return for telling you?"

"What do you want?"

"That's the second time tonight I've heard that." She ran ahead and stopped in front of me. "And I'm going to ask for the same thing." 

She spread her arms out wide and wrapped them around me. "I want a hug."