Hot Obsidian. Olga McArrow

ago, everyone was ready to depart. The team sat on the carpetless floor of their dark flat, waiting for Pai and Milian to return. Time dragged, as slow and lazy as dripping tar. The boys ran out of jokes, stories, and ideas and were just silent now, each one brooding over his own thoughts and fears.

      The evening light was playing weird tricks with Jarmin’s paintings behind the balcony door, flooding the alien world there with red and purple. More than ever, the little flat felt like home now. Everything there was a fresh memory: Bala’s kitchen niche, the long dining table, the bunk beds… the fat spider in the corner (she was a pet and had a name now!)… the potted succulent on the windowsill, the stain on the floor…

      The tar of time dripping lazily. Slanting, reddish rays of the dawn filled with dancing dust. Silence… Some boys dozed off right where they sat. Juel envied them. He was all nerves. His face was a stone mask but his mind was a screaming, fiery hell. No wonder that he jumped on his feet as soon as he heard faint footsteps behind the door. The rest of the team, yawning and muttering something under their breath, got up too.

      Milian and Pai entered the room and apologised for being late. Both looked like they have been through something. Something important. Milian looked gloomy, Pai was all smiles, so, clearly, the event had hit each of the boys differently.

      “I packed your bags!” announced Bala happily. “You’re all set!”

      “Let’s go,” yawned Oasis. “My legs went numb while I was waiting for you two.”

      “Same!” Jarmin piped up.

      Pai sighed. The smile died on his face, replaced by a painful, worried expression.

      “I’ll send you to Torgor on Transvolo,” he said, frowning. “But I’m not going with you. I’m staying here.”

      Silence followed. Everyone was looking at Pai Prior now. There was pure hatred in Irin’s gaze, helpless disbelief in Bala’s, compassionate understanding in Orion’s… One way or another, everyone was waiting for an explanation.

      “Explain yourself, Pai,” said Juel in a cold, intimidating tone that made the young mage recoil in terror.

      “Magister Sharlou offered us a place in his college,” Milian answered in Pai’s stead. He had to crane his head to look the tall Faizul in the eye. Juel towered about him like a mountain, a furious, ready-to-explode mountain… “He said that we won’t even have to pass the exams.”

      “And?” demanded Juel. He was looking at Pai now.

      Pai, as red as a boiled lobster, was shaking under Juel’s gaze, unable to utter a single word.

      “I refused,” Milian spoke up again. “Magic is not my thing.”

      “And I… agreed…” squeaked Pai miserably.

      “You’re coming with us,” Juel cut his pathetic explanation short.

      There was nothing more to talk about. The brat’s rebellion was quenched. Good…

      Juel was about to turn his back to Pai and tell the others to prepare for the jump when he heard a yell,

      “No!!! I’m staying here! I want to be a mage!!! You won’t stop me!” Pai was hysterical now.

      “I will stop you then,” sneered Irin at that. “Go on, try to run away. I swear I’ll find you wherever you go and kill you in the most painful way possible. My arrows will reach you before you even get a chance to learn your first battle spell!”

      “Irin!” Bala tried to calm everyone down, as usual, but no one had even noticed him now.

      “…Yeah, I’d love to kill a deserter,” continued Irin, a dark, carnivorous glee in his voice. “Go on, Pai, renounce your vows and run. Your Transvolo can buy you a couple of days but I’ll find you, oh I will…”

      “What’s wrong with you, people!!!” exclaimed Milian, rushing forward. “Leave him alone! He’s been dreaming of magic his whole life! Magic IS his whole life! I…”

      Juel reached Milian in one wide step, grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall. The impact was strong enough to take young Raven’s breath away.

      “Never,” growled Juel. “You hear me? Never stand between me and someone else. You don’t want to challenge me, whelp, oh, you don’t…”

      That said, he released Milian’s shirt and let the terrified boy fall to the floor.

      “Juel, stop it.” Orion’s voice, clear and calm, was like a ray of light in the darkness now. “Let me talk to Pai.”

      Orion took the terrified young mage by the shoulder, led him out of the room, and closed the door behind him. With a loud sigh of relief, Pai leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor where he sat, a shivering kid in an oversized cloak, exhausted and miserable.

      His saviour squatted next to him.

      “Listen to me, Pai,” said Orion firmly. “You can’t win here and now, not against Juel, not in the middle of the mission. So do what I say. Tell your magister pal that you’re not refusing but postponing your decision. Colleges enrol new students only at the end of summer anyway, so you’re not losing anything. Don’t argue with Juel and, I beg you, stay away from Irin altogether: that kid is insane, mark my words… So here’s the plan: you’re completing the mission with us first, then you must take your plea to your master. Kangassk Vesperi is a clever, reasonable woman, she will listen to you and will help you. You can’t do anything in the Order without your master’s support, you understand?”

      “But…” Pai sniffed and stifled a moan. “But it’s my only chance to be a mage. What if I miss it, what if…”

      “Bah!” Orion chuckled. “It’s just a shitty provincial college, Pai. With your talent, any University would kill to have you! So don’t sell yourself short, kid.”

      There was a faint smile on Pai’s trembling lips now and hope in his puffy, teary eyes.

      “Your main goal is to convince Vesperi that a powerful mage will be more useful to the Order than another ambasiath. Most other Kangassks will support you too, I’m sure. They’re good people. And Sainar is their father, he’ll listen to them.”

      Pai was sobbing now, all his fears, his doubts, his anger pouring out of him in tears.

      “There, there, warrior…” Orion patted him on the back. “It’s okay. I’m on your side too. Let’s go get that obsidian. After that, you’ll be a full-fledged Order’s member, not some child, and your own voice will have some weight as well.”

      Back in the common room, Orion, his face grim, his eyes full of smouldering anger, winked at Juel: it is done, we’re good to go.

      The looks that the other teammates gave their leader, spoke it all: the peace and trust that they all had achieved during their stay in Firaska were broken again. Juel Hak had failed as a leader in the eyes of Irin, and as a friend and elder in the eyes of the rest of the boys. That would not be easy to rebuild, indeed!

      Chapter 8. The border

      Across the border, even the best maps

      Have nothing left to say

      A void where stars sleep, flickering,

      The Moon’s haven by day.

      Across the border, across the border –

      The end. Nothing moves on.

      Water drains down into darkness,

      Earth is sliced off and gone.

      Far off, in darkness, shining myriads

      of stars hang overhead.

      I chose my path, and held to