Journeyman (A Wizard's Life) by Eric Guindon Page B

ways to send messages across long distances using magic and Benen knew the spells for this, but he needed to have met the person he was trying to communicate with. This reduced his choices down to three wizards — well, four if you counted the Westren wizard, Blon, Benen had met briefly during his apprenticeship, but being Westren he would not be of help in this case.
    The first wizard was his former master, Oster. But Benen was not sure he was ready to face him. He still had nightmares of his time under that wizard’s thumb and did not relish ever meeting him again.
    The second wizard was Tawn, who had used a vessel to confront Benen. From his examination of this vessel, Benen had devised the body he had built for Timmon. Tawn had been collecting goods from the people of Gronin, but they did not remember the agreement their ancestors had made with the wizard. They had asked Benen to intervene and stop him. When Benen had found out the wizard was owed the goods, their quarrel stopped and they managed to part on lukewarm terms. He didn’t think Tawn would be happy to hear from him, and doubted the wizard would be favourably inclined to help.
    The third wizard was Mellen, the adviser to the king of Estren. This was the most promising choice he could think of. This wizard was the first to mention moots to him and had even suggested Benen should attend one. Unfortunately, he did not know Mellen well at all. They had met once and then only briefly. Strictly speaking, the spell to contact him should work if he could picture the meeting well enough in his mind.
    Benen tried to recall Mellen’s face but he had great difficulty picturing his features. He feared his message would not make it to its destination, or worse, make it to the wrong person. Still, he had to try. He gathered all his memories of Mellen, what he had worn, the colour of his hair, his face, his height and weight, even how he had moved and how he had talked. Some of these he could recall clearly, others he had to guess at.
    He kept all this in his mind as he called upon the moon and the Parallels, both of which were in the sky by the time he had finished his deliberations, and cast the communication spell.
    “Mellen? This is the wizard Benen. We met, briefly, decades ago. I had come to the capital to see the king to convince him that he should make use of wizards to better the realm. Do you remember me? Can you communicate back?” Benen sent this along the channel his spell created and waited for a response. On his end, Mellen would have to cast the same spell to send his reply.
    Benen maintained his spell for almost an hour before Mellen communicated back to him; he had almost given up hope of a reply when he heard the old wizard’s voice.
    “Benen? I’m sorry I could not respond faster, I was in a meeting when your message reached me.”
    “I am grateful you responded at all, I did not mean to interrupt anything. I am in need of advice, I was hoping you could help me.” Benen’s voice betrayed his anxiety.
    “Is something wrong?”
    “A wizard has died.”
    “By your hand?” Mellen’s tone suggested that he hoped the answer was negative.
    “Not exactly,” Benen replied. He did feel responsibility for the death and could not deny his own involvement.
    “How exactly did the wizard die?” Mellen had no patience for Benen’s hedging.
    “A wizard came to the village that has sprung up in the area of the eastern desolation that I have made fertile. This village is under my protection. The wizard, a woman — I never got her name — claimed she was taking an apprentice from among the locals. I objected and we fought. My friend, a . . . um . . . ghost is the one who dealt the blow that killed her.”
    “A ghost killed her?”
    “Well, he has a body now. I’ve made him one out of gold.”
    Silence.
    “Mellen?”
    “You made a body that a ghost can inhabit?”
    “Yes, quite a while ago.”
    “Okay. Never mind that for the moment. Let us focus