Spell One - Escape
Act
Paris hated life.
He wanted a new job but he had no credits to
go to school. Everything he did was supposed to be for free. He was
supposed to just accept his life. Well, screw that! He wanted to
get off world but he couldn’t get permission to leave the village,
let alone the planet. He wanted a girlfriend but most girls shied
away from him when they saw or found out he was a magician. In most
worlds being a magician would be cool but here it was as if he
walked around with a big sign “I’m a nerd” on his head. Life
sucked. He threw a stone and listened as it bounced down the canyon
until he couldn’t hear it anymore.
Around him the trees stirred with a chilly
wind that swept down the mountains from the west. He pulled his
nerdy cloak around his bony shoulders and hunched down. Hopefully
no one would know he was missing. His predecessor told him how
important his position was blah, blah, blah. He had to be
respectful to the magistrate and his preening purring daughter. He
had to respect those younger and those older. That just left his
own age. But he had no age. He was ageless. To make things worse
everything about him was average. No one average got to do fun
stuff. The problem was he was a part of a very small community and
an even smaller magicians’ conclave.
While he was in a venting mood he resented
the need for a Trinity. As the Spell Caster he had a vast supply of
wealth within his mind to give the beautiful and usually dignified
O'rah, the Magnifier. “His Magnifier” or would be if she wasn’t so
insanely stupid. She alone could magnify his spells to be directed
on a path of useful magnitude. He had vied for her affections only
to discover, embarrassingly, that she had already promised herself
to the weak link of the Trinity, Gareth, the Binder. After
twenty-seven years he was still trying to purge his embarrassing
public offer of marriage out of his mind. O'rah and Gareth hadn't
told him of their growing romance, which had been years in the
making, and for that reason he had considered himself betrayed. The
Binder! What did Gareth have that Paris didn't have? A big
willy?
Her words still burned in his mind. “Oh,
Paris. How could you not know we were in love and smitten with each
other?”
Hormones. Yes, Paris blamed his hormones.
They’d created some kind of blinker that only
allowed him to see what he wanted to see. Somehow in his mind, even
bringing the years before his humiliation to light, O’rah was
always on her own. Next to her was a smudgy spot that had been
Gareth, insignificant, a pesky fly. But he had to face it now,
Gareth was more than just a smudge or a fly, he was O’rah’s devoted
husband. They’d married in secret.
Because Paris was ageless he actually moved
back and forward in years, and he’d gone backwards, too close to
puberty. That was his excuse anyway for falling for the insane
magician. And she wasn’t that good looking now he thought about it.
The good news was he could use his age thing to his advantage, and
with his blinkers off and building O’rah up as some evil tyrant
helped too.
A few months after that proposal episode,
during which the three had bickered relentlessly, there'd been
another incident. He still remembered the deafening silence that
had fallen over thousands of people. It had followed Paris’s little
vocal and mental outburst, at another public address. During the
supposed happy celebration—a first anniversary for O’rat and the
prat—O'rah had slapped his face in a moment of anger and screamed
at him like a banshee after he, being slightly drunk, had slurred
if the Binder needed a minder to meet all the needs of the High and
Mighty Magnifier that he, Paris, had a few good spells on how to
maintain an erection for his supposed big willy.
Gareth had heard and tackled him to the
ground and they had a friendly little brawl with O'rah throwing
things at them in anger and unfortunately knocking a
Act
Paris hated life.
He wanted a new job but he had no credits to
go to school. Everything he did was supposed to be for free. He was
supposed to just accept his life. Well, screw that! He wanted to
get off world but he couldn’t get permission to leave the village,
let alone the planet. He wanted a girlfriend but most girls shied
away from him when they saw or found out he was a magician. In most
worlds being a magician would be cool but here it was as if he
walked around with a big sign “I’m a nerd” on his head. Life
sucked. He threw a stone and listened as it bounced down the canyon
until he couldn’t hear it anymore.
Around him the trees stirred with a chilly
wind that swept down the mountains from the west. He pulled his
nerdy cloak around his bony shoulders and hunched down. Hopefully
no one would know he was missing. His predecessor told him how
important his position was blah, blah, blah. He had to be
respectful to the magistrate and his preening purring daughter. He
had to respect those younger and those older. That just left his
own age. But he had no age. He was ageless. To make things worse
everything about him was average. No one average got to do fun
stuff. The problem was he was a part of a very small community and
an even smaller magicians’ conclave.
While he was in a venting mood he resented
the need for a Trinity. As the Spell Caster he had a vast supply of
wealth within his mind to give the beautiful and usually dignified
O'rah, the Magnifier. “His Magnifier” or would be if she wasn’t so
insanely stupid. She alone could magnify his spells to be directed
on a path of useful magnitude. He had vied for her affections only
to discover, embarrassingly, that she had already promised herself
to the weak link of the Trinity, Gareth, the Binder. After
twenty-seven years he was still trying to purge his embarrassing
public offer of marriage out of his mind. O'rah and Gareth hadn't
told him of their growing romance, which had been years in the
making, and for that reason he had considered himself betrayed. The
Binder! What did Gareth have that Paris didn't have? A big
willy?
Her words still burned in his mind. “Oh,
Paris. How could you not know we were in love and smitten with each
other?”
Hormones. Yes, Paris blamed his hormones.
They’d created some kind of blinker that only
allowed him to see what he wanted to see. Somehow in his mind, even
bringing the years before his humiliation to light, O’rah was
always on her own. Next to her was a smudgy spot that had been
Gareth, insignificant, a pesky fly. But he had to face it now,
Gareth was more than just a smudge or a fly, he was O’rah’s devoted
husband. They’d married in secret.
Because Paris was ageless he actually moved
back and forward in years, and he’d gone backwards, too close to
puberty. That was his excuse anyway for falling for the insane
magician. And she wasn’t that good looking now he thought about it.
The good news was he could use his age thing to his advantage, and
with his blinkers off and building O’rah up as some evil tyrant
helped too.
A few months after that proposal episode,
during which the three had bickered relentlessly, there'd been
another incident. He still remembered the deafening silence that
had fallen over thousands of people. It had followed Paris’s little
vocal and mental outburst, at another public address. During the
supposed happy celebration—a first anniversary for O’rat and the
prat—O'rah had slapped his face in a moment of anger and screamed
at him like a banshee after he, being slightly drunk, had slurred
if the Binder needed a minder to meet all the needs of the High and
Mighty Magnifier that he, Paris, had a few good spells on how to
maintain an erection for his supposed big willy.
Gareth had heard and tackled him to the
ground and they had a friendly little brawl with O'rah throwing
things at them in anger and unfortunately knocking a
Similar Books
