The Dark Path by James M. Bowers, Stacy Larae Bowers

join him and his father for a late supper."
    "Tell him yes. We will meet him there. Take Aaron and go ahead down," Gen replied, not looking up from his work.
    "Come on, Aaron, let's go," Thomas said to a dejected looking Aaron.
    "I thought he would still be sleeping," Duncan said as he saw Aaron follow Thomas out the door.
    "He would be but Gen decided to punish him a bit by casting a sobering spell on him," Thomas whispered to Duncan. "I'll bet he has a mean headache though."
    Duncan looked at Aaron and whistled a bit. "I wish I could do magic like that."
    "You probably can," Thomas said. "Anyone can do magic, just some people are better at it than others. Who knows, maybe you have the talent burning within you," Thomas said smiling at his newfound friend.
    "I wish," Duncan said under his breath. The idea of him casting fireballs at evil orcs filled his head and he almost forgot the way to where his dad waited for them.
    "Hello, my name is Paul," the older man said with a smile when he saw the two people arrive with his son.
    "Greetings, I'm Thomas Aranus and my sick friend here is Aaron Glormad," Thomas said as he shook the farmer's hand.
    "Have a seat boys. Duncan said there were more of you. Where are the other two?"
    Thomas smiled a bit at that. "Gen and Meeka will be down in a while, they are busy." He coughed a bit at the end of that, and Paul laughed.
    "Let's go ahead and order. They could be a while in arriving."
    The four of them sat talking for a couple hours and by the time Gen and Meeka joined them Aaron was partially drunk again.
    "You two look a bit mussed," Aaron said when they arrived.
    Gen shot Aaron an annoyed look and then turned his attention to Paul and Duncan. "Thank you again Duncan for helping my drunk friend." He shot another annoyed look at Aaron. "My name is Gen Hothman and this is the Lady Meeka Arata of Eire."
    "Oh stop that Gen, you know I'm not royalty," Meeka chided, but grinned at him anyway.
    "Pleasure to meet ya," Paul said and sat back down as Meeka did. "Duncan said that you and your friends here are mages. If that is true, I have a question to ask of you."
    "Sure, what is it?" Gen asked, but before Paul could answer he heard a grunt type sound from Duncan. Duncan had blood running out of his nose and his teeth were clenched painfully together. His eyes looked determined before they rolled back into his head and he fell to the floor in convulsions.
    "Oh good Gods! What's happening to him?" Meeka cried.
    Gen quickly cast a spell under his breath and the world in his perspective changed into the vision of magic. He ignored his magic patterns. Looking at his own patterns always bothered him. Meeka's patterns of soft blue were soothing but he couldn't waste the time gazing upon them. He focused upon Duncan and drew back slightly. His patterns were painfully bright to look upon. The magic burned a brilliant white from his aura, and with each jerk of his body Gen could see parts of the aura flying off him, tearing his patterns a little as it went.
    "Magic is killing him," Gen said to Meeka as he got up and walked around to where Duncan lay on the floor convulsing. He began to sing a spell. It was one he had cast only one other time and it was one he shouldn't know. The spell flowed out of him, leaving him cold and his fingers tingling. The magic faded quickly from Duncan and left his aura pulsing a dull yellow color. Duncan stopped convulsing and lay breathing slowly. Gen stared at him long enough to see his patterns start to knit back together. He could see the spots where this had happened many times before. He dropped the magical sight and called for water and a napkin.
    "Does this happen often?" Thomas asked Paul.
    "It didn't use to. It started about two years ago and has been getting worse ever since." That was what I was going to ask you about."
    "How did you stop these spells of his in the past?" Gen asked still looking at the fallen Duncan.
    "We had an amulet." Paul sighed and hung his