Page 23 of A Healer's Wrath
“It is time for you to see real power, Irina. Tasha is right. These are parlor games compared to what a trained Mage can do.” The thin man gestured to one of the mountain peaks several leagues away, its snowy cap still gleaming in the morning sun. Before I could ask what he was about to do, a deafening blast rang out, and the snow on the mountaintop exploded outward in every direction, leaving dull and lifeless rock where a vibrant carpet of white had lain only a moment before. The naked peak roared as a cascade of avalanches tore down the mountainside.
My hand flew to my mouth, and I gasped. “There are people on that mountain!”
The thin man scoffed. “I sensed no people. Animals, yes, but no people.”
“Who are you?” slipped out of my mouth.
I still couldn’t believe one man could do that to a mountain.
Johann pulled the thin man back by his elbow and stepped forward.
“I am sorry, Irina. I should have introduced my brother and sister when we first arrived.” He spoke in slow, reassuring tones, as if to counter the thin man’s strategy of shock and awe. “This is Chandler. He lives in Melucia, about thirty leagues west of Saltstone. He is one of the older members of our order. Tasha,” he said, motioning to the woman, “is the Mage-Advisor to the Triad in Melucia. She is also one of the most successful Merchants in the world, specializing in the growth and distribution of herbs.”
My brows rose, and Johann smiled. “I thought you might appreciate that.”
He stepped back a pace and placed a hand over his heart and bowed. “As I said before, I am the Grand Mage, but my mundane role is as advisor to the King.”
“The King? You mean King Melric? Our King?”
He nodded. “I have been the Mage-Advisor to the royal household of the Spires for hundreds of years.”
My head began to swim. Hundreds of years? How was that even possible? I’d heard children’s tales of Mages and their long lives, but those were just stories, weren’t they?
“Hundreds of years?” I whispered.
“Irina, how old do you think we are?” Johann asked.
I couldn’t bring myself to speak.
“Tasha will strike me down if I tell her age, so I will say this: There are ten of us, eleven now that you have arrived. The next youngest before you is Danai. He is a little over two hundred years old. The next is five hundred now, maybe even a little older. I lose track after so many centuries.”
“And the oldest?”
“Oh, he must be getting close to two thousand by now, though even he never knew his actual date of birth. Such things were not very important back then.”
I sat back into my chair. I stared at a point beyond Johann, but didn’t see anything. My mind was reeling, and I didn’t know how to make it calm, to get it to focus on the present. Nothing made sense. These people, their powers, their very lives.
Then I looked up, and in a hushed whisper, asked the only question that mattered.
“What do you want from me?”
“We do not want anything from you, Irina, but we do want to help you,” Johann said. “You are already a wonderful Healer, but that is only a cupful of water next to the ocean of your true potential. We want to help you realize that potential. Come with us, and we will teach you how to master power in ways you could never imagine.”
“Come with you?” I asked, startled. “I can’t leave Fontaine. My patients are here. My parents are here. My whole life is here.”
Johann stepped forward and leaned against the porch railing. His voice remained calm and measured. “Irina, we cannot teach what you need to learn in this place. The others have unique knowledge and skills, and we have tools that magnify and focus power, but we need the safety of our compound to test your limits. You would harm people here if you tried to do too much. My offer is for their safety more than yours.”
“I can’t.” I gripped the rocker’s arms. “This is my home. How could I just leave? I’m sorry, Grand Mage Johann—or whatever I’m supposed to call you—the answer is no. I won’t leave my parents and my people.”
“Irina—”
“Send Kelså, and I will continue learning, but I will not leave my home.” I stood and shook my head. “Thank you for coming all this way, but I need to help my mother with dinner. Please go.”
“The child has a pair of stones on her, I will give her that,” Tasha said.
“Tasha, not now.” Johann’s eyes flared with azure flame before settling back to their icy hue. “Irina, please consider my offer. Talk with your parents and Master Rist. Tell them everything we discussed. Despite Tasha’s inability to remain civil, we are here to help. One of us will return in a month to answer any questions you may have and hear what you think. Feel free to have your parents join that conversation.”
“I’m not—”