A Tyro’s Tale

Welcome, Fantasy Nerds! Today we have a special treat for you…not one story, but two! The story below is the first story I ever had published, “A Tyro’s Tale”. You can still find it in the Write of Passion Literary Journal – The Fantasy Issue. As a bonus, my brand new story, “The True Gift”, was just published in the Holiday Issue!!! It is a magical Christmas story featuring fairies and elves. This story is only available on Write of Passion’s website. Click here to go to Write of Passion and download the free magazines filled with book reviews, writing advice, and of course, short stories: http://writeofpassion.com/past-issues/. I would love to know what you think of my stories, but I hope you also enjoy some of the other great stories and articles in Write of Passion. Now, for today’s story…

A Tyro’s Tale

“Charlie Thomas Wright, don’t make me take away your magic.”

“But, Mom…”

“What have I told you about using magic in the house?”

“That I might break something,” I say with a sigh. “But it takes forever to clean my room without magic.”

“You know that until you pass the first test and become a Provectus, you aren’t allowed to use magic inside,” my mom replies.

I know the rules are the same for all Tyros, but it still feels unfair. I nod my head, still pouting.

“Once you finish cleaning your room, without magic, you can go outside and practice,” she adds.

I trudge up to my room and close the door. I look around my room and smirk to myself. Clothes can’t break anything. I feel a slight hum spread through my body, as I command the magic to put away all my dirty clothes. With a whoosh, my clothes lift off the floor, and wherever else I tossed them, and fly around my room. They all land in the hamper, or close to it.

“I could tell mom you’re still using magic,” a voice taunts from behind me. I whirl around to see my big sister standing with her hands on her hips and a disapproving look on her face.

“And I could tell her you’re still teleporting into my room without knocking.” We stare each other down for a moment. Then, we both start laughing.

“I came to help you,” she says. “If only so we can go outside and duel,” she adds with a wink. Regardless, I go over and hug her. My sister is a Provectus, an advanced student, so she is allowed to use magic indoors.

“Why don’t you start with the less risky tasks,” she tells me with a pointed glance at the clothes lying next to the hamper, “like making the bed. I’ll put away the toys.”

I stick my tongue out at her, but I turn to the bed. I feel the familiar gentle vibration of magic, as my pillow straightens and my cover is pulled up. It’s a little lumpy, but it will do. I turn to see my toys floating into my closet, and not just tossed anywhere inside as I would have done. Riley organizes each toy on the shelves, even straightening the legs of my robot so it stands upright, all without moving a finger. I marvel at her skill.

She turns to see me watching. “You just order your magic to complete a task, without thinking through how it will be done. You should take a second to consider the details. Like this.”

She proceeds to remake my bed. Instead of just yanking the covers towards the top of the bed, she lifts them until they fill with air, like a parachute. They float down onto the bed. Then it appears as if hands are running across the top of the covers, from the inside out, smoothing them. I begrudgingly admit to myself that it looks much better. My sister winks at me again, and I grin back at her.

“Now, take care of all the dust and dirt,” she tells me as she lifts open my bedroom window with phantom hands.

I tell the magic to lift the dust off every surface. Then, I throw it out towards the window. With a puff, about half of it hits the wall and the top half of the window. Riley doubles over laughing. I turn red and scowl at her. This only makes her laugh harder. After a moment, she straightens up and proceeds to teach me another lesson.

“Don’t just fling things in the direction you want them to go. First, condense the dust together,” she elaborates as she takes the dust from the wall and forms it into a tight ball. Then, she lightly tosses the ball right out the open window.

“You try,” she tells me, pointing to the rest of the dust on the window.

I call the dust off the window and form it into a somewhat round shape in the air in front of me. I carefully float it, wobbling slightly, out the window.

“Much better,” she exclaims. “It will get easier with practice, but at least you’ve got the idea.” She smiles at me encouragingly.

Dinner is ready, our mother’s voice tells us, as if she is standing in the room with us. She is just projecting her voice from the kitchen, though.

We clamber down to the dining room, where a steaming meal of grilled chicken and mac n’ cheese is waiting for us. With magic, my parent’s cooking comes out perfect every time. The chicken is juicy on the inside, but has a perfectly crispy skin. The mashed potatoes are smooth and creamy. The rich, gooey mac n’ cheese is my favorite. I’m savoring a large mouthful, when a pile of broccoli lands on my plate.

“Be sure to eat your vegetables,” my mom tells me. “A healthy body…”

“…leads to better magic,” I finish. I stare forlornly down at the lumpy green stalks.

“Right, honey?” my mom asks, as she turns to my dad.

“Mmm hmm,” he mumbles through a mouthful of chicken, concentrating on his food.

He looks up and narrows his eyes at my mom when a pile of broccoli plops down on his plate too. My sister nearly chokes on her mashed potatoes, but she quickly scoops some broccoli on her plate. My mom looks around, satisfied.

After we finish eating, my sister and I are excused to go outside and practice our magic. As we head for the door, I see the sink begin to fill with water and bubbles, while my parents are still standing by the table floating the dishes toward the sink. As we walk by the trash, I hear the scrape of metal on porcelain. In my periphery I see a plate emptying itself into the trash. At least I don’t have to help with chores until I master my abilities.

Outside, the sun is beginning to lower in the sky. Riley and I head across our porch and down the small path into the wilderness behind our house. I hear the chatter of squirrels and see them bound away from us into the trees. One stands his ground near the top of a trunk and squawks at us until we are a safe distance away. I laugh to myself. After we hike about a half mile, we come to a grassy clearing enclosed by trees and vines. It’s far enough from our house to safely practice magic, and the tightly knit foliage acts as a barrier.

I know Riley is anticipating the duel, but we both take the time to warm up. She teleports around in short bursts, her main advantage over me. Tyros don’t have the ability to teleport. During most duels, we agree that she can’t use that ability, just to keep things fair. Even without teleportation, she can easily trounce me. I don’t mind though. I see the progress I am making every day by fighting such a strong opponent. Even though I seem weak compared to my sister, I’m one of the best duelers in my level. Actually, I am the best, but my parents tell me to be humble.

I practice lifting and stacking logs on top of each other. Riley begins to copy me, only her stack is straighter and quickly becomes taller. She drops it to the ground, landing the logs in a neat pile. I do the same, only one of the logs rolls loose and sends the whole pile tumbling. We both laugh lightheartedly. My sister waits patiently as I repeat the exercise, using her pile as a model. This time I get it right, and she beams at me. It can be hard to have a sibling that always seems to surpass me, but I have to admit, I’m better off because she pushes me.

We line up at opposite ends of the field and give each other a nod to signal we are ready. I immediate lift a mound of twigs and branches, flinging them in Riley’s direction. The majority of them miss and a few bounce right off her. She does have a few twigs sticking out of her hair. I chuckle at the sight, until a log hits me right in the stomach and knocks the wind out of me. It’s my sister’s turn to chuckle.

“One good hit is better than a bunch of useless ones,” she tells me with a wink.

I grumble, but while I’m still hunched over I send a large branch to sweep her legs out from under her. She doesn’t see it coming and thumps to the ground on her backside. A second later, I take a hit to the back and land face first in the dirt. My legs go taut as vines wrap around them. I roll over to untie them, when I see my sister standing over me.

“Nice leg swipe,” she says, “but I win.”

The vines fall away and I’m able to stand. It was a good leg swipe, I console myself. I just need to learn how to use the vines. They require more precision than logs and branches. I ask my sister to teach me, and we spend the next few minutes practicing.

“Hi Charlie. Hi Riley,” my friend Carter calls out. “Can I hang out here for a little while?”

“Frankie got you again?” Riley asks.

Carter’s face turns red in anger and embarrassment. Frankie is the bully of the Tyro class. His classic trick is to antagonize his target until they strike him with magic in retaliation. Then, when the teacher punishes them by taking their magic for the day, he hunts them down after school to attack the defenseless student. It’s a cowardly move, if you ask me.

Frankie tried it on me once, but he quickly learned that I wasn’t defenseless with my big sister around. Now he no longer messes with me. Some of my friends figured out that Frankie wouldn’t attack anyone with Riley around, so when they have their magic taken they will come to my house for protection.

“Don’t worry Carter. We have your back,” I tell my friend. He smiles gratefully.

But I guess Frankie finally caught on to the fact that my friends are hiding out with me and Riley, because he shows up a few minutes later. We hear his heavy footsteps as he saunters up to us.

“Well, well, well…it looks like Carter is running scared,” Frankie mocks. “Are you too much of a baby to face me?”

“He’s too smart to face you alone, without any magic. That’s not a fair fight,” I counter.

“You have your magic Charlie. Why don’t you face me then?” he says as he bucks up in front of me.

“You wouldn’t like it if I did. I’d beat you easily,” I taunt back.

“I’d like to see you try, you pansy.”

“Leave him alone,” Riley joins in, stepping between us.

“Go ahead and defend your weakling of a brother, neither of you can beat me,” Frankie practically spits in her face. She looks almost angry enough to attack him.

“Don’t do it Riley. He just wants you to strike first so he can tattle to the teachers and come back tomorrow when your magic is gone,” I warn her. It makes sense. He has been losing opportunities to bully me and my friends because Riley protects us. The logical next step is to get her out of the way.

“Would it be worth it, I wonder, when everyone found out I beat you before you ran and tattled?” Riley says with a smirk, as she sticks her face about an inch from his. This is one of those moments when I really love having her for a sister. She’s fearless.

“Yeah right, you wouldn’t beat me,” Frankie practically stutters as his face heats up, “but I’ll let you off the hook for now.” He turns and marches away.

“This isn’t the end,” Frankie calls over his shoulder as he plods back through the woods. But we are all too busy laughing and cheering to respond.

…

Frankie avoids all of us for the next couple of weeks, but he can’t let things lie for long. True to his nature, he begins taunting and teasing me throughout morning classes. In the lunch line, he stops suddenly so I bump into his back, nearly spilling my food. I finally snap when he “accidentally” trips me and I land face first on the asphalt. Without thinking, I knock him to the ground with a gust of air. I realize my mistake when the teacher comes up behind me and tells me to follow her inside. She takes my magic before I go home for the day, and I can have it back the next morning when I show up for class.

I trudge home, thinking how stupid I am to let Frankie fool me again. I know my sister will tell me it’s not my fault, and I can’t wait to get home and see her. She always knows how to make me feel better. This makes me pick up the pace, with my house in sight, but I know I will have to face my parents first. Sure enough, they are waiting for me when I walk through the door.

“Mrs. Fredrick told us what happened today,” my mom begins.

“It’s not my fault. He tripped me first,” I defend myself.

 “Mrs. Fredrick said that was an accident. Magic is a big responsibility, and you should never use it out of anger. You have to learn to control yourself,” my dad tells me.

“I know,” I mumble. There is no point trying to argue. I just have to accept my punishment.

“Now go spend some time outside until dinner,” my dad says.

“I’ll just go get Riley,” I reply.

“It’s Thursday. She’s at DrogCul practice today,” my mom reminds me.

In addition to being a great dueler, Riley is also fantastic at sports. Our family goes to every match. I love watching her teleport around the field and float into the air to block the other team. She has practice every Thursday for our school’s varsity DrogCul team. This is no coincidence. I fill with dread and my palms turn sweaty. Frankie bided his time until he figured out when my sister would be out of the way. Today he gets his revenge.

“I think I’ll just stay in my room,” I tell my parents.

“You aren’t going to mope around the house all day just because you lost your magic privileges,” my dad replies. “Go on, it’ll be good for you.”

It would be no use trying to convince them to let me stay in. I can’t tell them what Frankie is really up to.  So I sigh, and trudge back outside. I walk to the clearing and sit down to wait for the inevitable. It doesn’t take long before I hear heavy footfalls coming through the woods. I stand up to face Frankie, utterly defenseless.

He pushes through the trees with a cocky smirk on his face. He already knows he has won. He stands for a moment with his head tilted to the side, presumably considering all the ways he can torture me. My sister and I duel with twigs and logs, because we don’t want to hurt each other. Frankie doesn’t have such qualms.

A large rock flies forward and gut-punches me. I fall to knees, doubling over as I try to gulp down some air. A spray of pebbles falls down around me, and I feel a stinging cut open up on my cheek. I try to stand, but a powerful gust flings me into a tree trunk. My head thuds against it and I begin to feel dizzy.

“Why don’t you pick on someone who can defend themselves?” I turn my head to see Carter standing in the clearing to my left.

Frankie just laughs. “No problem, you don’t stand a chance against me.”

He proceeds to fling Carter into a tree, too. Carter doesn’t stay down. As he stands to face Frankie again, I see movement in the woods. Two of my friends, also Tyros, are quietly making their way through the trees to stand behind Frankie. I stand up and Frankie turns to me for a moment. While he is distracted, Carter gives a subtle nod to our friends. As they step out of the tree line, Frankie lifts off the ground and dangles about 5ft in the air. His eyes go wide as he stares at Carter.

“How did you do that? You aren’t strong enough to lift me,” Frankie shouts.

“You forgot,” he replies, “if you mess with one of us…”

“You mess with all of us,” our friends finish.

“Just remember that the next time,” Carter tells Frankie, before setting him back on the ground.

Frankie turns and runs. My friends and I all crowd together, jumping and cheering.

“Thanks for defending me, even though you could’ve gotten hurt,” I tell my friends.

Carter replies with a smile, “That’s what friends do.”

…

I hope you enjoyed my story! Leave a comment to let me know what you thought. Be sure to read “The True Gift” by downloading Write of Passion’s Holiday Issue here. If you want to read more of my short stories, check out “The Hex Signs“!

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Clever