"Teldrin, the time has come for you to develop your true power." Attruic-eb spoke in a low, coarse voice. A bronze brazier smoldered at the center of the table, its embers glowing, reeking sourly and casting an eerie pale on Attruic-eb's wrinkled face and graying beard.
Teldrin forced his heart to calm and hoped the smile he felt rising to his lips was not too visible. His gaze met that of Attruic-eb. Despite his age, the elder wizard's eyes glittered.
"I am honored, Lord Superior."
"I'm sure honor has nothing to do with it," Attruic-eb replied. "For months I have watched you place barriers in your opposition's path, deliberately impeding my other apprentices and using their failures as stepping stones for your own advancement." He paused. "It has been ... entertaining."
"It was you who taught me the advantages of proper preparation, Lord Superior."
"Apparently I have taught you well."
An awkward silence hung for several moments during which Teldrin could hear only the hiss of burning embers. He stood before Attruic-eb's throne-like chair and stared at his own feet. This was it. Three years of work was about to come to its conclusion. "How do I do that, Lord Superior? How do I develop my true power?"
"Do not be coy with me, mageling. I am aware you have spent considerable time studying the order's bylaws. You understand there is only so much power in this world. In order to claim your own, another's must be freed."
"What is your will, Lord Superior? For I am also aware that only a master can cast the spell that triggers my talent. You hold the key to my progress. What duty am I to be assigned before you will make me a wizard?"
Attruic-eb tilted his head back and stared down his nose at Teldrin. "I have discovered the whereabouts of a ring of power. If you bring it to me, I will grant you status."
"What is this ring?"
The Lord Superior smirked. "Some magics are too strong to be tampered with by one of your experience. Suffice to say its retrieval will ensure you a healthy start toward your mastery."
"Where is it?"
Attruic-eb brought his hands together and rested his chin upon his fingertips. "On the hand of a Lectodinian mage."
Teldrin contemplated this situation for a moment. Lectodinian activity was always at odds with Koradictine, but direct confrontation was usually to be avoided--wars between the Orders were often bloody. "So I must steal it."
"Obtain it however you will. But I seriously doubt you can take it while the mage lives."
Teldrin peered into Attruic-eb's eyes, trying to discern a hint of humor but finding none. "Surely, you do not mean that my power-task includes killing a man."
"Of course not," Attruic-eb replied, enunciating each word with the sharpness normally reserved for berating poor performance. "The Lectodinian mage who wears this ring is a woman named Raevyn."
"Such an action will surely spark a war."
"Is this actually what concerns you, Teldrin? Or are you merely hiding a fear of killing?"
Teldrin thought on this. He let his stare wander to the brazier and lose itself in the embers that lay smoldering there. He would steal for power, there was no doubt about that. He would cheat, maim, lie--whatever it took. And he would kill. He was surprised at this realization, at how easily the decision had come. There really was no decision.
It had always been there--the fact that he would take another's life to lift himself to a position of power, to dominate a piece of the world. It had been there since his father had governed their hometown of Twillen, proving himself to be weak and unwilling to take advantage of his position, wasting the opportunity to wrest control for himself when it was there for the taking.
"Obviously, I will require aid to defeat an established sorceress."
Attruic-eb nodded. "Place your dagger on the table."
Teldrin did. The blade had been his father's, an offering from the leader of a neighboring village. He almost grimaced, remembering how his father refused to use the blade to broaden his control. How sweet, he thought, that a symbol of his father's weakness would serve to establish Teldrin's own true power.
Attruic-eb's fingers shook slightly as he held them over the blade. He spoke a few words of magic, and his fingertips glowed. A luminescent pink mist enveloped the dagger, bringing a gleam to its edge.
Finally, Attruic-eb looked at Teldrin. "The dagger will provide you defense against magical protections. Use it well. It should give you entrance to Raevyn's lair."
"I am ready, Lord Superior. I will let nothing stand between me and the power that is rightfully mine."
Attruic-eb sat back in his chair. "I never doubted you would."
)
He would steal for power, there was no doubt about that. He would cheat, maim, lie--whatever it took. And he would kill. He was surprised at this realization, at how easily the decision had come. There really *was* no decision.
