Free Science and Sorcery by Christopher Nuttall Page A

the power dancing through his head and knew that things could be different.  It might be hard to learn to master his power, but he would learn.  And then there would be revenge.
     
    “I will free you,” he promised, and meant it.  Harrow’s friends could hardly be worse than the men who ruled the world.  “Can we start learning now?”
     
    Harrow smiled.  “Of course,” she said.  “The first step is learning how to channel mana through your mind.”
     
    She took his hands – hers felt cold to the touch, almost skeletal – and smiled again.  “ Mana is spreading through your world, touching those of you who carry traits that respond to mana ,” she continued.  “As a sorcerer, you absorb and store mana within your very body, just waiting for use.  If you concentrate, you will become aware of its presence.”
     
    Calvin nodded, closing his eyes.  He’d sensed something ever since he’d first used magic, but it was only now that he realised what it actually was.  The mana seemed to shimmer through his body, as if it was trapped by his skin.  Slowly, be became aware that there was more mana outside his body, drifting through the air.  It seemed the easiest thing in the world to reach out and pull it into his body.
     
    “Learning to focus your mind is very important,” Harrow informed him, as he opened his eyes.  “The Magicians Council used to use specific words to utilise their magic, once they had taught focus and discipline to their apprentices.  However, you must master focusing your power first.”
     
    She looked at him and then produced a small wooden ball from her robes.  “I want you to focus your mind and tap your mana , directing this ball to rise up into the air,” she added.  “Focus your mind, imagine what you want to happen, and then tap your mana .  Concentrate...”
     
    Calvin tried.  It was easy to imagine the ball flying up into the air, but tapping his mana seemed impossible.  He was aware of the mana seething inside his body, yet he couldn't quite see how to use it properly.  And yet he’d been able to incinerate Moe...  Slowly, it dawned on him that the mana was being held in check by his own mind.  The trick was to weaken the containment field – for want of a better term – and let the mana flow out...
     
    The ball shot into the air and vanished into the darkness.  “Too much power,” Harrow said, dryly.  She produced another ball and held it up in front of him.  “Again.”
     
    It felt like hours before Calvin had the trick mastered.   Harrow was proving to be a good teacher, but there were things that he just had to learn to develop for himself.  She’d told him that the more he mastered, the easier the next step would be, yet it was still complicated and more than a little counter-intuitive.  The trick seemed to be to relax and concentrate, rather than being tense and concentrating.  Pushing too much determination into the magic either did nothing or produced wildly spectacular results. 
     
    “Good,” Harrow said.  She studied him for a long moment.  “I think it’s time to teach you a few more tricks.”
     
    Calvin would have groaned, if he had had the energy.  He knew that their lessons were taking place in dreams, rather than face-to-face, but he still felt tired.  Harrow seemed relentless, however, and some of the spells she was outlining for him promised to be very useful.  The ability to make himself invisible, the ability to influence a person’s actions, the ability to spy on someone...oh, he could imagine all sorts of uses for that spell.  Whatever qualms he might have had about it had faded away as he realised just how much Harrow’s enemies had stolen from the world.  He could have been one of its masters if they hadn’t drained away the mana , destroying their own civilisation out of spite. 
     
    “We will be meeting every night until you are ready to free us,” Harrow said, afterwards.  It felt as if