Free The Sorcerer's Quest by Rain Oxford

easier said than done. I didn’t even have
time to jump up and shout something very unmanly before the high grass started
to rustle. The field was entirely to their advantage, because I couldn’t see
them and they could smell me. One rabbit came close enough that I could see
him. He was light brown in color and not the largest I had seen. He wasn’t
looking at me or advancing on me, which I knew was a trap; he was studying me,
deciding if I was worth fighting or not.
    When the rabbit made a little hop towards Merlin, the
wolf growled. Then, with a final sniff in my direction, the rabbit hopped away.
    I sighed. “Maybe I was wrong about rabbits. That was
totally---” My words were interrupted by my shrill scream of horror and agony
as the rabbit pounced on me from behind and sunk its claws into my back. When I
reached for my staff that I had dropped, another rabbit leapt out of the grass
and sunk its fangs into my hand. By dropping and rolling, I was able to
dislodge the rabbit from my back, but I also lost some precious skin when I
tore my arm away from the second rabbit. My wand stabbed me painfully in the
side, so I pulled it out and waved it around myself. Protect .
    The wand answered, but in the most unlikely way;
magic shot from the wand into the staff, and then from the staff into me. What
came out was a mixture of the sinister red energy of the staff and the elegant
white energy of the wand. I felt my skin become cold and tingly again. A third
rabbit appeared and bit my hand, but this time, I didn’t feel it. In fact, to
our mutual shock, the rabbit’s teeth didn’t break my skin.
    When the first rabbit tried to claw at my face, he
had the same problem. Unfortunately, he also had a solution; he kicked me in
the face. Magically impenetrable skin or not, it hurt.
    I reached for my staff again, but one of the rabbits
kicked me in the side of my abdomen, causing me to ball up in pain. By sheer
determination, I didn’t loosen my grip on my wand. I waved it at the carrot
that was just out of reach, as the rabbits apparently wanted to fight me for it
instead of just taking it. However, when magic shot from the wand and hit the
carrot, tossing it high into the air, the rabbits focused on it instead. I had
just enough time before it hit the ground to roll and grab my staff. Attack .
    The staff obeyed my unspoken thought and blasted them
with burning red energy. The rabbits turned to stone.
    “ Where did you learn that ?” Merlin asked.
    “I didn’t. I remember reading something about it in
one of Vactarus’s books, but I didn’t know how to do it. The staff did it.”
    “ If so, then the staff is much more powerful than
I originally thought .”
    “So I can summon a monster now?”
    “ Tend to your wounds and rest up. We will begin at
first light .”
    Although my skin was still cold and impenetrable, the
cuts that the rabbits caused before were still bleeding. “What do I do about
it?”
    “ Bandage it, of course .”
    “What about healing potions?”
    “ By all means, if you know how to make one and can
conjure the ingredients, do so ,” he said. I didn’t know any, so he
continued. “ You should ask Vac if he has any bandages and something to clean
your cuts with. First, you need to release your spell. Do exactly as I told you
before .”
    I sat down harder than I meant to and realized that I
felt a little too heavy and pretty tired. It took longer without him telling
me, but I did manage to imagine everything as I had before, and when I opened
my eyes, I felt normal.
    “ You learn quickly .”
    “Thank you. What did you get at the tournament to
disguise my hair?”
    “ I found a world traveler who had good black ink.
That should last about five to seven days unless you wash your hair out. If
nothing else, it might help you to appear more intimidating to Magnus or a
villager .”
    “Yes, and if we run into my brothers again, I can
hide my face and maybe they won’t recognize me. I can put it in