odds are still ten to one that you aren’t.” She tilted her head, peering down at him. “When you cast the spell, did you feel a little empty in your head afterward?”
“Yeah, I did. Is that good or bad?”
“It means that you have a mana store,” Ghorza explained. “In nearly all cases, that means you probably are a mage. We won’t know for sure for a while, though. You’ll have to cast the cantrip many times before you’re ready for a first level spell.” She indicated the fire pit. “Cast it again, and this time blow gently on the tinder once you get a spark on it.”
John focused on the tinder again. “ Scintilla! ” Once again, a spark leapt from his finger, landing on the tinder. He leaned forward and blew gently on it. The spark caught, and flames engulfed the ball of tinder. He continued to blow gently, and the flames grew, setting fire to the kindling with small crackling pops. He sat back, a satisfied smile on his face.
“Try casting it again,” urged Ghorza. “Keep casting it until you can’t do it anymore.”
Leaning forward, John commanded, “ Scintilla! ” For a third time, a spark leapt from his finger. He thought he heard an intake of breath from Ghorza, standing behind him. “ Scintilla! ” he ordered for a fourth time. This time was different. Where he had noticed a feeling of...potential...when he had concentrated on the spell word the other times, this time he didn’t feel anything. He just felt empty. “I didn’t get anything that time,” he said, stating the obvious.
“I saw,” said Ghorza. “Still, most mages aren’t able to cast the cantrip more than once their first time, and only a very few can do it three times. You have a larger mana pool than most mages.”
“What is a mana pool?”
“That is the spell casting potential that a mage has, and every mage’s pool is different. Yours is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen, although it is not unheard of for a new mage to cast three cantrips. That’s how many I cast, by the way. As mages progress upward in level, their mana pools will grow, allowing them to cast more spells. Of course, as you move up, each new level of spell costs more mana to cast than the preceding level’s spells did, so it is kind of a matter of diminishing returns.”
“Can I try one of the other cantrips?” asked John.
“Not right now. Not only are you out of mana, which will replenish itself slowly over time, but it is also exceedingly unlikely that you will be able to cast any of the other cantrips. Only about one mage in ten thousand is able to cast a second element’s spells, and no one can do three.”
“Why not?”
“Just like the gods of good and evil are opposites, the elements have opposites, too. If you are a fire mage, you cannot cast water-based spells, and vice versa. Similarly, if you are an air mage, you cannot cast earth-based spells.”
“Can I try one of those others in the morning?” John asked.
“You can,” said Ghorza, “but you shouldn’t hold your breath that it is going to work.”
Chapter 16
Dantes looked at the bubbling lava far below him and finally came to a decision. It was time to leave Norlon. He didn’t know where he was going to go, but he had enjoyed traveling through Tasidar when he was looking for the land where the Spectre lived. He would journey to Harbortown and take the next ship to wherever it was headed, as long as it wasn’t to Northshire. Although the halflings might like the weather there, it was too cold for his taste.
Maybe he would renew his search for the Spectre. Maybe he would just travel, looking for a place to fit in. If he was really lucky, he would find a small border war that needed his magical talents. That would probably be the most satisfying. If he couldn’t find that, maybe he would look into freelance bounty hunting, as long as it was somewhere far away from Norlon. He laughed. Maybe he’d go to Salidar and start his own kingdom. There