Story Magic
an excerpt

When it came Eddin’s turn, all eyes focused on him. His mind went blank for a moment while he tried to think of a suitably funny story. There was the one about Thella’s birthday party; with a bit of embroidery, that would do nicely.

‘My sister, Thella, she’s two years older than me, well, it was her birthday. Her thirteenth one, and you how girls are about turning thirteen.’ The others nodded and rolled their eyes. ‘Anyway, she invited all her friends, and she and Ma and our younger sister, Ryleen, they spend loads of time getting everything ready. Cakes and pies and sweets like you would never believe.

‘Now, Thella’s all right for a girl, you know, and she has lots of friends. They were all invited, and they all came--even Benice, Lord Landa’s daughter. I mean, imagine that, a lord letting his very own precious daughter mix with common fold like us.

‘Anyway, there’s all these girls dressed up in their fanciest dresses and trying to be all formal and grown up. Now, where’s the fun in that? I tell you what, that party needed some real fun.’

By now, Eddin had his listeners enthralled. It was just like back home when he’d tell stories with his friends. The momentum of his tale had built up, and it was easy to make up details now.

‘So I went round to the side of the house, conjured up a piglet, and turned it loose. It ran hither and thither, getting under all those flouncy skirts, dashing between the girls’ feet, even knocked over a table of fruit.’ His hands mimicked his words, one weaving around like the piglet and the other leaping around like panicked girls. ‘The girls kept trying to get out of its way, but this was a magic pig. With one more flick of my fingers--’ and he flicked his own at the boys, ‘--I did it. A flying pig!’

Next moment, something erupted into the air and zoomed around the room. Something pink and squealing. Something with wings.

Laughter turned into gasps of surprise. Chaos broke out as some boys tried to duck out of the way while others tried to catch the flying piglet. Eddin sat frozen, not believing what had just happened.

The piglet tried to land on the table, and its feet knocked several plates off. Jamp and Normor jumped toward it, hands outstretched, but all they accomplished was startling it back into the air. In the kafuffle, more dishes got knocked over, some breaking when they hit the floor. The room rang with the boys’ cries and the piglet’s squeals.

‘Dispel!’ Ziedo shouted, pointing at it, and it vanished at once. Bannick shouted for everyone to settle down, while Marik stared at Eddin.

‘Meal’s over,’ Bannick said. ‘Apprentice’s dismissed.’ They filed out, but Bannick put a hand on Eddin’s shoulder and held him back. ‘You stay.’

Even after the door closed, Eddin could hear the rise of excited chatter from the boys beyond. The faces of the four journeymen, however, were very serious indeed.