Heliopath’s World: Kieran: Ice Magic (part 2)

[k_a_webb]

Part 1

Every day Kieran learnt something new about what he could do and that was why he kept experimenting. Being an ice mage wasn’t like being a potion maker or a healer – they had plenty of books on how to use their abilities, so they had a starting point, but he’d never had one. At first he didn’t have any idea he was going to find ice magic so fascination, in part because he didn’t know it existed until he accidentally created ice during one of his first attempts at using water magic. When he realised that it was his calling, that he was meant to focus on ice magic, he went to Heliopath to ask for advice.

Heliopath, the leader of the Grey Gardens, had ended up becoming a friend, because he had made unusual choices too. The man he always thought would terrify him actually turned out to be a wonderful listener, who had only studied black magic so he could take over the Grey Gardens. As he had been outside the city he knew the time was coming when the inhabitants of Ildieu would have to deal with the outside world and yet Falcon kept insisting that there was nothing beyond the walls, even though he had no way of knowing for certain.

Falcon cited the battles that had happened before Ildieu was created. He believed that no one could have survived them, so there could be anyone outside the city, and he seemed to think, at least to anyone who heard what he was saying, that anyone who had left wouldn’t have changed at all. Kieran sighed. After hearing what both sides he had accepted Heliopath’s truth and started planning for the time that was coming, even though no one was certain exactly what would happen when the outsiders did chose to enter the city. Unfortunately Kieran was one of few – most of the mages of Ildieu either chose to believe Falcon or simply didn’t want to get involved. To them Heliopath was a very lucky outsider and they didn’t seem to listen to the stories he told of other groups of mages who’d been taught by those who had chosen to leave Ildieu at various times.

Unfortunately no one could see outside the walls. It was part of the magic that had been used to create them, because the city had been created by those terrified of magic, who wanted the mages somewhere contained, and the mages had agreed that was the best option. Along with, it appeared, giving themselves amnesia. Kieran had read a couple of journals from that time, the only two he knew of that existed, although there were probably others in the Black Hollow, but neither mage had convinced him that the choices they made were the right ones. The thing he had found out during his time in both the library of the Gardens and the library in the centre of town was the mages love of destroying their own history.

There were very few people who had ever attempted to put together a time line, to make it easier to understand the city they lived in, but one of those who had was Calogero, the head librarian. Before meeting the old man Kieran didn’t really believe that any mages lived past the age of thirty within the city. Either the magic they used would kill them or they’d be assassinated. His mother had never wanted him to be a mage for that exact reason and he knew he had no choice, because he had magic within him. If he didn’t use it he would simply end up dead anyway. At least knowing how to use it meant he could keep himself relatively safe. Calogero was evidence that he could be right, as long as he didn’t end up getting killed in the war Heliopath was certain was coming.

Calogero, scarily, agreed with Heliopath. One of his skills was past sight, even though he didn’t use it often, and he had seen those who’d walked away, those who left for a time before returning, and those who had come in from out there. Falcon didn’t know that the creators of the Hollow had come from outside, that there wouldn’t have been houses in the first place if it hadn’t been for outsiders, but Kieran wasn’t certain it would matter if he did. Thanks to Calogero’s knowledge Kieran knew more about Ildieu than he ever thought he could and he was grateful that someone had the time to teach him what he didn’t know.

Something he had picked up from the librarian was that there were different types of people in the city – those who knew, those who didn’t know, and those who wanted to know. People who wanted to know were also often those who knew, like Calogero, because there was always something more to learn. He was the one who’d suggested that Kieran write a book about ice magic, so others could learn the skill. Even though it didn’t seem the most useful ability to have Calogero thought otherwise. He was just disappointed that no one had started experimenting with steam magic. It seemed like it could be as interesting as ice magic.

When Kieran had first stepped in the library itself, so long ago, he had been underwhelmed. He was six then and had just found out that he’d been born with magic, and his mother thought the best thing for them to do was to research which house he should go to for mentoring. Each of them was different, but they’d known very little about the differences as it hadn’t been something that they needed to know about. At least not until Kieran, and then his younger brother, showed that they had inherited something from a long lost relative. Fortunately the other interesting thing Calogero had started working on was a city tree, to see how the families were all related to the mages who had been banished to Ildieu.

Most of the shelves in the library were empty. Between the time of Kieran’s first visit and his second, at the age of eighteen, nothing much had changed. He hadn’t thought then that it might actually be a better idea to talk to the librarians, who, it turned out, knew a lot about Ildieu, some of which had never been written, some that had been destroyed due to fear, and some that he could have found out if he simply opened a book. In the end he did, but only thanks to Heliopath, who told him that most of the useful knowledge within the library was held in the minds of the people who ran it. As Calogero said it was much safer in their minds than it would be if they wrote it down.

There had been times in the past when their entire history was burnt. First they lost everything because they chose to enter Ildieu and nothing from outside could come with them. When they created the gate that wouldn’t be opened for three hundred years that was part of the magic they had used, even though that made no sense. It simply meant they would have to start again, from the beginning, after spending hundreds of years learning what they could and couldn’t do with their abilities. Unfortunately they felt they had no choice, because they had nearly destroyed the world and the only way they could see of keeping it safe was to create Ildieu. By doing that they gave the outside world a chance to repair itself.

After yet more time spent learning about the magic they had as the nothing included their memories. That seemed even more stupid. In order for a mage to live they needed to use their magic but without knowing what they could do… Kieran shook his head. He was sure they had a reason for the decisions they made and no one could find out what they were without leaving the city, which was something no one would do. Calogero, the other librarians, Heliopath, and the mages of the Grey Gardens knew what waited for them outside the gates, so knew for a fact that it was safer in the city at that time. Falcon would never leave, because he viewed the city as his domain, and with Heliopath having taken over the Gardens he felt he had to fight for what was his. Even though Heliopath had tried more times than Kieran would have to get Falcon to understand the danger that was coming from outside the idiot was still fighting the wrong person.

Maybe that would change. With Kestrel at the Gardens, even if she was fighting Heliopath, they might have a chance to get through to Falcon, to get him to understand what was coming, after she’d had the whole story told to her. Kieran had surprised himself by offering to be the one to try, because he’d learnt enough from Calogero to be able to teach her about Ildieu from the beginning. That was something Kieran was going to do in the next couple of days, along with show her the beauty of ice magic, because if they could get Falcon to work with them instead of against them the city might stand a chance of surviving the war.

From what Calogero had said the mages on the outside had been waiting for the time when the leader of the Hollow was the wrong person. Heliopath shouldn’t have been the leader of the Gardens, but had fought his way into that position in order to teach people what they needed to know about outside, and Falcon had become the leader of the Hollow through sheer luck. His father had been assassinated. That wasn’t unusual. What had been was the attacks that followed on his sons, one after the other, until only two children were left: Falcon and Kestrel. According to the tradition of the Hollow Kestrel couldn’t become leader, even though she should have been, so Falcon took the position, while doing everything is his power to keep his sister weak.

Some people in the other houses thought that Falcon may well have killed his own brothers in order to take over the Hollow, but Kieran didn’t think he had the skills. Kestrel did. From what Heliopath had said she wasn’t a strong mage, even though she had the ability to be, so she’d taken matters into her own hands. As Falcon wouldn’t teach her how to use magic she had taught herself how to make poisons. That would make her a useful ally. Calogero said Kestrel was someone who was desperate to learn more about everything, so the time had come to teach her what she wanted to know, even though she probably wouldn’t like what she heard.

Kieran bit his lip. Heliopath had told him to prepare something that would fascinate her, in order to get her to hear him out, because she wasn’t going to be interested in anything a Gardener had to say without them giving her a reason to be. It wasn’t easy to decide what to do, as he thought everything he did was fascinating, but her interest in poisons gave him an idea – if she was good with poisons she was going to be just as good with potions and one of the other areas he had studies was potions. He studied the work he’d already done, each of the potions showing a different way of using ice magic, and he also froze for her a messenger, even though he knew that it wasn’t something she’d be able to use in Heliopath’s room.

The interesting thing that no one seemed to understand about magic free rooms was that magic could be used within it, but there was no way for it to get out. So Kieron could do whatever he wanted while he was in the room to show Kestrel the sort of thing she might be able to do herself, if she accepted Heliopath’s offer. It did seem unlikely and yet he wasn’t going to give up, because he truly believed she could be an amazing mage – with the ability to become the first black female mage in known history. Of course that wasn’t saying much, considering how many years worth they had lost and he kept saying there must be a reason why the knowledge of what female black mage could do was lost.

As Heliopath was the third recorded male black mage in known history it was obvious that the knowledge of what both were able to do was destroyed at some point. Probably more than once if what Calogero said was right. Kieran couldn’t help thinking the librarian was right, considering what the mages had willingly done to themselves when they first entered Ildieu. From what Heliopath had said there was a library outside that had once belonged to the mages and had been left behind, warded strongly to make certain the wrong person couldn’t set foot in there, that he planned on finding once the war was over. That was if he was still alive.

Unfortunately Kieran still didn’t know who he was when he first left the city, because Calogero had said that Heliopath was one of those who had returned. There was definitely a story there, but one he wasn’t ready to tell and anyone who did know wasn’t willing to pass on, which meant it wasn’t a good one. What he did know, for almost certain, was that Heliopath, whoever he’d been before, had been at the Hollow, because he knew too much about it not to have been. Of course that wasn’t something he would admit to, not until he had Kestrel on side at least, and that was going to take time… time that they didn’t really have, really, but they had no choice. Not if they wanted to prepare Ildieu for what was coming.

Preparing Ildieu seemed like it was going to be impossible. The mages of the Emerald Warren would be safe enough underground and they might be willing to take refugees, but apart from that the other houses had all been set up over ground and if they were still fighting each other instead of the true enemy then they’d stand no chance. Falcon was the real problem, because the Hollow was the oldest of the houses, or at least believed to be – no one was entirely certain which came first, and that meant all of the other leaders followed him, even though they hated him most of the time. Kieran was the first to admit that mages made no sense, sometimes so little that he wished he wasn’t one.

Sighing, he tried to work it out in his head. The Hollow, being the oldest of the houses, was the one who seemed to be in control of the city, yet he was certain every single one of the leaders of the other houses would be happy to kill Falcon. It seemed likely that one of them had killed his father and brothers, to make certain that the weakest of them all took over, which would mean one of two things: someone wanted to take over the Hollow, which would be impossible if they weren’t blood related to the person who created it, or they were working on behalf of the mages outside the city, who wanted to take Ildieu over. Neither option was a good one.

No one could be certain if the magic of the gate still worked in some way, so that it would wipe the memories of any mage who entered planning on harming one of the inhabitants, because that was what it was what the gate was originally created to do, before it was made into the entrance of Ildieu. It definitely wasn’t wiping the memories of anyone who entered, because otherwise Heliopath’s wouldn’t remember anything, and he hadn’t entered the city planning on hurting anyone. That decision was made when he realised how useless the leader of the Gardens was. Kieran could still remember him and he was grateful that someone like Heliopath had taken over, even though he wasn’t acting the way some of the mages thought he should.

They kept trying to convince him to wipe out the leaders of all the houses, the way the Heliopath of history had done, but he told them that was the last resort. If he did that he would have to control all of the mages and he wasn’t sure that was the best way of doing things. He also told them that he would not be able to take over the Hollow, thanks to the blood wards, and someone else might. Kieran couldn’t tell if he was lying about that or not, but it wasn’t something he would bring up until Heliopath was ready to himself. No one really believed that he would convince Falcon that what he was saying was true so Heliopath, laughingly, had suggested that they kidnap Kestrel, certain that no one was going to take him seriously, and then they did.

His silly idea was the reason she was locked in his bedroom. Keeping her in the study would never have worked and that was the only other magic free room in the house, so Heliopath was spending his nights on the floors of his friends or in the study while he spent his days with Kestrel. The first time he walked into the room he’d admitted he acted like a moron, because he wasn’t sure how to go about making friends with the girl, and threatened her with her own dagger, which he realised wasn’t the best way of greeting the poor girl. Of course she knew him as Ash, rather than Heliopath, who was nothing more than one of Heliopath’s underlings, as he thought that was better than being the leader of the Gardens around the sister of the leader of the Hollow.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.