#Book Blitz #The First Dark Sorcerer by Abby Arthur #YA #Fantasy #Steampunk @Xpresso Book Tours25/8/2022
The First Dark Sorcerer
-- EXCERPT: Flipping Gelrá open, I search for a spell to try. “Something simple,” I say to him. “Rudimentary, even.” Of his own accord, my grimoire flips through the pages, stopping on a page that looks like all the others. A spell fills the middle of the page, written in Ancient Naerthen. The title implies it’s about moving inanimate objects. I scoff. “We know what happened the last time I tried my hand at telekinesis.” I move to flip the page, to find a spell that might be easier. Gelrá doesn’t budge, but makes his pages stick together like glue. Heaving a sigh, I nearly give in, but the room is empty. “What good is a spell if there’s no object to move?” Gelrá blurs the spell to sketch a drawing. He shows a surprisingly good rendering of Truff, tapping the list of rooms on the wall and calling up a cart of cleaning supplies. I slap my legs in reluctance. “Fine.” Getting up, I try touching the words that say Ævin Hall. Nothing happens. “I’m going to clean Ævin Hall,” I say aloud and tap the list. Again, nothing happens. My lips pull back in disdain as I cross my arms and pace. “Opera house.” As I speak, I let my senses feel the air. Magic lingers on every side, like snow suspended in space. I can’t see it, but I can feel it. “Opera house, can I have a broom?” The magic clusters before me, driven by an invisible force. There’s a bright, white shimmer, and then a broom appears sticking straight up with its brushes on the ground. As soon as the light disappears, the broom falls. Catching it by the wooden handle, I marvel at what just happened and scan the Court Room again. “Thanks,” I say, not sure if this room cares about manners, but it feels wrong not to be polite. Inspecting the broom, I expect it to be charmed, but it doesn’t glitter with magic. Nothing about it is fancy. It’s just a broom, but unlike the one I used this morning, it isn’t broken. […] “Let’s go back to the telekinesis spell, please.” The pages flip again, and the spell Gelrá originally showed returns. For a second, all I do is stare at it. This spell is one of the first I ever memorized. It’s true that I know it by heart, but as I stare at the page, reading it over and over, my body shivers. I’ve never enacted any of these spells correctly. Not since that fateful day … Taking in a huge breath, I blow it out with an exasperated sigh. “Okay,” I whisper. “Mac says this room can contain me. I can do this.” Setting the broom neatly before me, it rests flat on its side. Sweat glistens on my arms and makes my shirt stick to my stomach. Please listen, I internally think to my magic. I need you to work. Then I begin the spell, and a swirling of power builds into a tiny vortex in my chest. It’s working! I almost smile, but then blue light swirls prematurely down my arms. I hastily finish the spell, and my magic bursts forth to swirl angrily around the broom. It stands up right, and for half a second, I think the spell worked. But then the bristles lift off the ground. I barely have a second to roll out of the way before the wooden handle comes jerking towards me like a mace.
GIVEAWAY! Comments are closed.
|
Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|