A Mage's Story

Alessandra made her way through the sleepy town of Cedar Brook towards the Guild house. The early morning sun shone through the canopy of trees above her, spinning gold beams through her long silver hair. People looked on as she walked, nodding to her if she looked their way. She always returned the nods with a smile.

The Guild house stood in the exact middle of the town. There was a small green directly opposite it, in which grew a large oak tree. A pharmacy stood next to the Guild, along with a blacksmiths. Then there was Rose Thorn Hall, her own home. She had left home early that morning though, and made her way up the Guild steps, dragging a package behind her.

The entrance hall of the Guild was grand indeed. Only her own hall at home held more magical charms and artifacts. In fact, she had donated a great amount of them to the Guild herself. She could, after all, get more anytime she chose. She paused to greet Gaynor, the maid in the Guild.

"Do you need anyone to 'elp you with that?" she asked, noticing Alesandra's package.

"No, Im fine, thanks Gay."

"I should've known, eh?" The old woman replied with a laugh, before picking up some fresh cleaning rags, and wandering off.

Alessandra smiled to herself as she caught sight of her reflection in a mirror hung above the fireplace on the opposite wall. It was no wonder people often offered to carry things for her. Her tiny five foot nothing frame hardly spoke of strength. And her body was lithe and fragile-looking. With hair hanging to her waist, and skin so pale it almost looked blue in certain lights, she looked more like a china doll than a warrior. The way her vivid cobalt blue eyes flashed when she was angry was the only give away to her true nature.

Dropping the parcel on the floor, Alessandra made her way closer to the mirror. She stood beneath it, standing on tip toes to get a better view. Her hands brushed down the front of her forest green tunic, smoothing it down over her curves. She pulled up her thick black tights, and adjusted the tops of her pirate style black boots. She patted her throat, a habit she had to check her necklace still lay beneath her tunic. Satisfied she looked alright, she slung the package over her shoulder with one swift movement, and made her way up the stairs to the library.

The room was filled with students when she arrived. They all stood up and bowed as a greeting, eyeing the bag slung down her back curiously. Alessandra's keen eyes surveyed the room. She noticed Bowe, a young wannabe Paladin, eyeing her legs rather then the bag, and she called on him with a grin.

"Bowe, could you help me with this? It's a little heavy."

"Sure, Im right there!" Bowe bounded over like an eager puppy. Alessandra flicked the bag forward into his arms, and he staggered back at it's weight. Tripping over a small warrior-in-training, he pitched backwards over a desk, and landed on his rear. The class erupted into laughter as Alessandra stepped through the carnage to retreive her bag.

"First rule, ALWAYS pay attention!" she giggled. She made her way to her desk at the front of the room. Lifting the parcel onto the desk, she slowly unwrapped it. The layers of cloth gave way to a dead buck. The class looked with mixed emotion. Some looked sad, Alessandra noted. A sure sign of a ranger-to-be. Some looked excited and bloodthirsty, sure to be warriors in their future. And some, like she herself had done, all those many years ago, merely regarded it with quiet contemplation and curiosity.

The buck had a large and gaping hole in one side of it. Blood had stopped pouring out hours ago, and now clung, dried, to the animals fur. Alessandra ran one hand over it's head as she spoke.

"I went out very early this morning, and shot him for class. Today, we learn where the true power of a group lays. Watch."

Raising her slender arms over her head, Alessandra spoke softly, in a foreign tongue. The class stood aorund, awed, as her body began to glow with a light that seemed to shine from within her. Laying her hands on the dead animal, the young ones watched as the wound on it's side began to close. The blood slowly vanished, it's fur became clean again. And then for the real miracle - the beast began to breathe once more.

Alessandra drew a sharp breath and let her arms fall to her sides. Her eyes met those of her pupils. They stared in awe at the woman before them.

"You are all here to learn an art. A trade. A way of life. What I have shown you today is quite possibly the most important lesson there is to learn. The art of healing."

"But, what about fireballs and stuff? I wanna learn how to hurt them monsters, not bring 'em back to life!" Bowe, recovered from his fall and feeling stupid, spoke up.

"Fireballs, huh?" Alessandra allowed her delicate lips to curl in a sarcastic smile as she held out one hand, as if holding a chalice. "Fireballs like this, you mean?"

The flaming orb that appeared from her hand shot past Bowe's head, missing by inches. The class let out a unified gasp as they took in the huge chunk of wall the blast had taken out.

Bowe sat still as a statue, wide eyed and shocked. "Um, yeah, like that." he managed to choke out. Alessandra laughed heartily.

"Bowe," she said patiently, "It's all very well to be able to hurt them. But when you are outnumbered and getting hurt, and believe me that WILL happen, you need to be able to look after your party. Healing is important. More than you could realise now."

"I bet that party who took down the Shadow Tower were really good at healing." Piped up Luceille, a short and stirdy girl, who was studying the art of alchemy.

"Indeed they were. They wouldn't have escaped alive if they hadn't have been." Alessandra agreed.

"How do you know? Did you meet them? In an Inn or something? I heard that adventurers spend a lot of time in Inns."

Alessandra laughed to herself, recalling many a drunken night at the Twysted Wyrm.

"I guess you could say that I knew one of them very personally indeed." A reminiscent smile played on her lips, as one finger delicately but deliberately traced a deep scar down her arm. "Anyway, enough of this nonsense! You have learning to do! Your homework for today is to find an injured animal, and using the methods I will be teaching you now, help it recover."

The rest of the morning passed pleasantly enough. Some of her students showed a natural aptitude for the class, where as others, like Bowe, would obviously specialise in another field.

When class came to an end, Alessandra bid her pupils farewell. "See you all tomorrow." she said, waving as she left the room. She didn't notice the small, hunched figure of Luceile follwing her down the corridor, and into the courtyard at the back. Hiding behind the heavy Guild door, she listened as Alessandra greeted someone.

"Hi Lessy." Came a deep male voice Luceile recognised as Granger, another tutor at the Guild.

"Hey there. You got the map?" Alessandra replied. Granger must have nodded, because she clapped with joy. "Great! Lets get going then!"

"We need to pick up weapons first, we can stop by your house on the way to the city gates."

Luceile heard their footsteps leading over to the stables, and decided it was now or never. Taking a huge, shaking breath, she murrered the words she had memorised for the last three months. A tingling sensation swam through her for a moment, and when she looked down, she could no longer see any part of herself.

"It works! Oh my, it really works!" The spell had been in a book belonging to Alessandra, and Luceile had been brave, or stupid, enough to learn it. She desperatley wanted to hear the rest of Alessandra and Granger's converstaion, and was glad she had been brave enough to try it.

Sneaking out from behind the door, she scurried across the courtyard towards the teachers.

"The map MUST lead to the mountains." Granger was saying.

"It's only about six hours ride away. We can go and check it out, and be back, ready for morning." Alessandra paused momentarily, a small raise of her eyebrow the only sign she had noticed something. "So, we should probably kill the Great Swamp Beast before it tries attacking the Silver Forest."

Granger nodded seriously, joining in on the joke. "Oh, absolutely. And of course, we should also ensure we imprison the evil King Maldor, before he can join forces with that Demon Lord again. That was just a nightmare sorting it all out last time."

"Oh, I know." Alessandra tapped her heels into her steed, and set off across the courtyard, Granger following. Once out of sight, they both burst into fits of giggles.

"Did you see her there? Oh my God, her face was hilarious!" Alessandra exploded in hysterics.

"I know! But why was she just stood there?" Asked Granger, dumbfounded.

Alessandra drew a breath, forced down her laughter and explained. "I left a spell book on my desk, checking for potential thieves in the Guid. One of the spells was marked 'Invisibility', only it is actually a 'Disilluisionment' spell. Poor old Luceile thinks she's invisible...... only, she isn't! "

"Wow, poor old Luceile!" Granger chuckled. "Although, serves her right for evesdropping!"

And with the ring of laughter in the air, the famed adventurers Alessandra Silverheart and Granger Arrowthorn rode off, in search of the missing Dwarven Treasure. Making sure, of course, that they were back in time for class the next morning.