The Maiden of Moonfane Forge

Three little boys ran past, laughing and yelling, swinging their wooden swords, bound on some heroic quest in their imaginations. Marigold shielded her eyes from the midday sun with her gnarled hand and watched them go by. The old woman snapped her fingers and elbowed the young woman standing beside her.

“Ah ha!” she laughed. “See how those three hellions looked at us? See that? Bet you a bag o’ coins on the dinner table it’s them this Barrier’s going to be for. Not any village goats or climbing rats.” The stooped old woman clasped her hands behind her back and walked out of the courtyard and into the street where the boys had run past. She watched after them until they turned a corner out of sight, then sniggered and walked back to where her companion still stood beneath the shade of a flowering tree. “Mm. See if I’m not right when we do this for real when the fruit begins to ripen.”

Lily smiled. “If you’re right ...” the young woman mused, “it changes nothing about the Casting, correct? It’s about who can move through the Barrier, not who can’t, in this case.” She looked up into the pleasant green foliage and pink flowers of the apricot tree, gauging its size. It was not a big tree, just the usual kind of small fruit tree commonly found in the courtyards of some houses around Moonfane Forge town. For Lily’s Mage-Matron, Marigold, it wouldn’t be any sort of challenge. Apprentice Lily, however, had never attempted such a Casting. “It will still keep out village goats.”

“Mm,” grunted Marigold. “Animals are a different matter. There’s not a Barrier-Caster yet who’s figured out how to permit any kinds of beasts through a Barrier, so they all get locked out. Or in. And why is that?” The old woman lifted her eyes up to fix them on Lily.

“Because Barrier-Casting is an emotionally resonant magic,” Lily recited.

“And? ... ”

“And we can only discern the minds of other humans closely enough to specify which of them can or can’t get through a Barrier.”

“Good. Just testing,” said Marigold. “That was an easy one, though.”

Lily reached up and plucked one of the little pink blooms. “You wouldn’t want a goat swallowing any apricot pits anyway. It’s not good for them. But goats you could keep out with a fence.”

“The same can’t be said of apricot-thieving little boys,” Marigold agreed with a chuckle. “But, yes, for our purposes, and for this exercise today, it changes nothing about the Casting. We’re not concerned with who this Barrier will keep out; you’re going to cast it so it permits only a specific person through. Everyone else will be held out by default.”

Lily twirled the little flower between her finger tips and looked down at her mentor. “So it will be the family who lives here, parents and daughter, permitted through. And they want their neighbors to be able to pick apricots, as well, so ... five people total that the Barrier will need to allow through to the tree?” She let the blossom fall to the ground and took a breath.

Marigold placed a hand on her own lower back and grunted as she pushed on it and stretched. “Mhm. Five total. But that will be when we do this for real, later. Not today. Don’t look so apprehensive, girl.”

“I wasn’t,” Lily said. “I was only ... preparing myself.” She pushed an escaped lock of her wavy brown hair out of her eyes. “If not that, then what are we doing today?”

Marigold cleared her throat and began slowly walking around the tree. “You’ve cast basic Barriers of about this size before, some even with a curve to them.”

“Mhm,” agreed Lily. Without a thought, she took up behind her Mage-Matron, also circling the tree while the old women talked. Lily loved Marigold. The old mage was not only her teacher in this unique magic that boasted so few practitioners, but had in a short time become something of a surrogate grandmother to her, as well. They were the best of friends, despite the great age gap, and had been nigh on inseparable since Lily had entered into a mage-apprenticeship under the master Barrier-Caster some five years earlier at the age of fourteen.

“You’ve also started casting smaller Barriers, imbued to either permit one person through or keep them out. You’ve been getting that down.” Marigold paused in her lap of the tree and looked up at Lily. “Which of those was hardest for you, by the way? Larger, curved Barriers or ones imbued with specific parameters?”

Lily answered immediately, “Curved Barriers. They still come out kind of wavy and brittle, don’t they? I believe I’m overthinking those.”

Marigold chewed the side of her cheek in thought. The old mage was short and brown-skinned and wrinkled as a walnut tree stump, an almost comical contrast to Lily, who was fair-skinned and lithe, and tall as many of the men in her town. Marigold shook her head.

“Over-physicalling, I’d say. You know what I mean. We’ll speak on that more later. At any rate ...” She resumed her slow walk. “Today, you combine the two. You will cast a Barrier over this entire tree—a dome shape, like—and imbue it with a Permission for me and me alone. It doesn’t have to be cast to last long, an hour at most. Just long enough for us to test how well you did.”

“That big, and curved, and with an Imbuement,” breathed Lily. “I’m going to be in Caster’s Slumber for ...”

Marigold nodded her head. “Yes, yes, perhaps up to a week. Don’t worry. We’ve prepared for this. Learning to combine these attributes in a Barrier is essential for you taking over my position one day. Remember, this is only practice, a good occasion to find out how a Barrier-Casting of this magnitude affects you at this juncture.” The old woman showed her discolored, gapped teeth in a grin and clapped her hands together. “So! Shall we?”

“You don’t mean ‘we’, you mean ‘me’,” Lily said through a wry smile.

Mage-Matron Marigold gestured over her shoulder as she strode away from the tree and sat herself down in a chair in the corner of the courtyard. “Exactly.” She pulled her shawl closer around her—late winter’s lifting cold could still bite through a sunny day and an old woman’s robes.

After a moment of playing ‘who will blink first’ with her mentor, and deciding she would get no further guidance from Marigold until she had at least tried the spell once, Lily turned her attention back to the apricot tree. She took a few steps backward so she was out of the range of where she planned the Barrier to reach, then another two steps to her right so the sun would not be in her eyes. She took a breath, brushed her skirts flat, and then reached up to re-tie her thick, wavy hair into a more secure ponytail. Another breath. She raised her hands in front of her.

“Enough delaying,” creaked Marigold. The old woman made a ‘get on with it’ gesture with both her arthritic hands. “Cast the spell, girl!”

Lily pulled a face at her teacher and aped the hand gesture. “Shush, I’m concentrating.”

Marigold smiled, leaned back in her chair, and crossed her arms.

Lily made an effort at wiping the answering smile from her own face. She squared her shoulders and planted her feet. Again, she raised her hands before her, wrists bent and palms flat. A kind of blank and far-seeing expression came over her face as she began to move her hands in a fluid motion across her own body, encompassing in that motion the tree in front of her. She set her jaw and leaned her entire body into the gesture. Translucent waves of shimmering gold appeared in the air. ...

“No, no, no, no, stop.” Marigold’s voice carried a note of exasperation.

Lily gasped and dropped her arms to her sides. The shimmering gold hue in the air dissipated.

“What? What was wrong with that?”

“Too much concentrating.” The old woman grunted as she stood up and walked back over to her charge. “Slacken your muscles. This isn’t like milking a yak, girl. Remember, magic ain’t physical, it all comes from your mind. Wizardry is wisdom, not brawn.” She poked at Lily’s shoes with the toes of her boots, forcing her to move her stance. “Moving our arms and bodies can be useful as a focus, but you must stop tensing your muscles. We’re not soldiers like your handsome beau in the garrison. Use your mind. That’s where the heavy lifting must come from.”

She returned to her chair, sat down, and said, “Now, cast the Barrier.”

Lily made no attempt at humor this time. She nodded her head and said, “Yes, Mage-Matron.”

With an effort at leaving her body out of the equation, she turned to the tree once more and this time raised her hands only as a conduit for the intentions of her mind, the wellspring from which magic came. She ignored her muscles and gave herself to the vulnerable state of mind. On this attempt, it was as if her arms moved themselves in response to a flowing of her mage’s knowledge. The wave of shimmering gold reappeared in the air, and she guided it into its planned shape over the tree as a rough dome. As she cast the Barrier, Lily thought of one person, her teacher Marigold, and imbued into the Barrier a Permission by which that one person would be allowed through the Barrier, and no one else. She focused in on and directed these combined techniques, shaping and imbuing, until the new Barrier-Casting was completed.

With the dome of translucent gold set in place and hanging over the entire fruit tree, Lily dropped her arms. Her expression changed from one of blankness to one of scrutiny, lips pursed in assessment of her own work. Suddenly, Marigold was at her shoulder. She patted Lily on the back.

“Good!” and then, “Good,” in a quieter tone of voice. The old woman hummed and also scrutinized the Barrier for some moments, while Lily remained silent. Marigold’s keen gray eyes took in the entire tree with its new shimmery Barrier. “We’ll let it bake in for a time and then test it,” she said. Lily nodded.

In a few minutes, the wavering gold color began to disappear in much the same fashion as steam gradually clears from a mirror, at length leaving the Barrier invisible. But the magic remained. Both Mage-Matron and Mage-Apprentice could sense its presence easily. Lily watched as bees that had been on the tree blossoms bumped and bumbled against the inside of the invisible Barrier like it was glass, unable to pass through.

“Good,” Marigold said again, with the inflection of a master artist viewing her student’s newest painting. “And how do you feel?” she asked of Lily.

“Not ... not tired, Mage-Matron,” Lily reflected. “More like my body wants to float up off the ground.”

“Interesting,” said Marigold. “As I thought, about a week for your Slumbering, then. Now, let’s test the Imbuing.” The elderly mage stepped up close to where they could both sense the Barrier began. She paused, then stepped right through it as if it were air and plucked one of the little pink flowers from the tree. Grinning openly now, she returned to Lily’s side and handed the young woman the bloom. “Now, your turn.”

Dropping the flower into a pocket in her kirtle, Lily stepped up to the invisible Barrier and tentatively put her hand out. Her palm met with resistance, just as if she were pushing on a thick pane of glass. Only, unlike glass, a well-cast Barrier would not give or shatter from any force less than magical. It was more like steel that one could clearly see through. Lily pushed hard with both hands, walked around the tree and tried the same thing in different places. She even gave the bottom edge of the Barrier a few kicks where it met the ground. She could not pass through.

Grinning herself now, she turned to her teacher.

Marigold cackled and gave her customary nod of approval. “A worthy Casting, Lily. The shape is still a little wavy, but such a solid Imbuing on a Barrier of this size and shape? That’s a passing grade, girl. Handsomely done.”

“Thank you, Mage-Matron. The Imbuing still felt easier than Casting such a difficult shape.”

“Good, that’s good,” Marigold said with an almost preoccupied air. “More commonly, it’s the other way around. Many mages find the emphatic connection required for this kind of magic the most difficult. When that is the case, it is a struggle for them to learn to imbue their Barriers with any sort of Permissions. But you seem to take to it. I think that comes from being the kind of person people like.” She showed her teeth in a smile. “That’s not a trait all mages have—even some very talented ones. It’ll always serve you well.”

Lily let herself take pride in the compliment, and made to reply, when of a sudden she swayed on her feet and would have toppled over if not for her reaching for Marigold’s shoulder to steady herself. The old woman almost crumpled under the unexpected weight. With a grunt she kept her feet and helped support the taller Lily.

“My poor back, girl. Warn an old woman next time.”

“I’m ... I’m sorry.”

“No, no, don’t be.” Marigold moved her arm around Lily’s waist to more effectively prop her up until the spell passed and she could steady herself on her feet again. “You will be falling into Caster’s Slumber soon. We should be getting you home and into your bed now.”

“Yes, I ... yes, that would be best,” agreed Lily in a tired little murmur. It never came on like true sleepiness. It was strange and overpowering, the magical exhaustion that followed any Casting. Even the most skilled masters of Barrier-Casting could only fend off the magical Slumber for a short time before they must succumb. The more expansive and complicated the spell, the longer the Slumber that must follow. It was the cost for what they were able to do.

“You let your parents out at the dairy know you’d be Slumbering for a few days?”

“Mhm,” answered Lily softly. “And left Fae there with them for the week.”

“Good.” Marigold got a glint in her eye and asked, “And you told that handsome young soldier of yours, as well?”

“W-why would I tell him?”

“Oh, Lily ...” Marigold clucked her tongue. “Lily, Lily. You poor girl. I’ll let him know next time I have business over by the barracks. So he knows not to worry after you when you don’t stop by every other day with some new excuse to visit and bat those hazel eyes at him.”

“They’re not ... I’m not ... he’s—”

Marigold cackled. “Of course, of course, dear. Very convincing. Pay no mind, I’ll let him know tomorrow. Let’s get you home now.”

The two women leaned on one another for support as they headed out of the little courtyard. Before they turned onto the street to make their way home and get Lily into bed to fall into the magical Slumber quickly closing in on her, Marigold waved her free hand in an easy and practiced motion across the apricot tree as they passed it. Both mages sensed the invisible Barrier being dispelled and instantly disappearing, as if it were never there. Lily knew such a Dispelling would cost a master mage like Marigold only a negligible nap once they were home.

Behind them, the no longer entrapped bees rose from the apricot tree and buzzed along their merry ways.