PANIX: Magician Spy Read online

  PANIX:

  Magician Spy

  By Guy Antibes

  PANIX: Magician Spy

  ~

  Published by CasiePress

  Copyright 2011, 2012 by Guy Antibes

  All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced without the permission of the author.

  ~

  This is a work of fiction. The locations, places and characters it depicts are products of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, locations or places, dead or alive is purely coincidental.

  ~~~~

  Acknowledgements

  I’d like to thank those who have provided input to this project. This particular story began as an exercise on novel planning at the Liberty Hall Writers Group. A number of people contributed to the concept in that environment. Their inputs helped shape the book. I had two great readers, Donna and Meredith, who helped me round out some of the characters and smooth out some of the prose. And finally, many kudos to my wife, Beverly, who laboriously went through the manuscript, plucking out my many grammatical mistakes. Some may still exist, for I fear I overwhelmed her with them. Enjoy the story.

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  Principal Characters

  ~

  Korvanna

  Panix Gavid………….............................Magician – Spy

  Rennis Gavid...............................................Panix’s Father

  Corlee Gavid……..............................……..Panix’s Sister

  Jin…………………............................…...Corlee’s fiancé

  Merra Yiltor.…………..Panix’s Girlfriend at the Academy

  Moshin Twent……........…....Retired Spy at the Academy

  Polla Gavid…...................………….Panix’s stepmother

  Aston Gavid……......................……...Panix’s stepbrother

  Pent

  Foald Baltac......Owner of Baltac Metalworks of Pent City

  Lorna Baltac………......................…...Daughter of Foald

  Baston Blox………….............….Foreign Minister of Pent

  Marquessa Ronna of Pent…........Head of State for Pent

  Fennel Derrac…......…...Magician at Baltac Metalworks

  Harlan Gennoc……......................…...Panix’s best friend

  Sovad Mustak……...…….Master Assassin of Murgontia

  Sovell Mortac.............................………....Sovad Mustak

  Soy Gromec….............................……......Sovad Mustak

  Quill Vent……….....................………Agent of the KII

  Mardon Fannok…….....................…Squire in South Pent

  Murgontians

  Kliffid Wilton……….…...Head of State for Murgontia

  Uven Kyrod...............Head of Murgontia’s Secret Service

  Wovir Yetter......Commander of the Murgontian Military

  Lorvad Pokkan………..........................Foreign Minister

  General Crissor….Head of the 7th Murgontian Army

  General Bollet………Head of the 3rd Murgontina Army

  Divvid Mustak.…..Sovad’s son and with the 3rd Army

  Colonel Reggor……......................General Crissor’s aide

  Nirov Kyrod……….................…....Son of Uven Kyrod

  Gerellia

  Torbet Wesster……Korvannan ambassador to Gerellia

  Corilla Wesster…....Wife of Torbet and a KII operative

  King Tomlano……………..Head of State for Gerellia

  Jorlan Roccoa…Advisor to Tomlano and in Nirov’s pay

  Boidan Tisano……………..Foreign Minister of Gerellia

  Abnar……………………..................A butcher in Gerell

  Hera………………….........................…......Abnar’s wife

  Mella

  Tellus Zentett.....Magician and Fellow at the Academy

  Kevox Mirrok……………….Murgontian Agent in Mella

  ~~~~

  Rennis Gavid standing in front of a float coach

  at White Water, Helvanna

  Panix: Magician

  Book One

  The Korvannan Military College

  Chapter 1

  The sharp clicking of boots echoed around the many statues of former soldiers who had given their lives for Korvanna. Panix stood as his father walked up to him at their meeting place in the Hall of Heroes at the Korvannan Military College. Jarold Gavid’s marble gaze looked across the hall, but his great uncle’s statue still brought warmth to Panix and he knew it did to his father too. That’s why he decided to meet his father here.

  “Panix,” Rennis Gavid put his arms around his son and smiled. “So you’ve decided to leave the College and flee to the Morwen Academy of Magic. Tell me why?”

  His father never minced words and got right down to the subject. Panix loved his father for that. They sat on a nearby bench and his father pulled out a pipe. Panix watched his father go through the ritual of lighting it and that gave him more time to gather his thoughts. His father’s opinion meant more than anything. Rennis was a wool merchant and a legislator—the best of both in Korvanna,

  “I don’t fit in here, Father. I just don’t have a suitable military mind. I’ve tried to fit in, but I question the old strategies too much and my attitude has extracted the ire of the teachers. They don’t like me and,” Panix shrugged, “ I don’t much like them.”

  Rennis laughed. “I know you haven’t been too happy in these last two years, Panix. But you can’t convince me you don’t have an exceptional mind.”

  Panix frowned. That wasn’t the response he expected from his father. He didn’t want to become frustrated talking to him. If he did, his father would twist his words into knots, because the exceptional mind belonged to Rennis Gavid.

  “It’s just that I’m too impatient and the army seems to be stuck in a rut. No offense to Uncle Jarold,” they both glanced at the nearby statue, “but they use the same tactics in the Army that Uncle Jarold used and his grandfather and his grandfather before them all. There’s no innovation. I want to innovate and do new things.”

  Rennis laughed and put his hand on Panix’s shoulder. “Now I didn’t hear that from your sister. Corlee told me that you were dissatisfied, but now I see something more like the Gavid spirit.”

  Panix felt a shot of relief. He knew his father would agree with his decision now. Life would be different at the Morven Academy. “You’ll let me transfer out?”

  Rennis drew on his pipe and blew out a thin stream of smoke. Panix liked the look of his father. He looked young for his forty-six years. No gray ran through his dark hair and his face nearly always held a smile.

  “You’ll be eighteen in half a year anyway and able to make your own decisions, so I have one piece of advice, son…”

  “You given me lots of pieces of advice, Father,” Panix smiled, “and by now I’ve got a great collection.” He looked around at the statues, anxious to leave the now-moribund confines of the Military College.

  “In all organizations there is a tendency to keep doing what’s been successful or what’s been perceived as successful. I call it momentum. You’ve faced it at the College here, but you’ll also find it at Morwen.”

  “But I’ll face it. You know I can. I’d have three more years to graduate from the College and at the Morwen Academy, I can be in and out in less than a year and a half, at the most two. I can handle anything for a year.” He could be at Morwen at the start of the term in less than six weeks! Panix couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.

  Rennis took another puff of his pipe. “You’ve only been here for two years, Panix. B
ut I suppose, you’ve got some growing up to do and you might as well do it there. I certainly did at your age and look at me. Other than a talent for finding the best quality wool, I’ve done nothing with my Morwen certifications. Don’t disappoint. You’ve got your mother’s magical talent, rest her soul. You can be the best magician in the world, if you put your mind to it.”

  Panix could see the dark cloud that covered his father’s face everytime he mentioned his mother. Even after his father’s re-marriage, the cloud never left. He was happy enough with Polla, his second wife, but his father’s sadness reminded everyone that he liked his first wife best.

  “You won’t regret it!” Panix said. Eagerness filled him up.

  “It’s not for me to regret, Panix. I’m confident that you’re doing the right thing. You’ll be in and out of Morwen before you know it and be glad you’ve gone.”

  The words pierced Panix with insight. Rennis knew his son wanted to be out of Morwen as soon as he could without him having to tell his father. Panix had more power than anyone knew, even his father, and the military just couldn’t use it unless they changed the way they operated. The only proper path to getting a magician’s job led through the Morwen Academy.

  “I won’t be able to see much of you, Panix. After the next session of the Korvannan Council, I’ll have to head out to Helvanna for my annual wool trip.”

  His father would be leaving him again. Panix wished he could spend as much time with his father as he had earlier in his life. But busy lives drove them both further away from each other. He looked forward to seeing his father at the end of his first term at Morwen.

  “Here.” Rennis handed Panix a package. “Something I picked up the last time I was in Helvanna.”

  Panix untied the string and unfolded the thick green paper that wrapped his gift. “A picture. This is magician made. There’s only one magician that can do this!” Panix looked at an image of his father standing at the side of a float coach in front of a three-story inn. Float coaches were levitated coaches that made travel as fast as horses could run. The levitation only lasted for a few days and then a magician would have to levitate the coach again.

  “That’s me in front of the inn where I always stay in White Water. The magician that does these rode accompanied us in our coach and offered to make the image. I stayed and he proceeded to Gerell to make an image of the king.” Rennis grinned. “The actual picture is made in black and white, but I had it tinted.”

  “So this is where you buy your best wool?” Panix took in all of the detail.

  His father looked very proud of the picture and he should. These images were rare enough. “It is. Something to remember me by while I’m away. We won’t be able to see each other until the spring and after I’ve bought my wool.”

  “This is wonderful. Maybe I’ll learn how to do this.”

  “Then it would be two of you. That magician is a very rich man. I won’t tell you how much I spent for that.” Rennis laughed.

  Panix could only shake his head at his good fortune to have such a picture and to have such a father.

  ~~~

  Morwen Academy of Magic

  Chapter 2

  “Corlee!” Panix ran and hugged a female image of himself. His sister had the same dark hair, hers cut to her jaw line, and the same piercing gray eyes both had inherited from their father. “It’s great to see you.” A tall skinny man stood looking on a few feet away, smiling with a nervous look.

  Corlee reached back and pulled the man’s arm so he could join them. “Panix, I’d like you to meet Jin. We are going to get married in the spring,” Corlee said. She tightly clung onto his arm and beamed at her brother. “He’s a third year Fellow.”

  Panix thrust out his hand. “She’s a great person, Jin. I’ll make sure you take good care of her and I’ll be happy to get to know you better while I’m here,” Panix said. The man looked relieved. “Have you told Father yet?”

  “No.”

  “What about Polla?” Panix said.

  “I’d rather just tell her we’re married. She won’t really care unless she could make a big production out of it, with influential people for our dear stepbrother Aston to meet in Korvanna. If it wasn’t for father, I might be tempted not to tell her at all.” Corlee pursed her lips.

  Panix tore his gaze from his sister and looked up at the ornate entrance of the school. Other coaches made their way into the large cobbled courtyard, disgorging other students. Corlee took his arm and led him through the large doors and into a massive entry hall.

  The Morven Academy of Magic dominated a rise overlooking the Plain of Morven on the former borders of Korvanna and Mella. Two hundred and fifty years after the Awakening—when a strange cloud transformed half of the world, bringing magic—The name of the joined country became Korvana and the city of Mella ended up as the seat of power. Twenty towers thrust into the air. Fluted columns snaked their way up the outsides of the buildings. Courses of white, red, and black bricks twisted up the walls like growing things. Trees, bushes and flowers set off the grounds, still looking verdant even though the rest of the countryside faded into autumn.

  “I know what’s on your mind. Are you suited for the Academy? The Senior Fellows keep raving about your test results. Their interest even surprises me, but they will leave you on your own until you choose your specialties.” She took him by the arm and led Panix through the tall doors to the massive foyer of the Academy.

  “We’ll have to talk some more about that. I could use your advice. I didn’t come here to be a celebrity. I’m going to learn a decent trade, one that suits me and find a place in the world outside of the Academy.”

  “I know. But please give academic life a chance won’t you?”

  Panix hardly heard his sister’s words as he viewed a golden-haired goddess at the head of the stairs with bags in her hands walking along a hallway and disappearing from sight.

  ~

  Orientation didn’t strike Panix as anything new. The instructor droned on and on. It was the same old stuff. The Awakening gave many men magical power, but it was a mixed bag of limited abilities. It took fifty years after the Awakening before men and women really found out what they could do. Even then, people had widely varying capabilities.

  The Academy overlooked the Plain of Morven, where the great battle stopped before it began. The shimmering cloud passed through the battle lines just as the trumpets had called the men to battle order. The event stopped the battle dead in its tracks. The overlook reminded those at the Academy what the Awakening had done. The Academy’s mission focused on developing an understanding of magic and assessing the capabilities of those strong enough to actually wield enough power to be useful.

  At first people thought that magic would rule the world. It didn’t take too long before magicians realized their limitations. People could levitate objects, but they wouldn’t stay up for long. Magic helped plants to grow, but the magic required a magician to work specifically on each plant. Magical talents were a more personal thing. Magicians sharpened blades one at a time, but a man working with a sharpening stone, powered in any way, worked faster.

  Some talents were quite stunning. Recently a magician learned how to transfer his own mental images on a paper dusted with iron filings, that was the one his father had met. Then someone could tint the image, creating a colored image. One magician out of thousands performed the task, but any artist could tint the very expensive pictures.

  He scanned the room to discover the golden-haired woman he’d spied on his first day. She had the brightest, bluest eyes set in a face that clutched at Panix’s insides.

  The lecture finished and the students learned about the assessment seminars. Panix climbed over chairs and pushed through other students towards the other side of the hall to see the woman closer, but she disappeared before he had a chance to meet her. He felt deflated, but vowed to keep trying to find her.

  ~

  Assessment seminars were held in the first six weeks
of each annual term. Students spent the rest of the school year certifying for their specialities. A minimum stay at the academy would typically be six months for a single speciality. Exceptionally strong magicians would certify for two or more certificates and then spend more time perfecting their techniques. Panix planned to attend every seminar in hopes of finding his magical niche.

  He entered the hall for the Agricultural seminar. He had little interest in agriculture, but he felt committed to attend them all to find the golden girl. He looked around the room and couldn’t believe his luck when he spied an empty seat next to her.

  “Hello. I’m Panix Gavid,” he said as he plopped down as casually as he could, but he felt he couldn’t get his breath.

  “I’m Merra Yiltor,” she said. He could feel her dazzling smile pierce his chest. “Are you hoping to be an ag-magician?”

  Panix tried to keep the excitement down inside, thrilled that she carried on the conversation. “I don’t know what I’m hoping to be. That’s what all this assessment business is about.”

  The instructor had already begun and the buzz died out in the room. “It is like the other trades,” the instructor said. At the Academy all magical application areas were called trades. “You collect your power here,” she drew her fist to her breasts. “And then you let it flow through your fingers to the object. Heart to Hands.” She brought her hand out and spread her fingers.

  “Why can’t you just do it to a whole field of seeds?” Merra asked her instructor.

  “A good question. Magic doesn’t work at a distance, dear. The Awakening didn’t give us that kind of power. All magic is personal. We can work on small things or close objects, but large areas like a whole field are beyond anyone’s range.”

  Panix didn’t see power as a core in his chest as he’d heard this instructor and his sister describe. Since he began at the Academy, he felt his power throughout his entire being. Every nerve in his body was a power center and his brain controlled it all. He must feel different than anyone else.