Mark of the Fool C.822: Meaning in Different Ways

Prince Khalik had first heard the common tongue in infancy.

His very first memories of hearing any language were of his mother, brother, father, nanny and nursemaid speaking Tekish, and on some occasions, the common tongue.

When those close to him spoke to members of the household staff whod hailed from abroad, he would hear the language. Well before he turned six, on days when he was bored, he would listen to his fathers meetings with dignitaries from foreign landslands both near and far. On some occasions, hed be in the room, and on others, hed be hiding in the palaces secret passageways, hidden there because his parents hadnt known that hed seen his father entering one, unaware that his youngest son was near. As he grew older, he would listen carefully as his older brother spoke with his trainers, tutors, or guards: all of whom spoke a variety of tongues. In time, it was Khalik who was being tutored in the common tongue as well as the many tongues of the southlands.

He took to languages easily; his tongue was quick and his mind was keen and clever. The young prince very quickly learned that there was a fundamental truth about language.

Those who spoke only one tongue, innately tied meaning to its specific words and syllables. When they wrote, meaning would be innately tied to the symbols of their mother tongue.

They would think in that tongue.

Meaning would come from sounds and symbols.

But for Khalik, this concept was not true.

To the princewho had grown up in a world of many tongueshed learned that meaning could not be contained to one sound or syllable. A concept could be expressed with many different words, sounds, syllables, songs, or even a tone, a click of the tongue or a gesture.

Meaning was not tied to one single thing.

And Khalik had grown to understand just how much that applied to spellcasting.

That understanding soon allowed him to break through a barrier.

The prince stood in the middle of a forest clearing with Najyah circling high above him. His lips uttered the incantation of one spell, while his hands and arms performed another. Power flowed from his mana pool and into both spells.

He unleashed them.

Two fourth-tier spells activated at once.

The first spell, Wall of Stone, raised a stone wall from the earth in an instant. The second, Stone Spears, raised thick, sharp, stalactites from a rock surface nearby. Both spells combined, creating a stone partition that instantly sprouted spikes on all sides.

Not bad! Khalik shouted, excitedly.

You got it! Thundar cried sprinting up beside the prince with Isolde close behind. That was fast!

It was many weeks worth of work, Khalik said. Swift by some standards, and slow by others. But I am proud.

You got it before I did, Isolde huffed. Which makes sense, since you have always been better with languages than I am.

But you are making more progress with mana manipulation, Khalik said, grinning. You have talent for it, Isolde.

The young noblewoman shrugged. It is mostly experience, not talent. I have some experience with mana manipulation, because I need it for alchemy. That experience is letting me advance faster with mana manipulation, faster than I am advancing in casting spells nonverbally.

You can both take a hike, Thundar sulked, crossing his arms across his chest. Mana manipulation and nonverbal casting are both bullshit, I hate them and I hate both of you.

Oh, do not say that, leader of the cabal, Isolde smirked. You cannot hate your subordinates.

Indeed! Khalik said. It is improper for a leader to be like that. Besides, you are making great progress when it comes to breaking down spell arrays and spotting their patterns.

Yeah, wellthats easy, Thundar said.

Easy he says! Isolde snorted.

Yes, easy. I mean, when youre working with illusions you have to learn everything you can about shapes, textures, colours andstuff like that, right? The more you notice the details of a shape, the better you can recreate those details in an illusion, Thundar said simply. Its like noticing the details in a spell array: learn the details, learn the shape, and figure out how those shapes come together. Its pretty similar to what I already do.

An thats why Im hatin all three o yous! Cedric shouted from across the clearing. Fancy writin shite, fancy language shite, fancy mana shite! Feels like mheads gonna bloody explode!

The Chosen was sitting on the ground in front of a tree trunk, pulling at his red hair as though he was going mad. I feel like Im goin mad!

I do not want to hear that from the man who is closer to breaking through to his next-tier of spells well before the rest of us! Isolde shouted.

Oi! Cedric pointed to the golden glowing scales over his heart. Ysee these? It gives me a bloody shit load o mana, but all that means is I kin keep practisin spells til I turns blue in tbloody face! If I hav tspeak another incantation, I swear Im gonna throw mself in tbloody sea!

You will be fine, Cedric, Isolde said. I believe in you.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Thanks, he said dryly. Been like pullin teeth, though He looked to the west. Ythink Drestra and Alex are makin progress?

I dont doubt it, Thundar puffed out his chest. If I know Drestra, I know shell be mastering what shes gotta master before any of us.

This is hopeless! Drestra screamed, orange light blazing between her fangs. I cant do this! Its a failure! Im a failure!

Drestra, weve been doing this for four days, not four years. Alex raised his hands, trying to calm her down. Its not a big deal if you havent gotten it yet. Youll get it, Im sure of that.

Merzhin got what he needed to get after one conversation! Drestra hissed, throwing herself on the ground and staring up at the sky. I feel like an addled-brained blob of flesh next to him!

Sometimes folk get what they need real fast, Alex sighed, sitting on the ground beside the Sage. The pair were practising in a meadow several miles away from the others. It was quiet and peaceful there.

No sign of Ravener-spawn.

In truth, the spawn in the area had been reported to be helping folk recently instead of harming them, and that strange behaviour had allowed most of the Heroes to practise in peace. Alex, meanwhile, had sent Hart, Claygon, Merzin, Bjorgrund, Asmaldestre and even Birgeralong with a sizeable force of soldiersto different area of Thameland where Ravener-spawn were rampaging like they wanted to tear the very foundations of the world apart.

He hoped everyone was alrightbut, he was also quite confident that they were, considering who all was with themincluding the newly invigorated Saint. After his Marks evolution, Merzhins divinity was enhanced, making him a devastatingforce on the battlefield. He could channel miracles at speeds hed never known before, and every divinity he used was stronger, overflowing with power. From what Hart had said, the Saint had been taking out all of his frustration with Uldar on the Ravener-spawn, and doing so with such brutality that even the Champion would be in awe when the two of them returned from hunting.The soldiers had noticed the Saints newfound power, as had the priests.

When theyd asked Merzhin about it, his reply had been a cryptic, I have been given a gift, and in time, the giver shall be revealed.

Of course, the fact that hed sewn the lantern-symbol of the Traveller into his priests robeswas lost on few. The rest could make of things what they would.

Though soon, there would be no need for speculating.

Tobias Jay was preparing to announce the coming of the General, the transformation of the Marks, the discovery of Uldars equipment, and how all of this was tied to Hannah and her mercy.

Over time, his message should send a flood of strength her way.

And if that didnt workAlex had a feeling he knew what would

But, that was for another time.

He turned his full attention back to Drestra, who was looking at him peevishly.

Did your mind wander off? she asked.

It does that, sometimes. Alex smiled apologetically, stretching beside her. Listen, I think its simple: Merzhin simply got what he needed at the time he needed it. It was exactly what he needed, and he was ready to receive it.

Well I am ready to receive it! Drestra sounded annoyed. I dont know why it wont come to me. Mana manipulationI have so much mana flowing through me youd think it would come easily!

Alex shook his head. Just because you have a big mana pool, doesnt mean you have a lot of experience manipulating mana. Most wizards find the art pretty difficult, no matter how powerful they are, and theres no shame in that.

I might say that if I wasnt struggling so hard with nonverbal casting, Drestra hissed. Itits a complete puzzle! Meaning through eyebrow twitches and muscle movements, I just cant make it make sense to my body! Ive been working on that since you told us about your plan for us to grow more powerful weeks ago!

She ground her sharp teeth. And I still cant do it!

Yeah, that is odd, Ive gotta admit, Alex said, frowning. Everyones made some amount of progress. The fact that you havent, is strange.

Thanks, Drestra said dryly. You sure know how to comfort someone.

If you wanted to be comforted, you would have asked me, like you did when we first met, Alex said.

She scowled. I did not ask you to comfort me!

Not verbally, but with your body language, Alex said. You were hard to read, but I could tell from your tone, and partly from your body languageit was saying that you wanted someone to talk to back then.

Drestra rolled her reptilian eyes. Great, you know more about my body language than I do. She snorted. By all the spirits, thats unfair. Why cant I get this right? This is stupid! Im so stupid!

Youre not stupid. Alex shook his head. Youre smart. Real smart. You pick things up quickly: honestly, if you went to Generasi, Im sure youd be one of the top students in your classes.

Theres a thought, Drestra sighed. That sounds so nice: going to school to learn about magic and the world, instead of getting my knowledge and skills firsthand in a warzone. I envy you. All of you. My title is the Sage, but Im no sage. Not in the true sense of the word: I have no great knowledge or wisdom to share with anybody.

Youre wiser than you think, Alex pointed out. And if its knowledge you want, you can attend Generasi after the war. But, justdont declare thats gonna be your grand plan for your future or anything because most characters in the old stories who do that always end up dead Alex paused, remembering that he and his cabal had talked about their grand plans for when the war was over.

He cleared his throat and quickly moved on. my point is that you can attend the school after the Raveners dead, if you want to.

That would be nice, Drestra grunted. But maybe I wont be as good a student as you think.

Alex shook his head. Im sure youd do really well.

Then why cant I get either mana manipulation or nonverbal casting right? she grumbled.

Like I said, things take time, Alex said. And also, if youre smartand you are smartand you still cant get it, then something else could be going on. Either the teachers bad at teaching

Youre a great teacher, Drestra assured him.

Alex blushed a little. Thanks, and at the risk of sounding arrogant, I kind of agree. The Mark of the General literally makes me good at teaching if I concentrate on it, and Ive been concentrating. Ive been using it to try different ways to teach you how to do nonverbal casting, but, oursuccesses and failures dont seem to be getting us any closer to solving your problem. Which brings me to the second possibility: something else, beside your teacher, is the problem. When I had the Mark of the Fool, it didnt matter how good my teacher was or how much I tried.

He thought of Rams class.

I was always going to fail at spellcraft at a certain point, especially combat spells, Alex said. So maybe theres something blocking you from getting the body language right

And what could that be? Drestra asked. Since you know my body language better than I do.

Im not sure He thought back to when hed first met her, going over what hed observed in her body language. He remembered thinking, at the time, that it seemed slightly off.

Thered been something odd about it.

Maybe that had something to do with the problem she was having now? But, why did her body language seem so strange back then?

Oh look, theres Najyah, Drestra said, watching a distant shape soaring high above the forest. I wonder if shes hunting? Maybe we should take a break and go get something to eat, Im starving.

Wait, you can tell thats Najyah from this distance? Alex squinted at the faint shape.

Drestra nodded. Dragon eyes can see much, much farther than a humans.

Her words struck Alex like a lightning bolt and he leapt to his feet. By all the gods, Ive been a fool!

What? What is it? Drestra looked at him, startled.

I think I know why you cant get the body language right! Alex cried, looking at her reptilian eyes. Weve been trying to get it with you in the wrong body! Transform to your true form!

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