The Village Magician
The four teen adventurers in “Faizah’s
Destiny” are all students of the village magician, who also
serves as teacher for the children who have some time to expend on
schooling. Master Wafai is an all-round teacher, covering the
academic topics such as mathematics and writing. As a magician with
minor skills, he also loves to impart his knowledge of magical beasts
that roam the earth.
Master Wafai wants more than anything
to meet the elusive, all-knowing Simurgh. He feels it’s very
important for his students to learn about magic, even though there is
very little to be found around their tiny village. Of the Simurgh, he
says:
“The Simurgh is a tutelary creature.”
Wafai looked meaningfully at Bahaar’s tablet. The boy quickly
applied chalk to good use. Wafai continued. “It is so old,
according to legend, it has seen the world destroyed three times
over.” Wafai folded his long fingers around the chalk, holding his
hands against his chest. “Many believe it has learned so much that
it possesses the knowledge of all the ages―a great teacher and a
guardian. The Simurgh simply are. In the past for all of eternity and
in the future for all of eternity.”
One day, Master Wafai isn’t at his
little school. His four pupils are puzzled and concerned. Why is
their teacher gone without leaving word? A possible answer is found
on a page of the Magicalis Bestialis. The book was left open to the
text describing the Simurgh.
Faizah, a farmer’s daughter and
Wafai’s favorite pupil, knows how much the Master loves the
Simurgh, she immediately believes the open page is a sign that she
and the boys who are also students must seach for the home of the
Simurgh.
The boys scoff at the silly idea, but
agree to searching the nearby mountains for signs of Wafai’s
whereabouts. They only decide to go on the search when they find the
adults in the village are content to send word to the Sultan and have
troops sent to search for the missing teacher.
Excerpt:
Master
Wafai sat at the small table that served him for both dining and
desk. One of his prized books, the Magicalis
Bestialis lay on
the table before him, open to the section on the Simurgh. If
only they were real. Wafai
sighed. His advancing years never dimmed the hope that someday he
would know for certain such magical beasts truly existed.
The stories he had heard of the flying,
fire-breathing horse stabled in the Sultan’s palace, helped to keep
that hope alive. Still, he longed to meet such a creature, to see it
with his own eyes.
He sighed again and stood. He moved
into the bare kitchen and carried a bowl of fruit back to the table.
In this tiny village, there was not much chance of seeing anything
magical. Wafai had long ago accepted the fact he would never be a
great or powerful mage. A competent magician in an average sort of
way, he could cure most common ailments, cast a spell to clear the
air after a sandstorm, find lost livestock, and sometimes water. He
could even generate a few small curses, though he seldom chose to do
so.
Peeling an orange, he stared, unseeing,
at his whitewashed walls, smudged with ochre chalk. His students
provided the greatest joy in his life. A mediocre magician though he
might be, Wafai was a born teacher. His pupils made jokes about him
‘putting on his teaching voice,’ but when he did, they listened.
Although Wafai had always longed to meet a magical creature or two,
what he really wanted was for one or more of his students to have the
opportunities he had missed.
He thought about his three students and
wondered about the new boy. Would any of them become adept? Would any
of them ever meet a flying horse, a demon, or a Djinn? Most of the
village children came to his school only until they were eight or
nine, and then family duties called them away.
Harib, the son of a rich merchant, was
the only one free to do as he pleased. He attended school to be with
his friends. Left mostly to his own devices when his mother died,
Harib had come to the school out of curiosity and boredom. He met
Faizah and Bahaar there, and the three of them soon formed a close
friendship. School was easy for Faizah and Harib, however Bahaar
struggled a bit. They had all mastered the basics of reading and
arithmetic and were now engrossed in learning what they could of the
magical arts.
Wafai
looked down at the Magicalis
Bestialis
and picked up an orange pip he had dropped. He closed the book and
put it aside.
* * *
FAIZAH'S DESTINY
The gods are at war and only a
farmer’s daughter can save the world from Armageddon.
MuseItUp (all ebook formats):
http://tinyurl.com/faizahsdestiny
Also
available at B&N, Nook, and other on-line stores
Blurb:
The village magician has gone missing.
His four pupils think he has left a clue to his whereabouts in the
Magicalis Bestialis--the book of magical creatures. They must seek
the help of the elusive Simurgh, the mythical birds who know all the
secrets of the universe.
However, this is not an easy camping
trip into the mountains. Spirits, gods, and demons confront the four
friends, who are not aware they’re being set up by otherworldly
forces for a much larger task.
A farmer’s daughter, Faizah is chosen
to lead the humans in the battle. She must persuade a slave, an
orphan, and a rich merchant’s son to join in the battle on the side
of good. Although divided by Dev, the evil god of war, the teens must
band together to find the Simurgh, rescue their teacher, and stave
off Armageddon.
Bio:
Marva Dasef lives in the Pacific
Northwest with her husband and two ungrateful cats. Retired from
thirty-five years in the software industry, she has now turned her
energies to writing fiction and finds it a much more satisfying
occupation. Marva has published more than forty stories in a number
of on-line and print magazines, with several included in Best of
anthologies. She has several published books, including six since
2011 with MuseItUp Publishing.
Twitter
Handle: @Gurina
